id
stringlengths 2
8
| url
stringlengths 31
206
| title
stringlengths 1
130
| text
stringlengths 16.4k
435k
|
|---|---|---|---|
411737
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John%20Lewis
|
John Lewis
|
John Robert Lewis (February 21, 1940 – July 17, 2020) was an American politician and civil rights activist who served in the United States House of Representatives for from 1987 until his death in 2020. He participated in the 1960 Nashville sit-ins, the Freedom Rides, was the chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) from 1963 to 1966, and was one of the "Big Six" leaders of groups who organized the 1963 March on Washington. Fulfilling many key roles in the civil rights movement and its actions to end legalized racial segregation in the United States, in 1965 Lewis led the first of three Selma to Montgomery marches across the Edmund Pettus Bridge where, in an incident which became known as Bloody Sunday, state troopers and police attacked Lewis and the other marchers.
A member of the Democratic Party, Lewis was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1986 and served 17 terms. The district he represented included most of Atlanta. Due to his length of service, he became the dean of the Georgia congressional delegation. Lewis was one of the leaders of the Democratic Party in the House, serving from 1991 as a chief deputy whip and from 2003 as a senior chief deputy whip. He received many honorary degrees and awards, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011.
Early life and education
John Robert Lewis was born near Troy, Alabama, on February 21, 1940, the third of ten children of Willie Mae (née Carter) and Eddie Lewis. His parents were sharecroppers in rural Pike County, Alabama, of which Troy was the county seat.
As a boy, Lewis aspired to be a preacher, and at age five, he preached to his family's chickens on the farm. As a young child, Lewis had little interaction with white people, as his county was majority black by a large percentage and his family worked as farmers. By the time he was six, Lewis had seen only two white people in his life. Lewis recalls "I grew up in rural Alabama, very poor, very few books in our home." He describes his early education at a little school, walking distances from his home. "A beautiful little building, it was a Rosenwald School. It was supported by the community, it was the only school we had." "I had a wonderful teacher in elementary school, and she told me 'read my child, read!' And I tried to read everything. I loved books. I remember in 1956, when I was 16 years old, with some of my brothers and sisters and cousins, going down to the public library, trying to get a library card, and we were told the library was for whites only and not for coloureds." As he grew older, he began taking trips into Troy with his family, where he continued to have experiences of racism and segregation. Lewis had relatives who lived in northern cities, and he learned from them that in the North schools, buses, and businesses were integrated. When Lewis was 11, an uncle took him to Buffalo, New York, where he became acutely aware of the contrast with Troy's segregation.
In 1955, Lewis first heard Martin Luther King Jr. on the radio, and he closely followed King's Montgomery bus boycott later that year. At age 15, Lewis preached his first public sermon. At 17, Lewis met Rosa Parks, notable for her role in the bus boycott, and met King for the first time at the age of 18. In later years, Lewis also credited evangelist Billy Graham, a friend of King's, as someone who "helped change me". Lewis also stated that Graham inspired him "to a significant degree" to fulfill his aspirations of becoming a minister.
After writing to King about being denied admission to Troy University in Alabama, Lewis was invited to meet with him. King, who referred to Lewis as "the boy from Troy", discussed suing the university for discrimination, but he warned Lewis that doing so could endanger his family in Troy. After discussing it with his parents, Lewis decided instead to proceed with his education at a small, historically black college in Tennessee.
Lewis graduated from the American Baptist Theological Seminary in Nashville, Tennessee, and was ordained as a Baptist minister. He then earned a bachelor's degree in religion and philosophy from Fisk University, also a historically black college. He was a member of Phi Beta Sigma fraternity.
Student activism and SNCC
Nashville Student Movement
As a student, Lewis became an activist in the civil rights movement. He organized sit-ins at segregated lunch counters in Nashville and took part in many other civil rights activities as part of the Nashville Student Movement. The Nashville sit-in movement was responsible for the desegregation of lunch counters in the city's downtown. Lewis was arrested and jailed many times during the nonviolent activities to desegregate the city's downtown businesses. He was also instrumental in organizing bus boycotts and other nonviolent protests to support voting rights and racial equality.
During this time, Lewis said it was important to engage in "good trouble, necessary trouble" in order to achieve change, and he held to this credo throughout his life.
While a student, Lewis was invited to attend nonviolence workshops held at Clark Memorial United Methodist Church by the Rev. James Lawson and Rev. Kelly Miller Smith. Lewis and other students became dedicated to the discipline and philosophy of nonviolence, which he practiced for the rest of his life.
Freedom Riders
In 1961, Lewis became one of the 13 original Freedom Riders. The group of seven blacks and six whites planned to ride on interstate buses from Washington, D.C. to New Orleans to challenge the policies of Southern states along the route that had imposed segregated seating on the buses, violating federal policy for interstate transportation. The Freedom Ride, originated by the Fellowship of Reconciliation and revived by James Farmer and the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), was initiated to pressure the federal government to enforce the Supreme Court decision in Boynton v. Virginia (1960) that declared segregated interstate bus travel to be unconstitutional. The Freedom Rides revealed the passivity of local, state and federal governments in the face of violence against law-abiding citizens. The project was publicized; and organizers had notified the Department of Justice about it. It depended on the Alabama police to protect the riders, although the state was known for notorious racism. It did not undertake actions except assigning FBI agents to record incidents. After extreme violence broke out in South Carolina and Alabama, the Kennedy Administration called for a cooling-off period, with a moratorium on Freedom Rides.
In the South, Lewis and other nonviolent Freedom Riders were beaten by angry mobs and arrested. At age 21, Lewis was the first of the Freedom Riders to be assaulted while in Rock Hill, South Carolina. When he tried to, a whites-only waiting room, two white men attacked him, injuring his face and kicking him in the ribs. Two weeks later Lewis joined a "Freedom Ride" bound for Jackson, Mississippi. Near the end of his life, Lewis said of this time, "We were determined not to let any act of violence keep us from our goal. We knew our lives could be threatened, but we had made up our minds not to turn back." As a result of his Freedom Rider activities, Lewis was imprisoned for 40 days in the notorious Mississippi State Penitentiary in Sunflower County.
In an interview with CNN during the 40th anniversary of the Freedom Rides, Lewis recounted the violence he and the 12 other original Freedom Riders endured. In Birmingham, the Riders were beaten by an unrestrained mob including KKK members (notified of their arrival by police) with baseball bats, chains, lead pipes, and stones. The police arrested them, and led them across the border into Tennessee before letting them go. The Riders reorganized and rode to Montgomery, where they were met with more violence. There Lewis was hit in the head with a wooden crate. "It was very violent. I thought I was going to die. I was left lying at the Greyhound bus station in Montgomery unconscious", said Lewis, remembering the incident.
When CORE gave up on the Freedom Ride because of the violence, Lewis and fellow activist Diane Nash arranged for Nashville students from Fisk and other colleges to take it over and bring it to a successful conclusion.
In February 2009, 48 years after the Montgomery attack, Lewis received a nationally televised apology from Elwin Wilson, a white southerner and former Klansman.
Lewis wrote in 2015 that he had known the young activists Michael Schwerner and Andrew Goodman from New York. They, along with James Chaney, a local African-American activist from Mississippi, were abducted and murdered in June 1964 in Neshoba County, Mississippi, by members of the Ku Klux Klan including law enforcement.
SNCC Chairman
In 1963, when Charles McDew stepped down as chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), Lewis, a founding member, was elected to take over. Lewis's experience was already widely respected. His courage and tenacious adherence to the philosophy of reconciliation and nonviolence had enabled him to emerge as a leader. He had already been arrested 24 times in the nonviolent movement for equal justice. As chairman of SNCC, Lewis was one of the "Big Six" leaders who were organizing the March on Washington that summer. The youngest, he was scheduled as the fourth to speak, ahead of the final speaker, Dr. Martin Luther King. Other leaders were Whitney Young, A. Philip Randolph, James Farmer, and Roy Wilkins.
Lewis had written a response to Kennedy's 1963 Civil Rights Bill. Lewis and his fellow SNCC workers had suffered from the federal government's passivity in the face of Southern violence. He planned to denounce Kennedy's bill for failing to provide protection for African Americans against police brutality, or to provide African Americans with the means to vote; he described the bill as "too little and too late". But when copies of the speech were distributed on August 27, the other chairs of the march insisted that it be revised. James Forman re-wrote Lewis's speech on a portable typewriter in a small anteroom behind Lincoln's statue during the program. He replaced Lewis's initial assertion "we cannot support, wholeheartedly the [Kennedy] civil rights bill” with “We support it with great reservations."
After Lewis, Dr. King gave his now celebrated "I Have a Dream" speech. Historian Howard Zinn later wrote of this occasion:
In 1964, SNCC opened Freedom Schools, launched the Mississippi Freedom Summer for voter education and registration. Lewis coordinated SNCC's efforts for Freedom Summer, a campaign to register black voters in Mississippi and to engage college student activists in aiding the campaign. Lewis traveled the country, encouraging students to spend their summer break trying to help people vote in Mississippi, which had the lowest number of black voters and strong resistance to the movement.
In 1965 Lewis organized some of the voter registration efforts during the 1965 Selma voting rights campaign, and became nationally known during his prominent role in the Selma to Montgomery marches. On March 7, 1965 – a day that would become known as "Bloody Sunday" – Lewis and fellow activist Hosea Williams led over 600 marchers across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama. At the end of the bridge and the city-county boundary, they were met by Alabama State Troopers who ordered them to disperse. When the marchers stopped to pray, the police discharged tear gas and mounted troopers charged the demonstrators, beating them with nightsticks. Lewis's skull was fractured, but he was aided in escaping across the bridge to Brown Chapel, a church in Selma that served as the movement's headquarters. Lewis bore scars on his head from this incident for the rest of his life.
Lewis served as SNCC chairman until 1966, when he was replaced by Stokely Carmichael.
Field Foundation, SRC, and VEP (1966–1977)
In 1966, Lewis moved to New York City to take a job as the associate director of the Field Foundation. He was there a little over a year before moving back to Atlanta to direct the Southern Regional Council's Community Organization Project. During his time with the SRC, he completed his degree from Fisk University.
In 1970, Lewis became the director of the Voter Education Project (VEP), a position he held until 1977. Though initially a project of the Southern Regional Council, the VEP became an independent organization in 1971. Despite difficulties caused by the 1973–1975 recession, the VEP added nearly four million minority voters to the rolls under Lewis's leadership. During his tenure, the VEP expanded its mission, including running Voter Mobilization Tours.
Early work in government (1977–1986)
In January 1977, incumbent Democratic U.S. Congressman Andrew Young of Georgia's 5th congressional district resigned to become the U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. under President Jimmy Carter. In the March 1977 open primary, Atlanta City Councilman Wyche Fowler ranked first with 40% of the vote, failing to reach the 50% threshold to win outright. Lewis ranked second with 29% of the vote. In the April election, Fowler defeated Lewis 62%–38%.
After his unsuccessful bid, Lewis accepted a position with the Carter administration as associate director of ACTION, responsible for running the VISTA program, the Retired Senior Volunteer Program, and the Foster Grandparent Program. He held that job for two and a half years, resigning as the 1980 election approached.
In 1981, Lewis ran for an at-large seat on the Atlanta City Council. He won with 69% of the vote, and served on the council until 1986.
U.S. House of Representatives
Elections
1986
After nine years as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, Wyche Fowler gave up the seat to make a successful run for the U.S. Senate. Lewis decided to run for the 5th district again. In the August Democratic primary, where a victory was considered tantamount to election, State Representative Julian Bond ranked first with 47%, just three points shy of winning outright. Lewis finished in second place with 35%. In the run-off, Lewis pulled an upset against Bond, defeating him 52% to 48%. The race was said to have "badly strained relations in Atlanta's black community" as many Black leaders had supported Bond over Lewis. Lewis was "endorsed by the Atlanta newspapers and a favorite of the white liberal establishment". His victory was due to strong results among white voters (a minority in the district). During the campaign, he ran advertisements accusing Bond of corruption, implying that Bond used cocaine, and suggesting that Bond had lied about his civil rights activism.
In the November general election, Lewis defeated Republican Portia Scott 75% to 25%.
1988–2018
Lewis was reelected 18 times, dropping below 70 percent of the vote in the general election only once in 1994, when he defeated Republican Dale Dixon by a 38-point margin, 69%–31%. He ran unopposed in 1996, 2004, 2006, and 2008, and again in 2014 and 2018.
He was challenged in the Democratic primary just twice: in 1992 and 2008. In 1992, he defeated State Representative Mable Thomas 76%–24%. In 2008, Thomas decided to challenge Lewis again; Markel Hutchins also contested the race. Lewis defeated Hutchins and Thomas 69%–16%–15%.
Tenure
Overview
Lewis represented Georgia's 5th congressional district, one of the most consistently Democratic districts in the nation. Since its formalization in 1845, the district has been represented by a Democrat for most of its history.
Lewis was one of the most liberal congressmen to have represented a district in the Deep South. He was categorized as a "Hard-Core Liberal" by On the Issues. The Washington Post described Lewis in 1998 as "a fiercely partisan Democrat but ... also fiercely independent". Lewis characterized himself as a strong and adamant liberal. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution said Lewis was the "only former major civil rights leader who extended his fight for human rights and racial reconciliation to the halls of Congress". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution also said that to "those who know him, from U.S. senators to 20-something congressional aides", he is called the "conscience of Congress". Lewis cited Florida Senator and later Representative Claude Pepper, a staunch liberal, as being the colleague whom he most admired. Lewis also spoke out in support of gay rights and national health insurance.
Lewis opposed the 1991 Gulf War, and the 2000 U.S. trade agreement with China that passed the House. He opposed the Clinton administration on NAFTA and welfare reform. After welfare reform passed, Lewis was described as outraged; he said, "Where is the sense of decency? What does it profit a great nation to conquer the world, only to lose its soul?" In 1994, when Clinton considered invading Haiti, Lewis opposed armed intervention. After a non-violent transition of power was negotiated, Lewis supported the presence of U.S. troops in Haiti as part of Operation Uphold Democracy, calling the operation a "mission of peace". In 1998, when Clinton was considering a military strike against Iraq, Lewis said he would back the president if American forces were ordered into action. In 2001, three days after the September 11 attacks, Lewis voted to give President George W. Bush authority to use force against the perpetrators of 9/11 in a vote that was 420–1; Lewis called it probably one of his toughest votes. In 2002, he sponsored the Peace Tax Fund bill, a conscientious objection to military taxation initiative that had been reintroduced yearly since 1972. Lewis was a "fierce partisan critic of President Bush", and an early opponent of the Iraq War. The Associated Press said he was "the first major House figure to suggest impeaching George W. Bush", arguing that the president "deliberately, systematically violated the law" in authorizing the National Security Agency to conduct wiretaps without a warrant. Lewis said, "He is not king, he is president."
Lewis drew on his historical involvement in the Civil Rights Movement as part of his politics. He made an annual pilgrimage to Alabama to retrace the route he marched in 1965 from Selma to Montgomery – a route Lewis worked to make part of the Historic National Trails program. That trip became "one of the hottest tickets in Washington among lawmakers, Republican and Democrat, eager to associate themselves with Lewis and the movement. 'We don't deliberately set out to win votes, but it's very helpful", Lewis said of the trip'." In recent years, however, Faith and Politics Institute drew criticism for selling seats on the trip to lobbyists for at least $25,000 each. According to the Center for Public Integrity, even Lewis said that he would feel "much better" if the institute's funding came from churches and foundations instead of corporations.
On June 3, 2011, the House passed a resolution 268–145, calling for a withdrawal of the United States military from the air and naval operations in and around Libya. Lewis voted against the resolution.
In a 2002 op-ed, Lewis mentioned a response by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to an anti-Zionist student at a 1967 Harvard meeting, quoting "When people criticize Zionists they mean Jews, you are talking anti-Semitism." In describing the special relationship between African Americans and American Jews in working for liberation and peace, he also gave other statements by King to the same effect, including one from March 25, 1968: "Peace for Israel means security, and we must stand with all our might to protect its right to exist, its territorial integrity. I see Israel as one of the great outposts of democracy in the world, and a marvelous example of what can be done, how desert land can be transformed into an oasis of brotherhood and democracy. Peace for Israel means security and that security must be a reality."
Lewis "strongly disagreed" with the movement for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel and co-sponsored resolution condemning the pro-Palestinian group, but he supported Representatives Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib's House resolution opposing U.S. anti-boycott legislation banning the boycott of Israel. He explained his support as "a simple demonstration of my ongoing commitment to the ability of every American to exercise the fundamental First Amendment right to protest through nonviolent actions".
Protests
In January 2001, Lewis boycotted the inauguration of George W. Bush by staying in his Atlanta district. He did not attend the swearing-in because he did not believe Bush was the true elected president. Later, Lewis joined 30 other House Democrats who voted to not count the 20 electoral votes from Ohio in the 2004 presidential election.
In March 2003, Lewis spoke to a crowd of 30,000 in Oregon during an anti-war protest before the start of the Iraq War. In 2006 and 2009 he was arrested for protesting against the genocide in Darfur outside the Sudanese embassy. He was one of eight U.S. Representatives, from six states, arrested while holding a sit-in near the west side of the U.S. Capitol building, to advocate for immigration reform.
2008 presidential election
At first, Lewis supported Hillary Clinton, endorsing her presidential campaign on October 12, 2007. On February 14, 2008, however, he announced he was considering withdrawing his support from Clinton and might instead cast his superdelegate vote for Barack Obama: "Something is happening in America and people are prepared and ready to make that great leap." Ben Smith of Politico said that "it would be a seminal moment in the race if John Lewis were to switch sides."
On February 27, 2008, Lewis formally changed his support and endorsed Obama. After Obama clinched the Democratic nomination for president, Lewis said "If someone had told me this would be happening now, I would have told them they were crazy, out of their mind, they didn't know what they were talking about ... I just wish the others were around to see this day. ... To the people who were beaten, put in jail, were asked questions they could never answer to register to vote, it's amazing." Despite switching his support to Obama, Lewis drew criticism from his constituents for his support of Clinton for several months. One of his challengers in the House primary election set up campaign headquarters inside the building that served as Obama's Georgia office.
In October 2008, Lewis issued a statement criticizing the presidential campaign of John McCain and his running mate Sarah Palin and accusing them of "sowing the seeds of hatred and division" in a way that brought to mind the late Gov. George Wallace and "another destructive period" in American political history. McCain said he was "saddened" by the criticism from "a man I've always admired", and called on Obama to repudiate Lewis's statement. Obama responded to the statement, saying that he "does not believe that John McCain or his policy criticism is in any way comparable to George Wallace or his segregationist policies". Lewis later issued a follow-up statement clarifying that he had not compared McCain and Palin to Wallace himself, but rather that his earlier statement was a "reminder to all Americans that toxic language can lead to destructive behavior".
On an African American being elected president, he said:After Obama's swearing-in ceremony as president, Lewis asked him to sign a commemorative photograph of the event. Obama signed it, "Because of you, John. Barack Obama."
2016 firearm safety legislation sit-in
On June 22, 2016, House Democrats, led by Lewis and Massachusetts Representative Katherine Clark, began a sit-in demanding House Speaker Paul Ryan allow a vote on gun-safety legislation in the aftermath of the Orlando nightclub shooting. Speaker pro tempore Daniel Webster ordered the House into recess, but Democrats refused to leave the chamber for nearly 26 hours.
National African American Museum
In 1988, the year after he was sworn into Congress, Lewis introduced a bill to create a national African American museum in Washington. The bill failed, and for 15 years he continued to introduce it with each new Congress. Each time it was blocked in the Senate, most often by conservative Southern Senator Jesse Helms. In 2003, Helms retired. The bill won bipartisan support, and President George W. Bush signed the bill to establish the museum, with the Smithsonian's Board of Regents to establish the location. The National Museum of African American History and Culture, located adjacent to the Washington Monument, held its opening ceremony on September 25, 2016.
2016 presidential election
Lewis supported Hillary Clinton in the 2016 Democratic presidential primaries against Bernie Sanders. Regarding Sanders' role in the civil rights movement, Lewis remarked "To be very frank, I never saw him, I never met him. I chaired the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee for three years, from 1963 to 1966. I was involved in sit-ins, in the Freedom Rides, the March on Washington, the March from Selma to Montgomery ... but I met Hillary Clinton". Former Congressman and Hawaii Governor Neil Abercrombie wrote a letter to Lewis expressing his disappointment with Lewis's comments about Sanders. Lewis later clarified his statement, saying "During the late 1950s and 1960s when I was more engaged, [Sanders] was not there. I did not see him around. I have never seen him in the South. But if he was there, if he was involved someplace, I was not aware of it ... The fact that I did not meet him in the movement does not mean I doubted that Senator Sanders participated in the civil rights movement, neither was I attempting to disparage his activism."
In a January 2016 interview, Lewis compared Donald Trump, then the Republican front-runner for the presidential nomination, to former Alabama Governor George Wallace: "I've been around a while and Trump reminds me so much of a lot of the things that George Wallace said and did. I think demagogues are pretty dangerous, really ... We shouldn't divide people, we shouldn't separate people."
On January 13, 2017, during an interview with NBC's Chuck Todd for Meet the Press, Lewis stated: "I don't see the president-elect as a legitimate president." He added, "I think the Russians participated in having this man get elected, and they helped destroy the candidacy of Hillary Clinton. I don't plan to attend the inauguration. I think there was a conspiracy on the part of the Russians, and others, that helped him get elected. That's not right. That's not fair. That's not the open, democratic process." Trump replied on Twitter the following day, suggesting that Lewis should "spend more time on fixing and helping his district, which is in horrible shape and falling apart (not to [...] mention crime infested) rather than falsely complaining about the election results", and accusing Lewis of being "All talk, talk, talk – no action or results. Sad!" Trump's statement about Lewis's district was rated as "Mostly False" by PolitiFact, and he was criticized for attacking a civil rights leader such as Lewis, especially one who was brutally beaten for the cause, and especially on Martin Luther King weekend. Senator John McCain acknowledged Lewis as "an American hero" but criticized him, saying: "this is not the first time that Congressman Lewis has taken a very extreme stand and condemned without any shred of evidence for doing so an incoming president of the United States. This is a stain on Congressman Lewis's reputation – no one else's."
A few days later, Lewis said that he would not attend Trump's inauguration because he did not believe that Trump was the true elected president. "It will be the first (inauguration) that I miss since I've been in Congress. You cannot be at home with something that you feel that is wrong, is not right", he said. Lewis had failed to attend George W. Bush's inauguration in 2001 because he believed that he too was not a legitimately elected president. Lewis's statement was rated as "Pants on Fire" by PolitiFact.
2020 presidential election
Lewis endorsed Joe Biden for president on April 7, 2020, a day before Biden effectively secured the Democratic nomination. He recommended Biden pick a woman of color as his running mate.
Committee assignments
Lewis served on the following Congressional committees at the time of his death:
Committee on Ways and Means
Subcommittee on Oversight (Chair)
United States Congress Joint Committee on Taxation
Caucus memberships
Lewis was a member of over 40 caucuses, including:
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) Caucus (Co-Chair)
Congressional Structured Settlements Caucus (Co-Chair)
Congressional Black Caucus
Congressional Progressive Caucus
Congressional Brazil Caucus
Congressional Arts Caucus
In 1991, Lewis became the senior chief deputy whip in the Democratic caucus.
Biographies
Lewis's 1998 autobiography Walking with the Wind: A Memoir of the Movement, co-written with Mike D'Orso, won the Robert F. Kennedy Book Award, the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, the Christopher Award and the Lillian Smith Book Award. It appeared on numerous bestseller lists, was selected as a New York Times Notable Book of the Year, was named by the American Library Association as its Nonfiction Book of the Year, and was included among Newsweek magazine's 2009 list of "50 Books For Our Times". It was critically acclaimed, with The Washington Post calling it "the definitive account of the civil rights movement" and the Los Angeles Times proclaiming it "destined to become a classic in civil rights literature".
His life is also the subject of a 2002 book for young people, John Lewis: From Freedom Rider to Congressman. In 2012, Lewis released Across That Bridge, written with Brenda Jones, to mixed reviews. Publishers Weeklys review said, "At its best, the book provides a testament to the power of nonviolence in social movements ... At its worst, it resembles an extended campaign speech."
March (2013)
In 2013, Lewis became the first member of Congress to write a graphic novel, with the launch of a trilogy titled March. The March trilogy is a black and white comics trilogy about the Civil Rights Movement, told through the perspective of civil rights leader and U.S. Congressman John Lewis. The first volume, March: Book One is written by Lewis and Andrew Aydin, illustrated and lettered by Nate Powell and was published in August 2013, the second volume, March: Book Two was published in January 2015 and the final volume, March: Book Three was published in August 2016.
In an August 2014 interview, Lewis cited the influence of a 1958 comic book, Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story, on his decision to adapt his experience to the graphic novel format. March: Book One became a number one New York Times bestseller for graphic novels and spent more than a year on the lists.
March: Book One received an "Author Honor" from the American Library Association's 2014 Coretta Scott King Book Awards, which honors an African American author of a children's book. Book One also became the first graphic novel to win a Robert F. Kennedy Book Award, receiving a "Special Recognition" bust in 2014.
March: Book One was selected by first-year reading programs in 2014 at Michigan State University, Georgia State University, and Marquette University.
March: Book Two was released in 2015 and immediately became both a New York Times and Washington Post bestseller for graphic novels.
The release of March: Book Three in August 2016 brought all three volumes into the top 3 slots of the New York Times bestseller list for graphic novels for 6 consecutive weeks. The third volume was announced as the recipient of the 2017 Printz Award for excellence in young-adult literature, the Coretta Scott King Award, the YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction, the 2016 National Book Award in Young People's Literature, and the Sibert Medal at the American Library Association's annual Midwinter Meeting in January 2017.
The March trilogy received the Carter G. Woodson Book Award in the Secondary (grades 7–12) category in 2017.
Run (2018)
In 2018, Lewis and Andrew Aydin co-wrote another graphic novel as a sequel to the March series entitled Run, which documents Lewis's life after the passage of the Civil Rights Act. The authors teamed with illustrator Afua Richardson for the book, which was originally scheduled to be released in August 2018, but was later rescheduled. It was released on August 3, 2021, a year after his death, as it was one of his last endeavours before he died. Nate Powell, who illustrated March, also contributed to the art.
Personal life
Marriage and family
Lewis met his future wife Lillian Miles at a New Year's Eve party hosted by Xernona Clayton. Lillian worked for the library of Atlanta University at the time. The two of them married one year later in 1964. In 1966, they had a son, who also works in politics.Lillian died on December 31, 2012, the 45th anniversary of the couple's meeting.He has a grandson who lives in Paris.
Illness and death
On December 29, 2019, Lewis announced that he had been diagnosed with stage IV pancreatic cancer. He remained in the Washington D.C. area for his treatment. Lewis stated: "I have been in some kind of fight – for freedom, equality, basic human rights – for nearly my entire life. I have never faced a fight quite like the one I have now."
On July 17, 2020, Lewis died at the age of 80 after suffering from the disease for 8 months in Atlanta, on the same day in the same city as his friend and fellow civil rights activist C.T. Vivian. Lewis had been the final surviving "Big Six" civil rights icon.
Then-president Donald Trump ordered all flags to be flown at half-staff in response to Lewis's death. Condolences also came from the international community, with Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven, French President Emmanuel Macron, Irish President Michael D. Higgins among others, all memorializing Lewis.
Funeral services
Public ceremonies honoring Lewis began in his hometown of Troy, Alabama at Troy University, which had denied him admission in 1957 due to racial segregation. His casket was then taken for a memorial held at the historic Brown Chapel AME Church in Selma, Alabama. Calls to rename the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, in Lewis's honor grew after his death. On July 26, 2020, his casket, carried in a horse-drawn caisson, traveled the same route over the bridge that he walked during the Bloody Sunday march from Selma to Montgomery, before his lying in state at the Alabama State Capitol in Montgomery.
United States House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced that Lewis would lie in state in the United States Capitol Rotunda on July 27 and 28, with a public viewing and procession through Washington, D.C. He is the first African-American lawmaker to be so honored in the Rotunda; in October 2019 his colleague, representative Elijah Cummings, lay in state in the Capitol Statuary Hall. Health concerns related to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic led to a decision to have his casket displayed outdoors on the East Front steps during the public viewing hours, rather than the usual line of people in the Rotunda filing past the casket to pay their respects. On July 29, 2020, Lewis's casket left the U.S. Capitol and was transported back to Atlanta, Georgia, where he lay in state at the Georgia State Capitol.
Among the distinguished speakers at his final funeral service at Atlanta's Ebenezer Baptist Church were former U.S. Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama, who gave the eulogy. Former President Jimmy Carter, unable to travel during the COVID-19 pandemic due to his advanced age, sent a statement to be read during the service. The then-current President Donald Trump did not attend the service. Lewis was buried at Atlanta's historic South-View Cemetery.
Lewis penned an op-ed to the nation that was published in The New York Times on the day of his funeral. In it, he called on the younger generation to continue the work for justice and an end to hate.
Honors
Lewis was honored by having the 1997 sculpture by Thornton Dial, The Bridge, placed at Ponce de Leon Avenue and Freedom Park, Atlanta, dedicated to him by the artist. In 1999, Lewis was awarded the Wallenberg Medal from the University of Michigan in recognition of his courageous lifelong commitment to the defense of civil and human rights. In that same year, he received the Four Freedoms Award for the Freedom of Speech.
In 2001, the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation awarded Lewis the Profile in Courage Award "for his extraordinary courage, leadership and commitment to civil rights". It is a lifetime achievement award and has been given out only twice, John Lewis and William Winter (in 2008). The next year he was awarded the Spingarn Medal from the NAACP.
In 2004, Lewis received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement presented by Awards Council member James Earl Jones.
In 2006, he received the U.S. Senator John Heinz Award for Greatest Public Service by an Elected or Appointed Official, an award given out annually by Jefferson Awards for Public Service. In September 2007, Lewis was awarded the Dole Leadership Prize from the Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics at the University of Kansas.
Lewis was the only living speaker from the March on Washington present on the stage during the inauguration of Barack Obama. Obama signed a commemorative photograph for Lewis with the words, "Because of you, John. Barack Obama."
In 2010, Lewis was awarded the First LBJ Liberty and Justice for All Award, given to him by the Lyndon Baines Johnson Foundation, and the next year, Lewis was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama.
In 2016, it was announced that a future United States Navy underway replenishment oiler would be named . Also in 2016, Lewis and fellow Selma marcher Frederick Reese accepted Congressional Gold Medals which were bestowed to the "foot soldiers" of the Selma marchers. The same year, Lewis was awarded the Liberty Medal at the National Constitution Center. The prestigious award has been awarded to international leaders from Malala Yousafzai to the 14th Dalai Lama, presidents George Bush and Bill Clinton and other dignitaries and visionaries. The timing of Lewis's award coincided with the 150th anniversary of the 14th amendment. In 2020, Lewis was awarded the Walter P. Reuther Humanitarian Award by Wayne State University, the UAW, and the Reuther family.
Lewis gave numerous commencement addresses, including at the School of Visual Arts (SVA) in 2014, Bates College (in Lewiston, Maine) and Washington University in St. Louis in 2016, Bard College and Bank Street College of Education in 2017, and Harvard University in 2018.
Lewis was recognized for his involvement with comics with the 2017 Inkpot Award.
On July 30, 2018, the Atlanta City Council voted to rename Atlanta's Freedom Parkway John Lewis Freedom Parkway. On November 5, 2020, the Metropolitan Council of Nashville and Davidson County voted to rename an extensive part of Nashville, Tennessee's 5th Avenue John Lewis Way.
On June 23, 2020, the Fairfax County Public School Board voted to change the name of Robert E. Lee High School to John R. Lewis High School which is located in Springfield, Virginia. A program called John Lewis Now was created in his vision to provide students with in-school curriculum and out-of-school experiences in leadership and government utilizing the nearby Washington D.C. area.
Lewis's death in July 2020 has given rise to support for renaming the historically significant Pettus bridge in Lewis's honor, an idea previously floated years ago. After his death, the Board of Fairfax County Public Schools announced that Robert E. Lee High School in Springfield, Virginia would be renamed John R. Lewis High School.
Following his death, Troy University announced that the main building on its flagship campus would bear the name of John Lewis. The building, which was the oldest on campus, was previously named after Bibb Graves, a former governor of Alabama and high-ranking officer of the Ku Klux Klan.
On August 1, 2020, a statue of Lewis was revealed by sculptor Gregory Johnson. The statue was commissioned by Rodney Mims Cook Jr. and was installed at Cook Park in Atlanta, Georgia, in April 2021.
On February 21, 2021, President Joe Biden marked Lewis's late birthday on Sunday, urging all Americans to “carry on his mission in the fight for justice and equality for all.” He tweeted, “While my dear friend may no longer be with us, his life and legacy provide an eternal moral compass on which direction to march. May we carry on his mission in the fight for justice and equality for all.”
On October 27, 2021, the University of California, Santa Cruz named one of its residential colleges, formerly known as College Ten, John R Lewis College.
Honorary academic degrees
Lewis was awarded more than 50 honorary degrees, including:
1989: Honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Troy State University (now Troy University)
1995: Honorary Doctor of Public Service degree from Northeastern University
1998: Honorary Humane Letters degree from Brandeis University
1999: Honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the University of Massachusetts Boston
1999: Honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Knox College
2001: Honorary Doctor of Laws degree from University at Albany
2002: Honorary D.H.L. from Howard University
2003: Honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the College of Wooster
2004: Honorary degree from Portland State University
2004: Honorary LHD from Juniata College
2007: Honorary LL.D. degree from the University of Vermont
2007: Honorary LL.D. degree from Adelphi University
2012: Honorary LL.D. degrees from Brown University, University of Pennsylvania, Harvard University, and the University of Connecticut School of Law
2013: Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Judson College
2013: Honorary LL.D. degrees from Cleveland State University and Union College
2014: Honorary LL.D. degree from Emory University
2014: Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from the School of Visual Arts.
2014: Honorary Bachelor of Arts from Lawrence University.
2014: Honorary Doctor of Letters degree from Marquette University
2015: Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from the McCourt School of Public Policy, Georgetown University.
2015: Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Lawrence University
2015: Honorary degree from Goucher College
2015: Honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Hampton University
2016: Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from New York University
2016: Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Bates College
2016: Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Washington University in St. Louis
2016: Honorary Doctor of Policy Analysis from the Frederick S. Pardee RAND Graduate School
2016: Honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Washington and Jefferson College
2017: Honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Yale University
2017: Honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Berea College
2017: Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Bank Street Graduate School of Education
2018: Honorary Doctor of Law degree from Boston University
2019: Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from City College of New York
2019: Honorary Doctorate from Tulane University
Electoral history
|+ : Results 1986–2018
! Year
!
! Democratic
! Votes
! %
!
! Republican
! Votes
! %
!
|-
|1986
||
| |John Lewis
| |93,229
| |75%
|
| |Portia Scott
| |30,562
| |25%
|
|-
|1988
||
| |John Lewis
| |135,194
| |78%
|
| |J. W. Tibbs
| |37,693
| |22%
|
|-
|1990
||
| |John Lewis
| |86,037
| |76%
|
| |J. W. Tibbs
| |27,781
| |24%
|
|-
|1992
||
| |John Lewis
| |147,445
| |72%
|
| |Paul Stabler
| |56,960
| |28%
|
|-
|1994
||
| |John Lewis
| |85,094
| |69%
|
| |Dale Dixon
| |37,999
| |31%
|
|-
|1996
||
| |John Lewis
| |136,555
| |100%
|
| |No candidate
| |
| |
|
|-
|1998
||
| |John Lewis
| |109,177
| |79%
|
| |John H. Lewis
| |29,877
| |21%
|
|-
|2000
||
| |John Lewis
| |137,333
| |77%
|
| |Hank Schwab
| |40,606
| |23%
|
|-
|2002
|
| |John Lewis
| |116,259
| |100%
|
| |No candidate
| |
| |
|
|-
|2004
||
| |John Lewis
| |201,773
| |100%
|
| |No candidate
| |
| |
|
|-
|2006
||
| |John Lewis
| |122,380
| |100%
|
| |No candidate
| |
| |
|
|-
|2008
||
| |John Lewis
| |231,368
| |100%
|
| |No candidate
| |
| |
|
|-
|2010
||
| |John Lewis
| |130,782
| |74%
|
| |Fenn Little
| |46,622
| |26%
|
|-
|2012
||
| |John Lewis
| |234,330
| |84%
|
| |Howard Stopeck
| |43,335
| |16%
|
|-
|2014
||
| |John Lewis
| |170,326
| |100%
|
| |No candidate
| |
| |
|
|-
|2016
||
| |John Lewis
| |253,781
| |84%
|
| |Douglas Bell
| |46,768
| |16%
|
|-
|2018
||
| |John Lewis
| |273,084
| |100%
|
| |No candidate
| |
| |
|
In popular culture
Lewis was portrayed by Stephan James in the 2014 film Selma. He made a cameo appearance in the music video for Young Jeezy's song "My President", which was released in the month of Obama's inauguration. In 2017, John Lewis voiced himself in the Arthur episode "Arthur Takes a Stand". Lewis's life was chronicled in the 2017 PBS documentary John Lewis: Get in the Way and the 2020 CNN Films documentary John Lewis: Good Trouble.
Lewis appeared in the 2019 documentary Bobby Kennedy for President, in which Lewis commends Robert F. Kennedy especially in regards to his support for civil rights throughout his time as a senator for New York and during Kennedy's 1968 presidential campaign. Lewis also recounted his deep sorrow following the 1968 assassinations of Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr.
Lewis appeared alongside Amandla Stenberg to present Green Book as Best Picture at the 91st Academy Awards that took place on February 24, 2019.
Lewis attended comics conventions to promote his graphic novel, most notably the San Diego Comic-Con, which he attended in 2013, 2015, 2016, and 2017. During the 2015 convention, Lewis led, along with his graphic novel collaborators Andrew Aydin and Nate Powell, an impromptu simulated Selma civil rights march arm in arm with children, during which he wore the same clothes as he did on Bloody Sunday, garnering thousands of con goers to participate. The event became so popular it was repeated in 2016 and 2017.
Bibliography
Reporting Civil Rights: American Journalism 1963–1973 (Library of America: 2003)
Walking with the Wind: A Memoir of the Movement by John Lewis with Michael D'Orso, (Harvest Books: 1999) . The U.S. Congressman tells of life in the trenches of the Civil Rights Movement, the numerous arrests, sit-ins, and marches that led to breaking down the barriers of discrimination in the South during the 1950s and 1960s.
John Lewis in the Lead: A Story of the Civil Rights Movement by Jim Haskins and Kathleen Benson, illustrated by Benny Andrews, (Lee & Low Books: 2006) . A biography of John Lewis, one of the "Big Six" leaders who were chairman of activist groups organizing the 1963 March on Washington, focusing on his involvement in Freedom Rides, the March on Washington, and the march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in the 1965 Selma to Montgomery marches.
John Lewis: From Freedom Rider to Congressman by Christine M. Hill, (Enslow Publishers, Inc., 2002) . A biography of John Lewis written for juvenile readers.
Freedom Riders: John Lewis and Jim Zwerg on the Frontlines of the Civil Rights Movement by Ann Bausum, (National Geographic Society, 2006) .
Across That Bridge by John Lewis with Brenda Jones, (Hyperion: 2012) . Winner of the 2013 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work/Biography. It is an accessible discussion of Lewis's philosophy and his viewpoint of the philosophical basis of the Civil Rights Movement.
March: Book One a 2013 illustrated comic history of Lewis's career, with sequels published in 2015 and 2016, by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell, (Top Shelf Productions) .
Carry On: Reflections for a New Generation from John Lewis (2021)
See also
John Lewis Voting Rights Act
List of African-American United States representatives
List of civil rights leaders
List of United States Congress members who died in office (2000–)#2020s
References
Further reading
Oral History Interview with John Lewis from Oral Histories of the American South, November 20, 1973
"SNCC – People: John Lewis.", April 11, 2011
" Congressman John R. Lewis Biography and Interview." www.achievement.org. American Academy of Achievement.
External links
SNCC Digital Gateway: John Lewis, Documentary website created by the SNCC Legacy Project and Duke University, telling the story of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and grassroots organizing from the inside-out
John Lewis debates the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) , June 11, 1996.
Rep. Lewis on Congress, Gitmo, Afghan War and Charles Rangel – video interview by Democracy Now!, November 17, 2010
Finding your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. "Season 1, Episode 2: John Lewis and Cory Booker"
American Experience; Freedom Riders; Interview with John Lewis from the American Archive of Public Broadcasting
SNCC photographer Danny Lyon on John Lewis, his roommate in Atlanta in 1963 and lifelong friend
|-
|-
1940 births
2020 deaths
20th-century American male writers
20th-century American non-fiction writers
20th-century American politicians
20th-century Baptists
21st-century African-American people
21st-century American male writers
21st-century American non-fiction writers
21st-century American politicians
21st-century Baptists
Activists for African-American civil rights
Activists from Alabama
African-American Christians
African-American members of the United States House of Representatives
African-American non-fiction writers
African-American people in Georgia (U.S. state) politics
American anti-poverty advocates
American gun control activists
American memoirists
Articles containing video clips
Baptists from Alabama
Baptists from Georgia (U.S. state)
Burials at South-View Cemetery
COINTELPRO targets
Carter G. Woodson Book Award winners
Deaths from pancreatic cancer in Georgia (U.S. state)
Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Georgia (U.S. state)
Fisk University alumni
Freedom Riders
History of racial segregation in the United States
Inkpot Award winners
Nashville Student Movement
Nonviolence advocates
People from Troy, Alabama
Politicians from Atlanta
Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients
Recipients of the Four Freedoms Award
Selma to Montgomery marches
Spingarn Medal winners
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee
Volunteers in Service to America administrators
Writers from Alabama
Writers from Atlanta
Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal winners
|
411741
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greg%20the%20Bunny
|
Greg the Bunny
|
Greg the Bunny is an American television sitcom that originally aired on Fox in 2002. It starred Seth Green and a hand puppet named Greg the Bunny, originally invented by the team of Sean S. Baker, Spencer Chinoy and Dan Milano. Milano and Chinoy wrote and co-produced the Fox show. The show was spun off from The Greg the Bunny Show, a series of short segments that aired on the Independent Film Channel, which were based on the Public-access television cable TV show Junktape. A show spin-off, called Warren the Ape, premiered on June 14, 2010, on MTV.
Plot
In the FOX show, Greg was the co-star of a children's television show called Sweetknuckle Junction. Like The Muppet Show, Greg the Bunny treated puppets as though they were real creatures within the reality of the show. Although in this show, they were treated as a racial minority (who prefer to be called by the politically correct term "fabricated Americans"), sometimes struggling against second-class citizenship.
Characters
Humans
Gilbert "Gil" Bender (played by Eugene Levy) – The overwhelmed TV producer and director of Sweetknuckle Junction and the father of Jimmy Bender. He expects Jimmy to succeed in his life.
Jimmy Bender (played by Seth Green) – The human roommate of Greg the Bunny and the son of Gil Bender. He was a former pool man before he started working with his father where he hooked Greg up for a part on Sweetknuckle Junction. After Greg lands the part on the show, Jimmy becomes the production assistant to his father. In "SK-2.0," Jimmy temporarily became a creative consultant to help modernize the show. He went back to his production assistant job after "SK-2.0" caused the test audience children to have seizures and the network getting lawsuits from the parents of the children.
Alison Kaiser (played by Sarah Silverman) – The network executive that Gil Bender works for. She used to work at PBS.
Jack Mars (played by Bob Gunton) – An actor and Vietnam War veteran who plays Junction Jack, the railroad engineer host of Sweetknuckle Junction. Even though he has a distaste for puppets off-camera, Jack is the drinking buddy of Warren DeMontague and Count Frederick Blah. In "SK-2.0," Jimmy's filming of the alter-ego of "Sweetknuckle Junction" called "SK-2.0" had Junction Jack converted to a cyborg named Cybo-Jack who also wears a rocket pack. After the viewing of "SK-2.0" by the test audience children caused them to have seizures and their parents to file lawsuits against the network, Jack started playing Junction Jack again. In "Jewel Heist," it is revealed that Jack grew up on a farm where his job was to castrate the bull cattle. In "Surprise," it is revealed that Jack can shoot better when he dresses like a woman. In "Sock Like Me," Jack's reason for his puppet distaste is because his mother had an affair with a puppet while he was a child. This led to Jack's mom leaving Jack and his dad where she ran off with the puppet.
"Dottie" Sunshine (played by Dina Waters) – An actress who is the beautiful human co-host of Sweetknuckle Junction. She is more comfortable around most puppets than any other person. In "SK-2.0", Dottie wore a sexy outfit. When "SK-2.0" fails to pan out where it caused the children test audience to have seizures and the network getting lawsuits from the parents of the children, Dottie goes back to her original outfit. In "Jewel Heist," it is revealed that Dottie is allergic to bees. In "Greg Gets Puppish," it is revealed that Dottie had a puppet best friend growing up where Dottie later confesses that the puppet in question was her maid growing up.
Puppets
There have been many puppets that have been used on the show. The ones who are exclusive to the show have been designed and built at Animated Engineering McAvene Designs. Several of these puppets that appeared on the FOX show were reused from the children's direct-to-video series The Adventures of Timmy the Tooth like some members of the Gingivitis Gang appearing as background crew members.
Greg the Bunny (performed by Dan Milano) – A rabbit who is the title character of the show. Greg underwent many changes throughout the course of his career. The original Greg had buttons for eyes and did not have a mouth. In the Fox series, he was given a moving mouth and plastic eyes for the later episodes. When Greg the Bunny returned to IFC, his button eyes were restored and he lost his moving mouth. On the show, he acts mostly as comic relief, and jokes are made at his expense (particularly by Warren) about how he cannot act and that he's just there to look cute. In the IFC series, he lives with Spencer Chinoy and Sean S. Baker. In the Fox series, he lives with Jimmy Bender. Jimmy was the one who got his father Gil to give Greg a job on Sweetknuckle Junction where he portrayed himself as the nephew to the former character Rochester Rabbit co-starring alongside Junction Jack, Dottie, Count Blah, and Warren DeMontague. In "SK-2.0," the Sweetknuckle Junction alter-ego "SK-2.0" had Greg the Bunny playing "G. the B." When "SK-2.0" fails to pan out where it caused the children test audience to have seizures and the network getting lawsuits from the parents of the children, he becomes Greg the Bunny again. In "Greg Gets Puppish," Greg gets the Puppish name of Bizzleburp from Hurbada Hymena. In the MTV series spin-off "Warren the Ape," Greg makes an appearance when Warren spends time with him to become sexually abstinent. However, it ends up with the clueless Greg being arrested as a pedophile and losing his virginity while in jail. He was built by Paul McAvene.
Warren DeMontague (performed by Dan Milano) – A helmet-wearing ape who is the second main character on the show later starring in his own series Warren the Ape. He is the only character who uses a separate character name on Sweetknuckle Junction playing Professor Ape. He portrays himself as a veteran stage actor trying to make a new name for himself while having several substance-related vices. He initially despises working with Greg the Bunny because of his lack of stage experience. Warren has an agent named Maury who Warren tends to call up for any acting opportunities. In "SK-2.0," there were fat jokes made about Warren which caused him to strangle the test audience child that insulted him enough for Gil and Alison to break it up. Jimmy's plans for the alter-ego of "Sweetknuckle Junction" called "SK-2.0" had him telling Warren to shed some pounds. During the filming of "SK-2.0" under Jimmy's supervision, Warren had to operate as "Prof Meister Ape" with Gil eventually telling him to say his lines with feeling or else he'll rip the stitches that were placed in his rear and suck out the fat with an industrial vacuum. When "SK-2.0" fails to pan out where it caused the children test audience to have seizures and the network getting lawsuits from the parents of the children, he portrays Professor Ape again. In "Jewel Heist," it is revealed that Warren had a relationship with Farrah Fawcett.
Fredrick "Count Blah" Blah (performed by Dan Milano in the IFC show, Drew Massey on the FOX show) – A vampire who is another actor that had worked with Warren DeMontague many years ago. He is a parody of Count von Count of Sesame Street fame, although he regularly claims that Count von Count stole his act and took away his fame. In the IFC series, Spencer often asks Blah when directing to stop saying "Blah." This makes Blah very upset, as he insists that Blah is his gimmick. Blah was another puppet who underwent changes between series. In the IFC series, he has lighter skin and smaller eyes than he does on the Fox show and his hands are those of the assistant puppeteers.
Tardy Turtle (performed by Victor Yerrid) – A turtle who is exclusive to the FOX show. He is portrayed as a slow turtle (hence his name), in the sense that he is regularly late as well as likely being mentally handicapped and often says very random things ("Crayons taste like purple," "... the green ones make me horny," "... drumsticks can also be chicken") in the manner of Ralph Wiggum from The Simpsons. Tardy also ends some of his sentences or when he is frightened with a high-pitched squeal much like Leonardo DiCaprio's character Arnie Grape in What's Eating Gilbert Grape. In the opening credits, it's said that he graduated from Harvard at the head of his class, indicating that there is a possibility that he is a Savant. When FOX cancelled the series, the puppet was "stolen" and FOX claimed copyright to it. Someone that resembled Tardy makes an appearance on the IFC DVD in one of the pre-episode audio introductions.
Susan Monster (performed by James Murray) – A full-bodied furry purple monster with six breasts and a male voice who is exclusive to the FOX series. She works as an office worker at the network where Sweetknuckle Junction is filmed. In "Welcome to Sweetknuckle Junction," Susan was among the puppets who auditioned for Rochester Rabbit's part. In "Surprise," Susan is revealed to have a habit of eating stray cats. When FOX cancelled the series, they claimed copyright to Susan Monster's puppet.
Rochester Rabbit (performed by James Murray) – A gruff rabbit born in 1946 who was the previous puppet host of Sweetknuckle Junction for 15 years until he was fired due to forgetting his lines at his age and was replaced by Greg the Bunny. He is mentioned to have 43 kids. After Greg the Bunny landed Rochester's part on Sweetknuckle Junction as Rochester's nephew, Rochester crashed the filming of the show and threatened to cut him up with scissors only for him to be knocked out by Jimmy during the on-set skirmish between Warren and Jack. In "Rabbit Redux," Greg's recurring nightmares of Rochester burying him alive causes Greg to want to patch things up with him. Greg and Jack find Rochester selling Stars Maps with Jack hoping to get back the meatloaf pan that Rochester borrowed from him. Rochester rants about how Greg stealing his part on Sweetknuckle Junction caused him to lose his home and go broke. Greg convinced Gil to rehire Rochester which resulted in Rochester behind hired as a janitor. Greg even fakes an injury so that Rochester can get a part on the Thanksgiving episode of Sweetknuckle Junction, where he dances during one of the musical numbers until he suddenly dies from a heart attack. During the memorial service/roast, some jokes are made about Rochester followed by a presentation where Rochester got hurt during each episode. When it came to Warren's talk about Rochester, the cigar that was placed in Rochester's dead mouth started to burn Rochester's dead body.
Cranky (performed by Victor Yerrid) – A crew member who is often annoyed at things. He is a recycled version of Cavity Goon from The Adventures of Timmy the Tooth.
Dr. Aben Mitchell (performed by Drew Massey) – Aben is the leader of the Pro-Puppet Movement and an advocate on Puppet Rights. Being a Live-Hand Puppet, Drew Massey is assisted in performing him by James Murray.
Gay Bear (performed by Drew Massey) – A bear that acts gay. He was among the puppets that auditioned for Rochester Rabbit's part on Sweetknuckle Junction in the episode "Welcome to Sweetknuckle Junction."
Mr. Hygiene (performed by Victor Yerrid) –
Hurbada Hymena (performed by Drew Massey) – The leader of the militant puppet group called International Puppets Alliance.
Mushma and Ratagaba (performed by James Murray and Drew Massey) – Two members of the International Puppets Alliance that work for Hurbada. Mushma is a furry one-eyed monster and Ratagaba is a tall-headed goat-like creature.
Crippled Writer (performed by Victor Yerrid) – A leg brace-wearing writer at the network who is exclusive to the FOX series. In "The Singing Mailman," the Crippled Writer's forearm crutches were once stolen by Leo Kornelly after he had a fall and nobody has come to help the Crippled Writer up.
Jamaican Guy (performed by James Murray) – A Jamaican puppet who provides the piano music for Sweetknuckle Junction. Similar to Count Blah saying "Blah," Jamaican Guy says "Mon" at the end of his sentences as seen in "Dottie Heat" during their card game with Warren, Jack, a dog puppet, and an unnamed crew member.
The Wumpus (performed by Dan Milano) – A monster character exclusive to the IFC show. He is a parody of the Sesame Street Monsters and is very clumsy. The Wumpus, created by Chris Bergoch, first appeared in the early nineties in a Bergoch short.
Pal Friendlies (performed by Dan Milano) – A character exclusive to the IFC show. He is the talent agent for all the puppets who work on the show, although he is a very ineffective one. He also doubles as a lawyer in some episodes.
Elephant Man (performed by Paul McGinnis) – A puppet character that is modeled after Joseph Merrick who is exclusive to the IFC show.
Background and production
Junktape was a half-hour, bi-weekly Public-access television show created by Sean S. Baker, Spencer Chinoy and Dan Milano. The show aired on New York City's Manhattan Neighborhood Network, Monday nights at 11:30 pm. Eventually, the show got the attention of the Independent Film Channel and given its own series of regular segments starring one of the main characters from Junktape, Greg the Bunny. The Greg the Bunny Show on IFC involved Greg and other characters introducing independent films being screened by using skits that parodied the films.
The Fox show made its debut in March 2002 and its last episode aired in August 2002, with two episodes unaired. Its failure was largely ascribed to the show runner and networks' seeming cluelessness as to the direction they wanted the show to take. The network promoted Greg the Bunny as a puppet show for adults, but within the show itself, they insisted on toning down its edgier aspects. The creators felt these changes caused the show to lose something, and gave it much more of a traditional sitcom feel. The show runner and network also wanted to focus the show more on the human cast, while the creators maintained that the puppets were the heart of the show. Despite these problems, the series acquired a significant cult following, and was eventually released on DVD in 2004.
In August 2005, Greg the Bunny returned to the IFC, in a series of short segments, spoofing both old and new movies such as Annie Hall, Miller's Crossing, Barton Fink, Fargo, Blue Velvet, Easy Rider and Pulp Fiction. The cast for these segments primarily features puppets Greg and Warren Demontague with appearances from Count Blah, new character Pal Friendlies, and returning character The Wumpus. Tardy the Turtle and Susan were unable to appear in the IFC series because they were the property of FOX.
Episodes
The episodes appear in production code order on the DVD release.
Unaired pilot
Series (2002–2004)
IFC shorts (2005)
Greg the Bunny returned as a series of 12-minute shorts that aired on IFC, starting in August 2005.
IFC shorts (2006)
Home media
The original "Greg the Bunny: The Complete Series" DVD was released October 19, 2004.
The IFC series was partially released as "Greg the Bunny: Best of the Film Parodies" October 24, 2006.
The remainder of the IFC series released as "The Passion of Greg the Bunny: Best of the Film Parodies, Vol. 2" May 6, 2008.
Appearances in other shows
Greg the Bunny made a guest segment on Mad TV (episode 719, aired 2002): in it, Greg, the jaded pro, deals with an audition for a minor part from his psychotic first drama teacher.
Greg the Bunny appeared in the Duel Masters episode "Kokujo Strikes Back." He was portrayed as the world's second best duelist.
Peter Griffin mentions Greg the Bunny at the beginning of the Family Guy comeback episode "North by North Quahog", when he lists the shows that Family Guy was cancelled to "make room for" (roughly shows that were cancelled and their entire run was between the original cancellation and return of Family Guy). As he says "Greg the Bunny", he moves his head toward Chris, referencing the fact that Seth Green, one of the stars in Greg the Bunny, is also Chris' voice actor.
An original Greg the Bunny short was created by Dan Milano for the 100th episode of the podcast "Star Wars Action News". While no other puppets were featured, the skit showed Greg playing with his favorite Star Wars action figures. Creator Dan Milano also was featured in a second, separate, video segment.
Footage of the show can be seen in Sean Baker's Starlet and The Florida Project.
References
External links
Warren the Ape on MTV
Greg the Bunny Fox DVD site
Greg the Bunny Independent Film Channel page
Official Myspace page
Greg the Bunny page from Shout! Factory
Interview with Greg, Warren and co-creator Dan Milano, by David Salcido
2002 American television series debuts
2005 American television series endings
2000s American single-camera sitcoms
2000s American workplace comedy television series
American public access television shows
American television series revived after cancellation
American television shows featuring puppetry
English-language television shows
Fox Broadcasting Company original programming
IFC (American TV channel) original programming
Television shows about apes
Television series about rabbits and hares
Television series about television
Television series about turtles
Television series by Steven Levitan Productions
Television series by 20th Century Fox Television
Television shows set in Los Angeles
|
411747
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History%20of%20Chechnya
|
History of Chechnya
|
The history of Chechnya may refer to the history of the Chechens, of their land Chechnya, or of the land of Ichkeria.
Chechen society has traditionally been organized around many autonomous local clans, called taips. The traditional Chechen saying goes that the members of Chechen society, like its taips, are (ideally) "free and equal like wolves".
Amjad Jaimoukha notes in his book The Chechens that sadly, "Vainakh history is perhaps the most poorly studied of the peoples of the North Caucasus. Much research effort was expended upon the Russo-Circassian war, most of it being falsified at that." There was once a library of Chechen history scripts, written in Chechen (and possibly some in Georgian) using Arabic and Georgian script; however, it was destroyed by Stalin and wiped from the record (see - 1944 Deportation; Aardakh).
Prehistoric and archeological finds
The first known settlement of what is now Chechnya is thought to have occurred around 12500 BCE, in mountain-cave settlements, whose inhabitants used basic tools, fire, and animal hides. Traces of human settlement go back to 40000 BCE with cave paintings and artifacts around Lake Kezanoi.
The ancestors of the Nakh peoples are thought to have populated the Central Caucasus around 10000–8000 BCE. This colonization is thought by many (including E. Veidenbaum, who cites similarities with later structures to propose continuity) to represent the whole Eastern Caucasian language family, though this is not universally agreed upon. The proto-language that is thought to be the ancestor of all Eastern Caucasian ("Alarodian") languages, in fact, has words for concepts such as the wheel, so it is thought that the region had intimate links to the Fertile Crescent (many scholars supporting the thesis that the Eastern Caucasians originally came from the Northern Fertile Crescent, and backing this up with linguistic affinities of the Urartian and Hurrian languages to the Northeast Caucasus). According to Johanna Nichols, "the Nakh–Dagestanian languages are the closest thing we have to a direct continuation of the cultural and linguistic community that gave rise to Western civilization."
Kura-Araxes culture
Towns were built in the area that is now Chechnya as early as 8000 BCE. Pottery, too, came around the same time, and so did stone weaponry, stone utensils, stone jewelry items, etc. (as well as clay dishes). This period was known as the Kura-Araxes culture. Amjad Jaimoukha notes that there was a large amount of cultural diffusion between the later Kura-Araxes culture and the Maikop culture. The economy was primarily built around cattle and farming.
Kayakent culture
The trend of a highly progressive Caucasus continued: as early as 3000–4000 BCE, evidence of metalworking (including copper) as well as more advanced weaponry (daggers, arrow heads found, as well as armor, knives, etc.). This period is referred to as the Kayakent culture, or Chechnya during the Copper Age. Horseback riding came around 3000 BCE, probably having diffused from contact with Indo-European-speaking tribes to the North. Towns found in this period are often not found as ruins, but rather on the outskirts of (or even inside) modern towns in both Chechnya and Ingushetia, suggesting much continuity. There is bone evidence suggesting that raising of small sheep and goats occurred. Clay and stone were used for all building purposes. Agriculture was highly developed, as evidenced by the presence of copper flint blades with wooden or bone handles.
Kharachoi culture
The term Kharachoi culture denotes the Early Bronze Age of Chechnya. Clay jugs and stone grain containers indicate a high level of development of trade and culture. Earlier finds show that extensive hunting was still practiced. There was a lack of pig bones, demonstrating that the domestication of pigs hadn't yet spread into the region. Iron had replaced stone, bronze and copper as the main substance for industry by the 10th century BCE, before most of Europe or even areas of the Middle East.
Koban culture
The Koban culture (the Iron Age) was the most advanced culture in Chechnya before recorded history, and also the most well-known.
It first appeared between 1100 and 1000 BCE. The most well-studied site was on the outskirts of Serzhen-Yurt, which was a major center from around the eleventh to the seventh centuries BCE.
The remains include dwellings, cobble bridges, altars, iron objects, bones, and clay and stone objects. There were sickles and stone grain grinders. Grains that were grown included wheat, rye and barley. Cattle, sheep, goats, donkeys, pigs and horses were kept. There were shops, where artisans worked on and sold pottery, stone-casting, bone-carving, and stone-carving. There is evidence of an advanced stage of metallurgy. There was differentiation of professionals organized within clans. Jaimoukha argues that while all these cultures probably were made by people included among the genetic ancestors of the Chechens, it was either the Koban or Kharachoi culture that was the first culture made by the cultural and linguistic ancestors of the Chechens (meaning the Chechens first arrived in their homeland 3000–4000 years ago). However, the majority of historians disagree, holding the Chechens to have lived in their present-day lands for over 10000 years.
Theories on origins
Migration from the Fertile Crescent c. 10000–8000 BCE
Johanna Nichols holds that the Nakh were descended from extremely ancient migrations from the Fertile Crescent to the Caucasus, perhaps due to population or political pressures back in the Fertile Crescent. Others who believe the so-called "Urartian version", such as George Anchabadze and Amjad Jaimoukha, still hold that those original migrants contributed to both the genetic and cultural traits of the modern Ingush and Chechens, but that the primary ancestors were Nakh-speaking migrants from what became Northeastern Urartu.
Various interpretations on the relationship with Urartu and Urartians; Hurrians
Igor Diakonoff, Fritz Hommel, and others have suggested ties between the proto-Hurro-Urartian language and proto Northeastern Caucasian languages, leading to the proposal of the Alarodian language family. Several studies argue that the connection is probable. Other scholars, however, doubt that the language families are related, or believe that, while a connection is possible, the evidence is far from conclusive. Uralicist and Indo-Europeanist Petri Kallio argues that the matter is hindered by the lack of consensus about how to reconstruct Proto-Northeast-Caucasian, but that Alarodian is the most promising proposal for relations with Northeast Caucasian, greater than rival proposals to link it with Northwest Caucasian or other families. However, nothing is known about Alarodians except that they "were armed like the Colchians and Saspeires," according to Herodotus. Colchians and Saspeires are generally associated with Kartvelians or Scythians. Additionally, leading Urartologist Paul Zimansky rejected a connection between Urartians and Alarodians.
Amjad Jaimoukha notes in his book The Chechens: "Some authorities believe that the Nakh nation was an offspring of the Hurrians and Urartians, builders of the magnificent civilizations of the Near East, that had a profound influence upon other cultures of the region." According to some modern data, Chechens are genetically, linguistically and anthropologically considered the descendants of the Hurrians and Urartians.
According to the opinion of Caucasus folklorist Amjad Jaimoukha, "It is certain that the Nakh constituted an important component of the Hurrian-Urartian tribes in the Trans-Caucasus and played a role in the development of their influential cultures." It has been noted that at many points, Urartu in fact extended through Kakheti into the North Caucasus. Jaimoukha notes in his book: "The Kingdom of Urartu, which was made up of several small states, flourished in the 9th and 7th centuries BCE, and extended into the North Caucasus at the peak of its power."
Urartologist Paul Zimansky argues that the Urartians likely originally hailed from Iraq and merely likely constituted a small ruling class. Jaimoukha notes that the first confirmed appearance of a consolidated Vainakh nation in the North Caucasus spanning the range which would be inhabited by the Zygii later (with a few additions) was after the fall of Urartu, and notes that numerous people think that they were a regathering of Nakh tribes fleeing the crumbling state. The Ancient Greek chronicler Strabo mentioned that mythological Gargareans had migrated from eastern Asia Minor (i.e. Urartu) to the North Caucasus. Jaimoukha notes that Gargareans is one of many Nakh roots – gergara, meaning, in fact, "kindred" in proto-Nakh.
Other Nakh roots throughout the Republic of Armenia, Naxcivan, and Turkish Armenia have been found, according to Jaimoukha, although these are not widely accepted by mainstream linguists.
Ancient
Georgian historian Giorgi Melikishvili posited that although there was evidence of Nakh settlement in southern Caucasus areas, this did not rule out the possibility that they also lived in the North Caucasus. Prior to the invasion of the Cimmerians and Scythians, the Nakh had inhabited the Central Caucasus and the steppe lands all the way to the Volga river in the northeast and the Caspian Sea to the east.
Invasion of the Cimmerians
In the 6th and 7th centuries BCE, two waves of invaders - first the Cimmerians who then rode south and crushed Urartu, and then the Scythians who displaced them - greatly destabilized the Nakh regions. This became a recurring pattern in Chechen history: invasion from the North by highly mobile plains people, met with fierce and determined resistance by the Chechens, who usually started out losing but then reversed the tide.
Invasion of the Scythians
The Scythians started to invade the Caucasus in the 6th century BCE, originally coming from Kazakhstan and the Lower Volga region. The Cimmerians had already pushed the Nakh south somewhat off the plains, away from the Volga and the Caspian, and the Scythians forced them into the mountains. Vainakh presence in Chechnya on the Terek almost completely vanished for a while, and Scythians penetrated as far south as the Sunzha. Considering that the Nakh were extremely dependent on the rivers for their very survival, this was a very desperate situation. However, soon, Vainakh settlement reappeared on the Terek in Chechnya. In some areas, the Scythians even penetrated into the mountains themselves. In the 5th century BCE, Herodotus noted that the Scythians were present in the Central North Caucasus.
After the first wave of Scythian assaults, the Nakh began returning to the fertile lowland plains and ousting the invaders, but new waves of Scythians (Sarmatians) arrived, pushing them back into the mountains. Some of the names of tributaries of the Sunzha and Terek rivers make reference to the fierce conflict for control of the rivers: the Valerik (or the Valarg) meant "the dead" in Nakh and the Martan came from a Sarmatian root and meant "the river of the dead".
It is not known whether this was the first dominant presence of the Ossetians in their modern territory or whether the primary population was still Zygii/Nakh and that it was only after the later Sarmatian invasion that Scythian people became dominant. Amjad Jaimoukha, notably, supports the hypothesis that the Ossetians were the product of multiple migrations. Thus, if this is the case, then the Scythians settled roughly North Ossetia, effectively cutting the Zygii nation in half (Herodotus noted that Zygii were still present West of the Scythians in the Caucasus). The Eastern half, then, became the Vainakhs. In other areas, Nakh-speaking peoples and other highlanders were eventually linguistically assimilated by the Alans and merged with them, eventually forming the Ossetian people.
There were various periods of good relations between the Scythians and the Nakh, where there was evidence of extensive cultural exchange. The Nakh were originally more advanced in material culture than the Sarmatians/Scythians, the latter having not known of the potter's wheel or foundry work, while the Sarmatians/Scythians originally had superior military skills and social stratification.
Even after the invasion of the Scythians, the Nakh managed to revitalize themselves after it receded. However, they were now politically fractured, with multiple kingdoms, and modern Ossetia, consistent with the theory that they were largely displaced and that Scythians had become dominant there. The Nakh nations in the North Caucasus were often inclined to look South and West for support to balance off the Scythians. The Vainakh in the East had an affinity to Georgia, while the Malkh Kingdom of the West looked to the new Greek kingdom of Bosporus on the Black Sea coast (though it may have also had relations with Georgia as well). Adermalkh, king of the Malkh state, married the daughter of the Bosporan king in 480 BCE. Malkhi is one of the Chechen tukkhums.
Hostilities continued for a long time. In 458 CE, the Nakh allied themselves with Georgian King Vakhtang Gorgasali as he led a campaign against the Sarmatians, in retribution for their raids.
Eventually, relations between the Sarmatians and the Nakh normalized. The Alans formed the multi-ethnic state of Alania, which included many Nakh tribes despite its center being Sarmatian-speaking.
Durdzuks in the Georgian Chronicles and the Armenian Chronicles
Ancestors of the modern Chechens and Ingush were known as Durdzuks. Before his death, Targamos [Togarmah] divided the country amongst his sons, with Kavkasos [Caucas], the eldest and most noble, receiving the Central Caucasus. Kavkasos engendered the Chechen tribes, and his descendant, Durdzuk, who took residence in a mountainous region, later called "Dzurdzuketia" after him, established a strong state in the fourth and third centuries BC. Among the Chechen teips, the teip Zurzakoy (:ru:Зурзакой), consonant with the ethnonym Dzurdzuk, live in the Itum-Kale region of Chechnya. In 1926, on the Vashndar river in the Argun gorge of Chechnya, there was a Chechen aul (rural settlement) Zurzuk, now a tract southeast of the village of Ulus-Kert.
The Armenian Chronicles mention that the Durdzuks defeated Scythians and became a significant power in the region in the first millennium BC. They allied themselves with Georgia, and helped Georgian King Farnavaz, the first king of Iberia (Kartli) consolidate his reign against his unruly vassals. The alliance with Georgia was cemented when King Farnavaz married a Durdzuk princess.
Medieval
During the Middle Ages, the majority of the ancestors of the modern Vainakh are thought to have mostly lived along rivers and in between ridges, in their current ethnic territory. All the valleys in the upper reaches of the Argun, Assa, Darial and Fontanga saw the construction of complex stone architectures such as castles, shrines, churches, burial vaults and towers.
The main body of various Nakh tribes were surrounded by Georgians to the south, Alans to the north and west with Khazars beyond them, and various Dagestani peoples to the east. Those Nakh peoples who were in Georgia assimilated into Georgian society. The Nakh on the northern side of the Greater Caucasus mountains, ancestors of the Chechens and Ingush, saw some southern tribes adopt Christianity due to Georgian influence in the fifth and sixth centuries, but they remained separate from Georgia. Instead, the areas that now make up Ingushetia and Chechnya were either ruled by Khazars, by Alans, or ruled by independent Vainakh states such as Durdzuketia and Simsir.
Politics and trade
By the early medieval ages, Vainakh society had become stratified into a feudal order, with a king and vassals. The Vainakh state was variously called Durdzuketia (or Dzurdzuketia) by the Georgians or Simsir by others, though they may not have been exactly similar. The origin of the more modern egalitarianism among the Vainakh is much later, after the end of the conflict with the Mongols, when the Vainakh eventually grew tired of the excesses of their feudal rulers and overthrew them (see Ichkeria section), establishing what Turkic peoples called Ichkeria.
At various times Vainakh came under the rule of the Sarmatian-speaking Alans to their west and Khazars to their north, in both cases as vassals or as allies depending on time period. In times of complete independence, they nonetheless tried to have strong bonds of friendship with these countries both for trade and military purposes. The Vainakh also forged strong links with Georgia for mutual protection as well as trade, and these were initially in the context of the threat of an Arab invasion (as happened to Caucasian Albania) in the 8th century. The contribution of the Vainakh to fending off Arab designs on the Caucasus was critical.
The Vainakhs were also engaged in much trade as per their geographical position with long range trade partners (long range for the time period). Excavations have shown the presence of coins and other currency from Mesopotamia in the Middle East, including an eagle cast in Iraq (found in Ingushetia) and buried treasure containing 200 Arabian silver dirhams from the 9th century in Northern Chechnya.
Religion
Until the 16th century, Chechens and Ingush were mostly pagans, practicing the Vainakh religion, with a sizable minority of Orthodox Christians. From the 8th to 13th centuries (i.e. before Mongol invasions of Durdzuketia), there was a mission of Georgian Orthodox missionaries to the Nakh peoples. Their success was limited, though a couple of highland teips did convert (conversion was largely by teip). However, during the Mongol invasions, these Christianized teips gradually reverted to paganism, perhaps due to the loss of trans-Caucasian contacts as the Georgians fought the Mongols and briefly fell under their dominion.
Durdzuketia and Simsir
During the Middle Ages, two states evolved in Chechnya that were run by Vainakhs. The first was Durdzuketia, which consisted of the highlands of modern Chechnya, Ingushetia, the Prigorodny District of North Ossetia, and parts of central Chechnya and Ingushetia. It was allied to Georgia, and had heavy Georgian influence, permeating in its writing, in its culture and even in religion. Christianity was introduced from Georgia in the 10th century and became, briefly, the official religion, despite the fact that most of the people remained pagan. Georgian script was also adopted, though this has been mostly lost by now. Durdzuketia was destroyed by the Mongol invasions.
Simsir was a principality, and unlike Durdzuketia, it frequently switched around its alliances. Despite common ethnic heritage with Durdzuketia, it was not always linked to its southern neighbor, although it was in certain periods. It was located roughly where today's Gudermes and Nozhay-Yurt district are situated, on, along and around the Sunzha and Terek rivers. One should note that northwest Chechnya and northern Ingushetia were never part of its dominion, or of Durdzuketia's, but were in fact ruled by the Alans. It originally also had lands in southeast Chechnya as well, but over the course of its existence, it became more and more focused on the Sunzha river as the core of its statehood. It soon allied itself with the Golden Horde and adopted Islam afterwards. However, this proved to be a mistake as the alliance bound it to war with Tamerlane, who invaded and destroyed it.
Mongol invasions
During the 13th century, the Mongols and their Turkic vassals launched long and massive invasions of the territory of modern Chechnya (then the Georgian allied Vainakh kingdom of Durdzuketia). They caused massive destruction and human death for the Durdzuks, but also greatly shaped the people they became afterward. The ancestors of the Chechens bear the distinction of being one of the few peoples to successfully resist the Mongols, not once, but twice, but this came at great cost to them, as their state was utterly destroyed.
These invasions are among the most significant occurrences in Chechen history, and have had long-ranging effects on Chechnya and its people. The determination to resist the Mongols and survive as Vainakh at all costs cost much hardship on the part of ordinary people. There is much folklore on this among the modern Chechen and Ingush. One particular tale recounts how the former inhabitants of Argun and the surrounding area held a successful defense (waged by men, women and children) of the slopes of Mount Tebulosmta during the First Mongol Invasion, before returning to reconquer their home region.
Fierce resistance did not prevent the utter destruction of the state apparatus of Durdzuketia however. Pagan sanctuaries as well as the Orthodox Churches in the South were utterly destroyed. Under the conditions of the invasion, Christianity (already originally highly dependent on connections with Georgia) was unable to sustain itself in Durdzuketia, and as its sanctuaries and priests fell, those who had converted reverted to paganism for spiritual needs. Historical documents were also destroyed in mass amounts. Within a few years of the invasion, Durdzuketia was history- but its resistant people were not. Even more disastrously, the Mongols successfully established control over much of the Sunzha river- thus an existential threat to the Durdzuk people due to their need for the Sunzha's (as well as the Terek's) agriculture to support their population. The feudal system of vassals and lords also fell into shambles.
The utter destruction of the Vainakh's statehood, their lifestyle (and in the South, their religion), and much of their knowledge of history caused them to rebuild their culture in many ways. The population developed various methods of resistance and much of their later lifestyle during the resistance to the Mongols and in between the two wars. The clan system mapped onto battlefield organization. Guerrilla tactics using mountains and forests were perfected. It was during the Mongol invasions that the military defense towers that one associates today with the Vainakh population (see Nakh Architecture) came into being. Many served simultaneously as homes, as sentry posts, and as fortresses from which one could launch spears, arrows, etc. The contribution of men, women and children of all classes paired with the destruction of the feudal system during the war, rich and poor also helped the Vainakh to develop a strong sense of egalitarianism, which was one of the major causes for the revolt against their new lords after the end of the Mongol invasions.
"Ichkerian" era
Post-Mongol era transition
After defending the highlands, the Vainakh attacked Mongol control of the lowlands. Much of this area still had nominal Vainakh owners (as per the clan system which acknowledges the ownership of a piece of land by a certain teip), even after generations upon generations of not living there. Much territory was retaken, only to be lost again due to the Second Mongol Invasion. After that, the Vainakh managed to take most (but not all) of their former holdings on the Sunzha, but most of the Terek remained in Kipchak hands. The conflicts did not stop however, as there were clans that had ownership of lands now inhabited by Turkic peoples, meaning that if they did not retake the lands, they would lack their own territory and be forever reliant on the laws of hospitality of other clans (doing great damage to their honor). Conflicts between Vainakh and Turkic peoples had originated from the Mongol invasions when Chechens were driven out of the Terek and Sunzha rivers by Turco-Mongolian invaders and continued as late as the 1750s and 1770s. After that, the conflict was with newer arrivals in Northern Chechnya: the Cossacks.
The largescale return of Vainakh from the mountains to the plains began in the early 15th century (i.e. right after the end of the Second Mongol Invasion), and was completed by the beginning of the 18th century (by which point the invasion of Chechnya by Cossacks was approaching). The Nogais were driven North, and some those who stayed behind (as well as some Kumyks) may have been voluntarily assimilated by the Chechens, becoming the Chechen clans of Turkic origin.
Although the Chechens now reoccupied the Northern Chechen Plains, the lords of the Kumyks and Kabardins sought to rule over their lands just as they had attempted to do (with varying success) with the Nogais in the area. The Kabardins established rule over the Ingush clans, but the Kumyks found the Plains Chechens to be very rebellious subjects, who only grudgingly acknowledged their rule. In the lands of Central and Southern Chechnya, Chechens from around the Sunzha, who had advanced socially, economically and technologically much more than their highland counterparts, established their own feudal rule. The feudal rulers were called byachi, or military chieftains. However, this feudalism, whether by Kumyks, Avars, Kabardins or Chechens, was widely resented by the Chechens, and the spread of gunpowder and guns allowed for a massive revolution to occur.
Ichkeria
The name (Ičkérija) comes from the river Iskark in South-Eastern Chechnya. The term was mentioned first as "Iskeria" in a Russian document by Colonel Pollo from 1836.
The illesh, or epic legends, tell of conflicts between the Chechens and their Kumyk and Kabardin overlords. The Chechens apparently overthrew both their own overlords and the foreign ones, using the widespread nature of the guns among the populace to their advantage. As Jaimoukha puts it, "based on the trinity of democracy, liberty and equality", feudalism was abolished and the "tukkhum-taip" legal system was put into place, with the laws of adat introduced. The "tukkhum-taip" system (see Nakh peoples) functioned somewhat similar to that of a Western democracy, except that there was little importance of a centralized judicial branch (instead local courts held precedence), and that teips (roughly, clans) functioned like provinces, with representatives being elected by teip as well as by region.
Ottoman-Persian rivalry and the Russian Empire
The onset of Russian expansionism to the south in the direction of Chechnya began with Ivan the Terrible's conquest of Astrakhan. Russian influence started as early as the 16th century when Ivan the Terrible constructed a fort in Tarki in 1559 where the first Cossack army became stationed. The Russian Terek Cossack Host was secretly established in lowland Chechnya in 1577 by free Cossacks resettled from Volga River Valley to the Terek River Valley. With the new Cossack hosts settled in the proximity of the North Caucasian peoples and with the rivaling Ottoman and Persian empires from the south, the region would for the next few centuries be contested between the three, with Russia emerging as victorious only in the late 19th century, after multiple victorious wars against Iran, Turkey, and the native Caucasian peoples later on.
Ottoman-Safavid and later Ottoman-Persian-Russian rivalry in the Caucasus
Beginning in the late 15th and early 16th century, the Ottoman and Safavid Empires started to fight for influence over the Caucasus. Many Caucasian peoples grew wary of both sides, and attempted to play one side off against the other. The rivalry was embodied by both the struggle between Sunni and Shia Islam and the regional conflict of the two empires. Originally, relations with Russia was seen as a possible balance to the Ottoman and Safavid Empires, and a pro-Russian camp in Chechen politics formed (there were also pro-Ottoman and pro-Persian camps; each viewed their favored empire as the least bad of the three). In reality, the most favored empire from the beginning was the Ottoman Empire, but that did not mean the Chechens were not wary of a potential Ottoman attempt at conquering them. Any hope towards positive relations with Russia ended in the late 18th and early 19th centuries when tensions with the Cossacks escalated and Russia began trying to conquer the Caucasus, starting with Georgia. After this point, many Chechens sealed, forever, their preference towards Istanbul against Isfahan and Moscow by converting to Sunni Islam in an attempt to win the sympathy of the Ottomans. However, they were too late- the Ottoman Empire was already well into its period of decline and collapse, and not only was it no longer willing to assist Muslims (especially newly converted people, who were viewed as "less Muslim" than peoples with a long Islamic heritage), but it was no longer able to even maintain its own state. Hence, the rivalry between Turkey and Persia became more and more abstract and meaningless as the threat of conquest by Russia and being pushed out of their lands or even annihilated by the Cossacks grew and grew.
Arrival of the Cossacks
The Cossacks, however, had settled in the lowlands just a bit off from the Terek river. This area, now around Naurskaya and Kizlyar was an area of dispute between the Mongols' Turkic vassals and their successors (the Nogais) and the Chechens. The mountainous highlands of Chechnya were economically dependent on the lowlands for food produce, and the lowlands just north of the Terek river were considered part of the Chechen lowlands. The Cossacks were much more assertive than the Nogais (who quickly became vassals to the Tsar), and they soon replaced the Nogais as the regional rival. This marked the beginning of Russo-Chechen conflict, if the Cossacks are to be considered Russian. The Cossacks and Chechens would periodically raid each other's villages, and seek to sabotage each other's crops, though there were also long periods without violence.
Nonetheless, the Chechen versus Cossack conflict has continued to the modern day. It was a minor theme in the works of Leo Tolstoy (who managed to be sympathetic both to the Chechens and to the Cossacks). While the Chechens and Ingush primarily backed the anti-Tsarist forces in the Russian Revolution, because of this, and the threat to the Decossackization policies of the Bolsheviks, the Terek Cossacks almost universally filed into the ranks of Anton Denikin's anti-Soviet, highly nationalistic Volunteer Army.
The habit of raids done by the Chechens (and to a lesser extent Ingush) against Cossacks, by the 20th century, had more or less become a cultural tradition. Both hatred of the oppressor (Chechens generally failed to see the distinction between Russian and Cossack, and to this day they may be used as synonyms) and the need to either fill the mouths of hungry children and to regain lost lands played a role. The Chechen raiders, known as abreks were the focal point of this conflict and are almost symbolic of the two different viewpoints. The Russian view on the abreks is that they were simple mountain bandits, a typical example of Chechen barbarism (often compared to Russian "civilization", with general Colonialist racist vocabulary); they were depicted as rapists and murderers by Russian authors. The Chechen view is that they were heroes of valor, much like Robin Hood. As Moshe Gammer points out in his book Lone Wolf and Bear, Soviet ideology fell somewhere in between the two views- and notably, one such abrek, Zelimkhan, was deified.
Russo-Persian Wars and Caucasian Wars
As Russia set off for the first time to increase its political influence in the Caucasus and the Caspian Sea at the expense of Safavid Persia, Peter I launched the Russo-Persian War (1722-1723), in which Russia succeeded in taking much of the Caucasian territories from Iran for several years.
As the Russians took control of the Caspian corridor and moved into Persian ruled Dagestan, Peters' forces ran into mountain tribes. Peter sent a cavalry force to subdue them, but the Chechens routed them. In 1732, after Russia already ceded back most of the Caucasus to Persia, now led by Nader Shah, following the Treaty of Resht, Russian troops were ambushed by Chechen rebels near a village called Chechen–Aul along the Argun River. The Russians were defeated again and withdrew, but this battle is responsible for the apocryphal story about how the Nokchi came to be known as "Chechens"-the people onstensibly named for the place the battle had taken place. The name Chechen was however already used since as early as 1692.
In 1783, Russia and the eastern Georgian kingdom of Kartl-Kakheti signed Treaty of Georgievsk. Kartli-Kakheti, led by Erekle II, seeing that Persia was trying to put Georgia again under Persian rule, urged for the treaty which he hoped would guarantee Russian protection in the future. However, this did not prevent Persia which had been ruling Georgia intermittently since 1555, now led by Agha Mohammad Khan of the Qajar dynasty, from sacking Tbilisi in 1795, and regaining full control over Georgia. This act gave Russia the direct option to push deeper into the Caucasus per the signed treaty with Georgia.
The spread of Islam was largely aided by Islam's association with resistance against Russian encroachment from the 16th to the 19th century.
Conquest
In order to secure communications with Georgia and other future regions of the Transcaucasia, the Russian Empire began spreading its influence into the Caucasus mountains. The Chechens were actually first drawn into conflict with Russia when Russia attacked the Kumyks (and established the fort of Kizlyar), whom the Chechens were allied to. Russia's Cossacks became imperial extensions and Russia sent its own soldiers to meet the escalating conflict (which was no longer simply between Russian and Kumyk). It soon met with fierce resistance from the mountain peoples. The Russians incorporated a strategy of driving the Chechens into the mountains, out of their lowland (relative) food source, thus forcing them to either starve or surrender. They were willing to do neither. The Chechens moved to retake the lowlands: in 1785, a holy war was declared on the Russians by Sheikh Mansur, who was captured in 1791 and died a few years later. Nonetheless, expansion into the region, usually known at this point as Ichkeria, or occasionally Mishketia (probably coming from Kumyk or Turkish; also rendered Mitzjeghia, etc.), was stalled due to the persistence of Chechen resistance.
Following the incorporation of neighbouring Dagestan into the empire after its forced ceding by Persia in 1803–1813 following the Russo-Persian War (1804-1813) and the outcoming Treaty of Gulistan, Imperial Russian forces under Aleksey Yermolov began moving into highland Chechnya in 1830 to secure Russia's borders with Persia. Another successful Caucasus war against Persia several years later, starting in 1826 and ending in 1828 with the Treaty of Turkmenchay, and a successful war against Ottoman Turkey in 1828 enabled Russia to use a much larger portion of its army in subdueing the natives of the North Caucasus.
In the course of the prolonged Caucasian War, the Chechens, along with many peoples of the Eastern Caucasus, united into the Caucasian Imamate and resisted fiercely, led by the Dagestani commanders Ghazi Mohammed, Gamzat-bek and Imam Shamil (For military details see Murid War). While their program of united resistance to Russian conquest was popular, uniting Ichkeria/Mishketia with Dagestan was not necessarily (see Shamil's page), especially as some Chechens still practiced the indigenous religion, most Chechen Muslims belonged to heterodox Sufi Muslim teachings (divided between Qadiri and Naqshbandiya, with a strong Qadiri majority), rather than the more orthodox Sunni Islam of Dagestan; and finally, the rule of Ichkeria by a foreign ruler not only spurred distrust, but also threatened the existence of Ichkeria's indigenous "taip-conference" government structure. Thus, Shamil was regarded by many Chechens as simply being the lesser evil. Shamil was an Avar who practiced a form of Islam that was largely foreign to Chechnya, and in the end, he ended up happy in Russian custody, demonstrating furthermore his lack of compatibility with the leadership of the cause. Worse still, he presented his cause not as a fight for freedom, but also as a fight to purify Islam, and aimed many of his criticisms at fellow Avars as well as Chechen leaders and non-Avar Dagestani leaders. The Chechens, as well as many Dagestanis, fought on even after his defeat, undaunted. In addition to failing to win the sincere support of not only the Chechens, but also the Ingush, and many Dagestani peoples, Shamil also was thwarted in his goal of uniting East Caucasian and West Caucasian resistance (Circassians, Abkhaz, etc.), especially given the conditions of the Crimean War. A major reason for this failure was Russia's success in convincing the Ossetes to take their side in the conflict, who followed the same religion (Orthodox Christianity) as them. The Ossetes, living right in between the Ingush and the Circassian federation, blocked all contacts between the two theaters of war.
Chechnya was finally absorbed into the Russian Empire in 1859 after Shamil's capture. Imam Shamil, among modern Chechens, is alternately glorified and demonized: his memory is evoked as someone who successfully held off Russian conquest, but on the other hand, he ruled Ichkeria heavy-handedly, and was an Avar who worked mainly for the interest of his own people. Nonetheless, the name Shamil is popular among Chechens, largely due to his legacy.
The Russian generals had a special hatred of Chechens, the most bold and stubborn nation with the most aggravating (for the Russians) guerrilla battlefield tactics. Yermolov stated once that he would "never rest until [only] one Chechen is left alive". In 1949, Soviet authorities erected a statue of 19th-century Russian general Aleksey Yermolov in Grozny. The inscription read, "There is no people under the sun more vile and deceitful than this one". As Caucasian historian Charles King points, the methods used by the Russians would today be called genocidal warfare. An example of these tactics (in fact recorded in this case by a Russian officer) by the Russian army and the Cossacks went like this:
At this moment, General Krukovskii, with saber drawn, sent the Cossacks forward to the enemies' houses. Many, but not all, managed to save themselves by running away; the Cossacks and the militia seized those who remained and the slaughter began, with the Chechens, like anyone with no hope of survival, fought to their last drop of blood. Making a quick work of the butchery, the ataman [Cossack commander] gave out a cry and galloped on to the gorge, toward the remaining villages where the majority of the population was concentrated.
The long and brutal war caused a prolonged wave of emigration until the end of the 19th century, of hundreds of thousands of Chechens. According to such estimates (Jaimoukha cites the earlier historian A. Rogov), there were as many as 1.5 million Chechens in the North Caucasus in 1847 (and probably many more before that, as there had already been much fighting and destruction by that point), but by 1861 there were only 140,000 remaining in the Caucasus. By 1867, after the wave of expulsions, there were only 116,000 Chechens. Hence, in those 20 years, the number of Chechens decreased by 1,384,000 (or 92.3%).
In the 1860s, Russia commenced with forced emigration as well to ethnically cleanse the region. Although Circassians were the main (and most notorious) victims, the expulsions also gravely affected other peoples in the region. Lowland Chechens as well were evicted in large numbers, and while many came back, the former Chechen Lowlands lacked their historical Chechen populations for a long period until Chechens were settled in the region during their return from their 1944–1957 deportation to Siberia. The Arshtins, at that time a (debatably) separate people, were completely wiped out as a distinct group: according to official documents, 1366 Arshtin families disappeared (i.e. either fled or were killed) and only 75 families remained. These 75 families, realizing the impossibility of existing as a nation of only hundreds of people, joined (or rejoined) the Chechen nation as the Erstkhoi tukkhum.
Post-conquest
As Chechens fled and were deported to Turkey, Terek Cossacks and Armenians settled in Chechnya. The presence of Cossacks in particular was resented deeply by the Chechens. Alongside another Russo-Turkish War, the 1877 "Lesser Gazavat" saw the 22-year-old Vainakh imam Ali Bek-Haji rise alongside a rebellion of Avars under Haji Mohammed in Daghestan. The main Chechen force was dispersed by Russian heavy artillery at Mayrtup on May 3 and the leadership was surrounded by November. In December, Ali Bek-Haji and his naibs surrendered upon Russian promises of amnesty but 23 of the 28 were hanged by March 1878. Georgian scholar George Anchabadze noted that this coincided with a major Abkhazian revolt, and is comparable to various earlier mass revolts in the South Caucasus by Georgians, Abkhaz, Transcaucasian Avars, Azeris, Talysh, and Lezghins. All these revolts drew their force from the mass opposition of the population to the brutality and exploitation of Russian colonialist rule (even among peoples like Georgians, Azeris and Talysh who had originally been incorporated relatively easily), and used similar guerrilla tactics. In the aftermath of the uprising, however, many Chechens were dispossessed or exiled to Siberia in favor of local collaborators such as the Cossacks. They subsequently abandoned open gazavat ("jihad") until the 1917 revolutions.
By the end of the 19th century, major oil deposits were discovered around Grozny (1893) which along with the arrival of the railroad (early 1890s), brought economic prosperity to the region (then administered as part of the Terek Oblast) for the oil-mining Russian colonists. The immigration of colonists from Russia brought about a three-way distinction between Chechens and Ingush on one hand, Cossacks on a second, and "other-towners" (inogorodtsy), namely Russians and Ukrainians, who came to work as laborers. A debatable fourth group, including Armenian bankers and richer Russians, and even some rich Chechens (such as Chermoev), arose later.
Emergence of European-styled nationalism
During the late 1860s and 1870s (just 10 years after the incorporation of Chechnya into the Tsarist Empire), the Chechens underwent a national reawakening in the European sense of the term. The conflict with Russia and its final incorporation into the empire, however, brought about the formation of a modern, European, nationalist identity of Chechens, though it ironically solidified their separation, mainly over politics, from the Ingush. The nation was held to be all-important, trumping religion, political belief, or any other such distinction.
In 1870, Chakh Akhiev wrote a compilation of Chechen and Ingush fairy tales (called "Chechen fairytales"). In 1872, Umalat Laudaev, an early Chechen nationalist, recorded the contemporary customs of the Chechens. Following in his footsteps, Chakh Akhiev did the same for their "brothers", the Ingush, the following year.
Other notable early Chechen nationalists included Akhmetkhan, Ibraghim Sarakayev, Ismail Mutushev. Later imperial Chechen nationalists include the five Sheripov brothers, among others. Among these, Sarakayev, Mutushev. Akhmetkhan and Danilbek Sheripov were notably democratic-minded writers, while Danilbek's younger brother, Aslanbek, would adopt communism.
World War I
During World War I, Chechens fought for the Imperial Russian Army. In 1916, members of the Checheno-Ingush Cavalry Regiment routed members of the German Iron Regiment, and received a personal thanks from Tsar Nicholas II.
In a report on 5 August 1914, the German Chief of Staff stressed the importance of inciting rebellions among Caucasian Muslims.
Soviet Union
Post World War I chaos
During the Russian Civil War, the Northern Caucasus switched hands several times between Denikin's Volunteer Army, the Bolshevik Red Army and the Mountainous Republic of the Northern Caucasus, which eventually allied with the Bolsheviks as they promised them greater autonomy and self-rule.
Initially, the Chechens, like many other Caucasians, looked very positively upon communism. The indigenous Chechen systems and culture led them to place a high value on equality, and communists promised an end to imperialism (and especially Tsarist rule), making them even more attractive. Furthermore, the majority of Chechens lived in poverty. As was also the case for many Georgians, the cultural tolerance and anti-imperialist rhetoric of communism was what made it so appealing to Chechens (and so terrifying for Cossacks). Many Sufi priests, despite communism's contempt for religion, filed into the ranks of the communists as they felt that preserving the morals of their religion (including equality, which the communists stood for) was more important than its practice.
However, like other peoples, divisions arose among the Chechens. The differentiation between classes had by now arisen (or re-arisen) and notably, alliances between the Russians (and other "inogorodtsy") were also splintered. This combined with the ethnic division of Chechnya- between the natives as well as other non-Christian minorities, the "old colonists" (i.e. Cossacks) and the "recent colonists" (non-Cossack Russians), combined with the political divisions among each group, led to a complicated conflict pitting many different forces against each other. At only one year into the conflict, five distinct forces with separate interests had formed with influence in Chechnya: the Terek Cossacks, the "Bourgeois" Chechens following Tapa Chermoev, the Qadiri Communist-Islamists under Ali Mitayev, the urban Russian Bolsheviks in Groznyi, and lastly the relatively insignificant Naqshbandis with loyalties to Islamists in Dagestan.
In response to the February Revolution, the Bolsheviks seized power in the city of Grozny, their stronghold in Chechnya. Meanwhile, a "Civil Executive Committee" was formed in the Terek district by a group of native "bourgeoisie". It notably included the Chechen oil-magnate Tapa Chermoev in its structures. The Civil Executive Committee was a multi-national organ and included people from many of the ethnic groups of the Caucasus. It nominally accepted the authority of the provisional government in Moscow, but explicitly stated its goal of securing autonomy. A third force, the Terek Cossacks, began organizing to resist the Bolsheviks who had taken control of Grozny (as well as some other cities in the Caucasus). To make matters even more confusing, a group of Naqshbandi Islamists in Dagestan organized under the shiekh and livestock breeder Najmuddin of Hotso, and declared an Muftiate of the North Caucasus in the summer of 1917, supposedly a successor state to Shamil's Caucasus Imamate. The Chechen Qadiri sheikh, Ali Mitayev, a "Communist-Islamist" who believed that Communism was compatible with Qadiri-Sunni Islam, set up a Chechen National Soviet. Mitayev shared the communist ideals of the Russian Bolsheviks in Groznyi, but insisted on Chechen national autonomy as well. As the scenario progressed, Chermoev and the rest of the Civil Executive Committee would temporarily set aside their disdain for the Naqshbandi Islamists and persuade Najmuddin to serve in their government, which evolved from the Civil Executive Committee into a Mountain Republic.
At this point, the clash was between the Whites and the indigenous peoples who opposed them. The Ossetes and Cossacks sided with the Whites, whereas everyone else fought them. This therefore made Bolshevism become the lesser evil or even a strong ally against the Whites. The originally reluctant support of the Bolsheviks soon became firm after the Whites began committing massacres against Chechen villages. Tapa Chermoev became the ruler of the Chechen constituent to the "Mountain Republic". Chermoev ironically allied himself with the Cossacks against the inogorodtsy, who seized power briefly in early 1917. Chermoev and the other major figures among the Mountain Republic sought to incorporate the Cossacks (establishing what would have been essentially the first friendly relations between Chechens and Cossacks- unsurprisingly, the uneasy alliance soon gave way). A Chechen National Soviet was set up under Ali Mitayev. Dagestani Islamists tried to establish an emirate and incorporate the Chechens, but the Chechens wanted nothing to do with them- one of the few things all Chechens, which even the Islamists agreed on (most Chechens were Qadiri, meaning they viewed the Naqshbandi with contempt).
The alliance between the Caucasians and the Cossacks soon disintegrated as the threat posed by the inogorodtsy receded. Chechens and Ingush demanded a return of the lands they had been robbed of in the previous century, and the Chermoev government, increasingly revealed as without any control over its land, despite opposing this (and in doing so, losing the support of its main constituents), was powerless to stop them. Chechens stormed North to reclaim the northern parts of their homeland, and land-hungry, impoverished Chechens revived the practice of attacking the Cossack stanitsas in order to feed their children. As the Chermoev government collapsed, Chechens allied, at least vocally, with the Mensheviks in Georgia, while the Cossacks tried to ally with the Bolsheviks, who, appealing to the Cossacks, referred to the Chechen's actions as being symptoms (unfathomably) of "racist bourgeois nationalism" (using bourgeois to refer to a practically impoverished people). However, the Cossacks did not have an affinity to the Bolsheviks, and when the Denikin's Whites appeared on the scene, their appeal to Cossacks as Russian patriots, and their contempt for non-Russians resonated strongly with the Cossacks.
The civil war dragged on, and Chechen hopes in the Mensheviks soon were dashed as the Mensheviks became increasingly weakened and lost control of the Northern regions of their own country. The Whites, with their Cossack and Ossetian allies, massacred village after village of Caucasians (it was then that the Georgians of North Ossetia, previously 1-2% of the population, were forced to flee and the rest completely massacred, by the Ossete Whites and Cossacks). The Bolsheviks appealed to the Caucasians (except the Georgians, who remained loyal to the Mensheviks, who they viewed as slowly becoming Georgian patriots), arguing that they now realized that the Cossacks who they had appealed to previously were merely imperial tools, and that, knowing this, they would back Caucasian demands all the way. The Chechens were desperate for any sort of help against the Cossacks, and wanted to reverse the cause of their perennial poverty- the loss of Northern Chechnya to the Cossacks- so they joined the Reds by the thousand.
Originally, the advancing Bolsheviks (who were also mainly ethnically Russian, like the Whites they defeated) were viewed as liberators. However, less than half a year after their arrival, rebellion on the part of the Chechens against the Bolsheviks flared up again, because it was discovered by the Chechens that "the Russian Bolsheviks were just a new kind of imperialist, in Communist disguise". Following the end of the conflict in 1921, the Chechnya-Ingushetia had been first made part of the Soviet Mountain Republic, and until it was disbanded in 1924 received the official status of an autonomous republic within the Soviet Union in 1936.
Early inter-war period: the Spring of the 1920s
1930s: Stalinist period
In the 1930s, Chechnya was flooded with many Ukrainians fleeing the great famine known as the Holodomor. Despite the threats from the Soviet government not to provide food and shelter to starving Ukrainians, the rebellious peoples did not follow Soviet orders. As the result many of the Ukrainians settled in Chechen-Ingush ASSR on the permanent basis and were able to survive the famine.
The broke out in early 1932 and was defeated in March.
On December 5, 1936, an Autonomous Soviet Socialist Chechen-Ingush Republic was proclaimed.
Hassan Israilov's rebellion and World War II
Observing Finland's fight against Russia (the Winter War) caused the Chechens to begin to believe that it was then the time to achieve their long-desired liberation from the Russian yoke.
By February 1940, Hasan Israilov and his brother Hussein had established a guerrilla base in the mountains of south-eastern Chechnya, where they worked to organize a unified guerrilla movement to prepare an armed insurrection against the Soviets. In February 1940 Israilov's rebel army controlled territory in South and Central Checheno-Ingushetia. The rebel government was established in Galanchozh.
Israilov described his position on why they were fighting numerous times:
I have decided to become the leader of a war of liberation of my own people. I understand all too well that not only in Checheno-Ingushetia, but in all nations of the Caucasus it will be difficult to win freedom from the heavy yoke of Red imperialism. But our fervent belief in justice and our faith in the support of the freedom-loving peoples of the Caucasus and of the entire world inspire me toward this deed, in your eyes impertinent and pointless, but in my conviction, the sole correct historical step. The valiant Finns are now proving that the Great Enslaver Empire is powerless against a small but freedom-loving people. In the Caucasus you will find your second Finland, and after us will follow other oppressed peoples.
For twenty years now, the Soviet authorities have been fighting my people, aiming to destroy them group by group: first the kulaks, then the mullahs and the 'bandits', then the bourgeois-nationalists. I am sure now that the real object of this war is the annihilation of our nation as a whole. That is why I have decided to assume the leadership of my people in their struggle for liberation.
After the German invasion in the USSR in June 1941, the brothers organized large meetings in areas not yet taken to gather supporters. In some areas, up to 80% of men were involved in the insurrection. It is known that the Soviet Union used bombers against the rebels causing a large number of civilian casualties. In February 1942, Mairbek Sheripov organized rebellion in Shatoi, Khimokhk and tried to take Itum-Kale. Sheripov and Israilov joined forces soon and began taking control of areas of Western Dagestan. The insurrection caused many Chechen and Ingush soldiers of the Red Army to desert. Some sources claim that total number of deserted mountaineer soldiers reached 62,750, exceeding the number of mountaineer fighters in the Red Army.
The Germans made concerted efforts to coordinate with Israilov. Germany sent saboteurs and aided the rebels at times with Abwehr's Nordkaukasische Sonderkommando Schamil, which was sent on the premise of saving the oil refinery in Grozny from destruction by the Red Army (which it accomplished). However, Israilov's refusal to cede control of his revolutionary movement to the Germans, and his continued insistence on German recognition of Chechen independence, led many Germans to consider Khasan Israilov as unreliable, and his plans unrealistic. Although the Germans were able to undertake covert operations in Chechnyasuch as the sabotage of Grozny oil fieldsattempts at a German-Chechen alliance floundered.
That the Chechens actually were allied to the Germans is highly questionable and usually dismissed as false. They did have contact with the Germans. However, there were profound ideological differences between the Chechens and the Nazis (self-determination versus imperialism), neither trusted the other. The Germans also courted the Cossacks, who were traditionally enemies of the Chechens. Mairbek Sheripov reportedly gave the Ostministerium a sharp warning that "if the liberation of the Caucasus meant only the exchange of one colonizer for another, the Caucasians would consider this [a theoretical fight pitting Chechens and other Caucasians against Germans] only a new stage in the national liberation war".
Operation Lentil/Aardakh
Operation Lentil began on October 13, 1943, when about 120,000 men were moved into the Republic of Checheno-Ingushetia by the Soviet government, supposedly for mending bridges. On February 23, 1944 (on Red Army day), the entire population was summoned to local party buildings where they were told they were going to be deported as punishment for their alleged collaboration with the Germans.
Some 40% to 50% of the deportees were children. Unheated and uninsulated freight cars were used. The inhabitants rounded up and imprisoned in Studebaker trucks and sent to Central Asia (Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan). Many times, resistance was met with slaughter, and in one such instance, in the aul of Khaibakh, about 700 people were locked in a barn and burned alive by NKVD general Gveshiani, who was praised for this and promised a medal by Lavrentiy Beria. Many people from remote villages were executed per Beria's verbal order that any Chechen or Ingush deemed 'untransportable should be liquidated' on the spot.
By the next summer, Checheno-Ingushetia was dissolved; a number of Chechen and Ingush placenames were replaced with Russian ones; mosques and graveyards were destroyed, and a massive campaign of burning numerous historical Chechen texts was near complete (leaving the world depleted of what was more or less the only source of central Caucasian literature and historical texts except for sparse texts about the Chechens, Ingush, etc., not written by themselves, but by Georgians). Throughout the North Caucasus, about 700,000 (according to Dalkhat Ediev, 724,297, of which the majority, 479,478, were Chechens, along with 96,327 Ingush, 104,146 Kalmyks, 39,407 Balkars and 71,869 Karachais), died along the trip, and the extremely harsh environment of Central Asia (especially considering the amount of exposure) killed many more.
The NKVD gives the statistic of 144,704 people killed in 1944–1948 alone (death rate of 23.5% per all groups), though this is dismissed by many authors such as Tony Wood, John Dunlop, Moshe Gammer and others as a far understatement. Estimates for deaths of the Chechens alone (excluding the NKVD statistic), range from about 170,000 to 200,000, thus ranging from over a third of the total Chechen population to nearly half being killed in those 4 years alone (rates for other groups for those four years hover around 20%). Although the Council of Europe has recognized it as a "genocidal act", no country except the self-declared, unrecognized Chechen Republic of Ichkeria officially recognizes the act as a genocide.
During the repression period (1944–1957), deported nations were not allowed to change places without special permit taken from local authority. Names of repressed nations were totally erased from all books and encyclopedias. Chechen-language libraries were destroyed, many Chechen books and manuscripts were burned. Many families were divided and not allowed to travel to each other even if they found out where their relatives were.
Chechnya after the deportation
The Checheno-Ingush ASSR was transformed into Grozny Oblast, which also included the Kizlyar District and Naursky raion from Stavropol Kray, and parts of it were given to North Ossetia (part of Prigorodny District), Georgian SSR and Dagestan ASSR. Much of the empty housing was given to refugees from war-raged Western Soviet Union. Abandoned houses were settled by newcomers, only Jews and Meskhetian Turks refused to settle in foreign houses, both of which groups had previously lived in the area. In 1949 Soviet authorities erected a statue of 19th-century Russian general Aleksey Yermolov in Grozny. The inscription read, "There is no people under the sun more vile and deceitful than this one."
Some of Chechen settlements were totally erased from maps and encyclopedia. This was how the aul of Khaibakh was rediscovered, through archaeological finds in Ukraine. Archaeologists have found the bodies of Caucasian scouts who died doing the job in the rear of the Nazi lines. In their pockets were found letters inscribing the name of the aul Khaibakh. When the scientists decided to inform the families of heroes that they have found their relatives, they learned that such settlement in Chechnya no longer exists. Continuing their investigation, they discovered the bitter truth about when soldiers from Chechnya died on the front, the relatives of theirs were burned alive in their homes by Soviet soldiers.
Many gravestones were destroyed (along with pretty much the whole library of Chechen medieval writing in Arabic and Georgian script about the land of Chechnya, its people, etc., leaving the modern Chechens and modern historians with a destroyed and no longer existent historical treasury of writings) in places that were renamed to be given Russian names. Tombstones of Chechens with a history of hundreds of years have been used by Soviets for the construction of pedestrian footpasses, foundations of houses, pig pens, etc. In 1991, Dzhokhar Dudayev made political capital by, in a symbolic move, sending out officials to gather these lost gravestones, many of which had lost their original inscriptions, and construct out of them a wall. This wall was made to symbolize both Chechen remorse for the past as well as the desire to, in the name of the dead ancestors, fashion the best possible Chechen Republic out of their land and work hard towards the future. It bears an engravement, reading: "We will not break, we will not weep; we will never forget"; tablets bore pictures of the sites of massacres, such as Khaibakh. It has now been moved by the Kadyrov government, sparking mass controversy.
Recognition of the deportation as a genocide
Forced deportation constitutes an act of genocide according to the IV Hague Convention of 1907 and the Convention on the prevention and repression of the crime of genocide of the UN General Assembly (adopted in 1948) and in this case this was acknowledged by the European Parliament as an act of genocide in 2004.
The return
In 1957, four years after Stalin's death in 1953, the Soviet of Ministers passed a decree allowing repressed nations to freely travel in the Soviet Union. Many exiled Chechens took this opportunity to return to their ancestral land. This caused talk of a restoration of Chechen autonomy in the Northern Caucasus, the first secretary of the Grozny Oblast CPSU committee, Alexander Yakovlev, supported this idea, but pushed for a temporary autonomy in Kazakhstan, citing the insufficient resources in the province to house the re-patriated peoples (most of the former Chechen houses were settled by refugees from western USSR).
Chechens and Ingush had already been returning to their homeland in the tens of thousands for a couple of years before the announcement; after Khruschev's denunciation of Stalin, the rate of return increased exponentially. By 1959, almost all Chechens and Ingush had returned.
In 1957, the Chechen-Ingush ASSR was officially restored by a decree directly from Moscow, but in previous 1936 borders. For example, South Ossetia kept the Prigorodny District, instead the republic was "compensated" with ethnic Russian territory on the left-bank Terek, Naursky district and Shelkovsky Districts. Shelkovsky (Moxne in Chechen) in fact had a Chechen heritage before the invasion of the Cossacks, and Naursky (called Hovran in Chechen) also had Chechens in its Eastern regions before the Russian invasion, though the bulk of Naursky may have been instead Kabardins. Nonetheless, the Russian populace (especially the Cossacks) had come, over the years, to view the lands as being theirs, as they had not been dominantly Chechen (or anything besides Cossack) for well over a century at the time of the return of the Chechens.
In the 20th century, several territories of Chechnya changed their owners several times. After the Russian Civil War, lands populated by Terek Cossacks and Russian colonists were granted to Chechens and Ingush as a reward for their support of the Bolsheviks against the White movement. However, these were not lands foreign to Chechens and Ingush. Namely, they were the Chechen lowlands and East Prigorodny (or "West Ingushetia", depending on point of view). The Chechen river lowlands were an integral and indeed, necessary from an economic perspective, part of the historical Chechen nation's land- to the point that even while Cossack settlers had forced the native inhabitants out, the clans retained nominal ownership per the Chechen clan system, which they regained de facto after the revolution. Likewise, with East Prigorodny, it had simply had been transferred to Ossete rule (during the Caucasian War as a reward for the Ossete's treachery of their neighbors) but was still populated mainly by Ingush, though in some areas the Ossetes had indeed forced the original population out or otherwise eradicated it. The return of these two regions angered the Ossetes and the Cossacks, despite the fact that their "ownership" of the regions was disputed not only by the clan land-ownership system of the Vainakh populace, but also by the fact that they had only lived there for barely half a century, as opposed to the multiple millennia of Vainakh habitation of the two regions. Ossete presence in East Prigorodny dated back only to the 19th century, when Ossete expansion was encouraged (and aided) by the Russian state at the expense of the Ingush (see Ossetian-Ingush conflict). Even the North Ossetian capital of Vladikavkaz (in Prigorodny) was actually built on the site of the Ingush town of Zaur. Likewise, as noted on this page, Vainakh presence in the Terek region is ancient in origin (despite a mass of conflicts with Turkic settlers originating with the Mongol Invasions), compared to Cossack presence which could only date back a few centuries, and even greater compared to the recent arrival of urban Russians. Later these lands were partially returned to the Russians or Ossetians, triggering wrath among the Vainakh populace (which was, in any case, being submitted to Aardakh and mass massacre by Stalin at that point). In addition, the easternmost region of Chechenia, Akkia, the land of the Akki Chechens, was taken from Chechnya, and given to Dagestan. Just as had happened in East Prigorodny, the Chechens were sent to Siberia and Central Asia, and their homes were filled (literally) with Laks and Avars, with whom they still dispute the lands of Akkia.
Ethnic tensions
When the Chechens and Ingush returned to their homeland, they found other peoples living, quite literally, in their houses, and on their land. Unsurprisingly, the returnees viewed the other ethnicities -Ossetes, Russians, Laks, Kumyks and Avars- that had been moved onto the lands that had been theirs before with hostility. In the case of the conflict between Ossetes and Ingush in Prigorodny, and between the Russians/Cossacks and Chechens in Northern Chechnya, the conflicts simmered and threatened to boil over into violence many times (and actually did more than once). In the case of Akkia, there was more understanding between the Chechens on one side and the Laks, Kumyks and Avars on the other, not because of their historical contacts and shared religion, but rather because the Chechens knew that the Dagestanis had not moved onto their land by choice, but rather were forced to. However, the conflict over Akkia to this day is not resolved, despite efforts by both sides to find a middle ground.
Many returning Chechens were settled in the lowland steppe regions, and in Grozny itself rather than the historical mountainous districts. The goal of this (and, indeed, adding Shelkovskaya and Naursky to Checheno-Ingushetia) was to try to forcefully assimilate the Chechens by keeping them away from the mountains and reminders of "their ancient struggles", and to keep them mixed in with supposedly more loyal Russians so they could not rebel without a counter-force present. Ultimately, the attempt to make Checheno-Ingushetia more multi-ethnic in order to weaken the potential for national awakening and uprising failed, however, due to the Vainakh's much higher birthrate. It did however succeed in deepening and renewing ethnic conflict between Chechens and Russians. The Russians, angered by issues over land ownership (they had come to view the lands they had settled as "theirs") and job competition, rioted as early as 1958. In the 1958 Grozny riots, the Russians seized the central government buildings and demanded either a restoring of Grozny Oblast, or a creation of a non-titular autonomy, re-deportation of the Chechens and Ingush, establishment of "Russian power", mass search and disarming of Vainakh, before Soviet law-enforcement dispersed the rioters. On August 27, 1958, Major General Stepanov of the Military Aviation School issued an ultimatum to the local Soviet government that the Chechens must be sent back to Siberia and Central Asia or otherwise his Russians would "tear (them) to pieces". Although the riot was dispersed and it was denounced as "chauvinistic", afterward, the republican government made special efforts to please the Russian populace, and mass discrimination against the Chechens aimed at preserving the privileged position of the Russians commenced (see below).
Chechens were greatly disadvantaged in their homeland even after being allowed to return. There were no Chechen-language schools in their own homeland until 1990, leading to the crippling effect of lack of education of the populace (which did not universally understand Russian). According to sociologist Georgi Derluguian, the Checheno-Ingush Republic's economy was divided into two spheres -much like French settler-ruled Algeria- the Russian sphere had all the jobs with higher salaries, and non-Russians were systematically kept out of all government positions. Russians (as well as Ukrainians and Armenians) worked in education, health, oil, machinery, and social services. Non-Russians (excluding Ukrainians and Armenians) worked in agriculture, construction, a long host of undesirable jobs, as well as the so-called "informal sector" (i.e., illegal, due to the mass discrimination in the legal sector). Due to rapid population growth among the non-Russians, combined with unfavorable economic conditions, the non-Russian population frequently engaged in the practice known in Russian as "shabashka", the unofficial migration of republic minorities for economic reasons. This diaspora often later engaged in organized crime partly due to poverty and job discrimination, and the justification that they were only regaining the money that was stolen from them by the Russian elite in their homeland by its institutionalized discrimination. Derluguian (see citation above) describes this further as one of the main causes of the rebirth of the concept of Chechen nationalism in a much more unity-oriented form (that is, unity between Chechens, and Ingush if they want to be part of it).
Perestroika and post-Soviet Chechnya
The Gorbachev era nationalist revival
The experience (in addition to previous memories of conflicts with the Russian state) of the starvation in the 1930s, of Aardakh in 1944 and of the ethnic conflict with the Russian populace after the return from exodus had, according to Derluguian, Wood and others, allowed for the unification of loyalties. Bridges were made between taip, vird, and the like, and relationships were forged with prisonmates, partners in crime, among members of Chechen mafias in Russia, among members of labour teams, while the importance of taip and vird diminished due to the pressures of modernization. The Chechen narrative increasingly took the stance of a united Chechen struggle to escape once and for all the perceived oppression by the Russian state and to escape future hardships. In 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev came to power as the leader in the Soviet Union, and pursued a policy of openness and non-censorship of controversial issues. This allowed all of these issues to come to the forefront, as Chechen organizations became less and less reserved in their rhetoric and began saying what they had thought the whole time: that Chechens were persecuted time and time again, and continued to be, and that the Russian state was at fault. And the "Question" was asked: how can the Chechen people once and for all escape future persecution?
The answer to this "Question" came as independence in the perestroika period when the first Caucasian nationalist movement (in fact, predating all other formalized movements in all parts of the USSR except the Baltic states and Georgia), named Kavkaz was established in 1987. Explicitly Chechen national movements were established a year later, notably including the Vainakh Democratic Party (VDP, though its goal of a unified Vainakh state ended in 1993 with Ingushetia's secession), and its trade union, named (of all things) Bart (unity in Chechen), established in 1989. The first target for Chechen historians to handle was the Russian-fabricated myth of Chechens and Ingush voluntarily joining Russia.
Much of the ideology came directly from the Baltic (especially Estonia), where Chechens observed with increasing admiration the success of nationalist revival movements. The spark for the forming of Kavkaz, however, was not nationalist, but rather environmentalist concerns: there were plans to build a nuclear power plant in the vicinity. Chechen culture had always revered nature, and political environmentalism blossomed in this period, but became a component of Chechen nationalism. Kavkaz soon became a nationalist movement with saving nature only as a side goal to be pursued once the Chechen nation had achieved an independent state.
Prelude to the 1991 Revolution
In 1989, for the very first time, a non-Russian, a Chechen, was appointed to be the ruler of Checheno-Ingushetia - Doku Zavgayev. While this was first embraced by Chechen nationalist movements, Zavgayev turned out to be extremely corrupt. The Chechen nationalist movements began to act against Zavgayev; in 1990, the highly nationalistic former Soviet aviator Dzhokhar Dudayev was elected head of the All-National Congress of the Chechen People which became the mouthpiece of the Chechen opposition.
There were also some signs from Moscow that the Chechens - as well as others - read as a green light. One of the most significant of these was on April 26, 1990, when the Supreme Soviet declared that the ASSRs within Russia get "the full plenitude of state power", and put them on the same levels as Union Republics, which had the (at least nominal) right to secession. In August 1990, while campaigning for presidency of the RSFSR, Boris Yeltsin famously told ASSRs to "take as much sovereignty as [they] could stomach" back from Russia.
On November 25, 1990, the first Chechen National Congress declared the "rightful sovereignty" of the "Chechen Republic of Noxçi-ço". Two days later, on November 27, the Supreme Soviet declared its agreement with this by declaring Checheno-Ingushetia's sovereignty and adding that it would negotiate with Russia on equal footing, raising Chechnya to the level of Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia - that is, a Union Republic. At this point, the Chechen Communists had begun supporting "full sovereignty at a minimum", meaning utterly every major party in Chechnya that included Chechens – the VDP, the Greens, the Communists, the Islamic Path Party, and the secularist Popular Front of Checheno-Ingushetia (modeled off that of Azerbaijan) – supported sovereignty, if not full independence.
The decisive move came on August 22, 1991, three days after the beginning of the August Coup. Government buildings were stormed by political groups representing the broad swathe of Chechen politics with the sole exception of Zavgayev: the Greens, the Islamists, the Nationalists, the Liberals, and even some of the Communists. Only one person died, a government official who jumped, fell, or was pushed out of a window. Zavgayev was forced to resign.
Dissolution of the Soviet Union and afterwards
After the demise of the Soviet Union, the situation in Chechnya became unclear. Below is the chronology of that time:
On September 2, 1991, the Russian installed Islamic board of the Caucasus, claiming that the executive committee was not legitimate and that actions of the committee would inevitably lead to bloodshed.
On September 6, 1991, the building of the Supreme Soviet was occupied by Dzhokhar Dudayev's guards, who removed the puppet Zavgayev.
On September 15, 1991, a last session of the Supreme Soviet of the Chechen-Ingush Republic took place, and it decided to dissolve itself (under the request of Dudayev's guards).
On October 1, 1991, some of the ex-deputies decided to divide the republic into the Chechen Republic and the Ingush Republic. This move was eventually supported by a majority (90%) of Ingush voters, and Dudayev opted to allow the peaceful division of Checheno-Ingushetia into Chechnya and Ingushetia.
On October 27, 1991, a referendum on independence was held, with a large majority (72%) of the populace voting and a majority approval (over 90% of voters, meaning at least about 64% of the populace approved independence). Khasbulatov contested the results, claiming that the elections were un-democratic (despite the fact that he organized them, apparently).
On November 1, 1991, Dudayev issued a decree of Chechen independence (Указ об "Об объявлении суверенитета Чеченской Республики с 1 ноября 1991 г.") The International Committee on Human Rights did not report any violations, though Dunlop stated that though there probably were some flaws in the election, he cites the observer, anthropologist Arutyunov (who stated that roughly 60-70% of the population of Chechnya supported independence at the time) it could nonetheless "be regarded as an expression of Chechen popular will."
On November 2, 1991, the 5th Assembly of People's Deputies of RSFSR (the Russian parliament of that time) took place. A resolution was issued stating that the Chechen Supreme Soviet and President were not legitimate.
From 1991 to 1994 tens of thousands of people of non-Chechen ethnicity left the republic amidst fears and in some cases reports of violence and discrimination against the non-Chechen population, made up of mostly Russians, Ukrainians and Armenians (the situation was exacerbated by their lack of incorporation into the Chechen clan system, which protects its members to a degree from crime, as well).
The independence years of 1991–94 for the "Chechen Republic of Ichkeria" were marked by growing tension with Russia, a declining economy (due both to a Russian economic blockade and due to Dudayev's poor economic policies- described as such even by his own economic minister), and an increasingly unstable and divided internal political scene, with parts of the opposition being armed by Russia (see below) while the government in Grozny resorting to more and more drastic measures. 90,000 people (mainly Russians and Ukrainians) fled Chechnya during 1991–93 due to fears of, and possibly actual manifestation of ethnic tension (the situation was exacerbated by their lack of incorporation into the Chechen clan system, which protects its members to a degree from crime, as well).
Dudayev was criticized by much of the Chechen political spectrum (particularly in urban Grozny) for his economic policies, a number of eccentric and embarrassing statements (such as insisting that "Nokhchi" meant descendant of Noah and that Russia was trying to destabilize the Caucasus with earthquakes), and his connections to former criminals (some of which, such as Beslan Gantemirov defected to the Russian side and served under Russian-backed regional governments). However, this opposition did not oppose Chechnya's independence from Russia; it simply opposed Dudayev. In 1995 (during the war), one of the major opposition figures of the independence era, Khalid Delmayev, stated that he believed that Chechen statehood could be postponed, but could not be avoided.
The Russian federal government refused to recognize Chechen independence and made several attempts to take full control of the territory of the Chechen Republic. Russia actively funded the Chechen opposition to Dudayev's government, but nonetheless, even members the opposition stated that there was no debate on whether Chechnya should be separate from Russia; there was one option: secession, as reported in 1992 by an observer for Moscow News. The federal government supported a failed coup designed to overthrow Dudayev in 1994.
The covert Russian attempts of overthrowing Dudayev by a means of an armed Chechen opposition forces resulted in repeated failed assaults on the city. Originally, Moscow had been backing the political opposition of Umar Avturkhanov "peacefully" (i.e. not arming them and encouraging them to wage an attempted coup). However, this changed in 1994 when Russia started arming and assisting the opposition. In August 1994 Avturkhanov attacked Grozny, but was repelled first by Chechen citizens who were then joined by Grozny government troops and Russian helicopters covered his retreat. On September 28, one of these helicopters was indeed shot down and its Russian pilot was held as a prisoner-of-war by the Chechen government. The last one on 26 November 1994 ended with capture of 21 Russian Army tank crew members, secretly hired as mercenaries by the FSK (former KGB, soon renamed FSB); their capture was sometimes cited as one of the reasons of Boris Yeltsin's decision to launch the open intervention. In the meantime, Grozny airport and other targets were bombed by unmarked Russian aircraft. Russia then decided to invade Chechnya to reestablish control by the federal government in Moscow.
First Chechen War (1994–1996)
Russian federal forces overran Grozny in November 1994. Although the forces achieved some initial successes, the federal military made a number of critical strategic blunders during the Chechnya campaign and was widely perceived as incompetent. Led by Aslan Maskhadov, separatists conducted successful guerrilla operations from the forested and mountainous terrain. By March 1995, Aslan Maskhadov became leader of the Chechen resistance.
Russia first appointed in early 1995 a government with Khadzhiyev as ruler and Avturkhanov as deputy. Gantemirov was also restored to his position as mayor of Grozny. However, later in the fall of that year, Khadzhiyev was replaced with Doku Zavgayev, the former head of the republic who had fled after the Dudayev-led revolution in 1990–1991. He was extremely unpopular not only among the Chechens, but also among even the Russian diaspora, who nicknamed him "Doku Aeroportovich" because he rarely ever left the Russian-run airbase in Khankala. By statistics given by the Russian government itself's Audit Committee, he was allocated 12.3 trillion rubles in the first two months alone in a republic now impoverished by war and bloodshed.
Although at first, the Russians had the upper hand despite determined homegrown Chechen civilian resistance, halfway through the war, the separatist Chechen government released a statement calling for help. They received it both from the Islamic world (with numbers of Arabs streaming in), but more prominently from former Soviet states and satellites, with Baltic peoples, Estonians, Romanians, Azeris, Dagestanis, Circassians, Abkhaz, Georgians, Poles, Ukrainians, Belarusians, Hungarians, and even a few Russians streaming in to aid the so-called "cause of freedom" that the Chechen government professed. Diaspora Chechens also returned, as parallel to the First Nagorno-Karabakh War, to aid their "daymokhk" (fatherland). With the new troops also came new weaponry, and from this point forward, the tables were turned, with the Russian army becoming more and more mutinous and lacking of morale, while the anti-Russian side was growing stronger and more confident (see also: First Chechen War, on this phenomenon).
In June 1995, Chechen guerrillas occupied a hospital in the southern Russian town of Budyonnovsk (in Stavropol Krai), taking over 1,000 hostages. Federal forces attempted to storm the hospital twice and failed; the guerrillas were allowed to leave after freeing their hostages. This incident, televised accounts of war crimes and mass destruction, and the resulting widespread demoralization of the federal army, led to a federal withdrawal and the beginning of negotiations on March 21, 1996.
Separatist President Dudayev was killed in a Russian rocket attack on April 21, 1996, and the Vice-president Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev became president. Negotiations on Chechen independence were repeatedly finally tabled in August 1996, leading to the end of the war and withdrawal of federal forces.
In the later stages of the First Chechen War, a large exodus of non-Vainakhs occurred. In the case of the originally 200,000 strong Russian minority, this is usually cited as a result of growing anti-ethnic-Russian sentiment among the Vainakh populace, which had been suppressed during the rule of Dudayev (who, despite appealing to Chechen nationalism and secession, was a native speaker of Russian, and most importantly was married to a Russian), who in some cases supported Russia.
Interwar period: 1996–1999
In 1997, Aslan Maskhadov comfortably won the election, campaigning as a moderate who would unite the various factions within Chechen society, but establish Chechnya as an independent and secular state, aligning itself with the West more than with the Middle East, as well as keeping Ichkeria safe from another armed conflict with Russia by maintaining relatively positive relations. Yandarbiyev's platform was an explicitly Islamic state with some implementation of sharia law, and a largely Islamophilic foreign policy. Basayev, finally, insisted on focusing less on gaining foreign support and recognition and more on rebuilding Ichkeria's own military. Basayev, despite criticizing Yandarbiyev's policy towards radical Islamic groups, stated that attacks on Russian territory outside Chechnya should be executed if it is necessary to remind Russia that Ichkeria was not a pushover. At the point of 1997, as evidenced from the election, Maskhadov's policy of relative moderation and looking West for help was most popular, though he gained considerable following because of his status as a war hero. The results of the election were a 79.4% turnout, with 59.3% voting for Maskhadov, 23.5% voting for Basayev and 10.1% voting for Yandarbiyev.
Aslan Maskhadov became president in 1997, but was unable to consolidate control as the wartorn republic devolved into regional bickering among local teip leaders and factions. One major source of his unpopularity was the perception of him being "weak" in dealing with Russia, which was exploited by the more militaristic opposition.
Maskhadov sought to maintain Chechen sovereignty while pressing Moscow to help rebuild the republic, whose formal economy and infrastructure were virtually destroyed. Russia continued to send money for the rehabilitation of the republic; it also provided pensions and funds for schools and hospitals. However, much of this did not arrive, its disappearance being attributed to embezzlement by either Russian or Chechen officials/warlords (or both). Nearly half a million people (40% of Chechnya's prewar population) had been internally displaced and lived in refugee camps or overcrowded villages. The economy was destroyed. Two Russian brigades were stationed in Chechnya and did not leave.
Chechnya had been badly damaged by the war and the economy was in a shambles. Aslan Maskhadov tried to concentrate power in his hands to establish authority, but had trouble creating an effective state or a functioning economy. He attempted to attract foreign investment in Chechnya's oil industry and reconstruction of Grozny.
The war ravages and lack of economic opportunities left numbers of armed former guerrillas with no occupation but further violence. Kidnappings, robberies, and killings of fellow Chechens and outsiders, most notably the killings of four employees of British Granger Telecom in 1998, weakened the possibilities of outside investment and Maskhadov's efforts to gain international recognition of its independence effort. Kidnappings became common in Chechnya, procuring over $200 million during the three-year independence of the chaotic fledgling state, but victims were rarely killed. In 1998, 176 people had been kidnapped, and 90 of them had been released during the same year according to official accounts. There were several public executions of criminals. Caving to intense pressure from his Islamist foes in his desire to find a national consensus, Maskhadov allowed the proclamation of the Islamic Republic of Ichkeria in 1998 and the Sharia system of justice was introduced.
President Maskhadov started a major campaign against hostage-takers, and on October 25, 1998, Shadid Bargishev, Chechnya's top anti-kidnapping official, was killed in a remote controlled car bombing. Bargishev's colleagues then insisted they would not be intimidated by the attack and would go ahead with their offensive. Other anti-kidnapping officials blamed the attack on Bargishev's recent success in securing the release of several hostages, including 24 Russian soldiers and an English couple. Maskhadov blamed the rash of abductions in Chechnya on unidentified "outside forces" and their Chechen henchmen, allegedly those who joined Pro-Moscow forces during the second war.
Some of the kidnapped (most of whom were non-Chechens) were sold into indentured servitude to Chechen families. They were openly called slaves and had to endure starvation, beating, and often maiming.
The years of independence had some political violence as well. On December 10, Mansur Tagirov, Chechnya's top prosecutor, disappeared while returning to Grozny. On June 21, the Chechen security chief and a guerrilla commander fatally shot each other in an argument. The internal violence in Chechnya peaked on July 16, 1998, when fighting broke out between Maskhadov's National Guard force led by Sulim Yamadayev (who joined pro-Moscow forces in the second war) and militants in the town of Gudermes; over 50 people were reported killed and the state of emergency was declared in Chechnya.
Maskhadov proved unable to guarantee the security of the oil pipeline running across Chechnya from the Caspian Sea, and illegal oil tapping and acts of sabotage deprived his regime of crucial revenues and agitated Moscow. In 1998 and 1999 Maskhadov survived several assassination attempts, blamed on the Russian intelligence services.
Second Chechen War and its consequences
In August 1999, renegade Chechen and Arab commanders led a large group of militants into Dagestan. Headed by Shamil Basayev and Amir Khattab (who were opposed vehemently by the government in Grozny, from which they had broken off allegiance), the insurgents fought Russian forces in Dagestan for a week before being driven back into Chechnya proper. On September 9, 1999, Chechens were blamed for the bombing of an apartment complex in Moscow and several other explosions in Russia.
These events were viewed by Russia's new prime minister Vladimir Putin as a violation of the Khasav-Yurt Accord by the Chechen side. Thus, on October 1, 1999, Russian troops entered Chechnya. However, according to then-interior minister Sergei Stepashin, the invasion of Chechnya would have occurred even if these events had not occurred:
Much better trained and prepared than in the first war, by December all of the northern steppe regions were conquered, and Grozny was encircled, which finally surrendered in early February 2000. By late spring, all of the lowland, and most of the mountainous territory was successfully re-claimed by the federal forces.
After several years of military administration, in 2002, a local government was formed by Russian-allied Chechens headed by Akhmad Kadyrov. In 2003, referendum on constitution and presidential election were held. However, it was widely criticized, and in some cases, the vote recorded was not only vastly more than the actual population living there, but the majority of "voters" were Russian soldiers and dead Chechens (who of course were "loyal" pro-Russians, according to the results).
The Chechen separatists initially resisted fiercely, and several high-profile battles resulted in their victories such as the Battle of Hill 776 and Zhani-Vedeno ambush. Nonetheless, the success in establishing a Russian-allied Chechen militia and the actions of Russian Special Forces meant that in 2002 Putin announced that the war was officially over.
However, the Insurgency continued, and has spread to neighbouring regions with high-profile clashes such as the Battle of Nalchik and the Beslan School siege. After Beslan, there was a 4-5-year drought of major attacks by Chechens outside of Chechnya. According to some, this was due to an element of embarrassment and guilt on the part of the Chechen rebels over the deaths of children in Beslan.
The September 11 attacks on the United States caused a disaster for the Chechens, as much of the West went from passive sympathy to hostility as Russia was able to brand Chechen separatism as Islamist. As Amjad Jaimoukha puts it,
The al-Qaeda attacks on the US on 11 September 2001 resulted in a major setback to the Chechen cause and robbed the Chechens of the small modicum of sympathy they had had in the West. Russia played its cards right and quickly associated Chechen legitimate struggle for independence with Muslim extremism.
The raid on Beslan had, in fact, more to do with the Ingush involved than the Chechens, but was highly symbolic for both. The Ossetes and Ingush had (and have) a conflict over ownership of the Prigorodny District, which hit high points during the 1944 genocide, and the ethnic cleansing of Ingush by Ossetes (the Ossetes getting assistance from the Russian military) in 1992–3. At the time of the raid, there were still over 40,000 Ingush refugees in tent camps in Ingushetia and Chechnya. The Beslan school itself had been used against the Ingush- in 1992 the gym was used as a pen to round up Ingush for expulsion and/or massacre by the Ossetes. For the Chechens, the motive was revenge for the destruction of their homes and, indeed families: Beslan was the site from which missiles were launched at Chechnya. A large fraction (overwhelming majority) of the people involved in the hostage taking raid also direct victims of Russian abuse, including many who were victimized as children and/or, in the case of Khaula Nazirov, had their children ironically murdered by Russian troops during a raid of a school.
Once, however, it was broadcast that there were large amounts of children killed by a group that included Chechens, the Chechens were struck with a large amount of shame. One spokesman for the Chechen cause stated that "Such a bigger blow could not be dealt upon us... People around the world will think that Chechens are monsters if they could attack children". He went on to state that the Russians had killed far more children, including in schools during their war in Chechnya, and that this had been deliberately ignored by the rest of the world. Nonetheless, largely for this reason, attacks ceased until 2008.
Both the federal and separatist armies have been widely criticized by human rights groups such as Amnesty International for alleged war crimes committed during the two Chechen wars, including accusations on both sides of rape, torture, looting, and the murder of civilians. The Russian military has been repeatedly reported to have used vacuum bombs and bombed white-flag bearing civilian vessels (see the Katyr-Yurt Massacre) by international charity groups. Dozens of mass graves (created by the Russian side) containing hundreds of corpses have been uncovered since the beginning of the Chechen wars in 1994. As of June 2008, there were 57 registered locations of mass graves in Chechnya. According to Amnesty International, thousands may be buried in unmarked graves including up to 5,000 civilians who disappeared since the beginning of the Second Chechen War in 1999. In 2008, the largest mass grave found to date was uncovered in Grozny, containing some 800 bodies from the First Chechen War in 1995. Russia's general policy to the Chechen mass graves is to not exhume them.
The two wars have left millions of people living in poverty, up to half a million refugees, and most of the infrastructure destroyed. Kadyrov claims that since then Northern Chechnya and Grozny have been rebuilt. These claims have been refuted by most other sources (such as Tony Wood), who note that most of the revenue has gone to the construction of Kadyrov's private mansion for his clan and his expensive birthday celebration. In a CNN interview, Kadyrov once compared the Chechen people to a pet lion cub, stating that "...[they] will either learn to be obedient or it will kill me".
See also
History of Russia (1992–present)
Timurid invasion of Simsir
Mongol invasions of Durdzuketia
Khour Ela
Surakat
References
Further reading
Anderson, Scott. The Man Who Tried to Save the World.
Babchenko, Arkady "One Soldier's War In Chechnya" Portobello, London
Baiev, Khassan. The Oath: A Surgeon Under Fire.
Bennigsen-Broxup, Marie. The North Caucasus Barrier: The Russian Advance Towards the Muslim World.
Bird, Chris. "To Catch a Tartar: Notes from the Caucasus"
Bornstein, Yvonne and Ribowsky, Mark. "Eleven Days of Hell: My True Story Of Kidnapping, Terror, Torture And Historic FBI & KGB Rescue" AuthorHouse, 2004. .
Conrad, Roy. Roy Conrad. Grozny. A few days...
Dunlop, John B. Russia Confronts Chechnya: Roots of a Separatist Conflict
Evangelista, Mathew. The Chechen Wars: Will Russia Go the Way of the Soviet Union?. .
Gall, Charlotta & de Waal, Thomas. Chechnya: A Small Victorious War.
Gall, Carlotta, and de Waal, Thomas Chechnya: Calamity in the Caucasus
Goltz, Thomas. Chechnya Diary : A War Correspondent's Story of Surviving the War in Chechnya. M E Sharpe (2003).
Hasanov, Zaur. The Man of the Mountains. (fact-based novel on growing influence of the radical Islam during 1st and 2nd Chechnya wars)
Khan, Ali. The Chechen Terror: The Play within the Play
Khlebnikov, Paul. Razgovor s varvarom (Interview with a barbarian). .
Lieven, Anatol. Chechnya : Tombstone of Russian Power
Mironov, Vyacheslav. Ya byl na etoy voyne. (I was in this war) Biblion – Russkaya Kniga, 2001. Partial translation available online YouHaveAids.com is for sale.
Mironov, Vyacheslav. Vyacheslav Mironov. Assault on Grozny Downtown
Mironov, Vyacheslav. Vyacheslav Mironov. I was in that war.
Murphy, Paul J. The Wolves of Islam: Russia and the Faces of Chechen Terror.
Oliker, Olga Russia's Chechen Wars 1994–2000: Lessons from Urban Combat. . (A strategic and tactical analysis of the Chechen Wars.)
Pelton, Robert Young. Hunter Hammer and Heaven, Journeys to Three World's Gone Mad
Politkovskaya, Anna. A Small Corner of Hell: Dispatches from Chechnya
Seirstad, Asne. The Angel of Grozny.
Wood, Tony. Chechnya: The Case For Independence Book review in The Independent, 2007
External links
, the Chechenpress.
History of Chechnya at ChechnyaFree.ru, Official Russian government website
FIDH: Terror and Impunity : A Planned System
Russia's Splitting Headache - A Brief History Of Chechnya
|
411754
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS%20Halibut%20%28SS-232%29
|
USS Halibut (SS-232)
|
USS Halibut (SS-232), a submarine, was the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for the halibut, a large species of flatfish.
Construction and commissioning
Halibut′s keel was laid down by the Portsmouth Navy Yard at Kittery, Maine on 16 May 1941. She was launched on 3 December 1941, sponsored by Mrs. P. T. Blackburn, and commissioned on 10 April 1942 with Commander Philip H. Ross in command.
War patrols
First and second patrols
Halibut completed her outfitting and shakedown cruise 23 June 1942 and departed for the Pacific, arriving Pearl Harbor on 27 June. She departed Hawaii 9 August for the Aleutian Islands area for her first patrol. After searching Chichagof Harbor and the waters off Kiska Island, the submarine engaged in an indecisive gunnery duel with a freighter on 23 August. Finding few targets, she terminated her patrol at Dutch Harbor on 23 September.
Her second patrol was also off the Aleutians. She departed Dutch Harbor on 2 October 1942 and surfaced for a torpedo attack on what appeared to be a large freighter on 11 October. The ship, a decoy (Q-ship) equipped with concealed guns and torpedo tubes, attacked Halibut with high-explosive shells and a torpedo as the submarine took radical evasive action to escape the trap. After eluding her assailant she returned to Dutch Harbor on 23 October and Pearl Harbor on 31 October 1942.
Third and fourth patrols
Halibut departed Pearl Harbor 22 November 1942 for her third war patrol, off the northeast coast of Japan. She began stalking a convoy the night of 9 December and early the next morning closed for the attack. A hit amidships damaged the Japanese troop transport Uyo Maru (6,376 tons); Halibut put two torpedoes squarely into the cargo ship Gyokusan Maru (1,970 tons), sinking her on 12 December. On 16 December Halibut made two more attacks sinking the cargo ship Shingo Maru (4,740 tons) and running the cargo ship Genzan Maru (5,708 tons) aground, wrecking her and forcing her abandonment. Each ship was fully laden with war materials destined for Japan. She returned to Pearl Harbor on 15 January 1943.
The submarine sailed from Pearl Harbor again on 8 February 1943 on her fourth war patrol. Heading for the Japan-Kwajalein shipping lanes, she tracked a freighter the morning of 20 February and closed to sink troop transport Shinkoku Maru (3,991 tons) that night. While northeast of Truk on 3 March, she detected the naval auxiliary Nichiyu Maru (6,818 tons) and attacked, but was driven off by the fire of deck guns. (Nichiyu Maru reached Apra harbor under tow, but was deemed beyond repair and was consequently broken up.) Halibut terminated this patrol in Pearl Harbor 30 March.
Fifth patrol
Halibut began her fifth war patrol 10 June and made for the waters around Truk. She made her first attack 23 June. No hits were scored and the submarine was forced to wait out a severe depth charge attack. Halibut detected, tracked, and attacked a convoy bound for Truk from Kisarazu, Japan, putting a single torpedo (out of a spread of six) into the side of IJN troop transport Aikoku Maru (10,437 tons). Aikoku Maru was transporting ground personnel and equipment of the 201st NAG and suffered among its casualties 21 men. Halibut also attacked the escort carrier on 10 July while escorting the same convoy, and finally returned to Midway Island on 28 July 1943. No tonnage credit was given in the contemporaneous record or the postwar JANAC accounting, however. (Credit for the damage to the carrier was awarded to attacking later that same day.)
Sixth patrol
Ignatius J. "Pete" Galantin assumed command 11 August, and Halibut set out on her sixth patrol on 20 August. Together with and , she cruised towards her assigned patrol zone off the east coasts of Honshū and Hokkaido, including the Tsugaru Strait. On 29 August, she sighted a freighter with a Shigure-class escort; two torpedo attacks on the destroyer failed and Halibut was forced deep for eight hours to avoid the 43 depth charges expended by the destroyer and a second vessel. The attackers lost contact with Halibut in the early evening, allowing her to move away and resurface. The following day the sub headed into Iburi Wan; she sighted one convoy but was unable to close, but later sank the 6,581-ton freighter Taibun Maru, with three bow shots. Two small patrol boats saw the sinking and dropped 24 depth charges after Halibut, which escaped by unintentionally passing through a minefield.
After some days of poor weather, Halibut entered the approaches to the Tsugaru Strait. Firing on a freighter found by radar in foggy conditions, she expended six torpedoes with no results. Returning to the coast between Erimo Saki and Muroran, she closed on a radar contact around dawn on 6 September. The contact, the heavily loaded freighter Shogen Maru (3,362 tons), was sighted and sunk with four torpedoes. That night Halibut made radar contact with a vessel identified as a destroyer but later found to be the light cruiser , firing the submarine's remaining aft torpedoes in a rough sea for no hits. (One torpedo actually hit but was a dud.) With only one torpedo remaining, she began her return trip to Midway on 7 September after eleven days in enemy waters. That night she traced radio transmissions to a small sampan she sank with her deck guns. Halibut stopped briefly at Midway for fuel and food before sailing to a full refit at Pearl Harbor, arriving on 16 September.
During her time refitting, Halibut was used for torpedo testing, firing torpedoes from her stern tubes into the cliffs at Kahoolawe — stern firing was a precaution against erratic or circular running torpedoes. Earlier tests had shown that one in three Mark 14 torpedoes failed to explode on impact; the crushing deformed the contact exploder before it could detonate the firing caps. The modified versions, made from Japanese aircraft propellers, that were tested by Halibut were almost three times better in testing (6 out of 7 detonations) and even more efficient in action. A short time later, while performing underwater training, Halibut was accidentally struck by a destroyer; the glancing blow damaged both periscopes (an incident which in peacetime would warrant a board of inquiry). The damage was repaired in hours, and there were no other repercussions.
Seventh patrol
Halibut sailed from Pearl Harbor on her seventh war patrol on 10 October 1943, headed for the approaches to the Bungo Suido. She reached Midway after four days travel and stopped briefly to top up her fuel tanks (having consumed 14,000 gallons already) and to repair a defective motor-generator for her new SJ radar. She reached Okinoshima on 25 October and quickly found her daylight activities constrained by a heavy fishing sampan presence. Over the early morning of 29 October she detected, tracked, and closed on a freighter and small anti-submarine warfare escort. Halibut was detected and the escort drove her off and held her at bay with fifteen depth charge attacks as the freighter fled. Resurfacing, a lookout noticed the smoke of a distant convoy. The submarine closed as the daylight faded, coming close enough to submerge for periscope observation on the morning of 1 November. The convoy consisted of seven freighters and three -type torpedo boats as escorts. Halibut launched three torpedoes from at 06:52 and made no hits; the freighters turned away and two torpedo boats closed but were ineffective in locating the submarine. Around midday, Halibut headed south after the convoy, surfacing as night fell. She was detecting curious 'friendly' radar interference as, unknown to her, and were also chasing the convoy (sinking two ships each from the convoy as Halibut closed).
On the morning of 2 November Halibut caught up with two straggling freighters from the convoy. She launched three torpedoes at (4,653 tons) at 28-18N, 134-48E. Two torpedoes hit, but the sinking vessel bravely turned towards the submarine, forcing her to evade and lose range on the second freighter. (She would later sink taking her entire crew of 84 souls with her.) Halibut launched three torpedoes at long range but made no hits. She surfaced to increase her speed, but the freighter revealed she was armed with some accurate firing, forcing Halibut back under. The submarine shadowed the freighter and positioned herself for an attack using her stern tubes, firing six torpedoes in rough seas for no hits.
She went on to patrol the approaches to Van Diemen Strait just south of Kagoshima, before returning north when she received an Ultra message indicating a Japanese task force, including an aircraft carrier, near the Bungo Suido. A high-speed race put Halibut into position on the morning of 5 November, and she fired six torpedoes at the carrier (identified at the time as so as to conceal the source of the information; later properly identified as ). A single torpedo hit near the ship's rudders, leaving the carrier unable to manoeuvre. When Halibut tried to fire her single remaining stern torpedo, it activated but failed to leave the tube. Halibut dove to more than to avoid attacks from three destroyer escorts; in the event, only thirteen depth charges were dropped. The submarine resurfaced after dark and set course for home, running seven days to Midway and then reaching Pearl Harbor on 17 November after thirty-eight days on patrol, a round trip of , of which only were actually 'on station'.
Eighth patrol
On her eighth war patrol (beginning at Pearl Harbor on 14 December) Halibut formed a coordinated attack group, or "wolf pack", with and . All three commanders were intensively trained for the patrol at 'Convoy College' at Pearl Harbor. The very first USN wolf pack had left Midway on 1 October 1943 - , , and claimed five ships sunk and eight damaged (post-war analysis indicated only three sinkings). Halibut was part of the third wolf pack.
The group's journey to the patrol area around the Mariana Islands was marked by very rough seas and gale force winds. On 26 December Halibut was attacked by an aircraft; three bombs were dropped but the submarine took no damage. The group reached its target area on 29 December, but over the following weeks made only fleeting, poor contacts with enemy vessels, including a missed contact with the battleship on 11 January (the battleship detected the search radars of the submarines and completely outmaneuvered them as daylight ended). A few days later they failed to sink an and were subjected to twenty-two depth charges. On 17 January Halibut broke from the wolf pack to return to Midway as her fuel reserves were depleted (both the other vessels were using their #4 ballast tank to store fuel and had begun the patrol with an extra 24,000 gallons).
Operating independently, Halibut patrolled Port Apra and Tanapag Harbor on her way home, observing a Katori-class cruiser near Saipan, and being attacked by aircraft and depth charges on 23 January while attempting a stealthy approach on the Unyō in Garapan Anchorage (the carrier had already been damaged by Haddock). Halibut was forced down to to avoid her attackers, and spent over thirteen hours submerged. She reached Midway on 1 February 1944 where she suffered storm damage to her ballast tanks while moored.
Ninth patrol
Halibut departed on her ninth war patrol 21 March 1944, her patrol area was off Okinawa, a by island-filled area called Nansei Shoto. Cruising between Amami O Shima and Tokuno Shima late on 12 April, the submarine encountered several enemy vessels outbound from Kagoshima, Kyushu for Naha, Okinawa; following them northwards, she spotted a south-bound freighter with three small escorts. She launched three torpedoes; one struck Taichu Maru (3,213 tons) squarely amidships and she quickly sank. The three escorts dropped eighteen depth charges, which did little more than test the newly fitted depth charge indicator. The sinking alerted the Japanese, and both sea and air anti-submarine patrols were intensified in the area, preventing Halibut from operating successfully for the next two weeks even as she expanded her patrol into the East China Sea.
Finally, on 26 April, the submarine found some action. She passed between Iheya Retto and Okinawa Jima in the very early morning of 26 April and detected three freighters with escorts. She closed the range over several hours and fired six torpedoes from , three each at two freighters. Two hit and the convoy was scattered. Halibut eluded the escorts and returned to the attack around dawn. Closing in on a ship separated from the group, she sank Genbu Maru with two torpedoes. Very soon afterwards she detected a small vessel using sonar and fired from to sink the coastal minelayer Kanome. The submarine was then forced into evasive action as a bomber arrived overhead; the aircraft and two patrol boats dropped some ninety depth charges without ever endangering Halibut. Later, off the northeastern shore of Kume Shima on 29 April, she fired fifty shells from her 4-inch deck gun at two warehouses and other buildings.
On 1 May she spotted a compact group of eighteen 250-ton sampans while east of Okinawa and trailed them southwards; after dusk she surfaced and closed the range to attack with her deck armaments from . Two sampans exploded violently but return fire and flying debris injured three of Halibuts crew - one seriously. With concerns for the injured man, the sub left her patrol zone a day early to return to Midway. She rendezvoused with Perch after six days travel, and a fully qualified doctor from Midway aboard the second sub was transferred to Halibut by boat.
When Halibut reached Midway on 11 May, it was decided to leave the injured man aboard and carry on to Pearl Harbor, which she reached on 15 May 1944. Again it was decided to leave the injured man aboard rather than risk moving him, and the submarine was refueled and restored before heading on to a major overhaul at the ship repair basin of Bethlehem Steel at Sixteenth Street in south San Francisco, California, with ninety days rest for the crew. She reached that port on 24 May and finally, after twenty-one days in his bunk, the injured man was transferred to a land hospital - Oak Knoll Naval Hospital. During her major overhaul, Halibut had some small changes. An automatic plotting table was added; the main electric power control cubicle was given shock-mountings; there was a new, more powerful, trim pump; another passive sonar set; and the 20 mm deck gun was replaced with a 40 mm rapid-fire gun. After testing, the submarine returned to Pearl Harbor on 20 September 1944, where Galantin received a promotion to commander.
Tenth patrol
On her tenth war patrol Halibut again joined a coordinated attack group, this time with Haddock and , under the overall command of John P. Roach. Halibut was given a loadout of the newer all-electric Mark 18 torpedo. The group departed Pearl on 8 October, bypassing Midway and taking a great circle route towards Tanapag, Saipan, which had been captured in June. The group replenished their stores there and after two days departed on 21 October to head for the patrol zone around the strait between Formosa and Luzon.
The group reached the Luzon Strait on 25 October, but mid-morning the submarines were ordered to set up scouting lines to intercept units of the Japanese fleet retiring after the Battle off Cape Engaño. Spread out east-west apart, the submarines moved rapidly until enemy ships (heavily engaged by USN dive bombers) were detected around 17:30. Halibut and the other subs had encountered the remnants of Admiral Jisaburo Ozawa's force. She submerged at 17:45 while some away from a vessel she identified as the battleship (later found to be ). At 18:43 she fired six torpedoes from . While the torpedoes were en route, a maneuver by the Japanese vessels brought an escort into their path and a destroyer was sunk. JANAC later identified the sunken vessel as , but Galantin states that it was more likely , as Japanese records list the Akizuki being sunk by aerial attack earlier in the day. Even Hatsuzuki is unlikely, usually credited as having been sunk by a US cruiser-destroyer group. An hour after the attack, Halibut resurfaced and headed north chasing a radar contact, which she lost in the early morning of 26 October.
The submarine returned to the Luzon Strait, where she found the variable currents in the two main channels (Bashi Channel and Balintang Channel) made keeping trim very tricky. On 28 October she was attacked with no effect (beyond a little fright for her lookouts) by an anti-submarine aircraft. For the next two weeks, in constantly poor weather, Halibut found no enemy shipping except the hospital ship Hikawa Maru, which could not be attacked.
On 13 November Halibut noticed increasing air anti-submarine activity. In the early morning of 14 November she entered the Bashi Channel and around noon she detected a northbound convoy of four freighters with escorts. The submarine launched four torpedoes from . As Halibut submerged and turned away, the crew heard a "loud, fast buzzing noise" which was quickly followed by five explosions (apparently jikitanchiki-equipped Mitsubishi G3M aircraft). The submarine went down to as she detected the sonar of two escorts when a sudden near explosion severely damaged the conning tower, which had been abandoned. The escort was CD-6, which was alerted by the aircraft of the sub's location. This blast was followed by another series of very close explosions which damaged equipment in the control room and yet another series of blasts over the forward battery compartment that damaged the torpedo room, forward battery room, and the main air bank, "one of the most devastating [attacks] of the war". The attacks drove Halibut down to ; as air pressure rose to the crew were forced to seal off the afflicted section and slowly release the pressure into the rest of the ship.
No further attacks occurred and Halibut was able to move sluggishly up to around , her nominal test depth. The crew toiled with repairs, and when night came she resurfaced and headed towards her sister ships. The radar was repaired, although Halibut was without depth gauges, main compasses, gyros, radio, and a number of other systems. Most of the damage was actually to the hull and its fittings. At around 21:30 she encountered of the wolf pack that was working to the north of Halibut. After transferring a message to COMSUBPAC Pintado was ordered to escort Halibut the entire to Saipan. Halibut made a single brief dive during the journey; this was the last time she was ever submerged. At noon on 19 November she entered Tanapag Harbor.
The gallant submarine received the Navy Unit Commendation for her performance on this patrol. However, as a result of this action, damages incurred on her meant that she could no longer patrol for the rest of the war.
Fate
Halibut arrived at Pearl Harbor on 1 December. It was quickly determined that her damage was too extensive to justify repair and thus was a constructive total loss. She was sent to New London, where she could be used as an alongside school ship. Her command was transferred to Guy Gugliotta and she left Pearl Harbor on 5 December arriving at San Francisco on 12 December.
She sailed 16 February 1945 for Portsmouth, New Hampshire. She was decommissioned 18 July 1945 and was sold for $23,123 (currently $) as scrap on 10 January 1947 to Quaker Shipyard and Machinery Company of Camden, New Jersey.
Halibut received seven battle stars for World War II service. She had steamed over , sunk twelve ships and damaged at least nine others. War patrols 3 through 7, 9 and 10 were designated successful.
Legacy
The battle flag of Halibut, along with photos of her crew and other artifacts, can be seen at the USS Bowfin Submarine Museum and park, next to the USS Arizona Memorial Visitor Center in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
References
Galantin, I. J. Take Her Deep! (Pocket Books, 1987)
External links
hazegray.org: USS Halibut
The USS Bowfin Museum and Park
Halibut chronology at uboat.net
Gato-class submarines
World War II submarines of the United States
Ships built in Kittery, Maine
1941 ships
Ships of the Aleutian Islands campaign
|
411765
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Research%20Triangle
|
Research Triangle
|
The Research Triangle, or simply The Triangle, are both common nicknames for a metropolitan area in the Piedmont region of the U.S. state of North Carolina. Anchored by the cities of Raleigh, Durham and the town of Chapel Hill, the region is home to three major research universities: North Carolina State University, Duke University, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, respectively. The "Triangle" name originated in the 1950s with the creation of Research Triangle Park located between the three anchor cities, which is the largest research park in the United States and home to numerous high tech companies.
The nine-county region, officially named the Raleigh-Durham-Cary, NC Combined Statistical Area by the Office of Management and Budget, comprises the Raleigh-Cary, NC and Durham-Chapel Hill, NC Metropolitan Statistical Areas and the Henderson, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area. The 2020 census put the population of the area at 2,106,463, making it the second-largest combined statistical area in North Carolina, behind Charlotte. The Raleigh–Durham television market includes a broader 24-county area which includes Fayetteville, North Carolina, and has a population of 2,726,000 persons. Most of the Triangle is part of North Carolina's first, second, fourth, ninth, and thirteenth congressional districts.
The region is sometimes confused with the Piedmont Triad, which is a North Carolina region adjacent to and directly west of the Triangle comprising Greensboro, Winston-Salem, and High Point, among other cities.
Definitions
Depending on which definition of the Research Triangle region is used, as few as three or as many as 16 counties are included as part of the region. The three core counties of Wake, Durham, and Orange are the homes of the three research universities for which the area is named.
Combined Statistical Area
As of September 14, 2018, the US Office of Management and Budget (OMB) delineated the Raleigh-Durham-Cary Combined Statistical Area as consisting of two metropolitan and one micropolitan statistical areas. Those three statistical areas in turn are defined as consisting of a total of nine counties. The MSAs and their constituent counties are:
Durham-Chapel Hill Metropolitan SA
Chatham County
Durham County
Granville County
Orange County
Person County
Henderson Micropolitan SA
Vance County
Raleigh-Cary Metropolitan SA
Franklin County
Johnston County
Wake County
Prior to September 2018, the OMB had used the name Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill Combined Statistical Area and it included several additional counties. The Dunn Micropolitan Statistical Area (Harnett County) and Sanford Micropolitan Statistical Area (Lee County) were moved to the Fayetteville-Sanford-Lumberton Combined Statistical Area, while the Oxford Micropolitan Statistical Area (Granville County) was folded into the Durham-Chapel Hill Metropolitan Statistical Area. The Raleigh Metropolitan Statistical Area was also renamed the Raleigh-Cary Metropolitan Statistical Area.
The table below outlines the populations of the constituent counties of the Raleigh–Durham-Cary Combined Statistical Area as of the 2020 Census.
Regional partnerships
The members of the Research Triangle Regional Partnership are:
Chatham
Durham
Franklin
Granville
Harnett
Johnston
Lee
Nash
Orange
Person
Wake
Warren
Wilson
All counties in North Carolina are in one of 16 regional councils which provide programs and services to local governments. The Triangle J Council of Governments includes Chatham, Durham, Johnston, Lee, Moore, Orange, and Wake Counties. The northern Triangle counties of Person, Granville, Franklin, Vance, and Warren are part of the Kerr-Tar Regional Council of Governments.
Cities
The Triangle region, as defined for statistical purposes as the Raleigh–Durham–Cary CSA, comprises nine counties, although the U.S. Census Bureau divided the region into two metropolitan statistical areas and one micropolitan area in 2003. The Raleigh-Cary metropolitan area comprises Wake, Franklin, and Johnston Counties; the Durham-Chapel Hill metropolitan area comprises Durham, Orange, Chatham, Granville, and Person Counties; and the Henderson micropolitan area comprises Vance County.
Some area television stations define the region as Raleigh–Durham–Fayetteville. Fayetteville is more than from Raleigh, but is part of the Triangle television market.
Education
Public secondary education in the Triangle is similar to that of the majority of the state of North Carolina, in which there are county-wide school systems (the exception is Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools within Orange County but apart from Orange County Schools). Based in Cary, the Wake County Public School System, which includes the cities of Raleigh and Cary, is the largest school system in the state of North Carolina and the 15th-largest in the United States, with average daily enrollment of 159,949 as of the second month of the 2016–17 school year. Other larger systems in the region include Durham Public Schools (about 33,000 students) and rapidly growing Johnston County Schools (about 31,000 students).
Institutions of higher education
Campbell University
Central Carolina Community College
Duke University
Durham Technical Community College
Louisburg College
Meredith College
North Carolina Central University
North Carolina State University
Piedmont Community College
Shaw University
Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and The College at Southeastern
St. Augustine's College
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Vance-Granville Community College
Wake Technical Community College
William Peace University
Sports
College sports
With the significant number of universities and colleges in the area and the relative absence of major league professional sports, NCAA sports are very popular, particularly those sports in which the Atlantic Coast Conference participates, most notably basketball.
The Duke Blue Devils (representing Duke University in Durham), NC State Wolfpack (representing North Carolina State University in Raleigh), and North Carolina Tar Heels (representing the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) are all members of the ACC. Rivalries among these schools are very strong, fueled by proximity to each other, with annual competitions in every sport. Adding to the rivalries is the large number of graduates the high schools in the region send to each of the local universities. It is very common for students at one university to know many students attending the other local universities, which increases the opportunities for "bragging" among the schools. The four ACC schools in the state, Duke, North Carolina, North Carolina State, and Wake Forest University (the last of which was originally located in the town of Wake Forest before moving to Winston-Salem in 1956), are referred to as Tobacco Road by sportscasters, particularly in basketball. All four teams consistently produce high-caliber teams . Each of the Triangle-based universities listed has won at least two NCAA Basketball national championships.
Three historically black colleges, including recent Division I arrival North Carolina Central University and Division II members St. Augustine College and Shaw University also boost the popularity of college sports in the region.
Other colleges in the Triangle that field intercollegiate teams include Campbell University, Meredith College, and William Peace University.
The Triangle will host the World University Summer Games in 2029.
Professional sports
The region has only one professional team of the four major sports, the Carolina Hurricanes of the National Hockey League, based in Raleigh. Since moving to the Research Triangle region from Hartford, Connecticut, they have enjoyed great success, including winning a Stanley Cup. The North Carolina Courage began play in the National Women's Soccer League in 2017 after the owner of North Carolina FC bought the NWSL franchise rights of the Western New York Flash and relocated the NWSL franchise to the Triangle. The team has achieved broad success in the league, winning 2 NWSL championships and 3 NWSL Shields in the first five years in the Triangle. With limited top-level professional sports option, minor league sports are quite popular in the region. The Durham Bulls in downtown Durham are a AAA Minor League baseball affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays, and the Carolina Mudcats, based in Zebulon, are the Advanced-A affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers. In Cary, North Carolina FC plays in the third-tier USL League One
The area also had a team in the fledgling World League of American Football – however, the Raleigh–Durham Skyhawks, coached by Roman Gabriel, did not exactly cover themselves in glory; they lost all 10 games of their inaugural (and only) season in 1991. The team folded after that, being replaced in the league by the Ohio Glory, which fared little better at 1–9, ultimately suffering the same fate – along with the other six teams based in North America – when the league took a two-year hiatus, returning as a six-team all-European league in 1995.
Economy
The region's growing high-technology community includes such companies as IBM, Lenovo, SAS Institute, Cisco Systems, NetApp, Red Hat, EMC Corporation, and Credit Suisse First Boston. In addition to high-tech, the region is consistently ranked in the top three in the U.S. with concentration in life science companies. Some of these companies include GlaxoSmithKline, Biogen Idec, BASF, Merck & Co., Novo Nordisk, Novozymes, and Pfizer. Research Triangle Park and North Carolina State University's Centennial Campus in Raleigh support innovation through R&D and technology transfer among the region's companies and research universities (including Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill).
The area fared relatively well during the late-2000s recession, ranked as the strongest region in North Carolina by the Brookings Institution and among the top 40 in the country. The change in unemployment during 2008 to 2009 was 4.6% and home prices was 2%. The Greensboro metropolitan area was listed among the second-weakest and the Charlotte area among the middle in the country.
Major employers
Major hospitals, medical centers and medical schools
The Research Triangle region is served by these hospitals and medical centers:
Hospitals of the Duke University Health System
Duke Ambulatory Surgery Center (Durham)
Duke Children's Hospital and Health Center (Durham)
Duke Raleigh Hospital (formerly Raleigh Community Hospital)
Duke University Medical Center (Durham)
Duke Regional Hospital (formerly Durham Regional Hospital)
Person Memorial Hospital (Roxboro)
Hospitals of the UNC Health Care system
Chatham Hospital (Siler City)
North Carolina Cancer Hospital (Chapel Hill)
North Carolina Children's Hospital (Chapel Hill)
North Carolina Memorial Hospital (Chapel Hill)
North Carolina Neurosciences Hospital (Chapel Hill)
North Carolina Women's Hospital (Chapel Hill)
Rex Hospital (Raleigh)
Johnston Medical Center (Smithfield)
Hospitals of the WakeMed system
WakeMed Raleigh Campus (formerly Wake Memorial Hospital and Wake Medical Center)
WakeMed Cary Hospital (formerly Western Wake Medical Center)
Other hospitals and medical centers
Central Regional Hospital,(Butner)
Durham VA Medical Center (Durham)
Franklin Regional Medical Center (Louisburg)
Harnett Health System (Dunn)
Betsy Johnson Regional Hospital
Angier Medical Services
Good Hope Hospital
Betsy Johnson Cancer Research Clinic
Central Harnett Hospital
Medical Schools
Duke University School of Medicine
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine
Campbell University School of Osteopathic Medicine
Transportation
Freeways and primary designated routes
The Triangle proper is served by three major interstate highways: I-40, I-85, and I-87 along with their spurs: I-440 and I-540, and seven U.S. Routes: 1, 15, 64, 70, 264, 401, and 501. US Highways 15 and 501 are multiplexed through much of the region as US 15-501. I-95 passes 30 miles east of Raleigh through Johnston County, with I-87 connecting I-95 at Rocky Mount, NC to Raleigh via the US 64–264 Bypass.
The two interstates diverge from one another in Orange County, with I-85 heading northeast through northern Durham County toward Virginia, while I-40 travels southeast through southern Durham, through the center of the region, and serves as the primary freeway through Raleigh. The related loop freeways I-440 and I-540 are primarily located in Wake County around Raleigh. I-440 begins at the interchange of US 1 and I-40 southwest of downtown Raleigh and arcs as a multiplex with US 1 northward around downtown with the formal designation as the Cliff Benson/Raleigh Beltline (cosigned with US 1 on three-fourths of its northern route) and ends at its junction with I-40 in southeast Raleigh. I-540, sometimes known as the Raleigh Outer Loop, extends from the US 64–264 Bypass to I-40 just inside Durham County, where it continues across the interstate as a state route (NC 540), prior to its becoming a toll road from the NC 54 interchange to the current terminus at NC Highway 55 near Holly Springs. I-95 serves the extreme eastern edge of the region, crossing north–south through suburban Johnston County.
U.S. Routes 1, 15, and 64 primarily serve the region as limited-access freeways or multilane highways with access roads. US 1 enters the region from the southwest as the Claude E. Pope Memorial Highway and travels through suburban Apex where it merges with US 64 and continues northeast through Cary. The two highways are codesignated for about until US 1 joins I-440 and US 64 with I-40 along the Raleigh–Cary border. Capital Boulevard, which is designated US 1 for half of its route and US 401 the other is not a limited-access freeway, although it is a major thoroughfare through northeast Raleigh and into the northern downtown area.
North Carolina Highway 147 is a limited-access freeway that connects I-85 with Toll Route NC 540 in northwestern Wake County. The older, toll-free portion of the four-lane route—known as the Durham Freeway or the I.L. "Buck" Dean Expressway—traverses downtown Durham and extends through Research Triangle Park to I-40. The Durham Freeway is often used as a detour or alternate route for I-40 through southwestern Durham the Chapel Hill area in cases of traffic accident, congestion or road construction delays. The tolled portion of NC 147, called the Triangle Expressway—North Carolina's first modern toll road when it opened to traffic in late 2011—continues past I-40 to Toll NC 540. Both Toll NC 147 and Toll NC 540 are modern facilities which collect tolls using transponders and license plate photo-capture technology.
Public transit
A partnering system of multiple public transportation agencies currently serves the Triangle region under the joint GoTriangle branding. Raleigh is served by GoRaleigh (formerly Capital Area Transit) municipal transit system, while Durham has GoDurham (formerly the Durham Area Transit Authority). Chapel Hill is served by Chapel Hill Transit, and Cary is served by GoCary (formerly C-Tran) public transit systems. However, GoTriangle, formerly called Triangle Transit, works in cooperation with all area transit systems by offering transfers between its own routes and those of the other systems. Triangle Transit also coordinates an extensive vanpool and rideshare program that serves the region's larger employers and commute destinations.
Plans have been made to merge all of the area's municipal systems into GoTriangle, and GoTriangle also has proposed a regional rail system to connect downtown Durham, downtown Cary and downtown Raleigh with multiple suburban stops, as well as stops in the Research Triangle Park area. The agency's initial proposal was effectively cancelled in 2006, however, when the agency could not procure adequate federal funding. A committee of local business, transportation and government leaders currently are working with GoTriangle to develop a new transit blueprint for the region, with various modes of rail transit, as well as bus rapid transit, open as options for consideration.
Air
Raleigh–Durham International Airport (RDU)
Raleigh–Durham International Airport (RDU) has nonstop passenger service to 68 destinations with over 450 average daily departures, including nonstop international service to Canada, Europe, and Mexico. It is located near the geographic center of The Triangle, northeast of the town of Morrisville in Wake County. The airport covers 5,000 acres (2,023 ha) and has three runways.
In 1939 the General Assembly of North Carolina chartered the Raleigh–Durham Aeronautical Authority, which was changed in 1945 to the Raleigh–Durham Airport Authority. The first new terminal opened in 1955. Terminal A (now Terminal 1) opened in 1981. American Airlines began service to RDU in 1985.
RDU opened the runway, 5L-23R, in 1986. American Airlines opened its north–south hub operation at RDU in the new Terminal C in June 1987, greatly increasing the size of RDU's operations with a new terminal including a new apron and runway. American brought RDU its first international flights to Bermuda, Cancun, Paris and London.
In 1996, American Airlines ceased its hub operations at RDU due to Pan Am and Eastern Airlines. Pan Am and Eastern were Miami's main tenants until 1991, when both carriers went bankrupt. Their hubs at MIA were taken over by United Airlines and American Airlines. This created a difficulty in competing with US Airways' hub in Charlotte and Delta Air Lines' hub in Atlanta, Georgia for passengers traveling between smaller cities in the North and South. Midway Airlines entered the market, starting service in 1995 with the then somewhat novel concept of 50-seat Canadair Regional Jets providing service from its RDU hub primarily along the East Coast. Midway, originally incorporated in Chicago, had some success after moving its operations to the midpoint of the eastern United States at RDU and its headquarters to Morrisville, NC. The carrier ultimately could not overcome three weighty challenges: the arrival of Southwest Airlines, the refusal of American Airlines to renew the frequent flyer affiliation it had with Midway (thus dispatching numerous higher fare-paying businesspeople to airlines with better reward destinations), and the significant blow of September 11, 2001. Midway Airlines filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy on August 13, 2001, and ceased operations entirely on October 30, 2003.
In February 2000, RDU was ranked as the nation's second fastest-growing major airport in the United States, by Airports Council International, based on 1999 statistics. Passenger growth hit 24% over the previous year, ranking RDU second only to Washington Dulles International Airport. RDU opened Terminal A south concourse for use by Northwest and Continental Airlines in 2001. The addition added and five aircraft gates to the terminal. Terminal A became designated as Terminal 1 on October 26, 2008. In 2003, RDU also dedicated a new general aviation terminal. RDU continues to keep pace with its growth by redeveloping Terminal C into a new state-of-the-art terminal, now known as Terminal 2, which opened in October 2008.
As of June 2022, the airport will have international flights to Cancun, London, Montreal, Paris, Reykjavik and Toronto. Cancun and London service is provided by American, Frontier and JetBlue, while the Canada flights are provided by Air Canada, Paris by Delta, and Reykjavik by Icelandair. Icelandair is the first international carrier outside of Air Canada to service the airport. Delta Air Lines currently considers the airport to be a "focus city", or an airport that is not a hub, but is of importance to the carrier. The COVID-19 pandemic significantly shrunk the operation, but by September 2022, Delta will be serving 21 destinations on aircraft ranging from the CRJ700 to the 767.
Public general-aviation airports
In addition to RDU, several smaller publicly owned general-aviation airports also operate in the metropolitan region:
Triangle North Executive Airport , Louisburg
Raleigh Exec , Sanford
Johnston County Airport , Smithfield
Horace Williams Airport , Chapel Hill (Closed)
Harnett Regional Jetport , Erwin
Person County Airport , Roxboro
Siler City Municipal Airport , Siler City
Private airfields
Several licensed private general-aviation and agricultural airfields are located in the region's suburban areas and nearby rural communities:
Bagwell Airport , Garner
Ball Airport , Louisburg
Barclaysville Field Airport , Angier
Brooks Field Airport , Siler City
CAG Farms Airport , Angier
Charles Field Airport , Dunn
Cox Airport , Apex
Crooked Creek Airport , Bunn
Dead Dog Airport , Pittsboro
Deck Airpark Airport , Apex
Dutchy Airport , Chapel Hill
Eagle's Landing Airport , Pittsboro
Field of Dreams Airport , Zebulon
Fuquay/Angier Field Airport , Fuquay-Varina
Hinton Field Airport , Princeton
Kenly Airport , Kenly
Lake Ridge Aero Park Airport , Durham
Miles Airport , Chapel Hill
North Raleigh Airport , Louisburg
Peacock Stolport Airport , Garner
Raleigh East Airport , Knightdale
Riley Field Airport , Bunn
Ron's Field Ultralight Airport , Pittsboro
Triple W Airport , Raleigh
Womble Field Airport , Chapel Hill
Heliports
These licensed heliports serve the Research Triangle region:
Betsy Johnson Memorial Hospital Heliport , Dunn—publicly owned; medical service
Duke University North Heliport , Durham—privately owned; public medical service
Garner Road Heliport , Raleigh—publicly owned; state government service
Holly Green Heliport , Durham—private
Sky-5 Heliport , Raleigh—private, owned by Sky-5 Inc. (WRAL-TV)
Sprint MidAtlantic Telecom Heliport , Youngsville—private; corporate service
Wake Medical Center Heliport , Raleigh—publicly owned; medical service
Western Wake Medical Center Heliport , Cary—publicly owned; medical service
A number of helipads (i.e. marked landing sites not classified under the FAA LID system) also serve a variety of additional medical facilities (such as UNC Hospitals in Chapel Hill), as well as private, corporate and governmental interests, throughout the region.
Rail
Amtrak serves the region with the Silver Meteor, Silver Star, Palmetto, Carolinian, and Piedmont routes.
Shopping
Super-regional enclosed malls
Triangle Town Center and Commons (Raleigh; 1,431,091 ft²) (opened 2002)
The Streets at Southpoint (Durham; 1,336,000 ft²) (opened 2002)
Crabtree Valley Mall (Raleigh; 1,326,000 ft²) (opened 1972)
Cary Towne Center (Cary; 914,252 ft²) (opened 1979, closed 2021)
Northgate Mall (Durham; 857,099 ft²) (opened 1960, enclosed 1972, closed 2020)
Major shopping centers
Crossroads Plaza (Cary; 1,300,000 ft²)
Village District (Raleigh; 656,000 ft²)
Carolina Premium Outlets (Smithfield; 440,000 ft²)
University Place (Chapel Hill; 366,000 ft²)
Carr Mill Mall (Carrboro; 86,000 ft²)
Tanger Outlet Center (Mebane; 317,000 ft²)
North Hills Mall & Plaza (Raleigh)
Entertainment
Film festivals and events:
Full Frame Documentary Film Festival – Durham
North Carolina Gay & Lesbian Film Festival – Durham
Notable performing arts and music venues:
Coastal Credit Union Music Park – Raleigh
Red Hat Amphitheater – downtown Raleigh
Koka Booth Amphitheatre at Regency Park – Cary
Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts – downtown Raleigh
PNC Arena – Raleigh
Durham Performing Arts Center – Durham
Carolina Theatre – Durham
Theatre and dance events:
American Dance Festival – Durham
Music festivals:
Dreamville Festival – Raleigh
Hopscotch Music Festival – Raleigh
Moogfest – Durham
ProgDay – Chapel Hill
Movie theatres:
Alamo Drafthouse Cinema
Museums
Media
The area is part of the Raleigh–Durham–Fayetteville television designated media area and is the 25th-largest in the country with 1,135,920 households (2014) included in that area and the second largest television market in North Carolina. It is part of the Raleigh–Durham Nielsen Audio radio market (code 115) and is the 42nd-largest in the country with a population of 1,365,900.
The Raleigh–Durham–Fayetteville market is defined by Nielsen as including Chatham, Cumberland, Dunn, Durham, Granville, Halifax, Harnett, Hoke, Johnston, Lee, Moore, Northampton, Orange, Robeson, Vance, Wake, Warren, Wayne, and Wilson Counties, along with parts of Franklin County.
Print
Numerous newspapers and periodicals serve the Triangle market.
Paid and subscription
The News & Observer, the major daily Raleigh newspaper and the region's largest, with a significant regional and statewide readership (especially to the east of the Triangle)
The Herald-Sun, the major daily Durham newspaper
Garner News, the weekly community newspaper for suburban Garner in southern Wake County
The Apex Herald, the weekly community newspaper for suburban Apex in western Wake County
Holly Springs Sun, the weekly community newspaper for suburban Holly Springs in southwestern Wake County
Butner-Creedmoor News The Weekly community newspaper for southern Granville County and surrounding areas
Cleveland Post, the weekly community newspaper for suburban Cleveland and nearby northwestern Johnston and southern Wake Counties
Fuquay-Varina Independent, the weekly community newspaper for suburban Fuquay-Varina in southwestern Wake County
The Wake Weekly, a weekly community newspaper serving suburban Wake Forest, northern Wake County and southern Franklin County
The Chatham Journal, the weekly community newspaper for suburban Pittsboro and surrounding Chatham County
The Clayton News-Star, a weekly community newspaper for suburban Clayton and western Johnston County
The Daily Record, the daily community newspaper for suburban Dunn and surrounding Harnett County
The Courier-Times, the semiweekly community newspaper for suburban Roxboro and Person County
The Triangle Business Journal, a weekly regional economic journal
Cary Magazine, a bi-monthly magazine for Cary and western Wake County
Chapel Hill Magazine, a bi-monthly magazine that serves 12,500 households and 1,600 businesses of Chapel Hill, Carrboro, Hillsborough and northern Chatham County
Free
The Independent Weekly, a free weekly regional independent journal published in Durham
The Carolina Journal, a monthly free regional newspaper published in Raleigh
The Raleigh Downtowner, a free monthly magazine for downtown Raleigh and environs
The Raleigh Hatchet, a free monthly magazine
The Daily Tar Heel, the free weekday (during the regular academic year) student newspaper at UNC-Chapel Hill
Technician, the free weekday (during the regular academic year) student newspaper at NC State University in Raleigh
The Chronicle, a free daily newspaper for (but independent of) Duke University and its surrounding community in Durham
The Blotter, a free monthly regional literary journal
Fifteen-501, a free magazine for the Durham–Chapel Hill area (named for nearby U.S. Route 15-501)
Acento Latino, a free Spanish-language weekly regional newspaper published in Raleigh
Online only
The Cary Citizen, a free daily news source for the greater Cary and western Wake County area
The Raleigh Telegram, a free daily news source for the greater Raleigh area
The Wake Forest Gazette, a free weekly news site for items of local Wake Forest interest
Television
Broadcast
The Triangle is part of the Raleigh–Durham–Fayetteville Designated Market Area for broadcast television. –16, the area was the 25th-largest in the country. This area includes these television stations:
WUNC-TV (4, Chapel Hill), PBS member station and flagship station of the PBS North Carolina television network, owned by the University of North Carolina system
WRAL-TV (5, Raleigh), NBC affiliate owned by Capitol Broadcasting Company
WTVD (11, Durham), ABC O&O owned by ABC Owned Television Stations
WNCN (17, Goldsboro), CBS affiliate owned by Nexstar Media Group
WLFL (22, Raleigh), CW affiliate owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group
WTNC-LD (26, Durham), UniMás O&O owned by TelevisaUnivision
WRDC (28, Durham), MyNetworkTV affiliate owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group
WRAY-TV (30, Wilson), TCT O&O owned by Tri-State Christian Television
WUVC-DT (40, Fayetteville), Univision O&O owned by TelevisaUnivision
WRPX-TV (47, Rocky Mount) and WFPX-TV (62, Fayetteville), both Ion Television O&Os owned by Scripps Networks
WRAZ-TV (50, Raleigh), Fox affiliate owned by Capitol Broadcasting Company
Cable
Raleigh is home to the Research Triangle Region bureau of the regional cable TV news channel Spectrum News 1 North Carolina.
Radio
The Triangle is home to North Carolina Public Radio, a public radio station/NPR provider that brings in listeners around the country. Raleigh and a large part of the Triangle area is Arbitron radio market #43. Stations include:
FM stations:
88.1 FM WKNC (NCSU) College Radio from N.C. State University
88.5 FM WRTP (RTN) Christian ("His Radio WRTP")
88.7 FM WXDU (DU) College Radio from Duke University
88.9 FM WRKV (EMF) Contemporary Christian ("K-LOVE") from Educational Media Foundation
89.3 FM WXYC (UNC) College Radio from UNC-Chapel Hill
89.7 FM WCPE Classical & Opera Music
90.5 FM WVRD (Liberty University) Christian
90.7 FM WNCU (NCCU) NPR/Jazz from N.C. Central University
91.1 FM W216BN (RTN) Christian ("His Radio WRTP") (Translator of WRTP)
91.5 FM WUNC (UNC) NPR affiliate from UNC-Chapel Hill
92.5 FM WYFL (BBN) Christian Programs from Bible Broadcasting Network
93.3 FM WERO (NM License, LLC) CHR ("Bob 933")
93.5 FM WRLY-LP Community Radio ("Oak 93.5")
93.9 FM WNCB (iHM) Country ("B93.9")
94.7 FM WQDR-FM (CMG) Country ("94.7 QDR")
95.3 FM W237BZ (iHM) Classic Hip-Hop ("95.3 The Beat") (Translator of WDCG-HD2)
96.1 FM WBBB (CMG) Adult hits ("96.1 BBB")
96.5 FM W243DK (CBC) Sports ("The Buzz") (Translator of WCMC-HD2)
96.7 FM WKRX Country ("Kickin' Country")
96.9 FM WPLW-FM (CMG) CHR ("Pulse FM")
97.5 FM WQOK (R1) Hip Hop ("K-97.5")
97.9 FM W250B ("97.9 The Hill") (Translator of WCHL)
98.1 FM WQSM (Cumulus) CHR ("Q-98")
98.9 FM W255AM (RTN) Christian ("His Radio WRTP") (Translator of WRTP)
99.3 FM W257CS (CBC) Sports ("The Buzz") (Translator of WCMC-HD2)
99.9 FM WCMC (CBC) Sports ("99.9 The Fan ESPN Radio") (Flagship for Carolina Hurricanes)
100.7 FM WRDU (iHM) Classic Hits ("100.7 WRDU")
101.1 FM WYMY (CMG) Spanish ("La Ley 101.1 FM")
101.5 FM WRAL (CBC) Adult Contemporary ("Mix 101.5")
101.9 FM WKRP-LP Community Radio ("101 Nine WKRP")
102.3 FM WKJO Classic Hits ("Kix 102")
102.5 FM WKXU (CMG) Classic Hits ("Kix 102")
102.9 FM WKIX (CMG) Classic Hits ("Kix 102")
103.3 FM WAKG (PB) Country ("103.3 WAKG")
103.5 FM WCOM-LP Community Radio, Variety
103.9 FM WNNL (R1) Urban Gospel ("The Light 103.9")
104.3 FM WFXK (R1) Urban Adult Contemporary ("Foxy 104")
104.7 FM W284CP (CMG) Oldies ("Oldies 104.7") (Translator of WKIX)
105.1 FM WDCG (iHM) CHR ("G-105")
106.1 FM WTKK (iHM) Talk
106.7 FM WKVK (EMF) Contemporary Christian
107.1 FM WFXC (R1) Urban Adult Contemporary ("Foxy 107")
107.7 FM W299AQ (RTN) Christian ("His Radio WRTP") (Translator of WRTP)
107.9 FM W300AR (RTN) Christian ("His Radio WRTP") (Translator of WRTP)
AM stations:
540 AM WETC Catholic radio
570 AM WQDR Classic rock ("Rock 92.9")
620 AM WDNC Sports ("620 The Ticket") (Flagship for Duke Football and Basketball)
680 AM WPTF News, Talk & Sports ("NewsRadio 680 WPTF")
750 AM WAUG Urban Programming from St. Augustine's College
850 AM WKIX Oldies ("Oldies 104.7")
1000 AM WRTG Spanish
1030 AM WDRU Christian ("The Truth 1030")
1130 AM WPYB Country
1240 AM WPJL Christian
1310 AM WTIK Spanish
1360 AM WCHL ("97.9 The Hill")
1410 AM WRJD Spanish Christian
1430 AM WRXO Country ("Simulcast of WKRX-FM")
1490 AM WDUR South Asian
1530 AM WLLQ Spanish
1550 AM WCLY Adult album alternative ("That Station")
1590 AM WHPY Christian
Map of the Triangle
See also
Piedmont Atlantic
Piedmont Crescent
Piedmont Triad
References
External links
Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce
Research Triangle Regional Partnership
Triangle Wiki – Local wiki for the Triangle
High-technology business districts in the United States
Life sciences industry
Raleigh
|
411782
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Staining
|
Staining
|
Staining is a technique used to enhance contrast in samples, generally at the microscopic level. Stains and dyes are frequently used in histology (microscopic study of biological tissues), in cytology (microscopic study of cells), and in the medical fields of histopathology, hematology, and cytopathology that focus on the study and diagnoses of diseases at the microscopic level. Stains may be used to define biological tissues (highlighting, for example, muscle fibers or connective tissue), cell populations (classifying different blood cells), or organelles within individual cells.
In biochemistry, it involves adding a class-specific (DNA, proteins, lipids, carbohydrates) dye to a substrate to qualify or quantify the presence of a specific compound. Staining and fluorescent tagging can serve similar purposes. Biological staining is also used to mark cells in flow cytometry, and to flag proteins or nucleic acids in gel electrophoresis. Light microscopes are used for viewing stained samples at high magnification, typically using bright-field or epi-fluorescence illumination.
Staining is not limited to only biological materials, since it can also be used to study the structure of other materials; for example, the lamellar structures of semi-crystalline polymers or the domain structures of block copolymers.
In vivo vs In vitro
In vivo staining (also called vital staining or intravital staining) is the process of dyeing living tissues. By causing certain cells or structures to take on contrasting colours, their form (morphology) or position within a cell or tissue can be readily seen and studied. The usual purpose is to reveal cytological details that might otherwise not be apparent; however, staining can also reveal where certain chemicals or specific chemical reactions are taking place within cells or tissues.
In vitro staining involves colouring cells or structures that have been removed from their biological context. Certain stains are often combined to reveal more details and features than a single stain alone. Combined with specific protocols for fixation and sample preparation, scientists and physicians can use these standard techniques as consistent, repeatable diagnostic tools. A counterstain is stain that makes cells or structures more visible, when not completely visible with the principal stain.
Crystal violet stains both Gram positive and Gram negative organisms. Treatment with alcohol removes the crystal violet colour from gram negative organisms only. Safranin as counterstain is used to colour the gram negative organisms that got decolorised by alcohol.
While ex vivo, many cells continue to live and metabolize until they are "fixed". Some staining methods are based on this property. Those stains excluded by the living cells but taken up by the already dead cells are called vital stains (e.g. trypan blue or propidium iodide for eukaryotic cells). Those that enter and stain living cells are called supravital stains (e.g. New Methylene Blue and brilliant cresyl blue for reticulocyte staining). However, these stains are eventually toxic to the organism, some more so than others. Partly due to their toxic interaction inside a living cell, when supravital stains enter a living cell, they might produce a characteristic pattern of staining different from the staining of an already fixed cell (e.g. "reticulocyte" look versus diffuse "polychromasia"). To achieve desired effects, the stains are used in very dilute solutions ranging from to (Howey, 2000). Note that many stains may be used in both living and fixed cells.
Preparation
The preparatory steps involved depend on the type of analysis planned. Some or all of the following procedures may be required.
Wet mounts are used to view live organisms and can be made using water and certain stains. The liquid is added to the slide before the addition of the organism and a coverslip is placed over the specimen in the water and stain to help contain it within the field of view.
Fixation, which may itself consist of several steps, aims to preserve the shape of the cells or tissue involved as much as possible. Sometimes heat fixation is used to kill, adhere, and alter the specimen so it accepts stains. Most chemical fixatives (chemicals causing fixation) generate chemical bonds between proteins and other substances within the sample, increasing their rigidity. Common fixatives include formaldehyde, ethanol, methanol, and/or picric acid. Pieces of tissue may be embedded in paraffin wax to increase their mechanical strength and stability and to make them easier to cut into thin slices.
Mordants are chemical agents which have power of making dyes to stain materials which otherwise are unstainable
Mordants are classified into two categories:
a) Basic mordant: React with acidic dyes e.g. alum, ferrous sulfate, cetylpyridinium chloride etc.
b) Acidic mordant : React with basic dyes e.g. picric acid, tannic acid etc.
Direct Staining: Carried out without mordant.
Indirect Staining: Staining with the aid of a mordant.
Permeabilization involves treatment of cells with (usually) a mild surfactant. This treatment dissolves cell membranes, and allows larger dye molecules into the cell's interior.
Mounting usually involves attaching the samples to a glass microscope slide for observation and analysis. In some cases, cells may be grown directly on a slide. For samples of loose cells (as with a blood smear or a pap smear) the sample can be directly applied to a slide. For larger pieces of tissue, thin sections (slices) are made using a microtome; these slices can then be mounted and inspected.
Standardization
Most of the dyes commonly used in microscopy are available as BSC-certified stains. This means that samples of the manufacturer's batch have been tested by an independent body, the Biological Stain Commission (BSC), and found to meet or exceed certain standards of purity, dye content and performance in staining techniques ensuring more accurately performed experiments and more reliable results. These standards are published in the commission's journal Biotechnic & Histochemistry. Many dyes are inconsistent in composition from one supplier to another. The use of BSC-certified stains eliminates a source of unexpected results.
Some vendors sell stains "certified" by themselves rather than by the Biological Stain Commission. Such products may or may not be suitable for diagnostic and other applications.
Negative staining
A simple staining method for bacteria that is usually successful, even when the positive staining methods fail, is to use a negative stain. This can be achieved by smearing the sample onto the slide and then applying nigrosin (a black synthetic dye) or India ink (an aqueous suspension of carbon particles). After drying, the microorganisms may be viewed in bright field microscopy as lighter inclusions well-contrasted against the dark environment surrounding them. Negative staining is able to stain the background instead of the organisms because the cell wall of microorganisms typically has a negative charge which repels the negatively charged stain. The dyes used in negative staining are acidic. Note: negative staining is a mild technique that may not destroy the microorganisms, and is therefore unsuitable for studying pathogens.
Positive staining
Unlike negative staining, positive staining uses basic dyes to color the specimen against a bright background. While chromophore is used for both negative and positive staining alike, the type of chromophore used in this technique is a positively charged ion instead of a negative one. The negatively charged cell wall of many microorganisms attracts the positively charged chromophore which causes the specimen to absorb the stain giving it the color of the stain being used. Positive staining is more commonly used than negative staining in microbiology. The different types of positive staining are listed below.
Simple versus differential
Simple Staining is a technique that only uses one type of stain on a slide at a time. Because only one stain is being used, the specimens (for positive stains) or background (for negative stains) will be one color. Therefore, simple stains are typically used for viewing only one organism per slide. Differential staining uses multiple stains per slide. Based on the stains being used, organisms with different properties will appear different colors allowing for categorization of multiple specimens. Differential staining can also be used to color different organelles within one organism which can be seen in endospore staining.
Types
Techniques
Gram
Gram staining is used to determine gram status to classifying bacteria broadly based on the composition of their cell wall. Gram staining uses crystal violet to stain cell walls, iodine (as a mordant), and a fuchsin or safranin counterstain to (mark all bacteria). Gram status, helps divide specimens of bacteria into two groups, generally representative of their underlying phylogeny. This characteristic, in combination with other techniques makes it a useful tool in clinical microbiology laboratories, where it can be important in early selection of appropriate antibiotics.
On most Gram-stained preparations, Gram-negative organisms appear red or pink due to their counterstain. Due to the presence of higher lipid content, after alcohol-treatment, the porosity of the cell wall increases, hence the CVI complex (crystal violet – iodine) can pass through. Thus, the primary stain is not retained. In addition, in contrast to most Gram-positive bacteria, Gram-negative bacteria have only a few layers of peptidoglycan and a secondary cell membrane made primarily of lipopolysaccharide.
Endospore
Endospore staining is used to identify the presence or absence of endospores, which make bacteria very difficult to kill. Bacterial spores have proven to be difficult to stain as they are not permeable to aqueous dye reagents. Endospore staining is particularly useful for identifying endospore-forming bacterial pathogens such as Clostridium difficile. Prior to the development of more efficient methods, this stain was performed using the Wirtz method with heat fixation and counterstain. Through the use of malachite green and a diluted ratio of carbol fuchsin, fixing bacteria in osmic acid was a great way to ensure no blending of dyes. However, newly revised staining methods have significantly decreased the time it takes to create these stains. This revision included substitution of carbol fuchsin with aqueous Safranin paired with a newly diluted 5% formula of malachite green. This new and improved composition of stains was performed in the same way as before with the use of heat fixation, rinsing, and blotting dry for later examination. Upon examination, all endospore forming bacteria will be stained green accompanied by all other cells appearing red.
Ziehl-Neelsen
A Ziehl–Neelsen stain is an acid-fast stain used to stain species of Mycobacterium tuberculosis that do not stain with the standard laboratory staining procedures such as Gram staining.
This stain is performed through the use of both red coloured carbol fuchsin that stains the bacteria and a counter stain such as methylene blue.
Haematoxylin and eosin (H&E)
Haematoxylin and eosin staining is frequently used in histology to examine thin tissue sections. Haematoxylin stains cell nuclei blue, while eosin stains cytoplasm, connective tissue and other extracellular substances pink or red. Eosin is strongly absorbed by red blood cells, colouring them bright red. In a skillfully made H&E preparation the red blood cells are almost orange, and collagen and cytoplasm (especially muscle) acquire different shades of pink.
Papanicolaou
Papanicolaou staining, or PAP staining, was developed to replace fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) in hopes of decreasing staining times and cost without compromising quality. This stain is a frequently used method for examining cell samples from a variety of tissue types in various organs. PAP staining has endured several modifications in order to become a “suitable alternative” for FNAC. This transition stemmed from the appreciation of wet fixed smears by scientists preserving the structures of the nuclei opposed to the opaque appearance of air dried Romanowsky smears. This led to the creation of a hybrid stain of wet fixed and air dried known as the ultrafast papanicolaou stain. This modification includes the use of nasal saline to rehydrate cells to increase cell transparency and is paired with the use of alcoholic formalin to enhance colors of the nuclei. The papanicolaou stain is now used in place of cytological staining in all organ types due to its increase in morphological quality, decreased staining time, and decreased cost. It is frequently used to stain Pap smear specimens. It uses a combination of haematoxylin, Orange G, eosin Y, Light Green SF yellowish, and sometimes Bismarck Brown Y.
PAS
Periodic acid-Schiff is a histology special stain used to mark carbohydrates (glycogen, glycoprotein, proteoglycans). PAS is commonly used on liver tissue where glycogen deposits are made which is done in efforts to distinguish different types of glycogen storage diseases. PAS is important because it can detect glycogen granules found in tumors of the ovaries and pancreas of the endocrine system, as well as in the bladder and kidneys of the renal system. Basement membranes can also show up in a PAS stain and can be important when diagnosing renal disease. Due to the high volume of carbohydrates within the cell wall of hyphae and yeast forms of fungi, the Periodic acid -Schiff stain can help locate these species inside tissue samples of the human body.
Masson
Masson's trichrome is (as the name implies) a three-colour staining protocol. The recipe has evolved from Masson's original technique for different specific applications, but all are well-suited to distinguish cells from surrounding connective tissue. Most recipes produce red keratin and muscle fibers, blue or green staining of collagen and bone, light red or pink staining of cytoplasm, and black cell nuclei.
Romanowsky
The Romanowsky stains is considered a polychrome staining effect and is based on a combination of eosin plus (chemically reduced eosin) and demethylated methylene blue (containing its oxidation products azure A and azure B). This stain develops varying colors for all cell structures (“Romanowsky-Giemsa effect) and thus was used in staining neutrophil polymorphs and cell nuclei. Common variants include Wright's stain, Jenner's stain, May-Grunwald stain, Leishman stain and Giemsa stain.
All are used to examine blood or bone marrow samples. They are preferred over H&E for inspection of blood cells because different types of leukocytes (white blood cells) can be readily distinguished. All are also suited to examination of blood to detect blood-borne parasites such as malaria.
Silver
Silver staining is the use of silver to stain histologic sections. This kind of staining is important in the demonstration of proteins (for example type III collagen) and DNA. It is used to show both substances inside and outside cells. Silver staining is also used in temperature gradient gel electrophoresis.
Argentaffin cells reduce silver solution to metallic silver after formalin fixation. This method was discovered by Italian Camillo Golgi, by using a reaction between silver nitrate and potassium dichromate, thus precipitating silver chromate in some cells (see Golgi's method). Argyrophilic cells reduce silver solution to metallic silver after being exposed to the stain that contains a reductant. An example of this would be hydroquinone or formalin.
Sudan
Sudan staining utilizes Sudan dyes to stain sudanophilic substances, often including lipids. Sudan III, Sudan IV, Oil Red O, Osmium tetroxide, and Sudan Black B are often used. Sudan staining is often used to determine the level of fecal fat in diagnosing steatorrhea.
Wirtz-Conklin
The Wirtz-Conklin stain is a special technique designed for staining true endospores with the use of malachite green dye as the primary stain and safranin as the counterstain. Once stained, they do not decolourize. The addition of heat during the staining process is a huge contributing factor. Heat helps open the spore's membrane so the dye can enter. The main purpose of this stain is to show germination of bacterial spores. If the process of germination is taking place, then the spore will turn green in color due to malachite green and the surrounding cell will be red from the safranin. This stain can also help determine the orientation of the spore within the bacterial cell; whether it being terminal (at the tip), subterminal (within the cell), or central (completely in the middle of the cell).
Collagen hybridizing peptide
Collagen Hybridizing Peptide (CHP) staining allows for an easy, direct way to stain denatured collagens of any type (Type I, II, IV, etc.) regardless if they were damaged or degraded via enzymatic, mechanical, chemical, or thermal means. They work by refolding into the collagen triple helix with the available single strands in the tissue. CHPs can be visualized by a simple fluorescence microscope.
Common biological stains
Different stains react or concentrate in different parts of a cell or tissue, and these properties are used to advantage to reveal specific parts or areas. Some of the most common biological stains are listed below. Unless otherwise marked, all of these dyes may be used with fixed cells and tissues; vital dyes (suitable for use with living organisms) are noted.
Acridine orange
Acridine orange (AO) is a nucleic acid selective fluorescent cationic dye useful for cell cycle determination. It is cell-permeable, and interacts with DNA and RNA by intercalation or electrostatic attractions. When bound to DNA, it is very similar spectrally to fluorescein. Like fluorescein, it is also useful as a non-specific stain for backlighting conventionally stained cells on the surface of a solid sample of tissue (fluorescence backlighted staining).
Bismarck brown
Bismarck brown (also Bismarck brown Y or Manchester brown) imparts a yellow colour to acid mucins. and an intense brown color to mast cells. One default of this stain is that it blots out any other structure surrounding it and makes the quality of the contrast low. It has to be paired with other stains in order to be useful. Some complementing stains used alongside Bismark brown are Hematoxylin and Toluidine blue which provide better contrast within the histology sample.
Carmine
Carmine is an intensely red dye used to stain glycogen, while Carmine alum is a nuclear stain. Carmine stains require the use of a mordant, usually aluminum.
Coomassie blue
Coomassie blue (also brilliant blue) nonspecifically stains proteins a strong blue colour. It is often used in gel electrophoresis.
Cresyl violet
Cresyl violet stains the acidic components of the neuronal cytoplasm a violet colour, specifically nissl bodies. Often used in brain research.
Crystal violet
Crystal violet, when combined with a suitable mordant, stains cell walls purple. Crystal violet is the stain used in Gram staining.
DAPI
DAPI is a fluorescent nuclear stain, excited by ultraviolet light and showing strong blue fluorescence when bound to DNA. DAPI binds with A=T rich repeats of chromosomes. DAPI is also not visible with regular transmission microscopy. It may be used in living or fixed cells. DAPI-stained cells are especially appropriate for cell counting.
Eosin
Eosin is most often used as a counterstain to haematoxylin, imparting a pink or red colour to cytoplasmic material, cell membranes, and some extracellular structures. It also imparts a strong red colour to red blood cells. Eosin may also be used as a counterstain in some variants of Gram staining, and in many other protocols. There are actually two very closely related compounds commonly referred to as eosin. Most often used is eosin Y (also known as eosin Y ws or eosin yellowish); it has a very slightly yellowish cast. The other eosin compound is eosin B (eosin bluish or imperial red); it has a very faint bluish cast. The two dyes are interchangeable, and the use of one or the other is more a matter of preference and tradition.
Ethidium bromide
Ethidium bromide intercalates and stains DNA, providing a fluorescent red-orange stain. Although it will not stain healthy cells, it can be used to identify cells that are in the final stages of apoptosis – such cells have much more permeable membranes. Consequently, ethidium bromide is often used as a marker for apoptosis in cells populations and to locate bands of DNA in gel electrophoresis. The stain may also be used in conjunction with acridine orange (AO) in viable cell counting. This EB/AO combined stain causes live cells to fluoresce green whilst apoptotic cells retain the distinctive red-orange fluorescence.
Acid fuchsin
Acid fuchsine may be used to stain collagen, smooth muscle, or mitochondria.
Acid fuchsin is used as the nuclear and cytoplasmic stain in Mallory's trichrome method. Acid fuchsin stains cytoplasm in some variants of Masson's trichrome. In Van Gieson's picro-fuchsine, acid fuchsin imparts its red colour to collagen fibres. Acid fuchsin is also a traditional stain for mitochondria (Altmann's method).
Haematoxylin
Haematoxylin (hematoxylin in North America) is a nuclear stain. Used with a mordant, haematoxylin stains nuclei blue-violet or brown. It is most often used with eosin in the H&E stain (haematoxylin and eosin) staining, one of the most common procedures in histology.
Hoechst stains
Hoechst is a bis-benzimidazole derivative compound that binds to the minor groove of DNA. Often used in fluorescence microscopy for DNA staining, Hoechst stains appear yellow when dissolved in aqueous solutions and emit blue light under UV excitation. There are two major types of Hoechst: Hoechst 33258 and Hoechst 33342. The two compounds are functionally similar, but with a little difference in structure. Hoechst 33258 contains a terminal hydroxyl group and is thus more soluble in aqueous solution, however this characteristics reduces its ability to penetrate the plasma membrane. Hoechst 33342 contains an ethyl substitution on the terminal hydroxyl group (i.e. an ethylether group) making it more hydrophobic for easier plasma membrane passage
Iodine
Iodine is used in chemistry as an indicator for starch. When starch is mixed with iodine in solution, an intensely dark blue colour develops, representing a starch/iodine complex. Starch is a substance common to most plant cells and so a weak iodine solution will stain starch present in the cells. Iodine is one component in the staining technique known as Gram staining, used in microbiology. Used as a mordant in Gram's staining, iodine enhances the entrance of the dye through the pores present in the cell wall/membrane.
Lugol's solution or Lugol's iodine (IKI) is a brown solution that turns black in the presence of starches and can be used as a cell stain, making the cell nuclei more visible.
Used with common vinegar (acetic acid), Lugol's solution is used to identify pre-cancerous and cancerous changes in cervical and vaginal tissues during "Pap smear" follow up examinations in preparation for biopsy. The acetic acid causes the abnormal cells to blanch white, while the normal tissues stain a mahogany brown from the iodine.
Malachite green
Malachite green (also known as diamond green B or victoria green B) can be used as a blue-green counterstain to safranin in the Gimenez staining technique for bacteria. It can also be used to directly stain spores.
Methyl green
Methyl green is used commonly with bright-field, as well as fluorescence microscopes to dye the chromatin of cells so that they are more easily viewed.
Methylene blue
Methylene blue is used to stain animal cells, such as human cheek cells, to make their nuclei more observable. Also used to stain blood films in cytology.
Neutral red
Neutral red (or toluylene red) stains Nissl substance red. It is usually used as a counterstain in combination with other dyes.
Nile blue
Nile blue (or Nile blue A) stains nuclei blue. It may be used with living cells.
Nile red
Nile red (also known as Nile blue oxazone) is formed by boiling Nile blue with sulfuric acid. This produces a mix of Nile red and Nile blue. Nile red is a lipophilic stain; it will accumulate in lipid globules inside cells, staining them red. Nile red can be used with living cells. It fluoresces strongly when partitioned into lipids, but practically not at all in aqueous solution.
Osmium tetroxide (formal name: osmium tetraoxide)
Osmium tetraoxide is used in optical microscopy to stain lipids. It dissolves in fats, and is reduced by organic materials to elemental osmium, an easily visible black substance.
Propidium iodide
Propidium iodide is a fluorescent intercalating agent that can be used to stain cells. Propidium iodide is used as a DNA stain in flow cytometry to evaluate cell viability or DNA content in cell cycle analysis, or in microscopy to visualise the nucleus and other DNA-containing organelles. Propidium Iodide cannot cross the membrane of live cells, making it useful to differentiate necrotic, apoptotic and healthy cells. PI also binds to RNA, necessitating treatment with nucleases to distinguish between RNA and DNA staining
Rhodamine
Rhodamine is a protein specific fluorescent stain commonly used in fluorescence microscopy.
Safranine
Safranine (or Safranine O) is a red cationic dye. It binds to nuclei (DNA) and other tissue polyanions, including glycosaminoglycans in cartilage and mast cells, and components of lignin and plastids in plant tissues. Safranine should not be confused with saffron, an expensive natural dye that is used in some methods to impart a yellow colour to collagen, to contrast with blue and red colours imparted by other dyes to nuclei and cytoplasm in animal (including human) tissues.
The incorrect spelling "safranin" is in common use. The -ine ending is appropriate for safranine O because this dye is an amine.
Stainability of tissues
Tissues which take up stains are called chromatic. Chromosomes were so named because of their ability to absorb a violet stain.
Positive affinity for a specific stain may be designated by the suffix -philic. For example, tissues that stain with an azure stain may be referred to as azurophilic. This may also be used for more generalized staining properties, such as acidophilic for tissues that stain by acidic stains (most notably eosin), basophilic when staining in basic dyes, and amphophilic when staining with either acid or basic dyes. In contrast, chromophobic tissues do not take up coloured dye readily.
Electron microscopy
As in light microscopy, stains can be used to enhance contrast in transmission electron microscopy. Electron-dense compounds of heavy metals are typically used.
Phosphotungstic acid
Phosphotungstic acid is a common negative stain for viruses, nerves, polysaccharides, and other biological tissue materials. It is mostly used in a .5-2% ph form making it neutral and is paired with water to make an aqueous solution. Phosphotungstic acid is filled with electron dense matter that stains the background surrounding the specimen dark and the specimen itself light. This process is not the normal positive technique for staining where the specimen is dark and the background remains light.
Osmium tetroxide
Osmium tetroxide is used in optical microscopy to stain lipids. It dissolves in fats, and is reduced by organic materials to elemental osmium, an easily visible black substance. Because it is a heavy metal that absorbs electrons, it is perhaps the most common stain used for morphology in biological electron microscopy. It is also used for the staining of various polymers for the study of their morphology by TEM. is very volatile and extremely toxic. It is a strong oxidizing agent as the osmium has an oxidation number of +8. It aggressively oxidizes many materials, leaving behind a deposit of non-volatile osmium in a lower oxidation state.
Ruthenium tetroxide
Ruthenium tetroxide is equally volatile and even more aggressive than osmium tetraoxide and able to stain even materials that resist the osmium stain, e.g. polyethylene.
Other chemicals used in electron microscopy staining include:
ammonium molybdate, cadmium iodide, carbohydrazide, ferric chloride, hexamine, indium trichloride, lanthanum(III) nitrate, lead acetate, lead citrate, lead(II) nitrate, periodic acid, phosphomolybdic acid, potassium ferricyanide, potassium ferrocyanide, ruthenium red, silver nitrate, silver proteinate, sodium chloroaurate, thallium nitrate, thiosemicarbazide, uranyl acetate, uranyl nitrate, and vanadyl sulfate.
See also
Biological Stain Commission: Third-party quality control and certification of stains
Cytology: the study of cells
Histology: the study of tissues
Immunohistochemistry: the use of antisera to label specific antigens
Ruthenium(II) tris(bathophenanthroline disulfonate), a protein dye.
Vital stain: stains that do not kill cells
PAGE: separation of protein molecules
Barium enema - a type of in vivo stain that creates contrast in the x-ray part of the light spectrum
Diaphonization
References
Further reading
External links
The Biological Stain commission is an independent non-profit company that has been testing dyes since the early 1920s and issuing Certificates of approval for batches of dyes that meet internationally recognized standards.
StainsFile Reference for dyes and staining techniques.
Vital Staining for Protozoa and Related Temporary Mounting Techniques ~ Howey, 2000
Speaking of Fixation: Part 1 and Part 2 – by M. Halit Umar
Photomicrographs of Histology Stains
Frequently asked questions in staining exercises at Sridhar Rao P.N's home page
dyes
pigments
Staining dyes
Scientific techniques
Biological techniques and tools
|
411784
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The%20Hire
|
The Hire
|
The BMW film series The Hire consists of eight short films (averaging about ten minutes each) produced for the Internet in 2001 and 2002. A form of branded content, the shorts were directed by popular filmmakers from around the globe and starred Clive Owen as "the Driver" while highlighting the performance aspects of various BMW automobiles. The series made a comeback in 2016, fourteen years after its original run ended.
Premise
This series of short films center on a nameless protagonist, known as "The Driver" (Clive Owen), who is a highly-proficient professional driver of BMW automobiles. The plot of each film varies, but all involve the Driver being hired to perform tasks for various clients, typically to transport important individuals and/or cargo while evading pursuing antagonists.
Summary
Season 1
Ambush
While escorting an elderly man in the middle of the night, the Driver is confronted by a van full of armed thieves and is told that the old man is carrying a large amount of diamonds. The old man claims to have swallowed the diamonds and that the men will likely cut him open to retrieve them. The Driver decides to save his client and attempts to evade the van while being shot at. The Driver eventually baits the thieves into dying in a collision with a parked bulldozer. The Driver delivers the old man to his destination and asks if he had really swallowed the diamonds. The client merely chuckles and walks away before the Driver departs.
Starring Tomas Milian
Directed by John Frankenheimer
Written by Andrew Kevin Walker
Featured the BMW 740i
Chosen
The Driver is hired to protect an Asian holy child who is brought to America by boat. The child gives the Driver a gift, but tells him not to open it yet. After being pursued by kidnappers and being grazed in the ear by a gunshot, he successfully delivers the boy to a waiting monk. However, the child signals silently to the Driver that the man is an imposter, indicated by his footwear, just visible under his robe. The impostor monk tries to kidnap the child, but the Driver thwarts him and rescues the boy. Before leaving, the Driver opens the gift, which is revealed to be an adhesive bandage for his bleeding ear.
Starring Mason Lee
Directed by Ang Lee
Written by David Carter
Featured the BMW 540i
The Follow
The Driver is hired by a nervous manager to spy on a paranoid actor's wife. The Driver narrates while following the wife, describing the right methods to survey someone, as well as his fear of what he might learn of the wife's tragic life. He eventually discovers the wife is fleeing the country to return to her mother in Brazil, and that she's been given a black eye—likely by her husband. He returns the money for the job, refusing to tell the manager where the wife is, and tells the manager to never call him again before driving off.
Starring Forest Whitaker, Mickey Rourke, and Adriana Lima
Directed by Wong Kar-wai
Written by Andrew Kevin Walker
Featured the BMW 328i Coupé and the Z3 roadster
Star
The Driver is chosen by a spoiled and shallow celebrity to drive her to a venue. Unbeknownst to her, her manager has actually hired the Driver to teach the celebrity a lesson. Pretending to escape her pursuing bodyguards, the Driver drives recklessly through the city, tossing the hapless celebrity all around the backseat. They eventually arrive at the venue, where she is thrown out of the car and photographed by paparazzi in an embarrassing end on the red carpet.
Starring Madonna
Directed by Guy Ritchie
Written by Joe Sweet and Guy Ritchie
Featured the BMW M5
Powder Keg
In a war-torn Latin-American country, war photographer Harvey Jacobs witnesses a massacre and is wounded trying to escape. The UN assigns the Driver to rescue Jacobs from hostile territory. Jacobs tells the Driver about the horrors he saw as a photographer, and his regrets for being unable to help any victims. He gives the Driver the film needed for a New York Times story and his dog tags, which are to be given to his mother. When they reach the border they are confronted by a guard, who becomes hostile when Jacobs is taking pictures and refuses to stop. The Driver drives through a hail of gunfire towards safety, but finds Jacobs has died in the escape. The Driver returns to America to visit Jacobs' mother, returning his dog tags and telling her that Jacobs had won the Pulitzer Prize.
Starring Stellan Skarsgård and Lois Smith
Directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu
Written by Alejandro González Iñárritu, Guillermo Arriaga and David Carter
Featured the BMW X5 3.0i
Season 2
Hostage
The Driver is hired by the Federal Bureau of Investigation to help defuse a hostage situation. A disgruntled employee has kidnapped a CEO and has hidden her, demanding $5,088,042 for her release. The Driver delivers the money, writing the sum on his hand as instructed by the hostage taker, and is then ordered to burn the money. As he complies, the federal agents break in and attempt to subdue the man, who shoots himself in the head without revealing the woman's location. The Driver surmises the ransom amount is actually the woman's cellphone number, and tracks her location to the trunk of a sinking car. The woman is rescued and brought to the hospital to confront the kidnapper. It is revealed that she and the kidnapper were actually lovers, and the woman coldly tells the kidnapper she only used him for sex before he dies.
Starring Maury Chaykin and Kathryn Morris
Directed by John Woo
Written by David Carter, Greg Hahn and Vincent Ngo
Featured the BMW Z4 3.0i
Ticker
In an unnamed foreign country, a man carrying a mysterious briefcase survives an ambush en route to his destination. The Driver rescues and escorts the man while under helicopter attack. During the chase, the briefcase is struck by a bullet, causing it to leak grey fluid and the number on its display to begin counting down. The Driver manages to cause the helicopter to crash, but refuses to proceed without knowing the contents of the damaged briefcase. It is revealed that the man guards a human heart that is to be transplanted into the nation's leader, who has brought peace and prosperity to the country for many years. Should he die, his heir will be a tyrannical army General, whose soldiers had been attempting to stop them the entire time. The Driver finally reaches a military base and brings the heart to waiting surgeons, who successfully save the leader from dying. The General tries to intervene, but realizes he has failed and decides to leave with his men.
Starring Don Cheadle and F. Murray Abraham
cameos by Ray Liotta, Robert Patrick, Clifton Powell and Dennis Haysbert as US agents
Written and directed by Joe Carnahan
Featured the BMW Z4 3.0i
Beat the Devil
The Driver is employed by James Brown, who goes to meet the Devil to re-negotiate the deal he made as a young man, in which he traded his soul for fame and fortune. James is worried about his aging and the fact he can no longer perform like he used to. To renew his contract, James proposes that they have a drag race on the Las Vegas Strip at dawn, wagering the Driver's soul for another 50 years of success. The race ends with the Driver swerving to pass a moving train, while the Devil's car (a flamed Pontiac Firebird) crashes and explodes. Having won the race, the Driver leaves James Brown in the desert, but as he drives away he sees him as a young man again. The final scene shows Marilyn Manson, who lives down the hall from the Devil, complaining that the noise is disturbing his Bible reading.
Starring James Brown, Gary Oldman, and Danny Trejo
Cameo by Marilyn Manson
Directed by Tony Scott
Written by David Carter, Greg Hahn and Vincent Ngo
Featured the BMW Z4 3.0i
"The Subplot Films"
Four smaller movies, dubbed "The Subplot Movies" were shot and directed by Ben Younger. Lacking any real style (and appearing to be shot with a standard consumer-level DV-cam), they were designed to "fill in the gaps" between the five films and featured a man who appeared to be tracking the Driver, finding "clues" usually scribbled, in pen, on small pieces of paper. The films, at first glance, have no real connection to the Driver movies at all and made no real sense – they contained "clues" that were part of an alternate reality game that would lead intuitive fans to a party in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Season 3
The Escape
After the disappearance of geneticist Dr. Nora Phillips, the Molecular Genetics company's illegal activities in human cloning become exposed and the FBI raids the facility. One surviving specimen, Lily, is escorted by a ruthless mercenary named Holt to be delivered to an unknown client. The Driver is hired to transport the package with Holt accompanying him, along with an armed convoy of other mercenaries. When the Driver realizes that Lily possesses humanity, he forces Holt to get out of the car. The Driver thwarts Holt and his mercenaries in a pursuit and then drives the girl to a harbor, where she is happily reunited with Dr. Phillips—the unknown client that hired the Driver.
Starring Jon Bernthal, Dakota Fanning, and Vera Farmiga
Directed by Neill Blomkamp
Written by Neill Blomkamp and David Carter
Featured the BMW 5 Series (G30)
Production
BMW's idea for the series came from the fact that 85% of its customers shop online before purchasing their cars. If BMW could attract the right kind of traffic to their website, the type of person who enjoys art films from influential directors and actors, they could translate that into sales. BMW stated that John Frankenheimer's film Ronin served as creative inspiration for The Hire series.
On April 26, 2001, John Frankenheimer's Ambush premiered on the BMW Films website and, two weeks later, was followed by Ang Lee's Chosen. Soon after, director Wong Kar-Wai was tapped to make a third film entitled The Follow, a dramatic piece about a runaway wife being followed by "the Driver". The films debuted at the Cannes Film Festival and received mixed reviews, perhaps due to the films' purpose as advertising. It was followed by Guy Ritchie's Star and Alejandro González Iñárritu's Powder Keg.
After the series began, BMW saw their 2001 sales increase 12% from the previous year. The movies were viewed over 11 million times in four months. Two million people registered with the website and a large majority of users, registered to the site, sent film links to their friends and family. The series was originally created by members of famed indie New York City film studio – Shooting Gallery – such as CJ Follini, Paul Speaker, and Eamonn Bowles.
The films were so popular that BMW produced a free DVD for customers who visited certain BMW dealerships. Due to demand, BMW ran out of DVDs. In September, BMW and Vanity Fair magazine collaborated to distribute a second DVD edition of The Hire in the magazine. The Vanity Fair disc did not include Wong Kar-Wai's The Follow. Forest Whitaker had an uncredited part in The Follow and had only agreed to be in the film if it were shown exclusively on the Internet. When the movie was released on DVD, Whitaker allegedly exercised an option in his contract which stipulated that the movie would not be released in any other format without authorization from the actor himself. The Vanity Fair disc, in lieu of carrying The Follow, contained a link to the website with instructions to the viewer to watch the movie online.
The DVD was highly sought on Internet forums after the September 2001 issue of Vanity Fair quickly vanished from shelves and became a rare find. The movies were reviewed by Time Magazine and The New York Times, who praised BMW for creating entertaining content for "discerning movie watchers".
The series continued in October 2002, replacing producer David Fincher with Ridley and Tony Scott due to Fincher's continuing work on Panic Room.
Season 2 debuted with a dark action/comedy piece by Tony Scott called Beat the Devil. The movie, shot in Scott's trademark pseudo-psychedelic style, featured James Brown enlisting the Driver to take him to Las Vegas to re-work a decades-old deal he made with the devil which evidently gave Brown his "fame and fortune".
Some differences were evident. Whereas the first season was serious and subdued with tiny bursts of action and comedy, the second season was all flash and fun. To fit this motif, John Woo and Joe Carnahan were hired to direct Hostage and Ticker, respectively. The other main difference was that, instead of showcasing several different BMW cars (like the first season had done), the only car showcased was the then-new BMW Z4 Roadster.
To celebrate the premiere of the second season, BMW threw a party at the ArcLight Hollywood on October 17, 2002, just a week before the film's internet debut. The party, co-hosted by Vanity Fair, was also a charity and benefit for the homeless.
A month after the premiere of Beat the Devil, DirecTV began airing the entire series in half-hour loops for five weeks, on one of the blank satellite channels the system offered. The films were a success and, as a result, DirecTV considered using blank channels to air other companies' ads.
In 2003, BMW decided to make a third (and final) DVD compilation of The Hire. The new DVD made its debut at The Palais des Festival during the 2003 Cannes Film Festival and contained all eight movies, including Wong Kar-Wai's previously absent The Follow. Once again, the disc became available at select dealerships but fans could also obtain the disc for a nominal shipping fee via the BMW Films website.
During the last quarter of 2004, Dark Horse Comics and BMW planned to publish a 6-issue comic book limited series based on the main character of the films. The books were written by Kurt Busiek, Bruce Campbell, Katsuhiro Otomo, and Mark Waid as well as other comic book talents. Only four books were produced. "Tycoon" was the last book released (in December 2005). While the comics are still able to be purchased in collector shops and some comic book stores, they are no longer available for purchase on the BMW website.
On October 21, 2005, BMW stopped distribution of The Hire on DVD and removed all eight films from the BMW Films website just four years after the first film debuted. The series was abandoned, reportedly because the project had become too expensive. BMW's Vice President of Marketing James McDowell, originator of the BMW Films project, left BMW to become the VP of sales and marketing for BMW's "Mini USA" division. BMW also split from longtime ad partner Fallon Worldwide which was the creative production outlet for the series and BMW's German division had attempted to become involved with the US division of the company, cutting costs.
The series was viewed over 100 million times in four years and had changed the way products were advertised.
Copies of the DVD are still found in Internet shops and auction sites. The films themselves continue to appear on many torrent searches and viral video sites around the Internet.
In early 2006, BMW released a line of free "BMW Audiobooks" to take advantage of the growing popularity of portable MP3 players (and the fact that most BMW's came with an iPod dock pre-installed in their vehicles). While the stories had the same pulp-action feel as The Hire, the character of "the Driver" was absent. The audiobooks were free (like the films that preceded them) but are no longer available for download from the BMW website.
On February 17, 2007, MINI (BMW) launched a new short film series called Hammer & Coop. The series is a comedic parody of 1970s action-television shows like Starsky & Hutch and Charlie's Angels, and showcases BMW's Mini Cooper line of cars as the featured product.
On September 20, 2016, it was reported that BMW Films has resurrected the series fourteen years after the original production wrapped, with Clive Owen returning to reprise his role as the Driver. The first episode was revealed to be titled The Escape, which premiered on October 23, 2016, on BMW Films' official website.
In 2023 BMW released The Calm, starring Pom Klementieff and Uma Thurman. Produced by Joseph Kosinski and directed by Sam Hargrave, the new film features the BMW i7 M70.
Contest/game & party
Shortly after the release of the "Subplot Films", reports circulated around the Internet that Apple, Starbucks, BMW Films First Illinois Mortgage, and Susstones' all had a small, hidden link on their website that had a direct connection with the movies. Upon further investigation, three phone numbers and a web address were found in the four films, which led many viewers to call those numbers and go to that website.
Thousands took to the web, taking place in the hunt but only 250 solved the puzzle, which allowed the lucky few to be entered in a drawing to win a 2003 BMW Z4, seen in Hostage.
The final piece of the puzzle was a voicemail, instructing participants to meet with a correspondent in Las Vegas, the site of a VIP Party for BMW where the Grand Prize Z4 was given away to a couple from Bellingham, Washington. The first prize was a BMW Q3.s mountain bike, awarded to a student from the University of New Hampshire.
The game was designed and co-written by Mark Sandau and Russ Stark.
Influences
Several companies attempted to capitalize on the success of BMW's film series.
In 2002, the Nissan car company produced their own short film featuring their newly introduced 350Z. Entitled The Run, the film was directed by John Bruno, a James Cameron protege who worked with Cameron on True Lies, The Abyss, and Terminator 2: Judgment Day. The film was shown in theaters before feature films in November 2002. Nissan offered a DVD of the film for $9.95.
In 2004, Mercedes-Benz released The Porter, a 15-minute film by director Jan Wentz, starring Max Beesley and Bryan Ferry.
A few years later, Bombardier Recreational Products company introduced a series of short movies on the Internet which showcased their "Sea-Doo" line of personal water craft (PWC) while Covad Business also constructed a campy internet horror film based on their products called The Ringing with the intent of showcasing VoIP technology.
The Transporter was also based on The Hire film series as Luc Besson has said in interviews. In fact, many of the elements seen in The Hire were incorporated into The Transporter, right down to the BMW automobile.
Around the same time The Hire made its comeback in October 2016, the Ford Motor Company produced its very own short film, advertising their new car, the 2015 Ford Edge incorporated into a story, starring Mads Mikkelsen as the titular character in Le Fantôme, directed by Jake Scott, who co-produced the second season of The Hire.
References
Further reading
External links
BMW Films
The Hire at the Internet Archive
BMW films at Fallon
The Hire at Dark Horse Comics
Film series introduced in 2001
American drama web series
BMW
Dark Horse Comics titles
Films directed by Tony Scott
Films directed by Ang Lee
Films directed by John Woo
Films directed by Wong Kar-wai
Films directed by John Frankenheimer
Films directed by Guy Ritchie
Films directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu
Films directed by Joe Carnahan
Films directed by Neill Blomkamp
Films with screenplays by Guillermo Arriaga
Films with screenplays by Alejandro González Iñárritu
Sponsored films
Promotional films
Films scored by Clint Mansell
2001 films
2002 films
Action comedy web series
Films with screenplays by Joe Carnahan
|
411803
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathan%20Deal
|
Nathan Deal
|
John Nathan Deal (born August 25, 1942) is an American politician and former lawyer who served as the 82nd governor of Georgia from 2011 to 2019. A Republican, he previously served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives.
Deal served in the Georgia State Senate from 1981 to 1993, the last two years as president pro tempore of the senate. He faced a crowded field of candidates in the Republican primary when he ran for governor in 2010, ultimately facing former Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel in a tightly contested primary runoff election, and won by fewer than 2,500 votes. In the general election, Deal defeated the Democratic opponent, former governor Roy Barnes, and succeeded term-limited Sonny Perdue in 2011. He won his re-election campaign for governor in 2014 against Democrat Jason Carter.
Deal came to prominence in 2014 when he signed into law the Safe Carry Protection Act, known by critics as the "Guns Everywhere Law", which allows residents with a permit to carry a concealed weapon to bring firearms into most public areas, including churches, school zones, government buildings and certain sections of airports. He was barred by term limits in 2018 and was succeeded by outgoing Secretary of State Brian Kemp.
Early life and career
Deal was born on August 25, 1942, in the town of Millen and grew up on a farm in Sandersville, Georgia. His parents, Mary (née Mallard) and Noah Jordan Deal, were teachers.
He attended Mercer University in Macon, where he earned his bachelor and law degrees with honors. After he earned his Juris Doctor degree in 1966, he joined the United States Army, where he earned the rank of captain.
Deal spent twenty-three years in private law practice. He was also a criminal prosecutor, a Hall County juvenile court judge, and a Northeastern Judicial Circuit superior court judge. In 1980, he was elected to the Georgia State Senate as a Democrat.
In November 1990, he was elected by his party to be the President Pro Tempore, the second highest ranking position in the chamber. Democrat Jane Hemmer replaced him in the Senate, but she was defeated by Republican Casey Cagle two years later.
U.S. House of Representatives (1993–2010)
Elections
Deal was first elected to Congress in November 1992 as a Democrat, succeeding eight-term incumbent Ed Jenkins in . He was re-elected as a Democrat in 1994.
However, on April 11, 1995, shortly after Republicans assumed control of the U.S. House of Representatives for the first time in 40 years, Deal joined the Republican Party, which was led by Speaker Newt Gingrich, a fellow Georgian. Years later, Gingrich said that Deal became a Republican because he liked what he saw in the Contract With America.
Deal was handily re-elected in his first election as a Republican in the 1996 general election, even though Jenkins endorsed his Democratic opponent, attorney and state representative McCracken "Ken" Poston, who represented much of the congressional district's northwestern portion. This was the first time his district had elected a Republican for a full term since Reconstruction. To date, Poston is the last Democrat to win even 30 percent of the vote in this district.
Deal was unopposed for re-election in 1998, 2002, and 2004 and defeated an underfunded Democratic candidate in 2000. His district was renumbered the 10th District in 2003, but became the 9th again after a mid-decade redistricting in 2006.
In November 2006, Deal was re-elected 77%–23%. His Democratic opponent was John Bradbury, a former elementary school teacher turned truck driver. His district, already heavily Republican, became even more Republican after the mid-decade redistricting pushed it further into the Atlanta suburbs.
Tenure
Deal's voting record was relatively moderate in his first term, getting ratings in the 60s from the American Conservative Union (ACU). He moved sharply to the right after his party switch and voted for all four articles of impeachment against Bill Clinton. From 1996 onward, he garnered ratings of 90 or higher from the ACU.
During his 17 years in Congress, Deal rose to chair the Health Subcommittee of Energy and Commerce, where he became a noted expert on entitlement reform and health care policy.
Deal introduced H.R. 698, the Citizenship Reform Act, which would eliminate birthright citizenship for undocumented immigrants in the U.S. The 14th Amendment begins "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States. ... " Deal's argument is that undocumented immigrants (and their children) are not subject to U.S. jurisdiction.
Committee assignments
Committee on Energy and Commerce
Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and the Internet
Subcommittee on Health (Ranking Member)
Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations
Recovery Services, Inc. controversy
The Office of Congressional Ethics released a report on March 30, 2010, that concluded Deal appeared to have improperly used his office staff to pressure Georgia officials to continue the state vehicle inspection program that generated hundreds of thousands of dollars a year for his family's auto salvage business. Deal stated: "I have done nothing wrong and am not going to let this tarnish my ... record of public service."
The Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE), released their investigative report (Review No. 09-1022) on March 30, 2010. The report stipulates,
Representative Nathan Deal and his business partner own Recovery Services, Inc. a/k/a Gainesville Salvage & Disposal ('GSD'), located in Gainesville, Georgia ... The OCE does not take a position on Representative Deal's motivations for inserting himself into discussions of potential modifications to a state vehicle inspection program ... The OCE reviews the facts as presented at the time of review and does not take a position on whether Representative Deal's income from GSD was mistakenly reported as earned income since 2006 on his federal income taxes ... [F]or all the reasons stated above, the OCE Board recommends further review by the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct.
Resignation from Congress
On March 1, 2010, 29 days before the official release of the ethics report, Deal resigned his seat, which he said, excluded him from the Office of Congressional Ethics' jurisdiction. Although this seemed too coincidental for some, Deal maintained in a speech to supporters that the resignation was so that he could "devote [his] full energies" to the gubernatorial campaign.
Before returning to Georgia to run for governor, Deal cast his final congressional vote against the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.
2011 ethics investigation
In 2011, then Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission Executive Secretary Stacey Kalberman and Deputy Executive Secretary Sherilyn Streiker launched an ethics investigation into Deal's campaign finances during his 2010 gubernatorial race. According to the complaint, Deal had used state campaign funds to pay legal bills stemming from a federal ethics investigation when he was in Congress, that he had personally profited from his gubernatorial campaign's $135,000 rental of aircraft from a company he partly owned, and that he had accepted campaign contributions beyond the legal limits. The campaign also paid a total of $135,000 to consulting companies which were owned by Deal's daughter-in-law and the father of Chris Riley, Deal's chief of staff.
As Kalberman and Streiker were preparing to serve subpoenas to Deal, his chief of staff, and others involved in the case, Kalberman's salary was cut by $35,000 and Streiker was ousted from her position. Soon after, Kalberman was forced to resign and was replaced by Holly LaBerge, who was recruited by the governor's office.
On July 23, 2012, the ethics commission cleared Deal of major ethics violations while finding he made "technical defects" in a series of personal financial and campaign finance reports. In July 2012, Deal agreed to pay $3,350 in administrative fees to resolve violations of campaign finance and disclosure laws.
Holly LaBerge, the head of the ethics commission that cleared Deal of major ethics violations, claimed in July 2014 that Ryan Teague, Deal's counsel, called her to say: "It was not in the agency's best interest for these cases to go to a hearing ... nor was it in their best political interest either." Deal has stated that he is "not aware of any communications along those lines".
Governor of Georgia (2011–2019)
2010 gubernatorial election
Incumbent Republican Governor Sonny Perdue was term-limited in 2010. Seven candidates filed to run in the Republican primary. In the initial Republican primary in July, no candidate received the 50% threshold to win the primary outright. Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel ranked first with 34%, qualifying for the run-off election. Deal, ranked second with 23% of the vote, also qualified for the run-off election.
Candidates who didn't qualify included State Senator Eric Johnson (20%), Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine (16%), State Senator Jeff Chapman (3%), businessman Ray McBerry (3%), and businessman Otis Putnam (0%). Deal performed the strongest in the northern part of the state, where he lives and represented in Congress. However, he also won some counties in the southern part of the state, such as Candler (30%) and Tift (24%). He won five counties with a majority including his home of Hall (64%), Dade (56%), Walker (56%), White (53%), and Stephens (53%).
The run-off election between Handel and Deal was very competitive. Deal was endorsed by former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, U.S. Representative Jack Kingston, and former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee. Handel was endorsed by Arizona Governor Jan Brewer and former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.
On August 10, Deal defeated Handel 50.2%-49.8%, a difference of just 2,519 votes. Handel performed well in the western and eastern borders of the state, as well as the counties surrounding Atlanta. She won the heavily populated Fulton County with 71%, her best performance in the state, followed by Glascock (70%) and Burke (70%). Deal's two best counties were Taliaferro (80%) and Hall (79%).
In the general election, Deal faced former governor and state senator Roy Barnes (D) and John Monds (L). Barnes previously won the 1998 gubernatorial election with 52% of the vote, and lost re-election in 2002 to State Senator Sonny Perdue 51%-46%. Perdue was the first Georgia Republican Governor since Reconstruction.
Barnes has always been considered a moderate. After he lost re-election, he returned to practicing law for eight years until mounting a political comeback. Deal tried to connect Barnes with President Barack Obama. Barnes said "if you would listen to what is being said, you would have thought that this is an election for president of the United States." Barnes also tried to distance himself from Obama, saying his health care law was "the greatest failure of political leadership in my lifetime". On November 3, Deal defeated Barnes 53%-43%.
2014 gubernatorial election
Deal ran for re-election in 2014. He defeated two primary challengers and defeated Democratic State Senator Jason Carter in the general election with 53% of the vote to Carter's 45%.
Inauguration
Deal took office as governor on January 10, the second Monday of 2011. His second inauguration took place on January 12, 2015.
Supreme Court expansion
As Governor, Deal expanded the Supreme Court, adding two more justices to the court.
Immigration
In 2011, despite protests outside his office and threats of boycotts, Deal signed Georgia HB 87 into law, which increased the state's enforcement powers in regards to illegal immigration, as well as required many employers to determine whether their newly hired employees are undocumented immigrants or not.
Criminal justice reform
In 2011, Georgia was in the midst of a criminal justice crisis. The prison population had doubled in the past two decades to 56,000, along with the state's incarceration budget. The recidivism rate was 30 percent for adults and 65 percent for juveniles. In response, Deal commissioned the Georgia Criminal Justice Reform Council, tasked with performing an exhaustive review of the state's current system, identifying key areas of focus and providing recommendations for reforms. These areas included increased funding and support for accountability courts, overhauling the juvenile justice system, and implementing prisoner re-entry initiatives. The council's work resulted in bipartisan legislation that caused Georgia to avoid the need for 5,000 additional prison beds over 5 years and saved taxpayers at least $264 million. A 2014 study showed that "prison sentences imposed on African-American offenders have dropped by 20 percent."
On April 25, 2013, Deal signed HB 349 into law, which enacted a second round of criminal justice reforms. These reforms took a "smart on crime" approach and were based on recommendations from the Special Council on Criminal Justice Reform. This law gave those who, while locked up, have earned money toward college in the form of a HOPE Scholarship G-E-D Voucher the ability to use that money up to two years after their release. In addition, Deal reinvested $5 million to create a voluntary grant program that gives communities incentives to offer judges more non-confinement sentencing options. These could include substance abuse treatment or family counseling.
With the help of the Council and the Vera Institute of Justice, Deal developed extensive performance measures to track the success of previous reforms to ensure they were enhancing public safety and saving taxpayer dollars. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported, "Since 2007 alone, more than three-dozen such courts have opened their doors across Georgia. In the first quarter of 2014, more than 4,100 offenders were enrolled in the state's 105 accountability courts, and many of these participants would likely be in prison without this alternative."
On April 25, 2014, Deal announced the creation of the Governor's Interfaith Council, composed of religious leaders across Georgia, to expand upon recent criminal justice reforms. These programs and council advisors will implement cost-effective strategies will work to increase the number of former offenders returning to the workforce and supporting their families. By removing barriers to employment, housing and education for rehabilitated offenders, a larger number of returning citizens are able to rejoin the workforce and support their families. Some of Deal's initiatives include education and jobs training programs, "banning the box" and creation of the Department of Community Supervision, which streamlines re-entry programs across various state agencies.
Safe Carry Protection Act
In 2014, Deal signed House Bill (H.B.) 60, the Safe Carry Protection Act, referred to by critics as the "Guns Everywhere" Law. Deal stated that gun rights through the United States Constitution's Second Amendment are important to people in Georgia. The Safe Carry Protection Act took effect on July 1, 2014, and permits licensed gun owners to carry guns into many public and private places, including churches, school property, bars, nightclubs, libraries, and some government buildings in Georgia. The law was supported by the Georgia Baptist Convention which included 3,600 Baptist churches in Georgia in favor of increased church autonomy, but was not supported by Catholic or Episcopalian church leaders due to their belief that it is against Jesus' teachings. By 2016, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution found that while 57% of Georgians believed that owning a gun protects people, 59% disapproved of the law itself.
Resettlement of Syrian refugees
In 2015 Deal issued an executive order ordering state agencies to "halt any involvement in accepting refugees from Syria for resettlement in the state of Georgia", resulting in the state's Department of Human Resources refusing to process applications for food stamps and other benefits filed by newly arrived Syrian refugees. Deal rescinded his order on January 4, 2016, after Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens said Deal lacked the authority to issue it.
Religious liberty bill veto
On March 28, 2016, Deal vetoed a religious liberty bill that had been passed by both houses of the Georgia State Legislature, and that had been opposed by multiple large corporations, including Salesforce.com, the Coca-Cola Company and the Home Depot.
Campus carry
On May 3, 2016, Deal vetoed a campus carry bill that had been passed by the state legislature, after a number of state legislators refused to include exceptions for child-care centers and other places on college campuses. Had Deal signed the bill into law, it would have made concealed carrying of guns legal at every public college in Georgia, so long as the carrier was 21 or older and had a proper permit. One year later, on May 4, 2017, Deal signed a revised and stricter version of the campus carry bill into law.
Deal was succeeded by Governor Brian Kemp on January 14, 2019.
Electoral history
{| class="wikitable" style="margin:0.5em ; font-size:95%"
|+ : Results 1992–2000, 2006–2008;: Results 2002–2004
!|Year
!|District
!
!|Democratic
!|Votes
!|Pct
!
!|Republican
!|Votes
!|Pct
!
|-
|1992
|
|
| |Nathan Deal
| align="right" |113,024
| |59%
|
| |Daniel Becker
| align="right" |77,919
| |41%
|
|-
|1994
|
|
| |Nathan Deal
| align="right" |79,145
| |58%
|
| |
| align="right" |57,568
| |42%
|
|-
|1996
|
|
| |
| align="right" |69,662
| |34%
|
| |Nathan Deal
| align="right" |132,532
| |66%
|
|-
|1998
|
|
| |(no candidate)
| align="right" |
| |
|
| |Nathan Deal
| align="right" |122,713
| |100%
|
|-
|2000
|
|
| |
| align="right" |60,360
| |25%
|
| |Nathan Deal
| align="right" |183,171
| |75%
|
|-
|2002
|
|
| |(no candidate)
| align="right" |
| |
|
| |Nathan Deal
| align="right" |129,242
| |100%
|
|-
|2004
|
|
| |(no candidate)
| align="right" |
| |
|
| |Nathan Deal
| align="right" |219,136
| |100%
|
|-
|2006
|
|
| |
| align="right" |39,240
| |23%
|
| |Nathan Deal
| align="right" |128,685
| |77%
|
|-
|2008
|
|
| |Jeff Scott
| align="right" |70,401
| |25%
|
| |Nathan Deal
| align="right" |216,925
| |75%
|
See also
Georgia gubernatorial election, 2010
List of American politicians who switched parties in office
List of United States representatives who switched parties
References
External links
Georgia Governor Nathan Deal official government site
Nathan Deal for Governor
Congress
Profile at SourceWatch
Articles
NYT Article on effects of his anti-illegal immigration legislation March 12, 2007
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
1942 births
20th-century American lawyers
20th-century American politicians
21st-century American politicians
American prosecutors
Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Georgia (U.S. state)
Baptists from Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia (U.S. state) lawyers
Georgia (U.S. state) state court judges
Republican Party Georgia (U.S. state) state senators
Georgia Salzburgers
Living people
Mercer University alumni
Military personnel from Georgia (U.S. state)
People from Gainesville, Georgia
People from Millen, Georgia
Presidents pro tempore of the Georgia State Senate
Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Georgia (U.S. state)
Republican Party governors of Georgia (U.S. state)
Southern Baptists
United States Army officers
Superior court judges in the United States
|
411811
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypoactive%20sexual%20desire%20disorder
|
Hypoactive sexual desire disorder
|
Hypoactive sexual desire disorder (HSDD), hyposexuality or inhibited sexual desire (ISD) is sometimes considered a sexual dysfunction, and is characterized as a lack or absence of sexual fantasies and desire for sexual activity, as judged by a clinician. For this to be regarded as a disorder, it must cause marked distress or interpersonal difficulties and not be better accounted for by another mental disorder, a drug (legal or illegal), or some other medical condition. A person with ISD will not start, or respond to their partner's desire for, sexual activity. HSDD affects approximately 10% of all pre-menopausal women in the United States, or about 6 million women.
There are various subtypes. HSDD can be general (general lack of sexual desire) or situational (still has sexual desire but lacks sexual desire for current partner), and it can be acquired (HSDD started after a period of normal sexual functioning) or lifelong (the person has always had no/low sexual desire).
In the DSM-5, HSDD was split into male hypoactive sexual desire disorder and female sexual interest/arousal disorder. It was first included in the DSM-III under the name inhibited sexual desire disorder, but the name was changed in the DSM-III-R. Other terms used to describe the phenomenon include sexual aversion and sexual apathy. More informal or colloquial terms are frigidity and frigidness.
Causes
Low sexual desire alone is not equivalent to HSDD because of the requirement in HSDD that the low sexual desire causes marked distress and interpersonal difficulty and because of the requirement that the low desire is not better accounted for by another disorder in the DSM or by a general medical problem. It is therefore difficult to say exactly what causes HSDD. It is easier to describe, instead, some of the causes of low sexual desire.
In men, though there are theoretically more types of HSDD/low sexual desire, typically men are only diagnosed with one of three subtypes.
Lifelong/generalised: The man has little or no desire for sexual stimulation (with a partner or alone) and never had.
Acquired/generalised: The man previously had sexual interest in his present partner, but lacks interest in sexual activity, partnered or solitary.
Acquired/situational: The man was previously sexually interested in his present partner but now lacks sexual interest in this partner but has desire for sexual stimulation (i.e. alone or with someone other than his present partner).
Though it can sometimes be difficult to distinguish between these types, they do not necessarily have the same cause. The cause of lifelong/generalized HSDD is unknown. In the case of acquired/generalized low sexual desire, possible causes include various medical/health problems, psychiatric problems, low levels of testosterone or high levels of prolactin. One theory suggests that sexual desire is controlled by a balance between inhibitory and excitatory factors. This is thought to be expressed via neurotransmitters in selective brain areas. A decrease in sexual desire may therefore be due to an imbalance between neurotransmitters with excitatory activity like dopamine and norepinephrine and neurotransmitters with inhibitory activity, like serotonin. Low sexual desire can also be a side effect of various medications. In the case of acquired/situational HSDD, possible causes include intimacy difficulty, relationship problems, sexual addiction, and chronic illness of the man's partner. The evidence for these is somewhat in question. Some claimed causes of low sexual desire are based on empirical evidence. However, some are based merely on clinical observation. In many cases, the cause of HSDD is simply unknown.
Some factors are believed to be possible causes of HSDD in women. As with men, various medical problems, psychiatric problems (such as mood disorders), or increased amounts of prolactin can cause HSDD. Other hormones are believed to be involved as well. Additionally, factors such as relationship problems or stress are believed to be possible causes of reduced sexual desire in women. According to one recent study examining the affective responses and attentional capture of sexual stimuli in women with and without HSDD, women with HSDD do not appear to have a negative association to sexual stimuli, but rather a weaker positive association than women without HSDD.
One third of post operation transgender women experience HSDD roughly consistent with menopause women. HSDD in transgender women is largely caused by a lack of testosterone especially after the gonads are removed during bottom surgery, as androgens are produced in smaller concentrations lower then ovulating women. Progesterone has shown to alleviate some symptoms of HSDD in transgender women, as well as other hormone treatments.
Diagnosis
In the DSM-5, male hypoactive sexual desire disorder is characterized by "persistently or recurrently deficient (or absent) sexual/erotic thoughts or fantasies and desire for sexual activity", as judged by a clinician with consideration for the patient's age and cultural context. Female sexual interest/arousal disorder is defined as a "lack of, or significantly reduced, sexual interest/arousal", manifesting as at least three of the following symptoms: no or little interest in sexual activity, no or few sexual thoughts, no or few attempts to initiate sexual activity or respond to partner's initiation, no or little sexual pleasure/excitement in 75–100% of sexual experiences, no or little sexual interest in internal or external erotic stimuli, and no or few genital/nongenital sensations in 75–100% of sexual experiences.
For both diagnoses, symptoms must persist for at least six months, cause clinically significant distress, and not be better explained by another condition. Simply having lower desire than one's partner is not sufficient for a diagnosis. Self-identification of a lifelong lack of sexual desire as asexuality precludes diagnosis.
Treatment
Counseling
HSDD, like many sexual dysfunctions, is something that people are treated for in the context of a relationship. Theoretically, one could be diagnosed with and treated for HSDD without being in a relationship. However, relationship status is the most predictive factor accounting for distress in women with low desire and distress is required for a diagnosis of HSDD. Therefore, it is common for both partners to be involved in therapy.
Typically, the therapist tries to find a psychological or biological cause of the HSDD. If the HSDD is organically caused, the clinician may try to treat it. If the clinician believes it is rooted in a psychological problem, he or she may recommend therapy. If not, treatment generally focuses more on relationship and communication issues, improved communication (verbal and nonverbal), working on non-sexual intimacy, or education about sexuality may all be possible parts of treatment. Sometimes problems occur because people have unrealistic perceptions about what normal sexuality is and are concerned that they do not compare well to that, and this is one reason why education can be important. If the clinician thinks that part of the problem is a result of stress, techniques may be recommended to more effectively deal with that. Also, it can be important to understand why the low level of sexual desire is a problem for the relationship because the two partners may associate different meanings with sex but not know it.
In the case of men, the therapy may depend on the subtype of HSDD. Increasing the level of sexual desire of a man with lifelong/generalized HSDD is unlikely. Instead, the focus may be on helping the couple to adapt. In the case of acquired/generalized, it is likely that there is some biological reason the clinician can address. In the case of acquired/situational, some form of psychotherapy may be used, possibly with the man alone and possibly together with his partner.
Medication
Approved
Flibanserin was the first medication approved by FDA for the treatment of HSDD in pre-menopausal women. Its approval was controversial and a systematic review found its benefits to be marginal. The only other medication approved in the US for HSDD in pre-menopausal women is bremelanotide, in 2019.
Off-label
A few studies suggest that the antidepressant, bupropion, can improve sexual function in women who are not depressed, if they have HSDD. The same is true for the anxiolytic, buspirone, which is a 5-HT1A receptor agonist similarly to flibanserin.
Testosterone supplementation is effective in the short term. However, its long-term safety is unclear.
History
The term "frigid" to describe sexual dysfunction derives from medieval and early modern canonical texts about witchcraft. It was thought that witches could put spells on men to make them incapable of erections. Only in the early nineteenth century were women first described as "frigid", and a vast literature exists on what was considered a serious problem if a woman did not desire sex with her husband. Many medical texts between 1800 and 1930 focused on women's frigidity, considering it a sexual pathology.
The French psychoanalyst Princess Marie Bonaparte theorized about frigidity and considered herself to have it. Additionally, in the third edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders (DSM-III), frigidity and impotence were cited as alternate nomenclatures for Inhibited Sexual Excitement.
In 1970, Masters and Johnson published their book Human Sexual Inadequacy describing sexual dysfunctions, though these included only dysfunctions dealing with the function of genitals such as premature ejaculation and impotence for men, and anorgasmia and vaginismus for women. Prior to Masters and Johnson's research, female orgasm was assumed by some to originate primarily from vaginal, rather than clitoral, stimulation. Consequently, feminists have argued that "frigidity" was "defined by men as the failure of women to have vaginal orgasms".
Following this book, sex therapy increased throughout the 1970s. Reports from sex-therapists about people with low sexual desire are reported from at least 1972, but labeling this as a specific disorder did not occur until 1977. In that year, sex therapists Helen Singer Kaplan and Harold Lief independently of each other proposed creating a specific category for people with low or no sexual desire. Lief named it "inhibited sexual desire", and Kaplan named it "hypoactive sexual desire". The primary motivation for this was that previous models for sex therapy assumed certain levels of sexual interest in one's partner and that problems were only caused by abnormal functioning/non-functioning of the genitals or performance anxiety but that therapies based on those problems were ineffective for people who did not sexually desire their partner. The following year, 1978, Lief and Kaplan together made a proposal to the APA's taskforce for sexual disorders for the DSM III, of which Kaplan and Lief were both members. The diagnosis of Inhibited Sexual Desire (ISD) was added to the DSM when the 3rd edition was published in 1980.
For understanding this diagnosis, it is important to recognize the social context in which it was created. In some cultures, low sexual desire may be considered normal, and high sexual desire conversely problematic. For example, sexual desire may be lower in East Asian populations than Euro-Canadian/American populations. In other cultures, this may be reversed. Some cultures try hard to restrain sexual desire. Others try to excite it. Concepts of "normal" levels of sexual desire are culturally dependent and rarely value-neutral. In the 1970s, there were strong cultural messages that sex is good for you and "the more the better". Within this context, people who were habitually uninterested in sex, who in previous times may not have seen this as a problem, were more likely to feel that this was a situation that needed to be fixed. They may have felt alienated by dominant messages about sexuality and increasingly people went to sex-therapists complaining of low sexual desire. It was within this context that the diagnosis of ISD was created.
In the revision of the DSM-III, published in 1987 (DSM-III-R), ISD was subdivided into two categories: Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder and Sexual Aversion Disorder (SAD). The former is a lack of interest in sex and the latter is a phobic aversion to sex. In addition to this subdivision, one reason for the change is that the committee involved in revising the psychosexual disorders for the DSM-III-R thought that the term "inhibited" suggests psychodynamic cause (i.e., that the conditions for sexual desire are present, but the person is, for some reason, inhibiting their own sexual interest). The term "hypoactive sexual desire" is more awkward, but more neutral with respect to the cause. The DSM-III-R estimated that about 20% of the population had HSDD. In the DSM-IV (1994), the criterion that the diagnosis requires "marked distress or interpersonal difficulty" was added.
The DSM-5, published in 2013, split HSDD into male hypoactive sexual desire disorder and female sexual interest/arousal disorder. The distinction was made because men report more intense and frequent sexual desire than women. According to Lori Brotto, this classification is desirable compared to the DSM-IV classification system because: (1) it reflects the finding that desire and arousal tend to overlap (2) it differentiates between women who lack desire before the onset of activity, but who are receptive to initiation and or initiate sexual activity for reasons other than desire, and women who never experience sexual arousal (3) it takes the variability in sexual desire into account. Furthermore, the criterion that 6 symptoms be present for a diagnosis helps safeguard against pathologizing adaptive decreases in desire.
Criticism
General
HSDD, as currently defined by the DSM, has come under criticism of the social function of the diagnosis.
HSDD could be seen as part of a history of the medicalization of sexuality by the medical profession to define normal sexuality. It has also been examined within a "broader frame of historical interest in the problematization of sexual appetite".
HSDD has been criticized over pathologizing normal variations in sexuality because the parameters of normality are unclear. This lack of clarity is partly due to the fact that the terms "persistent" and "recurrent" do not have clear operational definitions.
HSDD may function to pathologize asexuals, though their lack of sexual desire may not be maladaptive. Because of this, some members of the asexual community lobbied the mental health community working on the DSM-5 to regard hypoactive sexual desire not as a disorder, but as a sexual orientation.
Other criticisms focus more on scientific and clinical issues.
HSDD is such a diverse group of conditions with many causes that it functions as little more than a starting place for clinicians to assess people.
The requirement that low sexual desire causes distress or interpersonal difficulty has been criticized. It has been claimed that it is not clinically useful because if it is not causing any problems, the person will not seek out a clinician. One could claim that this criterion (for all of the sexual dysfunctions, including HSDD) decreases the scientific validity of the diagnoses or is a cover-up for a lack of data on what constitutes normal sexual function.
The distress requirement is also criticized because the term "distress" lacks a clear definition.
NICE (UK) assessment
Hypoactive sexual desire disorder is not recognized as a disorder by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence for the British National Health Service, with the judgement based on an article in the Journal of Medical Ethics that "Hypoactive sexual desire disorder is a typical example of a condition that was sponsored by industry to prepare the market for a specific treatment".
DSM-IV criteria
Prior to the publication of the DSM-5, the DSM-IV criteria were criticized on several grounds. It was suggested that a duration criterion should be added because lack of interest in sex over the past month is significantly more common than lack of interest lasting six months. Similarly, a frequency criterion (i.e., the symptoms of low desire be present in 75% or more of sexual encounters) has been suggested.
The current framework for HSDD is based on a linear model of human sexual response, developed by Masters and Johnson and modified by Kaplan consisting of desire, arousal, orgasm. The sexual dysfunctions in the DSM are based around problems at any one or more of these stages. Many of the criticisms of the DSM-IV framework for sexual dysfunction in general, and HSDD in particular, claimed that this model ignored the differences between male and female sexuality. Several criticisms were based on the inadequacy of the DSM-IV framework for dealing with females' sexual problems.
Increasingly, evidence shows that there are significant differences between male and female sexuality. Level of desire is highly variable from female to female and there are some females who are considered sexually functional who have no active desire for sex, but they can erotically respond well in contexts they find acceptable. This has been termed "responsive desire" as opposed to spontaneous desire.
The focus on merely the physiological ignores the social, economic and political factors including sexual violence and lack of access to sexual medicine or education throughout the world affecting females and their sexual health.
The focus on the physiological ignores the relationship context of sexuality despite the fact that this is often the cause of sexual problems.
The focus on discrepancy in desire between two partners may result in the partner with the lower level of desire being labeled as "dysfunctional," but the problem really sits with the difference between the two partners. However, within couples the assessment of desire tends to be relative. That is, individuals make judgments by comparing their levels of desire to that of their partner.
The sexual problems that females complain of often do not fit well into the DSM-IV framework for sexual dysfunctions.
The DSM-IV system of sub-typing may be more applicable to one sex than the other.
Research indicates a high degree of comorbidity between HSDD and female sexual arousal disorder. Therefore, a diagnosis combining the two (as the DSM-5 eventually did) might be more appropriate.
See also
Drugs and sexual desire
Hypersexuality
Sexual anhedonia
Sexual anorexia
Sexual arousal disorder
References
Further reading
External links
Sexual dysfunctions
Asexuality
Non-sexuality
|
411839
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrissie%20Hynde
|
Chrissie Hynde
|
Christine Ellen Hynde (born September 7, 1951) is an American-British musician. She is a founding member and the lead vocalist, guitarist, and primary songwriter of the rock band the Pretenders, and one of the band's two remaining original members alongside drummer Martin Chambers. She is the only continuous member of the band, appearing on every studio album.
Hynde formed the Pretenders in Hereford, England in 1978, with Pete Farndon, James Honeyman-Scott and Chambers. She has also recorded a number of songs with other musicians including Frank Sinatra, Cher and UB40. She recorded her first solo album, Stockholm, in 2014. Hynde was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2005 as a member of the Pretenders.
Early life
Hynde was born in Akron, Ohio, the daughter of a part-time secretary and a Yellow Pages manager. She graduated from Firestone High School in Akron, but stated that "I was never too interested in high school. I mean, I never went to a dance, I never went out on a date, I never went steady. It became pretty awful for me. Except, of course, I could go see bands, and that was the kick. I used to go to Cleveland just to see any band. So I was in love a lot of the time, but mostly with guys in bands that I had never met. For me, knowing that Brian Jones was out there, and later that Iggy Pop was out there, made it kind of hard for me to get too interested in the guys that were around me. I had, uh, bigger things in mind."
Early career
Hynde became interested in hippie counterculture, Eastern mysticism, and vegetarianism. While attending Kent State University's Art School for three years, she joined Sat. Sun. Mat., a band which included Mark Mothersbaugh, later of Devo. Hynde was also caught up in the Kent State massacre on May 4, 1970, in which the boyfriend of one of her friends was among the four victims.
In May 1973, Hynde moved to London. With her art background, she landed a job in an architectural firm but left after eight months. It was then that she met rock journalist Nick Kent and landed a position at the music magazine New Musical Express (NME), writing what she subsequently described as "half-baked philosophical drivel and nonsensical tirades." This proved not to last and Hynde later got a job at Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood's clothing store, SEX. Hynde attempted to start a band in France, The Frenchies (fr), before her return to Cleveland in 1975, and joined a rhythm and blues group, Jack Rabbit.
She returned to France in 1976 to try to form a band but it did not materialize. She left Kent for Michael Fradji Memmi, bass player of the Frenchies, which she joined. For one show at the Olympia Theatre when their singer had left, she performed as lead singer. She returned to London in the midst of the early punk movement. At one point she tried to convince Steve Jones and then Johnny Rotten (of the Sex Pistols, who were managed by McLaren) to marry her to get her a work permit. Hynde's version of this episode has it that Rotten "offered to go to a registry office with me and do the unmentionable" but when he subsequently withdrew, Sid Vicious volunteered to take his place. Upon arrival at the registry office the following morning, they found it "closed for an extended holiday" and were unable to attend the following day due to Vicious making a court appearance. In late 1976, Hynde responded to an advertisement in Melody Maker for band members and attended an audition for the band that would become 999. Jon Moss (who would later be in Culture Club) and Tony James of Generation X also auditioned. Later, Hynde tried to start a group with Mick Jones from the Clash.
After the lack of success with the band, Malcolm McLaren placed her as a guitarist in Masters of the Backside but she was asked to leave the group just as it became the Damned. After a brief spell in the band Johnny Moped, Mick Jones invited Hynde to join his band on their initial tour of Britain. Hynde recollected of that period,
Hynde also spent a short time with punk band the Moors Murderers in 1978. Named after The Moors Murderers (a pair of child-killers), the band consisted of future Visage front man Steve Strange on vocals, Vince Ely on drums, with Mark Ryan (a.k.a. The Kid) and Hynde on guitar. The band's name alone was enough to start controversy, and she soon distanced herself from the group, as noted in NME. Hynde said, "I'm not in the group, I only rehearsed with them". She stated that "Steve Strange and Soo Catwoman had the idea for the group, and asked me to help them out on guitar, which I did, even though I was getting my own group together and still am".
The Pretenders
Late 1970s
In 1978, Hynde made a demo tape and gave it to Dave Hill, owner of the label Real Records. Hill stepped in to manage her career, and began by paying off the back rent owed on her rehearsal room in Covent Garden, London. Hill also advised Hynde to take her time and get a band together. In the spring of 1978, Hynde met bass guitarist Pete Farndon and they selected a band consisting of James Honeyman-Scott (guitar, vocals, keyboards), and Martin Chambers (drums, vocals, percussion). The name The Pretenders was inspired by the Sam Cooke version of the Platters' 1955 R&B hit song "The Great Pretender".
They recorded a demo tape (including "Precious", "The Wait" and a Kinks cover, "Stop Your Sobbing"), handed it to Hynde's friend Nick Lowe, produced a single ("Stop Your Sobbing"/"The Wait") and performed their first gig at a club in Paris. The single was released in January 1979 and hit No. 33 in the UK. A second single "Kid" followed to similar success in July 1979. In November 1979, the Pretenders released their first signature single "Brass in Pocket" in the UK, which hit UK number 1 on January 19, 1980, the same date as their eponymous first album. Both went on to similar chart success worldwide.
Hynde is portrayed by Sydney Chandler in the 2022 Craig Pearce-Danny Boyle FX biographical drama miniseries Pistol.
1980s–1990s
The band released an EP album, Extended Play, then Pretenders II later in the summer. "Talk of the Town" and "Message of Love" were on both. The Pretenders lineup would change repeatedly over the next decade. Honeyman-Scott died of a drug overdose on June 16, 1982, just days after Farndon had been fired from the band. Farndon also died of a drug overdose the following year. After reforming with a caretaker line-up (Martin Chambers, Billy Bremner, Tony Butler, and Jeremy Allom) for their next single, "Back on the Chain Gang", the band settled down with Robbie McIntosh (guitar) and Malcolm Foster (bass) during the recording of their next album, the worldwide hit Learning to Crawl. Chambers left the band in the mid-1980s before the Get Close album was released in 1986. The album included the hits "Don't Get Me Wrong" and "My Baby". Amidst the ever-changing lineup, Hynde endured as the sole original Pretender until Chambers' return in the mid-1990s. Hynde was the only stable member of the band during this period. In 1994, the band had another hit, the ballad "I'll Stand by You".
2000s onward
Hynde continued with the Pretenders into the new century both in new recording as well as multiple tours worldwide. New Pretenders albums emerged in 2002 (Loose Screw), 2008 (Break Up the Concrete) and 2016 (Alone).
Hynde was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2005 as a member of the Pretenders. The ceremony was held at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in Manhattan, New York City.
In 2016, the band collaborated with Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys on the album Alone. This album was released as a Pretenders' album, though Hynde was the only original member to appear on it. The new band also played a concert for the BBC at the Maida Vale studio. In 2016, Hynde and the Pretenders opened for Stevie Nicks.
In July 2020, the Pretenders released their 11th studio album Hate for Sale. The album was well received critically and obtained a score of 78 on the critical aggregator Metacritic.
On March 9, 2022, Hynde performed a rendition of the Pretenders song "I'll Stand By You" at Night for Ukraine, a fundraising benefit held at the Roundhouse in north London, with the funds raised being donated to the Disasters Emergency Committee appeal, to provide aid to people fleeing Ukraine following the Russian invasion. The event was organized by Fabien Riggall in collaboration with the Ukrainian pop duo Bloom Twins.
On June 24, 2023, Hynde and the band played the Glastonbury Festival with guest artist Johnny Marr. Dave Grohl also guested on drums for one song.
Other musical projects
Hynde, along with Curved Air's Sonja Kristina, sang backing vocals on Mick Farren's 1978 album Vampires Stole My Lunch Money and also on Hurt by Chris Spedding. She also sang backing on a track, Nite Klub, on the Specials' eponymous debut album. Hynde sang a duet with INXS on their album Full Moon, Dirty Hearts in 1993. She appears on the title track of the album. Hynde sang the vocals on the track "State of Independence Part II" on a Moodswings album named Moodfood, which was played during the closing credits on the soundtrack of Single White Female. She provided backing vocals on Morrissey's single "My Love Life" in 1991 and again on b-side "Shame Is The Name" in 2009.
Hynde recorded a duet with Frank Sinatra on Sinatra's 1994 album Duets II. They performed the song "Luck Be a Lady". In 1995, Hynde made an acting appearance as fictional character Stephanie Schiffer on the US television comedy Friends on the episode "The One with the Baby on the Bus", in which she performed "Angel of the Morning" and the comedy song "Smelly Cat" (which she co-wrote) with Lisa Kudrow as Phoebe Buffay on acoustic guitar. Also, in 1995, Hynde sang a cover of "Love Can Build a Bridge" with Cher and Neneh Cherry. Eric Clapton appeared on the track, supplying the lead guitar solo that is featured in the song's instrumental bridge.
In 1997, the EMI publishing company issued a cease and desist request to Rush Limbaugh, who for years had been using an edited instrumental version of Hynde's song "My City Was Gone" for the broadcast's opening theme. When the request came to Hynde's attention during a radio interview, she said her parents loved and listened to Rush and she did not mind its use. They agreed to a royalty contract which she retained and at one time used for a payment to PETA to raise awareness of chemical testing on animals.
Hynde's most popular non-Pretenders collaboration with another artist, chartwise, was her 1985 collaboration with UB40 on a cover of Sonny and Cher's "I Got You Babe." The track topped the UK singles chart and went as high as No. 28 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the U.S.
On April 10, 1999, Hynde led the memorial concert "Here, There and Everywhere – A Concert for Linda" for her late close friend Linda McCartney at the Royal Albert Hall, London. Proceeds went to animal rights charities. The Pretenders were the backing band for all artists.
In 1999, Hynde played guitar and sang vocals with Sheryl Crow on the song "If It Makes You Happy" during a concert in Central Park. Hynde is mentioned prominently in the lyrics of the Terence Trent D'Arby song "Penelope Please". In 1998, Hynde sang a duet with her friend Emmylou Harris, "She", accompanied by the Pretenders on the Gram Parsons tribute album, Return of the Grievous Angel: A Tribute to Gram Parsons. Hynde had previously reviewed Gram and Emmylou's debut country rock classic, "GP." The version merges Emmylou's country rock and Hynde's reggae tinged new wave. Hynde also recorded a song called "Cry (If You Don't Mind)" with the Spanish band Jarabe de Palo for their album Un metro cuadrado – 1m². She supplied the voice for Siri, the clouded leopard in the movie Rugrats Go Wild (2003) in which she sang a duet with Bruce Willis.
In 2004, Hynde moved to São Paulo, Brazil, for a couple of months in order to play with Brazilian musician Moreno Veloso in an informal tour that lasted until December 2004. She bought a flat in the Copan Building in São Paulo city. She was also the vocalist on Tube & Berger's 2004 No. 1 Hot Dance Airplay track "Straight Ahead". The track gave Hynde a No. 1 track on the Billboard charts. Likewise in 2005, Hynde duetted with Ringo Starr on a song entitled "Don't Hang Up" which can be heard on Starr's album Choose Love. Also in 2005, she collaborated with Incubus on a song called "Neither Of Us Can See". The song is on the soundtrack album for Stealth.
On October 17, 2008, she was an opening act for fellow Akron-area musicians Devo at a special benefit concert at the Akron Civic Theater for then-presidential candidate Barack Obama. The Black Keys, another Akron-based band, and the then up-and-coming solo artist, Rachel Roberts, performed prior to her.
Hynde features as guest vocalist on Ray Davies' 2009 Christmas single Postcard From London and Morrissey's Years of Refusal the same year.
Hynde and Welsh singer J.P. Jones formed a band called "J.P., Chrissie and the Fairground Boys", releasing an album, Fidelity, on August 24, 2010. Several stops on the tour were recorded and sold on USB flash drives.
On February 5, 2011, Hynde and the Pretenders performed live on CMT Crossroads with Faith Hill and her band, including songs from both catalogs.
Along with John Cale and Nick Cave, Hynde played on BBC Four for the Songwriter's Circle program on July 9, 1999. The concert took place at the Subterania Club in London, England and was released on DVD. She also later joined Cave in 2010 for a rendition of Screamin' Jay Hawkins' famous song "I Put a Spell on You" as a benefit for the Haiti disasters. The song and music video featured performances by Mick Jones, Glen Matlock, Shane MacGowan, and Bobby Gillespie among others.
Hynde released a new album, "Stockholm", on June 10, 2014. The album featured contributions from Neil Young and John McEnroe.
Hynde released Valve Bone Woe, a jazz/pop album of selected covers with the Valve Bone Woe ensemble on September 6, 2019, produced by Marius de Vries. The album debuted at No.32 on the Official UK album charts and at No. 1 on the UK Jazz and Blues chart.
Artistry and influence
Hynde has a contralto vocal range. Until 1978, shortly before the advent of the Pretenders, Hynde had little idea what she sounded like. Hynde eschews formal voice training; she contends that "distinctive voices in rock are trained through years of many things: frustration, fear, loneliness, anger, insecurity, arrogance, narcissism, or just sheer perseverance – anything but a teacher." In 2023, Rolling Stone ranked Hynde at number 114 on its list of the 200 Greatest Singers of All Time.
In a 1994 interview, Madonna recalled of Hynde:
"I saw her play in Central Park [in August 1980, performing with the Pretenders]. She was amazing: the only woman I'd seen in performance where I thought, yeah, she's got balls, she's awesome! ... It gave me courage, inspiration, to see a woman with that kind of confidence in a man's world."
Personal life
Hynde, born in America, has long maintained dual citizenship with the UK. In the 1970s, Hynde, unable to obtain a work visa, asked both Sid Vicious and Johnny Rotten to marry her. Hynde then went back to the US briefly, before returning to the UK.
In 1982, Hynde and Ray Davies planned to wed in Guildford, but "the guy in the registry office took one look at us and suggested we come back another time". In 1983, Hynde had a daughter, Natalie, with Davies.
She married Jim Kerr, lead singer of the band Simple Minds, in 1984. Together they had a daughter, Yasmin, in 1985. They lived in South Queensferry, Scotland and divorced in 1990; Hynde was married to a Colombian artist and sculptor, Lucho Brieva from 1997 to 2002.
She follows Vaishnavism, a branch of Hinduism, and travels to India once every year to further her studies.
Hynde lives in London and also has an apartment in the Northside Lofts in her hometown of Akron.
Hynde has described becoming a vegetarian as "the best thing that ever happened to me". She says that she came to regard meat-eaters with "distaste, almost contempt" but has learned to "live and associate with [them] but never respected them". Hynde is also an animal rights activist and a supporter of PETA and the animal rights group Viva!. She also appeared in anti-fur trade organization Respect for Animals' commercial 'Fur and Against' in 2002, alongside Jude Law, Paul McCartney and others.
Hynde has publicly campaigned against the extradition of Julian Assange to the United States, and in February 2020 called on then President Donald Trump to "set him free".
Autobiography
Hynde published an autobiography, Reckless: My Life as a Pretender, on September 8, 2015.
In October 2018, Hynde released a limited edition book of her artworks, titled Adding the Blue, the name being taken from the final track on her 2014 solo album, Stockholm.
Restaurant venture
Hynde opened the VegiTerranean, a vegan restaurant, in the Northside Lofts, Akron, Ohio in November 2007. The restaurant served fusion Italian–Mediterranean food by head chef James Scot Jones. Before the restaurant's opening on September 15, 2007, Hynde performed three songs at the restaurant with Adam Seymour, a former lead guitarist of the Pretenders. The restaurant was voted among the top five vegan restaurants in the U.S. It closed on October 2, 2011, owing to the economic climate, according to Hynde.
Discography
JP, Chrissie and the Fairground Boys
Fidelity! (2010)
Solo albums
Singles
See also
List of animal rights advocates
Notes
References
External links
Pretenders Archives
Pretenders 977 Radio
Hynde: BBC News article
Hynde: Associated Press News article
Chrissie Hynde: I'm Just Telling My Story – new memoir, Reckless: My Life as a Pretender (NPR ME 10/6/15)
1951 births
Living people
The Pretenders members
American contraltos
American dance musicians
American women rock singers
American rock guitarists
American rock songwriters
Women new wave singers
Feminist musicians
Rhythm guitarists
American women restaurateurs
American restaurateurs
Kent State University alumni
American Hindus
American expatriates in Brazil
American expatriates in France
American expatriates in England
Musicians from Akron, Ohio
Guitarists from Ohio
Singer-songwriters from Ohio
20th-century American women guitarists
20th-century American guitarists
21st-century American women guitarists
21st-century American guitarists
20th-century American women singers
American autobiographers
21st-century American women singers
American women non-fiction writers
20th-century American singer-songwriters
21st-century American singer-songwriters
Women punk rock singers
|
411844
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigenous%20music%20of%20North%20America
|
Indigenous music of North America
|
Indigenous music of North America, which includes American Indian music or Native American music, is the
music that is used, created or performed by Indigenous peoples of North America, including Native Americans in the United States and Aboriginal peoples in Canada, Indigenous peoples of Mexico, and other North American countries—especially traditional tribal music, such as Pueblo music and Inuit music. In addition to the traditional music of the Native American groups, there now exist pan-Indianism and intertribal genres as well as distinct Native American subgenres of popular music including: rock, blues, hip hop, classical, film music, and reggae, as well as unique popular styles like chicken scratch and New Mexico music.
Characteristics
Singing and percussion are the most important aspects of traditional Native American music. Vocalization takes many forms, ranging from solo and choral song to responsorial, unison and multipart singing. Percussion, especially drums and rattles, are common accompaniment to keep the rhythm steady for the singers, who generally use their native language or non-lexical vocables (syllable sounds outside of language). Traditional music usually begins with slow and steady beats that grow gradually faster and more emphatic, while various flourishes like drum and rattle tremolos, shouts and accented patterns add variety and signal changes in performance for singers and dancers.
Although each Native American group can be characterized by their own distinct genres and styles, certain aspects of style can be found with similarities among native groups who would have been neighboring tribes. These similarities are even further expanded upon when music and instruments are shared between each tribe, making it easy to find certain characteristics in frequent use. Melodies usually consist of a scale simpler than the classical eight-pitch scale of eastern culture, often finding itself in the pentatonic or tritonic scale.
The voice can range from a tense, nasal, or relaxed sound, and consist of higher timbres specifically for male vocalists where falsetto is common. Vocal vibrato, when it occurs, is a rapid pulsating of different pitches as a more ornamental effect. Rhythmic patterns often can be found in meters of two or three and account for the vocal rhythms and syncopation in order to incorporate it into the pattern. Call and response patterns are common in vocal parts and ostinato may be included in the percussion part as well.
Drums consist of types ranging from single headed, double headed, and kettle drums. Other percussive instrumentation consist of rattles and shakers, and made out of things like turtle shells. In addition to percussive instruments and vocals, a common sound in Native American music is instrumentation like flutes, whistles, and other instruments that produce sound from the player's breath (horns, pipes, etc.). Instruments with strings that may be struck, plucked, or bowed include that like the musical bow which originated to the Americas, but does not appear often in contemporary indigenous music. Other stringed instruments include native guitars and fiddles whose structure and composition vary from tribe to tribe.
A study made in 2016 analyzed the musical features of indigenous music in relation to social contexts and lyrical subject. Upon analyzing over 2,000 songs from Frances Densmore's collection of native music, the study was able to find even the relation between subjects like love in songs, and pitch variety and tessitura. Love songs could be characterized with high tessituras and spacious melodies, with larger intervals and ranges. They are also, in many cases, found to be perceived as "sad"- pertaining to departure, loss or longing. This explains the relationship between the lyrical subject and relatively slow melodic movement and low dynamics. Hiding game songs, such as those associated with "moccasin, hand and hiding-stick or hiding-bones games," were found with a significantly low average duration and small pitch range and variety. They also found that "healing songs," and their characteristic of a narrow range and comparatively increased repetition of low notes, was likely intended to create a soothing sound that would ease discomfort in the event when a healing song would be sung. Regarding the music of specific people, they found that Yuman nature songs often have a small range, a descending melodic movement, and frequent repeated musical motifs. The Densmore collection also characterizes war songs as having a wider range, higher register, and greater diversity in duration and pitch. In comparison, dance songs also have these distinctions, although they can be found in the opposite sense, as dance songs are often found with lower registers. Dance songs are also similar to animal songs in range, pitch variety, and primary register.
This study also maintains a significant view that many of these characteristics, ("pitch height, tempo, dynamics, and variability,") have a direct relationship with emotional response, bringing out such response regardless of culture, meaning that similar characteristics of one culture's music and its function will often be found in another culture's for the same function. This is how Shanahan, Neubarth, and Conklin were able to use Densmore's collection of over 2,000 songs to create an analysis of comparison between subject and musical characteristic.
Song texts and sources
Native American song texts include both public pieces and secret songs, said to be "ancient and unchanging", which are used for only sacred and ceremonial purposes. There are also public sacred songs, as well as ritual speeches that are sometimes perceived as musical because of their use of rhythm and melody. These ritual speeches often directly describe the events of a ceremony, and the reasons and ramifications of the night.
Vocables, or lexically meaningless syllables, are a common part of many kinds of Native American songs. They frequently mark the beginning and end of phrases, sections or songs themselves. Often songs make frequent use of vocables and other untranslatable elements. Songs that are translatable include historical songs, like the Navajo "Shi' naasha'", which celebrates the end of Navajo internment in Fort Sumner, New Mexico in 1868. Tribal flag songs and national anthems are also a major part of the Native American musical corpus, and are a frequent starter to public ceremonies, especially powwows. Native American music also includes a range of courtship songs, dancing songs and popular American or Canadian tunes like "Amazing Grace", "Jambalaya" and "Sugar Time". Many songs celebrate harvest, planting season or other important times of year.
Societal role
Native American music plays a vital role in history and education, with ceremonies and stories orally passing on ancestral customs to new generations. Native American ceremonial music is traditionally said to originate from deities or spirits, or from particularly respected individuals. Rituals are shaped by every aspect of a song, dance, and costuming, and each aspect informs about the "makers, wearers and symbols important to the nation, tribe, village, clan, family, or individual". Native Americans perform stories through song, music, and dance, and the historical facts thus propagated are an integral part of Native American beliefs. Epic legends and stories about cultural heroes are a part of tribal music traditions, and these tales are often an iconic part of local culture. They can vary slightly from year to year, with leaders recombining and introducing slight variations. The Pueblo composes a number of new songs each year in a committee that uses dreams and visions.
Some native Americans view songs as 'property' owned by the tribe or individual who first perceived it. For example, if an individual received the song in a dream or vision, the music would belong to that individual, and that individual would have the power to give the song to another. In other cases, the music would be the property of the peoples from which it originated.
The styles and purposes of music vary greatly between and among each Native American tribe. However, a common concept amongst many indigenous groups is a conflation of music and power. For example, the Pima people feel many of their songs were given in the beginning and sung by the Creator. It was believed that some people then have more of an inclination to musical talent than others because of an individual's peculiar power.
Gender
Within various Native American communities, gender plays an important role in music. Men and women play sex-specific roles in many musical activities. Instruments, songs and dances are often particular to one or the other sex, and many musical settings are strictly controlled by sex. In modern powwows, women play a vital role as backup singers and dancers. The Cherokee people, for example, hold dances before stickball games. At these pre-game events, men and women perform separate dances and follow separate regulations. Men will dance in a circle around a fire, while women dance in place. Men sing their own songs, while women have their songs sung for them by an elder. Whereas the men's songs invoke power, the women's songs draw power away from the opposing stickball team. In some societies, there are customs where certain ceremonial drums are to be played by men only. For the Southern Plains Indians, it is believed that the first drum was given to a woman by the Great Spirit, who instructed her to share it with all women of native nations. However, there also exist prohibitions against women sitting at the Beg Drum.
Many tribal music cultures have a relative paucity of traditional women's songs and dances, especially in the Northeast and Southeast regions. The Southeast is, however, home to a prominent women's musical tradition in the use of leg rattles for ceremonial stomp and friendship dances, and the women's singing during Horse and Ball Game contests. The West Coast tribes of North America tend to more prominence in women's music, with special women's love songs, medicine songs and handgame songs; the Southwest is particularly diverse in women's musical offerings, with major ceremonial, instrumental and social roles in dances. Women also play a vital ceremonial role in the Sun Dance of the Great Plains and Great Basin, and sing during social dances. Shoshone women still sang the songs of the Ghost Dance into the 1980s.
History
Music and history are tightly interwoven in Native American life. A tribe's history is constantly told and retold through music, which keeps alive an oral narrative of history. These historical narratives vary widely from tribe to tribe and are an integral part of tribal identity. However, their historical authenticity cannot be verified; aside from supposition and some archaeological evidence, the earliest documentation of Native American music came with the arrival of European explorers. Musical instruments and pictographs depicting music and dance have been dated as far back as the 7th century. However, archaeological evidence shows that musical instruments in North America date to at least the Archaic period (ca. 8000–1000 BC), which includes instruments such as turtle shell rattles.
Bruno Nettl refers to the style of the Great Basin area as the oldest style and common throughout the entire continent before Mesoamerica but continued in only the Great Basin and in the lullaby, gambling, and tale genres around the continent. A style featuring relaxed vocal technique and the rise may have originated in Mesoamerican Mexico and spread northward, particularly into the California-Yuman and Eastern music areas. According to Nettl, these styles also feature "relative" rhythmic simplicity in drumming and percussion, with isometric material and pentatonic scales in the singing, and motives created from shorter sections into longer ones.
While this process occurred, three Asian styles may have influenced North American music across the Bering Strait, all featuring pulsating vocal technique and possibly evident in recent Paleo-Siberian tribes such as Chuckchee, Yukaghir, Koryak. Also, these may have influenced the Plains-Pueblo, Athabascan, and Inuit-Northwest Coast areas. According to Nettl, the boundary between these southward and the above northward influences are the areas of greatest musical complexity: the Northwest Coast, Pueblo music, and Navajo music. Evidence of influences between the Northwest Coast and Mexico are indicated, for example, by bird-shaped whistles. The Plains-Pueblo area has influenced and continues to influence the surrounding cultures, with contemporary musicians of all tribes learning Plains-Pueblo-influenced pantribal genres such as Peyote songs.
Influence
During his time in the United States, composer Antonín Dvořák maintained that the future of the American voice in music lay in African American and Native American music, and supported their growth in the U.S. He had a goal to discover "American Music" and called upon American composers to look to these cultures of music for study and inspiration. (While Native American and African American musical roots are rather different, they share similar characteristics such as featured pentatonic melodies and complex rhythms.)
In this study of the American sound, he wrote:
The music of the people is like a rare and lovely flower growing amidst encroaching weeds. Thousands pass it, while others trample it underfoot, and thus the chances are that it will perish before it is seen by the one discriminating spirit who will prize it above all else.
During this time he also wrote his Symphony No. 9, From the New World, which would become one of his greatest successes.
Before the symphony's performance, he made it clear the fact that 'the work was written under the direct influence of a serious study of the national music of North American Indians.' Although at this time, Dvořák was under the impression that Native American music was more similar to African American music than it truly was, due to the presence of pentatonic melodies in songs of each culture.
Academic study
Archaeological evidence of Native American music dates as far back as the Archaic period (ca. 8000–1000 BC). However, the earliest written documentation comes from the arrival of European explorers on the American continent, and the earliest academic research comes from the late 19th century. During that period, early musicologists and folklorists collected and studied Native American music, and propounded theories about indigenous styles.
In the early 20th century, more systematic research began. It was led by comparative musicologists like Frances Densmore, Natalie Curtis, George Herzog and Helen Heffron Roberts. Densmore was the most prolific of the era, publishing more than one hundred works on Native American music. As a child, Densmore gained an appreciation for indigenous music by listening to the Dakota peoples, and throughout her life was able to record over a thousand songs performed by native Americans in fifty plus years, beginning in 1907. One distinction that makes her work so valuable, is that many of her recordings were conducted with more elderly individuals with little influence from Western musical tradition, and involve an impressively large range in geographical origin. Many of the recordings she made are now held in the Library of Congress for researchers and tribal delegations.
Most recently, since the 1950s, Native American music has been a part of ethnomusicological research, studied by Bruno Nettl, William Powers and David McAllester, among others.
Music areas
Nettl uses the following music areas which approximately coincide with Wissler, Kroeber, and Driver's cultural areas: Inuit-Northwest coast, Great Basin, California-Yuman, Plains-Pueblo, Athabascan, and Eastern.
Southwest
Native Americans of the Southwestern United States were limited to idiophones and aerophones as mediums to sound production beginning date in the seventh century. The applicable idiophones included: plank resonators, footed drums, percussion stones, shaken idiophones, vessel rattles, and copper and clay bells. The applicable aerophones included bullroarers, decomposable whistles and flutes, clay resonator whistles, shell trumpets and prehistoric reed instruments. The wood flute was of particular significance.
Arid American Southwest is home to two broad groupings of closely related cultures, the Pueblo and Athabaskan. The Southern Athabaskan Navajo and Apache tribes sing in Plains-style nasal vocals with unblended monophony, while the Pueblos emphasize a relaxed, low range and highly blended monophonic style. Athabaskan songs are swift and use drums or rattles, as well as an instrument unique to this area, the Apache fiddle, or "Tsii'edo'a'tl" meaning "wood that sings" in the Apache language.
Pueblo songs are complex and meticulously detailed, usually with five sections divided into four or more phrases characterized by detailed introductory and cadential formulas. They are much slower in tempo than Athabaskan songs, and use various percussion instruments as accompaniment.
Nettl describes Pueblo music, including Hopi, Zuni, Taos Pueblo, San Ildefonso Pueblo, Santo Domingo Pueblo, and many others, as one of the most complex on the continent, featuring increased length and number of scale tones (hexatonic and heptatonic common), variety of form, melodic contour, and percussive accompaniment, ranges between an octave and a twelfth, with rhythmic complexity equal to the Plains sub-area. He cites the Kachina dance songs as the most complex songs and Hopi and Zuni material as the most complex of the Pueblo, while Tanoan and Keresan music is simpler and intermediate between the Plains and western Pueblos. The music of the Pima and Tohono O'odham is intermediary between the Plains-Pueblo and the California-Yuman music areas, with melodic movement of the Yuman, though including the rise, and the form and rhythm of the Pueblo.
He describes Southern Athabascan music, that of the Apache and Navajo, as the simplest next to the Great Basin style, featuring strophic form, tense vocals using pulsation and falsetto, tritonic and tetratonic scales in triad formation, simple rhythms and values of limited duration (usually only two per song), arc-type melodic contours, and large melodic intervals with a predominance of major and minor thirds and perfect fourths and fifths with octave leaps not rare. Peyote songs share characteristics of Apache music and Plains-Pueblo music having been promoted among the Plains by the Apache people.
He describes the structural characteristics of California-Yuman music, including that of Pomo, Miwak, Luiseno, Catalineno, and Gabrielino, and the Yuman tribes, including, Mohave, Yuman, Havasupai, Maricopa, as using the rise in almost all songs, a relaxed nonpulsating vocal technique (like European classical music), a relatively large amount of isorhythmic material, some isorhythmic tendencies, simple rhythms, pentatonic scales without semitones, an average melodic range of an octave, sequence, and syncopated figures such as a sixteenth-note, eight-note, sixteenth-note figure. The form of rise used varies throughout the area, usually being rhythmically related to the preceding non-rise section but differing in melodic material or pitch. The rise may be no higher than the highest pitch of the original section, but will contain a much larger number of higher pitches. In California the non-rise is usually one reiterate phrase, the rise being the phrase transposed an octave higher, the Yumans use a non-rise of long repeated sections each consisting of several phrases, the rise being three to five phrases performed only once, and in southern California the previous two and progressive forms are found. A distinctively Californian instrument is the clapper stick, a percussion instrument made by splitting an elderberry branch used to accompany singers and dancers.
In Southern California today, the traditional music of the Cahuilla is kept alive in the performance of the Bird songs. The Bird songs are a song cycle depicting the story of the southward migration of the Cahuilla people and also contain lessons on life as well as other topics. Altogether, they make up more than 300 pieces of music, traditionally performed in a specific sequence. Performances of the Bird songs would begin at dusk and end at dawn, each night for a week, until the song cycle was complete. As such, physical and vocal dexterity were highly sought after attributes within performers.
Eastern Woodlands
Inhabiting a wide swath of the United States and Canada, Indigenous peoples of the Eastern Woodlands, according to Nettl, can be distinguished by antiphony (call and response style singing), which does not occur in other areas. Their territory includes Maritime Canada, New England, U.S. Mid-Atlantic, Great Lakes and Southeast regions. Songs are rhythmically complex, characterized by frequent metric changes and a close relationship to ritual dance. Flutes and whistles are solo instruments, and a wide variety of drums, rattles and striking sticks are played. Nettl describes the Eastern music area as the region between the Mississippi river and the Atlantic. The most complex styles are that of the Southeastern Creek, Yuchi, Cherokee, Choctaw, Iroquois and their language group, with the simpler style being that of the Algonquian language group including Delaware and Penobscot. The Algonquian-speaking Shawnee have a relatively complex style influenced by the nearby southeastern tribes.
The characteristics of this entire area include short iterative phrases; reverting relationships; shouts before, during, and after singing anhemitonic pentatonic scales; simple rhythms and meter and, according to Nettl, antiphonal or responsorial techniques including "rudimentary imitative polyphony". Melodic movement tends to be gradually descending throughout the area and vocals include a moderate amount of tension and pulsation.
Plains
Extending across the American Midwest into Canada, Plains-area music is nasal, with high pitches and frequent falsettos, with a terraced descent (a step-by-step descent down an octave) in an unblended monophony. Strophes use incomplete repetition, meaning that songs are divided into two parts, the second of which is always repeated before returning to the beginning.
Large double-sided skin drums are characteristic of the Plains tribes, and solo end-blown flutes (flageolet) are also common.
Nettl describes the central Plains Indians, from Canada to Texas: Blackfoot, Crow, Dakota, Cheyenne, Arapaho, Kiowa, and Comanche, as the most typical and simple sub-area of the Plains-Pueblo music area. This area's music is characterized by extreme vocal tension, pulsation, melodic preference for perfect fourths and a range averring a tenth, rhythmic complexity, and increased frequency of tetratonic scales. The musics of the Arapaho and Cheyenne intensify these characteristics, while the northern tribes, especially Blackfoot music, feature simpler material, smaller melodic ranges, and fewer scale tones.
Nettl Arapaho music includes ceremonial and secular songs, such as the ritualistic Sun Dance, performed in the summer when the various bands of the Arapaho people would come together. Arapaho traditional songs consist of two sections exhibiting terraced descent, with a range greater than an octave and scales between four and six tones. Other ceremonial songs were received in visions, or taught as part of a man's initiations into a society for his age group. Secular songs include a number of social dances, such as the triple meter round dances and songs to inspire warriors or recent exploits. There are also songs said to be taught by a guardian spirit, which should be sung only when the recipient is near death.
Great Basin
Music of the Great Basin is simple, discreet and ornate, characterized by short melodies with a range smaller than an octave, moderately-blended monophony, relaxed and open vocals and, most unusually, paired-phrase structure, in which a melodic phrase, repeated twice, is alternated with one to two additional phrases. A song of this type might be diagrammed as follows: AA BB CC AA BB CC, etc.
Nettl describes the music of the sparsely settled Great Basin, including most of desert Utah and Nevada (Paiute, Ute, Shoshoni) and some of southern Oregon (Modoc and Klamath), as "extremely simple," featuring melodic ranges averaging just over a perfect fifth, many tetratonic scales, and short forms. The majority of songs are iterative with each phrase repeated once, though occasional songs with multiple repetitions are found. Many Modoc and Klamath songs contain only one repeated phrase and many of their scales only two to three notes (ditonic or tritonic). This style was carried to the Great Plains by the Ghost Dance religion which originated among the Paiute, and very frequently features paired-phrase patterns and a relaxed nonpulsating vocal style. Herzog attributes the similarly simple lullabies, song-stories, and gambling songs found all over the continent historically to the music of the Great Basin which was preserved through relative cultural isolation and low population.
Northwest Coast
Open vocals with monophony are common in the Pacific Northwest and British Columbia, though polyphony also occurs (this is the only area of North America with native polyphony). Chromatic intervals accompanying long melodies are also characteristic, and rhythms are complex and declamatory, deriving from speech. Instrumentation is more diverse than in the rest of North America, and includes a wide variety of whistles, flutes, horns and percussion instruments.
Nettl describes the music of the Kwakwaka'wakw, Nuu-chah-nulth, Tsimshian, Makah, and Quileute as some of the most complex on the continent, with the music of the Salish nations (Nlaka'pamux, Nuxálk, and Sliammon, and others directly east of the Northwest tribes) as being intermediary between these Northwest Coast tribes and Inuit music. The music of the Salish tribes, and even more so the Northwest coast, intensifies the significant features of Inuit music, see below, however their melodic movement is often pendulum-type ("leaping in broad intervals from one limit of the range to the other"). The Northwest coast music also "is among the most complicated on the continent, especially in regard to rhythmic structure," featuring intricate rhythmic patterns distinct from but related to the vocal melody and rigid percussion. He also reports unrecorded use of incipient polyphony in the form of drones or parallel intervals in addition to antiphonal and responorial forms. Vocals are extremely tense, producing dynamic contrast, ornamentation, and pulsation, and also often using multiple sudden accents in one held tone.
Arctic
The Inuit of Alaska, Northwest Territories, Yukon Territory, Nunavut and Greenland are well known for their throat-singing, an unusual method of vocalizing found only in a few cultures worldwide. The traditional Inuit form of throat singing usually involves two females in a face to face position, where one performer sets a rhythmic pattern with voiced or unvoiced sounds, and the other fills in the gaps of the rhythm with these sounds. These sounds are very different from that of Tuvan throat singing, which includes overtones of whistling and nasal sounds, but most prominently a low 'growling' sound. They instead produce sounds through inhalation or exhalation, most often a mixture of both in fast pace, producing an athletic musical performance. Throat-singing is used as the basis for a game among the Inuit where each performer attempts to keep up their pace and rhythm of the duet without failing. The winner of this game is the one to beat the largest number of people in these contests. Narrow-ranged melodies and declamatory effects are common, as in the Northwest. Repeated notes mark the ends of phrases. Box drums, which are found elsewhere, are common, as is a tambourine-like hand drum. In addition, the peoples of the Arctic used the bull-roarer for children's toys or for a ritual which would harden snow for easier travel. Nettl describes "Eskimo" music as some of the simplest on the continent, listing characteristics including recitative-like singing, complex rhythmic organization, relatively small melodic range averaging about a sixth, prominence of major thirds and minor seconds melodically, with undulating melodic movement.
Intertribal music
Many music genres span multiple tribes. Pan-tribalism is the syncretic adoption of traditions from foreign communities. Since the rise of the United States and Canada, Native Americans have forged a common identity, and invented pan-Indian music, most famously including powwows, peyote songs, and honor or victory songs.
Apache-derived peyote songs, prayers in the Native American Church, use a descending melody and monophony. Rattles and water drums are used, in a swift tempo. Ceremonial songs from the Great Plains provide the foundation for intertribal powwows, which feature music with terraced descent and nasal vocals, both Plains characteristic features.
An example of an intertribal song is the AIM Song, which uses vocables to make it accessible to people of all tribes. However, because of its origins from the Lakota and Ojibwe people, it still retains some Northern Plains and Great Lakes characteristics, called "Northern" style, as opposed to the slower "Southern" style.
John Trudell (Santee Dakota) launched a new genre of spoken word poetry in the 1980s, beginning with Aka Graffiti Man (1986). The next decade saw further innovations in Native American popular music, including Robbie Robertson (of The Band) releasing a soundtrack for a documentary, Music for the Native Americans, that saw limited mainstream success, as well as Verdell Primeaux and Johnny Mike's modernized peyote songs, which they began experimenting with on Sacred Path: Healing Songs of the Native American Church.
Waila (or chicken scratch music of the Tohono O'odham) has gained performers like the Joaquin Brothers fame across Native American communities, while hip hop crews like WithOut Rezervation and Robby Bee & the Boyz From the Rez (Reservation of Education) have a distinctively Native American flourish to hip hop. Meanwhile, young Native musicians such as Red Earth (see "Zia Soul" (2003) ), DJ Abel, Derek Miller, Ethnic DeGeneration, War Water, and Casper are producing outstanding underground music (ranging from hip-hop to funk to reggae to metal) defying stereotypes of Native people (without label support).
American Indian opera is an intertribal music tradition, created when Gertrude Bonnin, a Yankton Dakota activist collaborated with a classical composer William Hanson to create the opera, Sun Dance in 1913. Cherokee Nation mezzo-soprano opera singer, Barbara McAlister has performed in many opera troupes and has sung at New York's Metropolitan Opera House. Brulé Lakota band Brulé and the American Indian Rock Opera create fullscale contemporary musical performances, including "Concert for Reconciliation of the Cultures."
Native American flute
The Native American flute has achieved some measure of fame for its distinctive sound, used in a variety of new age and world music recordings. Its music was used in courtship, healing, meditation, and spiritual rituals.
The late 1960s saw a roots revival centered around the flute, with a new wave of flautists and artisans like Doc Tate Nevaquaya (Comanche) and Carl Running Deer. Notable and award-winning Native American flautists include: Mary Youngblood, Kevin Locke, Charles Littleleaf, Jay Red Eagle, Robert Tree Cody, Robert Mirabal, Joseph Firecrow, and Jeff Ball. Tommy Wildcat is a contemporary flautist, who makes traditional Cherokee river cane flutes. Of special importance is R. Carlos Nakai (Changes, 1983), who has achieved Gold record status and mainstream credibility for his mixture of the flute with other contemporary genres.
The Native American flute is the only flute in the world constructed with two air chambers – there is a wall inside the flute between the top (slow) air chamber and the bottom chamber which has the whistle and finger holes. The top chamber also serves as a secondary resonator, which gives the flute its distinctive sound. There is a hole at the bottom of the "slow" air chamber and a (generally) square hole at the top of the playing chamber. A block (or "bird") with a spacer is tied on top of the flute to form a thin, flat airstream for the whistle hole (or "window"). Some more modern flutes use an undercut either in the block or the flute to eliminate the need for a spacer.
The "traditional" Native American flute was constructed using measurements based on the body – the length of the flute would be the distance from armpit to wrist, the length of the top air chamber would be one fist-width, the distance from the whistle to the first hole also a fist-width, the distance between holes would be one thumb-width, and the distance from the last hole to the end would generally be one fist-width. Unlike Western music, traditional American Indian music had no standard pitch reference such as A440, so flutes were not standardized for pitch.
Historic Native American flutes are generally tuned to a variation of the minor pentatonic scale (such as you would get playing the black keys on a piano), which gives the instrument its distinctive plaintive sound. Recently some makers have begun experimenting with different scales, giving players new melodic options. Also, modern flutes are generally tuned in concert keys (such as A or D) so that they can be easily played with other instruments. The root keys of modern Native American flutes span a range of about three and a half octaves, from C2 to A5.
Native American flutes most commonly have either 5 or 6 holes, but instruments can have anything from no holes to seven (including a thumb hole). Various makers employ different scales and fingerings for their flutes.
Some modern Native American flutes are called "drone" flutes, and are two (or more) flutes built together. Generally, the drone chamber plays a fixed note which the other flute can play against in harmony.
Drums
Drums are highly influential in American Indian music. Different tribes have different traditions about their drums and how to play them. For larger dance or powwow type drums, the basic construction is very similar in most tribes: a wooden frame or a carved and hollowed-out log, with rawhide buckskin or elk skin stretched out across the opening by sinew thongs. Traditionally American Indian drums are large, two to three feet in diameter, and they are played communally by groups of singers who sit around them in a circle. For smaller single-sided hand drums, a thinner frame or shell is used, and a rawhide surface is strung onto only one side, with lacing across the other. Other types include two basic styles of water drums: the Iroquois type and the Yaqui type. The Iroquois water drum is a small cup-shaped wooden vessel, with water inside it, and a moistened tanned hide stretched across the top opening; the wetness and tightness of the tanned hide produce changes in pitch as the water drum is played over time. The Yaqui type of water drum is actually a half gourd, large in size, that floats in a tub of water like a bubble on the surface; the outer round surface of the gourd is struck with a drum stick, and the vibrations are amplified using the tub of water as a resonator.
Another type of drum called a foot drum have been found in several southwestern and central-Californian Native American archaeological sites inhabited, or formally inhabited, by the Miwok, Maidu, Nahua, and Hopi Indian tribes. These drums were often semicircle cross-sectioned hollow logs laid over wood covered 'resonating' pits positioned according to custom in kivas or dance houses. The foot drums were played by stomping on top of the hollow log with the structure's poles used for steadying.
Awards
The dedicated Native American Music Awards, which successfully proposed the Grammy Award for Best Native American Music Album, was launched in 1998 and continues to be held annually. The Native American Music Awards or N.A.M.A. was the first national awards program for Native American music in North America. The awards were born out of a need for greater recognition for Native American music initiatives and remains the largest professional membership based organization in the world.
From 2001 to 2011, the American Grammy Awards presented an annual award for Best Native American Music Album, and the Canadian Juno Awards present an annual award for Aboriginal Recording of the Year. On April 6, 2011, it was announced that the Grammy Award for Best Native American Music Album would be merged with the Best Hawaiian Music Album and Best Zydeco or Cajun Music Album categories into a new category, Best Regional Roots Music Album. This change was part of a massive restructuring of Grammy categories.
Samples
is a recording from the Library of Congress, collected by Alice Cunningham Fletcher and Francis La Flesche and published in 1897. The singer is George Miller, who was probably born in about 1852. It was described as: "The true love-song, called by the Omaha Bethae waan, an old designation and not a descriptive name, is sung generally in the early morning, when the lover is keeping his tryst and watching for the maiden to emerge from the tent and go to the spring. They belong to the secret courtship and are sometimes called Me-the-g'thun wa-an – courting songs. . . . They were sung without drum, bell or rattle, to accent the rhythm, in which these songs is subordinated to tonality and is felt only in the musical phrases. . . . Vibrations for the purpose of giving greater expression were not only affected by the tremolo of the voice, but they were enhanced by waving the hand, or a spray of artemesia before the lips, while the body often swayed gently to the rhythm of the song (Fletcher, 1894, p. 156)."
Ghost Dance and gambling song from the Paiute and Arapaho Native Americans from the Library of Congress' Emile Berliner and the Birth of the Recording Industry Collection; performed by James Mooney (possibly along with Charles Mooney; neither are believed to be Native Americans) on July 5, 1894
See also
Indian House
The Ballad of Ira Hayes
Notes
References
Further reading
External links
Historical notes for a selection of 60 American Indian melodies
Hanksville – Index of Native American Music Resources on the Internet
Religious music
|
411851
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexual%20dysfunction
|
Sexual dysfunction
|
Sexual dysfunction is difficulty experienced by an individual or partners during any stage of normal sexual activity, including physical pleasure, desire, preference, arousal, or orgasm. The World Health Organization defines sexual dysfunction as a "person's inability to participate in a sexual relationship as they would wish". This definition is broad and is subject to many interpretations. A diagnosis of sexual dysfunction under the DSM-5 requires a person to feel extreme distress and interpersonal strain for a minimum of six months (except for substance- or medication-induced sexual dysfunction). Sexual dysfunction can have a profound impact on an individual's perceived quality of sexual life. The term sexual disorder may not only refer to physical sexual dysfunction, but to paraphilias as well; this is sometimes termed disorder of sexual preference.
A thorough sexual history and assessment of general health and other sexual problems (if any) are important when assessing sexual dysfunction, because it is usually correlated with other psychiatric issues, such as mood disorders, eating and anxiety disorders, and schizophrenia. Assessing performance anxiety, guilt, stress, and worry are integral to the optimal management of sexual dysfunction. Many of the sexual dysfunctions that are defined are based on the human sexual response cycle proposed by William H. Masters and Virginia E. Johnson, and modified by Helen Singer Kaplan.
Types
Sexual dysfunction can be classified into four categories: sexual desire disorders, arousal disorders, orgasm disorders, and pain disorders. Dysfunction among men and women are studied in the fields of andrology and gynecology respectively.
Sexual desire disorders
Sexual desire disorders or decreased libido are characterized by a lack of sexual desire, libido for sexual activity, or sexual fantasies for some time. The condition ranges from a general lack of sexual desire to a lack of sexual desire for the current partner. The condition may start after a period of normal sexual functioning, or the person may always have had an absence or a lesser intensity of sexual desire.
The causes vary considerably but include a decrease in the production of normal estrogen in women, or testosterone in both men and women. Other causes may be aging, fatigue, pregnancy, medications (such as SSRIs), or psychiatric conditions, such as depression and anxiety. While many causes of low sexual desire are cited, only a few of these have ever been the object of empirical research.
Sexual arousal disorders
Sexual arousal disorders were previously known as frigidity in women and impotence in men, though these have now been replaced with less judgmental terms. Impotence is now known as erectile dysfunction, and frigidity has been replaced with a number of terms describing specific problems that can be broken down into four categories as described by the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders: lack of desire, lack of arousal, pain during intercourse, and lack of orgasm.
For both men and women, these conditions can manifest themselves as an aversion to and avoidance of sexual contact with a partner. In men, there may be partial or complete failure to attain or maintain an erection, or a lack of sexual excitement and pleasure in sexual activity.
There may be physiological origins to these disorders, such as decreased blood flow or lack of vaginal lubrication. Chronic disease and the partners' relationship can also contribute to dysfunction.
Additionally, postorgasmic illness syndrome (POIS) may cause symptoms when aroused, including adrenergic-type presentation: rapid breathing, paresthesia, palpitations, headaches, aphasia, nausea, itchy eyes, fever, muscle pain and weakness, and fatigue.
From the onset of arousal, symptoms can persist for up to a week in patients.
The cause of this condition is unknown; however, it is believed to be a pathology of either the immune system or autonomic nervous systems. It is defined as a rare disease by the National Institute of Health, but the prevalence is unknown. It is not thought to be psychiatric in nature, but it may present as anxiety relating to coital activities and may be incorrectly diagnosed as such. There is no known cure or treatment.
Erectile dysfunction
Erectile dysfunction (ED), or impotence, is a sexual dysfunction characterized by the inability to develop or maintain an erection of the penis. There are various underlying causes of ED, including damage to anatomical structures, psychological causes, medical disease, and drug use. Many of these causes are medically treatable.
Psychological ED can often be treated by almost anything that the patient believes in; there is a very strong placebo effect. Physical damage can be more difficult to treat. One leading physical cause of ED is continual or severe damage taken to the nervi erigentes, which can prevent or delay erection. These nerves course beside the prostate arising from the sacral plexus and can be damaged in prostatic and colorectal surgeries.
Diseases are also common causes of erectile dysfunction. Diseases such as cardiovascular disease, multiple sclerosis, kidney failure, vascular disease, and spinal cord injury can cause erectile dysfunction. Cardiovascular disease can decrease blood flow to penile tissues, making it difficult to develop or maintain an erection.
Due to the shame and embarrassment felt by some with erectile dysfunction, the subject was taboo for a long time and is the focus of many urban legends. Folk remedies have long been advocated, with some being advertised widely since the 1930s. The introduction of perhaps the first pharmacologically effective remedy for impotence, sildenafil (trade name Viagra), in the 1990s caused a wave of public attention, propelled in part by the newsworthiness of stories about it and heavy advertising.
It is estimated that around 30 million men in the United States and 152 million men worldwide have erectile dysfunction. However, social stigma, low health literacy, and social taboos lead to under reporting which makes an accurate prevalence rate hard to determine.
The Latin term impotentia coeundi describes the inability to insert the penis into the vagina, and has been mostly replaced by more precise terms.
ED from vascular disease is seen mainly amongst older individuals who have atherosclerosis. Vascular disease is common in individuals who smoke or have diabetes, peripheral vascular disease, or hypertension. Any time blood flow to the penis is impaired, ED can occur.
Drugs are also a cause of erectile dysfunction. Individuals who take drugs that lower blood pressure, antipsychotics, antidepressants, sedatives, narcotics, antacids, or alcohol can have problems with sexual function and loss of libido.
Hormone deficiency is a relatively rare cause of erectile dysfunction. In individuals with testicular failure, as in Klinefelter syndrome, or those who have had radiation therapy, chemotherapy, or childhood exposure to the mumps virus, the testes may fail to produce testosterone. Other hormonal causes of erectile failure include brain tumors, hyperthyroidism, hypothyroidism, or adrenal gland disorders.
Orgasm disorders
Anorgasmia
Anorgasmia is classified as persistent delays or absence of orgasm following a normal sexual excitement phase in at least 75% of sexual encounters. The disorder can have physical, psychological, or pharmacological origins. SSRI antidepressants are a common pharmaceutical culprit, as they can delay orgasm or eliminate it entirely. A common physiological cause of anorgasmia is menopause; one in three women report problems obtaining an orgasm during sexual stimulation following menopause.
Premature ejaculation
Premature ejaculation is when ejaculation occurs before the partner achieves orgasm, or a mutually satisfactory length of time has passed during intercourse. There is no correct length of time for intercourse to last, but generally, premature ejaculation is thought to occur when ejaculation occurs in under two minutes from the time of the insertion of the penis. For a diagnosis, the patient must have a chronic history of premature ejaculation, poor ejaculatory control, and the problem must cause feelings of dissatisfaction as well as distress for the patient, the partner, or both.
Premature ejaculation has historically been attributed to psychological causes, but newer theories suggest that premature ejaculation may have an underlying neurobiological cause that may lead to rapid ejaculation.
Post-orgasmic disorders
Post-orgasmic disorders cause symptoms shortly after orgasm or ejaculation. Post-coital tristesse (PCT) is a feeling of melancholy and anxiety after sexual intercourse that lasts for up to two hours. Sexual headaches occur in the skull and neck during sexual activity, including masturbation, arousal or orgasm.
In men, POIS causes severe muscle pain throughout the body and other symptoms immediately following ejaculation. These symptoms last for up to a week. Some doctors speculate that the frequency of POIS "in the population may be greater than has been reported in the academic literature", and that many with POIS are undiagnosed.
POIS may involve adrenergic symptoms: rapid breathing, paresthesia, palpitations, headaches, aphasia, nausea, itchy eyes, fever, muscle pain and weakness, and fatigue.
The etiology of this condition is unknown; however, it is believed to be a pathology of either the immune system or autonomic nervous systems. It is defined as a rare disease by the NIH, but the prevalence is unknown. It is not thought to be psychiatric in nature, but it may present as anxiety relating to coital activities and thus may be incorrectly diagnosed as such. There is no known cure or treatment.
Dhat syndrome is another condition which occurs in men: it is a culture-bound syndrome which causes anxious and dysphoric mood after sex. It is distinct from the low-mood and concentration problems (acute aphasia) seen in POIS.
Sexual pain disorders
Sexual pain disorders in women include dyspareunia (painful intercourse) and vaginismus (an involuntary spasm of the muscles of the vaginal wall that interferes with intercourse).
Dyspareunia may be caused by vaginal dryness. Poor lubrication may result from insufficient excitement and stimulation, or from hormonal changes caused by menopause, pregnancy, or breastfeeding. Irritation from contraceptive creams and foams can also cause dryness, as can fear and anxiety about sex.
It is unclear exactly what causes vaginismus, but it is thought that past sexual trauma (such as rape or abuse) may play a role. Another female sexual pain disorder is vulvodynia, or vulvar vestibulitis when localized to the Vulval vestibule. In this condition, women experience burning pain during sex, which seems to be related to problems with the skin in the vulvar and vaginal areas. Its cause is unknown.
In men, structural abnormalities of the penis like Peyronie's disease can make sexual intercourse difficult and/or painful. The disease is characterized by thick fibrous bands in the penis that lead to excessive curvature during erection. It has an incidence estimated at 0.4–3% or more, is most common in men 40–70, and has no certain cause. Risk factors include genetics, minor trauma (potentially during cystoscopy or transurethral resection of the prostate), chronic systemic vascular diseases, smoking, and alcohol consumption.
Priapism is a painful erection that occurs for several hours and occurs in the absence of sexual stimulation. This condition develops when blood is trapped in the penis and is unable to drain. If the condition is not promptly treated, it can lead to severe scarring and permanent loss of erectile function. The disorder is most common in young men and children. Individuals with sickle-cell disease and those who use certain medications can often develop this disorder.
Causes
There are many factors which may result in a person experiencing a sexual dysfunction. These may result from emotional or physical causes. Emotional factors include interpersonal or psychological problems, which include depression, sexual fears or guilt, past sexual trauma, and sexual disorders.
Sexual dysfunction is especially common among people who have anxiety disorders. Ordinary anxiety can cause erectile dysfunction in men without psychiatric problems, but clinically diagnosable disorders such as panic disorder commonly cause avoidance of intercourse and premature ejaculation. Pain during intercourse is often a comorbidity of anxiety disorders among women.
Physical factors that can lead to sexual dysfunctions include the use of drugs, such as alcohol, nicotine, narcotics, stimulants, antihypertensives, antihistamines, and some psychotherapeutic drugs. For women, almost any physiological change that affects the reproductive system—premenstrual syndrome, pregnancy and the postpartum period, and menopause—can have an adverse effect on libido. Back injuries may also impact sexual activity, as can problems with an enlarged prostate gland, problems with blood supply, or nerve damage (as in sexual dysfunction after spinal cord injuries). Diseases such as diabetic neuropathy, multiple sclerosis, tumors, and, rarely, tertiary syphilis may also impact activity, as can the failure of various organ systems (such as the heart and lungs), endocrine disorders (thyroid, pituitary, or adrenal gland problems), hormonal deficiencies (low testosterone, other androgens, or estrogen), and some birth defects.
In the context of heterosexual relationships, one of the main reasons for the decline in sexual activity among these couples is the male partner experiencing erectile dysfunction. This can be very distressing for the male partner, causing poor body image, and it can also be a major source of low desire for these men. In aging women, it is natural for the vagina to narrow and atrophy. If a woman does not participate in sexual activity regularly (in particular, activities involving vaginal penetration), she will not be able to immediately accommodate a penis without risking pain or injury if she decides to engage in penetrative intercourse. This can turn into a vicious cycle that often leads to female sexual dysfunction.
According to Emily Wentzell, American culture has anti-aging sentiments that have caused sexual dysfunction to become "an illness that needs treatment" instead of viewing it as a natural part of the aging process. Not all cultures seek treatment; for example, a population of men living in Mexico often accept ED as a normal part of their maturing sexuality.
With SSRI medication
Sexual problems are common with SSRIs, which can cause anorgasmia, erectile dysfunction, diminished libido, genital numbness, and sexual anhedonia (pleasureless orgasm). Poor sexual function is also one of the most common reasons people stop the medication. In some cases, symptoms of sexual dysfunction may persist after discontinuation of SSRIs. This combination of symptoms is sometimes referred to as post-SSRI sexual dysfunction.
Pelvic floor dysfunction
Pelvic floor dysfunction can be an underlying cause of sexual dysfunction in both women and men, and is treatable by pelvic floor physical therapy, a type of physical therapy designed to restore the health and function of the pelvic floor and surrounding areas.
Female sexual dysfunction
Several theories have looked at female sexual dysfunction, from medical to psychological perspectives. Three social psychological theories include: the self-perception theory, the overjustification hypothesis, and the insufficient justification hypothesis:
Self-perception theory: people make attributions about their own attitudes, feelings, and behaviours by relying on their observations of external behaviours and the circumstances in which those behaviours occur
Overjustification hypothesis: when an external reward is given to a person for performing an intrinsically rewarding activity, the person's intrinsic interest will decrease
Insufficient justification: based on the classic cognitive dissonance theory (inconsistency between two cognitions or between a cognition and a behavior will create discomfort), this theory states that people will alter one of the cognitions or behaviours to restore consistency and reduce distress
The importance of how a woman perceives her behavior should not be underestimated. Many women perceive sex as a chore as opposed to a pleasurable experience, and they tend to consider themselves sexually inadequate, which in turn does not motivate them to engage in sexual activity. Several factors influence a women's perception of her sexual life. These can include race, gender, ethnicity, educational background, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, financial resources, culture, and religion. Cultural differences are also present in how women view menopause and its impact on health, self-image, and sexuality. A study found that African American women are the most optimistic about menopausal life; Caucasian women are the most anxious, Asian women are the most inhibited about their symptoms, and Hispanic women are the most stoic.
About one-third of the women experienced sexual dysfunction, which may lead to these women's loss of confidence in their sexual lives. Since these women have sexual problems, their sexual lives with their partners can become a burden without pleasure, and may eventually lose complete interest in sexual activity. Some of the women found it hard to be aroused mentally, while others had physical problems. Several factors can affect female dysfunction, such as situations in which women do not trust their sex partners, the environment where sex occurs being uncomfortable, or an inability to concentrate on the sexual activity due to a bad mood or burdens from work. Other factors include physical discomfort or difficulty in achieving arousal, which could be caused by aging or changes in the body's condition.
Sexual assault has been associated with excessive menstrual bleeding, genital burning, and painful intercourse (attributable to disease, injury, or otherwise), medically unexplained dysmenorrhea, menstrual irregularity, and lack of sexual pleasure. Physically violent assaults and those committed by strangers were most strongly related to reproductive symptoms. Multiple assaults, assaults accomplished by persuasion, spousal assault, and completed intercourse were most strongly related to sexual symptoms. Assault was occasionally associated more strongly with reproductive symptoms among women with lower income or less education, possibly because of economic stress or differences in assault circumstances. Associations with unexplained menstrual irregularity were strongest among African American women; ethnic differences in reported circumstances of assault appeared to account for these differences. Assault was associated with sexual indifference only among Latinas.
Menopause
The most prevalent of female sexual dysfunctions that have been linked to menopause include lack of desire and libido; these are predominantly associated with hormonal physiology. Specifically, the decline in serum estrogens causes these changes in sexual functioning. Androgen depletion may also play a role, but current knowledge about this is less clear. The hormonal changes that take place during the menopausal transition have been suggested to affect women's sexual response through several mechanisms, some more conclusive than others.
Aging in women
Whether or not aging directly affects women's sexual functioning during menopause is controversial. However, many studies, including Hayes and Dennerstein's critical review, have demonstrated that aging has a powerful impact on sexual function and dysfunction in women, specifically in the areas of desire, sexual interest, and frequency of orgasm. In addition, Dennerstien and colleagues found that the primary predictor of sexual response throughout menopause is prior sexual functioning, which means that it is important to understand how the physiological changes in men and women can affect sexual desire. Despite the apparent negative impact that menopause can have on sexuality and sexual functioning, sexual confidence and well-being can improve with age and menopausal status. The impact that a relationship status can have on quality of life is often underestimated.
Testosterone, along with its metabolite dihydrotestosterone, is important to normal sexual function in men and women. Dihydrotestosterone is the most prevalent androgen in both men and women. Testosterone levels in women at age 60 are on average about half of what they were before the women were 40. Although this decline is gradual for most women, those who have undergone bilateral oophorectomy experience a sudden drop in testosterone levels, as the ovaries produce 40% of the body's circulating testosterone.
Sexual desire has been related to three separate components: drive, beliefs and values, and motivation. Particularly in postmenopausal women, drive fades and is no longer the initial step in a woman's sexual response.
Diagnosis
List of disorders
DSM
The fourth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders lists the following sexual dysfunctions:
Hypoactive sexual desire disorder (see also asexuality, which is not classified as a disorder)
Sexual aversion disorder (avoidance of or lack of desire for sexual intercourse)
Female sexual arousal disorder (failure of normal lubricating arousal response)
Male erectile disorder
Female orgasmic disorder (see anorgasmia)
Male orgasmic disorder (see anorgasmia)
Premature ejaculation
Dyspareunia
Vaginismus
Additional DSM sexual disorders that are not sexual dysfunctions include:
Paraphilias
PTSD due to genital mutilation or childhood sexual abuse
Other sexual problems
Sexual dissatisfaction (non-specific)
Lack of sexual desire
Anorgasmia
Impotence
Sexually transmitted diseases
Delay or absence of ejaculation, despite adequate stimulation
Inability to control timing of ejaculation
Inability to relax vaginal muscles enough to allow intercourse
Inadequate vaginal lubrication preceding and during intercourse
Burning pain on the vulva or in the vagina with contact to those areas
Unhappiness or confusion related to sexual orientation
Transsexual and transgender people may have sexual problems before or after surgery.
Persistent sexual arousal syndrome
Sexual addiction
Hypersexuality
All forms of female genital cutting
Post-orgasmic diseases, such as Dhat syndrome, PCT, POIS, and sexual headaches.
Treatment
Males
Several decades ago, the medical community believed most sexual dysfunction cases were related to psychological issues. Although this may be true for a portion of men, the vast majority of cases have now been identified to have a physical cause or correlation. If the sexual dysfunction is deemed to have a psychological component or cause, psychotherapy can help. Situational anxiety arises from an earlier bad incident or lack of experience, and often leads to development of fear towards sexual activity and avoidance which enters a cycle of increased anxiety and desensitization of the penis. In some cases, erectile dysfunction may be due to marital disharmony. Marriage counseling sessions are recommended in this situation.
Lifestyle changes such as discontinuing tobacco smoking or substance use can also treat some types of ED. Several oral medications like Viagra, Cialis, and Levitra have become available to alleviate ED and have become first line therapy. These medications provide an easy, safe, and effective treatment solution for approximately 60% of men. In the rest, the medications may not work because of wrong diagnosis or chronic history.
Another type of medication that is effective in roughly 85% of men is called intracavernous pharmacotherapy, which involves injecting a vasodilator drug directly into the penis to stimulate an erection. This method has an increased risk of priapism if used in conjunction with other treatments, and localized pain.
Premature ejaculations are treated by behavioural techniques Squeeze technique and Stop Start Technique. In Squeeze technique the area between head and shaft of penis is pressed using index finger and thumb just before ejaculation. In Stop Start Technique the male partner stops having sexual intercourse just before ejaculation and waits for the sense of ejaculation to pass away. Both Techniques are repeated many times.
When conservative therapies fail, are an unsatisfactory treatment option, or are contraindicated for use, the insertion of a penile implant may be selected by the patient. Technological advances have made the insertion of a penile implant a safe option for the treatment of ED, which provides the highest patient and partner satisfaction rates of all available ED treatment options.
Pelvic floor physical therapy has been shown to be a valid treatment for men with sexual problems and pelvic pain.
The 2020 guidelines from the American College of Physicians support the discussion of testosterone treatment in adult men with age-related low levels of testosterone who have sexual dysfunction. They recommend yearly evaluation regarding possible improvement and, if none, to discontinue testosterone; intramuscular treatments should be considered rather than transdermal treatments due to costs and since the effectiveness and harm of either method is similar. Testosterone treatment for reasons other than possible improvement of sexual dysfunction may not be recommended.
Females
In 2015, flibanserin was approved in the US to treat decreased sexual desire in women. While it is effective for some women, it has been criticized for its limited efficacy, and has many warnings and contraindications that limit its use. Women experiencing pain with intercourse are often prescribed pain relievers or desensitizing agents; others are prescribed vaginal lubricants. Many women with sexual dysfunction are also referred to a counselor or sex therapist.
Menopause
Estrogens are responsible for the maintenance of collagen, elastic fibers, and vasculature of the urogenital tract, all of which are important in maintaining vaginal structure and functional integrity; they are also important for maintaining vaginal pH and moisture levels, both of which help to keep the tissues lubricated and protected. Prolonged estrogen deficiency leads to atrophy, fibrosis, and reduced blood flow to the urogenital tract, which cause menopausal symptoms such as vaginal dryness and pain related to sexual activity and/or intercourse. It has been consistently demonstrated that women with lower sexual functioning have lower estradiol levels. Women experiencing vaginal dryness who cannot use commercial lubricants may be able to use coconut oil as an alternative.
Androgen therapy for hypoactive sexual desire disorder has a small benefit but its safety is not known. It is not approved as a treatment in the United States. It is more commonly used among women who have had an oophorectomy or are in a postmenopausal state. However, like most treatments, this is also controversial. One study found that after a 24-week trial, women taking androgens had higher scores of sexual desire compared to a placebo group. As with all pharmacological drugs, there are side effects in using androgens, which include hirsutism, acne, polycythaemia, increased high-density lipoproteins, cardiovascular risks, and endometrial hyperplasia. Alternative treatments include topical estrogen creams and gels that can be applied to the vulva or vagina area to treat vaginal dryness and atrophy.
Research
In modern times, clinical study of sexual problems is usually dated back no earlier than 1970 when Masters and Johnson's Human Sexual Inadequacy was published. It was the result of over a decade of work at the Reproductive Biology Research Foundation in St. Louis, involving 790 cases. The work grew from Masters and Johnson's earlier Human Sexual Response (1966).
Prior to Masters and Johnson, the clinical approach to sexual problems was largely derived from Sigmund Freud. It was held to be psychopathology and approached with a certain pessimism regarding the chance of help or improvement. Sexual problems were merely symptoms of a deeper malaise, and the diagnostic approach was from the psychopathological viewpoint. There was little distinction between difficulties in function and variations nor between perversion and problems. Despite work by psychotherapists such as Balint sexual difficulties were crudely split into frigidity or impotence, terms which acquired negative connotations in popular culture.
Human Sexual Inadequacy moved thinking from psychopathology to learning; psychopathological problems would only be considered if a problem did not respond to educative treatment. Treatment was directed at couples, whereas before partners would be seen individually. Masters and Johnson believed that sex was a joint act, and that sexual communication was the key issue to sexual problems, not the specifics of an individual problem. They also proposed co-therapy, with a pair of therapists to match the clients, arguing that a lone male therapist could not fully comprehend female difficulties.
The basic Masters and Johnson treatment program was an intensive two-week program to develop efficient sexual communication. The program is couple-based and therapist-led, and began with discussion and sensate focus between the couple to develop shared experiences. From the experiences, specific difficulties could be determined and approached with a specific therapy. In a limited number of male-only cases (41) Masters and Johnson developed the use of a female surrogate, which was abandoned over the ethical, legal, and other problems it raised.
In defining the range of sexual problems, Masters and Johnson defined a boundary between dysfunction and deviations. Dysfunctions were transitory and experienced by most people, and included male primary or secondary impotence, premature ejaculation, and ejaculatory incompetence; female primary orgasmic dysfunction and situational orgasmic dysfunction; pain during intercourse (dyspareunia) and vaginismus. According to Masters and Johnson, sexual arousal and climax are a normal physiological process of every functionally intact adult, but they can be inhibited despite being autonomic responses. Masters and Johnson's treatment program for dysfunction was 81.1% successful.
Despite Masters and Johnson's work, sexual therapy in the US was overrun by enthusiastic rather than systematic approaches, blurring the space between "enrichment" and therapy.
See also
References
External links
NIH site on sexual problems (archived 18 October 2013)
Sexual health
Sexual arousal
Sexuality
Sexology
Orgasm
|
411870
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike%20Simpson
|
Mike Simpson
|
Michael Keith Simpson (born September 8, 1950) is an American politician and former dentist serving as the U.S. representative for since 1999. The district covers most of the eastern portion of the state, including Idaho Falls, Pocatello, Sun Valley, Twin Falls and the northern two-thirds of Boise.
A member of the Republican Party, Simpson was first elected to public office in 1984, and was elected to the House in the 1998 elections, succeeding Mike Crapo. He served as Speaker of the Idaho House of Representatives from 1992 to 1998.
Early life, education and private career
Born in Burley, Simpson was raised in Blackfoot, where his father was a dentist. He graduated from Blackfoot High School in 1968, Utah State University in Logan in 1972, and the Washington University School of Dental Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1977. Simpson practiced dentistry in Blackfoot until his election to Congress in 1998. He was elected to the Blackfoot City Council in 1980 and to the state legislature in 1984, the first of seven terms. He was the Speaker of the Idaho House before his election to Congress.
U.S. House of Representatives
Elections
1998
Simpson entered the 1998 campaign for the U.S. House seat vacated by Mike Crapo, who was running for United States Senate. He defeated former Democratic Congressman Richard H. Stallings, who held the seat from 1985 to 1993, in the general election with 52% of the vote. He has never faced another contest that close; Stallings was the last Democrat to win even 40% of the vote.
Simpson did not face serious opposition in 2000, 2002, or 2004. In 2006, Simpson defeated former Democratic state representative Jim D. Hansen, son of former Republican Congressman Orval H. Hansen, with 61% of the vote.
2008
Simpson defeated two primary challengers with 85.2% of the vote. He defeated Democratic nominee Debbie Holmes with 71% of the vote.
During the 2008 presidential primaries, Simpson was an early supporter of former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and a member of his Congressional Whip Team.
2010
In the Republican primary, Simpson defeated Chick Heileson of Iona and Russ Mathews of Idaho Falls.
Simpson defeated Democratic nominee Mike Crawford and Independent candidate Brian Schad with 68.8% of the vote.
2012
In the Republican primary, Simpson defeated Chick Helieson with 69.6% of the vote. He defeated Democratic nominee Nicole LeFavour with 65.1% of the vote.
2014
In the Republican primary, Simpson defeated lawyer Bryan Smith with 61.8% of the vote. He defeated former congressman Richard H. Stallings in the general election with 61.4% of the vote.
2016
In the Republican primary, Simpson defeated perennial candidate Lisa Marie with 73% of the vote. He defeated Jennifer Martinez and Anthony Tomkins in the general election with 62.9% of the vote.
2018
2020
2022
In the Republican primary Simpson once again defeated his 2014 opponent Bryan Smith, this time by 54.6% to 32.7%, with three other candidates splitting the rest of the vote.
Tenure
While the Republican Party held the majority in the U.S. House of Representatives, Simpson often served as the Speaker Pro Tempore of the House, particularly during debates on controversial legislation, due to his command of House procedure. Simpson is known to have broken several sounding boards with the gavel while calling the House to order. This inspired him to have a number of sounding boards produced in Idaho, which he presented to then Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert as a joke. When the Republican Party regained control of the House of Representatives in 2010, Simpson began once again to serve frequently as Speaker Pro Tempore.
In the 111th United States Congress Simpson became the Ranking Member on the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee. He also serves as the small state representative on the 33-member House Republican Steering Committee. Known as the "committee of committees", the Steering Committee decides which Republican lawmakers become ranking members on House committees. Simpson replaced Don Young on the committee.
In December 2020, Simpson signed an amicus brief in support of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's lawsuit seeking to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Larry Craig scandal
During the 2007 scandal involving U.S. Senator Larry Craig, Simpson was openly considered for an appointment to the Senate if Craig resigned. But Simpson asked Governor C.L. "Butch" Otter to remove his name from consideration, claiming that the Idaho Congressional Delegation would be in a better position if he were to remain in the House and retain his seniority on the House Appropriations Committee.
Simpson rankled Senate leadership during the Craig scandal by criticizing them for their treatment of Craig. He said: "If that's how they treat their own, that tells me they're more interested in party than individuals, and the party is made up of individuals. How you treat them says a lot about your party." Simpson is not known to have condoned Craig's alleged misconduct, but demanded that Craig be treated fairly. For example, he said, "They have people over there [in the Senate Republican Conference] in far worse trouble that they haven't said a thing about."
2013 government shutdown
In October 2013, Simpson voted to end the United States federal government shutdown of 2013.
Health care
Affordable Care Act repeal
Simpson voted for and presided over the vote on the American Health Care Act of 2017, which passed the House on May 4, 2017.
Newborn health
Simpson was an original co-sponsor of the Newborn Screening Saves Lives Reauthorization Act of 2013 (H.R. 1281; 113th Congress), a bill that would amend the Public Health Service Act to reauthorize grant programs and other initiatives to promote expanded screening of newborns and children for heritable disorders. Simpson said: "the bill reflects the realities of reduced budgets Washington, but continues and strengthens the well established system of monitoring and evaluating infant conditions soon after birth. Just one small blood sample from the newborn's foot identifies infants with genetic or other conditions that can be treated quickly and effectively, saving and improving thousands of lives."
Energy and water
On June 20, 2014, Simpson introduced the Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2015 (H.R. 4923; 113th Congress), a bill that would make appropriations for energy and water development and related agencies for FY2015. The bill would appropriate $34 billion, which is $50 million less than these agencies then received. The appropriations for the United States Department of Energy and the United States Army Corps of Engineers are made by this bill.
Gun rights
Simpson voted for and helped pass the National Right-to-Carry Reciprocity Act of 2011. Under this law, which passed the House on November 16, 2011, people with a valid license are allowed to carry a concealed weapon in other states as long as those states allow concealed weapons and do not have specific rules about concealed weapons carried by nonresidents.
Idaho-focused environmental legislation
Simpson's hallmark legislation is the Central Idaho Economic Development and Recreation Act (CIEDRA), which would create 312,000 acres of wilderness in central Idaho, much of which is currently a wilderness study area. He has faced substantial resistance from groups like the Sierra Club, which claim the bill lacks "wilderness values" because it allows for motorized access to certain parts of the wilderness area and some federal land would be transferred to the State of Idaho to promote the economic development of the local community and the recreational use of National Forest land and other public lands in central Idaho. Simpson has also faced opposition from groups that oppose new federal land designations, and wilderness designations particularly, because of restricted access to wilderness areas. In August 2015, a revised version of CIEDRA, the Sawtooth National Recreation Area and Jerry Peak Wilderness Additions Act, passed Congress and was signed by President Obama, creating the Hemingway–Boulders, Jim McClure–Jerry Peak, and White Clouds wilderness areas, which cover a total of of central Idaho.
On March 21, 2014, Simpson introduced the bill To amend the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to maintain or replace certain facilities and structures for commercial recreation services at Smith Gulch in Idaho (H.R. 4283; 113th Congress). The bill would require the United States Secretary of Agriculture to permit private entities to repair or replace certain commercial facilities on United States Forest Service land in Idaho. Simpson said, "this legislation clarifies Congress's intent of the 2004 amendments to the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act which continued the existing use and occupancy of commercial services in this corridor of the Salmon River".
In February 2021, Simpson announced a "Salmon and Energy" concept intended to restore Snake River salmon while protecting agricultural and energy interests across the Columbia River basin.
Judgeship reorganization
Simpson has actively pushed to divide the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, sponsoring bills to that effect in 2007, 2011, 2017, and 2021. None of these bills were successful.
Dentistry
A dentist himself, Simpson has worked closely with the American Dental Association on issues over the years. This has included co-sponsoring an unsuccessful 2009 bill intended to counter "methmouth", watching out for dentists' interests during the COVID pandemic, and in general pushing for better reimbursements and coverage for dental care.
Tax reform
Simpson voted for the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. After passing the bill, he said he spoke to Idaho farmers, ranchers and businesses who called for a simplified tax code and reform. He said the bill would "create economic growth in the United States by unleashing American small businesses and unburdening middle-class families so they can make better financial decisions with their own money."
Texas v. Pennsylvania
In December 2020, Simpson was one of 126 Republican members of the House of Representatives to sign an amicus brief in support of Texas v. Pennsylvania, a lawsuit filed at the United States Supreme Court contesting the results of the 2020 presidential election, in which Joe Biden defeated incumbent Donald Trump. The Supreme Court declined to hear the case on the basis that Texas lacked standing under Article III of the Constitution to challenge the results of an election held by another state.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued a statement that called signing the amicus brief an act of "election subversion." She also reprimanded Simpson and the other House members who supported the lawsuit: "The 126 Republican Members that signed onto this lawsuit brought dishonor to the House. Instead of upholding their oath to support and defend the Constitution, they chose to subvert the Constitution and undermine public trust in our sacred democratic institutions."
January 6 commission
On May 19, 2021, Simpson was one of 35 Republicans to join all Democrats in voting to approve legislation to establish the January 6 commission meant to investigate the attack of the U.S. Capitol.
Immigration
In 2021, Simpson voted for the Farm Workforce Modernization Act of 2021, which passes work visas for undocumented farm workers.
Simpson voted for the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2020, which authorized DHS to nearly double the available H-2B visas for the remainder of FY 2020.
Simpson voted for the Consolidated Appropriations Act (H.R. 1158), which effectively prohibits Immigration and Customs Enforcement from cooperating with the Department of Health and Human Services to detain or remove illegal alien sponsors of Unaccompanied Alien Children.
Simpson supports Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA).
LGBT rights
In 2021, Simpson was among the House Republicans to sponsor the Fairness for All Act, the Republican alternative to the Equality Act. The bill would prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity, and protect the free exercise of religion.
In 2021, Simpson was one of 29 Republicans to vote to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act. This bill expanded legal protections for transgender people and contained provisions allowing transgender women to use women's shelters and serve time in prisons matching their gender identity.
In 2022, Simpson was one of 47 House Republicans to vote with the Democratic Party to repeal the federal Defense of Marriage Act, and replace it with the Respect for Marriage Act. He later voted for the final form of the bill as passed in the Senate in December.
Committee assignments
For the 118th Congress:
Committee on Appropriations
Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies
Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies (Chairman)
Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies
Party leadership
House Republican Steering Committee
Caucus membership
House Potato Caucus – Co-chair
House Sugar Caucus – Co-chair
Oral Health Caucus – Co-chair
Congressional TRIO Caucus – Co-chair
Congressional Western Caucus
Nuclear Cleanup Caucus
Republican Main Street Partnership
Political positions
Simpson is a Republican who is known to be pragmatic on certain issues. For example, he was one of a handful of Republicans to vote for reauthorization of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) in the 110th Congress. He has also supported the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities, voting each year against Republican amendments to strip them of funding. In the past, he has opposed "earmarks", or congressionally directed spending.
Esquire listed Simpson as one of the 10 Best Members of Congress in October 2008. The magazine wrote, "More than any other representative, Simpson lives by the philosophy that democratic representation is a matter of finding not advantageous positions but common ground". The magazine's portrayal of Simpson echoes one of his personal philosophies, which is embodied in Henry Clay's words: "Politics is not about ideological purity or moral self-righteousness. It is about governing, and if a politician cannot compromise he cannot govern effectively." This quotation is framed and hangs in Simpson's Washington D.C. office. Simpson played a key role in the election of John Boehner as House Majority Leader in the 109th United States Congress.
Domestic issues
Farming
Simpson is a strong supporter of domestic sugar beet producers and Idaho potato growers. In 2010, he took up the cause, alongside his former colleague Walt Minnick, the lead sponsor of the bill, to secure a third federal judge for Idaho. Simpson said, "The caseload of the Idaho District Court has increased significantly in recent decades resulting in Idaho's district judges carrying a disproportionate share of cases in relation to their colleagues in other states."
Gun law
Simpson was one of the members of Congress to sign the D.C. v. Heller amicus brief which supported a recognition of the Second Amendment as an individual right.
Health care
Simpson has committed to repealing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, questioning its constitutionality and effectiveness. He was close and loyal to Speaker John Boehner.
Economic issues
Corporations
Simpson supports an agenda of low taxes and pro-business policies.
Tax reform
Simpson supports tax reform. When asked about the Grover Norquist pledge to oppose any net increase in taxes, Simpson said, "Well, first, the pledge: I signed that in 1998 when I first ran. I didn't know I was signing a marriage agreement that would last forever."
International issues
Climate change
In a 2019 conference in Boise, Simpson said: "climate change is a reality. It’s not hard to figure out. Go look at your thermometer." In his speech, he tied climate change to the viability of salmon in Idaho lakes and rivers.
Energy
Simpson is also known as an outspoken proponent of nuclear power, extolling its virtues as an environmentally friendly source of energy with minimal carbon output. His support for nuclear energy plays a significant role in his membership of the United States House Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development, which oversees the Idaho National Laboratory, a main site for nuclear and alternative energy research in the United States.
Ukraine
In 2022, Simpson voted to provide approximately $14 billion to the government of Ukraine.
Social issues
Simpson supports efforts to make it illegal to desecrate the American flag.
Abortion
Simpson is anti-abortion. He has a zero rating from NARAL Pro-Choice America and a 100% rating from the National Right to Life Committee for his voting record on abortion. He opposes using federal monies to fund abortions, embryonic stem cell research, restricting the transport of minors over state lines to receive abortions, partial-birth abortions except to save a mother's life and human cloning. He supports cutting federal funding of Planned Parenthood.
Affirmative action
Simpson has a 28% rating from the NAACP for his affirmative action-related voting record.
Cannabis
Simpson has a "D" rating from NORML for his voting history on cannabis-related causes. He opposes veterans having access to medical marijuana if recommended by their Veterans Health Administration doctor and if it is legal for medicinal purposes in their state of residence.
Civil rights
Simpson had a 38% rating from the American Civil Liberties Union for his civil rights voting record in the 117th Congress as of November 2021.
LGBT rights
Simpson has had a zero score from the Human Rights Campaign for his LGBT voting record as recently as the 115th Congress, but in the 117th Congress he received a 14, in part for his votes for the Respect for Marriage Act and the Violence Against Women Act.
Big Tech
In 2022, Simpson was one of 39 Republicans to vote for the Merger Filing Fee Modernization Act of 2021, an antitrust package that would crack down on corporations for anti-competitive behavior.
Election results
Source:
See also
Idaho's 2nd congressional district
References
External links
Congressman Mike Simpson official U.S. House website
Mike Simpson for Congress
|-
|-
|-
|-
1950 births
21st-century American politicians
American dentists
American Latter Day Saints
1984 Idaho elections
1988 Idaho elections
1990 Idaho elections
1992 Idaho elections
1994 Idaho elections
1996 Idaho elections
1998 Idaho elections
Latter Day Saints from Idaho
Living people
People from Blackfoot, Idaho
People from Burley, Idaho
Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Idaho
Speakers of the Idaho House of Representatives
Utah State University alumni
Washington University School of Dental Medicine alumni
Washington University in St. Louis alumni
|
411879
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dysmenorrhea
|
Dysmenorrhea
|
Dysmenorrhea, also known as period pain, painful periods or menstrual cramps, is pain during menstruation. Its usual onset occurs around the time that menstruation begins. Symptoms typically last less than three days. The pain is usually in the pelvis or lower abdomen. Other symptoms may include back pain, diarrhea or nausea.
Dysmenorrhea can occur without an underlying problem. Underlying issues that can cause dysmenorrhea include uterine fibroids, adenomyosis, and most commonly, endometriosis. It is more common among those with heavy periods, irregular periods, those whose periods started before twelve years of age and those who have a low body weight. A pelvic exam and ultrasound in individuals who are sexually active may be useful for diagnosis. Conditions that should be ruled out include ectopic pregnancy, pelvic inflammatory disease, interstitial cystitis and chronic pelvic pain.
Dysmenorrhea occurs less often in those who exercise regularly and those who have children early in life. Treatment may include the use of a heating pad. Medications that may help include NSAIDs such as ibuprofen, hormonal birth control and the IUD with progestogen. Taking vitamin B1 or magnesium may help. Evidence for yoga, acupuncture and massage is insufficient. Surgery may be useful if certain underlying problems are present.
Estimates of the percentage of female adolescents, and women of reproductive age affected are between 50% and 90%. It is the most common menstrual disorder. Typically, it starts within a year of the first menstrual period. When there is no underlying cause, often the pain improves with age or following having a child.
Signs and symptoms
The main symptom of dysmenorrhea is pain concentrated in the lower abdomen or pelvis. It is also commonly felt in the right or left side of the abdomen. It may radiate to the thighs and lower back.
Symptoms often co-occurring with menstrual pain include nausea and vomiting, diarrhea, headache, dizziness, disorientation, fainting and fatigue. Symptoms of dysmenorrhea often begin immediately after ovulation and can last until the end of menstruation. This is because dysmenorrhea is often associated with changes in hormonal levels in the body that occur with ovulation. In particular, prostaglandins induce abdominal contractions that can cause pain and gastrointestinal symptoms. The use of certain types of birth control pills can prevent the symptoms of dysmenorrhea because they stop ovulation from occurring.
Dysmenorrhea is associated with increased pain sensitivity and heavy menstrual bleeding.
For many women, primary dysmenorrhea gradually subsides in late second generation. Pregnancy has also been demonstrated to lessen the severity of dysmenorrhea, when menstruation resumes. However, dysmenorrhea can continue until menopause. 5–15% of women with dysmenorrhea experience symptoms severe enough to interfere with daily activities.
Causes
There are two types of dysmenorrhea, primary and secondary, based on the absence or presence of an underlying cause. Primary dysmenorrhea occurs without an associated underlying condition, while secondary dysmenorrhea has a specific underlying cause, typically a condition that affects the uterus or other reproductive organs.
Painful menstrual cramps can result from an excess of prostaglandins released from the uterus. Prostaglandins cause the uterine muscles to tighten and relax causing the menstrual cramps. This type of dysmenorrhea is called primary dysmenorrhea. Primary dysmenorrhea usually begins in the teens soon after the first period.
Secondary dysmenorrhea is the type of dysmenorrhea caused by another condition such as endometriosis, uterine fibroids, uterine adenomyosis, and polycystic ovary syndrome. Rarely, birth defects, intrauterine devices, certain cancers, and pelvic infections cause secondary dysmenorrhea. If the pain occurs between menstrual periods, lasts longer than the first few days of the period, or is not adequately relieved by the use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) or hormonal contraceptives, this could indicate another condition causing secondary dysmenorrhea.
Membranous dysmenorrhea is a type of secondary dysmenorrhea in which the entire lining of the uterus is shed all at once rather than over the course of several days as is typical. Signs and symptoms include spotting, bleeding, abdominal pain, and menstrual cramps. The resulting uterine tissue is called a decidual cast and must be passed through the cervix and vagina. It typically takes the shape of the uterus itself. Membranous dysmenorrhea is extremely rare and there are very few reported cases. The underlying cause is unknown, though some evidence suggests it may be associated with ectopic pregnancy or the use of hormonal contraception.
When laparoscopy is used for diagnosis, the most common cause of dysmenorrhea is endometriosis, in approximately 70% of adolescents.
Other causes of secondary dysmenorrhea include leiomyoma, adenomyosis, ovarian cysts, pelvic congestion, and cavitated and accessory uterine mass.
Risk factors
Genetic factors, stress and depression are risk factors for dysmenorrhea. Risk factors for primary dysmenorrhea include: early age at menarche, long or heavy menstrual periods, smoking, and a family history of dysmenorrhea.
Dysmenorrhea is a highly polygenic and heritable condition. There is strong evidence of familial predisposition and genetic factors increasing susceptibility to dysmenorrhea. There have been multiple polymorphisms and genetic variants in both metabolic genes and genes responsible for immunity which have been associated with the disorder.
Three distinct possible phenotypes have been identified for dysmenorrhea which include "multiple severe symptoms", "mild localized pain", and "severe localized pain". While there are likely differences in genotypes underlying each phenotype, the specific correlating genotypes have not yet been identified. These phenotypes are prevalent at different levels in different population demographics, suggesting different allelic frequencies across populations (in terms of race, ethnicity, and nationality).
Polymorphisms in the ESR1 gene have been commonly associated with severe dysmenorrhea. Variant genotypes in the metabolic genes such as CYP2D6 and GSTM1 have been similarly been correlated with an increased risk of severe menstrual pain, but not with moderate or occasional phentoypes.
The occurrence and frequency of secondary dysmenorrhea (SD) has been associated with different alleles and genotypes of those with underlying pathologies, which can affect the pelvic region or other areas of the body. Individuals with disorders may have genetic mutations related to their diagnoses which produce dysmenorrhea as a symptom of their primary diagnosis. It has been found that those with fibromyalgia who have the ESR1 gene variation Xbal and possess the Xbal AA genotype are more susceptible to experiencing mild to severe menstrual pain resulting from their primary pathology. Commonly, genetic mutations which are a hallmark of or associated with specific disorders can produce dysmenorrhea as a symptom which accompanies the primary disorder.
In contrast with secondary dysmenorrhea, primary dysmenorrhea (PD) has no underlying pathology. Genetic mutation and variations have therefore been thought to underlie this disorder and contribute to the pathogenesis of PD. There are multiple single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) associated with PD. Two of the most well studied include an SNP in the promoter of MIF and an SNP in the tumor necrosis factor (TNF-α) gene. When a cytosine 173 base pairs upstream of macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) promoter was replaced by a guanine there was an associated increase in the likelihood of the individual experiencing PD. While a CC/GG genotype led to an increase in likelihood of the individual experiencing severe menstrual pain, a CC/GC genotype led to a more significant likelihood of the disorder impacting the individual overall and increasing the likelihood of any of the three phenotypes. A second associated SNP was located 308 base pairs upstream from the start codon of the TNF-α gene, in which guanine was substituted for adenine. A GG genotype at the loci is associated with the disorder and has been proposed as a possible genetic marker to predict PD.
There has also been an association with mutations in the MEFV gene and dysmenorrhea, which are considered to be causative. The phenotypes associated with these mutations in the MEFV genes have been better studied; individuals who are heterozygous for these mutations are more likely to be affected by PD which presents as a severe pain phenotype.
Genes related to immunity have been identified as playing a significant role in PD as well. IL1A was found to be the gene most associated with primary dysmenorrhea in terms of its phenotypic impact. This gene encodes a protein essential for the regulation of immunity and inflammation.15 While the mechanism of how it influences PD has yet to be discovered, it is assumed that possible mutations in IL1A or genes which interact with it impact the regulation of inflammation during menstruation. These mutations may therefore affect pain responses during menstruation which lead to the differing phenotypes associated with dysmenorrhea.
Two additionally well studied SNPs which are suspected to contribute to PD were found in ZM1Z1 (the mutant allele called rs76518691) and NGF (the mutant allele called rs7523831). Both ZMIZ1 and NGF are associated with autoimmune responses and diseases, as well as pain response. The implication of these genes impacting Dysmenorrhea is significant as it suggests mutations which affect the immune system (specifically the inflammatory response) and pain response may also be a cause of primary dysmenorrhea.
Mechanism
The underlying mechanism of primary dysmenorrhea is the contractions of the muscles of the uterus which induce a local ischemia.
During an individual's menstrual cycle, the endometrium thickens in preparation for potential pregnancy. After ovulation, if the ovum is not fertilized and there is no pregnancy, the built-up uterine tissue is not needed and thus shed.
Prostaglandins and leukotrienes are released during menstruation, due to the build up of omega-6 fatty acids. Release of prostaglandins and other inflammatory mediators in the uterus cause the uterus to contract and can result in systemic symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, bloating and headaches or migraines. Prostaglandins are thought to be a major factor in primary dysmenorrhea. When the uterine muscles contract, they constrict the blood supply to the tissue of the endometrium, which, in turn, breaks down and dies. These uterine contractions continue as they squeeze the old, dead endometrial tissue through the cervix and out of the body through the vagina. These contractions, and the resulting temporary oxygen deprivation to nearby tissues, are thought to be responsible for the pain or cramps experienced during menstruation.
Compared with non-dysmnenorrhic individuals, those with primary dysmenorrhea have increased activity of the uterine muscle with increased contractility and increased frequency of contractions.
Diagnosis
The diagnosis of dysmenorrhea is usually made simply on a medical history of menstrual pain that interferes with daily activities. However, there is no universally accepted standard technique for quantifying the severity of menstrual pains. There are various quantification models, called menstrual symptometrics, that can be used to estimate the severity of menstrual pains as well as correlate them with pain in other parts of the body, menstrual bleeding and degree of interference with daily activities.
Further work-up
Once a diagnosis of dysmenorrhea is made, further workup is required to search for any secondary underlying cause of it, in order to be able to treat it specifically and to avoid the aggravation of a perhaps serious underlying cause.
Further work-up includes a specific medical history of symptoms and menstrual cycles and a pelvic examination. Based on results from these, additional exams and tests may be motivated, such as:
Gynecologic ultrasonography
Laparoscopy
Management
Treatments that target the mechanism of pain include non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and hormonal contraceptives. NSAIDs inhibit prostaglandin production. With long-term treatment, hormonal birth control reduces the amount of uterine fluid/tissue expelled from the uterus. Thus resulting in shorter, less painful menstruation. These drugs are typically more effective than treatments that do not target the source of the pain (e.g. acetaminophen). Regular physical activity may limit the severity of uterine cramps.
NSAIDs
Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as ibuprofen and naproxen are effective in relieving the pain of primary dysmenorrhea.
They can have side effects of nausea, dyspepsia, peptic ulcer, and diarrhea.
Hormonal birth control
Use of hormonal birth control may improve symptoms of primary dysmenorrhea. A 2009 systematic review (updated in 2023) found evidence that the low or medium doses of estrogen contained in the birth control pill reduces pain associated with dysmenorrhea. In addition, no differences between different birth control pill preparations were found. The review did not determine if the estrogen in birth control pills was more effective than NSAIDs.
Norplant and Depo-provera are also effective, since these methods often induce amenorrhea. The intrauterine system (Mirena IUD) may be useful in reducing symptoms.
Other
A review indicated the effectiveness of transdermal nitroglycerin.
Reviews indicated magnesium supplementation seemed to be effective.
A review indicated the usefulness of using calcium channel blockers.
Heat is effective compared to NSAIDs and is a preferred option by many patients, as it is easy to access and has no known side effects.
Tamoxifen has been used effectively to reduce uterine contractility and pain in dysmenorrhea patients.
There is some evidence that exercises performed 3 times a week for about 45 to 60 minutes, without particular intensity, reduces menstrual pain.
Alternative medicine
There is insufficient evidence to recommend the use of many herbal or dietary supplements for treating dysmenorrhea, including melatonin, vitamin E, fennel, dill, chamomile, cinnamon, damask rose, rhubarb, guava, and uzara. Further research is recommended to follow up on weak evidence of benefit for: fenugreek, ginger, valerian, zataria, zinc sulphate, fish oil, and vitamin B1. A 2016 review found that evidence of safety is insufficient for most dietary supplements. There is some evidence for the use of fenugreek.
One review found thiamine and vitamin E to be likely effective. It found the effects of fish oil and vitamin B12 to be unknown. Reviews found tentative evidence that ginger powder may be effective for primary dysmenorrhea. Reviews have found promising evidence for Chinese herbal medicine for primary dysmenorrhea, but that the evidence was limited by its poor methodological quality.
A 2016 Cochrane review of acupuncture for dysmenorrhea concluded that it is unknown if acupuncture or acupressure is effective. There were also concerns of bias in study design and in publication, insufficient reporting (few looked at adverse effects), and that they were inconsistent. There are conflicting reports in the literature, including one review which found that acupressure, topical heat, and behavioral interventions are likely effective. It found the effect of acupuncture and magnets to be unknown.
A 2007 systematic review found some scientific evidence that behavioral interventions may be effective, but that the results should be viewed with caution due to poor quality of the data.
Spinal manipulation does not appear to be helpful. Although claims have been made for chiropractic care, under the theory that treating subluxations in the spine may decrease symptoms, a 2006 systematic review found that overall no evidence suggests that spinal manipulation is effective for treatment of primary and secondary dysmenorrhea.
Valerian, Humulus lupulus and Passiflora incarnata may be safe and effective in the treatment of dysmenorrhea.
TENS
A 2011 review stated that high-frequency transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation may reduce pain compared with sham TENS, but seems to be less effective than ibuprofen.
Surgery
One treatment of last resort is presacral neurectomy.
Epidemiology
Dysmenorrhea is one of the most common gynecological problems, regardless of age or race. It is one of the most frequently identified causes of pelvic pain in those who menstruate. Dysmenorrhea is estimated to affect between 50% and 90% of female adolescents and women of reproductive age. Another report states that estimates can vary between 16% and 91% of surveyed individuals, with severe pain observed in 2% to 29% of menstruating individuals. Reports of dysmenorrhea are greatest among individuals in their late teens and 20s, with reports usually declining with age. The prevalence in adolescent females has been reported to be 67.2% by one study and 90% by another. It has been stated that there is no significant difference in prevalence or incidence between races, although one study of Hispanic adolescent females indicated an elevated prevalence and impact in this group. Another study indicated that dysmenorrhea was present in 36.4% of participants, and was significantly associated with lower age and lower parity. Childbearing is said to relieve dysmenorrhea, but this does not always occur. One study indicated that in nulliparous individuals with primary dysmenorrhea, the severity of menstrual pain decreased significantly after age 40.
A survey in Norway showed that 14 percent of females between the ages of 20 to 35 experience symptoms so severe that they stay home from school or work. Among adolescent girls, dysmenorrhea is the leading cause of recurrent short-term school absence.
References
External links
Menstrual disorders
Wikipedia medicine articles ready to translate
|
411888
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Premarital%20sex
|
Premarital sex
|
Premarital sex is sexual activity which is practiced by people before they are married. Premarital sex is considered a sin by a number of religions and also considered a moral issue which is taboo in many cultures. Since the Sexual Revolution of the 1960s, it has become accepted by certain liberal movements, especially in Western countries. A 2014 Pew study on global morality found that premarital sex was considered particularly unacceptable in "Muslim Majority Countries", such as Malaysia, Jordan and Pakistan, each having over 90% disapproval, while people in Western European countries were the most accepting, with Spain, Germany, and France expressing less than 10% disapproval.
Definition
Until the 1950s, "premarital sex" referred to sexual relations between two people prior to marrying each other. During that period, it was the norm in Western societies for men and women to marry above the age of 21, and there were no considerations that one who had sex would not marry. The term was used instead of fornication, which had negative connotations, and was closely related to the concept and approval of virginity, which is sexual abstinence until marriage.
The meaning has since shifted to refer to any sexual relations a person has prior to marriage and removing the emphasis on the relationship of the people involved. The definition has a degree of ambiguity. It is not clear whether sex between individuals legally forbidden from marrying or the sexual relations of one uninterested in marrying would be considered premarital.
Alternative terms for premarital sex have been suggested, including non-marital sex (which overlaps with adultery), youthful sex, adolescent sex, and young-adult sex. These terms also suffer from a degree of ambiguity, as the definition of having sex differs from person to person.
Prevalence
In modern Western cultures, social value of sexual abstinence before marriage has declined. Historically, a significant portion of people had engaged in premarital sex, although the number willing to admit to this was not always high. In a study conducted in the United States, 61 percent of men and 12 percent of women born prior to 1910 admitted to having premarital sex; this gender disparity may have been caused by cultural double standards regarding the admission of sexual activity, or by men frequenting prostitutes.
Starting in the 1920s, and especially after World War II, premarital sex became more common, particularly among women. By the end of the 20th century, between 75 and 80 percent of Americans had experienced vaginal intercourse before the age of 22. This has been attributed to numerous causes, including the increasing median age at marriage and the widespread availability of efficient contraceptives.
According to a 2001 UNICEF survey, in 10 out of 12 developed nations with available data, more than two-thirds of young people have had sexual intercourse while still in their teens. In Denmark, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Norway, the United Kingdom and the United States, the proportion is over 80%. In Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States, approximately 25% of 15-year-olds and 50% of 17-year-olds have sex. In a 2005 Kaiser Family Foundation study of US teenagers, 29% of teens reported feeling pressure to have sex, 33% of sexually active teens reported "being in a relationship where they felt things were moving too fast sexually", and 24% had "done something sexual they didn't really want to do". Several polls have indicated peer pressure as a factor in encouraging both girls and boys to have sex.<ref name=psychologytoday>Allen, Colin. (May 22, 2003). "Peer Pressure and Teen Sex." Psychology Today.'.' Retrieved July 14, 2006.</ref>
A majority of Americans have had premarital sex, according to a 2007 article in Public Health Reports. This is true for current young adults and also young adults in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Data from the National Survey of Family Growth indicate that in 2002, 77% of Americans had sex by age 20, and of that percent, 75% had premarital sex. In comparison, of women who turned 15 between 1964 and 1993, approximately 91% had premarital sex by age 30. Of women who turned 15 between 1954 and 1963, 82% of them had had premarital sex by age 30. Additionally, when comparing the General Social Survey of 1988–1996 to the one of 2004–2012, researchers found that participants of 2004–2012 did not report more sexual partners since the age of 18, nor more frequent sex or sex partners during the past year than those respondents of the 1988-1996 survey. Furthermore, there appears to be no substantial change in sexual behavior contrasting the earlier era to the current one. However, current-era respondents were more likely to report having sex with a casual date or friend than reporting having sex with a spouse or regular partner. From 1943 to 1999, attitudes toward premarital sex changed such that young women's approval increased from 12% to 73% and from 40% to 79% among young men. People's feelings of sexual guilt also decreased during this period. As of 2005, less than 25% of people believe premarital sex is “always or almost always” wrong.
Gender differences
Within the United States, a cohort study of young adults in university found that men self-report more permissive attitudes about casual sex than women. Another study found university students can be grouped by their ideal relationships—those who express a desire for sex exclusively in a committed partnership have fewer hookups and "friends with benefits" partners than those categorised as desiring "flexible" relationships and recreational sex.
A 2006 study that analysed the Toledo Adolescent Relationships Study found that more boys report having non-dating sexual partners than girls. Of this sample, a third of boys only have had sex with their romantic partner, another third of boys who have had sex with a partner they are not dating within the past year are believed to wish for the girl to be their girlfriend. Many young adults are more likely to engage in sex with romantic partners than with casual acquaintances or "friends with benefits."
A 2011 study that surveyed young adults about their emotional reactions after sexual encounters found that men reported more positive and fewer negative emotional reactions, and both men and women reported that the experience was largely more positive than negative. Women reported that condom use was associated with fewer positive and more negative emotional reactions, and for men condom use was associated with fewer negative emotional reactions. A 23-year study in a Human Sexuality class investigated gender differences in men and women's reactions to their first sexual experience. In the earlier years of the study, men reported more pleasure and greater anxiety than women, while women reported more feelings of guilt than men. Cohort studies carried out over 23 years found that in later years, women expressed greater pleasure and less guilt. The differences between emotional reactions among men and women decreased slightly during the 23 years. Such decreases in differences to first sexual intercourse may be a result of the increasing normality of premarital sex in America. An international online sex survey compared responses of residents of 37 countries against World Economic Forum figures for gender equality in those countries, finding that countries with high gender equality had respondents report more casual sex, a greater number of sex partners, younger ages for first sex, and greater tolerance of premarital sex.
In some countries, gender differences with premarital sex can be linked to virginity. In India, a woman may undergo a "virginity test" on her wedding night where she can be banished by her husband or subject to an honor killing if found she is no longer a virgin. Men are not subjected to this same test and could get away with having premarital sex. In Iran, if a husband finds out his wife had premarital sex, it can be used as grounds for divorce. Therefore, hymen reconstruction surgery is not uncommon for women who wish to prove their virginity.
Ethnicity differences
Different ethnic and cultural groups in America have varied religiosity and sexual attitudes. A study with college participants found that Asians had more conservative sexual attitudes compared to Hispanics and Euro-Americans. Hispanics reported sexual attitudes similar to that of Euro-Americans. Asian, Hispanic, and Euro-American women with high levels of spirituality were found to have a correlation between conservative sexual attitudes and perceived religiosity. Religiosity and religious fundamentalism predicted conservative sexual attitudes most strongly in Euro-Americans and Asians.
In the Indian city of Mumbai, research showed that among college-age students, 3% of females affirmed having premarital sex and 26% of males affirmed having premarital sex. Population Council, an international NGO, released a working report in 2006 showing similar statistics nationally in India, with fewer than ten percent of young females reporting having had premarital sex, compared with 15% to 30% of young males. In Pakistan, 11% of men were reported as having participated in pre-marital sex, although a greater percentage, 29% reported having participated in non-marital sex.
Safe sex practices
People who have premarital sex are recommended by health professionals to take precautions to protect themselves against sexually transmitted infections (STIs) such as HIV/AIDS. There is also a risk of an unplanned pregnancy in heterosexual relationships. Around the world, sex education programs are run to teach school students about reproductive health, safer sex practices, sexual abstinence, and birth control.
Sexual activity among unmarried people who do not have access to information about reproductive health and birth control can increase the rate of teenage pregnancies and contraction of sexually transmitted infections. The rates of teenage pregnancy vary and range from 143 per 1000 girls in some sub-Saharan African countries to 2.9 per 1000 in South Korea. The rate for the United States is 52.1 per 1000, the highest in the developed world – and about four times the European Union average. The teenage pregnancy rates between countries must take into account the level of general sex education available and access to contraceptive options.
Religion
Views on premarital sex are often shaped by religious teachings and beliefs, in part because ancient religious texts forbid it. People who actively practice religion are less likely to engage in premarital sex or at least go longer before having sex for the first time. Muslims and Hindus are less likely to report having premarital sex than Christians, Jews, and Buddhists. Islam has the greatest effect of attitudes on premarital sex. People in predominantly Muslim societies have the lowest report of engaging in premarital sex. A study published in 2013 found that over 60% of Muslims reported to have had sex before marriage, compare to 65% of Hindus, 71% of Christians (primarily in Europe and North America), 84% of Jewish and over 85% of Buddhists who reported to have had sex before marriage. Christianity, Judaism, and Islam have strict rules about specific behaviors and sex outside of marriage, in contrast, "Buddhism does not have similarly strict rules about specific behaviors". Students who attend a faith-based (predominantly Christian) university view premarital sexual activity more negatively than students who do not.
Cultural views
The cultural acceptability of premarital sex varies between individuals, cultures and time periods. Western cultures have traditionally been disapproving of it, on occasions forbidding it. In other cultures, such as the Muria people of Madhya Pradesh, sexuality prior to marriage is accepted and at times expected.
Individual views within a given society can vary greatly, with expectations ranging from total abstinence to frequent casual sex. These views are dependent on the holders' value system, as formed by their parents, religion, friends, experiences, and in many cases the media. Unmarried cohabitation and births outside marriage have increased in many Western countries during the past few decades. Economist Jeremy Greenwood (2019, Chp. 4) discusses how technological progress in contraception led to a rise in premarital sex and less stigmatization by parents, churches, and governments. He argues that singles weigh the cost (a potential pregnancy) and benefit of premarital sex. As contraception improved the cost of premarital sexual activity fell. Parents and social institutions also weigh the cost and benefit of socialization. Technological improvement in contraception reduced the benefit of socialization because premarital sexual activity was no longer as risky in terms of unwanted pregnancies, which placed a strain on parents and social institutions. As a result, there was social change.
United Kingdom
Sex before the public marriage ceremony was normal in the Anglican Church until the Hardwicke Marriage Act of 1753, which for the first time required all marriages in England and Wales occur in their parish church. (The law also applied to Catholics, but Jews and Quakers were exempt.) Before its enactment couples lived and slept together after their betrothal or "the spousals", which was considered a legal marriage. Until the mid-1700s it was normal and acceptable for the bride to be pregnant at the nuptials, the later public ceremony for the marriage. The Marriage Act combined the spousals and nuptials, and by the start of the 19th century social convention prescribed that brides be virgins at marriage. Illegitimacy became more socially discouraged, with first pregnancies outside marriage declining from 40% to 20% during the Victorian era. At the start of the 21st century, the figure was back up to 40%.
In the United Kingdom, births outside marriage were up to 47.6% by 2012. In 2014, only 13% of the population found premarital sex unacceptable.
United States
During the colonial period, premarital sex was publicly frowned upon but privately condoned to an extent. Unmarried teenagers were often allowed to spend the night in bed together, though some measures such as bundling were sometimes attempted to prevent sexual intercourse. Even though premarital sex was somewhat condoned, having a child outside wedlock was not. If a pregnancy resulted from premarital sex, the young couple were expected to marry. Marriage and birth records from the late 1700s reveal that between 30 and 40 percent of New England brides were pregnant before marriage.
The growing popularity of the automobile, and corresponding changes in dating practices, caused premarital sex to become more prevalent. Alfred Kinsey found that American women who became sexually mature during the 1920s were much less likely to be virgins at marriage than those who became mature before World War I. A majority of women during the 1920s under the age of 30 were nonetheless virgins at marriage, however, and half of those who were not only had sex with their fiancés. A 1938 survey of American college students found that 52% of men and 24% of women had had sex. 37% of women were virgins but believed sex outside marriage was acceptable. Prior to the middle of the 20th century, sexuality was generally constrained. Sexual interactions between people without plans to marry was considered unacceptable, with betrothal slightly lessening the stigma. However, premarital sex was still frowned upon.
Beginning in the 1950s, as premarital sex became more common, the stigma attached to it lessened for many people. In 1969, 70% of Americans disapproved of premarital sex, but by 1973 this number had dropped to 50%. By 2000, roughly a third of couples in the United States had lived together prior to marriage. During the second half of the twentieth century, premarital sex has remained steady for men, but 60% more women lost their virginity prior to marriage during this same period. This has altered the traditional nuclear family, with half of all children living with a single parent at some point in their life.
During this period of sexual liberation, sexual media and pornography became more prevalent and normalized premarital sex. People who watched pornography viewed both adult and teenage premarital sex as societally acceptable.
However, premarital sex was considered unacceptable by 30% of the population in a 2014 study, while 29% found it acceptable, and 36% considered it not a moral issue.
Studies
According to a 2004 peer-reviewed study published in the Journal of Marriage and Family'' found that women who have more than one premarital sexual relationship have a higher likelihood in the long run of disruptions if ever married, with this effect being the "strongest for women who have multiple premarital coresidential unions". Kahn and London (1991) found that premarital sex and divorce are positively correlated.
Law
In December 2022 Indonesia's parliament passed a bill that partially criminalizes sex outside marriage and cohabitation. Government officials have stated that the new criminal code respects privacy and human rights, due to the law being codified and complaint based, which can only be filed by a spouse or parents or children. With the code, government expected that local law enforcement will not invade privacy due to being codified and there will be no more local regulation sweeping power to their local law enforcement. "When these articles are regulated in the criminal code, there would definitely be no raids," deputy minister of the Ministry of Law and Human Rights said. He explained that so far, there have been regulations in several regions based on which, officers of the Public Order Agency (Satpol PP) have carried out raids at hotels and inns.
After the articles are regulated in the criminal code and an explanation is provided, those regulations that are beneath the law will all be revoked, he said. Indonesia is predominantly Muslim.
See also
Adultery
Casual sex
Cheating
Fornication
Free love
Illegitimacy
One night stand
Religion and sexuality
Shotgun wedding
Single parent
Trial marriage
References
Citations
Bibliography
Human sexuality
Sexuality and religion
|
411889
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby%20Rush
|
Bobby Rush
|
Bobby Lee Rush (born November 23, 1946) is an American politician, activist and pastor who served as the U.S. representative for for three decades. A civil rights activist during the 1960s, Rush co-founded the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party.
Rush was first elected to Congress in 1992. He has since won consecutive reelections. His district was originally principally on the South Side of Chicago, with a population from 2003 to early 2013 that was 65% African-American, a higher proportion than any other congressional district. In 2011 the Illinois General Assembly redistricted this area after the 2010 census. Although still minority-majority, since early 2013 it is 51.3% African American, 36.1% White, 9.8% Hispanic, and 2% Asian. A member of the Democratic Party, Rush is the only politician to have defeated Barack Obama in an election, which he did in the 2000 Democratic primary for Illinois's 1st congressional district.
On January 3, 2022, Rush announced that he was retiring from Congress.
Early life, education, and activism
Rush was born on November 23, 1946, in Albany, Georgia. After his parents separated when Rush was 7 years old, his mother took him and his siblings to Chicago, Illinois, joining the Great Migration of African Americans out of the South in the first part of the 20th century. In 1963, Rush dropped out of high school before graduating and joined the U.S. Army. While stationed in Chicago in 1966, he joined the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, which had helped obtain national civil rights legislation passed in 1964 and 1965. In 1968, he went AWOL from the Army and co-founded the Illinois chapter of the Black Panthers. He later finished his Army service, receiving an honorable discharge.
Throughout the 1960s, Rush was involved in the civil rights movement and worked in civil disobedience campaigns in the southern United States. After co-founding the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party in 1968, he served as its defense minister. After the Chicago Police Department and the State's Attorney Office assassinated Black Panther Fred Hampton in a police raid, Rush said, "We needed to arm ourselves", and called the police "pigs". Earlier that year, Rush had discussed the philosophy of his membership in the Black Panthers, saying, "Black people have been on the defensive for all these years. The trend now is not to wait to be attacked. We advocate offensive violence against the power structure." After Hampton's death, Rush became acting chairman of the Illinois Black Panther Party. He worked on several nonviolent projects that built support for the Black Panthers in African-American communities, such as coordinating a medical clinic which offered sickle-cell anemia testing on an unprecedented scale. Rush was imprisoned for six months in 1972 on a weapons charge after carrying a pistol into a police station. In 1974, he left the Black Panthers, who were already in decline. "We started glorifying thuggery and drugs", he told People. A deeply religious born-again Christian, Rush said, "I don't repudiate any of my involvement in the Panther party—it was part of my maturing."
Formal education
Rush earned his Bachelor of General Studies with honors from Roosevelt University in 1973, and a Master's degree in political science from University of Illinois at Chicago in 1974. He completed a degree in theological studies at McCormick Theological Seminary in 1998. On May 13, 2017, Rush received a Doctorate of Humanities, honoris causa, from the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) for his outstanding contributions to Chicago.
Politics
Chicago politics
In 1975, Rush ran for a seat on the Chicago City Council, the first of several black militants to seek political office, and lost to incumbent alderman William Barnett, receiving 23% of the vote to Barnett's 55% and Larry S. Bullock's 21%. Rush's allies in the black-power movement abandoned the Democrats in the wake of the political turmoil that followed the sudden death in 1987 of Chicago's first black mayor, Harold Washington, and formed their own political party, naming it after Washington. Rush infuriated Harold Washington Party leaders by spurning their candidates for local offices and sometimes backing white Democrats instead. He worked with the Democrats and was rewarded with the deputy chairmanship of the state party.
Congressional elections
After redistricting in 1992, Rush ran in Illinois's newly redrawn 1st congressional district, which included much of Chicago's South Side. The district had a high proportion of African-American residents; it has been represented by Black congressmen since 1929. Rush defeated incumbent U.S. Representative Charles Hayes and six other candidates in the Democratic primary election. He won the general election with 83% of the vote. (The 1st is so heavily Democratic that Rush had all but assured himself of a seat in Congress with his primary win.) The district has been in Democratic hands since 1935.
In the 2000 Democratic primary for the district, Rush was challenged by Illinois State Senator Barack Obama. During the primary, Rush said, "Barack Obama went to Harvard and became an educated fool. Barack is a person who read about the civil rights protests and thinks he knows all about it."
Rush claimed Obama was insufficiently rooted in Chicago's black neighborhoods to represent constituents' concerns. Obama said Rush was a part of "a politics that is rooted in the past" and said he could build bridges with whites to get things done. But while Obama did well in his own Hyde Park base, he did not get enough support from the surrounding black neighborhoods. Starting with 10% name recognition, Obama eventually gained 30% of the vote, losing by more than 2 to 1 despite winning among white voters. Rush won 61% of the vote, and won the general election with 88% of the vote.
Subsequent Chicago politics
In 1999, Rush ran for mayor of Chicago, but lost to incumbent Richard M. Daley, an ethnic Irish American whose father had long controlled the city as mayor. He remained active in city and regional politics.
In 2013, Rush criticized U.S. Senator Mark Kirk's proposal that 18,000 members of the Chicago gang "Gangster Disciples" be arrested, calling Kirk's suggestion "headline grabbing" and an "upper-middle-class, elitist white boy solution to a problem he knows nothing about". A spokesman for Kirk said Kirk had dealt with the issues for decades.
Also in 2013, Alex Clifford was forced to resign as CEO of Metra commuter rail agency, but soon after he left, a memo was released indirectly accusing Rush of using his political power to steer a $50,000 contract to a Washington-based business group.
Endorsements
In the 2015 Chicago mayoral election, Rush endorsed Mayor Rahm Emanuel in Emanuel's runoff reelection campaign against Jesus "Chuy" Garcia.
In the 2019 Chicago mayoral election, Rush endorsed Bill Daley in the first round and Toni Preckwinkle in the runoff.
Though a very close friend of former President Bill Clinton and his wife, Hillary Clinton, Rush announced early on in the 2008 Democratic primaries that he would support Obama. After Obama won the presidency and vacated his Senate seat, Rush said that an African American should be appointed to the seat: "With the resignation of President-elect Obama, we now have no African-Americans in the United States Senate, and we believe it will be a national disgrace to not have this seat filled by one of the many capable African-American Illinois politicians." Rush said he did not support any particular person and was not interested in the seat. On December 30, 2008, Governor Rod Blagojevich announced his appointment of Roland Burris, the former Attorney General of Illinois; Rush was present at the press conference and spoke in support of Burris.
Rush endorsed Kamala Harris in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary. After she dropped out, he endorsed Michael Bloomberg and became his campaign's national co-chair.
Rush endorsed incumbent Lori Lightfoot in the 2023 Chicago mayoral election. After Lightfoot failed to advance to the runoff, Rush endorsed Paul Vallas, a former Republican backed by Chicago's Fraternal Order of Police. Vallas lost to progressive Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson.
U.S. House of Representatives
Rush had been considered a loyal Democrat during his tenure; in the 110th Congress, he voted with his party 97.8% of the time. Rush was a member of the Congressional Black Caucus and the House Baltic Caucus.
Issues
Fiscal and Income
Rush initiated the Chicago Partnership for the Earned Income Tax Credit, an ongoing program designed to help low-income working Chicago residents receive the Earned Income Tax Credit, a federal income tax credit.
Healthcare
Rush sponsored the Nursing Relief for Disadvantaged Areas Act passed in 1999. The law temporarily addressed the nursing shortage by providing non-immigrant visas for qualified foreign nurses in Chicago's Englewood neighborhood and was reauthorized in 2005. Rush sponsored the Melanie Blocker-Stokes Postpartum Depression Research and Care Act, named for a Chicago native who jumped to her death from a 12th-story window due to postpartum depression. The bill would provide for research on postpartum depression and psychosis and services for people suffering from these disorders. The Children's Health Act, passed in 2000, incorporated Rush's Urban Asthma Reduction Act of 1999, amending the Preventive Health and Health Services Block Grant program and including an integrated approach to asthma management.
Energy
Rush was very outspoken against the GOP's No More Solyndras Bill, which would override a loan guarantee by the Energy Department to encourage research and development. The Energy Department provided a federal loan guarantee to the solar manufacturing company Solyndra to help with R&D. He said the No More Solyndras Bill would be better named the No More Innovation Bill.
Firearms
Rush introduced Blair Holt's Firearm Licensing and Record of Sale Act of 2009 on January 6, 2009. The bill would require all owners of handguns and semiautomatic firearms to register for a federal firearms license. All sales of the subject firearms would have to go through a licensed dealer. It would also make it illegal not to register as an owner of a firearm.
Darfur genocide
On July 15, 2004, Rush became the second sitting member of Congress, after Charles Rangel and before Joe Hoeffel, to be arrested for trespassing while protesting the genocide in Darfur and other violations of human rights in Sudan in front of the Sudanese Embassy.
Armed forces
On February 13, 2007, Rush opposed President George W. Bush's proposed 20,000-serviceman troop surge in Iraq. He said the troops' presence in Iraq was the greatest catalyst of violence there and advocated a political resolution of the situation. Rush said the troop surge would serve only to make the Iraqi situation more volatile.
Trayvon Martin
On March 28, 2012, Rush addressed the House while wearing a hoodie in honor of Trayvon Martin, a teenager who was shot in Florida by a local resident. He spoke against racial profiling. As the House forbids its members from wearing headgear as a breach of decorum, Rush was called out of order and escorted from the chamber.
Lynching
Rush twice introduced the Emmett Till Antilynching Act (named for Chicago teenager Emmett Till) to make lynching a federal crime. Federal anti-lynching legislation in Congress had been held up for about 100 years, but the Emmett Till Act finally became law in 2022.
Committee assignments
In the 115th United States Congress (January 3, 2017, to January 3, 2019):
Committee on Energy and Commerce
Subcommittee on Communications and Technology
Subcommittee on Energy (Chair)
Caucus memberships
Afterschool Caucuses
Missed votes
Rush's career average missed vote percentage is 15.7, much higher than the median missed vote percentage of 2.2 for members of the House. In the first session of the 114th session of Congress (January to December 2015), Rush missed 15.6% of the votes and ranked 12th in missed votes. He had the distinction of missing more votes than any other member of the House between 2007 and 2015: of 6,906 votes, Rush missed 1,549 (22.4%). Health issues for Rush and his wife were his main explanations for his high number of missed votes.
Ethics concerns and conflicts of interest
The Office of Congressional Ethics referred a matter involving Rush to the House Ethics Committee in 2014. The Office of Congressional Ethics report found he did not pay about $365,000 in rent for longtime use of an office to conduct politics. Rush has paid family members for years in questionable practices. He had a family member who for years worked for his church but was paid by a campaign supporter and friend. The Federal Election Commission questioned a Rush campaign-finance report that showed thousands of dollars spent on vague categories such as "campaign visibility" and "services rendered." His campaign paid his wife, Carolyn, $50,000 in 2015 for consulting, and his brother, Marlon Rush of Lansing, $13,000 in 2016 for two months' work as campaign manager, according to FEC reports. Oxford Media Group Inc., an Oak Brook company owned by multimillionaire businessman Joseph Stroud, paid the Commonwealth Edison bill—which was well past due, totaling $17,900 for Rush's Beloved Community Christian Church in 2010. Rush had personally been named in a ComEd lawsuit over the church's previous unpaid bills. Stroud was trying to break into the wireless phone industry dominated by Verizon and AT&T, and Rush was pushing for federal tax incentives that would give one of Stroud's other companies a leg up as a minority-owned business. A nonprofit Rush started got $1 million from the charitable arm of what is now AT&T for what turned out to be a failed effort to create a "technology center" in Englewood. At the time, the telecom giant was seeking support for legislation in a House committee of which Rush was a key member.
From 2001 to 2013, businesses counting on favorable actions by Rush in Congress donated roughly $1.7 million to his pet charities. Rush attracted more charitable corporate giving than any other Illinois congressman by a large margin, according to a Sunlight Foundation study of expenditures from 2009 to 2011. While it is impossible to assign cause and effect, at critical junctures Rush parted with fellow liberal Democrats in Congress to take pro-industry positions aligned with corporate benefactors SBC/AT&T, Comcast and ComEd.
Electoral history
Beloved Community Christian Church
Rush is pastor of the Beloved Community Christian Church in Chicago's Englewood neighborhood. Leaders of other Englewood nonprofit organizations complained that the church's programs—a community development corporation Rebirth of Englewood, a public health center, and a group serving teens convicted of crimes—received inordinate government aid and weighed heavily on their own efforts for renewal.
Unpaid taxes and wage garnishment
In 2013, Rush and his wife, the Beloved Community Christian Church of which Rush is pastor, and another nonprofit organization operating out of the church had tax delinquencies totaling $195,000, and the pattern of tax delinquency was a decade old. Unpaid taxes included property taxes, income taxes, and employee withholding taxes. New City Bank sued Rush and his wife for $500,000, claiming they failed to pay their property taxes in 2009. In 1994, Rush owed the IRS $55,000 in federal income taxes, according to Cook County records.
Since 2018, 15% of Rush's congressional salary has been garnished to repay more than $1 million he owes on a delinquent loan for the now-closed church he founded in Chicago. Cook County Circuit Judge Alexander White ordered Rush to repay the $550,000 loan that New City Bank granted him and seven other co-signers in 2005. With the money, Rush bought the former Our Redeemer Lutheran Church in Englewood and restyled it as the Beloved Community Church of God in Christ.
Personal life
Rush has been married three times. His first marriage, when he was 19, was to Sandra Milan. They had two children together and divorced in 1973. He was married to community organizer, precinct captain, and political strategist Carolyn Thomas from 1980 or 1981 until her death from congestive heart failure on March 13, 2017. Their blended family had seven surviving children at the time of her death. On June 30, 2018, Rush married minister and author Paulette Holloway.
Rush's son Huey Rich was murdered on the South Side of Chicago at age 29, in October 1999. He was named after Black Panther co-founder Huey P. Newton. Rich's mother was Saundra Rich, whom Rush never married. On October 18, 1999, Rich was approached outside his apartment building by Leo Foster and Darcell Prince, who falsely claimed to be police officers. They wore bulletproof vests, and carried walkie-talkies, guns, and badges, but Rich didn't believe them and ran. Foster and Prince chased and shot Rich, then stole several hundred dollars and keys from his pockets. He died in the hospital four days later from extensive blood loss. Foster told police that he and Prince were coming to collect $110,000 worth of cocaine that Rich had been paid to procure but hadn't delivered. Rich's friends didn't believe Foster's story, with some suggesting it may have been a case of mistaken identity. Rush said Rich "was involved in positive—as far as I know—endeavors", adding "as parents, we don't always know". Foster was sentenced to 60 years in prison for the murder and Prince to 50 years. The murder prompted Rush to prioritize efforts to reduce gun violence.
In 2008, Rush had a rare type of malignant tumor removed from his salivary gland. He is a member of Iota Phi Theta fraternity. According to a DNA analysis conducted under the auspices of the TV program Know Your Heritage, he is descended mainly from the Ashanti people of Ghana. Rush attributed his election to Congress to Tony Robbins. His heroes include Abraham Lincoln, Kit Carson, and Huey P. Newton.
In 2018, Rush's son Flynn Rush unsuccessfully ran for a seat in the Illinois House of Representatives, losing in the Democratic primary to Curtis Tarver.
See also
List of African-American United States representatives
References
External links
|-
1946 births
20th-century American politicians
21st-century American politicians
African-American members of the United States House of Representatives
African-American people in Illinois politics
African-American United States Army personnel
American community activists
American people of Ghanaian descent
Baptists from Illinois
Chicago City Council members
Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Illinois
Living people
McCormick Theological Seminary alumni
Members of the Black Panther Party
Members of the Church of God in Christ
People from Albany, Georgia
Roosevelt University alumni
United States Army soldiers
University of Illinois Chicago alumni
|
411893
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United%20States%20Naval%20Research%20Laboratory
|
United States Naval Research Laboratory
|
The United States Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) is the corporate research laboratory for the United States Navy and the United States Marine Corps. It was founded in 1923 and conducts basic scientific research, applied research, technological development and prototyping. The laboratory's specialties include plasma physics, space physics, materials science, and tactical electronic warfare. NRL is one of the first US government scientific R&D laboratories, having opened in 1923 at the instigation of Thomas Edison, and is currently under the Office of Naval Research.
As of 2016, NRL was a Navy Working Capital Fund activity, which means it is not a line-item in the US Federal Budget. Instead of direct funding from Congress, all costs, including overhead, were recovered through sponsor-funded research projects. NRL's research expenditures were approximately $1 billion per year.
Research
The Naval Research Laboratory conducts a wide variety of basic research and applied research relevant to the US Navy. NRL scientists and engineers author over 1200 openly published research papers in a wide range of conferences, symposia, and journals each year.
It has a history of scientific breakthroughs and technological achievements dating back to its foundation in 1923. In some instances the laboratory's contributions to military technology have been declassified decades after those technologies have become widely adopted.
In 2011, NRL researchers published 1,398 unclassified scientific and technical articles, book chapters and conference proceedings. In 2008, the NRL was ranked No. 3 among all U.S. institutions holding nanotechnology-related patents, behind IBM and the University of California.
Current areas of research at NRL include, for example:
Advanced radio, optical and infrared sensors
Autonomous systems
Computer science, cognitive science, and artificial intelligence
Communications Technology (e.g., radio, networking, optical transmission)
Directed energy technology
Electronic electro-optical device technology
Electronic warfare
Enhanced maintainability, reliability and survivability technology
Environmental effects on naval systems
Human-robot interaction
Imaging research and systems
Information Security
Marine geosciences
Materials
Meteorology
Ocean acoustics
Oceanography
Plasma physics
Space systems and technology
Surveillance and sensor technology
Undersea technology
In 2014, the NRL was researching: armor for munitions in transport, high-powered lasers, remote explosives detection, spintronics, the dynamics of explosive gas mixtures, electromagnetic railgun technology, detection of hidden nuclear materials, graphene devices, high-power extremely high frequency (35–220 GHz) amplifiers, acoustic lensing, information-rich orbital coastline mapping, arctic weather forecasting, global aerosol analysis & prediction, high-density plasmas, millisecond pulsars, broadband laser data links, virtual mission operation centers, battery technology, photonic crystals, carbon nanotube electronics, electronic sensors, mechanical nano-resonators, solid-state chemical sensors, organic opto-electronics, neural-electronic interfaces and self-assembling nanostructures.
The laboratory includes a range of R&D facilities. 2014 additions included the NRL Nanoscience Institute's Class 100 nanofabrication cleanroom; quiet and ultra-quiet measurement labs; and the Laboratory for Autonomous Systems Research (LASR).
Notable accomplishments
Space sciences
The Naval Research Laboratory has a long history of spacecraft development. This includes the second, fifth and seventh American satellites in Earth orbit, the first solar-powered satellite, the first surveillance satellite, the first meteorological satellite and the first GPS satellite. Project Vanguard, the first American satellite program, tasked NRL with the design, construction and launch of an artificial satellite, which was accomplished in 1958. , Vanguard I and its upper launch stage are still in orbit, making them the longest-lived man-made satellites. Vanguard II was the first satellite to observe the Earth's cloud cover and therefore the first meteorological satellite. NRL's Galactic Radiation and Background I (GRAB I) was the first U.S. intelligence satellite, mapping out Soviet radar networks from space. The Global Positioning System (GPS) was invented at NRL and tested by NRL's Timation series of satellites. The first operational GPS satellite, Timation IV (NTS-II) was designed and constructed at NRL.
NRL pioneered the study of the sun Ultraviolet and X-Ray spectrum and continues to contribute to the field with satellites like Coriolis launched in 2003. NRL is also responsible for the Tactical Satellite Program with spacecraft launched in 2006, 2009 and 2011.
The NRL designed the first satellite tracking system, Minitrack, which became the prototype for future satellite tracking networks. Prior to the success of surveillance satellites, the iconic parabolic antenna atop NRL's main headquarters in Washington, D.C. was part of Communication Moon Relay, a project that utilized signals bounced off the Moon both for long-distance communications research and surveillance of internal Soviet transmissions during the Cold War.
NRL's spacecraft development program continues today with the TacSat-4 experimental tactical reconnaissance and communication satellite. In addition to spacecraft design, NRL designs and operates spaceborne research instruments and experiments, such as the Strontium Iodide Radiation Instrumentation (SIRI) and RAM Angle and Magnetic field sensor (RAMS) aboard STPSat-5, the Wide-field Imager for Solar PRobe (WISPR) aboard the Parker Solar Probe, and the Large Angle and Spectrometric Coronagraph Experiment (LASCO) aboard the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO). NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope (FGST) [formerly called Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST)] was tested at NRL spacecraft testing facilities. NRL scientists have most recently contributed leading research to the study of novas and gamma ray bursts.
Meteorology
The Marine Meteorology Division (Naval Research Lab–Monterey, NRL–MRY), located in Monterey, California, contributes to weather forecasting in the United States and around the world by publishing imagery from 18 weather satellites. Satellite images of severe weather (e.g. hurricanes and cyclones) that are used for advanced warning often originate from NRL–MRY, as seen in 2017 during hurricane Harvey. NRL is also involved in weather forecasting models such as the Hurricane Weather Research and Forecasting model released in 2007.
Materials science
NRL has a long history of contributions to materials science, dating back to the use of Industrial radiography with gamma rays for the nondestructive inspection of metal casings and welds on Navy vessels beginning in the 1920s. Modern mechanical fracture mechanics were pioneered at NRL and were subsequently applied to solve fracture problems in Navy vessels, commercial aircraft and Polaris missiles. That knowledge is in widespread use today in applications ranging from design of nuclear reactors to aircraft, submarines and toxic material storage tanks.
NRL developed the synthesis of high-purity GaAs crystals used in a myriad of modern high frequency transceivers including cellular phones, satellite communication systems, commercial and military radar systems including those aboard all US combat aircraft and ARM, Phoenix, AIM-9L and AMRAAM missiles. NRL's GaAs inventions were licensed by Rockwell, Westinghouse, Texas Instruments and Hughes Research. High-purity GaAs is also used for high-efficiency solar cells like those aboard NASA's Spirit and Opportunity rovers currently on Mars.
Fundamental aspects of stealth technology were developed at NRL, including the radar absorption mechanisms in ferrite-containing materials. Metal bearing surface treatments using Cr ion implantation researched at NRL nearly tripled the service life of Navy turbine engine parts and was adopted for Army helicopter parts as well. Fluorinated polyurethane coatings developed at NRL are used to line fuel storage tanks throughout the US Navy, reducing leakage and environmental and fuel contamination. The same polymer films are used in Los Angeles-class submarine radomes to repel water and enable radar operation soon after surfacing.
Scientists at NRL frequently contribute theoretical and experimental research on novel materials, particularly magnetic materials and nanomaterials and thermoplastic.
Radar
The first modern U.S. radar was invented and developed at NRL in Washington, DC in 1922. By 1939, NRL installed the first operational radar aboard the USS New York, in time for radar to contribute to naval victories of the Coral Sea, Midway and Guadalcanal. NRL then further developed over-the-horizon radar as well as radar data displays. NRL's Radar Division continues important research & development contributing to US Navy and US Department of Defense capabilities.
Tactical electronic warfare
NRL's Tactical Electronic Warfare (TEW) Division is responsible for research and development in support of the Navy's tactical electronic warfare requirements and missions. These include electronic warfare support measures, electronic countermeasures, and supporting counter-countermeasures, as well as studies, analyses, and simulations for determining and improving the performance of Electronic Warfare systems. NRL TEW includes aerial, surface, and ground EW within its scope. NRL is responsible for the identification, friend or foe (IFF) system and a number of other advances.
Information security
The Information Technology Division features an information security R&D group, which is where the IETF's IP Security (IPsec) protocols were originally developed. The Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP) protocol developed at NRL is widely used for virtual private network (VPN) connections worldwide. The projects developed by the laboratory often become mainstream applications without public awareness of the developer; an example in computer science is onion routing, the core principle of the anonymizing Tor software.
Nuclear research
Nuclear power research was initiated at NRL as early as 1939, six years before the first atomic bomb, for the purpose of powering submarines. Uranium enrichment methods sponsored by NRL over the course of World War II were adopted by the Manhattan Project and guided the design of Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Uranium enrichment plant. NRL is currently developing laser focusing techniques aimed at inertial confinement fusion technology.
Physical sciences
The static discharger seen on trailing edges of virtually all modern aircraft was originally developed by NRL scientists during World War II. After the war, the laboratory developed modern synthetic lubricants initially for use in the Navy's jet aircraft but subsequently adopted by the commercial jet industry.
In the late 1960s, NRL researched low-temperature physics, achieving for the first time a temperature within one millionth of a degree of absolute zero in 1967. In 1985 two scientists at the laboratory, Herbert A. Hauptman and Jerome Karle, won the Nobel Prize for devising direct methods employing X-ray diffraction analysis in the determination of crystal structures. Their methods form the basis for the computer packages used in pharmaceutical labs and research institutions worldwide for the analysis of more than 10,000 new substances each year.
NRL has most recently published research on quantum computing, quantum dots, plasma shockwaves, thermodynamics of liquids, modeling of oil spills and other topics.
NRL operates a small squadron of research aircraft termed Scientific Development Squadron (VXS) 1. Its missions include, for example, Rampant Lion, which used sophisticated airborne instrumentation (gravimeters, magnetometers and hyperspectral cameras) to collect precise 3D topography of two-thirds of Afghanistan and locate natural resources (underground gas and mineral deposits, vegetation types, etc.) there and in Iraq and Colombia.
Plasma science
The Division of Plasma Physics conducts research and development into ionized matter. NRL currently holds the world record for most energetic rail gun projectile () and fastest man-made projectile ().
Artificial intelligence
NRL established the Navy Center for Applied Research in Artificial Intelligence in 1981, which conducts basic and applied research in artificial intelligence, cognitive science, autonomy, and human-centered computing. Among its achievements are advances in cognitive architectures, human-robot interaction, and machine learning.
Organization
As of 2017, the laboratory was divided into four research directorates, one financial directorate, and one executive directorate. All the directorates are headquartered in Washington, D.C. Many directorates have other facilities elsewhere, primarily at either the Stennis Space Center in Bay St Louis, Mississippi or in Monterey, California.
Staff
Most NRL staff are civilians in the civil service, with a relatively small number of Navy enlisted personnel or officers. Virtually all NRL staff are US citizens and are not dual-nationals. In addition, there are some support contractors that work on-site at NRL. As of 31 December 2015, across all NRL locations, NRL had 2540 civilian employees (i.e., not including civilian contractors). On the same date, there were 35 military officers on-board NRL and 58 enlisted on-board NRL, most of whom are with NRL's VXS-1 Scientific Flight Detachment, which is located at the Patuxent River ('Pax River') Naval Air Station (NAS) in southern Maryland.
NRL has special authority to use a Pay-Band pay system instead of using the traditional General Schedule (GS) pay system for its civilian employees. This gives NRL more ability to pay employees based on performance and merit, rather than time-in-grade or some other seniority metric. There are several different pay-band groups at NRL, each being for different categories of civilian employees. As of 31 December 2015, NRL had 1615 civilian scientists/engineers in the NP pay system, 103 civilian technicians in the NR pay system, 383 civilian administrative specialists/professionals in the NO pay system, and 238 civilian administrative support staff in the NC pay system.
NRL scientists & engineers typically are in the (NP) pay group in NRL's Pay Band system. The NP-II pay band is equivalent to GS-5 Step 1 through GS-10 Step 10. The NP-III pay band is equivalent to GS-11 Step 1 through GS-13 Step 10. NRL's Pay Band IV corresponds to the GS-14 Step 1 to GS-15 Step 10 pay grades, inclusive, while NRL's Pay Band V can pay above GS-15 Step 10 and corresponds to the Senior Technologist (ST) pay grade elsewhere in the civil service.
For new graduates, someone with a Bachelor of Science degree typically is hired at a salary in the GS-7 range; someone with a Master of Science degree typically is hired at a salary in the GS-11 range; someone with a PhD typically is hired at a salary in the GS-12 range. NRL has the flexibility to offer partial student loan repayments for new hires.
According to the NRL Fact Book (2016), of NRL civilian full-time permanent employees, 870 had a doctorate, 417 had a master's, and 576 had a bachelor's as their highest degree.
The laboratory also hosts post-doctoral researchers and was voted #15 in the Best Places to Work PostDocs 2013 survey.
Research directorates
The four research directorates within NRL were:
The Systems Directorate (Code 5000) is responsible for performing a range of activities from basic research through engineering development to expand the operational capabilities of the US Navy. There are four research divisions: Radar, Information Technology, Optical Sciences, and Tactical Electronic Warfare.
The Materials Science and Component Technology Directorate (Code 6000) carries out a range of materials research with the aim of better understanding of the materials in order to develop improved and advanced materials for use by the US Navy. There are seven research divisions: Laboratory for the Structure of Matter, Chemistry, Material Science & Technology, Laboratory for Computational Physics and Fluid Dynamics, Plasma Physics, Electronics Science & Technology, and the Center for Biomolecular Science & Engineering.
The Ocean and Atmospheric Science and Technology Directorate (Code 7000) performs research in the fields of acoustics, remote sensing, oceanography, marine geosciences, marine meteorology, and space science. There are six research divisions: Acoustics, Remote Sensing, Oceanography, Marine Geosciences, Marine Meteorology, and Space Science.
The Naval Center for Space Technology (Code 8000) is a focal point and integrator for NRL technologies used in space systems. It provides system engineering and technical assistance for development and acquisition of space systems. There are two research departments: Space Systems Development and Spacecraft Engineering.
Support directorates
The two support directorates were:
The Executive Directorate operations are directed by the Commander of the NRL, who typically is a US Navy Captain. Scientific Development Squadron ONE (VXS-1), located at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland, which provides airborne research facilities to NRL and other agencies of the US Government, is run out of the Executive Directorate.
The Business Operations Directorate provides program management for the business programs which support the scientific directorates of NRL. It provides contracting, financial management and supply expertise to the scientific projects.
Nanoscience Institute
In April 2001, in a departure from traditional working relationships between NRL scientists, the Institute for Nanoscience was established to conduct multidisciplinary research in the fields of materials, electronics and biology. Scientists may be part of the Nanoscience Institute while still performing research for their respective divisions.
Laboratory for Autonomous Systems Research
Opened March 2012, the Laboratory for Autonomous Systems Research (LASR) is a 50,000 square foot facility that supports basic and applied research in autonomous systems. The facility supports a wide range of interdisciplinary basic and applied research in autonomous systems to include research in autonomous systems, intelligent autonomy, human-autonomous system interaction and collaboration, sensor systems, power and energy systems, networking and communications, and platforms.
LASR provides unique facilities and simulated environmental high bays (littoral, desert, tropical, and forest) and instrumented reconfigurable high bay spaces to support integration of science and technology components into research prototype systems.
Locations
The main campus of NRL is in Washington, D.C., near the southernmost part of the District. It is on the Potomac River and is immediately south of (but is not part of) Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling. This campus is immediately north of the Blue Plains site of the DC Water Authority. Exit 1 of northbound I-295 leads directly to Overlook Avenue and the NRL Main Gate. The U.S. Postal Service operates a post office on the NRL main campus.
In addition, NRL operates several field sites and satellite facilities:
NRL-South is located at NASA's Stennis Space Center in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, and specializes in oceanography, marine geology, geophysics, geoacoustics, and geotechnology.
NRL-Monterey is located east of the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, sharing a campus with the Fleet Numerical Meteorology and Oceanography Center and the San Francisco Bay Area/Monterey local forecast office of the National Weather Service. NRL-Monterey is dedicated to meteorology and atmospheric research.
The Scientific Development Squadron (VXS) 1 is located at the Patuxent River Naval Air Station in Lexington Park, Maryland, and operates a wide range of research aircraft.
The Chesapeake Bay Detachment (CBD) in Chesapeake Beach, Maryland is 168-acre site for research in radar, electronic warfare, optical devices, materials, communications, and fire research. This facility is often used in combination with the Multiple Research Site on Tilghman Island, Maryland just across the Chesapeake Bay.
The Midway Research Center in Quantico, Virginia, Free Space Antenna Range in Pomonkey, Maryland, and Blossom Point Satellite Tracking and Command Station in Blossom Point, Maryland are used by NRL's Naval Center for Space Technology.
The Marine Corrosion Facility located on Fleming Key at Naval Air Station Key West in Florida is used by the Center for Corrosion Science & Engineering.
NRL operates several synchrotron radiation beamlines and the Extreme-Ultraviolet and X-Ray Calibration Facility at the National Synchrotron Light Source at the Brookhaven National Laboratory.
History
Early history
Artifacts found on the NRL campus, such as stone tools and ceramic shards, show that the site had been inhabited since the Late Archaic Period. Cecil Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore, granted the tract of land which includes the present NRL campus to William Middleton in 1663. It became part of the District of Columbia in 1791, and was purchased by Thomas Grafton Addison in 1795, who named the area Bellevue and built a mansion on the highlands to the east.
Zachariah Berry purchased the land in 1827, who rented it out for various purposes including a fishery at Blue Plains. The mansion was demolished during the Civil War to build Fort Greble. In 1873 the land was purchased by the federal government as the Bellevue Annex to the Naval Gun Factory, and several buildings were constructed including the Commandant's house, "Quarters A", which is still in use today.
Foundation
The Naval Research Laboratory came into existence from an idea that originated from Thomas Edison. In a May 1915 editorial piece in the New York Times Magazine, Edison wrote; "The Government should maintain a great research laboratory... In this could be developed...all the technique of military and naval progression without any vast expense." This statement addressed concerns about World War I in the United States.
Edison then agreed to serve as the head of the Naval Consulting Board that consisted of civilians who had achieved expertise. The focus of the Naval Consulting Board was as advisor to the U.S. Navy pertaining to science and technology. The board brought forward a plan to create a modern facility for the Navy. In 1916 Congress allocated $1.5 million for implementation. However, construction was delayed until 1920 because of the war and internal disagreements within the board.
The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, the first modern research institution created within the United States Navy, began operations at 1100 on 2 July 1923. The Laboratory's two original divisions – Radio and Sound – performed research in the fields of high-frequency radio and underwater sound propagation. They produced communications equipment, direction-finding devices, sonar sets, and the first practical radar equipment built in the United States. They performed basic research, participating in the discovery and early exploration of the ionosphere. The NRL gradually worked towards its goal of becoming a broadly based research facility. By the beginning of World War II, five new divisions had been added: Physical Optics, Chemistry, Metallurgy, Mechanics and Electricity, and Internal Communications.
World War II years and growth
Total employment at the NRL jumped from 396 in 1941 to 4400 in 1946, expenditures from $1.7 million to $13.7 million, the number of buildings from 23 to 67, and the number of projects from 200 to about 900. During World War II, scientific activities necessarily were concentrated almost entirely on applied research. Advances were made in radio, radar, and sonar. Countermeasures were devised. New lubricants were produced, as were antifouling paints, luminous identification tapes, and a marking dye to help locate survivors of disasters at sea. A thermal diffusion process was conceived and used to supply some of the U-235 isotope needed for one of the first atomic bombs. Also, many new devices that developed from booming wartime industry were type tested and then certified as reliable for the Fleet.
After WWII
As a result of the scientific accomplishments of the WWII, the United States emerged into the postwar era determined to consolidate its wartime gains in science and technology and to preserve the working relationship between its armed forces and the scientific community. While the Navy was establishing the Office of Naval Research (ONR) in 1946 as a liaison with and supporter of basic and applied scientific research, the Navy encouraged NRL to broaden its scope since it was the Navy Department's corporate research laboratory. NRL was placed under the administrative oversight of ONR after ONR was created. NRL's Commanding Officer reports to the Navy's Chief of Naval Research (CNR). The Chief of Naval Research leads the Office of Naval Research, which primarily is located in the Ballston area of Arlington, Virginia. The reorganization also caused a parallel shift of the Laboratory's emphasis to one of long-range basic and applied research in the full range of the physical sciences.
However, rapid expansion during the war had left NRL improperly structured to address long-term Navy requirements. One major task – neither easily nor rapidly accomplished – was that of reshaping and coordinating research. This was achieved by transforming a group of largely autonomous scientific divisions into a unified institution with a clear mission and a fully coordinated research program. The first attempt at reorganization vested power in an executive committee composed of all the division superintendents. This committee was impracticably large, so in 1949, a civilian director of research was named and given full authority over the program. Positions for associate directors were added in 1954.
Modern era
In 1992, the previously separate Naval Oceanographic and Atmospheric Research Laboratory (NOARL), with centers in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, and Monterey, California, was merged into NRL. Since then, NRL is also the lead Navy center for research in Oceanographic and Atmospheric Sciences, with special strengths in physical oceanography, marine geosciences, ocean acoustics, marine meteorology, and remote oceanic and atmospheric sensing.
Centennial
Commissioned July 2, 1923, as the Naval Experimental and Research Laboratory — later shortened to the Naval Research Laboratory (c.1926) — the laboratory began operations seven years after inventor Thomas Edison suggested that the Government establish “a great research laboratory.”
Throughout the past century, NRL has changed the way the U.S. military fights, improved its capabilities, prevented technological surprise, transferred vital technology to industry, and tilted the world’s balance of power on at least three occasions; with the first U.S. radar, world’s first intelligence satellite, and first operational satellite of the Global Positioning System (GPS).
July 2, 2023, the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory celebrates 100 years of service as the Navy's corporate laboratory with a rich history of performing advanced scientific research and making significant contributions to U.S. military forces on, under, and above the seas.
Environmental contamination
The Navy’s environmental investigations began in 1984. NRL was not listed on the National Priorities List as a Superfund and the Maryland Department of the Environment has regulatory oversight. Since the early 2010s, the Navy and MDE have coordinated their activities at NR. In 2017 groundwater investigation PFAS were present on-base in the shallow aquifer. As of 2022, there are 6 active IRP sites (Photo-processing Waste Discharge, fire testing area etc) and 3 active munition response sites at former small arms ranges with lead contamination in the Chesapeake Bay Detachment. An online Restoration Advisory Board (RAB) meeting in May 2021 alarmed residents because of extremely high PFAS levels in the soil at the CBD's fire training facility.
See also
United States Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory (MCWL)
Office of Naval Research (ONR)
Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL)
United States Army Research, Development and Engineering Command (RDECOM)
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)
Naval Research Laboratory Flyrt — Flying Radar Target
History of radar
Robert Morris Page — One of the main American radar scientists
Interactive Scenario Builder — 3-D modeling and simulation application for studying the radio frequency (RF) environment
NRLMSISE-00 — Model of the Earth's atmosphere from ground to space
SIMDIS — 3-D Analysis and Display Toolset
Clementine spacecraft
National Research Libraries Alliance
Fleet Electronic Warfare Center (FEWC)
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System (UNOLS)
List of auxiliaries of the United States Navy
TransApps – rapid development and fielding of secure mobile apps in the battlefield
References
Sterling, Christopher H. (2008) Military Communications: From Ancient Times to the 21st Century ABC-CLIO p 326
July
External links
Scientific organizations established in 1923
1923 establishments in the United States
Military facilities in Washington, D.C.
United States Navy
Research installations of the U.S. Department of Defense
Collier Trophy recipients
Research institutes in Washington, D.C.
|
411900
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesse%20Jackson%20Jr.
|
Jesse Jackson Jr.
|
Jesse Louis Jackson Jr. (born March 11, 1965) is an American politician. He served as the U.S. representative from from 1995 until his resignation in 2012. A member of the Democratic Party, he is the son of activist and former presidential candidate Jesse Jackson and, prior to his career in elected office, worked for his father in both the elder Jackson's 1984 presidential campaign and his social justice, civil rights and political activism organization, Operation PUSH. Jackson's wife, Sandi Jackson, served on the Chicago City Council. He served as a national co-chairman of the 2008 Barack Obama presidential campaign. Jackson established a consistent liberal record on both social and fiscal issues, and he has co-authored books on civil rights and personal finance.
In October 2012, Jackson was investigated for financial improprieties including misuse of campaign funds. Jackson resigned from Congress on November 21, 2012, citing mental and physical health problems, including bipolar disorder and gastrointestinal problems. On February 8, 2013, Jackson admitted to violating federal campaign law by using campaign funds to make personal purchases. Jackson pleaded guilty on February 20, 2013, to one count of wire and mail fraud. On August 14, 2013, he was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison. Jackson was released from prison on March 26, 2015.
Early life, education, and early political career
Jackson was born in Greenville, South Carolina, and was raised in the Jackson Park Highlands District of the South Shore community area on the South Side of Chicago. He was one of five children of Jesse and Jacqueline (Brown) Jackson. He attended nursery school at the University of Chicago and attended John J. Pershing Elementary School. At age five, Jackson mimicked his father in a speech atop a milk crate at the Operation PUSH headquarters. His time with his father sometimes occurred in the time between political meetings.
He and his brother Jonathan were sent to Le Mans Academy in Rolling Prairie, Indiana after Jackson was diagnosed as hyperactive. As a young cadet, he was paddled at times for disciplinary reasons. During his tenure there, he earned the rank of Company Commander. Jackson repeated ninth grade and was suspended from school twice. Jackson graduated from St. Albans School. He was an all-state running back on his football team in high school and was featured in the February 1984 issue of Sports Illustrated as part of their Faces in the Crowd section, which noted him for his 15 touchdowns, 889 rushing yards, and 7.2 yards per carry in six games. Jackson enrolled in North Carolina A&T University, his father's alma mater, earning his Bachelor of Science degree magna cum laude in 1987. He decided to follow his father's advice to receive a seminary education at the Chicago Theological Seminary, where he earned his master's degree a year early but opted not to become ordained. Jackson proceeded to law school at the University of Illinois and convinced his future wife to transfer there from the Georgetown University Law Center. He then earned a Juris Doctor from the University of Illinois College of Law in 1993. Jackson never sat for the bar exam despite finishing his coursework a semester early.
As a teenager, Jackson and his brother Jonathan assisted in their father's civil rights activities. During the 1984 Democratic primaries, the three Jackson brothers sometimes appeared at events together in support of their father's presidential campaign. While in college, Jackson held a voter registration drive that registered 3,500 voters on a campus with 4,500 students. His first job after graduation was as an executive director for the Rainbow Coalition.
Jackson was again involved in his father's campaigning during the 1988 Democratic primaries. In 1988, in the dealings between his father and Michael Dukakis at the 1988 Democratic National Convention, Jackson's father obtained for him a position as an at-large member of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) by a nomination from Democratic Party chairman Paul Kirk. Jackson Jr. was the last of the five children to speak and introduced his father with the words "a man who fights against the odds, who lives against the odds, our dad, Jesse Jackson." At the time, in Time magazine, Margaret Carlson depicted the younger Jackson as a well-spoken and compelling personality who would likely carry any of his father's political aspirations that his father was unable to achieve himself. His experience with the DNC gave him the opportunity to work on numerous congressional election races. After the convention he also became a vice president of Operation PUSH.
Jackson was arrested on his twenty-first birthday in Washington, D.C., following his participation in demonstrations against apartheid at the South African Embassy. He had been arrested with his father and brother the year before in a similar activity. His protest against apartheid extended to weekly demonstrations in front of the South African Consulate in Chicago. Jackson shared the stage with Nelson Mandela when Mandela made his historic speech following his release from a 27-year imprisonment in Cape Town in February 1990. Before entering the House, he became secretary of the Democratic National Committee's Black Caucus, the national field director of the National Rainbow Coalition and a member of the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition. Jackson served as the national field director of the Rainbow Coalition from 1993 to 1995. Under Jackson's leadership, the Rainbow Coalition attempted to stimulate equitable hiring in the National Basketball Association because while 78% of the league's players were African American, 92% of the front-office executive positions, 88% of the administrative jobs, and 85% of the support positions were held by whites. While serving as the field director for the National Rainbow Coalition, he helped register millions of new voters through a newly instituted national non-partisan program. He also created a voter education program to teach citizens the importance of participating in the political process. He was a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, and also a founding board member of the Apollo Alliance.
U.S. House of Representatives
Elections
Jackson's wife wanted him to run for the 2nd District Congressional seat in the 1996 primary election, while his father wanted him to run for a position as an alderman or for the Illinois General Assembly. The 2nd District includes part of Chicago's southeast suburbs known as the Southland and part of the South Side. Jackson's father approached state Sen. Alice J. Palmer with a deal in which the Jacksons would support her for Congress in exchange for her support for Jackson for the Illinois Senate. Jackson Jr. did not agree with the plan and wanted to run for the 2nd District seat. After seeking approval from former Democratic National Committee chairman David Wilhelm, he decided to run for the seat against Palmer. When Mel Reynolds, who was later convicted on sexual misconduct charges, resigned from Congress on September 1, 1995, Jackson's name surfaced as a potential replacement; on September 10, 1995, Jackson officially declared his candidacy. Jackson's opponents in the Democratic primary were Palmer, Emil Jones, Monique Davis, and John Morrow in the Democratic primary, which was set for November 29, 1995. Jones was endorsed by Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley. Jackson was endorsed by the Daily Southtown, Markham Mayor Evans Miller, and one local labor organization. Campaign controversy arose when it was revealed that Jackson's salary as field director the Rainbow Coalition had been subsidized by the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union, which was accused by a U.S. Senate investigative committee of having ties to organized crime. Jackson was one of several Democrats who received campaign contributions from John Huang, a Democratic fundraiser who illegally funneled over $150,000 to Democratic candidates and was later convicted of conspiracy to commit campaign finance fraud. While most other recipients of the Huang-aggregated funds returned them or donated them elsewhere, Jackson kept the money, saying Huang's $1,000 contribution to his campaign was within legal limits.
Jackson won the Democratic primary with 48% of the vote to Jones's 39%, with the rest of the votes scattered among the other three candidates. The Republicans nominated Thomas Somer. Since the district was overwhelmingly Democratic, Jackson was the favorite for the December 12, 1995 special election. Jackson won the general election with 76% of the vote; his victory was widely anticipated. Upon his victory, Jackson made it known he would be a liberal voice in opposition to Speaker of the House of Representatives Newt Gingrich. He took office on December 15, 1995. Jackson was perceived as less charismatic than his father and less credentialed than his predecessor, but his family pedigree was expected to help him politically. In August 1996, Somer withdrew from a rematch leaving Jackson with no major party opposition in the November 1996 general election. As a result, Jackson received 94% of the vote in the general election.
As he prepared to run for president in 2000, Vice President Al Gore attempted to maintain good relations with the Jackson family, hoping to discourage Jackson's father from running for president against him. Jackson received a congratulatory call from Gore after his election in 1995. In 1998, Gore campaigned for and advised Jackson, and went out of his way to instruct aides to create a vice presidential event in Jackson's district to boost Jackson.
The 2nd District was overwhelmingly black when Jackson was first elected and remained so after the redistricting process following the 2000 Census. Jackson won re-election in 2000 by a 90–10 margin over Robert Gordon.
In 2001, the Federal Election Commission ruled that Jackson could hire his wife on his campaign payroll as long as she was paid no more than the fair market value for her services. In 2002, Jackson was challenged in the Democratic primary by three candidates. Jackson claimed that state Sen. William Shaw and his brother, Cook County Board of Review Commissioner Robert Shaw, had planted a bogus candidate in the primary race. The claim was that they selected 68-year-old retired Robbins truck driver, Jesse L. Jackson, as an opponent in order to confuse voters and derail the congressman's re-election campaign. Jackson asked a Cook County court to question the Shaws and others under oath, but his effort was rejected and no criminal wrongdoing was found. As Jackson prepared to take further legal action, Jesse L. Jackson withdrew his candidacy after the unexpected deaths of his wife and grandson.
Jackson won re-election in the 2004 House of Representatives elections by a wide margin over Stephanie Kennedy Sailor. In 2005, Jackson supported legislation that gave the United States Federal Court of Appeals jurisdiction over the Terri Schiavo case. In the 2006 election among Jackson's opponents was Libertarian Party candidate and African-American pastor Anthony Williams, an outspoken opponent of immigration. Jackson won with 85% of the vote.
Tenure
Jackson quickly built a track record of never missing a floor vote. Once he nearly missed his great-grandmother's funeral for a roll call, but the presiding officer was able to slightly delay the closing of the roll, thereby keeping his attendance record. Fellow Democrats said he debates and votes with a contentiousness that makes it difficult to view him as a team player. Jackson developed foes not only in the House, but also in Chicago against William Daley, who had a hand in several attempts to block Jackson's seating on the transportation committee he desired because of his support for a third Chicago airport. Jackson has also been a target of conservative media figures. Jackson established a heavily liberal voting record on both social and fiscal issues. During the 1990s, because of his name recognition and liberal track record, Jackson received many public speaking and media requests.
After being elected, Jackson attempted to parlay his popularity into a seat on the United States House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, using the leverage of his ability to perform voter registration drives. In the 1996 elections, Jackson began to rival his father as a requested visitor to congressional districts with 36 requests from congressional colleagues. He was typically sent on the "black circuit" without any notification to the press when he campaigned for other candidates. Jackson made 30 appearances for Democratic congressional candidates in 1998.
Jackson had some controversial interactions with Jewish leaders in his early years in office. In 1996, his message of unity and cooperation with the Jews was met with skepticism. In 1997, Jackson was criticized for offering mere disagreement with anti-Semitic remarks made by Louis Farrakhan while he was in New York City for the mayoral race; Jewish leaders were unsatisfied by Jackson's response to Farrakhan. In 1997, Newsweek mentioned Jackson in their list of 100 people to watch in the new century, dubbed "the Century Club", and raised the question of whether he would be the first black president. Jackson criticized the Bill Clinton administration for working with Republicans and voted in dissent on several notable bills that were the products of compromise between Democrats and Republicans. Jackson preferred direct aid and debt relief to trade reform as a method of helping impoverished nations such as those of sub-Saharan Africa and the Caribbean Basin, fearing that relaxed trade regulations would possibly benefit corporations and exploit labor. He is also an opponent of incentives for corporations to invest in developing nations. He was outspoken on issues of minority hiring in information technology. Jackson voted against the impeachment of Bill Clinton, voting against all four articles of impeachment considered by the House.
In late 2000, as word spread that President-elect George W. Bush intended to appoint both Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice and a third unnamed black to the United States Cabinet, Jackson sought to prevent blacks from supporting Bush as Bush planned to reach out to blacks. Jackson partnered with Republican Henry Hyde to push for a third Chicago airport. Jackson said Hyde was the right wing complement to his own left wing role in pursuing support for the airport. Jackson has withheld support for local Democrats who would not support the airport, such as 1998 Democratic gubernatorial nominee Glenn Poshard.
On January 6, 2001, Jackson and other members of the House of Representatives objected to counting the 25 electoral votes from Florida which George W. Bush narrowly won after a contentious recount. Because no senator joined his objection, the objection was dismissed by Vice President Al Gore, who was Bush's opponent in the 2000 presidential election.
In 2004, Jackson supported the Ho-Chunk tribe's proposal for a casino within his district in Lynwood, Illinois. The proposal was to build the largest casino in the state as part of an entertainment complex. In 2005, Jackson sponsored a bill for the creation and acquisition of a life-size statue of Rosa Parks to be placed in Statuary Hall at the United States Capitol. The bill approving the funding for the statue was signed by President Bush on December 1, 2005.
After the 2004 elections, Jackson became vocal in supporting election reform, disliking the way election rules differ across jurisdictions, saying that the U.S. "is founded on the constitutional foundation of 'states' rights'—50 states, 3,067 counties and 13,000 different election jurisdictions, all separate and unequal." He was one of the 31 House Democrats who voted to not count the 20 electoral votes from Ohio in the 2004 presidential election, despite Republican President George Bush winning the state by 118,457 votes. He also proposed legislation for uniform voting standards that was supported by black leaders.
Jackson and Zach Wamp were spokespersons for the changing the name of the main hall of the United States Capitol Visitor Center from the Great Hall to Emancipation Hall. The Library of Congress's main hall was already designated Great Hall. Some had wanted further feedback on naming possibilities, but the United States House Committee on Appropriations approved the new name, and it passed the House.
Jackson was one of the liberal leaders who supported a fixed timetable for Iraq troop withdrawals. In 2007, he has also co-sponsored (along with Roy Blunt), legislation providing nearly $1 million to each family that lost someone to the al-Qaida activities in the 1998 United States embassy bombings. In 2007 Jackson voiced an interest in initiating impeachment proceedings against President Bush for "crimes against the Constitution of the United States."
In March 2011, Jackson attracted ridicule for a speech he made on the House floor proposing a constitutional amendment for "equal education rights", which he illustrated by proposing that every student in America receive an iPad from the federal government. In April 2011, Jackson spoke on the house floor, blaming the iPad for "eliminating thousands of American jobs." In the February 27, 2007 Chicago municipal elections, Jackson's wife, Sandi Jackson, won the election for Alderman in Chicago's 7th ward.
Jackson gave a prime-time speech at the 2008 Democratic National Convention on August 25, 2008. During his speech he referenced Martin Luther King Jr., stating, "I'm sure that Dr. King is looking down on us here in Denver noting this is the first political convention in history to take place within sight of a mountain top." Jackson said, "I know Barack Obama. I've seen his leadership at work. I've seen the difference he has made in the lives of people across Illinois." At the convention, Jackson started what was described as a "hugfest" in an attempt to unite the Illinois Democratic party, which had been squabbling internally. He started by hugging Bobby Rush (who had been upset that Jackson's wife was being positioned for Rush's seat when Rush had been ill earlier in the year) and then he hugged Debbie Halvorson, who had been at odds with him over the proposed airport. He then asked if anyone else was mad at him. At this point Mayor Daley jumped up to hug Jackson. Jackson then said, "I'm not going to be satisfied until I see Rod Blagojevich give Mike Madigan a hug."
Before the entire Congress was charged with seeking a solution to the financial crisis of 2007–2008 and overall economic crisis of 2008, Jackson proposed that the United States Department of Agriculture increase the allotment of food stamps. During the congressional debates on a federal bailout, Jackson worried about the viability of various plan iterations to his constituents. Although only two years earlier he spoke of Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi in glowing terms, he could not support the late-September version of the legislation she was proposing because he felt it contained inadequate homeowner protections. Although he voted against the bill on September 29, 2008 he voted in support of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 on October 3, 2008. He later expressed concerns in a New York Times op-ed article about the implications that the eventual bill had on enfranchisement due to the lack of protections for homeowners as it relates to voting rights. Jackson sponsored legislation to make the Pullman District a National Park Service jurisdiction. On April 21, 2012, Jackson held a symbolic groundbreaking for the proposed third airport.
Committee assignments
Committee on Appropriations
Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies
Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs
Jackson was also appointed to the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission in 2003. He was among the scholars and politicians adding commentaries to Lincoln in Illinois which was published by the Abraham Lincoln Association and the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library Foundation. The book had been expected in the fall but was published in June 2008.
Health issues, criminal investigation, and resignation
On June 10, 2012, Jackson took a medical leave of absence from the House, citing exhaustion. On July 11, 2012, Jackson's office said he was being treated for a mood disorder at a residential treatment facility. His office denied speculation that he was being treated for alcoholism. On August 13, 2012, it was confirmed by numerous news outlets that Jackson was being treated for bipolar disorder.
Campaign fraud
In October 2012, federal prosecutors and FBI agents in Washington, D.C., investigated Jackson for alleged financial improprieties, including possible misuse of campaign funds. Sixteen days after being re-elected to another term, Jackson resigned effective on November 21, 2012, citing his health problems and acknowledging the ethics investigations.
Jackson and wife Sandi signed plea agreements in early February 2013. Jackson Jr. agreed to plead guilty to charges of fraud, conspiracy, making false statements, mail fraud, wire fraud, and criminal forfeiture—having used about $750,000 in campaign money for over 3000 personal purchases that included a Michael Jackson fedora and cashmere capes.
The Justice Department filed the charges on February 15, 2013, and Jackson pleaded guilty on February 20, 2013, to one count of wire and mail fraud in connection with his misuse of $750,000 of campaign funds. On June 7, 2013, federal prosecutors indicated that they sought a four-year prison sentence for Jackson. On August 14, 2013, Jackson was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison, while wife Sandi was sentenced to 12 months in prison for filing false tax returns in an attempt to conceal the crimes. Their sentences were not concurrent; Jackson served his, and after his release she served hers. The staggered sentences allowed for the Jackson children to have access to one parent during the time the other was in prison.
Prison and release
On October 26, 2013, Jackson reported to the Federal Correctional Complex in Butner, near Raleigh, North Carolina, to begin serving his sentence.
On March 26, 2015, Jackson was released from the minimum-security Federal Prison Camp, Montgomery in Montgomery, Alabama, to serve the rest of his sentence at a halfway house (the Volunteers of America Chesapeake facility in Baltimore, Maryland). After being released, Jackson was required to complete another three years on supervised release and perform 500 hours of community service. He was released in the morning of June 22, 2015, after spending three months serving his remaining sentence in a halfway house.
Other political activities
2000 presidential election
Jackson reluctantly supported Al Gore when he became the Democratic presidential nominee, saying Gore and his running mate Joe Lieberman were not liberal enough but that he supported Gore as the only alternative to George W. Bush. Jackson criticized Lieberman and the campaign for emphasizing the importance of personal morality in American politicians. Nevertheless, Jackson indicated he would persuade liberal voters unenthusiastic about Gore to support the Democratic ticket, rather than Green Party nominee Ralph Nader.
Despite his criticism of the Gore campaign, Jackson was still mentioned as a possible appointee for United States Secretary of Education if Gore was elected.
2007 mayoral election
Chicago is the largest American city without mayoral term limits, and Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley started his mayoral tenure in 1989. Jackson held press conferences less frequently than his father. After making a formal announcement in 2006 with a press conference, Jackson was considered a strong potential candidate to oppose Daley in the municipal election on February 27, 2007. He stated on September 7, 2006, that his final decision would come after the Congressional election in November. Jackson had built up a more moderate reputation than his father and had support that transcended racial lines. Jackson views his broad based support as a sign that the U.S. is advancing to the point where politicians from ethnic minorities can appeal to broad constituencies.
After more than a decade in the national political spotlight he had maintained an untarnished image, unlike his troubled 2nd district predecessors Mel Reynolds and Gus Savage, and had challenged Daley on several issues on the local political scene. Jackson supported the living wage legislation that had been hotly contested in the Chicago City Council, and he has been an ardent backer of the long-proposed third Chicago airport in Peotone, Illinois, placing him at odds with Daley on both issues. He also railed against Daley over a trucking contract scandal involving city workers' collecting payoffs. At the time, the Mayor had recently exercised the first veto in his seventeen-year mayoral term to thwart a big box retailer city minimum wage bill from the City Council despite the bill's public popularity.
There were always doubts about the seriousness of Jackson's interest in the Mayor's office. On November 8, 2006, Jackson reported that he would not pursue a 2007 mayoral campaign in Chicago:
Support for Barack Obama
Jackson was speculated as a potential candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2004, but declined to run and instead became one of Barack Obama's early supporters. He endorsed Howard Dean for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination, joining Al Gore in saying Dean was the most likely candidate in the primary to beat Bush. The endorsement was a bitter blow to the hopes of candidate Al Sharpton, who had hoped for endorsements from both Jackson and his father.
Jackson was a national co-chairman of Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign. As such, he is involved in garnering support from the superdelegates. During the campaign, he provided the voice for some advertisements such as one South Carolina radio ad in which he said: "Once, South Carolina voted for my father, and sent a strong message to the nation, ... Next year, you can send more than a message. You can launch a president.'" When describing Obama, he stated that "Barack Obama is not speaking as a friend of the community; he's part of the community ... He doesn't always tell people what they want to hear. He tells them what they need to hear.'" During the campaign, he described Obama as the first "successor" of Martin Luther King Jr. to use the thoughtful and careful approach to language to frame social debate in a way that is unlikely to alienate whites and noted his ability to get various factions to agree with him and his political positions.
Jackson had a lengthy relationship with Obama. Obama's Illinois State Senate 13th district that he served from 1997 to 2005 was within Jackson's district. Jackson's sister Santita was a close friend of Michelle Obama and served as a bridesmaid at the Obama wedding. In 2008, Jackson's father, Jesse Jackson, wrote an op-ed in the Chicago Sun-Times attacking presidential candidate Obama for his lack of activist involvement; Jackson Junior responded sharply in the same paper with a defense of Obama.
On July 6, 2008, Jackson's father said he thought Obama talks down to black people, and unaware he was near a live microphone offhandedly commented that he would like to "cut [Obama's] nuts off". Jackson Junior quickly expressed his outrage at and disappointment in his father's "ugly rhetoric". Jackson's father said he was expressing his disappointment in Obama's Father's Day speech chastisement of Black fathers.
2009 U.S. Senate seat
Jackson emerged as a possible candidate to replace Barack Obama, who, after being elected President of the United States on November 4, 2008, officially resigned his seat in the U.S. Senate effective November 16. The class 3 Illinois Senate seat was up for re-election in 2010. Other contenders included Danny Davis, Jan Schakowsky, Tammy Duckworth, Emil Jones Jr., Kwame Raoul, Dan Hynes, and Lisa Madigan, while other sources also mentioned Luis Gutierrez and Melissa Bean. One early name mentioned, Valerie Jarrett, withdrew her name from consideration and both Davis and Duckworth noted that they had not been contacted by the governor's office by the time Obama announced his resignation on November 13, 2008. In a radio interview on the subject, Jackson cited his record on federal funding for his district, loyalty to Obama and diligence in voting in the U.S. House. At the time, Obama was the only black U.S. Senator, and black leaders pressured Blagojevich to appoint a black successor. The Chicago Defender and Southtown Star both endorsed Jackson, who noted that public opinion polls show him as the favorite. The selection was coming at a time when the Governor's public approval ratings were at an all-time low, which added to the pressure for him to make a selection that would be good for his own political perception, and it was believed that Jackson's constituency was one that the Governor might need to appease. Although Obama and Duckworth laid a wreath together on Veterans Day, Obama did not endorse a successor. However, in an internal report filed by Obama legal advisor Greg Craig, "Obama authorized Emanuel to pass on the names of four people he considered to be highly qualified to take over his seat – Illinois Comptroller Dan Hynes, Illinois Veterans' Affairs Director Tammy Duckworth, Rep. Jan Schakowsky and Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr."
On November 27, 2008, Blagojevich hinted that Davis might be his choice. On December 6, the Chicago Tribune reported that Jackson was among the minority of potential candidates who had not been granted a meeting with Blagojevich on the subject, but two days later Blagojevich granted Jackson a meeting. On December 9, the day after a 90-minute meeting that Jackson described as his first meeting with Blagojevich in years, the Rod Blagojevich federal corruption scandal became public when the Governor was arrested. On December 10, Jackson was contacted by federal prosecutors for questioning with regard to the scandal involving Governor Blagojevich's search for a replacement. The press speculated that Jackson was "Senate Candidate #5", for whom it is alleged by Blagojevich that emissaries offered up to a million dollars in exchange for the appointment. Jackson, however, denies any wrongdoing, and says that the U.S. Attorney's office assured him that he is not a target of the investigation. In a press conference, his lawyer confirmed his belief that Jackson is candidate No. 5, but asserted that he has done nothing wrong. Immediately thereafter, in his own news conference, Jackson confirmed that he is a subject and not a target of the investigation and emphatically stated his opposition to "pay to play" politics. On December 16, a Jackson spokesperson confirmed special federal investigators have been questioning him since the summer. Also WLS-TV reported December 15 that Jackson has notified investigators that Blagojevich refused to appoint Sandi Jackson, his wife, as state lottery director because Jackson refused to donate $25,000 to the governor's campaign fund. Jackson spokesman Kenneth Edmonds clarified that although Jackson had been a federal informant for over a decade, never did his cooperation concern the current investigation into the Senate seat.
Although Blagojevich's corruption was reported to have been under federal investigation, journalist Howard Fineman of the Huffington Post allegedly has sources that claim Jackson attributes the Obama replacement case to Obama's neutral stance. According to Fineman's reported source, Jackson felt if Obama had endorsed him, Blagojevich would have selected Jackson. When the scandal first broke, the reaction was that Jackson's reputation was sullied to the point that his viability as a senatorial candidate was diminished. However, reports that Jackson has been a longtime federal information provider has led political allies to continue to speak of his viability as a candidate. After much controversy, Roland Burris was successfully nominated by Blagojevich.
In 2009, Jackson was named one of the 15 most corrupt members of Congress by the liberal Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington for his role in the scandal. On September 21, 2010, Jackson addressed a claim by businessman Raghuveer Nayak to the FBI that Jackson purchased plane tickets for a woman Nayak identified as a "social acquaintance" of Jackson, "The reference to a social acquaintance is a private and personal matter between me and my wife that was handled some time ago," Jackson said. "I ask that you respect our privacy."
In September 2010, fundraiser Nayak was mentioned in the press as having been an alleged go between for Jackson and Blagojevich with the message that Jackson would help Blagojevich raise $6 million in exchange for the Senate appointment. The allegations became the subject of a Congressional ethics investigation.
Author
In December 1999, he co-authored It's About the Money: How You Can Get Out of Debt, Build Wealth, and Achieve Your Financial Dreams. The book is a self-help book with directions for achieving personal financial independence. The book is targeted toward people of limited means. In the fall of 2001, he co-authored Legal Lynching: The Death Penalty and America's Future, also known as Legal Lynching II. With coauthors, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Jackson Jr., and Bruce Shapiro, the anti-death penalty voice was heard very publicly. The book was published, at a time when public opposition to the death penalty was at a historically high level, by two of America's most prominent civil rights leaders. It was a follow-up to Legal Lynching: Racism, Injustice and the Death Penalty, which was released in 1996 by Jackson Sr. In 2001, Jackson Jr. authored A More Perfect Union: Advancing New American Rights, with his press secretary, Frank Watkins. The book outlines his moral and political philosophies, and it provides an autobiographical sketch. It provides analysis on the link between race and economics from colonial America to the present with a vision for the future. In addition to the analysis, it provides eight proposed constitutional amendments that Jackson sees as essential to pursuit of broader social and economic opportunity. Since the publication of this book, Jackson has refined these and formally proposed these constitutional amendments.
Personal life
During the 1988 presidential campaign, Jackson met his future wife, Sandi Stevens, who was press secretary for United States Congressman Mickey Leland. After her first year at Georgetown University Law Center, the couple decided public higher education was more affordable and jointly enrolled at the University of Illinois College of Law. While still law students, they married on June 1, 1991. Jackson and Sandi have two children, Jesse III ("Tre") and Jessica and keep two homes. They own one in the South Shore community area, which is within both the 2nd district that Congressman Jackson represented in the United States House of Representatives and within the seventh ward that his wife represented on the Chicago City Council as Alderman. The South Shore home serves as an election base for himself and candidates he has supported, for which he claims a 13–0 record in public elections. The South Shore home was the featured renovation on an HGTV Hidden Potential episode, first aired on March 24, 2009. The Jacksons also own a home in Dupont Circle in Washington, D.C., which served as the family home and base for his service in Congress.
Jackson's earliest public controversy came when he was linked to alleged Nigerian drug trafficker Pius Ailemen. Ailemen was supposed to be Jackson's best man at his 1991 wedding, but canceled at the last minute due to supposed passport-related issues. Jackson and Aileman were investigated by the FBI; the investigation and court proceedings extended for several years. A wiretap recorded many conversations between the two, and financial records indicate that Ailemen had purchased an Alfa Romeo using a $13,000 charge on Jackson's credit card. Ailemen was sentenced to 24 years and four months in jail. In 2003, Ailemen was denied petition for a writ of certiorari. Ailemen's current motion questions Jackson's activities as a government informant at the time of his testimony in Ailemen's trial.
Jackson acknowledges that he has had the benefits of privilege and opportunity and says that his hobbies include fencing, hunting and fishing, especially salmon fishing. He often enjoys these hobbies in bipartisan friendships that include Dick Armey and regarded the late Republican Rep. Henry Hyde as one of his closest friends. In fact, Armey points to Jackson as an example of his ability to work with politicians at all ends of the political spectrum. Jackson also has a very good relationship with Republican United States President George W. Bush despite their sharp ideological differences. The relationship traces back to when Jackson Sr. and United States President-Elect George H. W. Bush met to discuss a range of issues while Jackson Jr. and his siblings Santita and Jonathan had an hour-and-a-half luncheon with future President George W. He also developed a relationship with Bill and Hillary Clinton that enabled him to watch Super Bowl XXXIII at Camp David with them.
In March 2005, Jackson revealed that he had lost due to bariatric surgery. In Ebony, Joe Madison revealed that when he and Jackson were on a panel at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation conference he asked Jackson why he looked so different. He stated that Jackson described having undergone a duodenal switch medical procedure that his sister, Santita, had used to lose over several years.
Jackson is a member of the Omega Psi Phi fraternity. In 2006, when Jackson became a member of Omega Psi Phi fraternity, Nu Pi Chapter, the Illinois House of Representatives issued a congratulatory resolution to his father. Jesse Sr. is also a member of the Omega fraternity. Jackson Jr. delivered the keynote address to the fraternity at the November 18, 2006 Founder's Day gathering. He is also affiliated with the Theta Epsilon Chapter.
Jackson is a martial arts enthusiast who practices kung fu, tae kwon do, and karate. On August 1, 2007, Jackson got into a verbal disagreement with Rep. Lee Terry, a Republican from Nebraska on the House floor. Jackson stated in floor debate that "Republicans can't be trusted" and Terry responded with "shut up" before approaching Jackson. Jackson then spoke profanities and challenged Terry to step outside, presumably for a physical fight. Steve Rothman helped avoid escalation to actual physical confrontation. Martial artists throughout the Omaha, Nebraska area (Terry's district) called to inquire about Jackson's mindset and intentions. Jackson says Terry was the instigator. Terry says Jackson was at fault, but the two shook hands the next day and agreed to move forward in the interest of their constituents. However, a week later an unidentified man who claimed to be a Jackson relative walked into Terry's Omaha office saying he was Jackson's hitman who had come to beat up Terry, which led to FBI involvement.
He used a battery-powered, GPS-equipped Segway in Washington. Jackson, who missed two votes in his first thirteen years in Congress, quipped that the Segway helped him to maintain his good voting record.
On July 12, 2012, Jackson's office acknowledged that he had been absent from Congress since June 10, stating that he was receiving "intensive medical treatment at a residential treatment facility for a mood disorder." After weeks of the public's not knowing where the Congressman was, his office announced on July 27, 2012, that he was at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, undergoing an extensive inpatient evaluation for depression and for gastrointestinal issues. On August 13, 2012 the Mayo Clinic released a statement that Jackson was being treated for bipolar II disorder.
On July 14, 2016, Jackson filed for divorce from his wife in Cook County, Illinois. They reached a settlement in April 2018.
Electoral history
* 93% of precincts
** 99% of precincts
Published works
Jackson, Jesse L. Jr., with Frank E. Watkins, A More Perfect Union: Advancing New American Rights, Welcome Rain Publishers: New York, 2001, .
See also
List of African-American United States representatives
List of American federal politicians convicted of crimes
List of federal political scandals in the United States
References
External links
U.S. Congressman Jesse L. Jackson Jr. official U.S. House website
Jesse Jackson Jr. Congressman official campaign website
Biography at Answers.com
Articles
Interview: Congressman Jesse L. Jackson Jr., Buzzflash, December 30, 2002
Jackson Jr., Jesse The Right to Vote, The Nation, January 19, 2006
|-
1965 births
Living people
20th-century African-American people
20th-century American politicians
20th-century Baptists
21st-century African-American people
21st-century American politicians
21st-century American writers
21st-century Baptists
21st-century American male writers
African-American Christians
African-American members of the United States House of Representatives
African-American people in Illinois politics
African-American writers
American male taekwondo practitioners
American people convicted of campaign finance violations
American people convicted of fraud
American prisoners and detainees
American wushu practitioners
Baptists from Illinois
Baptists from South Carolina
Chicago Theological Seminary alumni
Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Illinois
Illinois politicians convicted of crimes
Jesse Jr.
North Carolina A&T State University alumni
People from Dupont Circle
People with bipolar disorder
Politicians convicted of mail and wire fraud
Politicians from Chicago
Politicians from Greenville, South Carolina
Prisoners and detainees of the United States federal government
St. Albans School (Washington, D.C.) alumni
University of Illinois College of Law alumni
|
411929
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The%20Easybeats
|
The Easybeats
|
The Easybeats were an Australian rock band who formed in Sydney in late 1964. They are best known for their 1966 hit single "Friday on My Mind", which is regarded as the first Australian rock song to achieve international success; Rolling Stone described it as "the first international victory for Oz rock". One of the most popular and successful bands in the country, they were one of the few Australian bands of their time to foreground their original material; their first album Easy (1965) was one of the earliest Australian rock albums featuring all original songs.
The five founding members, all migrants from Europe, met at the Villawood Migrant Hostel in Sydney in 1964, and rose to national prominence in 1965 with the song "She's So Fine", which reached number three in Australia. Their concerts and public appearances were marked by an intense fanaticism frequently compared to Beatlemania; this phenomenon was subsequently dubbed "Easyfever". They relocated to the UK in 1966, where they recorded "Friday On My Mind". Following its success, the band struggled to maintain international recognition. Compounded by financial and contractual issues, drug use, and the increasing independence of guitarists and songwriters Harry Vanda and George Young, they returned to Australia in 1969 amid declining popularity back home and subsequently disbanded.
Lead singer Stevie Wright started a solo career and had a number one Australian hit with "Evie" in 1974; he died in 2015 after lengthy battles with drugs and alcohol and years of poor health. Guitarists Vanda and Young continued as a songwriting and producing duo and produced several albums by AC/DC; Young died in 2017. During their six-year run, they scored 15 top 40 hits in Australia, including "She's So Fine" and "Women (Make You Feel Alright)", with number-one hits including "Friday on My Mind" and "Sorry". They reunited for a tour in 1986. In 2005, they were inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame.
History
19641965: formation, Albert Productions and early success
All five founder members were from families that had migrated to Australia from Europe: lead singer Stevie Wright and drummer Gordon "Snowy" Fleet were English-born; rhythm guitarist George Young was Scottish-born; lead guitarist Harry Vanda and bassist Dick Diamonde were Dutch-born. The band formed at the Villawood Migrant Hostel. The families of the band members spent their first years in Australia housed at the Villawood Migrant Hostel in the early and mid-sixties.
The Easybeats' first gigs were in late 1964 at a music venue called Beatle Village, located in the basement of the Courthouse Hotel in Taylor Square in Darlinghurst, Sydney. The band was inspired by the "British Invasion" spearheaded by the Beatles. The Easybeats quickly rose to become one of the most popular groups in the city. Real estate agent turned pop music entrepreneur Mike Vaughan became their manager. Through his efforts, they were signed to a contract with Albert Productions, one of Australia's first independent record production companies. The company was established by Ted Albert, whose family owned J. Albert & Sons, a prominent music publishing company. Albert signed the band to a recording contract with EMI's Parlophone label. The group recorded a number of songs at the 2UW Theatre, owned by the parent company of Albert Productions, J. Albert and Son. They chose the bluesy "For My Woman" as their first single. It was picked up by Sydney radio and became a minor hit, reaching No. 33 on the charts.
19651966: rise to success and Easyfever
"She's So Fine", Easy and It's 2 Easy
Although "For My Woman" gained them some attention, the band felt they needed a more uptempo song to break through commercially. Their next single, "She's So Fine", gave them that commercial success, reaching No. 3 on the Australian charts and launching them to national stardom. Their concerts and public appearances were regularly marked by intense fan hysteria similar to "Beatlemania", soon dubbed "Easyfever" by the Australian press.
The band's follow-up single, the high-energy "Wedding Ring", released on 26 August 1965, was also a hit, reaching No. 7. On 23 September 1965, the group released its first album, Easy. It was one of the earliest albums of all original material written by an Australian rock group. All the songs were written by group members, with vocalist Stevie Wright and guitarist George Young co-writing eight of the fourteen songs on the album.
For the next single, "Sad and Lonely and Blue", the band returned to the blues based feel of "For My Woman". However, like "For My Woman", it failed to make the top 10, only reaching No. 21. Both "Wedding Ring" and "Sad and Lonely and Blue" were included on the group's second album, It's 2 Easy, released 24 March 1966. The lead singles from that album, "Women (Make You Feel Alright)" and "Come and See Her", put the group back in the top 10, reaching No. 4 and No. 3 respectively on the Australian charts. This time, Stevie Wright and George Young wrote all fourteen songs on the album. The Wright-Young songwriting team also wrote songs for other artists at this time, including "Step Back", which became a No. 1 hit for Johnny Young (no relation) in 1966.
United Artists Records and Volume 3
In early 1966, while the group was still touring Australia, manager Mike Vaughan flew to New York City to attempt to secure an American recording contract for the band. Despite an initial lack of interest, Vaughan was able to convince United Artists Records to sign the band. Just before relocating to London in 1966, they recorded a farewell TV special for the Seven Network, titled The Easybeats (more commonly known as The Coca-Cola Special), one of the few surviving appearances from the band's career during this period. The group left for the UK on 10 July 1966.
In August 1966, Albert Productions released an EP of material recorded before the group left Australia. Titled Easyfever, it reach No. 1 on the Australian singles charts. Albert Productions then released an entire album of material titled Volume 3 on 3 November 1966. This too was a commercial success and its lead single, "Sorry", topped the Australian charts. Again, Stevie Wright and George Young wrote all thirteen songs on the album.
19661967: international success
Shel Talmy, Vanda & Young and "Friday on My Mind"
After arriving in London the band recorded a number of songs with Ted Albert at EMI's Abbey Road Studios, but these were deemed unsuitable by United Artists Records and Albert was removed as producer. The band was then teamed with freelance producer Shel Talmy, who had achieved great success with his production for the Who and the Kinks. United Artists also felt that the band's song writing was too "unsophisticated" for the competitive UK market. The label had already released the Wright/Young composition "Come And See Her" as a single in the UK on 15 July and it had not sold well. Dutch-born Vanda, now having a stronger grasp of English, replaced Wright as Young's song writing partner at this point.
After auditioning several titles for Talmy, "Friday on My Mind" caught the producer's ear as the next single. The band recorded the song with Talmy at IBC Studios, London in September. "Friday on My Mind" was released in the UK on 14 October 1966. It reached #6 on the UK Charts making it the group's first big international hit. The song charted in multiple countries: No. 1 in Australia, No. 13 in Canada, No. 16 in the US, and the Top 10 in Germany, the Netherlands and France, and sold over one million copies worldwide. It was awarded a gold disc.
19671969: decline in popularity and break-up
Following up "Friday on My Mind", Easy Come, Easy Go and the scrapped album
On 17 March 1967, United Artists released the follow-up single to "Friday on My Mind"; "Who'll Be The One". The single was a commercial failure and did not make the UK charts (although it was No. 14 in Australia). The band was against releasing the single to begin with, as they felt it was not a strong enough track to follow "Friday on My Mind". Later that month, they toured Europe in support of The Rolling Stones.
During this period, the band was filmed by Australian director Peter Clifton for a proposed documentary for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Filmed under the title Between Heaven and Hell (which was later changed to Easy Come, Easy Go), the documentary was lost for nearly 42 years. It was restored, reedited and shown at film festivals in 2012.
In May, their first album for United Artists was released: Good Friday (re-titled Friday on My Mind in the US). That same month, they returned to Australia for a nationwide tour. After the tour, drummer Snowy Fleet decided to quit the band. Fleet was unhappy at the amount of time he had to spend away from his wife and young children. Returning to the UK without a drummer, the group began several recordings with a session drummer, Freddie Smith – a Glaswegian who had played with George Young's older brother Alex (stage name George Alexander) in Bobby Patrick & The Big Six.
During this period, the band recorded their next single, "Heaven And Hell", which marked a turning point for the group, with its sophisticated songwriting and arrangements. Vanda and Young were influenced by the current psychedelic pop, popular in the UK and US. The single was produced by Glyn Johns, who had worked as an engineer on the Shel Talmy sessions. The band also began work on a new album with Johns, most of which was recorded and prepared for issue but was never released because of the band's complicated financial and contractual problems.
"Heaven And Hell" was released in June and, like the previous single, it also failed to make a mark on the UK charts. This was due, in part, to the song being banned by the BBC. The single also ran into problems in the US, where a censored version titled "Heaven", replaced the lyric "Discovering someone else in your bed" with "discovering that her love has gone dead". In Australia the single did much better; reaching #8.
After extensive auditions in London a replacement drummer was found in Tony Cahill (born 20 December 1941) who had formerly played with Brisbane band The Purple Hearts. With Cahill, the band toured the US in August, supporting Gene Pitney. During their US visit, they recorded their next single, "Falling Off the Edge of the World", in New York. The single received moderate airplay in the US, but did not chart.
Vigil
The band returned to London and continued to work in the studio. Their next single, "The Music Goes 'Round My Head", again written by Vanda and Young, is considered to have been influenced by the emerging UK Rocksteady/Ska scene. In late 1967, Vanda and Young began writing for other artists. Two of their songs, "Bring a Little Lovin'" and "Come In, You'll Get Pneumonia", were covered by Los Bravos (and later by Ricky Martin as "Dime Que Me Quieres") and Paul Revere and The Raiders respectively. Still trying to get back into the UK charts, the band moved to a more pop-friendly sound and released the soft rock, ballad "Hello, How Are You" on 8 March 1968. The plan worked and the song reached #20 in the UK charts. However, in retrospect, the band have cited the change in sound as a mistake, stating that it alienated the band's longterm fans.
In May, the band finally released their second album for United Artists; Vigil (re-titled Falling Off The Edge of the World in the US). The album was a mixture of recent singles, new recordings and out-takes from the scrapped 1967 album. Two of the songs recorded for the abandoned LP, "Land of Make Believe" and "Good Times", were released as singles. The baroque pop ballad "Land of Make Believe" was released in the UK on 5 July and in Australia on 18 July. Although failing to chart in the UK, it reached No. 18 on the Australian charts. The B-side to the Australian single was the next UK single; "Good Times". Released on 13 September, "Good Times" again failed to chart in the UK. An often-told story about the song is that when the track was broadcast on BBC radio, it was reputedly heard by Paul McCartney on his car radio; McCartney apparently rang the station immediately to request a repeat playing. The song featured Steve Marriott of the Small Faces on backing vocals and Nicky Hopkins on piano. In November, Albert Productions released the UK B-side to "Good Times", the instrumental track "Lay Me Down and Die", as a single in Australia. The single was slammed by critics and reached #59 on the Australian chart; their lowest-charting single to date.
Through late 1968, the formerly tight-knit band began to drift apart. Drugs were a factor, but the growing independence of the Vanda and Young team as a creative unit was also a major catalyst. By this time the duo were working substantially on their own and between them they could now play almost any instrument needed for recordings and had become skilled in engineering and producing their own recordings. They wrote prolifically, but many of their songs from this period remained unreleased for many years. They were also reluctant to do more than a few gigs per month, and so the band only came together for occasional performances or for 'demo' sessions at Central Sound Studios in Denmark Street.
New contract with Polydor and "St. Louis"
In 1969, the band parted ways with United Artists and their production company Albert Productions to sign with Polydor Records. In April, the group went into London's Olympic Studios to record their first single for Polydor. They teamed up with producer Ray Singer, a former member of UK band Nirvana, who had made a name for himself as a producer with Peter Sarstedt's "Where Do You Go To (My Lovely)". "St. Louis" was released on 27 June 1969, but failed to chart in the UK. However it reached No. 21 on the Go-Set charts in Australia. In July 1969, it was announced that the working relationship between manager Mike Vaughan and the group had come to an end.
To continue their work as songwriters for hire, Vanda and Young took over a flat on Moscow Road in Bayswater in London which had previously been used as a jingle studio for pirate radio stations. With modifications, it became a 4-track home studio and Vanda and Young began producing demos, working mostly on their own. As with their Central Sound records, they played most of the instruments on their recordings with the other Easybeats members occasionally contributing. Nine of these demo recordings (with single "St. Louis" and "Can’t Find Love") were released by Polydor as an album under The Easybeats' name as Friends. This album was released after their break-up.
Final Australian tour and break-up
In September 1969, the band undertook a short European tour and then reluctantly accepted the offer of a five-week Australian tour. The tour was reported as being a last-ditch attempt to bail the group out of its mounting pool of debts.
A number of factors made the Australian tour less than successful. Rather than playing larger venues as they did on the 1967 tour, the band was booked to play mainly smaller clubs and dance halls. Also, the band had reverted to 'no frills' hard rock whereas the Australian pop scene was preoccupied with progressive rock, soul, and bubblegum pop.
The situation was further complicated by Albert Productions' unwelcome release (against the band's wishes) of several lo-fi demo recordings on The Best of The Easybeats Volume 2. The recordings were songwriter demos sent to Albert Productions in 1967 and 1968 for other artists to record. "Peculiar Hole in the Sky" from that album was released as a single, it was originally recorded by Australian band the Valentines.
In October 1969 the band made a valedictory TV appearance in the ATN-7 Easybeats Special (which was broadcast after the tour on 2 November). After their performance at Caesar's Place Disco, Sydney, on 25 October, a wedding was held for Diamonde and actress Charlene Collins. The following day, the Easybeats travelled to Orange, New South Wales. There they made a television appearance at the CBN-8 television studios and performed a show at the Amoco Centre in Orange city centre. However, the show was interrupted by hostile audience members and was cancelled after only 20 minutes. This was The Easybeats' final performance. After the tour, the band went their separate ways.
1969present: post break-up
1970s: Vanda & Young and Wright's solo commercial success
Vanda and Young
Vanda and Young returned to the UK and remained there for three years, working to pay off debts incurred during The Easybeats' years. During the period 1970-74 they recorded under a number of names: Paintbox, Tramp, Eddie Avana, Moondance, Haffy's Whisky Sour, Vanda & Young, Band of Hope and the Marcus Hook Roll Band. They returned to Australia in 1973 and reunited with Ted Albert and became the house producers for his new Albert Productions record label, writing for and/or producing many chart-topping acts including Stevie Wright, Rose Tattoo, Cheetah, the Angels and William Shakespeare.
They wrote and produced several major hits for John Paul Young including "Love Is in the Air" and "Yesterday's Hero", which was also a hit for The Bay City Rollers, and produced the first six albums for AC/DC (which featured George's younger brothers Angus Young and Malcolm Young).
In the period 1976-92 Vanda and Young also recorded several singles under the pseudonym Flash and the Pan which charted in Australia and the UK, including "Hey St. Peter" and "Down Among the Dead Men". They had even more success in Europe with hits such as "Waiting for a Train", "Midnight Man", "Early Morning Wake Up Call", and "Ayla", from the number 1 albums Early Morning Wake Up Call, Headlines, and Nights in France. Singer-model-actress Grace Jones also recorded a successful cover version of their song "Walking in the Rain".
Stevie Wright
Stevie Wright went on to become a cast member of the original Australian stage production of Jesus Christ Superstar (1972–73) and then launched a successful but short-lived solo career with the hit single "Evie" and the album Hard Road in 1974, which reunited him with Vanda and Young, who produced the records and wrote many of the songs, including "Evie", an ambitious three-part suite split over two sides of a single.
In later years Wright suffered debilitating drug and alcohol problems which were further exacerbated by his self-admission to the notorious Chelmsford Private Hospital in Sydney. Its director, Dr Harry Bailey, administered a highly controversial treatment known as "deep sleep therapy" which allegedly cured drug addiction with a combination of drug-induced coma and electroshock. Many patients, including Wright, suffered brain damage and lifelong after-effects, while others died as a result of the treatments.
Snowy Fleet, Tony Cahill and Dick Diamonde
Original drummer Gordon "Snowy" Fleet became a successful builder in Perth, Western Australia, and now runs a rehearsal studio based in Jandakot, Western Australia. His replacement, Tony Cahill, remained in the UK for a time, briefly joining the final studio lineup of Python Lee Jackson as a bassist, before moving to the United States to tour with King Harvest.
Dick Diamonde moved to the New South Wales North Coast and retired from performing, after some years of singing and playing in local pubs.
1980s: Solo careers and the Easybeats reunion tour
In 1980, Flash and the Pan released their second album Lights in the Night. Their next album, Headlines was released in August 1982. This featured the singles "Waiting for a Train" which reached #7 on the UK Charts and "Where Were You". The music video for "Where Were You" featured Stevie Wright as a futuristic rock star miming to George Young's vocals. Wright also provided vocals for the album. That same year there was talk of an Easybeats' reunion. Wright told Juke Magazine in 1983 "we had our lawyers working out the deal" because there was a venue interested in having them "but at the last minute they tried to change the venue and we just said 'forget it'."
In 1983, there was a talk of a solo album with work done again with Vanda and Young. Wright said the album would best be described as "classy rock 'n' roll" and the songs were about "a wide spectrum of all the experiences I've been through". He said the love songs he had were optimistic. This interview gives a good idea as to how Wright worked in the studio with Vanda and Young: "Well, it's a three way thing. They'll sit down and say 'we've got this sort of song' and we'll discuss how we'll approach it. Obviously after this long we do have a very strong bond. I've written a couple of songs but since they're far better at it than I am, I'll let them handle that." According to the Juke Magazine article it was "due for release later that year", however this never happened.
In January 1984, Wright was charged with attempted housebreaking days after attending Westmount drug rehabilitation centre in Katoomba, west of Sydney. He was arrested for heroin use later that month. He had been using heroin since about 1973, and, according to Wright, he remained an addict for 20 years. Also that year, Flash and the Pan's next album, Early Morning Wake Up Call, was released.
In November 1986, the original line-up reunited for an Australian tour. The tour was warmly received by critics and fans. Wright reformed the Stevie Wright Band and relaunched his live career, gigging around Australia in hotels and clubs between 1986 and 1988. In 1987, Flash and the Pan released their fifth album, Nights in France.
Vanda and Young returned to producing AC/DC on their 1988 album Blow Up Your Video.
1990s and beyond: semi-retirement
In 1992 Flash and the Pan released their final album Burning Up The Night. Wright's substance abuse problems spiralled out of control in the 1980s and 1990s and he came close to death on several occasions, but was pulled back from the brink by his partner, Faye. In 1999 journalist Jack Marx published a much-anticipated book about Wright, entitled Sorry - The Wretched Tale of Little Stevie Wright. It was critically applauded by some reviewers - Australian music historian Clinton Walker calling it "gonzo journalism at its best", while The Bulletin later referred to Sorry as "one of the most harrowing rock books ever written".
Nevertheless, Sorry earned the disdain of its subject, Wright's many fans and other critics. Internet reviewer Ken Grady (Luna Cafe, 1999) described Marx as "a self serving hypocrite" and concluded his review by observing: "The only thing that Marx has achieved is to depict himself as a very unlikeable, morally bankrupt leech."
The 2000s saw a band calling itself "The Easybeats" tour and make TV appearances around Europe. No members were in any line-up of the Australian band or played on any of the records, despite the lead singer using a similar name. In addition, another English cover band has taken the Easybeats name, while also having no members who were in the Australian band or played on any of the original recordings. In 2000, George Young produced AC/DC's Stiff Upper Lip album. It was the first time he had worked with the group without Harry Vanda co-producing.
Due to his health, Wright only performed a small number of shows in the 2000s, although in 2002 he was well enough to perform as part of the all-star Long Way to the Top national concert tour. His autobiography, Hard Road, was published in 2004. In 2007, Stevie Wright performed at the Gathering Festival in Yandina, Sunshine Coast. On 31 January 2009, Wright closed the Legends of Rock festival in Byron Bay, Australia. On 14 July 2005, the Easybeats were inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame. Wright, Vanda and Snowy Fleet attended the ceremony.
Cahill died in Sydney on 13 August 2014, as the result of a brain tumour.
After falling ill on 26 December 2015, Wright was admitted to hospital on the South Coast of New South Wales, Australia. He did not recover and died on the evening the next day.
George Young died on 22 October 2017.
Popular culture
A cover version of "Good Times" by INXS and Jimmy Barnes was a No. 2 in Australia in 1986, and became the biggest selling single on Mushroom Records. In 1987 it became a No. 47 hit in the US after being featured on the soundtrack of the film The Lost Boys.
In 1987, Gary Moore released a cover version of "Friday on My Mind" on the Wild Frontier album that charted in Australia, Ireland, Finland, New Zealand and the UK.
Discography
Studio albums
Easy (1965)
It's 2 Easy (1966)
Volume 3 (1966)
Good Friday / Friday on My Mind (1967)
Vigil / Falling Off the Edge of the World (1969)
Friends (1970)
Members
Stevie Wright – vocals (1964–1969, 1986) ( 2015)
George Young – guitar (1964–1969, 1986) ( 2017)
Harry Vanda – guitar (1964–1969, 1986)
Dick Diamonde – bass (1964–1969, 1986)
Snowy Fleet – drums (1964–1967, 1986)
Tony Cahill – drums (1967–1969) ( 2014)
Timeline
Portrayals in media
Friday on My Mind is an Australian television drama mini series first screened on ABC in 2017, based on the history of the band from its formation at the Villawood Migrant Hostel in 1964 to the 1969 breakup.
Awards and nominations
ARIA Music Awards
The ARIA Music Awards is an annual awards ceremony that recognises excellence, innovation, and achievement across all genres of Australian music. They commenced in 1987. The Easybeats were inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2005.
|-
| ARIA Music Awards of 2005
| The Easybeats
| ARIA Hall of Fame
|
References
Bibliography
Hard Road - The Life and Times of Stevie Wright, by Glenn Goldsmith with Stevie Wright, Random House Australia, 2004,
External links
MILESAGO - The Easybeats
The Easybeats All Music Biography
APRA Award winners
ARIA Award winners
ARIA Hall of Fame inductees
Musical groups from Sydney
Australian rock music groups
Parlophone artists
Musical groups established in 1964
Musical groups disestablished in 1969
Beat groups
Australian expatriates in England
Australian musical quintets
1964 establishments in Australia
1969 disestablishments in Australia
|
411964
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer%20accessibility
|
Computer accessibility
|
Computer accessibility (also known as accessible computing) refers to the accessibility of a computer system to all people, regardless of disability type or severity of impairment. The term accessibility is most often used in reference to specialized hardware or software, or a combination of both, designed to enable the use of a computer by a person with a disability or impairment. Computer accessibility often has direct positive effects on people with disabilities.
Accessibility features are meant to make the use of technology less challenging for those with disabilities. Common accessibility features include text-to-speech, closed-captioning, and keyboard shortcuts. More specific technologies that need additional hardware may be referred to as assistive technology.
There are many disabilities or impairments that can be a barrier to effective computer use. These impairments, which can be acquired from disease, trauma, or maybe congenital, include but are not limited to:
Cognitive impairments (head injury, autism, developmental disabilities) and learning disabilities, (such as dyslexia, dyscalculia, or ADHD).
Visual impairment, such as low-vision, complete or partial blindness, and color blindness.
Hearing-related disabilities (deafness), including deafness, being hard of hearing, or hyperacusis.
Motor or dexterity impairment such as paralysis, cerebral palsy, dyspraxia, carpal tunnel syndrome, and repetitive strain injury.
A topic closely linked to computer accessibility is web accessibility. Similar to computer accessibility, web accessibility is the practice of making the use of the World Wide Web easier for individuals with disabilities.
Accessibility is often abbreviated as the numeronym a11y, where the number 11 refers to the number of letters omitted. This parallels the abbreviations of internationalization and localization as i18n and l10n, respectively. Moreover, a11y is also listed on the USPTO Supplemental Register under Accessibility Now, Inc.
Assessment for assistive technology use
People wishing to overcome an impairment in order to use a computer comfortably and productively may require a "special needs assessment" by an assistive technology consultant (such as an occupational therapist, a rehabilitation engineering technologist, or an educational technologist) to help them identify and configure appropriate assistive technologies to meet individual needs. Even those who are unable to leave their own home or who live far from assessment providers may be assessed (and assisted) remotely using remote desktop software and a web cam. For example, the assessor logs on to the client's computer via a broadband Internet connection, observes the user's computer skills, and then remotely makes accessibility adjustments to the client's computer where necessary.
Accessibility options for specific impairments
Cognitive impairments and illiteracy
The biggest challenge in computer accessibility is to make resources accessible to people with cognitive disabilities—particularly those with poor communication and reading skills. As an example, people with learning disabilities may rely on proprietary symbols and thus identify particular products via the product's symbols or icons. Unfortunately, copyright laws can limit icon or symbol release to web-based programs and websites by owners who are unwilling to release them to the public.
In these situations, an alternative approach for users who want to access public computer-based terminals in libraries, ATMs, and information kiosks is for the user to present a token to the computer terminal, such as a smart card, that has configuration information to adjust the computer speed, text size, etcetera to their particular needs. The concept is encompassed by the CEN standard "Identification card systems – Human-machine interface". This development of this standard has been supported in Europe by SNAPI and has been successfully incorporated into the Local Authority Smartcards Standards e-Organisation (LASSeO) specifications.
Visual impairment
Since computer interfaces often solicit visual input and provide visual feedback, another significant challenge in computer accessibility involves making software usable by people with visual impairments. For individuals with mild to medium vision impairment, it is helpful to use large fonts, high DPI displays, high-contrast themes and icons supplemented with auditory feedback and screen magnifying software. In the case of severe vision impairment such as blindness, screen reader software that provides feedback via text to speech or a refreshable braille display is a necessary accommodation for interaction with a computer.
About 8% of men and about 0.4% of women have some form of color-blindness. The main color combinations that might be confused by people with visual deficiency include red/green and blue/yellow. However, in a well-designed user interface, the color will not be the primary way to distinguish between different pieces of information.
Motor and dexterity impairments
Some people may not be able to use a conventional input device, such as the mouse or the keyboard. Therefore, it is important for software functions to be accessible using both devices. Ideally, the software will use a generic input API that permits the use even of highly specialized devices unheard of at the time of software's initial development. Keyboard shortcuts and mouse gestures are ways to achieve this access, as are more specialized solutions, including on-screen software keyboards and alternate input devices (switches, joysticks and trackballs). Users may enable a bounce key feature, allowing the keyboard to ignore repeated presses of the same key. Speech recognition technology is also a compelling and suitable alternative to conventional keyboard and mouse input as it simply requires a commonly available audio headset.
UI design can also improve accessibility for users with motor impairments. For example, barrier pointing design allows commonly-used functions to require less accuracy to select.
The astrophysicist Stephen Hawking is an example of someone with severe motor and physical limitations who used assistive technology to support activities of daily living. He used a switch, combined with special software, that allowed him to control his wheelchair-mounted computer using his limited and small movement ability. This personalized system allowed him to remain mobile, do research, and produce his written work. Prof. Hawking also used augmentative and alternative communication technology to speak and an environmental control device to access equipment independently.
A small amount of modern research indicates that utilizing a standard computer mouse device improves fine-motor skills.
Hearing impairment
While sound user interfaces have a secondary role in common desktop computing, these interfaces are usually limited to using system sounds such as feedback. Some software producers take into account people who cannot hear due to hearing impairments, silence requirements, or lack of sound-producing software. The system sounds like beeps can be substituted or supplemented with visual notifications and captioned text (akin to closed captioning). Closed captions are a very popular means of relaying information for the Deaf and hearing-impaired communities. Modern computer animation also allows for translation of content into sign language by means of sign language avatars, such as SiMAX.
Types of software accessibility
Accessibility application programming interfaces
Software APIs (application programming interfaces) exist to allow assistive technology products such as screen readers and screen magnifiers to work with mainstream software. The current or past APIs include:
Java Accessibility and the Java Access Bridge for Java software (being standardized as ISO/IEC TR 13066-6);
Assistive Technology Service Provider Interface (AT-SPI) on UNIX and Linux (being standardized as ISO/IEC PDTR 13066-4);
Microsoft Active Accessibility (MSAA) on Microsoft Windows;
IAccessible2 on Microsoft Windows, a competitor of Microsoft UI Automation also replacing MSAA by Free Standards Group (standardized as ISO/IEC 13066-3:2012);
Mac OS X Accessibility;
Microsoft UI Automation on Microsoft Windows, replacing MSAA.
Some of these APIs are being standardized in the ISO/IEC 13066 series of standards.
Accessibility features in mainstream software
Accessibility software can also make input devices easier to access at the user level. These include:
Keyboard shortcuts and MouseKeys allow the user to substitute keyboarding for mouse actions. Macro recorders can greatly extend the range and sophistication of keyboard shortcuts.
Sticky keys allows characters or commands to be typed without having to hold down a modifier key (Shift, Ctrl, or Alt) while pressing a second key. Similarly, ClickLock is a Microsoft Windows feature that remembers a mouse button is down so that items can be highlighted or dragged without holding the mouse button down while scrolling.
Customization of mouse or mouse alternatives' responsiveness to movement, double-clicking, and so forth.
ToggleKeys is a feature of Microsoft Windows 95 onwards. A high sound is heard when the caps lock, scroll lock, or number lock key is switched on. A low sound is heard when any of those keys is switched off.
Customization of pointer appearance, such as size, color, and shape.
Predictive text
Spell checkers and grammar checkers
Support for learning disabilities
Other approaches may be particularly relevant to users with a learning disability. These include:
Cause and effect software
Switch-accessible software (navigable with a switch)
Hand–eye coordination skills software
Diagnostic assessment software
Mind mapping software
Study skills software
Symbol-based software
Text-to-speech
Touch typing software
Open Accessibility Framework
The Open Accessibility Framework (OAF) provides an outline of the steps that must be in place in order for any computing platform to be considered accessible. These steps are analogous to those necessary to make a physical or built environment accessible. The OAF divides the required steps into two categories: creation and use.
The "creation" steps describe the precursors and building blocks required for technology developers to create accessible applications and products. They are as follows:
Define what "accessible" means for the identified use of the platform. It must be clear what is meant by "accessible" as this will differ according to the modality and capabilities of each platform. Accessibility features may include tabbing navigation, theming, and an accessibility API.
Provide accessible stock user interface elements. Pre-built "stock" user interface elements, used by application developers and authoring tools, must be implemented to make use of the accessibility features of a platform.
Provide authoring tools that support accessibility. Application developers and content authors should be encouraged to implement tools that will improve the accessibility features of a platform. Using these tools can support accessible stock user interface elements, prompt for information required to properly implement an accessibility API, and identify accessibility evaluation and repair tools.
The "use" steps describe what is necessary for the computing environment in which these accessible applications will run. They are as follows:
Provide platform supports. Computing platforms must properly implement the accessibility features that are specified in their accessibility definition. For example, the accessibility API definitions must be implemented correctly in the program code.
Provide accessible application software. Accessible applications must be available for the platform and they must support the accessibility features of the platform. This may be achieved by simply engaging the accessible stock elements and authoring tools that support accessibility.
Provide assistive technologies. Assistive technologies (e.g. screen readers, screen magnifiers, voice input, adapted keyboards) must actually be available for the platform so that the users can effectively interface with the technology.
The following examples show that the OAF can be applied to different types of platforms: desktop operating systems, web applications and the mobile platform. A more complete list can be found in the Open Source Accessibility Repository by the Open Accessibility Everywhere Group (OAEG).
Accessibility APIs include the Assistive Technology Service Provider Interface and UI Automation on the desktop, WAI-ARIA in web applications, and the Blackberry Accessibility API on the Blackberry operating system.
Other APIs are keyboard access and theming in widget libraries like Java Swing for desktop applications, the jQuery UI and Fluid Infusion for Web applications, and the Lightweight User Interface Toolkit (LWUIT) for mobile applications.
Support for accessible development can be effective by using Glade (for the GTK+ toolkit), the DIAS plugin for NetBeans IDE, Xcode IDE for iOS applications. Accessibility inspection tools like Accerciser (for AT-SPI) and support for accessible authoring with the AccessODF plugin for LibreOffice and Apache OpenOffice also fit into this step.
Support for UI Automation on Microsoft Windows, support for ATK and AT-SPI in Linux GNOME, WAI-ARIA support in Firefox, and the MIDP LWUIT mobile runtime (or the MIDP LCDUI mobile runtime) that is available on mobile phones with Java are examples of APIs.
The DAISY player AMIS on the Microsoft Windows desktop and the AEGIS Contact Manager for phones with Java ME are designed for accessibility.
The GNOME Shell Magnifier and Orca on the GNOME desktop, GNOME's ATK (Accessibility Toolkit), the web-based screen reader WebAnywhere, and the alternative text-entry system Dasher for Linux, iOS and Android are examples of assistive technologies.
The goal of the listed tools is to embed accessibility into various mainstream technologies.
Positive effects of computer accessibility
Effects in school
Computer accessibility plays a large role in the classroom. Accessible technology can enable personalized learning for all students.
Students who can benefit from personalized learning
In most classrooms, students can benefit from the following:
Easier to see PCs for those who have a hard time seeing the board.
Less cluttered PCs for those who have difficulty concentrating.
Easier to hear PCs for those who have difficulty hearing the teacher speak.
Impacts in the classroom
When accessible technology allows personalized learning, there are positive impacts on students. Personalized learning switches the focus from what is being taught to what is being learned. This allows the students to need to become an integral part of the learning process. Accessibility in the classroom allows millions of students of all backgrounds to have equal educational opportunities and keep up with their non-disabled peers.
When PCs are personalized for students in the classroom, students are more comfortable in the classroom, special needs students are better assisted and teachers can save time and effort.
While PCs can provide a large amount of support in the classroom, iPads and apps can play a large role as well. Apps are constantly being developed to aid teachers, parents, and children. Educators have noted that the ease and portability of tablets make them a preferred choice that offers usage in a variety of environments. The advantages include interactivity, Internet access and text messaging. Educators have noticed improvements in motor skills, reading skills, and interaction with others in students.
Impacts outside the classroom
Parents and teachers can notice the long-term effects that accessibility has on students with disabilities. This can include enhanced social skills, better relationships with family and friends, increased understanding of the world around them, and an exhibition of self-reliance and confidence. Changes can be seen in not only children but adults as well. Social media can help parents to learn, share knowledge, and receive moral support.
Effects in the workplace
Computer accessibility plays a large role in the workplace. In the past few years, adults have had their disabilities accommodated by the ability to work from home and by the availability of reliable software. This allows workers to work in a comfortable area while still being able to support themselves. This is allowing thousands of people with disabilities to create and earn jobs for themselves. The inexpensiveness and reliability of computers has facilitated the process.
Standards and regulations regarding computer accessibility
Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973
Section 508 requires US Federal agencies make their electronic and information technology (EIT) accessible to all disabled employees and members of the public. The US Access Board develops and maintains the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) accessibility standards. The Access Board issued a final rule that went into effect on January 18, 2018, updating accessibility requirements under Section 508. This final rule requires that all electronic content generated by US Federal agencies must conform to Level A and Level AA success criteria in WCAG 2.0, with four exceptions for non-Web documents: 2.4.1 Bypass Blocks, 2.4.5 Multiple Ways, 3.2.3 Consistent Navigation, and 3.2.4 Consistent Identification.
International Standards
ISO 9241-171:2008
ISO 9241-171:2008 is a standard that provides ergonomics guidance and specifications for the design of accessible software for public use.
Compiled from independent standards experts, this document is the most comprehensive and technical standard for designing accessible features for software, covering all disabilities and all aspects of software. It provides examples of two priority levels ('Required' and 'Recommended') and offers a handy checklist designed to help with recording software testing results.
Because of its complexity and technical nature, and with upwards of 150 individual statements, ISO 9241-172 is difficult to interpret and apply. Luckily, not every statement is relevant to every situation, so it may be advisable to identify a subset of statements that are tailored to the particular software environment, making the use of this document much more achievable.
See also
Assistive technology
Augmentative and alternative communication
Digital rights
Game accessibility
Global Accessibility Awareness Day
Knowbility
Modding
Ubiquitous computing
Web accessibility
References
External links
The annual ERCIM Workshop on 'User Interfaces for All' emphasizing accessibility
Better Living Through Technology - contains guides on accessibility options and information about specialist assistive hardware and software
HP Accessibility
AbilityNet - provides information on accessibility, assistive technology, and remote assessment
C4EA Consortium For E-learning Accessibility
W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)
Accessibility in the Opera web browser
Mozilla Accessibility Project
Open Office Accessibility Project
EU Project Guide: Multimodal user interfaces for elderly people with mild impairments
es:Accesibilidad
it:Accessibilità (informatica)
|
411986
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctors%27%20plot
|
Doctors' plot
|
The "doctors' plot" () was a Soviet state-sponsored antisemitic campaign and conspiracy theory that alleged a cabal of prominent medical specialists (predominately of Jewish ethnicity) intended to murder leading government and party officials. It was also known as the case of saboteur doctors or killer doctors. In 1951–1953, a group of predominantly Jewish doctors from Moscow were accused of a conspiracy to assassinate Soviet leaders. This was later accompanied by publications of antisemitic character in the media, which talked about the threats of Zionism and condemned people with Jewish surnames. Following this, many doctors, both Jews and non-Jews, were dismissed from their jobs, arrested, and tortured to produce admissions. A few weeks after the death of Stalin in 1953, the new Soviet leadership said there was a lack of evidence regarding the doctors' plot and the case was dropped. Soon after, the case was declared to have been a fabrication.
Beginnings
A number of theories attempt to explain the origins of the doctors' plot case. Historians typically relate it to the earlier case of Stalin's destruction of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee and the campaign against the so-called Jewish rootless cosmopolitans in the second half of the 1940s, as well as to the power struggle within the Soviet leadership during that time. The campaign against the doctors was presumably set in motion by Stalin as a pretext to launch a massive purge of the Communist Party, and, according to Edvard Radzinsky, even to consolidate the country for a future World War III.
In 1948, an allegation was made by a Soviet veteran medical worker, Lydia Timashuk, who stated that "intentional distortions in medical conclusions [were] made by major medical experts who served as consultants in the hospital". Timashuk "exposed their criminal designs" and as such the security bodies of the Soviet Union were made aware of the existence of the alleged conspiracy against Stalin. Stalin had strong doubts about Timashuk's allegations. Stalin's daughter, Svetlana Alliluyeva, stated that her father was "very saddened by the turn of events" and that the housekeeper heard him saying that he did not believe the doctors were "dishonest" and that the only evidence against them were the reports of Timashuk.
In 1951, Ministry for State Security (MGB) investigator Mikhail Ryumin reported to his superior, Viktor Abakumov, Minister of the MGB, that Professor Yakov Etinger, who was arrested as a "bourgeois nationalist" with connections to the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee, had committed malpractice in treating Andrei Zhdanov (died 1948) and Alexander Shcherbakov (died 1945), allegedly with the intention of killing them. However, Abakumov refused to believe the story. Etinger died in prison (2 March 1951) due to interrogations and harsh conditions. Ryumin was then dismissed from his position in the MGB for misappropriating money and was held responsible for the death of Etinger. With the assistance of Georgy Malenkov, Ryumin wrote a letter to Stalin, accusing Abakumov of killing Etinger in order to hide a conspiracy to kill off the Soviet leadership. On 4 July 1951, the Politburo set up a commission (headed by Malenkov and including Beria) to investigate the issue. Based on the commission's report, the Politburo soon passed a resolution on the "bad situation in the MGB" and Abakumov was fired.
Beria and Malenkov both tried to use the situation to expand their power through gaining control of the MGB.
Arrests
Abakumov was arrested and tortured soon after being dismissed as head of the MGB. He was charged with being a sympathizer and protector of the criminal Jewish underground. This arrest was followed by the arrests of many agents who worked for him in the central apparatus of the MGB, including most Jews.
The killer doctors case was revived in 1952 when the letter from cardiologist was dug up from the archives. In 1948, Timashuk wrote a letter to the head of Stalin's security, General Nikolai Vlasik, explaining that Zhdanov suffered a heart attack, but the Kremlin doctors who treated him missed it and prescribed the wrong treatment for him. Zhdanov soon died and the doctors covered up their mistake. The letter, however, was originally ignored. In 1953, Timashuk was awarded the Order of Lenin (later revoked) "for the assistance in unmasking killer doctors", and for a long time Timashuk had an unjust stigma of the instigator of this persecution of doctors after Khrushchev in his "Secret Speech" mentioned her in this respect.
The Kremlin doctors involved in the cover up were to be arrested, but they were all Russian. To portray the conspiracy as Zionist, Ryumin and Semyon Ignatyev, who had succeeded Abakumov as head of the MGB, had the Jewish doctors Etinger supposedly specified also added to the arrest list; many of them, like Miron Vovsi, had been consulted by the Kremlin's medical department. The arrests started in September 1952. Vlasik was fired as head of Stalin's security and eventually also arrested for ignoring the Timashuk letter.
Initially, 37 were arrested. Under torture, prisoners seized in the investigation of the alleged plot were compelled to produce evidence against themselves and their associates.
Stalin harangued Ignatyev and accused the MGB of incompetence. He demanded that the interrogations of doctors already under arrest be accelerated. Stalin complained that there was no clear picture of the Zionist conspiracy and no solid evidence that specifically the Jewish doctors were guilty.
Newly opened KGB archives provide evidence that Stalin forwarded the collected interrogation materials to Malenkov, Khrushchev and other "potential victims of doctors' plot".
Media campaign
Stalin ordered the news agency TASS and Pravda, the official newspaper of the CPSU, to issue reports about the uncovering of a doctors' plot to assassinate top Soviet leaders, including Stalin himself. The possible goal of the campaign was to set the stage for show trials. Other sources say that the initiative came from Beria and Malenkov, who continued to use the plot for their own interests. Beria pushed the Politburo to decide to publicize the plot on 9 January 1953. For him, it was especially important that the doctors' plot got more attention than the Mingrelian Affair, which personally affected him.
On January 13, 1953, nine eminent doctors in Moscow were accused of taking part in a vast plot to poison members of the top Soviet political and military leadership. Pravda reported the accusations under the headline "Vicious Spies and Killers under the Mask of Academic Physicians":
Today the TASS news agency reported the arrest of a group of saboteur-doctors. This terrorist group, uncovered some time ago by organs of state security, had as their goal shortening the lives of leaders of the Soviet Union by means of medical sabotage.
Investigation established that participants in the terrorist group, exploiting their position as doctors and abusing the trust of their patients, deliberately and viciously undermined their patients' health by making incorrect diagnoses, and then killed them with bad and incorrect treatments. Covering themselves with the noble and merciful calling of physicians, men of science, these fiends and killers dishonored the holy banner of science. Having taken the path of monstrous crimes, they defiled the honor of scientists.
Among the victims of this band of inhuman beasts were Comrades A. A. Zhdanov and A. S. Shcherbakov. The criminals confessed that, taking advantage of the illness of Comrade Zhdanov, they intentionally concealed a myocardial infarction, prescribed inadvisable treatments for this serious illness and thus killed Comrade Zhdanov. Killer doctors, by incorrect use of very powerful medicines and prescription of harmful regimens, shortened the life of Comrade Shcherbakov, leading to his death.
The majority of the participants of the terrorist group… were bought by American intelligence. They were recruited by a branch-office of American intelligence – the international Jewish bourgeois-nationalist organization called "Joint." The filthy face of this Zionist spy organization, covering up their vicious actions under the mask of charity, is now completely revealed…
Unmasking the gang of poisoner-doctors struck a blow against the international Jewish Zionist organization.... Now all can see what sort of philanthropists and "friends of peace" hid beneath the sign-board of "Joint."
Other participants in the terrorist group (Vinogradov, M. Kogan, Egorov) were discovered, as has been presently determined, to have been long-time agents of English intelligence, serving it for many years, carrying out its most criminal and sordid tasks. The bigwigs of the USA and their English junior partners know that to achieve domination over other nations by peaceful means is impossible. Feverishly preparing for a new world war, they energetically send spies inside the USSR and the people's democratic countries: they attempt to accomplish what the Hitlerites could not do — to create in the USSR their own subversive "fifth column."...
The Soviet people should not for a minute forget about the need to heighten their vigilance in all ways possible, to be alert for all schemes of war-mongers and their agents, to constantly strengthen the Armed Forces and the intelligence organs of our government.
Other individuals mentioned included:
Solomon Mikhoels (actor-director of the Moscow State Jewish Theater and the head of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee, assassinated in January 1948), who was called a "well-known Jewish bourgeois nationalist"
Miron Vovsi (therapist, Stalin's personal physician and a cousin of Mikhoels)
(therapist), also a personal doctor to Stalin
Mikhail Kogan (therapist)
Boris Kogan (therapist)
P. Yegorov (therapist)
A. Feldman (otolaryngologist)
Yakov Etinger (therapist)
(neuropathologist)
G. Mayorov (therapist)
Six of the nine mentioned doctors were Jewish.
The list of alleged victims included high-ranked officials Andrei Zhdanov, Aleksandr Shcherbakov, Army Marshals Aleksandr Vasilevsky, Leonid Govorov and Ivan Konev, General Sergei Shtemenko, Admiral Gordey Levchenko and others.
Stalin intended to publish in Pravda a letter signed by many prominent Soviet Jews in which the Jews involved in the plot would be denounced, and differences between them and other Soviet Jews (those loyal to the USSR and to socialism) would be made clear. Two versions of the letter were created, but it was never published. Either Stalin eventually decided not to publish it or it was still being worked on at the time of his death.
Stalin's death and the consequences
After Stalin's death on March 5, 1953, the new leadership quickly dismissed all charges related to the plot; the doctors were exonerated in a March 31 decree by the newly appointed Minister of Internal Affairs, Lavrentiy Beria, and on April 6, this was communicated to the public in Pravda. Chief MGB investigator and Deputy Minister of State Security Mikhail Ryumin was accused of fabricating the plot, arrested and later executed. A Komsomol official, Nikolai Mesyatsev, was assigned by Malenkov to review the doctors' plot case and quickly found that it was fabricated. There is a tale in the Hasidic Chabad movement that Stalin became sick as a consequence of some metaphysical intervention of the seventh Chabad leader, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, during the recitation of a public discourse at a Purim gathering in 1953, which supposedly caused Stalin's death and averted massive deportations of Soviet Jews to Siberia that were to take place as a result of the antisemitic campaign sorrounding the doctor's plot affair.
Khrushchev's statements
In his 1956 "Secret Speech", First Secretary Nikita Khrushchev stated that the doctors' plot was "fabricated... set up by Stalin," but that Stalin did not "have the time in which to bring it to an end," which saved the doctors' lives. Khrushchev also told the session that Stalin called the judge in the case and, regarding the methods to be used, stated "beat, beat and, beat again." Stalin supposedly told his Minister of State Security, "If you do not obtain confessions from the doctors we will shorten you by a head."
Khrushchev also claimed that Stalin hinted to him to incite antisemitism in Ukraine, saying, "The good workers at the factory should be given clubs so they can beat the hell out of those Jews." "Factory workers" armed with clubs had been used in 1946 in the Soviet secret police operation known as the Kielce pogrom, one of a coordinated series of pogroms across Eastern Europe.
According to Khrushchev, Stalin told Politburo members, "You are blind like young kittens. What will happen without me? The country will perish because you do not know how to recognize enemies."
Khrushchev asserted that Stalin intended to use the doctors' trial to launch a massive purge of the Communist Party.
Alleged planned deportation of Jews
Samson Madievsky has advanced a view, based on various memoirs and secondary evidence, that the doctors' plot case was intended to trigger the mass repression and deportation of the Jews to the Jewish Autonomous Oblast, similar to the deportations of many other ethnic minorities in the Soviet Union, but the plan was not accomplished because of the sudden death of Stalin.
According to Louis Rapoport, the alleged deportation was planned to start with the public execution of the imprisoned doctors, and then the "following incidents would follow": "attacks on Jews orchestrated by the secret police, the publication of the statement by the prominent Jews, and a flood of other letters demanding that action be taken. A three-stage program of genocide would be followed. First, almost all Soviet Jews ... would be shipped to camps east of the Urals ... Second, the authorities would set Jewish leaders at all levels against one another ... Also the MGB [Secret Police] would start killing the elites in the camps, just as they had killed the Yiddish writers ... the previous year. The ... final stage would be to 'get rid of the rest.'"
Four large camps were built in southern and western Siberia shortly before Stalin's death in 1953, and there were rumors that they were for Jews. A special "Deportation Commission" to plan the deportation of Jews to these camps was allegedly created. Nikolay Poliakov, the presumed secretary of the "Commission", stated years later that, according to Stalin's initial plan, the deportation was to begin in the middle of February 1953, but the monumental tasks of compiling lists of Jews had not yet been completed. "Pure blooded" Jews were to be deported first, followed by "half-breeds" (polukrovki). Before his death in March 1953, Stalin allegedly had planned the execution of doctors' plot defendants already on trial in Red Square in March 1953, and then he would cast himself as the savior of Soviet Jews by sending them to camps away from the purportedly enraged Russian populace. There are further statements that describe some aspects of such a planned deportation.
Historian Yakov Etinger described how former CPSU Politburo member Nikolai Bulganin said that Stalin asked him in the end of February 1953 to prepare railroad cars for the mass deportation of Jews to the Jewish Autonomous Oblast. According to a book by another Soviet Politburo member Alexander Yakovlev, Stalin started preparations for the deportation of Jews in February 1953 and ordered preparation of a letter from a group of notable Soviet Jews with a request to the Soviet government to carry out the mass deportation of Jews in order to save them from "the just wrath of Soviet people." The letter had to be published in the newspaper Pravda and was found later. According to historian Samson Madiyevsky, the deportation was definitely considered, and the only thing in question is the time-frame.
However, Russian historian Zhores Medvedev argued against these allegations, saying that no documents were found in support of the deportation plan.
See also
Dmitry Pletnyov (doctor) - Soviet doctor that performed a clinical diagnosis of Stalin and was later executed in 1941.
Antisemitism in the USSR
History of the Jews in Russia and Soviet Union
Khrustalyov, My Car!
Night of the Murdered Poets
Prague Trials
Stalin and antisemitism
Lina Stern - The sole survivor of Night of the Murdered Poets
Vladimir Bekhterev - Soviet neurologist that performed a diagnosis of Stalin and died a day later under suspicious circumstances in 1927.
Notes
References
General references
Further reading
.
.
.
External links
.
.
.
.
.
.
Antisemitism in the Soviet Union
Anti-Zionism in the Soviet Union
Political repression in the Soviet Union
1952 in the Soviet Union
1953 in the Soviet Union
Political and cultural purges
Soviet phraseology
Health in the Soviet Union
Antisemitic tropes
1953 in Judaism
Conspiracy theories involving Jews
1953 in Moscow
1952 in Moscow
Abandoned expulsions of Jews
|
411991
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giardiasis
|
Giardiasis
|
Giardiasis is a parasitic disease caused by Giardia duodenalis (also known as G. lamblia and G. intestinalis). Infected individuals who experience symptoms (about 10% have no symptoms) may have diarrhoea, abdominal pain, and weight loss. Less common symptoms include vomiting and blood in the stool. Symptoms usually begin one to three weeks after exposure and, without treatment, may last two to six weeks or longer.
Giardiasis usually spreads when Giardia duodenalis cysts within faeces contaminate food or water that is later consumed orally. The disease can also spread between people and through other animals. Cysts may survive for nearly three months in cold water. Giardiasis is diagnosed via stool tests.
Prevention may be improved through proper hygiene practices. Asymptomatic cases often do not need treatment. When symptoms are present, treatment is typically provided with either tinidazole or metronidazole. Infection may cause a person to become lactose intolerant, so it is recommended to temporarily avoid lactose following an infection. Resistance to treatment may occur in some patients.
Giardiasis occurs worldwide. It is one of the most common parasitic human diseases. Infection rates are as high as 7% in the developed world and 30% in the developing world. In 2013, there were approximately 280 million people worldwide with symptomatic cases of giardiasis. The World Health Organization classifies giardiasis as a neglected disease. It is popularly known as beaver fever in North America.
Signs and symptoms
Symptoms vary from none to severe diarrhoea with poor absorption of nutrients. The cause of this wide range in severity of symptoms is not fully known but the intestinal flora of the infected host may play a role. Diarrhoea is less likely to occur in people from developing countries.
Symptoms typically develop 9–15 days after exposure, but may occur as early as one day. The most common and prominent symptom is chronic diarrhoea, which can occur for weeks or months if untreated. Diarrhoea is often greasy and foul-smelling, with a tendency to float. This characteristic diarrhoea is often accompanied by a number of other symptoms, including gas, abdominal cramps, and nausea or vomiting. Some people also experience symptoms outside of the gastrointestinal tract, such as itchy skin, hives, and swelling of the eyes and joints, although these are less common. Fever occurs in only about 15% of people, in spite of the nickname "beaver fever".
Prolonged disease is often characterised by diarrhoea, along with malabsorption of nutrients in the intestine. This malabsorption results in fatty stools, substantial weight loss, and fatigue. Additionally, those with giardiasis often have difficulty absorbing lactose, vitamin A, folate, and vitamin B12. In children, prolonged giardiasis can cause failure to thrive and may impair mental development. Symptomatic infections are well recognised as causing lactose intolerance, which, while usually temporary, may become permanent.
Cause
Giardiasis is caused by the protozoan Giardia duodenalis. The infection occurs in many animals, including beavers, other rodents, cows, and sheep. Animals are believed to play a role in keeping infections present in an environment.
G. duodenalis has been sub-classified into eight genetic assemblages (designated A–H). Genotyping of G. duodenalis isolated from various hosts has shown that assemblages A and B infect the largest range of host species, and appear to be the main and possibly only G. duodenalis assemblages that infect humans.
Risk factors
According to the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), people at greatest risk of infection are:
People in childcare settings
People who are in close contact with someone who has the disease
Travellers within areas that have poor sanitation
People who have contact with faeces during sexual activity
Backpackers or campers who drink untreated water from springs, lakes, or rivers
Swimmers who swallow water from swimming pools, hot tubs, interactive fountains, or untreated recreational water from springs, lakes, or rivers
People who get their household water from a shallow well
People with weakened immune systems
People who have contact with infected animals or animal environments contaminated with faeces
Factors that increase infection risk for people from developed countries include changing nappies/diapers, consuming raw food, owning a dog, and travelling in the developing world. However, 75% of infections in the United Kingdom are acquired in the UK, not through travel elsewhere. In the United States, giardiasis occurs more often in summer, which is believed to be due to a greater amount of time spent on outdoor activities and travelling in the wilderness.
Transmission
Giardiasis is transmitted via the faecal-oral route with the ingestion of cysts. Primary routes are personal contact and contaminated water and food. The cysts can stay infectious for up to three months in cold water.
Many people with Giardia infections have no or few symptoms. They may, however, still spread the disease.
Pathophysiology
The life cycle of Giardia consists of a cyst form and a trophozoite form. The cyst form is infectious and once it has found a host, transforms into the trophozoite form. This trophozoite attaches to the intestinal wall and replicates within the gut. As trophozoites continue along the gastrointestinal tract, they convert back to their cyst form which is then excreted with faeces. Ingestion of only a few of these cysts is needed to generate infection in another host.
Infection with Giardia results in decreased expression of brush border enzymes, morphological changes to the microvillus, increased intestinal permeability, and programmed cell death of small intestinal epithelial cells. Both trophozoites and cysts are contained within the gastrointestinal tract and do not invade beyond it.
The attachment of trophozoites causes villous flattening and inhibition of enzymes that break down disaccharide sugars in the intestines. Ultimately, the community of microorganisms that lives in the intestine may overgrow and may be the cause of further symptoms, though this idea has not been fully investigated. The alteration of the villi leads to an inability of nutrient and water absorption from the intestine, resulting in diarrhoea, one of the predominant symptoms. In the case of asymptomatic giardiasis, there can be malabsorption with or without histological changes to the small intestine. The degree to which malabsorption occurs in symptomatic and asymptomatic cases is highly varied.
The species Giardia intestinalis uses enzymes that break down proteins to attack the villi of the brush border and appears to increase crypt cell proliferation and crypt length of crypt cells existing on the sides of the villi. On an immunological level, activated host T lymphocytes attack endothelial cells that have been injured in order to remove the cell. This occurs after the disruption of proteins that connect brush border endothelial cells to one another. The result is increased intestinal permeability.
There appears to be a further increase in programmed enterocyte cell death by Giardia intestinalis, which further damages the intestinal barrier and increases permeability. There is significant upregulation of the programmed cell death cascade by the parasite, and, furthermore, substantial downregulation of the anti-apoptotic protein Bcl-2 and upregulation of the proapoptotic protein Bax. These connections suggest a role of caspase-dependent apoptosis in the pathogenesis of giardiasis.
Giardia protects its own growth by reducing the formation of the gas nitric oxide by consuming all local arginine, which is the amino acid necessary to make nitric oxide. Arginine starvation is known to be a cause of programmed cell death, and local removal is a strong apoptotic agent.
Host defence
Host defence against Giardia consists of natural barriers, production of nitric oxide, and activation of the innate and adaptive immune systems.
Natural barriers
Natural barriers defend against the parasite entering the host's body. Natural barriers consist of mucus layers, bile salt, proteases, and lipases. Additionally, peristalsis and the renewal of enterocytes provide further protection against parasites.
Nitric oxide production
Nitric oxide does not kill the parasite, but it inhibits the growth of trophozoites as well as excystation and encystation.
Innate immune system
Lectin pathway of complement
The lectin pathway of complement is activated by mannose-binding lectin (MBL) which binds to N-acetylglucosamine. N-acetylglucosamine is a ligand for MBL and is present on the surface of Giardia.
The classical pathway of complement
The classical pathway of complement is activated by antibodies specific against Giardia.
Adaptive immune system
Antibodies
Antibodies inhibit parasite replication and also induce parasite death via the classical pathway of complement.
Infection with Giardia typically results in a strong antibody response against the parasite. While IgG is made in significant amounts, IgA is believed to be more important in parasite control. IgA is the most abundant isotype in intestinal secretions, and it is also the dominant isotype in a mother's milk. Antibodies in a mother's milk protect children against giardiasis (passive immunisation).
T-cells
The major aspect of adaptive immune responses is the T-cell response. Giardia is an extracellular pathogen. Therefore CD4+ helper T-cells are primarily responsible for this protective effect.
One role of helper T-cells is to promote antibody production and isotype switching. Other roles include cytokine production (Il-4,IL-9) to help recruit other effector cells of the immune response.
Diagnosis
According to the CDC, detection of antigens on the surface of organisms in stool specimens is the current test of choice for diagnosis of giardiasis and provides increased sensitivity over more common microscopy techniques.
A trichrome stain of preserved stool is another method used to detect Giardia.
Microscopic examination of the stool can be performed for diagnosis. This method is not preferred, however, due to inconsistent shedding of trophozoites and cysts in infected hosts. Multiple samples over a period of time, typically one week, must be examined.
The Entero-Test uses a gelatin capsule with an attached thread. One end is attached to the inner aspect of the host's cheek, and the capsule is swallowed. Later, the thread is withdrawn and shaken in saline to release trophozoites which can be detected with a microscope. The sensitivity of this test is low, however, and is not routinely used for diagnosis.
Immunologic enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) testing may be used for diagnosis. These tests are capable of a 90% detection rate or more.
Although hydrogen breath tests indicate poorer rates of carbohydrate absorption in those asymptomatically infected, such tests are not diagnostic of infection. Serological tests are not helpful in diagnosis.
Prevention
The CDC recommends hand-washing and avoiding potentially contaminated food and untreated water.
Boiling water contaminated with Giardia effectively kills infectious cysts. Chemical disinfectants or filters may be used. Iodine-based disinfectants are preferred over chlorination as the latter is ineffective at destroying cysts.
Although the evidence linking the drinking of water in the North American wilderness and giardiasis has been questioned, a number of studies raise concern. Most if not all CDC verified backcountry giardiasis outbreaks have been attributed to water. Surveillance data (for 2013 and 2014) reports six outbreaks (96 cases) of waterborne giardiasis contracted from rivers, streams or springs and less than 1% of reported giardiasis cases are associated with outbreaks.
Person-to-person transmission accounts for the majority of Giardia infections, and is usually associated with poor hygiene and sanitation. Giardia is often found on the surface of the ground, in the soil, in undercooked foods, and in water, and on hands that have not been properly cleaned after handling infected faeces. Water-borne transmission is associated with the ingestion of contaminated water. In the U.S., outbreaks typically occur in small water systems using inadequately treated surface water. Venereal transmission happens through faecal-oral contamination. Additionally, nappy/diaper changing and inadequate handwashing are risk factors for transmission from infected children. Lastly, food-borne epidemics of Giardia have developed through the contamination of food by infected food-handlers.
Vaccine
There are no vaccines for humans yet, however there are several vaccine candidates in development. They are targeting: recombinant proteins, DNA vaccine, variant-specific surface proteins (VSP), cyst wall proteins (CWP), giadins and enzymes. Researchers at CONICET have produced an oral vaccine after engineering customised proteins mimicking those expressed on the surface of Giardia trophozoites. The vaccine has proven effective in mice.
At present, one commercially available vaccine exists – GiardiaVax, made from G. lamblia whole trophozoite lysate. It is a vaccine for veterinary use only in dogs and cats. GiardiaVax should promote production of specific antibodies.
Treatment
Treatment is not always necessary as the infection usually resolves on its own. However, if the illness is acute or symptoms persist and medications are needed to treat it, a nitroimidazole medication is used such as metronidazole, tinidazole, secnidazole or ornidazole.
The World Health Organisation and Infectious Disease Society of America recommend metronidazole as first line therapy. The US CDC lists metronidazole, tinidazole, and nitazoxanide as effective first-line therapies; of these three, only nitazoxanide and tinidazole are approved for the treatment of giardiasis by the US FDA. A meta-analysis published by the Cochrane Collaboration in 2012 found that compared to the standard of metronidazole, albendazole had equivalent efficacy while having fewer side effects, such as gastrointestinal or neurologic issues. Other meta-analyses have reached similar conclusions. Both medications need a five to ten day-long course; albendazole is taken once a day, while metronidazole needs to be taken three times a day. The evidence for comparing metronidazole to other alternatives such as mebendazole, tinidazole or nitazoxanide was felt to be of very low quality. While tinidazole has side effects and efficacy similar to those of metronidazole, it is administered with a single dose.
Resistance has been seen clinically to both nitroimidazoles and albendazole, but not nitazoxanide, though nitazoxanide resistance has been induced in research laboratories. The exact mechanism of resistance to all of these medications is not well understood. In the case of nitroimidazole-resistant strains of Giardia, other drugs are available which have showed efficacy in treatment including quinacrine, nitazoxanide, bacitracin zinc, furazolidone and paromomycin. Mepacrine may also be used for refractory cases.
Probiotics, when given in combination with the standard treatment, have been shown to assist with clearance of Giardia.
During pregnancy, paromomycin is the preferred treatment drug because of its poor intestinal absorption, resulting in less exposure to the foetus. Alternatively, metronidazole can be used after the first trimester as there has been wide experience in its use for trichomonas in pregnancy.
Prognosis
In people with a properly functioning immune system, infection may resolve without medication. A small portion, however, develop a chronic infection. People with an impaired immune system are at higher risk of chronic infection. Medication is an effective cure for nearly all people although there is growing drug-resistance.
Children with chronic giardiasis are at risk for failure to thrive as well as more long-lasting sequelae such as growth stunting. Up to half of infected people develop a temporary lactose intolerance leading to symptoms that may mimic a chronic infection. Some people experience post-infectious irritable bowel syndrome after the infection has cleared. Giardiasis has also been implicated in the development of food allergies. This is thought to be due to its effect on intestinal permeability.
Epidemiology
In some developing countries Giardia is present in 30% of the population. In the United States it is estimated that it is present in 3–7% of the population. Giardiasis is associated with impaired growth and development in children, particularly influencing a country's economic growth by affecting Disability Adjusted Life Year (DALY) rates.
The number of reported cases in the United States in 2018 was 15,584. All states that classify giardiasis as a notifiable disease had cases of giardiasis. The states of Illinois, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, and Vermont did not notify the Center for Disease Control regarding cases in 2018. The states with the highest number of cases in 2018 were California, New York, Florida, and Wisconsin. There are seasonal trends associated with giardiasis. July, August, and September are the months with the highest incidence of giardiasis in the United States.
In the ECDC's (European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control) annual epidemiological report containing 2014 data, 17,278 confirmed giardiasis cases were reported by 23 of the 31 countries that are members of the EU/EEA. Germany reported the highest number at 4,011 cases. Following Germany, the UK reported 3,628 confirmed giardiasis cases. Together, this accounts for 44% of total reported cases.
Research
Some intestinal parasitic infections may play a role in irritable bowel syndrome and other long-term sequelae such as chronic fatigue. The mechanism of transformation from cyst to trophozoites has not been characterised but may be helpful in developing drug targets for treatment-resistant Giardia. The interaction between Giardia and host immunity, internal flora, and other pathogens is not well understood.In vitro cell cultures have been widely used to study host-parasite interactions, and human enteroids are now being used as non-transformed intestinal epithelial cell infection models for G. intestinalis and other pathogens.
The main congress about giardiasis is the "International Giardia and Cryptosporidium Conference" (IGCC). A summary of results presented at the most recent edition (2019, in Rouen, France) is available.
Other animals
In both cats and dogs, giardiasis usually responds to metronidazole and fenbendazole. Metronidazole in pregnant cats can cause developmental malformations. Many cats dislike the taste of fenbendazole. Giardiasis has been shown to decrease weight in livestock.
References
External links
Giardiasis Fact Sheet
Protozoal diseases
Waterborne diseases
Animal diseases
Tropical diseases
Zoonoses
Feces
Wikipedia medicine articles ready to translate
Wikipedia infectious disease articles ready to translate
|
411997
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuss
|
Neuss
|
Neuss (; written Neuß until 1968; ; ) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located on the west bank of the Rhine opposite Düsseldorf. Neuss is the largest city within the Rhein-Kreis Neuss district. It is primarily known for its historic Roman sites, as well as the annual Neusser Bürger-Schützenfest. Neuss and Trier share the title of "Germany's oldest city"; and in 1984 Neuss celebrated the 2000th anniversary of its founding in 16 BCE.
History
Roman period
Neuss was founded by the Romans in 16 BC as a military fortification (castrum) with the current city to the north of the castrum, at the confluence of the rivers Rhine and Erft, with the name of Novaesium.
Legio XVI Gallica ("Gallic 16th Legion") of the Roman army was stationed here in 43-70 AD. It was disbanded after surrendering during the Batavian rebellion (AD 70).
Later a civil settlement was founded in the area of today's centre of the town during the 1st century AD. Novaesium, together with Trier (Augusta Treverorum), is one of the three oldest Roman settlements in Germany.
Middle Ages
Neuss grew during the Middle Ages because of its prime location on several routes, by the crossing of the great Rhine valley, and with its harbour and ferry. During the 10th century, the remains of the martyr and tribune Saint Quirinus, not to be confused with the Roman god Quirinus, had been relocated to Neuss. This resulted in pilgrimage to the shrine of St. Quirinus even from countries beyond the borders of the Holy Roman Empire. Neuss was first documented as a town in 1138.
One of the main events in the town's history is the siege of the town in 1474–75 by Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, that lasted for nearly a year. The citizens of Neuss withstood the siege and were therefore rewarded by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick III. The town was granted the right to mint its own coins and to carry the imperial coat of arms, the imperial eagle and the crown, in the town's own coat of arms. Neuss became a member of the Hanseatic League, although it was never accepted by the other members of the League.
Early modernity
In 1586, more than two-thirds of the city was destroyed by fire, and several wars during the reign of King Louis XIV of France resulted in worsening finances for Neuss. Its importance as a place for trading declined rapidly, and from the mid-17th century onwards, Neuss became a place only important for its agriculture.
Until the late 18th century, Neuss belonged to the Electorate of Cologne. From 1794 to 1814, Neuss was part of France during the reign of Napoleon. In 1815 after the Napoleonic Wars, Neuss became part of the Kingdom of Prussia, and was reorganized as a district with the municipalities of Neuss, Dormagen, Nettesheim, Nievenheim, Rommerskirchen and Zons. The town had a population of 6,333 at that time. It was part of the Prussian Province of Jülich-Cleves-Berg (1815–22) and its successor, the Rhine Province (1822–1946).
19th century – present
Neuss regained its economic power in the 19th century, with expansion of the harbour in 1835, and increasing industrial activity. The city's boundaries were expanded in 1881. Neuss became part of the new state of North Rhine-Westphalia in 1946.
In 1968 the spelling of the name was changed from Neuß to Neuss. In 1975 the town of Neuss and the district of Grevenbroich were joined to form the district of Rhein-Kreis Neuss with a population of 440,000 and its seat of government in Neuss. Neuss is also home to Toshiba's European headquarters.
Jewish history
A Jewish community has been documented in the city since the High Middle Ages. The earliest documentation of Jews in the city is from 1096, when Jews from Cologne fleeing from Crusaders were sheltered in the city by the Archbishop of Cologne . Nevertheless, about 200 of them (men, women, and children) were slaughtered by Crusaders. This all was in the context of what is known as the Rhineland massacres.
There is however no indication that Neuss already had an organized Jewish community in 1096; It is however certain that there was one in the Staufer period from the late 12th century onwards, in the context of a general influx of merchants into the city at the time.
According to Ephraim of Bonn, on 11 January 1197, multiple members of the Jewish community were put to death as revenge for the killing of a Christian girl by a mentally ill Jew. The killer and several of his close relatives were gruesomely executed. Interestingly, they seem to have been allowed a Jewish funeral: their bodies were brought – presumably by boat – to Xanten, where they were buried alongside victims of the Rhineland massacres of 1096.
The community in the High Middle Ages at first resided in the area where merchants lived, between the and the market. The passage to the haven's loading place was known as the Judensteg. By the year 1300 however the Judensteg was now inhabited by Christians, the Jews having moved to the area around the Glockhammer, where their synagogue and school were also located. The area was not exactly a ghetto, as it was not sealed, and Christians also lived there.
From the 14th century onwards the Jews faced increasing economic competition, firstly due the loss of their advantageous former location near the docks, and later because of the loss of their monopoly in money lending, with the arrival of bankers from Lombardy and Cahors.
The city was hit by the Black Death in 1348-49, and the community suffered from gruesome persecutions during that time, as was the case elsewhere in Europe. In the wake of the plague, the community was numerically decimated and economically weakened. A wave of religious extremism and intolerance swept the area at the time, and the Jews were increasingly pressured and became objects of political infighting: In the year 1424, Jews were for a time expelled from the city; this was meant as a middle finger to the Landesherr, who had placed the Jews under his protection.
The Jews later came back, but were ultimately expelled again in 1464. The Archbishop of Cologne Ruprecht von der Pfalz visited the city on the 5th of May and met with mayors, aldermen, and the council in an attempt to halt the expulsion, but to no avail. Jews were from now on banned from residing in the city, and from staying overnight within city walls. In 1694, Jews were given permission to hold a cattle market in front of the Obertor. Facing overdue lump sum payments, in 1704 the city instored a special tax on Jews entering the city known as the Judenleibzoll.
In 1794 during the War of the First Coalition, Neuss fell under French control, and all discriminatory anti-Jewish laws were subsequently abrogated. It was only in 1808 however, in a context of nascent industrialization and population growth, that for the first time in centuries a Jewish family moved to the city: That of the butcher Josef Großmann, who had come from Hülchrath. The community slowly rose in number: in 1830, there were around 100 Jews out of a population of approximately 8000. The community kept on growing in size throughout the century.
Jews who moved to Neuss came from surrounding rural areas in the Rhineland, and as a result were more conservative and shaped by rural life than their counterparts in other German cities. Popular innovations in the time of the Haskalah such as religious services in German did not take root here: they continued in Hebrew. As a general rule of thumb, Neuss Jews were more religious than in other German cities.
Relations between Jews and Christians were generally good at the time: they lived one next to another, and one could find Christians performing forbidden tasks such as lighting/extinguishing fires in Jewish homes on Shabbat.
A fracture in this peace took place in 1834 however: In the Niederrhein area blood libel rumors spread around, leading to a wave of anti-Jewish violence: Synagogues were set on fire in Gindorf and ; in , Wevelinghoven and elsewhere fierce fighting took place between vigilantes and hussars. Neuss was not left unaffected either, with crowds strolling down the streets chanting anti-Jewish songs, with the epicenter being the poor areas of Neuss around the Viehmarkt. This situation lasted for days, until a contingent of soldiers was moved into the city to quell the unrest.
On 29 March 1867, the was unveiled, designed by the Prussian architect Friedrich Weise and built in the popular Orientalist style. The city held celebrations for 3 days upon its inauguration. Despite serving only about 1% of the population, the Synagogue was a proud hallmark of the Neuss skyline. The synagogue community's size peaked at 316 members in 1890.
After the acquittal of the Jewish butcher Adolf Buschoff in the 1892 , antisemitic violence took place in nearby Neuss: Jewish-owned property was set on fire, and Jewish families were sent threatening messages. About a quarter of the community left the city.
In 1933, there were no more than 227 citizens of Jewish faith in Neuss. From that year onwards they suffered increasing persecution by the Nazis. Few went into exile on time. Then began the so-called "Final Solution to the Jewish Question" and the deportations. On 22 July 1942, the last inhabitant of the at Küpperstaße 2 was put on a train from Aachen to Theresienstadt. On 23 November 1942, Neuss was cynically declared Judenrein. (= clean of Jews)
However, there was still a handful of Jews who survived through hiding, or who were not targeted due to being married to "Aryans".
The exact number of Jewish victims of the Nazi regime is not known with certainty. However, one can find the names of 204 murdered Jews who had some sort of link to Neuss on a monument by Ulrich Rückriem. A significant amount of Stolpersteine can be found around the city.
Since the 1990s the community has enjoyed a revival thanks to an influx of Jews from the ex-USSR. In 2021, it was estimated that around 550 Jews lived in Neuss.
Politics
Mayor
The current mayor of Neuss is Reiner Breuer of the Social Democratic Party (SPD). The most recent mayoral election was held on 13 September 2020, and the results were as follows:
! colspan=2| Candidate
! Party
! Votes
! %
|-
| bgcolor=|
| align=left| Reiner Breuer
| align=left| Social Democratic Party
| 30,337
| 52.9
|-
| bgcolor=|
| align=left| Jan-Philipp Büchler
| align=left| Christian Democratic Union
| 18,800
| 32.8
|-
| bgcolor=|
| align=left| Michael Klinkicht
| align=left| Alliance 90/The Greens
| 4,049
| 7.1
|-
| bgcolor=|
| align=left| Roland Sperling
| align=left| The Left
| 1,346
| 2.4
|-
| bgcolor=|
| align=left| Michael Fielenbach
| align=left| Free Democratic Party
| 1,181
| 2.1
|-
| bgcolor=|
| align=left| Thomas Lang
| align=left| UWG/Free Voters Neuss
| 1,158
| 2.0
|-
| bgcolor=|
| align=left| Hans Dietz
| align=left| Centre Party
| 463
| 0.8
|-
! colspan=3| Valid votes
! 57,334
! 98.9
|-
! colspan=3| Invalid votes
! 617
! 1.1
|-
! colspan=3| Total
! 57,951
! 100.0
|-
! colspan=3| Electorate/voter turnout
! 120,328
! 48.2
|-
| colspan=7| Source: City of Neuss
|}
Mayors and Lord Mayors since 1849
1849–1851: Heinrich Thywissen, Mayor (Bürgermeister)
1851–1858: Michael Frings, Mayor
1858–1882: Johann Joseph Ridder, Mayor
1882–1889: Carl Wenders, Mayor
1890–1902: Engelbert Tilmann, Mayor
1902–1921: Franz Gielen, Lord Mayor
1921–1930: Heinrich Hüpper, Lord Mayor
1930–1934: Wilhelm Henrichs, Centre Party, Lord Mayor (Oberbürgermeister)
1934–1938: Wilhelm Eberhard Gelberg, NSDAP, Lord Mayor
1938–1945: Wilhelm Tödtmann, NSDAP, Lord Mayor
1945–1946: Josef Nagel, Lord Mayor
1946: Josef Schmitz, Lord Mayor
1946–1961: Alfons Frings, CDU, Lord Mayor
1961–1967: Peter Wilhelm Kallen, Lord Mayor
1967–1982: Herbert Karrenberg, CDU, Lord Mayor
1982–1987: Hermann Wilhelm Thywissen, CDU, Lord Mayor
1987–1998: Bertold Mathias Reinartz, CDU, Mayor
1998–2015: Herbert Napp, CDU, Mayor
2015–present: Reiner Breuer, SPD, Mayor
City council
The Neuss city council governs the city alongside the Mayor. The most recent city council election was held on 13 September 2020, and the results were as follows:
! colspan=2| Party
! Votes
! %
! +/-
! Seats
! +/-
|-
| bgcolor=|
| align=left| Christian Democratic Union (CDU)
| 20,810
| 36.4
| 3.4
| 21
| 6
|-
| bgcolor=|
| align=left| Social Democratic Party (SPD)
| 18,517
| 32.4
| 5.1
| 19
| ±0
|-
| bgcolor=|
| align=left| Alliance 90/The Greens (Grüne)
| 7,996
| 14.0
| 3.2
| 8
| 1
|-
| bgcolor=|
| align=left| Alternative for Germany (AfD)
| 2,420
| 4.2
| 0.0
| 2
| 1
|-
| bgcolor=|
| align=left| Free Democratic Party (FDP)
| 1,882
| 3.3
| 4.9
| 2
| 4
|-
| bgcolor=|
| align=left| The Left (Die Linke)
| 1,601
| 2.8
| 1.2
| 2
| 1
|-
| bgcolor=|
| align=left| UWG/Free Voters Neuss (UWG/FW)
| 1,106
| 1.9
| 0.0
| 1
| ±0
|-
|
| align=left| Action Party for Animal Protection (hier!)
| 929
| 1.6
| New
| 1
| New
|-
|
| align=left| Active for Neuss (Aktiv)
| 863
| 1.5
| New
| 1
| New
|-
| bgcolor=|
| align=left| Die PARTEI
| 823
| 1.4
| New
| 1
| New
|-
| colspan=7 bgcolor=lightgrey|
|-
| bgcolor=|
| align=left| Centre Party (Zentrum)
| 223
| 0.4
| 0.2
| 0
| ±0
|-
|
| align=left| Independent Volkmar Wolfram Ortlepp
| 18
| 0.0
| New
| 0
| New
|-
! colspan=2| Valid votes
! 57,188
! 98.8
!
!
!
|-
! colspan=2| Invalid votes
! 672
! 1.2
!
!
!
|-
! colspan=2| Total
! 57,860
! 100.0
!
! 58
! 10
|-
! colspan=2| Electorate/voter turnout
! 120,328
! 48.1
! 2.6
!
!
|-
| colspan=7| Source: City of Neuss
|}
Number of inhabitants
1798: 4,423
1831: 7,888
1861: 10,300
1885: 20,074
1900: 28,472
1925: 44,958
1945: 51,624
1965: 111,104
1987: 142,178
2015: 159,672
Sports
One sports club is Neusser Schlittschuh-Klub. Their sections are figure skating, ice stock sport and, as the only club in Germany, bandy. With the lack of a large ice surface, the variety rink bandy is practiced.
There are also two football clubs in the city of Neuss: VfR Neuss Football Club and DJK Novesia Neuss.
There is an American Football Team in Neuss as well: Neuss Legions American Football.
Points of interest
Botanischer Garten der Stadt Neuss, the city's botanical garden
Basilica of St. Quirinus: a 13th-century late romanesque church, dedicated to the city's patron saint and housing a shrine with his relics. Its dome-shaped eastern tower is one of the city's landmarks. In 2009 it was granted the title of minor basilica.
Obertor (Upper Gate): southern city gate, built circa 1200; today part of the Clemens Sels Museum Neuss. It is the only remaining of originally six gates that were part of the medieval town fortification.
Blutturm (Bloody Tower): built in the 13th century, the only remaining round tower of the historic town fortification.
Zum "Schwatte Päd" (The Black Horse): the oldest public house in the Lower Rhine region, established 1604
Saint Sebastianus Church
Saint Maria Church:
Christuskirche (Christ church): historicistic church, the city's oldest Protestant church
Globe Theater, a replica of the London Globe Theatre, with an annual Shakespeare festival
Hamtor/the Hamgate
Neusser Bürger-Schützenfest: one of Germany's largest marksmen's festivals, taking place annually on the last weekend in August; roundabout 7000 marksmen take part in the traditional parades.
Notable people
Hildegund (virgin) (1170–1188), saint
Johann Pennarius (1517–1563), auxiliary bishop in Cologne
Hermann Thyraeus (1532–1591), theologian and member of the Society of Jesus
Peter Thyraeus, (1546–1601), Jesuit, professor of theology in Würzburg
Theodor Schwann (1810–1882), physiologist
Franz Maria Feldhaus (1874–1957), technical historian and scientific writer
Katharina von Oheimb (1879-1962), politician
Joseph Frings (1887–1978), Archbishop of the Archbishopric of Cologne
Kurt Josten (1912–1994), German-British jurist, state official and resistance fighter
Erik Martin (1936–2017), author, songwriter and editor
Mario Ohoven (born 1946), financial intermediary and investment adviser
Elke Aberle (born 1950), actress
Friedhelm Funkel (born 1953), football player and coach
Heike Hohlbein (born 1954), writer
Jürgen P. Rabe (born 1955), physicist
Norbert Hummelt (born 1962), writer
Kai Böcking (born 1964), moderator
Franziska Pigulla (1964–2019), actress, news presenter and voice actress
Frank Biela (born 1964), racing driver
Mònica Oltra (born 1969), Spanish politician, spokesperson and minister for Equality and Inclusive Policies of the Valencian government
Thomas Rupprath (born 1977), swimmer
Lars Börgeling (born 1979), pole vaulter
Judith Flemig (born 1979), volleyball player
Jawed Karim (born 1979), American entrepreneur, co-founder of YouTube; lived here –1992
Dirk Caspers (born 1980), former football player
Marcel Ohmann (born 1991), ice hockey player
Danny da Costa (born 1993), footballer
Twin towns – sister cities
Neuss is twinned with:
Châlons-en-Champagne, France (1972)
Pskov, Russia (1990)
Rijeka, Croatia (1990)
Saint Paul, United States (1999)
Nevşehir, Turkey (2007)
Gallery
References
External links
Cities in North Rhine-Westphalia
16 BC establishments
Roman towns and cities in Germany
Rhein-Kreis Neuss
Members of the Hanseatic League
Roman legionary fortresses in Germany
Roman fortifications in Germania Inferior
|
412017
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luis%20Guti%C3%A9rrez
|
Luis Gutiérrez
|
Luis Vicente Gutiérrez (born December 10, 1953) is an American politician. He served as the U.S. representative for from 1993 to 2019. From 1986 until his election to Congress, he served as a member of the Chicago City Council representing the 26th ward. He is a member of the Democratic Party and was a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus during his tenure in the House. In the 113th Congress, with his 20 years of service, Gutiérrez became, along with Bobby Rush, the longest serving member of the Illinois House delegation, and so was occasionally referred to as the unofficial "dean" of the delegation.
Of Puerto Rican descent, he is a current supporter of Puerto Rican independence, and the Vieques movement. Gutiérrez is also an outspoken advocate of workers' rights, LGBT rights, gender equality, and other liberal and progressive causes. In 2010, Frank Sharry of America's Voice, an immigration reform advocacy group, said of Gutiérrez: "He's as close as the Latino community has to a Martin Luther King figure." His supporters have given him the nickname El Gallito – the little fighting rooster – in reference to his fiery oratory and political prowess.
His district, the 4th congressional district, was featured by The Economist as one of the most strangely drawn and gerrymandered congressional districts in the country and has been nicknamed "earmuffs" due to its shape. It was created to pack two majority Hispanic parts of Chicago into one district, thereby creating a majority Hispanic district.
In November 2017, Gutiérrez announced that he would retire from Congress at the end of his current term, and not seek re-election in 2018. As of 2021, Gutiérrez lives in Puerto Rico.
Early life, education, and early career
Gutiérrez was born and raised in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago, then an immigrant and working-class community. His mother was an assembly-line worker, and his father was a cab driver. After his freshman year at St. Michael's High School, his parents moved the family to their hometown of San Sebastián, Puerto Rico. Gutiérrez, who had never before visited the island, reluctantly followed his parents; there, he learned to speak Spanish. Gutiérrez said of his experience moving from Chicago to Puerto Rico: "In Lincoln Park, I had been called a spic, then, all of a sudden, I land on the island and everyone calls me gringo and Americanito. I learned to speak Spanish well."
According to Mark Krikorian, while Gutiérrez was in Puerto Rico, he was a member of the now-defunct Puerto Rican Socialist Party.
In 1974, Gutiérrez returned to Chicago and enrolled at Northeastern Illinois University. He got involved in student activism and social justice issues, writing for the student publication Que Ondee Sola and serving as the president of the Union for Puerto Rican Students. In 1976, while a senior at Northeastern Illinois, he began driving a cab in order to raise enough funds to visit his long-time girlfriend, Soraida, in Puerto Rico. In 1977, after graduating from Northeastern Illinois University with a degree in English, he returned to Puerto Rico and married Soraida. The couple returned to Chicago in 1978, and, unable to find other work, Gutiérrez took up taxi driving full-time. Gutiérrez eventually found work as a Chicago Public School teacher and later a child abuse caseworker with the Illinois Department of Children & Family Services.
Early political career
Campaign for 32nd ward Democratic committeeman
In 1983, Gutiérrez left his job with the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services to run against incumbent Dan Rostenkowski for 32nd ward Democratic committeeman in the March 1984 primary election. To fund his campaign, Gutiérrez returned to driving a cab seven days a week, 14 hours a day. Gutiérrez's work as a taxi driver grew his campaign fund to $6,000, against which Rostenkowski had hundreds of thousands of dollars. Reporting on Gutiérrez's early political career, Jorge Casuso and Ben Joravsky of the Chicago Tribune wrote: "Gutiérrez thought he could win. Washington's 1983 victory – the first local race Gutiérrez had voted in – had left him wildly optimistic. Before that, he didn't think blacks, Hispanics and poor people could win a legitimate voice in local government."
Relying on his family and friends as campaign staff, Gutiérrez opened up his campaign office on North California Ave in Chicago's Humboldt Park neighborhood. Gutiérrez collected over three-fourths of the 2,200 signatures he needed to qualify for the ballot on his own. Rostenkowski, then a twelve-term Congressman and Chair of the powerful House Ways & Means Committee soundly defeated Gutiérrez, with 76% of the vote.
Adviser to Harold Washington
Following Gutiérrez's loss to Dan Rostenkowski, he helped found the Cook County Coalition for New Politics in spring of 1984. The coalition was meant to be a grass-roots, independent, and multiracial counterweight to the Cook County Democratic Party.
Gutiérrez's political activism and role as a rising leader in Chicago's burgeoning Latino community caught the attention of Chicago's first African-American Mayor – Harold Washington – who appointed him in August 1984 to the position of deputy superintendent in the Department of Streets and Sanitation.
Gutiérrez served as a deputy superintendent in the Washington administration and as an administrative assistant to the Mayor – serving on the Mayor's committee on infrastructure.
In October 1984, a Molotov cocktail came crashing through the front living room window of Gutiérrez's home. For a period of three months following the firebombing, his family lived in hotel rooms. The offenders were never identified, but Gutiérrez attributed the attack to "culprits from the right ... opposed to reform and Mayor Washington".
In July 1985, in an effort to support Washington's political reform movement, Gutiérrez founded the West Town-26th Ward Independent Political Organization (IPO). Like the Cook County Coalition for New Politics, the organization aimed to bring together residents of all races in support of progressive reform in Chicago. The Mayor attended the organization's kick-off event, at which 100 names were added to the mailing list and $5,000 was raised.
1986 Aldermanic election
In December 1985, as a result of a November 1985 ward remap, district court judge Charles Norgle ordered a special election for March 18, 1986, in seven wards, including the 26th. The incumbent alderman of the 26th ward, Michael Nardulli, an Italian-American, chose not to seek re-election in the newly drawn majority Latino district. Gutiérrez declared his candidacy for alderman of the 26th ward and soon received the endorsement of Mayor Harold Washington. At the time of the election, opponents to Washington's administration, led by Ed Vrdolyak of the 10th ward, controlled the City Council. This divide within city government was dubbed by the Chicago media as Council Wars. The 1986 special elections gave Washington the opportunity to take control of the city council. Because the six other special elections were all but decided, control of the council came down to the race in the 26th ward. Manuel Torres, then a member of the Democratic machine and Cook County Commissioner, also entered the race for 26th ward Alderman. Torres was endorsed by Vrdolyak, former mayor Jane Byrne, future mayor and then State's Attorney Richard M. Daley, and machine Alderman Ed Burke and Dick Mell.
Gutiérrez's campaign volunteers were primarily women, "ex-hippies and ... community activists-black, white and Hispanic". With the campaign theme: "Church, Family, Community", support from Mayor Harold Washington – who donated $12,000 to Gutiérrez – and the now 250 members of the West Town-26th Ward Independent Political Organization as volunteers, Gutiérrez bested Torres by 22 votes, a margin not large enough to avoid a run-off against Torres.
On the eve of the Gutiérrez-Torres run-off, Spanish language television aired the candidates' final debate. Gutiérrez, who spoke Spanish during the debate, outperformed Torres, who chose to speak entirely in English. Gutiérrez's use of Spanish and his grass-roots organizing are credited for his 53%–47% victory over Torres. Gutiérrez is reported to have said during the election: "My supporters could give a damn about the Democratic Party. They're ready to work on whatever it is that moves socioeconomic justice ahead."
Chicago City Council
Upon entering the Chicago City Council, Gutiérrez, representing the 26th Ward, became Mayor Harold Washington's unofficial floor leader, and leader of the Latinos in the council. Gutiérrez said of his role as unofficial Washington spokesman: "There are only six or seven of us of the twenty-five [pro-Washington alderman] that say anything. You could say there's only six or seven that have big mouths and want to talk all the time. But I figured it out-there's only six or seven of us that Eddie Vrdolyak doesn't have anything on, that Eddie Vrdolyak hasn't done a favor for, that Eddie Vrdolyak hasn't taken care of some problem, that Eddie Vrdolyak doesn't have some dirt on. So, when you want to get up and take Eddie on, you got to be clean."
As a member of the city council, Gutiérrez was a key backer of the 1986 gay rights ordinance – which sought to ban discrimination based upon gender & sexual orientation. He was also a proponent of local economic development and construction of affordable housing. He was referred to as a "workhorse in the city council" by political author Marable Manning.
In the 1987 municipal elections, Gutiérrez faced five opponents and was re-elected to the City Council with 66% of the vote. Following Washington's death and the battle over who would succeed the deceased Mayor, Gutiérrez voted for African-American Alderman Timothy C. Evans over machine-backed Alderman Eugene Sawyer. In the 1989 Mayoral election, Gutiérrez endorsed State's Attorney Richard M. Daley for Mayor, stating: "I will have a great influence in determining the thrust and tone of the Daley administration`s progressive and liberal agendas."
Under Daley's administration, Gutiérrez served as Chair of the Committee on Housing, Land Acquisition, Disposition, and Leases and Council President pro tempore, presiding over meetings in the Mayor's absence.
U.S. House of Representatives
Elections
Election (1992)
In 1990, a court order created a new "earmuff-shaped" majority Latino congressional district, with two main sections in Chicago connected by a thin corridor in the suburbs. Four candidates announced their intention to run in the 1992 Democratic primary: Gutiérrez, Alderman Dick Mell of the 33rd ward, then Cook County Board of Appeals Commissioner Joseph Berrios, and Juan Soliz, former Alderman of 25th ward. Mell, the only white candidate, entered the race out of his "personal dislike for Gutiérrez". Gutiérrez received the endorsement of Mayor Richard M. Daley, and all but one of his opponents, Juan Soliz, dropped out of the race.
Despite the district's majority Mexican-American population and Soliz's highly negative campaign, Gutiérrez won the Democratic primary 60%-40%. At his election night victory party, Gutiérrez stated: "If a Puerto Rican kid from Humboldt Park can go to the Congress of the United States, it shows the American dream is possible." Billy Ocasio was later tapped to replace Gutierrez in the Chicago City Council in January 1993. In the general election, he defeated Republican nominee Hildegarde Rodriguez-Schieman 78%-22%. However, the 4th is a heavily Democratic district, and Gutiérrez had effectively clinched a seat in Congress with his primary win.
Re-elections (1994-2010)
In 1994, Gutierrez defeated Soliz in the primary by an even larger margin 64%-36%, and won re-election to a second term in the general election with 75% of the vote. It would prove to be the lowest winning percentage in a general election in his career. From 1996 to 2008, Gutiérrez won re-election seven times, each time with more than 80% of the vote. In 2010, he won re-election to his tenth term with 77% of the vote.
Gutierrez pulled his petition for re-election in the 2018 race on November 27, 2017, effectively ending his congressional career. The next day Gutierrez held a press conference, he endorsed Cook County Commissioner Jesús "Chuy" García for the position. He did not rule out running for a future office.
Tenure
Party leadership and caucus membership
In 2009, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi appointed Gutiérrez Chair of the Democratic Caucus Immigration Task Force. He continues to serve as the Chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Immigration Task Force. In these roles, he has served as the Congress's "leading strategist and spokesperson on immigration issues".
Constituent services
The representative of a culturally diverse district, he has run programs on a local level to increase education levels and knowledge of the English language among immigrants. Within his district, he has run workshops which have helped more than 50,000 people begin the process of becoming US citizens. Gutiérrez's district office was the first congressional office to seek and receive community organization designation as a result of the depth and breadth of constituent services it provides.
Consumer rights
In February 2009, Gutiérrez introduced H.R. 1214, the "Payday Loan Reform Act of 2009", co-sponsored by other members of the House of Representatives, including members of the House leadership. H.R. 1214 would cap the annual percentage rate (APR) for payday loans at 391 percent in the 23 states where it is now allowed to exceed 391 percent.
Gutiérrez was also a principal backer of the Dodd-Frank bill that created the United States Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Immigration reform and immigrant rights
Gutiérrez has been called the "Moses of the Latinos" due to his many years advocating for immigrant rights.
In his continued efforts to reform immigration, Gutiérrez has participated in two acts of non-violent civil disobedience outside of the White House. The first took place on May 1, 2010, where, following a speech delivered to hundreds at Lafayette Park, Gutiérrez marched with protesters to the White House and refused to leave until Presidential action was taken on immigration reform or he was arrested. Many of the protesters who joined Gutiérrez had signs that called for a Presidential moratorium on deportation and criticized recent anti-immigrant legislation passed in Arizona – SB 1070. Gutiérrez also joined the protesters in criticizing Arizona Governor Jan Brewer's decision to sign the measure allowing racial profiling in the state-level enforcement of immigration laws.
On July 26, 2011, in response to a record-breaking one-million deportations under President Obama, and the President's continued refusal to stop deportations of DREAM Act eligible youth, Gutiérrez and eleven labor, faith, and civil rights leaders were arrested outside the White House. A crowd of 2,500 came to support Gutiérrez and the eleven other leaders. A day before the arrest, President Obama sent a letter to Gutiérrez in which he stated that he would continue his administration's deportation policy.
In 2009, and again in 2011, Gutiérrez went on a nationwide tour in support of comprehensive immigration reform and a moratorium on the deportation of families. The tours have received widespread media attention and helped revive the nationwide discussion on immigration reform. Gutiérrez was the main speaker at the historic March 21, 2010, March for America rally at the capitol mall attended by over 200,000 people.
Gutiérrez was the first elected official to sponsor a version of the DREAM Act – legislation to allow undocumented youth brought to the United States as minors a pathway to citizenship – in 2001. In 2009 Gutiérrez introduced CIR-ASAP – Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America's Security and Prosperity Act – a bill to create a pathway to citizenship for non-criminal undocumented immigrants and improve border security. The bill received over 100 co-sponsors and was endorsed by members of the business community and organized labor unions, including the AFL–CIO, United Food and Commercial Workers, and the Service Employees International Union. He described the bill before a Washington DC rally:
Following CIR-ASAP's defeat in the Congress, Gutiérrez has been a main backer of the DREAM Act in the House.
Gutiérrez called former Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley a "champion" of immigration in 2014 when the two were working to oppose the White House's deportation policy.
Veterans' access to health care
While Gutiérrez was a member of the Veterans' Affairs Committee, the House passed legislation introduced by Gutiérrez that made treatment and counseling available to veterans who have been victims of sexual trauma. Gutiérrez also successfully expanded healthcare coverage to those exposed to Agent Orange and high levels of radiation during military service.
Gutiérrez's assistance was pivotal in securing $92 million in additional healthcare and prosthetic funding for veterans.
Puerto Rico
Gutiérrez has been an advocate for human and civil rights of the Puerto Rican people. In the late 1990s and the 2000s, he was a leader in the Vieques movement, which sought to stop the United States military from using the inhabited island as a bomb testing ground. In May 2000, Gutiérrez was one of nearly two hundred people arrested (including fellow congresswoman Nydia Velázquez) for refusing to leave the natural habitat the US military wished to continue using as a bombing range. Gutierrez was ultimately successful: in May 2003, the Atlantic Fleet Weapons Training Facility on Vieques Island was closed; and in May 2004, the U.S. Navy's last remaining base on Puerto Rico, the Roosevelt Roads Naval Station - which employed 1,000 local contractors and contributed $300 million to the local economy - was closed.
In 2011, Gutiérrez came out against human rights abuses occurring on the island – specifically police brutality perpetrated against University of Puerto Rico students critical of the island's government and a law passed by the Fortuño government that sought to limit student's freedom of speech. Gutiérrez also spoke out against a proposed pipeline which would degrade the island's lush tropical habitat and potentially put residents living near the proposed pipeline in danger.
Workers' rights
Gutiérrez is a close ally of organized labor and has voted repeatedly to protect and expand workers' rights. In 2008, Gutiérrez was one of the principal elected officials that assisted workers of the Chicago-based Republic Windows and Doors during their successful sit-in. The workers had lost their jobs without advance notice, allegedly due to a refusal of credit from Bank of America after the bailout of the financial system. He met with workers and helped them broker a deal with Bank of America. Gutiérrez views his advocacy for workers' rights and immigrant rights as invariably related. He is frequently invited to speak and present before labor unions.
North American Free Trade Agreement
In 1994 Gutiérrez was a vocal opponent of NAFTA and ultimately voted against the measure because of the legislation's failure to provide for worker retraining, protect against American job loss, and protect Mexican workers' collective bargaining rights. He criticized the role of Rahm Emanuel in particular for the deficiencies.
Public transportation
When the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) declared its plan to close down the Douglas Branch of the then Blue Line – which serves primarily working-class Latino communities – Gutiérrez successfully secured $320 million in federal funding to reconstruct Blue Line stops and pressed the CTA to re-instate full service. The Douglas Branch is now known as the Pink Line.
Use of civil disobedience
With a background as a community activist and organizer, Gutiérrez often uses non-violent civil disobedience when pushing political causes and legislation. He was arrested in May 2000 in protest of the US military using the inhabited Puerto Rican island of Vieques as a bombing range, and again in May 2010 in protest of presidential inaction on immigration reform. In 2010 and 2011, he was arrested protesting presidential inaction on immigration reform and a record-breaking one-million deportations under President Obama.
Criticism
Gutiérrez's progressive political stances are often challenged by political commentators. Since 2008, Gutiérrez has been the subject of several critical stories in the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times, detailing his relationship with former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, and the real estate dealings of Gutierrez and his family.
Committee assignments
Upon arriving to the United States House of Representatives, Gutiérrez attempted to organize the 63 incoming Democratic freshmen to support a reform agenda. He sent each one a copy of the book Adventures in Porkland: How Washington Wastes Your Money and Why They Won't Stop. As a result of his attempts to organize the freshmen class, Gutiérrez was passed up by the House leadership for his first choice of the Ways and Means Committee, and his second choice of the Education Committee; instead, he was assigned to the Banking Committee and Veterans' Affairs. In response to being bypassed for his top committee choices as result of his reform advocacy, Gutiérrez charged that then-House Speaker Tom Foley was "not a reformer in any sense".
Congressman Gutiérrez sat on the following House Committees:
Judiciary Committee
Subcommittee on Immigration Policy and Border Security,
Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security and Investigations;
Gutiérrez was a member of the Judiciary Committee during the 110th and 111th Congress, serving on the Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security, and International Law Subcommittee. During that same period of time, he was the Chair of the Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit of the Financial Services Committee.
Gutiérrez was a member of the House Baltic Caucus, the Congressional Arts Caucus and the United States Congressional International Conservation Caucus.
Mayoral candidacy speculation
Gutiérrez' name has often been mentioned as a potential candidate for Mayor of Chicago. In 2006, he explored running for mayor of Chicago against incumbent Richard M. Daley, but announced in November that he would remain in Congress.
After Daley declared his retirement in 2011, Gutiérrez' name was once again floated as a potential mayoral candidate. In an effort to draft the Congressman into the race, students formed chapters of "Students for Luis Gutiérrez" at six colleges and two Chicago public high schools; but in October, Gutiérrez removed his name from consideration, stating, "I have an obligation not to give up on the fight I've already begun. I have unfinished business to complete", in reference to his work on immigration reform in the United States Congress.
After mayor Rahm Emanuel dropped out of the 2019 mayoral election in early September 2018, Gutiérrez stated that he was considering either running himself, or having Jesús "Chuy" García (the 2015 mayoral runner-up who was, at the time, running as the Democratic nominee to succeed Gutiérrez in congress) run for mayor. Ultimately, on September 12 (a week after declaring interest), he opted against running, and publicly called for Garcia to run. By the start of October, Garcia had declared that he would not be running either.
Personal life
Gutiérrez has been married to Soraida Arocho Gutiérrez since 1977. Together, they have two daughters – Omaira and Jessica. Jessica's middle name – Washington – comes from the late Mayor Harold Washington, a close friend and mentor of Gutiérrez. Soraida battled and survived cancer in the 2000s.
Roberto Maldonado, 26th ward alderman and former Cook County Commissioner, is Gutiérrez' former brother-in-law.
Gutiérrez is an avid golfer.
Electoral history
See also
List of Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States Congress
References
External links
Articles
BuzzFlash Interviews: Congressman Luis Gutierrez June 20, 2001
1953 births
21st-century American politicians
Puerto Rican people in Illinois politics
Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Illinois
Hispanic and Latino American members of the United States Congress
Living people
Northeastern Illinois University alumni
Politicians from Chicago
American taxi drivers
American politicians of Puerto Rican descent
|
412023
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rahm%20Emanuel
|
Rahm Emanuel
|
Rahm Israel Emanuel (; born November 29, 1959) is an American politician and diplomat who is the current United States ambassador to Japan. A member of the Democratic Party, he served three terms representing Illinois in the United States House of Representatives from 2003 to 2009, then was White House Chief of Staff from 2009 to 2010 under Barack Obama, and served as mayor of Chicago from 2011 to 2019.
Born in Chicago, Emanuel is a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College and Northwestern University. Early in his career, Emanuel served as director of the finance committee for Bill Clinton's 1992 presidential campaign. In 1993, he joined the Clinton administration, where he served as assistant to the president for political affairs and as Senior Advisor to the President for policy and strategy. Emanuel worked at the investment bank Wasserstein Perella & Co. from 1998 for two-and-a-half years, and served on the board of directors of Freddie Mac. In 2002, he ran for the seat in the U.S. House of Representatives vacated by Rod Blagojevich, who resigned to become governor of Illinois. Emanuel won the first of three terms representing Illinois's 5th congressional district, a seat he held from 2003 to 2009. As chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, he oversaw Democratic wins in the 2006 United States House of Representatives elections, allowing the party to gain control of the chamber for the first time since 1994.
After the 2008 U.S. presidential election, President Barack Obama appointed Emanuel to serve as White House chief of staff. In October 2010, Emanuel resigned as chief of staff to run in the 2011 Chicago mayoral election. Emanuel won with 55% of the vote over five other candidates in the non-partisan mayoral election. In the 2015 Chicago mayoral election, he failed to obtain an absolute majority in the first round but defeated Cook County board commissioner Jesús "Chuy" García in the subsequent run-off election. In late 2015, Emanuel's approval rating plunged to "the low 20s", in response to a series of scandals.
In October 2017, Emanuel announced he planned to run for a third term, but he reversed his decision on September 4, 2018. The Chicago Tribune assessed Emanuel's performance as mayor as "mixed", and at one point half of Chicagoans favored Emanuel's resignation. He left office in May 2019 and was succeeded by Lori Lightfoot. In August 2021, President Joe Biden nominated Emanuel to be the United States Ambassador to Japan; he was confirmed by the U.S. Senate in December of that year.
Early life and family
Emanuel's maternal grandfather was a Moldovan Jew who emigrated from Bessarabia. The surname Emanuel (Hebrew: ), which means "God is with us", was adopted by their family in honor of Rahm's uncle (his father's brother) Emanuel Auerbach, who was killed in 1933 in an altercation with Arabs in Jerusalem.
Emanuel's father, Benjamin M. Emanuel, was a Jerusalem-born pediatrician at Michael Reese Hospital who was once a member of the Irgun, a Jewish paramilitary organization that operated in Mandatory Palestine. His mother, Marsha (née Smulevitz), is the daughter of a West Side Chicago labor union organizer who worked in the civil rights movement. She briefly owned a local rock and roll club, and later became an adherent of Benjamin Spock's writings. Emanuel's parents met during the 1950s in Chicago.
Emanuel was born on November 29, 1959, in Chicago, Illinois. His first name, Rahm () means high or lofty in Hebrew. He attended Bernard Zell Anshe Emet Day School in Lakeview for elementary school. He has been described by his older brother Ezekiel, an oncologist and bioethicist at the University of Pennsylvania, as "quiet and observant" as a child. Ari, his younger brother, is the CEO of Endeavor, an entertainment agency with headquarters in Beverly Hills, California. Rahm Emanuel also has a younger adopted sister, Shoshana.
Education and ballet dance
While he lived in Chicago, Emanuel attended the Bernard Zell Anshe Emet Day School. After his family moved to Wilmette, north of the city, Emanuel attended public schools: Romona School, Locust Junior High School, and New Trier High School. He and his brothers attended summer camp in Israel, including the summer following the June 1967 Six-Day War. Ezekiel has written that their father "did not believe in falsely building his sons' self-esteem by purposefully letting us win, or tolerating sloppy play". About Rahm, he also wrote:
Rahm was encouraged by his mother to take ballet lessons, and is a graduate of the Evanston School of Ballet, as well as a student of The Joel Hall Dance Center, where his children later took lessons. He won a scholarship to the Joffrey Ballet, but turned it down to attend Sarah Lawrence College, a liberal arts school with a strong dance program. This background, as well as the mayor's short stature, has led critics of the Mayor to nickname him "tiny dancer". While an undergraduate, Emanuel was elected to the Sarah Lawrence Student Senate. He graduated from Sarah Lawrence in 1981 with a Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts, and went on to receive a Master of Arts in Speech and Communication from Northwestern University in 1985.
Emanuel took part in a two-week civilian volunteer holiday, known as the Sar-El, where, as a civilian volunteer, he assisted the Israel Defense Forces during the 1991 Gulf War, helping to repair truck brakes in one of Israel's northern bases.
While a high school student working part-time at an Arby's restaurant, Emanuel severely cut his right middle finger on a meat slicer, which was later infected from swimming in Lake Michigan. His finger was partially amputated due to the severity of the infection.
Political staffer career
Emanuel began his political career with the public interest and consumer rights organization Illinois Public Action. He went on to serve in a number of capacities in local and national politics, initially specializing in fund-raising for Illinois campaigns, and then nationally.
Emanuel worked for Democrat Paul Simon's 1984 election to the U.S. Senate. He also worked as the national campaign director for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in 1988, and was senior advisor and chief fund-raiser for Richard M. Daley's successful initial campaign for mayor of Chicago, in 1989.
At the start of then-Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton's presidential primary campaign, Emanuel was appointed to direct the campaign's finance committee. Emanuel insisted that Clinton schedule time for fund-raising and delay campaigning in New Hampshire. Clinton embarked on an aggressive national fund-raising campaign that allowed the campaign to keep buying television time as attacks on Clinton's character threatened to swamp the campaign during the New Hampshire primary. Clinton's primary rival, Paul Tsongas (the New Hampshire Democratic primary winner), later withdrew, citing a lack of campaign funds. Richard Mintz, a Washington public relations consultant who worked with Emanuel on the campaign, spoke about the soundness of the idea: "It was that [extra] million dollars that really allowed the campaign to withstand the storm we had to ride out in New Hampshire [over Clinton's relationship with Gennifer Flowers and the controversy over his draft status during the Vietnam War]." Emanuel's knowledge of the top donors in the country, and his rapport with "heavily Jewish" donors helped Clinton amass a then-unheard-of sum of $72 million. While working on the Clinton campaign Emanuel was a paid retainer of the investment bank Goldman Sachs.
Clinton administration
Following the campaign, Emanuel served as a senior advisor to Clinton at the White House from 1993 to 1998. In the White House, Emanuel was initially Assistant to the President for Political Affairs and then Senior Advisor to the President for Policy and Strategy. He was a leading strategist in White House efforts to institute NAFTA, among other Clinton initiatives.
Emanuel is known for his "take-no-prisoners style" that has earned him the nickname "Rahmbo". Emanuel sent a dead fish in a box to a pollster who was late delivering polling results. On the night after the 1992 election, angry at Democrats and Republicans who "betrayed" them in the 1992 election, Emanuel stood up at a celebratory dinner with colleagues from the campaign and began plunging a steak knife into the table and began rattling off names while shouting "Dead! Dead! Dead!". Before Tony Blair gave a pro-Clinton speech during the impeachment crisis, Emanuel reportedly screamed at Blair "Don't fuck this up!" while Clinton was present. Blair and Clinton both burst into laughter. However, by 2007 friends of Emanuel were saying that he has "mellowed out". Stories of his personal style have entered the popular culture, inspiring articles and websites that chronicle these and other quotes and incidents. The character Josh Lyman in The West Wing was said to be based on Emanuel, though executive producer Lawrence O'Donnell denied this.
Career in finance
After serving as an advisor to Bill Clinton, in 1998 Emanuel resigned from his position in the administration and joined the investment banking firm Wasserstein Perella, where he worked for years. Although he did not have an MBA degree or prior banking experience, he became a managing director at the firm's Chicago office in 1999, and according to congressional disclosures, made $16.2 million in his years as a banker. At Wasserstein Perella, he worked on eight deals, including the acquisition by Commonwealth Edison of Peco Energy and the purchase by GTCR Golder Rauner of the SecurityLink home security unit from SBC Communications.
Freddie Mac
In 2000, Emanuel was named to the Board of Directors of Freddie Mac by President Clinton. He earned at least $320,000 during his time there, including later stock sales. During Emanuel's time on the board, Freddie Mac was plagued with scandals involving campaign contributions and accounting irregularities. The Bush administration rejected a request under the Freedom of Information Act to review Freddie Mac board minutes and correspondence during Emanuel's time as a director. The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight later accused the board of having "failed in its duty to follow up on matters brought to its attention". Emanuel resigned from the board in 2001 before his first bid for Congress.
Congressional career
Elections
In 2002, Emanuel pursued the U.S. House seat in the 5th district of Illinois, previously held by Rod Blagojevich, who successfully ran for governor of Illinois. His strongest opponent in the crowded primary of eight was former Illinois state representative Nancy Kaszak. During the primary, Edward Moskal, president of the Polish American Congress, a political action committee endorsing Kaszak, called Emanuel a "millionaire carpetbagger". Emanuel won the primary and defeated Republican candidate Mark Augusti in the general election. Emanuel's inaugural election to the House with 67% was the closest he ever had for this seat, as he subsequently won more than 70% in all of his re-election bids.
Tenure
Emanuel was elected after the October 2002 joint resolution authorizing the Iraq War, and so did not vote on it. However, in the lead up to the resolution, Emanuel spoke out in support of the war.
In January 2003, Emanuel was named to the House Financial Services Committee and sat on the subcommittee that oversaw Freddie Mac. A few months later, Freddie Mac Chief Executive Officer Leland Brendsel was forced out and the committee and subcommittee commenced more than a year of hearings into Freddie Mac. Emanuel skipped every hearing allegedly for reasons of avoiding any appearance of favoritism, impropriety, or conflict of interest.
Emanuel aligned himself with the Democratic Leadership Council.
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chairman
Emanuel assumed the position of Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chairman (DCCC) after the death of the previous chair, Bob Matsui. Emanuel led the Democratic Party's effort to capture the majority in the House of Representatives in the 2006 elections. The documentary HouseQuake, featuring Emanuel, chronicles those elections. Emanuel had disagreements over Democratic election strategy with Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean. Dean favored a "fifty-state strategy", building support for the Democratic Party over the long term, while Emanuel advocated a more tactical approach focusing attention on key districts.
The Democratic Party gained 30 seats in the House in the 2006 elections, and Emanuel received considerable praise for his stewardship of the DCCC, even from Illinois Republican Rep. Ray LaHood, who said, "He legitimately can be called the golden boy of the Democratic Party today. He recruited the right candidates, found the money, and funded them, and provided issues for them. Rahm did what no one else could do in seven cycles."
However, Emanuel also faced some criticism for his failure to support some progressive candidates, as Howard Dean advocated. Emanuel had "aggressively recruited right-leaning candidates, frequently military veterans, including former Republicans". Many of the Representatives that Rahm had recruited, such as Heath Shuler, ended up "[voting] against important Obama administration priorities, like economic stimulus, banking reform, and health care". Howie Klein has suggested that Emanuel's congressional campaign strategy was short-sighted, as it "contributed to the massive G.O.P. majorities we have now, the biggest since the nineteen-twenties" when the Democrats lost control of the House in the 2010 mid-term elections.
After Emanuel's election as chairman of the Democratic Caucus (see below), Chris Van Hollen became committee chair for the 110th Congress.
Democratic Caucus chairman
After his role in helping the Democrats win the 2006 elections, Emanuel was believed to be a leading candidate for the position of Majority Whip. Nancy Pelosi, who became the next Speaker of the House of Representatives, persuaded him not to challenge Jim Clyburn, but instead to succeed Clyburn in the role of Democratic Caucus Chairman. In return, Pelosi agreed to assign the caucus chair more responsibilities, including "aspects of strategy and messaging, incumbent retention, policy development, and rapid-response communications". Caucus vice-chair John Larson remained in his role instead of running for the chairman position.
After Vice President Dick Cheney asserted that he did not fall within the bounds of orders set for the executive branch, Emanuel called for cutting off the $4.8 million the Executive Branch provides for the Vice President's office.
Positions on political issues
Social issues
Emanuel is generally liberal on social issues. He has maintained a 100-percent pro-choice voting record, supports LGBT rights including same-sex marriage, and is a strong supporter of gun control, rated "F" by the NRA in December 2003. He has also strongly supported the banning of numerous rifles based upon "sporting purposes" criteria.
During his original 2002 campaign, Emanuel spoke in support of the goal of "to help make health care affordable and available for all Americans".
In his 2006 book, co-authored with Bruce Reed, The Plan: Big Ideas for America, Emanuel advocated a three-month compulsory universal service program for Americans between the ages of 18 and 25. A similar, expanded version of the initiative was later proposed by Barack Obama during his 2008 presidential campaign.
Iraq war
During his original 2002 campaign, Emanuel "indicated his support of President Bush's position on Iraq, but said he believed the President needed to better articulate his position to the American people".
In the 2006 congressional primaries, Emanuel, then head of the Democratic congressional campaign committee, helped organize a run by Tammy Duckworth, an Iraq war veteran with no political experience, against grassroots candidate Christine Cegelis in Illinois' 6th district. Expedited withdrawal from Iraq was a central point of Cegelis' campaign and Duckworth opposed a withdrawal timetable.
Middle East
In June 2007, Emanuel condemned an outbreak of Palestinian violence in the Gaza Strip and criticized Arab countries for not applying the same kind of pressure on the Palestinians as they have on Israel. At a 2003 pro-Israel rally in Chicago, Emanuel told the marchers that Israel was "ready for peace" but would not get there until Palestinians "turn away from the path of terror".
White House Chief of Staff
Emanuel declared in April 2006 that he would support Hillary Clinton should she pursue the presidency in 2008. Emanuel remained close to Clinton since leaving the White House, talking strategy with her at least once a month as chairman of the DCCC. However, Emanuel's loyalties came into conflict when his home-state Senator, Barack Obama, expressed interest in the race. Asked in January 2007, about his stance on the Democratic presidential nomination, he said: "I'm hiding under the desk. I'm very far under the desk, and I'm bringing my paper and my phone." Emanuel remained neutral in the race until June 4, 2008, the day after the final primary contests, when he endorsed Obama.
On November 6, 2008, Emanuel accepted the position of White House Chief of Staff for US President Barack Obama. He resigned his congressional seat effective January 2, 2009. A special primary to fill his vacated congressional seat was held on March 3, 2009, and the special general election on April 7. John Fritchey, a candidate for that seat, said at a forum that Emanuel had told him he may be interested in running for the seat again in the future.
Some Republican leaders criticized Emanuel's appointment because they believed it went against Obama's campaign promises of less divisive politics, given Emanuel's reputation as a partisan Democrat. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham disagreed, saying: "This is a wise choice by President-elect Obama. He's tough, but fair, honest, direct, and candid." Ira Forman, executive director of the National Jewish Democratic Council, said that the choice indicated that Obama would not listen to the "wrong people" regarding the U.S.–Israel relationship. Some commentators opined that Emanuel would be good for the Israeli–Palestinian peace process because if Israeli leaders made excuses for not dismantling settlements, Emanuel would be tough and pressure the Israelis to comply. Some Palestinians expressed dismay at Emanuel's appointment.
Weeks after accepting the appointment, Emanuel participated on a panel of corporate chief executive officers sponsored by the Wall Street Journal, and said, "You never want a serious crisis to go to waste." Emanuel explained later, "... what I said was, never allow a good crisis to go to waste when it's an opportunity to do things that you had never considered, or that you didn't think were possible."
In a 2009 article in The New York Times, Emanuel was characterized as being "perhaps the most influential chief of staff of a generation".
He has a reputation for his no-holds-barred negotiation style that involves "his share of shouting and cursing". Ezekiel Emanuel has written, "The impatient, pushy Emanuel style is so well known that during a recent job interview I was asked, point-blank, whether I had the level-headed temperament the position required. ... . [A]s obvious as our flaws are to others, it's difficult to recognize them in ourselves." At a January 2010 closed-door meeting in the White House with liberal activists, Emanuel called them "fucking retarded" for planning to run TV ads attacking conservative Democrats who didn't support Obama's health-care overhaul. After the remarks were quoted in a front-page story of the Wall Street Journal, and after he was criticized by Sarah Palin, Emanuel apologized to organizations for mentally disabled people for using the word "retarded".
According to Jonathan Alter's book, The Promise, Emanuel opposed Barack Obama's plan for a broad health care reform, but Obama overrode him. Emanuel advocated a smaller plan because it could get bi-partisan support. Emanuel wanted to expand coverage for children, and increase the number of single mothers eligible for Medicaid. For that reason, it was dubbed "the Titanic plan", a reference to the priority given to saving women and children during the sinking of the Titanic. Reportedly, House Speaker Pelosi had to convince Obama on the health care initiative after Emanuel dramatically scaled it back. Emanuel has since apologized for his role, saying, "Thank God for the country, he didn't listen to me", after the Supreme Court upheld "ObamaCare" in 2012.
As chief of staff, Emanuel would make his staff laugh. During a staff meeting, when Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra gave uniformly upbeat reports, Emanuel is said to have looked at him and said: "Whatever you're taking, I want some." Emanuel had a hand in war strategy, political maneuvering, communications and economic policy. Bob Woodward wrote in Obama's Wars that Emanuel made a habit of telephoning CIA Director Leon Panetta and asking about the lethal drone strikes aimed at Al Qaeda, asking, "Who did we get today?".
In 2010, Emanuel was reported to have conflicts with other senior members of the president's team and ideological clashes over policy. He was also the focal point of criticism from left-leaning Democrats for the administration's perceived move to the center. By September 2010, with the Democrats anticipating heavy losses in mid-term elections, this was said to precipitate Emanuel's departure as chief of staff.
Mayor of Chicago
Elections
2011
On September 30, 2010, it was announced that Emanuel would leave his post as White House Chief of Staff to run for Mayor of Chicago. He was replaced by Pete Rouse on October 2, 2010.
Emanuel entered the race with high-name recognition, having not only a sizeable local profile, but also a sizable national profile.
Emanuel's eligibility for office was challenged on the basis of his lack of residency in Chicago for one year prior to the election. This was the period when Emanuel was in Washington serving as the White House chief of staff. The Board of Elections and the Cook County Circuit Court affirmed his eligibility. A divided Court of Appeals reversed the Circuit Court, holding on January 24, 2011, that residency for purposes of a candidate is different from residency for purposes of being a voter. A further appeal to the Illinois Supreme Court resulted in a unanimous decision reversing the Court of Appeals and affirming Emanuel's eligibility.
In the race, Emanuel had a financial advantage over the other candidates. He was by far the best-financed candidate, with more than three times the campaign funds as the second-best financed candidate (Gery Chico), and more than twenty-times the third-best financed candidate (Carol Moseley Braun). Emanuel's had his financial advantage from the very start of his candidacy, as he began his campaign with approximately $1.2 million from his congressional campaign fund. By December 31, 2010, he had raised more than $10.5 million in additional funds. On January 1, 2011, the Illinois Campaign Disclosure Act took effect, limiting individual personal contributions to candidates to $5,000. Nevertheless, he continued to raise substantial funds, ultimately having procured a total $15 million over the course of his campaign (including those funds transferred from his congressional campaign committee). Emanuel was able to raise so much because he had experience fundraising, had built a Washington connections and a national profile, and his brother Ari had Hollywood connections. He had 75 contributors give more than $50,000, twenty-five of which were from out of state. Among these high-dollar contributors were Steven Spielberg, Donald Trump, and Steve Jobs. Despite having a national fundraising operation, three-quarters of his donations came locally. More than $800,000 of his contributions were from financial exchange and trading executives, with his largest single donation being a $200,000 donation from executives of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.
Emanuel proposed lowering the city's sales tax and raising the service tax. Emanuel supported negotiating with the Chicago Teachers Union for longer school days and school years. Emanuel opposed instituting an elected school board. This received criticism from other candidates.
Other candidates assailed his tenure at Freddie Mac.
As the frontrunner, Emanuel had gotten more press coverage than other mayoral candidates. This was furthered by the fact that the challenge to his residency became a dominant headline.
Emanuel entered the race with solid backing from North and Northwest Side Democratic Ward Committeemen.
Emanuel's advertisements showed portrayed him as having strong roots in the city, and, in telling his biography, emphasized his upbringing on the North Shore. Contrarily, Emanuel's opponents attempted to characterize him as a carpetbagger, hailing not from the city itself but rather from the North Shore and Washington, D.C. Emanuel's advertisements also sought to emphasize his tenures in working in the White House and his tenure as a congressman. Emanuel would highlight his relations with presidents Clinton and Obama. He also sought to highlight the fact that he had forged connections in Washington during his time in congress, and also had strong business ties.
Emanuel had overwhelming support from Jewish and LGBT voters. Emanuel held a lead with independent progressives, including strong support from the lakefront liberals voting bloc of wealthy white progressives from the city's northern lakefront. As the only white candidate in the race, Emanuel was seen as likely to receive unified support from a majority of the white electorate. Since the Hispanic vote was largely split between two Hispanic candidates (Gery Chico and Miguel del Valle), once Emanuel was able to secure the support of the majority of the black vote, he had secured himself victory.
In attracting African American voters to his candidacy, Emanuel was helped by his associations with Presidents Clinton and Obama, both of whom were extremely popular among the African American community. After Moseley Braun's support began to crater following a character attack on fellow candidate Patricia Van Pelt Watkins which backfired, Emanuel was the beneficiary as the, largely African American, voters that abandoned their support of Moseley Braun's candidacy primarily migrated to support his candidacy. Once this happened, Emanuel had all but secured himself a first-place finish, and the remaining candidates were left to jockey for second-place in hopes of there being a runoff.
Emanuel carried the endorsements of both the city's major daily newspapers, the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Sun-Times.
Emanuel's mayoral campaign was the inspiration for a satirical Twitter account called MayorEmanuel, which received more than 43,000 followers, more popular than Emanuel's actual Twitter account. Emanuel announced on February 28 that if the author would reveal himself, he would donate $5,000 to the charity of the author's choice. When Chicago journalist Dan Sinker revealed himself, Emanuel donated the money to Young Chicago Authors, a community organization which helps young people with writing and publishing skills.
Emanuel was elected on February 22, 2011, with 55% of the vote, and was sworn in as the 55th Mayor of Chicago on May 16, 2011, at the Pritzker Pavilion. At his inauguration were outgoing Mayor Richard M. Daley, Vice President Joe Biden, Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, former Mayor Jane Byrne, and William M. Daley, brother of the outgoing mayor and who would later serve as White House Chief of Staff. Emanuel was Chicago's first Jewish mayor.
2015
In August 2014, Chicago Tribune poll reported Emanuel had a 35% approval rating as mayor of Chicago.
In 2015, Emanuel won 56 percent of the vote in the run-off election against Jesús "Chuy" García held on April 7, 2015. He had been hurt by sharp neighborhood criticism of his decision to shut down 50 public schools in black and Latino neighborhoods, and his installation of red light cameras, together with anger at the high level of gun violence on the streets. On the other hand, he was supported by the business community and most elements of the Democratic party.
2016
In February 2016, Chicago Tribune polls reported that Emanuel approval ratings had dropped to 27%, for his role as the Mayor of Chicago.
The Chicago Tribune stated that this all-time record low job approval confirms a "public crisis in confidence" for Emanuel who had been subjected to weeks of public protests, allegations of him covering up the Laquan McDonald police shooting video, as well as federal civil rights investigation of his police department. For several months, Emanuel claimed that making the video public would jeopardize a federal investigation into the shooting and had refused to allow the video to be shown to the public, despite the Justice Department had not raised any issues with the public release of the footage. It wasn't until a judge forced its release that it was later seen that the contents in the video contradicted the police's narrative of what had really occurred. A public backlash resulted from Emanuel's handling of the video, with a "steady barrage" of "Resign Rahm" protests since November".
According to Chicago Tribunal polls, the majority didn't believe Emanuel to be honest nor trustworthy, and 83 percent of polled Chicagoans didn't believe Emanuel's statements on the video, and 68 percent felt that he was not justified in withholding the video from the public. In response to the public backlash, Emanuel forced the resignation of Chicago's police chief, Garry McCarthy, as well as generating a plan that promised to reform the city's police department.
2019
Emanuel announced in October 2017 that he was running for reelection in 2019, despite low approval ratings and some potentially serious challengers. In September 2018, Emanuel then announced he would not run for reelection as previously announced. Close friend David Axelrod told USA Today that Emanuel had grown uncertain about his devotion to a third term. Emanuel had been leading in the polls prior to his decision to withdraw. However according to Politico citing data from Public Policy Polling, Rahm Emanuel had a lead over most of his potential challengers but it was "not enough to win the contest outright" and that in a head-to-head matchup with Paul Vallas, Vallas actually had a polling lead over Emanuel with 39 percent to 33. In an interview with the Chicago Tribune, Emanuel stated that he had been conferring with his wife and children for months before announcing the decision and that he felt it was time to "write the next chapter."
Tenure
Emanuel assembled a transition team from varied backgrounds. On November 16, the city council voted unanimously to adopt the mayor's first budget, which decreased the budget by $34 million and increased spending by $46.2 million, supported by increasing fees and fines. Despite most Aldermen opposing cuts to library workers and the closure of mental health clinics, they ultimately supported it, calling it "honest". At a news conference in November 2012, Emanuel listed his top three priorities for the state legislature as security and pension reform, adding a casino to Chicago, and equal marriage rights for same-sex couples. At a press conference with then Illinois Governor Pat Quinn, who previously vetoed legislation to put a casino in Chicago, the two were "very close" to reaching a deal.
In April 2018, Emanuel received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from NUI Galway, a university in Chicago's sister city of Galway, Ireland, with the conferrers citing achievements in education reform while Mayor.
During Emanuel's time as mayor of Chicago, two of Emanuel's appointees, Barbara Byrd-Bennett and Amer Ahmad, were convicted of corruption charges. A third appointee, Forrest Claypool, resigned after the inspector general accused him of a cover up. Emanuel received backlash for defending him against the accusations.
Aldermanic appointments
As mayor, Emanuel appointed several individuals to fill vacancies on the Chicago City Council. This included appointing Natashia Holmes as 7th Ward alderman in 2013, Deb Mell as 33rd Ward alderman in 2013, Sophia King as 4th ward alderman in 2016, and Silvana Tabares as 23rd Ward alderman in 2018.
Following the resignation of Willie Cochran in March 2019, Emanuel had the opportunity to make a final aldermanic appointment, appointing an interim alderman to hold the seat until his successor (to be elected in an April 2 runoff) would assume office on May 20. However, Emanuel did not make such an appointment, leaving the seat vacant until March 20.
Police and community relations
In August 2012, a federal lawsuit was filed by eleven Chicago police officers alleging they were removed from the mayoral security detail and replaced with officers who worked on Emanuel's mayoral campaign, in violation of the 1983 Shakman Decree, which bars city officials from making political considerations in the hiring process.
Rahm Emanuel faced a great deal of criticism for his handling of the October 20, 2014, police murder of Laquan McDonald. The dash-cam video of the shooting was initially withheld, and only was released after a judge ordered it on November 24, 2015. After the video release, Emanuel was condemned for covering up the incident and allowing Chicago police to use excessive force against minorities. Chicago Tribune columnist John Kass wrote that the Emanuel administration withheld from the public the police dashboard camera video of the shooting in order to secure the reelection. Emanuel responded to criticism of the shooting and how it was handled by firing police Superintendent Garry McCarthy. In early December, the federal Justice Department announced an investigation into the Chicago Police Department, a move which Emanuel initially called "misguided". Illinois state legislator La Shawn Ford also introduced a bill to recall the mayor (an effort most pundits claim was more symbolic than practical).
Protests erupted soon after the release of the video, and on Black Friday protesters shut down part of the city's Magnificent Mile. Public calls for resignation grew steadily over this period, including a well-circulated op-ed published in The New York Times. By early December, Emanuel's approval rating had sunk to 18%, with 67% of Chicagoans disapproving of his job performance, and slightly more than half of those polled calling for his resignation. During the week of December 10, protestors blocked streets and continued to call for Emanuel to resign. Additional protests against Emanuel and Chicago's Police Department were held on the city's busy Michigan Avenue shopping area on December 24, 2015.
On December 26, 2015, a police officer killed two people in another shooting, including a woman whom the officer had shot by mistake. On December 28, Emanuel announced that he was cutting short his vacation in Cuba to deal with the crisis. Emanuel announced several changes to the Chicago police department on December 30, including doubling the number of Tasers issued to officers. On New Year's Eve, the Emanuel administration released e-mails revealing they had sought to coordinate with independent agencies such as the Independent Police Review Authority regarding public relations after the shooting. The same day The New Yorker added to the wave of negative media attention surrounding the mayor by publishing "The Sudden But Well-Deserved Fall of Rahm Emanuel", an article critically reevaluating Emanuel's legacy as a political operative since the early 1990s.
Public education
In 2012, during the contract negotiations between the city and the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU), compromise could not be reached over issues like health insurance increases, teacher evaluations, and seniority pay increases. On August 8, 2012, the CTU voted 90% to authorize a strike. On September 10, the CTU began a strike after CTU President Lewis declared that negotiations with the city were not succeeding. On September 14, the CTU reached a tentative agreement with the city which included preferences for teachers who have been laid off due to a school closing to be hired in another school and student test scores having less of a role in teacher evaluations than the city had originally planned. This tentative agreement did not hold, and the strike continued, after which Emanuel announced his intention to seek a legal injunction, forcing teachers back to work. On September 17, Emanuel's efforts to end the strike stalled as the walkout went into the second week. Delegates from the CTU voted to end the strike on September 18, 2012, and students began their return to the schools the following day.
On September 17, 2013, Emanuel's appointed Chicago Board of Education announced the closing of 50 Chicago public schools, 49 elementary schools and a high school — the largest school closure in Chicago history.
The trends in dropout and graduation rates have shown considerable improvement in the last five years, but researchers point out the alternative school performance does not follow the general trend.
Public health
On August 16, 2011, Emanuel unveiled "Healthy Chicago", the city's first public health blueprint with Chicago Department of Public Health Commissioner Bechara Choucair. Emanuel initiated the consolidation of City Council committees from 19 to 16 in a cost control effort. On October 30, 2012, Emanuel voiced his support for the demolition of the abandoned Prentice Women's Hospital Building, in order for Northwestern University, which owns the property, to build a new facility. Preservationists supported historical landmark status. Days later, the Commission on Chicago Landmarks voted that the building met landmark status criteria then reversed their decision later in the same meeting. On November 15, a judge granted a temporary stay of the decision in order for a lawsuit filed by preservation coalitions against the landmark commission to be heard.
Lack of transparency
Emanuel rejected requests under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act from The Chicago Tribune for various communication and information logs for himself and his staff, labelling it "unduly burdensome". After a second request by the Tribune, they were informed that 90 percent of the e-mails had been deleted by Emanuel and his top aides. As a result, Emanuel came under fire for going against his campaign promise to create "the most open, accountable, and transparent government that the City of Chicago has ever seen".
Emanuel and his office were found guilty of breaking state law by withholding government emails by transferring them onto his personal phone.
In March 2017 Chicago Tribune reported Emanuel released 2,696 emails he had previously withheld. In the emails there were found to be 26 possible violations of lobbying laws. On at least 26 occasions lobbyists, corporate executives, donors, and friends of Emanuel got access to Emanuel or other city officials without registering as a lobbyist or reporting their contact to the ethics board.
Tax-exempt status of Lollapalooza
Lollapalooza, an annual summer music festival in Grant Park, was exempt from taxation. Emanuel's brother Ari is the co-CEO of William Morris Endeavor, which co-owns the event. In 2011 Rahm Emanuel asked the City Council to appoint an independent third party negotiator, to avoid having the negotiation seen as biased. Although the deal was reached before Emanuel took office, tax breaks must be negotiated every year. It was later revealed that the festival received its tax exemption for 2011 in the final days of the Daley administration. In 2012, Lollapalooza paid taxes for the first time in seven years and extended its contract to host in Grant Park through 2021.
Hyperloop
Rahm Emanuel announced preliminary plans to award Elon Musk a contract to build a Hyperloop between downtown Chicago and the city's O'Hare International Airport, although it would receive no public subsidies under this plan. However, some criticized the fact that Elon Musk has in the past donated more than $55,000 to Rahm Emanuel's various election campaigns, suggesting a potential conflict of interest between the two.
Immigration
Chicago became a "de jure" sanctuary city in 2012 when Rahm Emanuel and the City Council passed the Welcoming City Ordinance.
Approval ratings
End of tenure
Emanuel planned to arrange for a smooth transition between his mayoral administration and that of his elected successor Lori Lightfoot. Reports were that he intended to model the transition between their administrations upon the U.S. presidential transition between the George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations. Emanuel had been part of that transition as Obama's Chief of Staff designate.
Post-mayoral career
Hours after Emanuel left office, the magazine The Atlantic, where he had written a dozen essays in prior months, made him a contributing editor; however, this honorary title was withdrawn after black staff members objected. In May 2019, he was named founding executive chair of the National BAM Advisory Council of the Becoming A Man youth program. In June 2019, Emanuel joined Centerview Partners as a senior counselor. Since July 2019, Emanuel has also served as a political analyst for ABC News.
Potential Cabinet position in Biden administration
Progressive politicians nationally, including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Matt Martin, opposed his potential inclusion in Joe Biden's Cabinet, citing his handling of the murder of Laquan McDonald. Initially, Emanuel was considered for Transportation secretary in the Biden administration.
United States Ambassador to Japan
It was reported in February 2021 that Emanuel was being considered by the Biden administration as an ambassador to either China or Japan. In April 2021 it was reported that Biden had chosen him as ambassador to Japan; Emanuel was formally nominated to serve as ambassador in August 2021. Hearings were held on Emanuel's nomination in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on October 20, 2021. The committee favorably reported Emanuel's nomination to the Senate floor on November 3, 2021. On December 18, 2021, United States Senate confirmed Emanuel's nomination in a 48–21 vote; senators Ed Markey, Jeff Merkley and Elizabeth Warren were the only Democrats to vote against his confirmation. He presented his credentials to Japanese Emperor Naruhito on March 25, 2022.
Emanuel gained popularity with the Japanese public, in part by using the local rail transport system to get around Tokyo and across the country, frequently posting photographs of himself using the rail systems on Twitter. However, he drew criticism from some Japanese politicians with his public statements on gay and transgender rights, released while Japanese lawmakers debated an anti-discrimination bill. Masamune Wada, a Liberal Democratic member of the House of Councillors responded, saying Emanuel should keep out of domestic politics or risk expulsion.
Electoral history
Mayor of Chicago
US House of Representatives
|-
| colspan=10 |
|-
!Year
!Winning candidate
!Party
!Pct
!Opponent
!Party
!Pct
!Opponent
!Party
!Pct
|-
|2002
| |Rahm Emanuel
| |Democratic
| |67%
| |Mark Augusti
| |Republican
| |29%
| |Frank Gonzalez
| |Libertarian
| |4%
|-
|2004
| |Rahm Emanuel (inc.)
| |Democratic
| |76%
| |Bruce Best
| |Republican
| |24%
|
|
|-
|2006
| |Rahm Emanuel (inc.)
| |Democratic
| |78%
| |Kevin White
| |Republican
| |22%
|
|
|
|-
|2008
| |Rahm Emanuel (inc.)
| |Democratic
| |74%
| |Tom Hanson
| |Republican
| |22%
| |Alan Augustson
| |Green
| |4%
Personal life
Emanuel and his wife, Amy Merritt Rule, have a son and two daughters. As of 2011, their family lived in the Ravenswood neighborhood on Chicago's north side. Rule converted to Judaism shortly before their wedding. Emanuel is a close friend of fellow Chicagoan David Axelrod, chief strategist for Obama's 2008 and 2012 presidential campaign, and Axelrod signed the ketuba, the Jewish marriage contract, at Emanuel's wedding. The Emanuels are members of the Chicago synagogue Anshe Sholom B'nai Israel. Rabbi Asher Lopatin of the congregation described Emanuel's family as "a very involved Jewish family", adding that "Amy was one of the teachers for a class for children during the High Holidays two years ago". Emanuel has said of his Judaism: "I am proud of my heritage and treasure the values it has taught me." Emanuel's children attended the private University of Chicago Laboratory Schools in the Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's south side.
Each year during the winter holidays, Emanuel takes a family trip on which his children can be exposed to other cultures and parts of the world. Prior family trips have been to Vietnam, India, Kenya, Zambia, and South America. His 2015 holiday trip was scheduled for the island of Cuba.
Emanuel trains for and participates in triathlons. In 2011, he scored 9th out of 80 competitors in his age group. A passionate cyclist, he rides a custom-built, state-of-the-art Parlee road bike.
Works
See also
History of the Jews in Chicago
List of Jewish members of the United States Congress
Notes
References
Further reading
Biography
Articles
Twenty minute interview.
In April 2011, the VOA Special English service of the Voice of America broadcast a 15-minute program on Rahm Emanuel. A transcript and MP3 of the program, intended for English learners, can be found at Rahm Emanuel Gets Ready for New Job as Mayor of Chicago.
External links
Rahm Emanuel archive at the Chicago Reader
Rahm Emanuel news, photos and video at the Chicago Tribune
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
1959 births
Living people
21st-century American diplomats
21st-century American politicians
Ambassadors of the United States to Japan
American amputees
American businesspeople
American gun control activists
American male ballet dancers
American Orthodox Jews
American people of Israeli descent
American people of Moldovan-Jewish descent
Articles containing video clips
Clinton administration personnel
Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Illinois
Senior Advisors to the President of the United States
Goldman Sachs people
Jewish mayors of places in the United States
Jewish members of the United States House of Representatives
Jewish American members of the Cabinet of the United States
Jewish American people in Illinois politics
Jews and Judaism in Chicago
Mayors of Chicago
New Trier High School alumni
Northwestern University School of Communication alumni
Obama administration cabinet members
Sarah Lawrence College alumni
White House Chiefs of Staff
American politicians with disabilities
|
412032
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American%20poetry
|
American poetry
|
American poetry refers to the poetry of the United States. It arose first as efforts by American colonists to add their voices to English poetry in the 17th century, well before the constitutional unification of the Thirteen Colonies (although a strong oral tradition often likened to poetry already existed among Native American societies). Most of the early colonists' work was similar to contemporary English models of poetic form, diction, and theme. However, in the 19th century, an American idiom began to emerge. By the later part of that century, poets like Walt Whitman were winning an enthusiastic audience abroad and had joined the English-language avant-garde.
Much of the American poetry published between 1910 and 1945 remains lost in the pages of small circulation political periodicals, particularly the ones on the far left, destroyed by librarians during the 1950s McCarthy era. Modernist poets like Ezra Pound and T.S. Eliot (who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1948) are often cited as creative and influential English-language poets of the first half of the 20th century. African American and women poets were published and read widely in the same period but were often somewhat prejudicially marginalized. By the 1960s, the Beat Movement and Black Mountain poets had developed new models for poetry and their contemporaries influenced the British Poetry Revival. Towards the end of the millennium, consideration of American poetry had diversified, as scholars placed an increased emphasis on poetry by women, African Americans, Hispanics, Chicanos, Native Americans, and other ethnic groups. Louise Glück is the only contemporary American writer writing primarily poetry who has been awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, while Bob Dylan, a folk-rock songwriter and poet, has been awarded the same prize.
Poetry in the colonies
As England's contact with the Americas increased after the 1490s, English explorers sometimes included verse with their descriptions of the New World up through 1650, the year of Anne Bradstreet's "The Tenth Muse", which was written in America (most likely in Ipswich, Massachusetts or North Andover, Massachusetts) and printed and distributed in London by her brother-in-law, Rev. John Woodbridge. There are 14 such writers whom might be termed American poets (they had been to America and to different degrees, written poems or verses about the place). Early examples include a 1616 "testimonial poem" on the "sterling and warlike" character of Captain John Smith (in Barbour, ed. "Works") and Rev. William Morrell's 1625 "Nova Anglia" or "New England", which is a rhymed catalog of everything from American weather to his glimpses of Native American women. Then in May 1627, Thomas Morton of Merrymount – a Devon-born West Country outdoorsman, attorney at law, man of letters and colonial adventurer – raised a maypole to celebrate and foster success at his fur-trading settlement and nailed a "Poem" and "Song" (one a densely literary manifesto on how European and Native people came together there and must keep doing so for a successful America; the other a light "drinking song" also full of deeper American implications). These were published in book form along with other examples of Morton's American poetry in "New English Canaan" (1637); and based on the criteria of "First," "American" and "Poetry," they make Morton (and not Anne Bradstreet) America's first poet in English.
One of the first recorded poets of the Thirteen Colonies was Anne Bradstreet (1612 – 1672), who remains one of the early known women poets who wrote in English.
The poems she published during her lifetime address religious and political themes. She also wrote tender evocations of home, family life and of her love for her husband, many of which remained unpublished until the 20th century.
Edward Taylor (1645–1729) wrote poems expounding Puritan virtues in a highly wrought metaphysical style that can be seen as typical of the early colonial period.
This narrow focus on the Puritan ethic was, understandably, the dominant note of most of the poetry written in the colonies during the 17th and early 18th centuries. The earliest "secular" poetry published in New England was by Samuel Danforth in his "almanacks" for 1647–1649, published at Cambridge; these included "puzzle poems" as well as poems on caterpillars, pigeons, earthquakes, and hurricanes. Of course, being a Puritan minister as well as a poet, Danforth never ventured far from a spiritual message.
A distinctly American lyric voice of the colonial period was Phillis Wheatley, a slave whose book "Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral," was published in 1773. She was one of the best-known poets of her day, at least in the colonies, and her poems were typical of New England culture at the time, meditating on religious and classical ideas.
The 18th century saw an increasing emphasis on America as fit subject matter for its poets. This trend is most evident in the works of Philip Freneau (1752–1832), who is notable for the unusually sympathetic attitude to Native Americans shown in his writings, which had been interpreted as being reflective of his skepticism toward American culture. However, as might be expected from what was essentially provincial writing, this late colonial-era poetry is generally somewhat old-fashioned in form and syntax, deploying the means and methods of Pope and Gray in the era of Blake and Burns. The work of Rebecca Hammond Lard (1772–1855), although quite old, still apply to life in today's world. She writes about nature, not only the nature of environment, but the nature of humans.
On the whole, the development of poetry in the American colonies mirrors the development of the colonies themselves. The early poetry is dominated by the need to preserve the integrity of the Puritan ideals that created the settlement in the first place. As the colonists grew in confidence, the poetry they wrote increasingly reflected their drive towards independence. This shift in subject matter was not reflected in the mode of writing which tended to be conservative, to say the least. This can be seen as a product of the physical remove at which American poets operated from the center of English-language poetic developments in London.
Postcolonial poetry
The first significant poet of the independent United States was William Cullen Bryant (1794–1878), whose great contribution was to write rhapsodic poems on the grandeur of prairies and forests. However, the first internationally acclaimed poet was Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882) who nearly surpassed Alfred, Lord Tennyson in international popularity, and, alongside William Cullen Bryant, John Greenleaf Whittier, James Russell Lowell, and Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., formed the Fireside Poets (known as the Schoolroom or Household Poets). The Fireside Poets were a group of 19th-century American poets from New England. The name "Fireside Poets" is derived from that popularity: their general adherence to poetic convention (standard forms, regular meter, and rhymed stanzas) made their body of work particularly suitable for being memorized and recited in school and at home, where it was a source of entertainment for families gathered around the fire. The poets' primary subjects were the domestic life, mythology, and politics of the United States, in which several of the poets were directly involved.
Other notable poets to emerge in the early and middle 19th century include Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882), Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849), Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862), Sidney Lanier (1842–1881), and James Whitcomb Riley (1849–1916). As might be expected, the works of all these writers are united by a common search for a distinctive American voice to distinguish them from their British counterparts. To this end, they explored the landscape and traditions of their native country as materials for their poetry.
The most significant example of this tendency may be The Song of Hiawatha by Longfellow. This poem uses Native American tales collected by Henry Rowe Schoolcraft, who was superintendent of Indian affairs for Michigan from 1836 to 1841. Longfellow imitated the meter of the Finnish epic poem Kalevala, possibly to avoid British models. The resulting poem, while a popular success, did not provide a model for future U.S. poets.
As time went on, the influence of the transcendentalism of the poet/philosophers Emerson and Thoreau increasingly influenced American poetry. Transcendentalism was the distinctly American strain of English Romanticism that began with William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Emerson, arguably one of the founders of transcendentalism, had visited England as a young man to meet these two English poets, as well as Thomas Carlyle. While Romanticism transitioned into Victorianism in post-reform England, it became energetic in America from the 1830s through to the Civil War.
Edgar Allan Poe was a unique poet during this time, brooding over themes of the macabre and dark, connecting his poetry and aesthetic vision to his philosophical, psychological, moral, and cosmological theories. In the 20th century, American poet William Carlos Williams said of Poe that "in him American literature is anchored, in him alone, on solid ground."
Whitman and Dickinson
The final emergence of a truly indigenous English-language poetry in the United States was the work of two poets, Walt Whitman (1819–1892) and Emily Dickinson (1830–1886). On the surface, these two poets could not have been less alike. Whitman's long lines, derived from the metric of the King James Version of the Bible, and his democratic inclusiveness stand in stark contrast with Dickinson's concentrated phrases and short lines and stanzas, derived from Protestant hymnals.
What links them is their common connection to Emerson (a passage from whom Whitman printed on the second edition of Leaves of Grass), and the daring originality of their visions. These two poets can be said to represent the birth of two major American poetic idioms—the free metric and direct emotional expression of Whitman, and the gnomic obscurity and irony of Dickinson—both of which would profoundly stamp the American poetry of the 20th century.
The development of these idioms, as well as conservative reactions against them, can be traced through the works of poets such as Edwin Arlington Robinson (1869–1935), Stephen Crane (1871–1900), Robert Frost (1874–1963), Carl Sandburg (1878–1967), and Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892-1950). Frost, in particular, is a commanding figure, who aligned strict poetic meter, particularly blank verse and terser lyrical forms, with a "vurry Amur'k'n" (as Pound put it) idiom. He successfully revitalized a rural tradition with many English antecedents from his beloved Golden Treasury and produced an oeuvre of major importance, rivaling or even excelling in achievement that of the key modernists and making him, within the full sweep of traditional modern English-language verse, a peer of Hardy and Yeats. But from Whitman and Dickinson the outlines of a distinctively new organic poetic tradition, less indebted to English formalism than Frost's work, were clear to see, and they would come to full fruition in the 1910s and 1920s. As Colin Falck noted, "To the Whitmanian heritage of cadenced free verse she [Millay] brings the greater reflective tightness of Robinson Jeffers."
Modernism and after
This new idiom, combined with a study of 19th-century French poetry, formed the basis of American input into 20th-century English-language poetic modernism. Ezra Pound (1885–1972) and T.S. Eliot (1888–1965) were the leading figures at the time, with their rejection of traditional poetic form and meter and of Victorian diction. Both steered American poetry toward greater density, difficulty, and opacity, with an emphasis on techniques such as fragmentation, ellipsis, allusion, juxtaposition, ironic and shifting personae, and mythic parallelism. Pound, in particular, opened up American poetry to diverse influences, including the traditional poetries of China and Japan.
Numerous other poets made important contributions at this revolutionary juncture, including Gertrude Stein (1874–1946), Wallace Stevens (1879–1955), William Carlos Williams (1883–1963), Hilda Doolittle (H.D.) (1886–1961), Marianne Moore (1887–1972), E.E. Cummings (1894–1962), and Hart Crane (1899–1932). The cerebral and skeptical Romantic Stevens helped revive the philosophical lyric, and Williams was to become exemplary for many later poets because he, more than any of his peers, contrived to marry spoken American English with free verse rhythms. Cummings remains notable for his experiments with typography and evocation of a spontaneous, childlike vision of reality.
Whereas these poets were unambiguously aligned with high modernism, other poets active in the United States in the first third of the 20th century were not. Among the more important of the latter were those who were associated with what came to be known as the New Criticism. These included John Crowe Ransom (1888–1974), Allen Tate (1899–1979), and Robert Penn Warren (1905–1989). Other poets of the era, such as Archibald MacLeish (1892–1982), experimented with modernist techniques but were drawn toward traditional modes of writing. Still others, such as Robinson Jeffers (1887–1962), adopted Modernist freedom while remaining aloof from Modernist factions and programs.
In addition, other early 20th-century poets maintained or were forced to maintain a peripheral relationship to high modernism, likely due to the racially charged themes of their work. They include Countee Cullen (1903–1946), Alice Dunbar Nelson (1875–1935), Gwendolyn Bennett (1902–1981), Langston Hughes (1902–1967), Claude McKay (1889–1948), Jean Toomer (1894–1967), and other African American poets of the Harlem Renaissance.
The modernist torch was carried in the 1930s mainly by the group of poets known as the Objectivists. These included Louis Zukofsky (1904–1978), Charles Reznikoff (1894–1976), George Oppen (1908–1984), Carl Rakosi (1903–2004) and, later, Lorine Niedecker (1903–1970). Kenneth Rexroth, who was published in the Objectivist Anthology, was, along with Madeline Gleason (1909–1973), a forerunner of the San Francisco Renaissance. Many of the Objectivists came from urban communities of new immigrants, and this new vein of experience and language enriched the growing American idiom.
World War II and after
Archibald Macleish called John Gillespie Magee Jr. "the first poet of the war".
World War II saw the emergence of a new generation of poets, many of whom were influenced by Wallace Stevens and Richard Eberhart (1904–2005).
Karl Shapiro (1913–2000), Randall Jarrell (1914–1965) and James Dickey (1923–1997) all wrote poetry that sprang from experience of active service. Together with Elizabeth Bishop (1911–1979), Theodor Seuss Geisel (Dr. Seuss) (1904-1991), Theodore Roethke (1908–1963) and Delmore Schwartz (1913–1966), they formed a generation of poets that in contrast to the preceding generation often wrote in traditional verse forms.
After the war, a number of new poets and poetic movements emerged. John Berryman (1914–1972) and Robert Lowell (1917–1977) were the leading lights in what was to become known as the Confessional movement, which was to have a strong influence on later poets like Sylvia Plath (1932–1963) and Anne Sexton (1928–1974). Though both Berryman and Lowell were closely acquainted with Modernism, they were mainly interested in exploring their own experiences as subject matter and a style that Lowell referred to as "cooked" – that is, consciously and carefully crafted.
In contrast, the Beat poets, who included such figures as Jack Kerouac (1922–1969), Allen Ginsberg (1926–1997), Gregory Corso (1930–2001), Joanne Kyger (1934-2017), Gary Snyder (born 1930), Diane Di Prima (1934-2020), Amiri Baraka (1934-2014) and Lawrence Ferlinghetti (1919-2020), were distinctly raw. Reflecting, sometimes in an extreme form, the open, relaxed and searching society of the 1950s and 1960s, the Beats pushed the boundaries of the American idiom in the direction of demotic speech perhaps further than any other group.
Around the same time, the Black Mountain poets, under the leadership of Charles Olson (1910–1970), were working at Black Mountain College in North Carolina. These poets were exploring the possibilities of open form but in a much more programmatic way than the Beats. The main poets involved were Robert Creeley (1926–2005), Robert Duncan (1919–1988), Denise Levertov (1923–1997), Ed Dorn (1929–1999), Paul Blackburn (1926–1971), Hilda Morley (1916–1998), John Wieners (1934–2002), and Larry Eigner (1927–1996). They based their approach to poetry on Olson's 1950 essay Projective Verse, in which he called for a form based on the line, a line based on human breath and a mode of writing based on perceptions juxtaposed so that one perception leads directly to another. This in turn influenced the works of Michael McClure (1932-2020), Kenneth Irby (1936–2015), and Ronald Johnson (1935–1998), poets from the Midwestern United States who moved to San Francisco, and in so doing extended the influence of the Black Mountain school geographically westward; their participation in the poetic circles of San Francisco can be seen as partly forming the basis for what would later be known as "Language poetry."
Other poets often associated with the Black Mountain are Cid Corman (1924–2004) and Theodore Enslin (1925-2011), but they are perhaps correctly viewed as direct descendants of the Objectivists. One-time Black Mountain College resident, composer John Cage (1912–1992), along with Jackson Mac Low (1922–2004), wrote poetry based on chance or aleatory techniques. Inspired by Zen, Dada and scientific theories of indeterminacy, they were to prove to be important influences on the 1970s U.S. avant-garde.
The Beats and some of the Black Mountain poets often are considered to have been responsible for the San Francisco Renaissance. However, as previously noted, San Francisco had become a hub of experimental activity from the 1930s thanks to Kenneth Rexroth and Gleason. Other poets involved in this scene included Charles Bukowski (1920–1994) and Jack Spicer (1925–1965). These poets sought to combine a contemporary spoken idiom with inventive formal experiment.
Jerome Rothenberg (born 1931) is well known for his work in ethnopoetics, but he was the coiner of the term "deep image", which he used to describe the work of poets like Robert Kelly (born 1935), Diane Wakoski (born 1937) and Clayton Eshleman (1935-2021). Deep Image poetry was inspired by the symbolist theory of correspondences, in particular the work of Spanish poet Federico García Lorca. The term later was popularized by Robert Bly. The Deep Image movement was the most international, accompanied by a flood of new translations from Latin American and European poets such as Pablo Neruda, César Vallejo and Tomas Tranströmer. Some of the poets who became associated with Deep Image are Galway Kinnell, James Wright, Mark Strand and W.S. Merwin. Both Merwin and California poet Gary Snyder became known for their interest in environmental and ecological concerns.
The Small Press poets (sometimes called the mimeograph movement) are another influential and eclectic group of poets who surfaced in the San Francisco Bay Area in the late 1950s and are still active today. Fiercely independent editors, who were also poets, edited and published low-budget periodicals and chapbooks of emerging poets who might otherwise have gone unnoticed. This work ranged from formal to experimental. Gene Fowler, A.D. Winans, Hugh Fox, street poet and activist Jack Hirschman, Paul Foreman, Jim Cohn, John Bennett, and F.A. Nettelbeck are among the many poets who are still actively continuing the Small Press Poets tradition. Many have turned to the new medium of the Web for its distribution capabilities.
Los Angeles poets: Leland Hickman (1934–1991), Holly Prado (1938-2019), Harry Northup (born 1940), Wanda Coleman (1946-2013),
Michael C. Ford (born 1939), Kate Braverman (1949-2019), Eloise Klein Healy (born 1943), Bill Mohr, Laurel Ann Bogen, met at Beyond Baroque
Literary Arts Center, in Venice, California. They are lyric poets, heavily autobiographical; some are practitioners of the experimental long poem. Their predecessors in Los Angeles were Ann Stanford (1916–1987), Thomas McGrath (1916–1990), Jack Hirschman (1933-2021). Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center, created by George Drury Smith in 1968, is the central literary arts center in the Los Angeles area.
Just as the West Coast had the San Francisco Renaissance and the Small Press Movement, the East Coast produced the New York School. This group aimed to write poetry that spoke directly of everyday experience in everyday language and produced a poetry of urbane wit and elegance that contrasts with the work of their Beat contemporaries (though in other ways, including their mutual respect for American slang and disdain for academic or "cooked" poetry, they were similar). Leading members of the group include John Ashbery (1927-2017), Frank O'Hara (1926–1966), Kenneth Koch (1925–2002), James Schuyler (1923–1991), Barbara Guest (1920–2006), Ted Berrigan (1934–1983), Anne Waldman (born 1945) and Bernadette Mayer (born 1945). Of this group, John Ashbery, in particular, has emerged as a defining force in recent poetics, and he is regarded by many as the most important American poet since World War II.
American poetry today
The last 40 years of poetry in the United States have brought new groups, schools, and trends into vogue. The 1970s saw a revival of interest in surrealism, with the more prominent poets working in this field being Andrei Codrescu (born in 1946), Russell Edson (1935-2014) and Maxine Chernoff (born in 1952). Performance poetry emerged from the Beat and hippie happenings, the talk-poems of David Antin (1932-2016), and ritual events performed by Rothenberg, to become a serious poetic stance which embraces multiculturalism and a range of poets from a multiplicity of cultures. This mirrored a general growth of interest in poetry by African Americans including Gwendolyn Brooks (1917–2000), Maya Angelou (1928–2014), Ishmael Reed (born in 1938), Nikki Giovanni (born in 1943), and Detrick Hughes (born in 1966).
Another group of poets, the Language school (or L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E, after the magazine that bears that name), have continued and extended the Modernist and Objectivist traditions of the 1930s. Some poets associated with the group are Lyn Hejinian, Ron Silliman, Bob Perelman and Leslie Scalapino. Their poems—fragmentary, purposefully ungrammatical, sometimes mixing texts from different sources and idioms—can be by turns abstract, lyrical, and highly comic.
The Language school includes a high proportion of women, which mirrors another general trend—the rediscovery and promotion of poetry written both by earlier and contemporary women poets. A number of the more prominent African American poets to emerge are women, and other prominent women writers include Adrienne Rich (1929–2012), Jean Valentine (1934–2020), and Amy Gerstler (born in 1956).
Although poetry in traditional classical forms had mostly fallen out of fashion by the 1960s, the practice was kept alive by poets of great formal virtuosity like James Merrill (1926–1995), author of the epic poem The Changing Light at Sandover, Richard Wilbur, and British-born San Francisco poet Thom Gunn. The 1980s and 1990s saw a re-emergent interest in traditional form, sometimes dubbed New Formalism or Neoformalism. These include poets such as Molly Peacock, Brad Leithauser, Dana Gioia, Donna J. Stone, Timothy Steele, Alicia Ostriker, and Marilyn Hacker. Some of the more outspoken New Formalists have declared that the return to rhyme and more fixed meters to be the new avant-garde. Their critics sometimes associate this traditionalism with the conservative politics of the Reagan era, noting the recent appointment of Gioia as chair of the National Endowment for the Arts.
Haiku has attracted a community of American poets dedicated to its development as a poetic genre in English. The extremely terse Japanese haiku first influenced the work of Ezra Pound and the Imagists, and post-war poets such as Kerouac and Richard Wright wrote substantial bodies of original haiku in English. Other poets such as Ginsberg, Snyder, Wilbur, Merwin, and many others have at least dabbled with haiku, often simply as a syllabic form. Starting in 1963, with the founding of the journal American Haiku, poets such as Cor van den Heuvel, Nick Virgilio, Raymond Roseliep, John Wills, Anita Virgil, Gary Hotham, Marlene Mountain, Wally Swist, Peggy Willis Lyles, George Swede, Michael Dylan Welch, Jim Kacian, and others have created significant oeuvres of haiku poetry, evincing continuities with both Transcendentalism and Imagism and often maintaining an anti-anthropocentric environmental focus on nature during an unparalleled age of habitat destruction and human alienation.
The last two decades have seen a revival of the Beat poetry spoken word tradition, in the form of the poetry slam. Chicago construction worker Marc Smith turned urban poetry performance into audience-judged competitions in 1984. Poetry slams emphasize a style of writing that is topical, provocative and easily understood. Poetry slam opened the door for a generation of writers and spoken word performers, including Alix Olson, Apollo Poetry, Taylor Mali, and Saul Williams, and inspired hundreds of open mics across the U.S.
Poetry has become a significant presence on the Web, with a number of new online journals, 'zines, blogs and other websites. An example of the fluid nature of web-based poetry communities is, "thisisbyus, now defunct, yet this community of writers continues and expands on Facebook and has allowed both novice and professional poets to explore writing styles.
During the contemporary time frame, there were major independent voices who defied links to well-known American poetic movements and forms such as poet and literary critic Robert Peters, greatly influenced by the Victorian English poet Robert Browning’s poetic monologues, became reputable for executing his monologic personae like his Mad King Ludwig II of Bavaria into popular one-man performances. Another example is Louise Glück who cites Emily Dickinson and William Blake as her influences. Critics and scholars have discussed whether or not she is a confessional poet. Sylvia Plath may be another of her influences.
The Library of Congress produces a guide to American poetry inspired by the 9/11 attacks, including anthologies and books dedicated to the subject.
Robert Pinsky has a special place in American poetry as he was the poet laureate of the United States for three terms. No other poet has been so honored. His "Favorite Poem Project" is unique, inviting all citizens to share their all-time favorite poetic composition and why they love it. He is a professor at Boston University and the poetry editor at Slate. "Poems to Read" is a demonstration of his poetic vision, joining the word and the common man.
With increased consciousness of society's impact on natural ecosystems, it is inexorable that such themes would become integrated into poetry. The foundations of poems about nature are found in the work of Henry David Thoreau and Walt Whitman. The modern ecopoetics movement was pioneered by Jack Collom, who taught a dedicated course on ecopoetics at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado for 17 years. Contemporary poetry on environmental sustainability is found among the works of J.S. Shipman, for example, in, "Calling on You."
The growth in the popularity of graduate creative writing programs has given poets the opportunity to make a living as teachers. This increased professionalization of poetry, combined with the reluctance of most major book and magazine presses to publish poetry, has meant that, for the foreseeable future at least, poetry may have found its new home in the academy and in small independent journals.
A prominent example is Nobel Laureate Louise Glück who teaches at Yale University.
See also
Academy of American Poets
Biker Poetry
Chicano poetry
Cowboy poetry
Haiku in English
Irish language outside Ireland
List of national poetries
List of poets from the United States
Nuyorican Poetry
Proletarian poetry
References
Further reading
Baym, Nina, et al. (eds.): The Norton Anthology of American Literature (Shorter sixth edition, 2003).
Cavitch, Max, American Elegy: The Poetry of Mourning from the Puritans to Whitman (University of Minnesota Press, 2007).
Hoover, Paul (ed): Postmodern American Poetry - A Norton Anthology (1994).
Moore, Geoffrey (ed): The Penguin Book of American Verse (Revised edition 1983)
Shipman, J.S. 2005. "Calling on You"In: Surrender to the Moon. International Library of Poetry. Watermark Press. Owings Mills, MD. P 3.
External links
Cary Nelson, Ed. (1999–2002) Poet biographies at Modern American Poetry. Retrieved December 5, 2004
Poet biographies at the Academy of American Poets Captured December 10, 2004
Poet biographies at the Electronic Poetry Centre Captured December 10, 2004
Various anthologies of American verse at Bartleby.com Captured December 10, 2004
Poetry Resource a website for students of poetry
Poetry by country
|
412037
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic%20Action%20Party
|
Democratic Action Party
|
The Democratic Action Party (abbreviation: DAP; ; ; ) is a centre-left social democratic political party in Malaysia. As one of four component parties of the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition, it formed the federal government after defeating Barisan Nasional (BN) in the 2018 Malaysian general election, ending the party's 53 year-long stay in the opposition. However, before the coalition finished its first term, defections from partnering parties caused it to lose power after 22 months, culminating in the 2020 Malaysian political crisis. At the 2022 Malaysian general election, the PH coalition which the DAP was part of was returned to power again, albeit without a majority, leading it to form a unity government with political rivals.
The DAP was founded in 1965 by Malaya–based members of the Singaporean People's Action Party (PAP), Chen Man Hin and Devan Nair, shortly after Singapore's expulsion from Malaysia. Singapore's expulsion was in part due to intense ideological differences between the federal government, led by the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), which favoured the idea of Ketuanan Melayu and Malay racial nationalism for the country. In contrast, the PAP favoured a more egalitarian and civic nationalist Malaysian Malaysia, which the DAP would continue to espouse. Following the expulsion, the PAP was elected as the ruling government of a newly sovereign Singapore, and would continue to operate on a platform of civic nationalism.
The DAP draws much of its support from secular and liberal voters with a stable electorate from voters of cities, coastal regions, the middle class (comprising professionals), and the working class. The party's strongholds are primarily in the urban and semi-urban areas of Penang, Perak, Selangor, Negeri Sembilan, Johor, Malacca and the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur. In the 2018 Malaysian general election, the party contested in 47 federal and 104 state constituencies under the banner of its ally the People's Justice Party, winning 42 and 102 seats respectively, except in Sarawak, where the party's state branch chose to contest under its own banner.
History
Formation
On 11 October 1965, the DAP was formed by former members of the deregistered Malaysia branch of the Singapore–based People's Action Party (PAP), which was then known as the People's Action Party of Malaya prior to Singapore's expulsion. One of its co-founders include Bangsar Member of Parliament Devan Nair, who later returned to Singapore and became President of Singapore. The party formally registered itself as a democratic socialist party on 18 March 1966.
The ten members of the pro-tem committee were Devan Nair as secretary-general, Chen Man Hin (who won the Seremban state constituency as an independent) as chairman, D. P. Xavier as assistant secretary-general, Goh Hock Guan as vice-chairman, Seeveratnam Sinnathamby (younger brother of Singapore minister S. Rajaratnam) as treasurer and Zain Azahari bin Zainal Abidin, Chin Chan Sung, Michael Khong Chye Huat, Tan Chong Bee and Too Chee Cheong as members.
In the August of that year, the official party organ, The Rocket, was first published. At the first DAP National Congress held in Setapak, Kuala Lumpur on 29 July 1967, the DAP declared itself to be "irrevocably committed to the ideal of a free, democratic and socialist Malaysia, based on the principles of racial and religious equality, social and economic justice, and founded on the institution of parliamentary democracy".
In October that year, the DAP joined 55 other socialist parties belonging to the Socialist International at the SI International Conference in Zurich, Switzerland. Devan Nair, who was amongst those who founded the DAP, later returned to Singapore. Lee Kuan Yew, then Prime Minister of Singapore under the PAP, explained in 1981 that "the Cabinet decided that Singapore-Malaysia relations would always be bedevilled if Devan Nair remained a DAP leader. I persuaded him to come back".
Early electoral successes
The DAP contested a general election for the first time in 1969. In line with their commitment to equality, the DAP originally campaigned against Bumiputera privileges, such as those afforded to them by Article 153 of the Constitution. They also continued Lee Kuan Yew's campaign for a "Malaysian Malaysia", the idea of which was originally conveyed by Lee in Parliament: "Malaysia – to whom does it belong? To Malaysians. But who are Malaysians? I hope I am, Mr Speaker, Sir. But sometimes, sitting in this chamber, I doubt whether I am allowed to be a Malaysian". The DAP went on to win 13 Parliamentary seats and 31 State Assembly seats, with 11.9% of all valid votes that were cast in the election; the Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia (Gerakan) which campaigned on a similar platform also made major gains. The 1969 election marked the biggest gains ever made by an opposition party in Malaysia (before 2008), and came close to seeing the ruling Alliance toppled from power. However, a march made by the DAP along with Gerakan as part of the opposition team led to violence, and resulted in what was euphemistically termed the 13 May Incident. Parliament was suspended for two years, and the executive branch of the government assumed power.
When Parliament reconvened, it passed pieces of legislation such as the Sedition Act that criminalized discussion of repealing certain portions of the Constitution. Most of these concerned Bumiputra privileges, such as Article 153. The DAP and the People's Progressive Party were the only parties that voted against the Act, which passed by a vote of 125 to 17. After the 1969 election, the DAP would never come close to repeating its past successes for the next 38 years. Although the DAP remained a major opposition party, the ruling coalition had clung solidly to its two-thirds parliamentary majority. The DAP, however, continued campaigning on its platform of abolishing the Bumiputra privileges, giving equal rights for all Malaysians regardless of race and establishing a democratic socialist state in Malaysia. During the Mahathir administration in 1987, several DAP leaders, including Parliamentary Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang, were detained by the government without trial during Operation Lalang, under the accusation of being a national security threat. It is widely believed they were arrested for protesting the expansion of the New Economic Policy.
1995–2008
In 1995, the party ran what has become widely known as the "Robocop" campaign to wrest Penang from the Barisan Nasional. Despite the hype, the campaign was a failure as the party only won one state and three parliamentary seats. The strategy backfired when Prime Minister Mahathir, BN leaders and the media criticised Lim Kit Siang as a "robot" and "soulless" person.
Following the ousting of Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim in September 1998, DAP co-founded the Barisan Alternatif coalition along with Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party and the newly formed People's Justice Party. However, the coalition did not work out very well for the DAP, with two of its top leaders, Lim Kit Siang and Karpal Singh losing their Parliamentary seats in the 1999 election; the DAP managed to win only 5% (10 out of 193) of the seats in Parliament. PAS became the leading opposition party in Parliament. It left the coalition in 2001 due to a disagreement with PAS over the issue of an Islamic state.
In the 2004 general election, the DAP managed to capture 12 seats in Parliament, while PAS and Keadilan suffered major setbacks, with PAS losing 20 of the 27 seats it had held after the 1999 elections, and Keadilan lost all seats except one returned after a recount. The eventual outcome saw Lim Kit Siang, who had been elected in his constituency of Ipoh Timur with a majority of 10,000 votes, formally elected as the leader of the opposition in Parliament, a post he had lost to the president of PAS in 1999.
In the 2006 Sarawak state election, the Democratic Action Party won 6 of the 12 seats it contested and narrowly lost three other seats with small majorities. Up til then it was the party's best showing ever in the history of Sarawak's state elections since 1979.
2008–2015
Pakatan Rakyat was formed in 2008 by DAP, PKR and PAS. In the 2008 general election, the DAP won 13% (28 out of 222) of the seats in the Dewan Rakyat, with PAS and PKR making substantial gains as well with 23 seats and 31 seats respectively. In total, the taking of 82 seats (37%) by the opposition to Barisan Nasional's 140 seats (63%), makes it the best performance in Malaysian history by the opposition, and denied Barisan Nasional the two-thirds majority required to make constitutional changes in the Dewan Rakyat. DAP advisor Lim Kit Siang expressed surprise at the election results but declared it to be the true power of the voice of the Malaysian people for the leaders of the country to hear them. In addition, DAP, having secured all its contested seats in the state of Penang, formed the Penang state government with its alliance partners PKR and PAS, the Chief Minister being DAP's Lim Guan Eng, son of Lim Kit Siang.
In the 2011 Sarawak state election, DAP furthered its gains from the previous election, winning 12 out of the 70 state assembly seats, with PR winning a total of 15 state seats and 41% of the popular vote. The PR's success was further enhanced in the 2013 general election when DAP went on to win 17% (38 out of 222) of the seats in the Dewan Rakyat and the PR coalition won the popular vote, giving the BN government its worst election showing since independence. In 2015, the PR alliance broke up after a PAS Muktamar (General Assembly) motion unanimously approved the breaking of ties with DAP due to disagreements over PAS's decision to propose a private member's bill to implement "hudud" (Islamic penal code). Following PAS's decision to cut ties with DAP, DAP announced that PR had "ceased to exist".
At the DAP election in December 2012, Vincent Wu, who was initially declared to have secured the sixth spot with 1,202 votes, dropped to 26th place because he had actually secured only 669. Zairil Khir Johari was elected to the central executive committee (CEC) with 803 votes to secure the 20th spot. The glitch, reportedly because of a vote tabulation error due to the copy-and-paste method in Microsoft Excel, had raised suspicion. The DAP admitted to the counting error after discovering the mistake. The DAP election fiasco had caused unease among party members and led to protests to the Registrar of Societies (RoS). Two dissatisfied life members of the DAP then lodged reports with the RoS on the party elections following the revelations. Following the report the RoS had informed DAP of the dispute by its members and in turn as provided for under Section 3A of the Societies Act 1966 did recognise the office-bearers of the committee formed in the party elections on 15 December 2012, the point of contention.
DAP chairperson Karpal Singh said DAP will contest under the PAS logo for the Peninsula and PKR logo in Sabah and Sarawak in the 13th general election, following the Registrar of Societies' (RoS) failure to respond on the withdrawal letter of RoS informing that it does not recognise the party's top leadership line-up. DAP had appealed to the RoS to withdraw its letter to suspend the party's existing central executive committee (CEC) but the department was silent on the matter.
On 19 April 2013, DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng informed all its 51 parliament and 103 state candidates to use the rocket symbol first during nomination tomorrow, and show the Election Commission the letter of authorisation signed by secretary-general Lim Guan Eng. If the rocket symbol is rejected, then use the letter of authorisation signed by PAS secretary-general Mustafa Ali for Peninsula Malaysia and PKR letter of authorisation for Sabah and Sarawak. This came after the DAP decided to use PAS and PKR symbols for the coming general election on 5 May. He said the DAP headquarters in Kuala Lumpur received a letter by hand from the RoS at 10 p.m. on 19 April, stating that it had no objections to the DAP using the logo, and that the Election Commission (EC) had informed all returning officers to accept nominations from the DAP.
On 29 September 2013, DAP held a special congress to vote for a new Central Executive Committee.
2015–present
On 22 September 2015, Pakatan Harapan was formed by DAP, PKR and National Trust Party to succeed PR. In the 2016 Sarawak state election, DAP lost its gains from the previous election, retained only 7 out of the 82 state assembly seats, with PH retained only a total of 10 state seats and 29.43% of the popular vote. On 12 February 2017, Kota Melaka MP, Sim Tong Him along with three other DAP state assemblymen from Melaka namely Goh (Duyong), Lim Jack Wong (Bachang), and Chin Choong Seong (Kesidang) announced their resignation from the party to be Independent, citing lack of trust in the party leadership. On 14 March 2017, PPBM officially joined PH as a member party. This made the coalition parties increase to four, where they competed in the 2018 general election against the BN coalition. During the election, PH achieved simple majority in Parliament when the coalition has secured 113 seats and finally able to form a new federal government through an early pact signed with Sabah Heritage Party. DAP won 42 seats out of the 47 seats it contested, making it the second-highest number of seats in PH behind PKR with 47 seats. Together with other coalition members, Lim Guan Eng and his peers took on ministerial roles in the newly formed cabinet. Lim became the Minister of Finance of the current ruling government when Mahathir announced the initial 10 minister portfolio holders. He subsequently became the first Malaysian Chinese to hold the post in 44 years since Tun Tan Siew Sin of Malaysian Chinese Association, who served from 1959 until 1974. Loke Siew Fook, who was the new Minister of Transport, replaced Lim Kit Siang as DAP parliamentary leader on 11 July 2018 for the 14th Dewan Rakyat session.
2020–2022 Malaysian political crisis
On 24 February 2020, the DAP became the largest party in the Dewan Rakyat for the first time after 11 out of 50 PKR MPs resigned during the political crisis. UMNO had also lost 16 out of 54 MPs over several months, mostly through defections to Bersatu. Even though it lost power, the 42 MPs of the DAP remained intact.
However, a few state assemblymen defected. On 9 March 2020, Paul Yong and A Sivasubramaniam quit the party to join the new Perikatan Nasional state government in Perak. The next day on 10 March, DAP expelled Norhizam Hassan Baktee, Pengkalan Batu assemblyman, after he decided to support the new PN state government in Melaka. DAP also expelled a nominated Sabah assemblyman, Ronnie Loh, for supporting the PN's treacherous attempt to topple the Warisan Plus Sabah state government led by Shafie Apdal.
One assemblyman who did not defect but became disillusioned with the party's direction and management was Padungan assemblyman and Sarawak DAP vice-chairman Wong King Wei, who resigned on 27 July 2020 claiming that the party had deviated from the aims, objectives and struggle of the earlier days when he joined in 2006. He stayed on as an independent until his term ended in 2021.
Ethnic diversity
DAP was founded by Chen Man Hin and Devan Nair, who were ethnic Chinese and Indian respectively. The majority of DAP's party membership is of ethnic Chinese and Indian heritage, with most elected positions within the party being held by Chinese or Indian members. The party's first Malay Member of Parliament, Ahmad Nor, only won his seat in the 1990 general election, The DAP also only gained its first native Sabahan (Kadazandusun) legislator in the 2013 election, Edwin Jack Bosi who sat in Sabah State Legislative Assembly. The lack of Malay members within the party has led to DAP being viewed as a "racist" or "anti-Malay" party by political opponents in that it is exclusively concerned with the issues of the Chinese or Indian communities that they viewed were orchastrated by Malays.
Allegations of racism and chauvinism
Despite constant rebuttals by party leaders, DAP has been depicted by their political opponents, especially from UMNO, as a party that favours the Malaysian Chinese minority above others. This allegation of racial chauvinism culminated in a two-piece television program broadcast on government-controlled TV channel Radio Televisyen Malaysia (RTM) entitled "Bahaya Cauvinisme", which translates to "Dangers of Chauvinism". The program forced then party leader Lim Kit Siang to issue a formal media statement to counter the allegations.
On 15 November 2011, Ismail Sabri Yaakob, the Malaysian Minister for Domestic Trade, Co-operatives and Consumerism, accused DAP's publicity chief, Tony Pua of racism for making repeated attacks against the Kedai Rakyat 1Malaysia, a government initiative to supply cheap retail products to Malaysian consumers. Tony Pua was criticised for singling out Kedai Rakyat 1Malaysia, whose suppliers to the store generally come from the Malaysian Bumiputra community, and for not investigating the quality of products supplied by Malaysian-Chinese suppliers or making similar accusations against independent Malaysian-Chinese stores.
Allegations of racism have forced DAP party leader Lim Guan Eng to issue a formal denial in the Penang High Court.
Party symbols
Party logo
The symbol or logo of the DAP (see above) is the rocket, which it has used since the 1969 general election. Its components are symbolised as follows:
The red rocket symbolises the Party's aspiration for a modern, dynamic and progressive society
The four rocket boosters represent the support and drive given to the Party objectives by the three major ethnicities (Malay, Chinese, Indian) and others
The blue circle stands for the unity of the multi-racial people of Malaysia
The white background stands for purity and incorruptibility
Ubah mascot
In 2008, DAP initially introduced "Rocket Kid", a rocket as the party's official mascot during the 12th Malaysian general election. This was then changed to Ubah bird, a hornbill which was designed by Ooi Leng Hang and was launched during the Sarawak state election in 2011 and also used as part of their political campaigning during the 13th Malaysian general election in 2013. DAP had adopted this bird as a symbol for change both for its unique characteristics, hardiness and representation of the unity of both East Malaysia and West Malaysia into a Malaysian nation. Its merchandise such as plush toys, buttons and car stickers were very well received by the public. The idea of the mascot came from Sarawak DAP Secretary, Chong Chieng Jen, who felt a mascot would boost the spirit of the people. The name "Ubah", which means "change" in Malay, is in line with the party's aspirations in changing the ruling party of the Malaysian federal government. In addition to its original Sarawak Iban costume, "Ubah" now comes in a Malay costume for Hari Raya, Indian costume for Deepavali, Chinese costume for Chinese New Year, Santa Claus costume for Christmas, and a Superman costume that depicts the power of the people. On 13 July 2013, a gigantic float known as the "Ubah Inflatable Bird (Water Ubah)" was officially launched at IJM Promenade, Jelutong, Penang by DAP Secretary General Lim Guan Eng.
Songs
DAP's official party anthem is Berjuang Untuk Rakyat Malaysia (Fighting for Malaysians).
Other than the official party anthem, DAP has also unveiled several theme songs and music videos mostly with an Ubah theme such as "Ubah" with over 1,000,000 views, 明天 with over 500,000 views and "Ubah Rocket Style" with over 300,000 views, which is a parody of the viral YouTube hit "Gangnam Style".
Leadership structure
Central Executive Committee
The Central Executive Committee (CEC) serves as the party's executive body and its 30 members are elected by party delegates during a national congress held every three years. The CEC, in turn, elects the party's national leadership from among its own members, including the Secretary-General, in whom executive power is vested. The current Secretary-General is Minister of Transport Anthony Loke. The latest leadership structure can be found below.
Advisor
Tan Kok Wai
National Chairman:
Lim Guan Eng
National Deputy Chairman:
Gobind Singh Deo
National Vice Chairman:
Chow Kon Yeow
Nga Kor Ming
Kulasegaran Murugeson
Teresa Kok Suh Sim
Chong Chieng Jen
Secretary-General:
Anthony Loke Siew Fook
Deputy Secretaries-General:
Liew Chin Tong
Sivakumar Varatharaju Naidu
Tengku Zulpuri Shah Raja Puji
National Treasurer:
Fong Kui Lun
Assistant National Treasurer:
Ng Sze Han
National Organising Secretary:
Steven Sim Chee Keong
Assistant National Organising Secretary:
Ng Suee Lim
Khoo Poay Tiong
National Publicity Secretary:
Teo Nie Ching
Assistant National Publicity Secretary:
Hannah Yeoh Tseow Suan
Ganabatirau Veraman
Political Education Director:
Wong Kah Woh
Assistant Political Education Director:
Wong Shu Qi
International Secretary:
Jannie Lasimbang
Assistant International Secretary:
Kasthuriraani Patto
5 Men Committee Members:
Anthony Loke Siew Fook
Lim Guan Eng
Kulasegaran Murugeson
Gobind Singh Deo
Nga Kor Ming
Committee members:
Tan Kok Wai
Lim Lip Eng
Lim Hui Ying
Alice Lau Kiong Yieng
Chan Foong Hin
Abdul Aziz Bari
Tan Hong Pin
Young Syefura Othman
Teo Kok Seong
Su Keong Siong
Wu Him Ven
Syahredzan Johan
Lee Chin Chen
Howard Lee Chuan How
Vivian Wong Shir Yee
Sanisvara Nethaji Rayer Rajaji Rayer
Sheikh Umar Bagharib Ali
Parliamentary Leader:
Nga Kor Ming
Women Chief:
Teo Nie Ching
Socialist Youth Chief:
Kelvin Yii Lee Wuen
Central Policy and Strategic Planning Commission Chairman:
Lim Kit Siang
State Chairman:
Johor: Liew Chin Tong
Kedah: Tan Kok Yew
Kelantan: Azaha Abdul Rani
Malacca: Tey Kok Kiew
Negeri Sembilan: Anthony Loke Siew Fook
Pahang: Leong Ngah Ngah
Penang: Chow Kon Yeow
Perak: David Nga Kor Ming
Perlis: Teh Seng Chuan
Sabah: Frankie Poon Ming Fung
Sarawak: Chong Chieng Jen
Selangor: Gobind Singh Deo
Terengganu: Ng Chai Hing
Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur: Tan Kok Wai
Federal Territory of Labuan: Han Fook Chiew
Deputy State Chairman:
Johor: Teo Nie Ching
Kedah: Siau Suen Miin
Kelantan: Wong Tiam Guey
Malacca: Saminathan Ganesan
Negeri Sembilan: Gulasekaran Palasamy
Pahang: Manogaran Marimuthu
Penang:
Perak: Sivakumar Varatharaju
Perlis: Weng Sang @ Wong Siak Kim
Sabah: Peter Saili
Sarawak: Alice Lau Kiong Yieng
Selangor: Ean Yong Hian Wah
Terengganu: Mohd Nasir Zainal
Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur: Fong Kui Lun
Federal Territory of Labuan: Koh Chien Chee
Lists of the leaders of the Democratic Action Party
Life Advisor
Advisor
Mentor
National Chairmen
Secretaries-General
Acting Secretaries-General
Note: The Acting Secretary-General is appointed when the Secretary-General is incapable of carrying out their duties or if the position is vacated before an election can be held.. Lim Kit Siang was elected as Secretary-General in October 1969 while detained under the ISA and Fan Yew Teng was Acting Secretary-General. Chong Eng took over for Kerk Kim Hock while the latter sought treatment for rectal cancer. M. Kulasegaran was Acting Secretary-General after Kerk Kim Hock lost his seat in parliament and resigned before Lim Guan Eng was elected Secretary-General.
Chairman of the Central Policy and Strategic Planning Commission
Note: Chairman of the Central Policy and Strategic Planning Commission is a newly created position on 2004 when Lim Kit Siang refused to be re-elected as Chairman of DAP.
Parliamentary Leaders
Elected representatives
Dewan Negara (Senate)
Senators
His Majesty's appointee:
Roderick Wong Siew Lead
Noorita Sual
Penang State Legislative Assembly:
Lingeshwaran R. Arunasalam
Selangor State Legislative Assembly:
Negeri Sembilan State Legislative Assembly:
Kesavadas A. Achyuthan Nair
Dewan Rakyat (House of Representatives)
Members of Parliament of the 15th Malaysian Parliament
DAP has 40 members in the House of Representatives.
Dewan Undangan Negeri (State Legislative Assembly)
Malaysian State Assembly Representatives
Penang State Legislative Assembly
Perak State Legislative Assembly
Selangor State Legislative Assembly
Negeri Sembilan State Legislative Assembly
Johor State Legislative Assembly
Pahang State Legislative Assembly
Sabah State Legislative Assembly
Malacca State Legislative Assembly
Sarawak State Legislative Assembly
Kedah State Legislative Assembly
Perlis State Legislative Assembly
Terengganu State Legislative Assembly
Kelantan State Legislative Assembly
DAP state governments
General election results
State election results
See also
List of political parties in Malaysia
Pakatan Harapan
Politics of Malaysia
References
Notes
James Chin. The Sarawak Chinese Voters and their support for the Democratic Action Party (DAP), Southeast Asian Studies, Vol. 34, No. 2, 1996, pp 387–401
James Chin. The Malaysian Chinese Dilemma: The Never Ending Policy (NEP), Chinese Southern Diaspora Studies, Vol 3, 2009
Further reading
External links
DAP RoketKini.com (DAP Malay Language News)
DAP Penang home page
DAP Sarawak home page
1965 establishments in Malaysia
Centre-left parties in Asia
Political parties in Malaysia
Political parties established in 1965
Progressive Alliance
Social democratic parties in Asia
Social liberal parties
|
412054
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sebastian%20Coe
|
Sebastian Coe
|
Sebastian Newbold Coe, Baron Coe (born 29 September 1956), often referred to as Seb Coe, is a British politician and former track and field athlete. As a middle-distance runner, Coe won four Olympic medals, including 1500 metres gold medals at the Olympic Games in 1980 and 1984. He set nine outdoor and three indoor world records in middle-distance track events – including, in 1979, setting three world records in the space of 41 days – and the world record he set in the 800 metres in 1981 remained unbroken until 1997. Coe's rivalries with fellow Britons Steve Ovett and Steve Cram dominated middle-distance racing for much of the 1980s.
Following Coe's retirement from athletics, he was a Conservative member of parliament from 1992 to 1997 for Falmouth and Camborne in Cornwall, and became a Life Peer on 16 May 2000.
He headed the successful London 2012 Olympic bid for the 2012 Summer Olympics and became chairman of the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games. In 2007, he was elected a vice-president of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), and re-elected for another four-year term in 2011. In August 2015, he was elected president of the IAAF.
In 2012, Coe was appointed Pro-Chancellor of Loughborough University where he had been an undergraduate, and he is also a member of the university's governing body. He was one of 24 athletes inducted as inaugural members of the IAAF Hall of Fame. In November 2012, he was appointed chairman of the British Olympic Association. Coe was presented with the Lifetime Achievement award at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year in December 2012.
Early life and education
Coe was born on 29 September 1956 at Queen Charlotte's and Chelsea Hospital, Hammersmith, London. His father was athletics coach Peter Coe and his mother, Tina Angela Lal, was of half Indian descent, born to a Punjabi father, Sardari Lal Malhotra, and an English/Irish mother, Vera (née Swan).
When he was less than a year old, Coe and his family moved to Warwickshire, where he later attended Bridgetown Primary School and Hugh Clopton Secondary School in Stratford-upon-Avon. The family then moved to Sheffield where he attended Tapton School, a secondary modern school, at Crosspool which became a comprehensive school while he was there and Abbeydale Grange School. He joined Hallamshire Harriers at the age of 12, and soon became a middle-distance specialist, having been inspired by David Jackson, a geography teacher at Tapton School who had been a cross-country runner. Coe was coached by his own father and represented Loughborough University and later Enfield and Haringey Athletic Club when not competing for his country.
Coe studied Economics and Social History at Loughborough University and won his first major race in 1977—an 800 metres event at the European indoor championships in San Sebastián, Spain. At Loughborough University he met an athletics coach, George Gandy, who developed "revolutionary" conditioning exercises to improve Coe's running.
His mother, Tina Angela Lal, died in London, in 2005, aged 75. His father, Peter Coe, died on 9 August 2008, aged 88, while Coe was visiting Beijing.
Athletics career
Coe first caught the public's attention on 14 March 1977 when he competed in the 800m at the European Indoor Championships in San Sebastián, front-running the entire race and winning in 1:46.54, just short of the world indoor record. He ran in the Emsley Carr mile on 29 August 1977, outsprinting Filbert Bayi of Tanzania in the home straight and winning in 3:57.7. Eleven days later, on 9 September 1977, he ran the 800m at the Coca-Cola Games at Crystal Palace in a time of 1:44.95, beating Andy Carter's 1:45.12 to claim his first UK national outdoor record.
Coe's 1978 season continued to show his progression in the middle distances, though he raced only sparingly, as in early June he had suffered a serious ankle injury whilst out on a training run. On 18 August 1978, he ran the 800m at the Ivo Van Damme Memorial meeting in Brussels, where he far outclassed the field and stormed home in a time of 1:44.25, another UK national record.
He first ran against his great rival Steve Ovett in a schools cross country race in 1972. Neither won, nor did either win in their first major encounter, on 31 August 1978, in the 800m at the European Championships in Prague. Ovett took second, breaking Coe's UK record with a time of 1:44.09, and Coe finished third; the race was won by the East German Olaf Beyer. According to Pat Butcher, Coe's father and coach Peter Coe had encouraged him to run as fast as he could from the start. The early pace was indeed exceptionally fast: Coe ran 200m in 24.3, 400m in 49.32, and 600m in 1:16.2; he then slowed and finished third in 1:44.76. A few weeks later, Coe reclaimed the UK record at Crystal Palace, setting an all-comers' mark of 1:43.97 which ranked him second in the world that year. On 1 October 1978, Coe displayed to the world for the first time his phenomenal natural endurance by winning the Loughrea 4-Mile road race in Ireland in 17:54, defeating the likes of Eamonn Coghlan (who would win the 5000m at the 1983 World Championships) and Mike McLeod (who would be the 1984 Olympic 10,000m silver medalist), and breaking Brendan Foster's course record of 18:05. All this off a season which had been focussed on 800m, with only one race at 1500m or the mile. This was a warning to the world's top milers of what was to happen the following summer.
The next year, 1979, Coe set three world records in 41 days. He set the first two in Oslo, Norway, at 800m (1:42.33) and the mile (3:48.95), then broke the world 1500m record with his 3:32.03 in Zurich, Switzerland, becoming the first person to hold these three records at the same time. He easily won the 800m at the European Cup in Turin in August, covering the last 200m in 24.1, and anchored the British 4 × 400m relay team with the quartet's fastest split, 45.5. He was voted Athlete of the Year by Athletics Weekly and Track and Field News and was ranked number one in the world at 800m and 1500m; no other athlete since has ranked number one at these distances in the same year.
In 1980, Coe broke Rick Wohlhuter's world record for 1000m with a time of 2:13.40. He held all four middle-distance world records—the 800m, 1000m, 1500m, and mile—simultaneously (another unique feat) for one hour until Ovett broke his mile record. In the 1980 Olympics in Moscow, Ovett and Coe each won the other's speciality: Ovett the 800m and Coe the 1500m. Coe took second in the 800m after running what he described as "the worst tactical race of my life", while Ovett took third in the 1500. It was Ovett's first defeat at one mile or 1500m in three years and 45 races. Coe covered the last 400m in 52.2 and the last 100m in 12.1 seconds, the fastest-ever finish in a championship final at this distance.
Coe began 1981 with an indoor world record of 1:46.0 for 800m at Cosford in February. On 10 June, he set a world 800m record in Florence; his 1:41.73 remained unbeaten until August 1997. As of 2022, his time still stands as the UK record and puts him in a tie with Nijel Amos for third-fastest man ever at the distance. A month afterwards he set another world record with 2:12.18 for 1000m, which was to last 19 years and to this day (2022) has only been bettered once. At this time, Coe was more than 1.7 seconds (about 14m) faster than anyone in history at both distances. Between these two record-breaking runs he won the Europa Cup 800m semifinal, running the last 100m in 11.3 (the fastest final 100m ever recorded in a major international race), and achieved a personal best of 3:31.95 at 1500m, despite dreadful pacemaking (he went through 400m in 52.4 and 800m in 1:49.1, the fastest start ever in an international 1500m race at the time) by US 800m runner James Robinson, who passed 400m in 51.5. In August, Coe won the gold medal over 800m at the European Cup final with a blistering last 200m in 24.6 and last 100m in 11.9. He then bettered the standard for the mile twice, first with 3:48.53 in Zürich and then with 3:47.33 in Brussels, on either side of Ovett's world record in Koblenz (3:48.40). His 3:47.33 remained on the all-time top-10 list until 31 May 2014.
Coe ended the season with gold over 800m at the World Cup in Rome in September with 1:46.16 (and a 12.0 last 100m), and remained undefeated at both 1500m/mile and 800m for the entire season, as he had in 1979. Track & Field News and Athletics Weekly magazines voted Coe Athlete of the Year, an honour he had also won in 1979. Although he had a short season in 1982 because of injuries in June and July, Coe still managed to rank number one in the world in the 800m and to participate in a world-record 4 x 800m relay. Coe, Peter Elliott, Garry Cook and Steve Cram ran a time of 7:03.89, which would remain the world record for 24 years. Coe's leg was the fastest of the day, a solo 1:44.01. Heavily favored for the 800m at the 1982 European Championships in Athletics in Athens, he unexpectedly finished second; the next day British team doctors revealed that he had been suffering from glandular fever. Coe decided to withdraw from the 1500 metres in those championships.
Coe began 1983 with world indoor records at 800m in Cosford, England (1:44.91, breaking his own 1:46.0 from 1981) and 1000m (2:18.58) in Oslo, but he spent much of that year battling health problems, including a prolonged bout with toxoplasmosis. He missed the inaugural IAAF World Championships in Athletics. The disease was severe, and he spent several months in and out of hospital. He returned to competition in 1984 and was selected at 800m and 1500m for the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, despite having been narrowly beaten by Peter Elliott in the AAA Championships. In the 800m he took silver behind Joaquim Cruz of Brazil, but in the 1500m final—his seventh race in nine days—he took the gold in an Olympic record of 3:32.53. He ran the last 800m of the race in 1:49.8, the last lap in 53.2, and the last 100m in 12.7. He remains the only man to win successive Olympic 1500m titles.
Coe had planned to have a somewhat quiet season in 1985, partly because of the intensity of the previous year's efforts to get himself ready in time for the Olympics, as well as a planned move up to 5000m, which never materialised. He suffered a recurrence of a back problem which had plagued him on and off since 1980; this caused him to miss several weeks of midseason training. He nevertheless managed to run some fast times towards the end of the season, but he lost his mile world record to Cram, who beat him in Oslo. In 1986, Coe won the 800m gold medal at the European Championships in Stuttgart, beating Tom McKean and Cram with a stunning last 200m of 24.8 and 100m of 12.4. It was his only 800m title at an international championship. He took the silver in the 1500m behind Cram, the mile world record holder proving too strong in the homestretch. He then ran his personal best over 1500m with a 3:29.77 performance in Rieti, Italy, becoming the fourth man in history to break 3:30 at the distance. For the fourth year in his career (1979, 1981, 1982 & 1986), he was ranked No. 1 in the world at 800m, and he was in the top two for 1500m for the fifth time.
Coe sustained a foot injury in 1987 after winning an 800m and running a 4 × 400m leg for his club, Haringey, and was out for the entire season. The following year he was not selected for the British 1988 Olympic Games team after he failed to advance from the heats of the 1500m at the Trials in Birmingham. He had shown good early season form, but he picked up a chest infection after a spell of altitude training. The Daily Mirror ran a campaign and the president of the International Olympic Committee, Juan Antonio Samaranch, unsuccessfully tried to have the rules changed in Coe's favour. It was said that India was willing to include him on its national team on account of his mother's Indian heritage.
Coe had a final good season in 1989, when, in his 33rd year (at age 32), he won the AAA 1500m title, was ranked British number one for both 800m and 1500m, ran the world's second-fastest 800m of the year (1:43.38), and took the silver medal at the World Cup over 1500m. He retired from competitive athletics in early 1990, after having to bow out of the 1990 Commonwealth Games in Auckland, New Zealand with yet another chest infection. He ended his career having run sub-1:44 for 800m in eight different years.
Trinity College's Great Court Run
A scene in the 1981 film Chariots of Fire recreates a race in which competitors attempt to run round the perimeter of the Great Court at Trinity College, Cambridge in the time it takes the clock to double-strike the hour at midday or midnight. Many have tried to run the around the court in the 43.6 seconds that it takes to strike 12 o'clock. Known as the Great Court Run, students traditionally attempt to complete the circuit on the evening of the matriculation dinner. The only persons recognised to have actually completed the run in time are David Cecil in 1927 and Sam Dobin in 2007. It was thought that Coe had succeeded when he beat Steve Cram in a charity race in October 1988 in a time of 42.53 seconds. A video of the race, however, apparently shows that Coe was 12 metres short of the finish line when the last chime sounded, so Trinity College never officially accepted his time.
Political career
Coe was elected as Member of Parliament for Falmouth and Camborne in 1992, for the Conservative Party, but lost his seat in the 1997 general election. He returned to politics for a short time as Leader of the Opposition William Hague's chief of staff, having accepted the offer of a Life Peerage on 16 May 2000.
Sports administration career
London 2012 Olympic Games
When London announced its bid to hold the 2012 Olympics, Coe became an ambassador for the effort and a member of the board of the bid company. With the May 2004 resignation of chairman Barbara Cassani, Coe became the chairman for the latter phase of the bid. As Coe was a well-known personality in Olympic sport, it was felt he was better suited to the diplomatic finesse needed to secure the IOC's backing. Coe's presentation at the critical IOC meeting in July 2005 was viewed by commentators as being particularly effective, against tough competition from Paris and Madrid, and the London bid won the IOC's blessing on 6 July.
Coe attended the 2010 Winter Olympics held in Vancouver to see how the city coped with the challenges of hosting. Lord Coe noted the Games had "gradually recovered from its tumultuous start" and queried that he "never thought the British would find rivals in their preoccupation with the weather which is almost elevated to an Olympic event" as he credited VANOC for meeting unforeseen challenges such as the unseasonably warm weather of Cypress Mountain. Coe added "Rarely have I seen a host city so passionate and so ready to embrace the Games".
Coe was instrumental in asking Queen Elizabeth II to star in Happy and Glorious, a short film featuring James Bond, which formed part of the 2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony. The director of the ceremony, Danny Boyle first pitched the idea to Coe, who loved it so much that he took it to Edward Young, Deputy Private Secretary to the Queen. A friend of Coe's from their days of advising William Hague, Young "listened sagely, laughed, and promised to ask the Boss". Coe was subsequently informed that she would love to take part.
FIFA
Coe was appointed the first chairman of FIFA's independent watchdog, the FIFA Ethics Committee. The commission will judge all cases alleging conflicts of interest and breaches of FIFA rules. FIFA president Sepp Blatter made the announcement in Zurich on 15 September 2006 and said: "It is perhaps a surprise but it has been very well received. We have found an outstanding personality in the world of sport, a great personality in the Olympic movement." His appointment makes him one of the most senior Englishmen to work for FIFA.
He stood down from this post to join the English committee that failed to bring the 2018 World Cup to England, with Russia chosen to host instead.
International Association of Athletics Federations
In 2007 Coe was appointed as vice President of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) and was reappointed in 2011. When Lamine Diack president of the IAAF announced that he was standing down in 2013 seemed likely to announce Coe as his successor as there had never been an election for the President position. Coe, in November 2014 announced that he would stand for election for this position in 2015. In December 2014, Coe unveiled his manifesto, ‘Growing Athletics in a New Age.' On 19 August 2015, in Beijing, he was elected president of IAAF against Sergey Bubka, by 115 votes to 92 votes. On 17 August 2023, in Budapest, he was re-elected unopposed for a third and final term of office as President.
In 2015 Lord Coe's presidency of IAAF created turmoil when major sponsor Adidas terminated a multimillion sponsorship deal four years early.
British Olympic Association
Following the London Olympics, Coe was appointed as Chairman of the British Olympic Association replacing Lord Moynihan.
Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games
Coe has been appointed a member of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games Coordination Commission representing the Association of National Olympic Committees.
International Olympic Committee
On 17 July 2020, Coe was elected a member of the International Olympic Committee.
Other sports
As of 2007, Coe was Patron of the British Dragon Boat Racing Association.
Russian doping scandal
The Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee in 2015 accused Coe of misleading the committee. He was also accused of blocking the release of a report from the University of Tübingen that mentioned the extent of doping.
Personal life
After graduating in 1980, and a few months after his exploits on the track in the 1980–81 seasons, Coe got a job as a research assistant at the Loughborough University of Technology in the department of Physical Education and Sports Science. At this time he shared a semi-detached home with his close friend Steve Mitchell.
In 1990, when resident in Surrey, Coe married Nicky McIrvine, a former Badminton three-day-event champion, with whom he has two sons and two daughters. The marriage ended in divorce in 2002 after twelve years.
In 2003, Coe began a relationship with Carole Annett; the couple wed in 2011. She is the daughter of former England cricket captain M. J. K. Smith.
Coe is a worldwide ambassador for Nike and owns a string of health clubs with a membership of more than 20,000. He is a member of the East India Club, a private gentlemen's club in St James's Square. He has supported London athletic events such as the London 10K of Nike and the British 10K charity race. On 12 February 2010, Coe was the 19th runner on the 106th day of the Vancouver Olympic Torch Relay. Coe's leg was along the Stanley Park Seawall.
In October 2012, Coe was appointed chairman of Chime Communications sports marketing subsidiary, CSM Sport and Entertainment. The company also entered into an 'option agreement' to buy Coe's 93% interest in CLG, the firm which acts as a vehicle for his earnings from speeches and appearances.
Coe is a supporter of Chelsea Football Club. He is also a fan of cricket and jazz, in particular Billie Holiday and Lester Young.
Coe was featured in an episode of the BBC TV series Who Do You Think You Are?, which showed that he is descended from John Astley, the portrait painter, Jamaican sugar farmers and slave owners, George Clarke, Lieutenant Governor of New York Colony, and Edward Hyde of Norbury.
Coe retired from the House of Lords on 31 January 2022.
He is a columnist for The Daily Telegraph.
Coe is colour blind.
Honours
Coe was made an Honorary Doctor of Technology (Hon DTech) by his alma mater, Loughborough University in 1985. In November 2009, he was awarded an honorary degree as Doctor of Science (Hon DSc) from the University of East London. In 2009, he also was awarded an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects. He also received an honorary Doctorate of Letters from the University of Sunderland in 2011.
He was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 1982 New Year Honours and Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1990 New Year Honours. On 16 May 2000, he was created a Life Peer as Baron Coe, of Ranmore in the County of Surrey. He was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) in the 2006 New Year Honours for services to sport. In the 2013 New Year Honours, Coe was appointed Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour (CH) for services to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. He represented the Order at the 2023 Coronation.
He was presented with the first Prince of Asturias Award (Sports category) in 1987. After his work in delivering London 2012 Coe was presented with an Olympic Order. Coe received another lifetime achievement award at the Laureus World Sport Awards.
Coe has also received three separate awards at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year ceremony: The main individual award in 1979, a "Special Gold Award" in 2005 and the "Lifetime Achievement Award" in 2012.
A building at the Nike world headquarters in Beaverton Oregon was named after Sebastian Coe in 2017. Coe is a longtime Nike athlete and was recognised by Nike as a great middle-distance runner. The 'Nike Sebastian Coe building' was designed to emphasise connectivity.
Coe was included in The Sunday Times' "100 Makers of the 21st Century" list. In 2018 he was recognised as a Tourism Australia's Friend of Australia, in conjunction with the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games. In addition in 2018 Coe was awarded an OLY post nominal title from World Olympians Association.
Personal bests
(WR) indicates personal best which was also a World Record when set.
References
External links
England Athletics Hall of Fame citation
Parliament & the 2012 London Olympics - UK Parliament Living Heritage
1956 births
Living people
Sportspeople from Hammersmith
Sportspeople from Sheffield
People from Stratford-upon-Avon
British sportsperson-politicians
Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
Conservative Party (UK) life peers
Life peers created by Elizabeth II
English male middle-distance runners
Olympic athletes for Great Britain
Olympic gold medallists for Great Britain
Olympic silver medallists for Great Britain
Olympic gold medalists in athletics (track and field)
Olympic silver medalists in athletics (track and field)
English Olympic medallists
Athletes (track and field) at the 1980 Summer Olympics
Athletes (track and field) at the 1984 Summer Olympics
Commonwealth Games competitors for England
Athletes (track and field) at the 1986 Commonwealth Games
Athletes (track and field) at the 1990 Commonwealth Games
BBC Sports Personality of the Year winners
European Athletics Championships medalists
World record setters in athletics (track and field)
Presidents of the Organising Committees for the Olympic Games
British sports executives and administrators
English autobiographers
Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for constituencies in Cornwall
UK MPs 1992–1997
English people of Indian descent
Athletes from London
Laureus World Sports Awards winners
Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire
People in sports awarded knighthoods
Members of the Order of the Companions of Honour
British International Olympic Committee members
Recipients of the Olympic Order
Recipients of the Paralympic Order
Fellows of the Royal Institute of British Architects
Alumni of Loughborough University
People educated at Tapton School
European champions for Great Britain
Presidents of World Athletics
Track & Field News Athlete of the Year winners
BBC Sports Personality Lifetime Achievement Award recipients
Medalists at the 1980 Summer Olympics
Medalists at the 1984 Summer Olympics
Peers retired under the House of Lords Reform Act 2014
|
412059
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avery%20Brundage
|
Avery Brundage
|
Avery Brundage (; September 28, 1887 – May 8, 1975) was an American sports administrator who served as the fifth president of the International Olympic Committee from 1952 to 1972. The only American and only non-European to attain that position, Brundage is remembered as a zealous advocate of amateurism and for his involvement with the 1936 and 1972 Summer Olympics, both held in Germany.
Brundage was born in Detroit in 1887 to a working-class family. When he was five years old, his father moved his family to Chicago and subsequently abandoned his wife and children. Raised mostly by relatives, Brundage attended the University of Illinois to study engineering and became a track star. He competed in the 1912 Summer Olympics, where he participated in the pentathlon and decathlon, but did not win any medals; both events were won by teammate Jim Thorpe. He won national championships in track three times between 1914 and 1918 and founded his own construction business. He earned his wealth from this company and from investments, and never accepted pay for his involvement in sports.
Following his retirement from athletics, Brundage became a sports administrator and rose rapidly through the ranks in United States sports groups. As leader of America's Olympic organizations, he fought zealously against a boycott of the 1936 Summer Olympics, which had been awarded to Germany before the rise of the Nazi regime and its escalating persecution of Jews. Brundage successfully prevented a US boycott of the Games, and he was elected to the IOC that year. He quickly became a major figure in the Olympic movement and was elected IOC president in 1952.
As President of the American Olympic Committee, Brundage fought strongly for amateurism and against the commercialization of the Olympic Games, even as these stands increasingly came to be seen as incongruous with the realities of modern sports. The advent of the state-sponsored athlete of the Eastern Bloc countries further eroded the ideology of the pure amateur, as it put the self-financed amateurs of the Western countries at a disadvantage. The 1972 Summer Olympics at Munich, West Germany, were his final Games as president of the IOC. The event was marred by tragedy and controversy when eleven Israeli team members were murdered by Palestinian terrorists. At the memorial service, Brundage decried the politicization of sports and refused to cancel the remainder of the Olympics, declaring "the Games must go on." Although those in attendance applauded Brundage's statement, his decision to continue the Games has since been harshly criticized, and his actions in 1936 and 1972 seen as evidence of antisemitism. In retirement, Brundage married his second wife, a German princess. He died in 1975 at age 87.
Early life and athletic career
Avery Brundage was born in Detroit, Michigan, on September 28, 1887, the son of Charles and Minnie (Lloyd) Brundage. Charles Brundage was a stonecutter. The Brundages moved to Chicago when Avery was five, and Charles soon thereafter abandoned his family. Avery and his younger brother, Chester, were raised mostly by aunts and uncles. At age 13 in 1901, Brundage finished first in an essay competition, winning a trip to President William McKinley's second inauguration. Avery attended Sherwood Public School and then R. T. Crane Manual Training School, both in Chicago. Crane Tech was a journey of by public transportation, which he undertook only after completing a newspaper delivery route. Even though the school had no athletic facilities, Brundage made his own equipment (including a shot and a hammer to throw) in the school's workshop and by his final year was written of in the newspapers as a schoolboy track star. According to sportswriter William Oscar Johnson in a 1980 article in Sports Illustrated, Brundage was "the kind of man whom Horatio Alger had canonized—the American urchin, tattered and deprived, who rose to thrive in the company of kings and millionaires".
After he graduated from Crane Tech in 1905, Brundage enrolled at the University of Illinois, where he undertook an arduous schedule of civil engineering courses. He received an honors degree in 1909. He wrote for various campus publications and continued his involvement in sports. Brundage played basketball and ran track for Illinois, and also participated in several intramural sports. In his senior year, he was a major contributor to Illinois' Western Conference championship track team, which defeated the University of Chicago (coached by Amos Alonzo Stagg).
After graduation, Brundage began work as a construction superintendent for the leading architectural firm of Holabird & Roche. In the three years he worked for the firm, he supervised the construction of $7.5 million in buildings—3 percent of the total built in Chicago in that time frame. He disliked the corruption of the Chicago building trades. Brundage's biographer, Allen Guttmann, points out that the young engineer was in a position to benefit from influence if he had wanted to, as his uncle, Edward J. Brundage, was by then-Republican leader of Chicago's North Side and would become Attorney General of Illinois.
Brundage had been successful in several track and field events while at Illinois. In 1910, as a member of the Chicago Athletic Association (CAA), he finished third in the national all-around championships (an American predecessor of the decathlon), sponsored by the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU), and continued training, aiming at the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm. At Stockholm, Brundage finished sixth in the pentathlon and 16th in the decathlon. Far behind on points, after eight events he dropped out of the decathlon, which he always regretted. He later moved up one spot in the standings in each event when his fellow American, Jim Thorpe, who had won both events, was disqualified after it was shown that he had played semi-professional baseball: this meant Thorpe was considered a professional athlete, not an amateur as was required for Olympic participation. Throughout his tenure as president, Brundage refused to ask the IOC to restore Thorpe's medals despite advocacy by Thorpe supporters. The committee eventually did so in 1982, after the deaths of both men. Brundage's refusal led to charges that he held a grudge for being beaten in Stockholm.
Upon his return to Chicago, Brundage accepted a position as construction superintendent for John Griffith and Sons Contractors. Among the structures he worked on for Griffith were the Cook County Hospital, the Morrison Hotel, the Monroe Building, and the National Biscuit Company warehouse. In 1915, he struck out on his own in construction, founding the Avery Brundage Company, of which his uncle Edward was a director. Brundage continued his athletic career as well. He was US all-around champion in 1914, 1916, and 1918. Once he had ceased to be a track star, he took up handball. As a young man, he was ranked in the top ten in the country and even in 1934, at the age of 46, he won one game out of two against Angelo Trulio, who had recently been the US national champion.
Sports administrator
Rise to leadership
As Brundage approached the end of his track career, he began to involve himself in sports administration, at first through the CAA, then through the Central Association of the Amateur Athletic Union (of which the CAA was a member) and then, beginning in 1919, in the AAU. That group was involved in an ongoing battle for dominance over US amateur sports with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Athletes were often used as pawns in the battle, with one organization threatening to suspend those who participated in events sponsored by the other. Another venue for conflict was in the United States' National Olympic Committee (NOC), which was then called the American Olympic Committee (AOC), and which was AAU-dominated. In 1920, there was public outcry when the AOC chartered a disused troopship to carry home America's representatives in the 1920 Olympic Games in Antwerp; much of the team instead booked passage by ocean liner. In response, the AAU founded an American Olympic Association as a separate group, although it was still initially dominated by AAU representatives—it then selected the AOC. In 1928, on the resignation of then-AOA president General Douglas MacArthur, Brundage was elected president of the AOA; he was also elected president of the AOC, a post he held for over 20 years.
In 1925 Brundage became vice-president of the AAU, and chairman of its Handball Committee. After a year as first vice-president, he became president in 1928 and kept the post (except for a one-year break in 1933) through 1935. In that capacity, he was able to secure peace between the NCAA and AAU, with the former gaining the right to certify college students as amateurs, and greater representation on the AOA's executive board.
Brundage quickly displayed what writer Roger Butterfield termed "a dictatorial temperament" in a 1948 article for Life magazine. In 1929, American track star Charlie Paddock stated that Brundage and other sports officials were making money for the AOC by using him as a gate attraction, while treating him badly; Brundage shot back accusing Paddock of "untruths" and "sensationalism of the rankest sort". The runner turned professional, escaping Brundage's jurisdiction. In 1932, soon after winning three medals at the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, track star Mildred "Babe" Didrikson appeared in an automobile advertisement, and the Brundage-led AAU quickly suspended her amateur status. Didrikson objected that she had not been paid and that regardless, the rules for maintaining amateur status were overcomplex. In the first of several well-publicized run-ins he had with female athletes, Brundage replied that he had not had any problem with the rules when an Olympic athlete himself, and stated, "You know, the ancient Greeks kept women out of their athletic games. They wouldn't even let them on the sidelines. I'm not so sure but they were right." According to Butterfield, Brundage was suspicious of female athletes, suspecting that some were actually men in disguise.
1936 Olympics
Fighting a boycott
In 1931, the IOC awarded the 1936 Olympics to Germany, with the winter games in Bavaria and the summer games in the capital city, Berlin. After Germany was selected, several IOC members indicated that they were showing support for its democratic government, which was under attack from extremists in the hard economic times of the Great Depression. The Berlin Games were thrown in doubt, however, by the German July 1932 elections, in which the Nazi Party, led by Adolf Hitler, unexpectedly won the most seats in the Reichstag, the national legislature. The Nazis had expressed little interest in international sport, instead preferring the idea of "German games," in which German athletes would compete without what they deemed subhuman "Untermenschen" such as people of Jewish, Gypsy or African descent, thereby promoting their ideas of Aryan racial superiority and Germans as a "master race." When the Nazis attained power in January 1933, the Olympics were thought likely to be moved elsewhere.
Although the Nazis were suspicious of the chairman of the local Olympic organizing committee, Theodor Lewald, because he had a Jewish grandmother, they quickly saw the propaganda potential in hosting the Olympic Games. Lewald had intended to stage the Games on a shoestring budget; instead, the Reich threw its resources behind the effort. As the Nazi hatred of the Jews manifested itself in persecution, there were calls to move the Olympics from Germany, or alternatively, to boycott the Games. As head of the US Olympic movement, Brundage received many letters and telegrams urging action. American Olympic champion Lillian Copeland accused Brundage of "deliberately concealing the truth" about Hitler and Nazi Germany, was one of 24 former U.S. Olympic champions who petitioned the IOC in 1933 to move the Games from Germany, to no avail, and herself ultimately boycotted the Games.
IOC President Comte Henri de Baillet-Latour wrote to Brundage in 1933, "I am not personally fond of jews and of the jewish influence, but I will not have them molested in no way whatsoever." According to historical writer Christopher Hilton in his account of the 1936 Games, "Baillet-Latour, and the great and good around him, had no idea what was coming, and if the [IOC's] German delegates kept offering assurances, what else could they do but accept them?" Baillet-Latour opposed boycotting the Games, as did Brundage (who had learned in 1933 that he was being considered for IOC membership).
In her 1982 journal article on his role in the US participation in the 1936 Summer Games, Carolyn Marvin explained Brundage's political outlook:
Nazi pledges of non-discrimination in sports proved inconsistent with their actions, such as the expulsion of Jews from sports clubs, and in September 1934, Brundage sailed for Germany to see for himself. He met with government officials and others, although he was not allowed to meet with Jewish sports leaders alone. When he returned, he reported, "I was given positive assurance in writing ... that there will be no discrimination against Jews. You can't ask more than that and I think the guarantee will be fulfilled." Brundage's trip only increased the controversy over the question of US participation, with New York Congressman Emanuel Celler stating that Brundage "had prejudged the situation before he sailed from America." The AOC heard a report from Brundage on conditions in Germany and announced its decision. On September 26, 1934, the Committee voted to send the United States team to Berlin.
Brundage took the position that as the Germans had reported non-discrimination to the IOC, and the IOC had accepted that report, US Olympic authorities were bound by that determination. Nevertheless, it became increasingly apparent that Nazi actions would prohibit any Jew from securing a place on the German team. On this issue, Brundage stated that only 12 Jews had ever represented Germany in the Olympics, and it would hardly be surprising if none did in 1936.
Those who had advocated a boycott were foiled by the AOC, and they turned to the Amateur Athletic Union, hoping that the organization, though also led by Brundage, would refuse to certify American athletes for the 1936 Olympics. Although no vote took place on a boycott at the AAU's December 1934 meeting, Brundage did not seek re-election, and delegates elected Judge Jeremiah T. Mahoney as the new president, to take office in 1935. Although pro-boycott activities briefly fell into a lull, renewed Nazi brutality against the Jews in June 1935 sparked a resurgence, and converted Mahoney to the pro-boycott cause. In October, Baillet-Latour wrote to the three American IOC members—William May Garland, Charles Sherrill, and Ernest Lee Jahncke—asking them to do all they could to ensure a US team was sent to Germany. Garland and Sherrill agreed; Jahncke, however, refused, stating that he would be supporting the boycott. Brundage, at Baillet-Latour's request, took the lead in the anti-boycott campaign. Matters came to a head at the AAU convention in December 1935. Brundage's forces won the key votes, and the AAU approved sending a team to Berlin, specifying that this did not mean it supported the Nazis. Brundage was not magnanimous in victory, demanding the resignation of opponents. Although not all quit, Mahoney did.
Brundage believed that the boycott controversy could be used effectively for fundraising, writing, "the fact that the Jews are against us will arouse interest among thousands of people who have never subscribed before, if they are properly approached." In March 1936, he wrote to advertising mogul Albert Lasker, a Jew, complaining that "a large number of misguided Jews still persist in attempting to hamper the activities of the American Olympic Committee. The result, of course, is increased support from the one hundred and twenty million non-Jews in the United States, for this is a patriotic enterprise." In a letter which David Large, in his book on the 1936 Games, terms "heavy-handed," Brundage suggested that by helping to finance American participation in the Olympic Games, Jews could decrease anti-Semitism in the US. However, "Lasker, to his credit, refused to be blackmailed," writing to Brundage that "You gratuitously insult not only Jews but the millions of patriotic Christians in America, for whom you venture to speak without warrant, and whom you so tragically misrepresent in your letter."
Berlin
Brundage led the contingent of American athletes and officials who embarked for Hamburg on the S.S. Manhattan at New York Harbor on July 15, 1936. Immediately upon arrival in Germany, Brundage became headline news when he and the AOC dismissed American swimmer Eleanor Holm, who was a gold medalist in 1932 and expected to repeat, for allegedly getting drunk at late-night parties and missing her curfew. There were various rumors and accounts of the married swimmer's pursuits while on board the ship; the gossip included statements that she was at an "all-night party" with playwright Charles MacArthur, who was traveling without his wife, actress Helen Hayes. Brundage discussed the matter with fellow AOC members, then met with Holm. Although the AOC attempted to send her home, Holm pleaded in vain for reinstatement; "to the AOC's horror," she remained in Berlin as a journalist, watching from the stands as the gold medal went to Dutch swimmer Nida Senff. Decades later, Holm told Olympic sprinter Dave Sime that Brundage had held a grudge against her, having propositioned her, and she turned him down. According to Guttmann, "Brundage has appeared, ever since [1936], in the guise of a killjoy." Butterfield noted that through the efforts of sportswriters who supported Holm, "Brundage became celebrated as a tyrant, snob, hypocrite, dictator and stuffed shirt, as well as just about the meanest man in the whole world of sports."
On July 30, 1936, six days after the American arrival in Germany, the IOC met in Berlin and unanimously expelled Jahncke. Two places for the United States were vacant, as Sherrill had died in June, but the minutes specifically note that Brundage was elected to the IOC in Jahncke's place.
One of the sensations of the Games was black American track star Jesse Owens, who won four gold medals. According to some American press stories, Hitler left the stadium rather than shake hands with him. This was not the case; IOC president Baillet-Latour had told Hitler not to shake hands with the winners unless he was prepared to shake hands with all gold medalists, which he was not. This, however, was not publicized. According to Butterfield, in later years, retellings of what Brundage termed "a fairy tale" roused the American to "acute fury." Hitler was, however, asked by his youth leader, Baldur von Schirach, to meet Owens, and he refused, saying, "Do you really think that I'd allow myself to be photographed shaking hands with a Negro?"
The question of the US 4 × 100 meters relay squad was another controversy that may have involved Brundage. The scheduled team included sprinters Sam Stoller and Marty Glickman, who were both Jewish. After Owens won his third gold medal, both men were removed from the relay squad in favor of Owens and fellow black athlete Ralph Metcalfe. The US track coach, Lawson Robertson, told Stoller and Glickman that the Germans had upgraded their squad and it was important to have the fastest team possible. In the event, the US team turned in back-to-back world record times in the heats and final to take the gold medal; the Italians were a distant second, edging out the Germans for the silver medal. Stoller and Glickman, who were the only Jews on the US track team and the only American athletes who went to Berlin and did not compete, did not believe the stated reason for their replacement. Stoller recorded in his diary that he and Glickman had been left out of the relay because the two other participants, Foy Draper and Frank Wykoff, had been coached by one of Robertson's assistants at the University of Southern California. Glickman conceded college favoritism as a possible reason, but thought anti-Semitism more likely, and his position—that he and Stoller had been replaced so as not to embarrass Hitler by having him see Jews, as well as blacks, win gold medals for the US track team—hardened in the following years. He believed Brundage was behind the replacement. Brundage denied any involvement in the decision, which remains controversial. Glickman went on to a lengthy career as a sports broadcaster, and was given the inaugural Douglas MacArthur Award (for lifetime achievement in the field of sports) in 1998, after Stoller's death, by the United States Olympic Committee (successor to the AOC). USOC chairman William Hybl stated that while he had seen no written proof that Brundage was responsible, "I was a prosecutor. I'm used to looking at evidence. The evidence was there"—though, as Large notes, "exactly what evidence, he didn't say." In the report that he submitted after the Games, Brundage called the controversy "absurd"; he noted that Glickman and Stoller had finished fifth and sixth at the Olympic trials at New York's Randall's Island Stadium and that the US victory had validated the decision.
Road to the IOC presidency
Brundage's first IOC session as an incumbent member was at Warsaw in June 1937. The vice president of the IOC, Baron Godefroy de Blonay of Switzerland, had died, and Sweden's Sigfrid Edström was elected to replace him. Brundage was selected to fill Edström's place on the executive board. Edström had been a Brundage ally in the boycott fight, writing to the American that while he did not desire the persecution of the Jews, as an "intelligent and unscrupulous" people, "they had to be kept within certain limits". Brundage wrote to a German correspondent regretting that Leni Riefenstahl's film about the Berlin Olympics, Olympia, could not be commercially shown in the United States, as "unfortunately the theaters and moving picture companies are almost all owned by Jews".
The Berlin Games had increased Brundage's admiration for Germany, and he spoke out at a speech before the pro-Nazi German-American Bund at Madison Square Garden in October 1936, stating that "five years ago they [Germans] were discouraged and demoralized—today they are united—sixty million people believing in themselves and in their country ... We can learn much from Germany." In 1938, his construction company received the contract to build a new German embassy in Washington (this was not fulfilled as World War II intervened). Brundage joined the Keep America Out of War Committee and became a member of America First (he resigned from both the day after Pearl Harbor). Brundage was the subject of an FBI investigation in 1942, following allegations of pro-Nazi sympathies.
Although the 1940 Olympic Games were canceled due to World War II, Brundage sought to organize Western Hemisphere games that might be able to proceed despite the troubled international climate. Brundage was one of the leaders in the founding of the Pan-American Games, participating in the initial discussions in August 1940 in Buenos Aires. On his return, he arranged for the American Olympic Association to be renamed the United States of America Sports Federation (USASF), which would organize the United States Olympic Committee (as the AOC would now be called) and another committee to see to American participation in the Pan-American Games. Brundage became an early member of the international Pan-American Games Commission, although the inaugural event in Buenos Aires was postponed because of the war and was eventually held in 1951, with Brundage present. Despite his role in founding them, Brundage viewed the Pan-American Games as imitative, with no true link with antiquity.
War postponed any future Olympics, and fractured the IOC geographically and politically. With Baillet-Latour in German-occupied Belgium, Brundage and IOC vice president Edström did their best to keep channels of communication open between IOC members; according to Guttmann, "He and Edström perceived themselves as keepers of the sacred flame, guardians of an ideal in whose name they were ready once again to act as soon as the madness ended." Baillet-Latour died in 1942; Edström took on the duties of president, although he continued to style himself vice-president. Edström and Brundage did not await the end of war to rebuild the Olympic movement; Brundage even sent parcels to Europe in aid of IOC members and others in places where food was scarce. With Edström turning 74 in 1944, the Swede expressed concern as to who would lead the IOC if he should die, and suggested that Brundage become second vice-president, a newly created position. A mail ballot of IOC members who could be reached confirmed the choice the following year. When Edström was made president by the first postwar IOC session at Lausanne in September 1946, Brundage was elected first vice-president.
As vice president, Brundage served on a commission appointed at the IOC's London session in 1948 to recommend whether the 1906 Intercalated Games, held in Athens, should be considered a full Olympic Games. All three members of what came to be known as the Brundage Commission were from the Western Hemisphere and met in New Orleans in January 1949. The commission found that there was nothing to be gained by recognizing the 1906 games as Olympic, and it might set an embarrassing precedent. The full IOC endorsed the report when it met later that year in Rome.
Edström intended to retire following the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, when a successor would be elected. Brundage's rival for the presidency was Great Britain's Lord Burghley, an Olympic gold medalist in track in 1928 and president of the International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF). The balloting took place at the IOC session in the Finnish capital before the Games. Although Brundage was the executive board's candidate, he was disliked by some IOC members; others felt that the president should be a European. Private notes kept during the balloting reveal it to have been very close, but on the 25th and final ballot, Brundage received 30 votes to 17 for Burghley and was elected.
IOC president (1952–1972)
Amateurism
Throughout his career as a sports official, according to Guttmann, Brundage "was unquestionably an idealist." He often concluded speeches by quoting from John Galsworthy:
This ideal was best realized, Brundage believed, in amateur sports. The athlete, he stated, should compete "for the love of the game itself without thought of reward or payment of any kind," with professionals being part of the entertainment business. Amateurism, to Brundage, expressed the concept of the Renaissance man, with abilities in many fields, yet a specialist in none.
As the definition of "amateur" varied by sport, many of the battles Brundage engaged in concerned the question of what money or valuables an athlete could accept while retaining their amateur status, with some sports more liberal than others. In 1948, tennis allowed expense payments of up to $600 per tournament, while boxing permitted valuable prizes as awards. Enforcement of these rules often fell to National Olympic Committees, and Brundage found them less than enthusiastic about rules which hampered their own athletes in the pursuit of medals.
Both before and after becoming IOC president, Brundage was involved in a number of controversies involving threats to, or sometimes actual disqualification of, athletes for breach of amateur rules. In 1932, he was part of a special committee of the IAAF which disqualified Finnish runner Paavo Nurmi from the Los Angeles Games for allegedly accepting monetary compensation. At the 1948 Winter Olympics in St. Moritz, rival US ice hockey teams, sponsored by different accrediting organizations (one from the AAU and the other from AHAUS), came to the Games. The dispute proved difficult, and the IOC initially voted to cancel the tournament and eliminate ice hockey as an Olympic sport, but relented as organizers had sold thousands of tickets. A compromise was then reached: the AAU team, backed by Brundage and the AOC, would march in the opening ceremony, while the AHAUS team, not favored by Brundage but supported by the LIHG (the forerunner to today's IIHF), featuring former semi-professional players, were allowed to compete but could not earn an Olympic medal. However, since at the time the Olympic hockey tournament also doubled as that year's Ice Hockey World Championships, their results would be recorded for that competition, in which they finished fourth. In 1972, Brundage banned Austrian skier Karl Schranz from the Sapporo Winter Olympics for commercial activities, calling him "a walking billboard."
Eastern bloc countries were known for skirting the edge of the rules by having state-sponsored "full-time amateurs." Their Olympic athletes were given everything they needed to live and train, but were not technically paid to do it, and all the money came from the government. The Soviet Union entered teams of athletes who were all nominally students, soldiers, or working in a profession, but many of whom were in reality paid by the state to train on a full-time basis. This put the self-financed amateurs of the Western countries at a disadvantage.
Near the end of the 1960s, the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA) felt their amateur players could no longer be competitive against the Soviet team's full-time athletes and the other constantly improving European teams. They pushed for the ability to use professional players, but met opposition from the IIHF and IOC; Brundage was opposed to the idea of amateurs and professionals competing together. At the IIHF Congress in 1969, the organization decided to allow Canada to use nine non-NHL professional hockey players at the 1970 World Championships in Montreal and Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. The decision was reversed in January 1970 after Brundage said that ice hockey's status as an Olympic sport would be in jeopardy if the change was made. In response, Canada withdrew from international ice hockey competition and officials stated that they would not return until "open competition" was instituted. Günther Sabetzki became president of the IIHF in 1975, after Brundage had left the post of IOC president, and helped to resolve the dispute with the CAHA. In 1976, the IIHF agreed to allow "open competition" between all players in the World Championships. However, NHL players were still not allowed to play in the Olympics because of the IOC's amateur-only policy.
As IOC president, Brundage's views on amateurism came increasingly to be seen as outdated in the modern world, as the rules were tested by athletes who saw everyone making money but themselves. In 1962, against Brundage's opposition, the IOC amended the rules to allow sports federations to offer athletes "broken time" payments, compensating them for time missed from work, but only if they had dependents in need. In 1972, Brundage called for the elimination of the Winter Olympics after 1976, finding them hopelessly polluted by rampant commercialism, especially in alpine skiing. In his final speech to the IOC in Munich in 1972, Brundage maintained his position on amateurism: "There are only two kinds of competitors. Those free and independent individuals who are interested in sports for sport's sake, and those in sports for financial reasons. Olympic glory is for amateurs."
National participation controversies
Germany
No German team was allowed at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London or the Winter Games in St. Moritz. Brundage was anxious to reintegrate Germany into the Olympic movement once the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany, through Brundage's lifetime) was formed in 1949. Soon after the state's formation, its National Olympic Committee approached the IOC, seeking recognition, but there was still much animus towards Germany. Just prior to the IOC session in Vienna in 1951 (Brundage was still vice president), the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) also formed an NOC and requested recognition. This created controversy, as the Federal Republic and its NOC claimed to represent both West and East Germany, but did not control the latter. Despite lengthy discussions, no resolution was reached in 1951, and the matter was put over until February 1952, when a negotiating session was scheduled for Copenhagen. Although the East Germans came to Copenhagen, they refused to attend the session, which was eventually cancelled by Edström after the IOC officials and West Germans waited for hours in vain. The German team which competed in Helsinki that summer was entirely West German (with Saarland, then a French protectorate, competing as an independent Saar team).
In 1954, the East Germans resumed their attempts at recognition. The following year, after Brundage received assurances that the East German NOC was not government-run, the IOC voted to recognize it, but required that both East and West Germany (as well as the Saar) compete as part of a single German team in 1956. East Germany sent only 37 athletes to the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, and they lived and trained separately from their West German counterparts. For the Summer Olympics at Rome in 1960, under continuing IOC insistence that the two states send a single team, East Germany contributed 141 of the 321 athletes; competitors from both states lived in the same area of the Olympic Village. At the Opening Ceremony at Rome, Italian President Giovanni Gronchi marveled, much to Brundage's delight, that the IOC had obtained the German reunification which politicians had been unable to secure; Brundage responded, "But in sport, we do such things." Brundage saw the German participation as symbolic of the potential for the Olympic Games to overcome divisions to unite.
Despite the construction of the Berlin Wall beginning in 1961, which increased tensions between East and West, Brundage was successful in securing a joint German team for the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Nevertheless, the East Germans, supported by IOC members from Warsaw Pact nations, aspired to have their own team. They made a major breakthrough when the IAAF (led by the Marquess of Exeter, the former Lord Burghley) recognized a separate East German team beginning with the 1966 European Athletics Championships. The East Germans did their best to get Brundage's support, and, at the IOC session at Mexico City in 1968, they were granted full membership, with their own team under their own flag, which they displayed on West German soil four years later at the Opening Ceremony at Munich. Brundage, while finally supporting full membership for East Germany, considered the matter a defeat for Olympic ideals.
Soviet Union
Although Tsarist Russia had sent athletes to the Olympic Games, after the Soviet Union was formed, it declined to participate, considering the Olympics bourgeois. As early as 1923, the IOC attempted to lure the Soviets back into the fold; Brundage visited the USSR in 1934. He was impressed by the progress which had been made there since a visit he had made in 1912 after competing in Stockholm. Despite his anti-communism, Brundage wanted the Soviets to join the Olympic movement. According to Guttmann, "When Brundage had to choose between his hostility to communism and his commitment to the ideal of Olympic universality, he chose the latter. He wanted the Russians [sic] in the Olympics, communists or not."
During World War II, Brundage wrote to other IOC members that he had no objection to Soviet involvement in international sports, with representation on the IOC, if the USSR joined the international sports federations (ISFs). The IOC required that an NOC be independent of the government of the territory which it represents; there were concerns a Soviet NOC would not be. This was a problem not unique to communist states; a number of Latin American countries were starting to bring the local NOCs into the political structure, with an official naming the NOC chair—who might even be the country's political leader. This mixture of sports and politics worried Brundage.
Beginning in 1946, the Soviets began to join international federations; in 1951 their NOC was recognized by the IOC, and they began Olympic competition the following year. As few Soviet sports officials were internationally known, the IOC had little alternative than to accept the nominees of the USSR's government if they wished to have Soviet IOC members. The Soviet members were believers in sport, and completely loyal to their nation and to communist ideals. They quickly became the leaders of the IOC members from behind the Iron Curtain, who voted in accord with the Soviet members. Brundage visited the USSR at Soviet invitation (though at his own expense) in 1954. He deemed the nation's physical education program as "creating the greatest army of athletes the world has ever seen," warning (as he would often through the 1950s) that Americans were by comparison soft and unfit. Brundage found his view, often expressed in the press, that physical education and competitive sports made for better citizens, especially in the event of war, more enthusiastically embraced in the Soviet Union than in the United States. According to David Maraniss in his account of the 1960 Rome Games, Brundage's admiration for the Soviet Union's sports programs "in some ways mirrored his response two decades earlier to his encounters with Nazi Germany".
On his return, he related in an article for The Saturday Evening Post that he had confronted Soviet officials with information from defectors stating that the USSR was running year-round training camps and giving athletes material inducements for success. He also repeated the Soviet response, which questioned the defectors' integrity: "These men are deserters, traitors. Would you attach any truth to their statements had they been Americans and had turned against your country?" Since Brundage did not comment on the response, there was a storm of controversy in the press, which accused Brundage of being a Soviet dupe.
Despite the evident conflicts between amateurism and the Soviet system in which athletes received salaries and property at state expense, allowing them to train full-time, Brundage took no action against the USSR or Warsaw Pact nations with similar systems; when challenged on this point, he argued that Western nations did similar things, citing athletic scholarships as an example. The Soviet system remained in place.
China and Taiwan
The Republic of China, which then governed the mainland, had joined the Olympic movement in 1924, when the China National Amateur Athletic Federation was recognized by the IOC as the nation's NOC. China participated in the 1932 Olympics in Los Angeles, as well as in Berlin four years later and the first post-war Olympics at London in 1948. When the communists were successful in the Chinese Civil War and established the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1949, most NOC members fled the mainland for the island of Taiwan. This left China with two rival NOCs, one on the mainland and one on Taiwan, each claiming to represent the whole of China.
Matters came to a head in 1952, when the mainland NOC (the All-China Athletic Federation), considering itself a continuation of the pre-1949 committee, wrote to the IOC stating that it desired to participate in the Helsinki Olympics to be held that year. As the Taiwanese also proposed to send a team, this conflicted with IOC rules stating that only one committee could represent a country, and both Chinese groups were unwilling to negotiate with the other, or to send a joint team. After considerable deliberation, the IOC decided that if either committee was recognized by the ISF for a sport, the committee could send athletes to participate in events in that discipline. In protest, Taiwan withdrew from the Games; the PRC sent a team to Helsinki, though it arrived ten days after the start of the Games. Brundage, president-elect when the decision was made to allow PRC athletes to compete, argued against the decision to allow mainland participation before its NOC was recognized, but he was overruled by his colleagues.
In 1954, the Brundage-headed IOC, in a narrow vote, recognized both committees, thus allowing both states to participate at Melbourne. Only the PRC's committee initially accepted, but when the Taiwanese NOC changed its mind and decided to send a team to the Games, the mainlanders withdrew in protest. Brundage took the position that despite similar concerns about state sponsorship as with the USSR, once the PRC's committee was recognized and reported to the IOC that all eligibility rules were observed, the international committee had to accept that unless it had evidence to the contrary. He was frustrated by the continuing controversy, considering the squabble a distraction from the goal of advancing the Olympic movement.
When continuing efforts to exclude the Taiwanese failed, in 1958 the mainlanders withdrew from the IOC. The following year, the IOC ruled the Taiwanese could not compete under the name Republic of China Olympic Committee, but would have to compete under some other name which did not imply they governed sports in China. Brundage and Exeter both advocated for the ruling, which they compared to having an Italian NOC represent only Sicily. The press interpreted the ruling to mean that Nationalist China had been expelled from the Olympic movement, and for the next year, the anti-communist Brundage found himself under attack in the press as a communist sympathizer. Although United States State Department officials attempted to persuade them to stand on principle, Taiwanese officials decided to participate in the Rome Games, hoping to secure China's first medal, and believing their NOC's continued presence helped keep mainland China out of the Games. Taiwanese athletes competed under the designation Formosa (an alternate name for Taiwan), and caused a sensation by briefly displaying a sign reading "Under Protest" at the Opening Ceremony; when Yang Chuan-Kwang took the silver medal in the decathlon, he was not allowed to display the Nationalist Chinese flag at the medals ceremony.
Brundage, through his tenure, slowly came around to the position advocated by Iron Curtain IOC members, that the important thing was to recognize the mainland, with Taiwan of less importance. Although the mainland Chinese were invited by the Munich Olympic organizers to send an observer delegation to Munich (they declined due to the Taiwanese presence), it was not until 1975, after Brundage's departure as president, that the PRC applied to rejoin the Olympic movement. The PRC again participated at the 1980 Winter Games at Lake Placid and then the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles; the island NOC competed as the Republic of China in 1968 and 1972; when refused permission to compete under that name in 1976, after Brundage's death, it boycotted the 1976 and 1980 games, returning in 1984 as Chinese Taipei.
South Africa and Rhodesia
In the late 1950s, protest against South Africa's apartheid regime reached the stage of seeking to exclude the nation from international sport. In 1956, government rules requiring separate events for whites and non-whites in South Africa were issued; non-whites received poorer facilities. Brundage initially opposed taking any action. The run-up to the 1960 Rome Olympics had seen tumult in South Africa, including the Sharpeville massacre and a crackdown on the African National Congress. Activists attempted to persuade Brundage that South Africa should be excluded from the Games. Brundage initially took the word of South African sport leaders that all citizens were able to compete for a place on the Olympic team, and that non-white South Africans simply were not good enough.
The drive towards a boycott was fueled by the large number of African nations which became independent in the late 1950s and early 1960s. To prevent the new nations from overwhelming the ISFs, Brundage proposed that the federations adopt weighted voting systems to allow earlier members to wield disproportionate influence, which some did. By 1962, with the suspension of South Africa from FIFA (the association football governing body), Brundage had come around to the position that South Africa's racist policies were inconsistent with the ideals of the Olympic movement. At the 1963 IOC session in Baden-Baden (moved there from Nairobi when Kenyan officials refused to issue visas to South African representatives), the IOC voted to suspend South Africa from the Olympics unless its NOC and government adopted non-discrimination policies regarding Olympic selection. This did not come to pass, and South Africa did not participate in 1964. In 1968, Brundage and the IOC invited a South African team (supposedly to be multiracial) to the Mexico City Games, but under a threatened boycott and with evidence of minimal South African compliance, withdrew it.
In 1971, the IOC, at its Amsterdam session, voted to strip the South African NOC of recognition. Although Brundage had hoped to keep South Africa within the Olympic movement, he believed that those who sought its expulsion had made the stronger case. South Africa did not return to the Olympics until the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, after the end of its apartheid government.
A parallel problem was that of Rhodesia, the British colony which had unilaterally declared its independence from the United Kingdom in 1965. Rhodesia had a white minority government. In May 1968, the United Nations Security Council condemned its government and asked nations not to honor its passports, and the Mexican government, set to host the Olympics later that year, complied with the ban. The IOC initially believed that sports facilities in the breakaway colony were not segregated, despite its government's policies. The proposed 16-member Olympic team included two black athletes. Because of this, Brundage supported Rhodesian participation at Mexico City, but he was overruled by the IOC; according to the head of the Rhodesian Olympic Committee, Douglas Downing, "His voice cries in a wilderness of spite." For Munich in 1972, the IOC decided to allow the Rhodesians to compete as British subjects, which by international law they were. African nations again threatened to boycott if the Rhodesians were allowed to participate, and, at its Munich session in 1972 just before the Games, the IOC narrowly voted to exclude the Rhodesians. Brundage was livid at the decision, believing that the IOC had yielded to blackmail. In 1974, after Brundage left office, the IOC found evidence of segregated facilities in Rhodesia, and it subsequently withdrew recognition from its NOC. Rhodesia returned to the Olympics in 1980 as recognized independent Zimbabwe.
Olympic administration; challenges to leadership
Unpaid as IOC president, even for his expenses, Brundage sometimes spent $50,000 per year to finance his role. In 1960, the IOC had almost no funds. Brundage and the IOC had considered the potential of television revenue as early as the Melbourne Games of 1956, but had been slow to address the issue, with the result that television rights for the 1960 Games were in the hands of the Rome organizing committee; the IOC received only 5% of the $60,000 rights fee. Accounts submitted by the Rome organizers showed they lost money on the Olympics; the IOC would have received a portion of the profits, and had no money to offer the sports federations who wanted a percentage of the proceeds. In future years, the sale of television rights became a major source of revenue for the IOC, rising to $10 million by the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, and $1.2 billion, long after Brundage's death, at Athens in 2004. Brundage was concerned about the increasing revenue, warning IOC members in 1967, "The moment we handle money, even if we only distribute it, there will be trouble ..."
NOC representatives had met with Brundage and the IOC executive board from time to time, but many NOC representatives felt that Brundage was taking no action in response to concerns expressed by the NOC attendees. In the early 1960s, many NOCs, led by Italian IOC member Giulio Onesti, sought to bypass Brundage and the IOC by forming a Permanent General Assembly of National Olympic Committees (PGA-NOC), which Brundage strongly opposed and the IOC refused to recognize. The PGA-NOC from 1965 demanded a share of television revenue; it also desired that the ISFs, not the IOC, set policy on amateurism.
Brundage had been initially elected in 1952 for an eight-year term; he was re-elected unanimously in 1960 for an additional four years. Despite talk that he would be opposed by Exeter, Brundage's 1952 rival nominated him for the new term. Brundage was re-elected in 1964 by an announced unanimous vote, though Guttmann records that Brundage actually only narrowly turned back a challenge by Exeter. As Brundage's term as president neared its end in 1968, some IOC members, who saw him as hidebound, or just too old at 81 to effectively lead the organization, sought his ouster. Nevertheless, he was easily re-elected at the IOC session in Mexico City that year, though he pledged not to seek another four-year term, but to retire in 1972. Ireland's Lord Killanin was elected first vice-president. Killanin, seen (correctly) as Brundage's likely successor, was more sympathetic to the concerns of the NOCs, and attended PGA-NOC meetings. Brundage did not recognize the PGA-NOC, but did establish joint IOC-NOC committees to address NOC concerns. Although the PGA-NOC did not gain Olympic recognition, it remained a significant outside organization through Brundage's presidency, and according to Guttmann, "Brundage won a less than total victory and Onesti suffered a far from complete defeat. The I.O.C. had become far more attractive to the national Olympic committees and to their interests, and that is what Onesti called for in the first place."
With Brundage in Chicago or at his California home, day to day IOC operations were overseen at "Mon Repos", the IOC headquarters in Lausanne, by Otto Meyer, the IOC's chancellor. Brundage came to consider Meyer too impetuous, and dismissed him in 1964, abolishing the office. Eventually, Brundage promoted Monique Berlioux to be IOC director in the last years of his tenure, and apparently found her services satisfactory. Mon Repos, the former home of the founder of the Modern Olympics, Baron Pierre de Coubertin, proved too cramped for the IOC, which had to share space with de Coubertin's widow, who lived to be 101. In 1968, the IOC moved to new quarters at Lausanne's Château de Vidy.
Political demonstration at Mexico City
The year 1968 had seen turmoil in the United States, including hundreds of riots, both before and after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. and continuing after the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy. Prior to the Olympics in Mexico City in October 1968, some African Americans, led by activist Harry Edwards, had urged a boycott of the Games, but found little enthusiasm among athletes, reluctant to waste years of effort. The atmosphere was made more tense by unrest in Mexico City before the Games, which left dozens dead.
There were racial tensions between black US athletes and their white counterparts; in one incident, African Americans blocked whites from the track. One black runner, Tommie Smith, told writers on October 15, "I don't want Brundage presenting me any medals". The following day, Smith won the 200 meters, and fellow African-American John Carlos took the bronze medal. The two men, after receiving their medals from IAAF president Lord Exeter, and as "The Star-Spangled Banner" played, raised black-gloved fists, heads down, in salute of black power. Brundage deemed it to be a domestic political statement unfit for the apolitical, international forum the Olympic Games were intended to be. In response to their actions, he ordered Smith and Carlos suspended from the US team and banned from the Olympic Village. When the US Olympic Committee refused, Brundage threatened to ban the entire US track team. This threat led to the expulsion of the two athletes from the Games. Other demonstrations by African-Americans also took place: the three African Americans who took the medals in the 400 meters race, led by gold medalist Lee Evans, wore black berets on the podium but took them off before the anthem while African-American boxer George Foreman, triumphant in the heavyweight division, waved a small American flag around the boxing ring and bowed to the crowd with fellow American boxers. Brundage's comment about the Smith-Carlos incident was "Warped mentalities and cracked personalities seem to be everywhere and impossible to eliminate." The USOC's official report omits the iconic photograph of Smith and Carlos with their fists raised; the local organizing committee's official film showed footage of the ceremony. Brundage, who termed the incident "the nasty demonstration against the American flag by negroes", objected in vain to its inclusion.
Munich 1972
At the same IOC session in August 1972 in Munich at which the Rhodesians were excluded, the IOC elected Killanin as Brundage's successor, to take office after the Games. Brundage cast a blank ballot in the vote which selected the Irishman, considering him an intellectual lightweight without the force of character needed to hold the Olympic movement together.
Brundage hoped that the Munich Games would take the sting out of his defeat over the Rhodesian issue. Munich was one of his favorite cities (in 1975, the Brundageplatz there would be named after him), and the ('cheerful Games') were designed to efface memories of 1936 and Berlin in the eyes of the world. They initially seemed to be doing so, as athletic feats, like those of gymnast Olga Korbut and swimmer Mark Spitz captivated viewers. In the early morning of September 5, 1972, Palestinian terrorists from the organization Black September entered the Olympic Village and took 11 Israelis hostage, demanding freedom for hundreds of Palestinians held in Israeli custody. Brundage, once informed, rushed to the Olympic Village, where he conferred with German and Bavarian state officials through the day, playing what Guttmann describes as a modest role in the discussions. German officials moved the hostages and their captors to Fürstenfeldbruck Air Base, where German police and troops tried a rescue late that evening. The attempt was bungled; the nine remaining hostages (two had been murdered earlier) and three of their captors were killed.
Even before the ill-fated rescue attempt, IOC officials began conferring. Killanin and other officials were in Kiel for the yacht racing; they hurried back to Munich. Just before 4 pm, Brundage called off the remainder of the day's events, and announced a memorial service honoring those who had already died for the following morning. Many Olympic leaders were critical of Brundage for his participation in the discussions with the government, feeling that this should have been left for the authorities and the local organizing committee, but all supported the memorial service, which was held the following day in the Olympic Stadium. There, before the audience in the stadium and the millions watching on television, Brundage offered what Guttmann called "the credo of his life":
The crowd in the stadium responded to Brundage's statement with loud applause; according to Stars & Stripes, "Brundage's statement that 'the games must go on' took much of the heavy gloom away which has permeated Munich since early Tuesday [September 5, the day of the attack]."
Killanin, after his own retirement as IOC president, stated that "I believe Brundage was right to continue and that his stubborn determination saved the Olympic Movement one more time" but that Brundage's mention of the Rhodesian question was, while not inappropriate, at least better left for another time. According to future IOC vice president Dick Pound, the insertion of the Rhodesian issue into the speech "was universally condemned, and Brundage left office under a cloud of criticism that effectively undermined a lifetime of well-intentioned work in the Olympic movement". Brundage said after the Games, "I was severely criticized for that ... but the fact is that I did it on purpose. I had to. There was a principle involved and altho [sic] it was a terrible thing that some lives were lost, principles are just as important as human lives." Brundage subsequently issued a statement that he did not mean to imply the decision to exclude the Rhodesians, which he stated was "purely a matter of sport", was comparable to the murder of the Israelis. According to Alfred Senn in his history of the Olympics, the decision to continue the games "sat poorly with many observers"; sportswriter Red Smith of The New York Times was among the critics:
Retirement and death
Brundage retired as IOC president after the 1972 Summer Games. There were differing accounts of Brundage's state of mind during his retirement. IOC director Berlioux stated that Brundage would come to the Château de Vidy and take telephone calls or look at correspondence while he waited for Lord Killanin to turn to him for help. According to Berlioux, Brundage sometimes called her from Geneva and asked her to go there. The two would spend hours wandering the streets, saying little. Brundage's longtime factotum, Frederick Ruegsegger, described a different, tranquil, Brundage, whom he compared to an abdicated Japanese emperor.
His wife of nearly half a century, Elizabeth, died in 1971. Brundage had once jested that his ambition was to wed a German princess. In June 1973, this came to pass when he married Princess Mariann Charlotte Katharina Stefanie von Reuss (1936–2003), daughter of Heinrich XXXVII, Prince of Reuss-Köstritz. Von Reuss had worked as an interpreter during the Munich Games; she stated that she had met Brundage in 1955, when she was 19. When Brundage was asked by reporters about the 48-year difference in their ages, Brundage responded that he was young for his age and she mature for hers, and instead of 85 years to 37, it should be thought of as more like 55 to 46. Ruegsegger refused to be best man and stated after Brundage's death that the couple had dissipated much of Brundage's fortune through free spending, though Guttmann notes that some of those purchases were of real estate, which could be deemed investments.
In January 1974, Brundage underwent surgery for cataracts and glaucoma. The necessary arrangements had initially been made by Brundage's protégé, Spanish IOC member Juan Antonio Samaranch, who would become IOC president in 1980. At the last moment, Brundage cancelled the plans, choosing to have the surgery in Munich, near the home he had purchased in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, site of the 1936 Winter Olympics. After a month and a half, Brundage was discharged from the hospital, though whether the surgery had improved his vision was disputed, with Mariann Brundage stating that it did and Ruegsegger stating the contrary. Now frail, at age 87 he went with his wife on a final tour of the Far East. Despite the efforts of Olympic officials on his behalf, he was not given an invitation to mainland China, source of much of the art he loved. In April 1975, Brundage entered the hospital at Garmisch-Partenkirchen with flu and a severe cough. He died there on May 8, 1975, of heart failure, and was buried at Rosehill Cemetery in Chicago.
In his will, Brundage provided for his wife and for Ruegsegger, as well as making several charitable bequests. He left his papers and memorabilia to the University of Illinois; he had already given it $350,000 to fund scholarships for students interested in competing in sports who do not receive an athletic scholarship.
Personal life and business career
Relationships
In 1927, at the age of 40, Brundage married Elizabeth Dunlap, who was the daughter of a Chicago banker. She was a trained soprano, which was a talent that she exhibited to people who visited the Brundage home. She had a strong interest in classical music. This interest might not have been fully shared by her husband, who said that a performance of Wagner's Die Walküre "started at 7 o'clock, at 10:00 pm I looked at my watch and it registered exactly 8 o'clock". Elizabeth died at age 81 in 1971.
In 1973, Brundage married Princess Mariann Charlotte Katharina Stefanie von Reuss. He had no children with either of his two wives. However, during his first marriage Brundage fathered two sons out of wedlock with his Finnish mistress, Lilian Dresden. His affair with Dresden was one of many. The children were born in 1951 and 1952, at precisely the time that Brundage was being considered for the presidency of the IOC. Though he privately acknowledged paternity, Brundage took great pains to conceal the existence of these children; he was concerned that the truth about his extra-marital relationships might damage his chances of election. He requested that his name be kept off the birth certificates. Brundage visited his two sons periodically in the 1950s, visits that tailed off to telephone calls in the 1960s and nothing in his final years. He did establish a trust fund for the boys' education and start in life, but after his death, unnamed in his will, they sued and won a small settlement of $62,500 each out of his $19 million estate.
Construction executive
After its founding in 1915, a large source of the Avery Brundage Company's business was wartime government contracts. Brundage, who applied for a commission in the Army Ordnance Corps but was rejected, in the postwar period became a member of the Construction Division Association, composed of men who had built facilities for the military, and later became its president from 1926 to 1928.
In the 1920s, Brundage and his company became very active in constructing high-rise apartment buildings in Chicago. He used rapid construction methods, allowing clients to begin realizing income from their investments quickly—the Sheridan-Brompton Apartments (1924) overlooking Lincoln Park, were built in five months, allowing the start of $40,000 in monthly rental income, offsetting a monthly mortgage payment of $15,000. Often, the Brundage Company was involved in the ownership of the apartments: 3800 Sheridan Road (1927), a 17-story building costing $3,180,000, was owned by a company which had as its president and treasurer Chester Brundage, Avery's younger brother. It was constructed in eight months, through the Chicago winter, using an onsite concrete mixing plant. This temporary structure also provided office space for the construction. Another source of income for Brundage and his company was hotel construction, for which he was often paid in part with stock in the new facility. One president of an engineering firm specializing in large structures called Brundage's methods on the Shoreham Hotel "progressive, snappy, [and] up-to-date" and "straightforward and honest".
In 1923, Brundage constructed a massive assembly plant on Torrence Avenue on Chicago's South Side for the Ford Motor Company. At $4 million in cost and bringing under one roof, it was the largest industrial plant built by Brundage. Constructed in ten months, the new facility helped meet the national demand for Model T cars in the 1920s, and in 1950, produced 154,244 vehicles. A plant for Hubbard & Co. was erected in 125 days despite an unusually harsh Chicago winter. Despite later statements from Brundage that he avoided public works due to corruption, he built the 23rd Street viaduct as part of the South Shore Development project; Brundage's viaduct extended Chicago's shoreline into Lake Michigan at a cost of two million dollars. By 1925, the Avery Brundage Company was acclaimed for speed, innovation and quality, and had a payroll of $50,000 a week.
Although the start of the Depression in 1929 was a major setback for Brundage, he rebuilt his wealth by investments in real estate, also accepting interests in buildings he had constructed in lieu of payments the owners were unable to make. He later stated that "you didn't have to be a wizard" in order to "buy stocks and bonds in depressed corporations for a few cents on the dollar—and then wait. I was just a little lucky." According to historian and archivist Maynard Brichford, Brundage "emerged from the difficult depression years with a substantial annual income, a good reputation, and excellent investments". His foresight resulted in a fortune which by 1960 was estimated at $25,000,000.
A major Brundage investment was Chicago's La Salle Hotel, which had been built in 1908. Located in the heart of The Loop and the city's financial district, Brundage first leased it in 1940, later purchasing it. When the hotel was seriously damaged by fire in 1946, Brundage spent about $2.5 million remodeling and modernizing it. As Brundage made a home there during his time as IOC president, the hotel became famous in international sports as his residence. He sold the hotel in 1970, but later reclaimed it when the purchaser failed to make required payments.
Art collector and benefactor
Brundage's interest in Asian art stemmed from a visit he made to an exhibition of Chinese art at the Royal Academy in London in early 1936, after the Winter Olympics in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Brundage stated of the experience, "We [his first wife Elizabeth and himself] spent a week at the exhibition and I came away so enamored with Chinese art that I've been broke ever since." He did not begin active collecting until after the Brundages' two-week visit to Japan in April 1939, where they visited Yokohama, Kyoto, Osaka, and . They followed up Japan with visits to Shanghai and Hong Kong, but due to the war between Japan and China, were unable to explore further on Avery Brundage's only visit to mainland China—this disappointment bothered him his whole life.
On his return to the United States after the June 1939 IOC session in London, Brundage systematically set about becoming a major collector of Asian art. The unsettled conditions caused wealthy Chinese to sell family heirlooms, and prices were depressed, making it an opportune moment to collect. He bought many books on Asian art, stating in an interview that a "major library is an indispensable tool". After the US entered World War II, stock owned by Japanese dealers in the United States was impounded; Brundage was able to purchase the best items. Dealers found him willing to spend money, but knowledgeable and a hard bargainer. Brundage rarely was fooled by forgeries, and was undeterred by the few he did buy, noting that in Asian art, fake pieces were often a thousand years old. In his 1948 article on Brundage for Life, Butterfield noted that "his collection is regarded as one of the largest and most important in private hands in this country".
Brundage engaged the French scholar , then teaching at the University of California, as full-time curator of his collection and advisor on acquisitions. The two men made a deal—no piece would be purchased unless both men agreed. They built a collection of jade which ranged from the neolithic period to the modern era; and hundreds of Chinese, Japanese and Korean bronzes, mostly Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. The painter whom Brundage admired the most was , 12th-century Chinese emperor of the Song dynasty; the collector never was able to obtain any of his work. Brundage several times bought pieces smuggled out of their lands of origin to restore them there. When Brundage sold a piece, it was most likely because he no longer favored it artistically, rather than to realize a profit. In 1954, a financial statement prepared for Brundage listed the value of his collection as more than $1 million. In 1960, Robert Shaplen, in his article on Brundage for The New Yorker, noted that Brundage, during his travels as IOC president, always found time to visit art dealers, and stated that the collection was valued at $15 million.
By the late 1950s, Brundage was increasingly concerned about what to do with his collection. His homes in Chicago and California were so overwhelmed with art that priceless artifacts were kept in shoeboxes under beds. In 1959, Brundage agreed to give part of his collection to the city of San Francisco. The following year city voters passed a bond issue of $2,725,000 to house the donation. The result was the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, which opened in 1966 in Golden Gate Park, initially sharing space with the M. H. de Young Memorial Museum before moving to its own facility near the Civic Center in 2003. Brundage made another major donation in 1969 (despite a fire which destroyed many pieces at his California home, "La Piñeta" near Santa Barbara in 1964), and left the remainder of his collection to the museum in his will. Today, the museum has 7,700 pieces from Brundage among the 17,000-plus objects which make up its collection.
Brundage connected the world of art and that of amateur sports in his own mind. In a speech to the IOC session in Tokyo in 1958, he discussed , used at one time by Japanese men to anchor items, typically wallets, hung from kimono belts. Brundage owned several thousand , and held two in his hands as he spoke. He told the members that a was at one time carefully carved by the man who wore it, building "something of himself into the design", and although a class of professional makers arose later, whose work might have been more technically adept, it was "ordinarily cold, stiff, and without imagination. ... Missing was the element of the amateur carver, which causes these netsuke to be esteemed so much higher by the collector than the commercial product carved for money." Brundage later commented about his speech, "Here was the difference between amateurism and professionalism spelled out in a ."
Legacy
In May 2012, The Independent dubbed him "The ancient IOC emperor, anti-Semite and Nazi sympathiser bent on insulating the Games from the meddlesome tentacles of the real world." The Orange County Register stated that Brundage's "racism and anti-Semitism are well documented", and the New York Daily News averred that Brundage "admired Hitler and infamously replaced two Jewish sprinters on the 4-by-100 relay team because it could have further embarrassed Hitler if they won". David Miller described him as "despotic" in The Official History of the Olympic Games and the IOC (2012).
In 2021, San Francisco’s Asian Art Museum removed a bust of Brundage that had sat prominently in its foyer for five decades, which had been dedicated to him for his donating his sizable collection. Museum director Jay Xu wrote that Brundage “espoused racist and anti-Semitic views.”
Writing for The Nation, Dave Zirin and Jules Boykoff criticized him for his controversial policies and statements, concluding, "Brundage’s 'contributions' to Olympic history need to be understood. But he has long forfeited a place of honor and respect".
Brundage, the only American and only non-European to serve as IOC president, left a mixed legacy. Guttmann notes that in the 1960s, Brundage may have been better-known as an art collector than for his sports activities, and "there are those who maintain that he will be remembered not for his career in sports but for his jades and bronzes." Andrew Leigh, a Member of the Australian House of Representatives, criticizes Brundage for expelling the two athletes in Mexico City, calling him "a man who'd had no difficulty with the Nazi salute being used in the 1936 Olympics". Dick Pound believes Brundage to have been one of the IOC's great presidents, along with de Coubertin and Samaranch, but concedes that by the end of his term, Brundage was out of touch with the world of sports. While Pound credits Brundage with holding the Olympic movement together in a period when it was beset by many challenges, he notes that this might not be fully appreciated by those who remember Brundage for the final years of his term, and for Munich.
Alfred Senn suggests that Brundage remained too long as IOC president:
Notes
References
Works cited
Books
Other sources
Article reprint (from a press kit style folder in the Avery Brundage Collection, University of Illinois). Page numbers are for the reprint, not the original article.
External links
Avery Brundage Collection at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
I.N.A.: Avery Brundage in opening ceremony, Grenoble, 1968
Transcript of Brundage press conference from 1970
Avery Brundage's complicated Olympic legacy
1887 births
1975 deaths
American art collectors
Athletes (track and field) at the 1912 Summer Olympics
Basketball players from Chicago
Burials at Rosehill Cemetery
Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball players
American International Olympic Committee members
Olympic track and field athletes for the United States
Sportspeople from Detroit
Presidents of the International Olympic Committee
Illinois Fighting Illini men's track and field athletes
History of San Francisco
Museum founders
Presidents of the Amateur Athletic Union
Knights Commander of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
American pentathletes
American male decathletes
Olympic decathletes
American men's basketball players
Presidents of the United States Olympic Committee
Olympic competitors in art competitions
American anti-communists
American anti-war activists
Sigma Alpha Epsilon members
|
412087
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris%20Eubank
|
Chris Eubank
|
Christopher Livingstone Eubank (born 8 August 1966) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 1985 to 1998. He held the WBO middleweight and super-middleweight titles between 1990 and 1995, and is ranked by BoxRec as the third best British super-middleweight boxer of all time.
He reigned as world champion for over five years, was undefeated in his first ten years as a professional, and remained undefeated at middleweight. His world title contests against fellow Britons Nigel Benn and Michael Watson helped British boxing ride a peak of popularity in the 1990s, with Eubank's eccentric personality making him one of the most recognisable celebrities of the period.
In his final two years of boxing he challenged then-up and coming contender Joe Calzaghe in a bid to reclaim his WBO super-middleweight title, with a victorious Calzaghe later claiming that it was the toughest fight of his whole career. Eubank's last two fights were against WBO junior-heavyweight champion Carl Thompson, both of which were brutal encounters. In the rematch, Eubank was stopped for the first and only time in his career.
Eubank is credited for his bravery in the ring, in which he was able to take considerable amounts of punishment from power punchers en route to his victories and defeats, and for this he is said to have a "granite" chin. His son, Chris Eubank Jr., is also a professional boxer.
Early life
Eubank, was born on 8 August 1966, in Dulwich, South London, to Rachel Scollins. From when he was two months old until the age of six, he was raised in Jamaica. On his return to England, he lived in Stoke Newington, Dalston, Hackney and then Peckham, in a largely impoverished environment.
He attended Northwold Primary School in Upper Clapton, Bellenden Junior School, and then Thomas Calton Secondary School in Peckham, from where he was suspended 18 times in one year and then expelled, despite claiming he was gallantly trying to protect other children from bullies. Some time was spent at Orchard Lodge Regional Resource Centre, Anerley, in 1981. When he was 16, his father sent him to New York in the U.S. to live with his mother in the tough South Bronx district.
Boxing career
Eubank made a fresh start in New York, where he trained at the Jerome Boxing Club on Westchester Avenue, following in the footsteps of his elder brothers (twins, Peter and Simon Eubank) back in England. Eubank became obsessed with boxing training and went to the gym every day, working as caretaker to pay his way. He won the 1984 Spanish Golden Gloves Tournament and also got to the semi-final stage of the main Golden Gloves tourney at Madison Square Garden at aged 18.
He writes in his autobiography that his drive to succeed in boxing came through his drive to become an accepted individual, largely caused by subjective bullying from his elder brothers.
He made his professional debut at the Atlantis Hotel and Casino against Tim Brown, shortly after his 19th birthday. Although his next 10 fights went largely unnoticed, in February 1989 he made brief headlines in defeating Jamaican Anthony Logan in an undercard match to a Nigel Benn-headliner. Benn was a rising star at the time and Logan had come close to beating him. Eubank now made Brighton in England his adopted hometown and set his sights on Benn, believing he could beat him.
After a string of stoppage victories following a dominant 10-round decision over American gatekeeper/journeyman Randy Smith, Eubank captured the WBC International title in 1990 against Hugo Corti. Later in the year, he knocked out Renaldo Dos Santos in precisely 20 seconds (including the 10-count).
WBO middleweight champion
Eubank won the WBO middleweight title against Nigel Benn (and the odds) in a classic encounter that was later released on DVD: a gruelling battle which ended when Benn (ahead on points, but only narrowly) was stopped on his feet near the end of round 9. Eubank would defend the title successfully against Dan Sherry (in a fight cut short by a headbutt, for which Eubank was penalised 2 points but still won on points over the 9 completed rounds), fellow Briton Gary Stretch and fellow Briton, Michael Watson, fighting him to a narrow 12-round majority decision in Eubank's favour. This concluded Eubank's career as a middleweight, with a 28–0 record.
WBO super-middleweight champion
A rematch with Watson for the vacant WBO super-middleweight title took place in September 1991, in which Watson suffered a near-fatal injury. Eubank was behind on all scorecards after 10 rounds, and was knocked down 18 seconds from the end of the round. He rose from the canvas (being given only a standing four-count instead of eight) to unleash a devastating uppercut to Watson's jaw right at the end of the round, knocking Watson's head and neck backwards into the ring ropes. The bell sounded to end the round as soon as Watson was up from the count. It was still obvious to all observers – and to Eubank himself – that he needed a knockout to win: and early in the 12th, with Watson still visibly shaken, the fight was stopped with Watson under a flurry of punches from Eubank. Soon after the fight Watson collapsed in his corner. His condition may have been worsened by delay in receiving medical attention: there was no ambulance or paramedic at the event and after eight minutes on the ring floor, Watson was attended by doctors wearing dinner jackets, arriving late. Following the fight, Eubank contemplated quitting the sport. Commentator Reg Gutteridge said, in the moment, he had, "never seen a more dramatic end to a world title fight". Eubank later reflected on the aftermath: "I lost my finishing instinct in the ring – I couldn't finish fights any more. However, I needed to work and so I carried on and I won most of my fights on decisions. And I blamed myself, after all, it was me who threw the punch."
Eubank was particularly noted for his confidence, concentration, composure, and extravagant behaviour, and antics that included a vault over the top-rope into the ring before each fight. His trademark theme tune was Tina Turner's "Simply the Best". He would often engage in posturing (particularly between rounds of fights). Eubank was by now presented as something of a "man you love to hate" figure in the British tabloid press because of his perceived arrogance and for his singularly unconventional sense of style. In boxing circles he enjoyed even less popularity, having once referred to the sport as a 'mug's game' on national television (This was a selective quote – Eubank had actually been discussing the seedier side of the sport, such as the beatings taken by journeyman fighters for small sums of money, or boxers that were lied to and ripped off by promoters).
Now the holder of a second title, Eubank relinquished his middleweight title and concentrated on defending his new crown at the higher weight of . After the Watson tragedy Eubank never again showed any desire to knock opponents out, preferring to retain his title through points victories. He made successful defences against "Sugarboy" Malinga, the American quartet of John Jarvis, Ron Essett, Tony Thornton and former World Champion Lindell Holmes, as well as Juan Carlos Giminez Ferreyra and a draw with fellow Briton Ray Close.
Eubank vs Benn II
Nigel Benn moved up to super middleweight and became WBC champion. The pair agreed to meet in a WBC/WBO unification rematch. In 1993 the rivals would engage in another contest named 'Judgement Day' and fought an exciting contest – albeit less brutal than their first – to a draw. Don King had negotiated the contracts so that he would own both the winner and the loser of Eubank v Benn 2. Barry Hearn claimed that, as a draw was not written into the contract, Eubank was free to sign a new deal with him instead of King. He did – and Benn also did not sign for King, on the same pretext.
Following the Benn fight, Eubank went on to defeat Graciano Rocchigiani of Germany, the undefeated former IBF super-middleweight title holder. After a split points victory over Ray Close, in the King's Hall Belfast, Eubank signed an eight-fight £10-million deal with Sky Sports for contests in South Africa, Manchester, London and Millstreet. Eubank made five further successful defences, beating British world title contenders Henry Wharton and Sam Storey as well as unbeaten Dan Schommer and Mauricio Amaral Costa.
Eubank vs Collins
In March 1995, however, Eubank lost his title to Irishman Steve Collins, by unanimous decision.
Eubank won an eliminator for his old title against Jose Ignacio Barruetabena, as well as a win over Bruno Ruben Godoy. A rematch with Collins took place in Cork, Ireland, and Eubank lost again by a surprisingly narrow split decision. He announced his retirement from the ring in October 1995. He made a quick comeback in 1996, however, defeating Luis Dionisio Barrera and Camilo Alarcon.
Calzaghe vs Eubank
After Steve Collins withdrew from his WBO super-middleweight title defence against Joe Calzaghe and unexpectedly retired in October 1997, Calzaghe was matched against Eubank for the vacant title with eleven days notice. Eubank had been scheduled to box at light-heavyweight on the undercard. Eubank was knocked down twice and lost on points to Calzaghe, but saw his popularity rise as a result of managing to finish the fight against his more fancied opponent.
Cruiserweight
Eubank then added 20 lbs in weight and challenged Britain's Carl Thompson for the WBO cruiserweight title. Eubank floored Thompson in the fourth round but, as in the first Steve Collins fight, failed to press home his advantage. The fight went the distance, with Thompson's strength and durability eventually telling in the later rounds. Thompson won by unanimous decision, but the closeness of the fight was reflected in the scoring, with two of the three judges giving the fight to Thompson by a single point.
A rematch was quickly arranged for three months later and they again fought for the WBO cruiserweight championship in what turned out to be Eubank's last fight. Eubank had the better of the fight early in the rematch, but the short rest between the bouts came back to haunt him as his left eye that was damaged in the first fight rapidly began to swell. The fight was stopped at the end of the ninth round, when Eubank's left eye closed completely from swelling. At the time he was ahead on the scorecards. It was the only stoppage loss of Eubank's career spanning three weight divisions, 30 pounds and 13 years as professional.
Eubank finished his career with a record of 45 wins (23 KOs), five losses, and two draws.
Career beyond boxing
Throughout his successful years and beyond, Eubank developed a reputation for eccentricity. In a poll published by BBC Homes and Antiques magazine in January 2006, Eubank was voted the second most eccentric star (after Björk). Speaking with a lisp and in affected upper-class tones; dressing as a stereotypically upper-class Englishman (in jodhpurs, bowler hat and riding boots; sporting a monocle) and carrying a silver-tipped cane, such affectations have provoked criticism in tabloid newspapers. However, in 1991 and 1993 he won Britain's Best Dressed Man award, given by the Menswear Association of Great Britain.
His collection of vehicles included a customised Harley-Davidson and a huge American Peterbilt 379 truck cab – the largest lorry in Europe. At one time he owned the only Hummer in Britain.
In the early 1990s, Eubank was caricatured as a puppet on Spitting Image. He featured on the front cover of Esquire for the April 1992 edition. He was mentioned in a scene of I'm Alan Partridge, in which the title character desperately tries to think of ideas for a new television show, one of which is entitled Youth Hosteling with Chris Eubank. He has featured in television advertisements (commercials) for Nescafé, Royal Mail, McDonald's, Jaffa Cakes and Orbit, and has modelled for Vivienne Westwood and Versace.
Eubank purchased the lord of the manor rights in Brighton at auction in 1996 and used the ancient right of this position to appoint a town crier in addition to the town crier employed by the local authority. In 1994 he took over a prime site in the city, which he called 'Buckingham Place'. He knocked down the interior whilst keeping the grade II façade intact and built 69 flats for the homeless, using £1,250,000 of his own money. The building was later sold for redevelopment in 2000.
In 1996, Eubank was the guest presenter on Top of the Pops. In 1999, he launched the Dreamcast and in the same year, he appeared in his truck in the music video for the song "Turn Around" by Phats & Small. He also had his own show on Talk Radio called Eubank's People. Guests included Linford Christie, John Fashanu, Lennox Lewis, and Naseem Hamed.
In 2001, he appeared in the first series of the reality television show Celebrity Big Brother on Channel 4, where he was the first ever celebrity to be evicted from the house.
In 2002, Eubank was the subject of a Louis Theroux documentary entitled When Louis Met...Chris Eubank, in which Theroux and his camera crew accompanied Eubank for a period. In 2003, the Eubanks invited television cameras to follow their lives for nine months; the resulting show, At Home with the Eubanks, was broadcast on Five.
During Michael Watson's recovery from his near-fatal injury during their bout in 1991, Watson and Eubank became friends, with Eubank accompanying Watson for the final mile of the 2003 London Marathon, which Watson – still showing physical damage from the fight and taking more than six days – completed to raise money for charity.
In 2006, Eubank was sacked by his own public relations advisor, Richard Hillgrove, for being "too eccentric".
In 2015, Eubank took part in the 2015 series of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!. He lasted 17 days and finished in 9th position.
In 2019, Eubank appeared alongside his son Chris Eubank Jr., on Series 1 of Celebrity Gogglebox. They re-appeared in Series 3 in 2021.
In 2021, Eubank appeared as a guest on Piers Morgan's Life Stories.
In April 2023 he was a contestant in the Channel 4 reality television series, Scared of the Dark.
Bankruptcy
In November 2009, Eubank was declared bankrupt, owing £1.3 million in taxes.
Anti-war activism
On 14 October 2003, Eubank was intercepted by police whilst driving around Parliament Square, Westminster, in his truck, which displayed the message "TONY BLAIR! MILITARY OCCUPATION CAUSES TERRORISM". He completed a number of circuits before he was arrested. On 22 February 2007, Eubank was arrested outside Horse Guards Parade in Whitehall for a suspected breach of the peace after driving through central London in his truck, which was emblazoned with a message condemning Tony Blair for sending Prince Harry to Iraq. The banner read "BLAIR – Don't send our young prince to your catastrophic illegal war, to make it look plausible!" On 23 May 2007, he was charged with making an unlawful anti-war protest after parking his seven-ton truck outside Downing Street. On 16 November 2007, he failed to turn up at court, so an arrest warrant was issued, and he was fined.
Ambassadorship
In October 2005, Eubank was appointed as the first ambassador for gambling charity GamCare, to support and encourage responsible gambling.
Tailored suit designer
Known for his unique sense of style, Eubank has won the Britain's Best Dressed Man many times. In 2010, Eubank, once a regular customer, started designing tailored suits for Cad and the Dandy, a Savile Row bespoke tailoring company.
Youth Hostelling with Chris Eubank
On 19 August 2015, a spoof trailer was made available for Youth Hostelling with Chris Eubank in association with Hostelworld, detailing Eubank's journey around Britain in an effort to learn more about youth hostels. The joke originates from the comedy show I'm Alan Partridge, in which the title character pitches a selection of ideas for television shows.
Personal life
Eubank and his first wife, Karron (married 23 December 1990 in Brighton), had four children (Christopher, born on 18 September 1989; Sebastian (18 July 1991– 9 July 2021); Emily, born on 19 April 1994; and Joseph, born on 23 October 1996) and have over the years starred in various television programmes. Eubank also has an elder son, Nathanael Wilson, born August 1988. Eubank is the cousin of English media personality Mica Paris. His son Sebastian, also a professional boxer, died aged 29 on 9 July 2021 in Dubai.
In 1992, Eubank was involved in a fatal collision when he lost control of his car on the London to Brighton road; the car came off the road and killed a building site worker. He was convicted of driving without due care and attention, fined £250 plus £1,450 costs, and had six penalty points added to his driving licence.
In August 2005, Karron petitioned for divorce from Eubank. Also in 2005, Eubank was convicted of taking a vehicle without consent. He had driven a beer lorry which was being unloaded away from a place where he considered it to be causing an unreasonable obstruction. In 2014, Eubank married his manager Claire Geary, but the couple divorced in 2017.
In 2015, Eubank adopted the nickname of his deceased father, "English", to privately perpetuate his memory and to publicly differentiate himself from the budding boxing career of his son Chris Jr.
In 2021, Eubank was prosecuted after he was filmed by CyclingMikey driving through a red light.
Professional boxing record
See also
News media phone hacking scandal reference lists
References
The Times, page 22, 2 September 2005.
Notes
External links
1966 births
Black British sportsmen
Boxers from Greater London
British expatriates in Jamaica
Cruiserweight boxers
English autobiographers
English expatriates in the United States
English fashion designers
English male boxers
English people of Jamaican descent
Living people
Lords of the Manor
People from Dulwich
People from Stoke Newington
Sportspeople from Hackney Central
Sportspeople from the London Borough of Hackney
Sportspeople from the London Borough of Southwark
World Boxing Organization champions
World middleweight boxing champions
World super-middleweight boxing champions
|
412096
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diphenhydramine
|
Diphenhydramine
|
Diphenhydramine (DPH) is an antihistamine and sedative mainly used to treat allergies, insomnia, and symptoms of the common cold. It is also less commonly used for tremors in parkinsonism, and nausea. It is taken by mouth, injected into a vein, injected into a muscle, or applied to the skin. Maximal effect is typically around two hours after a dose, and effects can last for up to seven hours.
Common side effects include sleepiness, poor coordination and an upset stomach. Its use is not recommended in young children or the elderly. There is no clear risk of harm when used during pregnancy; however, use during breastfeeding is not recommended. It is a first-generation H1-antihistamine and it works by blocking certain effects of histamine, which produces its antihistamine and sedative effects. Diphenhydramine is also a potent anticholinergic, which means it also works as a deliriant at much higher than recommended doses as a result. Its sedative and deliriant effects have led to some cases of recreational use.
Diphenhydramine was first developed by George Rieveschl and came into commercial use in 1946. It is available as a generic medication. It is sold under the brand name Benadryl, among others. In 2020, it was the 192nd most commonly prescribed medication in the United States, with more than 2million prescriptions.
Medical uses
Diphenhydramine is a first-generation antihistamine used to treat a number of conditions including allergic symptoms and itchiness, the common cold, insomnia, motion sickness, and extrapyramidal symptoms. Diphenhydramine also has local anesthetic properties, and has been used as such in people allergic to common local anesthetics such as lidocaine.
Allergies
Diphenhydramine is effective in treatment of allergies. , it was the most commonly used antihistamine for acute allergic reactions in the emergency department.
By injection it is often used in addition to epinephrine for anaphylaxis, although its use for this purpose had not been properly studied. Its use is only recommended once acute symptoms have improved.
Topical formulations of diphenhydramine are available, including creams, lotions, gels, and sprays. These are used to relieve itching and have the advantage of causing fewer systemic effects (e.g., drowsiness) than oral forms.
Movement disorders
Diphenhydramine is used to treat akathisia and Parkinson's disease–like extrapyramidal symptoms caused by antipsychotics. It is also used to treat acute dystonia including torticollis and oculogyric crisis caused by first generation antipsychotics.
Sleep
Because of its sedative properties, diphenhydramine is widely used in nonprescription sleep aids for insomnia. The drug is an ingredient in several products sold as sleep aids, either alone or in combination with other ingredients such as acetaminophen (paracetamol) in Tylenol PM and ibuprofen in Advil PM. Diphenhydramine can cause minor psychological dependence. Diphenhydramine has also been used as an anxiolytic.
Diphenhydramine has also been used off-prescription by parents in an attempt to make their children sleep and to sedate them on long-distance flights. This has been met with criticism, both by doctors and by members of the airline industry, because sedating passengers may put them at risk if they cannot react efficiently to emergencies, and because the drug's side effects, especially the chance of a paradoxical reaction, may make some users hyperactive. Addressing such use, the Seattle Children's hospital argued, in a 2009 article, "Using a medication for your convenience is never an indication for medication in a child."
The American Academy of Sleep Medicine's 2017 clinical practice guidelines recommended against the use of diphenhydramine in the treatment of insomnia, because of poor effectiveness and low quality of evidence. A major systematic review and network meta-analysis of medications for the treatment of insomnia published in 2022 found little evidence to inform the use of diphenhydramine for insomnia.
Nausea
Diphenhydramine also has antiemetic properties, which make it useful in treating the nausea that occurs in vertigo and motion sickness. However, when taken above recommended doses, it can cause nausea (especially above 200 mg).
Special populations
Diphenhydramine is not recommended for people older than 60 and children younger than six, unless a physician is consulted. These people should be treated with second-generation antihistamines, such as loratadine, desloratadine, fexofenadine, cetirizine, levocetirizine, and azelastine. Because of its strong anticholinergic effects, diphenhydramine is on the Beers list of drugs to avoid in the elderly.
Diphenhydramine is excreted in breast milk. It is expected that low doses of diphenhydramine taken occasionally will cause no adverse effects in breastfed infants. Large doses and long-term use may affect the baby or reduce breast milk supply, especially when combined with sympathomimetic drugs, such as pseudoephedrine, or before the establishment of lactation. A single bedtime dose after the last feeding of the day may minimize harmful effects of the medication on the baby and on the milk supply. Still, non-sedating antihistamines are preferred.
Paradoxical reactions to diphenhydramine have been documented, particularly in children, and it may cause excitation instead of sedation.
Topical diphenhydramine is sometimes used especially for people in hospice. This use is without indication and topical diphenhydramine should not be used as treatment for nausea because research has not shown that this therapy is more effective than others.
There were no documented cases of clinically apparent acute liver injury caused by normal doses of diphenhydramine.
Adverse effects
The most prominent side effect is sedation. A typical dose creates driving impairment equivalent to a blood-alcohol level of 0.10, which is higher than the 0.08 limit of most drunk-driving laws.
Diphenhydramine is a potent anticholinergic agent and potential deliriant in higher doses. This activity is responsible for the side effects of dry mouth and throat, increased heart rate, pupil dilation, urinary retention, constipation, and, at high doses, hallucinations or delirium. Other side effects include motor impairment (ataxia), flushed skin, blurred vision at nearpoint owing to lack of accommodation (cycloplegia), abnormal sensitivity to bright light (photophobia), sedation, difficulty concentrating, short-term memory loss, visual disturbances, irregular breathing, dizziness, irritability, itchy skin, confusion, increased body temperature (in general, in the hands and/or feet), temporary erectile dysfunction, and excitability, and although it can be used to treat nausea, higher doses may cause vomiting. Diphenhydramine in overdose may occasionally result in QT prolongation.
Some individuals experience an allergic reaction to diphenhydramine in the form of hives.
Conditions such as restlessness or akathisia can worsen from increased levels of diphenhydramine, especially with recreational dosages. Normal doses of diphenhydramine, like other first generation antihistamines, can also make symptoms of restless legs syndrome worse.
As diphenhydramine is extensively metabolized by the liver, caution should be exercised when giving the drug to individuals with hepatic impairment.
Anticholinergic use later in life is associated with an increased risk for cognitive decline and dementia among older people.
Contraindications
Diphenhydramine is contraindicated in premature infants and neonates, as well as people who are breastfeeding. It is a pregnancy Category B drug. Diphenhydramine has additive effects with alcohol and other CNS depressants. Monoamine oxidase inhibitors prolong and intensify the anticholinergic effect of antihistamines.
Overdose
Diphenhydramine is one of the most commonly misused over-the-counter drugs in the United States. In cases of extreme overdose, if not treated in time, acute diphenhydramine poisoning may have serious and potentially fatal consequences. Overdose symptoms may include:
Abdominal pain
Abnormal speech (inaudibility, forced speech, etc.)
Acute megacolon
Anxiety/nervousness
Coma
Death
Delirium
Disorientation
Dissociation
Euphoria or dysphoria
Extreme drowsiness
Flushed skin
Hallucinations (auditory, visual, tactile, etc.)
Heart palpitations
Inability to urinate
Motor disturbances
Muscle spasms
Seizures
Severe dizziness
Severe mouth and throat dryness
Tremors
Vomiting
Acute poisoning can be fatal, leading to cardiovascular collapse and death in 2–18 hours, and in general is treated using a symptomatic and supportive approach. Diagnosis of toxicity is based on history and clinical presentation, and in general precise plasma levels do not appear to provide useful relevant clinical information. Several levels of evidence strongly indicate diphenhydramine (similar to chlorpheniramine) can block the delayed rectifier potassium channel and, as a consequence, prolong the QT interval, leading to cardiac arrhythmias such as torsades de pointes.
No specific antidote for diphenhydramine toxicity is known, but the anticholinergic syndrome has been treated with physostigmine for severe delirium or tachycardia. Benzodiazepines may be administered to decrease the likelihood of psychosis, agitation, and seizures in people who are prone to these symptoms.
Interactions
Alcohol may increase the drowsiness caused by diphenhydramine.
Pharmacology
Pharmacodynamics
Diphenhydramine, while traditionally known as an antagonist, acts primarily as an inverse agonist of the histamine H1 receptor. It is a member of the ethanolamine class of antihistaminergic agents. By reversing the effects of histamine on the capillaries, it can reduce the intensity of allergic symptoms. It also crosses the blood–brain barrier and inversely agonizes the H1 receptors centrally. Its effects on central H1 receptors cause drowsiness.
Diphenhydramine is a potent antimuscarinic (a competitive antagonist of muscarinic acetylcholine receptors) and, as such, at high doses can cause anticholinergic syndrome. The utility of diphenhydramine as an antiparkinson agent is the result of its blocking properties on the muscarinic acetylcholine receptors in the brain.
Diphenhydramine also acts as an intracellular sodium channel blocker, which is responsible for its actions as a local anesthetic. Diphenhydramine has also been shown to inhibit the reuptake of serotonin. It has been shown to be a potentiator of analgesia induced by morphine, but not by endogenous opioids, in rats. The drug has also been found to act as an inhibitor of histamine N-methyltransferase (HNMT).
Pharmacokinetics
Oral bioavailability of diphenhydramine is in the range of 40% to 60%, and peak plasma concentration occurs about 2 to 3 hours after administration.
The primary route of metabolism is two successive demethylations of the tertiary amine. The resulting primary amine is further oxidized to the carboxylic acid. Diphenhydramine is metabolized by the cytochrome P450 enzymes CYP2D6, CYP1A2, CYP2C9, and CYP2C19.
The elimination half-life of diphenhydramine has not been fully elucidated, but appears to range between 2.4 and 9.3 hours in healthy adults. A 1985 review of antihistamine pharmacokinetics found that the elimination half-life of diphenhydramine ranged between 3.4 and 9.3 hours across five studies, with a median elimination half-life of 4.3 hours. A subsequent 1990 study found that the elimination half-life of diphenhydramine was 5.4 hours in children, 9.2 hours in young adults, and 13.5 hours in the elderly. A 1998 study found a half-life of 4.1 ± 0.3 hours in young men, 7.4 ± 3.0 hours in elderly men, 4.4 ± 0.3 hours in young women, and 4.9 ± 0.6 hours in elderly women. In a 2018 study in children and adolescents, the half-life of diphenhydramine was 8 to 9 hours.
Chemistry
Diphenhydramine is a diphenylmethane derivative. Analogues of diphenhydramine include orphenadrine, an anticholinergic, nefopam, an analgesic, and tofenacin, an antidepressant.
Detection in body fluids
Diphenhydramine can be quantified in blood, plasma, or serum. Gas chromatography with mass spectrometry (GC-MS) can be used with electron ionization on full scan mode as a screening test. GC-MS or GC-NDP can be used for quantification. Rapid urine drug screens using immunoassays based on the principle of competitive binding may show false-positive methadone results for people having ingested diphenhydramine. Quantification can be used to monitor therapy, confirm a diagnosis of poisoning in people who are hospitalized, provide evidence in an impaired driving arrest, or assist in a death investigation.
History
Diphenhydramine was discovered in 1943 by George Rieveschl, a former professor at the University of Cincinnati. In 1946, it became the first prescription antihistamine approved by the U.S. FDA.
In the 1960s, diphenhydramine was found to weakly inhibit reuptake of the neurotransmitter serotonin. This discovery led to a search for viable antidepressants with similar structures and fewer side effects, culminating in the invention of fluoxetine (Prozac), a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI). A similar search had previously led to the synthesis of the first SSRI, zimelidine, from brompheniramine, also an antihistamine.
Society and culture
Diphenhydramine is deemed to have limited abuse potential in the United States owing to its potentially serious side-effect profile and limited euphoric effects, and is not a controlled substance. Since 2002, the U.S. FDA has required special labeling warning against use of multiple products that contain diphenhydramine. In some jurisdictions, diphenhydramine is often present in postmortem specimens collected during investigation of sudden infant deaths; the drug may play a role in these events.
Diphenhydramine is among prohibited and controlled substances in the Republic of Zambia, and travelers are advised not to bring the drug into the country. Several Americans have been detained by the Zambian Drug Enforcement Commission for possession of Benadryl and other over-the-counter medications containing diphenhydramine.
Recreational use
Although diphenhydramine is widely used and generally considered to be safe for occasional usage, multiple cases of abuse and addiction have been documented. Because the drug is cheap and sold over the counter in most countries, adolescents without access to more sought-after illicit drugs, are particularly at risk. People with mental health problems—especially those with schizophrenia—are also prone to abuse the drug, which is self-administered in large doses to treat extrapyramidal symptoms caused by the use of antipsychotics.
Recreational users report calming effects, mild euphoria, and hallucinations as the desired effects of the drug. Research has shown that antimuscarinic agents, including diphenhydramine, "may have antidepressant and mood-elevating properties". A study conducted on adult males with a history of sedative abuse found that subjects who were administered a high dose (400 mg) of diphenhydramine reported a desire to take the drug again, despite also reporting negative effects, such as difficulty concentrating, confusion, tremors, and blurred vision.
In 2020, an Internet challenge emerged on social media platform TikTok involving deliberately overdosing on diphenhydramine; dubbed the Benadryl challenge, the challenge encourages participants to consume dangerous amounts of Benadryl for the purpose of filming the resultant psychoactive effects, and has been implicated in several hospitalisations and at least two deaths.
Names
Diphenhydramine is sold under the brand name Benadryl by McNeil Consumer Healthcare in the US, Canada, and South Africa. Trade names in other countries include Dimedrol, Daedalon, and Nytol. It is also available as a generic medication.
Procter & Gamble markets an over-the-counter formulation of diphenhydramine as a sleep aid under the brand ZzzQuil.
References
Further reading
External links
5-HT2A antagonists
American inventions
Dimethylamino compounds
Antiemetics
CYP2D6 inhibitors
Deliriants
Enzyme inhibitors
Diphenylmethanol ethers
H1 receptor antagonists
Hypnotics
Local anesthetics
Muscarinic antagonists
Oneirogens
Sedatives
Serotonin reuptake inhibitors
Tertiary amines
Wikipedia medicine articles ready to translate
|
412097
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BRCA1
|
BRCA1
|
Breast cancer type 1 susceptibility protein is a protein that in humans is encoded by the BRCA1 () gene. Orthologs are common in other vertebrate species, whereas invertebrate genomes may encode a more distantly related gene. BRCA1 is a human tumor suppressor gene (also known as a caretaker gene) and is responsible for repairing DNA.
BRCA1 and BRCA2 are unrelated proteins, but both are normally expressed in the cells of breast and other tissue, where they help repair damaged DNA, or destroy cells if DNA cannot be repaired. They are involved in the repair of chromosomal damage with an important role in the error-free repair of DNA double-strand breaks. If BRCA1 or BRCA2 itself is damaged by a BRCA mutation, damaged DNA is not repaired properly, and this increases the risk for breast cancer. BRCA1 and BRCA2 have been described as "breast cancer susceptibility genes" and "breast cancer susceptibility proteins". The predominant allele has a normal, tumor suppressive function whereas high penetrance mutations in these genes cause a loss of tumor suppressive function which correlates with an increased risk of breast cancer.
BRCA1 combines with other tumor suppressors, DNA damage sensors and signal transducers to form a large multi-subunit protein complex known as the BRCA1-associated genome surveillance complex (BASC). The BRCA1 protein associates with RNA polymerase II, and through the C-terminal domain, also interacts with histone deacetylase complexes. Thus, this protein plays a role in transcription, and DNA repair of double-strand DNA breaks ubiquitination, transcriptional regulation as well as other functions.
Methods to test for the likelihood of a patient with mutations in BRCA1 and BRCA2 developing cancer were covered by patents owned or controlled by Myriad Genetics. Myriad's business model of offering the diagnostic test exclusively led from Myriad being a startup in 1994 to being a publicly traded company with 1200 employees and about $500M in annual revenue in 2012; it also led to controversy over high prices and the inability to obtain second opinions from other diagnostic labs, which in turn led to the landmark Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics lawsuit.
Discovery
The first evidence for the existence of a gene encoding a DNA repair enzyme involved in breast cancer susceptibility was provided by Mary-Claire King's laboratory at UC Berkeley in 1990. Four years later, after an international race to find it, the gene was cloned in 1994 by scientists at University of Utah, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) and Myriad Genetics.
Gene location
The human BRCA1 gene is located on the long (q) arm of chromosome 17 at region 2 band 1, from base pair 41,196,312 to base pair 41,277,500 (Build GRCh37/hg19) (map). BRCA1 orthologs have been identified in most vertebrates for which complete genome data are available.
Protein structure
The BRCA1 protein contains the following domains:
Zinc finger, C3HC4 type (RING finger)
BRCA1 C Terminus (BRCT) domain
This protein also contains nuclear localization signals and nuclear export signal motifs.
The human BRCA1 protein consists of four major protein domains; the Znf C3HC4- RING domain, the BRCA1 serine domain and two BRCT domains. These domains encode approximately 27% of BRCA1 protein. There are six known isoforms of BRCA1, with isoforms 1 and 2 comprising 1863 amino acids each.
BRCA1 is unrelated to BRCA2, i.e. they are not homologs or paralogs.
Zinc ring finger domain
The RING motif, a Zn finger found in eukaryotic peptides, is 40–60 amino acids long and consists of eight conserved metal-binding residues, two quartets of cysteine or histidine residues that coordinate two zinc atoms. This motif contains a short anti-parallel beta-sheet, two zinc-binding loops and a central alpha helix in a small domain. This RING domain interacts with associated proteins, including BARD1, which also contains a RING motif, to form a heterodimer. The BRCA1 RING motif is flanked by alpha helices formed by residues 8–22 and 81–96 of the BRCA1 protein. It interacts with a homologous region in BARD1 also consisting of a RING finger flanked by two alpha-helices formed from residues 36–48 and 101–116. These four helices combine to form a heterodimerization interface and stabilize the BRCA1-BARD1 heterodimer complex. Additional stabilization is achieved by interactions between adjacent residues in the flanking region and hydrophobic interactions. The BARD1/BRCA1 interaction is disrupted by tumorigenic amino acid substitutions in BRCA1, implying that the formation of a stable complex between these proteins may be an essential aspect of BRCA1 tumor suppression.
The ring domain is an important element of ubiquitin E3 ligases, which catalyze protein ubiquitination. Ubiquitin is a small regulatory protein found in all tissues that direct proteins to compartments within the cell. BRCA1 polypeptides, in particular, Lys-48-linked polyubiquitin chains are dispersed throughout the resting cell nucleus, but at the start of DNA replication, they gather in restrained groups that also contain BRCA2 and BARD1. BARD1 is thought to be involved in the recognition and binding of protein targets for ubiquitination. It attaches to proteins and labels them for destruction. Ubiquitination occurs via the BRCA1 fusion protein and is abolished by zinc chelation. The enzyme activity of the fusion protein is dependent on the proper folding of the ring domain.
Serine cluster domain
BRCA1 serine cluster domain (SCD) spans amino acids 1280–1524. A portion of the domain is located in exons 11–13. High rates of mutation occur in exons 11–13. Reported phosphorylation sites of BRCA1 are concentrated in the SCD, where they are phosphorylated by ATM/ATR kinases both in vitro and in vivo. ATM/ATR are kinases activated by DNA damage. Mutation of serine residues may affect localization of BRCA1 to sites of DNA damage and DNA damage response function.
BRCT domains
The dual repeat BRCT domain of the BRCA1 protein is an elongated structure approximately 70 Å long and 30–35 Å wide. The 85–95 amino acid domains in BRCT can be found as single modules or as multiple tandem repeats containing two domains. Both of these possibilities can occur in a single protein in a variety of different conformations. The C-terminal BRCT region of the BRCA1 protein is essential for repair of DNA, transcription regulation and tumor suppressor function. In BRCA1 the dual tandem repeat BRCT domains are arranged in a head-to-tail-fashion in the three-dimensional structure, burying 1600 Å of hydrophobic, solvent-accessible surface area in the interface. These all contribute to the tightly packed knob-in-hole structure that comprises the interface. These homologous domains interact to control cellular responses to DNA damage. A missense mutation at the interface of these two proteins can perturb the cell cycle, resulting a greater risk of developing cancer.
Function and mechanism
BRCA1 is part of a complex that repairs double-strand breaks in DNA. The strands of the DNA double helix are continuously breaking as they become damaged. Sometimes only one strand is broken, sometimes both strands are broken simultaneously. DNA cross-linking agents are an important source of chromosome/DNA damage. Double-strand breaks occur as intermediates after the crosslinks are removed, and indeed, biallelic mutations in BRCA1 have been identified to be responsible for Fanconi Anemia, Complementation Group S (FA-S), a genetic disease associated with hypersensitivity to DNA crosslinking agents. BRCA1 is part of a protein complex that repairs DNA when both strands are broken. When this happens, it is difficult for the repair mechanism to "know" how to replace the correct DNA sequence, and there are multiple ways to attempt the repair. The double-strand repair mechanism in which BRCA1 participates is homology-directed repair, where the repair proteins copy the identical sequence from the intact sister chromatid. FA-S is almost always a lethal condition in utero; only a handful cases of biallelic BRCA1 mutations have been reported in literature despite the high carrier frequencies in the Ashkenazim, and none since 2013.
In the nucleus of many types of normal cells, the BRCA1 protein interacts with RAD51 during repair of DNA double-strand breaks. These breaks can be caused by natural radiation or other exposures, but also occur when chromosomes exchange genetic material (homologous recombination, e.g., "crossing over" during meiosis). The BRCA2 protein, which has a function similar to that of BRCA1, also interacts with the RAD51 protein. By influencing DNA damage repair, these three proteins play a role in maintaining the stability of the human genome.
BRCA1 is also involved in another type of DNA repair, termed mismatch repair. BRCA1 interacts with the DNA mismatch repair protein MSH2. MSH2, MSH6, PARP and some other proteins involved in single-strand repair are reported to be elevated in BRCA1-deficient mammary tumors.
A protein called valosin-containing protein (VCP, also known as p97) plays a role to recruit BRCA1 to the damaged DNA sites. After ionizing radiation, VCP is recruited to DNA lesions and cooperates with the ubiquitin ligase RNF8 to orchestrate assembly of signaling complexes for efficient DSB repair. BRCA1 interacts with VCP. BRCA1 also interacts with c-Myc, and other proteins that are critical to maintain genome stability.
BRCA1 directly binds to DNA, with higher affinity for branched DNA structures. This ability to bind to DNA contributes to its ability to inhibit the nuclease activity of the MRN complex as well as the nuclease activity of Mre11 alone. This may explain a role for BRCA1 to promote lower fidelity DNA repair by non-homologous end joining (NHEJ). BRCA1 also colocalizes with γ-H2AX (histone H2AX phosphorylated on serine-139) in DNA double-strand break repair foci, indicating it may play a role in recruiting repair factors.
Formaldehyde and acetaldehyde are common environmental sources of DNA cross links that often require repairs mediated by BRCA1 containing pathways.
This DNA repair function is essential; mice with loss-of-function mutations in both BRCA1 alleles are not viable, and as of 2015 only two adults were known to have loss-of-function mutations in both alleles (leading to FA-S); both had congenital or developmental issues, and both had cancer. One was presumed to have survived to adulthood because one of the BRCA1 mutations was hypomorphic.
Transcription
BRCA1 was shown to co-purify with the human RNA Polymerase II holoenzyme in HeLa extracts, implying it is a component of the holoenzyme. Later research, however, contradicted this assumption, instead showing that the predominant complex including BRCA1 in HeLa cells is a 2 megadalton complex containing SWI/SNF. SWI/SNF is a chromatin remodeling complex. Artificial tethering of BRCA1 to chromatin was shown to decondense heterochromatin, though the SWI/SNF interacting domain was not necessary for this role. BRCA1 interacts with the NELF-B (COBRA1) subunit of the NELF complex.
Mutations and cancer risk
Certain variations of the BRCA1 gene lead to an increased risk for breast cancer as part of a hereditary breast–ovarian cancer syndrome. Researchers have identified hundreds of mutations in the BRCA1 gene, many of which are associated with an increased risk of cancer. Females with an abnormal BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene have up to an 80% risk of developing breast cancer by age 90; increased risk of developing ovarian cancer is about 55% for females with BRCA1 mutations and about 25% for females with BRCA2 mutations.
These mutations can be changes in one or a small number of DNA base pairs (the building-blocks of DNA), and can be identified with PCR and DNA sequencing.
In some cases, large segments of DNA are rearranged. Those large segments, also called large rearrangements, can be a deletion or a duplication of one or several exons in the gene. Classical methods for mutation detection (sequencing) are unable to reveal these types of mutation. Other methods have been proposed: traditional quantitative PCR, multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification (MLPA), and Quantitative Multiplex PCR of Short Fluorescent Fragments (QMPSF). Newer methods have also been recently proposed: heteroduplex analysis (HDA) by multi-capillary electrophoresis or also dedicated oligonucleotides array based on comparative genomic hybridization (array-CGH).
Some results suggest that hypermethylation of the BRCA1 promoter, which has been reported in some cancers, could be considered as an inactivating mechanism for BRCA1 expression.
A mutated BRCA1 gene usually makes a protein that does not function properly. Researchers believe that the defective BRCA1 protein is unable to help fix DNA damage leading to mutations in other genes. These mutations can accumulate and may allow cells to grow and divide uncontrollably to form a tumor. Thus, BRCA1 inactivating mutations lead to a predisposition for cancer.
BRCA1 mRNA 3' UTR can be bound by an miRNA, Mir-17 microRNA. It has been suggested that variations in this miRNA along with Mir-30 microRNA could confer susceptibility to breast cancer.
In addition to breast cancer, mutations in the BRCA1 gene also increase the risk of ovarian and prostate cancers. Moreover, precancerous lesions (dysplasia) within the Fallopian tube have been linked to BRCA1 gene mutations. Pathogenic mutations anywhere in a model pathway containing BRCA1 and BRCA2 greatly increase risks for a subset of leukemias and lymphomas.
Women who have inherited a defective BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene are at a greatly elevated risk to develop breast and ovarian cancer. Their risk of developing breast and/or ovarian cancer is so high, and so specific to those cancers, that many mutation carriers choose to have prophylactic surgery. There has been much conjecture to explain such apparently striking tissue specificity. Major determinants of where BRCA1/2 hereditary cancers occur are related to tissue specificity of the cancer pathogen, the agent that causes chronic inflammation or the carcinogen. The target tissue may have receptors for the pathogen, may become selectively exposed to an inflammatory process or to a carcinogen. An innate genomic deficit in a tumor suppressor gene impairs normal responses and exacerbates the susceptibility to disease in organ targets. This theory also fits data for several tumor suppressors beyond BRCA1 or BRCA2. A major advantage of this model is that it suggests there may be some options in addition to prophylactic surgery.
As aforementioned, biallelic and homozygous inheritance of the BRCA1 gene leads to FA-S, which is almost always an embryonically lethal condition.
Low expression of BRCA1 in breast and ovarian cancers
BRCA1 expression is reduced or undetectable in the majority of high grade, ductal breast cancers. It has long been noted that loss of BRCA1 activity, either by germ-line mutations or by down-regulation of gene expression, leads to tumor formation in specific target tissues. In particular, decreased BRCA1 expression contributes to both sporadic and inherited breast tumor progression. Reduced expression of BRCA1 is tumorigenic because it plays an important role in the repair of DNA damages, especially double-strand breaks, by the potentially error-free pathway of homologous recombination. Since cells that lack the BRCA1 protein tend to repair DNA damages by alternative more error-prone mechanisms, the reduction or silencing of this protein generates mutations and gross chromosomal rearrangements that can lead to progression to breast cancer.
Similarly, BRCA1 expression is low in the majority (55%) of sporadic epithelial ovarian cancers (EOCs) where EOCs are the most common type of ovarian cancer, representing approximately 90% of ovarian cancers. In serous ovarian carcinomas, a sub-category constituting about 2/3 of EOCs, low BRCA1 expression occurs in more than 50% of cases. Bowtell reviewed the literature indicating that deficient homologous recombination repair caused by BRCA1 deficiency is tumorigenic. In particular this deficiency initiates a cascade of molecular events that sculpt the evolution of high-grade serous ovarian cancer and dictate its response to therapy. Especially noted was that BRCA1 deficiency could be the cause of tumorigenesis whether due to BRCA1 mutation or any other event that causes a deficiency of BRCA1 expression.
Mutation of BRCA1 in breast and ovarian cancer
Only about 3%–8% of all women with breast cancer carry a mutation in BRCA1 or BRCA2. Similarly, BRCA1 mutations are only seen in about 18% of ovarian cancers (13% germline mutations and 5% somatic mutations).
Thus, while BRCA1 expression is low in the majority of these cancers, BRCA1 mutation is not a major cause of reduced expression. Certain latent viruses, which are frequently detected in breast cancer tumors, can decrease the expression of the BRCA1 gene and cause the development of breast tumors.
BRCA1 promoter hypermethylation in breast and ovarian cancer
BRCA1 promoter hypermethylation was present in only 13% of unselected primary breast carcinomas. Similarly, BRCA1 promoter hypermethylation was present in only 5% to 15% of EOC cases.
Thus, while BRCA1 expression is low in these cancers, BRCA1 promoter methylation is only a minor cause of reduced expression.
MicroRNA repression of BRCA1 in breast cancers
There are a number of specific microRNAs, when overexpressed, that directly reduce expression of specific DNA repair proteins (see MicroRNA section DNA repair and cancer) In the case of breast cancer, microRNA-182 (miR-182) specifically targets BRCA1. Breast cancers can be classified based on receptor status or histology, with triple-negative breast cancer (15%–25% of breast cancers), HER2+ (15%–30% of breast cancers), ER+/PR+ (about 70% of breast cancers), and Invasive lobular carcinoma (about 5%–10% of invasive breast cancer). All four types of breast cancer were found to have an average of about 100-fold increase in miR-182, compared to normal breast tissue. In breast cancer cell lines, there is an inverse correlation of BRCA1 protein levels with miR-182 expression. Thus it appears that much of the reduction or absence of BRCA1 in high grade ductal breast cancers may be due to over-expressed miR-182.
In addition to miR-182, a pair of almost identical microRNAs, miR-146a and miR-146b-5p, also repress BRCA1 expression. These two microRNAs are over-expressed in triple-negative tumors and their over-expression results in BRCA1 inactivation. Thus, miR-146a and/or miR-146b-5p may also contribute to reduced expression of BRCA1 in these triple-negative breast cancers.
MicroRNA repression of BRCA1 in ovarian cancers
In both serous tubal intraepithelial carcinoma (the precursor lesion to high grade serous ovarian carcinoma (HG-SOC)), and in HG-SOC itself, miR-182 is overexpressed in about 70% of cases. In cells with over-expressed miR-182, BRCA1 remained low, even after exposure to ionizing radiation (which normally raises BRCA1 expression). Thus much of the reduced or absent BRCA1 in HG-SOC may be due to over-expressed miR-182.
Another microRNA known to reduce expression of BRCA1 in ovarian cancer cells is miR-9. Among 58 tumors from patients with stage IIIC or stage IV serous ovarian cancers (HG-SOG), an inverse correlation was found between expressions of miR-9 and BRCA1, so that increased miR-9 may also contribute to reduced expression of BRCA1 in these ovarian cancers.
Deficiency of BRCA1 expression is likely tumorigenic
DNA damage appears to be the primary underlying cause of cancer, and deficiencies in DNA repair appears to underlie many forms of cancer. If DNA repair is deficient, DNA damage tends to accumulate. Such excess DNA damage may increase mutational errors during DNA replication due to error-prone translesion synthesis. Excess DNA damage may also increase epigenetic alterations due to errors during DNA repair. Such mutations and epigenetic alterations may give rise to cancer. The frequent microRNA-induced deficiency of BRCA1 in breast and ovarian cancers likely contribute to the progression of those cancers.
Germ-line mutations and founder effect
All germ-line BRCA1 mutations identified to date have been inherited, suggesting the possibility of a large "founder" effect in which a certain mutation is common to a well-defined population group and can, in theory, be traced back to a common ancestor. Given the complexity of mutation screening for BRCA1, these common mutations may simplify the methods required for mutation screening in certain populations. Analysis of mutations that occur with high frequency also permits the study of their clinical expression. Examples of manifestations of a founder effect are seen among Ashkenazi Jews. Three mutations in BRCA1 have been reported to account for the majority of Ashkenazi Jewish patients with inherited BRCA1-related breast and/or ovarian cancer: 185delAG, 188del11 and 5382insC in the BRCA1 gene. In fact, it has been shown that if a Jewish woman does not carry a BRCA1 185delAG, BRCA1 5382insC founder mutation, it is highly unlikely that a different BRCA1 mutation will be found. Additional examples of founder mutations in BRCA1 are given in Table 1 (mainly derived from).
Female fertility
As women age, reproductive performance declines, leading to menopause. This decline is tied to a reduction in the number of ovarian follicles. Although about 1 million oocytes are present at birth in the human ovary, only about 500 (about 0.05%) of these ovulate. The decline in ovarian reserve appears to occur at a constantly increasing rate with age, and leads to nearly complete exhaustion of the reserve by about age 52. As ovarian reserve and fertility decline with age, there is also a parallel increase in pregnancy failure and meiotic errors, resulting in chromosomally abnormal conceptions.
Women with a germ-line BRCA1 mutation appear to have a diminished oocyte reserve and decreased fertility compared to normally aging women. Furthermore, women with an inherited BRCA1 mutation undergo menopause prematurely. Since BRCA1 is a key DNA repair protein, these findings suggest that naturally occurring DNA damages in oocytes are repaired less efficiently in women with a BRCA1 defect, and that this repair inefficiency leads to early reproductive failure.
As noted above, the BRCA1 protein plays a key role in homologous recombinational repair. This is the only known cellular process that can accurately repair DNA double-strand breaks. DNA double-strand breaks accumulate with age in humans and mice in primordial follicles. Primordial follicles contain oocytes that are at an intermediate (prophase I) stage of meiosis. Meiosis is the general process in eukaryotic organisms by which germ cells are formed, and it is likely an adaptation for removing DNA damages, especially double-strand breaks, from germ line DNA. (Also see article Meiosis). Homologous recombinational repair employing BRCA1 is especially promoted during meiosis. It was found that expression of four key genes necessary for homologous recombinational repair of DNA double-strand breaks (BRCA1, MRE11, RAD51 and ATM) decline with age in the oocytes of humans and mice, leading to the hypothesis that DNA double-strand break repair is necessary for the maintenance of oocyte reserve and that a decline in efficiency of repair with age plays a role in ovarian aging.
Cancer chemotherapy
Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is the leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide. At diagnosis, almost 70% of persons with NSCLC have locally advanced or metastatic disease. Persons with NSCLC are often treated with therapeutic platinum compounds (e.g. cisplatin, carboplatin or oxaliplatin) that cause inter-strand cross-links in DNA. Among individuals with NSCLC, low expression of BRCA1 in the primary tumor correlated with improved survival after platinum-containing chemotherapy. This correlation implies that low BRCA1 in cancer, and the consequent low level of DNA repair, causes vulnerability of cancer to treatment by the DNA cross-linking agents. High BRCA1 may protect cancer cells by acting in a pathway that removes the damages in DNA introduced by the platinum drugs. Thus the level of BRCA1 expression is a potentially important tool for tailoring chemotherapy in lung cancer management.
Level of BRCA1 expression is also relevant to ovarian cancer treatment. Patients having sporadic ovarian cancer who were treated with platinum drugs had longer median survival times if their BRCA1 expression was low compared to patients with higher BRCA1 expression (46 compared to 33 months).
Patents, enforcement, litigation, and controversy
A patent application for the isolated BRCA1 gene and cancer promoting mutations discussed above, as well as methods to diagnose the likelihood of getting breast cancer, was filed by the University of Utah, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) and Myriad Genetics in 1994; over the next year, Myriad, (in collaboration with investigators at Endo Recherche, Inc., HSC Research & Development Limited Partnership, and University of Pennsylvania), isolated and sequenced the BRCA2 gene and identified key mutations, and the first BRCA2 patent was filed in the U.S. by Myriad and other institutions in 1995. Myriad is the exclusive licensee of these patents and has enforced them in the US against clinical diagnostic labs. This business model led from Myriad being a startup in 1994 to being a publicly traded company with 1200 employees and about $500M in annual revenue in 2012; it also led to controversy over high prices and the inability to get second opinions from other diagnostic labs, which in turn led to the landmark Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics lawsuit. The patents began to expire in 2014.
According to an article published in the journal, Genetic Medicine, in 2010, "The patent story outside the United States is more complicated.... For example, patents have been obtained but the patents are being ignored by provincial health systems in Canada. In Australia and the UK, Myriad's licensee permitted use by health systems but announced a change of plans in August 2008. Only a single mutation has been patented in Myriad's lone European-wide patent, although some patents remain under review of an opposition proceeding. In effect, the United States is the only jurisdiction where Myriad's strong patent position has conferred sole-provider status." Peter Meldrum, CEO of Myriad Genetics, has acknowledged that Myriad has "other competitive advantages that may make such [patent] enforcement unnecessary" in Europe.
As with any gene, finding variation in BRCA1 is not hard. The real value comes from understanding what the clinical consequences of any particular variant are. Myriad has a large, proprietary database of such genotype-phenotype correlations. In response, parallel open-source databases are being developed.
Legal decisions surrounding the BRCA1 and BRCA2 patents will affect the field of genetic testing in general. A June 2013 article, in Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics (No. 12-398), quoted the US Supreme Court's unanimous ruling that, "A naturally occurring DNA segment is a product of nature and not patent eligible merely because it has been isolated," invalidating Myriad's patents on the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes. However, the Court also held that manipulation of a gene to create something not found in nature could still be eligible for patent protection. The Federal Court of Australia came to the opposite conclusion, upholding the validity of an Australian Myriad Genetics patent over the BRCA1 gene in February 2013. The Federal Court also rejected an appeal in September 2014. Yvonne D'Arcy won her case against US-based biotech company Myriad Genetics in the High Court of Australia. In their unanimous decision on October 7, 2015, the "high court found that an isolated nucleic acid, coding for a BRCA1 protein, with specific variations from the norm that are indicative of susceptibility to breast cancer and ovarian cancer was not a 'patentable invention.'"
Interactions
BRCA1 has been shown to interact with the following proteins:
ABL1
AKT1
AR
ATR
ATM
ATF1
BACH1
BARD1
BRCA2
BRCC3
BRE
BRIP1
C-jun
CHEK2
CLSPN
COBRA1
CREBBP
CSNK2B
CSTF2
CDK2
DHX9
ELK4
EP300
ESR1
FANCA
FANCD2
FHL2
H2AFX
JUNB
JunD
LMO4
MAP3K3
MED1
MED17
MED21
MED24
MRE11A
MSH2
MSH3
MSH6
Myc
NBN
NMI
NPM1
NCOA2
NUFIP1
P53
PALB2
POLR2A
PPP1CA
Rad50
RAD51
RBBP4
RBBP7
RBBP8
RELA
RB1
RBL1
RBL2
RPL31
SMARCA4
SMARCB1
STAT1
TOPBP1
UBE2D1
USF2
VCP
XIST
ZNF350
References
External links
PDBe-KB provides an overview of all the structure information available in the PDB for Human BRCA1.
Breast cancer
Genes on human chromosome 17
Tumor markers
Tumor suppressor genes
|
412103
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark%20Kirk
|
Mark Kirk
|
Mark Steven Kirk (born September 15, 1959) is a retired American politician and attorney who served as a United States senator from Illinois from 2010 to 2017, and as the United States representative for Illinois's 10th congressional district from 2001 to 2010. A member of the Republican Party, Kirk describes himself as socially liberal and fiscally conservative.
Born in Champaign, Illinois, Kirk graduated from Cornell University, the London School of Economics, and Georgetown University Law Center. He practiced law throughout the 1980s and 1990s. He joined the United States Navy Reserve as a Direct Commission Officer in the Intelligence career field in 1989 and was recalled to active duty for the 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia. He participated in Operation Northern Watch in Iraq the following year. He attained the rank of Commander and retired from the Navy Reserve in 2013.
Kirk was elected to the House in 2000. During his fifth term in November 2010, he won two concurrent elections: to finish the final months of former Senator Barack Obama's term and to serve the next six-year term. He was sworn in on November 29, 2010 and began a six-year Senate term on January 3, 2011. In January 2012, Kirk suffered a stroke; almost a full year passed before he returned to his senatorial duties. In 2016, Kirk ran for re-election to a second full term, but was defeated by Democrat Tammy Duckworth. Kirk is the last Illinois Republican to have served in the U.S. Senate.
Early life and education
Kirk was born in Champaign, Illinois, the son of Judith Ann (Brady) and Francis Gabriel "Frank" Kirk. After graduating from New Trier East High School in 1977 he attended Blackburn College in Carlinville, Illinois, for two years, before briefly attending the Autonomous University of Mexico and subsequently transferring to Cornell University, where he graduated cum laude with a B.A. in History. While at Cornell University, Kirk served as the president of The Seal and Serpent Society. Kirk later obtained a master's degree from the London School of Economics and a Juris Doctor (J.D.) from Georgetown University Law Center.
Early career
While Kirk was an undergraduate student at Cornell University he held a work–study job supervising a play group at the Forest Home Chapel nursery school. After getting his master's degree, Kirk taught for one year at a private school in London. He later stated in speeches and interviews that he had been a nursery and middle school teacher. A leader at the church which housed the nursery school expressed her belief that Kirk overstated his role there, saying Kirk was "just an additional pair of hands to help a primary teaching person." In discussing problems in the educational system early in his congressional career, Kirk addressed the brevity of his teaching career: "I did leave the teaching profession, but if we had addressed some of the teacher development issues, which I want to raise with you, I might have stayed."
After college, Kirk worked in Congressman John Porter's office, ultimately becoming chief of staff. After leaving Capitol Hill in 1990, he worked at the World Bank and as an aide at the State Department on the Central American peace process. Kirk spent two years practicing international law and four years as counsel to the House International Relations Committee.
Military service
Kirk was commissioned as an intelligence officer in the United States Navy Reserve in 1989.
In 1999, Kirk was recalled to active duty in Operation Allied Force for the bombing of Yugoslavia. He served from April 10 to June 6, 1999, as the intelligence officer of VAQ-209. VAQ-209 was combined with three other EA-6B squadrons to form an ad hoc unit called Electronic Attack Wing Aviano, Italy. VAQ-140 had tactical command of the combined unit. In May 2000, the National Military Intelligence Association bestowed the organization's Vice Admiral Rufus L. Taylor Award to Intelligence Division Electronic Attack Wing Aviano, Italy.
In March and April 2000, Kirk trained with an EC-130 squadron based in Turkey. Kirk took a flight over Iraq as part of Operation Northern Watch, which enforced a no-fly zone over the northern section of Iraq. In a speech on the floor of the House in 2003, Kirk stated: "The last time I was in Iraq I was in uniform, flying at 20,000 feet, and the Iraqi Air Defense network was shooting at us". Kirk later clarified his statement, indicating that there is no record of his aircraft being fired upon and that he had incorrectly recalled the incident.
During his tenure in the military, Kirk was twice counseled by the Pentagon, after incidents in which he was accused of conducting political business while on duty. On one occasion Kirk commented on Rod Blagojevich's arrest and posted a tweet while on duty with the Navy in Afghanistan. According to the Pentagon, Kirk was required to sign a statement acknowledging he knew the rules before returning to active duty. Kirk denied that he had ever improperly mixed politics with his military service.
Kirk served three individual two-week reserve deployments in Afghanistan, with the latest concluding in September 2011.
Kirk retired from the Navy Reserve in May 2013, after 23 years of service. A formal military retirement ceremony was held for Kirk on 16 Dec 2014.
Awards
In the official photograph of his retirement ceremony, Kirk's awards include:
Defense Meritorious Service Medal
Joint Services Commendation Medal
Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal
Joint Service Achievement Medal
Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal
Navy Unit Commendation
Navy Meritorious Unit Commendation with Service Star
National Defense Service Medal
Kosovo Campaign Medal
Global War on Terrorism Service Medal
Armed Forces Reserve Medal with "M" device
NATO Medal for the former Yugoslavia
NATO Medal for Kosovo
His uniform also displays the Navy Information Dominance Officer badge and the Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Identification Badge.
In 2010, Kirk corrected statements he had made about being awarded "Navy Intelligence Officer of the Year" after it was brought to the media's attention by his Democratic opponent, Alexi Giannoulias. In a 2002 House committee hearing recorded by C-SPAN, Kirk said, "I was the Navy's Intelligence Officer of the Year", an achievement he said gave him special qualifications to discuss national security spending. In May 2010, The Washington Post reported that Kirk's claim to having been named the Navy's "Intelligence Officer of the Year" was erroneous. The National Military Intelligence Association gave the Vice Admiral Rufus L. Taylor Award to the entire Intelligence Division Electronic Attack Wing at Aviano. Kirk was the lead intelligence officer for VAQ-209, one of the four squadrons assigned to the Electronic Attack Wing. VAQ-140 had tactical command. Kirk later apologized for this and other errors, including a claim made by his office of having participated in Operation Desert Storm when in fact he did not.
On June 7, 2010, Medal of Honor recipient and advocate of Veteran's benefits, Allen Lynch, deemed Mark Kirk's apologies adequate, and further commented: "To me, in my opinion, it's just a bunch of nit picking. Plus, he's done a Christ ton for veterans. So I think this is being blown way out of proportion".
Early political career
Kirk worked on the staff of John Porter, the congressman for Illinois's 10th congressional district. From 1991 to 1993, Kirk was the Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary of State in the U.S. State Department. Kirk was an attorney for Baker & McKenzie from 1993 to 1995. In 1995 Kirk was named as a counsel to the House International Relations Committee. He remained counsel to the House International Relations Committee until 1999.
U.S. House of Representatives
Elections
Kirk was elected in 2000 to succeed the retiring Porter. He won with 51% of the vote against Democrat Lauren Beth Gash, and was reelected by comfortable margins in 2002 and 2004. He defeated Democrat Dan Seals by a seven points in 2006, defeating him again by the same margin in a 2008 rematch.
Tenure
During his time in the House, Kirk compiled a centrist voting record, tending to vote more liberally on social issues and more conservatively on foreign policy issues.
Kirk was a member of the House Iran Working Group, the founder and co-chair of the House U.S.-China Working Group, the co-chair of the Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues, the co-chair of the Albanian Issues Caucus in ex Yugoslavia, and chair of The Tuesday Group, a group of moderate Republicans in the U.S. House. During his House tenure, he was a member of the House Appropriations Committee.
Kirk was responsible for an amendment in 2004 which requires the Congressional Budget Office to annually publish a comparison of projected spending on entitlements with actual spending for the previous year. He also fought against spending on the Alaska "bridge to nowhere" and pushed for reforms in the intelligence community.
In 2005, Kirk stated that he was not opposed to the immigration process in the United States discriminating against young Arab males from "terrorist-producing states". He stated, "I think that when we look at the threat that's out there, young men between, say, the ages of 18 and 25 from a couple of countries, I believe a certain amount of intense scrutiny should be placed on them."
In 2006, Kirk pushed for an expansion of O'Hare and worked with Rahm Emanuel on a package to clean up Lake Michigan.
In June 2008, Kirk introduced H.R. 6257 to reinstate the assault weapons ban of 1994. The bill was co-sponsored by fellow Republicans: Mike Castle, Mike Ferguson, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, and Chris Shays. Four years earlier, in February 2004, Kirk had been among 11 Republican and 129 Democratic co-sponsors of H.R. 3831 to reauthorize the ban. Both bills died in committee.
In 2009, Kirk voted for the American Clean Energy and Security Act.
United States Senate
Elections
2010
On July 20, 2009, Kirk announced his candidacy for the U.S. Senate election for the seat held by Roland Burris, which had been held by Barack Obama before his election as president. On February 2, 2010, Kirk won the Republican primary with 56.6 percent of the vote; no other candidate had as much as 20 percent. He ran against Democratic nominee Alexi Giannoulias, Green Party nominee LeAlan Jones, and Libertarian nominee Mike Labno. During the Illinois U.S. Senate election campaign in 2010, Kirk and Giannoulias were in a hotly contested debate. Kirk defeated Giannoulias in the election for the full six-year term, getting 48% to Giannoulias's 46%. During the campaign, Kirk said he had previously voted for emissions trading legislation "because it was in the narrow interests of my congressional district", but that as a representative of the entire state of Illinois, "I would vote no on that bill."
In 2012, Kirk's ex-wife accused him of concealing a payment of $143,000 to a former girlfriend, Dodie McCracken, who had worked on his 2010 U.S. Senate campaign. The Federal Election Commission dismissed allegations that the Kirk campaign had hidden the payments, saying they did not need to be disclosed because the girlfriend worked as a subcontractor on the campaign.
2016
Having suffered a stroke in 2012 there was speculation he would resign but In June 2013, Kirk confirmed that he was planning to run for re-election. In November 2014, Kirk reiterated his plans to seek re-election. Kirk defeated fellow Republican James Marter in the primary election. He faced Democratic Congresswoman Tammy Duckworth in the general election.
Kirk's campaign purchased television air time to advertise his opposition to admitting refugees to the United States "until it can be done safely".
In a televised debate on October 27, 2016, Kirk, still recovering from a severe stroke, responded to Duckworth's comment about her own military service and her ancestors' military service by saying, "I'd forgotten that your parents came all the way from Thailand to serve George Washington." Rep. Duckworth is a military combat veteran who lost both legs while piloting a helicopter during the Iraq war. Her mother was a Thai immigrant and her father's ancestors came to America before the Revolutionary War. Due to his comments, the Human Rights Campaign revoked their endorsement of Kirk and switched it to Duckworth, saying his comments were "deeply offensive and racist." It was the first endorsement the HRC has ever withdrawn.
On November 8, 2016, Kirk lost to Duckworth by 14 points.
Political positions
Kirk is a moderate Republican. Kirk was sworn in on November 29, 2010, as the junior U.S. senator from Illinois. Kirk sat at the Senate's coveted Candy Desk for several years. Kirk is considered to be a social moderate and fiscal conservative. On June 7, 2016, Kirk withdrew his initial support for businessman and presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election due to his "past attacks on Hispanics, women and the disabled like me." Kirk said he would write-in former CIA Director David Petraeus. Kirk was ranked as the 6th most bipartisan member of the U.S. Senate during the 114th United States Congress, and the fourth most bipartisan member of the U.S. Senate from the American Midwest (after Indiana Senator Joe Donnelly, Ohio Senator Rob Portman, and Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley) in the Bipartisan Index created by The Lugar Center and the McCourt School of Public Policy that ranks members of the United States Congress by their degree of bipartisanship (by measuring the frequency each member's bills attract co-sponsors from the opposite party and each member's co-sponsorship of bills by members of the opposite party).
Infrastructure and transportation policy
In his first year in the Senate, Kirk worked along with U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D–IL) to help mediate a dispute between airlines serving O'Hare International Airport and the City of Chicago in order to keep the O'Hare modernization project on schedule. It is estimated the project would create 200,000 jobs and add $18 billion to the regional economy when completed.
Kirk and Durbin also worked together to bring $186 million in federal funds to support improved rail service from Chicago to St. Louis. The money was originally rejected by the state of Florida but reallocated to Illinois.
Kirk authored legislation, entitled the Lincoln Legacy Infrastructure Development Act, that sought to eliminate barriers and encourage private investment in roads, transit, airport and rail. Several of the provisions in the legislation would later become law under the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (P.L. 112–114), including provisions to eliminate barriers to public-private partnerships for public transportation projects and a boost for the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFA) program.
Environmental policy
Along with then-Senator Carl Levin (D-MI), Kirk co-chaired the Senate's Great Lakes Task Force, and on June 26, 2013, the two introduced the Great Lakes Ecological and Economic Protection Act (GLEEPA). This legislation authorizes more funds to the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative in their efforts to restore wetlands, control invasive species, and regulate dumping of sewage and other industrial byproducts into the Great Lakes watershed. It also re-authorizes the Environmental Protection Agency's Great Lakes national Program Office and Great Lakes Legacy Act, which addresses dumping of toxic waste. Kirk had introduced similar legislation before, and Kirk had been a longstanding supporter of efforts to keep invasive Asian Carp out of the Great Lakes ecosystem.
Kirk accepts the scientific consensus on climate change.
Iran
In 2016, Kirk suggested that Iran should be required to provide reports about how funds made available through sanctions relief were used to ensure that money was not ending up in the hands of Hezbollah or the Iranian military.
Qatar
In May 2016, Kirk petitioned the Treasury Department to be more aggressive towards Qatar's financing of terrorism. In a letter to Secretary of the Treasury Jacob Lew, Kirk urged Lew to make Qatar comply with the Jeddeh Communique, which committed Qatar, along with other nations, to combat terrorism finance. The letter outlined ways in which Qatar was not meeting the expectations outlined in the agreement by harboring US Treasury Department Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGTs) such as Khalifa Muhammad Turki al-Subaiy and Abd al-Rahman bin Umayr al-Nu'aymi, both of whom are known terror financiers. Qatar is widely recognized to be a major source of funding for al Qaeda, Hamas, the Taliban, and ISIS.
Illinois debt crisis
Kirk appointed a sovereign debt advisory board to help research the unfunded obligations and unpaid bills contributing to Illinois' debt crisis. He later produced a Report on Illinois Debt highlighting the unsustainable debt the state continued to hold and the need for pension reform. Kirk introduced legislation entitled No State Bailouts, S. Res. 188, along with 14 other U.S. Senators, which would ban federal bailouts of financially struggling states. Illinois State Treasurer Dan Rutherford endorsed the legislation.
Anti-corruption work
Kirk and Representative Bob Dold (R–IL-10) (who succeeded him in his House seat) introduced bipartisan legislation to expand qualifications for ending federal pension payouts to elected officials convicted of corruption. The bicameral provision expanded current law to include an additional 22 crimes, and the bill was included in the STOCK Act signed by the President in April 2012.
Social issues
Kirk voted for re-authorization of the Violence Against Women Act in 2013.
Kirk is pro-choice. In 2015, he was one of two Republicans to oppose a ban on abortions after 20 weeks. Kirk opposes Republican Party efforts to defund Planned Parenthood. In September 2015, Kirk and Senator Durbin were thanked by the presidents of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund and Planned Parenthood Illinois Action for their opposition to such measures. He has a lifetime 75% grade from Planned Parenthood and an 80% rating in 2015 from NARAL Pro-Choice America, both organizations that support legal abortion access. Conversely, he had a 55% score from the pro-life Campaign for Working Families which opposes abortion. The pro-life group, Illinois Right to Life, gave Kirk a 0% rating.
In May 2010, Kirk voted against the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell. In December 2010, Kirk joined seven other Senate Republicans in voting in favor of the policy's repeal. In 2015, he was one of 11 Senate Republicans who voted to offer social security benefits to same-sex couples living in states where same-sex marriage was not yet recognized.
On April 2, 2013, Kirk became the second sitting Republican U.S. Senator to support same-sex marriage, joining Ohio Senator Rob Portman. He was given a 100% score from the Human Rights Campaign, which supports same-sex marriage and LGBT rights, and a 100% score by PFLAG or Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays.
Kirk is a cosponsor and strong supporter of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) and in November 2013 became one of several Republicans to vote in favor of the law, which would prohibit employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.
In January 2016, Kirk became the first Republican U.S. Senator to co-sponsor the Equality Act, which would make sex, sexual orientation and gender identity among the prohibited categories of discrimination or segregation under the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
Labor
In April 2014, the United States Senate debated the Minimum Wage Fairness Act (S. 1737; 113th Congress). The bill would amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (FLSA) to increase the federal minimum wage for employees to $10.10 per hour over the course of a two-year period. The bill was supported by President Barack Obama and many Democratic Senators, but opposed by Republicans in the Senate and House. Kirk said he would not vote for the bill or a related compromise bill.
Kirk voted in April 2014 to extend federal funding for unemployment benefits. Federal funding had been initiated in 2008 and expired at the end of 2013.
In March 2015, Kirk voted for an amendment to establish a deficit-neutral reserve fund to allow employees to earn paid sick time.
Gun policy
Kirk is the only Republican U.S. Senator to receive an "F" rating from the National Rifle Association. In 2015, he received a lifetime achievement award from the Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence. He supports background checks for gun sales, and in 2013 was the only Republican senator to vote for an assault weapons ban.
Other policy issues
In 2011, Kirk was one of only two Republicans to oppose legislation to detain American citizens indefinitely.
In the aftermath of the downing of a Malaysian Airlines flight by missiles over Ukraine in 2014, Kirk called for an investigation into the possibility of outfitting commercial airliners with missile defense systems.
In 2014, Kirk co-sponsored legislation to re-authorize the Export-Import Bank.
After the death of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia in 2016, Kirk was the first Republican U.S. Senator to publicly state that President Barack Obama's eventual replacement nominee for the Supreme Court should get a hearing and a vote. Other Republicans believed the next president should nominate a replacement for Scalia. In April 2016, Kirk met with Obama's nominee, Merrick Garland, and circulated a memo to his Republican colleagues encouraging them to meet with him as well.
Caucus memberships
Albanian Issue Caucus (Co-Chair)
Congressional Diabetes Caucus (Vice-Chair)
International Conservation Caucus
Republican Main Street Partnership
Senate Ukraine Caucus (Vice-Chair)
Committee assignments
Committee on Appropriations
Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government
Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies
Subcommittee on Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies (Chairman)
Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs
Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
Subcommittee on Housing, Transportation, and Community Development
Subcommittee on Security and International Trade and Finance (Chairman)
Subcommittee on Securities, Insurance, and Investment
Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
Subcommittee on Children and Families
Subcommittee on Employment and Workplace Safety
Special Committee on Aging
Personal life
In February 1998, Kirk met Kimberly Vertolli, a Naval Intelligence Officer, while the two were on duty together at the Pentagon. The two married in 2001 and divorced in 2009.
Stroke and recovery
On January 21, 2012, at age 52, Kirk suffered an ischemic stroke caused by a damaged blood vessel in his neck. Two days later, he underwent neurosurgery at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago; a piece of his cranium was temporarily removed to lessen any danger from the brain swelling process. He underwent follow-up surgery two days after that to remove more of his skull and some damaged brain tissue. He suffered significant left-sided weakness and spent several months at an inpatient physical rehabilitation center.
On May 1, 2012, Kirk was sent home from the rehabilitation center. A statement from his family said he would continue to work on rehabilitation on an outpatient basis, but that he had progressed enough to be able to move home with his family. A week later, Kirk's staff released a video showing Kirk walking on a treadmill and down a hallway at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago as doctors worked with him to help fully regain the use of his left side. A second video was released in August, showing Kirk was living at his Fort Sheridan, Illinois home, and while his left side still showed impairment, Kirk was walking without aid. On November 4, he participated in a "SkyRise Chicago" challenge to climb the stairs of Willis Tower, successfully completing 37 floors.
On January 3, 2013, Kirk returned to the Capitol for the first time since his stroke in time for the start of the 113th Congress. He was escorted up the Capitol steps by Vice President and President of the Senate Joe Biden.
Kirk returned to his role as Senator, at times using a cane or wheelchair for assistance. He cites his public role as motivation to return to work and to serve as an example for families suffering from stroke and his stroke itself as motivation to improve early stroke detection and rehabilitation.
Electoral history
References
External links
|-
|-
|-
|-
1959 births
21st-century American politicians
Alumni of the London School of Economics
Cornell University alumni
Georgetown University Law Center alumni
Living people
Military personnel from Illinois
New Trier High School alumni
People from Fort Sheridan, Illinois
Political chiefs of staff
Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Illinois
Republican Party United States senators from Illinois
United Church of Christ members
United States congressional aides
United States Navy officers
|
412112
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lloyd%20Honeyghan
|
Lloyd Honeyghan
|
Lloyd Honeyghan (born 22 April 1960) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 1980 to 1995. He reigned as the undisputed welterweight champion from 1986 to 1987, and held the WBC, The Ring magazine welterweight titles twice between 1986 and 1989. At regional level he held the British, European and Commonwealth welterweight titles between 1983 and 1985, and the Commonwealth super-welterweight title from 1993 to 1994.
Early life and amateur career
Honeyghan was born in Jamaica and spent his early years there. He came to England at the age of nine to join his parents who had settled in Bermondsey. He took up boxing at the age of 11 with the Fisher Amateur Boxing club. He was a good, rather than an outstanding amateur boxer. He boxed for England but never won an ABA title, being beaten in the English semi-finals by Joey Frost in 1979. In the 1980 ABA championships he was beaten early in the competition on points by Gunther Roomes, at the South East Division of the London championships and decided to turn professional.
Professional career
Honeyghan turned professional with Terry Lawless in 1980. He debuted with a six-round points decision victory over fellow novice Mike Sullivan. He won his first 13 fights, including a victory over the tough Kostas Petrou. Before positioning himself for an eliminator against the capable Lloyd Hibbert for the British welterweight title on 18 January 1983. Honeyghan outpointed the future British super-welterweight champion over ten rounds. He followed this by capturing the Southern Area welterweight title with a fourth-round knockout over the dangerous Sid Smith in March 1983.
British welterweight champion
Honeyghan captured the British welterweight title via a twelve-round points decision against the tough Cliff Gilpin on 5 April 1983, after suffering the first knockdown of his career in the second round. Honeyghan later stated that Gilpin gave him one of his hardest fights.
He remained busy throughout 1983, travelling to the United States to defeat Kevin Austin, then outpointing US contender Harold Brazier in London before rounding off the year with a clear points victory in a British title rematch with Cliff Gilpin.
In 1984 Honeyghan fought only once, defeating Roberto Mendez. He suffered a broken thumb and had to have a pin inserted into his left hand to keep the bone in place.
European welterweight champion
On 5 January 1985 he captured the European welterweight title with a highly impressive third-round knockout of future two-time super-welterweight world champion Gianfranco Rosi in Perugia, Italy. In sparring preparing for the contest Honeyghan had been knocked out by former ABA champion David Dent, who was not known as a puncher. However, it didn't affect his performance as he achieved the rare feat of a foreign fighter obtaining a victory in Italy. Following this, Honeyghan defeated R W Smith (better known as Robert Smith) who is the current General Secretary of the British Boxing Board of Control in six rounds. He kept extremely busy during 1985, defeating three US contenders in world title challenger Roger Stafford, followed by Danny Paul and Ralph Twinning.
Honeyghan and Lawless parted company because Honeyghan believed that Lawless was spending too much time on the career of Frank Bruno and not enough on his career. As such the two couldn't get on and things came to a head following an altercation between Honeyghan and his trainer Jimmy Tibbs, in the Royal Oak gym run by Lawless. Apparently Honeyghan turned up late for training and an argument between the two ensued ending with bystanders having to drag them apart. Following the incident, Lawless banned Honeyghan from his gym; Honeyghan promptly signed with Mickey Duff.
Honeyghan appointed former British featherweight champion Bobby Neill as his new trainer and closed out 1985 with a stoppage victory over fellow world rated Briton and former stablemate Sylvester Mittee, for the British, European, and Commonwealth welterweight titles.
On 20 May 1986 Honeyghan stopped top US contender Horace Shufford in eight rounds in London, earning him a title shot against the unbeaten and undisputed welterweight world champion Donald Curry of the US.
Undisputed welterweight champion
On 27 September 1986, Honeyghan defeated Curry for the undisputed welterweight title. The fight took place in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and was televised by Showtime.
At the time Curry was considered to be one of the best pound for pound fighters in the world with his only possible rival being Marvin Hagler. Honeyghan was given little chance by the majority of the media. However, there were rumours that Curry was having difficulty making the welterweight limit and that this would be his last fight at the weight. The betting odds prior to the fight were 7.5–1 against Honeyghan. His manager Duff placed a bet of $5,000 on Honeyghan to win. When he told Honeyghan what he had done he said that they could split it down the middle. Duff refused and told him to place his own bets. Honeyghan asked Duff to place a bet of $5,000 on his behalf but when he went back to place the bet the odds had reduced to 6-1 and Duff placed the bet. When he told Honeyghan about the reduced odds he said they could split the difference and again Duff refused. He caused a major upset by dominating the fight, nearly dropping Curry in the second round, before Curry retired at the end of round six. Curry suffered a broken nose along with cuts to his lip and above his eye, which required 20 stitches. As a result of his bet Honeyghan earned an additional $30,000 and Duff relented and split the difference paying him an additional $3,750 because he was the one who had won the fight..
At the press conference before the fight Curry had dismissed his little known and lightly taken British opponent, asking "Who is this ragamuffin?" Because Honeyghan had come to the press conference in casual clothes. Honeyghan thereafter adopted the title 'Raggamuffin' with relish. Embracing his Jamaican heritage where a raggamuffin is a streetwise tough guy. Prior to this his ring moniker had been Lloyd 'Honey' Honeyghan.
The fight had taken place one night after another "expert shocker", when Edwin Rosario knocked out Livingstone Bramble in two rounds to claim the WBA lightweight title, and one week after Honeyghan's win, Ring magazine mentioned his victory on their "Weekend of shockers!" issue's cover. (Rosario's photo was featured on the cover of that issue).
WBA title vacated
Honeyghan disagreed with the WBA's rules that allowed fights to take place in apartheid South Africa, so he publicly and controversially dumped the WBA welterweight title into a London trash bin soon after winning it, relinquishing the title rather than defending it against South African Harold Volbrecht. Honeyghan was criticised for showing a lack of respect after dropping the belt in the trash can, especially as Deuk Koo Kim had lost his life in 1982 when fighting Ray Mancini for the WBA Lightweight title. Honeyghan did admit to regretting his actions, which had resulted after he had been prompted to do so by tabloid newspaper photographers. His stance proved significant, as soon after, the WBA stopped sanctioning fights held in South Africa.
Continued title defences
After winning the world title he changed his boxer-puncher style to that of more of a brawler. He became known for his full frontal assault on opponents. Most boxers would spend the early rounds boxing cautiously until they had figured out their opponent's style of fighting. Honeyghan went for a knockout from the opening bell. Asked why he had changed his fighting style Honeyghan quipped "You don't get paid for overtime in this business."
In his first defence, after dominating and flooring his opponent in the first round. He caused controversy by (legally at that time) racing across the ring and trying to hit his opponent, former super-lightweight world champion Johnny Bumphus, as soon as the bell sounded to start the second round. Honeyghan threw a left hook which missed but the momentum from his forearm knocked an unsteady Bumphus to the canvas. Honeyghan had a point deducted from his score and Bumphus was given time to recover. However, the fight had already been knocked out of him and he did not last much longer. Asked why he had done this, Honeyghan stated "The bell went ding and I went dong." The rules were changed following this incident so that at the beginning of each round the referee stands in the middle of the ring. Instead of in a neutral corner, as it had previously been, to prevent punches being thrown until both fighters are ready.
In his second defence of the title, Honeyghan defeated the then unbeaten future world champion Maurice Blocker on points. He became a crowd pleaser with his all action style of fighting and recorded one of the fastest wins in a world title fight with a 45 second blowout of former Super-lightweight champion Gene Hatcher of the US. His manager Duff said after the fight "The best fighter I have been involved with was John Conteh, even though he never reached his full potential. Lloyd is catching him up fast. I've never known a more dedicated fighter."
Losing the titles
He controversially lost his WBC title to Jorge Vaca in 1987 when a clash of heads meant that the fight had to be stopped due to a cut sustained by Vaca. Vaca had come in as a late replacement for Bobby Joe Young who had been deemed an unacceptable opponent by the British Boxing Board of Control. Honeyghan was expected to win the fight as Vaca was a relatively unknown fighter. However, an off form Honeyghan was given plenty of trouble by the heavy-handed Mexican. The WBC implemented their technical decision rule (which has now been withdrawn) and Honeyghan had a point deducted from his score, even though the clash of heads had been deemed accidental and the round had not been completed. Without the point deduction the fight would have been a draw meaning that Honeyghan would have retained his title. After the point deduction the scorecards favoured Vaca and he became the new champion. The fight was not for the IBF title which was declared vacant and was subsequently won by Simon Brown. Many fans said that Vaca had been given the decision because the WBC who are based in Mexico were holding their convention in London during the week of the fight.
Honeyghan became only the second British boxer in history to regain a world title, when he knocked Vaca out in a return fight for the WBC title in the third round. The first being Ted "Kid" Lewis earlier in the 20th century. In the post-fight press conference Honeyghan, who could at times be an outspoken character. Expressed his views on Mickey Duff, stating "Mickey and I don't mix outside of boxing, he looks at me as a pawn, a commodity. I don't like him." This elicited a memorable response from Duff who stated "There is nothing in our contract that says we have to like each other I will continue to do the best job I can for him."
Honeyghan next defended against tough South Korean Yung-Kil Chung, halting him in five rounds in July 1988 when the Korean refused to get up after being hit with an accidental low blow.
In February 1989 Honeyghan lost his WBC title to former Don Curry victim and arch-rival Marlon Starling. There was bad blood between the two fighters and Honeyghan boxed wildly against the defensively excellent Starling. He was stopped in the ninth round after taking heavy punishment throughout the fight. Years before the two fought Starling came out with a classic foot in mouth boxing quote when he said "I'll fight Lloyd Honeyghan for nothing if the price is right." Honeyghan returned later in the year, labouring to a points decision over Delfino Marin in Florida, however he appeared to be a fading force.
He had to apologise to the WBA for his previous actions in order to fight for the WBA title in 1990 against Mark Breland. By this time Honeyghan was past his best and was stopped by Breland in three rounds after being knocked down six times.
Later career at super-welterweight
In 1991, he resumed his career at super-welterweight having outgrown the welterweight division. During 1991 and 1992 he won six consecutive fights against relatively modest opposition in Mario Olmedo, John Welters, Darryl Anthony, Alfredo Ramirez, Mickey Duncan and Carlo Colarusso. In early 1993 he was still good enough to win the Commonwealth super-welterweight title by defeating the useful Mickey Hughes. However, in June of that year he was stopped in ten rounds by former world champion Vinny Pazienza in a contest made at middleweight. Victories over Steve Goodwin and in 1994 Kevin Adamson followed, with Honeyghan retaining the Commonwealth title in the latter fight. He did not fight for another year and retired after he was stopped in a bout by fellow Briton Adrian Dodson in three rounds in 1995, on the undercard of Nigel Benn vs. Gerald McClellan.
Doping allegations
Lloyd Honeyghan always had trouble with his hands and tested positive for a painkilling drug after his fight against Marlon Starling. He was fined $1,500 by the Nevada Athletic Commission.
Personal life
On leaving school Honeyghan became an apprentice printer and he continued in this trade until he became a full time professional boxer.
In his younger days Honeyghan developed a reputation for being a flashy dresser and a ladies' man. The tabloid newspapers had a field-day when he became a world champion and revealed that he had fathered five children with three different women, none of whom he had married.
He was attacked and hit on the head with a hammer at a weigh-in at the Thomas A' Beckett gym in 1993. A fellow boxer, Darren Dyer, was arrested and charged with causing actual bodily harm after the attack but was acquitted in the subsequent trial. There had been bad blood between the two stemming from the Curry fight, when Dyer who was also managed by Duff had been one of Honeyghan's sparring partners. The trouble between them started when Dyer was talking on the telephone in his hotel room to one of his relatives in England. The relative asked him how he thought Honeyghan would get on against Curry. Dyer stated that he didn't think that Honeyghan stood a chance and that Curry would knock him out. Unbeknown to him Honeyghan was in the hotel room next to his and heard everything that he said. Honeyghan took offence to his comments and confronted him about them. Dyer felt that Honeyghan had taken liberties with him in sparring as a means of getting his revenge for the comments. Bearing in mind that despite being a former ABA champion and Commonwealth games gold medal winner, Dyer at the time was still to make his professional debut. There had been an altercation between him and Dyer in the changing rooms following his win over Mickey Hughes for the Commonwealth title. Dennie Mancini had prevented Dyer from hitting Honeyghan on the head with the trophy he had just been presented with, as a result of winning the fight.
When Frank Bruno fought Oliver McCall for the WBC World heavyweight title in September 1995. Honeyghan entered the ring as a member of McCall's camp, despite the fact that he and Bruno had been friends in the past, when they had both been part of the Terry Lawless stable of fighters. He received a lot of criticism from British boxing fans as a result of his actions.
Honeyghan and Mike Tyson are friends and when Tyson came to England he acted as his guide. They had first met at the Curry fight where Tyson had been ringside and had been impressed by Honeyghan's performance. He stated "He's mean and nasty, he doesn't fight like a British fighter." At that time British fighters had a reputation in America for being gentlemanly but ending up horizontal.
In 2014 Bruno had to step in to stop Honeyghan and Errol Christie from squaring up to each other at the Boxing Writers’ Club’s 63rd annual dinner at London’s Savoy Hotel. This came as a shock to many observers as the two had once been close friends. Christie stated “There was a bit of an incident with Lloyd. I don’t know what planet he was on but it’s different to the rest of us. No punches were thrown, he was just mouthing off and acting the big shot. He even had a go at Frank.”
He had a block of flats named after him in Southwark to mark his achievements.
Honeyghan put on a lot of weight in retirement and in October 2017, it was reported that he had suffered a heart attack but was making a good recovery in hospital. It was reported in September 2020 that Honeyghan had suffered a blood clot on his lung (Pulmonary embolism) and was again being treated in hospital. As a result of his poor health, Honeyghan can no longer walk and has to use a wheelchair.
Business dealings
Towards the end of his boxing career Honeyghan got involved in the music business. He produced two CDs featuring various reggae artists.
In common with a lot of former boxing champions Honeyghan found himself in financial difficulties towards the end of his career and was forced to fight on beyond the point where he should have retired. At one stage he had owned a Rolls-Royce and several properties. However, he was declared bankrupt in 1994 and automatically discharged from bankruptcy in 1997.
Following his retirement, he tried his hand as a boxing manager and promoter. He promoted a few boxing shows in South London. However, without the backing of a television company it was difficult for him to make money and he eventually relinquished his promoter's licence.
Professional boxing record
See also
List of welterweight boxing champions
List of WBA world champions
List of WBC world champions
List of IBF world champions
List of The Ring world champions
List of undisputed boxing champions
References
Further reading
Mickey Duff "Twenty & Out" Harper Collins 1999
Hugh McIlvanney "McIlvanney on Boxing" Stanley Paul 1982
Errol Christie "No place to hide" Aurum Press 2010
Jimmy Tibbs "Sparring with life" Trinity Mirror Sport Media 2014
External links
Article at BoxingScene
Article at BoxingScene
1960 births
Living people
Doping cases in boxing
World Boxing Association champions
World Boxing Council champions
International Boxing Federation champions
World welterweight boxing champions
World boxing champions
Sportspeople from Bermondsey
Sportspeople from Saint Elizabeth Parish
British male boxers
Light-middleweight boxers
Commonwealth Boxing Council champions
European Boxing Union champions
The Ring (magazine) champions
British Boxing Board of Control champions
|
412118
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freddie%20Mills
|
Freddie Mills
|
Frederick Percival Mills (26 June 1919 – 25 July 1965) was an English boxer, and the world light heavyweight champion from 1948 to 1950. Mills was tall and did not have a sophisticated boxing style; he relied on two-fisted aggression, relentless pressure, and the ability to take punishment to carry him through, and in more cases than not these attributes were sufficient.
Mills excelled first as a middleweight, and most successfully as a light-heavyweight boxer, but also fought as a heavyweight. He was described as Britain's biggest boxing idol in the post-war period and remained a popular media personality after his retirement from the ring.
Once he had retired from boxing, Mills moved into boxing management and promotion, and pursued a career in entertainment, working in radio, television (notably as co-presenter of the early BBC TV music show, Six-Five Special between 1957 and 1958), and on the stage, as well as playing roles in a number of films between 1952 and 1965. He opened a Chinese restaurant in Soho before there was an established Chinatown in the area and also ran his own London nightclub until his mysterious death.
Early life
He was born Frederick Percival Mills in Bournemouth, Hampshire, the youngest of the four children of Thomas James Mills, a totter and marine store dealer, and his wife Lottie Hilda Gray. He received a pair of boxing gloves when he was eleven, and he used to spar with his brother Charlie. He attended St Michael's School in Bournemouth until the age of fourteen, and then became an apprentice gardener and later a milkman's assistant. The milkman in question was Percy Cook, brother of former Welsh lightweight champion Gordon Cook, and Percy helped Mills develop his boxing skills.
Professional career
Early career
Mills had three bouts in 1936 in a 11 stone novices’ competition, all of which he won by knockout. He subsequently signed professional terms with manager Bob Turner. He began fighting in fairground booths and at venues on the south coast. His first 64 fights, in 3½ years, most fighting as a middleweight, though often against heavier opponents, resulted in 48 wins, 9 losses and 7 draws. By late 1939 he was the Western Area middleweight champion, and in April 1940 he beat Eastern Area champion Ginger Sadd on points. At the time, Mills was ranked 9th best middleweight in Britain, and Sadd 2nd.
In January 1940 he joined the Royal Air Force and went on to become first a corporal physical training instructor and, by the following year, a sergeant, while continuing to box professionally. He fought Jock McAvoy, the British and Commonwealth middleweight champion, the fight made at 12st 9lbs, McAvoy having the previous year unsuccessfully fought Len Harvey for the British and Commonwealth light-heavyweight titles. The fight against McAvoy took place in Liverpool in August 1940 and Mills won a clear decision over ten rounds. Mills subsequent fought mainly at light heavyweight.
In 1941 he was taken on by new manager Ted Broadribb, and began an affair with Broadribb's daughter Chrissie, who was at the time married to South African boxer Don McCorkindale. In September 1941 he was disqualified for a low blow in the third round against Jack Hyams, suffering his first defeat in almost two years.
In November 1941 he stopped heavyweight Jim Wilde in the third round, despite conceding almost two and a half stones to the Welshman. In December 1941, he fought Jack London, a heavyweight who later (in 1944) won the British and Commonwealth heavyweight titles, Mills won on points over ten rounds despite conceding over three stones in weight to London. At this time Mills was nicknamed 'The Bournemouth Bombshell'.
British light-heavyweight title
Mills was due to fight McAvoy in January 1942 in a final eliminator for the British and Empire (later 'Commonwealth') light-heavyweight title, but withdrew from the fight, stating that wanted to concentrate on fighting at heavyweight and challenge for Len Harvey's title. He beat Tom Reddington at heavyweight later that month, but evidently had a change of heart, and in February 1942 fought McAvoy in a final eliminator for the light-heavyweight titles. The fight, in the Royal Albert Hall, ended after one round when McAvoy was forced to retire with an injured back. The way was open for Mills to challenge Len Harvey for the British and Empire light-heavyweight titles (Harvey at the time also holding the British heavyweight title).
The title fight took place on 20 June 1942, at White Hart Lane, Tottenham, in front of a crowd of 30,000. In the second round Mills caught Harvey with a powerful left hook and put him down for a count of nine. When Harvey got up Mills hit him with a left uppercut, knocking him through the ropes and off the ring canvas, and in doing so he won via a knockout. The fight created a sensation and Mills was talked of as a future challenger for Joe Louis. Mills now had the light-heavyweight titles. Harvey had also been considered world champion by the British Boxing Board of Control (BBBofC), but Mills decided not to accept the title, instead wishing to fight for American Gus Lesnevich's more recognised world title. Mills only fought competitively four times in the next two years, all of them wins inside the distance, although he fought several exhibition fights, including several bouts with McCorkindale. Difficulty in making fights led him to consider relinquishing his titles in 1943, expressing a desire to switch to all-in wrestling.
Len Harvey's retirement in early 1943 left the British and Empire heavyweight titles vacant. Mills and London were nominated to fight for the titles by the BBBofC in April that year, but after the fight was postponed three times, twice due to injuries sustained by London, they eventually met in September 1944. The fight took place at the Kings Hall, Belle Vue, Manchester, with Mills conceding just over three stone (19 kilos) in weight. Both men were at the time serving in the Royal Air Force. Mills showed speed and aggression, but London's superior strength and power were evident in the closing stages and the heavier man was awarded the decision after fifteen rounds.
Mills and London were set to fight again in February 1945, but London's RAF duties made it impossible for him to train. Instead, Mills fought former Scottish amateur heavyweight champion Ken Shaw, stopping him in the seventh round.
World title fight
In March 1945, Mills was posted to India and Burma as part of a touring party that also included Denis Compton, giving lectures and boxing demonstrations and taking part in exhibition bouts.
Mills returned to the UK and was demobilised in March 1946, and in May 1946 he was given a shot at Lesnevich's world light-heavyweight title. Mills' preparation was interrupted in April when his father died at his home in Bournemouth. The fight took place at Harringay Arena in front of 11,000 fans. Mills was not considered a serious threat to Lesnevich but performed better than many expected in what was described as a "slam-bang, punishing contest". Mills was floored heavily in the second round but recovered strongly and was cheered on by the British crowd. In the ninth round, Mills's aggression appeared to be turning the fight in his favour, and Lesnevich was troubled by cuts above his eyes. In the tenth, however, Lesnevich "exploded" to score two knockdowns and the referee stopped the contest.
Three weeks after losing his fight against Lesnevich, Mills fought British heavyweight Bruce Woodcock, losing a twelve-round fight on points after being knocked down in the fourth.
Mills returned in August 1946 with a first-round knockout of the Swedish heavyweight John Nilsson. In November 1946, Mills fought another heavyweight, American Joe Baksi. Mills suffered two badly cut eyes and retired after six rounds of what was described as a "disappointingly one-sided contest".
European title
In 1947, Mills again focused on the light-heavyweight division, and had three wins by knockout in the first half of the year (one against Italian champion Enrico Bertola and the third against South African champion Nick Wolmarans in Johannesburg) before losing in June by KO to American Lloyd Marshall.
In September 1947, Mills fought for the vacant European light-heavyweight title against the Belgian, Pol Goffaux, winning after Goffaux retired towards the end of the fourth round. Mills ended the year with a points win over French heavyweight Stephane Olek.
Mills defended the European title in February 1948, against the Spanish champion Paco Bueno, who was subjected to "terrific punishment" before being knocked out in the second round.
In April 1948 he beat the heavyweight Ken Shaw for a second time, in a final eliminator for the British title.
World title
On 26 July 1948, Mills was matched against Lesnevich for his second attempt at the world light heavyweight title. Mills was in much better shape for this fight, held at the White City Stadium, London in front of a 46,000 crowd. Lesnevich reportedly struggled to make the 175 pound limit, weighing in at 174¾ pounds, whereas Mills came in at 170½.
Lesnevich, who was a 1/3 betting favourite, suffered from cuts over the eyes from the opening round as Mills started strongly. The fight then settled down into a "remarkably dull" affair, which drew boos from the crowd and saw both men warned by the referee Teddy Waltham for the lack of action. In the tenth round, Mills rallied and floored Lesnevich heavily on two occasions. Lesnevich launched a "savage attack" in the twelfth and thirteenth rounds, but Mills responded in the last two sessions and at the end of fifteen rounds, the British boxer was awarded the decision by the referee.
Mills was set to defend his title against Lesnevich in September in New York, but the fight was cancelled due to Mills suffering severe headaches and bouts of dizziness since the July fight. In August medical opinion was sought and he was diagnosed with misaligned vertebrae at the base of the skull; It was decided that after two months rest and spinal treatment he could return to boxing.
In September 1948, Mills was challenged to a fight at light-heavyweight by Sugar Ray Robinson, but it was dismissed as "ridiculous" by promoter Jack Solomons.
Mills beat another heavyweight, Johnny Ralph, in Johannesburg in November 1948 in an eliminator for the Empire heavyweight title. Mills broke a metacarpal in his right hand during the fight.
In early 1949, after a well-received appearance with Arthur Askey on the radio show How Do You Do?, Mills expressed a desire to work in radio after his boxing career ended, stating "I am not going on fighting for ever. I've got some money now. I reckon that being on the radio would just about suit me." In March 1949, Mills signed a promotional contract with Solomons, which made any return fight with Lesnevich more likely to take place in Britain.
In June 1949, Mills challenged Bruce Woodcock for his British, Empire, and European heavyweight titles. The fight was also recognised as an eliminator for the British version of the World Heavyweight Championship. They fought at the White City Stadium, with Mills conceding twenty pounds in weight to his opponent. Mills bloodied the heavyweight's nose but was floored four times before being knocked out in the fourteenth round.
Shortly after the Woodcock fight, Mills expressed a willingness to defend his light-heavyweight title later that year, although he wanted the purse money to be spread over five years, for tax reasons, and to guarantee him an income for several years after retiring from the ring, Mills clearly not intending to keep fighting for much longer.
In September 1949, a contract was signed for Mills to defend his world title against American Joey Maxim. After several dates and venues were proposed, the fight was finally set for 24 January 1950 at Earls Court, London. Mills decided to leave long-time trainer Nat Sellers and train himself for the fight. Mills began strongly but Maxim, who "boxed beautifully", began to overhaul him. Mills, according to press reports, looked for a knockout win, but in the tenth round he was floored by a left right combination. Mills took the count in a sitting position before falling sideways and being counted out. Mills was assisted to his corner and was checked by a doctor before leaving the ring. He had fought the last four rounds with three of his teeth knocked out and one embedded in the gum of his upper jaw. Mills' reign as world champion was over, and the next day Broadribb announced that he had decided to retire, a decision made formal on 15 February when Mills wrote to BBBofC to confirm his retirement and to relinquish his British, European, and Empire light-heavyweight titles, aged 30.
Personal life
On 30 September 1948, Mills married Christine Marie McCorkindale ("Chrissie") (25 December 1913 - 4 November 1994) at Herne Hill Methodist Church. She had a son, Donnie, by former husband Don McCorkindale. They honeymooned in South Africa, where they stayed with McCorkindale, with whom Mills was good friends.
Mills and his wife went on to have two daughters, Susan Marhea (born 17 June 1952) and Amanda Christine Elizabeth (born 12 June 1958). They lived, with Donnie, at Joggi Villa in Denmark Hill in South London from June 1947.
Retirement and other business interests
Boxing management and promotion
A month after confirming his retirement, Mills was granted a manager's licence by the BBBofC, taking on Brixton heavyweight Terry O'Connor as his first boxer. In June 1950, Mills' autobiography, Twenty Years, was published. In 1951 he gained a promoter's licence and put on many successful events until the mid-1950s.
During the latter stages of his boxing career, Mills suffered from frequent headaches, which continued after his retirement. Mills taught boxing classes at the Streatham Youth Centre in the early 1960s.
In October 1962 his world championship belt was stolen from his car, but it was returned three days later with a note from the thief apologising for stealing it.
Entertainment
Mills made an appearance on the television show Rooftop Rendezvous in February 1950, earning praise for his comedy skills. In May 1950 he did his first television commentary on the Dennis Powell v. Mel Brown card at Birmingham, broadcast by the BBC, which saw him described as "discovery of the week" by the Daily Herald. In late 1950 he again appeared on radio as a presenter of the programme Calling All Forces. In March 1952 he was given a 12-week Saturday radio show by the BBC. In 1952 he made his first film appearance in Emergency Call, going on to take small rôles in a dozen films.
In September 1954 he was knocked unconscious during a TV sketch after being hit over the head with a real stool rather than the prop that should have been used. He made appearances on several other television and radio shows, and became a presenter on the BBC pop-music programme Six-Five Special from February 1957 until being dropped from the show in March 1958, although he returned for the final show at the end of the year. He went on to perform on stage as part of The Dickie Henderson Show later that year, staying with Henderson until the early 1960s. In 1959 he performed in Dick Whittington in Hulme, playing Idle Jack. In 1961 he appeared in a Summer stage show in Brighton with Alfred Marks.
He was the subject of This Is Your Life, when he was surprised by Eamonn Andrews in the foyer of London's Earls Court Exhibition Centre. The episode was broadcast on 2 January 1961.
By 1963, television appearances had become less frequent, although he appeared on variety show Big Night Out in January 1964.
Property, restaurant and night club
Mills began investing in property in the late 1940s, acquiring several houses and flats. In 1946 he opened the Freddie Mills Chinese Restaurant at 143 Charing Cross Road as a joint venture with Charles Luck and actor Andy Ho. He also briefly jointly owned a café in Peckham with his friend and investment adviser Bill Bavin. By 1963 the Chinese restaurant was no longer profitable, and Mills and Ho converted it to a nightclub ('The Freddie Mills Nite Spot') at a cost of around £12,000, re-opening in May that year. After initially hoping to make the club a family venue, they were pressured into allowing 'hostesses' to work there, unknown to Mills a euphemism for prostitutes. He became friends with the Kray Twins, notorious criminals who frequented his club. In August 1963 Mills and Ho started the Freddie Mills Theatrical Agency, based at the club.
After its initial success his nightclub began to fail and he tried to sell it, without success. He sold off what property he had but was in serious financial difficulty.
Death
On 24 July 1965, Mills was found dead in his car, parked in Goslett Yard, off an alleyway behind his nightclub. A fairground rifle was found in the car with Mills, who had been shot through his right eye.
He had told the nightclub staff that he was going for a nap in his car, something that he often did. His body was found at approximately 11:45 p.m. by doorman Robert Deacon.
An ambulance was not called until Mills' wife arrived over an hour later. A week or two previously, he had borrowed a 0.22 calibre rifle from May Ronaldson, whom he knew from his boxing booth days, and who ran a shooting gallery. Although the rifle was not in working order when borrowed, it had apparently been repaired and was found in the car alongside him.
For whatever reason, still unknown and with no police in attendance, ambulance personnel removed Mills from his car, disturbing a possible crime scene, and transported his body to the Middlesex Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
The investigation into his death initially assumed murder, but within a couple of days, the police had decided not to investigate it as such. The coroner's inquest heard that the angle of the bullet was consistent with a self-inflicted wound, and it ruled his death a suicide.
Mills's funeral took place at St. Giles’ Parish Church, Camberwell, and he was buried in Camberwell New Cemetery, South London. The pallbearers included boxing promoter Jack Solomons, British Heavyweight Champion Henry Cooper, the Secretary of the BBBofC, Teddy Waltham, and entertainer Bruce Forsyth (who also gave the funeral address). His grave has a marble boxing glove on it, beneath which is an urn containing a real boxing glove.
Despite the wealth that Mills had gained from his boxing career (estimated at £100,000), and his property investments that earned him around £3,000 per year, Mills died with a net figure of only £387 to his name. His club had been up for sale since June 1963, but he had been unable to find a buyer. At the time of his death, he was heavily in debt to a crime syndicate, which led him to be both depressed and in fear of his life. He was rumoured to be making a stand against protection racketeers shortly before his death, a theory backed up by gangland enforcer Johnny Bradbury, who gave the name of the man he believed was responsible for killing Mills to the police, but they were unable to find evidence to pursue the matter. Two weeks before his death, Mills and Ho had been fined for liquor and gaming offences committed at the club, and Mills had asked for a catering job at a pub near his home.
A star-studded benefit show, The Freddie Mills Night, was staged in February 1966 to raise money to support his widow and children.
Following his death, several lurid theories sprang up, such as that Mills, married with children, had been arrested in a public toilet and charged with indecency, and that his suicide had been staged by Chinese gangsters who were seeking to take over his club. In 2002, a book about Mills by former journalist Michael Litchfield contained allegations that at the time of his death he was about to be exposed as the serial killer known as "Jack the Stripper", the unidentified person responsible for the eight Hammersmith nude murders in 1964–65. Litchfield also claimed that Mills had had a homosexual relationship with singer Michael Holliday, and possibly also was sexually involved with notorious gangster Ronnie Kray.
Mills's family and friends did not accept the suicide verdict, and according to Bavin, his widow received a phone call some time after his death from a woman who told her who was responsible for killing him. In 1968, Leonard "Nipper" Read began investigating the case again at Chrissie's behest. There were some inconsistencies regarding the death: two shots had been fired in the car, one from a front seat which hit the nearside front door, and the one that had killed Mills while he was sitting on the car's back seat, Mills's body was found with its hands resting on his knees and the gun in a position out of Mills's reach, and there were no fingerprints found on it.
In November 1970, police began investigating again after a constituent had told MP Michael O'Halloran that a man had admitted killing Mills, although the investigation was soon ended.
Phoenix Television produced a documentary about the death of Mills, Murder in Soho: Who Killed Freddie Mills? Directed by Simon Dales, it was first broadcast by the BBC on 1 August 2018. The film explored the possibility that American mobster, Meyer Lansky, colluded in the killing of Mills; Roger Huntman, said his father, Benny Huntman, a boxing manager was involved in the murder.
Evaluation as a boxer
The boxing statistics site BoxRec rates Mills as the fourteenth-best British boxer of all time, the second-best British boxer of all time in the light-heavyweight division (behind John Conteh), and the thirty-sixth-best light-heavyweight in the history of boxing.
Selected filmography
Emergency Call (1952) - Tim Mahoney
One Jump Ahead (1955) - Bert Tarrant
Fun at St. Fanny's (1955) - Harry The Scar
Breakaway (1955) - Pat
Kill Me Tomorrow (1957) - Waxy Lister
Six-Five Special (1958) - Studio Commissionaire / Lighting Man
Chain of Events (1958) - Tiny
Carry On Constable (1960) - Jewel Thief
Carry On Regardless (1961) - Lefty
This Is Your Life (1961) S.6 Ed.16
Saturday Night Out (1964) - Joe
The Comedy Man (1964) - Indian Chief (uncredited)
Joey Boy (1965) - Sergeant (uncredited) (final film role)
Professional boxing record
See also
List of light heavyweight boxing champions
List of British light-heavyweight boxing champions
References
Sources
Bavin, Bill (1975) The Strange Death of Freddie Mills, Howard Baker Press,
External links
Freddie Mills - CBZ Profile
1919 births
1965 suicides
English male boxers
Light-heavyweight boxers
People from Parkstone
Sportspeople from Dorset
Suicides by firearm in England
Sportspeople from Bournemouth
1965 deaths
Royal Air Force personnel of World War II
BBC television presenters
20th-century English male actors
Royal Air Force airmen
Royal Air Force Physical Training instructors
|
412119
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe%20Bugner
|
Joe Bugner
|
József Kreul Bugner (born 13 March 1950) is a former heavyweight professional boxer and actor. He holds triple nationality, being a citizen of Hungary and a naturalised citizen of both Australia and the United Kingdom. He unsuccessfully challenged Muhammad Ali for the heavyweight championship in 1975, losing by a unanimous decision. As an actor, he is best known for his role in the 1994 action film Street Fighter alongside Jean-Claude Van Damme and Raul Julia.
Born in Szőreg, a southeastern suburb of Szeged in southern Hungary, Bugner and his family fled after the 1956 Soviet invasion and settled in Britain. Standing at with a prime weight of around , Bugner twice held the British and British Commonwealth heavyweight titles and was a three-time European heavyweight champion. He was ranked among the world's top ten heavyweights of the 1970s, fighting such opponents as Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, Ron Lyle, Jimmy Ellis, Manuel Ramos, Chuck Wepner, Earnie Shavers, Henry Cooper, Brian London, Mac Foster, Rudie Lubbers, Eduardo Corletti, Jurgen Blin and George Johnson. The Telegraph also ranked him among the top ten British heavyweight boxers of all time
Bugner retired from boxing in 1976 but made sporadic comebacks over the next two decades with varying success. He moved to Australia in 1986, adopting the nickname "Aussie Joe," beating fighters such as Greg Page, David Bey, Anders Eklund and James Tillis before retiring again after a TKO loss to Frank Bruno in 1987. He made a final comeback during the 1990s, winning the Australian heavyweight title in 1995 and the lightly regarded World Boxing Federation (WBF) heavyweight championship in 1998 at the age of 48 against James "Bonecrusher" Smith. He retired for the last time in 1999 with a final record of 69-13-1, including 43 wins by knockout.
Early years
Bugner and his family fled to the United Kingdom in the late 1950s because of the Soviet Union's invasion of Hungary in 1956 after the Hungarian Uprising of that year. Initially, he was one of about 80 refugees housed in the students' Hostel at Smedley's factory in Wisbech. They settled in the Huntingdonshire town of St Ives near the Fens. So, as local custom dictated, he was known as a Fen Tiger. Bugner excelled in sports at school and was the national junior discus champion in 1964. He lived and trained in Bedford during his early boxing years; he was a regular at Bedford Boys Club under the training of Paul King and attended Goldington Road School in Bedford.
Boxing career
1960s
Throughout his brief amateur career, Bugner competed sixteen times, winning thirteen matches. On the recommendation of his then-trainer and buddy, Andy Smith, he became a professional in 1967 (at the very young age of 17). Smith was unhappy with the choice of Bugner's opponents and believed that he could better control the quality of his opponents if Bugner turned professional. He had a losing debut against Paul Brown on 20 December 1967 at the London Hilton, where he suffered a TKO in the third round. Showing gritty determination after his debut, the teenage Bugner went on to win a remarkable 18 consecutive fights in under two years during 1968 and 1969 (including 13 stoppage victories) before narrowly losing to the older and vastly more experienced Dick Hall. He bounced back and rounded off the 1960s with three further stoppage victories.
1970s
In 1970 Bugner emerged internationally as an outstanding young prospect, and by the end of the year, he was world-rated. He won nine consecutive bouts that year, including victories over well-known boxers such as Chuck Wepner, Manuel Ramos, Johnny Prescott, Brian London, Eduardo Corletti, Charley Polite, and George Johnson.
Bugner was now positioned to challenge world-rated Englishman Henry Cooper, who had nearly knocked out Muhammad Ali a few years previously, for Cooper's British, British Commonwealth and European titles. However, because Bugner was still too young to fight for the British Commonwealth title (the minimum age was twenty-one years old at the time), this much-anticipated bout had to be postponed until the following year. While waiting to come of age, in 1971, he defeated Carl Gizzi and drew with Bill Drover just weeks later and weeks before facing Cooper.
Early in his professional years, Bugner earned a reputation as a tough, durable but often exceptionally defensive and cautious boxer; he retained that image for the rest of his career. He was often criticised for lacking natural aggression in the ring. Some observers argued that Bugner's heart was never in boxing after an early opponent, Ulric Regis, died from brain injuries soon after being outpointed by Bugner at London's Shoreditch Town Hall. Many said that Bugner never punched his full weight after that.
Defeat of Henry Cooper
In March 1971, Bugner finally met veteran Cooper, and won a fifteen-round decision. Bugner won the bout by the slimmest of margins, 1/4 point, on the card of the lone official, Harry Gibbs. The British sporting public and press were deeply divided about the verdict. Many felt that Cooper deserved the decision due to his steady aggression. But Bugner fought effectively on the defence and often scored with his left jab, and in the opinion of many, was the rightful winner of the bout. The Times, among others, scored the fight in favour of Bugner. Still, the outcome of the bout is regarded as one of the most controversial in British boxing history.
Nonetheless, Bugner was now the British, British Commonwealth, and European champion, and for the first time, he was ranked among the world's top ten heavyweights. Bugner would remain in the world ratings for most of the 1970s.
Bugner retained his European title with a decision over tough German heavyweight Jürgen Blin.
However, later in 1971, Bugner surprisingly lost decisions to underdogs Jack Bodell and Larry Middleton; sandwiched between these losses was a victory over Mike Boswell. The Bodell fight was particularly costly, depriving Bugner of his British, British Commonwealth and European championships. Bugner's relative inexperience, his youth and lack of an extensive amateur background were the chief causes of these defeats.
In 1972 Bugner won eight consecutive fights, including a knockout over Jürgen Blin for the European championship. By the end of this, Bugner demonstrated much-improved ring ability and acquired enough experience that his manager began seeking matches against the world's best heavyweights.
Prime years
In 1973 Bugner began the year by retaining his European belt with a victory over the capable Dutchman Rudie Lubbers. The 23-year-old Bugner then lost twelve-round decisions to Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier. Despite being clearly defeated, Bugner fought well and won the respect of the boxing media and the public alike. After their bout, Ali declared that Bugner was capable of being world champion. Ali's trainer Angelo Dundee later echoed that sentiment. The fight with Frazier in July 1973 at Earls Court in London was deemed a classic. After being knocked down by a tremendous left hook in the tenth round, Bugner arose and staggered Frazier to close the round. Frazier took the decision, but only narrowly, and arguably only George Foreman and Muhammad Ali ever gave Frazier a harder fight. Many regard the Frazier bout as being Bugner's best career performance.
After the Ali and Frazier fights, Bugner won a further 8 bouts in a row, his most notable victories being over ex-WBA World Heavyweight Champion Jimmy Ellis, and Mac Foster. By the end of 1974, Bugner was rated among the top five heavyweight contenders in the world.
Bugner challenged Muhammad Ali for the world championship in June 1975, the bout being held in Kuala Lumpur, with Ali winning a relatively one-sided fifteen-round decision. Bugner performed fairly well but maintained a strictly defensive posture throughout most of this fight, perhaps due to the blistering tropical heat, and as a result, he was widely scorned by the media and public. In an interview during an April 2008 reunion with Henry Cooper, Bugner defended his tactics in the Ali fight as having been necessary due to the extreme temperature and humidity of the outside venue.
Regains British, European & Commonwealth titles
Early in 1976, Bugner announced his retirement from boxing, stating that he no longer felt motivated to fight professionally. Within months however he returned to the ring, expressing disgust at Richard Dunn's performance against Ali and in October, he blasted out Richard Dunn in the first round to reclaim the British, British Commonwealth and European championships. Onlookers state that they had never seen Bugner angry before and that while Dunn's supporters had waged a quite unsportsmanlike campaign against Bugner, if he had fought like that in his earlier career, he could have gone further.
In 1977, Bugner lost a close twelve-round decision away from home to top contender Ron Lyle. The scores were 57–53 and 56–54 for Lyle against 55–54 for Bugner. After this bout, Bugner again retired, making only sporadic comebacks to the ring over the next decades.
1980s
Bugner returned to the ring for brief periods in the 1980s and 1990s but was never as effective as he had been during his prime due to his age and inactivity.
After a three-year absence from the ring, Bugner returned in May 1980, knocking out fringe contender Gilberto Acuna, before promptly retiring again. In 1982, a ring-rusty Bugner (having had only one short fight in 5 years and weighing in some 25 lbs above his prime fighting weight) fought the hard-hitting top contender Earnie Shavers, but was stopped in the second round due to a badly cut eye. However, Bugner decided to continue his comeback, stopping the useful John Denis and fringe contender Danny Sutton, as well as domestic contenders Winston Allen and Eddie Neilson. In 1983, a subdued and unmotivated Bugner lost to Marvis Frazier, showing little ambition throughout the bout. He followed this with a decision over future European champion Anders Eklund and a controversial loss to future World Title challenger Steffen Tangstad. Bugner appeared to have done enough to win the Tangstad fight, however, like with the Frazier and Eklund bouts, he appeared unmotivated and uninterested throughout.
Comeback in Australia
In 1986 Bugner moved to Australia, where he adopted the nickname Aussie Joe after becoming an Australian citizen. In Australia, Bugner launched a fairly successful comeback, earning good victories over world title contenders James Tillis and David Bey and an impressive victory over former WBA heavyweight champion Greg Page, gaining a world ranking in the process, after which he spoke of challenging reigning heavyweight champion Mike Tyson. However, there was great clamour for a fight with fellow Briton Frank Bruno. The bout was touted as the biggest all-British heavyweight bout since Cooper Vs Bugner in 1971. The bout took place on 24 October 1987, and Bugner suffered an eighth-round TKO loss to the much younger and fresher world title contender for the Commonwealth championship in front of a huge crowd at White Hart Lane football stadium. Bugner promptly retired again following this defeat, only his 3rd stoppage defeat in 20 years.
1990s
Inspired by the 45-year-old George Foreman's recapture of the heavyweight title, Bugner made a final comeback in 1995, beating Vince Cervi to win the Australian heavyweight title, followed by a win over West Turner. Bugner then fought fellow Briton and world title contender Scott Welch for the WBO Intercontinental Heavyweight Title. Welch proved too young and fresh for the now 46-year-old Bugner, handing him a TKO defeat in the 6th round.
Bugner continued to fight on against far younger opponents. In 1996 he defeated the respectable Young Haumona for the Pacific and Australasian Heavyweight title, retained it against Waisiki Ligaloa in 1997, added the Australian title by defeating the tough Colin Wilson and defending both titles against Bob Mirovic in 1998.
In 1998 Bugner's long-term tenacity finally gave him a world crown, albeit a lightly regarded title - the WBF version of the heavyweight crown - by defeating former WBA World Heavyweight Champion James "Bonecrusher" Smith. At the age of 48 years and 110 days, it made him the oldest ever boxer to hold a minor championship belt.
Bugner fought just once more. In June 1999, at the age of 49, he defeated the durable fringe contender Levi Billups, who was disqualified for low blows.
Fight record
His record for 83 professional fights is 69 wins (41 on knockouts), 13 Losses and 1 Draw.
In an interview in 2004, Bugner said that the hardest puncher he had ever faced was Earnie Shavers and the biggest beating he took was from Ron Lyle.
Life outside boxing
After moving to Australia, Bugner and his wife, Marlene, opened a vineyard. It failed in 1989, and he lost an estimated two million Australian dollars. He now lives in Brisbane, Queensland.
Bugner has worked in the film industry. During the 1970s, he appeared in one of several PSAs themed Be Smart, Be Safe; these dealt with instructing children on how to safely cross a road or a street. In 1979 Bugner featured in an Italian film, Io sto con gli ippopotami with Bud Spencer and Terence Hill, he worked with Bud Spencer in his films in the 1980s. He worked as the expert adviser on the Russell Crowe film, Cinderella Man, which was a film about the heavyweight boxer James J. Braddock. Bugner was dropped part way through the project, which prompted him to call Crowe, "a gutless worm and a f*****g girl".
Bugner suffers from a serious back injury he sustained from training for fights in his middle years. He also has financial problems. These financial problems prompted him to re-enter the ring at such an advanced age. A benefit was held for Bugner in 2008 by Kevin Lueshing.
In November 2009, Bugner replaced Camilla Dallerup on day 4 of the British TV show I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here!. He left the show on day 16 after losing a bushtucker trial called 'Jungle Jail' to fellow celebrity Stuart Manning.
Bugner has three children, James, Joe Jr., and Amy, from his ex-wife Melody.
Bugner's autobiography, Joe Bugner - My Story, was published by New Holland Publishing (Australia) in November 2013.
Professional boxing record
|-
| style="text-align:center;" colspan="9"|69 Wins (43 knockouts, 26 decisions, 2 disqualifications), 13 Losses (4 knockouts, 9 decisions), 1 Draw
|- style="text-align:center; background:#e3e3e3;"
| style="border-style:none none solid solid; "|Res.
| style="border-style:none none solid solid; "|Record
| style="border-style:none none solid solid; "|Opponent
| style="border-style:none none solid solid; "|Type
| style="border-style:none none solid solid; "|Rd., Time
| style="border-style:none none solid solid; "|Date
| style="border-style:none none solid solid; "|Location
| style="border-style:none none solid solid; "|Notes
|- align=center
|Win
|69-13-1
|align=left| Levi Billups
|DQ
|9
|1999-06-13
|align=left|Broadbeach, Australia
|
|- align=center
|Win
|68-13-1
|align=left| James Smith
|TKO
|1
|1998-07-04
|align=left|Carrara, Australia
|align=left|
|- align=center
|Win
|67-13-1
|align=left| Bob Mirovic
|SD
|12
|1998-04-20
|align=left|Carrara, Australia
|align=left|
|- align=center
|Win
|66-13-1
|align=left| Colin Wilson
|UD
|12
|1998-01-13
|align=left|Broadbeach, Australia
|align=left|
|- align=center
|Win
|65-13-1
|align=left| Waisiki Ligaloa
|TKO
|7
|1997-06-03
|align=left|Southport, Australia
|align=left|
|- align=center
|Win
|64-13-1
|align=left| Young Haumona
|KO
|5
|1996-07-05
|align=left|Carrara, Australia
|align=left|
|- align=center
|Loss
|63-13-1
|align=left| Scott Welch
|TKO
|6
|1996-03-16
|align=left|Berlin, Germany
|align=left|
|- align=center
|Win
|63-12-1
|align=left| West Turner
|KO
|3
|1996-02-02
|align=left|Perth, Australia
|
|- align=center
|Win
|62-12-1
|align=left| Vince Cervi
|UD
|12
|1995-09-22
|align=left|Carrara, Australia
|align=left|
|- align=center
|Loss
|61-12-1
|align=left| Frank Bruno
|TKO
|8
|1987-10-24
|align=left|White Hart Lane, London
|
|- align=center
|Win
|61-11-1
|align=left| Greg Page
|UD
|10
|1987-07-24
|align=left|Sydney, Australia
|
|- align=center
|Win
|60-11-1
|align=left| David Bey
|UD
|10
|1986-11-14
|align=left|Sydney, Australia
|
|- align=center
|Win
|59-11-1
|align=left| James Tillis
|PTS
|10
|1986-09-15
|align=left|Sydney, Australia
|
|- align=center
|Loss
|58-11-1
|align=left| Steffen Tangstad
|SD
|10
|1984-02-18
|align=left|Copenhagen, Denmark
|
|- align=center
|Win
|58-10-1
|align=left| Anders Eklund
|MD
|10
|1984-01-13
|align=left|Randers, Denmark
|
|- align=center
|Loss
|57-10-1
|align=left| Marvis Frazier
|UD
|10
|1983-06-04
|align=left|Atlantic City, New Jersey
|
|- align=center
|Win
|57-9-1
|align=left| Danny Sutton
|TKO
|9
|1983-04-20
|align=left|Muswell Hill, London
|
|- align=center
|Win
|56-9-1
|align=left| John Dino Denis
|TKO
|3
|1983-02-16
|align=left|Wood Green, London
|
|- align=center
|Win
|55-9-1
|align=left| Eddie Neilson
|TKO
|5
|1982-12-09
|align=left|Bloomsbury, London
|
|- align=center
|Win
|54-9-1
|align=left| Winston Allen
|KO
|3
|1982-10-28
|align=left|Bloomsbury, London
|
|- align=center
|Loss
|53-9-1
|align=left| Earnie Shavers
|TKO
|2
|1982-05-08
|align=left|Reunion Arena, Dallas
|align=left|
|- align=center
|Win
|53-8-1
|align=left| Gilberto Acuna
|TKO
|6
|1980-08-23
|align=left|Inglewood, California
|align=left|
|- align=center
|Loss
|52-8-1
|align=left| Ron Lyle
|SD
|12
|1977-03-20
|align=left|Caesars Palace, Nevada
|align=left|
|- align=center
|Won
|52-7-1
|align=left| Richard Dunn
|KO
|1
|1976-10-12
|align=left|Wembley, London
|align=left|
|- align=center
|Loss
|51-7-1
|align=left| Muhammad Ali
|UD
|15
||1975-07-01
|align=left|Merdeka Stadium, Kuala Lumpur
|align=left|
|- align=center
|Win
|51-6-1
|align=left| Dante Cane
|TKO
|5
|1975-02-28
|align=left|Bologna, Italy
|align=left|
|- align=center
|Win
|50-6-1
|align=left| Santiago Alberto Lovell
|TKO
|2
|1974-12-03
|align=left|Royal Albert Hall, London
|align=left|
|- align=center
|Win
|49-6-1
|align=left| Jimmy Ellis
|PTS
|10
|1974-11-12
|align=left|Wembley, London
|align=left|
|- align=center
|Win
|48-6-1
|align=left| Jose Luis Garcia
|KO
|2
|1974-10-01
|align=left|Wembley, London
|align=left|
|- align=center
|Win
|47-6-1
|align=left| Piermario Baruzzi
|TKO
|10
|1974-05-29
|align=left|Copenhagen, Denmark
|align=left|
|- align=center
|Win
|46-6-1
|align=left| Pat Duncan
|PTS
|10
|1974-03-12
|align=left|Wembley, London
|align=left|
|- align=center
|Win
|45-6-1
|align=left| Mac Foster
|PTS
|10
|1973-11-13
|align=left|Wembley, London
|align=left|
|- align=center
|Win
|44-6-1
|align=left| Giuseppe Ros
|PTS
|15
|1973-10-02
|align=left|Royal Albert Hall, London
|align=left|
|- align=center
|Loss
|43-6-1
|align=left| Joe Frazier
|PTS
|12
|1973-07-02
|align=left|Earls Court, London
|align=left|
|- align=center
|Loss
|43-5-1
|align=left| Muhammad Ali
|UD
|12
|1973-02-14
|align=left|Las Vegas, Nevada
|align=left|
|- align=center
|Win
|43-4-1
|align=left| Rudie Lubbers
|UD
|15
|1973-01-16
|align=left|Royal Albert Hall, London
|align=left|
|- align=center
|Win
|42-4-1
|align=left| Dante Cane
|TKO
|6
|1972-11-28
|align=left|Ice Rink, Nottingham
|align=left|
|- align=center
|Win
|41-4-1
|align=left| Tony Doyle
|TKO
|8
|1972-11-14
|align=left|Wembley, London
|align=left|
|- align=center
|Win
|40-4-1
|align=left| Jürgen Blin
|KO
|8
|1972-10-10
|align=left|Royal Albert Hall, London
|align=left|
|- align=center
|Win
|39-4-1
|align=left| Paul Nielsen
|TKO
|6
|1972-07-19
|align=left|Croke Park, Dublin
|align=left|
|- align=center
|Win
|38-4-1
|align=left| Doug Kirk
|TKO
|5
|1972-06-06
|align=left|Royal Albert Hall, London
|align=left|
|- align=center
|Win
|37-4-1
|align=left| Marc Hans
|TKO
|3
|1972-05-09
|align=left|Wembley, London
|align=left|
|- align=center
|Win
|36-4-1
|align=left| Leroy Caldwell
|DQ
|5
|1972-04-25
|align=left|Royal Albert Hall, London
|align=left|
|- align=center
|Win
|35-4-1
|align=left| Brian O'Melia
|TKO
|2
|1972-03-28
|align=left|Wembley, London
|align=left|
|- align=center
|Loss
|34-4-1
|align=left| Larry Middleton
|PTS
|10
|1971-11-24
|align=left|Ice Rink, Nottingham
|
|- align=center
|Win
|34-3-1
|align=left| Mike Boswell
|UD
|10
|1971-11-17
|align=left|Houston, Texas
|align=left|
|- align=center
|Loss
|33-3-1
|align=left| Jack Bodell
|PTS
|15
|1971-09-27
|align=left|Wembley, London
|align=left|
|- align=center
|Win
|33-2-1
|align=left| Jürgen Blin
|PTS
|15
|1971-05-11
|align=left|Wembley, London
|align=left|
|- align=center
|Win
|32-2-1
|align=left| Henry Cooper
|PTS
|15
|1971-03-16
|align=left|Wembley, London
|align=left|
|- align=center
|style="background: #B0C4DE"|Draw
|31-2-1
|align=left| Bill Drover
|PTS
|10
|1971-02-10
|align=left|Bethnal Green, London
|align=left|
|- align=center
|Win
|31-2
|align=left| Carl Gizzi
|PTS
|10
|1971-01-19
|align=left|Royal Albert Hall, London
|
|- align=center
|Win
|30-2
|align=left| Miguel Angel Paez
|TKO
|3
|1970-12-08
|align=left|Royal Albert Hall, London
|
|- align=center
|Win
|29-2
|align=left| George Johnson
|PTS
|10
|1970-11-03
|align=left|Royal Albert Hall, London
|
|- align=center
|Win
|28-2
|align=left| Hector Eduardo Corletti
|PTS
|10
|1970-10-06
|align=left|Royal Albert Hall, London
|align=left|
|- align=center
|Win
|27-2
|align=left| Chuck Wepner
|TKO
|3
|1970-09-08
|align=left|Wembley, London
|align=left|
|- align=center
|Win
|26-2
|align=left| Brian London
|TKO
|5
|1970-05-12
|align=left|Wembley, London
|align=left|
|- align=center
|Win
|25-2
|align=left| Ray Patterson
|PTS
|8
|1970-04-21
|align=left|Royal Albert Hall, London
|
|- align=center
|Win
|24-2
|align=left| Manuel Ramos
|PTS
|4
|1970-03-24
|align=left|Wembley, London
|
|- align=center
|Win
|23-2
|align=left| Roberto Davila
|TKO
|4
|1970-02-10
|align=left|Picadilly, London
|
|- align=center
|Win
|22-2
|align=left| Johnny Prescott
|PTS
|8
|1970-01-20
|align=left|Royal Albert Hall, London
|
|- align=center
|Win
|21-2
|align=left| Charley Polite
|TKO
|3
|1969-12-09
|align=left|Royal Albert Hall, London
|
|- align=center
|Win
|20-2
|align=left| Eddie Talhami
|TKO
|4
|1969-11-11
|align=left|Royal Albert Hall, London
|
|- align=center
|Win
|19-2
|align=left| Phil Smith
|TKO
|2
|1969-10-14
|align=left|Royal Albert Hall, London
|
|- align=center
|Loss
|18-2
|align=left| Dick Hall
|PTS
|8
|1969-08-04
|align=left|Hotel Piccadilly, Manchester
|
|- align=center
|Win
|18-1
|align=left| Moses Harrell
|PTS
|8
|1969-06-09
|align=left|Belle Vue, Manchester
|
|- align=center
|Win
|17-1
|align=left| Tony Ventura
|PTS
|8
|1969-05-20
|align=left|Royal Albert Hall, London
|
|- align=center
|Win
|16-1
|align=left| Jack O'Halloran
|PTS
|8
|1969-04-15
|align=left|Royal Albert Hall, London
|
|- align=center
|Win
|15-1
|align=left| Lion Ven
|TKO
|5
|1969-03-25
|align=left|Wembley, London
|
|- align=center
|Win
|14-1
|align=left| Ulric Regis
|PTS
|8
|1969-03-11
|align=left|Shoreditch, London
|
|- align=center
|Win
|13-1
|align=left| Terry Feeley
|TKO
|1
|1969-02-25
|align=left|Royal Albert Hall, London
|
|- align=center
|Win
|12-1
|align=left| Rudolph Vaughan
|TKO
|2
|1969-01-21
|align=left|Kensington, London
|
|- align=center
|Win
|11-1
|align=left| George Dulaire
|TKO
|4
|1968-12-19
|align=left|Bethnal Green, London
|
|- align=center
|Win
|10-1
|align=left| Gene Innocent
|TKO
|3
|1968-11-12
|align=left|Wembley, London
|
|- align=center
|Win
|9-1
|align=left| Paul Brown
|TKO
|3
|1968-11-04
|align=left|Connaught Rooms, London
|
|- align=center
|Win
|8-1
|align=left| Vic Moore
|TKO
|1
|1968-10-08
|align=left|Royal Albert Hall, London
|
|- align=center
|Win
|7-1
|align=left| Obe Hepburn
|TKO
|1
|1968-08-18
|align=left|Wembley, London
|
|- align=center
|Win
|6-1
|align=left| Paul Brown
|TKO
|4
|1968-05-28
|align=left|Royal Albert Hall, London
|
|- align=center
|Win
|5-1
|align=left| Billy Wynter
|PTS
|6
|1968-05-21
|align=left|Bethnal Green, London
|
|- align=center
|Win
|4-1
|align=left| Mick Oliver
|RTD
|3
|1968-05-06
|align=left|Mayfair, London
|
|- align=center
|Win
|3-1
|align=left| Bert Johnson
|KO
|3
|1968-03-26
|align=left|Bethnal Green, London
|
|- align=center
|Win
|2-1
|align=left| Jim McIlvaney
|TKO
|2
|1968-02-27
|align=left|Bethnal Green, London
|
|- align=center
|Win
|1-1
|align=left| Paul Cassidy
|TKO
|2
|1968-01-30
|align=left|Bethnal Green, London
|
|- align=center
|Loss
|0-1
|align=left| Paul Brown
|KO
|3
|1967-12-20
|align=left|Mayfair, London
|
Exhibition boxing record
References
External links
Career Record Extended
1950 births
Sportspeople from Szeged
Australian male boxers
Heavyweight boxers
Australian people of Hungarian descent
Hungarian emigrants
Immigrants to the United Kingdom
Living people
People from St Ives, Cambridgeshire
European Boxing Union champions
English male boxers
Commonwealth Boxing Council champions
Immigrants to Australia
Sportspeople from Cambridgeshire
Naturalised citizens of Australia
Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom
|
412143
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Llangollen%20Canal
|
Llangollen Canal
|
The Llangollen Canal () is a navigable canal crossing the border between England and Wales. The waterway links Llangollen in Denbighshire, north Wales, with Hurleston in south Cheshire, via the town of Ellesmere, Shropshire. The name, which was coined in the 1980s, is a modern designation for parts of the historic Ellesmere Canal and the Llangollen navigable feeder, both of which became part of the Shropshire Union Canals in 1846.
The Ellesmere Canal was proposed by industrialists at Ruabon and Brymbo, and two disconnected sections were built. The northern section ran from Ellesmere Port on the River Mersey to Chester, where it joined the Chester Canal, and opened in 1795. Work on the southern section began at Frankton, with a line southwards to Llanymynech, and subsequently, a second section was built westwards towards Trevor. This involved crossing the Afon Ceiriog and the River Dee, which was achieved by building two vast aqueducts, using iron troughs to contain the water. The Ceiriog was crossed at Chirk, and Chirk Aqueduct opened in 1801, to exploit local supplies of iron and coal. The canal then passed through Chirk Tunnel, and reached the southern end of Pontcysyllte Aqueduct in 1802, which was not completed until 1805. To join the two halves up, a heavily engineered route from Trevor Basin via Ruabon and Brymbo to the River Dee at Chester was planned, but very little of it was built. Instead, the present route from Frankton to Hurleston Junction on the Chester Canal was constructed, and opened in 1805. As the route never reached the water reservoir at Moss Valley, Wrexham (built in 1786), a navigable feeder was built to Llantisilio where the Horseshoe Falls weir was constructed on the River Dee to supply the canal.
As part of the Shropshire Union system, the canal from Hurleston to Llangollen thrived until the end of the First World War, after which it saw very little traffic. Navigation was formally abandoned under the terms of an Act of Abandonment obtained by the owners, the London Midland and Scottish Railway, in 1944, but the channel was retained as it still supplied water to the main line of the Shropshire Union, and subsequently to the Mid & South East Cheshire Water Board. This arrangement was due to end in 1954, but as there was no alternative supply of water, the powers were extended. Early pioneering cruises of the waterway were made by Tom Rolt in 1947 and 1949, and despite it being officially closed, a number of boats started to use it. There was a growing campaign to reopen it, but it was still designated as one of the 'waterways having insufficient commercial prospects to justify their retention for navigation' under government papers published in 1955 and 1958. It was not until the passing of the Transport Act 1968 that the route was finally designated as a cruiseway, and its future was secured. As leisure use of the canals grew, the route was rebranded as "The Llangollen Canal" in the 1980s, and it has become one of the most popular routes for holidaymakers. Its importance in the history of the British canal system was recognised in 2009, when the stretch from Gledrid Bridge near Rhoswiel to Horseshoe Falls including Pontcysyllte and Chirk aqueducts was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
History
A grand plan for the Ellesmere Canal was first proposed in 1791 by a small group of industrialists who owned coal mines, iron mines and other works near Ruabon. They wanted to link their area to the River Mersey in the north and the River Severn to the south. The northward section would link up with the Chester Canal and hence the River Dee before continuing to the Mersey at Netherpool (now Ellesmere Port). The southerly section of the waterway would pass through Overton before heading towards Shrewsbury. There would be branches to Bersham and Brymbo, where there were ironworks, to Llanymynech, where limestone was being quarried, and it would run past Whitchurch to Prees. A rival group proposed a branch from the Chester Canal to reach Ruabon, via Whitchurch, with additional lines to Llanymynech and Shrewsbury. There was support for the plans of the first group, and work began, but twelve years later, the plans of the second group had largely been implemented.
John Duncombe, an engineer who was one of the original promoters, and Joseph Turner estimated that the main line to Netherpool and to Shrewsbury would cost £67,456, while the whole scheme, including the branches, would cost £171,098. The promoters then decided they needed an engineer with a track record to advise them, and engaged the services of William Jessop, to be assisted by Duncombe and William Turner. Jessop proposed a somewhat different route south of Chester. It was the time of Canal Mania, and when subscriptions were opened, 1,234 subscribers offered a total of £967,700, of which £245,500 was actually accepted. In February 1793, the two groups decided to work together, and a host of deviations and alterations were made to the plans, for which an Act of Parliament was obtained on 30 April 1793. A capital of £400,000 was authorised, with powers to raise an additional £100,000 if required, and Jessop was appointed as engineer, to be assisted by Duncombe, Thomas Denson and William Turner. On 30 October, Thomas Telford was also engaged.
Work began on the route southwards from Netherpool in November 1793, and packet boats started to run along it from 1 July 1795, although it was not quite finished. Three locks to connect it to the Mersey were completed in early 1796, and coal was first carried to Chester in February. The connection to the Chester Canal took a little longer, and was completed in January 1797. The company were keen to develop the trade in limestone from Llanymynech, and cutting of the canal southwards from Frankton began in early 1794. At the time, plans for the Montgomeryshire Canal were before Parliament, which would continue southwards from Carreghofa, just beyond Llanymynech. With four locks at Frankton, and another three at Aston, the line to Carreghofa was opened in autumn 1796, and a good trade in limestone northwards, and goods southwards to the Montgomeryshire Canal, developed.
Progress north-westwards from Frankton towards Trevor was hampered by the need to cross two rivers, the Afon Ceiriog at Chirk and the Dee at Pontcysyllte. Both would require tall aqueducts, but to save construction costs at Pontcysylle, plans were drawn up for three locks at each end, to reduce the height of the main arches by . However, on 14 July 1795 Jessop proposed that the aqueduct should be built above the Dee, and that the costs should be saved by using an iron trough. He also proposed a similar trough at Chirk, instead of an embankment at Pont-faen, writing that "instead of an obstruction it would be a romantic feature in the view", and this was a major factor in persuading the landowner to allow it to be built at Chirk, rather than at Pont-faen. The foundation stone for Pontcysyllte was laid on 25 July 1795, although the committee did not formally approve the new plans until 10 August.
Again, the company was keen to get trade moving on the canal, and pressed on with the line from Chirk to Frankton. The Vron Ironworks were at Chirk, with coal mines nearby, and goods from Ruabon could also be brought there by road, until the canal was completed. Work started on the Chirk aqueduct in January 1796, and when finished, it was long with ten arches, each with a span of , carrying the canal above the Afon Ceiriog. It was constructed with a cast-iron bottom to the trough, but the sides were of masonry, an unusual choice given the decision to use a cast-iron trough at Pontcysyllte. The section from Chirk to Frankton included six locks and was completed in 1801. The section onwards through Chirk and Whitehouses tunnels, to reach the southern end of Pontcysyllte, opened in June 1802.
In July 1795, the company hired contractors to start work on the branch from Hordley, near Frankton locks, to Westoncommon, which was completed in 1797. A wharf, public house, stables and other features were constructed near Westoncommon, and four lime kilns were built, to burn lime from Llanymynech using coal from Chirk. Plans for this branch to continue onwards to Shrewsbury were dropped, because lime from Weston would have to compete with that brought along the Shrewsbury Canal, and coal to supply the domestic market at Shrewsbury would not be available until Pontcysyllte aqueduct was completed. It did not appear that the route would be profitable, and this remained true when the plans were reconsidered subsequently.
Joining the two halves
Plans for joining the southern sections to the northern one were revisited by Telford in 1795, and after approval by Jessop, were authorised by Act of Parliament in 1796. They involved a heavily engineered line from Trevor to Chester, via Ruabon to the Dee at Chester, with a branch to Coed Talon, which would serve the Brymbo ironworks near Ffrwd. Locks would lift the line by from Trevor basin to Plas Kynaston, after which it would run on the level to Poolmouth and the junction with the Coed Talon Branch. It would then descend through a long flight of locks, roughly following the line of the later Chester to Wrexham railway, to enter the Dee opposite the branch to the Chester Canal. A second branch would run from Pulford to Farndon and Holt. Just over of the Coed Talon branch was built, to a basin near Ffrwd, and although it was filled with water, it seems that it was never used, and was filled in again from 1809.
In early 1794, a shareholder and a local landowner took out a patent for a canal lift, and offered to build a trial one. If it proved successful, then the Ellesmere company would pay for it, and if not, the inventors would meet the costs. A site was chosen on the proposed line, and by May 1796, it was ready for trials to begin. John Rennie and Jessop examined it, but like several similar ideas of the time, it was not felt to be robust enough to withstand the rigours of daily use. The company eventually paid £200 to the inventors, one quarter of the actual costs. Jessop decided in 1800 that the route between Trevor and Chester should be abandoned, due to the changes in circumstances, and coal being available in Chester from a number of other locations.
The Chester Canal, which had not been a financial success, had hoped that links with the Ellesmere Canal would improve their prospects, but when the Ellesmere Act of 1796 had failed to mention any connection with the Chester Canal, they had taken action, and had cut off the water supply to the northern section from Chester to Ellesmere Port. When agreement was reached on a new line from Frankton Junction to Whitchurch, the water supply was reinstated, and work on the new line started in February 1797. The work was difficult, as it had to cross Whixall Moss, and a tunnel was required near Ellesmere. It also included a branch to Prees Higher Heath, but only of this was built, terminating at Quina Brook, where the company built some limekilns. By 1804, the main line had reached Tilstock Park, some short of Whitchurch.
Further agreement had been reached in 1802 on a route from Tilstock Park to Hurleston Junction, on which work started immediately. It was completed on 25 March 1805. In order to keep the system supplied with water, an Act of Parliament obtained in 1804 had authorised the construction of a navigable feeder from the north end of Pontcysyllte aqueduct to Llangollen on onwards to Llantisilo, where the Horseshoe Falls weir would be constructed on the River Dee. Once this opened in 1808, the system was not short of water. The Ellesmere company attempted to buy out the Chester Canal in 1804, but the offer had been refused. In 1813, they agreed to an amalgamation, on terms much worse than those offered in 1804, and the two companies became one from 1 July 1813.
The network expanded with the opening of the Middlewich Branch on 1 September 1833, and the completion on the Birmingham and Liverpool Junction Canal from Nantwich Basin to Autherley on 2 March 1835. In May 1845, the Ellesmere and Chester Canal Company obtained an Act of Parliament to enable them to absorb the Birmingham and Liverpool Junction Canal, the Montgomeryshire Canal, the Shrewsbury Canal and the Shropshire Canal. The name was changed to the Shropshire Union Railways and Canal Company in 1846, with powers to build a number of railways or convert their canals into railways, but this vision was short-lived, and they agreed to a lease with the London and North Western Railway in late 1846. An Act of Parliament was obtained to authorise this in 1847, but was not formally enacted until 1857. This ended their aspirations to build railways, but they remained remarkably independent despite railway control. The Shropshire Union was absorbed by the London and North Western Railway in late 1922, which itself became part of the London Midland and Scottish Railway soon afterwards.
Decline
After the takeover by the London Midland and Scottish Railway, regular maintenance was often not carried out, and gradually the canals silted up, so that boats could not operate with full loads. Traffic declined, and was significantly affected by a breach that occurred at the Perry Aqueduct, about to the south of Frankton locks, which effectively closed the Montgomeryshire Canal to all traffic. Traffic beyond Frankton to Llangollen had ceased in 1937, and the Frankton to Hurleston section was not used after 1939. The London Midland and Scottish Railway obtained an Act of Abandonment in 1944, allowing it to close of canals, including much of the Shropshire Union system. However, the line from Hurleston to Llangollen and onwards to Llantisilio was saved, as it was the main supply of water to the rest of the system.
On 6 September 1945, due to inadequate maintenance, the canal breached its banks east of Llangollen near Sun Bank Halt. The flow of hundreds of tons of water washed away the embankment of the railway further down the hill, creating a crater which was long and deep. This caused the first traffic of the morning, a mail and goods train composed of 16 carriages and two vans, to crash into the breach, killing one and injuring two engine crew. Despite the canal being officially closed, the breach was repaired, so that water could continue to reach the main line at Hurleston. The use of the canal as a water supply channel was further bolstered by an agreement with what became the Mid & South East Cheshire Water Board, who used it to supply water to their Hurleston reservoir, and agreed to maintain it.
Restoration
Although there had been little traffic since the end of the First World War, the channel had remained watered, because it supplied the main line of the Shropshire Union Canal. In the period after the Second World War, there was growing interest in using the canals for leisure cruising, and the pioneer Tom Rolt attempted to cruise the canal in 1947. Rolt's boat was Cressy, which had been converted at Frankton to steam power, and on which Rolt had sailed westwards from Frankton Junction with Kyrle Willans after its conversion in 1930. At that time they had failed to reach Pontcysyllte. On this occasion, he was joined by a small cruiser named Heron, crewed by the Grundy family from Liverpool. The state of the canal was poor, and several of the locks were disintegrating, but despite low water levels and thick weed growth, both boats eventually reached Ellesmere. They then found that the water supply had been cut off due to a broken culvert near Chirk. After several weeks of being stranded, Rolt talked to the Chester office, and they arranged for water to be let down the canal, to enable the boats to return to Hurleston. On a second attempt two years later, Rolt and his wife reached Pontcysyllte, which they crossed accompanied by the actor Hugh Griffith and his wife Gunde. The Rolts moored for nearly three months just beyond the aqueduct, near the site where their boat had been built during the First World War. In August they were joined by Geoffrey Calvert and his family, who were attempting to reach the top of the canal in a home-made boat, Wagtail, which was pulled by a donkey. The Rolts travelled with them for part of the journey. Edward Wilson, another canal enthusiast, reached Trevor in his boat in 1952, and the Inland Waterways Association held a rally at Llangollen later that year.
By 1954, the Llangollen Canal was in a curious position. Under the terms of the LMSR Act of abandonment, obtained in 1944, navigation had been abandoned, but the right to sell water had been retained. This was to be for a period of ten years, during which those who bought the water were required to make alternative arrangements, which they failed to do. Since the nationalisation of the canals in 1948, the canal had been managed by the British Transport Commission, who had to obtain Parliamentary approval to extend this arrangement. Meanwhile, a number of pleasure boats had ventured onto the canal, and there was a growing campaign to reopen the canal for navigation. A committee to spearhead this had been formed, and was chaired by the clerk for Wrexham Rural District Council, Trevor Williams. More than thirty other organisations were supporting the move, including the British Travel and Holidays Association.
In 1955, the Board of Survey, a committee chaired by Lord Rusholme, had produced a report on the future of the canals under the control of the British Transport Commission, which they had divided into three categories. There were of 'waterways to be developed', another of 'waterways to be retained', and finally of 'waterways having insufficient commercial prospects to justify their retention for navigation'. The Llangollen Canal was placed in the latter category, since it was still officially disused. This was followed in 1958 by the Bowes Report, which suggested that the first two categories should be classified as Class A and Class B waterways, with Class B waterways put back into good working order and retained for 25 years, to attract private investment. The Llangollen Canal was still in the final category, but the report at least suggested that there should be a right of appeal against closure, and gave the first hints that such canals could be retained because of their social value for recreation.
Hugh McKnight, the editor of the Inland Waterways Association's Bulletin, wrote an optimistic report in 1966, pointing to the achievements of the first 20 years of the organisation's existence, mentioning the changes in public opinion concerning the canals, and pointing particularly to the growth in leisure use on the Llangollen Canal and the Oxford Canal. Official attitudes changed, and the provisions of the Transport Act 1968 placed the canals under the control of the British Waterways Board, who were tasked with maintaining, developing and running them for the benefit of users. The whole of the branch from Hurleston Junction to Llantisilio, just below Horseshoe Falls, was listed in the Act as a cruising waterway, meaning that its future was no longer in jeopardy. As use by leisure craft grew, the "Llangollen Branch of the Shropshire Union" became popular due to its aqueducts and scenery. The canal was later renamed the Llangollen Canal, becoming one of the most popular canals for holidaymakers in Britain. The name is now used for the entire route from Hurleston to Llangollen, even though it was never described in this way during its commercial life. It is not entirely clear when the name was first applied, since it was listed as the "Welsh Canal", a branch of the Shropshire Union, in 1985. At that time, potential boaters were advised that the canal was a water supply channel, and that they should submit an application containing full details and dimensions of their boat if they wanted to cruise on it. Nevertheless, they were instructed that British Waterways were keen to see leisure use of the canal, and that it could be quite congested in the summer season. Its origins as parts of two separate canals can be seen from the fact that the bridges are numbered from 1 at Hurleston to 70 at Rowsons Bridge, just past Frankton Junction. Continuing along the route to Llangollen, bridge numbering restarts at 1, while bridges 71 and upwards continue along what is now the Montgomery Canal, but was formerly the Ellesmere Branch to Llanymynech, where it joined the Montgomeryshire Canal.
A notable feature of the canal is the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, built by Thomas Telford. Opened in 1805, the aqueduct is more than long and above the valley floor. It has 19 stone arches, each with a 45-foot (14 metre) span. Another aqueduct carries the canal over the River Ceiriog at Chirk, and there are tunnels nearby at Whitehouses, Chirk, and Ellesmere.
The canal also forms the boundary on two sides of the Fenn's, Whixall and Bettisfield Mosses National Nature Reserve. In 2009 an section of the canal from Gledrid Bridge near Rhoswiel through to the Horseshoe Falls, which includes Chirk Aqueduct and Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
Route
Hurleston to Frankton Junction
The canal at Hurleston Junction rises from the Shropshire Union Canal main line, through four adjacent locks, with a total rise of . The canal had been an early pioneer in the use of iron lock gates, instead of the more traditional wooden ones, and this material was first used on the locks at Frankton in 1819. The four locks here have a mixture of wooden and metal gates. All were built by the engineer J Fletcher around 1805. Lock 1 has metal lower gates, and a wooden upper gate, while gates at both ends of lock 2 are made of metal. The metal gates on both locks were replaced in 1974. Locks 3 and 4 have a single metal gate at the upper end, and wooden mitre gates at the lower end. Like many of the structures on the canal, they are grade II listed structures.
Beside the locks is Hurleston Reservoir, which has a capacity of . It is supplied with water that flows down the canal from Horseshoe Falls at Llantisilio, and is used both for drinking water and to supply the main line of the Shropshire Union Canal.
Water enters it through a side channel with sluices and a weir, just above lock number 4. The treatment works on the west bank is now operated by United Utilities, and was given a £6 million upgrade in 2003.
Just beyond the A534 Wrexham Road bridge is the entrance to Swanley Bridge Marina, on the west bank of the canal. It has moorings for over 300 boats, and is situated in of farmland, which includes a wood with nature trails. It opened in September 2006, and was built in response to a document published by British Waterways in the spring of that year, which outlined development opportunities for farmers and landowners adjacent to the canal.
The two Swanley locks raise the level of the canal by another , and by the upper lock is the grade II listed Swanley Hall, a red-brick farmhouse parts of which date from the early 16th century. Baddiley Hall, which has three storeys and an attic, and dates from the late 17th century, is set some distance back from the canal. In its grounds is the grade I listed parish church of St. Michael, the chancel of which dates from 1308, while the nave dates from 1811. Both are separated from the canal by a scheduled monument site, containing the earthworks and buried remains of an abandoned medieval village. The three Baddiley locks follow, with a combined rise of .
After passing Wrenbury Hall, on the west bank, the canal turns to the west, and is crossed by the Wrenbury Church lift bridge, the first of three lift-bridges in the village. It is formed of timber planks fixed between wooden beams, and the bridge deck is hinged at the northern end. A weighted counterbalance allows the bridge to be opened, and the structure is grade II* listed. Wrenbury lift bridge, No. 20, is automated, with push-button controls. It is operated by use of a British Waterways key, and involves closing barriers and stopping traffic on a sometimes-busy road. Wrenbury Wharf is next to the bridge, where the former mill building has been reused by a boatyard, and a nearby warehouse has become a pub.
At Grindley Brook, the canal was crossed by the defunct Whitchurch and Tattenhall Railway. The railway and the nearby Grindley Brook Halt railway station closed in 1957, and goods traffic ceased in 1963, but the massive embankments and bridge remain. Immediately afterwards, the canal passes through three locks and a three-chamber staircase lock, attended during summer months by a lock keeper. The six locks raise the level of the canal by . After another mile (1.6 km), there is a lift bridge just before the entrance to the Whitchurch Arm, which served the town of Whitchurch. Part of it remains open, and is used for moorings. The section from the main line to Sherryman's Bridge was opened on 6 July 1808, and in 1811 a further extension into the town reached Castle Well. The arm remained closed when the canal reopened in the 1950s, but Whitchurch Town Council looked at ways of bringing boats back into the town in the early 1980s and the embryonic Whitchurch Waterway Trust was formed in 1986, with the aim of reopening the arm, of which around was left, the rest having been built over in the 1950s. This was achieved in October 1993, and the trust are hopeful that a new route into the town can be constructed.
Between bridges 42 and 47, the canal skirts the eastern edge and then passes through and the southern edge of Whixall Moss, part of the Fenn's, Whixall and Bettisfield Mosses National Nature Reserve. With a combined area of nearly , they form the third largest area of raised peat bog in the United Kingdom. The reserve is also a designated Site of Special Scientific Interest, a European Special Area of Conservation and a Wetland of International Importance under the Ramsar Convention. The bogs were drained using powers enshrined in Enclosure Acts dating from 1777 and 1823, and further drainage took place when the canal was built in 1804, and again in 1863 when a railway was built along the north-western margins. Commercial peat cutting using mechanised cutters began in 1968, but extraction ceased in 1990.
The technical difficulties of cutting a canal through Whixall Moss were many, but Jessop and Telford decided on a direct route across the moss, rather than building a bypass that skirted round the edge of the area. The water table in the Moss was lowered by drainage and a raft was constructed, on which the canal was built. The canal had to float across the peat, and the engineers understood that regular maintenance of this section would be a requirement for many years. They employed a team of navvies to build up the banks with more clay on a continuous basis, who became known as the Whixall Moss Gang. Clay was obtained from the clay pit which became Whixall Marina, and was transferred to the work site in horse-drawn barges. Men were employed on this work from 1804 until 1960, working five and a half days a week, and became the longest serving group of navvies ever to work on the British canals. In the 1960s, the engineering issues that created the work were solved, and they were all laid off. The solution adopted to prevent the canal sinking further into the peat was to underpin the whole section with steel piling.
Adjacent to bridge 46 is Whixall Moss Junction leading to the Prees Branch. Two breaches of the canal have occurred near Whixall in recent years. The first was in 2004 at Hampton Bank, near bridge 50, when badgers burrowed into the bank, causing it to fail. The animals were also implicated in a breach some to the east of Cornhill Bridge 47, which occurred in late 2009. The bank failed as new piling was being driven in, but had previously been weakened by burrowing.
As the canal approaches Ellesmere, it passes a series of meres. Cole Mere is very close to the south bank of the canal, but at a lower level. Blake Mere is on the towpath side, with only the towpath separating it from the canal in places. Both are surrounded by woods, and the canal is fringed by oak trees, many planted by the Shropshire Union Company to ensure that they had supplies of timber to replace their fleet of wooden boats as that became necessary. At the far end of Blake Mere is the short Ellesmere Tunnel, just long, and beyond that the market town of Ellesmere. A short branch leads into the town, at the end of which is a three-storey, red brick warehouse, dating from the early 19th century, which is grade II listed. At the junction is a Canal and River Trust maintenance depot, housed in a series of buildings which are all grade II* listed. The complex includes Beech House, the offices of the Ellesmere Canal Company from 1806, but now converted into flats. The range of buildings form the best-preserved canal maintenance yard in Britain. The former stables and stores, which are now used as offices, include an exceptionally early example of a covered dry dock, in which barges were built and repaired. It predates the better known examples of covered slips at the naval dockyards of Devonport and Chatham.
The canal also passes through Burland, Quoisley Bridge, and Bettisfield.
Prees Branch
The Prees Arm of the canal was originally intended to reach Prees, but only the first were constructed, terminating at Quina Brook. Much of the ground through which it passed is formed of peat. Today it is only open for 7 furlongs (1.4 km), with two lift bridges, to a marina at the end of the navigable part; beyond that, another , as far as Waterloo Bridge, is partially watered and forms the Prees Branch Canal Nature Reserve. The remaining is dry, but can be followed in the landscape as most of it is marked by trees growing along its course. The towpath is on the eastern bank from the junction to Dobson's Bridge, and then crosses over to the other side, where it remained to the end of the canal at Quina Brook.
Next to the junction is a toll-keeper's cottage dating from around 1800, the time of the construction of the canal. It has since been reused as a farmhouse. Allman's Bridge dates from the construction of the canal, although there have been some later repairs to the structure. The wooden decking is opened by a counterweight and chains. It was one of the last manual lift bridges to be converted to hydraulic operation in 2010. Nearby is a single arched squinch bridge, again dating from the early 1800s and constructed in red bricks. It crosses a drainage ditch, probably associated with the drainage of Whixall Moss, which passes under the canal at this point. Starks Bridge is another wooden lift bridge, and as well as being grade II* listed, is a scheduled ancient monument. It is a rare example of a skewed lift bridge. Dobson's Bridge, a fixed humpback bridge made of red bricks with an elliptical arch, was classified in 1987 as a Grade Il listed building.
At the end of the navigable section is Whixall Marina, which was constructed on the site of some clay pits, which for many years supplied clay used for puddling of the canals. From 2017 to 2018, the marina had been refurbished with the addition of a waterside cafe, car park and new shower and toilet facilities. It is also near the famous Whixall Moss which is used by many walkers. On the nature reserve section, Boodles Bridge is of similar construction and date to Dobson's Bridge. At the far end of the canal are the remains of two groups of limekilns, the main group consisting of four kilns built of red brick and sandstone rubble. They were built at the same time as the branch was constructed.
Frankton Junction to Trevor Basin
At Frankton Junction the Montgomery Canal, which is partially restored, heads southwards. For historic reasons the bridge numbering continues down the Montgomery Canal and a second bridge numbering series for the Llangollen Canal begins with Rowson's Bridge (which is numbered both 1W and 70). The "W" addition was part of a Minimum Safety Standards scheme instigated by British Waterways, to avoid possible confusion, especially for emergency services, of having different bridges on the same canal with the same number. British Waterways consulted with the Inland Waterways Association and the Shropshire Union Canal Society before finally deciding to add the "W", and at the same time as the numbers were altered, it ensured that all bridges carried a number on both sides. The work was due to be completed by July 2008, but there were delays due to manufacturing difficulties with the new castings.
The Llangollen Canal passes through Hindford, Saint Martin's, Preesgweene, Chirk Bank, Chirk and Froncysyllte, and includes the Chirk Aqueduct, the Chirk Tunnel and the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct.
Trevor Basin to Horseshoe Falls
This section was built as a navigable feeder and is both shallow and narrow. Some sections near Llangollen are too narrow for boats to pass each other and it is necessary to scout ahead to check for oncoming boats. Navigation should not be attempted by boats with a draught of more than . A number of breaches had occurred on this final section over many years, and in the early 1980s, British Waterways initiated a programme to resolve this issue. Parts of it were rebuilt with a concrete lining, which included a waterproof membrane to retain the water, and a system of drainage pipes underneath the bed, to prevent water building up and damaging the construction.
Navigation by powered craft is prohibited beyond the entrance to Llangollen Marina and the final section is used only by horse drawn trip boats. The current boats maintain a long tradition, which was first offered to visitors in 1884. The towpath beside the feeder is in good condition, and walkers can reach the weir at Horseshoe Falls. British Waterways maintains a gravel shoal immediately upstream of the marina entrance past Llangollen Wharf. This maintains a draught which most narrowboats cannot pass, but which is passable by the shallow draughted trip boats.
In 2005, a marina was constructed by British Waterways, just upstream from Llangollen Wharf, to relieve the acute shortage of casual moorings, and provides 33 berths. About downstream of the wharf there are about a dozen visitor moorings complete with individual electricity and water pedestals at each. Similar pedestals have also been installed at the marina berths. Mooring in Llangollen is restricted to 48 hours, and a charge is made both at the marina and the visitor moorings, which are below bridge 45.
See also
Canals of the United Kingdom
History of the British canal system
References
Bibliography
External links
Llangollen Canal – North Wales Borderlands website
Canals in Cheshire
Canals in Shropshire
Canals in Wales
Shropshire Union Canal
Tourist attractions in Cheshire
Tourist attractions in Denbighshire
Tourist attractions in Shropshire
Transport in Denbighshire
|
412152
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History%20of%20Colorado
|
History of Colorado
|
The region that is today the U.S. State of Colorado has been inhabited by Native Americans and their Paleoamerican ancestors for at least 13,500 years and possibly more than 37,000 years. The eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains was a major migration route that was important to the spread of early peoples throughout the Americas. The Lindenmeier site in Larimer County contains artifacts dating from approximately 8720 BCE.
When explorers, early trappers, hunters, and gold miners visited and settled in Colorado, the state was populated by American Indian nations. Westward expansion brought European settlers to the area and Colorado's recorded history began with treaties and wars with Mexico and American Indian nations to gain territorial lands to support the transcontinental migration. In the early days of the Colorado gold rush, Colorado was a Territory of Kansas and Territory of Jefferson. On August 1, 1876, Colorado was admitted as a state, maintaining its territorial borders.
Historic Native American people
Ancestral Puebloans — A diverse group of peoples that lived in the valleys and mesas of the Colorado Plateau
Apache Nation — An Athabaskan-speaking nation that lived in the Great Plains in the 18th century, then migrated southward to Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona, leaving a void on the plains that was filled by the Arapaho and Cheyenne from the east.
Arapaho Nation — An Algonquian-speaking nation that migrated westward to the base of the Rocky Mountains in the late 19th century and settled on the piedmont and the eastern plains. They were relocated entirely out of Colorado in 1865 following the Colorado War.
Cheyenne Nation — An Algonquian-speaking nation very closely related to the Arapaho. Like the Arapaho, they migrated westward in the 18th century to the base of the Rockies. They often lived in bands interspersed among the Arapaho, and were also relocated out of Colorado in the 1860s.
Comanche Nation — A Numic-speaking nation that lived on the High Plains of southeastern Colorado. Closely related to the Shoshone, they acquired the horse from the Spaniards and roamed the southern Great Plains. The Comanche were removed to Indian territory.
Shoshone Nation — A Numic-speaking nation that inhabited intermountain valleys along the north edge of the state, especially in the Yampa River valley, up through the late 19th century. Areas included North Park and Browns Park.
Ute Nation — A Numic-speaking nation that has lived in the Southern and the Western Rocky Mountains for many centuries. Their leaders were Chief Ouray and his wife Chipeta. They often clashed with the Arapaho and Cheyenne, and resisted the encroachment of these nations into the mountains. Until the 1880s, the Ute controlled nearly all of Colorado west of the continental divide, a situation that eroded after the silver boom of 1879. After clashing with white settlers in the 1880s in the Meeker Massacre, they were nearly entirely relocated out of the state into Utah, except for two small reservations in southwestern Colorado.
European settlement
The first Europeans to visit the region were Spanish conquistadors. Juan de Oñate who lived until 1626, founded what would become the Spanish province of Santa Fé de Nuevo México among the pueblos of the Rio Grande on July 11, 1598. In 1787 Juan Bautista de Anza established the settlement of San Carlos near present-day Pueblo, Colorado, but it quickly failed. This was the only Spanish attempt to create a settlement north of the Arkansas River. Colorado became part of the Spanish province of Santa Fe de Nuevo México as part of the Viceroyalty of New Spain. The Spaniards traded with Native Americans who lived there and established the Comercio Comanchero (Comanche Trade) among the Spanish settlements and the Native Americans.
In 1803 the United States acquired a territorial claim to the eastern flank of the Rocky Mountains by the Louisiana Purchase from France. However, the claim conflicted with Spain's claim to sovereignty over the territory. Zebulon Pike led a U.S. Army reconnaissance expedition into the disputed region in 1806. Pike and his troops were arrested by Spanish cavalry in the San Luis Valley, taken to Chihuahua, then expelled from México.
Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla declared Mexico's independence from Spain on September 16, 1810. In 1819, the United States ceded its claim to the land south and west of the Arkansas River to Spain with the Adams-Onís Treaty, at the same time purchasing Florida. Mexico finally won its independence with the Treaty of Córdoba signed on August 24, 1821, and assumed the territorial claims of Spain. Although Mexican traders ventured north, settlers stayed south of the 37th parallel north until the United States signed a peace treaty with the Ute Nation in 1850.
During the period 1832 to 1856, traders, trappers, and settlers established trading posts and small settlements along the Arkansas River, and on the South Platte near the Front Range. Prominent among these were Bent's Fort and Fort Pueblo on the Arkansas and Fort Saint Vrain on the South Platte. The main item of trade offered by the Indians was buffalo robes, see Early history of the Arkansas Valley in Colorado and Forts in Colorado.
In 1846 the United States went to war with Mexico. Mexico's defeat forced the nation to relinquish its northern territories by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848. This opened the Southern Rocky Mountains to American settlement, including what is now the lower portion of Colorado. The newly gained land was divided into the Territory of New Mexico and the Territory of Utah, both organized in 1850, and the Territory of Kansas and the Territory of Nebraska, organized in 1854. Most settlers avoided the rugged Rocky Mountains and headed for Oregon, the Deseret, or California, usually following the North Platte River and the Sweetwater River to South Pass in what is now Wyoming.
On April 9, 1851, Hispanic settlers from Taos, New Mexico, settled the village of San Luis, then in the New Mexico Territory, but now Colorado's first permanent European settlement.
Pike's Peak Gold Rush
On June 22, 1850, a wagon train bound for California crossed the South Platte River just north of the confluence with Clear Creek, and followed Clear Creek west for six miles. Lewis Ralston dipped his gold pan in a stream flowing into Clear Creek, and found almost $5 in gold (about a quarter of a troy ounce) in his first pan. John Lowery Brown, who kept a diary of the party's journey from Georgia to California, wrote on that day: "Lay bye. Gold found." In a notation above the entry, he wrote, "We called this Ralston's Creek because a man of that name found gold here.”
Ralston continued on to California, but returned to 'Ralston's Creek' with the Green Russell party eight years later. Members of this party founded Auraria (later absorbed into Denver City) in 1858 and touched off the gold rush to the Rockies. The confluence of Clear Creek and Ralston Creek, the site of Colorado's first gold discovery is now in Arvada, Colorado.
In 1858, several parties of gold seekers bound for the California Gold Rush panned small amounts of gold from various streams in the South Platte River Valley at the foot of the Rocky Mountains in then western Kansas Territory, now northeast Colorado. The gold nuggets initially failed to impress the gold seekers, but rumors of gold in the Rocky Mountains persisted, and several small parties explored the region. In the summer of 1857, a party of Spanish-speaking gold seekers from the New Mexico Territory worked a placer deposit along the South Platte River about above Cherry Creek (in what is today the Overland Park neighborhood of Denver.)
The following year, William Greeneberry "Green" Russell led a party of Cherokee gold seekers from the State of Georgia to search for gold along the South Platte River. In the first week of July 1857, Green Russell and Sam Bates found a small placer deposit near the mouth of Little Dry Creek (in present-day Englewood) that yielded about 20 troy ounces (622 grams) of gold, the first significant gold discovery in the Rocky Mountain region.
News of this discovery soon spread and precipitated the Pike's Peak Gold Rush. An estimated 100,000 gold seekers flocked to the region over the next three years. The placer gold deposits along the rivers and streams of the region rapidly played out, but miners soon discovered far more valuable seams of hard rock gold, silver, and other minerals in the nearby mountains. This gold rush helped to attract people to the state and resulted in a population boom.
Territory of Jefferson
The Provisional Government of the Territory of Jefferson was organized on October 24, 1859, but the new territory failed to secure federal sanction. The Provisional Government freely administered the region despite its lack of official status until the U.S. Territory of Colorado was organized in 1861.
Territory of Colorado
The Territory of Colorado was a historic, organized territory of the United States that existed between 1861 and 1876. Its boundaries were identical to the current State of Colorado. The territory ceased to exist when Colorado was admitted to the Union as a state on August 1, 1876. The territory was organized in the wake of the 1859 Pike's Peak Gold Rush, which had brought the first large concentration of white settlement to the region. The organic act creating the territory was passed by Congress and signed by President James Buchanan on February 28, 1861, during the secessions by Southern states that precipitated the American Civil War. The organization of the territory helped solidify Union control over a mineral rich area of the Rocky Mountains.
Statehood was regarded as fairly imminent, as during the run-up to the 1864 presidential election the Republican–controlled Congress was actually eager to get two more Republican senators and three more electoral votes for President Lincoln's re-election bid. Territorial Governor John Evans persuaded Congress to adopt an enabling act, but a majority of the 6,192 Coloradoans who voted, in a population of around 35,000, turned down the first attempt at a state constitution and the second attempt at statehood. Later, at the end of 1865, territorial ambitions for statehood were thwarted again, this time by a veto by President Andrew Johnson. Statehood for the territory was a recurring issue during the Ulysses Grant administration, with Grant advocating statehood against a less willing Congress during Reconstruction.
Colorado War
The Colorado War (1863–1865) was an armed conflict between the United States and a loose alliance among the Kiowa, Comanche, Arapaho, and Cheyenne nations of Native Americans (the last two were particularly closely allied). The war was centered on the Eastern Plains of the Colorado Territory and resulted in the removal of these four Native American peoples from present-day Colorado to present-day Oklahoma. The war included a particularly notorious episode in November 1864 known as the Sand Creek Massacre. The battle, initially hailed by the U.S. press as a great victory, was later learned to be one of genocidal brutality. The resulting hearings in the United States Congress regarding the malfeasance of the U.S. Army commander, John Chivington, were a watershed in the white views of the Indian Wars at the close of the American Civil War. In 1868 the U.S. Army, led by George Armstrong Custer, renewed the conflict against the Arapaho and Cheyenne at the Battle of Washita River.
Statehood
The United States Congress passed an enabling act on March 3, 1875, specifying the requirements for the Territory of Colorado to become a state. On August 1, 1876 (28 days after the Centennial of the United States), U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant signed Proclamation 230 admitting the state of Colorado to the Union as the 38th state and earning it the moniker "Centennial State". The borders of the new state coincided with the borders established for the Colorado Territory.
Women won the right to vote in Colorado via referendum on November 7, 1893. Colorado was the first state in the union to grant universal suffrage through a popular vote. (Wyoming approved the right of women to vote in 1869 through a vote of the territorial legislature.)
Governor Davis H. Waite campaigned for the Constitutional amendment granting women the right to vote in Colorado. Governor Waite is also noted as one of the few elected officials ever to call out the state militia to protect miners from a force raised by mine owners. Governor Waite belonged to the Populist Party.
Mining in Colorado
Participants in the Pike's Peak Gold Rush from 1858 to 1861 were called Fifty-Niners and many of the new arrivals settled in the Denver area. Gold in paying quantities was also discovered in the Central City area. In 1879, silver was discovered in Leadville, resulting in the Colorado Silver Boom.
Many early mining efforts were cooperative ventures. However, as easy-to-reach surface deposits played out, miners increasingly turned to hard rock mining. Such industrial operations required greater capital, and the economic concept of mineral rights resulted in periodic conflicts between the mine owners, and the miners who increasingly sold their labor to work in the mines.
As the mines were dug deeper, they became more dangerous, and the work more arduous, creating the conditions for conflict. In 1880, Colorado Governor Pitkin, a Republican, declared martial law to suppress a violent mining strike at Leadville. In the 1890s many Colorado miners began to form unions in order to protect themselves. The mine operators often formed mine owners' associations in response, setting up the conditions for a conflict. Notable labor disputes between hard rock miners and the mine operators included the Cripple Creek strike of 1894 and the Colorado Labor Wars of 1903–04.
Coal mining in Colorado began soon after the first settlers arrived. Although the discovery of coal did not cause boom cycles as did the precious metals, the early coal mining industry also established the conditions for violent confrontations between miners and mine owners. The usual issues were wages, hours, and working conditions, but miners were also concerned about issues of fairness, and company control over their personal lives.
Early coal mining in Colorado was extremely dangerous, and the state had one of the highest death rates in the nation. During the three decades from 1884 to 1914, more than 1,700 workers died in Colorado's coal mines. Coal miners also resented having to pay for safety work such as timbering the mines, and they were sometimes paid in scrip that had value only in the company store, with the cost of goods set by the company.
The Colorado Coalfield War, centered around the 1913-1914 United Mine Workers of America strike against the Rockefeller-owned Colorado Fuel and Iron company, saw dozens die in battles on the Southern Colorado coalfields. The Ludlow Massacre became the peak of the violence, when Colorado National Guard and militia fired into a tent colony of strikers, in which many children were killed. The violence would continue until Woodrow Wilson sent federal soldiers to disarm both sides.
Another coal strike in 1927 is best known for Colorado's first Columbine massacre. In 1933, federal legislation for the first time allowed all Colorado coal miners to join unions without fear of retaliation by instituting penalties for mine owners who obstructed collective bargaining.
Like all resource extraction, mining is a boom or bust industry, and over the years many small towns were established, then abandoned when the ore ran out, the market collapsed, or another resource became available. There were once more than a hundred coal mines in the area north of Denver and east of Boulder. The mines began to close when natural gas lines arrived. Coal and precious metals are still mined in Colorado, but the mining industries have changed dramatically in recent decades.
Reports of the revival of molybdenum mining in 2007 resulted in ambivalent responses with Leadville welcoming the opening of the mine at Climax,<ref>"Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. Announces Plans to Restart Climax Molybdenum Mine" Press release 'by Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. December 4, 2007</ref> but strong opposition in Crested Butte over proposed operations at Mount Emmons. Opinion in Rico, site of the Silver Creek stockwork Molybdenum deposit is more divided. There, land slated for development is being bought up by a mining company.
Today there are many small mining towns scattered throughout Colorado, such as Leadville, Georgetown, Cripple Creek, Victor, and Central City. Although many of the mines no longer operate, the remnants of the operations can be seen in the form of mine shafts, outbuildings, and mounds of rock extracted from the hills. Many former mining towns turned to gambling to draw visitors, with Blackhawk and Cripple Creek serving as good examples. The 19th century ended with a difficult law-and-order situation in some places, most notably, Creede, Colorado, where gunmen like Robert Ford (the assassin of Jesse James) and con artist like Soapy Smith reigned.
"The World's Sanitarium"
Starting in the 1860s, when tuberculosis (TB) was a major deadly disease, physicians in the eastern United States recommended that their patients relocate to sunny, dry climates for their lungs. As a result, the number of people with tuberculosis, called "lungers", in the state grew alarmingly and without the services or facilities to support their needs. Not knowing how to manage a population of homeless, ill people, many were taken to jail. Because of the number of people with TB and their families who came to Denver for their health, by the 1880s it was nicknamed the "World's Sanitarium". Cynthia Stout, a history scholar, asserted that by 1900 "one-third of Colorado's population were residents of the state because of tuberculosis."Varnell, pp. 39-40.
Twentieth century
In 1913 through 1914 the Colorado Coalfield War occurred, it started as a strike and ultimately ended in defeat for the union ending with 232 deaths, and crippling labor organizing in the state's mines for the next decade.
In the early 1920s, the Ku Klux Klan was an important political force in Colorado, but it was unable to get any of its proposals enacted into law, and it died out by 1930.
From 1927 to 1928, a statewide coal strike occurred shutting down all mines. It originated as protest over the execution of Sacco and Vanzetti, and was as a broader move for greater wages and conditions. During it, the Columbine Mine massacre and Walsenburg Hall killings occurred, where strikers were shot down by guards and policemen. For one particular incident in Trinidad, the mayor was accused of deputizing members of the KKK against the striking workers. The strike ended with a significant victory for the union in May 1928, with an increase in wages and the return of organized labor in the state's coal industry.
The 1930s saw the beginning of the ski industry in Colorado. Resorts were established in areas such as Estes Park, Gunnison, and on Loveland Pass. During WWII, the 10th Mountain Division established Camp Hale to train elite ski troops.
In the 1940s, the Republican governor of Colorado, Ralph Carr, spoke out against racial discrimination and against the federal internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II.
In 1967, Governor John A. Love signed the nation's first liberalized abortion law. The late 1960s saw violence in Denver, in the form of race riots, and college buildings being burned by radicals. The Family Dog Denver music venue opened that year, ushering in the hippie movement in the state, to the great consternation of city and state leaders and parents, leading to several municipal and federal court cases. It also made Colorado a major music destination thereafter.
In 1972, Colorado became the only state to reject the award of hosting the Olympic Games after they had been granted. When Representative Lamm led a successful movement to reject a bond issue for expenses related to hosting the event, the International Olympic Committee relocated the 1976 Winter Olympics to Innsbruck, Austria. No venue had rejected the award before nor has any venue since.
In 1999, the Columbine High School massacre became the most devastating high-school massacre in United States history until the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in 2018.
Twenty-first century
On July 20, 2012, not far from the location of the aforementioned massacre at Columbine High School, 12 people were killed and 70 people were injured in the 2012 Aurora, Colorado shooting, when James Eagan Holmes, a former neuroscience doctoral student, walked into an Aurora, Colorado Cinemark movie theater with multiple firearms, and started shooting at random at people trying to escape during a midnight Thursday showing of The Dark Knight Rises, killing 12 people and injuring 70 others. It was the deadliest shooting in Colorado since the Columbine High School massacre and, in terms of both the dead and wounded in the number of casualties, was the largest single mass shooting in U.S. history.
Colorado is now 1 of 15 states that have legalized both medical and recreational marijuana, allowing them to tax the product. As of July 2014, six months after recreational shops began sales of marijuana in Colorado, the state has enjoyed a tax revenue of 45 million with 98 million expected by the end of the calendar year. This is in addition to increased economic revenues from "pot tourists."
As of July 9, 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has affected over 35,000 people in Colorado and killed 1,544.
As of August 2022, over 1.6 million cases of COVID-19 had been reported in Colorado with over 13,000 deaths.
See also
History
Colorado Silver BoomColorado 1870-2000Cuerno Verde
Forts in Colorado
Governor of Colorado
History Colorado (previously the Colorado Historical Society)
History of Denver, Colorado
History of the Colorado Plateau
History of the Great Plains
History of the Rocky Mountains
Indigenous peoples of the North American Southwest
List of cities and towns in Colorado
List of counties in Colorado
List of ghost towns in Colorado
List of territorial claims and designations in Colorado
Pike's Peak Gold Rush
Prehistory of Colorado
Women's suffrage in Colorado
Outline of Colorado prehistory
Southwestern archaeology
Santa Fe de Nuevo México
La Louisiane
La Luisiana
District of Louisiana
Territory of Louisiana
Territory of Missouri
State of Deseret
Territory of New Mexico
Territory of Utah
Territory of Kansas
Territory of Nebraska
Territory of Jefferson
Territory of Colorado
State of Colorado
Timeline of Colorado history
:Category:History of Colorado
commons:Category:History of Colorado
Colorado
Colorado counties
Colorado municipalities
Constitution of Colorado
Index of Colorado-related articles
List of counties in Colorado
List of governors of Colorado
List of lieutenant governors of Colorado
Outline of Colorado
U.S. congressional delegations from Colorado
References
Further reading
Noel, Thomas J., and Carol Zuber-Mallison. Colorado: A Historical Atlas (2nd edition 2019) online
Abbott, Carl, et al. Colorado: A History of the Centennial State, 2005, textbook; 553 pages,
Athearn, Robert G. Rebel of the Rockies: A History of the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad. 1962.
Baker, James H., and Leroy R. Hafen, eds. History of Colorado. 5 vol State Historical Society of Colorado, 1927, with many short biographical sketches
Bancroft, Hubert Howe, History of Nevada, Colorado, and Wyoming, 1540-1888 (1890) 828 pages; famous classic; online edition
Belew, Ryan, and John L. Rury. "Inequality in the American West: schooling at a Colorado coal camp in the early twentieth century." History of Education 51.5 (2022): 649–669.
Berwanger, Eugene W. The Rise of the Centennial State: Colorado Territory, 1861–76, (2007) 208 pages
Bruno, Jasmine E., María E. Fernández-Giménez, and Meena M. Balgopal. "Identity theory in agriculture: Understanding how social-ecological shifts affect livestock ranchers and farmers in northeastern Colorado." Journal Of Rural Studies 94 (2022): 204–217. online
Carber Jr, Frank H. "Colorado Volunteers: Why They Joined to Fight in the Civil War." The Springs Graduate History Journal 3.1 (2022): 47–74. online
Cassels, E. Steve. The Archeology of Colorado. Boulder: Johnson Books, 1983
Collier, Grant, and Joseph Collier. Colorado Yesterday and Today (2005) online
Collins, Richard, and Dale Oesterle. The Colorado State Constitution (Oxford University Press, 2020).
Cronin, Thomas E. and Robert D. Loevy. Colorado Politics & Government: Governing the Centennial State, (1993)
Ellis, Elmer. Henry Moore Teller: Defender of the West. (1941).
Ellis, Richard N., and Duane A. Smith. Colorado: A History in Photographs. (1991).
Gulliford, Andrew. Boomtown Blues: Colorado Oil Shale, 1885-1985. 1989.
Hafen, Le Roy R. Colorado: The Story of a Western Commonwealth. 1933.
Hogan, Richard. Class and Community in Frontier Colorado. 1990. online
Junne Jr, George H. "The Modern Civil Rights Movement in Colorado." in Black Americans and the Civil Rights Movement in the West (2019): 107+ online.
Lamm, Richard D., and Duane A. Smith. Pioneers and Politicians: 10 Colorado Governors in Profile. 1981. popular
Lecompte, Janet. Pueblo, Hardscrabble, Greenhorn: The Upper Arkansas, 1832-1856, University of Oklahoma Press, 1977, hardcover, 354 pages,
Lorch, Robert S. Colorado's Government. 5th ed. 1991. textbook
Ormes, Robert M. Guide to the Colorado Mountains. 7th ed. 1979.
Parsons, Eugene. The Making of Colorado: A Historical Sketch (1908) 324 pages online edition
Philpott, William. Vacationland: Tourism and Environment in the Colorado High Country (University of Washington Press; 2013) 488 pages; the post 1945 transformation of a once isolated and little-visited region into a major ski and tourist destination
Radelet, Michael. The history of the death penalty in Colorado (University Press of Colorado, 2017).
Rohrbough, Malcolm J. Aspen: The History of a Silver Mining Town, 1879-1893. 1986. scholarly study
Scamehorn, Lee. High Altitude Energy: A History of Fossil Fuels in Colorado (2002)
Scamehorn, Lee. Mill & Mine: The Cf&I in the Twentieth Century (1992) online
Schulte, Steven C. Wayne Aspinall and the Shaping of the American West (2002) online
Schulten, Susan. "The Civil War and the Origins of the Colorado Territory," Western Historical Quarterly (Spring 2013) 44#1 pp 21–46.
Sheflin, Douglas. Legacies of Dust: Land Use and Labor on the Colorado Plains (U of Nebraska Press, 2019). online
Smith, Duane A. The Trail of Gold and Silver: Mining in Colorado, 1859–2009 (Boulder: University Press of Colorado, 2009. xiv, 282 pp.)
Smith, Duane A. Henry M. Teller: Colorado's Grand Old Man, 2002
Sprague, Marshall. Money Mountain: The Story of Cripple Creek Gold (1979)
Ubbelohde, Carl, Maxine Benson, and Duane Smith. A Colorado History. 8th ed. 2001. textbook online
Varnell, Jeanne. Women of Consequence: The Colorado Women's Hall of Fame, Johnson Press, Boulder, 1999, .
Varsanyi, Monica W. "Hispanic racialization, citizenship, and the Colorado border blockade of 1936." Journal of American Ethnic History 40.1 (2020): 5-39. online
Wei, William. Becoming Colorado: The Centennial State in 100 Objects (University Press of Colorado, 2021) online.
Wiatrowski, Claude. Railroads of Colorado: Your Guide to Colorado's Historic Trains and Railway Sites, Voyageur Press, 2002, 160 pages,
Wickens, James F. "The Depression and New Deal in Colorado," in John Braeman et al. eds. The New Deal: Volume Two - the State and Local Levels (1975) pp 269–310
Wright, James Edward. The Politics of Populism: Dissent in Colorado. (1974). on 1890s
Zappia, Natale A. Traders and raiders: The Indigenous world of the Colorado Basin, 1540-1859 (UNC Press Books, 2014).
Primary sources
Ubbelohde, Carl, ed. A Colorado Reader (2nd ed 1964)
Fossett, Frank. Colorado: A Historical, Descriptive and Statistical Work on the Rocky Mountain Gold and Silver Mining Region (1878) 470 pages online edition
Fossett, Frank. Colorado, Its Gold and Silver Mines: Farms and Stock Ranges, and Health and Pleasure Resorts (1880), online edition
Parsons, Eugene. A Guidebook to Colorado'' (1911) 390 pages online edition
External links
State of Colorado website
History Colorado website
Colorado State Guide, from the Library of Congress
Colorado
Colorado Territory
Colorado
History of the Rocky Mountains
|
412200
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julius%20Erving
|
Julius Erving
|
Julius Winfield Erving II (born February 22, 1950), commonly known by the nickname Dr. J, is an American former professional basketball player. Erving helped legitimize the American Basketball Association (ABA), and he was the best-known player in that league when it merged into the National Basketball Association (NBA) after the 1975–1976 season.
Erving won three championships, four Most Valuable Player awards, and three scoring titles with the ABA's Virginia Squires and New York Nets (now the NBA's Brooklyn Nets) and the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers. During his 16 seasons as a player, none of his teams ever missed the postseason. He is the eighth-highest scorer in ABA/NBA history with 30,026 points (NBA and ABA combined). He was well known for slam dunking from the free-throw line in Slam Dunk Contests and was the only player voted Most Valuable Player in both the ABA and the NBA. The basketball slang of being posterized was first coined to describe his moves. In 1993, Erving was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame. In 1994, Erving was named by Sports Illustrated as one of the 40 most important athletes of all time. In 1996, Erving was honored as one of the league's greatest players of all time by being named to the NBA 50th Anniversary Team. In 2004, he was inducted into the Nassau County Sports Hall of Fame. In October 2021, Erving was again honored as one of the league's greatest players of all time by being named to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team.
Many consider him one of the most talented players in the history of the NBA; he is widely acknowledged as one of the game's best dunkers. While Connie Hawkins, "Jumping" Johnny Green, Elgin Baylor, Jim Pollard, and Gus Johnson performed spectacular dunks before Erving's time, Erving brought the practice into the mainstream. His signature was the slam dunk, since incorporated into the vernacular and basic skill set of the game in the same manner as the crossover dribble and the no look pass. Before Erving, dunking was a practice most commonly used by the big men, usually standing close to the hoop, to show their brutal strength which was seen as style over substance, even unsportsmanlike, by many purists of the game; however, the way Erving utilized the dunk more as a high-percentage shot made at the end of maneuvers generally starting well away from the basket and not necessarily a show of force helped to make the shot an acceptable tactic, especially in trying to avoid a blocked shot. Although the slam dunk is still widely used as a show of power, a method of intimidation, and a way to fire up a team and spectators, Erving demonstrated that there can be great artistry and grace in slamming the ball into the hoop, particularly after a launch several feet from that target.
Early life
Erving was born February 22, 1950, in East Meadow, on Long Island, and raised from the age of 13 in Roosevelt, New York. Prior to that, he lived in nearby Hempstead. He attended Roosevelt High School and played for its basketball team. He received the nickname "Doctor" or "Dr. J" from a high school friend named Leon Saunders. He explains: "I started calling [Saunders] 'the professor', and he started calling me 'the doctor'. So it was just between us...we were buddies, we had our nicknames and we would roll with the nicknames. ... And that's where it came from."
Erving recalled that "later on, in the Rucker Park league in Harlem, when people started calling me 'Black Moses' and 'Houdini', I told them if they wanted to call me anything, call me 'Doctor'". Over time, the nickname evolved into "Dr. Julius" and finally "Dr. J." Erving was first called "Dr. J" by his friend and future teammate on the Nets and Squires, Willie Sojourner.
College career
Erving enrolled at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 1968. In two varsity college basketball seasons, he averaged 26.3 points and 20.2 rebounds per game, becoming one of only six players to average more than 20 points and 20 rebounds per game in NCAA Men's Basketball. In 1968, the NCAA adopted a rule that prohibited dunking. Thus, Erving's dunking was only seen and known to teammates at practice. He then sought “hardship” entry into professional basketball in 1971.
Fifteen years later, Erving fulfilled a promise he had made to his mother by earning a bachelor's degree in creative leadership and administration from the school through the University Without Walls program. Erving also holds an honorary doctorate from UMass. In September 2021, Massachusetts honored Erving by unveiling a statue outside the Mullins Center on the university's campus.
Professional career
Virginia Squires (ABA)
Although NBA rules at the time did not allow teams to draft players who were fewer than four years removed from high school, the ABA instituted a “hardship” rule that would allow players to leave college early. Erving took advantage of the rule change and left Massachusetts after his junior year to sign a four-year contract worth $500,000 spread over seven years with the Virginia Squires.
Erving quickly established himself as a force and gained a reputation for hard and ruthless dunking. He scored 27.3 points per game as a rookie, was selected to the All-ABA Second Team, made the ABA All-Rookie Team, led the ABA in offensive rebounds, and finished second to Artis Gilmore for the ABA Rookie of the Year Award. He led the Squires into the Eastern Division Finals, where they lost to the Rick Barry-led New York Nets in seven games. The Nets would eventually go to the finals, losing to the star-studded Indiana Pacers team.
ABA–NBA contract dispute
Under NBA rules, he became eligible for the 1972 NBA draft and the Milwaukee Bucks picked him in the first round (12th overall), a move that would have brought him together with Oscar Robertson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Prior to the draft, he signed a contract with the Atlanta Hawks worth more than $1 million with a $250,000 bonus. The signing with the Hawks came after a dispute with the Squires where he demanded a renegotiation of the terms. He discovered that his agent at the time, Steve Arnold, was employed by the Squires and convinced him to sign a below-market contract.
This created a dispute between three teams in two leagues. The Bucks asserted their rights to Erving via the draft, while the Squires went to court to force him to honor his contract. He joined Pete Maravich at the Hawks' training camp, as they prepared for the upcoming season. He played two exhibition games with the Hawks until NBA Commissioner J. Walter Kennedy ruled that the Bucks owned Erving's rights via the draft. Kennedy fined the Hawks $25,000 per game in violation of his ruling. Atlanta appealed Kennedy's decision to the league owners, who also supported the Bucks’ position. While waiting for the owners’ decision, Erving played in one more preseason game, earning the Hawks another fine. Erving enjoyed his brief time with Atlanta, and he would later duplicate with George Gervin his after-practice playing with Maravich.
On October 2, Judge Edward Neaher issued an injunction that prohibited him from playing for any team other than the Squires. The judge then sent the case to arbitration because of an arbitration clause in Erving's contract with Virginia. He agreed to report to the Squires while his appeal of the injunction made its way through the court.
Back in the ABA, his game flourished, and he achieved a career-best 31.9 points per game in the 1972–1973 season. The following year, the cash-strapped Squires sold his contract to the New York Nets.
New York Nets (ABA)
The Squires, like most ABA teams, were on rather shaky financial ground. The cash-strapped team sent Erving to the Nets in a complex deal that kept him in the ABA. Erving signed an eight-year deal worth a reported $350,000 per year. The Squires received $750,000, George Carter, and the rights to Kermit Washington for Erving and Willie Sojourner. The Nets also sent $425,000 to the Hawks to reimburse the team for its legal fees, fines and the bonus paid to Erving. Finally, Atlanta would receive draft compensation should a merger of the league result in a common draft.
Erving went on to lead the Nets to their first ABA title in 1973–1974, defeating the Utah Stars. Erving established himself as the most important player in the ABA. His spectacular play established the Nets as one of the better teams in the ABA, and brought fans and credibility to the league.
The end of the 1975–76 ABA season finally brought the ABA–NBA merger. The Nets and Nuggets had applied for admission to the NBA before the season, in anticipation of the eventual merger that had first been proposed by the two leagues in 1970 but which was delayed for various reasons, including the Oscar Robertson free agency suit (which was not resolved until 1976). The Erving-led Nets defeated the Denver Nuggets in the ABA's final championship. In the postseason, Erving averaged 34.7 points and was named Most Valuable Player of the playoffs. That season, he finished in the top 10 in the ABA in points per game, rebounds per game, assists per game, steals per game, blocks per game, free throw percentage, free throws made, free throws attempted, three-point field goal percentage and three-point field goals made.
Philadelphia 76ers (NBA)
The Nets, Nuggets, Indiana Pacers, and San Antonio Spurs joined the NBA for the 1976–1977 season. With Erving and Nate Archibald (acquired in a trade with Kansas City), the Nets were poised to pick up right where they left off. However, the New York Knicks upset the Nets' plans when they demanded that the Nets pay them $4.8 million for "invading" the Knicks' NBA territory. Coming on the heels of the fees the Nets had to pay for joining the NBA, owner Roy Boe reneged on a promise to raise Erving's salary. Erving refused to play under these conditions and held out in training camp.
After several teams such as the Milwaukee Bucks, Los Angeles Lakers and Philadelphia 76ers lobbied to obtain him, the Nets offered Erving's contract to the New York Knicks in return for waiving the indemnity, but the Knicks turned it down. This was considered one of the worst decisions in franchise history. The Sixers then decided to offer to buy Erving's contract for $3 million—in addition to paying roughly the Nets same amount as their expansion fee—and Boe had little choice but to accept the $6 million deal. For all intents and purposes, the Nets traded their franchise player for a berth in the NBA. The Erving deal left the Nets in ruin; they promptly crashed to a 22–60 record, the worst in the league. Years later, Boe regretted having to trade Erving to join the NBA, saying, "The merger agreement killed the Nets as an NBA franchise."
Erving quickly became the leader of his new club and led them to an exciting 50-win season. However, playing with other stars-such as former ABA standout George McGinnis, future NBA All-Star Lloyd Free, and aggressive Doug Collins allowed him to focus on playing more team-oriented ball. Despite a smaller role, Erving stayed unselfish. The Sixers won the Atlantic Division and were the top drawing team in the NBA. They defeated the defending champions, the Boston Celtics, to win the Eastern Conference. Erving took them into the NBA Finals against the Portland Trail Blazers of Bill Walton. After the Sixers took a 2–0 lead, however, the Blazers ran off four straight victories after the famous brawl between Maurice Lucas and Darryl Dawkins which ignited the Blazers' team.
Erving enjoyed success off the court, becoming one of the first basketball players to endorse many products and to have a shoe marketed under his name. He also starred in the 1979 basketball comedy film, The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh. In the following years, Erving coped with a team that was not yet playing at his level. It took a few years for the Sixers franchise to build around Erving. Eventually, coach Billy Cunningham and top-level players like Maurice Cheeks, Andrew Toney, and Bobby Jones were added to the mix and the franchise was very successful.
The Sixers were still eliminated twice in the Eastern Conference Finals. In 1979, Larry Bird entered the league, reviving the Boston Celtics and the storied Celtics–76ers rivalry; these two teams faced each other in the Eastern Conference Finals in 1980, 1981, 1982, and 1985. The Bird vs. Erving matchup became arguably the top personal rivalry in the sport (along with Bird vs. Magic Johnson), inspiring the early Electronic Arts video game One on One: Dr. J vs. Larry Bird. In 1980, the 76ers prevailed over the Celtics to advance to the NBA Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers. There, Erving executed the legendary "Baseline Move", a behind-the-board reverse layup. However, the Lakers won the series 4–2 with superb play from, among others, Magic Johnson.
Erving was again among the league's best players in the 1980–1981 and 1981–1982 seasons, although more disappointment came as the Sixers stumbled twice in the playoffs: in 1981, the Celtics eliminated them in seven games in the 1981 Eastern Finals after Philadelphia had a 3–1 series lead, but lost both Game 5 and Game 6 by 2 points and the deciding Game 7 by 1; and in 1982, the Sixers managed to beat the defending champion Celtics in seven games in the 1982 Eastern Finals but lost the NBA Finals to the Los Angeles Lakers in six games. Despite these defeats, Erving was named the NBA MVP in 1981 and was again voted to the 1982 All-NBA First Team.
For the 1982–1983 season, the Sixers obtained the missing element to combat their weakness at their center position, Moses Malone. Armed with one of the most formidable and unstoppable center-forward combinations of all time, the Sixers dominated the whole season, prompting Malone to make the famous playoff prediction of "fo-fo-fo (four-four-four)" in anticipation of the 76ers sweeping the three rounds of the playoffs en route to an NBA title. In fact, the Sixers went four-five-four, losing one game to the Milwaukee Bucks in the conference finals, then sweeping the Lakers to win the NBA title.
Erving maintained his all-star caliber of play into his twilight years, averaging 22.4, 20.0, 18.1, and 16.8 points per game in his final seasons. In 1986, he announced that he would retire after the season. That final season saw opposing teams pay tribute to Erving in the last game he would play in their arenas, including in cities such as Boston and Los Angeles, his perennial rivals in the playoffs.
Retirement
Erving retired in 1987 at the age of 37. Johnny Kerr told ABA historian Terry Pluto: "A young Julius Erving was like Thomas Edison, he was always inventing something new every night." He is also one of the few players in modern basketball to have his number retired by two franchises: the Brooklyn Nets (formerly the New York Nets and New Jersey Nets) have retired his No. 32 jersey, and the Philadelphia 76ers his No. 6 jersey. He was an excellent all around player who was also an underrated defender. In his ABA days, he would guard the best forward, whether small forward or power forward, for over 40 minutes a game, and simultaneously be the best passer, ball handler, and clutch scorer every night. Many of Erving's acrobatic highlight feats and clutch moments were unknown because of the ABA's scant television coverage. He is considered by many as the greatest dunker of all time.
In his ABA and NBA careers combined, he scored more than 30,000 points. In 1993, Erving was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and in 1996 he was inducted into the NYC Basketball Hall of Fame. When he retired, Erving ranked in the top five in scoring (third), field goals made (third), field goals attempted (fifth) and steals (first). On the combined NBA/ABA scoring list, Erving ranked third with 30,026 points. , Erving ranks eighth on the list, behind only LeBron James, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Karl Malone, Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, Dirk Nowitzki, and Wilt Chamberlain.
Legacy
1976 ABA Slam Dunk Contest
In this memorable contest, Erving faced George "The Iceman" Gervin, All-Star and former teammate Larry "Special K" Kenon, MVP Artis "The A-Train" Gilmore, and David "The Skywalker" Thompson. Erving started by dunking two balls in the hoop. Then, he performed a move that brought the slam dunk contest to the national consciousness. He ran to the opposite end of the court and back, and dunked the basketball from the free throw line. Although dunking from the foul line had been done by other players (Jim Pollard and Wilt Chamberlain in the 1950s, for example), Erving introduced the dunk from the foul line to a wider audience, when he demonstrated the feat in the 1976 ABA All-Star Game Slam Dunk Contest.
Dunk over Bill Walton
This event transpired during game 6 of the 1977 NBA Finals. After Portland scored a basket, Erving immediately ran the length of the court with the entire Blazers team defending him. He performed a crossover to blow by multiple defenders, seemingly gliding to the hoop with ease. With UCLA defensive legend Bill Walton waiting in the post, Erving threw down a vicious slam dunk over Walton's outstretched arms. This dunk is considered by many to be one of the strongest dunks ever attempted, considering he ran full court with all five defenders running with him. This move was one of the highlights of his arrival to a more television-exposed NBA.
Baseline move
One of his most memorable plays occurred during the 1980 NBA Finals, when he executed a seemingly impossible finger-roll behind the backboard. He drove past Lakers forward Mark Landsberger on the right baseline and went in for a layup. Then 7′2″ center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar crossed his way, blocking the route to the basket and forcing him outwards. In mid-air, it was apparent that Erving would land behind the backboard. But somehow he managed to reach over and score on a right-handed layup despite the fact that his whole body, including his left shoulder, was already behind the hoop. This move, along with his free-throw line dunk, has become one of the signature events of his career. It was called by Sports Illustrated, "The, No Way, even for Dr J, Flying Reverse Lay-up". Dr J called it "just another move".
"Rock the Baby" dunk over Michael Cooper
Another of Erving's most memorable plays came in the final moments of a regular-season game against the Los Angeles Lakers in 1983. After Sixers point guard Maurice Cheeks deflected a pass by Lakers forward James Worthy, Erving picked up the ball and charged down the court's left side, with one defender to beat—the Lakers' top defender Michael Cooper. As he came inside of the 3-point line, he cupped the ball into his wrist and forearm, rocking the ball back and forth before taking off for what Lakers radio broadcaster Chick Hearn best described as a "Rock the Baby" slam dunk: he slung the ball around behind his head and dunked over a ducking Cooper. This dunk is generally regarded as one of the greatest dunks of all time.
Post-basketball career
Erving earned his bachelor's degree in 1986 through the University Without Walls at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. After his basketball career ended, he became a businessman, obtaining ownership of a Coca-Cola bottling plant in Philadelphia and doing work as a television analyst. In 1997, he joined the front office of the Orlando Magic as Vice President of RDV Sports and Executive Vice President.
Erving and former NFL running back Joe Washington fielded a NASCAR Busch Series team from 1998 to 2000, becoming the first ever NASCAR racing team at any level owned completely by minorities. The team had secure sponsorship from Dr Pepper for most of its existence. Erving, a racing fan himself, stated that his foray into NASCAR was an attempt to raise interest in NASCAR among African-Americans. He has also served on the Board of Directors of Converse (prior to their 2001 bankruptcy), Darden Restaurants, Saks Incorporated and The Sports Authority. As of 2009, Erving was the owner of The Celebrity Golf Club International outside of Atlanta, but the club was forced to file for bankruptcy soon after. He was ranked by ESPN as one of the greatest athletes of the 20th century.
In 1991 he performed the narration in a performance of Copland's Lincoln Portrait with the Philadelphia Orchestra under Riccardo Muti in a concert to honor the 62nd birthday of the late Dr Martin Luther King. The concert was broadcast and is available on YouTube.
Erving made a cameo appearance in the 1993 movie Philadelphia starring Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington, and in the sitcom Hangin' with Mr. Cooper in 1995. He also made a cameo appearance as himself in "Lice", the tenth episode of the ninth season of the comedy series The Office (2013). Erving appeared as himself in the 2022 movie Hustle starring Adam Sandler and Juancho Hernangómez.
Career statistics
Regular season
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|
| style="text-align:left;"| Virginia (ABA)
| 84 || || 41.8 || .498 || .188 || .745|| 15.7 || 4.0 || || || style="background:#cfecec;"|27.3*
|-
| style="text-align:left"|
| style="text-align:left;"| Virginia (ABA)
| 71 || || style="background:#cfecec;"|42.2* || .496 || .208 || .776 || 12.2 || 4.2 || 2.5 || 1.8 || style="background:#cfecec;"|31.9*
|-
| style="text-align:left;background:#afe6fa;"|†
| style="text-align:left;"| New York (ABA)
| 84 || || 40.5 || .512 || .395 || .766 || 10.7 || 5.2 || 2.3 || 2.4 || 27.4
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|
| style="text-align:left;"| New York (ABA)
| style="background:#cfecec;"|84* || || 40.5 || .506 || .333 || .799 || 10.9 || 5.5 || 2.2 || 1.9 || 27.9
|-
| style="text-align:left;background:#afe6fa;"| †
| style="text-align:left;"| New York (ABA)
| 84 || || 38.6 || .507 || .330 || .801 || 11.0 || 5.0 || 2.5 || 1.9 || 29.3
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|
| style="text-align:left;"| Philadelphia (NBA)
| 82 || || 35.9 || .499 || || .777 || 8.5 || 3.7 || 1.9 || 1.4 || 21.6
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|
| style="text-align:left;"| Philadelphia (NBA)
| 74 || || 32.8 || .502 || || .845 || 6.5 || 3.8 || 1.8|| 1.3 || 20.6
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|
| style="text-align:left;"| Philadelphia (NBA)
| 78 || || 35.9 || .491 || || .745 || 7.2 || 4.6 || 1.7 || 1.3 || 23.1
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|
| style="text-align:left;"| Philadelphia (NBA)
| 78 || || 36.1 || .519 || .200 || .787 || 7.4 || 4.6 || 2.2 || 1.8 || 26.9
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|
| style="text-align:left;"| Philadelphia (NBA)
| 82 || || 35.0 || .521 || .222 || .787 || 8.0|| 4.4 || 2.1 || 1.8 || 24.6
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|
| style="text-align:left;"| Philadelphia (NBA)
| 81 || 81 || 34.4 || .546 || .273 || .763 || 6.9 || 3.9 || 2.0 || 1.7 || 24.4
|-
| style="text-align:left;background:#afe6ba;"| †
| style="text-align:left;"| Philadelphia (NBA)
| 72 || 72 || 33.6 || .517 || .286 || .759 || 6.8 || 3.7 || 1.6 || 1.8 || 21.4
|-
| style="text-align:left;|
| style="text-align:left;"| Philadelphia (NBA)
| 77 || 77 || 34.8 || .512 || .333 || .754 || 6.9 || 4.0 || 1.8 || 1.8 || 22.4
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|
| style="text-align:left;"| Philadelphia (NBA)
| 78 || 78 || 32.5 || .494 || .214 || .765 || 5.3 || 3.0 || 1.7 || 1.4 || 20.0
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|
| style="text-align:left;"| Philadelphia (NBA)
| 74 || 74 || 33.4 || .480 || .281 || .785 || 5.0 || 3.4 || 1.5 || 1.1 || 18.1
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|
| style="text-align:left;"| Philadelphia (NBA)
| 60 || 60 || 32.0 || .471 || .264 || .813 || 4.4 || 3.2 || 1.3 || 1.6 || 16.8
|- class="sortbottom"
| style="text-align:center;" colspan=2| Career
| 1243 || 442 || 36.4 || .506 || .298 || .777 || 8.5 || 4.2 || 2.0 || 1.7 || 24.2
|- class="sortbottom"
| style="text-align:center;" colspan=2|All-Star
| 16 || 11 || 40.9 || .496 || .667 || .793 || 9.6 || 5.3 || 1.8 || 1.4 || 29.1
Playoffs
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|1972
| style="text-align:left;"| Virginia (ABA)
| 11 || || 45.8 || .518 || .250 || .835 || style="background:#cfecec;"|20.4* || 6.5 || || || style="background:#cfecec;"|33.3*
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1973
| style="text-align:left;"| Virginia (ABA)
| 5 || || style="background:#cfecec;"|43.8* || .527 || .000 || .750 || 9.0|| 3.2 || || || style="background:#cfecec;"|29.6*
|-
| style="text-align:left;background:#afe6fa;"| 1974†
| style="text-align:left;"| New York (ABA)
| 14 || || 41.4 || .528 || .455 || .741 || 9.6 || 4.8 || 1.6 || 1.4 || style="background:#cfecec;"|27.9*
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1975
| style="text-align:left;"| New York (ABA)
| 5 || || 42.2 || .455 || .000 || .844 || 9.8 || 5.6 || 1.0 || 1.8 || 27.4
|-
| style="text-align:left;background:#afe6fa;"| 1976†
| style="text-align:left;"| New York (ABA)
| style="background:#cfecec;"|13* || || style="background:#cfecec;"|42.4* || .533 || .286 || .804 || 12.6 || 4.9 || 1.9|| 2.0 || style="background:#cfecec;"|34.7*
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1977
| style="text-align:left;"| Philadelphia (NBA)
| style="background:#cfecec;"|19* || || 39.9 || .523 || || .821 || 6.4 || 4.5 || 2.2 || 1.2 || 27.3
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1978
| style="text-align:left;"| Philadelphia (NBA)
| 10 || || 35.8 || .489 || || .750 || 9.7 || 4.0 || 1.5|| 1.8 || 21.8
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|1979
| style="text-align:left;"| Philadelphia (NBA)
| 9 || || 41.3 || .517 || || .761 || 7.8 || 5.9 || 2.0 || 1.9 || 25.4
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1980
| style="text-align:left;"| Philadelphia (NBA)
| style="background:#cfecec;"|18* || || 38.6 || .488 || .222 || .794 || 7.6 || 4.4 || 2.0 || 2.1 || 24.4
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|1981
| style="text-align:left;"| Philadelphia (NBA)
| 16 || || 37.0 || .475 || .000 || .757 || 7.1 || 3.4 || 1.4 || 2.6 || 22.9
|-
| style="text-align:left"| 1982
| style="text-align:left;"| Philadelphia (NBA)
| style="background:#cfecec;"|21* || || 37.1 || .519 || .167 || .752 || 7.4 || 4.7 || 1.8 || 1.8 || 22.0
|-
| style="text-align:left;background:#afe6ba;"| 1983†
| style="text-align:left;"| Philadelphia (NBA)
| 13 || || 37.9 || .450 || .000 || .721 || 7.6 || 3.4 || 1.2 || 2.1 || 18.4
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|1984
| style="text-align:left;"| Philadelphia (NBA)
| 5 || || 38.8 || .474 || .000 || .864 || 6.4 || 5.0 || 1.6 || 1.2 || 18.2
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1985
| style="text-align:left;"| Philadelphia (NBA)
| 13 || 13 || 33.4 || .449 || .000 || .857 || 5.6 || 3.7 || 1.9 || 0.8 || 17.1
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|1986
| style="text-align:left;"| Philadelphia (NBA)
| 12 || 12 || 36.1 || .450 || .182 || .738 || 5.8 || 4.2 || 0.9 || 1.3 || 17.7
|-
| style="text-align:left"|1987
| style="text-align:left;"| Philadelphia (NBA)
| 5 || 5 || 36.0 || .415 || .333 || .840 || 5.0 || 3.4 || 1.4 || 1.2 || 18.2
|-class="sortbottom"
|style="text-align:center;" colspan=2| Career
|189 || 30 || 38.9 || .496 || .224 || .784 || 8.5 || 4.4 || 1.7 || 1.7 || 24.2
Records
One of seven players to record 1,300 steals and 1,300 blocked shots in their ABA/NBA career:
Also achieved by Kevin Garnett, Bobby Jones, Hakeem Olajuwon, Clifford Robinson, David Robinson, and Ben Wallace
Only known NBA player to get:
42 points, 18 rebounds, and 4 blocked shots while shooting 100% from the free-throw line in a game (October 10, 1973)
49 points, 6 assists, 5 steals, and 3 blocked shots in a game (January 10, 1976)
28 points, 10 assists, 5 steals, and 5 blocked shots (December 5, 1979, and November 27, 1981)
39 points, 7 rebounds, and 3 steals while shooting 87.5% from the field and 100% from the free-throw line (March 2, 1980)
34 points, 7 steals, and 3 blocked shots while shooting 72% from the field (November 12, 1980)
39 points, 3 steals, 3 blocked shots, and 2 or less turnovers while shooting 72% from the field and 92% from the free-throw line (February 25, 1981)
30 points, 7 assists, 5 steals, and 4 blocked shots while shooting 80% from the field and 100% from the free-throw line in a game (March 14, 1982)
44 points, 11 rebounds, 7 assists, and 8 blocked shots while shooting 68% from the field in a game (December 11, 1982)
Only known player in NBA history with multiple games of:
4 steals and 4 blocked shots while shooting 75% from the floor and 83% from the free-throw line line (March 14, 1982, and February 10, 1983)
One of two known players in NBA history with multiple games of:
7 assists, 5 steals, and 4 blocked shots while shooting 100% from the free-throw line (December 5, 1979, March 14, 1982)
Other player is Hakeem Olajuwon, January 25, 1994, April 7, 1994
42 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists, and 4 blocked shots (December 11, 1982, and February 8, 1984)
Other player is Michael Jordan, who has three (January 26, 1985, February 16, 1987, and March 11, 1987)
One of two known NBA players to get:
49 points, 8 rebounds, 5 steals, and 3 blocked shots while shooting 90% from the free-throw line in a game (January 10, 1976)
Other player is Anthony Davis, October 26, 2016
28 points, 10 assists, 8 steals, and 2 blocked shots in a game (November 12, 1976)
Other player is Larry Bird, February 18, 1985
40 points, 8 assists, and 6 steals while shooting 100% from the free-throw line in a game (April 9, 1977)
Other player is Rick Barry, November 3, 1974
40 points, 11 rebounds, 8 assists, and 6 steals in a game while shooting 100% from the free-throw line (April 9, 1979 – playoffs)
Other player is Michael Jordan, Chicago at New York, May 13, 1989 – playoffs
40 points, 11 rebounds, and 6 steals (April 9, 1977)
Other player is James Harden, February 2, 2019
10 assists, 5 steals, and 5 blocked shots while shooting 100% from the free-throw line in a game (December 5, 1979)
Other player is Jamaal Tinsley, November 16, 2001
30 points, 7 assists, and 4 blocked shots while shooting 80% from the field in a game (March 14, 1982)
Other player is Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, December 9, 1979
13 rebounds, 7 assists, and 5 steals while shooting 80% from the floor in a game (March 14, 1982)
Other player is Fat Lever, November 24, 1987
13 rebounds and 5 steals while shooting 80% from the field and 100% from the free-throw line in a game (March 14, 1982)
Other player is Brian Grant, March 29, 2002
30 points and 5 steals while shooting 80% from the field and 100% from the free-throw line in a game (March 14, 1982)
Other player is Amar'e Stoudemire, November 5, 2008
44 points, 11 rebounds, and 8 blocked shots while shooting 68% from the field in a game (December 11, 1982)
Other player is Dwight Howard, February 17, 2009
One of three known players in NBA history to get:
49 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists, and 5 steals in a game while shooting 100% from the free-throw line in a game (January 10, 1976)
Other players are Rick Barry, March 26, 1974, and Amar'e Stoudemire, November 5, 2008
40 points, 10 rebounds, 7 assists, and 6 steals in a game (April 9, 1977)
Other players are Larry Bird, January 10, 1982, and Michael Jordan, January 3, 1989, and May 13, 1989 – playoffs)
30 points, 7 assists, and 5 steals while shooting 80% from the field in a game (March 14, 1982)
Other players are Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, March 14, 1976, and Ben Simmons, January 20, 2020
13 rebounds, 5 steals, and 4 blocked shots while shooting 80% from the field in a game (March 14, 1982)
7 assists and 4 blocked shots while shooting 80% from the field and 100% from the free-throw line in a game (March 14, 1982)
Other players are Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, December 9, 1979, and Jusuf Nurkic, January 11, 2019
Other players are Darryl Dawkins, November 3, 1983, and Buck Williams, January 16, 1985
Personal life
Erving is a Christian. He has spoken about his faith, saying: "After searching for the meaning of life for over ten years, I found the meaning in Jesus Christ." Erving is a second cousin of economist Walter E. Williams. Erving was married to Turquoise Erving from 1972 until 2003. Together they had four children. In 2000, their 19-year-old son Cory went missing for weeks, until he was found drowned after driving his vehicle into a pond.
In 1979, Erving began an affair with sportswriter Samantha Stevenson, resulting in the 1980 birth of Alexandra Stevenson, who would become a professional tennis player. Although Erving's fatherhood of Alexandra Stevenson was known privately to the families involved, it did not become public knowledge until Stevenson reached the semifinals at Wimbledon in 1999, the first year she qualified to play in the tournament. Erving had provided financial support for Stevenson over the years, but had not otherwise been part of her life. The public disclosure of their relationship did not initially lead to contact between father and daughter; however, Stevenson contacted Erving in 2008 and they finally initiated a further relationship. Erving met Stevenson for the first time on October 31, 2008. In 2009, Erving attended the Family Circle Cup tennis tournament to see Stevenson play, marking the first time he had attended one of her matches.
In 1988, Erving received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement. In 2003, Erving fathered a second child outside of his marriage, Justin Kangas, with a woman named Dorýs Madden. Julius and Turquoise Erving were subsequently divorced and Erving continued his relationship with Madden, with whom he had three more children, Jules Erving and two others. They married in 2008.
Community art
The Dr. J mural is located on the corner of Green Street and Ridge Avenue near Spring Garden Street in Philadelphia, PA.
From Mural Arts Philadelphia:
"Feeling restless and desperate to improve the quality and variety of the murals, Jane [Golden] made a decision in 1990 that would forever change Mural Arts Philadelphia. She raised money from private foundation to bring her old friend and mentor Kent Twitchell to Philadelphia. She wanted a “breakthrough mural,” and Twitchell—a nationally acclaimed California artist—was just the man to paint it. “We knew we had to push the boundaries,” she said. "The goal was to try to integrate superior artwork with a subject that touched the community in a special way."
Twitchell was known for his portraits, and he lobbied to paint basketball great Julius Erving in a business suit instead of a uniform to portray him more as a man and role model than simply another well-known athlete. The dignified, full-length portrait is so tall that Erving’s head just fits under the peak of the three-story building. The image was first painted on large squares of parachute cloth, which were then adhered to the wall surface with acrylic gel. The cloth’s smooth surface allowed Twitchell to craft Erving with uncannily realistic detail, from the crease in his tan suit trousers to the gold bracelet on his right hand. Local residents, who maintain a small park in front of the mural, claim that the real Dr. J had tears in his eyes when he saw the completed portrait for the first time. Dr. J is also the only Philadelphia mural so respected that it appears in homage in another mural, the student-painted panorama of urban life on the Spring Garden Street Bridge.
"The mural was universally applauded. It showed that murals have the potential to be great. The level of expectation was raised,” Jane said. The mural helped alter public opinion about the program, too. “The art snobs, people who’d been looking down at our murals, started to change. There was a ripple effect—foundation and grants started to emerge."
See also
List of National Basketball Association career playoff blocks leaders
List of National Basketball Association career playoff scoring leaders
List of National Basketball Association career playoff steals leaders
List of National Basketball Association career playoff turnovers leaders
List of National Basketball Association career steals leaders
References
External links
Basketball Hall of Fame profile
nba.com: NBA History profile
basketball-reference.com: Career statistics
1950 births
Living people
African-American basketball players
African-American Christians
African-American sports announcers
African-American sports journalists
All-American college men's basketball players
American men's basketball players
Basketball coaches from New York (state)
Big3 coaches
Milwaukee Bucks draft picks
Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductees
National Basketball Association All-Stars
National Basketball Association broadcasters
National Basketball Association Most Valuable Player Award winners
National Basketball Association players with retired numbers
New York Nets players
Orlando Magic executives
People from East Meadow, New York
People from Roosevelt, New York
Philadelphia 76ers players
Small forwards
Basketball players from Nassau County, New York
UMass Minutemen basketball players
Virginia Squires players
|
412205
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danone
|
Danone
|
Danone S.A. () is a French multinational food-products corporation based in Paris. It was founded in 1919 in Barcelona, Spain. It is listed on Euronext Paris where it is a component of the CAC 40 stock market index. Some of the company's products are branded Dannon in the United States.
As of 2018, Danone sold products in 120 markets, and had sales in 2018 of €24.65 billion. In the first half of 2018, 29% of sales came from specialized nutritional preparations, 19% came from branded bottled water, and 52% came from dairy and plant-based products (including yogurt).
History
Name
Danone was founded by Isaac Carasso (born İzak Karasu), a Salonica-born Sephardic Jewish physician from the Ottoman Empire, who began producing yogurt in Barcelona, Spain in 1919. The brand was named Danone, which translates to "little Daniel", after his son Daniel Carasso.
In 1929, Isaac Carasso moved the company from Spain to France, opening a plant in Paris. In 1942, Daniel Carasso moved the company to New York. In the United States, Daniel Carasso partnered with the Swiss-born Spaniard Juan Metzger and changed the brand name to Dannon to sound more American.
In 1951, Daniel Carasso returned to Paris to manage the family's businesses in France and Spain, and the American business was sold to Beatrice Foods in 1959; it was repurchased by Danone in 1981. In Europe in 1967, Danone merged with Gervais, the leading fresh cheese producer in France, and became Gervais Danone. In 1973, the company merged with bottle maker BSN. The company changed its name to Groupe Danone in 1983.
Strategic reorientation
The acquisitions initially took the shape of vertical integration, with BSN acquiring Alsatian brewer Kronenbourg and Evian branded mineral water who were the glassmaker's largest customers. This move provided content with which to fill the factory's bottles. In 1973, the company merged with Gervais Danone and began to expand internationally, including a rebranding of the Dannon yogurt brand in the U.S. and a successful ad campaign In Soviet Georgia. In 1979, the company abandoned glassmaking by disposing of Verreries Boussois. In 1987, Gervais Danone acquired European biscuit manufacturer Générale Biscuit, owners of the LU brand, and, in 1989, it bought out the European biscuit operations of Nabisco, The operation included UK manufacturers Huntley and Palmers, Peek Frean, and Jacob's, which had previously merged to form Associated Biscuits Ltd.
In 1994, BSN changed its name to Groupe Danone, adopting the name of the group's best-known international brand. Franck Riboud succeeded his father, Antoine, as the company's chairman and chief executive officer in 1996 when Riboud senior retired. Under Riboud junior, the company continued to pursue its focus on three product groups (dairy, beverages, and cereals) and divested itself of several activities which had become non-core including Amora, Liebig, and Maille brands.
In 1999 and 2003, the group sold 56% and 44% respectively of its glass-containers business. In 2000, the group also sold most of its European beer activities (the brand Kronenbourg and the brand 1664 were sold to Scottish & Newcastle for £1.7 billion; its Italian cheese and meat businesses (Egidio Galbani Spa) were sold in March 2002; as were its beer producing activities in China. The company's British (Jacob's) and Irish biscuit operations were sold to United Biscuits in September 2004. In August 2005, the Group sold its sauces business in the United Kingdom and in the United States (HP Foods), in January 2006, its sauces business in Asia (Amoy Food) was sold to Ajinomoto. Despite these divestitures, Danone continues to expand internationally in its three core business units, emphasising health and well-being products.
In July 2007, it was announced that Danone had reached agreement with Kraft Foods Inc (now Mondelēz International) to sell most of its biscuits division, including the LU and Prince brands but excluding Latin American (Bagley) and Indian (Britannia Industries) units, for around €5.3 billion. Also in July 2007, a €12.3 billion cash offer by Danone for the Dutch baby food and clinical nutrition company Numico was agreed to by both boards, creating the world's second-largest manufacturer of baby food.
In 2009, the company changed its name from Groupe Danone to Danone.
Danone acquired the Unimilk group's companies in Russia in 2010 and the Wockhardt group's nutrition activities in India in 2012. In mid-February 2013 Danone announced their intention to cut 900 jobs or about 3.3 percent of their 27,000 person European workforce.
Since 2013, Danone has grown on the African continent, notably with the acquisition of a controlling interest in Centrale Danone in Morocco and equity interests in Fan Milk in West Africa and Brookside in Kenya.
In 2014, Emmanuel Faber became CEO.
Danone was present in 130 markets and generated sales of US$25.7 billion in 2016, with more than half in developing countries. In 2015, fresh dairy products represented 50% of the group's total sales, baby food 22%, branded water 21%, and medical nutrition 7%. In 2017, Franck Riboud became honorary chairman and Faber became chairman as well as retaining his CEO position.
In 2018, Danone rebranded its DanoneWave subsidiary, formed after the 2017 acquisition of WhiteWave Foods (Alpro), into Danone North America.
In 2020, Danone announced that It would cut up to 2,000 jobs as part of a reorganization. This amounted to about 2% of its workforce.
In late 2020, the entry of the London-based hedge fund Bluebell Capital as a shareholder of Danone put Emmanuel Faber’s position into question. In a letter sent to all shareholders in November 2020, they qualified Danone's stock market performance under the presidency of Emmanuel Faber of overall “disappointing”, arguing that “the right balance between shareholder value creation and sustainability issues” had not been struck under his tenure.
After the publication of only slightly comforting 2020 results and disappointing first trimester turnover figures, Bluebell Capital's activism paid off and Faber was ousted in mid-March 2021.
On May 16, 2021, the arrival of Antoine Bernard de Saint-Affrique as the next CEO of Danone is announced, to be effective on September 15.
Corporate governance
Head office
Danone's head office has been located in the 9th arrondissement of Paris since 2002.
Executives and board
Danone is led by a CEO and chairman as well as a board of directors. As of 26 April 2018 the 16 members of the Board of Directors are:
Antoine de Saint-Affrique – CEO
Franck Riboud – Honorary Chairman
Guido Barilla
Frédéric Boutebba
Cécile Cabanis
Gregg L. Engles
Clara Gaymard
Michel Landel
Gaëlle Olivier
Benoît Potier
Isabelle Seillier
Jean-Michel Severino
Virginia A. Stallings
Bettina Theissig
Serpil Timuray
Lionel Zinsou-Derlin
As of 2021 the members of the executive committee are as follows:
Main brands
Danone's brand portfolio includes both international brands and local brands. In 2018, Danone's international brands include: Activia, Actimel, Alpro, Oikos, Aptamil, Danette (Danet in some regions), Danimals, Danio, Dannon, Danonino, Evian, Nutricia, Nutrilon, Volvic. Local or regional brands include: AQUA (Indonesia), Blédina (France), Bonafont (Mexico and Brazil), Cow & Gate (UK), Happy Family (USA), Horizon Organic (USA), Mizone (China and Indonesia), Prostokvashino (Russia), Silk (USA) and Damavand (Iran).
Ownership
Ownership of Danone is split as follows: 43% is owned by American investors, 19% by French investors, followed by the UK (10%), Switzerland (6%), Germany (5%) and the rest of Europe (17%).
Joint ventures
In some areas, Danone has adopted a strategy of growth through joint ventures, particularly in fast-growing emerging markets which represent over 50% of its sales.
Danone signed joint ventures with Al Safi in Saudi Arabia (2001), Yakult in India (2005) and Vietnam (2006), Alquería in Colombia (2007), and Mengniu in China (2013–2014).
Bangladesh
In November 2005, Franck Riboud met Muhammad Yunus, founder of the Grameen Bank and later winner of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize. The two men discussed at length their ideas on the development of poor countries and found that their areas of expertise were complementary. As a result, in 2006, the Grameen Bank and Danone formed a company called Grameen Danone Foods, a social business in Bangladesh.
Grameen Danone Foods Ltd. produces a yoghurt called Shokti Doi containing protein, vitamins, iron, calcium, zinc, and other micronutrients aimed to fill nutritional deficits of children in Bangladesh. Shokti Doi is sold for six euro cents, a price that studies found to be affordable for the poorest families. Its pursuit of profitability is based solely on criteria such as improving public health, creating jobs, reducing poverty and protecting the environment. Profits earned by the company are re-invested in expanding and running the business.
India
Danone started its nutrition business in India in 2012 through the acquisition of the nutrition portfolio from Wockhardt Group. Danone India offers a range of specialized products across life stages that includes pregnancy, infants, young children as well as adults, under Indian and global brands like Aptamil, Neocate, Farex, Protinex, Dexolac and Nusobee. Headquartered in Mumbai. In 2018, Danone reduced its product portfolio and discontinued some dairy SKUs to bring a sharper focus on its nutrition offerings.
Israel
In March 1996 Danone signed an agreement to purchase 20 percent of the Strauss Group, Israel's second largest food manufacturer. Since the 1970s, Strauss Dairies had a series of partnership and knowledge agreements with Danone.
China
Danone has invested in China since 1987 with the joint venture with Fengxing Milk in Guangzhou. It is one of Danone's top 5 markets.
Bright Dairy
In 2001, Danone acquired a 5% stake in Bright Dairy and, in March 2005, doubled its shareholding, and again, to 20%, in April 2006, becoming the third largest shareholder after Shanghai Milk Group and S.I. Food.
The parties announced in October 2007 that Danone would divest its stake by selling it to the other two main shareholders at a small profit. Bright Dairy said Danone would pay 330m yuan (€31m) to terminate the existing distribution and production agreement with it.<ref>Neil Merrett, Danone sells Chinese dairy stake , Dairy Reporter, 17 October 2007</ref>
Wahaha
The Hangzhou Wahaha Group, the largest beverage producer in China, and Danone entered into a dairy products joint venture in 1996, in which Danone held 51%. It was hailed by Forbes magazine as a "showcase" joint venture.
Yet in 2005, Danone noted that alongside the 39 structures of the joint venture, 60 factories and distribution companies produce and sell beverages illegally under the Wahaha brand. Danone made several attempts to take a stake in the Wahaha companies external to the joint venture, but was rebuffed by Wahaha's General Manager Zong Qinghou. Danone and Zong Qinghou had signed a deal in December 2006 allowing Danone to buy a majority stake in these non-JV operations. However, Zong had second thoughts about the deal and reneged, claiming the offer was underpriced and held out for a higher price from Danone.
The dispute took on the shape of a trademark dispute, and Danone filed for arbitration in Stockholm on 9 May 2007. On 4 June, Danone filed suit in Los Angeles Superior Court against Ever Maple Trading and Hangzhou Hongsheng Beverage Co Ltd, companies controlled by Zong, his wife, and daughter.
In 2009, an agreement was reached between the two parties. Danone left the Danone–Wahaha joint venture and sold its shares (51%) to its former Chinese partner.
Mengniu
On 20 May 2013, Danone announced a strategic investment (4.0%) in Mengniu, the top dairy products company in China, through an agreement with COFCO (the state-owned largest food company in China a majority shareholder in Mengniu). Later on, Danone raised its interest in Mengniu from 4.0% to 9.9%. In 2016, Danone is Mengniu's second shareholder.
In addition, in May 2013, a joint-venture was created between Danone and Mengniu to grow the fresh dairy product category.
On 31 October 2014, Danone, Mengniu and Yashili announced that they had signed an agreement allowing Danone to take part in a private placement by Yashili totalling €437 million, at a price of HK$3.70 per share. Upon completion of the subscription, Mengniu and Danone respectively held 51.0% and 25.0% equity interest in Yashili.
Russia
On 18 June 2010, Danone partnered with Unimilk, one of Russia's main milk producers. Danone and Unimilk merged their fresh dairy products activities in Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Belarus. The joint-venture gave birth to the number one dairy products company in this region. Russia became one of the five most important markets for Danone.
In October 2022, Danone announced the start of the process of transferring its Russian segment to new owners. By this point, Russia provided about 5% of the company's total revenue. The company considered about two dozen possible applicants for its assets, but as of July 2023, the "successor" has not been decided. In the meantime, Danone rebranded one of its top brands: Activia in the Russian market becoming Aktibio. The company said that this will allow renewed investment in the Russian dairy industry. In July 2023, the Russian government seized the shares in Danone Russia and placed it under the control of the Russian Federal Agency for State Property Management. On July 18, Ibragim Zakriev, the Minister of Agriculture of Chechnya and the nephew of its President Ramzan Kadyrov, was appointed General Director of the Russian Danone. As of 26 July 2023 Danone has provided €700 million for the loss of Russian business, plus €500 million exchange loss due to the fall in the ruble.
Africa
In June 2012, Danone raised its interest in Centrale Laitière (leader of the dairy products market in Morocco) to 67.0%. Centrale Laitière is Danone's first franchise ever: the companies have worked together since 1953.
In October 2013, Danone teamed up with Abraaj Group to acquire FanMilk International, the leading manufacturer and distributor of frozen dairy products and juices in Ghana, Togo, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Benin and Ivory Coast.
In July 2014, Danone announced the acquisition of a 40% interest in Kenya's Brookside, East Africa's leading dairy products group.
Philippines
In October 2014, Danone partnered with Universal Robina to build a beverage production and distribution business in the Philippines.
Corporate social responsibility
Danone operates several funds including: danone.communities, created in 2007 to finance social business, the Danone Ecosystem Fund, created in 2009 to provide support to Danone partners including farmers, subcontractors, and vendors, and Livelihoods, created in 2011 in order to finance environment-related projects (such as peasant agriculture, deforestation, access to energy in emerging countries) and in return provide investors with carbon credits with strong social intensity.
Danone's corporate social responsibility programs were influenced by former CEO, Antoine Riboud, and a speech he gave on 25 October 1972 known as the "Marseilles speech".
In this speech, he stated that growth should not take place without corporate social responsibility. He was the first CEO to publicly state that human and environment aspects of a company should be taken into account. These ideas laid the ground to Danone's dual project (economic and social).
Danone Institute
The Danone Institute is a nonprofit organization established to promote research, information and education about nutrition, diet and public health. One of the organization's main objectives was to increase nutrition knowledge amongst medical professionals, educators and parents.
The company set up its first Institute in 1991 in Paris, France, and officially launched as a private nonprofit organization in 1997.
The institute is led by nutrition experts and Danone company executives.
Danone Institutes around the world
By 2007, Danone had set up 18 institutes in countries around the world to develop programs that address local public health issues. The institutes are located in Belgium, Canada, China, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Poland, Russia, Spain, the United States, and Turkey.
They operate under the aegis of the Danone Institute International. The Danone Institute International is responsible for steering the network, and encouraging a continual exchange between the various countries.
Today, more than 200 experts in diet and nutrition are involved in this international network.
Each institute is composed of a board of directors and a scientific council. Each board includes 8 members. The board members are responsible for setting the strategic direction and budget for the organization. The scientific council that is composed of from 6 to 10 members, takes future programmatic decisions.
The institutes develop educational programs in their countries to deal with local health and nutrition issues. Each institute therefore develops its own program in order to be relevant in their environment. For instance, the Czech Danone Institute provides a fund to support research, development and education in nutrition, and scholarships abroad.
Each local Danone Institute develops specific programs including:
Support research programs: scholarships, grants, awards, prizes
Publications of research findings relating to health and nutrition
Organization of scientific conferences
Publication of newsletters and books for professionals (e.g., health care professionals, educators, journalists)
Organization of workshops, training and educational sessions for professionals
Production of pedagogic material, booklets, television and radio programs, PC games for parents, children...
Spread the knowledge to the public
Throughout the world, the Danone Institutes continue to be nonprofit organizations.
The Danone Institutes gather internationally renowned scientists in diet and nutrition from independent organizations (e.g.: universities, research centers).
From 1991 to 2006, more than 40 prizes and awards have been attributed for more than €600,000. Over 140 events have gathered more than 30,000 health care professionals. And 75 publications have been published. More than 70 programs towards the public have been organized.
To date, Danone Institutes have funded more than 900 research projects. This represents a global budget of €16 million. They have set up dozens of educational programs. 100 symposia have been launched.
Danone Institute International
The Danone Institute International was established in 2004 to gather together the 18 Danone Institutes. Its goal is to develop large-scale international programs. It also aims at encouraging the sharing of the knowledge between the local institutes. It facilitates cooperation, collaboration and exchange between scientists.
Danone Institute International is a nonprofit organization originally established with funding from Danone. The association promotes the exchange of information related to the relationship between diet, nutrition and health.
The Danone Institute International comprises more than 220 scientific experts, and may be considered as a think tank. This international network gathers renowned scientists from various fields such as clinical nutrition, pediatric medicine, microbiology, gastroenterology, and psychology.
The Danone Institute International produces publications, supports research via grants, programs and a prize. The DII also organizes international academic conferences and symposia.
The Danone International Prize For Nutrition is a cornerstone in the work of the Danone Institute International.
Danone International Prize for Nutrition
The Danone International Prize for Nutrition is an award established in 1997 by the Danone Institute International, presented every two years to honour individuals or teams that have advanced the science of human nutrition.
The prize aims at encouraging nutrition research and promoting the public's understanding of the importance of this field.
This award is one of the most respected awards within the field of nutritional research. Many leading scientists received this award, that recognizes their accomplishments.
The Danone International Prize for Nutrition is worth €120,000. The prize is awarded every two years by the Danone Institute International and organized with the support of the French organization Fondation pour la Recherche Médicale.
The Danone International Prize for Nutrition recognizes a single researcher or a research team as leading a major step in nutrition, developing novel concepts, including research fields with potential application for populations.
The jury consists of up to nine members, including one member of the Fondation pour la Recherche Médicale. 50% of the jury members come from the Danone Institute International or the Danone Institutes. The jury selects one winner by a secret vote. In case of a tie, the chair's vote counts as two votes.
Danone Institute International selected in 2007 Friedman through a process involving more than 650 applicants worldwide. Candidates must be employed by a not-for-profit institution and actively involved in research. Laureates are chosen after an independent and international selection procedure.
This prize has been renamed the Danone International Prize for Alimentation in 2018.
Prize winners:
Source: Danone International
2016 Philip Calder, for his outstanding work on nutrition and immunity.
2013 Gökhan S. Hotamisligil, Harvard School of Public Health, for his outstanding research in immunology and metabolic diseases.
2011 Jeffery I. Gordon, Center for Genome Sciences and Systems Biology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, for his outstanding contribution to scientific research on the human gut microbiome, diet and nutritional status.
2009 Johan Auwerx, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, for his research in molecular nutrition.
2007 Jeffrey M. Friedman, Rockefeller University and Howard Hughes Medical Institute; for research on the role of genetics and leptin, a hormone he discovered, in body-weight regulation.
2005 David J. P. Barker, epidemiologist at the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease Division Research Centre of Southampton University, UK and at the Heart Research Centre, Oregon Health and Science University, US, for the Barker Early Origins Hypothesis, also known as the fetal origins hypothesis or the thrifty phenotype hypothesis.
2003 Ricardo Bressani, for his life-time commitment to maximise the understanding of the nutritional potential and limitations of local basic foods
2001 Alfred Sommer and team from the School of Hygiene and Public Health at Johns Hopkins University, for his work on Vitamin A deficiency1999 Leif Hallberg, for his work on iron metabolism1997 Vernon R. Young, for his work on protein and amino acids metabolism Global summit on the health effects of yogurt
In 2012, the Danone Institute International in collaboration with the American Society for Nutrition (ASN) organized an international working group to examine the health effects of yogurt. They communicated their scientific conclusion to health care professionals and the public. One year later, the ASN and the Danone Institute International joined forces to launch the first global summit on the health effects of yogurt.
This event aims at evaluating the state of science as concerns yogurt consumption and public health.
The first summit took place in 2013 in Boston. It featured international experts in medicine and nutrition. Since that time, summits have been held every year.
Yogurt in Nutrition Initiative for a balanced diet
In 2013, the Danone Institute International, the American Society for Nutrition (ASN) and the Nutrition Society (NS) launched the Yogurt in Nutrition Initiative for a balanced diet. This program aims at examining the health effects of yogurt, encouraging research around yogurt as part of a healthy diet and communicating scientific information toward health care professionals and the public.
Through this project, the Danone Institute International plans to organize worldwide conferences to share researchers' findings. From 2013, the Yogurt in Nutrition Initiative for a balanced diet co-organizes every year Global Summit on the Health Effects of Yogurt.
The Danone Institute International in collaboration with the American Society for Nutrition and the International Osteoporosis Foundation also organizes the Yogurt in Nutrition Award. This prize is offered by the Yogurt in Nutrition Initiative for a balanced diet. This award, valued at US$30,000, supports projects focused on the role of yogurt in the prevention and management of diseases. It finances research programs for two years. It recognizes individuals or research teams from public organizations, universities or hospitals.
Controversies
2005–2006: the PepsiCo acquisition case
Due to its narrow focus and relatively small size, Danone is potentially an attractive takeover target for its competitors, namely Nestlé and Kraft Foods. In mid-July 2005, the share price of Danone rose 20% within two weeks on rumours of a bid approach by PepsiCo, although this intention was denied. Upon realising that a takeover of a national treasure such as Danone by a foreign company was indeed possible in the capital markets, the "economically patriotic" French government stepped in by drafting a law to protect companies in "strategic industries" such as Danone from takeover. This has been dubbed the "Danone Law".
Speculation was renewed once again in mid-2006, when PepsiCo declared its intention to grow significantly in France through a sizeable non-hostile acquisition, and Kraft was also reported in Le Figaro, a French daily newspaper, as not having ruled out an acquisition on French soil. The stock market apparently marked down the possibility of a bid by PepsiCo following Danone's acquisition of Numico.
2010–2013
In the 2010s, reports indicated that Danone engaged in unethical marketing of infant formula in China, Indonesia, Turkey, and India.
India
In the early 2010s, Nutricia India (Danone) purchased Wockhardt, which thereby provided Danone with an entry to India's infant nutrition market. Nutricia later ordered and scheduled an external audit of payments made and invoices received from March through August 2013 and found no payments to doctors. However, critics contended the company directed the course of the audit, and more importantly, scheduled the audit so that it did not cover the crucial handover period. In fact, it was scheduled nearly a year after the purchase. A policy director for Baby Milk Action stated that Nutricia "seems to be using the audit as a cover".
India passed a law pertaining to Infant Milk Substitutes (IMS) in 1992 and strengthened this law in 2003. These prohibit any kind of advertisement of infant formula for children 0–2, as well as prohibit monetary benefits to doctors for recommending formula. Still, major companies including Danone have been criticized for sponsoring such things as nutritional conferences and web platforms for doctors. (Other companies include Nestle, Abbott, and Mead Johnson.)
Dexolac is the name of Danone's infant milk substitute product. Overall in India, approximately 50% of infants under six months of age are exclusively breastfed, and 50% are not.
China
In October 2012, a Save the Children survey was conducted in the cities of Hohhot, Beijing, Jinan, Shanghai, Nanjing, and Shenzhen. Sixty mothers of infants 0–6 months were interviewed in each city. 40% of the mothers interviewed said they had received formula samples. Of these, 60% were provided by company representatives, and over one-third by healthcare workers. The mothers reported that samples were provided by (in order of frequency): Dumex (Danone, and since May 2016 Yashili), Enfamil (Mead Johnson), Wyeth, Abbott, Nestlé, Friso, Ausnutria and Bei-yin-mei. The overall 2013 Save the Children report which includes this 2012 survey states, "If new mothers are given free samples to feed to their babies it can start a vicious circle that undermines their own ability to breastfeed. An infant satiated with formula may demand less breast milk, so the mother produces less, and that can result in her losing confidence in her ability to breastfeed."
Indonesia subsidiary
In February 2013 The Guardian reported that up until 2011, Danone subsidiary Sari Husada had midwives sign contracts to receive financial payments for selling a certain number of boxes of baby formula. According to Danone, this no longer happens, and has been replaced by a scheme which runs training for midwives. However, the main difference appears to be a change from cash to merchandise such as televisions or laptops, and often including items which are needed in the midwives' practices, such as oxygen canisters, TENS machines, and nebulisers. The Guardian has seen a spreadsheet detailing the number of new mothers contacted, the amount of 0–6 months formula sold, and the proportion of their target this represents. Danone commented: "That may still be happening, that's something we need to address."
This same article reported that Sari Husada (Danone) had links throughout the Indonesian medical system. For example, Sari Husada sponsored professional associations, paid doctors for running seminars for midwives, and even sponsored midwifery awards which were then presented by the Indonesian Minister for Women's Empowerment and the Protection of Children.
There are two potential harms to promoting infant formula in poorer communities: (1) the parents and families may not have dependable access to clean water, and (2) the ongoing cost is such a significant part of the family budget that parents are highly motivated to attempt to "stretch" the product, with risk of malnourishment to infant or child. An Indonesian paediatrician stated, "Selling formula is like the killing fields, in my opinion. The babies will die of diarrhoea and they will die of malnutrition."
Turkey marketing campaign
In June 2013 the organisation was accused in Turkey of "misleading mothers with a marketing campaign that warned they might not be providing enough breast milk to their babies [and suggesting] mothers use its powdered baby milk to make up any shortfall". Danone responded that it "based its advice on WHO guidance" and claimed that both the WHO and UNICEF "endorsed the campaign." The WHO said Danone did not have permission to use its logo and asked Danone to remove its name from the company's marketing materials within 14 days while Ayman Abulaban, the UNICEF representative for Turkey, said: "The Unicef Turkey office has not endorsed this campaign." UNICEF also requested that their name be removed from marketing materials.
Fonterra New Zealand alert
Following a statement by the New Zealand government and Fonterra on 2 August 2013 warning that batches of ingredients supplied by Fonterra to four Danone plants in Asia-Pacific might be contaminated with Clostridium botulinum bacteria, Danone recalled selected infant formula products from sale in eight markets (New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia, China, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand) as a precautionary measure.
The alert was lifted on 28 August when New Zealand Ministry for Primary Industries concluded after several weeks of tests that there was no Clostridium botulinum'' in any of the batches concerned. None of the many tests conducted by Danone before and after this period showed any contamination.
On 8 January 2014, Danone announced its decision to terminate its existing supply contract with Fonterra and make any further collaboration contingent on a commitment by its supplier to full transparency and compliance with the food safety procedures applied to all products supplied to Danone. Danone won damages of €105 million from Fonterra.
Gallery
References
Citations
General and cited references
External links
CAC 40
Companies in the Euro Stoxx 50
Companies listed on Euronext Paris
Dairy products companies of France
Drink brands
Food and drink companies established in 1919
French brands
French chocolate companies
French companies established in 1919
Medical food
Multinational companies headquartered in France
Multinational dairy companies
Multinational food companies
Yogurt companies
|
412208
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People%27s%20Justice%20Party%20%28Malaysia%29
|
People's Justice Party (Malaysia)
|
The People's Justice Party (, often known simply as KEADILAN or PKR) is a reformist political party in Malaysia formed on 3 August 2003 through a merger of the party's predecessor, the National Justice Party, with the socialist Malaysian People's Party. The party's predecessor was founded by Wan Azizah Wan Ismail during the height of the Reformasi movement on 4 April 1999 after the arrest of her husband, former Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim. The party is one of main partners of the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition.
In the first general elections contested by the party in 1999, the party won five seats in the Dewan Rakyat. A resurgence of the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition in the 2004 general elections reduced the party to just one seat. However, an election wave in the 2008 general elections favoring the opposition increased the party's parliamentary representation to 31 seats, as well as allowing them to form the government in 5 states. This triggered the resignation of Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and a lift on the five-year political ban imposed on Anwar Ibrahim on 14 April 2008.
The Pakatan Harapan coalition defeated Barisan Nasional, which had ruled the country for 60 years since independence, in the 2018 general elections, allowing the coalition to form the government. However, defections from within PKR as well as the withdrawal of the Malaysian United Indigenous Party (BERSATU) from the coalition caused the collapse of the PH government after just 22 months in power, culminating in the 2020 Malaysian political crisis that resulted in the rise of the Perikatan Nasional government with ally-turned-enemy Muhyiddin Yassin at the helm. The PH coalition would return to power once again after the 2022 elections. The elections produced a hung parliament for the first time in the country's history, but an alliance with other parties allowed Anwar Ibrahim to become the 10th Prime Minister of Malaysia through a unity government with his political rivals in Barisan Nasional as well as other political coalitions and parties to achieve a two-thirds majority in the Dewan Rakyat.
The party enjoys strong support from urban states such as Selangor, Penang, Perak, Negeri Sembilan and Johor, as well as the capital city of Kuala Lumpur. It promotes an agenda with a strong emphasis on social justice and anti-corruption, as well as adopting a platform that seeks to abolish the New Economic Policy to replace it with an economic policy that takes a non-ethnic approach in poverty eradication and correcting economic imbalances.
History
Early years
The economy of Malaysia was affected by the 1997 Asian financial crisis. The finance minister at the time, Anwar Ibrahim (also the deputy prime minister), instituted a series of economic reforms and austerity measures in response. These actions were exacerbated when he tabled controversial amendments to the Anti-Corruption Act that sought to increase the powers of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC). Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad disagreed with these measures and ultimately sacked Anwar from all his posts. This incident and the circumstances in which it happened led to a public outcry in what became known as the Reformasi movement, but it also resulted in the arrest and subsequent incarceration of Anwar on what many believed to be politically motivated charges of sexual misconduct and corruption.
The movement, which began while the country hosted the Commonwealth Games, initially demanded the resignation of Malaysia's then-Prime Minister, Mahathir Mohamad, and for the end of alleged corruption and cronyism within the Barisan Nasional-led (BN) government. It would go on to become a reformist movement demanding social equality and social justice in Malaysia. The movement consisted of civil disobedience, demonstrations, sit-ins, rioting, occupations and online activism.
Foundation
Once Anwar had been detained, the Reformasi movement continued to develop, with "Justice for Anwar" remaining a potent rallying call. Before his arrest, Anwar had designated his wife, Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, as the successor of the movement. Wan Azizah developed an enormous following, attracting thousands to her speeches. For a time, these followers held massive weekend street demonstrations, mostly in Kuala Lumpur but also occasionally in Penang and other cities, for "keadilan" (justice) and against Mahathir.
Building on the momentum of Reformasi, a political movement called the Social Justice Movement (), also known as ADIL, was launched on 10 December 1998 and was led by Wan Azizah. However, facing difficulties in registering ADIL as a political party, the Reformasi movement instead merged with the Muslim Community Union of Malaysia (), a minor Islamic political party based in Terengganu, and relaunched it as the National Justice Party (), also known as PKN or KeADILan, on 4 April 1999. The registration was just in time for the new party to take part in the 1999 general elections. The launch of KeADILan put to rest months of speculation about whether Wan Azizah and Anwar would merely remain in ADIL, join PAS, or try to stage a coup against UMNO. Although Keadilan was multiracial, its primary target was middle-class, middle-of-the-road Malays, particularly from UMNO. The party has been noted as having rough similarities with the now-defunct multi-racial social democratic Parti Keadilan Masyarakat Malaysia. The party was joined by the Democratic Action Party (DAP), the Malaysian People's Party (PRM) and the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) in a big tent alliance of liberals, socialists, and Islamists known as Barisan Alternatif to take on the ruling BN coalition in the 1999 general elections.
Arrests
Between 27 and 30 September 1999, seven activists, including Keadilan leaders; Vice-President Tian Chua, N. Gobalakrishnan, Youth leader Mohd Ezam Mohd Nor, Fairus Izuddin and Dr Badrul Amin Baharun; were arrested and as a result prevented from contesting in the elections. Further arrests were made on 10 April 2001 and those arrested were subsequently charged and incarcerated under the Internal Security Act. They became known as the Reformasi 10.
1999 general election
The legislative elections of 29 November 1999 were convened in advance, the pretext being the start of Ramadan. As the outgoing Parliament was dissolved on 11 November, the campaign was very short, drawing strong criticism from the opposition. The party entered the campaign with many of its key leaders under arrest along with many disadvantages, as the short campaign was marked by the distribution of pornographic videocassettes implicating former Deputy Prime Minister Anwar in the villages, as well as the opposition having a lack of access to written and audiovisual media. As a result of the mounting disadvantages, the election saw the party winning only five parliamentary seats in the elections despite gaining 11.67% of the total votes cast. However, Wan Azizah was elected as the Member of Parliament for Permatang Pauh; the seat formerly held by her husband, Anwar Ibrahim, with a majority of 9,077 votes. The Barisan Alternatif as a whole gained 40.21% of the total votes cast with PAS winning 27 seats and DAP winning ten seats. The big opposition winner was PAS, which gained 20 seats as well as a majority in two Assemblies in the northern States of Kelantan and Terangganu. As for the BN coalition of Mahathir Mohamad, it however scored a two-thirds majority with 148 seats (despite losing 14 seats). Nevertheless, the BN coalition lost power in two of the thirteen states, along with four members of Mahathir's Cabinet who also lost their seats. For the first time in Malaysia's history, UMNO, the dominant Malay-based party which had ruled the country for 40 years since independence, received less than half of the total vote of ethnic Malays.
Merger with Parti Rakyat Malaysia
The post election period saw negotiations between KeADILan and Parti Rakyat Malaysia on a possible merger. Despite some opposition in both parties to the move, a 13-point Memorandum of Understanding was eventually signed by the two parties on 5 July 2002. On 3 August 2003, the new merged entity was officially launched and assumed its current name. Somehow, as PRM had yet to be de-registered by the authorities, the remained dissidents convened a National Congress in Johor Bahru and elected a new Executive Committee led by former PRM youth leader, Hassan Abdul Karim to resume political activities on 17 April 2005.
2004 general election
As the new amendments to the party constitution had yet to be approved by the Registrar of Societies, candidates from PRM contested the 2004 general election using the symbol of the old National Justice Party. The party fared poorly in the elections and only managed to retain one parliamentary seat, Permatang Pauh which is held by Dr Wan Azizah, despite winning 9% of the popular vote. The poor showing was later attributed to malapportionment and gerrymandering in the delineation of constituencies, with one estimate suggesting that on average, a vote for the BN government was worth 28 times the vote of a Keadilan supporter.
Anwar Ibrahim freed
On 2 September 2004, in a decision by the Federal Court, Anwar Ibrahim's sodomy conviction was overturned and he was freed. This unexpected turn of events came timely for KEADILAN which was facing flagging morale due to its dismal performance in the elections.
In December 2005 PKR organised its second national congress. Among the motions passed was the New Economic Agenda that envisioned a non-racial economic policy to replace the race-based New Economic Policy. PKR managed a breakthrough into Sarawak politics in May 2006. In Sarawak state elections, Dominique Ng, a lawyer and activist, won in the Padungan constituency in Kuching, a majority Chinese locale. KEADILAN lost narrowly in Saribas, a Malay-Melanau constituency by just 94 votes. Sarawak is a traditional BN stronghold. PKR has also pursued an aggressive strategy of getting key personalities from within and outside politics. In July 2006, Khalid Ibrahim, former CEO of Permodalan Nasional Berhad and Guthrie, was appointed as Treasurer of the PKR.
2008 general election
In the 2008 elections, PKR won 31 seats in Parliament, with the DAP and PAS making substantial gains as well with 28 seats and 23 seats respectively. In total, the taking of 82 seats by the opposition to BN's 140 seats made it the best performance in Malaysian history by the opposition, and denied BN the two-thirds majority required to make constitutional changes in the Dewan Rakyat.
PKR also successfully contested the state legislative elections which saw the loose coalition of PKR, DAP and PAS forming coalition governments in the states of Kelantan, Kedah, Penang, Perak and Selangor. The offices of the Menteri Besar of Selangor and the Deputy Chief Minister of Penang were held by KEADILAN elected representatives, Khalid Ibrahim and Mohd Fairus Khairuddin, respectively.
Anwar's return to politics
On 14 April 2008, Anwar celebrated his official return to the political stage, as his ban from public office expired a decade after he was sacked as deputy prime minister. One of the main reasons the opposition seized a third of parliamentary seats and five states in the worst ever showing for the BN coalition that has ruled for half a century, was due to him leading at the helm. A gathering of more than 10,000 supporters greeted Anwar in a rally welcoming back his return to politics. In the midst of the rally, police interrupted Anwar after he had addressed the rally for nearly half an hour and forced him to stop the gathering.
Malaysia's government intensified its efforts on 6 March to portray opposition figure Anwar Ibrahim as political turncoats, days ahead of Malaysian general election, 2008 on 8 March that would determine whether he posed a legitimate threat to the ruling coalition. Campaigning wrapped up 7 March for general elections that would see gains for Malaysia's opposition amid anger over race and religion among minority Chinese and Indians. Malaysians voted on 8 March 2008 in parliamentary elections. Election results showed that the ruling government suffered a setback when it failed to obtain two-thirds majority in parliament, and five out of 12 state legislatures were won by the opposition parties. Reasons for the setback of the ruling party, which had retained power since the nation declared independence in 1957, were the rising inflation, crime and ethnic tensions.
Permatang Pauh by-election
Malaysia's government and ruling coalition declared defeat in a landslide victory in the by-election by Anwar Ibrahim. Muhammad Muhammad Taib, information chief of the United Malays National Organisation which leads the BN coalition stated: Yes of course we have lost . . . we were the underdogs going into this race. Malaysia's Election Commission officials announced Anwar won by an astounding majority against Arif Shah Omar Shah of National Front coalition and over Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi's UMNO. Reuters reported that according to news website Malaysiakini, Anwar Ibrahim had won with a majority of 16,210 votes. He had won 26,646 votes, while BN's Arif Omar won 10,436 votes. Anwar's People's Justice Party's spokeswoman Ginie Lim told BBC: "We won already. We are far ahead".
On 28 August 2008, Anwar, dressed in a dark blue traditional Malay outfit and black "songkok" hat, took the oath at the main chamber of Parliament house in Kuala Lumpur, as MP for Permatang Pauh at 10.03 am before Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia. He formally declared Anwar the leader of the 3-party opposition alliance. With his wife Wan Azizah Wan Ismail and his daughter Nurul Izzah Anwar, also a parliamentarian, Anwar announced: "I'm glad to be back after a decade. The prime minister has lost the mandate of the country and the nation". Anwar needed at least 30 government lawmakers especially from Sabah and Sarawak MPs' votes to defect to form a government.
Suara Keadilan publication license suspended
In June 2010, Suara Keadilan's publication was suspended for publishing a report which claimed a government agency is bankrupt. Suara Keadilan is run by opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim's PKR party. The Home Ministry, which oversees Malaysia's newspapers, said it was not satisfied with the paper's explanation for the allegedly inaccurate report.
Kajang Move
In 2014, the Party's Strategy Director then Vice-President-cum-Secretary-General, Rafizi Ramli initiated the failed Kajang Move in a bid to topple the 14th Menteri Besar of Selangor, Abdul Khalid Ibrahim, and install the party's de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim as his replacement. The political manoeuvre resulted in a nine-month political crisis within the state of Selangor and the Pakatan Rakyat coalition, that also involved the palace of Selangor, a by-election costing RM1.6 million in taxpayers’ money, the party losing one seat in Selangor's assembly and Malaysian Parliament. PKR also ended up not getting the Menteri Besar that it wanted. The crisis concluded with the appointment of PKR's Deputy President, Azmin Ali, as the 15th Menteri Besar of Selangor. Most analysts say that the Kajang Move was a great failure.
PD Move
On 12 September 2018 the incumbent Danyal Balagopal Abdullah resigned as Member of Parliament for Port Dickson to allow Anwar Ibrahim, who had been granted a royal pardon by the country's monarch the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to re-enter parliament after a 3-year absence. The resignation caused the Port Dickson by-election, 2018 and was dubbed the 'PD Move'. Anwar won the seat with an increased majority against six other candidates.
Collapse of the Pakatan Harapan government
The 2020 Malaysian political crisis culminated in the collapse of the Pakatan Harapan government. The political crisis began when several political forces, including then PKR deputy president Azmin Ali, attempted to depose the current government led by Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad by forming a new government without going through a general election. This was achieved through backroom deals popularly known as the Sheraton Move, which saw the withdrawal of BERSATU from the coalition as well as the exit of Azmin Ali along with 10 other PKR MPs. This deprived the coalition of its majority and paved the way for Muhyiddin Yassin, the President of BERSATU, to form a backdoor government positioning himself as Prime Minister with the support of the newly formed Perikatan Nasional coalition
During the political crisis, in a Facebook Live broadcast of a night prayer session at Anwar's residence, Anwar said that he had been informed of a "treachery" being committed that involved "former friends from BERSATU and a small group from PKR". Later, Azmin, in a statement, claimed that his action was to protect then Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, who was forced to choose a date for the transition of power during Pakatan Harapan's presidential meeting on 21 February, and that the statutory declaration presented to the Agong was to cement support for Mahathir, not to elect a new prime minister. He further said that the real traitor was the faction that tried to usurp Mahathir.
On 24 February 2020, PKR held a press conference where its general secretary, Saifuddin Nasution Ismail, announced that Azmin and the Minister of Housing and Local Government, Zuraida Kamaruddin, who was then a vice president of PKR, had been dismissed by the party. Saifuddin explained that they were expelled due to their actions on 23 February which went against the party's official line regarding the position of Prime Minister. Azmin later announced that he would be forming an independent bloc at the parliament along with Zuraida and the other nine MPs who had left the party following his expulsion.
PKR held a meeting at its headquarters on 1 March 2020. While leaving the headquarters after the meeting ended, members who were associated with the former deputy president Azmin Ali, such as vice-president Tian Chua and former youth wing deputy chief Afif Bahardin, were harassed and assaulted by PKR supporters who accused them of being "traitors". Police later revealed that one arrest had been made in relation to the incident involving Chua, with at least two reports were lodged.
A large number of PKR grassroots member who aligned with Azmin's camp had left the party once the political crisis began. This began with three PKR Kelantan branch leaders who announced their immediate departure from the party on 26 February after Azmin and Zuraida Kamaruddin, the party's vice-president, were sacked from their positions and expelled after their betrayal in the Sheraton Move. This continued with around 2,000 members from the Pasir Puteh branch in Kelantan leaving the party on 28 February, followed by 536 members from the Kota Raja branch in Selangor on 1 March. The day after, around 400 PKR members in Perak also left the party. This exodus was continued by the exit of 500 members from the Arau and Padang Besar branches in Perlis on 15 March.
On 4 March 2020, the Penang Exco of Agriculture, Agro-based Industries, Rural Development and Health, Afif Bahardin, resigned from his position in Penang State Executive Council. A known supporter of Azmin Ali back when the latter was the party's deputy president, he claimed to have been pressured by the party's state and central leadership to resign from his post. He was replaced by Norlela Ariffin, the state assemblywoman for Penanti, who was appointed as the new state councillor and sworn in on 12 March in front of the Yang Dipertua Negeri, Abdul Rahman Abbas. On the same day, Chong Fat Full, another Azmin ally representing Pemanis in the Johor assembly, formally announced his exit from the party to become a Perikatan-friendly independent, effectively handling them a majority in the state assembly with a marginal 29 seats against Harapan's 27, thus seizing control of a key state that had previously been won by Harapan.
The collapse of Harapan governments in the state level continued on 12 May when two Azmin allies in the Kedah assembly: Robert Ling Kui Ee and Azman Nasrudin, representing Sidam and Lunas respectively, had both left the party to become independents supporting Perikatan Nasional. This handed a majority for Perikatan to form the Kedah government, seizing yet another state that had previously been won by Harapan, thus leaving the coalition with only 13 of 36 seats. This allowed Kedah state opposition leader Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor to announce the formation of a new government later in the day with the support of 23 state assemblymen, including the two ex-PKR members and four of six BERSATU assemblymen previously aligned with Pakatan Harapan. What followed was another departure on 17 May by the Srikandi Keadilan Chief, Nurainie Haziqah Shafii, claiming to have 'lost confidence in the idealism of the struggle and the direction of PKR'.
The month of June witnessed the departure of more PKR members and representatives, beginning with the Member of Parliament (MP) for Lubok Antu, Jugah Muyang, on 5 June. He had been elected as an independent in the previous election before joining PKR after they had formed the government. However, he left them for BERSATU after the latter deposed the previous government and became the new ruling party. This was followed by another independent MP, Syed Abu Hussin Hafiz, who was MP for Bukit Gantang and had previously been elected under UMNO, who also joined BERSATU alongside Jugah. The departures continued on June 13, when Daroyah Alwi, the Deputy Speaker & Exco of the Selangor state assembly as well as an ally of Azmin Ali, announced that she had quit the party to became an independent in support of Perikatan Nasional. She came out on the grounds that he had "lost confidence in the President (Anwar Ibrahim) and his harpist leadership of the idealism of the struggle".
The exodus of party members in support of Azmin Ali continued on 21 June when 50 Johor Wanita PKR leaders left the party, followed by 25 PKR grassroots leaders in the Saratok branch, that was once led by the traitrous Ali Biju, on 22 June. This was followed by the departure of Afif Bahardin on 24 June. He had been another key Azmin ally, having previously been Deputy Youth Chief of the party before marginally losing the election for the position of Youth Chief in 2018, His departure was followed by Haniza Talha on 29 June, who had been another prominent Azmin ally, being the women's chief of PKR as well as a Selangor Exco. On 11 July, she was sacked as a State Exco member. Haniza Talha has described PKR's decision to sack her from the party as an “act of revenge”. On the same day, she was replaced by the Kuantan MP, Fuziah Salleh, as the party's new Women's Chief
On 30 June 2020, Salleh Said Keruak, a prominent politician who was a former Sabah Chief Minister and Federal Minister from UMNO, cancelled his application to join PKR citing the party's internal turmoil. He said the decision was made last April, and with the cancellation, he remained an independent since leaving UMNO in 2018. Previously, Salleh had applied to join PKR in October of the previous year.
On 1 July 2020, Terengganu PKR women chief, Sharifah Norhayati Syed Omar Alyahya exit PKR along with 131 other members. The decision was made after seeing injustice in the party's top leadership.
The series of departures continued throughout July when PKR's Terengganu women's chief, Sharifah Norhayati Syed Omar Alyahya, left PKR along with 131 other members on 1 July. This was followed by the Penang state assemblyman from Sungai Acheh, Zulkifli Ibrahim, who was sacked from PKR before joining BERSATU on 4 July. On the same day, 250 PKR members from the Ampang branch left the party, along with two councillors, Jess Choy and Shoba Selvarajoo, who was also an Exco in the women's wing. The party's Jempol branch chief, Karip Mohd Salleh, left the party along with 25 other members on 15 July, causing the branch to be temporarily paralysed. On 30 July, Inanam assemblyman & Sabah Assistant Minister of Finance, Kenny Chua Teck Ho, was sacked from PKR for backing UMNO's Musa Aman as Chief Minister of Sabah
On 9 August 2020, BERSATU's Kuala Krau Division Chief, Mohamad Rafidee Hashim, left the party and joined PKR. He stated his action was because "the party was more consistent and principled in its efforts to fight for reform".
The defections of PKR MPs continued when two MPs, Steven Choong and Larry Sng, who represented Tebrau and Julau respectively, became independents on 27 and 28 February 2021. They would both go on to form the Parti Bangsa Malaysia (PBM) and declare their support for the ruling Perikatan Nasional coalition.
The exodus would finally end on 13 March 2021 when PKR vice-president Xavier Jayakumar, another known Azmin ally, announced his resignation as both vice-president and party member, citing his 'frustrations' by the events of the past year. Subsequently, he would become an independent MP while declaring his full support to Perikatan Nasional's leadership.
Ideology
PKR's constitution has as one of their core principles, the establishment of "a society that is just and a nation that is democratic, progressive and united". In practice, the party has primarily focused on promoting social justice, economic justice, eliminating political corruption and human rights issues within a non-ethnic framework.
List of leaders
President
Deputy President
Party Organisational Structure (2022–2025)
Central Leadership Council
President:
Anwar Ibrahim
Deputy President:
Rafizi Ramli
Vice-Presidents (elected):
Amirudin Shari
Chang Lih Kang
Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad
Aminuddin Harun
Vice-Presidents (appointed):
Nurul Izzah Anwar
Saraswathy Kandasami
Awang Husaini Sahari
Secretary-General:
Saifuddin Nasution Ismail
Treasurer:
William Leong
Information Chief:
Fahmi Fadzil
Chief Organising Secretary:
Zahir Hassan
Director of Communications:
Lee Chean Chung
Director of Strategies:
Akmal Nasir
Director of Election Machinery:
Rafizi Ramli
Central Leadership Council Members (elected):
Dr. Maszlee Malik
Fahmi Zainol
Mohd Yahya Sahri
Nurin Aina Surip
Romli Ishak
Siti Aishah Sheikh Ismail
Syed Ibrahim Syed Noh
Hans Isaac
Simon Ooi Tze Min
Wong Chen
Raiyan Abdul Rahim
Tan Kar Hing
David Cheong Kian Young
Hee Loy Sian
Amidi Abdul Manan
Elizabeth Wong
Muhammad Bakhtiar Wan Chik
Central Leadership Council Members (appointed):
Manivannan Gowindasamy
Christina Liew
Abun Sui Anyit
Rodziah Ismail
Yuneswaran Ramaraj
State Chairpersons:
Federal Territories & Johor: Rafizi Ramli
Penang, Perlis & Kedah: Nurul Izzah Anwar
Kelantan & Terengganu: Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad
Melaka & Negeri Sembilan: Aminuddin Harun
Pahang & Selangor: Amirudin Shari
Perak: Chang Lih Kang
Sabah: Sangkar Rasam
Sarawak: Roland Engan
Youth Wing (Angkatan Muda Keadilan)
Youth Chief:
Adam Adli
Deputy Youth Chief:
Muhammad Kamil Abdul Munim
Vice-Youth Chiefs (elected):
Atyrah Hanim Razali
Pravin Murali
Pransanth Kumar Brakasam
Vice-Youth Chiefs (appointed):
Chermaine Thoo Suet Mei
Wendey Agung Baruh
Youth Secretary:
Omar Mokhtar A Manap
Youth Organising Secretary:
Muhammad Arshad Hassni
Youth Treasurer:
Mohd Hilmy Yakap
Youth Information Chief:
Muhammad Haziq Azfar Ishak
Youth Communications Director:
Muhammad Syaril Showkat Ali
Youth Strategies Director:
Bryan Ng Yih Miin
Youth Elections Directors:
Muhammad Kamil Abdul Munim
Prabakaran Parameswaran
Central Angkatan Muda Keadilan Leadership Council Members (elected):
Fify Nuriety Harfizy
Syamil Luthfi Samsul Bahrin
Farah Ariana Nurazam
Nanthakumar Poapalan
Sathasivam Manohar
Gavin Way
Arham Rahimin Nasution
Muhammad Husaini Mohd Yunos
Ahmad Umar Khair Zainuddin
Muhd Sallehuddin Nazaruddin
Suria Vengadesh Kerishnan
Ooi Mei Mei
Nurrul Atika Azhar
Siti Nur Qamarina Mohd Ghani
Mohd Fakharuddin Muslim
Central Angkatan Muda Keadilan Leadership Council Members (appointed):
Mohd Nashriq Othaman
Mohd Afiq Ayob
Nadia Fathin Syahira Ahmad Nazri
Wan Muhamad Haikal Wan Ghazali
Ahmad Saifullah Razali
State Youth Chiefs:
Federal Territories: Mohammad Azfar Aza Azhar
Johor: Mohamad Taufiq Ismail
Kedah: Mohammed Taufiq Johari
Kelantan: Mohamad Ezzat Zahrim Mohd Hanuzi
Melaka: Muhammad Ridhuan Abu Samah
Negeri Sembilan: Mohamad Afif Anuar
Pahang: Chan Chun Kuang
Penang: Muhammad Fadzli Roslan
Perak: Za'im Sidqi Zulkifly
Perlis: Raskhairulimran Raszali
Sabah: Zaidi Jatil
Sarawak: Chiew Choon Man
Selangor: Muhammad Izuan Ahmad Kasim
Terengganu: Md Asyraf Zulfadhly Md Zainudin
Women's Wing (Wanita Keadilan)
Women's Chief:
Fadhlina Sidek
Deputy Women's Chief:
Juwairiya Zulkifli
Vice-Women's Chiefs (elected):
Wasanthee Sinnasamy
June Leow Hsiad Hui
Sangetha Jayakumar
Vice-Women's Chiefs (appointed):
Rufinah Pangeran
Faizah Ariffin
Srikandi Keadilan Chief:
Anetha Vallaitham Pillai
Women's Secretary:
Loh Ker Chean
Women's Treasurer:
Sabrina Ahmad
Women's Information Chief:
Suzana Shaharudin
Women's Communications Bureau Chiefs:
Nurhidayah Che Rose
Farzana Hayani Mohd Nasir
Wan Zulaika Abdul Kahar
Women's Elections Director:
Juwairiya Zulkifli
Central Wanita Keadilan Leadership Council Members (elected):
Loo Voon May
Nor Faiza Samsi
Telagapathi A. Marimuthu
Mahani Abdul Moin
Ermeemariana Saadon
Natrah Ismail
Siti Norffinie Mohamed Yassin
Rabiatul Adawiyah Sulaiman
Saribanon Saibon
Noraziah Mohd Razit
Mahani Masban
Rozaliah Mokhtar
Karen Kasturi James
Ruthira K. Surasan
Wan Zulaika Abdul Kahar
Central Wanita Keadilan Leadership Council Members (appointed):
Sandrea Ng Shy Ching
Haryati Abu Nasir
Kartini Madun
Meneng Biris
Anie Amat
Idawatie Pariman
Lim Kim Eng
Noor Amelia Zainabila Zaiffri
Saira Banu
Syafiqa Zakaria
Annur Nadhirah Abdul Halim
State Women's Chiefs:
Federal Territories: Rohani Hussin
Johor: Zuraidah Zainab Md Zain
Kedah: Sabrina Ahmad
Kelantan: Nor Azmiza Mamat
Melaka: Rusnah Aluai
Negeri Sembilan: Noorzunita Begum Mohd Ibrahim
Pahang: Haslindalina Hashim
Penang: Nurhidayah Che Ros
Perak: Norhayati Sani
Perlis: Hashimah Hashim
Sabah: Noriha Yakup
Sarawak: Victoria Musa
Selangor: Rozana Zainal Abidin
Terengganu: Faizah Ariffin
Elected representatives
Dewan Negara (Senate)
Senators
His Majesty's appointee:
Saifuddin Nasution Ismail
Saraswathy Kandasamy
Fuziah Salleh
Abun Sui Anyit
Manolan Mohamad
Isaiah Jacob (Kuala Lumpur)
Negeri Sembilan State Legislative Assembly:
Ahmad Azam Hamzah
Penang State Legislative Assembly:
Amir Md Ghazali
Dewan Rakyat (House of Representatives)
Members of Parliament of the 15th Malaysian Parliament
PKR has 31 members in the House of Representatives.
Dewan Undangan Negeri (State Legislative Assembly)
Malaysian State Assembly Representatives
Selangor State Legislative Assembly
Penang State Legislative Assembly
Negeri Sembilan State Legislative Assembly
Kedah State Legislative Assembly
Johor State Legislative Assembly
Perak State Legislative Assembly
Perlis State Legislative Assembly
Pahang State Legislative Assembly
Sabah State Legislative Assembly
Sarawak State Legislative Assembly
Malacca State Legislative Assembly
Kelantan State Legislative Assembly
Terengganu State Legislative Assembly
PKR state governments
General election results
State election results
See also
List of political parties in Malaysia
Malaysian General Election
Politics of Malaysia
Pakatan Rakyat
Pakatan Harapan
References
External links
Suara Keadilan
DemiRakyat
Centrist parties in Asia
Liberal parties in Malaysia
Political parties in Malaysia
Political parties established in 1999
Social liberal parties
1999 establishments in Malaysia
|
412214
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill%20Russell
|
Bill Russell
|
William Felton Russell (February 12, 1934 – July 31, 2022) was an American professional basketball player who played center for the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1956 to 1969. He was the centerpiece of the Celtics dynasty that won 11 NBA championships during his 13-year career. Russell is widely considered to be one of the greatest basketball players of all time.
At the University of San Francisco, Russell led the San Francisco Dons to consecutive NCAA championships in 1955 and 1956. He was named NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player, and captained the gold medal-winning U.S. national basketball team at the 1956 Summer Olympics.
After being chosen by the St. Louis Hawks with the second overall pick in the 1956 NBA draft, Russell was traded to the Boston Celtics for Celtics center Ed Macauley and small forward Cliff Hagan. With Russell as their starting center and defensive anchor, the Celtics went on to win their first NBA championship in 1957 and won an NBA record eight consecutive championships from 1959 to 1966. A five-time NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) and a 12-time NBA All-Star, Russell's rebounding, defense, and leadership made him one of the dominant players of his era. Standing at tall, with a arm span, his shot-blocking and man-to-man defense were major reasons for the Celtics' dominance during his career. Russell also led the NBA in rebounds four times, had a dozen consecutive seasons of 1,000 or more rebounds, and remains second all-time in both total rebounds and rebounds per game. Russell played in the wake of black pioneers Earl Lloyd, Chuck Cooper, and Sweetwater Clifton, and he was the first black player to achieve superstar status in the NBA. During the final three seasons of his career (1966–1969), he served as player-coach of the Celtics, becoming not only the first black NBA coach and the first black NBA coach to win a championship, but also the first black head coach in any major American sports league. Russell ended his playing career and left his position as Celtics coach after helping the Celtics win the 1969 NBA championship.
Russell served as head coach and general manager of the Seattle Supersonics from 1973 to 1977. He also coached the Sacramento Kings from 1987 to 1988. Russell worked as a color commentator and authored several books.
Russell was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1975, was one of the founding inductees into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame in 2006 and was enshrined in the FIBA Hall of Fame in 2007. He was selected into the NBA 25th Anniversary Team in 1971 and the NBA 35th Anniversary Team in 1980, was named as one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History in 1996 (being one of only four players to receive all three honors), and was selected to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team in 2021. In 2009, the NBA renamed the NBA Finals MVP Award in his honor. In 2011, Barack Obama awarded Russell the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his accomplishments on the court and in the civil rights movement. In 2021, Russell was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame a second time in recognition of his coaching career. Shortly after his death in 2022, the NBA retired Russell's #6 jersey league-wide, making him the only player in NBA history to receive that honor.
Early life
Family
William Felton Russell was born on February 12, 1934, to Charles Russell and Katie Russell in West Monroe, Louisiana. Like many Southern towns and cities of that time, Monroe was segregated and the Russells often struggled with racism in their daily lives. Russell's father was once refused service at a gas station until the staff had taken care of all the white customers first. When he attempted to leave and find a different station, the attendant stuck a shotgun in his face and threatened to kill him if he did not stay and wait his turn. In another incident, Russell's mother was walking outside in a fancy dress when a white policeman accosted her. He told her to go home and remove the dress, which he described as "white woman's clothing".
During World War II, the Second Great Migration began, as large numbers of Black people were moving to the West to look for work there. When Russell was eight years old, his father moved the family out of Louisiana and settled in Oakland, California. While there, they fell into poverty and Russell spent his childhood living in a series of public housing projects.
His father was said to be a "stern, hard man" who initially worked in a paper factory as a janitor, which was a typical "Negro Job"—low-paid and not intellectually challenging, as sports journalist John Taylor commented. When World War II broke out, the elder Russell became a truck driver. Russell was closer to his mother Katie than to his father, and he received a major emotional blow when she suddenly died when he was 12 years old. His father gave up his trucking job and became a steelworker in order to be closer to his children. Russell stated that his father became his childhood hero, later followed up by Minneapolis Lakers superstar George Mikan, whom he met when he was in high school. Of Russell the college basketball player, Mikan said: "Let's face it, he's the best ever. He's so good, he scares you."
Russell's older brother was noted playwright Charlie L. Russell.
Initial exposure to basketball
During his early years, Russell struggled to develop his skills as a basketball player. Although Russell was a good runner and jumper and had large hands, he did not understand the game and was cut from the team at Herbert Hoover Junior High School. As a freshman at McClymonds High School in Oakland, Russell was almost cut again; as he saw Russell's raw athletic potential, coach George Powles encouraged him to work on his fundamentals. After Russell was cut from the junior varsity basketball team as a junior in high school, Powles gave him a spot on the varsity team and bought him a yearlong community center membership. Since Russell's previous experiences with white authority figures were often negative, warm words from Powles reassured him. Frank Robinson, a future member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, was one of Russell's high school basketball teammates.
Russell soon became noted for his unusual style of defense. He later recalled: "To play good defense ... it was told back then that you had to stay flatfooted at all times to react quickly. When I started to jump to make defensive plays and to block shots, I was initially corrected, but I stuck with it, and it paid off." In an autobiographical account, Russell said that while on a California High School All-Stars tour, he became obsessed with studying and memorizing other players' moves, e.g., footwork such as which foot they moved first on which play, as preparation for defending against them, which included practicing in front of a mirror at night. Russell described himself as an avid reader of Dell Magazines' 1950s sports publications, which he used to scout opponents' moves for the purpose of defending against them.
Russell was ignored by college recruiters and received not one offer until recruiter Hal DeJulio from the University of San Francisco (USF) watched him play in a high school game. DeJulio was unimpressed by Russell's meager scoring and "atrocious fundamentals", but he sensed that the young Russell had an extraordinary instinct for the game, especially in the clutch. When DeJulio offered Russell a scholarship, he eagerly accepted. Sports journalist John Taylor described the scholarship offer as a watershed event in Russell's life because Russell realized that basketball was his chance to escape poverty and racism, and he swore to make the best of it. Russell graduated from McClymonds in 1952.
College career
University of San Francisco
Basketball
Russell started college at USF in 1952. He averaged 20 points per game on USF's freshman basketball team. Russell made his varsity debut with USF on December 1, 1953. He became the starting center for coach Phil Woolpert of the San Francisco Dons. Woolpert emphasized defense and deliberate half-court play, which favored Russell's exceptional defensive skills. Woolpert's choice of how to deploy his players was unaffected by their skin color. In 1954, he became the first coach of a major college basketball squad to start three African-American players: K. C. Jones, Hal Perry, and Russell. In his USF years, Russell took advantage of his relative lack of bulk to develop a unique defensive style: instead of purely guarding the opposing center, he used his quickness and speed to play help defense against opposing forwards and aggressively challenge their shots. Russell played on USF's varsity team from 1953 to 1956.
Combining the stature and shot-blocking skills of a center with the foot speed of a guard, Russell became the centerpiece of a USF team that soon became a force in college basketball. After USF kept Holy Cross Crusaders star Tom Heinsohn scoreless in an entire half, Sports Illustrated wrote: "If [Russell] ever learns to hit the basket, they're going to have to rewrite the rules." The NCAA rewrote rules in response to Russell's dominant play; the lane was widened for his junior year. After he graduated, the NCAA rules committee instituted a second new rule to counter the play of big men like Russell; basket interference was now prohibited. Russell became one of several big men who have brought about NCAA rule changes. The NCAA had previously prohibited goaltending in response to George Mikan (1945) and later banned the dunk shot due to Lew Alcindor (1967), although the latter rule was later repealed.
The games were often difficult for the USF squad, as Russell and his black teammates became targets of racist jeers, particularly on the road. In one incident, hotels in Oklahoma City refused to admit Russell and his black teammates while they were in town for the 1954 All-College Tournament. In protest, the whole team decided to camp out in a closed college dorm, which was later called an important bonding experience for the group. Decades later, Russell explained that his experiences hardened him against abuse of all kinds, saying: "I never permitted myself to be a victim."
Racism shaped his lifelong paradigm as a team player, about which Russell said: "At that time it was never acceptable that a black player was the best. That did not happen ... My junior year in college, I had what I thought was the one of the best college seasons ever. We won 28 out of 29 games. We won the National Championship. I was the MVP at the Final Four. I was first team All American. I averaged over 20 points and over 20 rebounds, and I was the only guy in college blocking shots. So after the season was over, they had a Northern California banquet, and they picked another center as Player of the Year in Northern California. Well, that let me know that if I were to accept these as the final judges of my career I would die a bitter old man." He is said to have made a conscious decision to put the team first and foremost, and not worry about individual achievements.
On the hardwood, Russell's experiences were far more pleasant. He led USF to NCAA championships in 1955 and 1956, including a string of 55 consecutive victories, and a 26-point, 27-rebound, 20-block performance in one game. He became known for his strong defense and shot-blocking skills, once denying 13 shots in a game. UCLA Bruins coach John Wooden called Russell "the greatest defensive man I've ever seen". While at USF, he and Jones helped pioneer a play that later became known as the alley-oop. During his college career, Russell was the NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player in 1955, averaging 20.7 points per game and 20.3 rebounds per game.
Track and field
Besides basketball, Russell represented USF in track and field events. He was a standout in the high jump and according to Track & Field News was ranked the seventh-best high-jumper in the world in 1956, his graduation year, despite not competing in Olympic high-jump competition. That year, Russell won high jump titles at the Central California Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) meet, the Pacific AAU meet, and the West Coast Relays (WCR). One of his highest jumps occurred at the WCR, where he achieved a mark of ; at the meet, Russell tied Charlie Dumas, who would later in the year win gold in the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia for the United States and become the first person to high-jump . Like fellow world-class high-jumpers of that era, Russell did not use the Fosbury Flop technique with which all high jump world records after 1978 have been set. He also competed in the race, which he could complete in 49.6 seconds.
1956 Summer Olympics
Before his NBA rookie year, Russell was the captain of the 1956 U.S. men's Olympic basketball team that competed at the 1956 Summer Olympics, which was held in November and December in Melbourne, Australia. Avery Brundage, head of the International Olympic Committee, argued that Russell had already signed a professional sport contract and was no longer an amateur sportsman, but Russell prevailed. He had the option to skip the tournament and play a full season for the Celtics, but he was determined to play in the Olympics. He later commented that he would have participated in the high jump if he had been snubbed by the basketball team.
Under head coach Gerald Tucker, Russell helped the U.S. national basketball team win the gold medal in Melbourne, defeating the Soviet Union national basketball team 89–55 in the final game with an 8–0 undefeated run. The U.S. dominated the tournament, winning by an average of 53.5 points per game. Russell led the team in scoring, averaging 14.1 points per game for the competition. His former USF and future Celtics teammate K. C. Jones joined him on the Olympic squad and contributed 10.9 points per game, including a Russell–Jones combined 29 points in the finals.
Professional career
The Harlem Globetrotters invited Russell to join their exhibition basketball squad, but Russell, who was sensitive to any racial prejudice, was enraged by the fact that owner Abe Saperstein would only discuss the matter with USF Coach Woolpert. While Saperstein spoke to Woolpert in a meeting, Globetrotters assistant coach Harry Hanna tried to entertain Russell with jokes, but he was livid after this snub and declined the offer. He reasoned that if Saperstein was too smart to speak with him, then he was too smart to play for Saperstein. Russell made himself eligible for the 1956 NBA draft.
In the draft, Boston Celtics coach Red Auerbach set his sights on Russell, thinking his defensive toughness and rebounding prowess were the missing pieces the Celtics needed. Auerbach's thoughts were unorthodox, as in that period centers and forwards were defined by their offensive output, and their ability to play defense was secondary. Boston's chances of getting Russell seemed slim because they had finished second in the previous season and the worst teams had the highest draft picks, and the Celtics had slipped too low in the draft order to pick Russell. In addition, Auerbach had already used his NBA territorial pick to acquire talented forward Tom Heinsohn. Auerbach knew that the Rochester Royals, who owned the first draft pick, already had a strong rebounder in Maurice Stokes, were looking for an outside shooting guard, and were unwilling to pay Russell the $25,000 signing bonus he requested. Celtics owner Walter A. Brown contacted Rochester owner Les Harrison and received an assurance that the Royals could not afford Russell, and they would draft Sihugo Green. Auerbach later said that Brown offered Harrison guaranteed performances of the Ice Capades if they did not draft Russell; it is difficult to verify or disprove this, but it is clear that the Royals underrated Russell.
The St. Louis Hawks, who owned the second pick, drafted Russell but were vying for Celtics center Ed Macauley, a six-time NBA All-Star who had roots in St. Louis. Auerbach agreed to trade Macauley, who had previously asked to be traded to St. Louis in order to be with his sick son, if the Hawks gave up Russell. The owner of the Hawks called Auerbach later and demanded more in the trade. In addition to Macauley, who was the Celtics' premier player at the time, he wanted Cliff Hagan, who had been serving in the military for three years and had not yet played for the Celtics. After much debate, Auerbach agreed to give up Hagan and the Hawks made the trade. During that same draft, Boston also drafted guard K. C. Jones, Russell's former USF teammate; in total, the team drafted three future Basketball Hall of Famers in 1956: Russell, Jones, and Heinsohn. The Russell draft-day trade was later called one of the most important trades in the history of North American sports.
Boston Celtics (1956–1969)
1956–1958: Rookie champion and early years
Due to his Olympic commitment, Russell could not join the Celtics for the 1956–57 NBA season until December. Russell played 48 games, averaging 14.7 points per game and a league-high 19.6 rebounds per game. The 1956–57 Boston Celtics season saw the debut of a starting lineup made up of five future Hall-of-Famers: center Russell, forwards Heinsohn and Frank Ramsey, and guards Bill Sharman and Bob Cousy. K. C. Jones did not play for the Celtics until 1958 because of military service. Russell's first Celtics game came on December 22, 1956, against the St. Louis Hawks, led by star forward Bob Pettit, who would go on to hold several all-time scoring records. Auerbach assigned him to shut down the Hawks' main scorer and Russell impressed the Boston crowd with his man-to-man defense and shot-blocking. In previous years, the Celtics had been a high-scoring team but lacked the defensive presence needed to close out tight games. With the added defensive presence of Russell, the Celtics had laid the foundation for a dynasty, as the team utilized a strong defensive approach to the game, forcing opposing teams to commit many turnovers, which led to many easy points on fast breaks.
Russell was an elite help defender who allowed the Celtics to play the "Hey, Bill" defense: whenever a Celtic requested additional defensive help, he would shout "Hey, Bill!" Russell was so quick that he could run over for a quick double team and make it back in time if the opponents tried to find the open man. He also became famous for his shot-blocking skills and pundits called his blocks "Wilsonburgers", referring to the Wilson NBA basketballs he "shoved back into the faces of opposing shooters". This skill allowed the other Celtics to play their men aggressively; if they were beaten, they knew that Russell was guarding the basket. Russell's defense was called into question by Eddie Gottlieb, coach of the Philadelphia Warriors, after the Warriors–Celtics game on January 1, 1957, in which he recorded 17 points and 25 rebounds, plus an assist. Gottlieb protested the next day, saying that Russell played a one-man zone and goaltended numerous times, to only be called once. Gottlieb stated: "Our Paul Arizin went underneath for a simple backboard lay-up, and as the ball traveled down towards the basket, Russell batted it away. If that isn't goaltending, I want somebody to tell me what it is. I'm certainly going to ask Maurice Podoloff." Auerbach replied that Gottlieb's statements were "absolutely ridiculous" and said any controversy was "a question of sour grapes".
At that time, Russell received much negative publicity as a player. He was notorious for his public surliness and judgmental attitude towards others. Because Russell ignored virtually any well-wisher who approached him home or away, including the vast majority of media, his autograph was among the most difficult to secure of any professional athlete of his time. Constantly provoked by New York Knicks center Ray Felix during a game, he complained to coach Auerbach, who told him to take matters into his own hands. After the next provocation, Russell pounded Felix to the point of unconsciousness, paid a modest $25 fine, and rarely was the target of cheap fouls thereafter. Russell had a more cordial relationship with many of his teammates with the notable exception of Heinsohn, his old rival and fellow rookie. Heinsohn felt that Russell resented him because the former was named the 1957 NBA Rookie of the Year. Many people thought that Russell was more important even though he had only played half the season. Russell also ignored Heinsohn's request for an autograph on behalf of his cousin and openly said to Heinsohn that he deserved half of his $300 Rookie of the Year check. The relationship between the two was tenuous at best. Despite their different ethnic backgrounds and lack of common off-court interests, his relationship with Cousy was amicable.
The Celtics finished the 1956–57 regular season with a 44–28 record, the team's second-best record since beginning play in the 1946–47 BAA season, which guaranteed Russell his first NBA playoffs appearance, where the Celtics met with the Syracuse Nationals, a team led by Dolph Schayes, through the Eastern Division finals. In his first playoff game, Russell finished with 16 points and 31 rebounds, along with 7 reported blocks, which were not yet an officially registered statistic. After the Celtics' 108–89 victory, Schayes, who made Johnny Kerr come off the bench because he struggled against Russell in the regular season, quipped: "How much does that guy make a year? It would be to our advantage if we paid him off for five years to get away from us in the rest of this series." The next day, The Boston Globe read: "Russell's Reflexes Befuddles Visitors."
The Celtics swept the Nationals in three games to earn the franchise's first NBA Finals appearance in the 1957 NBA Finals, where they met the St. Louis Hawks, led by Pettit and former Celtic Ed Macauley. As the teams split the first six games, the tension was so high that in Game 3 Celtics coach Auerbach punched his colleague Ben Kerner and received a $300 fine. In the highly-competitive Game 7, Russell tried his best to slow down Pettit, as Heinsohn scored 37 points and kept the Celtics alive; Russell contributed by completing the famous "Coleman Play", as he ran down Hawks forward Jack Coleman, who had received an outlet pass at midcourt, and blocked his shot despite the fact that Russell had been standing at his own baseline when the ball was thrown to Coleman. The block preserved Boston's slim 103–102 lead with 40-odd seconds left to play in regulation, saving the game for the Celtics. In the second overtime, both teams were in serious foul trouble: Heinsohn had fouled out, and the Hawks were so depleted that they had only seven players left. With the Celtics leading 125–123 with one second left, the Hawks had the ball at their own baseline. Reserve forward Alex Hannum threw a long alley-oop pass to Pettit and Pettit's tip-in rolled indecisively on the rim for several seconds before rolling out again. The Celtics won, earning their first NBA championship.
At the start of the 1957–58 NBA season, the Celtics won fourteen straight games and continued to succeed. Russell averaged 16.6 points per game and a league-record average of 22.7 rebounds per game. The NBA reasoned that other centers were better all-round players than Russell but no player was more valuable to his team. He was voted the NBA Most Valuable Player but only named to the All-NBA Second Team, something that would occur repeatedly throughout his career, as players voted for the MVP award, something that would last until the 1979–80 NBA season, while the media has always voted for the All-NBA teams.
The Celtics won 49 games and made the first berth in the 1958 NBA playoffs, where they met in the 1958 NBA Finals with their familiar rivals, the St. Louis Hawks. The teams split the first two games, but Russell went down with a foot injury in Game 3 and only returned for Game 6. The Celtics won Game 4 in an upset, but the Hawks prevailed in Games 5 and 6, with Pettit scoring 50 points in the deciding Game 6. Many observers thought that Boston could have won had Russell not been injured, but Auerbach commented: "You can always look for excuses ... We just got beat."
1958–1966: Eight straight NBA championships
In the 1958–59 NBA season, Russell averaged 16.7 points per game and 23.0 rebounds per game. The Celtics broke a league record by winning 52 games and Russell's strong performance once again helped lead the Celtics through the 1959 NBA playoffs, as they returned to the NBA Finals. In the 1959 NBA Finals, the Celtics recaptured the NBA title, sweeping the Minneapolis Lakers 4–0. Lakers head coach John Kundla praised Russell, stating: "We don't fear the Celtics without Bill Russell. Take him out and we can beat them ... He's the guy who whipped us psychologically."
In the 1959–60 NBA season, the NBA witnessed the debut of Philadelphia Warriors center Wilt Chamberlain, who averaged a record 37.6 points per game in his rookie year. On November 7, 1959, Russell's Celtics hosted Chamberlain's Warriors and pundits called the matchup between the best offensive and defensive centers "The Big Collision" and "Battle of the Titans". Both men awed onlookers with "nakedly awesome athleticism", and while Chamberlain outscored Russell 30 to 22, the Celtics won 115–106, and the match was called a "new beginning of basketball". The matchup between Russell and Chamberlain became one of basketball's greatest rivalries.
On February 5, 1960, Russell had 23 points, 51 rebounds, and 5 assists in a 124–100 win over the Syracuse Nationals. It was the record for most rebounds in a single game until November 24, 1960, when Chamberlain grabbed 55 rebounds against Russell, who led the Celtics to a 132–129 win over the Philadelphia Warriors with 18 points, 19 rebounds, and 5 assists. Boston won a then-record 59 regular-season games, including a then-record tying 17-game win streak. In the 1960 NBA playoffs, Russell's Celtics met Chamberlain's Warriors in the Eastern Division finals. Chamberlain outscored Russell by 81 points in the series, but the Celtics walked off with a 4–2 series win. In the 1960 NBA Finals, the Celtics outlasted the Hawks 4–3 in the series and won their third championship in four years. Russell scored 21 points and grabbed an NBA Finals-record 40 rebounds, plus an assist, in a Game 2 loss, and he added 22 points and 35 rebounds, along with 4 assists, in the deciding Game 7, a 122–103 victory for Boston.
In the 1960–61 NBA season, Russell averaged 16.9 points and 23.9 rebounds per game, leading his team to a regular season mark of 57–22. In the 1961 NBA playoffs, the Celtics defeated the Syracuse Nationals 4–1 in the Eastern Division finals. The Celtics made good use of the fact that the Los Angeles Lakers had exhausted the St. Louis Hawks in a long seven-game Western Conference finals, and Boston won the 1961 NBA Finals in five games.
In the 1961–62 NBA season, Russell scored a career-high 18.9 points per game, accompanied by 23.6 rebounds per game. While his rival had a record-breaking season of 50.4 points per game, including Chamberlain's 100-point game, the Celtics became the first team to win 60 games in a season and Russell was voted as the league's MVP. Both Cousy and Russell called it the greatest Celtics team of all time. In the Eastern Division championships of the 1962 NBA playoffs, the Celtics met the Philadelphia Warriors led by Chamberlain, who averaged 50 points per game that season, and Russell did his best to slow him down. In the pivotal Game 7, Russell managed to hold Chamberlain to 22 points, 28 points below his season average, while scoring 19 points. The game was tied with two seconds left when Sam Jones sank a clutch shot that won the Celtics the series.
In the 1962 NBA Finals, the Celtics met the Los Angeles Lakers of forward Elgin Baylor and guard Jerry West. The teams split the first six games. In Game 6, Russell recorded his first career triple-double with 19 points, 24 rebounds, and 10 assists as the Celtics won 119–105. At that time, he became the fourth player in Celtics history to have a triple-double, joining Macauley, Cousy, and K. C. Jones. Game 7 was tied one second before the end of regular time, when Lakers guard Rod Hundley faked a shot and passed out to Frank Selvy, who missed an open eight-foot last-second shot that would have won Los Angeles the title. As the game was tied, Russell had the daunting task of defending against Baylor with little frontline help: Loscutoff, Heinsohn, and Satch Sanders, the three best Celtics forwards, had fouled out. In overtime, Frank Ramsey, the fourth forward, fouled out trying to guard Baylor, so Russell was robbed of his usual four-men wing rotation; he and little-used fifth forward Gene Guarilia successfully pressured Baylor into missed shots. Russell finished with a clutch performance, scoring 30 points, along with 4 assists, and tying his own NBA Finals record with 40 rebounds in a 110–107 overtime win.
The Celtics lost Cousy to retirement after the 1962–63 NBA season, and they drafted John Havlicek and were powered by Russell, who averaged 16.8 points and 23.6 rebounds per game, won his fourth regular-season MVP award, and earned the NBA All-Star Game MVP honors at the 1963 NBA All-Star Game following his 19-point, 24-rebound performance for the Eastern Conference's All-Star team. Before the January 31, 1963, 18-point, 22-rebound performance in a 128–125 win against the Cincinnati Royals at Cole Field House in College Park, Maryland, the Celtics were to tour the White House and Russell had a "Do not disturb" sign on his phone. Auerbach had informed his players to not endorse candidates or causes, as it would alienate fans; Cousy campaigned for Ted Kennedy in 1962. President John F. Kennedy posed for a picture with Auerbach and the nine Celtics but not Russell, who overslept because he thought it was just a tour of the White House and did not know President Kennedy would be meeting them. On February 10, 1963, Russell recorded his first regular season triple-double after putting up 17 points, 19 rebounds, and 10 assists in a 129–123 win over the New York Knicks. The Celtics reached the 1963 NBA Finals, where they again defeated the Los Angeles Lakers, this time in six games. In Game 3, Russell had 21 points, 38 rebounds, and 6 assists.
In the 1963–64 NBA season, the Celtics posted a league-best 58–22 record in the regular season. Russell scored 15.0 points per game and grabbed a career-high 24.7 rebounds per game, leading the NBA in rebounds for the first time since Chamberlain entered the league. Boston defeated the Cincinnati Royals 4–1 to earn another NBA Finals appearance and then won against Chamberlain's newly relocated San Francisco Warriors 4–1. It was their sixth consecutive and seventh title in Russell's eight years with the team, a streak unreached in any U.S. professional sports league. Russell later called it the best team of his era and the best defense of all time.
In the 1964–65 NBA season, the Celtics won a league-record 62 games and Russell averaged 14.1 points and 24.1 rebounds per game, winning his second consecutive rebounding title and his fifth MVP award. On March 11, 1965, in a 112–100 win over the Detroit Pistons, Russell grabbed 49 rebounds, which tied for the third-most in a single game in NBA history, along with 27 points and 6 assists.
In the 1965 NBA playoffs, the Celtics played the Eastern Division finals against the Philadelphia 76ers, a team that had traded for Chamberlain. Russell held Chamberlain to a pair of field goals in the first three quarters of Game 3. In Game 5, Russell contributed with 12 points, 28 rebounds, and 7 assists, plus 10 blocks and 6 steals; blocks and steals became officially recorded statistics in the 1973–74 NBA season. Schayes, who had become the 76ers coach, said: "The Celtics can thank the Good Lord for Bill Russell." That playoff series ended in a dramatic Game 7, when the Sixers were trailing 110–109 five seconds before the end, but Russell turned over the ball. When the Sixers' Hall-of-Fame guard Hal Greer inbounded, Havlicek stole the ball, causing Celtics commentator Johnny Most to scream: "Havlicek stole the ball! It's all over! Johnny Havlicek stole the ball!" After the Division finals, the Celtics had an easier time in the NBA Finals, winning 4–1 against the Los Angeles Lakers.
In the 1965–66 NBA season, Russell contributed 12.9 points and 22.8 rebounds per game. This was the first time in seven years that he failed to average at least 23 rebounds a game. The Celtics won the 1966 NBA Finals and their eighth consecutive title. Russell's team again beat Chamberlain's Philadelphia 76ers 4–1 in the Eastern Division finals, proceeding to win the NBA Finals in a tight showdown against the Los Angeles Lakers, with Russell scoring 25 points and grabbing 32 rebounds, plus giving out an assist, in a 95–93 win in Game 7.
1966–1969: Player-coach champion and final seasons
Celtics coach Red Auerbach retired before the 1966–67 NBA season. To coach the Celtics, he had initially wanted his old player Frank Ramsey, who was too occupied running his three lucrative nursing homes. His second choice was Cousy, who declined the invitation, stating that he did not want to coach his former teammates. Third choice Tom Heinsohn also said no because he did not think he could handle the often surly Russell, whom he proposed as a player-coach. On April 16, 1966, Russell agreed to become head coach of the Celtics, and a public announcement was made two days later. Russell became the first black head coach in NBA history, and he commented to journalists: "I wasn't offered the job because I am a Negro, I was offered it because Red figured I could do it."
When he became player-coach, Russell bluntly said to his teammates that "he intended to cut all personal ties to other players" and seamlessly made the transition from their peer to their superior. At the time his additional role of coach was announced, Russell publicly stated he believed Red Auerbach's impact as a coach confined every or almost every relationship with each Celtic player to a strictly professional one. Russell regarded Auerbach as "the greatest of all coaches".
Boston's championship streak ended at eight in his first full season as head coach when Chamberlain's Philadelphia 76ers won a record-breaking 68 regular-season games and were the favorites heading into the 1967 NBA playoffs, where they beat the Celtics 4–1 in the Eastern Division finals. During the series, Russell said: "Right now, he (Wilt) is playing like me [to win]." The Sixers outpaced the Celtics when they shredded the famed Boston defense by scoring 140 points in the clinching Game 5 win. Russell acknowledged the first real loss of his career, as he had been injured when the Celtics lost the 1958 NBA Finals, by visiting Chamberlain in the locker room, shaking his hand, and saying: "Great." The game still ended on a high note for Russell. After the loss, he led his grandfather through the Celtics locker rooms and the two saw the white Celtic Havlicek taking a shower next to his black teammate Sam Jones and discussing the game. Suddenly, his grandfather broke down crying. Asked by Russell what was wrong, his grandfather replied how proud he was of him, being coach of an organization in which blacks and whites coexisted in harmony.
In the 1967–68 NBA season, the 34-year-old Russell averaged 12.5 points per game and 18.6 rebounds per game, the latter of which was good enough for the third-highest average in the league. In the Eastern Division finals of the 1968 NBA playoffs, the Philadelphia 76ers had the better record than Boston and were the favorites. National tragedy struck on April 4, day of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. With eight of the ten starting players on Sixers and Celtics being black, both teams were in deep shock and there were calls to cancel the series. In a game called as "unreal" and "devoid of emotion", the Sixers lost 127–118 on April 5. In Game 2, Philadelphia evened the series with a 115–106 win and then went on to win Games 3 and 4. As Chamberlain was often defended by Celtics backup center Wayne Embry, the press speculated that Russell was worn down. Prior to Game 5, no NBA team had ever come back from a 3–1 deficit. The Celtics rallied back, winning Game 5 122–104 and Game 6 114–106, powered by a spirited Havlicek and helped by a terrible Sixers shooting slump.
In Game 7, 15,202 Philadelphia fans witnessed a home-team 100–96 defeat, making it the first time in NBA history a team lost a series after leading 3–1. Russell limited Chamberlain to only two shot attempts in the second half. Despite this, the Celtics were leading only 97–95 with 34 seconds left when Russell closed out the game with several consecutive clutch plays. He made a free throw, blocked a shot by Sixers player Chet Walker, grabbed a rebound off a miss by Greer, and passed the ball to teammate Sam Jones, who scored to clinch the win. Boston then beat the Los Angeles Lakers 4–2 in the 1968 NBA Finals, giving Russell his tenth title in twelve years. For his efforts, Russell was named Sports Illustrateds Sportsman of the Year. After losing for the fifth straight time against Russell and the Celtics, Hall-of-Fame Lakers guard Jerry West stated: "If I had a choice of any basketball player in the league, my No. 1 choice has to be Bill Russell. Bill Russell never ceases to amaze me."
Duiring the 1968–69 NBA season, Russell was shocked by the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy, disillusioned by the Vietnam War, and weary from his increasingly stale marriage to his wife Rose; the couple later divorced. He was convinced that the U.S. was a corrupt nation and that he was wasting his time playing something as superficial as basketball. He was 15 pounds overweight, skipped mandatory NBA coach meetings, and was generally lacking energy; after a New York Knicks game, he complained of intense pain and was diagnosed with acute exhaustion. Russell pulled himself together and put up 9.9 points and 19.3 rebounds per game; the aging Celtics stumbled through the regular season. Their 48–34 record was the team's worst since the 1955–56 NBA season and they entered the 1969 NBA playoffs as the fourth-seeded team in the East.
Russell and the Celtics achieved upsets over the 76ers and the Knicks to earn a meeting with the Los Angeles Lakers in the 1969 NBA Finals. The Lakers featured new recruit Chamberlain next to perennial stars Baylor and West, and were the favorites. In the first two games, Russell ordered his players not to double-team West, who used the freedom to score 53 and 41 points in the Game 1 and 2 Laker wins. Russell then reversed himself and ordered his team to double-team West and Boston won Game 3. In Game 4, the Celtics were trailing by one point with seven seconds left and the Lakers had the ball until Baylor stepped out of bounds. In the last play, Sam Jones used a triple screen by Bailey Howell, Larry Siegfried, and Havlicek to hit a buzzer beater that equalized the series. The teams split the next two games and it all came down to Game 7 in Los Angeles, where Lakers owner Jack Kent Cooke angered and motivated the Celtics by putting "proceedings of Lakers victory ceremony" on the game leaflets. Russell used a copy as extra motivation and told his team to play a running game because in that case it was not the better but the more determined team that was going to win.
The Celtics were ahead by nine points with five minutes remaining; in addition, West was limping after a Game 5 thigh injury and Chamberlain had left the game with an injured leg. West then hit one basket after the other and cut the lead to one, and Chamberlain asked to return to the game. Lakers coach Bill van Breda Kolff kept him on the bench until the end of the game, saying later that he wanted to stay with the lineup responsible for the comeback. The Celtics held on for a 108–106 victory and Russell claimed his eleventh championship in thirteen years. At age 35, Russell contributed with 6 points, 21 rebounds, and 6 assists in his last NBA game. After the game, Russell went over to the distraught West, who had scored 42 points and was named the only NBA Finals MVP in history from the losing team, clasped his hand and tried to soothe him.
Days later, 30,000 Celtics fans cheered their returning heroes. Russell, who once said he owed the public nothing, was not there; he ended his career and cut all ties to the Celtics. It was so surprising that Auerbach was blindsided and made the mistake of drafting guard Jo Jo White instead of a center. Although White became a standout Celtics player, Boston lacked an All-Star center, went 34–48 in the 1969–70 NBA season, and failed to make it to the 1970 NBA playoffs, marking the first time since 1950 that they did not make the playoffs. In Boston, both fans and journalists felt betrayed because Russell left the Celtics without a coach and a center, and he sold his retirement story for $10,000 to Sports Illustrated. Russell was accused of selling out the future of the franchise for a month of his salary. Russell notified Auerbach that he was resigning to join a career in television and movies "in order to find new sources of income for the future".
Earnings
During his playing career, Russell was one of the first big earners in NBA basketball. His 1956 rookie contract was worth $24,000 (), only fractionally smaller than the $25,000 of top earner and teammate Bob Cousy. Russell never had to work part-time. This was in contrast to other Celtics who had to work during the offseason to maintain their standard of living; Tom Heinsohn sold insurance, Gene Guarilia was a professional guitar player, Cousy ran a basketball camp, and Red Auerbach invested in plastics and a Chinese restaurant. When Wilt Chamberlain became the first NBA player to earn $100,000 in salary in 1965 (), Russell went to Auerbach and demanded a $100,001 salary, which he promptly received. For his promotion to coach, the Celtics paid Russell an annual salary of $25,000 which was in addition to his salary as a player. Although the salary was touted in the press as a record for an NBA coach, it is unclear whether Russell's continued $100,001 salary as a player was included in the calculation. Russell also had a shoe designed by Bristol Manufacturing Corporation in 1966, the Bill Russell Professional Basketball Shoe.
Russell–Chamberlain relations
For most of his career, Russell and his perennial opponent Wilt Chamberlain were close friends. Chamberlain often invited Russell over for Thanksgiving dinner; at Russell's place, conversation mostly concerned Russell's electric trains. The close relationship ended after Game 7 of the 1969 NBA Finals, when Chamberlain injured his knee with six minutes left and was forced to leave the game. During a conversation with students, a reporter—unknown to Russell—heard Russell describe Chamberlain as a malingerer and accused him of "copping out" of the game when it seemed that the Lakers would lose. He was livid with Russell and saw him as a backstabber.
Chamberlain's knee was injured so badly that he could not play the entire offseason and he ruptured it the next season. The two men did not speak to each other for more than twenty years until Russell met with Chamberlain and personally apologized. After that, the two were often seen together at various events and interviewed as friends. When Chamberlain died in 1999, Chamberlain's nephew said that Russell was the second person he was told to call. In delivering a eulogy for Chamberlain, Russell stated that he did not consider them to be rivals, but rather to have a competition, and that the pair would "be friends through eternity".
Chamberlain outscored Russell 30 to 14.2 and outrebounded him 28.2 to 22.9 in the regular season, and he also outscored him 25.7 to 14.9 and outrebounded him 28 to 24.7 in the playoffs. Russell's Celtics went 57–37 in the regular season against Chamberlain's teams and 29–20 in the playoffs, Chamberlain's losing seven of the eight series.
Racist abuse, controversy, and relationship with Boston fans
Russell's life was marked by an uphill battle against racism and controversial actions and statements in response to racism. As a child, he witnessed how his parents were victims of racial abuse, and the family eventually moved into government housing projects to escape the daily torrent of bigotry. When he later became a standout college player at USF, Russell recalled how he and his few fellow black teammates were jeered by white students.
Even after he became a star with the Celtics, Russell was the victim of racial abuse. When the NBA All-Stars toured the U.S. in the 1958 offseason, white hotel owners in segregated North Carolina denied rooms to Russell and his black teammates, causing him to later write in his 1966 memoir Go Up for Glory: "It stood out, a wall which understanding cannot penetrate. You are a Negro. You are less. It covered every area. A living, smarting, hurting, smelling, greasy substance which covered you. A morass to fight from." Before the 1961–62 season, Russell's team was scheduled to play in an exhibition game in Lexington, Kentucky, when Russell and his black teammates were refused service at a local restaurant. As part of the 1961 Celtics boycott, he and the other black teammates refused to play in the exhibition game and flew home, drawing a great deal of controversy and publicity.
As a consequence of his endured racist abuse, Russell was extremely sensitive to all racial prejudice. According to Taylor, he often perceived insults even if others did not. He was active in the Black Power movement and was among the African-American athletes and the one political leader who came together at the 1967 Cleveland Summit to support Muhammad Ali and his decision to refuse to be drafted. He was often called Felton X, presumably in the tradition of the Nation of Islam's practice of replacing a European slave name with an X and purchased land in Liberia. Russell's public statements became increasingly militant, and he was quoted as saying: "I dislike most white people because they are people ... I like most blacks because I am black." Russell articulated these views with a measure of self-criticism, saying: "I consider this a deficiency in myself—maybe. If I looked at it objectively, detached myself, it would be a deficiency." When his white Celtics teammate Frank Ramsey asked whether he hated him, Russell stated that he had been misquoted but few believed it. According to Taylor, Russell discounted the fact that his career was facilitated by white people who were proven anti-racists: his high school coach George Powles, who encouraged him to play basketball, his college coach Phil Woolpert, who integrated USF basketball, Celtics coach Red Auerbach, who made him the first black NBA coach and is regarded as an anti-racist pioneer for his no color barrier, and Celtics owner Walter A. Brown, who gave him a high $24,000 rookie contract, just $1,000 shy of the top-earning veteran Bob Cousy.
In a 1963 article by Sports Illustrated, Russell said he had "never met a finer person [than George Powles] ... I owe so much to him it's impossible to express." Years after Taylor's book, Russell published the autobiographical account Red and Me, which chronicled his lifelong friendship with Auerbach. Of the book, Bill Bradley wrote for The New York Times Book Review that "Bill Russell is a private, complex man, but on the subject of his love of Red Auerbach and his Celtic teammates, he's loud and clear." In the book, Russell wrote: "Whenever I leave the Celtics locker room, even Heaven wouldn't be good enough because anywhere else is a step down ... With Red [Auerbach] and Walter Brown, I was the freest athlete on the planet. I could always be myself with them and they were always there for me." Describing the Celtics organization, as distinguished from Boston sports fans in the 1950s and 1960s, as very progressive racially, Russell recalled in 2010 a list of the organization's accomplishments on racial progress both in terms of objective milestones and his own subjective experience as a member of the organization. He said:
In 1966, Russell was promoted to head coach of the Celtics. During a press conference, Russell was asked: "As the first Negro head coach in a major league sport, can you do the job impartially without any racial prejudice in reverse?" He replied: "Yes." When the reporter asked how, Russell responded: "Because the most important factor is respect. And in basketball I respect a man for his ability, period." As a result of repeated racial bigotry, Russell refused to respond to fan acclaim or friendship from his neighbors, thinking it was insincere and hypocritical. This attitude contributed to his bad rapport with fans and journalists. He alienated Celtics fans by saying: "You owe the public the same it owes you, nothing! I refuse to smile and be nice to the kiddies."
This supported the opinion of many white fans that Russell, who was by then the highest-paid Celtic, was egotistical, paranoid, and hypocritical. The already hostile atmosphere between Russell and Boston hit its apex when vandals broke into his house in Reading, Massachusetts, covered the walls with racist graffiti, damaged his trophies, and defecated in the beds. In response, Russell described Boston as a "flea market of racism". He was quoted as saying: "From my very first year I thought of myself as playing for the Celtics, not for Boston. The fans could do or think whatever they wanted." Referring to a time when the Celtics did not frequently sell out the Boston Garden, while the generally mediocre and all-white NHL Boston Bruins did, Russell recalled: "We [the Celtics] did a survey about what we could do to improve attendance. Over 50 percent of responses said 'There's too many black players. In retirement, Russell described the Boston press as corrupt and racist; in response, Boston sports journalist Larry Claflin claimed that Russell himself was the real racist. The FBI maintained a file on Russell and described him in their file as "an arrogant Negro who won't sign autographs for white children".
Russell refused to attend the ceremony when his jersey No. 6 was retired in 1972; he also refused to attend his induction into the Hall of Fame in 1975. While Russell long had sore feelings towards Boston, there was something of a reconciliation, and he visited the city regularly in his later years, something he never did in the years immediately after his retirement. On November 15, 2019, Russell accepted the Hall of Fame ring in a private ceremony with family. When Russell originally retired, he demanded that his jersey be retired in an empty Boston Garden.
In 1995, the Celtics left the Boston Garden and moved into the FleetCenter, now known as the TD Garden; as the main festive act, the Celtics wanted to re-retire Russell's jersey in front of a sellout audience. Perennially wary of what he long perceived as a racist city, Russell decided to make amends and gave his approval. On May 6, 1999, the Celtics re-retired Russell's jersey in a ceremony attended by his on-court rival and friend Chamberlain, along with Celtics legend Larry Bird and Hall of Famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. The crowd gave Russell a prolonged standing ovation, which brought tears to his eyes. He thanked Chamberlain for taking him to the limit and "making [him] a better player", and the crowd for "allowing [him] to be a part of their lives." In December 2008, the We Are Boston Leadership Award was presented to Russell.
Post-playing career and endeavors
In 1971, Russell joined NBA on ABC to do commentary on the Game of the Week. His No. 6 jersey was retired by the Celtics on March 12, 1972, Russell had worn the same number 6 at the USF and for the 1956 U.S. Olympic team. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1975. Russell, who had a difficult relationship with the media, did not attend either ceremony. He attended his 2021 induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame as a coach.
After retiring as a player, Russell had stints as head coach of the Seattle SuperSonics (1973–1977) and Sacramento Kings (1987–1988). His time as a non-player coach was lackluster; he led the struggling SuperSonics into the playoffs for the first time in franchise history, but Russell's defensive, team-oriented Celtics mindset did not mesh well with the team, and he left in 1977 with a 162–166 record. Russell's stint with the Kings was considerably shorter, his last assignment ending when the Kings went 17–41 to begin the 1987–88 NBA season. He finished with a 341–290 regular season record and was 34–27 in the playoffs. Russell also served as general manager of the SuperSonics during his coaching tenure, and held the same position with the Kings during the 1988–89 season. In addition, Russell ran into financial trouble. He had invested $250,000 in a rubber plantation in Liberia, where he had wanted to spend his retirement, but it went bankrupt. The same fate awaited his Boston restaurant Slade's, after which he had to default on a $90,000 government loan to purchase the outlet. The Internal Revenue Service discovered that Russell owed $34,430 in tax money and put a lien on his house.
Russell became a vegetarian, took up golf, and worked as a color commentator for CBS and TBS throughout the 1970s into the mid-1980s, but he was uncomfortable as a broadcaster. He later said: "The most successful television is done in eight-second thoughts, and the things I know about basketball, motivation, and people go deeper than that." On November 3, 1979, Russell hosted Saturday Night Live, in which he appeared in several sports-related sketches. Russell also wrote books, usually written as a joint project with a professional writer, including 1979's Second Wind, and played Judge Roger Ferguson in the Miami Vice episode "The Fix" (aired March 7, 1986). In 1985, former Celtic teammate Don Chaney, who was head coach of the Los Angeles Clippers, asked Russell to tutor Benoit Benjamin, the third overall draft pick from Creighton University, who left after his junior season; according to Chaney, Russell did not get paid for it.
Russell made few public appearances in the early 1990s, living as a near-recluse on Mercer Island, Washington, near Seattle. Following Chamberlain's death in October 1999, Russell returned to prominence at the turn of the millennium. In 2001, Russell and David Falkner published Russell Rules: 11 Lessons on Leadership from the Twentieth Century's Greatest Winner. Russell convinced Miami Heat superstar center Shaquille O'Neal to bury the hatchet with fellow NBA superstar and former Los Angeles Lakers teammate Kobe Bryant and end the Shaq–Kobe feud in January 2006. On November 17, the two-time NCAA champion Russell was recognized for his impact on college basketball as a member of the founding class of the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame. He was one of five, along with James Naismith, Oscar Robertson, Dean Smith, and John Wooden, selected to represent the inaugural class. On May 20, 2007, Russell was awarded an honorary doctorate by Suffolk University, where he served as its commencement speaker. Russell also received honorary degrees from Harvard University on June 7, 2007, and from Dartmouth College on June 14, 2009. On June 18, 2007, Russell was inducted as a member of the founding class of the FIBA Hall of Fame. In 2008, Russell received the Golden Plate Award of the Academy of Achievement.
On February 14, 2009, NBA Commissioner David Stern announced that the NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Award would be renamed the Bill Russell NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Award in his honor as an 11-time NBA champion. During halftime of the 2009 NBA All-Star Game, Celtics captains Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett, and Paul Pierce presented Russell a surprise birthday cake for his 75th birthday. Russell attended Game 5 of the 2009 NBA Finals to present Bryant the NBA Finals Most Valuable Player award. Russell was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama in 2011. Russell and Bryant were spectators to a basketball game for Obama's 50th birthday at the White House tennis court. The game featured Shane Battier, LeBron James, Magic Johnson, Maya Moore, Alonzo Mourning, Joakim Noah, Chris Paul, Derrick Rose, and Obama's friends from high school.
On September 26, 2017, Russell posted a photograph of himself to a previously unused Twitter account in which he was taking the knee in solidarity with the U.S. national anthem kneeling protests. Russell wore his Presidential Medal of Freedom and the image was captioned: "Proud to take a knee, and to stand tall against social injustice." In an interview with ESPN, Russell said he wanted the NFL players to know they were not alone.
Accomplishments and legacy
Russell is one of the most successful and decorated athletes in North American sports history. His awards and achievements include eleven NBA championships with the Boston Celtics in thirteen seasons, two of which were won as player-coach, and he is credited with having raised defensive play in the NBA to a new level. By winning the 1956 NCAA championship with USF and the 1957 NBA title with the Celtics, Russell became the first of only five players in basketball history to win an NCAA championship and an NBA championship in back-to-back seasons, the others being Henry Bibby, Magic Johnson, Billy Thompson, and Christian Braun. He also won two state championships in high school. In the interim, Russell won an Olympic gold medal in 1956. His stint as coach of the Celtics was also of historical significance, as he became the first black head coach in the NBA, when he succeeded Red Auerbach.
In his first NBA full season (1957–58), Russell became the first player in NBA history to average more than 20 rebounds per game for an entire season, a feat he accomplished ten times in his thirteen seasons. He is one of just two NBA players (the other being Wilt Chamberlain) to have grabbed more than 50 rebounds in a game. He still holds the NBA record for rebounds in one half with 32 (vs. Philadelphia, November 16, 1957). Career-wise in rebounds, Russell ranks second to Chamberlain in regular season total (21,620) and average per game (22.5), and he led the NBA in average rebounds per game four times. Russell is the all-time playoff leader in total (4,104) and average (24.9) rebounds per game, he grabbed 40 rebounds in three separate playoff games (twice in the NBA Finals), and he never failed to average at least 20 rebounds per game in any of his thirteen playoff campaigns. Russell also had seven regular-season games with 40 or more rebounds, the NBA Finals record for highest rebound per game average (29.5, 1959) and by a rookie (22.9, 1957). In addition, Russell holds the NBA Finals single-game record for most rebounds (40, March 29, 1960, vs. St. Louis, and April 18, 1962, vs. Los Angeles), most rebounds in a quarter (19, April 18, 1962, vs. Los Angeles), and most consecutive games with 20 or more rebounds (15 from April 9, 1960 – April 16, 1963). He also had 51 in one game, 49 in two others, and twelve straight seasons of 1,000 or more rebounds. Russell was known as one of the most clutch players in the NBA. He played in eleven deciding games (ten times in Game 7s, once in a Game 5) and ended with a 11–0 record. In these eleven games, Russell averaged 18.3 points and 29.4 rebounds.
Russell was considered the consummate defensive center, noted for his defensive intensity, basketball IQ, and will to win. He excelled at playing man-to-man defense, blocking shots, and grabbing defensive rebounds. Chamberlain said Russell's timing as a shot-blocker was unparalleled. In 2009, Russell's erstwhile Knicks opponent Bill Bradley wrote in The New York Times Book Review that Russell "was the smartest player ever to play the game [of basketball]". He could score with putbacks and made mid-air outlet passes to point guard Bob Cousy for easy fast-break points. He was also known as a fine passer and pick-and-roll setter, featured a decent left-handed hook shot, and finished strong on alley oops. On offense, Russell's output was limited and his NBA career personal averages show him to be an average scorer (15.1 points career average), a poor free-throw shooter (56.1%), and average overall shooter from the field (44%, not exceptional for a center). In his thirteen years, he averaged a relatively low 13.4 field goals attempted (normally, top scorers average 20 and more), illustrating that he was never the focal point of the Celtics offense, who instead focused on his elite defense. He ranks No. 1 in NBA history for defensive win shares at 133.6, with Tim Duncan in second at 106.3. While blocked shots were not a recorded basketball statistic during Russell's career, he averaged 8.1 blocks in 135 games, as Boston writers often attempted to tally his blocks. Bill Simmons has estimated that Russell had between 8 and 15 blocks per game in the playoffs.
Russell was driven by "a neurotic need to win", as his Celtic teammate Tom Heinsohn observed. He was so tense before every game that he regularly vomited in the locker room; early in his career, it happened so frequently that his fellow Celtics were more worried when it did not happen than when it did. Later in Russell's career, John Havlicek said of his teammate and coach that he threw up less often than early in his career, only doing so "when it's an important game or an important challenge for him—someone like Chamberlain, or someone coming up that everyone's touting. [The sound of Russell throwing up] is a welcome sound, too, because it means he's keyed up for the game, and around the locker room we grin and say, 'Man, we're going to be all right tonight. In a retrospective interview, Russell described the state of mind he felt he needed to enter in order to be able to play basketball: "I had to almost be in a rage. Nothing went on outside the borders of the court. I could hear anything, I could see anything, and nothing mattered. And I could anticipate every move that every player made."
In his career, Russell won five NBA MVP awards (1959, 1961–63, 1965), which is tied with Michael Jordan for second all-time behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's six awards, and is at No. 6 for most regular season MVP–NBA Finals MVP awards, despite the latter being assigned only since 1969. He was selected three times to the All-NBA First Teams (1959, 1963, 1965) and eight Second Teams (1958, 1960–62, 1964, 1966–68), and was a 12-time NBA All-Star (1958–1969). Russell was elected to one NBA All-Defensive First Team. This took place during his last season (1969) and was the first season the NBA All-Defensive Teams were selected. In 1970, The Sporting News named Russell the "Athlete of the Decade". Russell is universally seen as one of the best NBA players ever, and he was declared "Greatest Player in the History of the NBA" by the Professional Basketball Writers Association of America in 1980.
For his achievements, Russell was named "Sportsman of the Year" by Sports Illustrated in 1968. He is one of four players (along with Cousy, George Mikan, and Bob Pettit) to have made all four NBA anniversary teams: the NBA 25th Anniversary Team (1970), the NBA 35th Anniversary Team (1980), the NBA 50th Anniversary Team (1996), and the NBA 75th Anniversary Team (2021). Russell ranked No. 18 on ESPN's "50 Greatest Athletes of the 20th Century" list in 1999. In 2007, he was voted the third best center of all time by ESPN behind Abdul-Jabbar and Chamberlain. In 2009, Slam named him the third best player of all-time behind Jordan and Chamberlain. In 2020, he was ranked No. 4 in ESPN's list of the top 74 NBA players of all time, the second best center behind Abdul-Jabbar and ahead of Chamberlain. In 2022, he was ranked No. 6 in ESPN's NBA 75th Anniversary Team list, and No. 4 in a similar list by The Athletic.
Of Russell, former NBA player and head coach Don Nelson said: "There are two types of superstars. One makes himself look good at the expense of the other guys on the floor. But there's another type who makes the players around him look better than they are, and that's the type Russell was." In 2000, his longtime teammate Tom Heinsohn described both Russell's stature and his uneasy relationship with Boston more earthily, saying: "Look, all I know is the guy ... came to Boston and won 11 championships in 13 years, and they named a bleeping tunnel after Ted Williams." During the NBA All-Star Weekend on February 14, 2009, NBA Commissioner David Stern announced that the NBA Finals MVP award would be named after Russell. He was named as a 2010 recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. On June 15, 2017, Russell was announced as the inaugural recipient of the NBA Lifetime Achievement Award. In October 2021, Russell was honored as one of the league's 75 greatest players of all time.
On August 11, 2022, it was announced that Russell's No. 6 jersey would be retired throughout the National Basketball Association, the first time a jersey had been retired league-wide in NBA history, and joining Jackie Robinson and Wayne Gretzky in the honor among the four major American sports leagues. However, the NBA players who wore the number 6 jersey at that time, such as LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers (until July 2023), under the grandfather clause, may keep the number until they voluntarily change it or retire, similar to what the MLB players did with Robinson's #42.
Statue
In 2013, Boston honored Russell by erecting a statue of him on City Hall Plaza. He is depicted in-game, surrounded by 11 plinths representing the 11 championships he helped the Celtics win. Each plinth features a key word and related quote to illustrate Russell's multiple accomplishments. The Bill Russell Legacy Foundation, established by the Boston Celtics Shamrock Foundation, funded the project. The art is by Ann Hirsch of Somerville, Massachusetts, in collaboration with Pressley Associates Landscape Architects of Boston. The statue was unveiled on November 1, 2013, with Russell in attendance. During the spring of 2015, two statues of children were added, honoring Russell's commitment to working with children. These statues were modeled by a local boy from Somerville and multiple girls from the surrounding area.
West Coast Conference's Russell Rule
On August 2, 2020, the West Coast Conference (WCC), which has been home to Russell's alma mater of USF since the league's formation in 1952, became the first NCAA Division I conference to adopt a conference-wide diversity hiring commitment, announcing the Russell Rule, named after Russell and based on the National Football League's Rooney Rule. In its announcement, the WCC stated: "The 'Russell Rule' requires each member institution to include a member of a traditionally underrepresented community in the pool of final candidates for every athletic director, senior administrator, head coach and full-time assistant coach position in the athletic department."
NBA career statistics
Regular season
Playoffs
Source:
Head coaching record
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|Boston
|style="text-align:left;"|
|81||60||21||.671|| style="text-align:center;"|2nd in Eastern||9||4||5||.444
|style="text-align:center;"|Lost in Division finals
|-! style="background:#FDE910;"
|style="text-align:left;"|Boston
|style="text-align:left;"|
|82||54||28||.659|| style="text-align:center;"|2nd in Eastern||19||12||7||.632
|style="text-align:center;"|Won NBA championship
|-! style="background:#FDE910;"
|style="text-align:left;"|Boston
|style="text-align:left;"|
|82||48||34||.585|| style="text-align:center;"|4th in Eastern||18||12||6||.667
|style="text-align:center;"|Won NBA championship
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|Seattle
|style="text-align:left;"|
|82||36||46||.439|| style="text-align:center;"|3rd in Pacific||—||—||—||—
|style="text-align:center;"|Missed playoffs
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|Seattle
|style="text-align:left;"|
|82||43||39||.524|| style="text-align:center;"|2nd in Pacific||9||4||5||.444
|style="text-align:center;"|Lost in Conference semifinals
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|Seattle
|style="text-align:left;"|
|82||43||39||.524|| style="text-align:center;"|2nd in Pacific||6||2||4||.333
|style="text-align:center;"|Lost in Conference semifinals
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|Seattle
|style="text-align:left;"|
|82||40||42||.488|| style="text-align:center;"|4th in Pacific||—||—||—||—
|style="text-align:center;"|Missed playoffs
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|Sacramento
|style="text-align:left;"|
|58||17||41||.293|| style="text-align:center;"|(dismissed)||—||—||—||—
|style="text-align:center;"|—
|-class="sortbottom"
|style="text-align:left;"|Career
|||631||341||290||.540|| ||61||34||27||.557||
Personal life and death
Russell was a resident of Mercer Island, Washington, for nearly five decades.
In 1959, Russell became the first NBA player to visit Africa.
Russell was a member of Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity, having been initiated into its Gamma Alpha chapter while a student at University of San Francisco.
On October 16, 2013, Russell was arrested for bringing his registered, loaded .38-caliber Smith & Wesson handgun to the Seattle–Tacoma International Airport. He was issued a citation and released, and the Transportation Security Administration indicated it would levy a civil penalty, which would be between $3,000 and $7,500.
Marriages and children
Russell was married to his college sweetheart Rose Swisher from 1956 to 1973. They had three children: daughter Karen Russell, a television pundit and lawyer, and sons William Jr. and Jacob. The couple grew emotionally distant and divorced. In 1977, he married Dorothy Anstett, Miss USA of 1968; they divorced in 1980. In 1996, Russell married his third wife, Marilyn Nault; their marriage lasted until her death in January 2009. Russell was married to Jeannine Russell at the time of his death.
Personality
In 1966, The New York Times wrote that "Russell's main characteristics are pride, intelligence, an active and appreciative sense of humor, a preoccupation with dignity, a capacity for consideration once his friendship or sympathy has been aroused, and an unwillingness to compromise whatever truths he has accepted." In 2009, Russell wrote his paternal grandfather's motto, passed down to his father and then to him: "A man has to draw a line inside himself that he won't allow any man to cross." Russell said he was "proud of my grandfather's heroic dignity against forces more powerful than him ... he would not allow himself to be oppressed or intimidated by anyone." He wrote these words after recounting how grandfather Jake Russell had stood up to the Ku Klux Klan and other whites who attempted to thwart his efforts to build a schoolhouse for black children; his grandfather was the first person in Russell's patrilineal line born free in North America and was himself illiterate. Russell's motto became: "If you disrespect that line, you disrespect me."
Russell was known for his distinctive high-pitched laugh, of which Red Auerbach quipped: "There are only two things that could make me quit coaching. My wife and Russell's laugh." To teammates and friends, Russell was open and amicable; he was extremely distrusting and cold towards anyone else. Journalists were often treated to the "Russell Glower", described as an "icily contemptuous stare accompanied by a long silence". Russell was also notorious for his refusal to give autographs or acknowledge the Celtics fans, and was called "the most selfish, surly and uncooperative athlete" by one pundit.
Death
Russell died at his Mercer Island, Washington, home on July 31, 2022, at the age of 88. The news was announced in a Twitter post by his family. In a statement, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said that Russell was "the greatest champion in all of team sports".
See also
List of National Basketball Association career rebounding leaders
List of National Basketball Association career minutes played leaders
List of National Basketball Association career playoff rebounding leaders
List of National Basketball Association career playoff triple-double leaders
List of National Basketball Association annual rebounding leaders
List of National Basketball Association annual minutes leaders
List of National Basketball Association single-game rebounding leaders
List of National Basketball Association single-season rebounding leaders
List of National Basketball Association rookie single-season rebounding leaders
List of National Basketball Association longest winning streaks
List of NBA players with most championships
List of NCAA Division I men's basketball career rebounding leaders
Race and ethnicity in the NBA
Selected publications
Footnotes
References
Further reading
External links
FIBA Hall of Fame on Russell
1934 births
2022 deaths
African-American basketball coaches
African-American basketball players
African-American male track and field athletes
African-American sports executives and administrators
All-American college men's basketball players
American men's basketball coaches
American men's basketball players
American sports executives and administrators
Basketball coaches from California
Basketball coaches from Louisiana
Basketball players at the 1956 Summer Olympics
Basketball players from Boston
Basketball players from Louisiana
Basketball players from Oakland, California
Boston Celtics head coaches
Boston Celtics players
Centers (basketball)
FIBA Hall of Fame inductees
McClymonds High School alumni
Medalists at the 1956 Summer Olympics
Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductees
National Basketball Association All-Stars
National Basketball Association broadcasters
National Basketball Association championship-winning head coaches
National Basketball Association Most Valuable Player Award winners
National Basketball Association players with retired numbers
Olympic gold medalists for the United States in basketball
People from West Monroe, Louisiana
Player-coaches
Politics and sports
Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients
Sacramento Kings head coaches
San Francisco Dons men's basketball players
San Francisco Dons men's track and field athletes
Seattle SuperSonics general managers
Seattle SuperSonics head coaches
Sportspeople from Monroe, Louisiana
St. Louis Hawks draft picks
Track and field athletes from Louisiana
Track and field athletes from Oakland, California
United States men's national basketball team players
|
412256
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan%20Borough%20of%20Dudley
|
Metropolitan Borough of Dudley
|
The Metropolitan Borough of Dudley is a metropolitan borough of West Midlands, England. It was created in 1974 following the Local Government Act 1972, through a merger of the existing Dudley County Borough with the municipal boroughs of Stourbridge and Halesowen.
The borough's main settlement is Dudley but it also includes the outlying towns of Brierley Hill, Halesowen, Kingswinford, Lye, Netherton, Sedgley and Stourbridge.
The borough borders Sandwell to the east, the city of Birmingham to the south east, Bromsgrove to the south in Worcestershire, South Staffordshire District to the west, and the city of Wolverhampton to the north.
History
The Metropolitan Borough of Dudley was created in 1974 from the existing boroughs of Dudley, the Municipal Borough of Stourbridge and the Municipal Borough of Halesowen. This followed an earlier reorganisation in 1966, as per the provisions of the Local Government Act 1958, which saw an expansion of the three boroughs from the abolition of the surrounding urban districts of Amblecote, Brierley Hill, Coseley, and Sedgley; and the municipal boroughs of Tipton, Oldbury, and Rowley Regis.
Initially the borough had a two-tier system of local government, with the borough council sharing power with the West Midlands County Council. In 1986 metropolitan county councils were abolished under the Local Government Act 1985, and Dudley effectively became a unitary authority.
Government
Dudley Council has its main offices in Dudley town centre (where Dudley Council House is located), along with additional smaller offices throughout the borough. The council is made up of 72 councillors representing 24 wards.
On its formation in 1974, the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley was controlled by the Labour Party. Since then the controlling party has frequently changed, sometimes with no political party having a clear majority.
The Conservative Party currently have control of Dudley Council as a majority run administration. After a no overall control result in the previous local elections, they gained control of Dudley council in the 2021 local elections.
Mayor
The Mayor of the Borough acts as the Borough's first citizen attending many civic and ceremonial functions to represent the Council. They are elected at the Annual Meeting of the Council and serves for the whole of the Municipal Year until the next Annual Meeting.
As part of the West Midlands Combined Authority, Dudley is also served by the Mayor of the West Midlands.
Wards
The 24 wards of the Dudley Borough are each represented by 3 councillors.
Demography
At the 2021 Census, the total population of Dudley Metropolitan Borough was 323,488, an increase of 10,563 from the 2011 Census. The population density was 3,320.4 residents per square km compared to the West Midlands region population density was 457.8 residents per square km.
84.9% of Dudley's population identified as White, with 82.4% identifying as White British, 0.3% as White Irish, and 2.1% as Other White. The second largest ethnic group was Asian and British Asian, making up 8.4% of the population (an increase from 2011 where the figure was 6.1%). Black and Black British people comprised 2.5% of the population of the borough (an increase from 2011 where the figure was 1.5%).
Statistics on religious beliefs show that 49.3% of the population identify as Christian (65.3% in 2011), with the second largest religious group being Muslim, at 6.2% (4.1% in 2011). 36% identified as having no religion.
Unemployment amongst those aged 16 and over in the borough stood at 3.8%, slightly higher than the national average of 3.5%. 41.1% of those aged 16 and over were economically inactive, consisting of 24.3% retired, 5.2% looking after homes or family, 4.5% long-term sick or disabled, 4.2% students and 3.0% other economically inactive.
Economy
A part of the Black Country, Dudley traditionally has been an industrial centre of manufacturing, quarrying, and mining, although this has declined in more recent years, with a shift in focus towards the service sector (accounting for 79.1% of employment) and tourism. Despite this, there are still numerous large industrial sites around the borough, such as the Pensnett Trading Estate, with the manufacturing industries making up 15.3% of employment.
Tourism is of increasing importance to the local economy, with approximately 6,600 people employed within the sector. Attractions such as the Black Country Living Museum and Dudley Zoo bring in hundreds of thousands of visitors each year.The Merry Hill Shopping Centre in Brierley Hill is one of the largest shopping centres in the UK and is the main retail centre of the borough, with an average of 23.5 million visitors a year, and houses branches of several large retailers including Primark, Marks & Spencer, and Next.
Other large employers in the borough include JCDecaux UK, which has its Birmingham area office in Halesowen, Rentokil Initial, and Midtherm Engineering.
Tourism and visitor economy
Dudley borough has an increasing tourism offer, with attractions such as the Black Country Geopark being recognised in 2020 and the Stourbridge Glass Museum due to open in 2022. Tourism and the visitor economy is an important sector to the borough, supporting approximately 8,000 jobs.
Many of the borough's tourist attractions draw on the industrial heritage of the area. For example, the Red House Glass Cone is an original structure from the 18th Century glass making industry in Stourbridge. The site includes designer-maker studios, galleries and hot glass studio. The Stourbridge Glass Quarter locality is also home to The Lace Guild, Glasshouse Heritage Centre and hosts the International Festival of Glass every 2 years, most recently in 2019 with the 2021 festival postponed to 2022 due to the covid-19 pandemic.
The Caste Hill area of Dudley is also a hub of visitor attractions including the Black Country Living Museum and the Canal and Tunnel Trust. Dudley Zoological Gardens, which is also in this area, is the second most visited paid visitor attraction in the West Midlands. The Archives and Local History Centre is now also the home of the council run Dudley Museum. The museum is also the headquarters of the Black Country Geopark.
Along with sites recognised as part of the Geopark, the borough has seven nature reserves and many parks contributing to its green spaces. In 2021, the Green Flag award was obtained by seven of the boroughs sites (Buffery Park, Huntingtree Park, Mary Stevens Park, Priory Park, The Leasowes, Wrens Nest National Nature Reserve and Saltwells National Nature Reserve). Mary Stevens Park and Priory Park were also awarded Green Heritage Site status, with Abbey Road Allotments recognised with a Green Flag Community Award.
Despite not being in the bounds of Dudley borough, Himley Hall and Park is owned and run by Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council. In addition to the 180 acres of ‘Capability’ Brown landscaped parkland, the Hall has a gallery exhibition space and is a wedding venue.
Regeneration
Large public and private sector developments have taken place in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley since its creation in 1974.
The closure of Round Oak Steelworks in December 1982 paved the way for the creation of the Merry Hill Shopping Centre on nearby farmland between 1985 and 1989. The Waterfront leisure and commercial complex was developed on the site of the steelworks itself between 1989 and 1995.
Pensnett Trading Estate in Kingswinford has been developed since the 1960s for mostly light industry and services.
A major redevelopment of Halesowen town centre took place in 2007/08, when the bus station was rebuilt and a section of the 1960s shopping area demolished to make way for a new Asda superstore.
A similar redevelopment of Stourbridge town centre in 2011/12 saw most of the Crown Centre completely rebuilt to incorporate a new Tesco superstore.
There are currently several major regeneration projects throughout the borough. Significant infrastructure projects include the new Dudley Transport Interchange and the Wednesbury to Brierley Hill West Midlands Metro extension. The 11km metro extension will connect Dudley, Merry Hill and Brierley Hill with the metro network and so to the proposed HS2 line. The first phase to Dudley town centre is expected to open for passenger services in 2024. The second phase will then extend to Brierley Hill, terminating in Cottage Street in the town centre following an additional £60million funding from central government.
Regeneration projects around the Castle Hill area are combining innovation and education. The Black Country and Marches Institute of Technology opened in September 2021 and focuses delivery on higher level courses in manufacturing and engineering, medical engineering, modern construction methodologies and digital technologies. The Very Light Rail (VLR) National Innovation Centre will provide a research facility for the development of VLR technologies and projects. The centre will redevelop the former Dudley Railway Station and reconnect the town with the National Rail Network.
The DY5 Business and Innovation Enterprise Zone was launched in 2017 with the ambition to create 7,000 new jobs over 25 years. The zone is centred around the Brierley Hill area.
The Dudley Townscape Heritage programme is on ongoing programme of work improving historical buildings in Dudley town centre. Phase 1 ran from 2008-2015, phase 2 from 2017-2023. Phase 2 started following a National Lottery Heritage Fund grant of £1.2 million. As part of the programme historic buildings were identified, repaired or restored. Heritage trails and open days were also developed. In addition, further development of the former Dudley Museum and Art Gallery site has been proposed as part of a £4million scheme. The former Sessions Court in the same complext of buildings been converted into Brookes Bistro restaurant. Named for Brooke Robinson who was a former MP and coroner for Dudley and left a bequest which led to the building for the former Museum and Art Gallery, Town Hall and Coroners Court.
Housing
Relatively little new council housing has been built in the borough since the early 1980s, with almost all of the new social housing developments since then being built by housing associations. Most of the older private housing in the borough has been renovated rather than demolished during this time. However, there have been a number of redevelopment programmes involving 20th century council housing. In July 1999, four of the borough's tower blocks (two at Eve Hill in Dudley and two at Tanhouse in Halesowen) were demolished on consecutive weekends in controlled explosions. Two years later, two more tower blocks at Queens Cross in Dudley were demolished using the same method. Four tower blocks in Netherton are scheduled for demolition in 2017/18. In 2009, 266 homes on the predominantly 1930s Priory Estate in Dudley were demolished and the land later redeveloped with new housing. In the mid-1990s, the neighbouring Wren's Nest Estate underwent extensive refurbishment as well as improved community facilities in a multimillion-pound project funded by the European Single Budget. Four blocks of low-rise flats on the estate were demolished as part of the regeneration.
Since 2017 small developments of council housing have been built, including bungalows, housing and low-rise flats. Some properties have been designed to accommodate those with specific physical needs or those in need of supported living. The homes have been built across the borough (Brierley Hill, Coseley, Dudley, Halesowen, Kingswinford, Lower Gornal, Sedgley and Stourbridge). During this period Dudley Council have also built a number of homes for private sale.
In November 2021 Dudley Council was named homebuilder of the year (organisations with 16,000 homes or more category) at the Inside Housing UK Housing Awards.
Education
Tertiary education
There are two further education colleges in the Dudley Borough: Dudley College of Technology, Halesowen College. The borough is also home to the King Edward VI sixth form college in Stourbridge, originally a grammar school established in 1552, converting to a sixth form centre in 1976. A small number of secondary schools in the borough offer sixth form facilities, while several others did so until the beginning of the 1990s when the local authority decided to concentrate post-16 education in further education colleges.
In March 2011 Eton College and Star Academies announced their intention to open one of three sixth form colleges in Dudley, subject to funding through the Department for Education’s Free Schools Programme.
Since the University of Wolverhampton closed its Dudley campus in 2002, the metropolitan borough is the largest district in the UK without its own university. Several projects in the Castle Hill area of the Dudley are now linking with local universities. The Black Country & Marches Institute of Technology opened in September 2021, with a focus on higher level engineering courses, it partners Dudley College of Technology, University of Wolverhampton, University of Worcester, In-Comm Training Services Limited and Avensys UK Limited. A Higher Education Centre for Health & Care is proposed as a partnership between Dudley College of Technology and University of Worcester and expected to be open for Autumn 2024.
Primary and secondary education
There are 104 Dudley Council schools: 78 Primary, 40 of which include a Nursery Unit (24 Primary Academy); 19 Secondary (of which 15 are Secondary Academy Schools) and 7 Special Schools. Pupils transfer to secondary school at the age of 11, although between 1972 and 1990 pupils in the north of borough transferred to secondary school at the age of 12, and from 1972 to 1982 there was a three-tier education system in Halesowen where pupils entered first school at 5, middle school at 9 and secondary school at 13.
The borough had well over 30 secondary schools on its creation, although this was quickly reduced as a result of the introduction of the comprehensive system a year later, which resulted in a number of schools being merged or closed.
By September 1990, however, the number of secondary schools in the borough had fallen to 22 as a result of the closure of Gilbert Claughton and Mons Hill Schools and the merger of High Park and Longlands Schools in Stourbridge to form Ridgewood High. A year earlier, Castle High had been formed in the town centre of Dudley from a merger of The Dudley School and Blue Coat School; this new school also took in some of the former Gilbert Claughton and Mons Hill pupils. The 1980s had also seen the closure of some the borough's less popular and smaller primary schools, with the older buildings mostly being demolished and the more modern ones being converted for community use.
The closure of Cradley High School in Halesowen in July 2008 saw the number of secondary schools in the borough fall to 21, and the total has remained at 20 since the closure of Pensnett High School in July 2012.
When the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley was formed, many primary schools were existed as separate infant and junior or first and middle schools, but by 1990 virtually all of the separate schools had been merged to create full circle primary schools, the last separate infant and junior schools to merge being Red Hall in Lower Gornal in January 1997.
There are no grammar schools in the borough, with all state schools being comprehensive, a system which has been universal in the borough since the mid-1970s. The Former grammar schools in the borough were Dudley's Boys Grammar and Girls High Schools (merged with Park Secondary Modern School in 1975 to form The Dudley School, which in turn merged with The Blue Coat School to form Castle High in 1989), Sir Gilbert Claughton Grammar School in Dudley (which adopted comprehensive status in 1975 before closing in 1990), Brierley Hill Grammar School (actually situated in Kingswinford; it has been known as the Crestwood School since adopting comprehensive status), King Edward VI Boys Grammar School in Stourbridge (which is now a mixed sixth form college), Stourbridge Girls High School (which merged with the Boys Grammar School and Valley Road Secondary Modern School to form Redhill School), Halesowen Grammar School (which merged with Halesowen Technical School to form Earls High School) and High Arcal Grammar School in Sedgley (which survives as a comprehensive school).
The sole independent school in the borough is the Elmfield Rudolf Steiner School in Stourbridge, which follows the Steiner Waldorf curriculum.
The Old Swinford Hospital school in Stourbridge is one of only 34 state-funded boarding schools in England, with education being funded by the local education authority (LEA).
Healthcare
The main NHS hospital serving the borough is Russells Hall Hospital, situated to the south of Dudley town centre. Following a major expansion of the hospital in 2005, all inpatient services were transferred to the site from smaller hospitals around the borough, resulting in the closure of Wordsley Hospital, and the downgrading of the Guest Hospital and Corbett hospitals into outpatient centres.
Psychiatric care is offered at the Bushey Fields Hospital, located adjacent to Russells Hall Hospital.
See also Healthcare in West Midlands.
Localities
See List of areas in Dudley
Freedom of the Borough
The following people, military units and Organisations and Groups have received the Freedom of the Borough of Dudley. The Roll of Freeman is displayed in the Council House on wood panelling at the entrance to the Council Chamber.
Individuals
William Humble, Earl of Dudley: 10 January 1899
Brooke Robinson: 11 September 1906
Sir Gilbert Henry Claughton, Baronet: 9 November 1912
Edwin John Thompson: 24 November 1936
John Harry Molyneux: 24 February 1959
John Collcott Price : 23 April 1963
Harry Clifford Whitehouse: 23 April 1963
Percy Dale Wadsworth: 25 April 1973
Bert Bissell: 19 February 1981
William Eley Homer: 9 March 1989
John Thomas Wilson: 9 March 1989
John James Curley: 23 January 1992
Frederick Stuart Hunt: 18 May 2000
Sir Lenny Henry: 25 February 2013.
David Murray Caunt: 13 July 2015
David Sparks: 13 July 2015
Jordanne Whiley: 30 November 2015.
Roy Richardson: 4 December 2017
Hilary Bills: 20 May 2021
Les Jones: 20 May 2021
Ian Marshall Kettle: 20 May 2021
Military Units
The Worcestershire Regiment: 8 April 1961
The Staffordshire Regiment (The Prince of Wales's): 29 April 1967
The Mercian Regiment: 15 October 2007
The Royal Mercian and Lancastrian Yeomanry: 22 February 2010
Royal Mercian and Lancastrian Yeomanry (TA): 30 June 2012
RAF Cosford: 4 December 2017
63 Company, 6 Battalion Military Intelligence Company Intelligence Corps: 18 February 2019.
Organisations and Groups
National Health Service, Public Health, Adult Services, Children's Services, Bereavement Services and Care Sector Workers: 23 July 2020
See also
Evolution of Worcestershire county boundaries
South Staffordshire Line
References
External links
Dudley Borough Wards
Metropolitan boroughs of the West Midlands (county)
NUTS 3 statistical regions of the United Kingdom
Black Country Local Enterprise Partnership
|
412272
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cartan%20connection
|
Cartan connection
|
In the mathematical field of differential geometry, a Cartan connection is a flexible generalization of the notion of an affine connection. It may also be regarded as a specialization of the general concept of a principal connection, in which the geometry of the principal bundle is tied to the geometry of the base manifold using a solder form. Cartan connections describe the geometry of manifolds modelled on homogeneous spaces.
The theory of Cartan connections was developed by Élie Cartan, as part of (and a way of formulating) his method of moving frames (repère mobile). The main idea is to develop a suitable notion of the connection forms and curvature using moving frames adapted to the particular geometrical problem at hand. In relativity or Riemannian geometry, orthonormal frames are used to obtain a description of the Levi-Civita connection as a Cartan connection. For Lie groups, Maurer–Cartan frames are used to view the Maurer–Cartan form of the group as a Cartan connection.
Cartan reformulated the differential geometry of (pseudo) Riemannian geometry, as well as the differential geometry of manifolds equipped with some non-metric structure, including Lie groups and homogeneous spaces. The term 'Cartan connection' most often refers to Cartan's formulation of a (pseudo-)Riemannian, affine, projective, or conformal connection. Although these are the most commonly used Cartan connections, they are special cases of a more general concept.
Cartan's approach seems at first to be coordinate dependent because of the choice of frames it involves. However, it is not, and the notion can be described precisely using the language of principal bundles. Cartan connections induce covariant derivatives and other differential operators on certain associated bundles, hence a notion of parallel transport. They have many applications in geometry and physics: see the method of moving frames, Cartan formalism and Einstein–Cartan theory for some examples.
Introduction
At its roots, geometry consists of a notion of congruence between different objects in a space. In the late 19th century, notions of congruence were typically supplied by the action of a Lie group on space. Lie groups generally act quite rigidly, and so a Cartan geometry is a generalization of this notion of congruence to allow for curvature to be present. The flat Cartan geometries—those with zero curvature—are locally equivalent to homogeneous spaces, hence geometries in the sense of Klein.
A Klein geometry consists of a Lie group G together with a Lie subgroup H of G. Together G and H determine a homogeneous space G/H, on which the group G acts by left-translation. Klein's aim was then to study objects living on the homogeneous space which were congruent by the action of G. A Cartan geometry extends the notion of a Klein geometry by attaching to each point of a manifold a copy of a Klein geometry, and to regard this copy as tangent to the manifold. Thus the geometry of the manifold is infinitesimally identical to that of the Klein geometry, but globally can be quite different. In particular, Cartan geometries no longer have a well-defined action of G on them. However, a Cartan connection supplies a way of connecting the infinitesimal model spaces within the manifold by means of parallel transport.
Motivation
Consider a smooth surface S in 3-dimensional Euclidean space R3. Near to any point, S can be approximated by its tangent plane at that point, which is an affine subspace of Euclidean space. The affine subspaces are model surfaces—they are the simplest surfaces in R3, and are homogeneous under the Euclidean group of the plane, hence they are Klein geometries in the sense of Felix Klein's Erlangen programme. Every smooth surface S has a unique affine plane tangent to it at each point. The family of all such planes in R3, one attached to each point of S, is called the congruence of tangent planes. A tangent plane can be "rolled" along S, and as it does so the point of contact traces out a curve on S. Conversely, given a curve on S, the tangent plane can be rolled along that curve. This provides a way to identify the tangent planes at different points along the curve by affine (in fact Euclidean) transformations, and is an example of a Cartan connection called an affine connection.
Another example is obtained by replacing the planes, as model surfaces, by spheres, which are homogeneous under the Möbius group of conformal transformations. There is no longer a unique sphere tangent to a smooth surface S at each point, since the radius of the sphere is undetermined. This can be fixed by supposing that the sphere has the same mean curvature as S at the point of contact. Such spheres can again be rolled along curves on S, and this equips S with another type of Cartan connection called a conformal connection.
Differential geometers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries were very interested in using model families such as planes or spheres to describe the geometry of surfaces. A family of model spaces attached to each point of a surface S is called a congruence: in the previous examples there is a canonical choice of such a congruence. A Cartan connection provides an identification between the model spaces in the congruence along any curve in S. An important feature of these identifications is that the point of contact of the model space with S always moves with the curve. This generic condition is characteristic of Cartan connections.
In the modern treatment of affine connections, the point of contact is viewed as the origin in the tangent plane (which is then a vector space), and the movement of the origin is corrected by a translation, and so Cartan connections are not needed. However, there is no canonical way to do this in general: in particular for the conformal connection of a sphere congruence, it is not possible to separate the motion of the point of contact from the rest of the motion in a natural way.
In both of these examples the model space is a homogeneous space G/H.
In the first case, G/H is the affine plane, with G = Aff(R2) the affine group of the plane, and H = GL(2) the corresponding general linear group.
In the second case, G/H is the conformal (or celestial) sphere, with G = O+(3,1) the (orthochronous) Lorentz group, and H the stabilizer of a null line in R3,1.
The Cartan geometry of S consists of a copy of the model space G/H at each point of S (with a marked point of contact) together with a notion of "parallel transport" along curves which identifies these copies using elements of G. This notion of parallel transport is generic in the intuitive sense that the point of contact always moves along the curve.
In general, let G be a group with a subgroup H, and M a manifold of the same dimension as G/H. Then, roughly speaking, a Cartan connection on M is a G-connection which is generic with respect to a reduction to H.
Affine connections
An affine connection on a manifold M is a connection on the frame bundle (principal bundle) of M (or equivalently, a connection on the tangent bundle (vector bundle) of M). A key aspect of the Cartan connection point of view is to elaborate this notion in the context of principal bundles (which could be called the "general or abstract theory of frames").
Let H be a Lie group, its Lie algebra. Then a principal H-bundle is a fiber bundle P over M with a smooth action of H on P which is free and transitive on the fibers. Thus P is a smooth manifold with a smooth map π: P → M which looks locally like the trivial bundle M × H → M. The frame bundle of M is a principal GL(n)-bundle, while if M is a Riemannian manifold, then the orthonormal frame bundle is a principal O(n)-bundle.
Let Rh denote the (right) action of h ∈ H on P. The derivative of this action defines a vertical vector field on P for each element ξ of : if h(t) is a 1-parameter subgroup with h(0)=e (the identity element) and h '(0)=ξ, then the corresponding vertical vector field is
A principal H-connection on P is a 1-form on P,
with values in the Lie algebra of H, such that
for any , ω(Xξ) = ξ (identically on P).
The intuitive idea is that ω(X) provides a vertical component of X, using the isomorphism of the fibers of π with H to identify vertical vectors with elements of .
Frame bundles have additional structure called the solder form, which can be used to extend a principal connection on P to a trivialization of the tangent bundle of P called an absolute parallelism.
In general, suppose that M has dimension n and H acts on Rn (this could be any n-dimensional real vector space). A solder form on a principal H-bundle P over M is an Rn-valued 1-form θ: TP → Rn which is horizontal and equivariant so that it induces a bundle homomorphism from TM to the associated bundle P ×H Rn. This is furthermore required to be a bundle isomorphism. Frame bundles have a (canonical or tautological) solder form which sends a tangent vector X ∈ TpP to the coordinates of dπp(X) ∈ Tπ(p)M with respect to the frame p.
The pair (ω, θ) (a principal connection and a solder form) defines a 1-form η on P, with values in the Lie algebra of the semidirect product G of H with Rn, which provides an isomorphism of each tangent space TpP with . It induces a principal connection α on the associated principal G-bundle P ×H G. This is a Cartan connection.
Cartan connections generalize affine connections in two ways.
The action of H on Rn need not be effective. This allows, for example, the theory to include spin connections, in which H is the spin group Spin(n) rather than the orthogonal group O(n).
The group G need not be a semidirect product of H with Rn.
Klein geometries as model spaces
Klein's Erlangen programme suggested that geometry could be regarded as a study of homogeneous spaces: in particular, it is the study of the many geometries of interest to geometers of 19th century (and earlier). A Klein geometry consisted of a space, along with a law for motion within the space (analogous to the Euclidean transformations of classical Euclidean geometry) expressed as a Lie group of transformations. These generalized spaces turn out to be homogeneous smooth manifolds diffeomorphic to the quotient space of a Lie group by a Lie subgroup. The extra differential structure that these homogeneous spaces possess allows one to study and generalize their geometry using calculus.
The general approach of Cartan is to begin with such a smooth Klein geometry, given by a Lie group G and a Lie subgroup H, with associated Lie algebras and , respectively. Let P be the underlying principal homogeneous space of G. A Klein geometry is the homogeneous space given by the quotient P/H of P by the right action of H. There is a right H-action on the fibres of the canonical projection
π: P → P/H
given by Rhg = gh. Moreover, each fibre of π is a copy of H. P has the structure of a principal H-bundle over P/H.
A vector field X on P is vertical if dπ(X) = 0. Any ξ ∈ gives rise to a canonical vertical vector field Xξ by taking the derivative of the right action of the 1-parameter subgroup of H associated to ξ. The Maurer-Cartan form η of P is the -valued one-form on P which identifies each tangent space with the Lie algebra. It has the following properties:
Ad(h) Rh*η = η for all h in H
η(Xξ) = ξ for all ξ in
for all g∈P, η restricts a linear isomorphism of TgP with (η is an absolute parallelism on P).
In addition to these properties, η satisfies the structure (or structural) equation
Conversely, one can show that given a manifold M and a principal H-bundle P over M, and a 1-form η with these properties, then P is locally isomorphic as an H-bundle to the principal homogeneous bundle G→G/H. The structure equation is the integrability condition for the existence of such a local isomorphism.
A Cartan geometry is a generalization of a smooth Klein geometry, in which the structure equation is not assumed, but is instead used to define a notion of curvature. Thus the Klein geometries are said to be the flat models for Cartan geometries.
Pseudogroups
Cartan connections are closely related to pseudogroup structures on a manifold. Each is thought of as modelled on a Klein geometry G/H, in a manner similar to the way in which Riemannian geometry is modelled on Euclidean space. On a manifold M, one imagines attaching to each point of M a copy of the model space G/H. The symmetry of the model space is then built into the Cartan geometry or pseudogroup structure by positing that the model spaces of nearby points are related by a transformation in G. The fundamental difference between a Cartan geometry and pseudogroup geometry is that the symmetry for a Cartan geometry relates infinitesimally close points by an infinitesimal transformation in G (i.e., an element of the Lie algebra of G) and the analogous notion of symmetry for a pseudogroup structure applies for points that are physically separated within the manifold.
The process of attaching spaces to points, and the attendant symmetries, can be concretely realized by using special coordinate systems. To each point p ∈ M, a neighborhood Up of p is given along with a mapping φp : Up → G/H. In this way, the model space is attached to each point of M by realizing M locally at each point as an open subset of G/H. We think of this as a family of coordinate systems on M, parametrized by the points of M. Two such parametrized coordinate systems φ and φ′ are H-related if there is an element hp ∈ H, parametrized by p, such that
φ′p = hp φp.
This freedom corresponds roughly to the physicists' notion of a gauge.
Nearby points are related by joining them with a curve. Suppose that p and p′ are two points in M joined by a curve pt. Then pt supplies a notion of transport of the model space along the curve. Let τt : G/H → G/H be the (locally defined) composite map
τt = φpt o φp0−1.
Intuitively, τt is the transport map. A pseudogroup structure requires that τt be a symmetry of the model space for each t: τt ∈ G. A Cartan connection requires only that the derivative of τt be a symmetry of the model space: τ′0 ∈ g, the Lie algebra of G.
Typical of Cartan, one motivation for introducing the notion of a Cartan connection was to study the properties of pseudogroups from an infinitesimal point of view. A Cartan connection defines a pseudogroup precisely when the derivative of the transport map τ′ can be integrated, thus recovering a true (G-valued) transport map between the coordinate systems. There is thus an integrability condition at work, and Cartan's method for realizing integrability conditions was to introduce a differential form.
In this case, τ′0 defines a differential form at the point p as follows. For a curve γ(t) = pt in M starting at p, we can associate the tangent vector X, as well as a transport map τtγ. Taking the derivative determines a linear map
So θ defines a g-valued differential 1-form on M.
This form, however, is dependent on the choice of parametrized coordinate system. If h : U → H is an H-relation between two parametrized coordinate systems φ and φ′, then the corresponding values of θ are also related by
where ωH is the Maurer-Cartan form of H.
Formal definition
A Cartan geometry modelled on a homogeneous space G/H can be viewed as a deformation of this geometry which allows for the presence of curvature. For example:
a Riemannian manifold can be seen as a deformation of Euclidean space;
a Lorentzian manifold can be seen as a deformation of Minkowski space;
a conformal manifold can be seen as a deformation of the conformal sphere;
a manifold equipped with an affine connection can be seen as a deformation of an affine space.
There are two main approaches to the definition. In both approaches, M is a smooth manifold of dimension n, H is a Lie group of dimension m, with Lie algebra , and G is a Lie group of dimension n+m, with Lie algebra , containing H as a subgroup.
Definition via gauge transitions
A Cartan connection consists of a coordinate atlas of open sets U in M, along with a -valued 1-form θU defined on each chart such that
θU : TU → .
θU mod : TuU → is a linear isomorphism for every u ∈ U.
For any pair of charts U and V in the atlas, there is a smooth mapping h : U ∩ V → H such that
where ωH is the Maurer-Cartan form of H.
By analogy with the case when the θU came from coordinate systems, condition 3 means that φU is related to φV by h.
The curvature of a Cartan connection consists of a system of 2-forms defined on the charts, given by
ΩU satisfy the compatibility condition:
If the forms θU and θV are related by a function h : U ∩ V → H, as above, then ΩV = Ad(h−1) ΩU
The definition can be made independent of the coordinate systems by forming the quotient space
of the disjoint union over all U in the atlas. The equivalence relation ~ is defined on pairs (x,h1) ∈ U1 × H and (x, h2) ∈ U2 × H, by
(x,h1) ~ (x, h2) if and only if x ∈ U1 ∩ U2, θU1 is related to θU2 by h, and h2 = h(x)−1 h1.
Then P is a principal H-bundle on M, and the compatibility condition on the connection forms θU implies that they lift to a -valued 1-form η defined on P (see below).
Definition via absolute parallelism
Let P be a principal H bundle over M. Then a Cartan connection is a -valued 1-form η on P such that
for all h in H, Ad(h)Rh*η = η
for all ξ in , η(Xξ) = ξ
for all p in P, the restriction of η defines a linear isomorphism from the tangent space TpP to .
The last condition is sometimes called the Cartan condition: it means that η defines an absolute parallelism on P. The second condition implies that η is already injective on vertical vectors and that the 1-form η mod , with values in , is horizontal. The vector space is a representation of H using the adjoint representation of H on , and the first condition implies that η mod is equivariant. Hence it defines a bundle homomorphism from TM to the associated bundle .
The Cartan condition is equivalent to this bundle homomorphism being an isomorphism, so that η mod is a solder form.
The curvature of a Cartan connection is the -valued 2-form Ω defined by
Note that this definition of a Cartan connection looks very similar to that of a principal connection. There are several important differences, however. First, the 1-form η takes values in , but is only equivariant under the action of H. Indeed, it cannot be equivariant under the full group G because there is no G bundle and no G action. Secondly, the 1-form is an absolute parallelism, which intuitively means that η yields information about the behavior of additional directions in the principal bundle (rather than simply being a projection operator onto the vertical space). Concretely, the existence of a solder form binds (or solders) the Cartan connection to the underlying differential topology of the manifold.
An intuitive interpretation of the Cartan connection in this form is that it determines a fracturing of the tautological principal bundle associated to a Klein geometry. Thus Cartan geometries are deformed analogues of Klein geometries. This deformation is roughly a prescription for attaching a copy of the model space G/H to each point of M and thinking of that model space as being tangent to (and infinitesimally identical with) the manifold at a point of contact. The fibre of the tautological bundle G → G/H of the Klein geometry at the point of contact is then identified with the fibre of the bundle P. Each such fibre (in G) carries a Maurer-Cartan form for G, and the Cartan connection is a way of assembling these Maurer-Cartan forms gathered from the points of contact into a coherent 1-form η defined on the whole bundle. The fact that only elements of H contribute to the Maurer-Cartan equation Ad(h)Rh*η = η has the intuitive interpretation that any other elements of G would move the model space away from the point of contact, and so no longer be tangent to the manifold.
From the Cartan connection, defined in these terms, one can recover a Cartan connection as a system of 1-forms on the manifold (as in the gauge definition) by taking a collection of local trivializations of P given as sections sU : U → P and letting θU = s*η be the pullbacks of the Cartan connection along the sections.
As principal connections
Another way in which to define a Cartan connection is as a principal connection on a certain principal G-bundle. From this perspective, a Cartan connection consists of
a principal G-bundle Q over M
a principal G-connection α on Q (the Cartan connection)
a principal H-subbundle P of Q (i.e., a reduction of structure group)
such that the pullback η of α to P satisfies the Cartan condition.
The principal connection α on Q can be recovered from the form η by taking Q to be the associated bundle P ×H G. Conversely, the form η can be recovered from α by pulling back along the inclusion P ⊂ Q.
Since α is a principal connection, it induces a connection on any associated bundle to Q. In particular, the bundle Q ×G G/H of homogeneous spaces over M, whose fibers are copies of the model space G/H, has a connection. The reduction of structure group to H is equivalently given by a section s of E = Q ×G G/H. The fiber of over x in M may be viewed as the tangent space at s(x) to the fiber of Q ×G G/H over x. Hence the Cartan condition has the intuitive interpretation that the model spaces are tangent to M along the section s. Since this identification of tangent spaces is induced by the connection, the marked points given by s always move under parallel transport.
Definition by an Ehresmann connection
Yet another way to define a Cartan connection is with an Ehresmann connection on the bundle E = Q ×G G/H of the preceding section. A Cartan connection then consists of
A fibre bundle π : E → M with fibre G/H and vertical space VE ⊂ TE.
A section s : M → E.
A G-connection θ : TE → VE such that
s*θx : TxM → Vs(x)E is a linear isomorphism of vector spaces for all x ∈ M.
This definition makes rigorous the intuitive ideas presented in the introduction. First, the preferred section s can be thought of as identifying a point of contact between the manifold and the tangent space. The last condition, in particular, means that the tangent space of M at x is isomorphic to the tangent space of the model space at the point of contact. So the model spaces are, in this way, tangent to the manifold.
This definition also brings prominently into focus the idea of development. If xt is a curve in M, then the Ehresmann connection on E supplies an associated parallel transport map τt : Ext → Ex0 from the fibre over the endpoint of the curve to the fibre over the initial point. In particular, since E is equipped with a preferred section s, the points s(xt) transport back to the fibre over x0 and trace out a curve in Ex0. This curve is then called the development of the curve xt.
To show that this definition is equivalent to the others above, one must introduce a suitable notion of a moving frame for the bundle E. In general, this is possible for any G-connection on a fibre bundle with structure group G. See Ehresmann connection#Associated bundles for more details.
Special Cartan connections
Reductive Cartan connections
Let P be a principal H-bundle on M, equipped with a Cartan connection η : TP → . If is a reductive module for H, meaning that admits an Ad(H)-invariant splitting of vector spaces , then the -component of η generalizes the solder form for an affine connection.
In detail, η splits into and components:
η = η + η.
Note that the 1-form η is a principal H-connection on the original Cartan bundle P. Moreover, the 1-form η satisfies:
η(X) = 0 for every vertical vector X ∈ TP. (η is horizontal.)
Rh*η = Ad(h−1)η for every h ∈ H. (η is equivariant under the right H-action.)
In other words, η is a solder form for the bundle P.
Hence, P equipped with the form η defines a (first order) H-structure on M. The form η defines a connection on the H-structure.
Parabolic Cartan connections
If is a semisimple Lie algebra with parabolic subalgebra (i.e., contains a maximal solvable subalgebra of ) and G and P are associated Lie groups, then a Cartan connection modelled on (G,P,,) is called a parabolic Cartan geometry, or simply a parabolic geometry. A distinguishing feature of parabolic geometries is a Lie algebra structure on its cotangent spaces: this arises because the perpendicular subspace ⊥ of in with respect to the Killing form of is a subalgebra of , and the Killing form induces a natural duality between ⊥ and . Thus the bundle associated to ⊥ is isomorphic to the cotangent bundle.
Parabolic geometries include many of those of interest in research and applications of Cartan connections, such as the following examples:
Conformal connections: Here G = SO(p+1,q+1), and P is the stabilizer of a null ray in Rn+2.
Projective connections: Here G = PGL(n+1) and P is the stabilizer of a point in RPn.
CR structures and Cartan-Chern-Tanaka connections: G = PSU(p+1,q+1), P = stabilizer of a point on the projective null hyperquadric.
Contact projective connections: Here G = SP(2n+2) and P is the stabilizer of the ray generated by the first standard basis vector in Rn+2.
Generic rank 2 distributions on 5-manifolds: Here G = Aut(Os) is the automorphism group of the algebra Os of split octonions, a closed subgroup of SO(3,4), and P is the intersection of G with the stabilizer of the isotropic line spanned by the first standard basis vector in R7 viewed as the purely imaginary split octonions (orthogonal complement of the unit element in Os).
Associated differential operators
Covariant differentiation
Suppose that M is a Cartan geometry modelled on G/H, and let (Q,α) be the principal G-bundle with connection, and (P,η) the corresponding reduction to H with η equal to the pullback of α. Let V a representation of G, and form the vector bundle V = Q ×G V over M. Then the principal G-connection α on Q induces a covariant derivative on V, which is a first order linear differential operator
where denotes the space of k-forms on M with values in V so that
is the space of sections of V and is the space of sections of
Hom(TM,V). For any section v of V, the contraction of the covariant derivative ∇v with a vector field X on M is denoted ∇Xv and satisfies the following Leibniz rule:
for any smooth function f on M.
The covariant derivative can also be constructed from the Cartan connection η on P. In fact, constructing it in this way is slightly more general in that V need not be a fully fledged representation of G. Suppose instead that V is a (, H)-module: a representation of the group H with a compatible representation of the Lie algebra . Recall that a section v of the induced vector bundle V over M can be thought of as an H-equivariant map P → V. This is the point of view we shall adopt. Let X be a vector field on M. Choose any right-invariant lift to the tangent bundle of P. Define
.
In order to show that ∇v is well defined, it must:
be independent of the chosen lift
be equivariant, so that it descends to a section of the bundle V.
For (1), the ambiguity in selecting a right-invariant lift of X is a transformation of the form where is the right-invariant vertical vector field induced from . So, calculating the covariant derivative in terms of the new lift , one has
since by taking the differential of the equivariance property at h equal to the identity element.
For (2), observe that since v is equivariant and is right-invariant, is equivariant. On the other hand, since η is also equivariant, it follows that is equivariant as well.
The fundamental or universal derivative
Suppose that V is only a representation of the subgroup H and not necessarily the larger group G. Let be the space of V-valued differential k-forms on P. In the presence of a Cartan connection, there is a canonical isomorphism
given by
where and .
For each k, the exterior derivative is a first order operator differential operator
and so, for k=0, it defines a differential operator
Because η is equivariant, if v is equivariant, so is Dv := φ(dv). It follows that this composite descends to a first order differential operator D from sections of V=P×HV to sections of the bundle . This is called the fundamental or universal derivative, or fundamental D-operator.
Notes
References
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Books
.
The section 3. Cartan Connections [pages 127–130] treats conformal and projective connections in a unified manner.
External links
Connection (mathematics)
Differential geometry
Maps of manifolds
Smooth functions
|
412275
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aguascalientes
|
Aguascalientes
|
Aguascalientes (; ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Aguascalientes (), is one of the 32 states which comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. At 22°N and with an average altitude of above sea level it is predominantly of semi-arid climate (Bhs and Bhk). The state is located in west-central Mexico and is located in the northern part of the Bajío region, which is in the north-central part of the country, bordered by Zacatecas to the north, east and west, and by Jalisco to the south.
As of 2019, Aguascalientes has a population of 1.4 million inhabitants, most of whom live in its capital city, also named Aguascalientes. Its name means "hot waters" and originated from the abundance of hot springs originally found in the area. The demonym for the state's inhabitants is hidrocálido or aguascalentense.
Aguascalientes is one of the smallest states of Mexico, either by population or land, being the 27th most populated state and the 29th biggest state by area; nonetheless, it is the 4th state by population density, and its economic development in recent years have located it as the 7th state by Human Development Index and the 8th with highest GDP per capita.
Aguascalientes was historically known for its former railroad and textile industry, as well as wine making, an industry that remains today. During the 2010s Aguascalientes became the fastest-growing state in the country for the whole decade. Aguascalientes is also well known for its San Marcos Fair (Feria Nacional de San Marcos), the largest fair in Mexico and one of the largest in Latin America.
History
Pre-Columbian era arrowheads, potshards, and rock paintings in the caverns of the Sierra del Laurel and near the present village of Las Negritas testify to the presence of humans in this territory for more than 20,000 years. Later in the colonial times, Pedro Almíndez Chirino was the first Spaniard who entered the territory, perhaps by the end of 1530 or the beginning of 1531, following the instructions given by Nuño de Guzmán.
Before the arrival of the Spaniards, the territory of what is now the State of Aguascalientes was inhabited by Chichimecas, who made the territory difficult to access. In fact, the total occupation of the lands of El Bajío was a task that would take about two centuries. With respect to this, Viceroy Luís de Velasco offered municipal benefits to those who established settlements to confront the Chichimeca. And for his part, Viceroy Gastón de Peralta decided to confront them directly, which did not end with good results.
It was in order to be in the territory that is presently the state inhabited by Chichimecas, the so-called Guachichiles, that the conquistadors built several forts or presidios.
This was a system devised by Martín Enríquez de Almanza following the strategy that had been developing in Spain throughout the Reconquista period. Therefore, in order to protect the Camino de la Plata, which stretched between Zacatecas and Mexico City, three presidios [garrisoned fortifications] founded by the Indian fighter Juan Domínguez, were to be created, which were: the presidio at Las Bocas, later called Las Bocas de Gallardo, situated on the border of Aguascalientes, in what was the jurisdiction of the mayor of Teocaltiche, presently the border of Aguascalientes and Zacatecas; the presidio at Palmillas, which was located near what is now Tepezalá; and the Ciénega Grande presidio, established around 1570. The latter was located on what are now Moctezuma and Victoria Streets, although some historians place it on the Calle 5 de Mayo (once the Camino Real) at Moctezuma, just in front of the Plaza de Armas. This was a fortress whose purpose was the protection of the Valle de los Romero and the road to Zacatecas, entering this way to secure the passage of convoys loaded with silver and other metals.
The founding of Aguascalientes as a town came from the order that King Felipe II gave the judge of the court of Nueva Galicia, Don Gerónimo de Orozco, in which he stated that he should look for a rich man to settle in the territory with the purpose of expelling the Chichimecas and of assuring safe passage. Gerónimo de Orozco, following that order, looked for someone who would accept the king's order and found a man named Juan de Montoro in the city of Santa María de los Lagos. He accepted the assignment and, accompanied by eleven other people, headed to the territory and thus founded the town of Aguas Calientes on October 22, 1575. It has been noted that it was called San Marcos originally, changing its name on August 18, 1611, to the Villa of Our Lady of the Assumption of Aguas Calientes. And finally, from June 2, 1875, it was called the Villa of Our Lady of the Assumption of Aguas Calientes; later changing to the city of Aguascalientes, which remains its name today.
In the act of its establishment, the Villa de San Marcos (Aguascalientes) was awarded the highest mayoral jurisdiction under the Kingdom of New Galicia. As of December 4, 1786, on the occasion of the issuance of the "Ordinance of Mayors", it became a quartermaster sub-delegation.
On April 24, 1789, by order of the Superior Board of Royal Property, the sub-delegation of Aguascalientes became a dependency of Zacatecas.
In the Mexican War of Independence, in the territory which is today the state of Aguascalientes, the fires of independence were stoked by illustrious and courageous men such as Valentin Gómez Farías, Rafael Iriarte, Rafael Vázquez, and Pedro Parga.Confusion has arisen regarding the exact date when Aguascalientes formally separated from the territory of Zacatecas. By virtue of having, de facto, defeated the liberal government of Zacatecas by rising against the central government, president Antonio López de Santa Anna passed through Aguascalientes, where he was well received by the people who had wanted to separate from Zacatecas for some time. Taking advantage of the independent souls of the Aguascalentenses, and by way of punishing Zacatecas for supporting the Revolution against them, by Federal Decree of General López de Santa Anna dated May 23, 1835, in the third article; ordered that Aguascalientes to be separated from Zacatecas territory, without granting the territory any specific category, reinstating the appointment of the political boss, Pedro Garcia Rojas. With respect to this, it must be mentioned that said order was not made official as it did not meet the legal requirements to take effect, since it was necessary that two thirds of each house, both Senators and Representatives, approved the order; furthermore it would be required that two thirds of the legislatures of the states also approved it. The second requirement not being completed, the constitutional congress convened again to develop the centralized constitution that would be known later as the Seven Laws. The constitution did not acknowledge Aguascalientes in the rank of department, but it saw fit to eliminate the states, together with the federal regime, replacing the states with departments, and because of this it continued to belong to Zacatecas. What can be said, since in the local constitution of Zacatecas of 1825, Aguascalientes was contemplated as a member of said state.
It was general José Mariano Salas who, on August 5, 1846, announced the reestablishment of federalism, convening a constitutional congress that declared current the constitution of 1824, but still didn't consider Aguascalientes as a state. Subsequently, on May 18, 1847, amendments were approved to the Constitution of 1824, but neither granted to Aguascalientes the status of a state. That brought about a war between Aguascalientes and Zacatecas, and as a consequence Zacatecas would strengthen the partitions, now municipalities, of Cavillo and Rincón de Romos. In July 1848, Aguascalientes accepted the peaceful annexation to Zacatecas; but continued making efforts to separate through Miguel García Rojas. It was not until December 10, 1853, that López de Santa Anna, using his extraordinary powers, issued a decree declaring Aguascalientes a department, based on the decrees of December 30, 1836, and June 30, 1838, without ever referring to the one from March 23, 1835. Finally, in the project that would be the Constitution of 1857, that was presented on June 16, 1856, Aguascalientes was included as a state in Article 43; it was passed unanimously by the 79 deputies present, ensuring the establishment of the state of Aguascalientes on December 10, 1856. On September 16, 1857, on the strength of said constitution, Lic. Jesús Terán Peredo reclaimed his post as constitutional governor of the state.
In the independent state, hidrocálidos (people of Aguascalientes) Jesús R. Macías, Manuel Rangel, Augustín Orona, José María Arellano and many other anonymous heroes distinguished themselves in the War of Reform.
Silvestre Dorador, Román Morales, Pedro Vital, Alfonso Guerrero Aguilera and Alberto Fuentes Dávila were forerunners of the Revolution. The explosion of the Maderist movement embraced the cause in the company of some other compatriots, and the rebel action of the town and the region stayed formalized.
Geography
The state is located about from Mexico City in the macroregion of El Bajío, specifically the Bajío Occidental (western Bajío).
It covers , or 0.3% of the area of the country, and has a little more than one million inhabitants. Most of its inhabitants live in the densely populated metropolitan area of its capital city.
The state as it is now was created on October 27, 1857, when it was separated from Zacatecas after the tale says that the wife of the governor of the state promised to give a kiss to the President of the time, in exchange for the separation of Aguascalientes from Zacatecas, which explains the shape of a kiss the state has. It bears the name Aguascalientes taken from its largest city and capital also called Aguascalientes.
Climate
The state mostly has a semi-arid climate, except in the southeastern and northeastern parts where the climate is wetter and cooler. Mean annual temperature of the state is around in which May and June are the hottest months with mean temperatures between . In these months, temperatures can exceed . January is the coldest month, averaging with temperatures dropping down to . Frosts frequently occur from November to February. Mean rainfall is low, averaging and is mostly concentrated in summer with winters being dry.
Demographics
Government and politics
Government
Aguascalientes is subdivided into 11 municipios ("municipalities").
Economy and industry
This state originated around the times of colonial Spanish influence. It is located in the middle of the country and is now beginning to make a name for itself as an industrial power within Mexico. The state was once a major silver miner and a major source of railroad transportation, the latter due to its strategic location, midway between the three most populous areas, namely Mexico City, Guadalajara, and Monterrey.
Today, Mexico's fast growing car industry is especially important in this state. There are two Nissan factories in Aguascalientes which together produce more than half a million cars per year. Infiniti may build a plant to make vehicles like the QX30.
In the rural area, Aguascalientes was once the largest national producer of grapes and wines. This tradition ceased gradually due to the Spanish Royalty's wishes that grape and wine production be limited to the mother country. Thanks to the influx of immigrants into Mexico, the wineries and vineyards remain and flourish. Guavas are also produced in the state, specifically in the municipality of Calvillo. This county is one of the richest counties in Aguascalientes.
There are several projects for economic development such as: the Financial District Río San Pedro, a monorail, a suburban train, the construction of the newest and most modern WTC in Mexico, over four shopping malls, two theme parks, two Executive Hotels and one whose qualification is five stars, eight bridges for the next five years, a Financial District around the Airport, A Texas Instruments Assembly-Test Plant, A Nissan Assembly plant, a Toyota assembly plant and several others projects place Aguascalientes as the third most competitive state in Mexico with more than US$12,000,000 in foreign direct investment per year (around 8 percent of Mexico's FDI) even though its population is just about 1.03 percent of the country.
However, recently it has also benefited from heavier tourism, since the capital city has gained prestige and status as a national destination for its colonial beauty and cleanliness. In addition, the haciendas and baths around the state have historic and recreational importance.
Tourism
Although this state is not often billed as a tourist center, international visitors, as well as citizens from all over Mexico, are attracted to San Marcos Fair, which is considered the national fair of Mexico and contributes much to Mexico's economy.
Recently, its capital city has gained the reputation as a great destination for its superb colonial architecture visible in the colonial center, as well as the modernity and dynamism in the outskirts.
The city is home to Lic. Jesús Terán Peredo International Airport, where 9 flights per day depart to Mexico City, Tijuana, Dallas/Fort Worth and Houston.
The city also hosts many conventions every year. It benefits from its excellent central location. The city is also famed for its environment of relaxation, and for its safety and cleanliness, as it is often described by people when traveling to this part of the country for conventions or tourism.
Most tourists go to the capital. A few tourists explore the former mining towns in the north of the state (in the municipalities of Asientos and Tepezalá), which are now almost ghost cities. The haciendas, hot springs, and baths scattered around the state are also of historical and recreational relevance.
The municipality of Calvillo has a humid subtropical climate, The largest producer of guavas in Mexico, it attracts some fans of watersports to its reservoirs.
The state has a Natural Protected Reserve in the higher mountains called Sierra Fría. Located at a height of above sea level, it comprises oak and pine forests. Its attractions include observing exuberant landscape and wide ravines, in which, there are pumas, lynxes, boar, white-tailed deer, wild turkey, raccoons and many other animals. There are steep-sided cycle paths, camping and picnic areas as well as several hunting clubs. It is the mountain climate and fauna that attracts locals for camping activities. In winter, the temperature sometimes falls to when the weather is poor. Usually, Sierra Fría is the only part of the state that gets snow during winter.
In the city of Aguascalientes one of the best sunsets in the world can be seen in Cerro del Muerto; the hill resembles the shape of a man lying down. The city of Aguascalientes is called "el corazón" which means "the heart" of Mexico because it lies in the middle of the country. This city is often considered, by its locals, to be one of the safest and cleanest in Mexico. Also, the city of Aguascalientes is known as "the land of the good people".
Sports
Club de Fútbol Gallos Hidrocálidos de Aguascalientes was a football club from Aguascalientes, Mexico.
The club was founded in 1994, when Salvador López Monroy, a restaurant business owner from Los Angeles, bought a second division franchise which he relocated to Aguascalientes where there was no professional football club.
The club played its last tournament in 2000-2001 when the Governor of Aguascalientes bought first division club Necaxa, with its national following, and relocated it from Mexico City. Gallos de Aguascalientes was then sold to Chivas, which changed its name to F.C. Tapatio de Guadalajara, affiliated to Chivas.
The city is home to the soccer team Club Necaxa, which plays in Mexican first division. The club left Mexico City and relocated to Aguascalientes following the 2003 opening of Estadio Victoria, which is now the club's home venue and one of the best stadiums in the country.
The state has one football team in the Mexican Premiere League, Club Necaxa, one professional baseball team in the Mexican League, Rieleros de Aguascalientes (The railroad men), and one professional basketball team, Panteras de Aguascalientes (Aguascalientes Panthers)
In December 2009, Necaxa was represented on the field and played their final 2009 match within the Primera División (First Division) tier in the 2009 season after losing 1-0 vs Club América. Under the rules of regulation, Necaxa would not be able to participate in the First Division competition play in the fall 2009 and spring 2010 year.
Necaxa's closing spring 2010 league performance had some accomplishments. They had an undefeated record at home throughout the fall 2009. In the spring 2010 campaign, Necaxa's only loss in the season came against F.C León, Necaxa faced this other soccer team on May 8, 2010, for the second leg of the Bicentennial Closing Spring Tournament of 2010. Necaxa won 4–2 on aggregate. Necaxa abandoned the Liga de Ascenso and returned to First Division fall 2010 season. As a result of this match Necaxa won the bi-championship in the Liga de Ascenso and First Promotion title in their franchise history.
On April 16, 2011, after a draw 1–1 with Atlante F.C., the club's first key game in 2011, Necaxa could not cumulate enough points in order to evade relegation. For a second time, Club Necaxa was relegated to the Liga de Ascenso, the second tier, for the 2011–2012 season. One of the biggest soccer to live Judith Ramírez played for this team from 2001 to 2017.
Basketball
Aguascalientes hosts the Panteras de Aguascalientes headquarters. This team plays in the Mexican Professional Basketball League.
Baseball
Aguascalientes also hosts the baseball professional team Rieleros.
Racing
Aguascalientes also has important racetracks for the car and motorbike races at a national and international level.
Media
Newspapers of Aguascalientes include: Ahí, El Heraldo de Aguascalientes, El Sol del Centro de Aguascalientes, Hidrocálido, La Jornada Aguascalientes, and Picacho Panorama de Aguascalientes.
Major communities
Aguascalientes
Asientos
Calvillo
Cosio
Jesús María
Pabellón de Arteaga
Rincón de Romos
San Francisco de los Romo
San Jose de Gracia
Tepezala
Notable people
See also articles in the category People from Aguascalientes
José María Bocanegra, third President of Mexico
Yadhira Carrillo, Actress
Jesús Fructuoso Contreras, Artist
Sebastián Córdova, Mexican soccer player who plays for Liga MX club Club América
Wendolly Esparza, American-born Mexican television personality best known for winning Miss Mexico 2014.
Anabel Ferreira, Actress/Comedian
Karina González, Model and Nuestra Belleza México 2011
Saturnino Herrán, Artist
Luis Gerardo Méndez, Mexican Actor
Jose Maria Napoleón, Singer and composer
Gabriela Palacio, model and Nuestra Belleza Mundo México 2010.
Manuel M. Ponce, Musician
José Guadalupe Posada, Artist
Violeta Retamoza, Professional golfer
David Reynoso, Actor
Armida Vendrell, Actress, dancer, and vaudevillian
William Yarbrough, Mexican-born American soccer player
References
External links
—Estado de Aguascalientes — state government website.
Aravelaguascalientes.com: Aguascalientes tourism website
Flickr: photo set of the City of Aguascalientes — in Aguascalientes state.
Fotos y Mensajes de Aguascalientes
States of Mexico
Mexican Plateau states
States and territories established in 1835
1835 establishments in Mexico
Articles which contain graphical timelines
|
412283
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gwendolyn%20Brooks
|
Gwendolyn Brooks
|
Gwendolyn Elizabeth Brooks (June 7, 1917 – December 3, 2000) was an American poet, author, and teacher. Her work often dealt with the personal celebrations and struggles of ordinary people in her community. She won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry on May 1, 1950, for Annie Allen, making her the first African American to receive a Pulitzer Prize.
Throughout her prolific writing career, Brooks received many more honors. A lifelong resident of Chicago, she was appointed Poet Laureate of Illinois in 1968, a position she held until her death 32 years later. She was also named the U.S. Poet Laureate for the 1985–86 term. In 1976, she became the first African American woman inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
Early life
Gwendolyn Elizabeth Brooks was born on June 7, 1917, in Topeka, Kansas and raised on the South Side of Chicago. She was the first child of David Anderson Brooks and Keziah (Wims) Brooks. Her father, a janitor for a music company, had hoped to pursue a career as a doctor but sacrificed that aspiration to get married and raise a family. Her mother was a school teacher as well as a concert pianist trained in classical music. Brooks' mother had taught at the Topeka school that later became involved in the Brown v. Board of Education racial desegregation case. Family lore held that Brooks' paternal grandfather had escaped slavery to join the Union forces during the American Civil War.
When Brooks was six weeks old, her family moved to Chicago during the Great Migration, and from then on, Chicago remained her home. She would closely identify with Chicago for the rest of her life. In a 1994 interview, she remarked:
Living in the city, I wrote differently than I would have if I had been raised in Topeka, KS ... I am an organic Chicagoan. Living there has given me a multiplicity of characters to aspire for. I hope to live there the rest of my days. That's my headquarters.
She started her formal education at Forestville Elementary School on Chicago's South Side. Brooks then attended a prestigious integrated high school in the city with a predominantly white student body, Hyde Park High School; transferred to the all-black Wendell Phillips High School; and finished her schooling at integrated Englewood High School.
According to biographer Kenny Jackson Williams, due to the social dynamics of the various schools, in conjunction with the era in which she attended them, Brooks faced much racial injustice. Over time, this experience helped her understand the prejudice and bias in established systems and dominant institutions, not only in her own surroundings but in every relevant American mindset.
Brooks began writing at an early age and her mother encouraged her, saying, "You are going to be the lady Paul Laurence Dunbar." During her teenage years, she began filling books with ''careful rhymes'' and ''lofty meditations," as well as submitting poems to various publications. Her first poem was published in American Childhood when she was 13. By the time she had graduated from high school in 1935, she was already a regular contributor to The Chicago Defender.
After her early educational experiences, Brooks did not pursue a four-year college degree because she knew she wanted to be a writer and considered it unnecessary. "I am not a scholar," she later said. "I'm just a writer who loves to write and will always write." She graduated in 1936 from a two-year program at Wilson Junior College, now known as Kennedy-King College, and worked as a typist to support herself while she pursued her career.
Career
Writing
Brooks published her first poem, "Eventide", in a children's magazine, American Childhood, when she was 13 years old. By the age of 16, she had already written and published approximately 75 poems. At 17, she started submitting her work to "Lights and Shadows," the poetry column of the Chicago Defender, an African-American newspaper. Her poems, many published while she attended Wilson Junior College, ranged in style from traditional ballads and sonnets to poems using blues rhythms in free verse. In her early years, she received commendations on her poetic work and encouragement from James Weldon Johnson, Richard Wright and Langston Hughes. James Weldon Johnson sent her the first critique of her poems when she was only sixteen years old.
Her characters were often drawn from the inner city life that Brooks knew well. She said, "I lived in a small second-floor apartment at the corner, and I could look first on one side and then the other. There was my material."
By 1941, Brooks was taking part in poetry workshops. A particularly influential one was organized by Inez Cunningham Stark, an affluent white woman with a strong literary background. Stark offered writing workshops at the new South Side Community Art Center, which Brooks attended. It was here she gained momentum in finding her voice and a deeper knowledge of the techniques of her predecessors. Renowned poet Langston Hughes stopped by the workshop and heard her read "The Ballad of Pearl May Lee". In 1944, she achieved a goal she had been pursuing through continued unsolicited submissions since she was 14 years old: two of her poems were published in Poetry magazine's November issue. In the autobiographical information she provided to the magazine, she described her occupation as a "housewife".
Brooks' published her first book of poetry, A Street in Bronzeville (1945), with Harper & Brothers, after a strong show of support to the publisher from author Richard Wright. It consists of a series of poems related to an African American girl’s growing up in Chicago. Wright said to the editors who solicited his opinion on Brooks' work:
There is no self-pity here, not a striving for effects. She takes hold of reality as it is and renders it faithfully. ... She easily catches the pathos of petty destinies; the whimper of the wounded; the tiny accidents that plague the lives of the desperately poor, and the problem of color prejudice among Negroes.
The book earned instant critical acclaim for its authentic and textured portraits of life in Bronzeville. Brooks later said it was a glowing review by Paul Engle in the Chicago Tribune that "initiated My Reputation". Engle stated that Brooks' poems were no more "Negro poetry" than Robert Frost's work was "white poetry". Brooks received her first Guggenheim Fellowship in 1946 and was included as one of the "Ten Young Women of the Year" in Mademoiselle magazine.
Brooks' second book of poetry, Annie Allen (1949), focused on the life and experiences of a young Black girl growing into womanhood in the Bronzeville neighborhood of Chicago. The book was awarded the 1950 Pulitzer Prize for poetry, and was also awarded Poetry magazine's Eunice Tietjens Prize.
In 1953, Brooks published her first and only narrative book, a novella titled Maud Martha, which is a series of 34 vignettes about the experience of black women entering adulthood, consistent with the themes of her previous works. Maud Martha follows the life of a black woman named Maud Martha Brown as she moves about life from childhood to adulthood. It tells the story of "a woman with doubts about herself and where and how she fits into the world. Maud's concern is not so much that she is inferior but that she is perceived as being ugly," states author Harry B. Shaw in his book Gwendolyn Brooks. Maud suffers prejudice and discrimination not only from white individuals but also from black individuals who have lighter skin tones than hers, something that is a direct reference to Brooks' personal experience. Eventually, Maud stands up for herself by turning her back on a patronizing and racist store clerk. "The book is ... about the triumph of the lowly," Shaw comments. In contrast, literary scholar Mary Helen Washington emphasizes Brooks's critique of racism and sexism, calling Maud Martha "a novel about bitterness, rage, self-hatred, and the silence that results from suppressed anger".
In 1967, the year of Langston Hughes's death, Brooks attended the Second Black Writers' Conference at Nashville's Fisk University. Here, according to one version of events, she met activists and artists such as Imamu Amiri Baraka, Don L. Lee and others who exposed her to new black cultural nationalism. Recent studies argue that she had been involved in leftist politics in Chicago for many years and, under the pressures of McCarthyism, adopted a black nationalist posture as a means of distancing herself from her prior political connections. Brooks's experience at the conference inspired many of her subsequent literary activities. She taught creative writing to some of Chicago's Blackstone Rangers, otherwise a violent criminal gang. In 1968, she published one of her most famous works, In the Mecca, a long poem about a mother's search for her lost child in a Chicago apartment building. The poem was nominated for the National Book Award for poetry.
Her autobiographical Report From Part One, including reminiscences, interviews, photographs and vignettes, came out in 1972, and Report From Part Two was published in 1995, when she was almost 80. Her other works include Primer for Blacks (1980), Young Poet’s Primer (1980), To Disembark (1981), The Near-Johannesburg Boy, and Other Poems (1986), Blacks (1987), Winnie (1988), and Children Coming Home (1991).
Teaching
Brooks said her first teaching experience was at the University of Chicago when she was invited by author Frank London Brown to teach a course in American literature. It was the beginning of her lifelong commitment to sharing poetry and teaching writing. Brooks taught extensively around the country and held posts at Columbia College Chicago, Northeastern Illinois University, Chicago State University, Elmhurst College, Columbia University, and the City College of New York.
Archives
The Rare Book & Manuscript Library of the University of Illinois acquired Brooks's archives from her daughter Nora Blakely. In addition, the Bancroft Library at UC Berkeley has a collection of her personal papers, especially from 1950 to 1989.
Family life
In 1939, Brooks married Henry Lowington Blakely, Jr., whom she met after joining Chicago's NAACP Youth Council. They had two children: Henry Lowington Blakely III, and Nora Brooks Blakely. Brooks' husband died in 1996.
From mid-1961 to late 1964, Henry III served in the U.S. Marine Corps, first at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego and then at Marine Corps Air Station Kaneohe Bay. During this time, Brooks mentored her son's fiancée, Kathleen Hardiman, in writing poetry. Upon his return, Blakely and Hardiman married in 1965. Brooks had so enjoyed the mentoring relationship that she began to engage more frequently in that role with the new generation of young black poets.
Gwendolyn Brooks died at her Chicago home on December 3, 2000, aged 83. She is buried in Lincoln Cemetery.
Honors and legacy
Honors
1946, Guggenheim Fellow in Poetry.
1949, Poetry magazine's Eunice Tietjens Memorial Prize
1950, Pulitzer Prize in Poetry Gwendolyn Brooks in 1950 became the first African-American to be given a Pulitzer Prize. It was awarded for the volume, Annie Allen, which chronicled in verse the life of an ordinary black girl growing up in the Bronzeville neighborhood on Chicago's South Side.
1968, appointed Poet Laureate of Illinois, a position she held until her death in 2000
1969, Anisfield-Wolf Book Award
1973, Honorary consultant in American letters to the Library of Congress
1976, inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters
1976, the Shelley Memorial Award of the Poetry Society of America
1980, appointed to Presidential Commission on the National Agenda for the Eighties.
1981, Gwendolyn Brooks Junior High School in Harvey, Illinois dedicated in her honor.
1985, selected as the Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress, an honorary one-year term, known as the Poet Laureate of the United States
1988, inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame
1989, awarded the Robert Frost Medal for lifetime achievement by the Poetry Society of America
1994, chosen to present the National Endowment for the Humanities' Jefferson Lecture.
1994, received the National Book Foundation's Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters
1995, presented with the National Medal of Arts
1997, awarded the Order of Lincoln, the highest honor granted by the State of Illinois.
1999, awarded the Academy of American Poets Fellowship for distinguished poetic achievement
Legacy
First awarded in 1969 (for “Marigolds” by Eugenia Collier): Gwendolyn Brooks Prize for Fiction
1970: Gwendolyn Brooks Cultural Center, Western Illinois University, Macomb, Illinois
1990: Gwendolyn Brooks Center for Black Literature and Creative Writing, Chicago State University
1995: Gwendolyn Brooks Elementary School, Aurora, Illinois
2001: Gwendolyn Brooks College Preparatory Academy, Chicago, Illinois
2002: 100 Greatest African Americans
2002: Gwendolyn Brooks Middle School, Oak Park, Illinois
2003: Gwendolyn Brooks Illinois State Library, Springfield, Illinois
2004: Hyacinth Park in Chicago was renamed Gwendolyn Brooks Park.
2010: Inducted into the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame.
2012: Honored on a United States' postage stamp.
2017: Various centennial events in Chicago marked what would have been her 100th birthday.
2017–18: "Our Miss Brooks @ 100" (OMB100) a celebration of the life of Brooks (born June 7, 1917), which ran through June 17, 2018. The opening ceremony on February 2, 2017, at the Art Institute of Chicago featured readings and discussions of Brooks' influence by Pulitzer Prize-winning poets Rita Dove, Yusef Komunyakaa, Gregory Pardlo, Tracy K. Smith, and Natasha Trethewey.
2018: On what would have been her 101st birthday, a statue of her, titled "Gwendolyn Brooks: The Oracle of Bronzeville", was unveiled at Gwendolyn Brooks Park in Chicago.
2021: Gwendolyn Brooks Memorial Park dedicated in Macomb, Illinois.
Works
The Poetry Foundation lists these works among others:
A Street in Bronzeville, Harper, 1945.
Annie Allen, Harper, 1949.
Maud Martha, Harper, 1953.
Bronzeville Boys and Girls, Harper, 1956.
The Bean Eaters, Harper, 1960.
In the Mecca, Harper, 1968.
For Illinois 1968: A Sesquicentennial Poem, Harper, 1968.
Riot, Broadside Press, 1969.
Family Pictures, Broadside Press, 1970.
Aloneness, Broadside Press, 1971.
Report from Part One: An Autobiography, Broadside Press, 1972.
Black Love, Brooks Press, 1982.
Mayor Harold Washington; and, Chicago, the I Will City, Brooks Press, 1983.
The Near-Johannesburg Boy, and Other Poems, David Co., 1987.
Winnie, Third World Press, 1988.
Report from Part Two, Third World Press, 1996.
In Montgomery, and Other Poems, Third World Press, 2003.
Several collections of multiple works by Brooks were also published.
Papers
Letters by Brooks, Atlanta University, Atlanta, Georgia.
Typescript for Annie Allen, State University of New York at Buffalo
See also
African American literature
Chicago Literature
Golden shovel, a poetic form inspired by Brooks' work
List of African American firsts
List of poets
List of Poets from the United States
References
Further reading
External links
Brooks Permissions | Official Licensing Agency for the works of Gwendolyn Brooks, Brooks Permissions
Gwendolyn Brooks Online Resources at the Library of Congress
Gwendolyn Brooks Illinois Poet Laureate, State of Illinois
Henry Lyman, "Interview: Gwendolyn Brooks Captures Chicago 'Cool'", NPR
Poems by Gwendolyn Brooks at PoetryFoundation.org
Gwendolyn Brooks: Profile and Poems at Poets.org
Some poems by Brooks, Circle Brotherhood Association, SUNY Buffalo
Gwendolyn Brooks, Modern American Poetry
Online guide to the Gwendolyn Brooks Papers, The Bancroft Library
"The Book Writers" Poem, patterned after Brooks's "The Bean Eaters" and dedicated to Brooks and Haki R. Madhubuti
Lifetime Honors – National Medal of Arts
Audrey Cason, "An Interview with Gwendolyn Brooks", (1980 Kalliope, A journal of women's art and literature)
1917 births
2000 deaths
20th-century American poets
African-American poets
American women poets
American Poets Laureate
Deaths from cancer in Illinois
Chicago State University faculty
Northeastern Illinois University faculty
Columbia University faculty
Writers from Topeka, Kansas
Pulitzer Prize for Poetry winners
United States National Medal of Arts recipients
Writers from Chicago
20th-century American women writers
Poets Laureate of Illinois
American women academics
Englewood Technical Prep Academy alumni
Kennedy–King College alumni
20th-century African-American women writers
20th-century African-American writers
African-American history in Chicago
Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters
|
412286
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MoveOn
|
MoveOn
|
MoveOn (formerly known as MoveOn.org) is a progressive public policy advocacy group and political action committee. Formed in 1998 around one of the first massively viral email petitions, MoveOn has since grown into one of the largest and most impactful grassroots progressive campaigning communities in the United States, with a membership of millions. MoveOn did not endorse a candidate during the 2020 presidential primary campaign; it then endorsed and actively supported Joe Biden in the general election. Rahna Epting has been Executive Director of MoveOn Civic Action and MoveOn Political Action since 2019.
Structure
MoveOn comprises two legal entities, organized under different sections of U.S. tax and election laws. MoveOn.org Civic Action is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit corporation, and was formerly called MoveOn.org. It focuses on education and advocacy on national issues. MoveOn.org Political Action is a federal political action committee, and was formerly known as MoveOn PAC. It conducts a wide range of activities directly, and also contributes to the campaigns of many candidates across the country. MoveOn describes the legal structure of the Civic Action as that of "a California nonprofit public-benefit corporation" and the structure of MoveOn.org Political Action as that of "a California nonprofit mutual benefit corporation," and refers to both corporations collectively as "MoveOn".
On January 17, 2019, MoveOn announced that executive directors Anna Galland and Ilya Sheyman were departing in 2019 after 6 years of serving as co-executive directors from 2013 to 2019. On May 29, 2019, MoveOn further announced that its next executive director would be Rahna Epting. Her appointment took effect during the week of October 14, 2019. The president of MoveOn Civic Action's board is former executive director Anna Galland. Past board members include co-founders Joan Blades, Wes Boyd, former executive director Eli Pariser, former executive director Justin Ruben, and former Chief Operating Officer Carrie Olson.
History
MoveOn started in 1998 as an e-mail group, MoveOn.org, created by software entrepreneurs Joan Blades and Wes Boyd, the married cofounders of Berkeley Systems. They started by passing around a petition asking Congress to "Censure President Clinton and Move On to Pressing Issues Facing the Nation", as opposed to impeaching him. The one-sentence petition, passed around by email, gathered half a million signatures, making it one of the first "viral" email-based petitions. It did not manage to dissuade the House of Representatives from impeaching the President. The couple went on to start similar campaigns calling for arms inspections rather than an invasion of Iraq, and campaign finance reform.
Opposing Clinton's impeachment
The MoveOn.org domain name was registered on September 18, 1998, following the September 11, 1998, release of the Independent Counsel Starr Report. The MoveOn website was launched initially to oppose the Republican-led effort to impeach Clinton. Initially called "Censure and Move On", it invited visitors to add their names to an online petition stating that "Congress must Immediately Censure President Clinton and Move On to pressing issues facing the country."
The founders were computer entrepreneurs Joan Blades and Wes Boyd, the married cofounders of Berkeley Systems, an entertainment software company known for the flying toaster screen saver and the popular video game series You Don't Know Jack. After selling the company in 1997, Blades and Boyd became concerned about the level of "partisan warfare in Washington" following revelations of President Bill Clinton's affair with Monica Lewinsky.
At the time of MoveOn's public launch on September 24, it appeared likely that its petition would be dwarfed by the effort to oust Clinton. A reporter who interviewed Blades on the day after the launch wrote, "A quick search on Yahoo turns up no sites for 'censure Clinton' but 20 sites for 'impeach Clinton, adding that Scott Lauf's impeachclinton.org website had already delivered 60,000 petitions to Congress. Google Groups Salon.com reported that Arianna Huffington, then a right-wing commentator, had collected 13,303 names on her website, resignation.com, which called on Clinton to resign.
Within a week, support for MoveOn had grown. Blades called herself an "accidental activist" and said: "We put together a one-sentence petition. ... We sent it to under a hundred of our friends and family, and within a week we had a hundred thousand people sign the petition. At that point, we thought it was going to be a flash campaign, that we would help everyone connect with leadership in all the ways we could figure out, and then get back to our regular lives. A half a million people ultimately signed and we somehow never got back to our regular lives." MoveOn also recruited 2,000 volunteers to deliver the petitions in person to members of the House of Representatives in 219 districts across America, and directed 30,000 phone calls to district offices.
According to Blades, "Then two weeks after the November 1998 election, Congress went ahead and voted to impeach. When you become active in the system and communicate to your representatives, and they don't vote in accordance with your values, your next responsibility is to support candidates who will. All of a sudden we were signed up until 2000." In response to the impeachment vote, MoveOn launched a "We will remember" campaign, asking its members to sign a pledge that "we will work to defeat Members of Congress who voted for impeachment or removal. To give substance to this pledge, we are also pledging, today, our maximum possible dollar contribution to opposing candidates in the year 2000."
In early 1999, MoveOn continued to pursue a bipartisan appeal, recruiting GOP moderate Larry Rockefeller, a New York environmental attorney and heir to the Rockefeller fortune, as the public face of a "Republican Move On" aimed at mobilizing anti-impeachment Republicans. As the 2000 elections neared, however, the organization gravitated toward the Democratic Party. 1999 also marked MoveOn's first foray into issues other than Clinton's impeachment. Following the shootings at Columbine High School near Littleton, Colorado, Blades and Boyd launched a "Gun Safety First" petition to promote the "common sense regulation of firearms", such as child safety standards for gun manufacturers and laws forcing gun-show operators to enact more-stringent background checks on buyers.
Creation of MoveOn PAC
In June 1999, MoveOn established its own political action committee, the MoveOn PAC, with the ability to accept contributions online via credit card. It was not the first organization to fundraise online for political candidates, but its success was unprecedented, raising $250,000 in its first five days of operation and $2 million over the course of the 2000 election to help elect four new Senators and five new House members. "That may not seem like a lot of money to most people, but it was a revolution in fundraising for campaigns from average citizens," Blades said. According to Michael Cornfield, director of the Democracy On Line Project at George Washington University, MoveOn's achievement created "a change in attitude" in the political fundraising community. "It is like a bell has gone off," he said. "The race is on. 'Let's raise money online.'" He compared MoveOn's achievement with the pioneering of direct-mail fundraising in the 1970s by conservative fundraisers such as Richard Viguerie.
The most significant innovation was MoveOn's success at raising funds from small donors, with an average contribution size of $35. Prior to the Internet, small-donor fundraising was prohibitively expensive, as costs of printing and postage ate up most of the money raised. By comparison, MoveOn's fundraising costs were minimal, with credit card transaction fees constituting their biggest expense. "If candidates can use the Internet to raise significant funds through small donations and attract and organize volunteers at relatively little cost and labor, it could radically alter the balance of power in politics," observed political reporter Joan Loawy. "Suddenly candidates with fewer resources are more viable and the clout of moneyed special interests is diminished."
The $2 million that MoveOn raised, however, was substantially less than the $13 million that its members had pledged they would give to defeat Republicans when passions were running high over the Clinton impeachment. According to Mike Fraioli, a Washington-based fundraiser for Democratic candidates, MoveOn missed an opportunity by waiting until the impeachment hearings were over before it began trying to collect campaign contributions. "Never let your pledges hang out there," Fraoli said. "Things change, the world changes. All the emotion that existed a year ago no longer exists today."
The 2000 elections also saw MoveOn's first effort at web-based voter registration with the launch of votepledge.org. It also weighted in regarding the 2000 presidential election, warning its members that voting for Ralph Nader could throw the election to George W. Bush. "Many (Nader supporters) say they never got into the race to play the spoiler," said an email message from Wes Boyd. "What was positioned as a safe protest vote has now become a kind of kamikaze vote."
Development of ActionForum.com
In January 2000, MoveOn rolled out ActionForum.com, an Internet discussion forum designed to solicit public involvement in policymaking. "Unlike most chat rooms, in which the loudest voices often rule, the site allows members to rank the comments they respect," explained the Contra Costa Times. "Those with the highest rankings move to the top. ... ActionForum aims to be an Internet chat room with accountability. In a typical chat room, users sign on anonymously. On ActionForum, users are required to address their letters with their real names, as well as their profession and city of residence." As a test subject for the new chat form, Blades and Boyd chose one of the most controversial issues for 2000 in their home town of Berkeley, California: a draft revision of the Berkeley General Plan, a document that aims to set the city's goals for everything from zoning laws to transportation, housing and community safety. The forum was initially greeted with enthusiasm by city government officials as an online means of soliciting community feedback. Blades and Boyd also supported the Berkeley Party, which attempted to build a political platform for the city centered around the ActionForum, with "no back room deals, no insiders," making it "unlike another political party in the world." The ActionForum.com never really caught on with Berkeley residents, and efforts to use it for municipal purposes were abandoned in 2001. In the meantime, however, it became an important vehicle through which MoveOn received advice and suggestions from its own members.
In March 2001, MoveOn joined forces with the nonprofit advocacy site Generation Net, an online advocacy organization headed by Peter Schurman. He became MoveOn's first full-time, salaried executive director, taking on administrative tasks that until then had been performed on a volunteer basis by Blades and Boyd. Issues prioritized by MoveOn in 2001 included support for the McCain-Feingold campaign-finance reform bill, environmental protection and opposition to the Bush administration's proposal to abolish estate taxes for the wealthy. MoveOn also responded to electrical blackouts and skyrocketing energy costs in California by calling for cost controls on electricity utility companies, organizing a nationwide "roll your own energy blackout" - a voluntary, three-hour electricity-free evening on June 21, in which more than 10,000 participants turned out lights and unplugged TVs and other appliances to protest Bush's energy plan.
Anti-war organizing
Following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, MoveOn launched an online campaign calling for "justice, not escalating violence." It collected 30,000 signers for a statement that argued: "To combat terrorism, we must act in accordance with a high standard that does not disregard the lives of people in other countries. If we retaliate by bombing Kabul and kill people oppressed by the Taliban dictatorship who have no part in deciding whether terrorists are harbored, we become like the terrorists we oppose. We perpetuate the cycle of retribution and recruit more terrorists by creating martyrs." Eventually, this led to them working on behalf of Eli Pariser's similar 9-11peace.org petition. Pariser later joined MoveOn as its executive director. This led to a period of substantial growth and increased visibility for the organization.
During the buildup to the invasion of Iraq, MoveOn began running a multi-front campaign opposing the war. Activities included anti-war petitions calling for "No War on Iraq". In July 2002, Executive Director Eli Pariser urged its members to oppose the war by sending letters to the editor of their local newspapers, offering sample form letters that members could use. Several of these form-based letters were printed in newspapers including the St. Petersburg Times, the Claremont Courier, and the Times Herald-Record of Middletown, NY.
On August 17, 2002, MoveOn launched an online petition against the war, collecting 220,000 signatures in two months. As it had done with the petition against Clinton's impeachment, it organized volunteers who hand-delivered the signatures to senators and representatives before the congressional vote on the war powers resolution. In October 2002, a MoveOn fundraising appeal raised $1 million in two days' time for what it called four "heroes of the anti-war effort" in Congress who opposed the Iraq resolution: Senator Paul Wellstone of Minnesota, representatives Rick Larsen and Jay Inslee of Washington, and Representative Rush D. Holt Jr. of New Jersey. However, MoveOn also worked to raise money for Democratic candidates who supported the Iraq resolution, some of whom were locked in tight races in moderate or conservative states, including Senator Jean Carnahan of Missouri, and Senate candidates Ron Kirk in Texas, Jeanne Shaheen in New Hampshire, Tim Johnson in South Dakota and Mark Pryor in Arkansas. All told, it raised $3.5 million for the 2002 election cycle.
In September 2002, it issued a bulletin by Susan Thompson, "Selling the War on Iraq", offering "lessons in PR from previous wars" and warning that "the costs of regime change" would "cost a whopping $200 billion". MoveOn predicted that "regular people will probably have to foot the bill" while anyone with ties to the oil companies will probably profit immensely."
MoveOn also joined with 14 other organization to form the Win Without War coalition, which also included the National Council of Churches, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and the National Organization for Women. Win Without War in turn helped organize Artists United to Win Without War, a group of more than 100 anti-war actors, producers and directors from Hollywood. In December 2002, MoveOn launched another petition, titled "Let the Inspections Work", with the goal of raising $40,000 to pay for a full-page anti-war appeal in the New York Times. Instead, its members sent in nearly $400,000. With the additional funds, it sponsored anti-war radio spots and TV ads in 13 major cities. Modeled after the famous "Daisy" ad from Lyndon B. Johnson's 1964 presidential campaign against Barry Goldwater, the TV ads warned that war with Iraq could spark nuclear armageddon. According to an account in the Los Angeles Times, "To generate buzz - essentially free advertising - for its own antiwar television spot, MoveOn.org hired Fenton Communications, the same company that promoted Arianna Huffington's recent anti-SUV ads. ... A week after its TV ad first appeared on the news, MoveOn.org reported that its membership had grown by 100,000. The ad was covered on virtually every major network. It was shown and discussed on news programs in Australia, Pakistan, Russia and Japan. The tally is ongoing, but the ad generated at least 110 television news stories and dozens in print, according to an Interim Media Coverage Report by Fenton Communications." It also attempted to place anti-war advertisements on the sides of buildings, billboards and buses but was thwarted when Viacom, which owns the largest outdoor-advertising entity in North America, refused to run the ads.
By early 2003, MoveOn boasted more than 750,000 members in the United States and hundreds of thousands more overseas. As war in Iraq neared, its member base grew and the pace of its activities accelerated. Whereas the Nexis/Lexis news database recorded 155 mentions of MoveOn in 2002, in 2003 there were 2,226 mentions. In January 2003, more than 9,000 of its members, organized into small delegations, visited more than 400 home offices of U.S. senators and representatives across the nation to present the petitions in person. In February 2003, MoveOn teamed up with Win Without War to sponsor a "virtual march on Washington" that generated more than 1 million phone calls and faxes to politicians opposing the invasion.
In June 2003, two months after the Pentagon declared an end to "major combat operations in Iraq," MoveOn teamed up again with Win Without War to purchase a full-page ad in the New York Times that labeled Bush a misleader and demanded an independent commission to determine the truth about US intelligence on Iraq, declaring, "It would be a tragedy if young men and women were sent to die for a lie."
In 2007, MoveOn organized the anti-war lobbying coalition Americans Against Escalation in Iraq.
Virtual primary for the 2004 presidential election
In June 2003, MoveOn held what it called "the first online primary of the modern age", and Howard Dean won a plurality of 44 percent of the vote, with 139,360 votes. The methodology of the primary, however, attracted criticism from a staff member of the Richard A. "Dick" Gephardt campaign, who complained of "vote-rigging" because only three of the Democratic primary candidates—Dean, John Kerry, and Dennis Kucinich—had been invited to send detailed messages to MoveOn members in advance of the online voting. MoveOn called the Gephardt charge "absurd", stating that Dean, Kerry and Kucinich "were chosen by MoveOn members" and that their candidate emails included "links to the sites of ALL the other 6 candidates. ... The Gephardt campaign, and all others, were made fully aware of this process from the beginning, and chose to participate. The process was not changed. 96% of MoveOn respondents voted to endorse the selection process."
An opinion piece for the New York Times noted that MoveOn's "effort is more extensive than most—enthusiasts clicked on for the two-day primary that drew more than 300,000 voters. The virtual tally—results of which were not expected until today [Friday, June 27, 2003, at noon]—would top the combined turnouts in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina in 2000.
There were complaints about some of MoveOn's electioneering strictures. After coming into being with an internet petition against President Bill Clinton's impeachment, MoveOn has become an electronic precinct machine, steadily attracting more than one million enrolled members with criticisms of the George W. Bush administration and quietly raising more than $7 million for Democratic candidates. If a contender can draw at least 50 percent in the elbow-throwing field, the result will mean a formal endorsement with money and volunteers to follow.
Take Back the White House Campaign
In April 2004, MoveOn organized a “Take Back the White House" campaign, which included 1,100 bake sales across the U.S., rallied 500,000 volunteers, and raised $750,000 for ads targeting Bush's military record.
Fahrenheit 9/11
In June 2004, MoveOn organized a response to criticism of Michael Moore's controversial film, Fahrenheit 9/11, calling on its members to send supportive emails to movie theaters. More than 110,000 MoveOn members pledged to go see the film once it opened. According to MoveOn's Eli Pariser, its influence on moviegoer turnout may be even larger than that number suggests. "When I went to Waterville, Maine and asked how many people from MoveOn were there, probably three-quarters of the people there said yes," Pariser told Variety.
MoveOn also organized nearly 3,000 "Turn Up the Heat" house parties on the Monday following its first weekend in theaters. Attendees listened via Internet hookup and participated via a live online map-based town hall application in a 30-minute talk by Moore and MoveOn organizers, and then signed up to participate in voter-registration drives and other activities aimed at unseating Bush and other Republicans in the November 2004 U.S. elections.
2006 "Call for Change" Campaign
In preparation for the 2006 midterm elections, MoveOn created a new system for soliciting potential voters named Call for Change. As part of the Call for Change effort, MoveOn reported that it placed over seven million phone calls to registered voters.
Facebook and Beacon
In November 2007, a drive spearheaded by MoveOn caused Facebook to change its controversial new Beacon program, which notified Facebook users about purchases by people on their friends list. The Facebook group "Petition: Facebook, stop invading my privacy!" had over 54,000 members at the time the announcement was made that Facebook was changing Beacon to an opt-in system.
2008 presidential endorsement
On February 1, 2008, MoveOn announced it had endorsed Senator Barack Obama, rather than Senator Hillary Clinton, the former first lady, in the 2008 presidential election. MoveOn said it had never endorsed a presidential candidate before. MoveOn also launched a television advertisement critical of John McCain, Obama's Republican opponent for the presidency. The ad was titled "Not Alex" and featured a young mother telling McCain that she would not allow her young son to be sent to Iraq.
2016 election efforts
Run Warren Run
In December 2014, MoveOn.org began their campaign to get Senator Elizabeth Warren to run to be the 45th president of the United States. MoveOn.org's plan to get Warren to run for office included getting their large base of supporters to sign a petition urging Warren to run, spending roughly a million dollars on television advertisements in Iowa and New Hampshire, the states that kicked off the presidential nomination process, and creating a website called "Run Warren Run". When asked about the "Run Warren Run" campaign, Ilya Sheyman, MoveOn.org's executive director, made it clear that the mindset behind the campaign was to show Warren that there was a path for her to the presidency and that there was a substantial amount of grass-roots energy in key states that would support her if she chose to do so. By the end of the campaign, MoveOn.org got 365,000 signatures showing support for Warren and had planned, organized, and executed over 400 events. In the end, Warren did not run for the 2016 presidency.
Support for Bernie Sanders
After failing to get Senator Warren to run for the presidency, MoveOn.org chose to back Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) after 78% of its membership voted in favor of him rather than Hillary Clinton or Martin O'Malley. Ilya Sheyman claimed that Bernie Sanders' consistent fortitude in regards to standing up to big money and corporate interests really resonated with their members.
Democratic candidates were invited to participate in an online forum, which involved the candidates answering questions submitted by MoveOn members via video. Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley agreed.
MoveOn endorsed Senator Sanders for President of the United States after holding online elections in which 340,665 members reportedly cast their ballot. 78.6% of these supported the Junior Senator from Vermont, while 14.6% and 0.9% threw themselves behind Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Former Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley, respectively.
United Against Hate
In response to the rhetoric of Donald Trump during the 2016 presidential election, MoveOn ran a general-election campaign in 2016 under the headline "United Against Hate" which hired dozens of organizers in key battleground states and utilized volunteer-to-voter contact, digital advertising, video production, and cultural organizing to try to affect the outcome of the election. Celebrity supporters of this effort included Shonda Rhimes, Kerry Washington, Julianne Moore, Macklemore, and Neil Patrick Harris. It has taken credit for helping to promote the 2016 Donald Trump Chicago rally protest, and for paying for printing protest signs and a banner. The goal of the campaign was to stop Trump, whom MoveOn viewed as a "dangerous" and "divisive" leader. Trump went on to win the 2016 presidential election.
Organizing as part of the Anti-Trump Resistance
MoveOn organized its first protest of the Trump era on the day after the election in 2016, when it called for protests of "solidarity, resilience, and resolve," resulting in protests organized in under 24 hours in a number of cities. It was active in leading protests against the Trump agenda and Trump's rhetoric for all four years of his presidency, including pushing for his impeachment, working to block legislative priorities like the repeal of the Affordable Care Act, and defending the functions of democracy, including serving as one of the organizations most active in the Nobody Is Above The Law coalition, which organized grassroots events to press for the release of the Mueller report. MoveOn helped organize a range of grassroots mobilizations pushing back on Trump's actions, including the 2019 Presidents Day protest. MoveOn was one of the most active organizations in the anti-Trump movement.
2018 "Families Belong Together" Mobilization
MoveOn was one of the leading organizations that called for and supported protests around the country in summer 2018 to respond to the Trump Administration's introduction of immigrant family separation at the US–Mexico border. In over 750 cities, ranging from very large cities to much smaller towns and rural areas, hundreds of thousands of people marched to protest the Trump Administration policy.
2018 Midterm Election Program
MoveOn ran a major grassroots and digital campaign to influence the outcome of the 2018 midterms, and to help elect Democrats and defeat Republicans in order to flip the House. One signature program was Real Voter Voices, an effort aimed at persuading voters to cast their ballots for Democrats by collecting and distributing selfie videos made by MoveOn members all over the country. MoveOn was one of the top spenders on Facebook ads in the weeks running up to the 2018 election.
2019 campaign to impeach Donald Trump
Following the April 2019 release of the Mueller report, the MoveOn website launched an initiative to support the Democrat-led effort to impeach Trump, saying "censure does not go far enough. It doesn't have any teeth to it." This position was notable because MoveOn was created to encourage congress to "move on" during the Clinton–Lewinsky scandal and not impeach President Clinton.
2019 leadership change
On January 17, 2019, MoveOn announced that executive directors Anna Galland and Ilya Sheyman would depart in 2019 after 6 years of leadership.
On May 29, 2019, MoveOn further announced that its next executive director would be Rahna Epting, the first person of color to lead the organization. Born to African-American and Iranian parents, she has held senior roles in organizations including Service Employees International Union, Every Voice, Wellstone Action, and the Alliance For Youth Organizing. At MoveOn she held a number of senior roles in the 2 years leading to this appointment. On October 17, 2019, MoveOn announced that Epting has assumed the role of executive director.
2020 election campaign
MoveOn's 2020 election campaign aimed to "Mobilize, Inspire, and Protect" the vote.
Communication methods
MoveOn uses a wide range of methods to communicate with, organize, and mobilize its millions of members, including email, SMS messages, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, videos distributed through various online platforms, and field organizing strategies including leadership training.
MoveOn has advertised in new and traditional media formats, with publicity strategies including billboards, digital ads, bus signs, and bumper stickers.
MoveOn has collaborated with groups in organizing street demonstrations, bake sales, house parties, and other opportunities.
Changes in federal election laws have impacted groups like MoveOn. The McCain–Feingold campaign finance reform legislation, which went into effect in 2002, allows political parties to raise larger amounts of "hard money" contributions, but bans unlimited "soft money" contributions to the national political parties and prohibits federal officeholders from soliciting soft money. MoveOn, like many other political organizations which sought to influence the 2004 election, was able to circumvent this legislation using a 527 group, which became inactive in 2005 and closed in 2008.
On May 16, 2011, MoveOn.org debuted SignOn.org, a non-profit hosting service for Internet petitions, and in 2013, SignOn.org became MoveOn Petitions.
Model
Internationalization of the MoveOn model
From the start, MoveOn.org's model was able to combine net activism with meaningful political activism. As MoveOn.org developed its presence within politics into the one that it has today, the model and structure that they developed became desirable to other organizations who face similar challenges. One person who aided in the internationalization of the MoveOn Model is MoveOn.org's former advocacy director, Ben Brandzel. In 2007 after leaving MoveOn to work on John Edwards presidential campaign, Brandzel headed to Australia to help a young Internet driven group called GetUp! According to their website, GetUp! is "an independent movement to build a progressive Australia and bring participation back into [their] democracy." When Brandzel arrived in Australia to help GetUp!, he realized that GetUp! was facing similar opportunities and challenges to MoveOn.org. Brandzel then helped GetUp! implement similar structure and campaigns as MoveOn.org and they were able to achieve results at a rate that he says were "three times the pace of MoveOn in the U.S." From this, he concluded that the success MoveOn.org achieved was not a fluke, rather it was a model that could be applied to different scenarios and could help other organizations achieve similar results in regards to net and political activism. MoveOn.org's model helped shape and mold GetUp!'s organizational leadership in online campaigning, the communication within the organization, and their theory on how to create concrete political change.
Criticism
MoveOn was criticized by the Anti-Defamation League, among others, when a member-submitted advertisement which drew parallels between President George W. Bush and Adolf Hitler was submitted to their online ad contest "Bush in 30 Seconds". The ad was part of an online MoveOn-sponsored contest during the 2004 presidential election in which members were invited to create and submit political ads challenging President Bush and his administration. The ad was quickly pulled off the website.
Fox News criticized the organization after it successfully encouraged the 2008 Democratic presidential candidates not to attend two debates sponsored by the network. Fox News advisor David Rhodes and the network's commentators Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly have also made accusations that MoveOn.org "owns" the Democratic Party and George Soros "owns" MoveOn.org.
Google and MoveOn have been accused of selective adherence to trademark law for removing ads from Google Adwords for Senator Susan Collins, citing infringement of MoveOn trademarks. Wired stated on October 15, 2007, that the "left-leaning political advocacy group, MoveOn.org, is backing down" and will allow Google to show the ads. MoveOn.org communications director Jennifer Lindenauer said: "We don't want to support a policy that denies people freedom of expression."
On June 17, 2008, MoveOn emailed its members stating that it had produced "the most effective TV ad we've ever created." The ad depicts a mother telling Republican senator and presumptive nominee John McCain that she will not let him use her infant son, Alex, as a soldier in the war in Iraq. Subsequent to the ad's release, Jon Stewart, host of The Daily Show, "praised" MoveOn for "10 years of making even people who agree with you cringe." The New York Times op-ed contributor Bill Kristol criticized the ad in an essay, including pointing out that the "United States has an all-volunteer Army. Alex won't be drafted, and his mommy can't enlist him. He can decide when he's an adult whether he wants to serve."
In 2020, several MoveOn staffers contributed to an article titled "Disinformation creep: ADOS and the strategic weaponization of breaking news" which attempted to show that Republican political messaging supported "anti-Black political groups and causes, strategically discouraging Black voters from voting for the Democratic party". The article was initially published in The Misinformation Review, a peer-reviewed journal, but was later retracted after an independent review due to extensive misrepresentation of data and "failed to meet professional standards of validity and reliability".
David Petraeus advertising controversy
In 2007, MoveOn received bipartisan criticism for running a print ad in The New York Times that questioned the personal integrity of General David Petraeus, with headlines such as "General Petraeus or General Betray Us?" and "Cooking the Books for the White House". On September 20, 2007, the Senate passed an amendment by Republican John Cornyn of Texas designed to "strongly condemn personal attacks on the honor and integrity of General Petraeus". All 49 Republican senators, as well as 22 Democratic senators, voted in support. The House passed a similar resolution by a 341–79 vote on September 26, 2007.
On September 20, 2007, The Washington Post stated: "Democrats blamed the group Moveon.org for giving moderate Republicans a ready excuse for staying with Bush and for giving Bush and his supporters a way to divert attention away from the war."
The New York Times public editor Clark Hoyt later stated in an op-ed that MoveOn was mistakenly charged US$77,000 less for the ad than it should have been under Times policies, and MoveOn announced that it would pay The New York Times the difference in price.
MoveOn.org ran more ads using a 'betrayal' theme, with TV spots targeting former President Bush and former Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani. Giuliani ran his own full-page ad in The New York Times on September 14, 2007. Giuliani asked for and received a similar reduced fee as MoveOn.org, paying US$65,000.
Fundraising
Since 1998, MoveOn has raised millions of dollars for many Democratic candidates. Once becoming the executive director, Rahna Epting stated MoveOn would spend $20 million "to defeat Donald Trump, end Republican control of the Senate, and help Democrats hold the majority in the House of Representatives." In a statement released by the organization, Epting said the funds would be used to "drive creative and cultural interventions" and combat "digital voter suppression online."
See also
Tea Party movement
References
Further reading
Books
Karpf, David: "The MoveOn Effect: The Unexpected Transformation of American Political Advocacy." Oxford University Press, 2012.
Eaton, Marc Andrew: "From the Seats to the Streets: MoveOn.org and the Mobilization of Online Progressive Activists," Western Washington University PhD dissertation, 2002.
Journal articles
Bruno, Lee: Millennials Move On. Stanford Social Innovation Review, Spring 2009.
External links
MoveOn.org on OpenSecrets.org
Internet properties established in 1998
Internet-based activism
American political websites
United States political action committees
Anti–Iraq War groups
Healthcare reform advocacy groups in the United States
Progressive organizations in the United States
1998 establishments in the United States
Progressivism in the United States
Liberalism in the United States
|
412287
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pequot%20War
|
Pequot War
|
The Pequot War was an armed conflict that took place in 1636 and ended in 1638 in New England, between the Pequot tribe and an alliance of the colonists from the Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, and Saybrook colonies and their allies from the Narragansett and Mohegan tribes. The war concluded with the decisive defeat of the Pequot. At the end, about 700 Pequots had been killed or taken into captivity. Hundreds of prisoners were sold into slavery to colonists in Bermuda or the West Indies; other survivors were dispersed as captives to the victorious tribes.
The result was the elimination of the Pequot tribe as a viable polity in southern New England, and the colonial authorities classified them as extinct. Survivors who remained in the area were absorbed into other local tribes.
Etymology
The name "Pequot" has its origin in the Algonquian language, the meaning of which has been disputed among Algonquian-language specialists. Most recent sources claim that "Pequot" comes from Paquatauoq (the destroyers), relying on the theories of Frank Speck, an early 20th-century anthropologist and specialist of the Pequot-Mohegan language in the 1920s–1930s. He had doubts about this etymology, believing that another term seemed more plausible, after translation relating to the "shallowness of a body of water".
Origin
The Pequot and the Mohegan people were at one time a single sociopolitical entity. Anthropologists and historians contend that they split into the two competing groups sometime before contact with the Puritan English colonists. The earliest historians of the Pequot War speculated that the Pequot people migrated from the upper Hudson River Valley toward central and eastern Connecticut sometime around 1500. These claims are disputed by the evidence of modern archaeology and anthropology finds.
In the 1630s, the Connecticut River Valley was in turmoil. The Pequot aggressively extended their area of control at the expense of the Wampanoag to the north, the Narragansett to the east, the Connecticut River Valley Algonquian tribes and the Mohegan to the west, and the Lenape Algonquian people of Long Island to the south. The tribes contended for political dominance and control of the European fur trade. A series of epidemics over the course of the previous three decades had severely reduced the Indian populations, and there was a power vacuum in the area as a result.
The Dutch and the English from Western Europe were also striving to extend the reach of their trade into the North American interior to achieve dominance in the lush, fertile region. The colonies were new at the time, as the original settlements had been founded in the 1620s. By 1636, the Dutch had fortified their trading post, and the English had built a trading fort at Saybrook. English Puritans from the Massachusetts Bay, along with the Pilgrims from Plymouth Colony, settled at the recently established river towns of Windsor (1632), Wethersfield (1633), Hartford (1635), and Springfield (1636). The Pilgrims had been allied with the Wampanoag since 1621.
Belligerents
On the side of the Pequot:
Pequot: Sachem Sassacus
Western Niantic: Sachem Sassious
On the side of the colonists:
Narragansett: Sachem Miantonomo
Mohegan: Sachem Uncas
Niantic Sagamore Wequash
Massachusetts Bay Colony: Governors Henry Vane and John Winthrop, Captains John Underhill and John Endecott
Plymouth Colony: Governors Edward Winslow and William Bradford, and Captain Myles Standish
Connecticut Colony: Thomas Hooker, Captain John Mason, Robert Seeley, Lt. William Pratt (c. 1609–1670)
Saybrook Colony: Lion Gardiner
Causes for war
Beginning in the early 1630s, a series of contributing factors increased the tensions between English colonists and the tribes of southeastern New England. Efforts to control fur trade access resulted in a series of escalating incidents and attacks that increased tensions on both sides. Political divisions widened between the Pequots and Mohegans as they aligned with different trade sources, the Mohegans with the English colonists and the Pequots with the Dutch colonists. The peace ended between the Dutch and Pequots when the Pequots assaulted a tribe of Indians who had tried to trade in the area of Hartford. Tensions grew as the Massachusetts Bay Colony became a stronghold for wampum production, which the Narragansetts and Pequots had controlled until the mid-1630s.
Adding to the tensions, John Stone and seven of his crew were murdered in 1634 by the Niantics, western tributary clients of the Pequots. According to the Pequots' later explanations, they murdered him in reprisal for the Dutch murdering the principal Pequot sachem Tatobem, and they claimed to be unaware that Stone was English and not Dutch. (Contemporaneous accounts claim that the Pequots knew Stone to be English.) In the earlier incident, Tatobem had boarded a Dutch vessel to trade. Instead of conducting trade, the Dutch seized him and demanded a substantial amount of ransom for his safe return. The Pequots quickly sent bushels of wampum, but received only Tatobem's dead body in return. Stone was from the West Indies and had been banished from Boston for malfeasance, including drunkenness, adultery, and piracy. He had abducted two Western Niantic men, forcing them to show him the way up the Connecticut River. Soon after, his crew and he were attacked and killed by a larger group of Western Niantics. The initial reactions in Boston varied from indifference to outright joy at Stone's death, but the colonial officials still felt compelled to protest the killing. They did not accept the Pequots' excuses that they had been unaware of Stone's nationality. Pequot sachem Sassacus sent some wampum to atone for the killing, but refused the colonists' demands that the warriors responsible for Stone's death be turned over to them for trial and punishment.
The Great Colonial Hurricane of 1635 also placed a great deal of pressure on the harvests of that year, according to historian Katherine Grandjean, increasing competition for winter food supplies for several years afterwards throughout much of coastal Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts. This, in turn, precipitated even greater tensions between the Pequots and English colonists, who were ill-prepared to face periods of famine.
A more proximate cause of the war was the killing of a trader named John Oldham, who was attacked on a voyage to Block Island on July 20, 1636. Several of his crew and he were killed and his ship was looted by Narragansett-allied Indians, who sought to discourage settlers from trading with their Pequot rivals. Oldham had a reputation as a troublemaker and had been exiled from Plymouth Colony shortly before the incident on Block Island. In the weeks that followed, officials from Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island, and Connecticut assumed that the Narragansetts were the likely culprits. They knew that the Indians of Block Island were allies of the Eastern Niantics, who were allied with the Narragansetts, and they became suspicious of the Narragansetts. The murderers, meanwhile, escaped and were given sanctuary with the Pequots.
Battles
News of Oldham's death became the subject of sermons in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. In August, Governor Vane sent John Endecott to exact revenge on the Indians of Block Island. Endecott's party of roughly 90 men sailed to Block Island and attacked two apparently abandoned Niantic villages. Most of the Niantic escaped, while two of Endecott's men were injured. The English claimed to have killed 14, but later Narragansett reports claimed that only one Indian was killed on the island. The Massachusetts Bay militia burned the villages to the ground. They carried away crops that the Niantic had stored for winter and destroyed what they could not carry. Endecott went on to Fort Saybrook.
The English at Saybrook were not happy about the raid, but agreed that some of them would accompany Endecott as guides. Endecott sailed along the coast to a Pequot village, where he repeated the previous year's demand for those responsible for the death of Stone, and now also for those who murdered Oldham. After some discussion, Endecott concluded that the Pequots were stalling and attacked, but most escaped into the woods. Endecott had his forces burn down the village and crops before sailing home.
Pequot raids
In the aftermath, the English of Connecticut Colony had to deal with the anger of the Pequots. The Pequots attempted to get their allies to join their cause, some 36 tributary villages, but were only partly effective. The Western Niantic (Nehantic) joined them, but the Eastern Niantic (Nehantic) remained neutral. The traditional enemies of the Pequot, the Mohegan and the Narragansett, openly sided with the English. The Narragansetts had warred with and lost territory to the Pequots in 1622. Now, their friend Roger Williams urged the Narragansetts to side with the English against the Pequots.
Through the autumn and winter, Fort Saybrook was effectively besieged. People who ventured outside were killed. As spring arrived in 1637, the Pequots stepped up their raids on Connecticut towns. On April 23, Wangunk chief Sequin attacked Wethersfield with Pequot help. They killed six men and three women and a number of cattle and horses, and took two young girls captive. (They were daughters of William Swaine and were later ransomed by Dutch traders.) In all, the towns lost about 30 settlers.
In May, leaders of Connecticut River towns met in Hartford, raised a militia, and placed Captain John Mason in command. Mason set out with 90 militia and 70 Mohegan warriors under Uncas; their orders were to directly attack the Pequot at their fort. At Fort Saybrook, Captain Mason was joined by John Underhill with another 20 men. Underhill and Mason then sailed from Fort Saybrook to Narragansett Bay, a tactic intended to mislead Pequot spies along the shoreline into thinking that the English were not intending an attack. After gaining the support of 200 Narragansetts, Mason and Underhill marched their forces with Uncas and Wequash Cooke about 20 miles towards Mistick Fort (present-day Mystic). They briefly camped at Porter's Rocks near the head of the Mystic River before mounting a surprise attack just before dawn.
The Mystic massacre
The Mystic Massacre started in the predawn hours of May 26, 1637, when colonial forces led by Captains John Mason and John Underhill, along with their allies from the Mohegan and Narragansett tribes, surrounded one of two main fortified Pequot villages at Mistick. Only 20 soldiers breached the palisade's gate and they were quickly overwhelmed, to the point that they used fire to create chaos and facilitate their escape. The ensuing conflagration trapped the majority of the Pequots; those who managed to escape the fire were slain by the soldiers and warriors who surrounded the fort.
Mason later declared that the attack against the Pequots was the act of a God who "laughed his Enemies and the Enemies of his People to scorn", making the Pequot fort "as a fiery Oven", and "thus did the Lord judge among the Heathen." Of the estimated 500 Pequots in the fort, seven were taken prisoner and another seven escaped to the woods.
The Narragansetts and Mohegans with Mason and Underhill's colonial militia were horrified by the actions and "manner of the Englishmen's fight… because it is too furious, and slays too many men." The Narragansetts attempted to leave and return home, but were cut off by the Pequots from the other village of Weinshauks and had to be rescued by Underhill's men—after which they reluctantly rejoined the colonists for protection and were used to carry the wounded, thereby freeing up more soldiers to fend off the numerous attacks along the withdrawal route.
War's end
The destruction of people and the village at Mistick Fort and losing even more warriors during the withdrawal pursuit broke the Pequot spirit, and they decided to abandon their villages and flee westward to seek refuge with the Mohawk tribe. Sassacus led roughly 400 warriors along the coast; when they crossed the Connecticut River, the Pequots killed three men whom they encountered near Fort Saybrook.
In mid-June, John Mason set out from Saybrook with 160 men and 40 Mohegan scouts led by Uncas. They caught up with the refugees at Sasqua, a Mattabesic village near present-day Fairfield, Connecticut. The colonists memorialized this event as the Fairfield Swamp Fight (not to be confused with the Great Swamp Fight during King Philip's War). The English surrounded the swamp and allowed several hundred to surrender, mostly women and children, but Sassacus slipped out before dawn with perhaps 80 warriors, and continued west.
Sassacus and his followers had hoped to gain refuge among the Mohawk in present-day New York. However, the Mohawk instead murdered his bodyguard and him, afterwards sending his head and hands to Hartford (for reasons which were never made clear). This essentially ended the Pequot War; colonial officials continued to call for hunting down what remained of the Pequots after war's end, but they granted asylum to any who went to live with the Narragansetts or Mohegans.
Aftermath
In September, the Mohegans and Narragansetts met at the General Court of Connecticut and agreed on the disposition of the Pequot survivors. The agreement, known as the first Treaty of Hartford, was signed on September 21, 1638. About 200 Pequots survived the war; they finally gave up and submitted themselves under the authority of the sachem of the Mohegans or Narragansetts.
Other Pequots were enslaved and shipped to Bermuda or the West Indies, or were forced to become household slaves in English households in Connecticut and Massachusetts Bay. The Colonies essentially declared the Pequots extinct by prohibiting them from using the name any longer.
The colonists attributed their victory over the hostile Pequot tribe to an act of God:
This was the first instance wherein Algonquian peoples of southern New England encountered European-style warfare. After the Pequot War, no significant battles occurred between Indians and southern New England colonists for about 38 years. This long period of peace came to an end in 1675 with King Philip's War. According to historian Andrew Lipman, the Pequot War introduced the practice of colonists and Indians taking body parts as trophies of battle. Honor and monetary reimbursement was given to those who brought back heads and scalps of Pequots.
Historical accounts and controversies
The earliest accounts of the Pequot War were written within one year of the war. Later histories recounted events from a similar perspective, restating arguments first used by military leaders such as John Underhill and John Mason, as well as Puritans Increase Mather and his son Cotton Mather.
Recent historians and others have reviewed these accounts. In 2004, an artist and archaeologist teamed up to evaluate the sequence of events in the Pequot War. Their popular history took issue with events and whether John Mason and John Underhill wrote the accounts that appeared under their names. The authors have been adopted as honorary members of the Lenape Pequots.
Most modern historians do not debate questions of the outcome of the battle or its chronology, such as Alfred A. Cave, a specialist in the ethnohistory of colonial America. However, Cave contends that Mason and Underhill's eyewitness accounts, as well as the contemporaneous histories of Mather and Hubbard, were more "polemical than substantive." Alden T. Vaughan writes that the Pequots were not "solely or even primarily responsible" for the war. "The Bay colony's gross escalation of violence… made all-out war unavoidable; until then, negotiation was at least conceivable."
Documentaries
In 2004, PBS aired the television documentary Mystic Voices: The Story of the Pequot War.
The Mystic Massacre was featured in the 2006 History Channel series 10 Days that Unexpectedly Changed America.
See also
History of Connecticut
Indian massacre
Philip Vincent
References
Further reading
Primary sources
Bradford, William. Of Plimoth Plantation, 1620–1647, ed. Samuel Eliot Morison (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1966).
Gardiner, Lion. Leift Lion Gardener his Relation of the Pequot Warres (Boston: [First Printing] Massachusetts Historical Society Collections, 1833). Online edition (1901)
Hubbard, William. The History of the Indian Wars in New England 2 vols. (Boston: Samuel G. Drake, 1845).
Johnson, Edward. Wonder-Working Providence of Sion's Saviour in New England by Captain Edward Johnson of Woburn, Massachusetts Bay. With an historical introduction and an index by William Frederick Poole (Andover, MA: W. F. Draper, [London: 1654] 1867).
Mason, John. A Brief History of the Pequot War: Especially of the Memorable taking of their Fort at Mistick in Connecticut in 1637/Written by Major John Mason, a principal actor therein, as then chief captain and commander of Connecticut forces; With an introduction and some explanatory notes by the Reverend Mr. Thomas Prince (Boston: Printed & sold by. S. Kneeland & T. Green in Queen Street, 1736).Online edition
Mather, Increase. A Relation of the Troubles which have Hapned in New-England, by Reason of the Indians There, from the Year 1614 to the Year 1675 (New York: Arno Press, [1676] 1972).
Orr, Charles ed., History of the Pequot War: The Contemporary Accounts of Mason, Underhill, Vincent, and Gardiner (Cleveland, 1897).
Underhill, John. Nevves from America; or, A New and Experimentall Discoverie of New England: Containing, a True Relation of their War-like Proceedings these two yeares last past, with a figure of the Indian fort, or Palizado. Also a discovery of these places, that as yet have very few or no inhabitants which would yeeld speciall accommodation to such as will plant there ... By Captaine Iohn Underhill, a commander in the warres there (London: Printed by I. D[awson] for Peter Cole, and are to be sold at the signe of the Glove in Corne-hill neere the Royall Exchange, 1638). Online edition
Vincent, Philip. A True Relation of the late Battell fought in New England, between the English, and the Salvages: VVith the present state of things there (London: Printed by M[armaduke] P[arsons] for Nathanael Butter, and Iohn Bellamie, 1637). Online edition
Secondary sources
Adams, James T. The Founding of New England (Boston: The Atlantic Monthly Press, 1921).
Apess, William. A Son of the Forest (The Experience of William Apes, a Native of the Forest Comprising a Notice of the Pequod tribe of Indians), and other writings, ed. Barry O'Connell (Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, [1829] 1997).
Bancroft, George. A History of the United States, from the Discovery of the American Continent, 9 vols. (Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1837–1866): I:402–404.
Boissevain, Ethel. "Whatever Became of the New England Indians Shipped to Bermuda to be Sold as Slaves," Man in the Northwest 11 (Spring 1981), pp. 103–114.
Bradstreet, Howard. The Story of the War with the Pequots, Retold (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1933).
Cave, Alfred A. "The Pequot Invasion of Southern New England: A Reassessment of the Evidence," New England Quarterly 62 (1989): 27–44.
___. "Who Killed John Stone? A Note on the Origins of the Pequot War," William and Mary Quarterly, 3rd Ser., vol. 49, no. 3. (Jul., 1992), pp. 509–521.
__. The Pequot War (Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1996).
Channing, Edward. A History of the United States (New York: Macmillan, 1912–1932).
Cronon, William. Changes in the Land: Indians, Colonists, and the Ecology of New England (New York: Hill and Wang, 1985).
Crosby, Alfred W. "Virgin Soil Epidemics as a Factor in the Aboriginal Depopulation in America," William and Mary Quarterly, 3rd Ser., vol. 33, no. 2 (Apr., 1976), pp. 289–299.
De Forest, John W. History of the Indians of Connecticut from the Earliest known Period to 1850 (Hartford, 1853).
Dempsey, Jack, and David R. Wagner, Mystic Fiasco: How the Indians Won The Pequot War. 249 pp., 50 illustrations/photos, Annotated Chronology, Index. Scituate, MA: Digital Scanning Inc. 2004. See also "Mystic Massacre"
Drinnon, Richard, Facing West: The Metaphysics of Indian-Hating and Empire-Building (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1997).
Fickes, Michael L. "'They Could Not Endure That Yoke': The Captivity of Pequot Women and Children after the War of 1637," New England Quarterly, vol. 73, no. 1. (Mar., 2000), pp. 58–81.
Freeman, Michael. "Puritans and Pequots: The Question of Genocide," New England Quarterly, vol. 68, no. 2. (Jun., 1995), pp. 278–293.
Greene, Evarts P. The Foundations of American Nationality (New York: American Book Co., 1922).
Hall, David. Worlds of Wonder, Days of Judgment: Popular Religious Belief in Early New England (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1990).
Hauptman, Laurence M. "The Pequot War and Its Legacies," in The Pequots in Southern New England: The Fall and Rise of an Indian Nation, ed. Laurence M. Hauptman and James D. Wherry (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1990), p. 69.
Hildreth, Richard. The History of the United States of America (New York: Harper & Bros., 1856–60), I: 237–242.
Hirsch, Adam J. "The Collision of Military Cultures in Seventeenth-Century New England," Journal of American History, vol. 74, no. 4. (Mar., 1988), pp. 1187–1212.
Holmes, Abiel. The Annals of America: From the Discovery by Columbus in the Year 1492, to the Year 1826 (Cambridge: Hilliard and Brown, 1829).
Howe, Daniel W. The Puritan Republic of the Massachusetts Bay in New England (Indianapolis: Bowen-Merrill, 1899).
Hutchinson, Thomas. The History of the Colony of Massachuset's Bay, From the first settlement thereof in 1628 (London: Printed for M. Richardson ..., 1765).
Jennings, Francis P. The Invasion of America: Indians, Colonialism, and the Cant of Conquest (Chapel Hill: Institute of Early American History and Culture, University of North Carolina Press, 1975).
Karr, Ronald Dale. "'Why Should You Be So Furious?': The Violence of the Pequot War," Journal of American History, vol. 85, no. 3. (Dec., 1998), pp. 876–909.
Katz, Steven T. "The Pequot War Reconsidered," New England Quarterly, vol. 64, no. 2. (Jun., 1991), pp. 206–224.
__. "Pequots and the Question of Genocide: A Reply to Michael Freeman," New England Quarterly, vol. 68, no. 4. (Dec., 1995), pp. 641–649.
Kupperman, Karen O. Settling with the Indians: The Meeting of English and Indian Cultures in America, 1580–1640 (Totowa, N.J.: Rowman and Littlefield, 1980).
Lipman, Andrew. "'A meanes to knitt them togeather': The Exchange of Body Parts in the Pequot War." William and Mary Quarterly Third Series, Vol. 65, No. 1 (2008): 3–28.
Means, Carrol Alton. "Mohegan-Pequot Relationships, as Indicated by the Events Leading to the Pequot Massacre of 1637 and Subsequent Claims in the Mohegan Land Controversy," Archaeological Society of Connecticut Bulletin 21 (2947): 26–33.
Macleod, William C. The American Indian Frontier (New York: A.A. Knopf, 1928).
McBride, Kevin. "Prehistory of the Lower Connecticut Valley" (Ph.D. diss., University of Connecticut, 1984).
Michelson, Truman D. "Notes on Algonquian Language," International Journal of American Linguistics 1 (1917): 56–57.
Oberg, Michael. Uncas: First of the Mohegans (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2003).
Parkman, Francis. France and England in North America, ed. David Levin (New York: Viking Press, 1983): I:1084.
Salisbury, Neal. Manitou and Providence: Indians, Europeans, and the Making of New England, 1500–1643 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1982).
Segal, Charles M. and David C. Stineback, eds. Puritans, Indians, and Manifest Destiny (New York: Putnam, 1977).
Snow, Dean R., and Kim M. Lamphear, "European Contact and Indian Depopulation in the Northeast: The Timing of the First Epidemics," Ethnohistory 35 (1988): 16–38.
Speck, Frank. "Native Tribes and Dialects of Connecticut: A Mohegan-Pequot Diary," Annual Reports of the U.S. Bureau of Ethnology 43 (1928).
Spiero, Arthur E., and Bruce E. Speiss, "New England Pandemic of 1616–1622: Cause and Archaeological Implication," Man in the Northeast 35 (1987): 71–83
Sylvester, Herbert M. Indian Wars of New England, 3 vols. (Boston: W.B. Clarke Co., 1910), 1:183–339.
Trumbull, Benjamin. A Complete History of Connecticut: Civil and Ecclesiastical, From the Emigration of its First Planters, from England, in the Year 1630, to the Year 1764; and to the close of the Indian Wars (New Haven: Maltby, Goldsmith and Co. and Samuel Wadsworth, 1818).
Vaughan, Alden T. "Pequots and Puritans: The Causes of the War of 1637," William and Mary Quarterly 3rd Ser., Vol. 21, No. 2 (Apr., 1964), pp. 256–269; also republished in Roots of American Racism: Essays on the Colonial Experience (New York: Oxford University Press, 1995).
__. New England Frontier: Puritans and Indians 1620–1675 (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1995, Reprint).
Willison, George F. Saints and Strangers, Being the Lives of the Pilgrim Fathers & their Families, with their Friends & Foes; & An Account of their Posthumous Wanderings in limbo, their Final Resurrection & Rise to Glory, & the Strange Pilgrimages of Plymouth Rock (New York: Reynal & Hitchcock, 1945)
Wilson, Woodrow. A History of the American People, 5 vols. (New York and London : Harper & Brothers, 1906).
External links
1736 version of John Mason's account
A summary of the Pequots and their history
A brief history of the Pequot War
Society of Colonial War's account
Cape Cod Online: Worlds Rejoined.
The Royal Gazette: Bermudians (Mohegans) and Pequots Reconnect
P. Vincent, A True Relation of the Late Battell fought in New England online edition
John Underhill, Newes from America online edition
Lion Gardener, Relation of the Pequot Warres online edition
Military in Connecticut
History of Connecticut
Massacres in the United States
C
Ethnic cleansing in the United States
Wars involving the indigenous peoples of North America
|
412307
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campeche
|
Campeche
|
Campeche (; ), officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Campeche (), is one of the 31 states which, with Mexico City, make up the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. Located in southeast Mexico, it is bordered by the states of Tabasco to the southwest, Yucatán to the northeast, Quintana Roo to the east, and by the Petén department of Guatemala to the south. It has a coastline to the west with the Gulf of Mexico. The state capital, also called Campeche, was declared a World Heritage Site in 1997. The formation of the state began with the city, which was founded in 1540 as the Spanish began the conquest of the Yucatán Peninsula. The city was a rich and important port during the colonial period, but it declined after Mexico's independence. Campeche was part of the province of Yucatán but split off in the mid-19th century, mostly due to political friction with the city of Mérida. Much of the state's recent economic revival is due to the discovery of petroleum offshore in the 1970s, which has made the coastal cities of Campeche and Ciudad del Carmen important economic centers. The state has important Mayan and colonial sites; however, these are not as well-known or visited as others in the Yucatán.
The state's executive power rests in the governor of Campeche and the legislative power rests in the Congress of Campeche which is a unicameral legislature composed of 35 deputies.
Etymology
The name of Campeche is derived from Can Pech, the Maya name of a chiefdom of the southwestern Yucatán Peninsula that existed at the time of the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors in the sixteenth century. The capital city of the chiefdom of Can Pech was called “Ah-Kin-Pech”, where the city of Campeche is now. When the Spanish first arrived to the area in 1517, they called it Lazaro, since "the day of our landing was St. Lazarus'
Sunday". The native name means “place of snakes and ticks.”
Geography
Campeche is a relatively flat area of Mexico with of shoreline on the Gulf of Mexico. Most of the surface is of sedimentary rock, much of which is of marine origin. The area with the highest elevations is near the borders with Guatemala and Quintana Roo. Notable elevations include Cerro Champerico, Cerro los Chinos, Cerro El Ramonal, Cerro El Doce, and Cerro El Gavilán. However, these hills are separated by large expanses of lower flat land. In the south of the municipality of Champotón begin a series of rolling hills known as the Sierra Alta or Puuc, which extend northeast to Bolonchen and then into the state of Yucatán. These have only an average altitude of between with some reaching . Other areas of these rolling hills lie near the city of Campeche, the main ones known as Maxtum, Boxol and El Morro. Another set is called the Sierra Seybaplaya in the center of the state.
Rainforest areas subdivide into a number of types which include perennial tall tree rainforest, semi perennial tall tree rainforest, deciduous medium height tree rainforest, semi-deciduous medium height tree rainforest, deciduous low height tree rainforest and semi-perennial low height tree rainforest. Away from the coast, these rainforests are interspersed with savannah areas and along the coast are accompanied by areas with sand dunes, mangrove wetlands and estuaries. Species that can be found in the various rainforests include Spanish cedar (Cedrela odorata), oxhorn bucida (Bucida buceras), Campeche logwood (Haematoxylum campechianum), and wild tamarind (Lysiloma latisiliquum). It also includes a number of precious tropical hardwoods such as red cedar (Toona ciliata), Honduran mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla), ziricote (Cordia dodecandra) and Hollywood (Guaiacum sanctum). Along the coastal areas, palms dominate such as the coconut tree (Cocos nucifera) and royal palm (Roystonea regia). The main wildlife species in the state are the jaguar, ocelot, puma, deer, collared peccary, raccoon, hare, ring-tailed cat and Yucatan spider monkey. There are many bird species including the plain chachalaca, quail, pelican, and toucan. Reptiles include rattlesnakes, coral snakes, boa constrictors, various species of sea and land turtles, iguanas, and crocodiles. While still rich in wildlife, much has been decimated because of agriculture and exploitation of forest resources destroying habitat as well as uncontrolled hunting. Most of the state's aquatic life — including many species of fish, crustaceans, and mollusks — is found in the Bay of Campeche. Many of these are exploited commercially.
Most of the state's surface freshwater is in the south and southwest, with rivers, small lakes and estuaries. These diminish in the north where rainfall rapidly filtrates into the subsoil. The rivers in the south and southwest belong to various basins, with the largest being the Grijalva to which the Candelaria, Chumpán and Mamantal Rivers belong. The -Usumacinta also flows in the state but it tends to change course frequently and occasionally divides into branches. The east branch of this river is also called the Palizada River, which has the largest volume although it is narrow. The San Pedro River is another branch of the Usumacinta, which passes by Jonuta Municipality in Tabasco before emptying in the Gulf of Mexico. The Chumpán River is an isolated river formed by the union of various streams. It runs north–south and empties in the Laguna de Terminos. The Candelaria River forms in Petén, Guatemala and runs north–south and empties into the Laguna de Pargos. The Mamantel River empties into the Laguna de Panlau. The Champotón River is in the center of the state and empties into the Gulf of Mexico. The rest of the state's streams flow only in the rainy season.
The Laguna de Términos lagoon is located in the southwest of the state, near the border with Tabasco. It is separated from the Gulf of Mexico only by the Isla del Carmen. It receives freshwater from most of Campeche's rivers as well as saltwater from the Gulf of Mexico. In these brackish waters have developed a number of aquatic species such as sea bass, small sharks, crabs, oysters, turtles, and storks. The lagoon is ringed by smaller lakes and forms the most important lake-lagoon system in the country. These lakes include Atasta, Pom, Puerto Rico, El Este, Del Vapor, Del Corte, Pargos and Panlau. This system formed about five thousand years ago by the accumulation of sediment carried by surrounding rivers. This system connects to the Sabancuy estuary to the northeast.
Campeche is in the tropics; it has a humid climate, with a defined rainy season, and a relatively dry season from late winter to early spring. Average annual rainfall varies between . The hottest and most humid areas of the state are along the coast between the Laguna de Términos and the northern border. Average annual temperature is with highs up to in the summer and lows of in the winter. Prevailing winds are from the northwest from November to March, from the north between September and October, from the southeast from June to August and from the south in April and May. In the winter, storms from the north called “nortes” can bring colder dry air from the area of the United States. In the late summer, there are sometimes hurricanes.
The state has a number of ecosystems, from rainforest, to savanna to coast and sea. Environmentally, the state is divided into four major regions. The coastal region consists of the entire coastline of the state and a strip of shallow water just offshore called the Sonda de Campeche with coral reefs and low islands called cays. The region has large expanses of mangroves that dominate the swamps. Non-swamp areas are dominated by palm trees. Wildlife is dominated by bird and reptile species such as storks, pelicans, ducks, seagulls, lizards, turtles and water snakes. The mountain region is in the north and east of the state consisting of two chains of low hills called the Dzibalchen and Sierra Alta. It also includes the savannah area and an area called Los Chenes, where natural wells (called cenotes) are common. This area is noted for its tropical hardwoods and the chicle or gum tree. Wildlife includes deer, armadillos, rabbits, quail, and woodpeckers. The rainforest region is located on the center and south of the state with a wide variety of trees including tropical hardwoods such as mahogany. Many of the plants used in the state's cuisine such as achiote and tropical fruits are from here. The river region is located in the southwest of the state, named after the various rivers that flow here, mostly emptying into the Laguna de Términos. It has the hottest and most humid climate in Campeche with wildlife and vegetation similar to that found in both the Rainforest and Coast regions.
Environment and protected areas
Campeche has four protected areas: the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve, the Laguna de Términos Reserve, Ría Celestún Biosphere Reserve, and the Los Petenes Biosphere Reserve. The Calakmul Reserve was created in 1989 over . It consists of Yucatán and Tehuantepec moist forests, containing high and medium growth semi-deciduous forests and seasonally flooded low height semi-deciduous forests. There is also aquatic vegetation. The Laguna de Términos Reserve includes the lagoon and the area surrounding it with an area of . It was established in 1994. Los Petenes is a natural reserve consisting of isolated pockets of rainforest with mangrove areas in between. The wildlife is dependent on a varied and complex system of fresh and brackish water. The reserve extends over in the municipalities of Campeche, Tenabo, Hecelchakán and Calkiní.
History
The first people to dominate the area were the Maya, who arrived to Campeche from Guatemala, Honduras and Chiapas. The main Mayan cities in Campeche were Edzná, Xtampak, and later Calakmul and Becán. The Maya civilization reached its height between 600 AD and 900 AD. From 1000 AD on, the Maya cities collapsed and were abandoned for unknown reasons. This led to the establishment of smaller settlements and a mixing of the Maya and Chontal people in the south of the state, which had commercial ties to the central highland cultures of Mexico. From the 11th century to the 16th century, Campeche was divided into smaller dominions.
The first Spaniards in the area were Francisco Hernández de Córdoba and Antón de Alaminos in 1517, who landed at a settlement called Can-Pech, part of the Sol Garrapata dominion. He renamed it San Lázaro. He moved onto the territory of Chakanputon (today Champotón) where he and his men were attacked by the warriors of this dominion. Hernandez de Cordoba died of his wounds from this battle, prompting the Spanish to call this bay the “Bahía de Mala Pelea” (Bay of the Bad Fight). The conquest of Campeche and the rest of the Yucatán Peninsula began in earnest in 1540, under Francisco de Montejos, senior and junior.
The Spanish introduced sugar cane and other crops in the area, starting in the 1540s, but the main value of the area was the port of Campeche, established in 1540 where the old Maya village used to be. During the colonial era, it was a commercial port equal to Havana and Cartagena even though piracy was a constant threat. It shipped valuable exports such as agricultural goods, tropical hardwoods and dyewood, then a widely used textile dye in Europe. It also handled gold and silver from other areas in Mexico going to Spain. Imported items to the port included luxury items such as Italian marble and crystal chandeliers from Austria. The Spanish built a European-based colonial city here and as it became rich, it was filled with large mansions. However, to survive in the hot and humid environment, the Europeans also adapted a number of Maya products such as hammocks for sleeping and storing drinking water in hollow gourds. They also built with the area's local red cedar, mahogany and "sahcab" a local limestone. The shipping in these waters attracted pirates such as John Hawkins, Francis Drake, Diego the Mulatto, Henry Morgan, Cornelis Jol, Bartolomeu Português, Lewis Scot and Roche Braziliano. Most of the attacks were at the port of Campeche, but Champontón also suffered significant attacks in 1644 and 1672. Fortification of the city of Campeche began as early as 1610, but these structures were insufficient. The worst pirate attack occurred in 1685, when Laurens de Graaf sacked the city of Campeche and the surrounding haciendas for over thirty days, killing about a third of the area's population. This prompted far more extensive fortification with numerous forts and a wall around the city that measured in an irregular polygon shape. Most of the forts survived but only of the original wall remains. These fortifications cut the threat of pirate attacks but it remained walled until 1890. Campeche was officially recognized as a city in 1774 (the first in southeast Mexico) and in 1784 was declared a minor port. In 1804, the port was closed due to the war between Spain and England. This caused discontentment in the city and fomented insurgent tendencies.
Campeche remained a wealthy and important port until the early 19th century, when a number of events brought on the decline. In 1811, the port of Sisal was opened in what is now the State of Yucatán, taking much of the city's business. Another issue was that Independence brought the abolition of slavery, cutting agricultural production. The lack of shipping made the city relatively isolated from Mexico City. From the 19th century until the latter 20th, the state's economy was dependent on agriculture, fishing, logging and salt mining.
In September 1821, the city of Campeche proclaimed its adherence to the Plan of Iguala and the new Independent government of Mexico, forcing out its last Spanish governor a month later. At Independence, Campeche was one of the two most important cities on the Yucatán Peninsula, along with Mérida. There was political friction between the two. Campeche was the more liberal of the two, and supported the 1824 Mexican Constitution which established the Federal Republic. In 1824, Campeche's representative proposed that the peninsula be divided into two states: Mérida and Campeche but this was not accepted. Political divisions intensified along with the nationwide struggle between Liberals and Conservatives.
Despite Campeche's and Mérida's differences, both were involved in an insurrection against Mexico City headed by Jerónimo López de Llergo in 1839 with the aim of creating an independent state of Yucatán. After initial victories, López de Llergo proclaimed the peninsula independent and in 1841, the Constitution of the Yucatán was promulgated on federalist principles. Yucatán independence did not solve the peninsula's internal political problems. Mérida's trade with Havana continued but Campeche's trade with Mexico City was cut off. Campeche wanted to rejoin Mexico for this reason and Andrés de Quintana Roo tried to work out a settlement between the two cities. Mexican president Santa Anna then sent an expedition to force the Yucatán back into Mexico. More fighting came with the outbreak of the Caste War, in 1847, an indigenous rebellion that took place in Campeche and the rest of the Yucatán. This and foreign pressure to pay debts forced the Yucatan to formally reintegrate into Mexico in 1849.
The Mexican Constitution of 1857 completely broke the schism between Campeche and Mérida with various rebellions breaking out. During one of these 150 men took over one of the main forts of Campeche and demanded a political union consisting of it, Champotón and Isla del Carmen. Other settlements in the west of the peninsula expressed their desire to be partitioned with these areas as a new state. In 1858, representatives from Campeche and Mérida signed an agreement to divide the peninsula, which was ratified to make the division official.
During the French Intervention in Mexico, forces under Felipe Navarrete took Campeche and forced the state to rejoin the rest of the Yucatán. In 1864, insurgents defeated the imperial army in Hecelchakán and in 1867, they retook Campeche to regain the state's independence.
During the Mexican Revolution, Manuel Castilla Brito took up arms in Campeche in support of Francisco I. Madero. However, the insurgents were defeated by General Manuel Rivera, a Victoriano Huerta supporter in 1913. Forces loyal to Venustiano Carranza entered Campeche in 1914. Slavery and serfdom was abolished on the haciendas. In 1917, Campeche wrote its current constitution.
There was some improvement in the state's economy starting in the 1950s when fishing and timber industries became more developed and there was better communication between the state and Mexico City. In 1955, the University of Campeche was founded and a state system of middle schools was begun.
However, Campeche's main economic change come with the discovery of oil off its shores in a shallow water region called the Sonda de Campeche. This oil was discovered by a fisherman named Rudesindo Cantarell in 1971, who reported an oil slick. In 1975, the first oil platform, called Chac Number One began operations. The first set of offshore platforms were completed by 1979. The find has made the state the top producer of petroleum in Mexico, providing 70% of all oil pumped in the country. The economic boom tripled the population of the city of Campeche in ten years, and nearly doubled that of Ciudad del Carmen, which before was only a small fishing village. However, the production of oil has brought environmental problems to the area, especially fishing yields, as well as internal strife between locals and newcomers.
In the mid-1980s, about 25,000 Guatemalan refugees had fled into the state to escape civil war there.
The oil money allowed for the revitalization of the city of Campeche starting in the 1980s. The State Office of Cultural Heritage Sites and Monuments bought abandoned properties to restore them for use as museums, schools, theaters and a library. More than a thousand facades and monuments have been refurbished in the historic center and the oldest residential areas.
In the 1990s, a number of textile mills of the “maquiladora” type were opened in the state. The capital was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
The most recently created municipality is Candelaria in 1998.
In 2004 the Mexican Air Force recorded a UFO sighting over southern Campeche.
Economy
Total: Campeche contributes 5.1% of Mexico's total GDP. The average salary per year in the state is $141,088 pesos in comparison to the national average of $99,114. However, there is a very large discrepancy between highly paid oil workers, mostly coming from out of state, and locals who do not work for PEMEX. Most land is owned as community property under the ejido system (61%). Twenty nine percent is privately owned and the rest is under state or federal control. Three out of four residences are in urban areas, which generally have basic services. Most of these have cement foundations, with cinderblock walls and brick or cement roofs. Rural residences are usually constructed from local materials which may have roofs of laminate, palm fronds or even cardboard, walls made of laminate or wood, with foundations generally of cement or packed earth. Overall in the state, running water, garbage collection and electricity are available in over 80% of homes, but sewage in only a third. Over sixty five percent of the territory is exploited for forestry products, with over 25% used for grazing, with only 3.3% used for agriculture and about 5.5% used for other purposes such as human settlements.
Only 3.3% of the state's land is used for raising crops due to the soil composition. Over ninety percent of cropland is used for seasonal crops such as corn with the rest used for perennials such as fruit trees. The most important crop is corn, followed by rice and sorghum. Other important crops include jalapeño chili peppers, watermelon, sugar cane and various tropical and non-tropical fruit-bearing trees, especially citrus and mango. Most cattle are raised in the center and south of the state for both meat and milk products and account for the most product by volume. In the north, most commercially raised livestock is domestic fowl mostly chickens and turkeys, but domestic fowl is raised in most rural homes all over the state. Sheep and goats are raised sparsely all over the state, depending on local vegetation. Forestry, including the extraction of precious tropical hardwoods, remains an important economic activity despite the degradation of many of the state's forests. Commercial fishing is mostly done along the coast, with shrimp being the most valuable catch, followed by crustaceans and mollusks. This is mostly done in the coast reason, where most of the economy outside of oil production relies on fishing and the building and repair of fishing boats.
The secondary sector of the economy (mining, construction and industry) is almost entirely concentrated in the coastal area of the state in the municipalities of Campeche, Carmen and Champotón. Mining, mostly oil production, accounts for 52.8% of the state's GDP. This oil lies off the coast of the state, in a shallow water section of the Gulf of Mexico called the Sonda de Campeche. Campeche oil and gas production accounts for 37% of Mexico's total with crude oil alone accounting for 76% in absolute numbers. Campeche does not have metal deposits but it does have deposits of building stone, such as sandstone, marble and limestone, sand, gravel, lime, clay and other minerals. Most deposits are located in the municipalities of Hopelchén, Champotón and Calakmul. In the far north of the coast region, there are important deposits of salt. Construction and manufacturing account for 6.7% of the state's GDP. The most common type of industry relates to food and food processing including seafood, soft drinks, cookies, flour, sugar and honey. Another common industry is that of building materials such as cinderblock, wood products and the processing of building stone. Most industries are small with little financing for technology and growth. Since the 1990s, factories of the “maquiladora” type have opened in the state, such as the Calkiní Shirt Company in Tepacan, Calkiní, Textiles Blazer in Lerma, Campeche, Quality Textil de Campeche in Becal, Calkiní and Karims Textile and Apparel México in the city of Campeche.
Commerce and services account for 33.2% of the state's GDP. The commerce sector of the economy is mostly traditional with small establishments catering to local or regional needs. In the larger cities, supermarkets and malls can be found. Most commerce with entities outside of Campeche is in seafood, agricultural and forestry products. The state has thirty-four traditional public markets. All petroleum products are marketed by the national oil company PEMEX. The state has about five hundred businesses dedicated to tourism, about half of which are restaurants, a little less than a quarter bars and a similar number of handcraft shops. There are 126 major hotels, mostly in the municipalities of Campeche, Ciudad del Carmen and Champotón.
Culture
The state has two main government-sponsored cultural festivals, the Festival del Centro Histórico and the Festival de Jazz. Campeche has a Festival del Centro Histórico in November and December, which attracts over 5,000 artists, intellectuals and academics to over 800 events such as concerts, theater, dance, book presentations, and workshops. The Festival de Jazz was begun in 1999 and has had the participation of figures such as Mike Stern, Caribbean Jazz Project, Yazzkin, Chano Domínguez, Eugenio Toussaint, David Gilmore and Scott Henderson. One notable economic fair outside the city is the “Jipi” Sombrero Festival in Bécal in April and May.
The largest religious festival in the state is Carnival in the city of Campeche. Carnival was introduced in 1582. By 1688, the annual event featured orchestras and in 1815, formal dances called "saraos" were organized which originally were held only in the homes of the elite. Later in the 19th century, events in the streets for the masses became popular, with the various neighborhoods of the city organizing their own events. Eventually, these merged into a citywide celebration featuring various traditional dances such as Baile del Pavo, Son de la Cucaracha, the fandango, fandanguillo and various forms of tropical jaranas. They also include more risqué dances such as those called la Culebra, Los Papagayos and la Contradanza de los Palitos which have Afro-Caribbean influence. Other important religious festivals include Candlemas (Candelaria) in Hool, Champotón and Campeche, feast day of Our Lady of Mount Carmen in Ciudad del Carmen, feast day of Saint Joachim in Palizada, and the feast day of Saint Roman in Campeche, the feast of San Isidro Labrador in Calkiní in May, the feast of the Cristo Negro in San Román, Day of the Dead in all of the state, feast of the Holy Cross in Sabancuy, Carmen in May, feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmen in Ciudad del Carmen in July and the feast of the Señor de la Salud in Hecelchakán in April. During these festivals is when the state's most traditional music, called jarana, and traditional dances can be heard and seen.
As a Mayan region, Campeche has had corn as its staple since the pre-Hispanic period, accompanied by beans, vegetables, tropical fruits and seafood, with some meat. There are two main types of cuisine: "mestizo" is mostly of Spanish origin with some indigenous additions, while Maya is almost purely indigenous. Some foods have been reinvented. One is papak'sul, or papadzul, which was made with beans and chili peppers. Today it is a torilla filled with cooked egg and squash seed salsa. Common seasonings are a mix of indigenous and those which came from Europe such as salt, oregano, pepper, habanero chili peppers, achiote, cloves and vinegar. Regional dishes include cochinita pibil, beans with pork, pork with , shark tacos, pickled vines, seafood such as many species of fish, shrimp, octopus and crustaceans. Similar to cochinita pibil, pibipollos are chickens roasted in underground pits, most often prepared for Day of the Dead. There is also a large number of seafood-based dishes such as pan de cazón. One notable shrimp dish is made with giant prawns and called "siete barbas." Tamales are filled with ground pork or chicken seasoned with achiote, pibil or sweet corn. The staple bread is the corn tortilla. The town of Pomuch in the municipality of Hecelchakán is known for its bread and has a type named after it.(turimsoenc) Cheese was mostly likely influenced by pirates with queso de bola related to Dutch cheese-making traditions.
Education
The average number of years of schooling for those over age 15 is 8.5, which means that most finish middle school. This is slightly under the national average of 8.6. Over 55% finish primary school and over 35% finish a level over high school, either in technical training or university. The state has over 1800 schools from preschool to university level. These include seventeen teachers’ colleges and twenty eight other institutions of higher education.
The first educational institution in the state was located in the former monastery of San José in the city of Campeche, founded by the Jesuits in 1756 called the Colegio Clerical de San José. In 1823, its name was changed to the Colegio Clerical de San Miguel de Estrada. After the Reform Laws closed the monastery, The Instituto Campechano was established in 1859 by then-governor Pablo Garcia in the same building. The Institute operated until the mid-20th century when it was replaced by the University of Campeche, which was initially housed at the institute.
The Universidad Autónoma de Campeche was founded in 1957 by the state to systematize higher education in the state as its first major university. The institution operated out of several buildings until the mid-1960s, when the Ciudad Universitaria campus was built, and named the Universidad del Sudeste. This name was changed to the current one in 1989. The university offers twenty three bachelor's degrees, and eight graduate degrees.
The Instituto Tecnológico de Campeche was founded in 1976 as the Instituto Tecnológico Regional de Campeche as part of a nationwide system of technical colleges with only two majors. The college gained its own campus in 1978 and its current name was adopted in the 1980s.
Demographics
As of 2015, the state has a total population of 899,931. Seventy-five percent live in urban areas along the coast and twenty-five percent live in rural areas. The most populated municipality is Campeche. Most of the state's population growth has occurred since 1970 when the population then was only 215,600.
The most commonly spoken indigenous language spoken in the state is Yucatec Maya, with 71,852 speakers. This is followed by Chol, with 10,412, Tzeltal with 1,900 and Q'anjob'al with 1,557. There are a total of 91,094 speakers of an indigenous language in the state, which is about 12% of the total population. This is up from just under 90,000 in 2005. Fourteen percent of these speakers do not speak Spanish. There are about 7,000 Plautdietsch-speaking Mennonites of German descent in the State of Campeche, mostly around Hopelchen and Hecelchakán. These Menonnites came in the 1980s from the Mennonite settlements which were founded in 1922 and 1924 in the states of Chihahua and Durango, partly via Zacatecas. According to the 2020 Census, 2.08% of Campeche's population identified as Black, Afro-Mexican, or of African descent.
Sixty three percent of the population profess the Catholic faith as of 2010. Most those who are non Catholic belong to Evangelical or Protestant churches. The National Presbyterian Church in Mexico has a large percentage of followers in Tabasco State.
Municipalities
The state of Campeche is located in southeast Mexico, on the west side of the Yucatan Peninsula. The territory comprises , which is 2.6% of Mexico's total. It borders the states of Yucatán, Quintana Roo and Tabasco, with the country of Guatemala to the south and the Gulf of Mexico to the west. Politically, it is divided into thirteen municipalities: Calakmul, Calkiní, Campeche, Candelaria, Carmen, Champotón, Dzitbalché, Escárcega, Hecelchakán, Hopelchén, Palizada, Seybaplaya, and Tenabo.
Communications and transportation
Media
The state has eighteen radio stations (fifteen of them commercial), seventeen television channels, one of which is local, ten from Mexico City and the rest cable or satellite, and four local newspapers, along with various from Mexico City. Newspapers of Campeche include: Crónica de Campeche, El Sur de Campeche, Expreso de Campeche, La Ira Noticias para Mí Campeche, Novedades de Campeche, and Tribuna (Campeche). Telephone service is still mostly landline, but cellular infrastructure is growing.
Transport
The state has of highway, about a third of which is federal, connecting urban areas. There are eight nine main bridges, most of which are just to the south of the city of Campeche and near Ciudad del Carmen. The two largest are the Puente de la Unidad and Zacatal, which connect Ciudad del Carmen with the mainland. Other important bridges exist in Champotón, Candelaria and Palizada. Federal Highway 180 is the main thoroughfare in the state, running along the coast from the Tabasco state border connecting Ciudad del Carmen and Campeche with Mérida in Yucatán state. There are of rail line and two main airports in Campeche and Ciudad del Carmen. The latter also has a heliport and there are twenty five over air strips in other parts of the state. The shoreline has thirty-seven commercial and military docks. The presence of PEMEX is the main force behind the building and maintenance of port infrastructure. The most developed public transportation is in the city of Campeche, although buses, taxis and other public transportation are available in most towns.
The Campeche airport, officially named Ing. Alberto Acuña Ongay, serves the city and port of Campeche with domestic service, mostly to Mexico City. Opened in 1965, it served about 100,000 passengers in 2009.
Tourism
Campeche is one of the least known and most overlooked colonial cities in Mexico, mostly bypassed by those visiting more famous destinations in the Yucatan peninsula. The city's historic buildings are protected by decree to keep them from being destroyed or altered by the growth of the city. Campeche was one of the most important ports in New Spain. It suffered more than 21 major pirate attacks in the colonial era. After 1685, the city's main fortifications were begun taking 24 years to complete. They succeeded in stopping major pirate attacks, with only one, Barbillas, finding a way to enter the city in 1708. The fortifications consisted of a formidable wall with four main gates, three opening to land and one to the sea. It also included a number of forts such as San Carlos, Santa Rosa, San Juan and San Francisco. Stories persist that many of the mansions had tunnels to escape pirates, but these have never been found.
The state has a number of colonial-era churches. The Asunción church in Dzitbalché was constructed in the 18th century, with a pointed arch doorway, choral window and bell-gable. The Guadalupe Church in Bécal, Calkiní was built in the 18th century. The San Diego Apóstol Church in Nunkiní, Calkiní was built in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. The church and former monastery of San Luis Obispo is located in Calkiní, built in the 17th century of stone, wood and metal over a former Mayan temple. The facade is simple with a bell-gable and there remains only one of its original Baroque altarpieces, which was made in the 16th century. The Catedral de Nuestra Señora de la Purísima Concepción is from the 16th century. Its façade is of worked stone with two levels marked off by two grooved pilasters. The San Francisco Church in Campeche was established in the 16th century although the current building dates from the 17th. The church marks the spot where the first mass was held on mainland America. Most of the state's colonial era churches are located in and near the city of Campeche, with some in Ciudad del Carmen. The Nuestra Señora del Carmen Church in Ciudad del Carmen was built in the 18th century. The Sagrado Corazón de Jesús Church was built in the 18th century in Sabancuy, Carmen. The church and former monastery of San Francisco de Asís was begun in the 16th century by the Franciscans in Hecelchakán.
Outside of the city of Campeche, much of the notable civil architecture in the state is found on the various former haciendas. Many of these haciendas have been turned into hotels, spas and other tourist attractions. Hacienda Blanca Flor is located in Hecelchakán outside Campeche. This hacienda was a site of one of the bloodiest battles of the Caste War. Hacienda Santa Cruz is between Campeche and Calkiní in the Nunkiní community. It is dated to the middle of the 18th century established to raise cattle. It continued operating until the Mexican Revolution. Hacienda San José Carpizo is in the Champotón municipality, founded in 1871 by José María Carpizo Sánchez and was one of the most important on the Yucatán Peninsula, raising cattle. It survived the Mexican Revolution until its workers abandoned it in the 1940s. Hacienda San Luis Carpizo is located in Champotón and belonged to José María Carpizo, dedicated to agriculture. This hacienda was restored by the Mexican Army to house the Marine Infantry School in 1999. Hacienda Uayamón is near the city of Campeche with origins in the 16th century. It was attacked and its owner killed in the raid by Laurens de Graaf in 1685. It continued to operate until the Mexican Revolution and today it is home to the Hotel de Gran Turismo. Hacienda Tankuché was dedicated to raising dyewood (palo de tinte) but changed later to henequen. Despite losing most of its land in the Revolution, its henequen mill continued to operate until the 1980s.
Notable museums in the state include the Del Carmen Archeological Museum, the Museo de las Estelas Mayas in Ciudad del Carmen and the Camino Real Archeological Museum in Hecelchakán. The Museo Fuerte de San Miguel is located on one of the Campeche's old forts. The museum is dedicated to the state's history. Opened in 2000, it is the newest and most modern of Campeche's museums.
Most of the beaches frequented by visitors are in the municipalities of Campeche, Champotón and Ciudad del Carmen. In Campeche, these beaches include Mar Azul, San Lorenzo and Playa Bonita. In Ciudad del Carmen, they include La Maniagua, Bahamita, Sabancuy, Playa Caracol and Playa Norte, Isla de Pájaros. In Champotón, they are Acapulquito, Costa Blanca, Payucán and Sihoplaya. In the interior of the state, there are a number of water parks such as El Remate in Tankuché and San Vicente Chuc-Say on a former hacienda of the same name. These generally take advantage of the local rivers, springs and cenotes. Ecotourism includes caves such as Xculhoc, Chuncedro and Xtacumbilxuna’an or Mujer Escondida.
Archaeological sites in Campeche
Much of Campeche's territory is filled with various archeological sites, almost all of which are Mayan. Maya sites in Campeche include Acanmul, Balamkú, Becán, Bolonchén, Calakmul, Chactún, Chicanná, Chunlimón, Edzná, Isla de Jaina, Lagunita, the Petén Basin, Río Bec, Isla Uaymil, Xculoc, Xpuhil, and Xtampak. These sites are less visited than sites to the east such as Chichen Itza, and Tulum. An early important site is Edzna, located near the city of Campeche in a region known as los Chenes. It was one of the most important ceremonial centers in the pre-Classic Maya period (300-900 CE). Its building show Petén, Chenes and Puuc influence, with a large acropolis surrounded by various temples, the most important of which is the Pyramid of the Five Floors. It was discovered in the 1920s and excavated in the 1940s. It is located away from other Mayan settlements on the peninsula and was probably a collection center for the agriculture products grown in the area, reaching its height between 600 and 900. These were sent to the city of Tikal in exchange for ritualistic adornment for the site. Its most important building is the Pyramid of the Five Stories, built as its name implies. Another important find came in the 1990s. During the planting season in early May, archeologist Antonio Benavides noticed that the setting sun illuminates a stucco mask hanging one of the pyramid's rooms. The effect also happens in August, during harvest and it is believed to be related to the asking and receiving of abundant crops.
The largest archeological site in the state is Calakmul, which means "twin heaps" in the Mayan language. It is located in the Petén region built in the late Classic period (500-900 CE). Calakmal is estimated to have been populated around 1000 BCE with its height at around 600 In 695 CE, Calakmul was conquered by Tikal and the city fell into decline. Calakmul is located in the interior rainforest of the state in a biosphere named after it near the Guatemala border. The site extends over and was one of the largest cities of Mesoamerica. Its temples were mostly dedicated to ancestor worship encircling the palaces of the elite in the center. There are an estimated 6,000 structures at the site with only half a dozen restored. The two most important structures are the twin pyramids of Temple II and Temple VII, similar to structures found at Tikal. Temple II is tallest at high. The site has been heavily looted by grave robbers.
While most sites are in the interior rainforest of the state, there are fifty-five archeological sites on the coast alone, mostly remnants of small villages. The Isla de Jaina is one of the best preserved archeological sites in the state because of its location on an island on the coast, surrounded by estuaries and mangroves. It requires special permission to visit. Unlike others on the coast, it was a true city. Other sites include Can-mayab-mul in Nunkiní, Xculhoc in Hecelchakán, Chunan-tunich, Xtampak, Hochob, Pak-chén and Dzebilnocac in Hopelchén, El Tigre in Candelaria, La Xoch and Chun Cedro in Tenabo and Becán in Calakmul.
References
External links
Campeche State Government
Instituto de Cultura
States of Mexico
Yucatán Peninsula
1858 establishments in Mexico
States and territories established in 1858
|
412326
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic%20peace%20theory
|
Democratic peace theory
|
Proponents of "democratic peace theory" argue that both liberal and republican forms of democracy are hesitant to engage in armed conflict with other identified democracies. Different advocates of this theory suggest that several factors are responsible for motivating peace between democratic states. Individual theorists maintain "monadic" forms of this theory (democracies are in general more peaceful in their international relations); "dyadic" forms of this theory (democracies do not go to war with other democracies); and "systemic" forms of this theory (more democratic states in the international system makes the international system more peaceful).
In terms of norms and identities, it is hypothesized that democratic publics are more dovish in their interactions with other democracies, and that democratically elected leaders are more likely to resort to peaceful resolution in disputes (both in domestic politics and international politics). In terms of structural or institutional constraints, it is hypothesized that institutional checks and balances, accountability of leaders to the public, and larger winning coalitions make it harder for democratic leaders to go to war unless there are clearly favorable ratio of benefits to costs.
These structural constraints, along with the transparent nature of democratic politics, make it harder for democratic leaders to mobilize for war and initiate surprise attacks, which reduces fear and inadvertent escalation to war. The transparent nature of democratic political systems, as well as deliberative debates (involving opposition parties, the media, experts, and bureaucrats), make it easier for democratic states to credibly signal their intentions. The concept of audience costs entails that threats issued by democratic leaders are taken more seriously because democratic leaders will be electorally punished by their publics from backing down from threats, which reduces the risk of misperception and miscalculation by states.
The connection between peace and democracy has long been recognized, but theorists disagree about the direction of causality. The democratic peace theory posits that democracy causes peace, while the territorial peace theory makes the opposite claim that peace causes democracy. Other theories argue that omitted variables explain the correlation better than democratic peace theory. Alternative explanations for the correlation of peace among democracies include arguments revolving around institutions, commerce, interdependence, alliances, US world dominance and political stability.
History
Though the democratic peace theory was not rigorously or scientifically studied until the 1960s, the basic principles of the concept had been argued as early as the 18th century in the works of philosopher Immanuel Kant and political theorist Thomas Paine. Kant foreshadowed the theory in his essay Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Sketch written in 1795, although he thought that a world with only constitutional republics was only one of several necessary conditions for a perpetual peace. Kant's theory was that a majority of the people would never vote to go to war, unless in self-defense. Therefore, if all nations were republics, it would end war, because there would be no aggressors. In earlier but less cited works, Thomas Paine made similar or stronger claims about the peaceful nature of republics. Paine wrote in "Common Sense" in 1776: "The Republics of Europe are all (and we may say always) in peace." Paine argued that kings would go to war out of pride in situations where republics would not. French historian and social scientist Alexis de Tocqueville also argued, in Democracy in America (1835–1840), that democratic nations were less likely to wage war.
Dean Babst, a criminologist, was the first to do statistical research on this topic. His academic paper supporting the theory was published in 1964 in Wisconsin Sociologist; he published a slightly more popularized version, in 1972, in the trade journal Industrial Research. Both versions initially received little attention.
Melvin Small and J. David Singer responded; they found an absence of wars between democratic states with two "marginal exceptions", but denied that this pattern had statistical significance. This paper was published in the Jerusalem Journal of International Relations which finally brought more widespread attention to the theory, and started the academic debate. A 1983 paper by political scientist Michael W. Doyle contributed further to popularizing the theory. Rudolph J. Rummel was another early researcher and drew considerable lay attention to the subject in his later works.
Maoz and Abdolali extended the research to lesser conflicts than wars. Bremer, Maoz and Russett found the correlation between democracy and peacefulness remained significant after controlling for many possible confounding variables. This moved the theory into the mainstream of social science. Supporters of realism in international relations and others responded by raising many new objections. Other researchers attempted more systematic explanations of how democracy might cause peace, and of how democracy might also affect other aspects of foreign relations such as alliances and collaboration.
There have been numerous further studies in the field since these pioneering works. Most studies have found some form of democratic peace exists, although neither methodological disputes nor doubtful cases are entirely resolved
Definitions
Research on the democratic peace theory has to define "democracy" and "peace" (or, more often, "war").
Defining democracy
Democracies have been defined differently by different theorists and researchers; this accounts for some of the variations in their findings. Some examples:
Small and Singer define democracy as a nation that (1) holds periodic elections in which the opposition parties are as free to run as government parties, (2) allows at least 10% of the adult population to vote, and (3) has a parliament that either controls or enjoys parity with the executive branch of the government.
Doyle requires (1) that "liberal regimes" have market or private property economics, (2) they have policies that are internally sovereign, (3) they have citizens with juridical rights, and (4) they have representative governments. Either 30% of the adult males were able to vote or it was possible for every man to acquire voting rights as by attaining enough property. He allows greater power to hereditary monarchs than other researchers; for example, he counts the rule of Louis-Philippe of France as a liberal regime.
Ray requires that at least 50% of the adult population is allowed to vote and that there has been at least one peaceful, constitutional transfer of executive power from one independent political party to another by means of an election. This definition excludes long periods often viewed as democratic. For example, the United States until 1800, India from independence until 1979, and Japan until 1993 were all under one-party rule, and thus would not be counted under this definition.
Rummel states that "By democracy is meant liberal democracy, where those who hold power are elected in competitive elections with a secret ballot and wide franchise (loosely understood as including at least 2/3 of adult males); where there is freedom of speech, religion, and organization; and a constitutional framework of law to which the government is subordinate and that guarantees equal rights."
Non-binary classifications
The above definitions are binary, classifying nations into either democracies or non-democracies. Many researchers have instead used more finely grained scales. One example is the Polity data series which scores each state on two scales, one for democracy and one for autocracy, for each year since 1800; as well as several others. The use of the Polity Data has varied. Some researchers have done correlations between the democracy scale and belligerence; others have treated it as a binary classification by (as its maker does) calling all states with a high democracy score and a low autocracy score democracies; yet others have used the difference of the two scores, sometimes again making this into a binary classification.
Young democracies
Several researchers have observed that many of the possible exceptions to the democratic peace have occurred when at least one of the involved democracies was very young. Many of them have therefore added a qualifier, typically stating that the peacefulness apply to democracies older than three years. Rummel argues that this is enough time for "democratic procedures to be accepted, and democratic culture to settle in." Additionally, this may allow for other states to actually come to the recognition of the state as a democracy.
Mansfield and Snyder, while agreeing that there have been no wars between mature liberal democracies, state that countries in transition to democracy are especially likely to be involved in wars. They find that democratizing countries are even more warlike than stable democracies, stable autocracies or even countries in transition towards autocracy. So, they suggest caution in eliminating these wars from the analysis, because this might hide a negative aspect of the process of democratization. A reanalysis of the earlier study's statistical results emphasizes that the above relationship between democratization and war can only be said to hold for those democratizing countries where the executive lacks sufficient power, independence, and institutional strength. A review cites several other studies finding that the increase in the risk of war in democratizing countries happens only if many or most of the surrounding nations are undemocratic. If wars between young democracies are included in the analysis, several studies and reviews still find enough evidence supporting the stronger claim that all democracies, whether young or established, go into war with one another less frequently; while some do not.
Defining war
Quantitative research on international wars usually defines war as a military conflict with more than 1000 killed in battle in one year. This is the definition used in the Correlates of War Project which has also supplied the data for many studies on war. It turns out that most of the military conflicts in question fall clearly above or below this threshold.
Some researchers have used different definitions. For example, Weart defines war as more than 200 battle deaths. Russett, when looking at Ancient Greece, only requires some real battle engagement, involving on both sides forces under state authorization.
Militarized Interstate Disputes (MIDs), in the Correlates of War Project classification, are lesser conflicts than wars. Such a conflict may be no more than military display of force with no battle deaths. MIDs and wars together are "militarized interstate conflicts" or MICs. MIDs include the conflicts that precede a war; so the difference between MIDs and MICs may be less than it appears.
Statistical analysis and concerns about degrees of freedom are the primary reasons for using MID's instead of actual wars. Wars are relatively rare. An average ratio of 30 MIDs to one war provides a richer statistical environment for analysis.
Monadic vs. dyadic peace
Most research is regarding the dyadic peace, that democracies do not fight one another. Very few researchers have supported the monadic peace, that democracies are more peaceful in general. There are some recent papers that find a slight monadic effect. Müller and Wolff, in listing them, agree "that democracies on average might be slightly, but not strongly, less warlike than other states," but general "monadic explanations are neither necessary nor convincing." They note that democracies have varied greatly in their belligerence against non-democracies.
Possible exceptions
Some scholars support the democratic peace on probabilistic grounds: since many wars have been fought since democracies first arose, we might expect a proportionate number of wars to have occurred between democracies, if democracies fought each other as freely as other pairs of states; but proponents of democratic peace theory claim that the number is much less than might be expected. However, opponents of the theory argue this is mistaken and claim there are numerous examples of wars between democracies.
Historically, troublesome cases for the Democratic peace theory include the Sicilian Expedition, the War of 1812, the U.S. Civil War, the Fashoda Crisis, conflicts between Ecuador and Peru, the Cod Wars, the Spanish–American War, and the Kargil War. Doyle cites the Paquisha War and the Lebanese air force's intervention in the Six-Day War. The total number of cases suggested in the literature is at least 50. The data set Bremer was using showed one exception, the French-Thai War of 1940; Gleditsch sees the state of war between Finland and United Kingdom during World War II, as a special case, which should probably be treated separately: an incidental state of war between democracies during large and complex war with hundreds of belligerents and the constant shifting of geopolitical and diplomatic boundaries. However, the British did conduct a few military actions of minor scope against the Finns, more to demonstrate their alliance with the Soviets than to actually engage in war with Finland. Page Fortna discusses the 1974 Turkish invasion of Cyprus and the Kargil War as exceptions, finding the latter to be the most significant.
Limiting the theory to only truly stable and genuine democracies leads to a very restrictive set of highly prosperous nations with little incentive in armed conflict that might harm their economies, in which the theory might be expected to hold virtually by definition.
One advocate of the democratic peace explains that his reason to choose a definition of democracy sufficiently restrictive to exclude all wars between democracies are what "might be disparagingly termed public relations": students and politicians will be more impressed by such a claim than by claims that wars between democracies are less likely.
Conflict initiation
According to a 2017 review study, "there is enough evidence to conclude that democracy does cause peace at least between democracies, that the observed correlation between democracy and peace is not spurious".
Most studies have looked only at who is involved in the conflicts and ignored the question of who initiated the conflict. In many conflicts both sides argue that the other side was initiator. Several researchers have argued that studying conflict initiation is of limited value, because existing data about conflict initiation may be especially unreliable. Even so, several studies have examined this. Reitner and Stam argue that autocracies initiate conflicts against democracies more frequently than democracies do against autocracies. Quackenbush and Rudy, while confirming Reiter and Stam's results, find that democracies initiate wars against nondemocracies more frequently than nondemocracies do to each other. Several following studies have studied how different types of autocracies with different institutions vary regarding conflict initiation. Personalistic and military dictatorships may be particularly prone to conflict initiation, as compared to other types of autocracy such as one party states, but also more likely to be targeted in a war having other initiators.
One 2017 study found that democracies are no less likely to settle border disputes peacefully than non-democracies.
Internal violence and genocide
Most of this article discusses research on relations between states. However, there is also evidence that democracies have less internal systematic violence. For instance, one study finds that the most democratic and the most authoritarian states have few civil wars, and intermediate regimes the most. The probability for a civil war is also increased by political change, regardless whether toward greater democracy or greater autocracy. Intermediate regimes continue to be the most prone to civil war, regardless of the time since the political change. In the long run, since intermediate regimes are less stable than autocracies, which in turn are less stable than democracies, durable democracy is the most probable end-point of the process of democratization. Abadie's study finds that the most democratic nations have the least terrorism. Harff finds that genocide and politicide are rare in democracies. Rummel finds that the more democratic a regime, the less its democide. He finds that democide has killed six times as many people as battles.
Davenport and Armstrong II list several other studies and states: "Repeatedly, democratic political systems have been found to decrease political bans, censorship, torture, disappearances and mass killing, doing so in a linear fashion across diverse measurements, methodologies, time periods, countries, and contexts." It concludes: "Across measures and methodological techniques, it is found that below a certain level, democracy has no impact on human rights violations, but above this level democracy influences repression in a negative and roughly linear manner." They also state that thirty years worth of statistical research has revealed that only two variables decrease human rights violations: political democracy and economic development.
Abulof and Goldman add a caveat, focusing on the contemporary Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Statistically, a MENA democracy makes a country more prone to both the onset and incidence of civil war, and the more democratic a MENA state is, the more likely it is to experience violent intrastate strife. Moreover, anocracies do not seem to be predisposed to civil war, either worldwide or in MENA. Looking for causality beyond correlation, they suggest that democracy's pacifying effect is partly mediated through societal subscription to self-determination and popular sovereignty. This may turn “democratizing nationalism” to a long-term prerequisite, not just an immediate hindrance, to peace and democracy.
Explanations
These theories have traditionally been categorized into two groups: explanations that focus on democratic norms and explanations that focus on democratic political structures. They usually are meant to be explanations for little violence between democracies, not for a low level of internal violence in democracies.
Several of these mechanisms may also apply to countries of similar systems. The book Never at War finds evidence that the oligarchic republics common in ancient Greece and medieval and early modern Europe hardly ever made war on one another. One example is the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, in which the Sejm resisted and vetoed most royal proposals for war, like those of Władysław IV Vasa.
Democratic norms
One example from the first group is that liberal democratic culture may make the leaders accustomed to negotiation and compromise. Policy makers who have built their careers within a political culture of non-violent accommodations with domestic rivals, unlike autocrats who typically hold power through the threat of coercion, will be inclined toward non-violent methods abroad. Another that a belief in human rights may make people in democracies reluctant to go to war, especially against other democracies. The decline in colonialism, also by democracies, may be related to a change in perception of non-European peoples and their rights.
Bruce Russett also argues that the democratic culture affects the way leaders resolve conflicts. In addition, he holds that a social norm emerged toward the end of the nineteenth century; that democracies should not fight each other, which strengthened when the democratic culture and the degree of democracy increased, for example by widening the franchise. Increasing democratic stability allowed partners in foreign affairs to perceive a nation as reliably democratic. The alliances between democracies during the two World Wars and the Cold War also strengthened the norms. He sees less effective traces of this norm in Greek antiquity.
Hans Köchler relates the question of transnational democracy to empowering the individual citizen by involving him, through procedures of direct democracy, in a country's international affairs, and he calls for the restructuring of the United Nations Organization according to democratic norms. He refers in particular to the Swiss practice of participatory democracy.
Mousseau argues that it is market-oriented development that creates the norms and values that explain both democracy and the peace. In less developed countries individuals often depend on social networks that impose conformity to in-group norms and beliefs, and loyalty to group leaders. When jobs are plentiful on the market, in contrast, as in market-oriented developed countries, individuals depend on a strong state that enforces contracts equally. Cognitive routines emerge of abiding by state law rather than group leaders, and, as in contracts, tolerating differences among individuals. Voters in marketplace democracies thus accept only impartial ‘liberal’ governments, and constrain leaders to pursue their interests in securing equal access to global markets and in resisting those who distort such access with force. Marketplace democracies thus share common foreign policy interests in the supremacy—and predictability—of international law over brute power politics, and equal and open global trade over closed trade and imperial preferences. When disputes do originate between marketplace democracies, they are less likely than others to escalate to violence because both states, even the stronger one, perceive greater long-term interests in the supremacy of law over power politics.
Braumoeller argues that liberal norms of conflict resolution vary because liberalism takes many forms. By examining survey results from the newly independent states of the former Soviet Union, the author demonstrates that liberalism in that region bears a stronger resemblance to 19th-century liberal nationalism than to the sort of universalist, Wilsonian liberalism described by democratic peace theorists, and that, as a result, liberals in the region are more, not less, aggressive than non-liberals.
A 2013 study by Jessica Weeks and Michael Tomz found through survey experiments that the public was less supportive of war in cases involving fellow democracies.
Democratic political structures
The case for institutional constraints goes back to Immanuel Kant, who wrote:
Democracy thus gives influence to those most likely to be killed or wounded in wars, and their relatives and friends (and to those who pay the bulk of the war taxes.) This monadic theory must, however, explain why democracies do attack non-democratic states. One explanation is that these democracies were threatened or otherwise were provoked by the non-democratic states. Doyle argued that the absence of a monadic peace is only to be expected: the same ideologies that cause liberal states to be at peace with each other inspire idealistic wars with the illiberal, whether to defend oppressed foreign minorities or avenge countrymen settled abroad. Doyle also notes liberal states do conduct covert operations against each other; the covert nature of the operation, however, prevents the publicity otherwise characteristic of a free state from applying to the question.
Charles Lipson argues that four factors common in democracies give them a "contracting advantage" that leads to a dyadic democratic peace: (1) Greater transparency, (2) Greater continuity, (3) Electoral incentives for leaders to keep promises, and (4) Constitutional governance.
Studies show that democratic states are more likely than autocratic states to win the wars that they start. One explanation is that democracies, for internal political and economic reasons, have greater resources. This might mean that democratic leaders are unlikely to select other democratic states as targets because they perceive them to be particularly formidable opponents. One study finds that interstate wars have important impacts on the fate of political regimes, and that the probability that a political leader will fall from power in the wake of a lost war is particularly high in democratic states.
As described by Gelpi and Griesdorf, several studies have argued that liberal leaders face institutionalized constraints that impede their capacity to mobilize the state's resources for war without the consent of a broad spectrum of interests. Survey results that compare the attitudes of citizens and elites in the Soviet successor states are consistent with this argument. Moreover, these constraints are readily apparent to other states and cannot be manipulated by leaders. Thus, democracies send credible signals to other states of an aversion to using force. These signals allow democratic states to avoid conflicts with one another, but they may attract aggression from nondemocratic states. Democracies may be pressured to respond to such aggression—perhaps even preemptively—through the use of force. Also as described by Gelpi and Griesdorf, studies have argued that when democratic leaders do choose to escalate international crises, their threats are taken as highly credible, since there must be a relatively large public opinion for these actions. In disputes between liberal states, the credibility of their bargaining signals allows them to negotiate a peaceful settlement before mobilization. A 2017 study by Jeff Carter found evidence that democratic states are slower to mobilize for war.
An explanation based on game theory similar to the last two above is that the participation of the public and the open debate send clear and reliable information regarding the intentions of democracies to other states. In contrast, it is difficult to know the intentions of nondemocratic leaders, what effect concessions will have, and if promises will be kept. Thus there will be mistrust and unwillingness to make concessions if at least one of the parties in a dispute is a nondemocracy.
The risk factors for certain types of state have, however, changed since Kant's time. In the quote above, Kant points to the lack of popular support for war – first that the populace will directly or indirectly suffer in the event of war – as a reason why republics will not tend to go to war. The number of American troops killed or maimed versus the number of Iraqi soldiers and civilians maimed and killed in the American-Iraqi conflict is indicative. This may explain the relatively great willingness of democratic states to attack weak opponents: the Iraq war was, initially at least, highly popular in the United States. The case of the Vietnam War might, nonetheless, indicate a tipping point where publics may no longer accept continuing attrition of their soldiers (even while remaining relatively indifferent to the much higher loss of life on the part of the populations attacked).
Coleman uses economic cost-benefit analysis to reach conclusions similar to Kant's. Coleman examines the polar cases of autocracy and liberal democracy. In both cases, the costs of war are assumed to be borne by the people. In autocracy, the autocrat receives the entire benefits of war, while in a liberal democracy the benefits are dispersed among the people. Since the net benefit to an autocrat exceeds the net benefit to a citizen of a liberal democracy, the autocrat is more likely to go to war. The disparity of benefits and costs can be so high that an autocrat can launch a welfare-destroying war when his net benefit exceeds the total cost of war. Contrarily, the net benefit of the same war to an individual in a liberal democracy can be negative so that he would not choose to go to war. This disincentive to war is increased between liberal democracies through their establishment of linkages, political and economic, that further raise the costs of war between them. Therefore, liberal democracies are less likely to go war, especially against each other. Coleman further distinguishes between offensive and defensive wars and finds that liberal democracies are less likely to fight defensive wars that may have already begun due to excessive discounting of future costs.
Brad LeVeck and Neil Narang argue that democratic states are less likely to produce decision-making errors in crises due to a larger and more diverse set of actors who are involved in the foreign policy decision-making process.
Using selectorate theory, Bruce Bueno de Mesquita, James D. Morrow, Randolph M. Siverson and Alastair Smith argue that the democratic peace stems in part from the fact that democratic leaders sustain their power through large winning coalitions, which means that democratic leaders devote more resources to war, have an advantage in war, and choose wars that they are highly likely to win. These leads democratic states to avoid one another, but war with weak non-democratic states.
Audience costs
A prominent rational choice argument for the democratic peace is that democracies carry greater audience costs than authoritarian states, which makes them better at signaling their intentions in interstate disputes. Arguments regarding the credibility of democratic states in disputes has been subject to debate among international relations scholars. Two studies from 2001, using the MID and ICB datasets, provided empirical support for the notion that democracies were more likely to issue effective threats. However, a 2012 study by Alexander B. Downes and Todd S. Sechser found that existing datasets were not suitable to draw any conclusions as to whether democratic states issued more effective threats. They constructed their own dataset specifically for interstate military threats and outcomes, which found no relationship between regime type and effective threats. A 2017 study which recoded flaws in the MID dataset ultimately conclude, "that there are no regime-based differences in dispute reciprocation, and prior findings may be based largely on poorly coded data." Other scholars have disputed the democratic credibility argument, questioning its causal logic and empirical validity. Research by Jessica Weeks argued that some authoritarian regime types have similar audience costs as in democratic states.
A 2021 study found that Americans perceived democracies to be more likely to back down in crises, which contradicts the expectations of the audience costs literature.
Criticism
There are several logically distinguishable classes of criticism. They usually apply to no wars or few MIDs between democracies, not to little systematic violence in established democracies. In addition, there have been a number of wars between democracies. The 1987–1989 JVP insurrection in Sri Lanka is an example in which politicide was committed by a democratic regime, resulting in the deaths of at least 13,000 and 30,000 suspected JVP members or alleged supporters.
Statistical significance
One study has argued that there have been as many wars between democracies as one would expect between any other couple of states. However, its authors include wars between young and dubious democracies, and very small wars.
Others state that, although there may be some evidence for democratic peace, the data sample or the time span may be too small to assess any definitive conclusions. For example, Gowa finds evidence for democratic peace to be insignificant before 1939, because of the too small number of democracies, and offers an alternate realist explanation for the following period. Gowa's use of statistics has been criticized, with several other studies and reviews finding different or opposing results. However, this can be seen as the longest-lasting criticism to the theory; as noted earlier, also some supporters agree that the statistical sample for assessing its validity is limited or scarce, at least if only full-scale wars are considered.
According to one study, which uses a rather restrictive definition of democracy and war, there were no wars between jointly democratic couples of states in the period from 1816 to 1992. Assuming a purely random distribution of wars between states, regardless of their democratic character, the predicted number of conflicts between democracies would be around ten. So, Ray argues that the evidence is statistically significant, but that it is still conceivable that, in the future, even a small number of inter-democratic wars would cancel out such evidence.
Peace comes before democracy
The territorial peace theory argues that peace leads to democracy more than democracy leads to peace. This argument is supported by historical studies showing that peace almost always comes before democracy and that states do not develop democracy until all border disputes have been settled. These studies indicate that there is strong evidence that peace causes democracy but little evidence that democracy causes peace.
The hypothesis that peace causes democracy is supported by psychological and cultural theories. Christian Welzel's human empowerment theory posits that existential security leads to emancipative cultural values and support for a democratic political organization. This also follows from the so-called regality theory based on evolutionary psychology.
The territorial peace theory explains why countries in conflict with their neighbor countries are unlikely to develop democracy. The democratic peace theory is more relevant for peace between non-neighbor countries and for relations between countries that are already at peace with each other.
Third factors causing both democracy and peace
Several other theories argue that omitted variables explain both peace and democracy.
Variables that may explain both democracy and peace include institutions, commerce, interdependence, alliances, US world dominance and political stability.
These theories are further explained under Other explanations.
Wars against non-democracies
Several studies fail to confirm that democracies are less likely to wage war than autocracies if wars against non-democracies are included.
Signalling
The notion that democracies can signal intentions more credibly has been disputed.
Criticism of definitions, methodology and data
Some authors criticize the definition of democracy by arguing that states continually reinterpret other states' regime types as a consequence of their own objective interests and motives, such as economic and security concerns. For example, one study reports that Germany was considered a democratic state by Western opinion leaders at the end of the 19th century; yet in the years preceding World War I, when its relations with the United States, France and Britain started deteriorating, Germany was gradually reinterpreted as an autocratic state, in absence of any actual regime change. Shimmin moves a similar criticism regarding the western perception of Milosevic's Serbia between 1989 and 1999. Rummel replies to this criticism by stating that, in general, studies on democratic peace do not focus on other countries' perceptions of democracy; and in the specific case of Serbia, by arguing that the limited credit accorded by western democracies to Milosevic in the early 1990s did not amount to a recognition of democracy, but only to the perception that possible alternative leaders could be even worse.
Some democratic peace researchers have been criticized for post hoc reclassifying some specific conflicts as non-wars or political systems as non-democracies without checking and correcting the whole data set used similarly. Supporters and opponents of the democratic peace agree that this is bad use of statistics, even if a plausible case can be made for the correction. A military affairs columnist of the newspaper Asia Times has summarized the above criticism in a journalist's fashion describing the theory as subject to the no true Scotsman problem: exceptions are explained away as not being between "real" democracies or "real" wars.
Some democratic peace researchers require that the executive result from a substantively contested election. This may be a restrictive definition: For example, the National Archives of the United States notes that "For all intents and purposes, George Washington was unopposed for election as President, both in 1789 and 1792". (Under the original provisions for the Electoral College, there was no distinction between votes for president and Vice-president: each elector was required to vote for two distinct candidates, with the runner-up to be vice-president. Every elector cast one of his votes for Washington, John Adams received a majority of the other votes; there were several other candidates: so the election for vice president was contested.)
Spiro made several other criticisms of the statistical methods used. Russett and a series of papers described by Ray responded to this, for example with different methodology.
Sometimes the datasets used have also been criticized. For example, some authors have criticized the Correlates of War data for not including civilian deaths in the battle deaths count, especially in civil wars. Cohen and Weeks argue that most fishing disputes, which include no deaths and generally very limited threats of violence, should be excluded even from the list of military disputes. Gleditsch made several criticisms to the Correlates of War data set, and produced a revised set of data. Maoz and Russett made several criticisms to the Polity I and II data sets, which have mostly been addressed in later versions.
The most comprehensive critique points out that "democracy" is rarely defined, never refers to substantive democracy, is unclear about causation, has been refuted in more than 100 studies, fails to account for some 200 deviant cases, and has been promoted ideologically to justify one country seeking to expand democracy abroad. Most studies treat the complex concept of "democracy" as a bivariate variable rather than attempting to dimensionalize the concept. Studies also fail to take into account the fact that there are dozens of types of democracy, so the results are meaningless unless articulated to a particular type of democracy or claimed to be true for all types, such as consociational or economic democracy, with disparate datasets.
Microfoundations
Recent work into the democratic norms explanations shows that the microfoundations on which this explanation rest do not find empirical support. Within most earlier studies, the presence of liberal norms in democratic societies and their subsequent influence on the willingness to wage war was merely assumed, never measured. Moreover, it was never investigated whether or not these norms are absent within other regime-types. Two recent studies measured the presence of liberal norms and investigated the assumed effect of these norms on the willingness to wage war. The results of both studies show that liberal democratic norms are not only present within liberal democracies, but also within other regime-types. Moreover, these norms are not of influence on the willingness to attack another state during an interstate conflict at the brink of war.
Sebastian Rosato argues that democratic peace theory makes several false assumptions. Firstly, it assumes that democratic populaces will react negatively to the costs of war upon them. However, in modern wars casualties tend to be fairly low and soldiers are largely volunteers, meaning they accept the risks of fighting, so their families and friends, whom the cost of their death falls on heaviest, are less likely to criticise the government than the families and friends of conscripted soldiers. Secondly, democratic peace theory ignores the role of nationalism; democratic populaces are just as likely to be influenced by nationalist sentiment as anyone else and if a democratic populace believes that a war is necessary for their nation, the populace will support it. Lastly, democratic leaders are as likely to guide public opinion as they are to follow it. Democratic leaders are often aware of the power of nationalist sentiment and thus seek to encourage it when it comes to war, arguing that war is necessary to defend or spread the nation's way of life. Democratic leaders may even have an advatange over authoritarians in this regard, as they can be seen as more legitimately representative. Rosato argues that this does not just apply to wars of defence but also aggression; democratic populaces can be roused by nationalist feelings to support aggressive wars if they are seen as in the national interest.
Rosato also argues that authoritarian leaders have a reduced incentive to go to war because civilian control over the military is less guaranteed in autocracies; there is always the risk the military could subvert civilian leadership and a war which results in defeat could swiftly result in a coup. Even military dictators run the risk of internal dissent within the armed forces. Autocratic leaders in general also risk unleashing political and social turmoil that could destroy them if they go to war. Conversely, bellicose democratic leaders can rely on the acknowledgement of the legitimacy of the democratic process, as pacifist actors in democracies will need to respect the legitimacy of a democratically elected government. If pro-war groups can capture the organs of the state in a democracy legitimately, then anti-war groups will have little means of opposing them outside of extra-constitutional means, which would likely backfire and cause the anti-war groups to lose legitimacy.
A 2017 study found that public opinion in China showed the same reluctance in going to war as publics in democratic states, which suggests that publics in democratic states are not generally more opposed to war than publics in authoritarian states.
Limited consequences
The peacefulness may have various limitations and qualifiers and may not actually mean very much in the real world.
Democratic peace researchers do in general not count as wars conflicts which do not kill a thousand on the battlefield; thus they exclude for example the bloodless Cod Wars. However, research has also found a peacefulness between democracies when looking at lesser conflicts.
Liberal democracies have less of these wars than other states after 1945. This might be related to changes in the perception of non-European peoples, as embodied in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Related to this is the human rights violations committed against native people, sometimes by liberal democracies. One response is that many of the worst crimes were committed by nondemocracies, like in the European colonies before the nineteenth century, in King Leopold II of Belgium's privately owned Congo Free State, and in Joseph Stalin's Soviet Union. The United Kingdom abolished slavery in British territory in 1833, immediately after the Reform Act 1832 had significantly enlarged the franchise. (Of course, the abolition of the slave trade had been enacted in 1807; and many DPT supporters would deny that the UK was a liberal democracy in 1833 when examining interstate wars.)
Hermann and Kegley, Jr. argue that interventions between democracies are more likely to happen than projected by an expected model. They further argue that democracies are more likely to intervene in other liberal states than against countries that are non-democracies. Finally, they argue that these interventions between democracies have been increasing over time and that the world can expect more of these interventions in the future. The methodology used has been criticized and more recent studies have found opposing results.
Rummel argues that the continuing increase in democracy worldwide will soon lead to an end to wars and democide, possibly around or even before the middle of this century. The fall of Communism and the increase in the number of democratic states were accompanied by a sudden and dramatic decline in total warfare, interstate wars, ethnic wars, revolutionary wars, and the number of refugees and displaced persons. One report claims that the two main causes of this decline in warfare are the end of the Cold War itself and decolonization; but also claims that the three Kantian factors have contributed materially.
Historical periods
Economic historians Joel Mokyr and Hans-Joachim Voth argue that democratic states may have been more vulnerable to conquest because the rulers in those states were too heavily constrained. Absolutist rulers in other states could however operate more freely.
Covert operations and proxy wars
Critics of the democratic peace theory have pointed to covert operations and military interventions between democracies, and argued that these interventions indicate that democracies do not necessarily trust and respect each other. Alexander B. Downes and Lary Lauren Lilley argue that covert operations conducted by democratic states has different implications depending on which version of democratic peace theory one adheres to. They argue that covert operations are inconsistent with variants of democratic peace theory that emphasize norms and checks-and-balances, but that covert operations may be more consistent with versions of democratic peace theory that rely on selectorate theory's notion of large versus small winning coalitions.
A 2015 study by Michael Poznansky reconciles findings that democracies engage in covert interventions against one another by arguing that democracies do so when they expect another state's democratic character to break down or decay.
A 2022 study found that democracies rarely wage proxy wars against fellow democracies: "strong democratic institutions prevent elected leaders from engaging in proxy war against sister regimes, and embargo violations tend to occur when democratic institutions are weak."
Information manipulation
Chaim Kaufmann argues that the lead-up to the Iraq War demonstrates that constraints on war in democracies may hinge on whether democratic governments can control and manipulate information, and suppress intelligence findings that run counter to administration rhetoric, as well as whether there is a strong opposition party and powerful media.
Coup by provoking a war
Many democracies become non-democratic by war, as being aggressed or as aggressor (quickly after a coup), sometimes the coup leader worked to provoke that war.
Carl Schmitt wrote on how to overrule a Constitution: "Sovereign is he who decides on the exception." Schmitt, again on the need for internal (and foreign) enemies because they are useful to persuade the people not to trust anyone more than the Leader: "As long as the state is a political entity this requirement for internal peace compels it in critical situations to decide also upon the domestic enemy. Every state provides, therefore, some kind of formula for the declaration of an internal enemy." Whatever opposition will be pictured and intended as the actual foreign enemy's puppet.
Other explanations
Political similarity
One general criticism motivating research of different explanations is that actually the theory cannot claim that "democracy causes peace", because the evidence for democracies being, in general, more peaceful is very slight or non existent; it only can support the claim that "joint democracy causes peace". According to Rosato, this casts doubts on whether democracy is actually the cause because, if so, a monadic effect would be expected.
Perhaps the simplest explanation to such perceived anomaly (but not the one the Realist Rosato prefers, see the section on Realist explanations below) is that democracies are not peaceful to each other because they are democratic, but rather because they are similar. This line of thought started with several independent observations of an "Autocratic Peace" effect, a reduced probability of war (obviously no author claims its absence) between states which are both non-democratic, or both highly so. This has led to the hypothesis that democratic peace emerges as a particular case when analyzing a subset of states which are, in fact, similar. Or, that similarity in general does not solely affect the probability of war, but only coherence of strong political regimes such as full democracies and stark autocracies.
Autocratic peace and the explanation based on political similarity is a relatively recent development, and opinions about its value are varied. Henderson builds a model considering political similarity, geographic distance and economic interdependence as its main variables, and concludes that democratic peace is a statistical artifact which disappears when the above variables are taken into account. Werner finds a conflict reducing effect from political similarity in general, but with democratic dyads being particularly peaceful, and noting some differences in behavior between democratic and autocratic dyads with respect to alliances and power evaluation. Beck, King, and Zeng use neural networks to show two distinct low probability zones, corresponding to high democracy and high autocracy. Petersen uses a different statistical model and finds that autocratic peace is not statistically significant, and that the effect attributed to similarity is mostly driven by the pacifying effect of joint democracy. Ray similarly disputes the weight of the argument on logical grounds, claiming that statistical analysis on "political similarity" uses a main variable which is an extension of "joint democracy" by linguistic redefinition, and so it is expected that the war reducing effects are carried on in the new analysis. Bennett builds a direct statistical model based on a triadic classification of states into "democratic", "autocratic" and "mixed". He finds that autocratic dyads have a 35% reduced chance of going into any type of armed conflict with respect to a reference mixed dyad. Democratic dyads have a 55% reduced chance. This effect gets stronger when looking at more severe conflicts; for wars (more than 1000 battle deaths), he estimates democratic dyads to have an 82% lower risk than autocratic dyads. He concludes that autocratic peace exists, but democratic peace is clearly stronger. However, he finds no relevant pacifying effect of political similarity, except at the extremes of the scale.
To summarize a rather complex picture, there are no less than four possible stances on the value of this criticism:
Political similarity, plus some complementary variables, explains everything. Democratic peace is a statistical artifact. Henderson subscribes to this view.
Political similarity has a pacifying effect, but democracy makes it stronger. Werner would probably subscribe to this view.
Political similarity in general has little or no effect, except at the extremes of the democracy-autocracy scale: a democratic peace and an autocratic peace exist separately, with the first one being stronger, and may have different explanations. Bennett holds this view, and Kinsella mentions this as a possibility
Political similarity has little or no effect and there is no evidence for autocratic peace. Petersen and Ray are among defendants of this view.
Economic factors
The capitalist peace, or capitalist peace theory, posits that according to a given criteria for economic development (capitalism), developed economies have not engaged in war with each other, and rarely enter into low-level disputes. These theories have been proposed as an explanation for the democratic peace by accounting for both democracy and the peace among democratic nations. The exact nature of the causality depends upon both the proposed variable and the measure of the indicator for the concept used.
A majority of researchers on the determinants of democracy agree that economic development is a primary factor which allows the formation of a stable and healthy democracy. Thus, some researchers have argued that economic development also plays a factor in the establishment of peace.
Mousseau argues that a culture of contracting in advanced market-oriented economies may cause both democracy and peace. These studies indicate that democracy, alone, is an unlikely cause of the democratic peace. A low level of market-oriented economic development may hinder development of liberal institutions and values. Hegre and Souva confirmed these expectations. Mousseau finds that democracy is a significant factor only when both democracies have levels of economic development well above the global median. In fact, the poorest 21% of the democracies studied, and the poorest 4–5% of current democracies, are significantly likely than other kinds of countries to fight each other. Mousseau, Hegre, and Oneal confirm that if at least one of the democracies involved has a very low level of economic development, democracy is ineffective in preventing war; however, they find that when also controlling for trade, 91% of all the democratic pairs had high enough development for the pacifying effect of democracy to be important during the 1885–1992 period and all in 1992. The difference in results of these two studies may be due to sampling: Mousseau's 2005 study observed only neighboring states where poor countries actually can fight each other. In fact, fully 89% of militarized conflicts between less developed countries from 1920 and 2000 were among directly contiguous neighbors. He argues that it is not likely that the results can be explained by trade: Because developed states have large economies, they do not have high levels of trade interdependence. In fact, the correlation of developed democracy with trade interdependence is a scant 0.06 (Pearson's r – considered substantively no correlation by statisticians.)
Both World Wars were fought between countries which can be considered economically developed. Mousseau argues that both Germany and Japan – like the USSR during the Cold War and Saudi Arabia today – had state-managed economies and thus lacked his market norms. Hegre finds that democracy is correlated with civil peace only for developed countries, and for countries with high levels of literacy. Conversely, the risk of civil war decreases with development only for democratic countries.
Gartzke argues that economic freedom (a quite different concept from Mousseau's market norms) or financial dependence explains the developed democratic peace, and these countries may be weak on these dimensions too. Rummel criticizes Gartzke's methodology and argues that his results are invalid.
Allan Dafoe, John R. Oneal, and Bruce Russett have challenged Gartzke and Mousseau's research.
Several studies find that democracy, more trade causing greater economic interdependence, and membership in more intergovernmental organizations reduce the risk of war. This is often called the Kantian peace theory since it is similar to Kant's earlier theory about a perpetual peace; it is often also called "liberal peace" theory, especially when one focuses on the effects of trade and democracy. (The theory that free trade can cause peace is quite old and referred to as Cobdenism.) Many researchers agree that these variables positively affect each other but each has a separate pacifying effect. For example, in countries exchanging a substantial amount of trade, economic interest groups may exist that oppose a reciprocal disruptive war, but in democracy such groups may have more power, and the political leaders be more likely to accept their requests. Weede argues that the pacifying effect of free trade and economic interdependence may be more important than that of democracy, because the former affects peace both directly and indirectly, by producing economic development and ultimately, democracy. Weede also lists some other authors supporting this view. However, some recent studies find no effect from trade but only from democracy.
None of the authors listed argues that free trade alone causes peace. Even so, the issue of whether free trade or democracy is more important in maintaining peace may have potentially significant practical consequences, for example on evaluating the effectiveness of applying economic sanctions and restrictions to autocratic countries.
It was Michael Doyle who reintroduced Kant's three articles into democratic peace theory. He argued that a pacific union of liberal states has been growing for the past two centuries. He denies that a pair of states will be peaceful simply because they are both liberal democracies; if that were enough, liberal states would not be aggressive towards weak non-liberal states (as the history of American relations with Mexico shows they are). Rather, liberal democracy is a necessary condition for international organization and hospitality (which are Kant's other two articles)—and all three are sufficient to produce peace. Other Kantians have not repeated Doyle's argument that all three in the triad must be present, instead stating that all three reduce the risk of war.
Immanuel Wallerstein has argued that it is the global capitalist system that creates shared interests among the dominant parties, thus inhibiting potentially harmful belligerence.
Toni Negri and Michael Hardt take a similar stance, arguing that the intertwined network of interests in the global capitalism leads to the decline of individual nation states, and the rise of a global Empire which has no outside, and no external enemies. As a result, they write, "The era of imperialist, interimperialist, and anti-imperialist wars is over. (...) we have entered the era of minor and internal conflicts. Every imperial war is a civil war, a police action".
Other explanations
Many studies supporting the theory have controlled for many possible alternative causes of the peace. Examples of factors controlled for are geographic distance, geographic contiguity, power status, alliance ties, militarization, economic wealth and economic growth, power ratio, and political stability. These studies have often found very different results depending on methodology and included variables, which has caused criticism. DPT does not state democracy is the only thing affecting the risk of military conflict. Many of the mentioned studies have found that other factors are also important.
Several studies have also controlled for the possibility of reverse causality from peace to democracy. For example, one study supports the theory of simultaneous causation, finding that dyads involved in wars are likely to experience a decrease in joint democracy, which in turn increases the probability of further war. So they argue that disputes between democratizing or democratic states should be resolved externally at a very early stage, in order to stabilize the system. Another study finds that peace does not spread democracy, but spreading democracy is likely to spread peace. A different kind of reverse causation lies in the suggestion that impending war could destroy or decrease democracy, because the preparation for war might include political restrictions, which may be the cause for the findings of democratic peace. However, this hypothesis has been statistically tested in a study whose authors find, depending on the definition of the pre-war period, no such effect or a very slight one. So, they find this explanation unlikely. This explanation would predict a monadic effect, although weaker than the dyadic one.
Weart argues that the peacefulness appears and disappears rapidly when democracy appears and disappears. This in his view makes it unlikely that variables that change more slowly are the explanation. Weart, however, has been criticized for not offering any quantitative analysis supporting his claims.
Wars tend very strongly to be between neighboring states. Gleditsch showed that the average distance between democracies is about 8000 miles, the same as the average distance between all states. He believes that the effect of distance in preventing war, modified by the democratic peace, explains the incidence of war as fully as it can be explained.
A 2020 study in International Organization found that it was not democracy per se that reduces the prospects for conflict, but whether women's suffrage was ensured. The study argued, "women's more pacific preferences generate a dyadic democratic peace (i.e., between democracies), as well as a monadic peace."
According to Azar Gat's War in Human Civilization, there are several related and independent factors that contribute to democratic societies being more peaceful than other forms of governments:
Wealth and comfort: Increased prosperity in democratic societies has been associated with peace because civilians are less willing to endure hardship of war and military service due to a more luxurious life at home than in pre-modern times. Increased wealth has worked to decrease war through comfort.
Metropolitan service society: The majority of army recruits come from the countryside or factory workers. Many believe that these types of people are suited for war. But as technology progressed the army turned more towards advanced services in information that rely more on computerized data which urbanized people are recruited more for this service.
Sexual revolution: The availability of sex due to the pill and women joining the labor market could be another factor that has led to less enthusiasm for men to go to war. Young men are more reluctant leave behind the pleasures of life for the rigors and chastity of the army.
Fewer young males: There is greater life expectancy which leads to fewer young males. Young males are the most aggressive and the ones that join the army the most. With fewer younger males in developed societies could help explain more pacificity.
Fewer children per family (lower fertility rate): During pre modern times it was always hard for families to lose a child but in modern times it has become more difficult due to more families having only one or two children. It has become even harder for parents to risk the loss of a child in war. However, Gat recognizes that this argument is a difficult one because during pre modern times the life expectancy was not high for children and bigger families were necessary.
Women's franchise: Women are less overtly aggressive than men. Therefore, women are less inclined to serious violence and do not support it as much as men do. In liberal democracies women have been able to influence the government by getting elected. Electing more women could have an effect on whether liberal democracies take a more aggressive approach on certain issues.
Nuclear weapons: Nuclear weapons could be the reason for not having a great power war. Many believe that a nuclear war would result in mutually assured destruction (MAD) which means that both countries involved in a nuclear war have the ability to strike the other until both sides are wiped out. This results in countries not wanting to strike the other for fear of being wiped out.
Realist explanations
Supporters of realism in international relations in general argue that not democracy or its absence, but considerations and evaluations of power, cause peace or war. Specifically, many realist critics claim that the effect ascribed to democratic, or liberal, peace, is in fact due to alliance ties between democratic states which in turn are caused, one way or another, by realist factors.
For example, Farber and Gowa find evidence for peace between democracies to be statistically significant only in the period from 1945 on, and consider such peace an artifact of the Cold War, when the threat from the communist states forced democracies to ally with one another. Mearsheimer offers a similar analysis of the Anglo-American peace before 1945, caused by the German threat. Spiro finds several instances of wars between democracies, arguing that evidence in favor of the theory might be not so vast as other authors report, and claims that the remaining evidence consists of peace between allied states with shared objectives. He acknowledges that democratic states might have a somewhat greater tendency to ally with one another, and regards this as the only real effect of democratic peace. Rosato argues that most of the significant evidence for democratic peace has been observed after World War II; and that it has happened within a broad alliance, which can be identified with NATO and its satellite nations, imposed and maintained by American dominance as part of Pax Americana. One of the main points in Rosato's argument is that, although never engaged in open war with another liberal democracy during the Cold War, the United States intervened openly or covertly in the political affairs of democratic states several times, for example in the Chilean coup of 1973, the Operation Ajax (1953 coup in Iran) and Operation PBSuccess (1954 coup in Guatemala); in Rosato's view, these interventions show the United States' determination to maintain an "imperial peace".
The most direct counter arguments to such criticisms have been studies finding peace between democracies to be significant even when controlling for "common interests" as reflected in alliance ties. Regarding specific issues, Ray objects that explanations based on the Cold War should predict that the Communist bloc would be at peace within itself also, but exceptions include the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan, the Cambodian-Vietnamese War, and the Sino-Vietnamese War. Ray also argues that the external threat did not prevent conflicts in the Western bloc when at least one of the involved states was a nondemocracy, such as the Turkish Invasion of Cyprus (against Greek Junta supported Cypriot Greeks), the Falklands War, and the Football War. Also, one study notes that the explanation "goes increasingly stale as the post-Cold War world accumulates an increasing number of peaceful dyad-years between democracies". Rosato's argument about American dominance has also been criticized for not giving supporting statistical evidence.
Some realist authors also criticize in detail the explanations first by supporters of democratic peace, pointing to supposed inconsistencies or weaknesses.
Rosato criticizes most explanations to how democracy might cause peace. Arguments based on normative constraints, he argues, are not consistent with the fact that democracies do go to war no less than other states, thus violating norms preventing war; for the same reason he refutes arguments based on the importance of public opinion. Regarding explanations based on greater accountability of leaders, he finds that historically autocratic leaders have been removed or punished more often than democratic leaders when they get involved in costly wars. Finally, he also criticizes the arguments that democracies treat each other with trust and respect even during crises; and that democracy might be slow to mobilize its composite and diverse groups and opinions, hindering the start of a war, drawing support from other authors. Another realist, Layne, analyzes the crises and brinkmanship that took place between non-allied democratic great powers, during the relatively brief period when such existed. He finds no evidence either of institutional or cultural constraints against war; indeed, there was popular sentiment in favor of war on both sides. Instead, in all cases, one side concluded that it could not afford to risk that war at that time, and made the necessary concessions.
Rosato's objections have been criticized for claimed logical and methodological errors, and for being contradicted by existing statistical research. Russett replies to Layne by re-examining some of the crises studied in his article, and reaching different conclusions; Russett argues that perceptions of democracy prevented escalation, or played a major role in doing so. Also, a recent study finds that, while in general the outcome of international disputes is highly influenced by the contenders' relative military strength, this is not true if both contenders are democratic states; in this case the authors find the outcome of the crisis to be independent of the military capabilities of contenders, which is contrary to realist expectations. Finally, both the realist criticisms here described ignore new possible explanations, like the game-theoretic one discussed below.
Nuclear deterrent
A different kind of realist criticism stresses the role of nuclear weapons in maintaining peace. In realist terms, this means that, in the case of disputes between nuclear powers, respective evaluation of power might be irrelevant because of Mutual assured destruction preventing both sides from foreseeing what could be reasonably called a "victory". The 1999 Kargil War between India and Pakistan has been cited as a counterexample to this argument, though this was a small, regional conflict and the threat of WMDs being used contributed to its de-escalation.
Some supporters of the democratic peace do not deny that realist factors are also important. Research supporting the theory has also shown that factors such as alliance ties and major power status influence interstate conflict behavior.
Statistical difficulties due to newness of democracy
One problem with the research on wars is that, as the Realist John Mearsheimer put it, "democracies have been few in number over the past two centuries, and thus there have been few opportunities where democracies were in a position to fight one another". Democracies have been very rare until recently. Even looser definitions of democracy, such as Doyle's, find only a dozen democracies before the late nineteenth century, and many of them short-lived or with limited franchise. Freedom House finds no independent state with universal suffrage in 1900.
Wayman, a supporter of the theory, states that "If we rely solely on whether there has been an inter-democratic war, it is going to take many more decades of peace to build our confidence in the stability of the democratic peace".
Studying lesser conflicts
Many researchers have reacted to this limitation by studying lesser conflicts instead, since they have been far more common. There have been many more MIDs than wars; the Correlates of War Project counts several thousand during the last two centuries. A review lists many studies that have reported that democratic pairs of states are less likely to be involved in MIDs than other pairs of states.
Another study finds that after both states have become democratic, there is a decreasing probability for MIDs within a year and this decreases almost to zero within five years.
When examining the inter-liberal MIDs in more detail, one study finds that they are less likely to involve third parties, and that the target of the hostility is less likely to reciprocate, if the target reciprocates the response is usually proportional to the provocation, and the disputes are less likely to cause any loss of life. The most common action was "Seizure of Material or Personnel".
Studies find that the probability that disputes between states will be resolved peacefully is positively affected by the degree of democracy exhibited by the lesser democratic state involved in that dispute. Disputes between democratic states are significantly shorter than disputes involving at least one undemocratic state. Democratic states are more likely to be amenable to third party mediation when they are involved in disputes with each other.
In international crises that include the threat or use of military force, one study finds that if the parties are democracies, then relative military strength has no effect on who wins. This is different from when nondemocracies are involved. These results are the same also if the conflicting parties are formal allies. Similarly, a study of the behavior of states that joined ongoing militarized disputes reports that power is important only to autocracies: democracies do not seem to base their alignment on the power of the sides in the dispute.
Academic relevance and derived studies
Democratic peace theory is a well established research field with more than a hundred authors having published articles about it. Several peer-reviewed studies mention in their introduction that most researchers accept the theory as an empirical fact. According to a 2021 study by Kosuke Imai and James Lo, "overturning the negative association between democracy and conflict would require a confounder that is forty-seven times more prevalent in democratic dyads than in other dyads. To put this number in context, the relationship between democracy and peace is at least five times as robust as that between smoking and lung cancer. To explain away the democratic peace, therefore, scholars would have to find far more powerful confounders than those already identified in the literature."
Imre Lakatos suggested that what he called a "progressive research program" is better than a "degenerative" one when it can explain the same phenomena as the "degenerative" one, but is also characterized by growth of its research field and the discovery of important novel facts. In contrast, the supporters of the "degenerative" program do not make important new empirical discoveries, but instead mostly apply adjustments to their theory in order to defend it from competitors. Some researchers argue that democratic peace theory is now the "progressive" program in international relations. According to these authors, the theory can explain the empirical phenomena previously explained by the earlier dominant research program, realism in international relations; in addition, the initial statement that democracies do not, or rarely, wage war on one another, has been followed by a rapidly growing literature on novel empirical regularities.
Other examples are several studies finding that democracies are more likely to ally with one another than with other states, forming alliances which are likely to last longer than alliances involving nondemocracies; several studies showing that democracies conduct diplomacy differently and in a more conciliatory way compared to nondemocracies; one study finding that democracies with proportional representation are in general more peaceful regardless of the nature of the other party involved in a relationship; and another study reporting that proportional representation system and decentralized territorial autonomy is positively associated with lasting peace in postconflict societies.
Influence
The democratic peace theory has been extremely divisive among political scientists. It is rooted in the idealist and classical liberalist traditions and is opposed to the dominant theory of realism.
In the United States, presidents from both major parties have expressed support for the theory. In his 1994 State of the Union address, then-President Bill Clinton, a member of the Democratic Party, said: "Ultimately, the best strategy to ensure our security and to build a durable peace is to support the advance of democracy elsewhere. Democracies don't attack each other". In a 2004 press conference, then-President George W. Bush, a member of the Republican Party, said: "And the reason why I'm so strong on democracy is democracies don't go to war with each other. And the reason why is the people of most societies don't like war, and they understand what war means.... I've got great faith in democracies to promote peace. And that's why I'm such a strong believer that the way forward in the Middle East, the broader Middle East, is to promote democracy."
In a 1999 speech, Chris Patten, the then-European Commissioner for External Relations, said: "Inevitable because the EU was formed partly to protect liberal values, so it is hardly surprising that we should think it appropriate to speak out. But it is also sensible for strategic reasons. Free societies tend not to fight one another or to be bad neighbours". The A Secure Europe in a Better World, European Security Strategy states: "The best protection for our security is a world of well-governed democratic states." Tony Blair has also claimed the theory is correct.
As justification for initiating war
Some fear that the democratic peace theory may be used to justify wars against nondemocracies in order to bring lasting peace, in a democratic crusade. Woodrow Wilson in 1917 asked Congress to declare war against Imperial Germany, citing Germany's sinking of American ships due to unrestricted submarine warfare and the Zimmermann telegram, but also stating that "A steadfast concert for peace can never be maintained except by a partnership of democratic nations" and "The world must be made safe for democracy." R. J. Rummel was a notable proponent of war for the purpose of spreading democracy, based on this theory.
Some point out that the democratic peace theory has been used to justify the 2003 Iraq War, others argue that this justification was used only after the war had already started. Furthermore, Weede has argued that the justification is extremely weak, because forcibly democratizing a country completely surrounded by non-democracies, most of which are full autocracies, as Iraq was, is at least as likely to increase the risk of war as it is to decrease it (some studies show that dyads formed by one democracy and one autocracy are the most warlike, and several find that the risk of war is greatly increased in democratizing countries surrounded by nondemocracies). According to Weede, if the United States and its allies wanted to adopt a rationale strategy of forced democratization based on democratic peace, which he still does not recommend, it would be best to start intervening in countries which border with at least one or two stable democracies, and expand gradually. Also, research shows that attempts to create democracies by using external force has often failed. Gleditsch, Christiansen, and Hegre argue that forced democratization by interventionism may initially have partial success, but often create an unstable democratizing country, which can have dangerous consequences in the long run. Those attempts which had a permanent and stable success, like democratization in Austria, West Germany and Japan after World War II, mostly involved countries which had an advanced economic and social structure already, and implied a drastic change of the whole political culture. Supporting internal democratic movements and using diplomacy may be far more successful and less costly. Thus, the theory and related research, if they were correctly understood, may actually be an argument against a democratic crusade.
Michael Haas has written perhaps the most trenchant critique of a hidden normative agenda. Among the points raised: Due to sampling manipulation, the research creates the impression that democracies can justifiably fight nondemocracies, snuff out budding democracies, or even impose democracy. And due to sloppy definitions, there is no concern that democracies continue undemocratic practices yet remain in the sample as if pristine democracies.
This criticism is confirmed by David Keen who finds that almost all historical attempts to impose democracy by violent means have failed.
Related theories
Republican liberalism
Republican liberalism is a variation of Democratic Peace Theory which claims that liberal and republican democracies will rarely go to war with each other. It argues that these governments are more peaceful than non-democracies and will avoid conflict when possible. According to Micheal Doyle, there are three main reasons for this: Democracies tend to have similar domestic political cultures, they share common morals, and their economic systems are interdependent. Liberal democracies (republics) that trade with each other, are economically dependant on one another and therefore, will always attempt to maintain diplomatic relations as to not disrupt their economies.
Liberalism, as an overarching theory, holds that diplomacy and cooperation is the most effective way to avoid war and maintain peace. This is contrasting to the theory of realism, which states that conflict will always be recurrent in the international system, whether due to human nature or the anarchic international system.
The concept of Republican liberalism is thought to have initially originated from Immanuel Kant's book "Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Sketch" (1795). The term "Perpetual Peace" refers to the permanent establishment of peace, and was made notorious by the book. Democratic peace, commercial peace and institutional peace were all advanced in the book as well. It takes a rather utopian view, that humanities' desire for peace will out compete humanities' desire for war.
Kantian Liberalism
Kant and the liberal school of thought view international co-operation as a more rational option for states than resorting to war. However, the neo-liberal approach concedes to the realist school of thought, that when states cooperate it is simply because it is in their best interest. Kant insisted that a world with only peace was possible, and he offered three definitive articles that would create the pathway for it. Each went on to become a dominant strain of post–World War II liberal international relations theory.
I "The Civil Constitution of Every State should be Republican"
II "The Law of Nations shall be founded on a Federation of Free States"
III "The Law of World Citizenship shall be Limited to Conditions of Universal Hospitality"
I: "The Civil Constitution of Every State should be Republican"
Kant believed that every state should have Republican style form of government. As in, a state where "supreme power is held by the people and their elected representatives." Kant saw this in Ancient Rome, where they began to move away from Athenian democracy (direct democracy) and towards a representative democracy. Kant believed giving the citizens the right to vote and decide for themselves would lead to shorter wars and less wars. He also thought it was important to "check the power of monarchs", to establish a system of checks and balances where no one person holds absolute power. Peace is always dependent on the internal character of governments. Republics, with a legislative body that will be able to hold the executive leader in check and maintain the peace.
II: "The Law of Nations shall be founded on a Federation of Free States"
Kant argues nations, like individuals can be tempted to harm each other at any given moment. So, rule of law should be established internationally. Without international laws and courts of judgement, then force would be the only way to settle disputes. States ought to instead develop international organisations and rules that facilitate cooperation. In any case, some kind of federation is necessary in order to maintain peace between nations. Contemporary examples include the United Nations and the European Union, which try to maintain peace and encourage cooperation among nations.
III: "The Law of World Citizenship shall be Limited to Conditions of Universal Hospitality"
Kant is referring to "the right of the stranger to not to be treated as an enemy when he arrives in the land of another.". So long "stranger" is peaceful, he should not be treated with hostility. However, this is not the right to be a "permanent visitor", simply as a temporary stay. This is applicable in the contemporary world when a country is receiving a world leader. The host country usually holds a state welcoming ceremony which strengthens diplomatic relations.
European peace
There is significant debate over whether the lack of any major European general wars since 1945, is due to cooperation and integration of liberal-democratic European states themselves (as in the European Union or Franco-German cooperation), an enforced peace due to intervention of the Soviet Union and the United States until 1989 and the United States alone thereafter, or a combination of both.
The debate over this theory was thrust in the public eye, when the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the European Union, for its role in creating peace in Europe.
See also
Ancient Greece
Democracy promotion
Democratization
International relations theory
List of wars between democracies
Peace and conflict studies
Perpetual peace
Territorial peace theory
World peace
Notes and references
Notes
References
Bibliography
.
Further reading
Brown, Michael E., Sean M. Lynn-Jones, and Steven E. Miller. Debating the Democratic Peace. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1996. .
Davenport, Christian. 2007. "State Repression and the Domestic Democratic Peace." New York: Cambridge University Press.
Davoodi, Schoresch & Sow, Adama: Democracy and Peace in Zimbabwe in: EPU Research Papers: Issue 12/08, Stadtschlaining 2008
Hegre H. 2014. "Democracy and armed conflict." Journal of Peace Research. 51(2): 159–172.
Hook, Steven W., ed. Democratic Peace in Theory and Practice (Kent State University Press; 2010)
Huth, Paul K., et al. The Democratic Peace and Territorial Conflict in the Twentieth Century. Cambridge University Press: 2003. .
Ish-Shalom, Piki. (2013) Democratic Peace: A Political Biography (University of Michigan Press; 2013)
Jahn, B. (2005). "Kant, Mill, and Illiberal Legacies in International Affairs." International Organization, 59(1), 177–207.
Lipson, Charles. Reliable Partners: How Democracies Have Made a Separate Peace. Princeton University Press: 2003. .
External links
Supportive
Rummel's website
"Parliamentary Control of Security Policy" (paks) Parliamentary Control of Military Security Policy in the EU-25 and the Iraq War 2003. A DFG funded research project at the Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf, Germany
Critical
The Myth of Democratic Pacifism
The Missing Democratic Peace
Political science theories
International relations theory
Political theories
Peace
Peace theories
|
412349
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor%20Fate
|
Doctor Fate
|
Doctor Fate, also known as Fate or collectively as Fate's Legacy, is the name of several superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The first version was originally created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Howard Sherman, debuting in More Fun Comics #55 (May 1940). Throughout the character's extensive history, various incarnations of Doctor Fate emerged as deliberate attempts to reinvigorate the character. In most depictions, Doctor Fate is a legacy hero created by Nabu, a cosmic entity linked to the Lords of Order and Mesopotamian deities. While typically aligned with the Lords of Order and Nabu as patrons, Doctor Fate has also served other entities and worked independently as a superhero and demon hunter. In recent iterations, the Doctor Fate mantle has been occasionally connected to ancient Egyptian deities.
Nabu initially selected Kent Nelson, a young Swedish-American, as an agent for the Lords of Order. Kent's time as Doctor Fate was marked by challenges, including a lack of personal agency and strained relationships due to the demands of the role. Despite these obstacles, Kent persevered for decades, facing formidable adversaries and becoming a respected member of prestigious teams such as the Justice Society of America. The role was later passed on to ten-year-old Eric Strauss and his step-mother, Linda Strauss, who had a relatively brief tenure as Doctor Fate. They faced challenges, including conflicts with the Lords of Chaos and deception orchestrated by DeSaad, ultimately meeting their demise and being reincarnated. Inza Cramer, the British wife of Kent Nelson, became the fourth successor to the Doctor Fate role. Her tenure diverged from the typical focus, as she emphasized a more community-oriented approach alongside her sorcerous abilities.
Jared Stevens, an American smuggler, assumed the role after Inza Cramer. He acted as a demon hunter and agent of balance, facing opposition from both the Lords of Chaos and Order. Hector Hall, the son of Hawkman and Hawkgirl, became Doctor Fate and proved to be an enduring incarnation until his tragic demise alongside other Lords of Order and Chaos. Kent V. Nelson, the grandnephew of the original Kent Nelson, took on the mantle next, despite lacking established connections and resources. He also became a prominent member of the Justice Society of America.
The current bearer of the Doctor Fate mantle is Khalid Nassour, an Egyptian-American who practices Islam. Chosen by Bastet and supported by ancient Egyptian deities and archangels, Khalid navigates the challenges of being Doctor Fate while juggling his superhero duties, social life, and studies as a medical student until he graduated. He has become a significant member of the Justice League, Justice League Dark, and Justice Society of America, and holds the distinction of being the second-longest-running incarnation of Doctor Fate.
The character has appeared in various incarnations across multiple forms of media based on both the comics and original characters; the Kent Nelson version notably appeared in the television series Smallville, in which he was portrayed by Brent Stait, and the DC Extended Universe film Black Adam, in which he was portrayed by Pierce Brosnan. The Khalid Nassour version debuted in the Young Justice animated television series alongside others based upon pre-existing characters not typically associated with the character's comic book iterations, including Zatara, Zatanna, and Traci 13.
Creation
In a 1987 interview, Fox recalled the genesis behind Fate, stating, "Doctor Fate (I originally called him Doctor Droon, but the name was editorially changed) was one of my favorites. I created him and even sketched out the original costume he would wear - but that costume was changed by artists over the years, for one reason or another. To my knowledge, I wrote all the Dr. Fate yarns that appeared, up until 1968, when I left comic book writing to a great degree. I always liked the supernatural; I read Lovecraft, Derleth, Sax Rohmer, Howard, Clark Ashton Smith, Whitehead, all the others, Fate was a derivation from my imagination influenced by those writings"
Publication history
Golden Age
The first character to debut as Doctor Fate was Kent Nelson, who appeared in his own self-titled six page strip in More Fun Comics #55 (May 1940), during the Golden Age of Comic Books. The character was created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Howard Sherman, who produced the first three years of monthly Doctor Fate stories. After a year with no background, his alter ego and origins were shown in More Fun Comics #67 (May 1941). Stories during the Golden Age included his love interest, Inza, who was known variably throughout the Golden Age as Inza Cramer, Inza Sanders, and Inza Carmer.
When the Justice Society of America was created for All Star Comics #3 (Winter 1940), Doctor Fate was one of the characters National Comics used for the joint venture with All-American Publications. He made his last appearance within the book in issue #21 (Summer 1944), virtually simultaneously with the end of his own strip in More Fun Comics #98 (July–August 1944).
Silver Age
Aside from the annual JSA/JLA team-ups in Justice League of America that began in 1963, Doctor Fate appeared in other stories through the 1960s and 1970s, including a two-issue run with Hourman in Showcase #55–56; two appearances with Superman in World's Finest Comics #201 (March 1971 and #208, December 1971); an appearance with Batman in The Brave and the Bold #156 (November 1979); and a solo story in 1st Issue Special #9 (December 1975), written by Martin Pasko and drawn by Walt Simonson. Doctor Fate and the rest of The Justice Society returned to All-Star Comics in 1976 with issue #58, for a two-year run ending with issue #74 and Adventure Comics #461-462 in 1978, and Adventure Comics #466 related the untold tale of the Justice Society's 1951 disbanding. During this period, Inza Cramer's name as such was amended.
Bronze Age
Doctor Fate's origin was retold in DC Special Series #10, and Doctor Fate again teamed up with Superman in DC Comics Presents #23 (July 1980), and featured in a series of back-up stories running in The Flash from #306 (February 1982) to No. 313 (September 1982) written by Martin Pasko (aided by Steve Gerber from #310 to No. 313) and drawn by Keith Giffen.
Beginning in 1981, DC's All-Star Squadron elaborated upon the adventures of many World War II-era heroes, including Doctor Fate and the JSA. The series ran for 67 issues and three annuals, concluding in 1987. Doctor Fate made occasional modern-day appearances in Infinity, Inc. throughout 1984, the same year which witnessed the 22nd and final annual Justice Society/Justice League team-up. Doctor Fate also made a guest appearance in a 3-issue 1985 crossover in the pages of Infinity, Inc. #19-20 and Justice League #244. Doctor Fate then appeared in the four-part special America vs. the Justice Society (1985) which finalized the story of the Justice Society, featuring an elaboration of the events of Adventure Comics #466 and a recap of the Justice Society's annual team-ups with the Justice League. In 1985, DC collected the Doctor Fate back-up stories from The Flash, a retelling of Doctor Fate's origin by Paul Levitz, Joe Staton, and Michael Nasser originally published in Secret Origins of Super-Heroes (January 1978) (DC Special Series #10 in the Indicia), the Pasko/Simonson Doctor Fate story from 1st Issue Special #9, and a Doctor Fate tale from More Fun Comics #56 (June 1940), in a three-issue limited series titled The Immortal Doctor Fate. Doctor Fate appeared in several issues of the Crisis on Infinite Earths, after which Doctor Fate briefly joined the Justice League.
Modern Age
Soon afterward, in 1987, the Doctor Fate mini-series was released, featuring the debut of Eric and Linda Strauss, who would replace the character Kent Nelson as Doctor Fate, after he was seemingly killed off by the antagonist of the book. Later, DC Comics would release a Doctor Fate ongoing series focusing on both characters acting simultaneously as Doctor Fate, the first twenty-four issues having been written and drawn by J.M. DeMatteis and Shawn McManus, starting in the winter of 1988. The series focused on magically-aged-up Eric and Linda acting as Doctor Fate under the guidance of Nabu, who has inhabited and taken the identity of Kent Nelson. Despite their differences in personality and both Eric's immaturity and his true age, Linda is portrayed as having feelings for Eric, which are mutual. The character of Eric Strauss was seemingly killed off later in the run, making Linda Strauss the sole Doctor Fate for a time. The character would also briefly become a permanent member of the Justice League International. Eventually, Linda and Eric's characters were dropped as Doctor Fate, the last arc of the story revealing their fates as having been reincarnated into the bodies of Eugene and Wendy DiBellia, while Nabu is revealed to have been reincarnated as Eugene and Wendy's unborn child. In 1991, later issues of the series saw Kent's wife Inza take over as the new Doctor Fate, with a different benefactor, unlike her husband, starting with the 25th issue of the series. Inza's tenure as Doctor Fate differs from Nelson in her focus on social class issues and inequality, using her powers to improve one of the poorest districts in New York City while defending it from corruption and genuine malevolent evil forces. The series ended with issue #41. Following Zero Hour, DC killed off both Kent and Inza and replaced them with a new character, Jared Stevens.
Stevens was introduced in a self-titled series called Fate, launched in the wake of Zero Hour in 1994. The Doctor Fate character went through a radical redesign, dropping the "Doctor" title and gaining new weapons made from the previous related artifacts of Doctor Fate. Unlike prior depictions of the Doctor Fate character as a sorcerer, the character was instead cast as a demon hunter. Considered an unpopular re-imagining of the character, the series was cancelled after 23 issues in September 1996. The character then starred in The Book of Fate written by Keith Giffen, which ran from February 1997 to January 1998 for twelve issues as part of DC's "Weirdoverse" imprint, rebooting the character's origins and adventures. In 1999, the revival of the Justice Society in JSA allowed Doctor Fate to be re-worked once more, with Jared Stevens subsequently killed off. The next incarnation of Doctor Fate would come in the form of Hector Hall, the son of the Golden Age Hawkman and Hawkgirl. In addition to appearing in JSA, DC published a self-titled, five-issue limited series in 2003. The character was killed in the Day of Vengeance limited series in 2005 as part of the lead in to the 2005 company-wide event story, Infinite Crisis.
In 2007, a new incarnation of Doctor Fate, Kent V. Nelson, was created by Steve Gerber and Justiniano and served as an attempt to revitalize the Doctor Fate character. Unlike prior depictions, the character is instead no longer rooted in Egyptian/Mesopotamian mythology and is no longer associated with the Lords of Chaos and Order, due to their being killed off during Infinite Crisis. Gerber also stated his intentions of not directly contradicting previous runs while raising the subject as little as possible. The character was also the grand-nephew of the original Doctor Fate, establishing a connection to the most recognized Doctor Fate. Due to Steve Gerber's death, the seventh issue was written by Adam Beechen using Gerber's notes. The final issue was written by Beechen, Gail Simone, Mark Waid, and Mark Evanier, who each wrote a different ending to the story. The character would appear in the Reign in Hell miniseries and in Justice Society of America (vol. 3) #30 (August 2009), featuring in the book until its cancellation with #54 in August 2011.
The New 52
Following the events of the Flashpoint mini-series in 2011, DC's continuity was rebooted. As part of The New 52 initiative, an alternate version of Doctor Fate named Khalid Ben-Hassin was created by writer James Robinson and artist Brett Booth. The character was featured in the Earth 2 ongoing series from #9 (February 2013) onwards.
DC You & DC Rebirth
After the conclusion of the Convergence limited series in June 2015, DC launched a new Doctor Fate ongoing series, written by Paul Levitz and drawn by Sonny Liew as part of the DC You initiative, which saw an emphasis on "story over continuity", loosening the restrictions of continuity to allow for a diverse range of genres while some characters underwent status quo changes. The title focused on the newest and most recent incarnation of Doctor Fate, an Egyptian-American medical student named Khalid Nassour. Created with an emphasis on diversity and to take the character in a different direction, the biracial character's inspirations included Marvel characters like Spider-Man and Doctor Strange, the latter character having been influenced by Sonny Liew; Liew intended to depict a character entrusted with great responsibilities going through a journey of self-discovery in a world similar to the likes of Doctor Strange. The series also would introduce a rebooted version of the Kent Nelson character, depicting him as a previous Doctor Fate, a mentor figure with some of his old histories intact. Khalid and Kent would both simultaneously act as Doctor Fate, the former being his apprentice to prepare to fully inherit the role. The series ran for 18 issues, from June 2015 to November 2016.
New Justice
In 2018, DC launched a second Justice League Dark series written by James Tynion IV starring a new roster led by Wonder Woman. In this roster, Khalid and Kent Nelson were revealed to be eventual new members of the Justice League, originally acting as "advisors" in the team and becoming reoccurring characters. Nassour would eventually permanently become the new Doctor Fate instead of Kent Nelson in the "Lords of Order" storyline. Nassour would also receive a new redesign as Doctor Fate. Nelson's character would be later killed off in the "A Costly Trick of Magic" storyline, leaving Nassour as the sole Doctor Fate character. While the original 2018 series was cancelled in 2020, the Justice League Dark series was re-purposed as a backup issue to the mainstream Justice League title, the backup issue being written by author Ram V, featuring a new storyline, with Khalid remaining a reoccurring member of the Justice League Dark subdivision. Khalid would also appear in several title crossovers such as Superman, Teen Titans Academy, and The Flash.
In 2021–2022, Khalid Nassour would appear in major storylines such as the Justice League Dark: The Great Wickedness storyline, depicting a status quo change in which the Helmet of Fate is damaged from a previous battle with the villain Upside-Down Man, and is inhabited by a new entity. Connected to the Future State crossover event depicting an older Khalid Nassour having lived through the aftermath of the events of the "Great Wickedness" storyline, the entity is revealed to be the Egyptian goddess, Hauhhet. Nassour would also play a role in the Justice League/Justice League Dark crossover involving the return of the character Xanadoth and appeared in the Dark Crisis on Infinite Earth storyline, having joined the Justice Society of America team but also serving simultaneously as a member of Justice League Dark.
Lazarus Planet & Dawn of DC
In late 2022–2023, the Doctor Fate character was absent from the main storyline. However, in the Batman vs Robin prelude and the Lazarus Planet crossover, the main antagonist briefly gained possession of the Helmet of Fate and the artifacts within the character's Tower of Fate. The helmet was ultimately shattered, and the events took place after falling into the Lazarus Pit, which is a recurring element in Batman stories involving Ra's Al Ghul and the League of Assassins. In a spin-off title, it is revealed that Khalid was defeated and trapped in his subconscious by Nezha prior to the prelude. The character appears to be rescued by Dreamer (Nia Nal) after she finds the Helmet of Fate, but at a cost within the story. The event also introduces a darker variation of the helmet known as the Helmet of Hate.
In the 2022 Justice Society of America ongoing series, Doctor Fate is featured as one of the main characters. The title addresses the histories of both Kent Nelson and Khalid Nassour. The book establishes a timeline, with events like Zero Hour occurring eight years prior and the 2015 Doctor Fate series taking place one year before the book's events. However, inconsistencies arise regarding the portrayal of both incarnations. For instance, Inza Cramer shares Kent Nelson's role in Doctor Fate during Zero Hour despite being deceased in this continuity. Additionally, Khalid is depicted as a medical school graduate despite having been acting as Doctor Fate for more than one year, as portrayed in Justice League Dark and other titles. Running concurrently with Lazarus Planet, the story takes place after the event. The JSA team comes under attack by an empowered Per Degaton, who seeks to manipulate time to his advantage. Per Degaton explicitly targets iterations of Doctor Fate first and kills various JSA members. However, he is eventually defeated by different versions of Doctor Fate, leading to the majority of his timeline manipulations being thwarted.
Doctor Fate is referenced in the main 2023 Knight Terrors event, and the Khalid Nassour version of the character makes an appearance in the Wonder Woman spin-off. The conclusion of the event also introduces a new character called "Doctor Hate," who serves as a darker counterpart to Doctor Fate.
Incarnations
Mainstream comic incarnations
Kent Nelson
The first and original incarnation of Doctor Fate, Kent Nelson was created by Gardener Fox and Howard Sherman during the Golden Age of Comics Books, first appearing in More Fun Comics #55 (May 1940). Known often as the primary and most well-known incarnation of the character, Nelson serves as both the main character and major supporting character to several of the Doctor Fate titles over the years. He also served as a founding member of the Justice Society of America, All-Star Squadron, and various Justice League teams.
Kent Nelson, born to an archaeologist, was an American with Swedish and British ancestry. He accompanied his father on an expedition to a tomb in Mesopotamia, where they discovered the preserved body of Nabu, an ancient being. Unfortunately, Kent's father lost his life in the process. Moved by the child's plight, Nabu took him under his wing and trained him in the mystical arts, eventually bestowing upon him the mantle of Doctor Fate, an esteemed agent of the Lords of Order. Kent embarked on a superhero career, specializing in magic, and played pivotal roles as a founding member of the All-Star Squadron and the Justice Society of America. He formed a deep connection with his partner and later wife, Inza Cramer. However, subsequent revisions to his backstory depicted Nabu as a domineering and manipulative figure who coerced a young Kent Nelson into becoming his agent, gradually eroding his free will and imposing his own desires upon him. Prior to the New 52 continuity, Eric and Linda Strauss officially succeeded Kent Nelson as Doctor Fate. In the modern continuity, Kent's grand-nephew and apprentice, Khalid Nassour, has assumed the mantle of Doctor Fate as his official successor.
Due to alterations by Nabu, Kent possesses a level of immortality, invulnerability, and telekinetic abilities on his own. In tandem with Nabu's artifacts, he gains potent spell-casting capabilities and magical powers, making him among the most powerful sorcerers of his time and the most powerful incarnation of Doctor Fate. He also possesses profound knowledge in the mystic arts, is a certified archaeologist & physician (the latter in some continuities), holding a doctorate degree in both.
Eric & Linda Strauss
The second incarnation of Doctor Fate, both Eric and Linda Strauss's characters debuted in Doctor Fate #1 in July 1987. Created by J.M Dematteis and Keith Giffen, the characters were created to replace the original incarnation of Doctor Fate. The Strauss family serves as the main characters in both the first Doctor Fate mini-series and the first half of the Doctor Fate ongoing series.
Born to wealthy parents Rebecca and Henry Strauss, Eric Strauss was selected as a future agent of order, growing up aware of the existence of the Lords of Order and having a level of mystical awareness although it gave rise to an abnormal personality. He would have a bond with his future partner, Linda Strauss, whom became his step-mother after Rebecca committed suicide on account of the abuse she received from Henry. Soon, Linda herself was subjected to abuse at his hands but endured it for Eric, whom she found herself having a strange fascination with. At the age of ten, Eric was chosen as Nabu's next agent of order to inherit the Doctor Fate mantle, substantially increasing the boy's age in a similar manner to what occurred with Nelson before. This time Eric's mind did not mature. He would act as Doctor Fate alongside Linda, the two often merging to become Doctor Fate. Nabu goes on to possess Kent's corpse to personally advise them. Overtime, despite Eric's mind being similar to a child of ten years old, Linda developed romantic feelings for her step-son while Eric reciprocated such feelings. Eric is eventually killed on Apokolips during a battle with Desaad, forcing Linda to become Doctor Fate on her own. Linda is killed soon afterward by the Lords of Chaos and the two reincarnated into new bodies, living out their new lives with one another.
Unlike their predecessor, the two can mystically merge with one another to become the joint being known as "Doctor Fate", the artifacts associated with Nabu being within them and appear during the merge. In their joint act, the dominant consciousness determines the appearance. While jointed, Doctor Fate is considered to be among the most powerful magical beings on Earth and even potentially more powerful than Kent Nelson's incarnation although they lack his experience. The two can also act independently as Doctor Fate, although they possess only half of the power.
Inza Cramer Nelson
Inza Cramer-Nelson (also Inza Saunders) debuted in More Fun Comics #55 in 1940, created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Howard Sherman. Originally, the character was created as a love interest for Kent Nelson, the original character to have starred as Doctor Fate. Starting out as a major supporting character in the Immortal Doctor Fate stories, she becomes fourth character and second female to become Doctor Fate. She is also the main character in the second half of the second Doctor Fate ongoing series.
As Doctor Fate, Inza's methods are more proactive although she becomes more reckless in their use, stemming a temporary separation from Kent. The two reconcile their differences upon learning Inza's patron as Doctor Fate originating from a Lord of Chaos, making her an agent of chaos. The Chaos Lord revealing himself to have subtly influenced some events enough to cause the two to have strife against one another and enjoyed having the Lords of Chaos be a force of good, reasoning that even Chaos Lords did not find evil as favorable. The Chaos Lord would relinquish the powers bestowed to Inza back to himself although she would replace her chaos magic with magics stemming from life and continued acting as Doctor Fate, with Nelson acting alongside her. When operating as separate Doctor Fates, Inza wears the helmet and Kent's original costume while Kent wears the half helmet and costume he used in the late 1940s.
During her tenure as Doctor Fate, Inza was considered to be among the most powerful beings on Earth, possessing magical power considered to be virtually limitless. Unlike other versions of Doctor Fate, Inza's chief magical powers originated from chaos magic, allowing her to achieve virtually any magical feat by thought until they were reclined from her, in which she used life energies as a source of her power. She ais also considered a more talented sorceress than her husband.
Jared Stevens
Jared Stevens debuted in Fate #0 in 1994, created by John Francis More and Anthony Williams. The character was created as the fifth incarnation of the Doctor Fate character. The character differs from all other incarnations, having a radical re-designed and re-imagined as a demon hunter and is only referred to as Fate. The character's backstory was also revised twice, his original origin in the Fate comic title and the Book of Fate re-imagining his origin.
After retiring, the Nelsons hire smuggler Jared Stevens to recover the helmet, amulet, and cloak from an Egyptian tomb. When the Nelsons try to collect the artifacts, they are murdered by two demons. During the battle, Jared attempts to use the amulet as a weapon, which then explodes and imbues him with various magical abilities and a red ankh-shaped scar over his right eye. Jared's injuries force him to use the cloak as a wrap for his right arm and to melt the helmet into a set of ankh-shaped darts and a dagger for use as weapons. After defeating the demons, Jared is contacted by Nabu, who attempts to make Jared the new Doctor Fate. Jared refuses and escapes, becoming a demon hunter using the alias "Fate". During his battles, he teams up with the supernaturally powered team of fugitives Scare Tactics, Etrigan the Demon and other forces to combat threats from the realm of Gemworld. Jared is later murdered by Mordru, who attempts to kill all the agents of the Lords of Chaos and Order and claim Fate's artifacts for himself. Jared's equipment reverts to its original forms and returns to the Tower of Fate upon his death. During the Dark Nights: Death Metal storyline, Jared is briefly seen among the superheroes that were revived by Batman using a Black Lantern ring. His appearance implies he was involved as an incarnation of Doctor Fate after the New 52 although the exact history has yet to be explained.
Hector Hall
Hector Hall first appeared in All-Star Squadron #25 (September, 1983) as the son of Golden Age heroes Hawkman and Hawkgirl, both characters whose stories include reincarnation as a central part of their fictional history. The character would eventually be reworked into the next incarnation of Doctor Fate in JSA #33 (October, 1999).
After Jared's murder, the mantle of Doctor Fate, along with a restored helmet, amulet, and cloak, is passed to a reincarnated Hector Hall. The Justice Society is reformed to protect the newly reborn Hector, who is being sought by Mordru so that he can use the boy's body to unlock the magical potential of Doctor Fate's artifacts for his own benefit. Hector's new body is the biological son of Hawk and Dove (Hank Hall and Dawn Granger), who are agents of Chaos and Order, respectively, which makes Hector an agent of balance instead of one side or the other. When the Spectre goes on a quest to extinguish magic, he banishes Hector and his wife to a snowy mountain landscape for all eternity, which they are only able to 'escape' by entering the Dream realm, although this essentially kills their bodies and means they can never return to Earth.
Like other Doctor Fates, Hector's possession of the Nabu's mystical artifacts makes him among the most powerful sorcerers in the DC Universe. Unlike incarnations preceding him, Hector mostly retains his agency even with Nabu inhabiting the helmet and doesn't require the use of ankhs when using his magical abilities. Hector is stated to potentially be the most powerful incarnations of all incarnations of Doctor Fate before him, not needing to use ankhs.
Kent V. Nelson
The latest incarnation of Doctor Fate prior to the New 52 reboot, the character debuted in the first issue of Countdown to Mystery in 2007 as an attempt to revitalize the character; unlike other Doctor Fates, the character lacks any connections to Nabu and either of the Lords of Order or Lords of Chaos, as the two factions were killed off in a previous storyline. In addition, the character's powers is not tied to any known mythology, making the Doctor Fate character exclusively a mystic superhero.
A psychiatrist and the grand-nephew of Kent Nelson, Kent V. Nelson would lose his status following his infidelity leading to a divorce, leading to depression and losing his license following negligent practices in the workplace. Eventually, the Helmet of Fate, seeking a new host, would choose him as the next incarnation of Doctor Fate. The character would become a member of the Justice Society of America, struggling with upholding the legacy of spell-casters with his initial lack of magical expertise.
Like other previous incarnations, Kent V. possesses the typical powers of Doctor Fate in which allows him to cast spells and perform magic with the Helmet of Fate. These abilities includes a half-helmet state, a "battle variant" (the classical costume of Doctor Fate), and can access a "library" of spells through the helmet despite lacking Nabu. In his early depiction in the Justice Society of America title, he was a novice sorcerer capable of casting general spells. Overtime, his skills became advanced enough to be hailed with the "Sorcerer Supreme" title. Additionally, Kent V. Nelson was a skilled psychiatrist prior to losing his license to practice.
Khalid Nassour
The eighth and current incarnation of Doctor Fate, Khalid Nassour first appeared in June 2015, starring in a Doctor Fate solo series, created as another attempt to revitalize the character, this time using the Egyptian-related background of the character. The character's journey & world would be inspired by Marvel Comics' Spider-Man and Doctor Strange and is notably one of DC Comics's first Muslim characters to headline a solo series. Unlike the other incarnations, the character's designation as Doctor Fate comes from both a cultural connection to Egyptian deities and a religious connection to archangels instead of Nabu.
The grandnephew of Kent Nelson on his mother's side, Khalid initially pursued a career in medicine as a medical student. As an Egyptian-American, he was chosen to bear the Helmet of Fate and was designated as the next Doctor Fate by the Egyptian goddess Bastet. In the beginning, Khalid was an inexperienced Doctor Fate, but he received mentorship from both Nabu and Kent Nelson, with both individuals using the Doctor Fate codename at different times. Eventually, Khalid joined the ranks of the Justice League Dark, and in the final arc of Justice League Dark, he became the sole Doctor Fate when Kent Nelson fell in battle against the formidable Upside Down Man. By this point, Khalid had completed a significant portion of his training and had emerged as one of the world's foremost magicians. Subsequently, Khalid's journey continued as he graduated from medical school and also became a member of the Justice Society of America.
Khalid possess natural magical abilities bolstered by the Helmet of Fate and other associated items, including the Staff of Power. Initially, he was portrayed as a rudimentary sorcerer guided by Nabu and the Helmet of Fate's power. The character would later be apprenticed under Kent Nelson, his skills becoming more advanced and formidable. While his powers through the Helmet were initially provided by Nabu, Hauhet later becomes a patron of the helmet after it was damaged, granting him different powers; Hauhet's influences allows him to see the future at a cost of some of his sight although a possible future depicted its fully repaired state of allowing Khalid to see and experience future timelines without consequence. Khalid is also a skilled physician, holding a medical degree.
Comic temporary bearers
Multiple characters within the expansive DC Universe have assumed the mantle of Doctor Fate through temporary possession of the Helmet of Fate. Notable individuals who have donned the Helmet of Fate and assumed the role of Doctor Fate briefly include:
Detective Chimp: Following the demise of Nabu and Shazam's decision to cast the Helmet of Fate into the universe to seek a new worthy candidate, Bobo came to believe that he was chosen as the new Doctor Fate after a year had passed. However, his tenure as Doctor Fate was short-lived, lasting only a day. Overwhelmed by the helm's perceptive abilities and the influx of esoteric information, Bobo ultimately chose to relinquish the responsibility.
Sand (Wesley Dodds): Following Hector's demise by the hands of Spectre, Wesley assumed the role of hosting Nabu when the JSA embarked on a search for Hector, who had mysteriously vanished,. Nabu briefly aided them by utilizing Wesley as a host. However, Nabu's power was significantly diminished while inhabiting Sand's body.
Superman: During a brief period, Superman was entrusted with the Helmet of Fate by Khalid Nassour, with assistance from Nabu. This was done to safeguard Superman from Xanadoth's magic while he collaborated with Zatanna to contain and imprison the villain.
Batman: For a limited time, Batman wielded the Helmet of Fate in a confrontation against the Devil Nezha. The Devil Nezha had acquired the helmet after defeating Khalid Nassour in battle.
Other comic incarnations
While Kent Nelson is commonly regarded as the first incarnation of Doctor Fate, alternative sources suggest the existence of earlier versions preceding him. One source indicate that ancient Egyptian deities had chosen champions to fulfill the role. This notion is further elaborated upon in the New Golden Age storyline, where Kent Nelson clarifies that while he is the first individual to bear the "Doctor Fate" codename, others in the past had shouldered the responsibilities associated with the Helmet of Fate centuries before him, albeit without using the specific name "Doctor Fate."
Alternate reality incarnations
Khalid Ben-Hassin
In 2013, several years after DC Comics rebooted the DC Universe through the New 52, a new alternate version of Doctor Fate would be created for the Earth 2 series; the incarnation of the character known as Khalid Ben-Hassin, who is of Egyptian descent raised in the United States. The character's descent was intentional by James Robinson, wanting an Egyptian character to hold the mantle Doctor Fate while still allowing to be western but not making him a caricature.
In the Earth 2 series and respective universe, Ben-Hassin is an Egyptian-American archaeologist who is the world's foremost expert on occult and magic, having previously approached the subject from an arachological standpoint rather than believing myths to be true until Nabu (cast as an Egyptian wizard from long ago) chooses him as his vessel of chaos and order. While initially rejecting it, Ben-Hassin dons it to prevent supervillain Karel Wotan from claiming it while inspired to heroism by Earth 2's Flash, a younger version of Jay Garrick. Eventually, after the invasion of Darkseid's forces and the creation of a new Earth for the survivors, Ben-Hassin destroys the Helmet of Fate saved a few shards, which he then kept in a necklace, granting him the abilities of having premonitions and visions of the future. He also becomes an ambassador on the newly created Earth for the Wonders of the World.
A stark difference from the mainstream Doctor Fate includes the Helmet of Fate within the respective universe revealed to be a form of a motherbox grafted with magical energies and the personality of Nabu.
Doctor Fate of the 31st Century
Doctor Fate of the 31st Century, or simply referred to as Doctor Fate, represents potential future iterations of the character within the 31st Century following the reversal of reality alterations enacted by Doctor Manhattan during the Doomsday Clock event. The first version of this character made their debut in Supergirl #33 (2019) and was created by writer Marc Andreyako and artist Kevin Maguire. A second female version of the character first appeared in The New Golden Age #1, created by writer Geoff Johns.
The initial version of Doctor Fate is portrayed as a male, six-armed alien sorcerer who becomes a member of the Legion of Super-Heroes. Within the Legion, Doctor Fate fulfills the role of assisting the team in matters of mysticism. Notably, he warns both the Legion and the United Planets of an impending threat known as the Great Darkness, which represents the true source and embodiment of darkness within the DC Universe. In addition to this, Doctor Fate aids the Legion of Super-Heroes in their battle against a futuristic incarnation of Mordru, who collaborates with Rogol Zaar in a plot to assassinate Superman, specifically Jon Kent. The character also briefly appears in the Justice Society: The New Golden Age storyline, where Degaton manipulates time and seeks to eliminate him, along with other Doctor Fates from various points in the timeline.
The second female version of Doctor Fate is depicted as a member of the revived Justice Society, alongside two new incarnations of Green Lantern and Atom Smasher. The exact chronological placement of this version in relation to the alien character from the 2020 Legion of Super-Heroes title remains unknown. Shortly after the Justice Society's revival, the character named Sofie expresses her regret at being unable to see the future. At this point, Per Degaton makes an appearance and abruptly kills her by snapping her neck, subsequently proceeding to dispatch the other two heroes. Degaton reveals that he intervened to prevent Sofie from fulfilling her original destiny of having a granddaughter inherit the Dr. Fate legacy. Later, Khalid Nassour utilizes an object referred to as "The Snowglobe," which possesses time-manipulative abilities and contains the Flashpoint timeline. Using this item, Khalid manages to bring various members of the Justice Society from both the past and future to the present timeline, rescuing them moments before their deaths, including Sofie. Through the combined efforts of Khalid, Kent, and Sofie, they are able to seal away Degaton, who, due to being a temporal paradox himself, cannot be killed, into the Snowglobe.
Dick Grayson (Flashpoint)
In the Flashpoint series, Dick Grayson eventually succeeds Kent Nelson (who is a member of Haly's Circus as fortune teller "Dr. Fate" and formerly a member of Flashpoint's Justice Society of America) shortly after his death at the hands of the Amazons, who members (including an evil version of Starfire) hunts them down to use the Helm of Fate against the Atlanteans. This version is also assisted by Deadman and although Dick named himself "Doctor Fate", the character hasn't been depicted as bearing the helm within the story.
Doc Fate
An alternate version of Doctor Fate, known as Doc Fate, is shown to exist on the pulp fiction-influenced world of Earth-20. Doc Fate is an African-American gunslinger and occultist named Kent Nelson who is based in a windowless Manhattan skyscraper. Doc Fate forms and leads a team of adventurers known as the Society of Super-Heroes, which includes the Immortal Man, the Mighty Atom, the Blackhawks and the Green Lantern Abin Sur.
Characterization
Roles
Doctor Fate commonly assumes the role of an "Agent of Order," defending Earth and the known universe against supernatural threats. They align with the Lords of Order and oppose the Lords of Chaos. In recent narratives, the Egyptian gods also parallel with the Lords of Order and have also chosen champions to safeguard the world. In certain incarnations, Doctor Fate also serves as an "Agent of Balance," working alongside both the Lords of Order and the Lords of Chaos. Their role is to prevent the conflict between these factions and their members from causing irreparable damage to the universe.
In addition to their roles as agents of order and balance, some Doctor Fate incarnations have also acted as demon hunters. Certain versions have aligned with the Lords of Chaos, with the faction aiming to demonstrate that chaos is not inherently evil. Following the destruction of the majority of Lords of Order and Chaos in the Day of Vengeance, Doctor Fate's character is depicted into an independent sorcerous superhero affiliated with the Justice Society of America, lacking the usual connections, associated responsibilities, and significant cultural ties portrayed by other versions.
Reputation
In the DC Universe, Doctor Fate incarnations are renowned as formidable practitioners of magic, wielding three significant magical artifacts, most notably the Helmet of Fate. They are recognized simultaneous as among the top most powerful beings on Earth and in the entire universe. Some incarnations have earned the title "Sorcerer Supreme" and are revered as the premier agents of the Lords of Order. They are esteemed peers or rivals to other notable sorcerers including: Zatanna Zatara, Phantom Stranger, Arion, Giovanni Zatara, Kingbutcher, and Wotan. While occasional rivals, it is acknowledged that The Spectre surpasses their powers entirely.
Patronage
A prevalent element found in various incarnations of Doctor Fate is the presence of a patron entity that assumes the role of a guiding spirit, akin to an artificial intelligence. This patron entity provides advice to the bearer and safeguards them by casting spells that aim to preserve their well-being or alert them to impending dangers. However, it is important to note that this recurring element is absent in both the Jared Stevens and Kent V. Nelson iterations of Doctor Fate.
Nabu
Chiefly, Nabu of the Lords of Order serve as the primary patrons of Doctor Fate. Nabu is a fictionalized representation of the Mesopotamian deity of the same name. In the comics, he has often been portrayed as the first individual to adopt the moniker "Fate" and subsequently serves as a guiding force and mentor to various individuals who have taken on the mantle of Doctor Fate, acting as their agents for the Lords of Order. Nabu is commonly portrayed as a patron who frequently schemes to seize control over those who bear the helm, overriding their personal agency and will with his own influence. This characteristic has made him widely recognized as a prominent aspect of the magical community within the DC Universe.
In comic books, the extent of Nabu's manipulation and control over his bearers varies. While individuals like the original Kent Nelson and Hector Hall exhibited strong willpower and managed to resist Nabu's attempts to manipulate their bodies and wills, the latter had greater autonomy despite Nabu's patronage. Recent storylines have featured the combined efforts of characters such as Justice League Dark and other magic users, resulting in Nabu being stripped of his ability to control his bearers and rendering him largely immobilized. Consequently, Nabu now requires a willing bearer of the helm in order to exert any influence. This limitation persisted until his disappearance following the defeat of the Upside-Down Man, at which point he was replaced by Hauhet. Notably, the incarnation of Khalid Nassour is depicted as being exempt from Nabu's control, partly due to his association with the Egyptian deities in earlier narratives, and later because Nabu willingly relinquished his power to Khalid out of respect.
In various media adaptations, the portrayal of Nabu's patronage differs. Particularly, the animated series Young Justice depicts Nabu as the true entity known as "Doctor Fate," where hosts surrender their personal agency and control over their actions and lives. Similarly, the DC Extended Universe indicates that the Helmet of Fate possesses its wearer, although Kent Nelson still retained enough free will to remove the helm when he deemed it necessary and act with autonomy.
Egyptian Gods
In the current comic iterations, the most recent iterations affiliated with the Khalid Nassour version of Doctor Fate includes his patronage and powers being supported by ancient Egyptian deities, some whom also possess an affiliation with the Lords of Order. Despite the entities in question directly guiding or supporting Khalid not explicitly members of the Lords of Order, Khalid retains his Doctor Fate status as being an agent for the Lords of Order. The most recent patron within the Egyptian pantheon whom supports the Khalid Nassour incarnation of Doctor Fate is Hauhet, an Egyptian goddess who replaced Nabu. Her specific agenda and goals remain unknown, although Wonder Woman accuses her of being self-interested, as her well-being is interconnected with the state of reality and time.
In his early portrayal's in the 2015 Doctor Fate series, Khalid was supported by the Egyptian deities Bastet and Thoth, the latter whom dwelled within the helmet from time to time in place of Nabu. The goddess was responsible for choosing Khalid due to his royal bloodline and his potential, pitting the young sorcerer against Anubis. She guides the young sorcerer through his destiny while protecting him by ensuring his social life isn't compromised due to his responsibilities as Doctor Fate. Thoth, as the true power behind Khalid's Helmet of Fate, bestows him with elemental control and magical abilities, and occasionally provides personal guidance. While Nabu primarily inhabits the helmet, he serves both gods loyally, having been a priest under Thoth. Nabu assists Khalid in comprehending the powers and guidance bestowed upon him by the aforementioned deities.
Other known patrons
The enigmatic entity known as Chaos, from the Lords of Chaos, played a significant role during Inza Cramer's tenure as Doctor Fate. Chaos granted her access to a variant of magic known as "Chaos magic" and acted as secret intelligence. The entity sought to demonstrate that not all of his brethren are synonymous with evil. However, it was implied that Chaos was responsible for Inza's peculiar mental state and had used his abilities to manipulate both Kent and Inza, leading to marital problems after Inza acted as the sole Doctor Fate.
Shat-Ru, a Lord of Order, also served as a patron for Kent Nelson after his wife assumed the role of Doctor Fate. Shat-Ru's power was channeled through a half-helmet that the character possessed during the Silver Age. Similar to Nabu, Shat-Ru's patronage allowed Kent to harness magic through the Lords of Order without being taken over or losing control.
Powers, abilities, and resources
In the DC Universe, the various incarnations of Doctor Fate exhibit distinct abilities and skills, but they are all categorized as "Sorcerers" or "Sorceresses", a particular class of magic practitioners that relies on enchanted objects to amplify their magical abilities and protect themselves from the inherent risks associated with magic. These enchanted objects serve a dual purpose, enhancing their magical powers while also serving as protective measures. Furthermore, all versions of Doctor Fate possess the ability to perceive and interact with the astral plane, a realm beyond the physical world. This ability allows them to perceive and navigate spiritual dimensions beyond ordinary human perception.
Mystic artifacts
Helmet of Fate
The Helmet of Fate, also known as the Helm of Fate, Helmet of Nabu, Helmet of Anubis, Helmet of Thoth, or Helm of Thoth, is a powerful magical artifact in the DC Universe that grants god-like abilities to its wearer and is considered one of the most potent artifacts in existence. It is typically associated with Nabu, but the fourth Doctor Fate series presents an alternative origin linked to Thoth from DC's Egyptian mythology. The helmet is composed of Nth metal, providing mystical properties and anti-magic capabilities.
When worn, the helmet bestows its user with immense magical powers, elevating them to a highly formidable level. It enhances their senses, knowledge, and grants them near-omniscience. Doctor Fate can cast spells and create magical effects through their imagination, effectively becoming an "Earth-bound Lord of Order." The helmet also allows hosts of different genders to merge their essences, resulting in a more powerful Doctor Fate entity. Recent portrayals attribute elemental-controlling powers to the helmet, which is fueled by elemental forces. It also grants the power to perceive personal timelines and glimpse into the future. Additionally, the helmet possesses a vast library of spells, regenerative abilities, and high durability. Its intelligence, possibly derived from Nabu or another source, can incapacitate or overwhelm unworthy individuals. This safeguards against those who seek to exploit the helmet, such as Glorious Godfrey, Wotan, and Black Alice.
Despite its formidable nature, the Helmet of Fate is not impervious to damage. It has shown vulnerability to powerful entities like Arion and Brimstone, requiring subsequent regeneration. The helmet is susceptible to potent forms of Atlantean magic, power from higher beings such as the Spectre, and advanced applications of the Firestorm matrix. It can also experience overload, resulting in temporary limitations and the inertness of certain powers.
Amulet of Anubis
The Amulet of Anubis, also known as the Amulet of Nabu or the Amulet of Thoth, is a significant magical artifact associated with the Doctor Fate legacy. Its origins have been depicted in various narratives. One account states that it was created by Anubis and initially possessed by Khalis before being claimed by Nabu. Another origin story suggests that the amulet was crafted from the remnants of Cilia, connecting it to the Lords of Order. In the New 52 continuity, Thoth is presumed to be the creator. The amulet is bestowed upon individuals who wear the Helmet of Fate and the accompanying magical cloak. It grants several abilities to the wearer, including resistance to psychic and astral probing, mind control, and enhanced magical power. The amulet also enables the summoning of ancestral spirits for communication. Additionally, it contains a separate universe.
Cloak of Destiny
The Cloak of Destiny is a mystical garment possessing extraordinary properties within the DC Universe. It exhibits inherent magical qualities, rendering it fireproof and remarkably resilient against certain types of magic. Notably, Jared Stevens employed the cloak to suppress and control the chaotic magic that had afflicted his arm, showcasing its unique capabilities.
Other artifacts
Orb of Nabu: An orb-like device used to search for unknown threats, functioning similarly to a scrying glass. Despite its naming and Fate's association with magic, it is one of the few devices he uses not explicitly magic; the crystals that make up the orb are considered radio sensitive and react to his brain when in use. Though technological in nature, Doctor Fate often uses it and his magic to discern what is being hidden from them.
Globes of Power: Magically constructed globes used by the Inza Cramer incarnation of Doctor Fate, created as a method of helping others without needing to directly intervene with other citizens during her tenure in New York. The globes are powered by Doctor Fate's magic and act in a similar manner to AI, able to perform simple magical fixes or alert her to threats requiring her attention.
Staff of Power: A mystical staff gifted to Khalid Nassour's incarnation of Doctor Fate by Thoth powered by the blood of a pharaoh. It allows for energy projection-related powers. Only the Khalid Nassour version of Doctor Fate can use it due to his pharaoh lineage.
Resources
Tower of Fate
The Tower of Fate (also called the Fortress of Fate) is the magical dwelling bestowed to bearers of the Doctor Fate mantle. The tower acts as a nexus point of magic and reality on Earth. It has no doors or windows, being only accessible by magic. The inside of the tower appears as a twisted maze of stairways and hallways in which the laws of physics do not apply. The Tower holds a large collection of arcane texts within its personal library, including materials saved from the Great Library of Alexandria prior to its burning. In addition, the Tower itself possess mystical defenses, including once having a protector in the form of Typhon, a Lord of Chaos who was an enemy of Doctor Fate and later protected the Tower from intruders.
Book of Fate
The Book of Fate is a tome relating to the comprehensive history and knowledge of the Lords of Chaos and Order, usually in the perspective of the latter. The book would first appear in the aforementioned series, the Book of Fate, in which some issue begins with an except from it. The Book of Fate would also make mention in the 2022 storyline Justice League storyline League of Chaos, where a new entry made by Nabu reveals all knowledge and mentioning of the being "Xanadoth" was purposely erased from even the sacred tome, remarking of her terrifying strength that required both the Lords of Chaos and Order to band together in a temporary alliance to defeat her, the goal of limited the scope of her power, and her eventual reemergence in the modern day.
Weaknesses, vulnerabilities, and limitations
Doctor Fate possesses several weaknesses that vary depending on the specific incarnation of the character. One such weakness is the dependency on the mystical helmet, which acts as the source of their power. In versions of Doctor Fate where their powers are closely tied to the helmet, the removal of the helmet severely limits or completely removes their abilities. Another weakness found in certain iterations of Doctor Fate is the inability to cast counter spells against those that have already been cast. This limitation stems from the intricacies and rules of magic, restricting them to defensive actions aimed at protecting themselves from the effects of spells already in motion. Furthermore, divine sources have the ability to disrupt the abilities bestowed upon the incarnations of Doctor Fate, including their healing capabilities, posing a significant challenge to their overall effectiveness.
Additionally, the age of a given Doctor Fate can also play a role in their effectiveness. As a host approaches old age, the power and potency of Doctor Fate can diminish. The physical and mental limitations that come with aging can impact the host's ability to fully tap into and control the immense magical energies channeled through the helmet of Fate. Consequently, the age-related limitation can result in a decrease in the host's overall power and effectiveness as Doctor Fate. Conversely, inexperience can impact the effectiveness of a younger Doctor Fate. With limited wisdom, knowledge, and mastery, some incarnations of Doctor Fate struggle to fully harness and control their immense magical powers.
Other versions
Nabu
In certain instances, Nabu demonstrated the capability to project his consciousness into the Helmet of Fate, Cloak of Destiny, and even his gloves, effectively substituting for the presence of Doctor Fate. Additionally, there are occasions where the character assumes the aliases "Doctor Fate" or "Fate," while also emphasizing his true identity as "Nabu."
Following the unfortunate death of Hector Hall by Spectre, Nabu made the decision to channel his consciousness through the helm when Wesley Dodds as a host having dimished too much of his power. In the midst of this, Nabu joined forces with the Justice Society to confront Mordru, who had managed to escape imprisonment at the Rock of Eternity. Nabu's strategic efforts proved effective in keeping Mordru off-balance, thereby allowing for the Society's safety and the rescue of Jakeem Thunder. With the assistance of Johnny Thunderbolt, Jakeem Thunder played a pivotal role in defeating Mordru. During the "Day of Vengeance" storyline, Nabu gathered mystics from the magical community and collaborated with them to confront the Spectre. The Spectre had caused widespread destruction by eliminating the majority of the Lords of Order and Chaos. In their encounter, Nabu engaged in a battle with the Spectre, ultimately suffering fatal injuries. However, Nabu succeeded in depowering the Spectre. It was revealed that the higher powers were displeased with the Spectre's actions due to both the Lords of Chaos and Order's standing as well as his culling of them despite the Lords of Order's secret intent to find him a long-lasting, ideal host, which was intended to be a female. As a result, the higher powers intervened and stripped the Spectre of his form, binding him to a temporary host.
During the DC Rebirth era, there was a notable period in which Nabu assumed the role of Doctor Fate. This unique manifestation involved the utilization of Kent Nelson, who had been in a state of magical stasis within the Tower of Fate. However, this arrangement came to a conclusion when the demigod Arion intervened and defeated Nabu by severing his connection through a powerful magical spell. Subsequently, Kent regained his autonomy and control over the Doctor Fate mantle, thanks to the dedicated efforts of Teri Magnus.
Doctor Strangefate
Doctor Strangefate is a sorcerer from the Amalgam Comics universe; he is an amalgamation of Doctor Fate and Marvel Comics' Doctor Strange, with the alter ego of Marvel Comics' Charles Xavier. Dr. Strangefate makes his first appearance in Marvel Versus DC #1 (1996).
In the Amalgam Universe (designated as Earth-9602), Dr. Strangefate/Charles Xavier, a powerful mutant telepath who later learned the mystic arts through Nabu the Ancient One, who was also the Lord Supreme of Order in the universe. Xavier would later take the Helmet of Strangefate, becoming an unconventional hero, helping establish the Judgement League Avengers. He is also served by his servant, Myx, and employs agents who he has previously helped in the past, who are now indebted to him: Shulk (amalgamation of Hulk and Solmon Grundy), Jade Nova (amalgamation of Jade and Nova), and the White Witch (an amalgamation of Zatanna and Scarlet Witch), who has a crush on Dr. Strangefate. While being among the most powerful beings in his universe, Strangefate instead prefers to have others act in his stead and only personally acts in more dire situations.
Doctor Chaos
Doctor Chaos is a villainous sorcerer who acts as the evil counterpart of Doctor Fate. Created by Martin Pasko and Kurt Schaffenberger, the character debuted in The New Adventures of Superboy #25 in 1982. Doctor Chaos bears a similar appearance to Doctor Fate although the color scheme of his attire is reverse. Both the mainstream universe and Earth-3, home of the universe containing the alternate Justice League counterpart, Crime Syndicate, features versions of Doctor Chaos.
In the original story, the first version of Doctor Chaos is Burt Belker, a wealthy, college student studying archaeology and one of Lewis Lang's assistants who briefly dated Lana Lang. During one of their expeditions, Lewis and Burt discover a Sumerian helm (revealed later to be the Helmet of Chaos) and makes their discovery known in Smallville. When he donned the helm, he is taken over by the entity residing in it and comes into conflict with Superboy. Briefly, the chaotic entity also empowers Lana Lang with intentions of making her his consort. Eventually, Superboy defeats Doctor Chaos by exploiting his weakness to copper.
A new version of Doctor Chaos later appears briefly in the 2019 Justice League of America comic series; This version acts as a guardian of the Chaos Realm, the base of operations from which the Lords of Chaos convene in. Doctor Chaos is swiftly killed shortly after villainess Queen of Fables escapes from her imprisonment and the sorcerer attempts to bar her from returning to the mortal plane. The identity of the person behind Doctor Chaos remains unknown.
A version Doctor Chaos is also feature in several incarnations in the comic book version of the Injustice: Gods Among Us, taking place prior to the events of the game. Unlike prior depictions, the associated artifacts are instead renamed the Helmet of Apophis and Amulet of Apophis, serving as both the counterparts to the Helmet of Fate and Amulet of Anubis. Hawkgirl briefly became Doctor Chaos after she and Carter stumbled upon the artifacts in an excavation and the woman became under its influence. After Hawkman attempted to stop her but was gunned down during the Second Battle of El Alamein, she killed most of the Nazi opponents save Dirk Strasser, who managed to survive her assault. When she abandoned the amulet, Dirk took possession of it and acted as a mystic agent for Hitler, using it to mind control others including Johnny Thunder. and Thunderbolt. He is eventually killed by Hawkgirl in retaliation for Johnny's death. Unable to destroy the amulet, Alan Scott hid the amulet and claimed it was destroyed although one of Dirk's associates knew of its existence. Eventually, Joker comes into possession of the amulet and eventually the helm, becoming Doctor Chaos and targeting members of the Justice Society after learning of their connection to the present day Justice League. He is eventually defeated by the Justice League and Superman destroys the amulet
Anti-Fate
Anti-Fate is a villainous character who acted as the attempted replacement of Doctor Fate. Created by J.M. DeMatteis and Keith Griffen, the character debuted in Doctor Fate (1987) #1. Similarly to like Doctor Chaos before him, Anti-Fate acts as a mortal agent for the Lords of Chaos who works to ultimately usurp Doctor Fate and the Lords of Order's legacy with their own.
The true identity of Anti-Fate is Benjamin Stoner, the lead doctor in Arkham Asylum who was driven mad and possessed by the Lord of Chaos, Typhon. In a bid to destroy the Lords of Order's most notable agent on Earth, Doctor Fate, Typhon began challenging and battling him, taking advantage of the fact that Kent Nelson's aging body made him vulnerable to being killed. Shortly after passing the mantle to Eric Strauss, he defeats the newly made Doctor Fate, usurping the Helmet of Fate, the Amulet of Anubis, and committing an age up and traumatized Eric Strauss into Arkham Asylum as a patient. The Phantom Stranger would appear before Anti-Fate, enlisting the aid of the Justice League International. Anti-Fate quickly dispatches the JLI and Phantom Stranger attempts to wrest Typhon's control of Dr. Stoner by reminding him of his old life, having been a doctor who strove to truly help mentally ill patients. Typhon intervenes and eventually overpowers The Phantom Stranger, seemingly killing him. Not long after, control of the Helmet of Fate and Amulet of Anubis is eventually pulled from Benjamin by Eric and Linda Strauss, making them the official successors of Kent Nelson and Nabu.
Despite their defeat, the Lords of Chaos fashioned a corrupted counterpart of the Helmet of Fate and continue manipulating Benjamin. Eventually, Anti-Fate is used by both the Lords of Chaos and Order, the latter having no longer favor neither Nabu nor his agent, Doctor Fate, and uses him in a plot to destroy both Nabu and Doctor Fate. While Anti-Fate prevails in the battle, he is freed from their manipulations and influences while learning of their attempt of claiming supremacy to a universe which they do not truly own. With both the Lords of Order and Chaos unable to harm Benjamin, they both retreat, leaving him free to be a person once more.
Doctor Hate
Doctor Hate is a character who debuted in Knight Terrors: Night's End #1 (August, 2023). In the conclusion of "Knight Terrors" storyline, Amanda Waller seeks to take advantage of public opinion swaying against heroes formerly of the Justice League, entrusting the Helmet of Hate & Nightmare Stone to an unknown person whom comments suggests they were a familiar figure in the superhero community. Similarly to Doctor Fate, the character's abilities originate through the darker counterpart of the Helmet of Fate, the Helmet of Hate, in which said creation came during the Lazarus Planet event. The character also possessed the Nightmare Stone, the opposite counterpart of the Dreamstone.
Reception
As a character, Doctor Fate has established himself as one of DC Comics' enduring figures, although not reaching the same level of cultural recognition as iconic characters like Batman or Superman. According to Wizard Magazine, Doctor Fate's notable strengths lie in his name, distinctive design, and the recurring motif of the Helmet of Fate. While the character has experienced various cancellations over time, they have also been the focus of multiple miniseries and ongoing series.
However, Doctor Fate has not been without its critics which has led to various redesigns and new iterations of the character. The late writer Steve Gerber, for example in hindsight, believed that the character's ongoing struggles to maintain interest could be attributed to various factors. Gerber specifically criticized Doctor Fate's design, particularly the helmet, which he felt limited the character's expressiveness. He also pointed out the character's inconsistent power level, which posed challenges for writers in defining the character effectively. Moreover, Gerber expressed reservations about the recurring element of the Nabu entity controlling Doctor Fate, as he believed it hindered the character's ability to form meaningful connections. Additionally, Gerber advocated for an original interpretation of magic, akin to the approach taken with Marvel's Doctor Strange, rather than Doctor Fate's association with Egyptian mythology and believed the character's history to be among the most convoluted. Additionally, Earth 2 writer James Robinson believed the portrayal of the Kent Nelson version of Doctor Fate to be rather stoic and statue-like. Robinson's decision to create an Egyptian-born incarnation of Doctor Fate ("Khalid Ben-Hassin") was under the belief it was more appropriate to cast a Doctor Fate of Egyptian heritage a similar sentiment shared by Paul Levitz when creating the Khalid Nassour version an attempt to make sense of the Egyptian ties from Doctor Fate. Of the numerous iterations of Doctor Fate, the Jared Stevens version is considered an unpopular reinvention of the character and was critically panned due to his departure from the common, associate elements of the character and the redesign.
Critical response
ScreenRant included Doctor Fate in their "The 10 Most Powerful Wizards".
Ashley Land of CBR included Doctor Fate in their "Greatest Supernatural DC Heroes".
In 1998, Wizard Magazine published an article in which included Doctor Fate in their "All-Wizard Team", which consisted of a list of the most powerful, versatile heroes in a respective field.
In other media
Television
Live-action
The Kent Nelson incarnation of Doctor Fate and his wife Inza Nelson appear in the Smallville two-part episode "Absolute Justice", portrayed by Brent Stait and Erica Carroll respectively. The Helmet of Nabu reappeared in the episode "Lazarus", where Chloe Sullivan uses it to locate the Green Arrow.
Doctor Fate's helmet made a brief appearance in the Constantine episode "Non Est Asylum" as one of several artifacts stored in Jasper Winter's house.
The Kent Nelson incarnation of Doctor Fate appears in Stargirl.
Animation
The Kent Nelson incarnation of Doctor Fate appears in series set in the DC Animated Universe, voiced by George DelHoyo in Superman: The Animated Series and Oded Fehr in Justice League and Justice League Unlimited.
The Kent Nelson incarnation of Doctor Fate appears in Batman: The Brave and the Bold, voiced by Greg Ellis.
Doctor Fate appears in Mad, voiced by Kevin Shinick.
Doctor Fate appears in the DC Nation block on Cartoon Network.
Several incarnations of Doctor Fate appears in Young Justice. This version features different origins for associated characters who hold the mantle, some of whom are based on existing magic-related characters within DC Comics. Unlike the other incarnations of Doctor Fate in the comics, the mantle is the alter ego of Nabu who requires all his hosts to surrender their persona agency, a condition in which is present typically with the Kent Nelson incarnation in comics.
Nabu (voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson) is cast as a son of Vandal Savage who was regarded in Mesopotamian mythology as Marduk and a god of wisdom before he was killed due to Savage's alliance with Lords of Chaos member Klarion the Witch Boy and spiritually ascended as a Lord of Order. Following this, Nabu must anchor himself to Earth via a physical host, whom he completely overwrites as a requirement for those whom bear his helm, and has taken many hosts over the succeeding millennia.
Kent Nelson (voiced by Ed Asner) is a retired member of the Justice Society of America and mentor to Giovanni Zatara who ceased being Nabu's host due to its effects on his marriage. Despite being killed by Klarion, Nelson temporarily confines his spirit to the Helmet of Fate and grants it to members of the Team so they can use it for emergencies.
While in possession of the Helmet of Fate, The Team members Aqualad and Kid Flash temporarily take up the mantle of Doctor Fate before Nelson's spirit convinces Nabu to release them. After Zatanna dons the helmet to fight Klarion however, Nabu refuses to relinquish her until Zatara convinces Nabu to take him instead. As of season three, Nabu agreed to allow Zatara and Zatanna to reunite annually for one hour.
In season four, Zatanna forms the Sentinels of Magic, which includes Khalid Nassour (voiced by Usman Ally) and Traci Thurston (voiced by Lauren Tom), to free Zatara and convince Nabu to alternate between all of them as Doctor Fate.
The Kent Nelson incarnation of Doctor Fate appears in the Justice League Action episode "Trick or Threat", voiced by Erica Luttrell as a child.
Film
The Kent Nelson incarnation of Doctor Fate appears in the DC Extended Universe film Black Adam, portrayed by Pierce Brosnan. This version is a long-time member of the Justice Society, a kindly older scholar, and is considered a powerful sorcerer and agent for the Lords of Order possessing the Helmet of Fate, which is portrayed as a mystical artifact of alien origin. In the film, he and the Justice Society assist Amanda Waller in containing the threat that is Black Adam, having been reawakened from his prison. Plagued by visions of the future in which he witnesses the rise of Sabbac and the death of his teammate, he works to avert the events by preventing Sabbac from rising. When the Society succeeds in capturing Adam but fail to avert this future, Nelson reveals the helm showed him both the future and a way to avert it, sacrificing himself knowing it will allow Black Adam and the Justice Society the opportunity to defeat Sabbac. While engaged in battle with Sabbac and splitting himself through projections and clones, he frees Black Adam before he is tired out and killed by the villain.
The Kent Nelson incarnation of Doctor Fate appears in the opening credits of Justice League: The New Frontier.
An evil, unnamed alternate universe version of Doctor Fate makes a cameo appearance in Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths as a lesser member of the Crime Syndicate.
Doctor Fate appears in Lego DC Comics Super Heroes: The Flash, voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson.
An original incarnation of Doctor Fate named Steel Maxum appears in Suicide Squad: Hell to Pay, voiced by Greg Grunberg. He was chosen by Nabu to become Doctor Fate for his fitness until Scandal Savage and Knockout betrayed him and stole a "Get Out of Hell Free" card from him. In response, Nabu ousted Maxum from the Tower of Fate for his recklessness and irresponsibility and replaced him with "some chick" according to Maxum. In the present, Maxum joins a male strip club as the "Pharaoh" before he is simultaneously confronted by the Suicide Squad and Professor Zoom and his henchmen, Silver Banshee and Blockbuster. While Silver Banshee knocks him unconscious, the squad retrieves and escapes with Maxum. After regaining consciousness, he explains how the card works before the squad leave him on the streets, where Zoom's henchmen catch him.
A variation of Kent Nelson / Doctor Fate appears in Justice Society: World War II, voiced by Keith Ferguson This version is a codebreaker from Earth-2 who was active during his Earth's version of the titular war.
Video games
The Kent Nelson incarnation of Doctor Fate appears as a NPC, later a playable DLC character, in DC Universe Online.
The Kent Nelson incarnation of Doctor Fate appears as a support card in the mobile version of Injustice: Gods Among Us.
The Kent V. Nelson and Khalid Nassour incarnation of Doctor Fate appears as a character summonable in Mega Pack edition of Scribblenauts Unmasked: A DC Comics Adventure.
The Kent Nelson incarnation of Doctor Fate appears as a playable character in Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham.
The Kent Nelson incarnation of Doctor Fate appears as a playable character in Injustice 2, voiced by David Sobolov.
The Kent Nelson incarnation of Doctor Fate appears as a playable character in Lego DC Super-Villains.
Toys
Several Doctor Fate action figures have been released, with most of them based on the Kent Nelson version of the character.
The first Doctor Fate figure was released in 1985 as part of the second wave of Kenner's Super Powers Collection.
DC Direct released another figure in 2000 as part of the Mystics, Mages and Magicians collection.
A third figure was released with the Justice League Unlimited series (2004–2006) as a single figure and as part of three-pack collections.
DC Direct released a fourth figure in December 2007 as part of its second wave of DC: The New Frontier action figures.
Two Doctor Fate figures were released in April 2009 as part of the DC Universe Classics toyline: a Classic Kent Nelson version with regular yellow armor, and a "Chase" variant Modern Hector Hall version with gold accent armor and helm.
The Batman: The Brave and the Bold toyline included a "Dr. Fate versus Wotan" two-pack set released in December 2009.
The Imaginext "DC Super Friends" toyline included a Dr. Fate figure as part of their mystery package campaign in 2019. He was packaged with a snap-on lightning power accessory.
At the 2004 San Diego Comic-Con International, DC Direct announced a full-size replica of Doctor Fate's helmet and amulet for release in 2005. The helmet was displayed with upcoming items during the February 2007 Toy Fair, but is still not available for purchase.
Notes
References
External links
Doctor Fate at the DC Database
Grand Comics Database: Doctor Fate entries
Showcase #55: The Glory of Murphy Anderson
Articles about multiple fictional characters
Characters created by Brett Booth
Characters created by Gardner Fox
Characters created by J. M. DeMatteis
Characters created by James Robinson
Characters created by Steve Gerber
Comics characters introduced in 1940
Comics characters introduced in 1987
Comics characters introduced in 1999
Comics characters introduced in 2007
Comics characters introduced in 2013
Comics characters introduced in 2015
DC Comics characters who can teleport
DC Comics characters who have mental powers
DC Comics characters who use magic
DC Comics characters with accelerated healing
DC Comics characters with superhuman strength
DC Comics deities
DC Comics fantasy characters
DC Comics female superheroes
DC Comics male superheroes
DC Comics superheroes
DC Comics telekinetics
DC Comics telepaths
DC Comics titles
Earth-Two
Egyptian superheroes
Fictional archaeologists
Fictional avatars
Fictional characters from parallel universes
Fictional characters who can turn invisible
Fictional characters with air or wind abilities
Fictional characters with dimensional travel abilities
Fictional characters with earth or stone abilities
Fictional characters with electric or magnetic abilities
Fictional characters with elemental and environmental abilities
Fictional characters with fire or heat abilities
Fictional characters with healing abilities
Fictional characters with water abilities
Fictional necromancers
Fictional occult and psychic detectives
Fictional physicians
Fictional soldiers
Fictional wizards
Golden Age superheroes
Magical superheroes
Mythology in DC Comics
Superheroes who are adopted
|
412356
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theophany
|
Theophany
|
Theophany (from Ancient Greek , meaning "appearance of a deity") is an encounter with a deity, in which it manifests in an observable form.
Traditionally the term "theophany" was used to refer to appearances of the gods in ancient Greek and in Near Eastern religions. While the Iliad is the earliest source for descriptions of theophanies in classical antiquity (which occur throughout Greek mythology), the earliest description appears in the Epic of Gilgamesh.
Ancient Greek religion
The appearance of Zeus to Semele is more than a mortal can stand and she is burned to death by the flames of his power. However, most Greek theophanies were less deadly. Unusual for Greek mythology is the story of Prometheus, not an Olympian but a Titan, who brought knowledge of fire to humanity. Divine or heroic epiphanies were sometimes experienced in historical times, either in dreams or as a waking vision, and frequently led to the foundation of a cult, or at least an act of worship and the dedication of a commemorative offering.
Theophanies were reenacted at a number of Greek sites and festivals. At Delphi the Theophania (Θεοφάνια) was an annual festival in spring celebrating the return of Apollo from his winter quarters in Hyperborea. The culmination of the festival was a display of an image of the gods, usually hidden in the sanctuary, to worshippers. Later Roman mystery religions often included similar brief displays of images to excited worshippers.
Hinduism
Hinduism uses darśana, the Sanskrit for "sighting", for the sighting of a god. Gods taking form on earth are referred to as avatars. The most popular avatars of Vishnu in Hinduism are Krishna and Rama. The most well-known Theophany is contained within the Bhagavad-Gita, itself one chapter of the larger epic the Mahabharata. On the battlefield of Kurukshetra, Krishna gives the famed warrior Arjuna a series of teachings, and Arjuna begs for Krishna to reveal his "universal form." Krishna complies and gives Arjuna the spiritual vision which enables him to see Krishna in that form, a magnificent and awe-inspiring manifestation, containing everything in the universe. A description of this Theophany forms the main part of Chapter XI.
A number of theophanies are described in the Sanskrit epic the Mahabharata. Among the first is the god Indra's appearance to Kunti, with the subsequent birth of the hero Arjuna. Near the end of the epic, the god Yama, referred to as Dharma in the text, is portrayed as taking the form of a dog to test the compassion of Yudhishthira, who is told he may not enter paradise with such an animal, but refuses to abandon his companion, for which decision he is then praised by Dharma.
Judaism
The Hebrew Bible states that God revealed Himself to mankind. God speaks with Adam and Eve in Eden (); with Cain (); with Noah (, , ) and his sons (); and with Abraham and his wife Sarah (). He also appears twice to Hagar, the slave-girl who has Abraham's first child, Ishmael ().
The first revelation that Moses had of Yahweh at the burning bush was "a great sight"; "he was afraid to look" at him (Ex. 3:3, 6); also the first revelation Samuel had in a Dream is called "the Vision"; upon God was frequently "seen" at Shiloh (I Sam. 3:15, 21, Hebr.). Isaiah's first Revelation was also a Sight of God (Isa. 6:1–5); Amos had visions (Amos 7:1, 4; 8:1; 9:1); and so with Jeremiah (Jer. 1:11, 13), Ezekiel (Ezek. 1-3; 8:1–3; 10), and Zechariah (Zech. 1-14,2:13), and, in fact, with all "seers," as they called themselves.
Balaam also boasted of being one who saw "the vision of the Almighty" (Num. 24:4).
In Job, Eliphaz describes a vision: “Amid thoughts from visions of the night, when deep sleep falls on mortals, dread came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones shake. A spirit glided past my face; the hair of my flesh bristled. It stood still, but I could not discern its appearance. A form was before my eyes; there was silence, then I heard a voice:..." (Job 4:13-16).
The Torah lays stress on the fact that, while to other prophets God made Himself known in a Vision, speaking to them in a Dream, he spoke with Moses "mouth to mouth", "as a man would speak with his neighbor", in clear sight and not in riddles (Num. 12:6–8; comp. Ex. 33:11; Deut. 34:10).
The burning bush
In Midian, while Moses was keeping the flock of his father in law Jethro, the angel of the Lord appeared to Moses in a bush that burned but was not consumed (). Yahweh called to Moses out of the midst of the bush, and told him that he had heard the affliction of his people in Egypt, and gave Moses orders to speak to Pharaoh and to lead the Israelites out of Egypt ().
People should also take into consideration (Acts 17:35) that Yehovah God is not the Angel but the Angel is the representative of Yehovah God when in (Exodus 3:1-5) the scripture talks of the bush on fire and then says Yehovah (THE LORD) speaks from it, but then we see as stated in (Acts 7:35) it says The Lord God sends Moses by the Angel in the bush not that he was the Angel. This is clear that this is a theophany of how God shows himself by this tangible form as we know the physical (tangible form) is not God himself.
The pillar of cloud and pillar of fire
God reveals his divine Presence and Protection to the Israelites by leading them out of Egypt and through the Sinai desert by appearing as a Pillar of cloud by day and a Pillar of fire by night.
According to Rabbi Eliezer, each person among the Israelites, including even the least intelligent bond-woman, saw God's Glory at the Red Sea in clearer form than did, upon, prophets of the stamp of Ezekiel; wherefore they burst forth into the song, "This is my God" (Mek.(Mekiita), l.c., with reference to Exodus xv. 2).
Mount Sinai
The Theophany at biblical Mount Sinai is related in . YHWH's Manifestation is accompanied by thunder and lightning; there is a fiery flame, reaching to the sky; the loud notes of a trumpet are heard; and the whole mountain smokes and quakes. Out of the midst of the flame and the cloud a voice reveals the Ten Commandments. The account in , and is practically the same. Moses in his blessing () points to this revelation as to the source of the election of Israel, but with this difference: with him the point of departure for the Theophany is Mount Sinai and not Heaven. God appears on Sinai like a shining sun and comes "accompanied by holy myriads" (comp. Sifre, Deut. 243).
Likewise, in the Song of Deborah () the manifestation is described as a storm: the earth quakes, Sinai trembles, and the clouds drop water. It is poetically elaborated in the prayer of Habakkuk (Hab. iii.); here past and future are confused. As in Deut. xxxiii. 2 and Judges v. 4, God appears from Teman and Paran. His Majesty is described as a Glory of light and brightness; pestilence precedes Him. The mountains tremble violently; the earth quakes; the people are sore afraid. God rides in a Chariot of war, with horses – a conception found also in Isa. xix. 1 where God appears on a cloud, and in Ps. xviii. 10 where He appears on a cherub.
In Isaiah and Ezekiel
The biblical prophets Isaiah and Ezekiel receive their commissions as prophets amid glorious Manifestations of God. Isaiah sees God on a high and lofty Throne. More precisely, however, he sees not him but only his glorious Robe, the Hem and Train of which fill the whole Temple of Heaven. Before the Throne stand the seraphim, the six-winged angels. With two wings they cover their faces so as not to gaze on God; with two they cover their feet, through modesty; and with the remaining two they fly. Their occupation is the everlasting Praise of God, which at the time of the Revelation took the form of the thrice-repeated cry "Holy!" (Isa. vi.).
Ezekiel in his description is not so reserved as Isaiah. The divine Throne appears to him as a wonderful chariot. Storm, a great Cloud, ceaseless Fire, and on all sides a wonderful brightness accompany the Manifestation. Out of the Fire four creatures become visible. They have the faces of men; each one has four wings; and the shape of their feet enables them to go to all four-quarters of the earth with equal rapidity and without having to turn. These living creatures are recognized by the prophet as cherubim (Ezek. x 20 ). The Heavenly Fire, the coals of which burn like torches, moves between them. The movement of the creatures is harmonious: wherever the spirit of God leads them they go.
Beneath the living creatures are wheels (ofannim) full of eyes. On their heads rests a firmament upon which is the Throne of God. When the divine Chariot moves, their Wings rustle with a noise like thunder. On the Throne the prophet sees the divine being, having the likeness of a man. His Body from the Loins upward is shining (ḥashmal); downward it is Fire (in Ezek. viii. 2 the reverse is stated). In the Sinaitic revelation God descends and appears upon earth. In the prophetic vision, on the other hand, he appears in Heaven, which is in keeping with the nature of the case, because the Sinaitic Revelation was meant for a whole people, on the part of which an ecstatic condition cannot be thought of.
David's Theophany
The Theophany described in is very different. David is in great need and at his earnest solicitation God appears to save him. Before God the earth trembles and fire glows. God rides on a cherub on the wind. God is surrounded by clouds which are outshone by God's brightness. With thunder and lightning God destroys the enemies of the singer and rescues him.
Christianity
Christians generally recognize the same Old Testament theophanies as the Jews. In addition there are at least two theophanies mentioned in the New Testament. While some usages refer to the baptisms of Jesus and John the Baptist as "theophanies", scholars eschew such usage.
The 4th-century bishop Eusebius of Caesarea, b. 263 AD, wrote a treatise "On Divine Manifestation" (Peri theophaneias), referring to the incarnation of Jesus, but generally divine incarnation is not regarded as theophantic, as it lacks the "temporariness and suddenness of the appearance of God".
Traditional analysis of the Biblical passages led Christian scholars to understand Theophany as an unambiguous Manifestation of God to man. Otherwise, the more general term hierophany is used.
Catholic Christianity
The New Catholic Encyclopedia cites examples of theophanies such as and then quotes . In this case, initially it is an angel which appears to Hagar, however it then says that God spoke directly to her, and that she saw God and lived ().
The next example the New Catholic Encyclopedia cites is , which states explicitly that it was the angel speaking to Abraham (). However, the angel addressing Abraham speaks the Words of God in the first Person (). In both of the last two examples, although it is an angel speaking, the Voice is of God spoken through the angel, since it says "withhold from me". A similar case would be Moses and the burning bush. Initially Moses saw an angel in the bush, but then goes on to have a direct conversation with God himself (Exodus 3).
The New Catholic Encyclopedia, however, makes few references to a Theophany from the gospels. Mark 1:9-11, where only Jesus hears the voice from Heaven, and Luke 9:28–36 the transfiguration where the father speaks are cited.
Orthodox Christianity
Eastern Orthodox Churches celebrate the epiphany of Jesus Christ on 6 January according to a liturgical calendar as one of the Great Feasts. In Western Orthodox Christian Churches, 6 January is kept as the Epiphany day, while the feast of Theophany is celebrated separately, on the following Sunday.
In Orthodox Christian tradition, the feast commemorates the baptism of Christ by John the Baptist.
Evangelical Christianity
Some modern evangelical Christian Bible commentators, such as Ron Rhodes, interpret "the angel of the Lord", who appears in several places throughout the Old Testament, to be the pre-incarnate Christ, which is Jesus before his manifestation into human form, as described in the New Testament. Adaptions to his hypothesis in current evangelical research and intercollegiate debate describe these manifestations as the post-incarnate Christ (yet to be published), as though in being a divine human capable of time travel He could foretell his later incarnation as having already lived it. The term Christophany has also been coined to identify post-incarnate appearances of Christ in both the Old and New Testaments. 1 St. Peter 4 (v.6) allows for the interpretation that on the Son's Father-Spirit (as the third member of the trinity fulfilling the unity of various persons as Christ is crowned King of Kings) and being conferred from the cross with the words, "Eloi, Eloi! Lama Sabachtani", was thereby born or separated as the timeless Word (or angel) of God (John 1 and 5) with the character and memory of Christ, even giving permission for creation "Let there be.." (Genesis 1) . This also has been the traditional interpretation of the earliest Church Fathers as well as the apostle Paul himself, who identifies the rock that was with Moses in the desert, and the speaking burning bush, as being Christ. For a more thorough list of "God Sightings", or Theophanies, see the examples above under "Judaism, Hebrew Bible."
Latter Day Saint movement
Joseph Smith, the prophet and founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, said that when he was 14 years old he was visited by God the Father and Jesus Christ in a grove of trees near his house, a Theophany in answer to his spoken prayer. This "First Vision" is considered to be the founding event of the Latter Day Saint movement. The Book of Mormon describes other hierophanies and Theophanies that occurred in the new world.
For example, Blake Ostler analysed the Throne-Theophany of Lehi in the First Book of Nephi and concluded that the Theophanies in the Bible and the Book of Mormon have much in common.
Nontrinitarians
Those groups which have Arian Christology such as Jehovah's Witnesses may identify some appearances of angels, particularly the archangel Michael, as Christophanies, but not Theophanies.
Those groups with early Unitarian or Socinian Christology such as Christadelphians and the Church of God General Conference identify the angel of the Lord in the Old Testament much as Jews do, simply as angels. Early Christadelphians, notably John Thomas (1870) and C. C. Walker (1929), integrated angelic epiphanies and God as revealed in his various divine Names into a Doctrine of God Manifestation which carries on into a Unitarian understanding of God's Theophany in Christ and God being manifested in resurrected believers.
Islam
The most important epiphany in Islam is the Mi'raj, the Prophet's ascent into Heaven where he speaks to the Holy Spirit (Gabriel), sometimes called "a night journey from Mecca through Jerusalem."
Baháʼí Faith
While the Baháʼí Faith does not refer to any particular events of Theophany, they hold that God is manifest in the prophets. The "Manifestation of God" is a concept that refers to what are commonly called prophets, including, among others, Zoroaster, Krishna, Gautama Buddha, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, Muhammad, the Báb, and Baháʼu'lláh. The Manifestations of God are a series of personages who reflect the attributes of the divine into the human world for the progress and advancement of human morals and civilization. The Manifestations of God are the only channel for humanity to know about God, and they act as perfect Mirrors reflecting the attributes of God into the physical world.
In his 1914 publication entitled The Reconciliation of Races and Religions, Thomas Kelly Cheyne, (18411915), an ordained minister in the Church of England and Oxford University scholar, described Theophany within the context of the Baháʼí Faith. Cheyne wrote, "...one feels that a Theology without a TTheophany is both dry and difficult to defend. We want an avatar, i.e. a 'descent' of God in human form". Cheyne described Baháʼu'lláh as a "human being of such consummate excellence that many think it is both permissible and inevitable even to identify him mystically with the invisible Godhead." He wrote that Baháʼu'lláh was a "true Image of God and a true lover of man, and helps forward the reform of all those manifold abuses which hinder the firm establishment of the Kingdom of God."
A 1991 article in the Journal of Bahá’í Studies (JBS), described "Bahá’í theophanology" as "acceptance of the Prophet, or 'Manifestation of God,' who speaks on behalf of God." The author wrote that Bahá’u’lláh wrote a series of epistles in the 1860s to kings and rulers, including, Pope Pius IX, Napoleon III, Tsar Alexander II of Russia, Queen Victoria, and Naser al-Din Shah Qajar, in a "forceful, theophanic voice" calling them to undertake reforms. These letters were published in a compilation entitled Summons of the Lord of Hosts in 2002. The JBS article described Bahá’u’lláh's "Theophanology" as "progressivist". He claimed "spiritual Authority" in these letters in which he warned western leaders of the dangers facing humanity should they choose to not act on His Guidance.
Druze Faith
While the Druze do not refer to any particular events of Theophany, they believe in incarnation and reincarnation, i.e. the transmigration of the soul. Hamza ibn Ali ibn Ahmad is considered the founder of the Druze and the primary author of the Druze manuscripts, he proclaimed that God had become human and taken the form of man, al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah. al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah is an important figure in the Druze faith whose eponymous founder ad-Darazi proclaimed him as the incarnation of God in 1018.
Divine appearances to animals
Human religious lore includes ancient literary recordings of deities appearing to animals, usually with the animals able to relate the experience to humans using human speech:
In numerous creation stories, a deity or deities speak with many kinds of animals, often prior to the formation of dry land on earth.
In the Hindu Ramayana, the monkey leader Hanuman is informed by deities, and usually consciously addressed by them.
In Chinese mythology, the Monkey King speaks with bodhisattvas, buddhas, and a host of Heavenly characters.
link - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Native_American_deities
Modern
More recently, science fiction author Philip K. Dick reportedly had a Theophany on 3 February 1974, which was to become the later basis for his semi-biographic works VALIS (1981) and the posthumous Radio Free Albemuth (1985).
In 1977, Michel Potay testified he witnessed five Theophanies. He published the text he says he received from God in "The Book", second part of The Revelation of Ares.
There are a large number of modern cases which have been rendered into print, film, and otherwise conveyed to broad publics. Some cases have become popular books and media, including:
A Course in Miracles which is attested as divinely channeled
The Attentive Heart: Conversations with Trees in which the spirits contacted are resident in species not observed to speak in the ordinary biophysical sense of human speech
These instances are distinguished from cases in which divine encounters are explicitly considered fictional by the author, a frequent motif in speculative fiction such as in Julian May's Galactic Milieu Series.
See also
Angel of the Lord
Beatific vision
Darśana
Divine revelation
Divine inspiration
Incarnation
Vision (spirituality)
The Exegesis of Philip K. Dick
References
External links
"Eusebius of Caesarea" at the Tertullian Project
Photo: Theophany in Siberia
Gemara: Megillah 10b
The Shechina returns to Earth
Great Feasts of the Orthodox Church
Religious terminology
|
412404
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS%20Sealion%20%28SS-315%29
|
USS Sealion (SS-315)
|
USS Sealion (SS/SSP/ASSP/APSS/LPSS-315), a , was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for the sea lion, any of several large, eared seals native to the Pacific.
She is sometimes referred to as Sealion II, because her first skipper, Lieutenant Commander Eli Thomas Reich, was a veteran of the first , serving on her when she was lost at the beginning of World War II. Sealion was the only US and Allied submarine responsible for the sinking of an enemy battleship during the Second World War.
Her keel was laid down on 25 February 1943 by the Electric Boat Company of Groton, Connecticut. She was launched on 31 October 1943 sponsored by Mrs. Emory S. Land, and commissioned on 8 March 1944.
World War II
Following the shakedown, Sealion, assigned to Submarine Division 222 (SubDiv 222), sailed for the Pacific and arrived at Pearl Harbor on 17 May 1944. Further training occupied the next three weeks, and on 8 June, she headed west on her first war patrol. Sailing with , she stopped off at Midway Atoll on 12 June, glanced off a whale on 15 June, and on 22 June, transited Tokara Strait to enter the East China Sea. On 23 June, she and Tang took up stations in the Ōsumi Islands, an island group to the south of Kyūshū. That afternoon, Sealion unsuccessfully conducted her first attack, then underwent her first depth charging. On 24 June, joined the two submarines; and the group moved northward to patrol the approaches to Sasebo. Patrolling in adjacent lanes, the submarines contacted a convoy on 25 June, but Sealion lost depth control on reaching attack position and was unable to fire.
From the Sasebo area, the submarines moved toward the Korean peninsula. On 28 June, Sealion caught and sank a Japanese naval transport, Sansei Maru, in the Tsushima Island area; then continued on into the Korean archipelago. On 30 June, she used her deck guns to sink a sampan, and, with the new month, July, she moved closer to the China coast to patrol the approaches to Shanghai. On the morning of 6 July, Sealion intercepted a convoy south of the Four Sisters Islands and, at 04:47 commenced firing torpedoes at two merchant ships in the formation. Within minutes, Setsuzan Maru sank, and the convoy scattered. Sealion retired to the northeast to evade the convoy's escort, a destroyer, as it began its search for the submarine. At 06:00, the destroyer closed Sealion, and the submarine launched four torpedoes at the warship. All missed. An hour later enemy aircraft joined the search which was continued until mid-afternoon, and Sealion escaped unscathed.
Three days later, Sealion moved northward again and commenced hunting between the Shantung peninsula and Korea. Dense fog blanketed the area and left her blind while her radar was out of commission. By midnight on the night of 10–11 July, however, her radar was back in partial operation; and, on the morning of 11 July, she conducted several attacks, sinking two freighters, Tsukushi Maru Number 2 and Taian Maru Number 2. The running surface chase with the second freighter involved three attacks over a period of almost seven hours. On the third attack, at 07:11, Sealion fired her last torpedo; then, after debris from the explosion had flown over the submarine, she moved down the port quarter of the target, pouring 20 mm shells into the Japanese bridge. At 07:14, the freighter disappeared, and Sealion headed south of Tokara Strait. On 13 July, she cleared that strait and, on 21 July, she arrived at Midway Island.
Refitted by , Sealion departed for the Bashi Channel and her second war patrol on 17 August. Hunting with and , she transited the channel and moved into the South China Sea on 30 August. During the pre-dawn hours of 31 August, she conducted a night surface attack against a Japanese convoy and heavily damaged a tanker. As Rikko Maru billowed black smoke, other Japanese ships took Sealion under fire with deck guns. The submarine moved out of the area and executed an end-around to take position ahead of the convoy. At 07:20, she again attacked the convoy. Within minutes, went down; enemy planes began circling the area and the convoy's surface escorts began their search. Sealion went deep and headed south. Later that day, she closed another target with a merchant ship appearance, but as she reached firing position, the target was made out to be an antisubmarine vessel. Three torpedoes were fired, but were spotted by the target's bow lookout. The target evaded the torpedoes and the hunter became the hunted. Depth charging followed without damage to the submarine; but Sealion, low on fuel and torpedoes, headed for Saipan.
There, the submarine rearmed and refueled. On 7 September, Sealion got underway to rejoin her attack group. On 10 September, she moved through Balintang Channel. On 11 September, she rendezvoused with two other submarines, and on 12 September, the group attacked and decimated a convoy en route to Formosa. This was achieved through American code breakers deciphering a coded message. The convoy carried Australian and British prisoners of war (POWs) from the infamous Thai Burma Railway. At about 02:00, Growler attacked the formation. Pampanito and Sealion followed suit. Growlers torpedoes sent the destroyer to the bottom. Sealion launched two torpedoes, both misses, and was taken under fire by two of the escorts. The submarine went to top speed and managed to keep ahead of the escorts until they broke off to rejoin the convoy shortly before 03:30.
An hour and a half later, Sealion again closed the convoy. At 05:22, she launched three torpedoes at a tanker; then swung to fire on , the last ship in the nearer column. At 05:24, Zuihō Maru, possibly hit by torpedoes from both Pampanito and Sealion, burst into flames. was disabled. She swung into the burning tanker and soon was also ablaze. Sealions second target was illuminated, and at 05:25, she fired on Rakuyo Maru. Both torpedoes hit and that ship began to burn. The sinking of Rakuyo Maru and Kachidoki Maru resulted in the death of nearly 1,200 Australian and British POWs. Sealion was then forced to go deep. After several attempts to get a better look at the scene, she cleared the area and started after the remainder of the convoy.
On the morning of 15 September, the three submarines reformed their scouting line. That afternoon, Pampanito radioed Sealion and other submarines in the area, to return to the scene of the action on 12 September. Rakuyo Maru had been carrying Australian and British POWs, 1,159 of whom were killed in the attack or by the effects of the attack. By 20:45, Sealion had taken on 54 POWs and started back to Saipan. All of the POWs were coated with crude oil and all were in poor health suffering from malaria, malnutritional diseases such as pellagra and beriberi, and exposure. Three died before the submarine reached Balintang Channel on 17 September. On 18 September, rendezvoused with Sealion and transferred a doctor and a pharmacist's mate to the submarine. On 19 September, a fourth POW died, and on 20 September, Sealion arrived in Tanapag Harbor and transferred the surviving 50 rescued POWs to the United States Army hospital there.
From Saipan, Sealion returned to Hawaii. Arriving at Pearl Harbor on 30 September, she departed again on 31 October, and with , headed west to patrol in the East China Sea. The two submarines stopped off at Midway Island on 4 November, then continued on to their patrol area. Ten days later, Sealion transited Tokara Strait. On 16 November, her number 8 tube was accidentally fired with both doors closed. Heavy seas prevented a thorough inspection of the damage. On 17 November, she began patrolling the approaches to Shanghai. On 18 November, there was a hydrogen explosion in the battery space of the torpedo in number 5 tube.
Sinking of Kongō and Urakaze
At 00:20 on 21 November, she made radar contact with an enemy formation moving through the Taiwan Strait at about and not zig-zagging. By 00:48, the pips were made out to be two cruisers and two battleships. At 01:46, three additional ships, escorts—one on either beam of the formation and one on the starboard quarter—became visible. Sealion had in fact intercepted a powerful surface fleet consisting of the battleships , , and , the cruiser , and the destroyers , , , , , and .
At 02:45, Sealion, ahead of the task force, turned in and slowed for the attack. Eleven minutes later, she fired six torpedoes at the second ship in line, Kongō. At 02:59, she fired three at Nagato. At 03:00, her crew saw and heard three hits from the first salvo, flooding two of Kongōs boiler rooms and giving her a list to port. Nagato, alerted by the explosions, turned hard and the Sealions second salvo missed ahead, running on to hit and sink Urakaze; the destroyer's magazines were hit by the torpedo. She blew up and sank quickly with the loss of all hands on board, including the commanding officer of DesDiv 17, Yokota Yasuteru.
Sealion opened to the westward. The Japanese searched to the east. By 03:10, the submarine had reloaded and began tracking again with the thought that the torpedoes had only dented the battleship's armor belt. The Japanese formation, however, had begun zig-zagging and the sea and wind had increased. At 04:50, the enemy formation split into two groups. Sealion began tracking the slower group consisting of Kongō, Isokaze and Hamakaze, performing an end around to regain attack position. At 05:24, a tremendous explosion lit the area and Kongō disappeared.
It was customary in American submarines to mark a name on the head of each torpedo as it was loaded into the tube nest. They usually bore the names of the torpedo crews' wives or best girls. Some carried the names of the factory employee who had sold the most war bonds during a given period. That night, however, four of Sealions torpedoes, as they raced out of their tubes, carried the names Foster, O'Connell, Paul and Ogilvie—the men who had been killed in the bombing of Sealion I three years earlier. It was not customary for the crews of American submarines to make audio recordings of their attacks. However, the Sealion crew had obtained a sound recorder left behind by a CBS war correspondent who had debarked at Midway, and when ordered to battle stations after encountering the Japanese battle group, one sailor positioned the microphone by an intercom in the conning tower. That recording, along with a similar recording of an attack on a Japanese oiler during the Sealions fifth patrol, were then preserved by the Naval Underwater Sound Laboratory, and are thought to be the only surviving sound recordings of World War II submarine attacks.
Subsequent activity
During the next few days, Sealion continued to patrol between Mainland China and Formosa, and on 28 November, she headed for Guam.
On her fourth war patrol, from 14 December 1944 – 24 January 1945, Sealion returned to the South China Sea in a coordinated attack group with sister ships and . Poor weather plagued her, and of the 26 days spent on station, all but six were spent on the surface. On 20 December, she sighted a supply ship escorted by a destroyer through her high periscope, and at 19:37 fired six torpedoes at the supply ship for four hits. The submarine then evaded the escort, reloaded, and waited. Two and one-half hours later, Mamiya was still afloat, and the submarine went in for a second attack. At 00:32 on 21 December, she launched three torpedoes for two hits. The supply ship went under.
That day, Sealion joined the Seventh Fleet, and from 28 December 1944 to 14 January 1945, she performed reconnaissance duties in support of the reoccupation of the Philippine Islands. On the latter date, she cleared her patrol area and headed for Western Australia, arriving at Fremantle on 24 January. She departed Fremantle on her fifth war patrol on 19 February. Again operating in a coordinated attack group, she returned to the South China Sea, then proceeded into the Gulf of Siam. In the predawn darkness of 17 March, she torpedoed and sank Samui, and on 2 April, she rescued an Army aviator who had been drifting in a rubber raft for 23 days. That same day, three more downed aviators were transferred to her from , and on 6 April, she delivered her passengers to Subic Bay.
By 30 April, Sealion was again ready for sea. With and , she departed Subic Bay for the northern part of the South China Sea. Through May, she patrolled off Hong Kong and provided lifeguard services for strikes against Formosa. At the end of the month, she received downed aviators from and transported them back to Subic, then with passengers bound for Hawaii, she sailed east. On 12 June, she arrived at Guam, whence she proceeded to a lifeguard station off Wake Island, and on 30 June, she cleared that area for Pearl Harbor.
Post-war
From Pearl Harbor, Sealion continued on to San Francisco, California, where she was undergoing overhaul at the end of the war. With the cessation of hostilities, inactivation preparations were added to the overhaul, and on 2 February 1946, the submarine, which had been awarded the Presidential Unit Citation for her six war patrols, was decommissioned.
A year and one-half later, however, Sealion, along with , was designated for conversion to a troop carrier, and in April 1948, she entered the San Francisco Naval Shipyard for the eight-months conversion. During that period, her torpedo tubes and forward engines were removed, and her forward engine room and forward and after torpedo rooms were converted to berth 123 troops. The forward engine room and after torpedo room were designed for alternative use as cargo space. The wardroom was redesigned for use as an operating room; the beam aft of the conning tower was extended, and a large watertight cylindrical chamber was installed abaft the conning tower to store amphibious landing equipment—including a tracked landing vehicle (LVT).
On 2 November 1948, Sealion was recommissioned a Submarine, Transport, with the hull classification symbol SSP-315. Training exercises off the southern California coast, with Marines embarked, took her into the spring of 1949 when she was ordered to the Atlantic for duty in SubDiv 21. During April, she operated in the New London, Connecticut, area, then, in May, she commenced operations out of Norfolk, Virginia, as a unit of Submarine Squadron 6 (SubRon 6), SubDiv 61. On 31 January 1950, she was reclassified a transport submarine with hull classification symbol ASSP-315; and, by the spring of that year, had conducted exercises as far north as Labrador and as far south as the southern Caribbean. From April to June 1950, she underwent her first post-conversion overhaul at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, and in July, she resumed operations out of Norfolk.
Sealion was reassigned to SubDiv 63 in March 1955 and tested helicopter operations in 1956. It was reclassified submarine transport APSS-315 on 24 October 1956, Sealion continued a schedule of exercises with Marines, Underwater Demolition Teams and Beach Jumper units and, on occasion, Army units, off the Virginia and Carolina coasts and in the Caribbean until 1960. During that time, interruptions came only for overhaul periods, during one of which the "LVT hangar" abaft the conning tower was removed, and for one deployment with the Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean from August–November 1957.
On 30 June 1960, Sealion was decommissioned at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, where she remained as a reserve training submarine until reactivated a year later. In August 1961, she was towed to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for overhaul; on 20 October, she was recommissioned, and on 18 December, she rejoined SubRon 6 at Norfolk. There, she resumed a schedule similar to that of the 1950s, interrupted by regular overhauls, and in the fall of 1962, to support the blockade put into effect during the Cuban Missile Crisis. On 22 October 1962, she departed Norfolk on what was to be a month-long training cruise in the Caribbean, but the formation of the blockade force altered the cruise plans. On 3 December, she returned to Norfolk and from then into 1967 she maintained her schedule of exercises with Marine Reconnaissance, Underwater Demolition Teams, and SEAL personnel. On 15 September 1967, she changed homeports and administrative control, and for the next two years, she operated out of Key West, Florida, as a unit of SubDiv 121. Reclassified an amphibious transport submarine with hull classification symbol LPSS-315 in January 1969, Sealion was ordered inactivated the following summer, and, in September, she proceeded to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where she was decommissioned and placed in the inactive fleet on 20 February 1970.
Stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 15 March 1977, Sealion was sunk as a target off Newport, Rhode Island, on 8 July 1978.
Awards
Presidential Unit Citation
Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with five battle stars
World War II Victory Medal
National Defense Service Medal with star
References
Tully, Anthony P. (1998). Total Eclipse: The Last Battles of the IJN.
External links
USS Sealion history by VAdm Charles A. Lockwood
Pictures taken on board the USS Sealion in 1968 and 1969
sounds page—includes sound from aboard the Sealion
Balao-class submarines
World War II submarines of the United States
Cold War submarines of the United States
Ships built in Groton, Connecticut
1943 ships
Ships sunk as targets
Maritime incidents in 1978
Shipwrecks of the Rhode Island coast
|
412419
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain%20Britain
|
Captain Britain
|
Captain Britain is a title used by various superheroes in comic books published by Marvel Comics, commonly in association with Excalibur. The moniker was first used in publication by Brian Braddock in Captain Britain #1 by writer Chris Claremont and artist Herb Trimpe, and is currently held by Brian's twin sister, Betsy Braddock.
The designation of the publisher's primary continuity as Earth-616 originated in Dave Thorpe, Alan Davis and Alan Moore's Marvel UK Captain Britain stories. The strip also established the multiversal Captain Britain Corps, members of which act as the champions of their own respective versions of the British Isles, which act as a nexus point between dimensions via Otherworld.
Creation
Marvel UK, the British wing of Marvel Comics, had been established in 1972. In order to fit in with the style of British weeklies, titles such as The Mighty World of Marvel consisted of reprinted Marvel material in an anthology magazine format, with much of the colour removed. However, these failed to make a major impression on the market, which was dominated by titles of original British material from Fleetway Publications and DC Thomson. In response, Marvel decided the line needed a British character as a flagship title. As Marvel UK itself was effectively a packaging operation at the time with no experienced creative staff the character was devised at Marvel's American headquarters. London-born Chris Claremont - at the time a rising star in the company following his successful work on the revival of X-Men - was one of the few Anglophiles on staff, and was assigned to the title. He came up with the name, origin and cast for the new title, Captain Britain. Art duties went to experienced Incredible Hulk artist Herb Trimpe, who lived in Cornwall at the time and would recall the 8-page strips typically only took him a couple of days to draw. The designer of the character's patriotic costume, complete with Heraldic lion rampant, is unknown; Trimpe has speculated it was John Romita.
Publishing history
British comics
The Captain Britain title launched with some fanfare, even garnering reviews (albeit negative ones) in The Financial Times and The Daily Record. Captain Britain #8 would introduce Brian's twin sister, model Elizabeth "Betsy" Braddock, who was revealed to have psychic powers, with the following issue debuting Jamie Braddock, their playboy racing-car-driving older brother. However, Claremont left the title after the tenth issue. His replacement was Gary Friedrich, best known for his role in the creation of Ghost Rider. Sales were moribund, and Captain Britain went to black-and-white from #24 to cut costs, attempting to soften the blow with another free gift - Captain Britain's lesser-spotted 'Superjet'. Alan Davis would also recall that - unknown to the American creative team - the 'lion mark' had previously been used by the Egg Marketing Board to denote the quality of eggs, leading to many jokes at the character's expense. In a 1986 article for Amazing Heroes, N.A. Collins named Captain Britain's first costume among the six worst male superhero looks in comic history up to that point, noting the "weird sunroof mask" and the "tacky Avon jewellery".
After 39 issues Captain Britain was merged with Marvel UK's Spider-Man reprint title, at the time called Super Spider-Man. Meanwhile Captain Britain had already appeared alongside Spider-Man in America. Claremont was working on Marvel Team-Up with John Byrne and decided to use the format as an introduction for Braddock via the device of him briefly rooming with Peter Parker. The two-issue storyline also saw the debut of Arcade and his Murderworld. The character had been a conclusive failure for Marvel. As a result they realised that they needed to recruit from the British comic scene, and in August 1978 Stan Lee headhunted Dez Skinn. In what the specialist press called "the Marvel Revolution", Skinn insisted on funds being made available to make homegrown material. Among his efforts was Hulk Comic, a weekly styled like Marvel UK's rivals boys' comics. The title mixed reprints with new material, including a fantasy strip starring the Black Knight. The serial was written by Steve Parkhouse, who was deeply interested in Celtic and Arthurian myths, also drawing on the works of Ursula K. Le Guin, Larry Niven and J. R. R. Tolkien. This gave a perfect opportunity to reintroduce Captain Britain, now under a British-based creative team, with veteran John Stokes on art duties, later joined by Paul Neary.
Skinn quit Marvel UK, with Neary taking over as the offshoot's editor-in-chief. Neary paused commissioning covers to free up resources to make a new Captain Britain feature for flagship anthology Marvel Superheroes. Even then he was only able to hire newcomers and turned to editor Dave Thorpe, who had never written before, and Alan Davis, an acquaintance of Neary's who had only recently turned professional. Thorpe and Neary had already devised the idea of sending the character to a parallel Earth when Davis came onboard. Davis was tasked with redesigning the lead character's costume with the stipulation to lose the clumsy sceptre, with the artist taking a cues from military uniforms in the new look and bulky out his physique. His unused concepts for the character would later be used for some of the Captain Britain Corps. The new team debuted in Marvel Super-Heroes #377, in September 1981; it had initially been advertised as appearing in #375, but was hit by delays.
Thorpe would fall out with Davis and Marvel after only a few months when he wrote a story featuring Captain Britain resolving the Troubles in Northern Ireland. Neary backed the artist, leading to Thorpe leaving the strip. His replacement was Alan Moore . The new team moved the strip in a darker tone, reconfiguring Jaspers as a powerful reality-warping mutant and introducing the unstoppable hero-killing cybiote The Fury. Jackdaw was killed off, and in Marvel Super-Heroes #388 Captain Britain seemed to join him. This allowed the strip to cover the character's resurrection and history in a new title, The Daredevils, in January 1983. Despite both the new title and the ongoing strip receiving good notices, including an Eagle Award, The Daredevils was a sales disappointment and was cancelled after 11 issues in November 1983, with Captain Britain transferring back to the relaunched Mighty World of Marvel. Following the conclusion of the "Jaspers' Warp" storyline in June 1984, Moore left the series. Meanwhile the character was also selected for a sizeable role in Marvel Super Hero Contest of Champions, a crossover limited series published by Marvel UK's parent company. However, delays saw the title - originally created as to tie in with the 1980 Summer Olympics - held back until 1982.
Davis would briefly take over writing the story himself until being joined by Jamie Delano, an up-and-coming writer recommended by Moore, and Meggan was incorporated as a major supporting character. In January 1985 the serial was transferred back to a new Captain Britain monthly series. Sales were initially respectable but began to fall, while Davis felt Delano wasn't interested in the superhero genre and was also finding his own time to be taken up by a lucrative role as artist for Captain Britain meanwhile would appear as a guest character in Captain America #305-306, with art from Neary.
Excalibur (1987-1998)
When Claremont read the reinvigorated Captain Britain stories he was impressed with the development of the characters The result was Claremont and Davis creating the super-team Excalibur, picking up Captain Britain and Meggan from where Captain Britain had left them and adding X-Men refugees Nightcrawler, Shadowcat and the Rachel Summers incarnation of Phoenix. The group initially came together in the lavish Excalibur Special Edition in 1987, and soon became the stars of a regular series, with Captain Britain playing a major role. The success also led to Marvel printing a trade paperback compiling the material Davis had produced for the character after Moore's departure, which was coloured by several artists. Davis would redesign the character's costume again for Excalibur #13; previously it had largely been depicted in black-and-white, with Davis himself colouring the colour cover appearances. However, he found the American colourists were frequently making mistakes and so simplified it. Parallel to these storylines the character also appeared in new British material, featuring as a supporting character in Marvel UK's Knights of Pendragon series.
Captain Britain was lost in the time-steam off-panel before Excalibur #68, and when he did return was rechristened Britannic, with a redesigned costume. Warren Ellis became writer for the title in 1994, and one of his storylines involved revitalising Brian, who reclaimed the identity and costume of Captain Britain in Excalibur #100. However, Ellis would leave the series soon afterwards and his successor Ben Raab swiftly wrote the character. Sales were falling and the title was cancelled in 1998, ending with Brian returning to marry Meggan. Captain Britain then spent several years without a regular title, though in 2001 Raab wrote the four-issue Excalibur limited series that involved the Captain Britain Corps and ended with Braddock as King of Otherworld.
New Excalibur, Captain Britain and MI: 13 and Secret Avengers
Brian was later featured as the team leader of New Excalibur in 2005, culminating with the X-Men: Die by the Sword limited series. Following the Secret Invasion crossover, Brian headlined the 2008 series Captain Britain and MI: 13, written by Paul Cornell, which included some characters from New Excalibur, as well as members of MI: 13 who appeared in Cornell's Wisdom limited series. The character later appeared as a regular character in the 2010-2013 Secret Avengers series, from issue #22 (April 2012) through its final issue #37 (March 2013), reappearing with the Avengers as a part of the Time Runs Out storyline.
Around the same time the character made his first appearance in a British-made comic since the end of Knights of Pendragon when Panini Comics, who had taken over Marvel UK following the latter's mid-1990s collapse following an ill-advised rapid expansion under Neary, began producing small indigenous strips for the young reader-orientated Spectacular Spider-Man. Captain Britain guest-starred in #114, dated March 2005, and written by Jim Alexander with art by John Haward and a returning Stokes. Positive reader response saw a second appearance the following year in Spectacular Spider-Man #133.
Dawn of X and Beyond
During the 2019 X-Men franchise relaunch Dawn of X, following Brian's corruption by Morgan le Fey, Betsy Braddock claimed the mantle of Captain Britain in a new volume of Excalibur written by Tini Howard. Leading a new Excalibur roster including Gambit, Rogue, Jubilee, Rictor and Apocalypse, the team comes into conflict with Morgan le Fey and the anti-mutant Coven Akkaba, as well as Saturnyne, who had usurped the role of omniversal magisitrix and refuses to accept Betsy as Captain Britain. During X of Swords, in which Apocalypse's secret plans of reuniting Krakoa with Arakko come to fruition, leading Saturnyne to arrange a tournament between both sides to avoid a war in Otherworld, Betsy is apparently killed in a duel with Isca the Unbeaten, shattering along with the Starlight Sword. Saturnyne reconstitutes the shards to revive the Captaim Britain Corps, but is distraught when the new Captains Britain are variants of Betsy rather than of Brian. After the tournament, Betsy's consciousness becomes lost in the multiverse, returning with the assistance of Kwannon, during which the two begin to come to peace with their complicated relationship. After the revival of Morgan le Fey, Betsy leads Excalibur against Merlyn and King Arthur. As Avalon falls to Merlyn and Arthur, the mutants escape to Earth, severing the connection to otherworld, while uses the Starlight Sword to return to the fight herself, knowing she will be trapped without the protection of Krakoan resurrection.
In the follow-up series Knights of X, also written by Howard, Betsy and the Corps take up refuge with Merlyn's daughter and former magistrix Roma, rescuing mutants facing danger in Otherworld. Refusing Betsy's request for an army, Roma instead sends her on a quest for the Siege Perilous alongside Gambit, Rachel Summers, Bei the Blood Moon, Gloriana, Kylun, Rictor, Shatterstar, Shogo Lee, and Arthur's mutant son Mordred. After being tested by the Siege Perilous, Betsy and her knights forge a pathway to Krakoa, bringing an army of Krakoan mutants to fight against Merlyn and Arthur, with Betsy finally executing Merlyn and decreeing that the Corps will not be bound by any one ruler and will instead defend the multiverse on their own terms. During this ordeal, Betsy also cemented her romantic relationship with Rachel Summers, sharing a kiss as Rachel helps the knights overcome the Siege Perilious.
Throughout the Dawn of X and subsequent stories, Betsy had been contending with an increasingly-fraught political situation at home, with forces within the British government and populace opposing the legitimacy of a mutant holding the role of their champion. This conflict worsens in Howard's series Captain Britain: Betsy Braddock, which features Betsy's further conflicts with Morgan le Fey as the villain attempts to conquer Britain with the assistance of Doctor Doom. Betsy is assisted in this series by Rachel, Brian, and Meggan (now going by the monikers of Askani, Captain Avalon, and Gloriana, respectively), as well as revived members of Pete Wisdom and the S.T.R.I.K.E. PSI Division, together defeating le Fey by forging a true respectful connection between le Fey and the land. As Brian reconstitutes the Braddock Academy, Betsy continues on with her responsibilities to Britain and the multiverse as Captain Britain and leader of the Corps.
Fictional character biography
In the main continuity of Marvel Comics, three characters have used the Captain Britain title in regular publication.
Brian Braddock
Betsy Braddock
Kelsey Leigh Kirkland
Other
Modred the Mystic briefly assumed the mantle of Captain Britain by syphoning off Braddock's energies in an effort to defeat Merlyn.
Captain Britain Corps
Publication history
The Captain Britain Corps is a fictional league of super-heroes appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The characters are all known as, or appear as an alternative version of, Captain Britain, each coming from an alternative reality. Created by writer Alan Moore and artist Alan Davis, the corps first appeared in The Daredevils #6 (June 1983). Founded by Merlyn, his daughter Roma and Sir James Braddock, the organization is tasked with defending the multiverse. The power wielded by members of the corps is derived from absorbing and metabolizing energy generated by the matrix of "exotic particles" naturally occurring at weak points between dimensions, which are present at each dimension's equivalent of the British Isles in unusual quantity and proximity; members are tasked with safeguarding the gateways between dimensions and being the highest champion of each earth's respective morality codes. In addition to the Captains themselves, the organization has included administrators such as Merlyn, Roma, and Saturnyne.
Fictional organisation biography
Merlyn and Roma had arranged for each chosen member of the Corps to gain superpowers, often using unscrupulous means. Following Merlyn's funeral, Roma took control over the corps, making Saturnyne her subordinate and bringing Corps members to the Starlight Citadel for training. Roma also tasked Corps members to take turns in defending Otherworld. Corps members would continue to gather in for important occasions .The corps rarely fought as a unit in these stories, with an exception occurring when Roma dispatched them against Franklin Richards and the Fantastic Four.
The Corps was nearly wiped out by Mastermind, a villainous computer belonging to Brian Braddock, and a group of mutated children known as the Warpies, who were once the wards of Captain UK. Roma stepped down as omniversal guardian, giving the title to Brian Braddock, who became King of Otherworld and rebuilt the Corps. Another wave of destruction tore through Otherworld due to Wanda Maximoff's alterations to reality in House of M, which nearly led to Roma and Saturnyne erasing that universe. It once again it came under attack, this time from Mad Jim Jaspers and Corps members which he began to turn into Furys. The end of the battle saw Roma dead, along with most of the Corps along with her. Saturnyne appointed Albion the new leader as they rebuilt the corps once again. Later, the Captain Britain Corps investigate universal Incursions which are causing the destruction of various realities, and the deaths of twenty Corpsmen. After the members of the Corps capture a Mapmaker, the Ivory Kings send their entire forces to overrun the Starlight Citadel, destroying the entire Corps. Saturnyne is able to teleport Brian Braddock to safety, leaving him as the Corps' only survivor.
Membership
The Captain Britain Corps spans the multiverse; the exact number of members is unclear. Many members are simply named Captain Britain, while some others use names such as Captain U.K. or Lady London or names reflective of the specific characteristics of their respective universes (such as Hauptmann Englande or The Violet Swan) or individual circumstances (such as Spider-UK). Of the corps members depicted in publication, most, but not all, have been alternate versions of Brian or Betsy Braddock.
Known members
A number of individuals are known in-story to have been members of the Captain Britain Corps at some point in their fictional portrayals.
Collected editions
References
External links
Captain Britain at the Marvel Directory
Captain Britain (Brian Braddock) at Marvel.com
Captain Britain at UncannyXmen.net
1976 comics debuts
1977 comics endings
1985 comics debuts
1986 comics endings
Avengers (comics) characters
British comics characters
British superheroes
Comics by Alan Moore
Comics by Chris Claremont
Comics characters introduced in 1976
Excalibur (comics)
Fictional British secret agents
Fictional engineers
Fictional kings
Fictional physicists
Fictional swordfighters in comics
Marvel Comics characters who can move at superhuman speeds
Marvel Comics characters who use magic
Marvel Comics characters with superhuman senses
Marvel Comics characters with superhuman strength
Marvel Comics mutates
Marvel Comics scientists
Marvel UK characters
Twin characters in comics
United Kingdom-themed superheroes
|
412425
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital%20punishment%20in%20the%20United%20States
|
Capital punishment in the United States
|
In the United States, capital punishment is a legal penalty throughout the country at the federal level, in 27 states, and in American Samoa. It is also a legal penalty for some military offenses. Capital punishment has been abolished in 23 states and in the federal capital, Washington, D.C. It is usually applied for only the most serious crimes, such as aggravated murder. Although it is a legal penalty in 27 states, 20 states have the ability to execute death sentences, with the other seven, as well as the federal government, being subject to different types of moratoriums. The existence of capital punishment in the United States can be traced to early colonial Virginia. Along with Japan, Singapore, and Taiwan, the United States is one of four advanced democracies and the only Western nation that applies the death penalty regularly. It is one of 54 countries worldwide applying it, and was the first to develop lethal injection as a method of execution, which has since been adopted by five other countries. The Philippines has since abolished executions, and Guatemala has done so for civil offenses, leaving the United States as one of four countries to still use this method (along with China, Thailand, and Vietnam). It is common practice for the condemned to be administered sedatives prior to execution, regardless of the method used.
There were no executions in the United States between 1967 and 1977. In 1972, the Supreme Court of the United States struck down capital punishment statutes in Furman v. Georgia, reducing all pending death sentences to life imprisonment at the time. Subsequently, a majority of states enacted new death penalty statutes, and the court affirmed the legality of the practice in the 1976 case Gregg v. Georgia. Since then, more than 8,700 defendants have been sentenced to death; of these, more than 1,550 have been executed. At least 190 people who were sentenced to death since 1972 have since been exonerated, about 2.2% or one in 46. As of April 13, 2022, about 2,400 to 2,500 convicts are still on death row.
The Trump administration's Department of Justice announced its plans to resume executions for federal crimes in 2019. On July 14, 2020, Daniel Lewis Lee became the first inmate executed by the federal government since 2003. , there were 43 inmates on federal death row. Thirteen federal death row inmates have been executed since federal executions resumed in July 2020. The last and most recent federal execution was of Dustin Higgs, who was executed on January 16, 2021. Higgs' execution was also the last under the presidency of Donald Trump. On July 1, 2021, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced that a moratorium on the federal death penalty was being reinstated.
History
Pre-Furman history
The first recorded death sentence in the British North American colonies was carried out in 1608 on Captain George Kendall, who was executed by firing squad at the Jamestown colony for spying on behalf of the Spanish government. Executions in colonial America were also carried out by hanging. The hangman's noose was one of the various punishments the Puritans of the Massachusetts Bay Colony applied to enforce religious and intellectual conformity on the whole community.
The Bill of Rights adopted in 1789 included the Eighth Amendment which prohibited cruel and unusual punishment. The Fifth Amendment was drafted with language implying a possible use of the death penalty, requiring a grand jury indictment for "capital crime" and a due process of law for deprivation of "life" by the government. The Fourteenth Amendment adopted in 1868 also requires a due process of law for deprivation of life by any states.
The Espy file, compiled by M. Watt Espy and John Ortiz Smykla, lists 15,269 people executed in the United States and its predecessor colonies between 1608 and 1991. From 1930 to 2002, there were 4,661 executions in the U.S., about two-thirds of them in the first 20 years. Additionally, the United States Army executed 135 soldiers between 1916 and 1961 (the most recent).
Early abolition movement
Three states abolished the death penalty for murder during the 19th century: Michigan (which has never executed a prisoner since achieving statehood, and which is the first government in the English-speaking world to abolish capital punishment) in 1847, Wisconsin in 1853, and Maine in 1887. Rhode Island is also a state with a long abolitionist background, having repealed the death penalty in 1852, though it was theoretically available for murder committed by a prisoner between 1872 and 1984.
Other states which abolished the death penalty for murder before Gregg v. Georgia include Minnesota in 1911, Vermont in 1964, Iowa and West Virginia in 1965, and North Dakota in 1973. Hawaii abolished the death penalty in 1948 and Alaska in 1957, both before their statehood. Puerto Rico repealed it in 1929 and the District of Columbia in 1981. Arizona and Oregon abolished the death penalty by popular vote in 1916 and 1964 respectively, but both reinstated it, again by popular vote, some years later; Arizona reinstated the death penalty in 1918 and Oregon in 1978. In Oregon, the measure reinstating the death penalty was overturned by the Oregon Supreme Court in 1981, but Oregon voters again reinstated the death penalty in 1984. Puerto Rico and Michigan are the only two U.S. jurisdictions to have explicitly prohibited capital punishment in their constitutions: in 1952 and 1964, respectively.
Constitutional law developments
Capital punishment was used by 6 of 50 states in 2022. They were Alabama, Arizona, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas. Government executions, as reported by Amnesty International, took place in 20 of the world's 195 countries. The Federal government, however, which had not executed for 16 years prior, did so in 2020, pushed by Donald Trump and Attorney General William Barr.
Executions for various crimes, especially murder and rape, occurred from the creation of the United States up to the beginning of the 1960s. Until then, "save for a few mavericks, no one gave any credence to the possibility of ending the death penalty by judicial interpretation of constitutional law", according to abolitionist Hugo Bedau.
The possibility of challenging the constitutionality of the death penalty became progressively more realistic after the Supreme Court of the United States decided on Trop v. Dulles in 1958. The Supreme Court declared explicitly, for the first time, that the Eighth Amendment's cruel and unusual punishment clause must draw its meaning from the "evolving standards of decency that mark the progress of a maturing society", rather than from its original meaning. Also in the 1932 case Powell v. Alabama, the court made the first step of what would later be called "death is different" jurisprudence, when it held that any indigent defendant was entitled to a court-appointed attorney in capital cases – a right that was only later extended to non-capital defendants in 1963, with Gideon v. Wainwright.
Capital punishment suspended (1972)
In Furman v. Georgia, the U.S. Supreme Court considered a group of consolidated cases. The lead case involved an individual convicted under Georgia's death penalty statute, which featured a "unitary trial" procedure in which the jury was asked to return a verdict of guilt or innocence and, simultaneously, determine whether the defendant would be punished by death or life imprisonment. The last pre-Furman execution was that of Luis Monge on June 2, 1967.
In a 5–4 decision, the Supreme Court struck down the impositions of the death penalty in each of the consolidated cases as unconstitutional in violation of the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution. The Supreme Court has never ruled the death penalty to be per se unconstitutional. The five justices in the majority did not produce a common opinion or rationale for their decision, however, and agreed only on a short statement announcing the result. The narrowest opinions, those of Byron White and Potter Stewart, expressed generalized concerns about the inconsistent application of the death penalty across a variety of cases, but did not exclude the possibility of a constitutional death penalty law. Stewart and William O. Douglas worried explicitly about racial discrimination in enforcement of the death penalty. Thurgood Marshall and William J. Brennan Jr. expressed the opinion that the death penalty was proscribed absolutely by the Eighth Amendment as cruel and unusual punishment. This decision was reached by the suspicion that many states, particularly in the South, were using capital punishment as a form of legal lynching of African-American males, inasmuch as almost all executions for non-homicidal rape in the Southern states involved a black perpetrator, and this suspicion was fueled by cases such as the Martinsville Seven, when seven African-American men were executed by Virginia in 1951 for the gang rape of a white woman.
The Furman decision caused all death sentences pending at the time to be reduced to life imprisonment, and was described by scholars as a "legal bombshell". The next day, columnist Barry Schweid wrote that it was "unlikely" that the death penalty could exist anymore in the United States.
Capital punishment reinstated (1976)
Instead of abandoning capital punishment, 37 states enacted new death penalty statutes that attempted to address the concerns of White and Stewart in Furman. Some states responded by enacting mandatory death penalty statutes which prescribed a sentence of death for anyone convicted of certain forms of murder. White had hinted that such a scheme would meet his constitutional concerns in his Furman opinion. Other states adopted "bifurcated" trial and sentencing procedures, with various procedural limitations on the jury's ability to pronounce a death sentence designed to limit juror discretion.
On July 2, 1976, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Gregg v. Georgia and upheld 7–2 a Georgia procedure in which the trial of capital crimes was bifurcated into guilt-innocence and sentencing phases. At the first proceeding, the jury decides the defendant's guilt; if the defendant is innocent or otherwise not convicted of first-degree murder, the death penalty will not be imposed. At the second hearing, the jury determines whether certain statutory aggravating factors exist, whether any mitigating factors exist, and, in many jurisdictions, weigh the aggravating and mitigating factors in assessing the ultimate penalty – either death or life in prison, either with or without parole. The same day, in Woodson v. North Carolina and Roberts v. Louisiana, the court struck down 5–4 statutes providing a mandatory death sentence.
Executions resumed on January 17, 1977, when Gary Gilmore went before a firing squad in Utah. Although hundreds of individuals were sentenced to death in the United States during the 1970s and early 1980s, only ten people besides Gilmore (who had waived all of his appeal rights) were actually executed prior to 1984.
Following the decision, the use of capital punishment in the United States soared. This was in contrast to trends in other parts of advanced industrial democracies where the use of capital punishment declined or was prohibited. Members of the Council of Europe comply with the European Convention of Human Rights which prohibits capital punishment. The last execution in the UK took place in 1964, and in 1977 in France.
Supreme Court narrows capital offenses
In 1977, the Supreme Court's Coker v. Georgia decision barred the death penalty for rape of an adult woman. Previously, the death penalty for rape of an adult had been gradually phased out in the United States, and at the time of the decision, Georgia and the Federal government were the only two jurisdictions to still retain the death penalty for this offense.
In the 1980 case Godfrey v. Georgia, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that murder can be punished by death only if it involves a narrow and precise aggravating factor.
The U.S. Supreme Court has placed two major restrictions on the use of the death penalty. First, the case of Atkins v. Virginia, decided on June 20, 2002, held that the execution of intellectually disabled inmates is unconstitutional. Second, in 2005, the court's decision in Roper v. Simmons struck down executions for offenders under the age of 18 at the time of the crime.
In the 2008 case Kennedy v. Louisiana, the court also held 5–4 that the death penalty is unconstitutional when applied to non-homicidal crimes against the person, including child rape. Only two death row inmates (both in Louisiana) were affected by the decision. Nevertheless, the ruling came less than five months before the 2008 presidential election and was criticized by both major party candidates Barack Obama and John McCain.
Repeal movements and legal challenges
In 2004, New York's and Kansas' capital sentencing schemes were struck down by their respective states' highest courts. Kansas successfully appealed the Kansas Supreme Court decision to the United States Supreme Court, which reinstated the statute in Kansas v. Marsh (2006), holding it did not violate the U.S. Constitution. The decision of the New York Court of Appeals was based on the state constitution, making unavailable any appeal. The state lower house has since blocked all attempts to reinstate the death penalty by adopting a valid sentencing scheme. In 2016, Delaware's death penalty statute was also struck down by its state supreme court.
In 2007, New Jersey became the first state to repeal the death penalty by legislative vote since Gregg v. Georgia, followed by New Mexico in 2009, Illinois in 2011, Connecticut in 2012, and Maryland in 2013. The repeals were not retroactive, but in New Jersey, Illinois and Maryland, governors commuted all death sentences after enacting the new law. In Connecticut, the Connecticut Supreme Court ruled in 2015 that the repeal must be retroactive. In New Mexico, capital punishment for certain offenses is still possible for National Guard members in Title 32 status under the state's Code of Military Justice (NMSA 20–12), and for capital offenses committed prior to the repeal of the state's death penalty statute.
Nebraska's legislature also passed a repeal in 2015, but a referendum campaign gathered enough signatures to suspend it. Capital punishment was reinstated by popular vote on November 8, 2016. The same day, California's electorate defeated a proposal to repeal the death penalty, and adopted another initiative to speed up its appeal process.
On October 11, 2018, Washington state became the 20th state to abolish capital punishment when its state Supreme Court deemed the death penalty unconstitutional on the grounds of racial bias. The state later abolished it through legislation passed in 2023.
New Hampshire became the 21st state to abolish capital punishment on May 30, 2019, when its state senate overrode Governor Sununu's veto by a vote of 16–8.
Colorado became the 22nd state to abolish capital punishment when governor Jared Polis signed a repeal bill on March 23, 2020, and commuted all existing death sentences in the state to life without parole.
Virginia became the 23rd state to abolish capital punishment, and the first Southern state to do so when governor Ralph Northam signed a repeal bill on March 24, 2021, and commuted all existing death sentences in the state to life without parole.
Since Furman, 11 states have organized popular votes dealing with the death penalty through the initiative and referendum process. All resulted in a vote for reinstating it, rejecting its abolition, expanding its application field, specifying in the state constitution that it is not unconstitutional, or expediting the appeal process in capital cases.
States that have abolished the death penalty
A total of 23 states, plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico have abolished the death penalty for all crimes. Below is a table of the states and the date that the state abolished the death penalty. Michigan became the first English-speaking territory in the world to abolish capital punishment in 1847. Although treason remained a crime punishable by the death penalty in Michigan despite the 1847 abolition, no one was ever executed under that law, and Michigan's 1962 Constitutional Convention codified that the death penalty was fully abolished. Vermont has abolished the death penalty for all crimes, but has an invalid death penalty statue for treason. When it abolished the death penalty in 2019, New Hampshire explicitly did not commute the death sentence of the sole person remaining on the state's death row.
Modern era
In 1982, Texas carried out the first execution by lethal injection in world history and lethal injection subsequently became the preferred method throughout the country, displacing the electric chair. From 1976 to 8 December 2016, there were 1,533 executions, of which 1,349 were by lethal injection, 163 by electrocution, 11 by gas inhalation, 3 by hanging, and 3 by firing squad. The South had the great majority of these executions, with 1,249; there were 190 in the Midwest, 86 in the West, and only 4 in the Northeast. No state in the Northeast has conducted an execution since Connecticut, now abolitionist, in 2005. The state of Texas alone conducted 571 executions, over 1/3 of the total; the states of Texas, Virginia (now abolitionist), and Oklahoma combined make up over half the total, with 802 executions between them. 17 executions have been conducted by the federal government. Executions increased in frequency until 1999; 98 prisoners were executed that year. Since 1999, the number of executions has greatly decreased, and the 17 executions in 2020 were the fewest since 1991. A 2016 poll conducted by Pew Research, found that support nationwide for the death penalty in the U.S. had fallen below 50% for the first time since the beginning of the post-Gregg era.
The death penalty became an issue during the 1988 presidential election. It came up in the October 13, 1988, debate between the two presidential nominees George H. W. Bush and Michael Dukakis, when Bernard Shaw, the moderator of the debate, asked Dukakis, "Governor, if Kitty Dukakis [his wife] were raped and murdered, would you favor an irrevocable death penalty for the killer?" Dukakis replied, "No, I don't, and I think you know that I've opposed the death penalty during all of my life. I don't see any evidence that it's a deterrent, and I think there are better and more effective ways to deal with violent crime." Bush was elected, and many, including Dukakis himself, cite the statement as the beginning of the end of his campaign.
In 1996, Congress passed the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act to streamline the appeal process in capital cases. The bill was signed into law by President Bill Clinton, who had endorsed capital punishment during his 1992 presidential campaign.
A study found that at least 34 of the 749 executions carried out in the U.S. between 1977 and 2001, or 4.5%, involved "unanticipated problems or delays that caused, at least arguably, unnecessary agony for the prisoner or that reflect gross incompetence of the executioner". The rate of these "botched executions" remained steady over the period. A study published in The Lancet in 2005 found that in 43% of cases of lethal injection, the blood level of hypnotics in the prisoner was insufficient to ensure unconsciousness. Nonetheless, the Supreme Court ruled in 2008 (Baze v. Rees), again in 2015 (Glossip v. Gross), and a third time in 2019 (Bucklew v. Precythe), that lethal injection does not constitute cruel and unusual punishment.
On July 25, 2019, Attorney General William Barr ordered the resumption of federal executions after a 16-year hiatus, and set five execution dates for December 2019 and January 2020. After the Supreme Court upheld a stay on these executions, the stay was lifted in June 2020 and four executions were rescheduled for July and August 2020. The federal government executed Daniel Lewis Lee on July 14, 2020. He became the first convict executed by the federal government since 2003. Before Trump's term ended in January 2021, the federal government carried out a total of 13 executions.
Women's history and capital punishment
In 1632, 24 years after the first recorded male execution in the colonies, Jane Champion became the first woman known to have been lawfully executed. She was sentenced to death by hanging after she was convicted of infanticide; around two-thirds of women executed in the 17th and early 18th centuries were convicted of child murder. A married woman, it is not known whether Champion's illicit lover, William Gallopin, also convicted of their child's murder, was also executed, although it appears he was so sentenced. For the Puritans, infanticide was the worst form of murder.
Women accounted for just one fifth of all executions between 1632 and 1759, in the colonial United States. Women were more likely to be acquitted, and the relatively low number of executions of women may have been impacted by the scarcity of female laborers. Slavery was not yet widespread in the 17th century mainland and planters relied mostly on Irish indentured servants. To maintain subsistence levels in those days everyone had to do farm work, including women.
The second half of the 17th century saw the executions of 14 women and 6 men who were accused of witchcraft during the witch hunt hysteria and the Salem Witch Trials. While both men and women were executed, 80% of the accusations were towards women, so the list of executions disproportionately affected men by a margin of 6 (actual) to 4 (expected), i.e. 50% more men were executed than expected from the percentage of accused who were men.
Other notable female executions include Mary Surratt, Margie Velma Barfield and Wanda Jean Allen. Mary Surratt was executed by hanging in 1865 after being convicted of co-conspiring to assassinate Abraham Lincoln. Margie Velma Barfield was convicted of murder and when she was executed by lethal injection in 1984, she became the first woman to be executed since the ban on capital punishment was lifted in 1976. Wanda Jean Allen was convicted of murder in 1989 and had a high-profile execution by lethal injection in January 2001. She was the first black woman to be executed in the US since 1954. Allen's appellate lawyers did not deny her guilt, but claimed that prosecutors capitalized on her low IQ, race and homosexuality in their representations of her as a murderer at trial. This approach did not work.
The federal government executes women infrequently. Ethel Rosenberg, convicted of espionage, was executed in the electric chair on June 19, 1953, and Bonnie Brown Heady, convicted of kidnapping and murder, was executed in the gas chamber later that same year on December 18. Since Heady, only one more woman has been executed by the federal government: Lisa Montgomery, convicted of killing a pregnant woman and cutting out and kidnapping her baby, by lethal injection in Indiana on January 13, 2021. Her execution had been stayed while her lawyers argued that she had mental health issues, but the Supreme Court lifted the stay.
Juvenile capital punishment
In 1642, the first ever juvenile, Thomas Graunger, was sentenced to death in Plymouth Colony, Massachusetts, for bestiality. Since then, at least 361 other juveniles have been sentenced to the death penalty. Kent v. United States (1966), turned the tides for juvenile capital punishment sentencing when it limited the waiver discretion juvenile courts had. Before this case, juvenile courts had the freedom to waiver juvenile cases to criminal courts without a hearing, which did not make the waiving process consistent across states. Discussions about abolishing the death penalty started occurring between 1983 and 1986. In 1987, Thompson v. Oklahoma, the Supreme Court threw away William Wayne Thompson's death sentence due to it being cruel and unusual punishment, as he was 15 years old at the time of the crime he committed; the judgment established that "evolving standards of decency" made it inappropriate to apply the death penalty for people under 16 years old at the time of their capital crime, although Thompson held that it was still constitutional to sentence juveniles 16 years or older to the death penalty.
It was not until Roper v. Simmons that the juvenile death penalty was abolished due to the United States Supreme Court finding that the execution of juveniles is in conflict with the Eighth Amendment and Fourteenth Amendment, which deal with cruel and unusual punishment. Prior to completely abolishing the juvenile death penalty in 2005, any juvenile aged 16 years or older could be sentenced to death in some states, the last of whom was Scott Hain, executed in Oklahoma in 2003 for burning two people to death in a robbery at age 17. Prior to Roper, there were 71 people on death row in the United States for crimes committed as juveniles. Since 2005, there have been no executions nor discussion of executing juveniles in the United States.
Execution statistics
Capital crimes
Aggravated murder
Aggravating factors for seeking capital punishment of murder vary greatly among death penalty states. California has twenty-two. Some aggravating circumstances are nearly universal, such as robbery-murder, murder involving rape of the victim, and murder of an on-duty police officer.
Several states have included child murder to their list of aggravating factors, but the victim's age under which the murder is punishable by death varies. In 2011, Texas raised this age from six to ten.
In some states, the high number of aggravating factors has been criticized on account of giving prosecutors too much discretion in choosing cases where they believe capital punishment is warranted. In California especially, an official commission proposed, in 2008, to reduce these factors to five (multiple murders, torture murder, murder of a police officer, murder committed in jail, and murder related to another felony). Columnist Charles Lane went further, and proposed that murder related to a felony other than rape should no longer be a capital crime when there is only one victim killed.
Aggravating factors in federal court
In order for a person to be eligible for a death sentence when convicted of aggravated first-degree murder, the jury or court (when there is not a jury) must determine at least one of sixteen aggravating factors that existed during the crime's commission. The following is a list of the 16 aggravating factors under federal law.
Murder while committing another felony.
Offender was convicted of a separate felony involving a firearm prior to the aggravated murder.
Being convicted of a separate felony where death or life imprisonment was authorized prior to the aggravated murder.
Being convicted of any separate violent felony prior to the aggravated murder.
The offender put the lives of at least 1 or more other persons in danger of death during the commission of the crime.
Offender committed the crime in an especially cruel, heinous, or depraved manner.
Offender committed the crime for financial gain.
Offender committed the crime for monetary gain.
The murder was premeditated, involved planning in order to be carried out, or the offender showed early signs of committing the crime, such as keeping a journal of the crime's details and posting things on the Internet.
Offender was previously convicted of at least two drug offenses.
The victim would not have been able to defend themselves while being attacked.
Offender was previously convicted of a federal drug offense.
Offender was involved in a long-term business of selling drugs to minors.
A high-ranking official was murdered, such as the President of the United States, the leader of another country, or a police officer.
Offender was previously convicted of sexual assault or child rape.
During the crime's commission, the offender killed or tried to kill multiple people.
Crimes against the state
The opinion of the court in Kennedy v. Louisiana says that the ruling does not apply to "treason, espionage, terrorism, and drug kingpin activity, which are offenses against the State".
Since no one is on death row for such offenses, the court has yet to rule on the constitutionality of the death penalty applied for them.
Treason, espionage and large-scale drug trafficking are all capital crimes under federal law. Treason is also punishable by death in six states (Arkansas, California, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and South Carolina). Large-scale drug trafficking is punishable by death in two states (Florida and Missouri), and aircraft hijacking in two others (Georgia and Mississippi). Vermont has an invalidated pre-Furman statute allowing the electric chair for treason despite abolishing capital punishment in 1965.
Legal process
The legal administration of the death penalty in the United States typically involves five critical steps: (1) prosecutorial decision to seek the death penalty (2) sentencing, (3) direct review, (4) state collateral review, and (5) federal habeas corpus.
Clemency, through which the Governor or President of the jurisdiction can unilaterally reduce or abrogate a death sentence, is an executive rather than judicial process.
Decision to seek the death penalty
While judges in criminal cases can usually impose a harsher prison sentence than the one demanded by prosecution, the death penalty can be handed down only if the accuser has specifically decided to seek it.
In the decades since Furman, new questions have emerged about whether or not prosecutorial arbitrariness has replaced sentencing arbitrariness. A study by Pepperdine University School of Law published in Temple Law Review, surveyed the decision-making process among prosecutors in various states. The authors found that prosecutors' capital punishment filing decisions are marked by local "idiosyncrasies", and that wide prosecutorial discretion remains because of overly broad criteria. California law, for example, has 22 "special circumstances", making nearly all first-degree murders potential capital cases.
A proposed remedy against prosecutorial arbitrariness is to transfer the prosecution of capital cases to the state attorney general.
In 2017, Florida governor Rick Scott removed all capital cases from local prosecutor Aramis Ayala because she decided to never seek the death penalty no matter the gravity of the crime.
Sentencing
Of the 27 states with the death penalty, 25 require the sentence to be decided by the jury, and 24 require a unanimous decision by the jury.
Two states do not use juries in death penalty cases. In Nebraska the sentence is decided by a three-judge panel, which must unanimously agree on death, and the defendant is sentenced to life imprisonment if one of the judges is opposed. Montana is the only state where the trial judge decides the sentence alone. The only state which does not require a unanimous jury decision is Alabama. At least 10 jurors must concur, and a retrial happens if the jury deadlocks.
In all states in which the jury is involved, only death-qualified prospective jurors can be selected in such a jury, to exclude both people who will always vote for the death sentence and those who are categorically opposed to it. However, the states differ on what happens if the penalty phase results in a hung jury:
In four states (Arizona, California, Kentucky and Nevada), a retrial of the penalty phase will be conducted before a different jury (the common-law rule for mistrial).
In two states (Indiana and Missouri), the judge will decide the sentence.
In the remaining states, a hung jury results in a life sentence, even if only one juror opposed death. Federal law also provides that outcome.
The first outcome is referred as the "true unanimity" rule, while the third has been criticized as the "single-juror veto" rule.
Direct review
If a defendant is sentenced to death at the trial level, the case then goes into a direct review. The direct review process is a typical legal appeal. An appellate court examines the record of evidence presented in the trial court and the law that the lower court applied and decides whether the decision was legally sound or not. Direct review of a capital sentencing hearing will result in one of three outcomes. If the appellate court finds that no significant legal errors occurred in the capital sentencing hearing, the appellate court will affirm the judgment, or let the sentence stand. If the appellate court finds that significant legal errors did occur, then it will reverse the judgment, or nullify the sentence and order a new capital sentencing hearing. Lastly, if the appellate court finds that no reasonable juror could find the defendant eligible for the death penalty, a rarity, then it will order the defendant acquitted, or not guilty, of the crime for which he/she was given the death penalty, and order him sentenced to the next most severe punishment for which the offense is eligible. About 60 percent survive the process of direct review intact.
State collateral review
At times when a death sentence is affirmed on direct review, supplemental methods to attack the judgment, though less familiar than a typical appeal, do remain. These supplemental remedies are considered collateral review, that is, an avenue for upsetting judgments that have become otherwise final. Where the prisoner received his death sentence in a state-level trial, as is usually the case, the first step in collateral review is state collateral review, which is often called state habeas corpus. (If the case is a federal death penalty case, it proceeds immediately from direct review to federal habeas corpus.) Although all states have some type of collateral review, the process varies widely from state to state. Generally, the purpose of these collateral proceedings is to permit the prisoner to challenge his sentence on grounds that could not have been raised reasonably at trial or on direct review. Most often, these are claims, such as ineffective assistance of counsel, which requires the court to consider new evidence outside the original trial record, something courts may not do in an ordinary appeal. State collateral review, though an important step in that it helps define the scope of subsequent review through federal habeas corpus, is rarely successful in and of itself. Only around 6 percent of death sentences are overturned on state collateral review.
In Virginia, state habeas corpus for condemned men are heard by the state supreme court under exclusive original jurisdiction since 1995, immediately after direct review by the same court. This avoids any proceeding before the lower courts, and is in part why Virginia has the shortest time on average between death sentence and execution (less than eight years) and has executed 113 offenders since 1976 with only five remaining on death row .
To reduce litigation delays, other states require convicts to file their state collateral appeal before the completion of their direct appeal, or provide adjudication of direct and collateral attacks together in a "unitary review".
Federal habeas corpus
After a death sentence is affirmed in state collateral review, the prisoner may file for federal habeas corpus, which is a unique type of lawsuit that can be brought in federal courts. Federal habeas corpus is a type of collateral review, and it is the only way that state prisoners may attack a death sentence in federal court (other than petitions for certiorari to the United States Supreme Court after both direct review and state collateral review). The scope of federal habeas corpus is governed by the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (AEDPA), which restricted significantly its previous scope. The purpose of federal habeas corpus is to ensure that state courts, through the process of direct review and state collateral review, have done a reasonable job in protecting the prisoner's federal constitutional rights. Prisoners may also use federal habeas corpus suits to bring forth new evidence that they are innocent of the crime, though to be a valid defense at this late stage in the process, evidence of innocence must be truly compelling. According to Eric M. Freedman, 21 percent of death penalty cases are reversed through federal habeas corpus.
James Liebman, a professor of law at Columbia Law School, stated in 1996 that his study found that when habeas corpus petitions in death penalty cases were traced from conviction to completion of the case, there was "a 40 percent success rate in all capital cases from 1978 to 1995". Similarly, a study by Ronald Tabak in a law review article puts the success rate in habeas corpus cases involving death row inmates even higher, finding that between "1976 and 1991, approximately 47 percent of the habeas petitions filed by death row inmates were granted". The different numbers are largely definitional, rather than substantive: Freedam's statistics looks at the percentage of all death penalty cases reversed, while the others look only at cases not reversed prior to habeas corpus review.
A similar process is available for prisoners sentenced to death by the judgment of a federal court.
The AEDPA also provides an expeditious habeas procedure in capital cases for states meeting several requirements set forth in it concerning counsel appointment for death row inmates. Under this program, federal habeas corpus for condemned prisoners would be decided in about three years from affirmance of the sentence on state collateral review. In 2006, Congress conferred the determination of whether a state fulfilled the requirements to the U.S. attorney general, with a possible appeal of the state to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. , the Department of Justice has still not granted any certifications.
Section 1983
If the federal court refuses to issue a writ of habeas corpus, the death sentence ordinarily becomes final for all purposes. In recent times, however, prisoners have postponed execution through another avenue of federal litigation; the Civil Rights Act of 1871 – codified at – allows complainants to bring lawsuits against state actors to protect their federal constitutional and statutory rights.
While direct appeals are normally limited to just one and automatically stay the execution of the death sentence, Section 1983 lawsuits are unlimited, but the petitioner will be granted a stay of execution only if the court believes he has a likelihood of success on the merits.
Traditionally, Section 1983 was of limited use for a state prisoner under sentence of death because the Supreme Court has held that habeas corpus, not Section 1983, is the only vehicle by which a state prisoner can challenge his judgment of death. In the 2006 Hill v. McDonough case, however, the United States Supreme Court approved the use of Section 1983 as a vehicle for challenging a state's method of execution as cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment. The theory is that a prisoner bringing such a challenge is not attacking directly his judgment of death, but rather the means by which that the judgment will be carried out. Therefore, the Supreme Court held in the Hill case that a prisoner can use Section 1983 rather than habeas corpus to bring the lawsuit. Yet, as Clarence Hill's own case shows, lower federal courts have often refused to hear suits challenging methods of execution on the ground that the prisoner brought the claim too late and only for the purposes of delay. Further, the Court's decision in Baze v. Rees, upholding a lethal injection method used by many states, has narrowed the opportunity for relief through Section 1983.
Execution warrant
While the execution warrant is issued by the governor in several states, in the vast majority it is a judicial order, issued by a judge or by the state supreme court at the request of the prosecution.
The warrant usually sets an execution day. Some states instead provide a longer period, such as a week-long or 10-day window to carry out the execution. This is designated to avoid issuing a new warrant in case of a last-minute stay of execution that would be vacated only few days or few hours later.
Distribution of sentences
In recent years there has been an average of one death sentence for every 200 murder convictions in the United States.
Alabama has the highest per capita rate of death sentences. This is because Alabama was one of the few states that allowed judges to override a jury recommendation in favor of life imprisonment, a possibility it removed in March 2017.
According to the Death Penalty Information Center, the top three factors determining whether a convict gets a death sentence in a murder case are not aggravating factors, but instead the location the crime occurred (and thus whether it is in the jurisdiction of a prosecutor aggressively using the death penalty), the quality of legal defense, and the race of the victim (murder of white victims being punished more harshly).
Among states
The distribution of death sentences among states is loosely proportional to their populations and murder rates. California, which is the most populous state, also has the largest death row, with over 700 inmates. Wyoming, which is the least populous state, has only one condemned man.
But executions are more frequent (and happen more quickly after sentencing) in conservative states. Texas, which is the second most populous state in the Union, carried out over 500 executions during the post-Furman era, more than a third of the national total. California has carried out only 13 executions during the same period, and has carried out none since 2006.
Among races
Certain races within the United States are disproportionately incarcerated at higher rates than others. African Americans, who make up only 13.6% of the total population are disproportionately incarcerated in the prison system compared to white Americans.
Statistics
African Americans make up 41% of death row inmates. African Americans have made up 34% of those actually executed since 1976. Twenty-one white offenders have been executed for the murder of a black person since 1976, compared to the 302 black offenders that have been executed for the murder of a white person during that same period. Most individuals involved in determining the verdict in death penalty cases are white. As of 1998, Chief District Attorneys in counties using the death penalty are 98% white and only 1% are African-American. A supporting fact discovered through examinations of racial disparities over the past twenty years concerning race and the death penalty found that in 96% of these reviews, there was "a pattern of either race-of-victim or race-of-defendant discrimination or both." 80% of all capital cases involve white victims, despite white people only making up approximately 50% of murder victims.
With regard to innocent convicts, 54 percent of people wrongfully convicted and sentenced to death in the United States are black; 64 percent are non-white in general.
63.8% of white death row inmates, 72.8% of black death row inmates, 65.4% of Latino death row inmates, and 63.8% of Native American death row inmates – or approximately 67% of death row inmates overall – have a prior felony conviction. Approximately 13.5% of death row inmates are of Hispanic or Latino descent. In 2019, individuals identified as Hispanic and Latino Americans accounted for 5.5% of homicides. The death penalty exhortation rate for Hispanic and Latino Americans is 8.6%. Approximately 1.81% of death row inmates are of Asian descent.
Organizations against the death penalty for racial equity
ACLU’s Capital Punishment Project
The ACLU's Capital Punishment Project (CPP) is an anti-death penalty project that works toward the repeal of the death penalty in the U.S. through advocacy and education. The project highlights the racial discriminatory aspects regarding capital punishment and promotes both abolition and systemic reform of the death penalty through direct representation, strategic litigation, and systemic reform.
Equal Justice USA
Equal Justice USA is a national organization dedicated to healing, racial equity, and community safety in relation to criminal justice and violence. Their efforts spread wide and involve fundraising and hosting conventions to support communities of color. The organization is aimed towards people of color who have been disproportionately impacted by the death penalty. Some of their efforts include advocacy to end the death penalty, which they have helped to abolish in nine states.
Black Americans and capital punishment
The geographic distribution of capital punishment in the United States has a strong correlation with the history of slavery and lynchings. States where slavery was legal before the Civil War also saw high numbers of lynchings after the Civil War and into the 20th century. These states include Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. These states also introduced a criminal justice system with Black Codes, designed to control Black people after slavery was abolished in 1865 following the Emancipation Proclamation, and then officially with the ratification of the 13th Amendment. These states also have the highest rates of capital punishment sentences and executions today.
Racial relationship between lynchings and capital punishment
Once slaveowners lost full ownership of formerly enslaved African-Americans in 1865, lynchings were increasingly used, both legally under the security of Black Codes and illegally, to maintain white dominance and prevent African-Americans from challenging their subordinate place in society. Because of Black Codes, many African-Americans were sent to jail to participate in slave-like work in a system known as Convict leasing. Others faced capital punishment for alleged crimes, often in the form of lynching. Lynchings were able to be carried out because many positions within southern law enforcement, including state officials, and judges were held by former Confederate soldiers. Despite the passing of the Reconstruction Act of 1867, which weakened the strength of Black Codes and supported the 14th Amendment, the rate of lynching of African-Americans saw an increase, due the formation of the white-supremacist terrorist group, the Ku Klux Klan (K.K.K.), in 1865 by former Confederates during Reconstruction. They carried out many lynchings and terrorist attacks against Black people. After the end of the Reconstruction in 1877, when federal troops were removed from southern states in which they assisted in upholding the 14th Amendment's promises of equal protection, Jim Crow laws began to gain traction which enforced segregation and the oppression of African-Americans. Segregation was legal under the 1896 Supreme Court decision Plessy v. Ferguson until the Civil Rights Act of 1964 made it unconstitutional.
During and following the Civil Rights era, laws were introduced to prevent illegal lynchings by the general public. According to David Rigby and Charles Seguin, the popularity of capital punishment increased as a way for White people to control Black people and instill fear. They argue that the disproportionate number of Black Americans sentenced to death during the 20th century, often wrongfully convicted, shows that capital punishment was used as a way for White people to control Black people in a similar manner to lynching. In 1972, the Supreme Court ruled in Furman v. Georgia that capital punishment was unconstitutional. Rigby and Seguin argue that this led to an increase in the illegal lynchings of African-Americans. In 1976 the Supreme Court decision in Gregg v. Georgia upheld the death penalty and overturned Furman v. Georgia. Rigby and Seguin argue that this decision was based on a fear that lynchings by the general public would increase if the death penalty did not remain in place.
Although more than 6,500 lynchings occurred between 1865 and 1950 according to the Equal Justice Initiative, lynching did not become a federal crime until 2022 under the Emmett Till Antilynching Act, which was signed into law by President Joe Biden, over a hundred years after Antilynching legislation was first proposed.
21st century legal scholars, Civil Rights lawyers, and advocates, like Michelle Alexander, often refer to both past and modern police officers and officials of the United States' criminal justice system's as legalized, modern lynch mobs because they have the ability to sentence one to life in prison or with the death penalty under the law but with the jurisdiction of potentially incorporating their personal, racial biases. The ability for a Black person to be convicted to death, with the potential that racial bias was used in their sentencing, was upheld during the McCleskey v. Kemp court case in Georgia. Groups like the NAACP's Legal Defense Fund (LDF) have continuously worked and continue to work on abolishing capital punishment based on its historically racist associations with enslavement and lynching, and also its disproportionate impact on racial minority communities.
Racial breakdown of sentences by state
Capital punishment is still active in 27 states, which including the following: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Wyoming. Of these, Oklahoma, Texas, Delaware, Missouri, and Alabama make up the top five states with the highest rate of executions per capita. However, Texas, Oklahoma, Virginia, Florida, and Missouri are the top five states with the highest number of executions–Texas alone has imposed 570 executions since 1976.
The racial makeup of the people sentenced to death reveals a disproportionate representation of Black people. Consider the following states with the highest execution rates per capita (defined as executions per 100,000 residents):
Top five states with the highest rates of execution per capita
*since 1976
**Death penalty is now abolished.
***Not applicable since the death penalty was abolished.
Texas
Capital punishment in Texas: Texas is the state with the highest number of cumulative executions since 1976. Black people make up about 45% of the current death row population in Texas, though only make up about 13% of the state's general population.
Oklahoma
Capital punishment in Oklahoma: Oklahoma is the state with the second highest number of cumulative executions since 1976. Black people make up 46% of death sentences in Oklahoma County, though only make up 16% of the county's total population.
It is also the only state that has four methods of execution, while most others only have one or two methods. These methods of execution include: lethal injection, nitrogen hypoxia, electrocution, and firing squad.
Alabama
Capital punishment in Alabama: Alabama's death penalty sentences persist as it declines among many other states in the U.S. The state continues to have one of the nation's highest rates of death sentences per capita. As of April 1, 2022, there are currently 80 Black people and 84 white people on death row. Though the Black and white populations are both about half of the total death row population in Alabama, Black people are represented at a disproportionately high number considering they make up only 27% of Alabama's general population.
Virginia
Capital punishment in Virginia: The death penalty in Virginia came to an end on March 24, 2021, when the state became the first Southern state to abolish the death penalty. Prior to abolition, Virginia had some of the most executions out of any state since 1976, as well as the most executions overall in the pre-Furman v. Georgia era.
Exonerations
Exonerations, in relation to the death penalty, are defined as the absolving of someone from their previous verdict of guilty and sentencing of death. Since January 1, 1973, 103 out of the 190 total exonerations in the U.S. have been African Americans. African Americans account for about 54% of all exonerations.
During the middle of the 20th century, a period of mass incarceration occurred in the United States. The United States became the country with the highest incarceration rate which caused the prison population to become heavily Black by the 1990s whereas it was mainly only white in previous years. White people accounted for 51% of the prison population while Black people accounted for 47% of the entire prison population during the 1990s. Even though Black people made up of around half the jail inhabitants, they only were 12.1% of the United States population and white citizens made up 80.3% of the total population during that time. The prison population had increased from 196,441 people in 1970 to 1.6 million by 2008. This discrepancy of races in the prison population related to the overall demographics of the United States has to do with the inconsistency of police arrests on citizens. Moving into 2015, Black people still made up only 12.1% of the total population but made up 18% of people who were stopped by police on the road. This led to the increase of disproportionate demographics in local jails and prison systems. By 2018, 592 Black people were in local jails per every 100,000 people and 2,271 Black men were incarcerated in federal prisons per 100,000 people. On the other hand, white people were incarcerated at a rate of 187 per 100,000 people in local jails and white men, at the federal level, were incarcerated at a rate of 392 per 100,000 people. This dramatic increase in Black arrests caused America's prison population to boom, which was all due to this long lasting period of mass incarceration.
Mass incarceration had been increasing and there are many factors sustaining its rise. From over-policing to disproportionately long prison sentences, Black people have been targeted in mass incarceration and as a result, more susceptible to capital punishment.
Cases
With the United States' operation based on the U.S. Constitution, federalism allows the state government to share powers with the federal government. Under the various capacities, different court cases are heard in the national and state court systems. A defendant can be inflicted with the death penalty if they are found condemned of capital offenses, like first-degree murder, murder with special circumstances, treason, or genocide. Because capital offenses are criminal cases, the state court systems are responsible to hear the majority of them. The Supreme Court and state courts' discretion in keeping the death penalty option are separate for the most part, if not appealed to the Supreme Court. According to the Legal Information Institute, “ it is not necessary that the actual punishment imposed was the death penalty, but rather a capital office is classified as such if the permissible punishment prescribed by the legislature for the offense is the death penalty.” After Roper v. Simmons in 2005, the federal court deemed if the defendant was under 18 years old at the time of the crime, they can not be sentenced to death because it violates the 8th Amendment.
George Stinney Jr.
In 1944, 14-year-old African-American George Stinney Jr. was convicted of murdering two white girls. He was the youngest person in the United States to be sentenced to death. Stinney was executed by electrocution within 80 days of the murders. In 2014, Stinney's convictions were vacated and he was exonerated on the grounds that his 6th amendment rights had been violated. It was found Stinney's interrogation had included coercion, and an absence of counsel and of parental guidance. Police said that Stinney had confessed, but no signed confession was ever produced. The Judge who overturned the conviction wrote that: “Stinney’s appointed counsel made no independent investigation, did not request a change of venue or additional time to prepare the case, he asked little or no questions on cross-examination of the State’s witnesses and presented few or no witnesses on behalf of his client based on the length of trial. He failed to file an appeal or a stay of execution.” Stinney's sister said in a 2009 affidavit that she was with Stinney on the day of the murders, but she was never called to testify during the trial.
Exonerated Five
The systemic issue of biased investigation conduct is also seen in the Exonerated Five case. The Exonerated Five are made up of four black youths, Kevin Richardson, Antron McCray, Yusef Salaam, and Korey Wise. They are formerly known as the Central Park Five and the Jogger Case. The boys received mixed convictions for assault, robbery, riot, rape, sexual abuse, and attempted murder of a white woman in 1990.
The boys faced intense, un-recorded interrogations for at least seven hours in the absence of legal counsel, with video confessions following, beside Salaam. Wise additionally had no parent present during questioning and confessing. The five youths later pleaded not guilty and recanted their statements because they were produced under intimidation. Despite no DNA evidence linking any of the boys to the crime scene, they were sentenced to 5 to 15 years. After 12 years, the sole perpetrator, Matias Reyes, confessed to the crime while providing a DNA match to the only DNA selection found at the scene. Their false confessions were recognized for inconsistencies and their convictions were vacated in December 2002. They later sued the state and the city for reparations and received approximately $44 million in a settlement.
During the 1990 trial, former president Donald Trump (a real-estate character at the time) bought full-page ads voicing his reaction to the Central Park case. In the ad, Donald Trump says the following:
“I want to hate these muggers and murderers. They should be forced to suffer and, when they kill, they should be executed for their crimes. They must serve as examples so that others will think long and hard before committing a crime or an act of violence.”
The youths ranged from the ages of 14–16 years when the ad was released. In an archival interview with Larry King, Trump feels his belief is a common feeling because he received 15,000 letters of praise following the ad. In retrospect, Salaam reflects in an 2021 interview with PBS MetroFocus, saying:
“I look at what Donald Trump as being the nails that sealed us in the coffin. And then what happened after that, they published our names, our addresses, and phone numbers in the New York City newspapers. When you think about Donald Trump’s ad, it was a whisper into society to have someone come to our homes to drag us from our beds, and to do to us what they had done to Emmett Till.”
Because the youths were minors, their identities were supposed to remain confidential. Salaam shares that his family received an insurgence of death threats following Trump's advertisement, culminating in a climate of aggressive hate. A Central Park Five representative comments that Trump's ad influenced public opinion, possibly further tainting the impartiality of potential jurors "who [already], had a natural affinity for the victim."
As of 2019, Donald Trump has refused to apologize and retract his statements despite the exoneration of the men.
Lena Baker
Lena Baker was a Black woman who was wrongfully convicted of the murder of her abuser in 1945. In Georgia, Baker served as a maid for a handicapped white man; she faced regular sexual and physical abuse from him. Despite the town terrorizing Baker to leave the relationship, her abuser would equally threaten her with violence if she ever left. Weeks before his death, he started holding Baker prisoner in his gristmill for numerous days. Baker was able to escape the mill, but when she came back, her abuser threatened her with an iron bar. After a struggle, Baker took ahold of his pistol and shot the man in self-defense.
The all-white, all-male jury did not empathize with Baker's case of self-defense as a survivor of his slave-like conditions, including sexual and physical abuse. In less than a day, the jury found Baker guilty of capital murder, which happened to result in a mandatory death sentence in Georgia at the time. After failed appeals, reviews, and the abandonment of her legal representation, Lena Baker was executed by electrocution in 1945. About 60 years following Baker's death, her family, with the help of the Prison and Jail Project, requested a posthumous pardon. Their efforts succeeded in 2005 when Baker was granted a full and unconditional pardon from the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles because there was a lack of evidence to demonstrate Baker's intent to kill. If the justice system had been careful with the evidence, they would have noted Baker's conviction did not qualify as capital murder and should have resulted in a sentence other than the death penalty.
Between sexes
As of May 20, 2021, the Death Penalty Information Center reports that there are 51 women on death row. 17 women have been executed since 1976, compared to 1,516 men during the same time period.
Since 1608, 15,391 lawful executions are confirmed to have been carried out in jurisdictions of, or now of, the United States, of these, 575, or 3.6%, were women. Women account for death sentences, people on death row, and people whose executions are actually carried out. While always comparatively rare, women are significantly less likely to be executed in the modern era than in the past. Of the 16 women executed on the state level, most took place in either Texas (6), Oklahoma (3) or Florida (2) and were demographically, 25% (4) African-American, with the rest (12) being white of any ethnicity. Historically, the states that have executed the most women are California, Texas and Florida, though unlike Texas and Florida, California has not executed a woman in the post-Furman era. The racial breakdown of women sentenced to death is 61% white, 21% black, 13% Latina, 3% Asian, and 2% American Indian.
Methods
All 27 states with the death penalty for murder provide lethal injection as the primary method of execution. Vermont's remaining death penalty statute for treason provides electrocution as the method of execution.
Some states allow other methods than lethal injection, but only as secondary methods to be used merely at the request of the prisoner, or if lethal injection is unavailable due to an inability to procure the necessary drugs or due to court challenges to lethal injection's constitutionality.
Several states continue to use the historical three-drug protocol: firstly an anesthetic, secondly pancuronium bromide, a paralytic, and finally potassium chloride to stop the heart. Eight states have used a single-drug protocol, inflicting only an overdose of a single anesthetic to the prisoner.
While some state statutes specify the drugs required, a majority do not, giving more flexibility to prison officers.
Pressures from anti-death penalty activists and shareholders have made it difficult for correctional services to get the chemicals. Hospira, the only U.S. manufacturer of sodium thiopental, stopped making the drug in 2011. In 2016, it was reported that more than 20 U.S. and European drug manufacturers including Pfizer (the owner of Hospira) had taken steps to prevent their drugs from being used for lethal injections.
Since then, some states have used other anesthetics, such as pentobarbital, etomidate, or fast-acting benzodiazepines or sedatives like midazolam. Many states have since bought lethal injection drugs from foreign furnishers, and most states have made it a criminal offense to reveal the identities of furnishers or execution team members. In November 2015, California adopted regulations allowing the state to use its own public compounding pharmacies to make the chemicals.
In 2009, Ohio approved the use of an intramuscular injection of 500 mg of hydromorphone (a 333-fold lethal overdose for an opioid-naive person) and a supratherapeutic dose of midazolam as a backup means of carrying out executions when a suitable vein cannot be found for intravenous injection.
Lethal injection was held to be a constitutional method of execution by the U.S. Supreme Court in three cases: Baze v. Rees (2008), Glossip v. Gross (2015), and Bucklew v. Precythe (2019).
Offender-selected methods
In the following states, death row inmates with an execution warrant may always choose to be executed by:
Lethal injection in all states as primary method, in South Carolina as secondary method or unless the drugs to use it are unavailable
Electrocution in Alabama, Florida, and South Carolina (primary method)
Gas chamber in California and Missouri
Nitrogen hypoxia in Alabama
In four states an alternate method (firing squad in Utah, lethal gas in Arizona, and electrocution in Arkansas, Kentucky, and Tennessee) is offered only to inmates sentenced to death for crimes committed prior to a specified date (usually when the state switched from the earlier method to lethal injection). The alternate method will be used for all inmates if lethal injection would be declared unconstitutional.
In five states, an alternate method is used only if lethal injection would be declared unconstitutional (electrocution in Arkansas; nitrogen hypoxia, electrocution, or firing squad in Mississippi and Oklahoma; firing squad in Utah; lethal gas in Wyoming).
In Alabama, Oklahoma, and Tennessee, "any constitutional method" is possible if all the other methods are declared unconstitutional.
In the state that abolished death penalty or where its statute was declared unconstitutional, people sentenced to death for a crime before the date of the abolition may retroactively be subjected to death penalty. Those states' methods are:
lethal injection in Colorado
lethal injection in Delaware unless the offense was committed before 1986, in which case the inmate could choose between lethal injection and hanging
lethal injection in New Hampshire, unless this method is "impratical", in which case hanging would be the method
lethal injection or electrocution in Virginia
lethal injection or hanging in Washington
When an offender chooses to be executed by a means different from the state's default method, which is always lethal injection, he/she loses the right to challenge its constitutionality in court. See Stewart v. LaGrand, 526 U.S. 115 (1999).
The most recent executions by methods other than injection are as follows (all chosen by the inmate):
Backup methods
Depending on the state, the following alternative methods are statutorily provided in case lethal injection is either found unconstitutional by a court or unavailable for practical reasons:
Electrocution in Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Tennessee.
Lethal gas in Alabama, California, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma and Wyoming.
Firing squad in Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Utah.
Hanging in New Hampshire (where repeal of the death penalty in 2019 is not retroactive).
Several states including Oklahoma, Tennessee and Utah, have added back-up methods recently (or have expanded their application fields) in reaction to the shortage of lethal injection drugs.
Oklahoma and Mississippi are the only states allowing more than two methods of execution in their statutes, providing lethal injection, nitrogen hypoxia, electrocution and firing squad to be used in that order if all earlier methods are unavailable. The nitrogen option was added by the Oklahoma Legislature in 2015 and has never been used in a judicial execution. After struggling for years to design a nitrogen execution protocol and to obtain a proper device for it, Oklahoma announced in February 2020 it abandoned the project after finding a new reliable source of lethal injection drugs.
Some states such as Florida have a larger provision dealing with execution methods unavailability, requiring their state departments of corrections to use "any constitutional method" if both lethal injection and electrocution are found unconstitutional. This was designed to make unnecessary any further legislative intervention in that event, but the provision applies only to legal (not practical) infeasibility.
In March 2018, Alabama became the third state (after Oklahoma and Mississippi), to authorize the use of nitrogen asphyxiation as a method of execution.
Federal executions
The method of execution of federal prisoners for offenses under the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 is that of the state in which the conviction took place. If the state has no death penalty, the judge must choose a state with the death penalty for carrying out the execution.
The federal government has a facility (at U.S. Penitentiary Terre Haute) and regulations only for executions by lethal injection, but the United States Code allows U.S. Marshals to use state facilities and employees for federal executions.
Execution attendance
The last public execution in the U.S. was that of Rainey Bethea in Owensboro, Kentucky, on August 14, 1936.
It was the last execution in the nation at which the general public was permitted to attend without any legally imposed restrictions. "Public execution" is a legal phrase, defined by the laws of various states, and carried out pursuant to a court order. Similar to "public record" or "public meeting", it means that anyone who wants to attend the execution may do so.
Around 1890, a political movement developed in the United States to mandate private executions. Several states enacted laws which required executions to be conducted within a "wall" or "enclosure", or to "exclude public view". Most state laws currently use such explicit wording to prohibit public executions, while others do so only implicitly by enumerating the only authorized witnesses.
All states allow news reporters to be execution witnesses for information of the general public, except Wyoming which allows only witnesses authorized by the condemned.
Several states also allow victims' families and relatives selected by the prisoner to watch executions. An hour or two before the execution, the condemned is offered religious services and to choose their last meal (except in Texas which abolished it in 2011).
The execution of Timothy McVeigh on June 11, 2001, was witnessed by over 200 people, most by closed-circuit television. Most were survivors, or relatives of victims of, the 1995 Oklahoma City Bombing, for which McVeigh had been sentenced to death.
Public opinion
Gallup, Inc. has monitored support for the death penalty in the United States since 1937 by asking "Are you in favor of the death penalty for a person convicted of murder?" Gallup surveys documented a sharp increase in support for capital punishment between 1966 and 1994. However, perhaps as the result of DNA exonerations of death row inmates reported in the national media in the late 1990s, support began to wane, falling from 80% in 1994 to 56% in 2019. Moreover, approval varies substantially depending on the characteristics of the target and the alternatives posed, with much lower support for putting juveniles and the mentally ill to death (26% and 19%, respectively, in 2002). Given the fact that attitudes toward capital punishment are often responsive to events, to characteristics of the target and to alternatives, many believe that the conventional wisdom—that death penalty attitudes are impervious to change—is flawed. Accordingly, any analysis of death penalty attitudes must account for the responsiveness of such attitudes, as well as their reputed resistance to change.
Pew Research polls have demonstrated declining American support for the death penalty: 80% in 1974, 78% in 1996, 55% in 2014, and 49% in 2016. The 2014 poll showed significant differences by race: 63% of whites, 40% of Hispanics and 36% of blacks, respectively, supported the death penalty in that year. However, in 2018, Pew's polls showed public support for the death penalty had increased to 54% from 49%, and in 2021 it again increased to 60% support for the death penalty.
A 2010 poll by Lake Research Partners found that 61% of voters would choose a penalty other than the death sentence for murder. When persons surveyed are given a choice between the death penalty and life without parole for persons convicted of capital crimes, support for execution has traditionally been significantly lower than in polling that asks only if a person does or does not support the death penalty. In Gallup's 2019 survey, support for the sentence of life without parole surpassed that for the death penalty by a margin of 60% to 36%.
A 2014 study found that the belief that the death penalty helps victims' families to heal may be wrong; more often than finding closure, victims' families felt anger and wanted revenge, with potential side effects of depression, PTSD and a decreased satisfaction with life. Furthermore, the researchers found that a sense of compassion or remorse expressed from the perpetrator to the victim's family had a statistically significant positive effect on the family's ability to find closure.
In November 2009, another Gallup poll found that 77% of Americans believed that the mastermind of the September 11 attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, should receive the death penalty if convicted, 12 points higher than the rate of general support for the death penalty upon Gallup's most recent poll at the time. A similar result was found in 2001 when respondents were polled about the execution of Timothy McVeigh for the Oklahoma City bombing that killed 168 people.
A 2021 Pew Research poll showed that Americans continue to favor the death penalty, with 60% in favor (27% strongly in favor) and almost 40% opposed (only 15% strongly opposed).
Debate
Capital punishment is a controversial issue, with many prominent organizations and individuals participating in the debate. Amnesty International and other groups oppose capital punishment on moral grounds.
Some law enforcement organizations, and some victims' rights groups support capital punishment.
The United States is one of the four developed countries that still practice capital punishment, along with Japan, Singapore, and Taiwan.
Religious groups are widely split on the issue of capital punishment. The Fiqh Council of North America, a group of highly influential Muslim scholars in the United States, has issued a fatwa calling for a moratorium on capital punishment in the United States until various preconditions in the legal system are met.
Reform Judaism has formally opposed the death penalty since 1959, when the Union of American Hebrew Congregations (now the Union for Reform Judaism) resolved "that in the light of modern scientific knowledge and concepts of humanity, the resort to or continuation of capital punishment either by a state or by the national government is no longer morally justifiable." The resolution goes on to say that the death penalty "lies as a stain upon civilization and our religious conscience." In 1979, the Central Conference of American Rabbis, the professional arm of the Reform rabbinate, resolved that, "both in concept and in practice, Jewish tradition found capital punishment repugnant" and there is no persuasive evidence "that capital punishment serves as a deterrent to crime."
In October 2009, the American Law Institute voted to disavow the framework for capital punishment that it had created in 1962, as part of the Model Penal Code, "in light of the current intractable institutional and structural obstacles to ensuring a minimally adequate system for administering capital punishment". A study commissioned by the institute had said that experience had proved that the goal of individualized decisions about who should be executed and the goal of systemic fairness for minorities and others could not be reconciled. , 159 prisoners have been exonerated due to evidence of their innocence.
Advocates of the death penalty say that it deters crime, is a good tool for prosecutors in plea bargaining, improves the community by eliminating recidivism by executed criminals, provides "closure" to surviving victims or loved ones, and is a just penalty. Some advocates against the death penalty argue that "most of the rest of the world gave up on human sacrifice a long time ago."
The murder rate is highest in the South (6.5 per 100,000 in 2016), where 80% of executions are carried out, and lowest in the Northeast (3.5 per 100,000), with less than 1% of executions. A report by the US National Research Council in 2012 stated that studies claiming a deterrent effect are "fundamentally flawed" and should not be used for policy decisions. According to a survey of the former and present presidents of the country's top academic criminological societies, 88% of these experts rejected the notion that the death penalty acts as a deterrent to murder.
Data shows that the application of the death penalty is strongly influenced by racial bias. Furthermore, some opponents argue that it is applied in an arbitrary manner by a criminal justice system that has been shown to be biased through the systemic influence of socio-economic, geographic, and gender factors. Another argument in the capital punishment debate is the cost.
Opponents to the death penalty note that the lethal injection, the most common method of carrying out the death penalty, can oftentimes cause executed individuals to remain conscious for several minutes after administering the injection, causing them to feel severe pain in their veins. The "three drug cocktail" consists of midazolam, a sedative, vecuronium bromide, a paralytic, and potassium chloride, which stops the heart. Opponents note that the midazolam in particular may mask the executed individual's pain and suffering. Opponents argue that this causes unnecessary pain and suffering on the executed individual and constitutes cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
Additionally, in 2021–22, states such as South Carolina have experienced a shortage of the drugs used to make the lethal cocktail and some inmates have had to choose between death by electric chair or death by firing squad (aiming for the heart). Critics note that these other methods are more likely to induce pain in the inmate during execution and that these methods of execution have a high risk of being botched.
Botched executions
One of the main arguments against the use of capital punishment in the United States is that there has been a long history of botched executions. University of Colorado Boulder Professor Michael L. Radelet described a "botched execution" as an execution that causes the prisoner to suffer for a long period of time before they die. This has led to the argument that capital punishment is per se cruel and unusual punishment. The following is a short list of examples of botched executions that have occurred in the United States.
William Kemmler was the first person executed in the electric chair, in 1890. After being pronounced dead after 17 seconds, he was found to be still alive. The current was applied a second time, for two minutes, to complete the death.
In Arizona, it took Joseph Wood two hours to die after being injected.
In Alabama, the execution of Doyle Hamm was called off after prison medical staff spent nearly three hours attempting to insert an IV that could be used to administer the lethal injection drugs. In the process, the execution team punctured Hamm's bladder and femoral artery, causing significant bleeding.
In Florida, Jesse Joseph Tafero had flames burst from his hair during an electrocution.
Wallace Wilkerson died after 27 minutes in pain after the firing squad failed to shoot him in the heart. Because of this, the constitutionality of the use of the firing squad was questioned. The Supreme Court of the United States affirmed that the firing squad did not violate the Eighth Amendment in the case Wilkerson v. Utah (1879).
In New Mexico, Thomas Ketchum was decapitated when his body fell through the trap door during his hanging.
In Mississippi, Jimmy Lee Gray died after being in the gas chamber for nine minutes. During the procedure, Gray thrashed and banged his head against the metal pole behind his head while struggling to breathe.
Austin Sarat, a professor of jurisprudence and political science at Amherst College, in his book Gruesome Spectacles: Botched Executions and America's Death Penalty, found that from 1890 to 2010, 276 executions were botched out of a total of 8,776, or 3.15%, with lethal injections having the highest rate. Sarat writes that between 1980 and 2010 the rate of botched executions was higher than ever: 8.53 percent. Death penalty experts found that 36.8% of all executions attempted or completed in 2022 (all lethal injections) were botched.
Clemency and commutations
In states with the death penalty, the governor usually has the discretionary power to commute a death sentence or to stay its execution. In some states the governor is required to receive an advisory or binding recommendation from a separate board. In a few states like Georgia, the board decides alone on clemency. At the federal level, the power of clemency belongs to the President of the United States.
The largest number of clemencies was granted in January 2003 in Illinois when outgoing Governor George Ryan, who had already imposed a moratorium on executions, pardoned four death-row inmates and commuted the sentences of the remaining 167 to life in prison without the possibility of parole. When Governor Pat Quinn signed legislation abolishing the death penalty in Illinois in March 2011, he commuted the sentences of the fifteen inmates on death row to life imprisonment.
Previous post-Furman mass clemencies took place in 1986 in New Mexico, when Governor Toney Anaya commuted all death sentences because of his personal opposition to the death penalty. In 1991, outgoing Ohio Governor Dick Celeste commuted the sentences of eight prisoners, among them all four women on the state's death row. And during his two terms (1979–1987) as Florida's governor, Bob Graham, although a strong death penalty supporter who had overseen the first post-Furman involuntary execution as well as 15 others, agreed to commute the sentences of six people on the grounds of doubts about guilt or disproportionality.
On December 14, 2022, outgoing Oregon governor Kate Brown commuted the death sentences of all 17 inmates on Oregon's death row to life imprisonment without parole, citing the death penalty's status as "an irreversible punishment that does not allow for correction [...] and never has been administered fairly and equitably" and calling it "wasteful of taxpayer dollars" while questioning its ability to function as a deterrence to crime. Governor Brown also ordered the dismantling of Oregon's lethal injection chamber and death row. Prior, Oregon had an ongoing official moratorium set by prior governor John Kitzhaber in 2011 and had not carried out any executions since that of Douglas Franklin Wright in 1997; furthermore, in 2019, the Oregon State Senate amended the state's death penalty statutes to significantly reduce the number of crimes that warranted the death penalty, thereby invalidating many of the state's active death sentences. In 2021, David Ray Bartol's death sentence was overturned on the grounds of it being a "disproportionate punishment" in violation of Oregon's state constitution, which death penalty experts and abolitionist advocates said would provide the rationale for the eventual overturning of every other death sentence in Oregon. Brown is the third Oregon governor to commute every standing death sentence in the state, after Governor Robert D. Holmes, who commuted every death sentence passed during his tenure from 1957 to 1959, and Governor Mark Hatfield, who commuted every death sentence in the state after Oregon temporarily abolished the death penalty in accordance with a statewide vote in 1964.
Moratoria and reviews on executions
All executions were suspended through the country between September 2007 and April 2008. At that time, the United States Supreme Court was examining the constitutionality of lethal injection in Baze v. Rees. This was the longest period with no executions in the United States since 1982. The Supreme Court ultimately upheld this method in a 7–2 ruling.
In addition to the states that have no valid death penalty statute, the following 17 states and 3 jurisdictions either have an official moratorium on executions or have had no executions for more than ten years as of :
Since 1976, four states have only executed condemned prisoners who voluntarily waived any further appeals: Pennsylvania has executed three inmates, Oregon two, Connecticut one, and New Mexico one. In the last state, Governor Toney Anaya commuted the sentences of all five condemned prisoners on death row in late 1986.
In California, United States District Judge Jeremy Fogel suspended all executions in the state on December 15, 2006, ruling that the implementation used in California was unconstitutional but that it could be fixed. California Governor Gavin Newsom declared an indefinite moratorium on March 13, 2019; he also ordered the closure and dismantling of the death chamber. In 2023, Governor Newsom ordered the relocation of death row inmates out of death row and to different prisons across the country "to phase out the practice of segregating people on death row based solely on their sentence," although no inmates were offered commutations or re-sentencing hearings related to these developments. Relocated death row inmates who obtained jobs in prison would have 70 percent of their earnings sent to their victims' families.
The CDCR says the move allows the state "to phase out the practice of segregating people on death row based solely on their sentence." No inmates will be re-sentenced and no death row commutations offered, officials say.
On November 25, 2009, the Kentucky Supreme Court affirmed a decision by the Franklin County Circuit Court suspending executions until the state adopts regulations for carrying out the penalty by lethal injection.
In November 2011, Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber announced a moratorium on executions in Oregon, canceling a planned execution and ordering a review of the death penalty system in the state.
On February 13, 2015, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf announced a moratorium on the death penalty. Wolf will issue a reprieve for every execution until a commission on capital punishment, which was established in 2011 by the Pennsylvania State Senate, produces a recommendation. The state had not executed anyone since Gary M. Heidnik in 1999.
On July 25, 2019, U.S. Attorney General William Barr announced that the federal government would resume executions using pentobarbital, rather than the three-drug cocktail previously used. Five convicted death row inmates were scheduled to be executed in December 2019 and January 2020. On November 20, 2019, U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan issued a preliminary injunction preventing the resumption of federal executions. Plaintiffs in the case argued that the use of pentobarbital may violate the Federal Death Penalty Act of 1994. The stay was lifted in June 2020 and four executions were rescheduled for July and August 2020. On July 14, 2020, Daniel Lewis Lee was executed. He became the first convict executed by the federal government since 2003. Overall, thirteen federal prisoners were executed during the presidency of Donald Trump between July 2020 and January 2021. The last convict executed was Dustin Higgs on January 16, 2021. On July 1, 2021, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland halted all federal executions pending review of the changes made under the Trump administration.
See also
Capital punishment in Japan
Capital punishment by the United States federal government
Capital punishment debate in the United States
Felony murder and the death penalty in the United States
List of death row inmates in the United States
List of last executions in the United States by crime
List of people executed in the United States in
List of people scheduled to be executed in the United States
List of United States Supreme Court decisions on capital punishment
Lists of people executed in the United States
Explanatory notes
References
Citations
General sources
Marian J. Borg and Michael L. Radelet (2004). "On botched executions". In: Peter Hodgkinson and William A. Schabas (eds.) Capital Punishment. pp. 143–168. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. .
Gail A. Van Norman (2010). "Physician participation in executions". In: Gail A. Van Norman et al. (eds.) Clinical Ethics in Anesthesiology. pp. 285–291. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. .
Further reading
Books
Provides critical perspectives on the death penalty.
Describes the case of death row convict Elmo Patrick Sonnier, while also giving a general overview of issues connected to the death penalty.
Journal articles
Hoffmann, Joseph L. (2005). "Protecting the Innocent: The Massachusetts Governor's Council Report". 95 J. of Crim. L. & Criminology 561.
Vidma, Neil and Phoebe Ellsworth (June 1974). "Public Opinion and the Death Penalty" (Archive). Stanford Law Review. Volume 26, pp. 1245–1270.
External links
Death Penalty Information Center
1608 establishments in the Thirteen Colonies
1972 disestablishments in the United States
1976 establishments in the United States
Crime in the United States
Law of the United States
|
412478
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delta%20Sigma%20Phi
|
Delta Sigma Phi
|
Delta Sigma Phi (), commonly known as Delta Sig, is a fraternity established in 1899 at The City College of New York (CCNY). It was the first fraternity to be founded on the basis of religious and ethnic acceptance. It is also one of three fraternities founded at CCNY (now a part of the City University of New York (CUNY)). Delta Sigma Phi is also a charter member of the North American Interfraternity Conference. The fraternity's national headquarters are located in Indianapolis, Indiana, at the Fairbanks Mansion, the former home of Charles Warren Fairbanks, the U.S. vice president under Theodore Roosevelt.
Since its inception, Delta Sigma Phi has chartered chapters at 233 different colleges and universities, with 106 actively operating undergraduate chapters and colonies ("new chapters") across the United States today. Currently, the fraternity has more than 6,000 undergraduate active members and more than 120,000 living alumni members. More than 150,000 men have been initiated into Delta Sigma Phi since its founding.
History
Beginnings
At the end of the nineteenth century, most fraternities were exclusively Christian or Jewish, and barred membership to individuals on the basis of religion. When a group of friends at the City College of New York tried to join a fraternity, they were denied membership because their group was composed of Christians and Jews. In response, they organized the first Delta Sigma Phi chapter on Dec. 10, 1899. The chapter was called Insula due to its location in Manhattan. In late 1902, with five members from Insula signing incorporation papers, Delta Sigma Phi was incorporated with the purpose to spread "the principles of friendship and brotherhood among college men, without respect to race or creed." By 1903 the fraternity had established chapters at Columbia University and New York University.
The Founders
Delta Sigma Phi recognizes Charles A. Tonsor Jr. (Christian) and Meyer Boskey (Jewish) as its two primary founding fathers. Although Boskey was one of the original members at the City College of New York and Tonsor was one of the charter members of the chapter at New York University, it is believed the fraternity first was developed by a group of nearly a dozen men. During the short period when men of Jewish faith were barred membership, many of the fraternity's founding documents were ruined. Given the circumstances, the national organization adopted both Boskey and Tonsor as the "founders" given their lifelong commitment to the fraternity and their service as visionaries for the development of the fraternity's ritual and national expansion.
Growth and World War I
In the two years after the 1914 Convention, Delta Sigma Phi almost doubled in size with the addition of 10 chapters. In 1915, the first West Coast chapter, Hilgard Chapter at UC Berkeley was installed. Hilgard Chapter was named after a dean at the university and is the fraternity's only chapter without a Greek letter designation, taking the place of Xi Chapter.
Also in 1914, the fraternity decided to admit only white men of the Christian faith, thus rejecting the founders' vision. Many Jewish members and other minorities left Delta Sigma Phi or joined others, including Meyer Boskey, who withdrew active participation in the fraternity for an extended period of time.
As a testament to the geographic shift of the fraternity, the 1916 convention was held in Chicago, Illinois. By this time, Delta Sigma Phi had expanded the number of staff and a national headquarters was created at the Riebold Building at Dayton, Ohio.
When the United States entered World War I in 1917 Delta Sigma Phi had more than 1,000 initiates and 19 active chapters. During the course of the war better than three-quarters of the fraternity's membership served the government in some capacity with half of that number in combat duty overseas. Publication of The Carnation, the fraternity's magazine, and the 1917 and 1918 conventions were suspended for the duration of the war.
Even though the colleges and universities remained open during the war many chapters suspended their operations when most of their members were called to service. Some chapters never recovered from the disruptions of World War I.
The Roaring Twenties
Delta Sigma Phi went through continued expansion during the 1920s, at which time many local fraternities and other social clubs petitioned for fraternity membership. Among these was Phi Nu fraternity at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. When Phi Nu was chartered as the Alpha Omicron Chapter, Delta Sigma Phi became an international fraternity. Two of these chapters, the Alpha Theta Chapter at The University of Michigan and the Alpha Chi Chapter at Stetson University, were local organizations older than Delta Sigma Phi itself.
It was also during this time Delta Sigma Phi published its first pledge manual, the Gordian Knot. It was based upon a manual previously published by the Epsilon Chapter at Penn State. The Gordian Knot is considered to be one of the first pledge manuals to be published on a fraternity-wide basis. Another tradition started at this time was the Sailors' Ball, first held at the Alpha Chi Chapter at Stetson University. Today, the Sailors' Ball is an annual event that is a semi-formal counterpart to the Carnation Ball, the fraternity's formal banquet.
The Alpha Eta Chapter at Ohio Northern University in Ada, Ohio was founded in 1920.
Depression and World War II
Two months after the Wall Street Crash of 1929, Delta Sigma Phi's yearly convention was held in Richmond, Virginia. Despite the financial uncertainties of the time, a traveling secretary was added to the fraternity payroll. During the Great Depression the national fraternity's growth had ground to a halt; college enrollments declined and those who attended college were less likely to be able to afford joining a fraternity. Several chapters became dormant and lost their equity in chapter properties. Among them were Alpha and Gamma; the remaining chapters in New York City.
The only chapters founded during the Great Depression were Beta Kappa at the University of Alabama and Beta Lambda at Wake Forest. It also was during this time Executive Director A.W. Defenderfer moved the fraternity headquarters to his insurance offices in Washington, DC. Delta Sigma Phi was re-incorporated in Washington, DC in 1929.
Although the fraternity was rebounding by the late 1930s, World War II caused a disruption within the fraternity. Many members joined the war effort, leaving the chapters weak. It was during this time that the fraternity's only Canadian chapter at McGill University became dormant, with many of its members joining to Commonwealth Forces. By 1944, only 11 of the fraternity's 43 chapters were active.
Return to the founders' vision
After the war, the GI Bill gave many veterans the opportunity to attend college. With an influx of new students, many of the dormant chapters were re-activated. Another consequence of the GI Bill was the establishment of many new public universities. With more institutions open to fraternities, Delta Sigma Phi, along with many other Greek organizations, experienced its greatest period of growth in the Post-World War II era.
In the late 1940s, college administrators across the country began to refuse expansion to fraternities with restrictive rules on membership. In response to the new rules, Delta Sig leadership amended the constitution of the national fraternity to remove all references to race or religion. However, the line "the belief in God is essential to our welfare" in the preamble was untouched and remains so to this day.
In a compromise to several southern chapters, the amendments to the constitution were approved at the 1949 convention while language barring the initiation of non-white and non-Christians was inserted into the fraternity ritual. Since the ritual was a private document and the constitution a public one, this compromise appeased those who resisted integration of the fraternity while allowing it to expand to new universities.
The 1950s were a turbulent time for fraternities and sororities in general. While most of the national Greek-letter organizations still had rules restricting membership, a few chapters bucked the edicts and initiated Jews and African Americans. Some of those chapters were suspended by their national organizations, while others disaffiliated from their national organizations and "went local." In 1957 the California Legislature threatened to pass Assembly Bill 758, which prohibited state universities and colleges from recognizing any student organization that "restricts its membership on the basis of either race, color, religion or national origin." Two years later the regents of the University of California passed a regulation requiring all fraternities and sororities to sign a certificate stating the organization did not have any discriminatory policies. Failure to comply could mean the loss of recognition.
Delta Sigma Phi faced these issues at its 1959 convention. While the organization was interested in maintaining its California chapters, there was opposition to any plan to integrate the entire fraternity. Several southern chapters passed resolutions against any relaxation of racial and religious restrictions and threatened to withdraw from the fraternity. A compromise again was reached where the current rules were not to be changed but exemptions were granted to chapters in danger to losing their recognition due to fraternity policies. The California chapters immediately were given exemptions.
In 1962, the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education joined the University of California by requiring the integration of its fraternities and sororities. Exemptions were given to the chapters in Pennsylvania. While exemptions originally were granted to chapters in danger of losing recognition with their universities, the Beta Iota Chapter at Wittenberg University received a special exemption. It intended to initiate an African American who was an All-American athlete and an outstanding scholar and the fraternity responded by offering an exemption, likely to avoid bad publicity.
The process of full integration was slow and awkward. As a result of a number of compromises the fraternity remained intact on a national level. When Civil Rights legislation was enacted, Delta Sigma Phi was once more a universal brotherhood of man, just as the founders intended.
The fraternity in the 21st century
Today, Delta Sigma Phi consists of 107 chapters and colonies across the United States. At the 2005 convention, the fraternity adopted "Vision 2025," a plan to transform Delta Sigma Phi into "America's Leading Fraternity" by the year 2025 with aggressive goals for leadership training, alumni involvement, and new chapter development. The goal is for Delta Sigma Phi to rank within the top three to five of any quantitative measurement of national fraternities in the NIC.
Delta Sigma Phi also adopted the American Red Cross as its national philanthropy. Members are urged to support the endeavors of the non-profit and raise funds. Since the adoption of the American Red Cross and "Vision 2025," Delta Sigma Phi aims to be recognized as "Men of Action" in their recruitment and development philosophy. These are highlighted in the 2009 call to action video titled "All In."
Among the initiatives laid out in Vision 2025, the fraternity provided leadership education to all of its undergraduates by 2015, developed "The Summit" to train all presidents and recruitment chairmen with professional recruitment techniques, and open between eight and 12 chapters annually with a goal of reaching 200 undergraduate chapters by 2025. Rather than closing struggling chapters with small memberships, the fraternity actively redeveloped them as they would develop a brand-new chapter.
Delta Sigma Phi became the first fraternity to create a partnership with Phired Up Productions, a fraternity and sorority recruitment consulting company, to coach its New Chapter Development team. Since the partnership began in 2009, Delta Sigma Phi has broken its record for number of men recruited for a colony three times, most recently in 2012 when a group at Arizona State University launched with 120 founding fathers.
Delta Sig in the 2010s: The Better Man
During the second decade of the 21st Century the fraternity began to see the fruits of its new partnerships and vision. Twenty-two new chapter developments or redevelopments took place between 2009 and 2013, with an average new chapter size of 52 men, one of the highest among NIC men's fraternities. The organization-wide GPA surpassed the 3.0 mark and $100,000 dollars was made available for academic scholarships through the McKee Scholarship. The fraternity's staff grew more than 50 percent from 2011 to 2014.
New programs were announced in 2013 to launch in 2014 including the Presidents' Academy, a service immersion trip (The Journey) and an online education platform titled "The Lamp" to provide membership and leadership development and training to 100 percent of the undergraduate membership by 2015.
In 2014, the fraternity announced a partnership with Alpha Phi Alpha and Alpha Omicron Pi to host "Conversations on Race" at institutions where all three organizations have component chapters. The focus of these events is to create an open forum for students to discuss race and the effects of discrimination in their local and fraternity/sorority communities.
The Better Man
Though Delta Sigma Phi always had a solid and straightforward mission, a process to define what type man the organization wished to recruit and build started in 2013. The fraternity reached out to a number of students, alumni, and volunteers to better understand the key character qualities of an ideal member.
At the 2013 convention in Phoenix, the fraternity revealed the three character qualities of "The Better Man" as mentioned in the fraternity's motto "Better Men. Better Lives." From the founding of the organization until the present, it is believed the best Delta Sigs lead as Men of Courage, Men of Action and Men of Excellence. The new campaign aims to encourage both undergraduate and alumni members to exemplify those principles in all aspects of life.
Symbols
The Sphinx was the first symbol adopted by the fraternity at the time of inception. Chosen for its longevity and stability over centuries. Other symbols include a lamp, a lute (depicted as a lyre), a Gordian Knot, and the Egyptian Pyramids. The white carnation was chosen as the fraternity's official flower because it contains the fraternity's colors; white and nile green as well as being a relatively common and sturdy flower that can grow in almost any climate. The publications of the fraternity are often named after its symbols:
The Sphinx - an esoteric publication for initiated members only
The Gordian Knot - the new member manual
The Lute - the fraternity songbook
The Carnation - a quarterly publication delivered to all members
The pledge emblem is a white circle with a green equilateral triangle set inside of it. Gold lines radiate from the center of the emblem to the three points of the triangle in addition to outlining the circle and triangle. The pledge emblem is very prevalent in the symbolism of the fraternity; not only is the emblem on the pledge pin, but the emblem also graces the flag, the membership badge and the basic design is also the basis of the fraternity's seal.
National programs
Prior to the adoption of Vision 2025, Delta Sigma Phi was providing leadership training and development to fewer than 500 students annually. Since the creation of a number of new programs, more than 1,600 members receive annual leadership development & training from the national organization annually. With the launch of Delta Sig's online learning management system in the fall of 2013, that number will hit 100 percent of the undergraduate membership by 2015.
Leadership Institute (L.I.)
Delta Sigma Phi's flagship leadership program is the Leadership Institute, celebrating its 20th Anniversary in the summer of 2013. The Leadership Institute is based on Kouzes & Posner's Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership and engages members in a curriculum including large & small group discussions, team-building activities, high-ropes courses, and personal assessment and reflection. Members apply to attend LI, however there is no limit to the number of members that may be admitted from each chapter. It is a 5-day program in Indianapolis each summer (though it was moved to Phoenix in 2013 to coordinate with the 2013 convention for the 20th Anniversary) and is free to undergraduate Delta Sigma Phi members. More than 1,000 men have graduated from the Leadership Institute to date.
Regional events
Regional Leadership Academies (RLAs) were developed following the adoption of Vision 2025 to target a wider audience of the membership and provide development and training on the business and day-to-day operations of chapters. In 2013, Delta Sigma Phi held four RLAs, allowing each chapter to send up to 10 members at no additional cost to its paid in membership dues. The content of the RLAs have changed each year as members needs and requests evolve, though the one-day program has maintained tracks regarding Risk Management & Recruitment since inception.
For the 2012–2013 academic year, RLAs were in Atlanta, Georgia; Indianapolis, Indiana; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Santa Clara, California. Delta Sigma Phi also piloted two statewide regional events in the 2012–13 school year for chapters in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Texas. These chapters were exempted from the requirement to participate in RLA and were invited to bring more than 10 men from each of their memberships. For the 2013–14 academic year, the fraternity expanded the RLA program to 16 state or local-region sessions throughout the fall and spring. With this new concept, roughly 1,600 men were anticipated to participate in RLAs. The new format also followed a linear curriculum, eliminating workshops in favor of a discussion regarding values and leadership intermixed with a number of smaller group breakout sessions and activities.
Bruce J. Lowenberg Summit
Developed in 2008, Summit is a three-day retreat prior to the traditional start of the spring semester for vice presidents of recruitment (VPR) and new member educators. Summit focuses heavily on the best-practices in recruitment and pushes all Delta Sig chapters to use a 365-day outreach process, proven to improve the quality & quantity of chapter membership. Through the fraternity's partnership with Phired Up Productions, Summit has continuously evolved and advanced with regard to the curriculum. In 2013, a new curriculum was developed between the fraternity & Phired Up CEO Josh Orendi to get all chapters "on system," using a names list, year-round outreach programs and to practice "social excellence," a key concept that Phired Up promotes through their recruitment philosophy.
Prior to the 2013–14 academic year, Summit was attended by chapter presidents and VPRs. Presidents now attend the Presidents' Academy.
Since the inception of Summit & Vision 2025, the average chapter size for the national fraternity has grown by more than 10 men and the number of men recruited annually has steadily increased. Also incorporated into Summit are accreditation & risk management training, reducing the number of risk-related incidents by 75% and increasing the number of chapters submitting complete annual accreditation reports from near 50% to over 90% annually.
In 2014, the Summit was endowed with a $1 million donation from Bruce Lowenberg (Missouri, 58) and became the first Fraternity program named after an alumnus or donor.
Presidents' Academy
Starting in the spring term of 2014, chapter presidents will be invited to attend the Presidents' Academy. This program was developed to address the wide variety of responsibilities and expectations of chapter presidents in addition to helping chapter presidents assess themselves as leaders and use their strengths to benefit their chapter. Members take a Strengths Finder assessment and are coached by a professional through their personal strengths and how to best use them to help their chapters achieve annual benchmarks.
The Journey: Service Immersion Trip
In 2014 Delta Sigma Phi Fraternity hosted its first service immersion experience to Honduras in partnership with the Association of Fraternal Leadership and Values (AFLV), the first such partnership. Fifteen undergraduate students attended along with a few staff members from the fraternity and AFLV to learn about the importance of service and intertwine it with the ritual teachings of the fraternity.
The cost is not directly covered by the national fraternity, though scholarships can be given to students whose institutions will offer course credits for the trip through the Delta Sigma Phi Foundation.
Convention
The convention is the Delta Sigma Phi's longest-running national program. July 2015 marked the 59th Biennial & Convention and was hosted by the New Orleans Marriott in New Orleans, Louisiana. The convention serves as an opportunity for members — new and old alike – to meet, share stories, vote on business and elect members to the Grand Council of the fraternity. More than 200 voting delegates and more than 700 men attended this convention, making it the largest in the organization's history.
Educational programming is offered in convention with focus on chapter operations, volunteer development, new national programs and career development. Vendors occupy a space on the floor and the fraternity has national partnerships with Bank of America, Geico & Brooks Brothers including discounts & specialized products.
The Lamp: online education
In 2015 the first phase of Delta Sigma Phi's online learning management system (LMS) launched to provide new member orientation to all new members and to simplify the member-registration process. Chapter resources also were available through the member portal and redesigned as the year progressed to better suit the needs of chapters and to provide a more clear direction as to how chapters can and should operate. The online programming extended to include programming for all members regardless of their status as an undergraduate member or alumnus. The fraternity began by piloting the program with chapters during the F2015 academic term.
Partnership with the American Red Cross
Through a strategic plan of the fraternity, Delta Sigma Phi aims to be the largest single donor of pints of blood, "sweat equity" through community service and philanthropic donations to the American Red Cross by 2025. Blood, Sweat & Cash was developed as a national initiative to envelop the fraternity's efforts for the American Red Cross. The support turned into a recognized partnership in 2013, the same year Delta Sigma Phi developed its "Blood, Sweat & Cash Award" for chapters dedicating outstanding service to Red Cross chapters and national efforts.
Initiatives
The fraternity participates in National Preparedness Month each September and National Red Cross Month each March, the latter being the premiere focus for chapters to raise funds and host spring blood drives. Chapters are encouraged to explore opportunities to help the Red Cross and determine which fits best with their institution. This offers students a chance to innovate and differentiate what they do between chapters.
Most recently, the Beta Psi Chapter of more than 200 men at Arizona State University provided CPR training for all members. The Iota Delta Chapter at James Madison University gained national recognition for its "Restore The Shore" campaign after Hurricane Sandy and chapters across the nation raised thousands of dollars for the victims while participating in the disaster relief effort. In the spring of 2013, the Kappa Delta at Virginia Tech donated $16,000 and 160 pints of blood to the ARC. Most recently, the Beta Kappa Chapter at the University of Alabama raised more than $18,000 in 2014 for the American Red Cross.
Nationally, the fraternity sold "Delta Sig + Red Cross" wristbands to chapters and members wishing to use the wristbands for fundraising efforts. During the first month of availability in September 2013, the fraternity sold more than 3,000 wristbands to component chapters with the intention to open again for orders in the months prior to major national initiatives. The national fraternity and its college campus chapters also engaged in a "Drive for 5" shortly after Typhoon Haiyan and a series of tornados across the U.S. Midwest. Overall, the fraternity and its chapters raised more than $5,000 over the course of a month and donated hundreds of canned food supplies to the Red Cross' disaster relief efforts.
The Delta Sigma Phi Foundation
The Delta Sigma Phi Foundation is a charitable and educational tax-exempt not-for-profit organization, separate and independent from Delta Sigma Phi Fraternity.
Funds raised through the foundation covered the costs of the Leadership Institute while supporting other programs from the fraternity:
McKee Scholarship
The McKee Scholarship program is made available thanks to the generosity of the late Hensel McKee, Washington '30, and his late wife, Jeanette. Scholarships are available to undergraduate members and those alumni members who are pursuing graduate degrees. To be eligible, applicants must have a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.0 on a 4.0 scale and be initiated members of Delta Sigma Phi Fraternity in good standing. In the summer of 2013, the foundation awarded $100,000 in McKee Scholarships to over 40 recipients.
21st Century Funds
Donors to the foundation can delegate their funding to a chapter's 21st Century Fund. These funds may be used for scholarships, computer & networking equipment, libraries and leadership training.
1899 Society
Started in 2002, the 1899 Society recognizes certain donors who show a commitment to Delta Sigma Phi through generous annual or lifetime charitable giving. There are various levels of membership.
Written ideals
The Preamble
The Delta Sigma Phi Fraternity in Convention assembled declares and affirms the following principles:
That the belief in God is essential to our welfare.
That loyalty to the constituted authority of our nations and their subdivisions is a cardinal virtue of our brotherhood, the pledged faith of which shall never be broken; and that our brotherhood, receiving the blessings of liberty, education, and fraternity, shall ever support, foster and defend our universities, colleges, and school systems, founded under the dispensation of our governments and constituting the bulwarks of democracy for us, for our posterity and for all men.
That the sanctity of the home and the sacredness of the family bond, the hearthstone of our enlightened civilization, and the chivalry of man toward woman, shall be maintained and protected by us, not only for ourselves and our posterity, but also for the good of all mankind.
That a symmetrical culture, a fraternal communion among the colleges of this country, and a brotherhood of men, whose ideals and beliefs are those of modern civilization, are essential to the welfare of our college men.
In furtherance of these aims, this fraternity has recognized certain standards of attainment and gentlemanly conduct, expressed in the ideals symbolically represented by the three Greek letters, Delta, Sigma, Phi; and it shall be the constant endeavor of the brothers who may be called to preside over and govern the fraternity, or its component chapters, to enforce the precepts of the fraternity by every reasonable means within their power, and they, and each brother of the fraternity shall exemplify those principles by conduct as well as enforcement in order that the fraternity may grow and prosper with honor to itself and that the world may ever be convinced of the sincerity of our purpose.
Code of conduct for members
In order to fulfill its solemn obligation to help its members reach the highest standards of educational attainment, moral values, and social responsibility, Delta Sigma Phi Fraternity has adopted the following code of conduct for the daily lives of each of their members:
Statement on hazing
Delta Sigma Phi banned "Hell Week" in 1938.
In accordance to the Gordian Knot, the Delta Sigma Phi fraternity states, "Each chapter shall not conduct hazing activities. Hazing activities are defined as any act or attempt to embarrass, humiliate, intimidate, ridicule, shame or endanger physically or mentally any person, or to compel physical activity or do physical or emotional harm to any person, or to require consumption or ingestion of liquids, food, or other materials."
Further, hazing does not promote the air of respect between brothers that Delta Sigma Phi seeks to elevate. "Any man that would haze a brother is not fit for membership in Delta Sigma Phi. Also any man that permits himself to be hazed by a brother is also not fit for membership."
Individual chapter or member misconduct
In 2001, the Kappa chapter at Auburn University had its charter revoked after a Halloween party where members were present in blackface, Ku Klux Klan robes, and simulating a lynching. After being reinstated, their charter was again revoked following numerous incidents involving hazing, vandalism, alcohol and harassment in 2017.
In 2013, the chapter at California State University, East Bay was kicked off campus due to hazing, alcohol, and drug violations.
In 2014, the chapter at San Diego State University was shut down due to a string of hazing and alcohol violations, and misconduct, including waving dildos at protestors during an anti-rape rally on campus.
In 2014, the chapter at Washington State University was suspended after a stint of disciplinary issues with the university.
In 2015, the chapter at University of Arizona was suspended due to multiple hazing and alcohol violations.
In 2015, multiple hazing incidents with the chapter at the University of Missouri were made public to the university's leadership. As a result, the chapter was suspended and placed on probation.
In 2017, the chapter at North Carolina State University was shut down due to multiple violations.
The chapter at the University of Alabama was revoked in May 2018 due to allegations of hazing. The hazing allegations had been ongoing for more than two years. The chapter remained suspended until the fall of 2020 where they were reinstated.
In 2019, the chapter at Duke University was shut down due to reoccurring risk management incidents over 12 months.
In 2021, the chapter at Columbia University lost its campus housing, allegedly due to hazing.
In July 2022, the chapter at Michigan Technological University was suspended due to hazing violations.
Chapters and New Chapters
Notable alumni
Athletics
Paul Splittorff, Morningside College '68, former Major League pitcher for the Kansas City Royals
Jim Bouton, Western Michigan '59, former Major League pitcher and author of Ball Four
Art Watson, Idaho '02, neck cranker, Special Olympian
Mike Bellotti, UC Davis '70, former head football coach, former athletic director, University of Oregon, Current ESPN analyst
Mike Shanahan, Eastern Illinois '71, former head coach of Washington Redskins
Jared Veldheer, Hillsdale College '07, offensive lineman for the Arizona Cardinals
Herb "Fritz" Crisler, former head football coach and athletic director, University of Chicago
Kevin Streelman, "Duke '01", current PGA golfer
Sean Davis, "Duke '14", current Major League Soccer player for the New York Red Bulls
Brian White, "Duke '17", current Major League Soccer player for the New York Red Bulls
Government
David Perdue, "Georgia Institute of Technology '69", senator from Georgia
James J. Davis, Pittsburgh '23, former Secretary of Labor of the United States
Richard Winters, Franklin and Marshall '41, World War II hero, inspiration for the HBO series Band of Brothers
Albert P. Brewer, Alabama '48, former governor, State of Alabama
James W. Holsinger, Duke '58, Surgeon General of the United States nominee
Michael Deaver, San Jose State '59, former Assistant White House Chief of Staff, Reagan Administration
Thomas Harkin, Iowa State '60, United States Senator, State of Iowa
John E. McLaughlin, Wittenberg '61, former deputy (and later interim) director of the Central Intelligence Agency
William Todd Tiahrt, SD School of Mines '70, member, United States House of Representatives, State of Kansas
Admiral Robert Conway, St. Francis College '72, vice admiral, US Navy
William C. Eacho III, Duke '76, US Ambassador to Austria
Mike Turner, Ohio Northern '79, member, United States House of Representatives, State of Ohio
Doyle E. Carlton, "Stetson '09", former governor of Florida (Member of Phi Delta Kappa Society which became Delta Sigma Phi - Alpha Chi Chapter in 1925)
Mark Martin (judge),Western Carolina University '85, Chief Justice of the NC Supreme Court from 2014- 2019.
Entertainment
Steve Pepoon, Kansas State University '75, co-creator of The Wild Thornberrys
Ed O'Neill, Youngstown State University '69", actor
Rob Little, Central Michigan University, comedian
Cody Ko, Duke University, comedian and YouTuber
Printz Board, San Diego State University, Musician, songwriter, producer, recording artist
Gary Lockwood, UCLA '56, actor (Star Trek, 2001: A Space Odyssey)
J. Marty Dormany, Florida State University '91, Emmy® winning graphic designer, executive producer
Education
Ross S. Whaley, Michigan '59, former president of State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry
Robert Carothers, Edinboro of PA '62, past president, University of Rhode Island
Rev. Lawrence Biondi, Loyola '74, president, St. Louis University
Business
Frank T. Cary, Hillsdale, former chairman and CEO, IBM
John M. Harbert, Auburn '46, billionaire businessman from Birmingham, Alabama who started Harbert Corporation
Charles R. Walgreen III, Michigan '55, former president and CEO, Walgreens
Joel S. Demski, Michigan '62, former president of American Accounting Association
Mike Hayden, Kansas State University '64, former governor of Kansas
Mike Duke, Georgia Institute of Technology '68, former CEO of Wal-Mart
John Walden, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign '79, CEO of Home Retail Group PLC
Science
Kenneth L. Hallenbeck, Michigan '55, former president of the American Numismatic Association
Phil Plait, Michigan '87, astronomer
See also
List of social fraternities and sororities
References
A Brief History of the Jew in the American College Fraternity By Steve Hofstetter
External links
Delta Sigma Phi Fraternity
Student organizations established in 1899
North American Interfraternity Conference
Student societies in the United States
Fraternities and sororities based in Indianapolis
1899 establishments in New York City
|
412480
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jules%20Feiffer
|
Jules Feiffer
|
Jules Ralph Feiffer (born January 26, 1929) is an American cartoonist and author, who was considered the most widely read satirist in the country. He won the Pulitzer Prize in 1986 for editorial cartooning, and in 2004 he was inducted into the Comic Book Hall of Fame. He wrote the animated short Munro, which won an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film in 1961. The Library of Congress has recognized his "remarkable legacy", from 1946 to the present, as a cartoonist, playwright, screenwriter, adult and children's book author, illustrator, and art instructor.
When Feiffer was 17 (in the mid-1940s) he became assistant to cartoonist Will Eisner. There he helped Eisner write and illustrate his comic strips, including The Spirit. In 1956, he became a staff cartoonist at The Village Voice, where he produced the weekly comic strip titled Feiffer until 1997. His cartoons became nationally syndicated in 1959 and then appeared regularly in publications including the Los Angeles Times, the London Observer, The New Yorker, Playboy, Esquire, and The Nation. In 1997, he created the first op-ed page comic strip for the New York Times, which ran monthly until 2000.
He has written more than 35 books, plays and screenplays. His first of many collections of satirical cartoons, Sick, Sick, Sick, was published in 1958, and his first novel, Harry, the Rat With Women, in 1963. In 1965, he wrote The Great Comic Book Heroes, the first history of the comic-book superheroes of the late 1930s and early 1940s and a tribute to their creators. In 1979, Feiffer created his first graphic novel, Tantrum. By 1993, he began writing and illustrating books aimed at young readers, with several of them winning awards.
Feiffer began writing for the theater and film in 1961, with plays including Little Murders (1967), Feiffer's People (1969), and Knock Knock (1976). He wrote the screenplay for Carnal Knowledge (1971), directed by Mike Nichols, and Popeye (1980), directed by Robert Altman. He was recently given a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Dramatist’s Guild.
He lives in upstate New York with his wife JZ Holden and their three cats, Mimi, Jackson and Dezzdemona. He is currently working on a visual memoir.
Early life
Feiffer was born in The Bronx, New York City, on January 26, 1929. His parents were David Feiffer and Rhoda (née Davis), and Feiffer was raised in a Jewish household with a younger and an older sister. His father was usually unemployed in his work as a salesman due to the Depression. His mother was a fashion designer who made watercolor drawings of her designs which she sold to various clothing manufacturers in New York. "She'd go door to door selling her designs for $3," recalls Feiffer. The fact that she was the breadwinner, however, created an "atmosphere of silent blame" in the home. Feiffer began drawing at the age of 3. "My mother always encouraged me to draw", he says.
When he was 13, his mother gave him a drawing table for his bedroom. She also enrolled him in the Art Students League of New York to study anatomy. He graduated from James Monroe High School in 1947. He won a John Wanamaker Art Contest medal for a crayon drawing of the radio Western hero Tom Mix. He wrote in 1965 about his childhood:
Feiffer says that cartoons were his first interest when young, "what I loved the most." He states that because he couldn't write well enough to be a writer, or draw well enough to be an artist, he realized that the best way to succeed would be to combine his limited talents in each of those fields to create something unique. He read comic strips from various newspapers which his father brought home, and was mostly attracted to the way they told stories. "What I loved best about these comics was that they created a very personal world in which almost anything could take place", Feiffer says. "And readers would accept it even if it had nothing to do with any other kind of world. It was the fantasy world I loved."
Among his favorite cartoons were Our Boarding House, Alley Oop and Wash Tubbs. He began to decipher features of different cartoonists, such as the sentimental naturalism of Abbie an' Slats, the [Preston] Sturges-like characters and plots of others, with cadenced dialogue. He recalls that Will Eisner's Spirit rivaled them in structure. And no strip, except [Milton] Caniff's Terry [and the Pirates], rivaled it in atmosphere."
Career
Cartoonist
With Will Eisner (1946–1956)
After Feiffer graduated from high school at 16, he was desperate for a job, and went unannounced to the office of one of his favorite cartoonists, Will Eisner. Eisner was sympathetic to young Feiffer, as Eisner had been in a similar situation when he first started out. He asked Feiffer, "What can you do?" He answered, "I'll do anything. I'll do coloring, or clean-up, or anything, and I'd like to work for nothing." However, Eisner was unimpressed by Feiffer's art abilities and did not know how he could employ him. Eisner ultimately decided to give him a low-paying job when he found out that Feiffer "knew more about him than anybody who had ever lived," said Feiffer. "He had no choice but to hire me as a groupie."
Eisner considered Feiffer a mediocre artist, but he "liked the kid's spunk and intensity", writes Eisner biographer Michael Schumacher. Eisner was also aware that they both came from similar backgrounds, despite his being twelve years older. They both had fathers who struggled to support their family, and both their mothers were strong figures who held the family together through hardships. "He had a hunger for comics that Eisner rarely saw in artists", notes Schumacher. "Eisner decided that there was something to this wisecracking kid." When Feiffer later asked for a raise, Eisner instead gave him his own page in The Spirit section, and let him do his own coloring. As Eisner recalled in 1978:
They collaborated well on The Spirit, sharing ideas, arguing points, and making changes when they agreed. In 1947, Feiffer also attended the Pratt Institute for a year to improve his art style. Over time, Eisner valued Feiffer's opinions and judgments more often, appreciating his "uncanny knack" for capturing the way people talked, without using contrived dialogue. Eisner recalls that Feiffer "had a real ear for writing characters that lived and breathed. Jules was always attentive to nuances, such as sounds and expressions" which made stories seem more real.
At The Village Voice (1956–1997)
After working with Eisner for nearly a decade, he chose to start creating his own comic strips. In 1956, after again first proving his talent by working for free, he became a staff cartoonist at The Village Voice where he produced a weekly comic strip. Feiffer's strips ran for 42 years, until 1997, at first titled Sick Sick Sick, then as Feiffer's Fables, and finally as simply Feiffer. After a year with the Voice, Feiffer compiled a collection of many of his satire cartoons into a best-selling book, Sick Sick Sick: A Guide to Non-Confident Living (1958), a dissection of popular social and political neuroses. The success of that collection led to his becoming a regular contributor to the London Observer and Playboy magazine. Director Stanley Kubrick, a fellow Bronx native, invited Feiffer to write a screenplay for Sick, Sick, Sick, although the film was never made. After first becoming aware of Feiffer's work, Kubrick wrote him in 1958:
By April 1959, Feiffer was distributed nationally by the Hall Syndicate, initially in The Boston Globe, Minneapolis Star Tribune, Newark Star-Ledger and Long Island Press. Eventually, his strips covered the nation, including magazines, and were published regularly in major publications such as the Los Angeles Times, The New Yorker, Esquire, Playboy and The Nation. He was commissioned in 1997 by The New York Times to create its first op-ed page comic strip, which ran monthly until 2000.
Feiffer's cartoons were typically mini satires, where he portrayed ordinary people's thoughts about subjects such as sex, marriage, violence and politics. Writer Larry DuBois describes Feiffer's cartoon style:
Feiffer's work is represented by R. Michelson Galleries, located in Northampton, Massachusetts.
Author
Feiffer published the hit Sick, Sick, Sick: A Guide to Non-Confident Living in 1958 (which featured a collection of cartoons from about 1950 to 1956), and followed up with More Sick, Sick, Sick and other strip collections, including The Explainers; Boy, Girl. Boy, Girl.; Hold Me!; Feiffer's Album; The Unexpurgated Memoirs of Bernard Mergendeiler; Feiffer on Nixon; Jules Feiffer's America: From Eisenhower to Reagan; Marriage Is an Invasion of Privacy; and Feiffer's Children. Passionella (1957) is a graphic narrative initially anthologized in Passionella and Other Stories, a variation on the story of Cinderella. The protagonist is Ella, a chimney sweep who is transformed into a Hollywood movie star. Passionella was used as one part of the 1966 Sheldon Harnick and Jerry Bock Broadway musical The Apple Tree
His cartoons, strips and illustrations have been reprinted by Fantagraphics as Feiffer: The Collected Works. Explainers (2008) reprints all of his strips from 1956 to 1966. David Kamp reviewed the book in The New York Times:
Feiffer has written two novels (1963's Harry the Rat with Women, 1977's Ackroyd) and several children's books, including Bark, George; Henry, The Dog with No Tail; A Room with a Zoo; The Daddy Mountain; and A Barrel of Laughs, a Vale of Tears. He partnered with The Walt Disney Company and writer Andrew Lippa to adapt his book The Man in the Ceiling into a musical. He illustrated the children's books The Phantom Tollbooth and The Odious Ogre. His non-fiction includes the 1965 book The Great Comic Book Heroes.
Feiffer also wrote and drew one of the earliest graphic novels, the hardcover Tantrum (Alfred A. Knopf, 1979), described on its dustjacket as a "novel-in-pictures". Like the trade paperback The Silver Surfer (Simon & Schuster/Fireside Books, August 1978), by Marvel Comics' Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, and the hardcover and trade paperback versions of Will Eisner's A Contract with God, and Other Tenement Stories (Baronet Books, October 1978), this was published by a traditional book publisher and distributed through bookstores, whereas other early graphic novels, such as Sabre (Eclipse Books, August 1978), were distributed through some of the first comic-book stores.
His autobiography, Backing into Forward: A Memoir (Doubleday, 2010), received positive reviews from The New York Times and Publishers Weekly, which wrote:
He has had retrospectives at the New York Historical Society, the Library of Congress and The School of Visual Arts. His artwork is exhibited at and represented by Chicago's Jean Albano Gallery. In 1996, Feiffer donated his papers and several hundred original cartoons and book illustrations to the Library of Congress.
In 2014, Feiffer published Kill My Mother: A Graphic Novel through Liveright Publishing. Kill My Mother was named a Vanity Fair Best Book of 2014 and a Kirkus Reviews Best Fiction Book of 2014. In 2016, Feiffer published Cousin Joseph: A Graphic Novel, a prequel to Kill My Mother. Cousin Joseph was also published through Liveright Publishing, and was a New York Times Bestseller, named one of The Washington Post's Best Graphic Novels of the Year, and was nominated for the Lynd Ward Graphic Novel Prize. A third book in the series, The Ghost Script: A Graphic Novel, was published by Liveright in 2018.
Feiffer's picture book for young readers, Rupert Can Dance, was published by FSG in 2014.
Playwright and screenwriter
Feiffer's plays include Little Murders (1967), Feiffer's People (1969), Knock Knock (1976), Elliot Loves (1990), The White House Murder Case, and Grown Ups. After Mike Nichols adapted Feiffer's unproduced play Carnal Knowledge as a 1971 film, Feiffer scripted Robert Altman's Popeye, Alain Resnais's I Want to Go Home, and the film adaptation of Little Murders.
The original production of Hold Me! was directed by Caymichael Patten and opened at The American Place Theatre, Subplot Cafe, as part of its American Humorist Series on January 13, 1977. The production ran on the Showtime cable network in 1981.
Feiffer moved to Shelter Island, New York in 2017. He wrote the book for a musical based on a story he wrote earlier, Man in the Ceiling, about a boy cartoonist who learned to pursue his dream despite pressures to conform. The musical was produced and directed by Jeffrey Seller in 2017 at the Bay Street Theatre in neighboring Sag Harbor, New York.
Art instructor
Feiffer is an adjunct professor at Stony Brook Southampton. Previously he taught at the Yale School of Drama and Northwestern University. He has been a Senior Fellow at the Columbia University National Arts Journalism Program. He was in residence at the Arizona State University Barrett Honors College from November 27 to December 2, 2006. In June–August 2009, Feiffer was in residence as a Montgomery Fellow at Dartmouth College, where he taught an undergraduate course on graphic humor in the 20th century.
Personal life
Feiffer has married three times and has three children. His daughter Halley Feiffer is an actress and playwright. A second daughter, Kate Feiffer, is the author and playwright of "My Mom is Trying to Ruin My Life" and other works.
His third marriage took place in September 2016, when he married freelance writer JZ Holden; the ceremony combined Jewish and Buddhist traditions. She is the author of Illusion of Memory (2013).
Honors and awards
1961, recipient of a George Polk Awards for his cartoons;
1961, film Munro won Academy Award for animated short;
1969 and 1970, won Obie Award and Outer Circle Critics Award for plays Little Murders and The White House Murder Case;
1986, awarded the Pulitzer Prize for political cartoons
1995, elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters;
2004, inducted into the Comic Book Hall of Fame;
2004, received the National Cartoonists Society's Milton Caniff Lifetime Achievement Award;
2006, received the Creativity Foundation's Laureate
2010, won a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Writers Guild of America.
Selected works
Sick, Sick, Sick (1958)
Passionella and Other Stories (1959)
The Explainers (1960)
Boy, Girl, Boy, Girl (1961)
The Feiffer Album (1962)
Hold Me! (1962)
Harry: The Rat with Women, a Novel (1963)
Feiffer's Album (1963)
The Unexpurgated Memoirs of Bernard Mergendeiler (1964)
The Great Comic Book Heroes (1965)
Feiffer on Civil Rights (1966)
The Penguin Feiffer (1966)
Feiffer's Marriage Manual (1967)
Pictures at a Prosecution (1971)
Feiffer on Nixon, the Cartoon Presidency (1974)
Knock Knock (1976)
Tantrum (1979)
Jules Feiffer's America: From Eisenhower to Reagan (1982)
Marriage Is an Invasion of Privacy and Other Dangerous Views (1984)
Feiffer's Children (1986)
Ronald Reagan in Movie America (1988)
The Man in the Ceiling (1993)
A Barrel of Laughs, A Vale of Tears (1995)
Meanwhile— (1997)
I Lost My Bear (1998)
Bark, George (1999)
Backing into Forward: A Memoir (2010)
Smart George (2020)
References
External links
Jules Feiffer illustration represented by R. Michelson Galleries
Archival footage of a discussion with Jules Feiffer at a PillowTalk at Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival in 2009
Lambiek Comiclopedia article.
Stossel, Sage, "A Conversation With Jules Feiffer", The Atlantic, March 19, 2010. WebCitation archive
Adams, Sam, "Interview: Jules Feiffer", The A.V. Club, July 28, 2008. WebCitation archive
Transcript of March 24, 2010, Feiffer interview at the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art, published as "Backing into Jules Feiffer: An Exclusive Q&A", FilmFestivalTraveler.com, April 18, 2010. WebCitation archive
Academics from New York (state)
American comic strip cartoonists
American editorial cartoonists
American children's writers
20th-century American dramatists and playwrights
American satirists
American memoirists
American male screenwriters
Comics critics
George Polk Award recipients
Inkpot Award winners
Living people
Los Angeles Times people
Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters
The New Yorker cartoonists
The New Yorker people
The New York Times people
Pratt Institute alumni
Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning winners
Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame inductees
1929 births
Playboy cartoonists
Jewish American artists
Jewish American writers
The Village Voice people
American male dramatists and playwrights
Writers who illustrated their own writing
Artists from the Bronx
Writers from the Bronx
Screenwriters from New York (state)
21st-century American artists
20th-century American artists
21st-century American dramatists and playwrights
20th-century American male writers
21st-century American male writers
20th-century American non-fiction writers
21st-century American non-fiction writers
American male non-fiction writers
Screenwriters from California
James Monroe High School (New York City) alumni
21st-century American Jews
|
412481
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christina%20Hoff%20Sommers
|
Christina Hoff Sommers
|
Christina Marie Hoff Sommers (born 1950) is an American author and philosopher. Specializing in ethics, she is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. Sommers is known for her critique of contemporary feminism. Her work includes the books Who Stole Feminism? (1994) and The War Against Boys (2000). She also hosts a video blog called The Factual Feminist.
Sommers' positions and writing have been characterized by the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy as "equity feminism", a classical-liberal or libertarian feminist perspective holding that the main political role of feminism is to ensure that the right against coercive interference is not infringed. Sommers has contrasted equity feminism with what she terms victim feminism and gender feminism, arguing that modern feminist thought often contains an "irrational hostility to men" and possesses an "inability to take seriously the possibility that the sexes are equal but different". Several writers have described Sommers as anti-feminist.
Early life
Sommers was born in 1950 to Kenneth and Dolores Hoff. She attended the University of Paris, earned a BA degree at New York University in 1971, and earned a PhD degree in philosophy from Brandeis University in 1979.
Career
Ideas and views
Sommers said in 2014 that she is a registered Democrat "with libertarian leanings". She has described herself as an equity feminist, equality feminist, and liberal feminist and defines equity feminism as the struggle, based upon Enlightenment principles of individual justice, for equal legal and civil rights for women—the original goals of first-wave feminism. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy categorizes equity feminism as libertarian or classically liberal. In 2019, Sommers endorsed Andrew Yang's campaign during the 2020 Democratic presidential primaries.
Several authors have called Sommers' positions antifeminist. The feminist philosopher Alison Jaggar wrote in 2006 that, in rejecting the theoretical distinction between sex as a set of physiological traits and gender as a set of social identities, "Sommers rejected one of the distinctive conceptual innovations of second wave Western feminism," arguing that as the concept of gender is allegedly relied on by "virtually all" modern feminists, "the conclusion that Sommers is an anti-feminist instead of a feminist is difficult to avoid". Sommers has responded to such criticisms as "excommunication from a religion I didn't know existed." Sommers views developments of second-wave feminism and later as incoherent and products of a reversion to a coddling culture of outrage, stemming from middle-class upbringing of later feminists. Her criticism mostly focuses on what she sees as anti-male and victimhood positions of modern feminism, with other critics, such as Camile Paglia and Nancy Friday, criticising more regularly what they see as puritanical or anti-sex positions of modern feminism.
Sommers is a longtime critic of women's studies departments and of university curricula in general. In a 1995 interview with freelance journalist Scott London, Sommers said, "The perspective now, from my point of view, is that the better things get for women, the angrier the women's studies professors seem to be, the more depressed Gloria Steinem seems to get." According to The Nation, Sommers would tell her students that "statistically challenged" feminists in women's studies departments engage in "bad scholarship to advance their liberal agenda" and are peddling a skewed and incendiary message: "Women are from Venus, men are from Hell."
Sommers has denied the existence of a gender pay gap.
Sommers has defended the Gamergate harassment campaign, saying that its members were "just defending a hobby they love." This advocacy in favor of Gamergate earned her praise from members of the men's rights movement, inspiring fan art and the nickname "Based Mom", which Sommers embraced. During Gamergate, Sommers appeared at several events with far-right political commentator Milo Yiannopoulos.
Early work
From 1978 to 1980, Sommers was an instructor at the University of Massachusetts at Boston. In 1980, she became an assistant professor of philosophy at Clark University and was promoted to associate professor in 1986. Sommers remained at Clark until 1997, when she became the W.H. Brady fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.
During the mid-1980s, Sommers edited two philosophy textbooks on the subject of ethics: Vice & Virtue in Everyday Life: Introductory Readings in Ethics (1984) and Right and Wrong: Basic Readings in Ethics (1986). Reviewing Vice and Virtue for Teaching Philosophy in 1990, Nicholas Dixon wrote that the book was "extremely well edited" and "particularly strong on the motivation for studying virtue and ethics in the first place, and on theoretical discussions of virtue and vice in general."
Beginning in the late 1980s, Sommers published a series of articles in which she strongly criticized feminist philosophers and American feminism in general. In a 1988 Public Affairs Quarterly article titled "Should the Academy Support Academic Feminism?", Sommers wrote that "the intellectual and moral credentials of academic feminism badly want scrutiny" and asserted that "the tactics used by academic feminists have all been employed at one time or another to further other forms of academic imperialism." In articles titled "The Feminist Revelation" and "Philosophers Against the Family," which she published during the early 1990s, Sommers argued that many academic feminists were "radical philosophers" who sought dramatic social and cultural change—such as the abolition of the nuclear family—and thus revealed their contempt for the actual wishes of the "average woman." These articles would form the basis for Who Stole Feminism?
Other work
Sommers is a member of the Board of Advisors of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education. She has served on the national advisory board of the Independent Women's Forum and the Center of the American Experiment. Sommers has written articles for Time, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. She hosts a video blog called The Factual Feminist on YouTube. Sommers created a video "course" for the conservative website PragerU.
Sommers has also appeared on Red Ice's white nationalist podcast Radio 3Fourteen. Sommers later clarified that she did not know about the podcast prior to her appearance.
Who Stole Feminism?
In Who Stole Feminism, Sommers outlines her distinction between gender feminism, which she regards as being the dominant contemporary approach to feminism, and equity feminism, which she presents as more akin to first-wave feminism. She uses the work to argue that contemporary feminism is too radical and disconnected from the lives of typical American women, presenting her equity feminism alternative as a better match for their needs. She characterizes gender feminism as having transcended the liberalism of early feminists so that instead of focusing on rights for all, gender feminists view society through the sex/gender prism and focus on recruiting women to join the struggle against patriarchy. Reason reviewed Who Stole Feminism?: How Women Have Betrayed Women and characterized gender feminism as the action of accenting the differences of genders in order to create what Sommers believes is privilege for women in academia, government, industry, or the advancement of personal agendas.
In criticizing contemporary feminism, Sommers writes that an often-mentioned March of Dimes study, which says that "domestic violence is the leading cause of birth defects,” does not exist and that violence against women does not peak during the Super Bowl, which she describes as an urban legend. She argues that such statements about domestic violence helped shape the Violence Against Women Act, which initially allocated $1.6 billion a year in federal funds for ending domestic violence against women. Similarly, she argues that feminists assert that approximately 150,000 women die each year from anorexia, an apparent distortion of the American Anorexia and Bulimia Association 's figure that 150,000 females have some degree of anorexia.
Laura Flanders of the Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR), panned Sommers's book as being "filled with the same kind of errors, unsubstantiated charges and citations of 'advocacy research' that she claims to find in the work of the feminists she takes to task ..." Sommers responded to FAIR's criticisms in a letter to the editor of FAIR's monthly magazine, EXTRA!
The War Against Boys
In 2000, Sommers published The War Against Boys: How Misguided Feminism Is Harming Our Young Men. In the book, Sommers challenged what she called the "myth of shortchanged girls" and the "new and equally corrosive fiction" that "boys as a group are disturbed." Criticizing programs that had been set up in the 1980s to encourage girls and young women, largely in response to studies that had suggested that girls "suffered through neglect in the classroom and the indifference of male-dominated society," Sommers argued in The War Against Boys that such programs were based on flawed research. She asserted that reality was quite the opposite: boys were a year and a half behind girls in reading and writing, and they were less likely to go to college.
She blamed Carol Gilligan as well as organizations such as the National Organization for Women (NOW) for creating a situation in which "boys are resented, both as the unfairly privileged sex and as obstacles on the path to gender justice for girls." According to Sommers, "a review of the facts shows boys, not girls, on the weak side of an education gender gap."
The book received mixed reviews. In conservative publications such as the National Review and Commentary, The War Against Boys was praised for its "stinging indictment of an anti-male movement that has had a pervasive influence on the nation's schools" and for identifying "a problem in urgent need of redress." Writing in The New York Times, opinion columnist Richard Bernstein called it a "thoughtful, provocative book" and suggested that Sommers had made her arguments "persuasively and unflinchingly, and with plenty of data to support them." Joy Summers, in The Journal of School Choice, said that "Sommers’ book and her public voice are in themselves a small antidote to the junk science girding our typically commonsense-free, utterly ideological national debate on 'women's issues'." Publishers Weekly suggested that Sommers' conclusions were "compelling" and "deserve an unbiased hearing," while also noting that Sommers "descends into pettiness when she indulges in mudslinging at her opponents." Similarly, a review in Booklist suggested that while Sommers "argues cogently that boys are having major problems in school," the book was unlikely to convince all readers "that these problems are caused by the American Association of University Women, Carol Gilligan, Mary Pipher, and William S. Pollack," all of whom were strongly criticized in the book. Ultimately, the review suggested, "Sommers is as much of a crisismonger as those she critiques."
In a review of The War Against Boys for The New York Times, child psychiatrist Robert Coles wrote that Sommers "speaks of our children, yet hasn't sought them out; instead she attends those who have, in fact, worked with boys and girls—and in so doing is quick to look askance at Carol Gilligan's ideas about girls, [William] Pollack's about boys." Much of the book, according to Coles, "comes across as Sommers's strongly felt war against those two prominent psychologists, who have spent years trying to learn how young men and women grow to adulthood in the United States." Reviewing the book for The New Yorker, Nicholas Lemann wrote that Sommers "sets the research bar considerably higher for the people she is attacking than she does for herself," using an "odd, ambushing style of refutation, in which she demands that data be provided to her and questions answered, and then, when the flummoxed person on the other end of the line stammers helplessly, triumphantly reports that she got 'em." Lemann faulted Sommers for accusing Gilligan of using anecdotal argument when her own book "rests on an anecdotal base" and for making numerous assertions that were not supported by the footnotes in her book.
Writing in The Washington Post, E. Anthony Rotundo stated that "in the end, Sommers ... does not show that there is a 'war against boys.' All she can show is that feminists are attacking her 'boys-will-be-boys' concept of boyhood, just as she attacks their more flexible notion." Sommers's title, according to Rotundo, "is not just wrong but inexcusably misleading... a work of neither dispassionate social science nor reflective scholarship; it is a conservative polemic."
In the updated and revised edition published in 2013, Sommers responded to her critics by changing the subtitle of the book from How misguided feminism harms our young men to How misguided policies harm our young men, and provided new and updated statistics that position her earlier work, in her view, as prophetic. When asked by MacLean's Magazine whether her work is still controversial, Sommers responded: It was when I first wrote the book. At the time, women’s groups promoted the idea that girls were second-class citizens in our schools. [...] David Sadker claimed that when boys call out answers in school, teachers are respectful and interested—whereas when girls do it, they are told to be quiet. [...] This became a showcase factoid of the shortchanged girl movement. But it turned out that the research behind the claim was nowhere to be found. It was a baseless myth: the result of advocacy research. I have looked at U.S. Department of Education data on more conventional measures: grades, college matriculation, school engagement, test scores. Now more than ever, you find that boys are on the wrong side of the gender gap.
Awards
The Women's Political Caucus (NWPC) awarded Sommers with one of its twelve 2013 Exceptional Merit in Media Awards for her The New York Times article “The Boys at the Back.” In their description of the winners, NWPC states, "Author Christina Sommers asks whether we should allow girls to reap the advantages of a new knowledge based service economy and take the mantle from boys, or should we acknowledge the roots of feminism and strive for equal education for all?"
Personal life
Sommers married Fred Sommers, the Harry A. Wolfson Chair in Philosophy at Brandeis University, in 1981. He died in 2014. The marriage provided her a stepson, Tamler Sommers, who is a philosopher and podcast host.
See also
Individualist feminism
Selected works
Books
(1984). (ed.). Vice & Virtue in Everyday Life: Introductory Readings in Ethics. San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. Co-edited with Robert J. Fogelin for the 2nd and 3rd editions, and with Fred Sommers for the 4th and subsequent editions.
(1986) (ed.). Right and Wrong: Basic Readings in Ethics. San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. Co-edited with Robert J. Fogelin.
(1994). Who Stole Feminism?: How Women Have Betrayed Women. New York: Simon & Schuster.
(2000 and 2013). The War Against Boys. New York: Simon & Schuster. and
(2005). (with Sally Satel, M.D.). One Nation Under Therapy. New York: St. Martin's Press.
(2009). The Science on Women in Science. Washington, D.C.: AEI Press.
(2013). Freedom Feminism: Its Surprising History and Why It Matters Today. Washington, D.C.: AEI Press.
Articles
(1988). "Should the Academy Support Academic Feminism?". Public Affairs Quarterly. 2: 97–120.
(1990). "The Feminist Revelation". Social Philosophy and Policy. 8(1): 152–157.
(1990). "Do These feminists Like Women?". Journal of Social Philosophy. 21(2) (Fall): 66–74.
Notes
References
External links
Is the future of feminism conservative? – a discussion of Sommers in the Harvard Law Record
Appearances on C-SPAN
Contributions to Time
Contributions to The Atlantic
Contributions to The New York Times
The Factual Feminist on YouTube
1950 births
Living people
21st-century American non-fiction writers
21st-century American philosophers
21st-century American women writers
American Enterprise Institute
American ethicists
American libertarians
Brandeis University alumni
Clark University faculty
Critics of postmodernism
Female critics of feminism
Feminist critics of feminism
Individualist feminists
Jewish American academics
Jewish feminists
Jewish philosophers
Jewish women writers
New York University alumni
People from Petaluma, California
University of Massachusetts Boston faculty
Writers from California
American feminist writers
American women non-fiction writers
California Democrats
20th-century American non-fiction writers
20th-century American philosophers
University of Paris alumni
Date of birth missing (living people)
|
412619
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawridge
|
Hawridge
|
Hawridge ( ; recorded as Hoquerug in the 12th century) is a small village in the Chilterns in the county of Buckinghamshire, England and bordering the county boundary with Hertfordshire. It is from Chesham, from both Tring and Berkhamsted. Hawridge is one of four villages making up Cholesbury-cum-St Leonards, a civil parish within Chiltern District.
It is a rural community but the agricultural economy is small and most local people rely for employment on neighbouring towns, the proximity of London, the availability of broadband technology or local tourism and the popularity of the area for recreational activities.
Geography
Before the incorporation of additional land from adjacent parishes, Hawridge historically comprised some . It is located in the main along a ridge on the dip slope within the Chiltern downland landscape. It is some 590 ft (182 m) above sea level.
Geology
The geology of the area has dictated the land use. The soil comprises gravely clay, intermixed with flints, small pebbles, and öolite over a chalk formation. Several examples of puddingstones a characteristic form of this aggregate have been found locally. There are no streams in the area due to the porous chalk sub soil. In places the occurrence of clay close to the surface accounts for several natural ponds fed by springs. Until connection with mains water in the mid-20th century, the scarcity of water had necessitated the sinking of deep wells and capture of rainwater.
Land use
In contrast to nearby areas of the Chilterns more land is given over to open space i.e. agricultural, both arable and pasture; paddocks; heathland and most significantly the Common along one side of which the majority of houses are arranged. There is relatively little mature ancient woodland remaining as most was cleared mainly during the 18th century and given over to beech plantation connected with the furniture making industry in High Wycombe. Both chalk and a small amount of clay have been extracted over the years, Meanwhile, in more recent times flint was dug out for road making. Both activities have left their mark in the form of small mounds and shallow depressions.
Historically, many homes had access to orchards, gardens for vegetable production and pasture for domestic animals. These have largely disappeared and over the last ten years or so the increasing popularity of horse riding has created a demand for suitable land for paddocks.
Settlement
Villages in this part of the Chilterns are often set out around Greens and Commons or strung out along ridges with which they connect often without a gap to adjacent settlements. Despite being not far distant from Chesham, Hawridge is consequently more closely linked in this way with the neighbouring villages of Cholesbury, St Leonards and Buckland Common. Heath End is a hamlet which has always been closely associated with Hawridge although historically part of the settlement had been in Hertfordshire until the second half of 20th century. The name probably derives from its location on the edge of Wigginton Heath.
Until 1935 Hawridge did not have mains water. Drainage did not arrive until 1963. The road down to Chesham was frequently impassable in winter and periodic flooding has still occurred even in recent years. The Second World War resulted in an influx of people escaping the London Blitz and not returning afterwards. This migration had a lasting effect with more houses built or greatly enlarged or refurbished. Transport improvements enabling daily commuting to London from the 1950s onwards also led to a further change with the growth in more affluent families which irrevocably changed the composition of the village community.
Concerns in the 1960s about uncontrolled housing development encouraged the establishment of resident's groups focussed on preserving the village scene. Situated in the Chilterns AONB, and combined with national and local government planning controls there is strict enforcement of restrictions on residential building developments. This has led to a shortage in affordable and social housing. The scarcity of available property has added a premium onto house prices in Hawridge (average selling price circa £700k as at 2007) and neighbouring villages compared to other areas in the rest of the South-east of England.
History
Early settlement
Prehistoric
There is evidence of prehistoric settlement from archaeological finds, including a Palaeolithic handaxe found at the hamlet of Heath End, having probably arrived with road materials transported to the site. Mesolithic and neolithic tranchet axe-heads were found near Haddens Plantation and Heath End Farm. From finds such as a late Bronze Age sword, now at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford it has been concluded that there was a permanent settlement in the area from around 600BC.
Anglo-Saxon
The original village name Aucrug is Anglo Saxon in origin, and means ridge frequented by hawks. There is evidence of trading activity through finds of coins spanning from around 4th Century, the late Roman period of Valentinian I, and about 1450 during the reign of Edward IV.
Medieval
Adjacent to White Hawridge Bottom is evidence of strip lynchets and terraces built around 11th century. Lynchets are the result of ploughing accumulating earth on the lowest point of the slope and building up a terrace of flatter ground on square or rectangular early medieval fields. At Hawridge Court there is a medieval manor house dating from the 13th century enclosed by earlier ringwork, comprising a single rampart and ditch.
English Civil War
Hawridge is said to have associations with the English Civil War during the 1640s Parliamentary soldiers were billeted in the area at a time when skirmishes were occurring in and around Wendover and Chesham. Adjacent to Horseblock Lane, which crosses Hawridge Common, may have been where their horses were quartered. It has also been said that during one particularly fierce skirmish with the Royalists, dead horses were used to form a barricade from which the name of the lane is derived.
Lords of the Manor
The manor of Hawridge is not mentioned in the Domesday Book. The first attributed with ownership of the lands was Robert D'Oyly, who died in 1091, and following a period of major land reassignment the manor appears to have been granted to Henry de Beaumont, 1st Earl of Warwick and remained with successive Earls of Warwick. The first records show from the 13th century the manor was associated with John de Beauchamp a relative of the Earl of Warwick. Around 1319 and through connections between the de Beauchamp family it became connected to one of the estates held by the Bassetts in Marsworth. By 1379 the manor had passed to Edward or Edmund Cook who gave it up to pay off debts.
The Penyston family held the manor from the beginning of the 15th century and it stayed with the family for 150 years until when Thomas Penyston died it passed to Thomas Tasburgh in 1572, who would later become MP for the county of Buckingham. His wife Dorothy acquired some notoriety for her gerrymandering of elections at Aylesbury. By 1650 and following several conveyances between the Dell, Blackwell and Wright families, the manor was in the hands of John Seare. From the beginning of the 18th century his son Richard owned jointly the manors of Hawridge and Cholesbury – an arrangement which has continued until today. The manorial rights were acquired by Robert Dayrell in 1748 and remained in the control of absentee landlords until the end of the 19th century. Henry Turner, a J.P. was the first Lord of the Manor to reside in the locality for 300 years when in 1899 he took up residency at Braziers End House in Cholesbury. A tradition continued since by the seven Lords of the Manor in the 20th/21st centuries
The Manorial Court which had ceased to operate during the early 19th century as the Church Vestry and later parish meetings held greater sway, was revived by Henry Turner. Held quarterly at the Full Moon, there are records of frequent fines for such misdeeds as turning out animals on the Common or removing from it wood or stone without permission. The manorial rights originating from the 12th century, which have continued to be held jointly with Cholesbury since 17th century no longer control village life. Hawridge and Cholesbury Commons Preservation Society now manage the Commons on behalf of the Lord of the Manor.
Local economy
Like the neighbouring village of Cholesbury, Hawridge with its extensive commons was on an important droving route. There were once several alehouses located close to the Common. They were able to flourish due to this boost in trade between the 18th and later on when up until the early part of the 20th centuries they were also frequented by the growing numbers of brickyard and agricultural labourers. The Full Moon Pub, which is closest to the parish boundary with Cholesbury, is recorded as having its first licensed keeper in 1766 although as an unlicensed alehouse it may date back to 1693. Further along the Common is the Rose and Crown, first licensed in 1753. Down Hawridge Vale is the oldest of the three, the Black Horse, which first opened in the mid-17th century. Other alehouses such as the Mermaid, across the road from the 'Moon', came and went but these three have survived to the present day.
The poor quality of the land though meant that employment for villagers was often of a casual nature. Straw plaiting was the chief occupation of women and children during most of the 19th century. The plait was sent to Luton or London. The availability of daily train services to London also provided income from pheasant rearing. Until the Second World War agriculture had been the principle industry in the area. During the 20th century, much of the land was gradually taken out of agricultural use until today when only a minimal acreage is given over to or cattle and sheep-grazing or arable farming. The relative closeness to Chesham provided opportunity for work within, for example, one of the many mills or boot factories. The arrival of the railway to Chesham during the 1880s, the relative closeness to London and other conurbations and improvement to the road networks and public transport resulted in work being sought from further afield. The village supported a number of small shops until the 1960s when supermarkets and increased car ownership sealed their fate.
Although a few businesses such as an agricultural merchants, a blacksmith and the three pubs continuing to operate today, there are no longer employers of significant numbers of local people within the village itself. In contrast, the 2001 census indicated a further change in employment patterns with increasing numbers of remote workers in Hawridge.
Demographics
The census of 1801 records there were 121 inhabitants in 24 families living in 21 houses in Hawridge. According to the subsequent censuses the population grew rapidly between 1801 and 1861 when it was 276 and then fell back by 1901 to just 209. By 1931 it had again increased to 222.
As at 2001 93.5% of the local people were recorded as of White ethnic origin. Just under 80% declared they were Christians. Some 45% of people were in employment and 21%, a significantly higher proportion than elsewhere in the district, were self-employed and over 15% were retired which was slightly higher than in nearby areas.
Education
Children between the ages of 5 and 11 attend Hawridge and Cholesbury Church of England School. Today the catchment area covers the neighbouring villages of Bellingdon, Cholesbury, St Leonards and Buckland Common (the latter two since the close of the school at St Leonards).
The school was founded as a National School and opened in 1874 on land given by the Lord of the Manor. Before this the only education available was from the 'straw-plait' school, which were a common feature of villages in this part of the Chilterns and were also mentioned in a Select Committee report of 1819. The original school house remained as an integral part of the modern school until 2010 when it was sold and is now a private house.
Landmarks and buildings
A stone obelisk on the boundary between Hawridge and Cholesbury was erected in 1898 to mark Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee the year before.
Hawridge Mill
Hawridge Mill also known as Cholesbury Mill, is a disused tower mill which straddles the boundary between Hawridge and Cholesbury villages. It is now a private residence but was until 1912 in operation and on the site of an earlier smock mill. Residents and visitors in the First World War period included a number of artists and celebrities, including Gilbert Cannan, Mark Gertler, Bertrand Russell, and the actress Doris Keane.
Hawridge Court
The present day Hawridge Court, a private property, contains the location of the original medieval manor house which was surrounded by a ringwork, now designated a Scheduled Monument. The ringwork was most likely constructed shortly after the Norman Conquest though some archaeological features point to it having a much earlier, prehistoric origin. It is oval in shape measuring 60×50 metres in diameter, is bounded by a rampart 16 metres wide and between two and five metres high and an external ditch which includes a deep moat for part of its circumference. A gap and causeway marks the probable original entrance. On the outside there is a moat, also dated to the medieval period, which almost surrounds the ramparts The original manor house, built by 1223, was replaced by an 18th-century Grade II listed, timber-framed farmhouse. All that remains of the original manor buildings is a granary (or possibly pigeon house) relocated inside the plot and converted into a timber and brick cottage during the Tudor period. Additional barns were constructed in the 18th century. Hawridge Court was occupied periodically by the Lord of the Manors of Hawridge and Cholesbury.
Pumping Station
The water-pumping station at Nut Hazel Cross was built in the 1950s to supply water from the aquifer to the growing population in the towns of Halton, Tring and Wendover. Despite enhanced levels of water extraction when groundwater levels remained high the road through The Vale to Chesham, which has always lacked effective drainage was frequently impassable in winter months, and remains prone to flooding today.
Religion
St Mary's Church was first mentioned in 1227. During the 19th century it fell into disrepair and was rebuilt in 1856 by the church architect William White, using original flint-and-brick materials and in a style peculiar to the 1850s known as 'constructional polychromy'. The church has retained its 13th century circular font. Oliver Cromwell ordered that church organs be removed in 1644. Churches relied on bands comprising local musicians to provide accompaniment until organs were reintroduced in the 19th century. An old bassoon made around 1800 and played at St Mary's was found during refurbishment of the church and is now to be found in Buckinghamshire County Museum Aylesbury.
A Baptist church met in a building by Bowmore Farm, at Hawridge which was a branch of the General Baptist Church in Chesham., and later of Akeman Street Baptist Church in Tring. It was mentioned in the 1851 Ecclesiastical Census by closed by the end of the 1800s. The building no longer stands.
In 1876 a small congregation met in a cottage in the village. A Mission Hall was opened for them in 1879 with the help of Naphill Mission Hall and Hope Hall (now Kings Road Evangelical Church), Berkhamsted with the words "The desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose" (Isaiah). It closed in 1989 and today the Hall is a private house.
Transport
Almost 95% of local residents have access to a car. Over the years the provision of buses has decreased significantly. Today a bus service runs once each way on alternative days connecting to Chesham, Tring and local villages. School buses are a valuable facility transporting children to Secondary Schools in Chesham and Amersham.
Sport and recreation
The local area with its open views, rural lanes, commons and woodland, criss-crossed by footpaths and bridleways consequently are very popular with cyclists, walkers and horse-riders. The churches of Hawridge and Cholesbury jointly hold a Summer Fête on August Bank Holiday, alternatively on Hawridge and Cholesbury Commons. The Kimblewick Hunt (previously known as Vale of Aylesbury with Garth & South Berks Hunt) traditionally hold a meet on Boxing Day (26 December) which draws a large crowd from the local district. Quoits was played on the Commons up until the 1920s and the Full Moon pub had a Bowling Alley until the 1970s.
Governance
Hawridge together with the neighbouring villages of Cholesbury, St Leonards and Buckland Common are locally known as the Hilltop Villages. From 1896 the church vestry has been succeeded by the parochial church council focussing on church affairs and its responsibilities for the administration of village matters progressively ceded to Hawridge parish council. Hawridge remained a separate parish until 1934 when it came together with the other villages to form the civil parish of Cholesbury-cum-St Leonards and became part of Amersham Rural District which as part of the 1974 Local Government reorganisation was succeeded by Chiltern District.
Notable people
Angela and sister Hermione Baddeley, both screen and stage actors lived next door to fellow actor Milton Rosmer in the 1930s
Milton Rosmer English stage actor, film director and screenwriter lived in the village from the 1930s
Margaretta Scott English actor of stage, film and television (1912–2005) lived in the village with her husband Composer John Wooldridge, daughter actor Susan Wooldridge and son theatre producer Hugh Wooldridge during the 1950s
Thomas Tasburgh (1554–1602) lived the early years of his life at Hawridge Court. He was Lord of the Manor of Hawridge from 1572 to 1600 and was also MP for Buckinghamshire, Aylesbury and Chipping Wycombe
Alpin Errol Thomson, born 1893 in Perth, Australia, played rugby union for Scotland in 1921, and first-class cricket for Somerset County Cricket Club in 1922 and 1923 and for a first-class Royal Navy team. He subsequently lived at Hawridge Place until his death on 6 March 1960
Ed Wright, born 1980 digital musician/composer and educator, grew up in Hawridge
References
External links
Cholesbury parish website
British History Online – Victorian History of Buckinghamshire Volume 3 – Hawridge
Genuki – Hawridge
Unlocking Buckinghamshire's Past
References
Villages in Buckinghamshire
|
412645
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East%20Texas
|
East Texas
|
East Texas is a broadly defined cultural, geographic, and ecological region in the eastern part of the U.S. state of Texas that comprises most of 41 counties. It is primarily divided into Northeast and Southeast Texas. Most of the region consists of the Piney Woods ecoregion. East Texas can sometimes be defined only as the Piney Woods. At the fringes, towards Central Texas, the forests expand outward toward sparser trees and eventually into open plains.
According to the Handbook of Texas, the East Texas area "may be separated from the rest of Texas roughly by a line extending from the Red River in north-central Lamar County southwestward to east-central Limestone County and then southeastward towards eastern Galveston Bay". Most sources separate the Gulf Coast area into a separate region.
Another popular, somewhat simpler, definition defines East Texas as the region between the Trinity River, north and east of Houston (or sometimes Interstate 45, when defining generously) as the western border; the Louisiana border as the eastern border; the Gulf of Mexico as the southern border; the Oklahoma border as the northern border; Arkansas as the northeastern border, and extending as far south as Orange, Texas. The East Texas region includes Tyler, Longview, Texarkana, Lufkin, Marshall, Palestine, Henderson, Jacksonville, Mount Pleasant, and Nacogdoches as principal cities in addition to the Houston and Beaumont metropolitan statistical areas.
Geography
Climate is the unifying factor in the region's geography; all of East Texas has the humid subtropical climate typical of the Southeast, occasionally interrupted by intrusions of cold air from the north. East Texas receives more rainfall, , than the rest of Texas. In Houston, the average January temperature is and the average July temperature is . However, Houston has slightly warmer winters than most of East Texas due to its lower latitude and proximity to the coast.
All of East Texas lies within the Gulf Coastal Plain. It has less uniformity of climate than the rolling hills in the north and flat coastal plains in the south. Local vegetation varies from north to south, with the lower third consisting of the temperate grassland extending from South Texas to South Louisiana and the northern two-thirds of the region dominated by the temperate forest known as the Piney Woods. These extend more than . The Piney Woods are part of a much larger region of pine-hardwood forest that extends into Louisiana, Arkansas, and Oklahoma. The Piney Woods area thins out as it nears the Gulf of Mexico. West of the Piney Woods are the ranchlands and remnant oak forests of the East Central Texas forests ecoregion.
The Sabine, Trinity, Neches, Angelina and Sulphur rivers are the major rivers in East Texas, but the Brazos and Red rivers also flow through the region. The Brazos cuts through the southwest portion of the region, while the Red River forms its northern border with Oklahoma and a portion of Arkansas. In East Texas and the rest of the South, small rivers and creeks collect into swamps called bayous and merge with the surrounding forest. Bald cypress and Spanish moss are the dominant plants in bayous. The most famous of these bayous are Cypress Bayou and Buffalo Bayou. Cypress Bayou surrounds the Big, Little, and Black Cypress rivers around Jefferson. They flow east into Caddo Lake, and the adjoining wetlands cover the rim and islands of the lake.
Deep East Texas
Deep East Texas is a subregion of East Texas, alongside Northeast and Southeast Texas. According to the Deep East Texas Council of Governments, the region consists of the following twelve counties: Angelina, Houston, Jasper, Nacogdoches, Newton, Polk, Sabine, San Augustine, San Jacinto, Shelby, Trinity, and Tyler.
The "Deep" designation comes from the similarity to East Texas (it is similar in culture and topography, being highly forested), but with a location "deeper" (i.e., farther south and towards the Gulf Coast) than the rest of East Texas.
"Deep" also refers to the cultural and social characteristics of the area. This is considered synonymous to the "Big Thicket", an allusion to the dense growth of underbrush in the Piney Woods. It was the earliest area of Texas to be settled by Anglo-Americans from the United States (and one of the last areas to submit to law enforcement—by the governments of New Spain, Mexico, the Republic of Texas, the state of Texas, or the United States). Well into the first quarter of the 20th century, renegade clans controlled local governments, especially in Shelby County.
The area contains two of the oldest towns in Texas; Nacogdoches, the oldest town in Texas, dating from the 18th century, and San Augustine, the oldest "British-American" settlement in Texas, dating from the 1820s. People of English, Scottish, Scots-Irish, and to a lesser extent Welsh ancestry predominate in this region, because of the history of settlement. This is in contrast to West Texas and South Central Texas, where people of Hispanic and German ancestry predominate, respectively. Hispanic settlers are descended from colonists of New Spain, dating from the 16th and 17th centuries. Most of the German immigrant ancestors in Central Texas arrived after the Revolutions of 1848.
The Spanish and later Mexican governments did not want settlers from the United States until after Mexico had gained independence. East Texas had been barely settled by Spanish and Mexican colonists, and the government decided to allow immigration from the US to bolster defenses against raiding by the Apache and Comanche. Neither government was able to exert much control or law enforcement in the area. As a consequence, the "Big Thicket" became a refuge for criminals fleeing the United States and hiding out in a "no man's land" in the pine tree thickets.
The Pine Curtain
The early isolation of the region and its links to the Deep South have resulted in the piney woods being described as a 'curtain' that demarcates a certain cultural enclave or bubble that distinguishes East Texas from the rest of the state. Former residents describe living behind the 'Pine Curtain' as a form of escape. The phrase is often used to describe the area; it appeared in a newspaper column in the Palestine Herald-Press, and in a late 20th-century tourist guide by Mike Dougan.
Demography
East Texas comprises 41 counties, 38 of which collaborate in sub-regional Ark-Tex Council of Governments, the East Texas Council of Governments, the Deep East Texas Council of Governments, and the South East Texas Regional Planning Commission.
Counties generally included are Anderson, Angelina, Bowie, Camp, Cass, Cherokee, Delta, Franklin, Gregg, Hardin, Harrison, Henderson, Hopkins, Houston, Jasper, Jefferson, Lamar, Marion, Morris, Nacogdoches, Newton, Orange, Panola, Polk, Rains, Red River, Rusk, Sabine, San Augustine, San Jacinto, Shelby, Smith, Titus, Trinity, Tyler, Upshur, Van Zandt, and Wood County, Texas. Harris County and those forming the Greater Houston metropolitan area are sometimes included in varying sources, such as the Texas Department of Transportation, or more generally, Southeast Texas.
The three additional East Texas counties that join with other regional government councils are Chambers County (Anahuac), Liberty County (Liberty), and Walker County (Huntsville), all three in geographic proximity to the Houston metropolitan area.
Outside of the Greater Houston area, the average population density is around 18–45 per mi2 (7–12 per km2), with the population density near the Big Thicket dropping below 18 people per mi2. East Texas's population total is very large and is centered around the Golden Triangle (Texas) of Beaumont/Port Arthur/Orange in Southeast Texas. Moving north from the coast, Lufkin and Nacogdoches anchor the population center of Deep East Texas. Continuing north from Deep East Texas, Tyler, Longview, and Marshall, in Northeast Texas, along with Texarkana, on the far northeastern border with Arkansas, represent the major population centers in the northern section of East Texas. Eight miles from the Texas border, Shreveport, Louisiana, is considered the economic and cultural center for the Ark-La-Tex, the area where Arkansas, Louisiana, and East Texas meet.
According to the 2010 U.S. census, these 41 East Texas counties had a total population of 2,057,518 residents. This represented 8% of the total state population of Texas.
Per the 2010 census records, the five most populous counties were:
Jefferson County (252,273)
Smith County (209,714)
Gregg County (121,730)
Bowie County (92,565)
Angelina County (86,771)
Per the 2010 census, the ten most populous East Texas cities outside of Houston's metro area were:
Beaumont (118,296)
Tyler (98,564)
Longview (81,336)
Port Arthur (53,937)
Huntsville (38,548) (Huntsville, Walker County, Texas is not of the above 41 listed counties of East Texas.)
Texarkana (36,411) (TX side only, 66,330 when combined with Texarkana, AR)
Lufkin (35,067)
Nacogdoches (32,996)
Paris (25,151)
Marshall (23,523)
In 2010, the population of East Texas counties was 65.93% non-Hispanic white, 17.44% African American, 14.29% Hispanic or Latino American, and 2.34% other (including Native American and Asian). East Texas's most ethnically and racially diverse county was Jefferson County, its largest county. This includes the city of Beaumont, with 44.1% non-Hispanic whites, 34.1% African Americans, 17.7% Hispanic or Latinos of any race, and 4.1% other races or ethnicities (including Native American and Asian).
East Texas is within the Black Belt region, the fertile area that was the center of cotton culture and enslaved African-American labor.
Unlike Texas's total state racial demographics, only two counties in East Texas outside of Greater Houston's sphere had a majority minority. Jefferson County in the Golden Triangle and Titus County have a 40.6% Hispanic or Latino population. East Texas and Southeast Texas in particular, which had been areas of cotton plantation before the Civil War, have a significant African-American population, ranging to nearly 20% in some counties.
Culture
East Texas is often considered the westernmost extension of the Deep South. The predominant cultural influence comes from customs and traditions passed down from European American and African American Southerners who settled the region during the mid-to-late 19th century. African Americans were first brought to the area as enslaved workers to develop and cultivate commodity crops on plantations. Harrison County had the most plantations and highest number of slaves in the antebellum period. Deep South accent influences are noticeable in the subdialect of Texan English that is spoken throughout the region. According to the most recent linguistic studies, East Texans tend to pronounce Southern English with the drawl typical of the Lower South. Other parts of Texas are more apt to use the "twang" of the Upper South, or—depending upon demographic influences of the particular area—with some Hispanic and Midwestern traits.
East Texas lacks the strong influence of late 19th-and early 20th-century European immigrants from Germany and central Europe. Similarly, the new waves of immigrants since the late 20th century, primarily from India, other Asian nations, and Latin America, and their influences, have been less prevalent in East Texas compared to other Texas regions.
East Texans are predominantly Protestant Christians. They are members of many denominations as part of the Bible Belt. The most numerous Christian adherents have included the Baptists, particularly the Southern Baptist Convention (majority white) and National Baptist Convention USA (majority black, formed after the Civil War); Methodists and Presbyterians; Lutherans and classical Pentecostals; and others.
Roman Catholicism continues to have influence, particularly given the increased Hispanic or Latino American population in recent decades. The largest Catholic jurisdictions in the region has been the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston in Southeast Texas, and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tyler in the northeastern subregion.
Other religious faiths with smaller numbers, but with adherents in East Texas, include Mormonism and Judaism.
Significant numbers of people of Cajun and Creole descent have migrated from Louisiana, although most are assimilated partially or completely into East Texas culture (adopting the local culture, and losing to varying degrees, their original culture). This assimilation pattern has often historically included conversion from Roman Catholicism, associated with French and Spanish traditions, to Protestant denominations.
United States settlers from the Protestant Southeast practiced some discrimination against Cajun and Creole migrants, a cultural attitude that persisted until quite recently. Despite the tendency toward assimilation, Cajun and Creole cuisine (for example, jambalaya and catfish gumbo), are popular in the region. Many East Texans, including those without Louisiana roots, are known to be expert at preparing at least some well-known Louisiana dishes.
While some East Texans associate with cowboy culture, most identify more with smaller scale farming of the Southern U.S., than with the expansive cattle ranching of the plains regions of Texas. But East Texans commonly own and trade cattle. Several "sale barns" exist across East Texas, with weekly and monthly trades, as is common in other parts of the Deep South.
In the northern part of East Texas, awareness of the native and historical Caddo Mississippian culture remains significant. Cherokee County is home to the Caddo Mounds State Historic Site. Patrons can also view the "Caddo Indian Collection" at the Gregg County Historical Museum in Longview. In the mid-1800s, East Texas cities such as Marshall and Jefferson constituted a sphere of influence that led the entire state into the Confederacy. East Texas was the aread of powerful planters and the most significant numbers of slaveholders.
Before that, during the Mexican and Republic periods, Nacogdoches and San Augustine were the most developed and influential cities in East Texas. Many East Texans have a mixture of European and Native American ancestry, as seen in East Texan country artists Miranda Lambert and Kacey Musgraves. The Museum of East Texas opened in Lufkin in 1976 under the name Lufkin Historical and Creative Arts Center.
Music
East Texas is home to the Texas Country Music Hall of Fame, located in Carthage. East Texans enjoy a range of music that is influenced by gospel, bluegrass, blues, rock, country, soul, rhythm and blues, Cajun, etc. Texas blues originated in East Texas, with many legends having been born in the region, including Lightnin' Hopkins and T-Bone Walker. East Texans enjoy live music at many of the region's fairs and festivals, including the Texas Rose Festival in Tyler, the East Texas Yamboree in Gilmer, and Longview's Great Texas Balloon Race.
East Texas also has many venues included in what is commonly referred to as the Texas country music circuit, although the majority of such venues are located in Central/South/West Texas and the metropolitan areas of the state.
Many notable music artists have East Texas roots, including: George Jones (Saratoga), Miranda Lambert (Lindale), Kacey Musgraves (Mineola), Jamie Foxx, (Terrell), Neal McCoy (Longview and Jacksonville), Lee Ann Womack (Jacksonville), Janis Joplin (Port Arthur), UGK (Port Arthur), Don Henley (Linden), Ray Price (Perryville), Johnny Horton (Rusk), Johnny Mathis (Gilmer), Tex Ritter (Panola County), Jim Reeves (Panola County), Mark Chesnutt (Beaumont), Tracy Byrd (Vidor), Clay Walker (Beaumont), T-Bone Walker (Linden), Chris Tomlin (Grand Saline), and Michelle Shocked (Gilmer), among many others.
Worldwide-acclaimed pianist Van Cliburn, a native of nearby Shreveport, Louisiana, was raised in Kilgore. Kilgore College houses the Van Cliburn Auditorium on its home campus.
Many high-school bands in East Texas continue the tradition of military-style marching, unlike other parts of the state. These bands compete in the National Association Of Military Marching Bands.
Sports and outdoors
As with other parts of Texas, high school football is the most popular local sport venue in East Texas. Residents of East Texas towns and rural communities fill high-school stadiums in support of their local teams, cheerleaders, bands, etc. Many East Texas high-school teams have won Texas state championships, along with producing many collegiate and professional football players.
Earl Campbell, the "Tyler Rose", played football for John Tyler High in Tyler before playing for the Texas Longhorns and the Houston Oilers. Don Meredith, who famously played for the Dallas Cowboys, played at Mt. Vernon. Dez Bryant, a football player from Lufkin, formerly played wide receiver for the Dallas Cowboys before signing with the New Orleans Saints (then getting injured three days afterwards). Adrian Peterson, a star running back for the Minnesota Vikings, played high-school football in Palestine. Many other high-school sports are popular in East Texas, including basketball, baseball, volleyball, softball, and track.
A significant number of East Texan youths participate in Little League Baseball, soccer, and softball. Church leagues are quite common in providing opportunities for basketball and softball for youth and adults alike. In recent years, cowboy churches have grown in number and offer rodeo events for their youth.
East Texans also enjoy collegiate athletic competition. Most residents support collegiate teams located in other regions of the state; the Texas A&M Aggies, Texas Longhorns, Texas Tech Red Raiders, Baylor Bears, TCU Horned Frogs, etc. Including the city of Houston, its Houston Cougars are another prominent collegiate team. Due to proximity to neighboring states, East Texas has a substantial number of fans of the LSU Tigers, Arkansas Razorbacks, Oklahoma State Cowboys, and Oklahoma Sooners. The Battle of the Piney Woods has historically been a fiercely contested sports rivalry between the Bearkats of Sam Houston State University in Huntsville and the Lumberjacks of Stephen F. Austin State University (SFA) in Nacogdoches. Both schools long competed as members of the NCAA Division I Southland Conference (SLC), which plays football at the FCS level, but they moved to the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) in 2021, and Sam Houston will move to FBS and join Conference USA in July 2023. The Cardinals of Lamar University in Beaumont left the SLC for the WAC alongside Sam Houston and SFA, but rejoined the SLC a year later. The Lions of Texas A&M University–Commerce joined the SLC in 2022.
Other universities and colleges that field athletic teams in East Texas include East Texas Baptist University Tigers in Marshall; University of Texas at Tyler Patriots in Tyler; LeTourneau University Yellowjackets in Longview; and several junior colleges throughout the region, which participate in the Southwest Junior College Conference in Region XIV of the NJCAA. East Texas is also home to the Kilgore College Rangerettes, a world-famous dance team that debuted in 1939.
A few professional sports teams are located in the traditionally defined East Texas. The East Texas Pump Jacks, located in Kilgore, play baseball in the Texas Collegiate League. Additionally, the East Texas Storm, a semiprofessional football team located in Tyler, competes in the Lone Star Minor League. Typically, northern parts of East Texas tend to support the professional teams from the Dallas/Fort Worth area in North Texas (Dallas Cowboys, Dallas Mavericks, Texas Rangers, Dallas Stars, FC Dallas), while southern parts of East Texas tend to support professional teams from the Houston area in Southeast Texas (Houston Texans, Houston Rockets, Houston Astros, Houston Dynamo FC).
As with other parts of Texas and/or the Southern U.S., other popular sporting activities in East Texas include rodeo (including PRCA), hunting, and fishing. Prominent rodeos in East Texas are held in Beaumont, Nacogdoches, Paris, Longview, Gladewater, Huntsville, Lufkin, Athens, Palestine, Lindale, etc. East Texas contains several award-winning lakes for sport fishing, including Toledo Bend Reservoir, Lake Sam Rayburn, Lake Livingston, Lake Fork Reservoir, Lake Tawakoni, etc.
East Texas also contains numerous golf courses and avid golfers, as well as NASCAR fans. However, the region does not host professional events in either of those sports. The nearest NASCAR track to East Texas is Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth.
East Texans enjoy many Texas state parks, including Caddo Lake, Atlanta, Daingerfield, Lake Bob Sandlin, Tyler, Mission Tejas in Grapeland, Cooper Lake, Lake Tawakoni, Martin Creek, Huntsville, Lake Sam Rayburn, Lake Livingston and Sea Rim among others. East Texas is also home to the Angelina National Forest, Davy Crockett National Forest, Sam Houston National Forest, Sabine National Forest, Big Thicket National Preserve, Trinity River National Wildlife Refuge, Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge, and McFaddin National Wildlife Refuge.
Economy
Industry
Historically, the East Texas economy has been led by lumber, cotton, cattle, and oil. Prior to the discovery of the East Texas Oil Field, cotton, lumber and cattle were the predominant source of economic growth and stability. The needs of local farmers contributed greatly to the establishment of local towns and trading posts. As with many parts of the nation, the chosen paths of railroads often determined the continuation of many towns. At the beginning of the 20th century, the oil fields were discovered and oil became accessible, changing the future of the region.
In the decades leading to the new millennium, crude oil production in the East Texas Oil Field, the largest oil field in the United States, somewhat decreased. In turn, the number of high-paying jobs for uneducated workers also decreased. During the 20th century, local groceries, general stores, and cafes were replaced with franchise department stores, retail chains, and fast-food restaurants. Due to the decline of oil production, many small towns closed cafés and gas stations, some of which were replaced with cash loan shops and pawn shops. In 2022, East Texas was highlighted for its diversifying economy penetrating Deep East Texas with the decline in crude oil. Additionally, the region has become home to many patent-holding companies, due to its legal system being particularly friendly to patent holders and hostile to out-of-state tech defendants. In 2009, Paul Knight of the Houston Press stated in an article, "some say natural gas has surpassed crude as king in East Texas."
Tourism has not been a highly significant source of economic activity in the majority of East Texas, although several high-traffic corridors pass through East Texas, which have aided economic development along those routes. These include: Interstate 30 (from Dallas through Texarkana), Interstate 20 (through Dallas and on through Shreveport), Interstate 10 (through Houston and Beaumont into Louisiana), Interstate 45 (through Houston up to Dallas), and U.S. Highway 59 (through Houston and north past Texarkana; in process of being upgraded along most of the route to Interstate 69).
Poverty
East Texas is one of the most economically disadvantaged regions in the state. In 2021 the poverty rate in the greater northeast Texas area (Anderson, Bowie, Camp, Cass, Cherokee, Delta, Franklin, Gregg, Harrison, Henderson, Hopkins, Lamar, Marion, Morris, Panola, Rains, Red River, Rusk, Smith, Titus, Upshur, Van Zandt, and Wood counties) was 16%, higher than both the state rate, 14.7%, and the national rate at 13.4%. In the same year 13.4% of households received Food Stamps or SNAP compared to 11.8% across Texas, and 11.7% nationwide. As of January 2022. The average wage in the region was also lower than the state and national average at $45,027, which were $62,289 and $64,555 respectively.
Notable people
Sandy Duncan, Henderson, Rusk County and Tyler, Smith County
George Foreman, Marshall, Harrison County
Jamie Foxx, Terrell, Kaufman County
Sam Houston, former president of the Republic of Texas, former governor of Texas, retired in Huntsville, Walker County
Lady Bird Johnson, former First Lady of the United States, born in Karnack, Harrison County
Joe R. Lansdale, award-winning author and martial arts expert, born in Gladewater, Gregg County
Richard Linklater, film-maker, Huntsville, Walker County
Margo Martindale, award-winning actress, Jacksonville, Cherokee County
Matthew McConaughey, Longview, Gregg County
Lonnie "Bo" Pilgrim, founder of Pilgrim's Pride Chicken, Pittsburg, Camp County
Ross Perot, former U.S. presidential candidate born in Texarkana, Bowie County
Adrian Peterson, Palestine, Anderson county
Tye Sheridan, Elkhart, Anderson County
Carroll Shelby, racer and car developer known for Shelby Cobra and numerous Ford and Chrysler products, Leesburg, Camp County
Sissy Spacek, Quitman, Wood County
William B. Travis, famous commander at the Alamo, settled in Anahuac, Chambers County
Forest Whitaker, Longview, Gregg County
Former United States Senators:
Horace Chilton born near Tyler, Smith County
Charles Allen Culberson settled in Gilmer, Upshur County and Jefferson, Marion County
James W. Flanagan settled in Henderson, Rusk County
Samuel B. Maxey settled in and practiced law in Paris, Lamar County
John Henninger Reagan practiced law in Palestine and Henderson County
Thomas Jefferson Rusk settled in Nacogdoches, Nacogdoches County, and was also a Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Texas
Morris Sheppard born in Morris County
Matthias Ward settled in Clarksville, Red River County and Jefferson, Marion County
Louis Wigfall lived in Nacogdoches, Nacogdoches County and Marshall, Harrison County
Ralph Yarborough born in Chandler, Henderson County
Other former governors of Texas:
Thomas Mitchell Campbell, born in Rusk, Cherokee County
Oscar Branch Colquitt, newspaper owner in Pittsburg, Camp County and in Morris County
Price Daniel, born in Dayton, Liberty County
James Pinckney Henderson, first governor of Texas, practiced law in San Augustine, San Augustine County
William P. Hobby, born in Moscow, Polk County
Jim Hogg, born in Rusk, Cherokee County
Richard B. Hubbard, lived in Tyler, Smith County and Lindale, Smith County
Allan Shivers, born in Lufkin, Angelina County
Ross S. Sterling, born in Anahuac, Chambers County
Mark White, born in Henderson, Rusk County
George Tyler Wood, second governor of Texas, settled near Point Blank in Liberty County and San Jacinto County
See also
List of geographical regions in Texas
List of Texas regions
List of museums in East Texas
East Texas Oil Field
Houston
Texas Country Music Hall of Fame
Texas State Railroad
Battle of the Piney Woods
Southwest Junior College Conference
First Monday Trade Days of Canton, Texas
Golden Triangle (Texas)
United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas
References
Books
CHINQUA WHERE? The Spirit of Rural America, 1947-1955, by Fred B. McKinley.
Black Gold to Bluegrass: From the Oil Fields of Texas to Spindletop Farm of Kentucky, by Fred B. McKinley and Greg Riley.
Gone to Texas: Genealogical Abstracts from The Telegraph and Texas Register 1835-1841, compiled by Kevin Ladd.
The EAST TEXAS SUNDAY DRIVE Book, by Bob Bowman .
Wild Flowers of the Big Thicket, East Texas, and Western Louisiana, by Geyata Ajilvsgi .
Two centuries in East Texas: A history of San Augustine County and surrounding territory from 1685 by George Louis Crocket (Author)
The Last Boom: The Exciting Saga of the Discovery of the Greatest Oil Field in America by James Anthony Clark (Author) and Michel T. Halbouty (Author) .
External links
East Texas Historical Association
Sights of Interest in East Texas
1840 Map of East Texas From East Texas Digital Archives and Collections
Texas Heritage Society
Regions of Texas
Black Belt (U.S. region)
Louisiana Creole culture in Texas
Regions of the Southern United States
Social history of the United States
|
412646
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chauncey%20Depew
|
Chauncey Depew
|
Chauncey Mitchell Depew (April 23, 1834April 5, 1928) was an American attorney, businessman, and Republican politician. He is best remembered for his two terms as United States Senator from New York and for his work for Cornelius Vanderbilt, as an attorney and as president of the New York Central Railroad System.
Early life
Depew was born in Peekskill, New York, on April 23, 1834, to Isaac Depew (1800–1869) and Martha Minot (Mitchell) Depew (1810–1885).
Family
Depew's father was a merchant and farmer who pioneered river transportation between Peekskill and New York and was descended from François DuPuy, a French Huguenot who purchased land from natives at the present site of Peekskill. Through his mother, Depew was descended from Rev. Josiah Sherman, who served as a chaplain with rank of captain in the Revolutionary War and who was the brother of American founding father Roger Sherman and Rev. Charles Chauncy, the second president of Harvard College.
Education
Depew attended Peekskill Military Academy for 12 years before matriculating at Yale College in 1852. At Yale, Depew joined many clubs and won several honors. He won second dispute appointments in his junior and senior years and was an honored speaker at Junior Exhibition and Commencement. He joined the Thulia Boat Club, Kappa Sigma Epsilon, Kappa Sigma Theta, Psi Upsilon, and Skull and Bones. He served as third president of the Linonian Society. At Yale, he was a classmate of two future United States Supreme Court Justices, David Josiah Brewer and Henry Billings Brown. He graduated in 1856.
Legal and business career
After graduating from Yale, Depew apprenticed in the office of Edward Wells in Peekskill and read law with William Nelson. He was admitted to the New York state bar in March 1858 and opened an office in Peekskill, where he practiced until 1861. For a few months, Depew engaged in the brokerage business in New York City as a member of the firm Depew & Potter, but then resumed his law practice in Peekskill. Depew later moved to New York City. During the American Civil War, Depew served as Adjutant of the 18th Regiment of the New York National Guard, and later Colonel and Judge Advocate of the 5th Division on the staff of Major General James W. Husted of the New York Guard.
In 1865, Depew was appointed and confirmed to the position of United States Minister to Japan, but he declined the appointment to pursue his career as a railroad and business lawyer.
Railroad attorney
In 1866, Depew became the attorney for New York & Harlem Railroad, owned by Cornelius Vanderbilt. Three years later, he took the same position for Vanderbilt's New York Central and Hudson River Railroad. Having earned recognition for his work with subsidiary companies, Depew became general counsel and director of the entire "Vanderbilt System" in 1876. He joined the executive board of the New York Central & Hudson River Railroad in 1882 and became its second vice president. In 1885, Depew was elected the railroad's president and served in that capacity until 1898 when he was succeeded by Samuel R. Callaway. Depew then became chairman of board of directors of New York Central Railroad Company until his death in 1928.
While Depew was primarily active in the Vanderbilt railroads, he held concurrent positions with many other railroads and companies. He was president of West Shore Railroad and served on the boards of directors for the New York and Harlem Railroad, the Chicago and North Western Railway, the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha Railway, the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad, the Delaware and Hudson Railroad, the New Jersey Junction Railroad, the St. Lawrence and Adirondack Railroad, the Wallkill Valley Railroad, and the Canada Southern Railroad.
Aside from railroads, Depew also served on the boards of directors for Western Union, the Hudson River Bridge Company, the Niagara River Bridge Company, the New York State Realty & Terminal Company, the Union Trust Company, Equitable Life Assurance Company, and Kensico Cemetery Association.
Political career
As a young student and lawyer, Depew stumped the state of New York for John C. Frémont in 1856 and for Abraham Lincoln in 1860.
New York politics
Depew represented Westchester County in the New York State Assembly in 1862 and 1863. During the latter year, he sometimes acted as Speaker of the New York State Assembly pro tempore while Speaker Theophilus C. Callicot was under investigation. In 1863, he was elected Secretary of State of New York on the Union ticket and served from 1864 to 1865.
In 1867, Depew became clerk of Westchester County but resigned after a short service. In 1870, the New York Legislature named Depew Immigration Commissioner, but he declined to serve. Depew had also been commissioner of quarantine and president of Court of Claims of New York City as well as commissioner of taxes and assessments for the city and county of New York. Depew was one of the commissioners appointed to build the state capitol in 1874 and a member of the state's boundary commission in 1875.
In 1872, Depew ran for Lieutenant Governor of New York on the Liberal Republican-Democratic ticket but was defeated.
In 1886, Depew gave an oration at the unveiling of the Statue of Liberty.
On October 7, 1897, Depew inaugurated the New York pneumatic tube mail, declaring: "This is the age of speed. Everything that makes for speed contributes to happiness and is a distinct gain to civilization. We are ahead of the old countries in almost every respect, but we have been behind in methods of communication within our cities. In New York this condition of communication has hitherto been barbarous. If the Greater New York is to be a success, quick communication is absolutely necessary. I hope this system we have seen tried here to-day will soon be extended over all the Greater New York."
In 1898, Depew nominated Theodore Roosevelt for Governor of New York at the Republican state convention.
Presidential politics
Depew served as a delegate-at-large to each Republican National Convention from 1888 to 1904 and was elected delegate to all following conventions, including 1928, being elected the day before he died. At the convention in 1888, Depew received 99 votes for the presidential nomination. He made presidential nominating speeches for Benjamin Harrison in 1892 and Governor Levi Morton in 1896. In 1904, he made the re-nominating speech for Vice President Charles Fairbanks.
U.S. Senate
Depew was a candidate for United States Senator in an 1881 special election, but withdrew his name from consideration after the 41st ballot. He also declined nomination as a senator in 1885.
In 1899, Depew was elected to the Senate from New York and was re-elected in 1905. He served from March 4, 1899, to March 3, 1911.
In 1906, David Graham Phillips began a muckraking series entitled "The Treason of the Senate" for William Randolph Hearst's new Cosmopolitan magazine, and targeted Depew in the first article. The article's sensational charges included labeling Depew a "boodler" owned "mentally and morally" by railroad magnates Cornelius and William Vanderbilt. The piece provoked outrage from President Roosevelt, the New York Sun and Senator Henry Cabot Lodge.
Death
In spring 1928, Depew became ill while returning from Florida to Manhattan. He died of bronchial pneumonia in Manhattan on April 5, 1928. He was buried in the family mausoleum in Hillside Cemetery, Peekskill. In his honor, the huge concourse of Grand Central Terminal was draped in mourning.
Personal life
Depew married twice. On November 9, 1871, he married Elise Ann Hegeman (1848–93) in New York City. She was the daughter of William and Eliza Jane (Nevin) Hegeman. Before her death on May 7, 1893, they had one son, Chauncey Mitchell Depew Jr. (1879–1931), who died unmarried.
On December 27, 1901, he re-married to May Eugenie Palmer (1866–1940) in Nice, France. She was the daughter of Henry and Alice (Hermann) Palmer.
He attended Saint Thomas Episcopal Church in New York.
Yale
Depew was a member of the Yale Corporation (1888–1906). In 1887, Yale conferred him an honorary doctorate of letters. He was a founding member of the Yale Alumni Association of New York and served as its third president from 1883–92. He was also among those founding members of the Yale Club of New York City in 1897. He was a vice chairman of the $20,000,000 Yale Endowment Campaign and was elected an honorary member of Yale Class of 1889 in 1923. In his will, he left $1,000,000 to Yale without restrictions as to its use.
Civic associations
He served as trustee of his alma mater, the Peekskill Military Academy.
In 1877, Depew became a regent of the University of the State of New York and served until 1904.
Depew became a member of the New York Chamber of Commerce in 1885 and served as its vice president from 1904–08.
In 1918, Depew was made life member of Lawyers' Club of New York.
Depew was active in a number of patriotic and hereditary societies. He served as president of Empire State Society of the Sons of the American Revolution from 1890–99, the Pilgrims Society from 1918 until his death, and the Saint Nicholas Society. He joined the Union League in 1868 and served as its president for seven years. He was elected an honorary life member at the close of his presidency. He was also a member of the Connecticut Society of the Cincinnati, the New York Society of Colonial Wars, Holland Society, Huguenot Society and the New England Society of New York. Other cultural memberships included the Metropolitan Museum of Art, American Association for the Advancement of Science, France-America Society, New York Historical Society, Historical Society of St. Augustine, Florida, American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society, National Horse Show, Lafayette Post of the Grand Army of the Republic, and the citizens' committee to complete the Cathedral of St. John the Divine.
Health
Depew used to smoke 25 cigars a day but gave up smoking aged 65 upon the advice of his secretary. He gave up drinking alcohol at aged 88. Depew stated that he had worked "practically every day" of his life. He avoided stress and slept 7 and half hours a day. In 1908, it was widely reported in newspapers that Depew had become a vegetarian. In a 1925 interview aged 90, Depew clarified that he had never been a vegetarian but in his early 60s removed red meat from his diet but consumed poultry. He commented that "Beefsteaks and roast butcher's meat figured too much in my diet, I concluded. Out they went, never to return. I'm not a vegetarian; wouldn't be one –that's going to extremes– but I don't eat need red meat and don't eat it. For thirty years the only meat I've eaten has been poultry."
Honors
Depew received the French Légion d'honneur in the rank of Officer.
Depew was an honorary member of the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society.
In 1887, Depew became an honorary member of Columbia chapter of Phi Beta Kappa.
Legacy
Depew was a distinguished orator and after-dinner speaker and published many of those speeches. Recordings of his speeches were commercially issued as gramophone discs by Zonophone Records in the late 1890s. Depew was remembered as a prodigious speaker years after his death; many years after his death, Senator Robert S. Kerr of Oklahoma quoted Depew in an attack on a Senator from Indiana: "As I gaze on the ample figure of my friend from Indiana, and as I listen to him, I am reminded of Chauncey Depew who said to the equally obese William Howard Taft at a dinner before the latter became President, 'I hope, if it is a girl, Mr. Taft will name it for his charming wife.' "To which Taft responded, 'if it is a girl, I shall, of course, name it for my lovely helpmate of many years. And if it is a boy, I shall claim the father's prerogative and name it Junior. But if, as I suspect, it is only a bag of wind, I shall name it Chauncey Depew.'"
In 1929, May Palmer-Depew donated her late husband's papers and $120,000 to establish a department of public speaking to George Washington University. The collection is currently cared for by the university's Special Collections Research Center, located in the Estelle and Melvin Gelman Library.
Namesakes
In 1908, Depew gave land to Peekskill, New York, which became Depew Park. A decade later he expanded the donation by and paid for a statue of himself for display in that park.
The Village of Depew, New York was incorporated in 1894 along the New York Central Railroad main line. The town of Depew, Oklahoma, is also named for him.
The ship Chauncey M. DePew was built for the Maine Central Railroad Company in 1913 to carry passengers to Bar Harbor. She worked along the Maine coast until 1925 when she was sold to the Day Line as an excursion boat between New York and Albany. In 1940 she was drafted to carry men and supplies between New York City and Fort Hancock on Sandy Hook. In 1950, she was sold to the government of Bermuda and spent the next 20 years as a ship's tender, harbor ferry, cruise ship and pilot boat. Back in the States, in 1971, a storm slammed her against a breakwater in Chesapeake Bay, where she lay for three years. She was refurbished and moored in the Hackensack River between Harmon Cove and the Hackensack River Route 3 Bridge,
Another boat, a tugboat owned by the New York Central, was also named for him.
Depictions
Many artists painted Depew, including George Burroughs Torrey. The Swiss-born American artist Adolfo Müller-Ury painted Depew numerous times. A three-quarter length portrait of Depew seated on a bale of furs was exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1890 and is now in the Yale Club of New York City. Several other portraits followed including a portrait painted for the New York State Capitol at Albany showing Depew as he was in 1863 (now New York State Museum). The artist gave a bust-length portrait to the Museum at Peekskill in 1918. Copies of an etching Müller-Ury made of Depew, signed by the artist and the sitter, are in the American National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC, the collection of the Newport Preservation Society of Rhode Island, and the University of Cincinnati College of Design. Müller-Ury also painted Depew's first wife in 1893, and his second wife in 1902 in 18th-century costume. In 1896, sculptor Victor D. Brenner created a small plaque in honor of his 60th birthday (which was two years earlier).
Publications
Speeches
Orations and After Dinner Speeches (1890)
Life and Later Speeches (1894)
Orations, Addresses and Speeches (eight volumes) (1910)
Speeches and Addresses on the threshold of Eighty (1912)
Addresses and Literary Contributions on the Threshold of Eighty-two (1916)
Speeches and Literary Contributions on the Threshold of Eighty-four (1918)
My Memories of Eighty Years and Marching On a/k/a My Autobiography (1922)
Miscellaneous Speeches on the Threshold of Ninety-two (1925)
"An Optimistic Survey", 50th Anniversary Supplement of the Yale Daily News (1928)
References
Citations
General sources
Yale Obituary Record, 1927–28, pp. 4–8
Further reading
Depew, Chauncey Mitchell. My memories of eighty years (Scribner, 1922), autobiography online
Murphy, Arthur F. "The Political Personality of Chauncey Mitchell Depew" (PhD dissertation, Fordham University; ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 1959. 10587205).
Yeager, Willard Hayes. Chauncey Mitchell Depew the orator: His education in oratory; His views on the theory of public speaking; and a collection of his hitherto unpublished addresses (George Washington University Press, 1934) online
External links
Chauncey Mitchell Depew papers (MS 180). Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library.
Guide to the Chauncey M. Depew Papers, 1856–1934, Special Collections Research Center, Estelle and Melvin Gelman Library, George Washington University
Mr. Lincoln and New York: Chauncey M. Depew
The 1899 Empire State Society Register
Vanderbilt Railroads President Scripophily.net
Image of Chauncey Depew from "1888 Presidential Possibilities" card set t207.com
Chauncey DePew (1925) early sound film made in DeForest Phonofilm sound-on-film process at SilentEra
Sherman Genealogy Including Families of Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk, England By Thomas Townsend Sherman
1834 births
1928 deaths
19th-century American railroad executives
New York Central Railroad
Secretaries of State of New York (state)
Republican Party members of the New York State Assembly
Peekskill Military Academy alumni
Yale College alumni
Yale University alumni
Republican Party United States senators from New York (state)
New York (state) Liberal Republicans
People from Peekskill, New York
Deaths from pneumonia in New York City
American lawyers admitted to the practice of law by reading law
Presidents of the Saint Nicholas Society of the City of New York
Zonophone Records artists
19th-century American politicians
20th-century American politicians
Members of Skull and Bones
|
412649
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago%20%22L%22
|
Chicago "L"
|
The Chicago "L" (short for "elevated") is the rapid transit system serving the city of Chicago and some of its surrounding suburbs in the U.S. state of Illinois. Operated by the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA), it is the fourth-largest rapid transit system in the United States in terms of total route length, at long as of 2014, and the third-busiest rapid transit system in the United States, after the New York City Subway and Washington Metro. In 2016, the "L" had 1,492 rail cars, eight different routes, and 145 train stations. In , the system had rides, or about per weekday in .
The "L" provides 24-hour service on the Red and Blue Lines, making Chicago, New York City, and Copenhagen the only three cities in the world to offer 24 hour train service on some of their lines throughout their respective city limits. The oldest sections of the Chicago "L" started operations in 1892, making it the second-oldest rapid transit system in the Americas, after New York City's elevated lines.
The "L" has been credited for fostering the growth of Chicago's dense city core that is one of the city's distinguishing features. It consists of eight rapid transit lines laid out in a spoke–hub distribution paradigm focusing transit towards the Loop. The "L" gained its name because large parts of the system run on elevated track. Portions of the network are in subway tunnels, at grade level, or in open cuts.
In a 2005 poll, Chicago Tribune readers voted it one of the "seven wonders of Chicago", behind the lakefront and Wrigley Field, and ahead of Willis Tower (formerly the Sears Tower), the Water Tower, the University of Chicago, and the Museum of Science and Industry.
History
Pre-CTA era
The first "L", the Chicago and South Side Rapid Transit Railroad, began revenue service on June 6, 1892, when a steam locomotive pulling four wooden coaches, carrying more than a couple of dozen people, departed the 39th Street station and arrived at the Congress Street Terminal 14 minutes later, over tracks that are still in use by the Green Line. Over the next year, service was extended to 63rd Street and Stony Island Avenue, then the Transportation Building of the World's Columbian Exposition in Jackson Park.
In 1893, trains began running on the Lake Street Elevated Railroad and in 1895 on the Metropolitan West Side Elevated, which had lines to Douglas Park, Garfield Park (since replaced), Humboldt Park (since demolished), and Logan Square. The Metropolitan was the United States' first non-exhibition rapid transit system powered by electric traction motors, a technology whose practicality had been demonstrated in 1890 on the "intramural railway" at the World Fair that had been held in Chicago. Two years later the South Side "L" introduced multiple-unit control, in which the operator can control all the motorized cars in a train, not just the lead unit. Electrification and MU control remain standard features of most of the world's rapid transit systems.
A drawback of early "L" service was that none of the lines entered the central business district. Instead trains dropped passengers at stub terminals on the periphery due to a state law at the time requiring approval by neighboring property owners for tracks built over public streets, something not easily obtained downtown. This obstacle was overcome by the legendary traction magnate Charles Tyson Yerkes, who went on to play a pivotal role in the development of the London Underground, and who was immortalized by Theodore Dreiser as the ruthless schemer Frank Cowperwood in The Titan (1914) and other novels.
Yerkes, who controlled much of the city's streetcar system, obtained the necessary signatures through cash and guile—at one point he secured a franchise to build a mile-long "L" over Van Buren Street from Wabash Avenue to Halsted Street, extracting the requisite majority from the pliable owners on the western half of the route, then building tracks chiefly over the eastern half, where property owners had opposed him. Designed by noted bridge builder John Alexander Low Waddell, the elevated tracks used a multiple close-rivet system to withstand the forces of the passing trains' kinetic energy.
The Union Loop opened in 1897 and greatly increased the rapid transit system's convenience. Operation on the Yerkes-owned Northwestern Elevated, which built the North Side "L" lines, began three years later, essentially completing the elevated infrastructure in the urban core although extensions and branches continued to be constructed in outlying areas through the 1920s.
After 1911, the "L" lines came under the control of Samuel Insull, president of the Chicago Edison electric utility (now Commonwealth Edison), whose interest stemmed initially from the fact that the trains were the city's largest consumer of electricity. Insull instituted many improvements, including free transfers and through routing, although he did not formally combine the original firms into the Chicago Rapid Transit Company until 1924. He also bought three other Chicago electrified railroads, the Chicago North Shore and Milwaukee Railroad, Chicago Aurora and Elgin Railroad, and South Shore interurban lines, and ran the trains of the first two into downtown Chicago via the "L" tracks.
This period of relative prosperity ended when Insull's empire collapsed in 1932, but later in the decade the city with the help of the federal government accumulated sufficient funds to begin construction of two subway lines to supplement and, some hoped, permit eventual replacement of the Loop elevated; as early as the 1920s some city leaders wanted to replace the "ugly" elevated tracks and these plans advanced in the 1970s under mayors Richard J. Daley and Michael Bilandic until a public outcry against tearing down the popular "L" began, led by Chicago Tribune columnist Paul Gapp, and architect Harry Weese. Instead, then new Mayor Jane Byrne protected the elevated lines and directed their rehabilitation.
The State Street subway opened on October 17, 1943. The Dearborn Subway, on which work had been suspended during World War II, opened on February 25, 1951. The subways were constructed with a secondary purpose of serving as bomb shelters, as evidenced by the close spacing of the support columns (a more extensive plan proposed replacing the entire elevated system with subways). The subways bypassed a number of tight curves and circuitous routings on the original elevated lines (Milwaukee trains, for example, originated on Chicago's northwest side but entered the Loop at the southwest corner), speeding service for many riders.
Gallery
CTA assumes control
By the 1940s, the financial condition of the "L", and of Chicago mass transit in general, had become too precarious to permit continued operation without subsidies, and the necessary steps were taken to enable a public takeover. In 1947, the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) acquired the assets of the Chicago Rapid Transit Company and the Chicago Surface Lines, operator of the city's streetcars. Over the next few years CTA modernized the "L", replacing wooden cars with new steel ones and closing lightly used branch lines and stations, many of which had been spaced only a quarter-mile apart.
The CTA introduced fare cards for the first time in 1997. Rail service to the O'Hare International Airport first opened in 1984 and to the Midway International Airport in 1993. That same year, the CTA renamed all of its rail lines; they are now identified by color.
Skip-stop service
Later, after assuming control of the "L", the CTA introduced A/B skip-stop service. Under this service, trains were designated as either "A" or "B" trains, and stations were alternately designated as "A" stations or "B" stations, with heavily used stations designated as both – "AB". "A" trains would stop only at "A" and "AB" stations, and "B" trains would stop only at "B" and "AB" stations.
Station signage carried the station's skip-stop letter and was also color-coded by skip-stop type; "A" stations had red signage, "B" stations had green signage, and "AB" stations had blue signage. The system was designed to speed up lines by having trains skip stations while still allowing for frequent service at the heavily used "AB" stations.
A/B skip-stop service debuted on the Lake Street Elevated in 1948, and the service proved effective as travel times were cut by a third. By the 1950s, the service was used throughout the system. All lines used the A/B skip-stop service between the 1950s and the 1990s with the exception of the Evanston and Skokie lines, which were suburban-only lines and did not justify skip-stop service.
On the lines with branches, skip-stop service sent all "A" trains to one branch and "B" trains to another branch. On what became the Blue Line, "A" trains were routed on the Congress branch while "B" trains were sent to the Douglas branch.
On the North-South Line, "A" trains went to the Englewood branch and "B" trains went to the Jackson Park branch. In both cases, individual stops were not skipped beyond the points where those branches diverged. As time went by, the time periods which employed skip-stop service gradually decreased, as the waits at "A" and "B" stations became increasingly longer during non-peak service.
By the 1990s, use of the A/B skip-stop system was only used during rush hour service. Another problem was that trains skipping stations to save time still could not pass the train that was directly ahead, so skipping stations was not advantageous in all regards. In 1993, the CTA began to eliminate skip-stop service when it switched the southern branches of the West-South and North-South Lines to improve rider efficiency, creating the current Red and Green Lines. From this point, Green Line trains made all stops along the entire route, while Red Line trains stopped at all stations south of Harrison. The elimination of A/B skip-stop service continued with the opening of the all-stop Orange Line and the conversion of the Brown Line to all-stop service.
In April 1995, the last of the A/B skip-stop system was eliminated with the conversion of the O'Hare branch of the Blue Line and the Howard branch of the Red Line to all-stop service. The removal of skip-stop service resulted in some increases in travel times, and greatly increased ridership at former "A" and "B" stations due to increased train frequencies. Station signage highlighting the former skip-stop patterns would remain into the 2000s, when it was gradually replaced across the system.
New rolling stock
The first air-conditioned cars were introduced in 1964. The last pre–World War II cars were retired in 1973. New lines were built in expressway medians, a technique implemented in Chicago and followed by other cities worldwide. The Congress branch, built in the median of the Eisenhower Expressway, replaced the Garfield Park "L" in 1958. The Dan Ryan branch, built in the median of the Dan Ryan Expressway, opened on September 28, 1969, followed by an extension of the Milwaukee elevated into the Kennedy Expressway in 1970.
The "L" today
As of 2014, Chicago "L" trains run over a total of of track.
Ridership
Ridership has been growing steadily after the CTA takeover despite declining mass transit usage nationwide, with an average of 594,000 riders boarding each weekday in 1960 and 759,866 in 2016 (or 47% of all CTA rides). Due to the Loop Flood in April 1992, ridership was at 418,000 that year because CTA was forced to suspend operation for several weeks in both the State and Dearborn subways, used by the most heavily traveled lines.
Growing ridership has not been uniformly distributed. Use of North Side lines is heavy and continues to grow, while that of West Side and South Side lines tend to remain stable. Ridership on the North Side Brown Line, for instance, has increased 83% since 1979, necessitating a station reconstruction project to accommodate even longer trains.
Annual traffic on the Howard branch of the Red Line, which reached 38.7 million in 2010 and 40.9 million in 2011, has exceeded the 1927 prewar peak of 38.5 million. The section of the Blue Line between the Loop and Logan Square, which serves once-neglected but now bustling neighborhoods such as Wicker Park, Bucktown, and Palmer Square, has seen a 54% increase in weekday riders since 1992. On the other hand, weekday ridership on the South Side portion of the Green Line, which closed for two years for reconstruction from January 1994 to May 1996, was 50,400 in 1978 but only 13,000 in 2006.
Boardings at the 95th/Dan Ryan stop on the Red Line, though still among the system's busiest at 11,100 riders per weekday as of February 2015, are less than half the peak volume in the 1980s. In 1976, three North Side "L" branches – what were then known as the Howard, Milwaukee, and Ravenswood lines − accounted for 42% of non-downtown boardings. Today (with the help of the Blue Line extension to O'Hare), they account for 58%.
The North Side, which has historically been the highest density area of the city, skew no doubt reflects the Chicago building boom between 2000 and 2010, which has focused primarily on North Side neighborhoods and downtown. It may ease somewhat in the wake of the current high level of residential construction along the south lakefront. For example, ridership at the linked Roosevelt stops on the Green, Orange, and Red Lines, which serve the burgeoning South Loop neighborhood, has tripled since 1992, with an average of 8,000 boardings per weekday.
Patronage at the Cermak-Chinatown stop on the Red Line, with 4,000 weekday boardings, is at the highest level since the station opened in 1969. The 2003 Chicago Central Area Plan proposed construction of a Green Line station at Cermak, between Chinatown and the McCormick Place convention center, in expectation of continued density growth in the vicinity. This station opened in 2015.
Service
Currently, the Red Line and the Blue Line provide 24-hour service, while all other lines operate from early morning to late night. Prior to 1998, the Green Line, the Purple Line and the Douglas branch of the Blue Line (the modern-day Pink Line) also had 24 hour service. In the years of private ownership, the South Side Elevated Railroad (now the South Side Elevated portion of the Green Line) provided 24 hour service, a major advantage when compared to Chicago's cable railroads which required daily overnight shutdown for cable maintenance.
Fares
In 2015, the CTA introduced a new fare payment system called Ventra. Ventra enables passengers to purchase individual tickets, passes, or transit value online, by smart phone, or at participating retail locations. Ventra also works with CTA buses, Pace (suburban buses), and Metra (commuter rail). Payment by a smartphone app, the Ventra app, or by a contactless bankcard is possible.
, the "L" uses a flat fare of $2.50 for almost the entire system, the only exception being O'Hare International Airport on the Blue Line, at which passengers entering the station are charged a higher fare of $5.00 (passengers leaving the system at this station are not charged this higher fare). The higher fare is being charged for what the CTA considers "premium-level" service to O'Hare. Use of the Midway International Airport Station does not require this higher fare; it only requires the $2.50 regular fare.
The higher charge at O'Hare has been the source of some controversy in recent years, because of the CTA's plan to eliminate the exemption from the premium fare for airport workers, Transportation Security Administration workers, and airline workers. After protests from those groups, the CTA extended the exemptions for six months.
Lines
Since 1993, "L" lines have been officially identified by color, although older route names survive to some extent in CTA publications and popular usage to distinguish branches of longer lines. Stations are found throughout Chicago, as well as in the suburbs of Forest Park, Oak Park, Evanston, Wilmette, Cicero, Rosemont, and Skokie.
Blue Line, consisting of the O'Hare, Milwaukee-Dearborn Subway, and Congress branches The Blue Line extends from O'Hare International Airport through the Loop via the Milwaukee-Dearborn subway to the West Side. Trains travel to Des Plaines Avenue in Forest Park via the Eisenhower Expressway median. The route from O'Hare to Forest Park is long. The number of stations is 33. Until 1970, the northern section of the Blue Line terminated at Logan Square. During that time, the line was called the Milwaukee route after Milwaukee Avenue, which ran parallel to it; in that year service was extended to Jefferson Park via the Kennedy Expressway median, and in 1984 to O'Hare. The Blue Line is the second-busiest, with 176,120 weekday boardings. It operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Brown Line or Ravenswood Line The Brown Line follows an route, between the Kimball terminal in Albany Park and the Loop in downtown Chicago. In 2013, the Brown Line had an average weekday ridership of 108,529.
Green Line, consisting of the Lake Street Elevated, South Side Main Line, and Ashland and East 63rd branches A completely elevated route utilizing the system's oldest segments (dating back to 1892), the Green Line extends with 30 stops between Forest Park and Oak Park (Harlem/Lake), through The Loop, to the South Side. South of the Garfield station the line splits into two branches, with trains terminating at Ashland/63rd in West Englewood and terminating at Cottage Grove/63rd in Woodlawn. The East 63rd branch formerly extended to Jackson Park, but the portion of the line east of Cottage Grove, which ran above 63rd Street, was demolished in the 1980s and 1997 due to structural problems and was never rebuilt due to community demands. The average number of weekday boardings in 2013 was 68,230.
Orange Line or Midway Line The long Orange Line was constructed from 1987 until 1993 on existing railroad embankments and new concrete and steel elevated structure. It runs from a station adjacent to Midway International Airport on the Southwest Side to The Loop in downtown Chicago. Average weekday ridership in 2013 was 58,765.
Pink Line consisting of the Cermak Branch and Paulina Connector The Pink Line is an rerouting of former Blue Line branch trains from 54th/Cermak in Cicero via the previously non-revenue Paulina Connector and the Green Line on Lake Street to the Loop. Its average weekday ridership in 2013 was 31,572. The branch formerly ran to Oak Park Avenue in Berwyn, west of its current terminal point. In 1952, service on the portion of the line west of 54th Avenue closed and over the next decade the stations and tracks were demolished. The street level right-of-way is used to this day as parking, locally known as the ""L" Strip".
Purple Line, consisting of the Evanston Shuttle and Evanston Express The Purple Line is a branch serving north suburban Evanston and Wilmette with express service to the Loop during weekday rush hours. The local service operates from the Linden terminal in Wilmette through Evanston to the Howard terminal on the north side of Chicago where it connects with the Red and Yellow lines. The weekday rush hour express service continues from Howard to the Loop, running nonstop on the four-track line used by the Red Line to Wilson station, then serving Belmont station, followed by all Brown Line stops to the Loop. 2013 average weekday ridership was 42,673 passenger boardings. The stops from Belmont to Chicago Avenue were added in the 1990s to relieve crowding on the Red and Brown lines. The name "purple line" is a reference to nearby Northwestern University, with four stops (Davis, Foster, Noyes, and Central) located just two blocks west of the university campus.
Red Line, consisting of the North Side Main Line, State Street subway, and Dan Ryan Branch The Red Line is the busiest route, with 234,232 passenger boardings on an average weekday in 2013. It includes 33 stations on its route, traveling from the Howard terminal on the city's north side, through downtown Chicago via the State Street subway, then down the Dan Ryan Expressway median to 95th/Dan Ryan on the South Side. Despite its length, the Red Line stops short of the city's southern border. Extension plans to 130th are currently being considered. The Red Line is one of two lines operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week and is the only CTA "L" line that goes to both Wrigley Field and Guaranteed Rate Field, the homes of Chicago's Major League Baseball teams, the Chicago Cubs and Chicago White Sox. Rail cars are stored at the Howard Yard on the north end of the line and at the 98th Yard at the south end.
Yellow Line, or Skokie Swift The Yellow Line is a three station line that runs from the Howard Street terminal to the Dempster–Skokie terminal in north suburban Skokie. The Yellow Line is the only "L" route that does not provide direct service to the Loop. This line was originally part of the North Shore Line's rail service, and was acquired by the CTA in the 1960s. The Yellow Line previously operated as a nonstop shuttle, until the downtown Skokie station Oakton–Skokie opened on April 30, 2012. Its average weekday ridership in 2013 was 6,338 passenger boardings.
The Loop Brown, Green, Orange, Pink, and Purple Line Express trains serve downtown Chicago via the Loop elevated. The Loop's eight stations average 72,843 weekday boardings. The Orange Line, Purple Line and the Pink Line run clockwise, the Brown Line runs counter-clockwise. The Green Line is the Loop's only through service; the other four lines circle the Loop and return to their starting points. The Loop forms a rectangle roughly long east-to-west and long north-to-south. The loop crossing at Lake and Wells has been described in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's busiest railroad crossing.
Rolling stock
The CTA operates over 1,350 "L" cars, divided among four series, all of which are semi-permanently coupled into married pairs. All cars on the system utilize 600-volt direct current power delivered through a third rail.
The 2600-series was built from 1981 until 1987 by the Budd Company of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. After the completion of the order of the 2600-series cars, Budd changed its name to Transit America and ceased production of railcars. With 509 cars in operation, the 2600-series is the largest of the three series of "L" cars in operation. The cars were rebuilt by Alstom of Hornell, New York, from 1999 until 2002.
The 3200-series, was built from 1992 until 1994 by Morrison-Knudsen of Hornell, New York. These cars have fluted, stainless steel sides similar to the now-retired 2200-series.
The 5000-series train cars are equipped with AC propulsion; interior security cameras; aisle-facing seating, which allow for greater passenger capacity; LED destination signs, interior readouts, and interior maps; GPS; glow-in-the-dark evacuation signs; operator-controlled ventilation systems; among other features. AC propulsion allows for smoother acceleration, lower operational costs, less wear and tear, and greater energy efficiency. The AC propulsion can take advantage of regenerative braking, meaning the train returns excess energy to the third rail as it slows down. With the DC propulsion of the previous series, they utilize dynamic braking which converts the excess kinetic energy into heat within a resistor bank.
Next-generation train cars, the 7000-series, have been ordered and are beginning to enter service. Each 7000-series rail car will feature LEDs, 37 to 38 seats, and is a hybrid of the 3200-series and 5000-series. The design and arrangement of seats were modified to improve ergonomics and increase leg room. Enhanced air conditioning will circulate air more efficiently during hot summer days. Laser sensors above the doors will count the number of passengers, allowing the CTA to track passenger volumes and change its schedules accordingly. State-owned manufacturer CRRC Sifang America (China Rail Rolling Stock Corporation) won the contract, besting the other major competitor, Bombardier from Canada by $226 million. Concerns have been raised over possible malware, cyber attacks, and mass surveillance by the Chinese government. The computer and software components and the automatic train control system will be made by U.S. and Canadian firms. The cars are being built at a new CRRC Sifang America rail car manufacturing plant at 13535 South Torrence Avenue in Chicago's Hegewisch neighborhood. Production of the 7000-series cars commenced in June 2019. This is the first time in more than 50 years CTA rail cars are manufactured in Chicago. Ten cars in the 7000-series began testing revenue service on April 21, 2021. The base order is for 400 cars and will be used to replace the 2600-series cars. If the CTA ordered the additional 446 cars, they would also replace the 3200-series cars.
In May 2023, the CTA announced it has received $200 million funding from the Federal Transit Authority; this money will go towards the development of the 9000-series rail cars. The plan is to acquire up to 300 new train sets.
Nickname
Chicago's rapid-transit system is officially nicknamed the "L". This name for the CTA rail system applies to the whole system: its elevated, subway, at-grade, and open-cut segments. The use of the nickname dates from the earliest days of the elevated railroads. Newspapers of the late 1880s referred to proposed elevated railroads in Chicago as L' roads." The first route to be constructed, the Chicago and South Side Rapid Transit Railroad gained the nickname "Alley Elevated", or "Alley L" during its planning and construction, a term that was widely used by 1893, less than a year after the line opened.
In discussing various stylings of "Loop" and "L" in Destination Loop: The Story of Rapid Transit Railroading in and around Chicago (1982), author Brian J. Cudahy quotes a passage from The Neon Wilderness (1947) by Chicago author Nelson Algren: "beneath the curved steel of the El, beneath the endless ties." Cudahy then comments, "Note that in the quotation above ... it says 'El' to mean 'elevated rapid transit railroad.' We trust that this usage can be ascribed to a publisher's editor in New York or some other east coast city; in Chicago the same expression is routinely rendered 'L'."
As used by CTA, the name is rendered as the capital letter 'L', in single quotation marks. "L" (with double quotation marks) was often used by CTA predecessors such as the Chicago Rapid Transit Company; however, the CTA uses single quotation marks (') on some printed materials and signs rather than double. In Chicago, the term "subway" only applies to the State Street and Milwaukee–Dearborn subways and is not applied to the entire system as a whole, as in New York City where both the elevated and underground portions make up the New York City Subway.
Renovation and expansion plans
Like other large and aging rapid transit systems, the Chicago "L" faces problems of delays, breakdowns, and a multi-billion-dollar backlog of deferred maintenance.
The CTA is currently focused on eliminating slow zones, modernizing the Red, Blue, and Purple lines, and improving "L" stations. In addition, CTA has studied numerous other proposals for expanded rail service and renovations, some of which may be implemented in the future.
Recent service improvements and capital projects
2000–2010
During the 2000s and 2010s, the CTA has completed several renovation and new construction projects.
Pink Line service began on June 25, 2006, though it did not include any new tracks or stations. The Pink Line travels over what was formerly a branch of the Blue Line from the 54th/Cermak terminal in Cicero to the Polk station in Chicago. Pink Line trains then proceed via the Paulina Connector to the Lake Street branch of the Green Line and then clockwise around the Loop elevated via Lake-Wabash-Van Buren-Wells. Douglas trains used the same route between April 4, 1954, and June 22, 1958, after the old Garfield Park "L" line was demolished to make way for the Eisenhower Expressway. The new route, which serves 22 stations, offered more frequent service for riders on both the Congress and Douglas branches. Pink Line trains could be scheduled independently of Blue Line trains, and ran more frequently than the Douglas branch of the Blue Line did.
In late 2007, trains were forced to operate at reduced speed over more than 22% of the system due to deteriorated track, structure, and other problems. By October 2008, system-wide slow zones had been reduced to 9.1% and by January 2010, total slow zones were reduced to 6.3%. CTA's Slow Zone Elimination Project is an ongoing effort to restore track work to conditions where trains no longer have to reduce speeds through deteriorating areas. The Loop received track work in 2012–2013. The Purple Line in Evanston received track work and viaduct replacement in 2011–2013. The Green Line Ashland branch received track work in 2013, prior to the Red Line Dan Ryan branch reconstruction.
The Brown Line Capacity Expansion Project enabled CTA to run eight-car trains on the Brown Line, and rebuilt stations to modern standards, including accessibility. Before the project, Brown Line platforms could only accommodate six-car trains, and increasing ridership led to uncomfortably crowded trains. After several years of construction, eight-car trains began to run at rush hour on the Brown Line in April 2008. The project was completed in December 2009, on time and on budget, with only minor punch list work remaining. The project's total cost was expected to be around $530 million.
2010–present
While various mayors of Chicago had recognized the importance of reliable public transit, Rahm Emanuel received credit for making improving service a top priority. In addition to local funding, he managed to secure federal dollars by lobbying.
One of the largest reconstruction projects in the CTA's history, at a cost of $425 million, was the Red Line South reconstruction project. From May 19, 2013, through October 20, 2013, the project closed and rebuilt the entire Dan Ryan branch—replacing and rebuilding all the tracks, ties, ballast and drainage systems—from Cermak-Chinatown to 95th/Dan Ryan. The station work involved renewing and improving eight stations, including new paint and lights, bus bridge improvements, new elevators at the Garfield, 63rd, and 87th stations and new roofs and canopies at some stations. "We are looking forward to providing our south Red Line customers with improved stations that are cleaner, brighter and better than they have been in years," said CTA President Forrest Claypool. Shutting down a portion of the railway instead of relegating work to the weekends enabled the project to be completed in months rather than years.
In 2014, the CTA initiated station and track upgrades on the Blue Line between Grand and O'Hare. This $492 million project will result in modernized stations (some of which were originally built in 1895), rebuilt tracks, station platform replacement, subway water management, subway station water infiltration remediation, and improved access to some stations (by adding elevators). This project, scheduled for completion in 2021, is expected to cut travel time between the Loop and O'Hare by ten minutes.
In late 2015, extensive 4G wireless coverage was added to both Blue and Red Line subways, with the $32.5 million installation cost paid for by T-Mobile, Sprint, AT&T and Verizon. Upon the project's completion, Chicago became the largest American city with 4G Internet service in all of its subways and tunnels, a total of . Besides adding to passenger convenience, it also improved security by allowing CTA personnel and first responders to communicate more easily in case of an emergency.
The new Wilson Station officially reopened in October 2017. The century-old station now includes accessible elevators, escalators, new security cameras, three entrances, wider stairwells, additional turnstiles, larger platforms, new lights and signage, as well as bus and train trackers.
FastTracks is a program intended to address the slow zones and to make train rides smoother and more reliable. In order to achieve this, crews would replace worn tracks, rail tires, and ballasts. An upgraded power system along the O'Hare Blue Line branch would enable more trains to operate during peak periods. The Blue, Brown, Green, and Red lines would be worked on. This program was set to begin in early 2018 and would continue through 2021. Funding for this $179 million project comes from a fee increase imposed on mobile app-based vehicle for hire companies in Chicago, the first of its kind in the country. In Mayor Emanuel's 2018 budget proposal, the fee went from 52 cents to 67 cents per trip. First introduced in 2015, this fee rose by another five cents in 2019.
In December 2018, The CTA Board approved $2.1 billion worth of contracts for the modernization of the Red and Purple Lines. The largest and most expensive in CTA history, this project includes the reconstruction of the junction between the Brown Line and Red/Purple line into a flying junction to reduce delays, and the reconstruction of the Lawrence, Argyle, Berwyn, and Bryn Mawr stations. Construction of the project began on October 2, 2019, and is scheduled for completion in 2025. $100 million in federal funding for the reconstruction of the Red Line was approved September 2019. In the final days of the Barack Obama administration, the federal government agreed to provide $957 million in funding in total; the rest would come from a tax hike on property owners who lived within of the Red Line.
Planned project
This new rail service proposal under active consideration by CTA is currently undergoing Alternatives Analysis Studies.
These studies are the first step in a five-step process. This process is required by the Federal New Starts program, which is an essential source of funding for CTA's expansion projects. CTA uses a series of "Screens" to develop a "Locally Preferred Alternative", which is submitted to the federal New Starts program.
Red Line Extension
An extension of the Red Line would provide service from the current terminus at 95th/Dan Ryan to 130th Street, decreasing transit times for Far South Side residents and relieving crowding and congestion at the current terminus, The CTA presented its locally preferred alternative at meetings in August 2009. This consists of a new elevated rail line between 95th/Dan Ryan and a new terminal station at 130th Street, paralleling the Union Pacific Railroad and the South Shore Line through the Far South Side neighborhoods of Roseland, Washington Heights, West Pullman, and Riverdale.
In addition to the terminal station at 130th, three new stations would be built at 103rd, 111th, and Michigan. Basic engineering, along with an environmental impact statement, were underway in 2010. Alignment commenting was opened in 2016. The CTA announced the route, in length, and four new stations on January 26, 2018, and if the CTA can get the funding for the $3.6 billion extension, construction on the extension would begin in 2025 and would be completed in 2029. Contracts for preliminary work were approved in December 2018.
In August 2022, the Red Line Extension advanced to the Federal Funding Phase. In December 2022, City Council approved the creation of a district that will send nearly $1 billion in tax revenue over the next few decades to extend the Red Line south of 95th Street, a major step toward completing the project after a half-century of false starts. In March 2023, President Biden’s proposed 2024 budget includes $350 million in federal funding for the Red Line Extension project. In May 2023, The CTA reported that it had selected three prequalified teams to submit proposals on the $3.6 billion project to extend rail service to Chicago's Far South Side. Project proposals will be due from the finalists in early 2024 with an expected execution by the end of 2024. Further, The CTA expects major construction of the project to begin in late 2025, depending on securing full project funding. In September 2023, The Federal Transit Administration announced $1.973 billion for the extension. In October 2023, The CTA received another $100 million for the extension.
Previously studied projects
These projects are currently not being pursued by the CTA because of the cost and the concerns of residents.
Circle Line
The proposed Circle Line would form an "outer loop", traversing downtown via the State Street subway, then going southwest on the Orange Line and north along Ashland, before re-joining the subway at North/Clybourn or Clark/Division. The Circle Line would connect several different Metra lines with the "L" system, and would facilitate transfers between existing CTA lines; these connections would be situated near the existing Metra and "L" lines' maximum load points. CTA initiated official "Alternatives Analysis" planning for the Circle Line in 2005. The Circle Line concept garnered significant public interest and media coverage.
Early conceptual planning divided the Circle Line into three segments. Phase 1 would be a restoration of the dilapidated "Paulina Connector", a short track segment that links Ashland/Lake with Polk. This track section has since been restored and service on the 54th/Cermak branch was transferred to the Pink Line. Phase 2 would link 18th on the Pink Line to Ashland on the Orange Line, with a new elevated structure running through a large industrial area. Phase 3, the final phase, would link Ashland/Lake to North/Clybourn with a new subway running through the dense neighborhoods of West Town and Wicker Park. With the completion of all three phases, the perimeter area would be served by Circle Line trains.
In 2009, CTA released the results of its Alternatives Analysis Screen 3, in which it decided to begin early engineering work on Phase 2, due to its simple alignment through unpopulated areas and its relatively low cost (estimated to be $1.1 billion). Preliminary engineering work was performed on Phase 2. In addition to the new line, CTA planned to build four new stations as part of Phase 2. Three out of the four would be located along existing lines that the Circle Line will utilize. These would be at 18th/Clark, Cermak/Blue Island, Roosevelt/Paulina, and Congress/Paulina.
18th/Clark would be along the Orange Line in the Chinatown neighborhood, and would include a direct transfer connection to the Cermak/Chinatown station on the Red Line. Cermak/Blue Island would be located on the newly built elevated tracks in the Pilsen neighborhood. Roosevelt/Paulina would be located on the Pink Line in the Illinois Medical District. Congress/Paulina would be built above the Eisenhower Expressway, with a direct transfer connection to the Illinois Medical District station on the Blue Line. Existing stations would provide service near the United Center.
Phase 3 was not implemented, and planning stopped after 2009. Phase 3 ran through dense residential areas, so alignment must be considered carefully to avoid adversely impacting those neighborhoods. CTA estimated that Phase 3 would be far more costly than Phase 2 due to its being underground. After a number of alternate plans were evaluated, in 2009, CTA adopted the "locally preferred alternative" (LPA), which stopped Circle Line work after Phase 2, and Phase 3 was relegated to a "long term vision".
Orange Line Extension
A proposed extension of the Orange Line would have provided transit service from the current terminus, Midway International Airport, to the Ford City Mall, which was originally meant to be the Orange Line's southern terminus when the line was planned in the 1980s. This would have alleviated congestion at the current Midway terminal. The CTA presented its locally preferred alternative at meetings in August 2009. This consisted of a new elevated rail line that would have run south from the Midway terminal along Belt Railway tracks, crossing the Clearing Yard while heading southwest to Cicero Avenue, then would have run south in the median of Cicero to a terminal on the east side of Cicero near 76th Street. Basic engineering, along with an environmental impact statement, were underway in 2010. This extension was canceled.
Yellow Line Extension
A proposed extension of the Yellow Line would have provided transit service from the current terminus, at Dempster Street, to the corner of Old Orchard Road and the Edens Expressway, just west of the Westfield Old Orchard shopping center. The CTA presented its locally preferred alternative at meetings in August 2009. This consisted of a new elevated rail line from Dempster north along a former rail right-of-way to the Edens Expressway, where the line would have turned to the north and run along the east side of the expressway to a terminus at Old Orchard Road.
Basic engineering, along with an environmental impact statement, were underway in 2010. Unlike extensions to the Red and Orange Lines, the Yellow Line extension had attracted significant community opposition from residents of Skokie, as well as parents of students at the Niles North High School, on whose land the new line would have been constructed. Residents and parents cited concerns about noise, visual pollution, and crime. As a result, the extension was canceled.
Canceled projects
Numerous plans have been advanced over the years to reorganize downtown Chicago rapid transit service, originally with the intention of replacing the elevated Loop lines with subways. That idea has been largely abandoned as the city seems keen on keeping an elevated/subway mix.
There have been continued calls to improve transit within the city's greatly enlarged central core. At present the "L" does not provide direct service between the Metra commuter rail terminals in the West Loop and Michigan Avenue, the principal shopping district, nor does it offer convenient access to popular downtown destinations such as Navy Pier, Soldier Field, and McCormick Place. Plans for the Central Area Circulator, a $700 million downtown light rail system meant to remedy this, were shelved in 1995 for lack of funding. An underground line running along the lake shore would connect some of the city's major tourist destinations, but this plan has not been widely discussed.
Recognizing the cost and difficulty of implementing an all-rail solution, the Chicago Central Area Plan was introduced. It proposes a mix of rail and bus improvements, the centerpiece of which was the West Loop Transportation Center. The top level would be a pedestrian mezzanine, buses would operate in the second level, rapid transit trains in the third level, and commuter/high-speed intercity trains in the bottom level.
The rapid transit level would connect to the existing Blue Line subway at its north and south ends, making possible the "Blue Line loop", envisioned as an underground counterpart to the Loop elevated. Alternatively, this level might be occupied by the Clinton Street subway. Among other advantages, the West Loop Transportation Center would provide a direct link between the "L" and the city's two busiest commuter rail terminals, Ogilvie Transportation Center and Union Station.
The plan proposed transitways along Carroll Avenue, a former rail right-of-way north of the main branch of the Chicago River, and under Monroe Street in the Loop, which earlier transit schemes had proposed as rail routes. The Carroll Avenue route would provide faster bus service between the commuter stations and the rapidly redeveloping Near North Side, with possible rail service later. These new busways would tie into the bus level of the West Loop Transportation Center.
These are canceled projects, identified in various city and regional planning studies. The CTA has not begun official studies of these expansions, so it is unclear whether they will ever be implemented, or simply remain as visionary projects.
Clinton Street Subway
It would run through the West Loop, connecting the Red Line near North/Clybourn to the Red Line again, near Cermak-Chinatown. From North/Clybourn, the subway would run south along Larrabee Street, then under the Chicago River to Clinton Street in the West Loop. Running south under Clinton, the subway would pass Ogilvie Transportation Center and Union Station, with short connections to Metra trains. It would then continue south on Clinton until 16th Street, where it would turn east, cross the river again, and rejoin the Red Line just north of the current Cermak-Chinatown stop. The estimated cost of this line was $3 billion, with no local funding source identified.
Airport Express
Airport Express service to O'Hare International Airport and Midway International Airport to and from a downtown terminal on State Street. On the 3200 series cars, black Midway and O'Hare destination signs exist, suggesting a possible Airport Express service, since the sign used for Express trains is written in a black background. A business plan prepared for the CTA called for a private firm to manage the venture with service starting in 2008. The project has been criticized as a boondoggle.
The custom-equipped, premium-fare trains would offer nonstop service at faster speeds than the current Blue and Orange Lines. Although the trains would not run on dedicated rails (construction of such tracks could cost more than $1.5 billion), several short sections of passing track built at stations would allow the express trains to pass Blue and Orange trains while they sit at those stations. The CTA has pledged $130 million and the city of Chicago $42 million toward the cost of the downtown station.
In comments posted to her blog in 2006, CTA chair Carole Brown said, "I would support premium rail service only if it brought significant new operating dollars, capital funding, or other efficiencies to CTA… The most compelling reason to proceed with the project is the opportunity to connect the Blue and Red subway tunnels," which are one block apart downtown. In the meantime, The CTA announced that due to cost overruns, it would only complete the shell of the Block 37 station; its president said "it would not make sense to completely build out the station or create the final tunnel connections until a partner is selected because final layout, technology and finishes are dependent on an operating plan."
Mid-City Transitway
It would run around, rather than through the Chicago Loop. The line would follow the Cicero Avenue/Belt Line corridor (former Crosstown Expressway alignment) between the O'Hare branch of the Blue Line at Montrose and the Dan Ryan branch of the Red Line at 87th Street. It may be an "L" line, but busway and other options are being considered.
Security and safety
Violent crime on the CTA has increased since the pandemic, and as of March 2, 2022, was up 17% compared to the year before. The CTA Union has called for conductors, which were dropped in 1997 to be brought back, while the city has promised more security guards.
The CTA has had incidents where operators apparently overrode automatic train stops on red signals. These include the 1977 collision at Wabash and Lake, when four cars of a Lake-Dan Ryan train fell from the elevated structure, killing 11. There were two minor incidents in 2001, and two more in 2008, the more serious involving a Green Line train that derailed and straddled the split in the elevated structure at the 59th Street junction between the Ashland and East 63rd Street branches, and a minor one near 95th Street on the Red line. In 2014, the O'Hare station train crash occurred when a Blue Line train overran a bumper at the airport station and ascended up an escalator.
In 2002, 25-year-old Joseph Konopka, self-styled as "Dr. Chaos", was arrested by Chicago police for hoarding potassium cyanide and sodium cyanide in a Chicago Transit Authority storeroom in the Chicago "L" Blue Line subway. Konopka had picked the original locks on several doors in the tunnels, then changed the locks so that he could access the rarely used storage rooms freely.
Recent studies have highlighted the Belmont and 95th stops on the Red Line being the "most dangerous".
As of 2018, the Chicago Police Department (CPD)'s Public Transportation Unit, and the police departments of Evanston, Skokie, Forest Park, and Oak Park patrol the CTA system. The CPD provides random screenings for explosives. In addition, the CTA has its own K-9 patrol units and has installed more than 23,000 surveillance cameras.
From 2008 to 2019, there have been a total of 27 derailments. Most were minor, but some resulted in serious injuries for passengers.
On September 24, 2019, a Brown Line train collided with a Purple Line train near Sedgwick on the North Side Main Line during the morning rush hour. Fourteen injuries were reported and the cause is under investigation. According to the Chicago Fire Department, the injured were later found to be in stable condition. No derailments occurred. The CTA said service resumed about an hour after the incident.
On October 3, 2019, a train operating Pink Line service on the Cermak branch struck a car that had driven past and around the gates at the level crossing on 47th Avenue near Cermak Road. Six injuries were reported.
On June 7, 2021, a CTA Red Line train derailed near Bryn Mawr. 24 passengers were aboard. No injuries were reported.
In popular culture
Movies and television shows use establishing shots to orient audiences to the location. For media set in Chicago, the "L" is a common feature because it is a distinctive part of the city.
Films
Some of the more prominent films which have used such setup footage include:
The Sting (1973)
Cooley High (1975)
Sheba, Baby (1975)
The Blues Brothers (1980)
The Hunter (1980)
Risky Business (1983) features the "L" in several erotic sequences
Code of Silence (1985)
Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)
Running Scared (1986) shows a car chase taking place on the "L" tracks. The sounds of the "L" are also distinctive and are therefore also used to establish location
Adventures in Babysitting (1987)
Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987)
Child's Play (1988)
Above the Law (1988)
Only the Lonely (1991)
Gladiator (1992)
Rapid Fire (1992)
Straight Talk (1992)
The Fugitive (1993), which also contained a short scene inside of an "L" train
Blue Chips (1994)
Hoop Dreams (1994)
While You Were Sleeping (1995) includes a main character, Lucy, who works as an "L" fare collector
Stir of Echoes (1999)
On the Line (2001)
Barbershop 2: Back in Business (2004)
Spider-Man 2 (2004) features a sequence in which Doctor Octopus (Alfred Molina) and Spider-Man (Tobey Maguire) do battle on top of and briefly inside a New York subway train that strongly resembles the "L". Doc Ock eventually removes the train's controls and leaves Spider-Man to stop the derailing train, which he does, although at a great physical toll.
Shall We Dance (2004), in which Richard Gere learns to dance with Jennifer Lopez by the light of the "L'
Divergent features the "L" as the method of transportation around the city and plays a key role in certain situations. In Allegiant several of the main characters take the "L" to near the John Hancock Tower to scatter Tris' ashes. These films portray futuristic versions of current train models.
Television series
Dick Wolf's Chicago franchise of four TV shows is set in and filmed on site in the city, and features the "L" in various episodes.
In the U.S. version of the TV series Shameless, set on the South Side of Chicago, several main characters take the "L" for transportation.
On the CBS sitcom The Bob Newhart Show, which was set in Chicago, the opening credits sequence shows various CTA "L" trains.
On the CBS sitcom Good Times, features the "L" in the opening and end credits.
On the CBS sitcom Mike & Molly, an "L" train can be seen passing by Mike and Carl's preferred eatery, Abe's.
Another CBS series, Early Edition, also features the "L" in its opening credits and in several scenes of its episodes.
On the NBC medical drama ER, set in Chicago, the "L" is often shown.
Disney Channel's family sitcom Raven's Home features the "L" in many establishing shots.
On the Showtime sitcom, The Chi, The "L" is featured in the episodes.
See also
List of metro systems
Transportation in Chicago
List of United States rapid transit systems by ridership
Notes
References
Further reading
External links
Chicago Transit Authority – operates CTA buses and "L" trains
Ride the Rails – Interactive ride of the Chicago "L"
Chicago-L.org – an unofficial, extensive fan site
CTA Tattler – Daily blog of "L" stories
ForgottenChicago.com – Forgotten Chicago, "Our Historic Subway Stations".
Network map (real-distance)
The world's longest subway platform – Chicago Aussie. (3:55)
SubwayNut – a site with photo essays of every station.
L
L
Rapid transit in Illinois
L
Standard gauge railways in the United States
L
Underground rapid transit in the United States
600 V DC railway electrification
Chicago "L"
|
412662
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congressional%20Black%20Caucus
|
Congressional Black Caucus
|
The Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) is a caucus made up of African-American members of the United States Congress. Representative Steven Horsford from Nevada is the caucus chairperson, having succeeded Joyce Beatty from Ohio in 2023.
History
Founding
The predecessor to the caucus was founded in January 1969 as the Democratic Select Committee by a group of black members of the House of Representatives, including Shirley Chisholm of New York, Louis Stokes of Ohio and William L. Clay of Missouri. Black representatives had begun to enter the House in increasing numbers during the 1960s, and they had a desire for a formal organization. Further, Congressional redistricting and other factors in the wake of the Civil Rights Movement resulted in the number of black Congressmembers increasing from nine to thirteen. The first chairman, Charles Diggs, served from 1969 to 1971.
This organization was renamed the Congressional Black Caucus in February 1971 on the motion of Charles B. Rangel of New York. The thirteen founding members of the caucus were Shirley Chisholm, Bill Clay, George W. Collins, John Conyers, Ron Dellums, Charles Diggs, Augustus F. Hawkins, Ralph Metcalfe, Parren Mitchell, Robert N.C. Nix Sr., Charles Rangel, Louis Stokes, and Washington, D.C,. delegate Walter E. Fauntroy. Chisholm referred to the group as "unbought and unbossed". Five founding members of the CBC were also members of Prince Hall Freemasonry, an African-American branch of Freemasonry that became involved in civil rights: Stokes, Conyers, Rangel, Hawkins and Metcalfe.
President Richard Nixon refused to meet with the newly formed group, and so the CBC chose to boycott the 1971 State of the Union address, leading to their first joint press coverage. On March 25, 1971, Nixon finally met with the CBC, who presented him with a 32-page document including "recommendations to eradicate racism, provide quality housing for black families, and promote the full engagement of blacks in government". All the members of the caucus were included on the master list of Nixon political opponents.
On June 5, 1972, shortly before the 1972 Democratic National Convention would nominate George McGovern for president, the CBC wrote and released two documents: the Black Declaration of Independence and the Black Bill of Rights. Louis Stokes read a preamble and both documents into the record of the House of Representatives. The Black Bill of Rights includes sections on jobs and the economy, foreign policy, education, housing, public health, minority enterprise, drugs, prison reform, black representation in government, civil rights, voting rights in the District of Columbia, and the military. These documents were inspired by the National Black Political Convention and its own manifesto, The Gary Declaration: Black Politics at the Crossroads (also called the Black Agenda).
TransAfrica and Free South Africa Movement
In 1977, the organization was involved in the founding of TransAfrica, an education and advocacy affiliate that was formed to act as a resource on information on the African continent and its Diaspora. They worked closely with this organization to start the national anti-apartheid movement in the US, Free South Africa Movement (characterized by sit-ins, student protests, it became the longest lasting civil disobedience movement in U.S history) and to devise the legislative strategy for the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act of 1986 that was subsequently passed over Ronald Reagan's veto. The organization continues to be active today and works on other campaigns.
Funding
In late 1994, after Republicans attained a majority in the House, the House passed House Resolution 6 on January 4, 1995, which prohibited “the establishment or continuation of any legislative service organization..." This decision was aimed at 28 organizations, which received taxpayer funding and occupied offices at the Capitol, including the CBC. Then-chairman Kweisi Mfume protested the decision. The CBC reconstituted as a Congressional Member Organization.
Events
The caucus is sometimes invited to the White House to meet with the president. It requests such a meeting at the beginning of each Congress.
During the 2020 George Floyd protests, the CBC provided House members with stoles made from kente to be worn for an 8:46-long moment of silence before introducing the Justice in Policing Act of 2020.
Goals
The caucus describes its goals as "positively influencing the course of events pertinent to African Americans and others of similar experience and situation", and "achieving greater equity for persons of African descent in the design and content of domestic and international programs and services."
The CBC encapsulates these goals in the following priorities: closing the achievement and opportunity gaps in education, assuring quality health care for every American, focusing on employment and economic security, ensuring justice for all, retirement security for all Americans, increasing welfare funds, and increasing equity in foreign policy.
Representative Eddie Bernice Johnson (D–TX), has said:
The Congressional Black Caucus is one of the world's most esteemed bodies, with a history of positive activism unparalleled in our nation's history. Whether the issue is popular or unpopular, simple or complex, the CBC has fought for thirty years to protect the fundamentals of democracy. Its impact is recognized throughout the world. The Congressional Black Caucus is probably the closest group of legislators on the Hill. We work together almost incessantly, we are friends and, more importantly, a family of freedom fighters. Our diversity makes us stronger, and the expertise of all of our members has helped us be effective beyond our numbers.
Mark Anthony Neal, a professor of African-American studies and popular culture at Duke University, wrote a column in late 2008 that the Congressional Black Caucus and other African-American-centered organizations are still needed, and should take advantage of "the political will that Obama's campaign has generated."
Congressional Black Caucus PAC
The Congressional Black Caucus PAC is a political action committee founded as a political arm of the caucus, aiming "to increase the number of Black Members of the US Congress...support Non-Black Candidates who will champion the needs and interests of the Black Community" and increase the "participation of Black Americans in the political process". Gregory Meeks (D-NY-5) chairs the PAC. The CBCPAC is known for its moderate-lean. The PAC caused controversy when it backed incumbent Michael Capuano, a white man, over challenger Ayanna Pressley, a black woman who ultimately defeated him. Two years later, it backed Eliot Engel, a white incumbent, over Jamaal Bowman, a black challenger who went on to defeat him.
HuffPost reporters questioned how endorsements were made, noting that the executive board included corporate lobbyists over CBC members. Representative Brenda Lawrence (D-MI-14) criticized the PAC's endorsement policies in 2020 and called for it to be reevaluated. Color of Change, a civil rights advocacy nonprofit group, released a letter in 2016 calling on the CBCPAC to cut ties with lobbyists from industries that are "notorious for the mistreatment and exploitation of Black people" including private prisons, pharmaceutical companies, student loan creditors, and big tobacco.
Membership
The caucus has grown steadily as more black members have been elected. At its formal founding in 1971, the caucus had thirteen members. As of 2023, it had 55 members, including two who are non-voting members of the House, representing the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Senate members
As of 2021, there have been nine black senators since the caucus's founding. The seven black U.S. senators, all Democrats, who are or have been members of the Congressional Black Caucus are Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey, elected in 2013 (currently serving), Senator Raphael Warnock of Georgia, elected in 2021 (currently serving), and Senator Kamala Harris of California, elected in 2016, who resigned in 2021 to take on the vice presidency; former senators Carol Moseley Braun (1993–1999), Barack Obama (2005–2008), and Roland Burris (2008–2010), all of Illinois; and former senator Mo Cowan (2013) of Massachusetts.
Burris was appointed by Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich in December 2008 to fill Obama's seat for the remaining two years of his Senate term after Obama was elected president of the United States. Cowan was appointed to temporarily serve until a special election after John Kerry vacated his Senate seat to become U.S. secretary of state.
Senator Edward Brooke, a Republican who represented Massachusetts in the 1960s and 1970s, was not a member of the CBC. In 2013, Senator Tim Scott, Republican of South Carolina, also chose not to join the CBC after being appointed to fill Jim DeMint's Senate seat.
Black Republicans in the CBC
The caucus is officially non-partisan; but, in practice, the vast majority of African Americans elected to Congress since the CBC's founding have been Democrats. As of 2023, the caucus includes no Republicans in the 118th Congress.
Twelve African American Republicans have been elected to Congress since the caucus was founded in 1971:
Senator Edward Brooke of Massachusetts (1967–1979)
Delegate Melvin H. Evans of the Virgin Islands (1979–1981)
Representative Gary Franks of Connecticut (1991–1997)
Representative J. C. Watts of Oklahoma (1995–2003)
Representative Allen West of Florida (2011–2013)
Senator & Representative Tim Scott of South Carolina (2011–present)
Representative Will Hurd of Texas (2015–2021)
Representative Mia Love of Utah (2015–2019)
Representative Byron Donalds of Florida (2021–present)
Representative Burgess Owens of Utah (2021–present)
Representative Wesley Hunt of Texas (2023–present)
Representative John James of Michigan (2023–present)
Of these twelve, only Evans, Franks, West, and Love joined the CBC.
Edward Brooke was the only serving African American U.S. senator when the CBC was founded in 1971, but he never joined the group and sometimes clashed with its leaders. In 1979 Melvin H. Evans, a non-voting delegate from the Virgin Islands, became the first Republican member in the group's history. Gary Franks was the first Republican voting congressman to join in 1991, though he was at times excluded from CBC strategy sessions, skipped meetings, and threatened to quit the caucus.
J. C. Watts did not join the CBC when he entered Congress in 1995, and after Franks left Congress in 1997, no Republicans joined the CBC for fourteen years until Allen West joined the caucus in 2011, though fellow freshman congressman Tim Scott declined to join. After West was defeated for re-election, the CBC became a Democrat-only caucus once again in 2013.
In 2014, two black Republicans were elected to the House. Upon taking office, Will Hurd from Texas declined to join the caucus, while Mia Love from Utah, the first black Republican congresswoman, joined.
In 2021, newly elected black Republican Byron Donalds was blocked from joining the CBC.
Non-black membership
All past and present members of the caucus have been African-American. In 2006, while running for Congress in a Tennessee district which is 60% black, Steve Cohen, who is Jewish, pledged to apply for membership in order to represent his constituents. However, after his election, his application was refused. Although the bylaws of the caucus do not make race a prerequisite for membership, former and current members of the caucus agreed that the group should remain "exclusively black". In response to the decision, Cohen referred to his campaign promise as "a social faux pas" because "It's their caucus and they do things their way. You don't force your way in. You need to be invited."
Representative Lacy Clay, a Democrat from Missouri and the son of Representative Bill Clay, a co-founder of the caucus, said: "Mr. Cohen asked for admission, and he got his answer. He is white and the caucus is black. It is time to move on. We have racial policies to pursue and we are pursuing them, as Mr. Cohen has learned. It is an unwritten rule. It is understood." Clay also issued the following statement:
Quite simply, Representative Cohen will have to accept what the rest of the country will have to accept—there has been an unofficial Congressional White Caucus for over 200 years, and now it is our turn to say who can join 'the club.' He does not, and cannot, meet the membership criteria unless he can change his skin color. Primarily, we are concerned with the needs and concerns of the black population, and we will not allow white America to infringe on those objectives.
Later the same week, Representative Tom Tancredo, a Republican from Colorado, objected to the continued existence of the CBC as well as the Democratic Congressional Hispanic Caucus and the Republican Congressional Hispanic Conference arguing that "It is utterly hypocritical for Congress to extol the virtues of a color-blind society while officially sanctioning caucuses that are based solely on race. If we are serious about achieving the goal of a colorblind society, Congress should lead by example and end these divisive, race-based caucuses."
Black Latino membership
Prior to 2017, no one had attempted to be in both the CBC and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC). In the 2016 House elections, Afro-Dominican State Senator Adriano Espaillat was elected to an open seat after twice trying to unseat CBC founder Charlie Rangel (who also has Puerto Rican ancestry) in the Democratic primary. Espaillat signaled that he wanted to join the CBC as well as the CHC, but it was reported that he was rebuffed, and it was insinuated that the cause was bad blood over the attempted primary challenges of Rangel.
In the 2018 elections, Afro-Latino Democrat Antonio Delgado was elected and joined the CBC, making no public effort to join the CHC as well. In the 2020 elections, Afro-Puerto Rican Democratic candidate Ritchie Torres published an op-ed claiming that he was prevented from joining both the CBC and CHC as he wished to do, a claim which was denied by then-CBC chair Karen Bass. After being elected to Congress, Torres successfully joined both the CBC and CHC.
Chairs
The following U.S. representatives have chaired the Congressional Black Caucus:
Leadership
Chair: Steven Horsford (NV-4, D)
First vice-chair: Yvette Clarke (NY-9, D)
Second vice-chair: Troy Carter (LA-2, D)
Whip: Marilyn Strickland (WA-10, D)
Secretary: Lucy McBath (GA-7, D)
Current members
United States Senate
California
Laphonza Butler (D-CA)
Georgia
Raphael Warnock (D-GA)
New Jersey
Cory Booker (D-NJ)
United States House of Representatives
Alabama
Terri Sewell (D-AL-7, Birmingham)
California
Barbara Lee (D-CA-12, Oakland)
Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-CA-37, Los Angeles)
Maxine Waters (D-CA-43, Los Angeles)
Colorado
Joe Neguse (D-CO-2, Lafayette)
Connecticut
Jahana Hayes (D-CT-5, Wolcott)
Delaware
Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE-AL, Wilmington)
District of Columbia
Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC-AL, Washington)
Florida
Maxwell Frost (D-FL-10, Orlando)
Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-FL-20, Miramar)
Frederica Wilson (D-FL-24, Miami Gardens)
Georgia
Sanford Bishop (D-GA-2, Albany)
Hank Johnson (D-GA-4, Lithonia)
Nikema Williams (D-GA-5, Atlanta)
Lucy McBath (D-GA-7, Marietta)
David Scott (D-GA-13, Atlanta)
Illinois
Jonathan Jackson (D-IL-1, Chicago)
Robin Kelly (D-IL-2, Matteson)
Danny K. Davis (D-IL-7, Chicago)
Lauren Underwood (D-IL-14, Naperville)
Indiana
Andre Carson (D-IN-7, Indianapolis)
Louisiana
Troy Carter (D-LA-2, New Orleans)
Maryland
Glenn Ivey (D-MD-4, Cheverly)
Kweisi Mfume (D-MD-7, Baltimore)
Massachusetts
Ayanna Pressley (D-MA-7, Boston)
Minnesota
Ilhan Omar (D-MN-5, Minneapolis)
Mississippi
Bennie Thompson (D-MS-2, Bolton)
Missouri
Cori Bush (D-MO-1, St. Louis)
Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO-5, Kansas City)
Nevada
Steven Horsford (D-NV-4, Las Vegas)
New Jersey
Donald Payne Jr. (D-NJ-10, Newark)
Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ-12, Ewing Township)
New York
Gregory Meeks (D-NY-5, Queens)
Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY-8, Brooklyn)
Yvette Clarke (D-NY-9, Brooklyn)
Ritchie Torres (D-NY-15, Bronx)
Jamaal Bowman (D-NY-16, Yonkers)
North Carolina
Don Davis (D-NC-1, Snow Hill)
Valerie Foushee (D-NC-4, Chapel Hill)
Alma Adams (D-NC-12, Charlotte)
Ohio
Joyce Beatty (D-OH-3, Columbus)
Shontel Brown (D-OH-11, Warrensville Heights)
Emilia Sykes (D-OH-13, Akron)
Pennsylvania
Dwight Evans (D-PA-2, Philadelphia)
Summer Lee (D-PA-12, Pittsburgh)
South Carolina
Jim Clyburn (D-SC-6, Columbia)
Texas
Al Green (D-TX-9, Houston)
Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX-18, Houston)
Jasmine Crockett (D-TX-30, Dallas)
Colin Allred (D-TX-32, Dallas)
Marc Veasey (D-TX-33, Fort Worth)
Virginia
Bobby Scott (D-VA-3, Newport News)
Jennifer McClellan (D-VA-4, Richmond)
Washington
Marilyn Strickland (D-WA-10, Tacoma)
Wisconsin
Gwen Moore (D-WI-4, Milwaukee)
U.S. Virgin Islands
Stacey Plaskett (D-VI-AL, St. Croix)
Source
Prominent former members
Presidents of the United States
Barack Obama (D-US), 44th President of the United States (2009–2017), United States Senator from Illinois (2005–2008), and Member of the Illinois Senate from the 13th district (1997–2004).
Vice presidents of the United States
Kamala Harris (D-US), 49th Vice President of the United States (2021–present), United States Senator from California (2017–2021), 32nd Attorney General of California (2011–2017), and 27th District Attorney of San Francisco (2004–2011).
United States Senate
Carol Moseley Braun (D-IL), United States Ambassador to New Zealand (1999–2001), United States Ambassador to Samoa (2000–2001), United States Senator from Illinois (1993–1999), Cook County Recorder of Deeds (1988–1999), and Member of the Illinois House of Representatives (1979–1988).
Roland Burris (D-IL), United States Senator from Illinois (2009–2010), 39th Attorney General of Illinois (1991–1995), 3rd Comptroller of Illinois (1979–1991), and Director of the Illinois Department of Central Management Services (1973–1977).
Mo Cowan (D-MA), United States Senator from Massachusetts (2013)
United States House of Representatives
Charles Rangel (D-NY), Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York (1971-2017), Chair of the House Ways and Means Committee (2007-2010), and Member of the New York State Assembly from the 72nd district (1967-1970).
John Conyers (D-MI), Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Michigan (1965-2017), Dean of the United States House of Representatives (2015-2017), Chair of the House Judiciary Committee (2007-2011), and Chair of the House Oversight Committee (1989-1995).
Elijah Cummings (D-MD), Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Maryland's 7th district (1996-2019), Chair of the House Oversight Committee (2019), and Member of the Maryland House of Delegates from the 39th district (1983-1996).
John Lewis (D-GA), Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Georgia's 5th district (1987–2020), Member of the Atlanta City Council from at-large post 18 (1982–1985), and 3rd Chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (1963–1966)
William Lacy Clay Jr. (D-MO), Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Missouri's 1st district (2001–2021), Member of the Missouri Senate from the 4th district (1991–2001), and Member of the Missouri House of Representatives from the 59th district (1983–1991).
Cedric Richmond (D-LA), Director of the Office of Public Engagement (2021–present), Senior Advisor to the President (2021–present), Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Louisiana's 2nd district (2011–2021), Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus (2017–2019), and Member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from the 101st district (2000–2011).
Marcia Fudge (D-OH), Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (2021–present), Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus (2013–2015), Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Ohio's 11th district (2008–2021), and Mayor of Warrensville Heights, Ohio (2000–2008).
Alcee Hastings (D-FL), Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Florida (1993-2021), and Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida (1979-1989).
Congressional Caucus on Black Women and Girls
The Congressional Caucus on Black Women and Girls is a separate caucus of the United States Congress founded in 2016 to advance issues and legislation important to the welfare of women and girls of African descent.
See also
Congressional Black Caucus Foundation
African Americans in the United States Congress
Pan-African Congress
References
Bibliography
External links
Congressional Black Caucus website
Congressional Black Caucus Institute website
Congressional Black Caucus Political Education & Leadership Institute
Congressional Black Caucus Foundation
A voice: African American Voices in Congress (Congressional Black Caucus online archive)
1969 establishments in the United States
Post–civil rights era in African-American history
Black Caucus
Politics and race in the United States
|
412676
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conflict%20resolution
|
Conflict resolution
|
Conflict resolution is conceptualized as the methods and processes involved in facilitating the peaceful ending of conflict and retribution. Committed group members attempt to resolve group conflicts by actively communicating information about their conflicting motives or ideologies to the rest of group (e.g., intentions; reasons for holding certain beliefs) and by engaging in collective negotiation. Dimensions of resolution typically parallel the dimensions of conflict in the way the conflict is processed. Cognitive resolution is the way disputants understand and view the conflict, with beliefs, perspectives, understandings and attitudes. Emotional resolution is in the way disputants feel about a conflict, the emotional energy. Behavioral resolution is reflective of how the disputants act, their behavior. Ultimately a wide range of methods and procedures for addressing conflict exist, including negotiation, mediation, mediation-arbitration, diplomacy, and creative peacebuilding.
The term conflict resolution may also be used interchangeably with dispute resolution, where arbitration and litigation processes are critically involved. The concept of conflict resolution can be thought to encompass the use of nonviolent resistance measures by conflicted parties in an attempt to promote effective resolution.
Theories and models
There are a plethora of different theories and models linked to the concept of conflict resolution. A few of them are described below.
Conflict resolution curve
There are many examples of conflict resolution in history, and there has been a debate about the ways to conflict resolution: whether it should be forced or peaceful. Conflict resolution by peaceful means is generally perceived to be a better option. The conflict resolution curve derived from an analytical model that offers a peaceful solution by motivating conflicting entities. Forced resolution of conflict might invoke another conflict in the future.
Conflict resolution curve (CRC) separates conflict styles into two separate domains: domain of competing entities and domain of accommodating entities. There is a sort of agreement between targets and aggressors on this curve. Their judgements of badness compared to goodness of each other are analogous on CRC. So, arrival of conflicting entities to some negotiable points on CRC is important before peace building. CRC does not exist (i.e., singular) in reality if the aggression of the aggressor is certain. Under such circumstances it might lead to apocalypse with mutual destruction.
The curve explains why nonviolent struggles ultimately toppled repressive regimes and sometimes forced leaders to change the nature of governance. Also, this methodology has been applied to capture conflict styles on the Korean Peninsula and dynamics of negotiation processes.
Dual concern model
The dual concern model of conflict resolution is a conceptual perspective that assumes individuals' preferred method of dealing with conflict is based on two underlying themes or dimensions: concern for self (assertiveness) and concern for others (empathy).
According to the model, group members balance their concern for satisfying personal needs and interests with their concern for satisfying the needs and interests of others in different ways. The intersection of these two dimensions ultimately leads individuals towards exhibiting different styles of conflict resolution. The dual model identifies five conflict resolution styles or strategies that individuals may use depending on their dispositions toward pro-self or pro-social goals.
Avoidance conflict style
Characterized by joking, changing or avoiding the topic, or even denying that a problem exists, the conflict avoidance style is used when an individual has withdrawn in dealing with the other party, when one is uncomfortable with conflict, or due to cultural contexts. During conflict, these avoiders adopt a "wait and see" attitude, often allowing conflict to phase out on its own without any personal involvement. By neglecting to address high-conflict situations, avoiders risk allowing problems to fester or spin out of control.
Accommodating conflict style
In contrast, yielding, "accommodating", smoothing or suppression conflict styles are characterized by a high level of concern for others and a low level of concern for oneself. This passive pro-social approach emerges when individuals derive personal satisfaction from meeting the needs of others and have a general concern for maintaining stable, positive social relationships. When faced with conflict, individuals with an accommodating conflict style tend to harmonize into others' demands out of respect for the social relationship. With this sense of yielding to the conflict, individuals fall back to others' input instead of finding solutions with their own intellectual resolution.
Competitive conflict style
The competitive, "fighting" or forcing conflict style maximizes individual assertiveness (i.e., concern for self) and minimizes empathy (i.e., concern for others). Groups consisting of competitive members generally enjoy seeking domination over others, and typically see conflict as a "win or lose" predicament. Fighters tend to force others to accept their personal views by employing competitive power tactics (arguments, insults, accusations or even violence) that foster intimidation.
Conciliation conflict style
The conciliation, "compromising", bargaining or negotiation conflict style is typical of individuals who possess an intermediate level of concern for both personal and others' outcomes. Compromisers value fairness and, in doing so, anticipate mutual give-and-take interactions. By accepting some demands put forth by others, compromisers believe this agreeableness will encourage others to meet them halfway, thus promoting conflict resolution. This conflict style can be considered an extension of both "yielding" and "cooperative" strategies.
Cooperation conflict style
Characterized by an active concern for both pro-social and pro-self behavior, the cooperation, integration, confrontation or problem-solving conflict style is typically used when an individual has elevated interests in their own outcomes as well as in the outcomes of others. During conflict, cooperators collaborate with others in an effort to find an amicable solution that satisfies all parties involved in the conflict. Individuals using this type of conflict style tend to be both highly assertive and highly empathetic. By seeing conflict as a creative opportunity, collaborators willingly invest time and resources into finding a "win-win" solution. According to the literature on conflict resolution, a cooperative conflict resolution style is recommended above all others. This resolution may be achieved by lowering the aggressor's guard while raising the ego.
Relational dialectics theory
Relational dialectics theory (RDT), introduced by Leslie Baxter and Barbara Matgomery (1988), explores the ways in which people in relationships use verbal communication to manage conflict and contradiction as opposed to psychology. This concept focuses on maintaining a relationship even through contradictions that arise and how relationships are managed through coordinated talk. RDT assumes that relationships are composed of opposing tendencies, are constantly changing, and tensions arises from intimate relationships.
The main concepts of RDT are:
Contradictions – The concept is that the contrary has the characteristics of its opposite. People can seek to be in a relationship but still need their space.
Totality – The totality comes when the opposites unite. Thus, the relationship is balanced with contradictions and only then it reaches totality
Process – Comprehended through various social processes. These processes simultaneously continue within a relationship in a recurring manner.
Praxis – The relationship progresses with experience and both people interact and communicate effectively to meet their needs. Praxis is a concept of practicability in making decisions in a relationship despite opposing wants and needs
Strategy of conflict
Strategy of conflict, by Thomas Schelling, is the study of negotiation during conflict and strategic behavior that results in the development of "conflict behavior". This idea is based largely on game theory. In "A Reorientation of Game Theory", Schelling discusses ways in which one can redirect the focus of a conflict in order to gain advantage over an opponent.
Conflict is a contest. Rational behavior, in this contest, is a matter of judgment and perception.
Strategy makes predictions using "rational behavior – behavior motivated by a serious calculation of advantages, a calculation that in turn is based on an explicit and internally consistent value system".
Cooperation is always temporary, interests will change.
Conflict resolution in peace and conflict studies
Definition
Within peace and conflict studies a definition of conflict resolution is presented in Peter Wallensteen's book Understanding Conflict Resolution:
The "conflicting parties" concerned in this definition are formally or informally organized groups engaged in intrastate or interstate conflict.
'Basic incompatibility' refers to a severe disagreement between at least two sides where their demands cannot be met by the same resources at the same time.
Mechanisms
One theory discussed within the field of peace and conflict studies is conflict resolution mechanisms: independent procedures in which the conflicting parties can have confidence. They can be formal or informal arrangements with the intention of resolving the conflict. In Understanding Conflict Resolution Wallensteen draws from the works of Lewis A. Coser, Johan Galtung and Thomas Schelling, and presents seven distinct theoretical mechanisms for conflict resolutions:
A shift in priorities for one of the conflicting parties. While it is rare that a party completely changes its basic positions, it can display a shift in to what it gives highest priority. In such an instance new possibilities for conflict resolutions may arise.
The contested resource is divided. In essence, this means both conflicting parties display some extent of shift in priorities which then opens up for some form of "meeting the other side halfway" agreement.
Horse-trading between the conflicting parties. This means that one side gets all of its demands met on one issue, while the other side gets all of its demands met on another issue.
The parties decide to share control, and rule together over the contested resource. It could be permanent, or a temporary arrangement for a transition period that, when over, has led to a transcendence of the conflict.
The parties agree to leave control to someone else. In this mechanism the primary parties agree, or accept, that a third party takes control over the contested resource.
The parties resort to conflict resolution mechanisms, notably arbitration or other legal procedures. This means finding a procedure for resolving the conflict through some of the previously mentioned five ways, but with the added quality that it is done through a process outside of the parties' immediate control.
Some issues can be left for later. The argument for this is that political conditions and popular attitudes can change, and some issues can gain from being delayed, as their significance may pale with time.
Intrastate and interstate
According to conflict database Uppsala Conflict Data Program's definition war may occur between parties who contest an incompatibility. The nature of an incompatibility can be territorial or governmental, but a warring party must be a "government of a state or any opposition organization or alliance of organizations that uses armed force to promote its position in the incompatibility in an intrastate or an interstate armed conflict". Wars can conclude with a peace agreement, which is a "formal agreement... which addresses the disputed incompatibility, either by settling all or part of it, or by clearly outlining a process for how [...] to regulate the incompatibility." A ceasefire is another form of agreement made by warring parties; unlike a peace agreement, it only "regulates the conflict behaviour of warring parties", and does not resolve the issue that brought the parties to war in the first place.
Peacekeeping measures may be deployed to avoid violence in solving such incompatibilities. Beginning in the last century, political theorists have been developing the theory of a global peace system that relies upon broad social and political measures to avoid war in the interest of achieving world peace. The Blue Peace approach developed by Strategic Foresight Group facilitates cooperation between countries over shared water resources, thus reducing the risk of war and enabling sustainable development.
Conflict resolution is an expanding field of professional practice, both in the U.S. and around the world. The escalating costs of conflict have increased use of third parties who may serve as a conflict specialists to resolve conflicts. In fact, relief and development organizations have added peace-building specialists to their teams. Many major international non-governmental organizations have seen a growing need to hire practitioners trained in conflict analysis and resolution. Furthermore, this expansion has resulted in the need for conflict resolution practitioners to work in a variety of settings such as in businesses, court systems, government agencies, nonprofit organizations, and educational institutions throughout the world.
In the workplace
According to the Cambridge dictionary, a basic definition of conflict is: "an active disagreement between people with opposing opinions or principles." Conflicts such as disagreements may occur at any moment, being a normal part of human interactions. The type of conflict and its severity may vary both in content and degree of seriousness; however, it is impossible to completely avoid it. Actually, conflict in itself is not necessarily a negative thing. When handled constructively it can help people to stand up for themselves and others, to evolve and learn how to work together to achieve a mutually satisfactory solution. But if conflict is handled poorly it can cause anger, hurt, divisiveness and more serious problems.
If it is impossible to completely avoid conflict as it was said, the possibilities to experience it are usually higher particularly in complex social contexts in which important diversities are at stake. Specially because of this reason, speaking about conflict resolution becomes fundamental in ethnically diverse and multicultural work environments, in which not only "regular" work disagreements may occur but in which also different languages, worldviews, lifestyles and ultimately value differences may diverge.
Conflict resolution is the process by which two or more parties engaged in a disagreement, dispute or debate reach an agreement resolving it. It involves a series of stages, involved actors, models and approaches that may depend on the kind of confrontation at stake and the surrounded social and cultural context. However, there are some general actions and personal skills that may be very useful when facing a conflict to solve (independently of its nature), e.g. an open minded orientation able to analyze the different point of views and perspectives involved, as well as an ability to empathize, carefully listen and clearly communicate with all the parts involved. Sources of conflict may be so many, depending on the particular situation and the specific context, but some of the most common include:
Personal differences such as values, ethics, personalities, age, education, gender, socioeconomic status, cultural background, temperament, health, religion, political beliefs, etc. Thus, almost any social category that serves to differentiate people may become an object of conflict when it does negatively diverge with people who do not share it. Clashes of ideas, choices or actions. Conflict occurs when people does not share common goals, or common ways to reach a particular objective (e.g. different work styles). Conflict occurs also when there is direct or indirect competition between people or when someone may feel excluded from a particular activity or by some people within the company. Lack of communication or poor communication are also significant reasons to start a conflict, to misunderstand a particular situation and to create potentially explosive interactions.
Fundamental strategies
Although different conflicts may require different ways to handle them, this is a list of fundamental strategies that may be implemented when handling a conflictive situation:
Reaching agreement on rules and procedures: Establishing ground rules may include the following actions: a. Determining a site for the meeting; b. Setting a formal agenda; c. Determining who attends; d. Setting time limits; e. Setting procedural rules; f. Following specific "do(s) and don't(s)".
Reducing tension and synchronizing the de-escalation of hostility: In highly emotional situations when people feel angry, upset, frustrated, it is important to implement the following actions: a. Separating the involved parties; b. Managing tensions – jokes as an instrument to give the opportunity for catharsis; c. Acknowledging others' feelings – actively listening to others; d. De-escalation by public statements by parties – about the concession, the commitments of the parties.
Improving the accuracy of communication, particularly improving each party's understanding of the other's perception: a. Accurate understanding of the other's position; b. Role reversal, trying to adopt the other's position (empathetic attitudes); c. Imaging – describing how they see themselves, how the other parties appears to them, how they think the other parties will describe them and how the others see themselves.
Controlling the number and size of issues in the discussion: a. Fractionate the negotiation – a method that divides a large conflict into smaller parts: 1. Reduce the number of parties on each side; 2. Control the number of substantive issues; 3. Search for different ways to divide big issues.
Establishing common ground where parties can find a basis for agreement: a. Establishing common goals or superordinate goals; b. Establishing common enemies; c. Identifying common expectations; d. Managing time constraints and deadlines; e. Reframing the parties' view of each other; f. Build trust through the negotiation process.
Enhancing the desirability of the options and alternatives that each party presents to the other: a. Giving the other party an acceptable proposal; b. Asking for a different decision; c. Sweeten the other rather than intensifying the threat; d. Elaborating objective or legitimate criteria to evaluate all possible solutions.
Approaches
A conflict is a common phenomenon in the workplace; as mentioned before, it can occur because of the most different grounds of diversity and under very different circumstances. However, it is usually a matter of interests, needs, priorities, goals or values interfering with each other; and, often, a result of different perceptions more than actual differences. Conflicts may involve team members, departments, projects, organization and client, boss and subordinate, organization needs vs. personal needs, and they are usually immersed in complex relations of power that need to be understood and interpreted in order to define the more tailored way to manage the conflict. There are, nevertheless, some main approaches that may be applied when trying to solve a conflict that may lead to very different outcomes to be valued according to the particular situation and the available negotiation resources:
Forcing
When one of the conflict's parts firmly pursues his or her own concerns despite the resistance of the other(s). This may involve pushing one viewpoint at the expense of another or maintaining firm resistance to the counterpart's actions; it is also commonly known as "competing".
Forcing may be appropriate when all other, less forceful methods, do not work or are ineffective; when someone needs to stand up for his/her own rights (or the represented group/organization's rights), resist aggression and pressure. It may be also considered a suitable option when a quick resolution is required and using force is justified (e.g. in a life-threatening situation, to stop an aggression), and as a very last resort to resolve a long-lasting conflict.
However, forcing may also negatively affect the relationship with the opponent in the long run; may intensified the conflict if the opponent decides to react in the same way (even if it was not the original intention); it does not allow to take advantage in a productive way of the other side's position and, last but not least, taking this approach may require a lot of energy and be exhausting to some individuals.
Win-win / collaborating
Collaboration involves an attempt to work with the other part involved in the conflict to find a win-win solution to the problem in hand, or at least to find a solution that most satisfies the concerns of both parties. The win-win approach sees conflict resolution as an opportunity to come to a mutually beneficial result; and it includes identifying the underlying concerns of the opponents and finding an alternative which meets each party's concerns. From that point of view, it is the most desirable outcome when trying to solve a problem for all partners.
Collaborating may be the best solution when consensus and commitment of other parties is important; when the conflict occurs in a collaborative, trustworthy environment and when it is required to address the interests of multiple stakeholders. But more specially, it is the most desirable outcome when a long-term relationship is important so that people can continue to collaborate in a productive way; collaborating is in few words, sharing responsibilities and mutual commitment. For parties involved, the outcome of the conflict resolution is less stressful; however, the process of finding and establishing a win-win solution may be longer and should be very involving.
It may require more effort and more time than some other methods; for the same reason, collaborating may not be practical when timing is crucial and a quick solution or fast response is required.
Compromising
Different from the win-win solution, in this outcome the conflict parties find a mutually acceptable solution which partially satisfies both parties. This can occur as both parties converse with one another and seek to understand the other's point of view. Compromising may be an optimal solution when the goals are moderately important and not worth the use of more assertive or more involving approaches. It may be useful when reaching temporary settlement on complex issues and as a first step when the involved parties do not know each other well or have not yet developed a high level of mutual trust. Compromising may be a faster way to solve things when time is a factor. The level of tensions can be lower as well, but the result of the conflict may be also less satisfactory.
If this method is not well managed, and the factor time becomes the most important one, the situation may result in both parties being not satisfied with the outcome (i.e. a lose-lose situation). Moreover, it does not contribute to building trust in the long run and it may require a closer monitoring of the kind of partially satisfactory compromises acquired.
Withdrawing
This technique consists on not addressing the conflict, postpone it or simply withdrawing; for that reason, it is also known as Avoiding. This outcome is suitable when the issue is trivial and not worth the effort or when more important issues are pressing, and one or both the parties do not have time to deal with it. Withdrawing may be also a strategic response when it is not the right time or place to confront the issue, when more time is needed to think and collect information before acting or when not responding may bring still some winnings for at least some of the involves parties. Moreover, withdrawing may be also employed when someone know that the other party is totally engaged with hostility and does not want (can not) to invest further unreasonable efforts.
Withdrawing may give the possibility to see things from a different perspective while gaining time and collecting further information, and specially is a low stress approach particularly when the conflict is a short time one. However, not acting may be interpreted as an agreement and therefore it may lead to weakening or losing a previously gained position with one or more parties involved. Furthermore, when using withdrawing as a strategy more time, skills and experiences together with other actions may need to be implemented.
Smoothing
Smoothing is accommodating the concerns of others first of all, rather than one's own concerns. This kind of strategy may be applied when the issue of the conflict is much more important for the counterparts whereas for the other is not particularly relevant. It may be also applied when someone accepts that he/she is wrong and furthermore there are no other possible options than continuing an unworthy competing-pushing situation. Just as withdrawing, smoothing may be an option to find at least a temporal solution or obtain more time and information, however, it is not an option when priority interests are at stake.
There is a high risk of being abused when choosing the smoothing option. Therefore, it is important to keep the right balance and to not give up one own interests and necessities. Otherwise, confidence in one's ability, mainly with an aggressive opponent, may be seriously damaged, together with credibility by the other parties involved. Needed to say, in these cases a transition to a Win-Win solution in the future becomes particularly more difficult when someone.
Between organizations
Relationships between organizations, such as strategic alliances, buyer-supplier partnerships, organizational networks, or joint ventures are prone to conflict. Conflict resolution in inter-organizational relationships has attracted the attention of business and management scholars. They have related the forms of conflict (e.g., integrity-based vs. competence-based conflict) to the mode of conflict resolution and the negotiation and repair approaches used by organizations. They have also observed the role of important moderating factors such as the type of contractual arrangement, the level of trust between organizations, or the type of power asymmetry.
Other forms
Conflict management
Conflict management refers to the long-term management of intractable conflicts. It is the label for the variety of ways by which people handle grievances—standing up for what they consider to be right and against what they consider to be wrong. Those ways include such diverse phenomena as gossip, ridicule, lynching, terrorism, warfare, feuding, genocide, law, mediation, and avoidance. Which forms of conflict management will be used in any given situation can be somewhat predicted and explained by the social structure—or social geometry—of the case.
Conflict management is often considered to be distinct from conflict resolution.
In order for actual conflict to occur, there should be an expression of exclusive patterns which explain why and how the conflict was expressed the way it was. Conflict is often connected to a previous issue. Resolution refers to resolving a dispute to the approval of one or both parties, whereas management is concerned with an ongoing process that may never have a resolution. Neither is considered the same as conflict transformation, which seeks to reframe the positions of the conflict parties.
Counseling
When personal conflict leads to frustration and loss of efficiency, counseling may prove helpful. Although few organizations can afford to have professional counselors on staff, given some training, managers may be able to perform this function. Nondirective counseling, or "listening with understanding", is little more than being a good listener—something often considered to be important in a manager.
Sometimes simply being able to express one's feelings to a concerned and understanding listener is enough to relieve frustration and make it possible for an individual to advance to a problem-solving frame of mind. The nondirective approach is one effective way for managers to deal with frustrated subordinates and coworkers.
There are other, more direct and more diagnostic, methods that could be used in appropriate circumstances. However, the great strength of the nondirective approach lies in its simplicity, its effectiveness, and that it deliberately avoids the manager-counselor's diagnosing and interpreting emotional problems, which would call for special psychological training. Listening to staff with sympathy and understanding is unlikely to escalate the problem, and is a widely used approach for helping people cope with problems that interfere with their effectiveness in the workplace.
Culture-based
Conflict resolution as both a professional practice and academic field is highly sensitive to cultural practices. In Western cultural contexts, such as Canada and the United States, successful conflict resolution usually involves fostering communication among disputants, problem solving, and drafting agreements that meet underlying needs. In these situations, conflict resolvers often talk about finding a mutually satisfying ("win-win") solution for everyone involved.
In many non-Western cultural contexts, such as Afghanistan, Vietnam, and China, it is also important to find "win-win" solutions; however, the routes taken to find them may be very different. In these contexts, direct communication between disputants that explicitly addresses the issues at stake in the conflict can be perceived as very rude, making the conflict worse and delaying resolution. It can make sense to involve religious, tribal, or community leaders; communicate difficult truths through a third party; or make suggestions through stories. Intercultural conflicts are often the most difficult to resolve because the expectations of the disputants can be very different, and there is much occasion for misunderstanding.
In animals
Conflict resolution has also been studied in non-humans, including dogs, cats, monkeys, snakes, elephants, and primates. Aggression is more common among relatives and within a group than between groups. Instead of creating distance between the individuals, primates tend to be more intimate in the period after an aggressive incident. These intimacies consist of grooming and various forms of body contact. Stress responses, including increased heart rates, usually decrease after these reconciliatory signals. Different types of primates, as well as many other species who live in groups, display different types of conciliatory behavior. Resolving conflicts that threaten the interaction between individuals in a group is necessary for survival, giving it a strong evolutionary value. A further focus of this is among species that have stable social units, individual relationships, and the potential for intragroup aggression that may disrupt beneficial relationships. The role of these reunions in negotiating relationships is examined along with the susceptibility of these relationships to partner value asymmetries and biological market effects. These findings contradict previous existing theories about the general function of aggression, i.e. creating space between individuals (first proposed by Konrad Lorenz), which seems to be more the case in conflicts between groups than it is within groups.
In addition to research in primates, biologists are beginning to explore reconciliation in other animals. Until recently, the literature dealing with reconciliation in non-primates has consisted of anecdotal observations and very little quantitative data. Although peaceful post-conflict behavior had been documented going back to the 1960s, it was not until 1993 that Rowell made the first explicit mention of reconciliation in feral sheep. Reconciliation has since been documented in spotted hyenas, lions, bottlenose dolphins, dwarf mongoose, domestic goats, domestic dogs, and, recently, in red-necked wallabies.
Education
Universities worldwide offer programs of study pertaining to conflict research, analysis, and practice. Conrad Grebel University College at the University of Waterloo has the oldest-running peace and conflict studies (PACS) program in Canada. PACS can be taken as an Honors, 4-year general, or 3-year general major, joint major, minor, and diploma. Grebel also offers an interdisciplinary Master of Peace and Conflict Studies professional program. The Cornell University ILR School houses the Scheinman Institute on Conflict Resolution, which offers undergraduate, graduate, and professional training on conflict resolution. It also offers dispute resolution concentrations for its , JD/MILR, MPS, and MS/PhD graduate degree programs. At the graduate level, Eastern Mennonite University's Center for Justice and Peacebuilding offers a Master of Arts in Conflict Transformation, a dual Master of Divinity/MA in Conflict Transformation degree, and several graduate certificates. EMU also offers an accelerated 5-year BA in Peacebuilding and Development/MA in Conflict Transformation. Additional graduate programs are offered at Georgetown University, Johns Hopkins University, Creighton University, the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and Trinity College Dublin. George Mason University's Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution offers BA, BS, MS, and PhD degrees in Conflict Analysis and Resolution, as well as an undergraduate minor, graduate certificates, and joint degree programs. Nova Southeastern University also offers a PhD in Conflict Analysis & Resolution, in both online and on-campus formats.
Conflict resolution is a growing area of interest in UK pedagogy, with teachers and students both encouraged to learn about mechanisms that lead to aggressive action and those that lead to peaceful resolution. The University of Law, one of the oldest common law training institutions in the world, offers a legal-focused master's degree in conflict resolution as an LL.M. (Conflict resolution).
Tel Aviv University offers two graduate degree programs in the field of conflict resolution, including the English-language International Program in Conflict Resolution and Mediation, allowing students to learn in a geographic region which is the subject of much research on international conflict resolution.
The Nelson Mandela Center for Peace & Conflict Resolution at Jamia Millia Islamia University, New Delhi, is one of the first centers for peace and conflict resolution to be established at an Indian university. It offers a two-year full-time MA course in Conflict Analysis and Peace-Building, as well as a PhD in Conflict and Peace Studies.
In Sweden Linnaeus University, Lund University and Uppsala University offer programs on bachelor, master and/or doctoral level in Peace and Conflict Studies. Uppsala University also hosts its own Department of Peace and Conflict Research, among other things occupied with running the conflict database UCDP (Uppsala Conflict Data Program).
See also
Civil resistance
Conflict continuum
Conflict early warning
Conflict management
Conflict resolution research
Conflict style inventory
Cost of conflict
Dialectic
Dialogue
Fair fighting
Family therapy
Gunnysacking
Interpersonal communication
Let the Wookiee win
Nonviolent Communication
Organizations
Center for the Study of Genocide, Conflict Resolution, and Human Rights
Conscience: Taxes for Peace not War is a London organisation that promotes peacebuilding as an alternative to military security
Crisis Management Initiative (CMI)
Heidelberg Institute for International Conflict Research
Peninsula Conflict Resolution Center
Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution
Search for Common Ground is one of the world's largest non-government organisations dedicated to conflict resolution
Seeds of Peace develops and empowers young leaders from regions of conflict to work towards peace through coexistence
United Network of Young Peacebuilders (UNOY) is a global non-governmental organization and youth network dedicated to the role of youth in peacebuilding and conflict resolution
University for Peace is a United Nations mandated organization and graduate school dedicated to conflict resolution and peace studies
Uppsala Conflict Data Program is an academic data collection project that provides descriptions of political violence and conflict resolution
Footnotes
References
Works cited
Augsburger, D. (1992). Conflict mediation across cultures. Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster / John Knox Press.
Bannon, I. & Paul Collier (Eds.). (2003). Natural resources and violent conflict: Options and actions. Washington, D.C: The World Bank.
Ury, F. & Rodger Fisher. (1981). Getting to yes: Negotiating agreement without giving in. New York, NY: Penguin Group.
Wilmot, W. & Jouyce Hocker. (2007). Interpersonal conflict. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Companies.
Bercovitch, Jacob and Jackson, Richard. 2009. Conflict Resolution in the Twenty-first Century: Principles, Methods, and Approaches. University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor.
de Waal, Frans B. M. and Angeline van Roosmalen. 1979. Reconciliation and consolation among chimpanzees. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 5: 55–66.
de Waal, Frans B. M. 1989. Peacemaking Among Primates. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.
de Waal, Frans B. M. and Filippo Aureli. 1996. Consolation, reconciliation, and a possible cognitive difference between macaques and chimpanzees. Reaching into thought: The minds of the great apes (Eds. Anne E. Russon, Kim A. Bard, Sue Taylor Parker), Cambridge University Press, New York, NY: 80–110.
Aureli, Filippo and Frans B. M. de Waal, eds. 2000. Natural Conflict Resolution. University of California Press, Berkeley, CA.
de Waal, Frans B. M. 2000. Primates––A natural heritage of conflict resolution. Science 289: 586–590.
Hicks, Donna. 2011. Dignity: The Essential Role It Plays in Resolving Conflict. Yale University Press
Lorenzen, Michael. 2006. Conflict Resolution and Academic Library Instruction. LOEX Quarterly 33, no. 1/2: 6–9, 11.
Winslade, John & Monk, Gerald. 2000. Narrative Mediation: A New Approach to Conflict Resolution. Jossey-Bass Publishers, San Francisco.
Bar-Siman-Tov, Yaacov (Ed.) (2004). From Conflict Resolution to Reconciliation. Oxford University Press
Tesler, Pauline. 2001, 2008. Collaborative Law: Achieving Effective Resolution in Divorce without Litigation (American Bar Association).
Tesler, Pauline and Thompson, Peggy. 2006. Collaborative Divorce: The Revolutionary New Way to Restructure Your Family, Resolve Legal Issues, and Move On with Your Life (Harper Collins).
Further reading
Conflict (process)
Dispute resolution
Family therapy
Interpersonal relationships
Reconciliation
|
412685
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darren%20Woodson
|
Darren Woodson
|
Darren Ray Woodson (born April 25, 1969) is an American former professional football player who was spent his entire career as a safety for the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL) from 1992 to 2003. He played college football for the Arizona State Sun Devils, and was selected by the Cowboys in the second round of the 1992 NFL Draft with the 37th overall pick.
Early years
Woodson was raised by his mother, Freddie Luke, in Maryvale, a West Phoenix neighborhood. A running back and linebacker at Maryvale High School, he earned All-Metro Division AAA and All-City honors as a senior, once scoring six touchdowns in a single game. He was a teammate of Phillippi Sparks, who would go on to play nine seasons in the NFL.
In August 2008, ESPNRISE.com named Woodson as one of the best high school players to ever come out of Arizona.
College career
According to a January 23, 1996, article in The New York Times, because Woodson failed to meet NCAA academic qualifications for a scholarship, he walked on at Arizona State University. According to the article, "Woodson built a reputation as a ferocious hitter with a keen eye for football."
An undersized linebacker who wore #6 in college, Woodson was coached by ASU linebackers coach Lovie Smith, future NFL head coach.
As a sophomore in 1989, he was voted the team's "Most Improved" player, after leading it in total tackles (122) and tackles for loss (5), including a 16 tackle game against Stanford University.
During his senior year, he showed his great athleticism by lining up during 2 games as a defensive end and playing on several occasions as an inside linebacker. Woodson finished his college career with 803 tackles and was invited to play on the Blue–Gray Football Classic.
A three-year starter at outside linebacker for the Sun Devils, Woodson earned honorable mention All-Pac-10 honors in 1989 and 1990, honorable mention All-America as a junior and All-Pac-10 second-team as a senior. He served as team captain as a senior in 1991 and earned a degree in criminal justice.
In 2005, he was inducted into the Arizona State University Hall of Fame. In April 2009, Woodson was inducted into the Arizona Sports Hall of Fame.
Professional career
Woodson participated at Arizona State's pro day and performed positional drills and ran a 4.38 in the 40-yard dash. Dallas Cowboys' defensive backs coach Dave Campo "spotted a linebacker who looked like a safety in waiting." and had Woodson perform defensive back drills. Woodson was considered to be an undersized linebacker prospect.
1992
The Dallas Cowboys selected Woodson in the second round (37th overall) of the 1992 NFL Draft. He was the third safety drafted in 1992 and was selected with one of the draft picks the Dallas Cowboys acquired from the Minnesota Vikings in the Herschel Walker trade. The Cowboys selected Woodson at the recommendation of defensive coordinator Dave Campo.
On July 27, 1992, the Dallas Cowboys signed Woodson to a four-year, $1.92 million contract. Throughout training camp, he competed to be a starting safety against James Washington. Head coach Jimmy Johnson named Woodson the backup strong safety to begin the regular season, behind Thomas Everett.
He made his professional regular season debut in the Dallas Cowboys' season-opening 23–10 win against the Washington Redskins. On November 8, 1992, Woodson made his first career start during a 37–3 win at the Detroit Lions in Week 10. On December 27, 1992, he made his first career sack on Bears' backup quarterback Will Furrer during the Cowboys' 27–14 victory against the Chicago Bears in Week 17. Woodson finished his rookie season in 1992 as a backup safety and an extra defensive back on the nickel defense. He also appeared on special teams and led team with 19 special teams tackles and had one sack on defense in 16 games and two starts.
The Dallas Cowboys finished the 1992 NFL season atop the NFC East with a 13–3 record and earned a first round bye. On January 10, 1993, Woodson appeared in his first career playoff game as the Cowboys defeated the Philadelphia Eagles 34–10 in the NFC Divisional Round. The following week, earned a 30–20 victory at the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship Game. On January 31, 1993, he played in Super Bowl XXVII where they defeated the Buffalo Bills 52–17.
1993
On August 2, 1993, Woodson broke his right forearm during the Cowboys' 13–7 preseason loss to the Minnesota Vikings and was expected to be sidelined for two months. During training camp, he competed for a role as a starting safety against James Washington and Thomas Everett. Head coach Jimmy Johnson named Woodson the backup strong safety to begin the regular season in 1993, behind Everett. Woodson made the decision to play with his broken forearm before it had fully healed. On September 26, 1993, it was reported that the Dallas Cowboys' head coach Jimmy Johnson named Woodson as the new starting strong safety after he started the last two games in place of James Washington. Everett replaced Washington as the starting free safety with Woodson taking over Everett's role as the starting strong safety.
On January 2, 1994, Woodson collected a season-high 18 combined tackles during a 16–13 victory at the New York Giants in Week 17. His 19 tackles earned him the record for second most tackles in a game in the Cowboys' franchise history. Woodson finished the 1993 NFL season with 102 combined tackles in 16 games and 15 starts. The Dallas Cowboys finished the 1993 season first in the NFC East with a 12–4 record and earned a first round bye. On January 16, 1994, Woodson started his first career playoff game and made seven combined tackles and an interception during the Cowboys' 27–17 win against the Green Bay Packers in the NFC Divisional Round. Woodson made his first career interception off a pass by Packers' quarterback Brett Favre during the game. The following week, he recorded four combined tackles during a 38–21 win against the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship Game. On January 30, 1994, Woodson started in Super Bowl XXVIII and made three combined tackles during their 30–13 win against the Buffalo Bills.
1994
On March 29, 1994, Dallas Cowboys' head coach Jimmy Johnson announced his decision to resign due to multiple disagreements with owner Jerry Jones. On March 31, 1994, Dallas Cowboys' owner Jerry Jones announced the hiring of former Oklahoma Sooners' head coach Barry Switzer as their new head coach. Switzer opted to retain Butch Davis as the Cowboys' defensive coordinator. Woodson was named the starting strong safety to start the regular season and started alongside free safety James Washington and cornerbacks Larry Brown and Kevin Smith.
On September 11, 1994, Woodson recorded eight combined tackles and made his first career regular season interception during a 20–17 win against the Houston Oilers in Week 2. Woodson intercepted a pass by Oilers'quarterback Bucky Richardson, that was intended for wide receiver Haywood Jeffires, and returned it for a three-yard gain in the third quarter. On October 9, 1994, Woodson made six combined tackles and a season-high two interceptions in the Cowboys' 38–3 victory against the Arizona Cardinals in Week 6. Woodson intercepted two passes by quarterback Jay Schroeder. In Week 8, he collected a season-high ten combined tackles in a 28–21 victory at the Arizona Cardinals. On December 4, 1994, Woodson recorded four combined tackles and an returned an interception for his first career touchdown during the Cowboys' 31–19 win at the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 14. Woodson started in all 16 games in 1994 and recorded 78 combined tackles, a career-high five interceptions, and two forced fumbles.
The Dallas Cowboys finished first in the NFC East with a 12–4 record and earned a first round bye. On January 8, 1995, Woodson made five combined tackles as the Cowboys defeated the Green Bay Packers 35–9 in the NFC Divisional Round. The following week, he recorded four combined tackles during a 38–28 loss at the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship Game.
1995
Defensive backs coach Dave Campo was promoted to defensive coordinator after Butch Davis accepted the head coaching position with the University of Miami. Head coach Barry Switzer named Woodson the starting strong safety in 1995 and paired him with free safety Brock Marion. They started alongside cornerbacks Larry Brown and Deion Sanders. In Week 3, he collected a season-high nine combined tackles during a 23–17 win at the Minnesota Vikings. On October 1, 1995, Woodson recorded nine combined tackles, forced a fumble, and returned an interception for a touchdown in the Cowboys' 27–23 loss to the Washington Redskins in Week 5. Woodson intercepted a pass by Redskins' quarterback Gus Frerotte, that was intended for defensive end Tony Woods and returned it for a 37-yard touchdown in the second quarter. He started in all 16 games in 1995 and recorded 94 combined tackles, two interceptions, and a touchdown. Woodson was selected to play in the 1996 Pro Bowl, marking the first selection of his career.
The Dallas Cowboys finished first in the NFC East with a 12–4 record and earned a first round bye. On January 7, 1996, Woodson made six combined tackles during a 30–11 victory against the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC Divisional Round. The following week, he made six combined tackles as the Cowboys defeated the Green Bay Packers 38–27 in the NFC Championship Game. On January 28, 1996, Woodson made ten combined tackles as the Cowboys defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XXX. He earned his third Super Bowl victory in four seasons.
1996
On February 15, 1996, the Dallas Cowboys signed Woodson to a six-year, $18 million contract that includes a signing bonus of $5.40 million.
Woodson and Brock Marion returned as the Cowboys' starting safety duo in 1996. They started alongside cornerbacks Deion Sanders and Kevin Smith. In Week 8, he collected a season-high 11 combined tackles in the Cowboys' 32–28 win against the Atlanta Falcons. On December 15, 1996, Woodson recorded six combined tackles, forced a fumble, and made a season-high two interceptions during a 12–6 victory against the New England Patriots in Week 16. Woodson started in all 16 games in 1996 and recorded 78 combined tackles, five interceptions, and made a career-high three sacks. The Dallas Cowboys finished first in the NFC East with a 10–6 record, but were eliminated from the playoffs after losing 26–17 to the Carolina Panthers in the NFC Divisional Round.
1997
Head coach Barry Switzer retained the starting secondary in 1997. On September 7, 1997, Woodson recorded nine combined tackles, forced two fumbles, and made a sack as the Cowboys lost 25–22 at the Arizona Cardinals in Week 2. The following week, he collected a season-high ten combined tackles during a 21–20 victory against the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 3. Woodson was inactive for the Cowboys' Week 9 loss at the Philadelphia Eagles due to an injury. He was also sidelined for Dallas' Week 14 loss to the Tennessee Oilers after sustaining an injury the previous week. Woodson finished the 1997 season with 73 combined tackles, two sacks, and an interception in 14 games and 14 starts. He was also selected to play in the 1998 Pro Bowl.
1998
On January 9, 1998, Dallas Cowboys' head coach Barry Switzer announced his decision to resign stating it was in the best interest of the team after they failed to make the playoffs with a 6–10 record in 1997. On February 13, 1998, the Dallas Cowboys hired former Pittsburgh Steelers' offensive coordinator Chan Gailey as their new head coach. Gailey named Woodson the starting strong safety to begin the regular season, alongside free safety Omar Stoutmire.
In Week 11, he collected a season-high ten combined tackles during the Cowboys' 35–28 victory at the Arizona Cardinals. Woodson finished the 1998 NFL season with 77 combined tackles, three sacks, and an interception in 16 games and 15 starts. Woodson was selected to play in the 1999 Pro Bowl. The Dallas Cowboys finished first in the NFC East with a 10–6 record, but were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs after losing 20–7 to the Arizona Cardinals in the NFC Wildcard Game. Woodson recorded two tackles and intercepted a pass by Cardinals' quarterback Jake Plummer during the game.
1999
Woodson returned as the starting strong safety, but was paired with free safety George Teague. Woodson was sidelined for the Cowboys' Week 5 loss at the Philadelphia Eagles. In Week 15, he collected a season-high ten combined tackles during a 22–21 loss to the New York Jets. Woodson completed the 1999 NFL season with 70 combined tackles, two interceptions, two forced fumbles, and a sack in 15 games and 15 starts. The Dallas Cowboys finished second in their division with an 8–8 record and earned a wildcard berth, but we're eliminated in the first round after a 27–10 loss at the Minnesota Vikings in the NFC Wildcard Game.
2000
On January 12, 2000, the Dallas Cowboys fired head coach Chan Gailey due to a second first round exit from the playoffs. On January 26, 2000, Dallas Cowboys' owner Jerry Jones officially promoted defensive coordinator Dave Campo to head coach. Campo was instrumental in drafting
and converting Woodson and previously served as his position coach and coordinator.
On September 21, 2000, Woodson collected a season-high nine combined tackles, but was ejected during a 41–21 loss against the San Francisco 49ers in Week 4. Woodson was ejected after he became upset when officials didn't call a penalty on 49ers' center Jeremy Newberry. Newberry had stepped on Woodson's chest after the whistle blew, kicked the ball, and also threw his helmet. On November 19, 2000, Woodson recorded five combined tackles, but fractured his forearm during the Cowboys' 27–0 loss at the Baltimore Ravens in Week 12. Woodson was inactive for the last five games of the regular season (Weeks 13–17) due to his fractured forearm. He finished the season with 71 combined tackles and two interceptions in 11 games and 11 starts.
2001
On February 28, 2001, the Dallas Cowboys signed Woodson to a five-year, $20 million contract that includes a signing bonus of $5 million.
Woodson and George Teague returned as the starting safety tandem in 2001 under defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer. He started in the Dallas Cowboys' season-opener against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and collected a season-high eight combined tackles and intercepted a pass in the Cowboys' 10–6 loss. In Week 10, Woodson tied his season-high of eight solo tackles, deflected two passes, and made an interception during a 36–3 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. He started in all 16 games in 2001 and recorded 87 combined tackles (76 solo), seven pass deflections, and three interceptions.
2002
Head coach Dave Campo retained Woodson as the starting strong safety in 2002, alongside starting free safety and rookie first round pick Roy Williams. In Week 3, he collected a season-high nine combined tackles during the Cowboys' 44–13 loss at the Philadelphia Eagles. On October 22, 2002, Woodson delivered a devastating hit to Seahawks' wide receiver Darrell Jackson. The crown of Woodson's helmet hit Jackson under his chin. The blow knocked Jackson unconscious and he had a seizure in the locker room. Seattle Seahawks' head coach Mike Holmgren stated Jackson almost died in the locker room as medical personnel struggled to keep his airway open while he was having a seizure for 40 minutes. A spokesman for the Seahawks later stated Jackson was never in immediate danger of dying because his heart was beating and he continued to breathe. The spokesman also stated that head coach Mike Holmgren meant to convey that Jackson could have died. Jackson was diagnosed with a concussion and was sidelined for a month, but stated he would not classify Woodson's blow as a "cheapshot". Woodson was subsequently fined $75,000 by the NFL. He also surpassed the Dallas Cowboys' franchise record for career tackles against the Seattle Seahawks. On November 17, 2002, Woodson sustained an abdominal injury during the Cowboys' 20–3 loss at the Indianapolis Colts in Week 11. On November 26, 2002, the Dallas Cowboys placed Woodson on injured reserve for the remaining five games of the regular season (Weeks 12–17). On December 30, 2002, the Dallas Cowboys fired head coach Dave Campo after they finished the 2002 season with a 5–11 record. He finished the season with 49 combined tackles (40 solo), a pass deflection, and an interception in ten games and ten starts.
2003
On March 26, 2003, the Dallas Cowboys hired Bill Parcells as their new head coach. Head coach Bill Parcells retained Woodson and Roy Williams as the starting safeties in 2003. In Week 8, he collected a season-high ten combined tackles (seven solo) during a 16–0 loss at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. On December 7, 2003, Woodson made six solo tackles and a season-high three pass deflections in the Cowboys' 36–10 loss at the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 14. He started in all 16 games in 2003 and recorded 85 combined tackles (65 solo), 14 pass deflections, an interception, and a sack.
2004
On July 27, 2004, Woodson underwent surgery to remove a herniated disc and was unable to physically participate in training camp. He sustained the injury while working out the previous week. On September 6, 2004, the Dallas Cowboys placed Woodson on their Physically unable to participate list and he remained inactive for all 16 games.
Retirement
On December 29, 2004, Woodson officially announced his retirement from the NFL. He was the last remaining member of the Dallas Cowboys' dynasty. He retired as the Dallas Cowboys' all-time leading tackler with 813 career tackles.
At the press conference to announce Woodson's retirement, Bill Parcells, then head coach of the Cowboys, said: "[Woodson is] the kind of guy that makes this profession something that you like to engage in. He's the epitome of a professional. He does epitomize that in every sense. What he did in playing and his approach to the game."
During his retirement press conference, Woodson said, "When I put that helmet on, I laid it on the line. Not just for this team, but for everyone here. I laid it on the line every time I put that helmet on. I wanted to win so bad, that nothing else really mattered. The most important thing was giving everything I had each time I stepped out on the field. And I think I did that."
Hall of Fame consideration
In October 2008, Woodson became a first-time candidate on the Pro Football Hall of Fame's preliminary list. In September 2011, he was included on the preliminary list of nominees for the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2012.
In February 2011, ESPN.com writer Tim MacMahon wrote that Woodson "deserves serious Hall of Fame consideration and should join the Triplets on the modern side of the Dallas Cowboys Ring of Honor."
On August 4, 2015, the Dallas Cowboys announced that Woodson would be inducted into the Cowboys Ring of Honor. The official ceremony took place Nov 1 against the Seahawks at AT&T Stadium. Woodson is the eighth defensive player inducted into the Ring of Honor, and just the second who played in the 1990s era, along with Charles Haley.
NFL career statistics
Style of play
The only Cowboys player to suit up for both Jimmy Johnson and Bill Parcells, Woodson had a rare ability to play both the run and the pass. According to an article from July 3, 2009, on DallasCowboys.com, "While Woodson delivered his share of big-time hits from the safety position, he was always the team's slot cornerback, covering receivers inside, which is considered to be the toughest spot on the field. In today's game, most teams put their best cover corner in the slot, but Woodson did that for years from the safety position. With that, it helped the Cowboys stop the run as well, having a safety that close to the line of scrimmage without being a liability in coverage."
In a December 30, 2004, article published in Knight Ridder newspapers, Clarence Hill described Woodson as "the most versatile safety in the league and arguably the best in (Dallas Cowboys) history."
An October 31, 1994, article in Sports Illustrated described Woodson as "a masher who doubles as an outside linebacker in passing situations" and "the most productive player on the best defense in the NFL." According to the author, "A combination of strength, brute-force hitting and speed—4.35 seconds in the 40—makes Woodson the most versatile player on the Super Bowl champions."
Former Cowboys coach Jimmy Johnson described Woodson as "a player who could hit, tackle and take charge of a secondary. He did all those things with authority. He made his presence known on the football field, but played within the scheme and played smart."
Personal life
Woodson has two sons, Darren Jr. and Jaden, and a daughter, Miranda from a previous marriage, and resides in Dallas, where he serves as a board member of Make a Wish Foundation (North Texas). On June 16, 2016, Jaden committed to play baseball at Texas. Since his retirement, Woodson has worked as a football analyst for ESPN, appearing on programs such as NFL Live, SportsCenter, and First Take.
Woodson grew up in Phoenix and
was the youngest of four siblings raised by his mother, Freddie Luke. He was a fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers and admitted in a New York Times article he couldn't stand the Cowboys. He decided to hit some golf balls while waiting to be drafted in 1992 and had his friend page him when he was selected. His friend told Woodson, "There's good news and bad news." Woodson asked for the bad news first and his friend replied "You were drafted by the Cowboys." He replied "I don't care. I'm just happy I was picked." Woodson was childhood friends with Phillippi Sparks and Kevin Miniefield and played alongside them at Arizona State. During his college career, he earned a degree in criminal justice at Arizona State.
In October 2011 Woodson became a founder of GuideHop, an online marketplace for guided tours and activities.
References
External links
Woodson Was More Than A Safety
Top 10: Ranking Best Cowboys Safeties In Franchise History
Darren Woodson Official Website
1969 births
Living people
American football safeties
Arizona State Sun Devils football players
Dallas Cowboys players
ESPN people
National Conference Pro Bowl players
National Football League announcers
Players of American football from Phoenix, Arizona
|
412700
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sing%20Sing
|
Sing Sing
|
Sing Sing Correctional Facility, formerly Ossining Correctional Facility, is a maximum-security prison operated by the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision in the village of Ossining, New York. It is about north of New York City on the east bank of the Hudson River. It holds about 1,700 inmates and housed the execution chamber for the State of New York until the abolition of capital punishment in New York in 1977.
The name "Sing Sing" was derived from the Sintsink Native American tribe from whom the land was purchased in 1685, and was formerly the name of the village. In 1970, the prison's name was changed to the Ossining Correctional Facility, but it reverted to its original name in 1985. There are plans to convert the original 1825 cell block into a period museum.
The prison property is bisected by the Metro-North Railroad's four-track Hudson Line.
History
Early years
Sing Sing was the fifth prison constructed by New York state authorities. In 1824, the New York Legislature gave Elam Lynds, warden of Auburn Prison and a former United States Army captain, the task of constructing a new, more modern prison. Lynds spent months researching possible locations for the prison, considering Staten Island, the Bronx, and Silver Mine Farm, an area in the town of Mount Pleasant on the banks of the Hudson River.
By May, Lynds had decided to build a prison on Mount Pleasant, near (and thus named after) a small village in Westchester County named Sing Sing, whose name came from the Wappinger (Native American) words sinck sinck which translates to 'stone upon stone'. In March 1825, the legislature appropriated $20,100 to purchase the site, and the project received the official stamp of approval. Lynds selected 100 inmates from the Auburn prison for transfer and had them transported by barge via the Erie Canal and down the Hudson River to freighters. On their arrival on May 14, the site was "without a place to receive them or a wall to enclose them"; "temporary barracks, a cook house, carpenter and blacksmith's shops" were rushed to completion.
When it was opened in 1826, it was considered a model prison because it turned a profit for the state. By October 1828, Sing Sing was completed. Lynds employed the Auburn system, which imposed absolute silence on the prisoners; the system was enforced by whipping and other punishments. It was John Luckey, the prison chaplain around 1843, who held the principal keeper of Sing Sing, Elam Lynds, accountable to New York Governor William H. Seward and the president of the board of inspectors, John Edmonds, to have Lynds removed. Chaplain Luckey proceeded to create a great religious library. His purpose was to teach correct moral principles. His religious library was challenged in 1844 when John Edmonds placed Eliza Farnham in charge of the women's ward at Sing Sing.
In 1844, the New York Prison Association was inaugurated to monitor state prison administration. The NY Prison Association was made up of reformers interested in the rehabilitation and humane treatment of prisoners. Farnham was able to obtain the job largely on the recommendation of these reformers. Farnham overturned the strictly silent practice in prison and introduced social engagement to shift concern more toward the future instead of dwelling on the criminal past. She included novels by Charles Dickens in Chaplain Luckey's religious library, novels the chaplain did not approve of. This was the first documented expansion of the prison library to include moral teachings from secular literature.
Since 1900
Thomas Mott Osborne's tenure as warden of Sing Sing was brief but dramatic. Osborne arrived in 1914 with a reputation as a radical prison reformer. His report of a week-long incognito stay inside New York's Auburn Prison indicted traditional prison administration in merciless detail.
Prisoners who had bribed officers and intimidated other inmates lost their privileges under Osborne's regime. One of them conspired with powerful political allies to destroy Osborne's reputation, even succeeding in getting him indicted for a variety of crimes and maladministration. After Osborne triumphed in court, his return to Sing Sing was a cause for wild celebration by the inmates.
Another notable warden was Lewis Lawes. He was offered the position of warden in 1919, accepted in January 1920, and remained for 21 years as Sing Sing's warden. While warden, Lawes brought about reforms and turned what was described as an "old hellhole" into a modern prison with sports teams, educational programs, new methods of discipline, and more. Several new buildings were constructed during the years Lawes was warden. Lawes retired in 1941 and died six years later.
In 1943, the old cellblock was closed and the metal bars and doors were donated to the war effort.
In 1989, the institution was accredited for the first time by the American Correctional Association, which established a set of national standards by which it judged every correctional facility. , Sing Sing houses approximately 1,500 inmates, employs about 900 people, and has hosted over 5,000 visitors per month. The original 1825 cell block is no longer used and in 2002 plans were announced to turn it into a museum. In April 2011 there were talks of closing the prison to take advantage of its valuable real estate.
Executions
In total, 614 men and women – including four inmates under federal death sentences – were executed by electric chair at Sing Sing until the abolition of the death penalty in 1972. After a series of escapes from death row, a new Death House was built in 1920 and began executions in 1922. High profile executions in Sing Sing's electric chair, nicknamed "Old Sparky", include Julius and Ethel Rosenberg on June 19, 1953, for espionage for the Soviet Union on nuclear weapon research; and Gerhard Puff on August 12, 1954, for the murder of an FBI agent. The last person executed in New York state was Eddie Lee Mays, for murder, on August 15, 1963.
In 1972, the United States Supreme Court ruled in Furman v. Georgia that the death penalty was unconstitutional if its application was inconsistent and arbitrary. This led to a temporary de facto nationwide moratorium (executions resumed in other states in 1977, and the death penalty was reinstated and abolished in New York in various forms over subsequent years ), but the electric chair at Sing Sing remained. In the early 1970s, the electric chair was moved to Green Haven Correctional Facility in working condition, but was never used again.
Educational programs
In 2013, Sing Sing Superintendent Michael Capra and NBC producer Dan Slepian working with a group of 12 incarcerated men to start a program called "Voices From Within", created by Jon-Adrian Velazquez in an effort to "redefine what it means to pay a debt to society"
Their first project was an emotional video about gun violence, where the men spoke directly to the youth in the communities from which they came. Slepian released the video in 2014 TEDxTalk at Sing Sing. The video is currently being used by various non-profits and law enforcement agencies to help prevent gun violence.
In 1996, Katherine Vockins founded Rehabilitation Through the Arts (RTA) at Sing Sing, enabling theater professionals to provide prisoners with a curriculum of year-round theater-related workshops. It has produced several plays at Sing Sing open to prisoners and community guests and has shown that the use of dramatic techniques leads to significant improvements in the cognitive behavior of the program's participants and a reduction in recidivism once paroled. Its impact on social and institutional behavior was formally evaluated by the John Jay College for Criminal Justice, in collaboration with the NY State Department of Corrections. Led by Dr. Lorraine Moller, Professor of Speech and Drama at John Jay, the study found that it had a positive impact on prisoner Pavle Stanimirovic, one of the program's first participants, that "the longer the inmate was in the program, the fewer violations he committed." RTA currently operates at five other New York state prisons.
The Rehabilitation Through the Arts program is dramatized in the 2023 drama film Sing Sing, starring Colman Domingo alongside a cast of mainly real-life former inmates.
The organization, Hudson Link for Higher Education in Prison, provides college courses to incarcerated people to help reduce recidivism and poverty and strengthen families and communities. In 1998, as part of the get-tough-on-crime campaign, state and federal funding for college programs inside the prison was stopped. Understanding the positive effects of education in the transformation and rehabilitation of incarcerated people, inmates at Sing Sing Correctional Facility reached out to religious and academic volunteers to develop a college degree-granting program. Under Anne Reissner, Hudson Link for Higher Education in Prison was founded to restore college education at Sing Sing through private funding.
Football team
In 1931, new prison reforms permitted Sing Sing State Penitentiary prisoners to partake in recreation opportunities. The baseball and football teams, and the vaudeville presentations and concerts, were funded through revenue from paid attendance. Tim Mara, the owner of the New York Giants, sponsored the Sing Sing Black Sheep, Sing Sing's football team. Mara provided equipment and uniforms and players to tutor them in fundamentals. He helped coach them the first season. Known as the Black Sheep, they were also sometimes called the Zebras. All games were "home" games, played at Lawes Stadium, named for Warden Lewis E. Lawes. In 1935, the starting quarterback and two other starters escaped the morning before a game.
Alabama Pitts was their starting quarterback and star for the first four seasons, but then finished his sentence. Upon release, Alabama Pitts played for the Philadelphia Eagles in 1935. In 1932, "graduate" Jumbo Morano was signed by the Giants and played for the Paterson Nighthawks of the Eastern Football League. In 1934, State Commissioner of Correction, Walter N. Thayer banned the advertising of activities at the prison, including football games. On November 19, 1936, a new rule banned ticket sales. No revenues would be derived from show and sports event ticketing. These funds had been paying for disbursements to prisoners' families, especially the kin of those executed, and for equipment and coaches' salaries. With this new edict, the season ended and prisoners were no longer allowed to play football outside Sing Sing.
Museum
Plans to turn a portion of Sing Sing into a museum date back to 2002, when local officials sought to turn the old powerhouse into the museum, linked by a tunnel to a retired cell block, for $5 million. In 2007, the village of Ossining applied for $12.5 million in federal money for the project, at the time expected to cost $14 million. The proposed museum would display the Sing Sing story as it unfolded over time.
Contribution to American English
The expression "up the river" to describe someone in prison or heading to prison derives from the practice of sentencing people convicted in New York City to serve their terms in Sing Sing, which is located up the Hudson River from the city. The slang expression dates from 1891.
Gallery
Notable inmates
Frank Abbandando and Harry Maione, hitmen and members of Murder, Inc., both executed in 1942.
George Appo, 19th-century pickpocket and con artist.
Charles Becker, NYPD Lieutenant convicted for the murder of Herman Rosenthal and executed at Sing Sing on July 30, 1915.
Maria Barbella, the second woman sentenced to death by electric chair. The sentence was later overruled and Barbella was set free.
Robert Bierenbaum, convicted in October 2000 of having murdered his estranged wife, Gail Katz-Bierenbaum, 15 years earlier.
Louis Buchalter, American mobster and head of Murder, Inc. who served 18 months at Sing Sing for grand larceny. On January 22, 1920, he returned to Sing Sing on a 30 month sentence for attempted burglary. Buchalter was released on March 16, 1922. He was later executed for murder in 1944.
Elmer "Trigger" Burke, hitman, executed in 1958.
Louis Capone and Emanuel Weiss, members of Murder, Inc., both executed in 1944.
Frank Cirofici, Harry Horowitz, Jacob Seidenshner, and Louis Rosenberg, accomplices of Charles Becker, were all executed in 1914.
Charles Chapin, editor of New York Evening World, popularly known as the "Rose Man of Sing Sing".
Mary Frances Creighton, suspected serial killer, executed, along with Everett Applegate, in 1936.
Monk Eastman, New York gangster and leader of the Eastman Gang, was sentenced to 10 years at Sing Sing in 1904.
Raymond Fernandez and Martha Beck, so-called Lonely Heart Killers, were both executed in 1951.
Albert Fish, early-20th century American serial killer, child rapist, and cannibal, executed in 1936.
Paul Geidel, formerly, the longest-serving prison inmate in the United States whose sentence ended with his parole, who served 68 years and 296 days in various New York state prisons.
Martin Goldstein and Harry Strauss, hitmen and members of Murder, Inc., were both executed in 1941.
Mary Jones, a 19th-century transgender prostitute who was a center of media attention for coming to court wearing feminine attire.
Leroy Keith, serial killer, executed in 1959.
Fritz Julius Kuhn, German former leader of the German American Bund, incarcerated at Sing Sing various times between 1939-1945 and deported to Germany.
Angelo LaMarca, convicted of the kidnapping and murder of Peter Weinberger, executed in 1958.
James Larkin, political activist and union leader sentenced to five to ten years in Sing Sing prison for "criminal anarchy" in 1919.
Charles "Lucky" Luciano, head of the Genovese crime family convicted on 62 counts of compulsory prostitution in 1936. Was later moved to Clinton Correctional Facility, until he was deported back to Italy.
Eddie Lee Mays, executed in 1963, became the last person executed in New York.
George C. Parker, infamous con man known for "selling" the Brooklyn Bridge.
John Roche, serial killer and rapist, executed in 1956.
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, executed in 1953 for conspiring to pass secrets of the American atomic bomb project to the Soviet Union during World War II.
Norman Roye, serial killer and rapist, executed in 1956.
Hans Schmidt, executed in 1916, was the only Roman Catholic priest executed in the United States.
Tony Sirico, actor known for his role as Paulie Gaultieri on the critically acclaimed television series The Sopranos, convicted of felony weapons possession and served 20 months of his four-year sentence at Sing Sing.
Ruth Snyder, executed along with Henry Judd Gray in 1928, Snyder's execution was illegally photographed.
Willie Sutton, career criminal who escaped December 11, 1932.
Joseph Valachi, member of the American Mafia, served his first prison sentence (of approximately one year) at Sing Sing before he was 20 years old.
Jon-Adrian Velazquez, serving a 25 years to life sentence after murder conviction, released in 2021.
Ferdinand Ward, Gilded Age swindler who ran a New York City investment firm with Ulysses S. Grant Jr., son of former President of the United States Ulysses S. Grant, revealed to be a Ponzi scheme that bankrupted the Grant family in 1884.
Richard Whitney served a sentence for embezzlement at Sing Sing from 1938 until 1941.
Frederick Charles Wood, serial killer, executed in 1963.
See also
List of reduplicated place names
Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum, which contains one of Sing Sing's electric chairs
References
Further reading
Barnes, Harry Elmer. The Repression of Crime: Studies in Historical Penology. Montclair, NJ: Patterson Smith.
Blumenthal, Ralph. Miracle at Sing Sing: How One Man Transformed the Lives of America's Most Dangerous Prisoners. (2005)
Brian, Denis. Sing Sing: The Inside Story of a Notorious Prison. (2005)
Brockway, Zebulon Reed. Fifty Years of Prison Service. Montclair, NJ: Patterson Smith.
Christianson, Scott. Condemned: Inside the Sing Sing Death House. (2000)
Conover, Ted. Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing (2000)
Conyes, Alfred. Fifty Years in Sing Sing: A Personal Account, 1879–1929. SUNY Press (2015).
Gado, Mark. Death Row Women. (2008)
Goeway, David. Crash Out: The True Tale of a Hell's Kitchen Kid and the Bloodiest Escape in Sing Sing History. (2005)
Lawes, Lewis E. Twenty Thousand Years in Sing Sing. New York: Ray Long & Richard H. Smith, Inc., 1932.
Lawes, Lewis E. Life and Death in Sing Sing. Garden City, NY: Garden City Publishing Co., 1928
Luckey, John. Life in Sing Sing State Prison, as seen in a Twelve Years' Chaplaincy. New York: N. Tibbals & Co., 1860.
McLennan, Rebecca M. The Crisis of Imprisonment: Protest, Politics, and the Making of the Penal State, 1776–1941. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2008.
Morris, James McGrath. The Rose Man of Sing Sing: A True Tale of Life, Murder, and Redemption in the Age of Yellow Journalism.(2003)
Papa, Anthony. 15 to Life: How I Painted My Way To Freedom (2004)
Pereira, Al Bermudez. Sing Sing State Prison, One Day, One Lifetime (2006)
Pereira, Al Bermudez. Ruins of a Society and the Honorable (2009)
Weinstein, Lewis M. A Good Conviction. (2007) (fiction)
External links
Facility Listing – New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision
"All about Sing Sing Prison" by Mark Gado from The Crime Library
New York Corrections History Society
Town of Ossining, NY – Town History
"The History of Sing Sing Prison" Half Moon Press, May 2000 issue
Rehabilitation Through the Arts homepage
Tocqueville in Ossining – Segment from C-SPAN's Alexis de Tocqueville Tour
C-SPAN's Inside the Sing Sing Prison, June 6, 1997
Unedited footage from C-SPAN's Sing Sing documentary
Mug shots of prisoners and photos of the prison 1920–1941 (digitized images) from the Lewis Lawes Papers, Lloyd Sealy Library Digital Collections
Sing Sing Prison Museum website
1828 establishments in New York (state)
Buildings and structures in Westchester County, New York
Prisons in New York (state)
Capital punishment in New York (state)
|
412719
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music%20of%20Georgia%20%28country%29
|
Music of Georgia (country)
|
Georgia has rich and still vibrant traditional music, which is primarily known as arguably the earliest polyphonic tradition of the Christian world. Situated on the border of Europe and Asia, Georgia is also the home of a variety of urban singing styles with a mixture of native polyphony, Middle Eastern monophony and late European harmonic languages. Georgian performers are well represented in the world's leading opera troupes and concert stages.
Folk music
The folk music of Georgia consists of at least fifteen regional styles, known in Georgian musicology and ethnomusicology as "musical dialects". According to Edisher Garaqanidze, there are sixteen regional styles in Georgia. These sixteen regions are traditionally grouped into two, eastern and western Georgian groups.
The Eastern Georgian group of musical dialects consists of the two biggest regions of Georgia, Kartli and Kakheti (Garakanidze united them as "Kartli-Kakheti"); several smaller north-east Georgian mountain regions, Khevsureti, Pshavi, Tusheti, Khevi, Mtiuleti, Gudamakari; and a southern Georgian region, Meskheti. Table songs from Kakheti in eastern Georgia usually feature a long drone bass with two soloists singing the top two parts. Perhaps the best-known example of music in Kakhetian style is the patriotic "Chakrulo", which was chosen to accompany the Voyager spacecraft in 1977. Known performers from the north-eastern region Khevsureti are the singers Dato Kenchiashvili and Teona Qumsiashvili (-2012).
The Western Georgian group of musical dialects consists of the central region of western Georgia, Imereti; three mountainous regions, Svaneti, Racha and Lechkhumi; and three Black Sea coastal regions, Samegrelo, Guria, and Achara. Georgian regional styles of music are sometimes also grouped into mountain and plain groups. Different scholars (Arakishvili, Chkhikvadze, Maisuradze) distinguish musical dialects differently, for example, some do not distinguish Gudamakari and Lechkhumi as separate dialects, and some consider Kartli and Kakheti to be separate dialects. Two more regions, Saingilo (in the territory of Azerbaijan) and Lazeti (in the territory of Turkey) are sometimes also included in the characteristics of Georgian traditional music.
Traditional vocal polyphony
Georgian folk music is predominantly vocal and is widely known for its rich traditions of vocal polyphony. It is widely accepted in contemporary musicology that polyphony in Georgian music predates the introduction of Christianity in Georgia (beginning of the 4th century AD). All regional styles of Georgian music have traditions of vocal a cappella polyphony, although in the most southern regions (Meskheti and Lazeti) only historical sources provide the information about the presence of vocal polyphony before the 20th century.
Vocal polyphony based on ostinato formulas and rhythmic drone are widely distributed in all Georgian regional styles. Apart from these common techniques, there are also other, more complex forms of polyphony: pedal drone polyphony in Eastern Georgia, particularly in Kartli and Kakheti table songs (two highly embellished melodic lines develop rhythmically free on the background of pedal drone), and contrapuntal polyphony in Achara, Imereti, Samegrelo, and particularly in Guria (three and four part polyphony with highly individualized melodic lines in each part and the use of several polyphonic techniques). Western Georgian contrapuntal polyphony features the local variety of the yodel, known as krimanchuli.
Both east and west Georgian polyphony is based on wide use of sharp dissonant harmonies (seconds, fourths, sevenths, ninths). Because of the wide use of the specific chord consisting of the fourth and a second on top of the fourth (C-F-G), the founder of Georgian ethnomusicology, Dimitri Arakishvili called this chord the "Georgian Triad". Georgian music is also known for colorful modulations and unusual key changes.
Georgian polyphonic singing was among the first on the list of Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity in 2001. Georgian polyphonic singing was relisted on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2008. It was inscribed on the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Georgia registry in 2011.
Scales and tuning system
There are different, sometimes conflicting views on the nature of Georgian scales. The most prevalent is the view expressed by Vladimer Gogotishvili, who suggested distinguishing diatonic scales based on a system of perfect fourths and those based on a system of perfect fifths. A system based on perfect fourths is mostly present in Eastern Georgia, but scales based on perfect fifths are spread wider, both in eastern and particularly western Georgia, as well as in Georgian Christian chants. In East Georgian table songs the scale system is based on a combination of the systems of fourth and fifth diatonic scales. In such songs the principle of the fourth diatonic scale is working above the pedal drone, and the system of the fifth diatonic is working under the pedal drone. Because of the peculiarity of the scale system based on perfect fifths, there is often an augmented octave in Georgian songs and church-songs. As in many traditional musical systems, tuning of Georgian scales is not based on the Western classical equally tempered 12-tone tuning system. The fifth is usually perfect, but the second, third and fourth are different from Classical intervals, producing a slightly compressed (compared to most European music) major second, a neutral third, and a slightly stretched fourth. Likewise, between the fifth and the octave come two evenly spaced notes, producing a slightly compressed major sixth and a stretched minor seventh.
Because of the strong influence of Western European music, present-day performers of Georgian folk music often employ Western tuning, bringing the seconds, fourths, sixths, and sevenths, and sometimes the thirds as well, closer to the standard equally tempered scale. This process started from the very first professional choir, organized in Georgia in 1886 (so called "Agniahsvili choro"). From the 1980s some ensembles (most notably the Georgian ensembles "Mtiebi" and "Anchiskhati", and the American ensemble Kavkasia) have tried to re-introduce the original non-tempered traditional tuning system. In some regions (most notably in Svaneti) some traditional singers still sing in the old, non-tempered tuning system.
Social setting
Singing is mostly a community activity in Georgia, and during big celebrations (for example, weddings) all the community is expected to participate in singing. Traditionally, top melodic parts are performed by individual singers, but the bass can have dozens or even hundreds of singers. There are also songs (usually more complex) that require a very small number of performers. Out of them the tradition of "trio" (three singers only) is very popular in western Georgia, particularly in Guria.
Georgian folk songs are often centered around banquet-like feasts called supra, where songs and toasts to God, peace, motherland, long life, love, friendship and other topics are proposed. Traditional feast songs include "Zamtari" ("Winter"), which is about the transient nature of life and is sung to commemorate ancestors, and a great number of "Mravalzhamier" songs. As many traditional activities greatly changed their nature (for example, working processes), the traditional feast became the harbor for many different genres of music. Work songs are widespread in all regions. The orovela, for example is a specific solo work song found in eastern Georgia only. The extremely complex three and four part working song naduri is characteristic of western Georgia. There are a great number of healing songs, funerary ritual songs, wedding songs, love songs, dance songs, lullabies, traveling songs. Many archaic songs are connected to round dances.
Contemporary Georgian stage choirs are generally male, though some female groups also exist; mixed-gender choirs are rare, but also exist. (An example of the latter is the Zedashe ensemble, based in Sighnaghi, Kakheti.) At the same time, in village ensembles mixed participation is more common, and according to Zakaria Paliashvili, in the most isolated region of Georgia, Upper Svaneti, mixed performance of folk songs were a common practice.
Performance practices
Georgian vocal polyphony was maintained for millennia by village singers, mostly local farmers. From the end of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century a great number of gramophone recordings of Georgian village singers were made. Anzor Erkomaishvili was paramount in recovering these recordings and re-issuing them on a series of CDs. Despite the poor technical quality of the old recordings, they often serve as the model of high mastery of the performance of Georgian traditional songs for contemporary ensembles.
During the Soviet period (1921–1991), folk music was highly praised, and revered folk musicians were awarded with governmental prizes and were given salaries. At the same time some genres were forbidden (particularly Christian church-songs), and the tendency to create huge regional choirs with big groups singing each melodic part damaged the improvisatory nature of Georgian folk music. Also, singing and dancing, usually closely interconnected in rural life, were separated on a concert stage. From the 1950s and the 1960s new type of ensembles (Shvidkatsa, Gordela) brought back the tradition of smaller ensembles and improvisation.
Since the 1970s, Georgian folk music has been introduced to a wider audience in different countries around the world. The ensembles Rustavi and later Georgian Voices were particularly active in presenting rich polyphony of various regions of Georgia to western audiences. Georgian Voices performed alongside Billy Joel, and the Rustavi Choir was featured on the soundtrack to Coen Brothers' film, The Big Lebowski. During the end of the 1960s and 1970s an innovative pop-ensemble Orera featured a mixture of traditional polyphony with jazz and other popular musical genres, becoming arguably the most popular ensemble of the Soviet Union in the 1970s. This line of fusion of Georgian folk polyphony with other genres became popular in the 1990s, and the Stuttgart-based ensemble The Shin became a popular representative of this generation of Georgian musicians.
By the mid-1980s, the first ensembles of Georgian music consisting of non-Georgian performers had started to appear outside of Georgia (first in USA and Canada, later in other European countries). This process became particularly active after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, when the iron curtain disappeared and travel to the Western countries became possible for Georgians. Today it is a common practice for Georgian ensembles and traditional singers to visit Western countries for performances and workshops.
See Performers of Georgian traditional music
Study of Georgian folk music
The 1861 article by Jambakur-Orbeliani and the 1864 article by Machabeli are considered as the first published works where some aspect of Georgian folk music were discussed. Earlier works (like the 18th century "Dictionary of Georgian Language" by Sulkhan-Saba Orbeliani, and "Kalmasoba" by Ioane Bagrationi) discussed Georgian church singing traditions only.
Dimitri Arakishvili and Zakaria Paliashvili are considered the most influential figures of study of Georgian folk music. Arakishvili published several standard books and articles on Georgian singing traditions, musical instruments, scales, and is widely considered as "founding father" of Georgian ethnomusicology.
Grigol Chkhikvadze and Shalva Aslanishvili, born during the last years of the 19th century, received professional education in Russia and became important figures of the study of Georgian traditional music. The historian Ivane Javakhishvili published an influential work on the history of Georgian music, which is still considered as the most comprehensive work on historical sources on Georgian music. Otar Chijavadze, Valerian Magradze, Kakhi Rosebashvili, Mindia Jordania, Kukuri Chokhonelidze were the first Georgian scholars that were educated in Georgia and contributed to the study of different aspect of Georgian folk music. From the end of the 20th century a new generation of Georgian ethnomusicologists appeared, among them Edisher Garakanidze, Joseph Jordania, Nato Zumbadze, Nino Tsitsishvili, Tamaz Gabisonia, Nino Makharadze, David Shugliashvili, Maka Khardziani.
Apart from Georgian scholars, non-Georgian musicians and scholars also contributed to the study of Georgian traditional music. Among them were German and Austrian scholars Adolf Dirr, Robert Lach, Georg Schunemann, and Siegfried Nadel, who were able to record and study traditional songs from Georgian war prisoners during the first World War. Siegfried Nadel published a monograph about Georgian music, where he proposed that Georgian polyphony possibly contributed to the emergence of European professional polyphony (this idea was developed by Marius Schneider for several decades). Russian musicians Ipolitov-Ivanov and Klenovsky also contributed to the early study of Georgian folk music. Russian scholar Steshenko-Kuftina contributed a highly revered monograph on Georgian panpipe.
After the fall of the Soviet Union a number of Western Scholars started working on Georgian folk music, mostly on different aspects the traditional polyphony. Among them are Carl Linich, Stuart Gelzer, Susanne Ziegler, Simha Arom, Polo Vallejo, John A. Graham, Lauren Ninoshvili, Caroline Bithell, and Andrea Kuzmich.
In the 21st century Georgia has become one of the international centers of the study of the phenomenon of traditional polyphony. In 2003 the International Research Centre for Traditional Polyphony was established (director Rusudan Tsurtsumia). The tradition of biannual conferences and symposia started in Georgia in the 1980s. These symposia are drawing leading experts of traditional polyphony to Georgia.
Urban music
Urban music must have started as soon as the first cities appeared in Georgia. Tbilisi became the capital of Georgia in the fifth century, and was known as the cultural center of Caucasus. Tbilisi was on the important routes connecting the East with the West, as well as the North with the South. This strategic position was attracting various ethnic groups, and Tbilisi early became a cosmopolitan city with many languages and many musical styles mixed together. Out of different styles the Middle Eastern monophony with augmented seconds, sensual melodies and instrumental accompaniment were particularly popular. There are not very early historical sources about Georgian urban music, but at least Georgian kings of the 17th and 18th centuries had Middle-Eastern style professional musicians serving at their courts. One of them, the great Armenian musician Sayat Nova, served as a court musician of the King Erekle the Second, and was composing songs in Georgian, Armenian, and Azeri languages. The popularity of this style of music was particularly great by the end of the 19th century, when mostly agricultural Georgians were not attracted to the big cities, and businessmen from other countries (particularly Armenians) became the majority of the city population. At the same time, the polyphonic nature of Georgian music influenced monophonic melodies of the Armenian, Turkish and Iranian origin, and they became polyphonic (usually three-part with the original melody in the middle part).
From the second part of the 19th century a new popular musical style came to Georgia. This was European classical music, based on parallel thirds and triadic harmonies. Opening of the opera in 1850 had a profound influence on Georgian urban societies and soon a new style songs became very popular. The new European style of Georgian urban music consists of two genres: (1) a cappella choral singing in three vocal parts, and (2) solo (or three-part) singing with the accompaniment of musical instrument (usually a guitar, or a piano).
Professional music
Professional music in Georgia existed at least from the 7-8th centuries, when Georgian composers started translating Greek orthodox Christian chants, adding harmonies to the monophonic melodies, and also were creating original chants. It is widely accepted, that polyphony in Georgian church-singing came from the folk tradition. Georgian church-music has many parallels with Georgian traditional music, although some elements of folk musical style were never used in church-singing (for example, the very long drones of eastern Georgian table songs, or the yodel of Western Georgian counterpoint. In some regions Christian chants have clear elements of pre-Christian traditions as well. Scholars usually distinguish two styles of Georgian church-singing: eastern Georgian and western Georgian. Both styles are based on similar principles, particularly the "simple mood" of singing, but in some western Georgian church-singing styles (particularly in so-called "Shemokmedi school") the polyphonic mastery and the use of sharp dissonances reaches its climax. The study of church-singing was strictly forbidden in the Soviet Union, but after the fall of the Soviet Union this became one of the most actively researched spheres of Georgian musicology.
The so-called "new Georgian professional musical school" started in the second half of the 19th century. It was based on European classical musical language and classical musical forms (opera, symphony, etc.). The greatest representatives of this school of Georgian composers (Zakaria Paliashvili, Dimitri Arakishvili, Niko Sulkhanishvili) merged European musical language with the elements of Georgian traditional harmony and polyphony. Among the composers of the later period were Andria Balanchivadze (brother of George Balanchine), Aleksandre Machavariani, Shalva Mshvelidze, Otar Taktakishvili. The most prominent contemporary Georgian composer is Antwerp-based Giya Kancheli.
Georgia-born violinist Lisa Batiashvili enjoys an international reputation.
Traditional musical instruments
A wide variety of musical instruments are known from Georgia. Among the most popular instruments are: wind instruments such as the soinari, known in Samegrelo as larchemi (Georgian panpipe), stviri (flute), gudastviri (bagpipe), sting instruments like the changi (harp), chonguri (four stringed unfretted long neck lute), panduri (three stringed fretted long neck lute), bowed chuniri, known also as chianuri, plus a variety of drums and percussive instruments.
Georgian musical instruments are traditionally overshadowed by the rich vocal traditions of Georgia, and subsequently received much less attention from Georgian (and Western) scholars. Dimitri Arakishvili and particularly Manana Shilakadze contributed to the study of musical instrument in Georgia
Chuniri-chianuri
Only the mountain inhabitants of Georgia preserve the bowed Chuniri in its original form. This instrument is considered to be a national instrument of Svaneti and is thought to have spread in the other regions of Georgia from there. Chuniri has different names in different regions: in Khevsureti, Tusheti (Eastern mountainous parts) its name is Chuniri, and in Racha, Guria (western parts of Georgia) "Chianuri". Chuniri is used for accompaniment. It is often played in an ensemble with Changi (harp) and Salamuri (flute). Both men and women played it. Accompaniment of solo songs, national heroic poems and dance melodies were performed on it in Svaneti. Chuniri and Changi are often played together in an ensemble when performing polyphonic songs. More than one Chianuri at a time is not used. Chianuri is kept in a warm place.
Often, especially in rainy days it was warmed in the sun or near fireplace before using, in order to emit more harmonious sounds. This fact is acknowledged in all regions where the fiddlestick instruments were spread. That is done generally because dampness and wind make a certain effect on the instrument's resonant body and the leather that covers it. In Svaneti and Racha people even could make a weather forecast according to the sound produced by Chianuri. Weak and unclear sounds were the signs of a rainy weather.
The instrument's side strings i.e. first and third strings are tuned in fourth, but the middle (second) string is tuned in third with the lowest string and second with the top string. It was a tradition to play Chuniri late in the evening the day before a funeral. For instance, one of the relatives (man) of a dead person would sit down in open air by the bonfire and play a sad melody. In his song (sang in a low voice) he would remember the life of the deceased person and the lives of ancestors of the family. Most of the songs performed on Chianuri are connected with sad occasions. There is an expression in Svaneti that "Chuniri is for sorrow". However, it can be used at parties as well.
The Abkharza is a two-string musical instrument which is played by a bow. It is thought to have spread through Georgia from the region of Abkhazia. Mostly the Abkharza is used as an accompaniment instrument. There are performed one, two or three part songs and national heroic poems on it. Abkharza is cut out of a whole wood piece and has a shape of a boat. Its overall length is 480mm. its upper board is glued back to the main part. On the end it has two tuners.
See also
Iavnana
Polyphony
Choral singing
Caucasus
Georgia in the Eurovision Song Contest
Suliko
International Research Centre for Traditional Polyphony
Tbilisi State Conservatory
Rustavi Ensemble
Tsintskaro
Chakrulo
References
Broughton, Simon. "A Feast of Songs". 2000. In Broughton, Simon and Ellingham, Mark with McConnachie, James and Duane, Orla (Ed.), World Music, Vol. 1: Africa, Europe and the Middle East, pp 347–350. Rough Guides Ltd, Penguin Books.
"Ancient Music Accompanies Ancient Wine," From the Cradle of Wine
Listen to streaming Georgian music of different genres, read bios, lyrics, download scores for free, learn descriptions of folk songs, some facts from Georgian music history.
International Research Center for Traditional Polyphony of Tbilisi State Conservatory, a UNESCO-sponsored project.
GeorgianChant.org: Resource for the Study of Georgian Chant
External links
www.soundcloud.com/xalxuri
www.facebook.com/xalxuri
GeorgianChant.org: Resource for the Study of Georgian Liturgical Music
BBC Radio 3 Audio (60 minutes): Polyphonic drinking songs and choral music. Accessed November 25, 2010.
BBC Radio 3 Audio (60 minutes): Svaneti polyphony and Guria yodeling. Accessed November 25, 2010.
Audio clips: Traditional music of Georgia. Musée d'ethnographie de Genève. Accessed November 25, 2010.
www.alazani.ge
www.GeorgiaCaucasus.com
Georgian Music Collection
KuzinTheCaucasus: A survey of the music of the Caucasus
|
412727
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shijiazhuang
|
Shijiazhuang
|
Shijiazhuang (; ; Mandarin: ), formerly known as Shimen and romanized as Shihkiachwang, is the capital and most populous city of China’s Hebei Province. A prefecture-level city about southwest of Beijing, it administers eight districts, two county-level cities and twelve counties.
At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 11,235,086, with 6,230,709 in the built-up area comprising all urban districts except Jingxing District and Zhengding County, the twelfth largest in mainland China.
Shijiazhuang experienced dramatic growth after the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949. The population of the metropolitan area has more than quadrupled in thirty years as a result of industrialization and infrastructural developments. From 2008 to 2011, Shijiazhuang implemented a three-year plan, resulting in an increase of green areas and new buildings and roads. A railway station, airport and subway system have been opened.
Shijiazhuang is east of the Taihang Mountains, a mountain range extending over from north to south with an average elevation of .
Name
The city's present name, Shijiazhuang (), first appeared during the Ming dynasty. Its literal meaning is "Shi family's village". The word Shijiazhuang was generally used after construction of the Shijiazhuang station of the Zhengtai Railway in 1907.
The origin of the name is heavily disputed. One story claimed that the Wanli Emperor sent 24 officers and their families to the area, after which the group splits into two settlements consisting of 10 and 14 families. The imperial court then named the settlements "village of 10 families" () and "village of 14 families" (), respectively. Since the Chinese characters for ten () and stone () are homophones, it is speculated that the city name gradually evolved into its current spelling. Another explanation is that the settlement was named after the highest-ranking official amongst the groups, who was surnamed Shi. However, a county named Shiyi (), in present-day Luquan District, was already present during the Warring States period, suggesting that the name, or its elements, have even older origins.
At first, the settlement was officially known only as "Shijia", as the "zhuang" was solely used to denote the nature of the settlement being a village, instead of being part of its name. This was further evidenced on June 24, 1925, when the Republican government ordered the village to be established as an autonomous city under the name Shijia. The city ended up being renamed as Shimen () when it was officially incorporated on August 29, 1925, after the merger with another village, Xiumen (). Despite being renamed, however, many documents and war plans from the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Chinese Civil War still referred to the city as "Shijiazhuang" or "Shizhuang". To avoid confusion and association with the Japanese Army, the Chinese Communist Party ultimately reverted the city's name back to Shijiazhuang on December 26, 1947. Since then, many terms regarding the city have been stemmed from the "zhuang" suffix, including its nickname "international village" (), and the colloquial demonym, "villagers" ().
History
Pre-Qin period
This area was occupied by Xianyu people at beginning of Zhou dynasty, and later belonged to the Zhongshan (中山國) and Zhao states at pre-Qin period.
Qin and Han dynasties
In pre-Han times (i.e., before 206 BC), the site of the city of Shiyi in the state of Zhao was located in this area. After taking over Zhao, Qin Shi Huang established the Hengshan Commandery in the region. It became part of the Zhao Principality under Western Han. The land was briefly granted to Liu Buyi (), son of the Emperor Hui, during Empress Dowager Lü's reign. The territory was then passed to Liu Hong, Emperor Houshao of Han, after Buyi's death. It was then granted to Liu Chao (), another son of Emperor Hui. During the defeat of the Lü clan, Liu Chao was killed and the territory became a commandery of Zhao once again. Later, due to a naming taboo of Emperor Wen of Han, whose personal name is Liu Heng, its name was changed to Changshan (常山). From Han (206 BC–AD 220) to Sui (581–618) times it was the site of a county seat named Shiyi.
Tang dynasty
With the reorganization of local government in the early period of the Tang dynasty (618–907), Hengshan county was abolished, and it was reestablished as a prefecture. It was renamed as Zhen Prefecture due to a naming taboo with Emperor Muzong of Tang, whose personal name was Li Heng.
Yuan and Song dynasties
Zhending was a giant city in the area, now Zhengding county, where was destination of migration from Yuan dynasty people and central area of preceding Northern Song dynasty people, particularly in Kaifeng and Zhengzhou etc.
Ming and Qing dynasties
The name "Shijiazhuang" was first mentioned in 1535 on a stele of a local temple. Shijiazhuang was then little more than a local market town, subordinated to the flourishing city of Zhengding a few miles to the north.
Republican era
The growth of Shijiazhuang into one of China's major cities began in 1905, when the Beijing–Wuhan (Hankou) railway reached the area, stimulating trade and encouraging local farmers to grow cash crops. Two years later the town became the junction for the new Shitai line, running from Shijiazhuang to Taiyuan, Shanxi. The connection transformed the town from a local collecting center and market into a communications center of national importance on the main route from Beijing and Tianjin to Shanxi, and later, when the railway from Taiyuan was extended to the southwest, to Shaanxi as well. The city also became the center of an extensive road network.
Pre-World War II Shijiazhuang was a large railway town as well as a commercial and collecting center for Shanxi and regions farther west and for agricultural produce of the North China Plain, particularly grain, tobacco, and cotton. By 1935 it had far outstripped Zhengding as an economic center. At the end of World War II the character of the city changed when it took on an administrative role as the preeminent city in western Hebei, and developed into an industrial city. Some industries, such as match manufacturing, tobacco processing, and glassmaking, had already been established before the war. By 1941, Shide railway line was constructed between Shijiazhuang and Dezhou, Shandong in the war occupied period, operated by North China Transportation Company.
On November 12, 1947, the city was captured by Communist forces. Xibaipo, a village about from downtown Shijiazhuang, in Pingshan County was the location of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party and the headquarters of the People's Liberation Army during the decisive stages of the Chinese Civil War between May 26, 1948, and March 23, 1949, at which point they were moved to Beijing. Today, the area is a memorial site.
People's Republic
Since the city was pivotal to the People's Liberation Army's victory of the Chinese Civil War, many governmental agencies have roots in Shijiazhuang. The creation of the North China People's Government in 1947 affirmed the city's position as a key political center. A year later, as the result of the merger between the Bank of North China, the Bank of Beihai, and the Northwest Agricultural Bank, the People's Bank of China was established here, where it produced and released the first series of the renminbi.
Meanwhile, the industrialization of the city also gathered momentum thanks to government initiatives including the First Five-Year Plan. Shijiazhuang was one of the fourteen cities selected as focus cities for development. The population more than tripled in the decade 1948–58 after Communist won the civil war. In the 1950s, the city experienced a major expansion in the textile industry, with large-scale cotton spinning, weaving, printing, and dyeing works. In addition, there are plants processing local farm produce. In the 1960s it was the site of a new chemical industry, with plants producing fertilizer and caustic soda. Shijiazhuang also became an engineering base, with a tractor-accessory plant. There are important coal deposits at Jingxing and Huailu, now named Luquan, a few miles to the west in the foothills of the Taihang Mountains, which provide fuel for a thermal-generating plant supplying power to local industries.
Tianjin was again carved out of Hebei in 1967, remaining a separate entity today. The provincial capital was then moved to Baoding, however, the city was plunged into chaos due to the Cultural Revolution just a year later. Thus, under the direction of Mao Zedong to "prepare for war and natural disasters", Shijiazhuang became the provincial capital in 1968.
Beginning in the 1990s, Shijiazhuang saw another episode of rapid growth and development. Starting from the plains area in the east and south of the city, the focus of the developments later shifted towards the mountainous districts and counties in the west, as well as along the Hutuo River in the north.
In the early hours of March 16, 2001, four apartment buildings were leveled after a series of explosions rocked the city, killing 108 while injuring 38. The perpetrator was a deaf, unemployed man named Jin Ruchao who police arrested weeks later. Jin confessed that he had delivered the bombs via taxi and stated that the bombings were an act of revenge on his relatives, who were among the tenants of the apartments. Jin and his accomplices were later executed.
In December 2020, its mayor, Deng Peiran, was charged with corruption, with Ma Yujun currently serving as the acting mayor. A few weeks later, the city became a new COVID-19 hotspot: starting from the village of Xiaoguozhuang in Gaocheng District in the northern portion of the city, cases has been increasing rapidly since January 2, 2021. Due to its proximity with Beijing and the severity of the outbreak, harsh measures were put into place, with all 11 million residences undergoing mandatory testing, as well as school closures, banning of gatherings, and residential districts being sealed. All highways were blocked off, with rail and air links also suspended.
Throughout the years, the city's administrative units have been shifted and adjusted multiple times. Initially, Shijiazhuang was administered under the prefecture of the same name, along with the counties of Zhengding, Pingshan, Lingshou, Jingxing, Jianping, Huailu, Jinxian, Gaocheng, Luancheng, Zhaoxian, Shulu, Yuanshi, Zanhuang, Gaoyi, and one town, Xinji. The first new district of the city, Jingxing Mining District, was created on June 27, 1950. On November 7, 1952, Hengshui Prefecture, to the east, was merged into Shijiazhuang, adding six more counties. The prefecture continued to expand after Dingxian Prefecture was split and merged into Baoding and Shijiazhuang on June 18, 1954. Between March 1960 and May 1961, the prefecture and the city merged. Thereafter, however, the prefecture was re-established, with Hengshui Prefecture splitting away the next year. The city and its prefecture merged for good in June 1993. In the 2010s, Shijiazhuang's administrative divisions saw further changes. In 2013, the county-level city of Xinji, although still part of Shijiazhuang prefecture, is now directly administered by Hebei province. Later, the State Council of the People's Republic of China approved more adjustments to the city's divisions. Qiaodong District was dissolved and merged into Chang'an and Qiaoxi districts. Three county-level cities, Gaocheng, Luquan, and Luancheng, became urban districts.
Geography
Shijiazhuang is located in south-central Hebei, and is part of the Bohai Economic Rim. Its administrative area ranges in latitude from 37° 27' to 38° 47' N, and the longitude 113° 30' to 115° 20' E. The prefecture-level city reaches a north–south extent and a wide from east to west. The prefecture has borders stretching long and covers an area of . Bordering prefecture-level cities in Hebei are Hengshui (E), Xingtai (S), and Baoding (N/NE). To the west lies the province of Shanxi.
The city stands at the edge of the North China Plain, which rises to the Taihang Mountains to the west of the city, and lies south of the Hutuo River. From west to east, the topography can be summarised as moderately high mountains, then low-lying mountains, hills, basin, and finally plains. Out of the eight east–west routes across the Taihang Mountains, the fifth, the Niangzi Pass, connects the city directly with Taiyuan, Shanxi.
The mountainous part of the prefecture consists of parts of:
Jingxing Mining District
Jingxing County
Zanhuang County
Xingtang County
Lingshou County
Yuanshi County
Luquan District
The Hutuo River Basin in the east juts into:
Xinle City
Wuji County
Shenze County
Jinzhou City
Gaocheng District
Gaoyi County
Zhao County
Luancheng District
Zhengding County
The metropolitan area and its suburbs, in their entirety
All of the divisions mentioned in the above list, except for Jingxing Mining District
Climate
The city has a continental, monsoon-influenced semi-arid climate (Köppen BSk), characterised by hot, humid summers due to the East Asian monsoon, and generally cold, windy, very dry winters that reflect the influence of the Siberian anticyclone. Spring can see sandstorms blowing in from the Mongolian steppe, accompanied by rapidly warming, but generally dry, conditions. Autumn is similar to spring in temperature and lack of rainfall. January averages , while July averages ; the annual mean is . With the monthly percent possible sunshine ranging from 38 percent in July to 56 percent in May, the city receives 2,163 hours of sunshine annually. More than half of the annual rainfall occurs in July and August alone.
Air quality
According to the National Environmental Analysis released by Tsinghua University and The Asian Development Bank in January 2013, Shijiazhuang was one of ten most air-polluted cities in the world. Also according to this report, 7 of 10 most air-polluted cities are in China, including Taiyuan, Beijing, Urumqi, Lanzhou, Chongqing, Jinan and Shijiazhuang. As air pollution in China is at an all-time high, several northern cities are among the most polluted cities and have some of the worst air quality in China. Reporting on China's air quality has been accompanied by what seems like a monochromatic slideshow of the country's several cities smothered in thick smog. According to a survey made by "Global voices China" in February 2013, Shijiazhuang is among China's 10 most polluted cities along with other cities including major Chinese cities like Beijing and Zhengzhou, and 6 other prefectural cities all in Hebei. These cities are all situated in traditional geographic subdivision of "Huabei (North China) Region".
In 2020, annual average PM2.5 Air Pollution in Shijiazhuang stood at 56 µg/m³, which is 11.2 times the World Health Organization PM2.5 Guideline (5 µg/m³: set in September, 2021). These pollution levels are estimated to reduce the Life Expectancy of an average person living in Shijiazhuang by almost 5 years.
A dense wave of smog began in the Central and Eastern part of China on December 2, 2013, across a distance of around , including Shijiazhuang and surrounding areas. A lack of cold air flow, combined with slow-moving air masses carrying industrial emissions, collected airborne pollutants to form a thick layer of smog over the region. Officials blamed the dense pollution on lack of wind, automobile exhaust emissions under low air pressure, and coal-powered district heating system in North China region. Prevailing winds blew low-hanging air masses of factory emissions (mostly SO2) towards China's east coast.
Current leaders
Administrative divisions
Shijiazhuang has direct administrative jurisdiction over:
Demographics
Migrants flowing in from all across China largely contributed to the population growth of Shijiazhuang in recent times. With a population of 120,000 in 1947, Shijiazhuang became the first medium-large city captured by the Chinese Communist Party from the Kuomintang. By the time of the People's Republic of China's founding in 1949, the total urban population increased to more than 270,000 people, more than doubling in a span of two years. In 1953, when China rolled out its first five-year plan, the total population of Shijiazhuang's urban area increased to 320,000. In 1960, the total population of the Shijiazhuang urban area had reached 650,000. In 1968, the city experienced a substantial increase due to it being designated the capital of Hebei to avoid chaos in Baoding amidst the Cultural Revolution. By 1980, the urban population had surpassed the one million mark, joining the ranks of a large city. As of the end of 2017, the urban population of Shijiazhuang exceeded 4.5 million.
In just six decades, the city's population has increased by more than 20 fold. At the end of 2009, the city's total non-migrant population was 9,774,100, an increase of 109,300 over the previous year. The birth rate of the city's population is 14.65%, the death rate is 6.25%, and the natural growth rate is 8.4%.
According to the sixth national census in 2010, the city's total non-migrant population stands at 10,163,788. Compared with the fifth national census a decade prior, there was an increase of 818,365 people, or an increase of 8.76%, and an average annual growth rate of 0.84%. Among them, the male population stood at 5,087,913, accounting for 50.06% of the total population; the female population is 5,075,875, accounting for 49.94% of the total population. The gender ratio of the total population is 100 women per 100.24 men. The population aged between 0 and 14 is 1,548,125, accounting for 15.23% of the total population; the population aged between 15 and 64 is 7,789,753, accounting for 76.64% of the total population; the population aged 65 and over is 825,910, accounting for 8.13% of the total population.
The top 10 surnames of Shijiazhuang are: Zhang (10.27%), Wang (9.25%), Li (9.17%), Liu (6.73%), Zhao (4.28%), Yang (2.82%), Gao (2.08%), Chen (1.92%), Ma (1.77%), and Guo (1.55%).
On May 6, 2011, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences published the "2011 China Urban Competitiveness Blue Book: China Urban Competitiveness Report". In it, the happiness survey sampled 294 cities across China, arriving at the conclusion that the residents of Shijiazhuang were the happiest. This result caused strong doubts from netizens.
Economy
In 2014, the GDP of Shijiazhuang reached CN¥510.02 billion (about $80.45 billion in USD), an increase of 12 percent over the previous year, and placing the city 20th in provincial capitals by GDP.
Shijiazhuang has become a major industrial city in North China and is considered to be the economic center of Hebei province, along with Tangshan. The city also located in Beijing-Tianjin-Shijiazhuang Hi-Tech Industrial Belt, which is one of the main Hi-Tech Belts in China. Nicknamed the "medicine hub of China", it is home to major pharmaceutical companies and factories like the North China Pharmaceutical Group Corporation, Shijiazhuang Pharma Group, and Shineway Pharma. The textile industry is also one of the backbones of the city's commerce. Other sectors include machinery and chemicals, building materials, light industry, and electronics. With abundant agricultural resources, Shijiazhuang has 590,000 hectares of cultivated land and is the main source of cotton, pears, dates and walnuts in Hebei province.
In 2008, total imports reached US$1.393 billion, an increase of 42.1 percent over the previous year. Exports increased by 34.9 percent to US$5.596 billion.
2006 World Bank reported that Shijiazhuang was spending less than RMB400 per capita on education, as opposed to Beijing (RMB1,044) and Weihai (RMB1,631).
Development zones
Shijiazhuang High-Tech Industrial Development Zone
The zone was established in March 1991 as a state-level development zone and is divided into three districts. National highways 107, 207, 307, 308 pass through the zone. It is away from Shijiazhuang railway station, away from Tianjin Port. Industries include pharmaceuticals, electronic information, mechanical production, automobile manufacturing, chemicals production and logistics.
The Eastern District, located in the eastern part of Shijiazhuang, covers an area of , and serves as the primary section of the New High-tech Industrial Development Zone. The district focuses on the establishment of new high-tech enterprises. There are plans to expand the district into an area of . A railway line operated by Shijiazhuang Oil Refinery runs through the zone from north to south, so enterprises in the zone can build lines of their own.
The Western District, located in the southwest of Shijiazhuang, covers an area of . It focuses on small- and medium-sized technology enterprises and technology incubation. Liangcun District, which borders the Western District, covers , and focuses on the pharmaceutical industry and the petrochemical industry.
By 2009, some 2,600 enterprises had settled in the zone, of which 185 were foreign-funded enterprises. Firms from Japan, the US, the Republic of Korea, Germany, Italy, Canada, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan had established themselves in the zone.
Dairy
The city is a center for the dairy trade, being the headquarters of the Sanlu Group. Sanlu became Shijiazhuang's largest taxpayer since it had become the largest formula seller in China for a continuous 15-year period. Richard McGregor, author of The Party: The Secret World of China's Communist Rulers, said that Sanlu became "an invaluable asset for a city otherwise struggling to attract industry and investment on a par with China's premier metropolises."
Both the dairy trade and Sanlu were affected by the 2008 Chinese milk scandal. The chairman and general manager of Sanlu, and several party officials, including the vice-mayor in charge of food and agriculture, Zhang Fawang, were reportedly removed from office. Mayor Ji Chuntang reportedly resigned on September 17, 2008.
Transportation
Expressways
The city is served by many expressways, including the Shitai, Beijing–Shenzhen and Taiyuan–Cangzhou Expressways.
Railway
Shijiazhuang is a transportation hub at the intersection point of the Beijing–Guangzhou, Taiyuan–Dezhou, and Shuozhou–Huanghua railways. The new Shijiazhuang railway station (opened December 2012) has a rare distinction of being served by both the "conventional" Beijing–Guangzhou Railway and the new Beijing–Guangzhou–Shenzhen–Hong Kong High-Speed Railway. Such an arrangement is fairly uncommon on China's high-speed rail network, as typically high-speed lines are constructed to bypass city cores, where the older "conventional" train stations are.
In Shijiazhuang's case, to make it possible to bring the new high-speed railway into the central city, a long railway tunnel was constructed under the city. This is the first time a high-speed railway has been run under a Chinese city.
There is also the smaller Shijiazhuang North railway station, used by trains going west toward Taiyuan without the need for passing though downtown.
Metro
Line 1, Line 2 and Line 3 of the Shijiazhuang Metro are currently operational. The system is in length. The latest metro plan of Shijiazhuang includes 6 lines in total.
Airport
The Shijiazhuang Zhengding International Airport is the province's center of air transportation. It is about 30 kilometers northeast of the city. There are 32 domestic routes arriving at and departing from Shijiazhuang, including destinations such as Shanghai, Shenzhen and Dalian. The airport serves 12 international destinations including four routes to Russia. The airport is being expanded and will be capable of being an alternate airport to Beijing Capital International Airport.
With the opening of the Beijing–Guangzhou High-Speed Railway at the end of 2012, the airport got its own train station, making available fast, although infrequent, train service between the airport and Shijiazhuang railway station, as well as other stations in the region.
Cycling
Most large roads in the city feature a separate cycle lane and, combined with the city being flat, make it ideal for cycling. Thousands of cyclists use the city each day and often there are more cyclists waiting at a crossroad than cars.
Military
Shijiazhuang is headquarters of the 27th Group Army of the People's Liberation Army, one of the three group armies that comprise the Beijing Military Region responsible for defending China's capital.
Culture
City centre
The city of Shijiazhuang is similar to Beijing in that all roads run from north to south and east to west, making the city easy to navigate. Many roads have cycle paths making it cyclist friendly. In the heart of the city is the Hebei Museum which was refurbished in 2013 and 2014. It holds regular events, mostly showing traditional Chinese art and artifacts. The Yutong International Sports Centre hosts the Shijiazhuang Ever Bright football matches as well as holding pop concerts.
Shijiazhuang Zoo is located on the west side of the city. The zoo has 3,000 animals of 250 species including flamingos, golden monkeys, manchurian tigers, Indian elephants, giraffes, chimpanzees, kangaroos, seals, white tigers, springboks and pandas. Near the Shijiazhuang Zoo are the Botanical Gardens (), offering a range of exotic and native plants both to view and purchase. The Martyrs Memorial () can be found in the centre of the city, commemorating the soldiers lost in war.
Main sights
Baodu Zhai (), or Baodu Village, is an ancient fortified hilltop settlement located on the west side of the city, the mountain contains walks and buddhist statues. Close to Baodu Zhai is Fenglong Mountain () is situated outside of Shijiazhuang to the west, the mountain features walks and a large stone Buddha statue situated on top of the mountain. Mount Cangyan () is a scenic area in Jingxing County, famous for its combination of natural mountain scenery with historical man-made structures. It was featured in a scene of the Chinese movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
The Longxing Temple () is an ancient Buddhist monastery located just outside the city. It has been referred to as the "First Temple south of Beijing". The Anji Bridge (also known as Zhaozhou Bridge) () is the world's oldest open-spandrel stone segmental arch bridge. Credited to the design of a craftsman named Li Chun, the bridge was constructed in the years 595–605 during the Sui dynasty (581–618). It is the oldest standing bridge in China. The Pagoda of Bailin Temple ( or ) is an octagonal-based brick Chinese pagoda built in 1330 during the reign of Emperor Wenzong, ruler of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty (1271–1368).
City parks
The downtown area of the city contains a range of parks. The largest park is found in the centre of the city known as Chang'an Park (), the park includes an underground shopping mall, a theatre, a museum, a lake, bars and restaurants. Another park is found on the south east side of the city: Century Park (), Century Park contains a lake in the centre with an amusement park to the north side. On the northwest side of the city is Water Park () which features a large lake, amusement rides, short walks and various restaurants. As well as these three large parks there are smaller parks scattered across the city.
Shopping
The largest mall in the city is the Wanda shopping mall, located in the southeast side of the city, along with the Lerthai Shopping Complex at the downtown, and Wondermall on the southwest side. The Wanda mall includes an IMAX theatre.
Food
During the summer barbecue restaurants () open, selling a whole range of foods, the most popular of which are lamb kebabs (). Thousands of restaurants can be found across the city offering a range of Chinese as well as western cuisine open around the clock.
Cultural references
The 2018 arthouse film An Elephant Sitting Still by Hu Bo was shot and set in Shijiazhuang.
Notable people
Deng Lun, actor
Kang Hui, news anchor for China Central Television.
Omnipotent Youth Society, Chinese alternative rock band that was formed in the late 1990s.
Feng Zhang, Chinese-American biochemist. Known for his role in the development of CRISPR technologies.
Sun Yingsha, table tennis player.
Zhao Tuo, Qin dynasty Chinese general. Founder of Triệu dynasty.
Zhao Yun, military general who lived during the late Han dynasty and early Three Kingdoms period.
Li Jiang, an official of Tang dynasty, serving as a chancellor during the reign of Emperor Xianzong.
Li Deyu, a Chinese poet, politician, and writer of Tang dynasty.
Han Shantong, one of leaders of the early Red Turban rebellion.
Zhou Dongyu, actress considered one of the Four Dan actresses of the post 90's generation
Zheng Yuanjie, Chinese fairy tale author, and founder and sole writer of a children's literature magazine known as the King of Fairy Tales.
Sports
Shijiazhuang Gongfu F.C. () is a Chinese football club based in Shijiazhuang, Hebei, which competes in the China League One. It plays in the 37,000-seat Yutong International Sports Centre.
Yutong International Sports Center () is a multi-use stadium, used mostly for football matches. The capacity is 38,500.
Hospitals
Hebei General Hospital
The First Hospital of Shijiazhuang City
The Third Hospital of Hebei Medical University
Bethune International Peace Hospital , namesake after Norman Bethune a Canadian thoracic surgeon who is honored for his humanitarian service in bringing modern medicine to rural China.
Education
Universities and colleges
Shijiazhuang University
Hebei GEO University
Shijiazhuang Tiedao University
Hebei Normal University
Hebei Medical University
Twin towns and sister cities
Shijiazhuang's twin towns and sister cities are:
Nagano, Nagano Prefecture, Japan (April 19, 1981)
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada (May 31, 1985)
Des Moines, Iowa, United States (August 8, 1986)
Edison, New Jersey, United States (Date unknown)
Parma, Emilia-Romagna, Italy (September 22, 1987)
Corby, England, United Kingdom (October 5, 1994)
Ayagawa, Kagawa Prefecture, Japan (May 23, 1995)
Solofra, Avellino, Italy (August 17, 1997)
Cheonan, South Chungcheong, South Korea (August 26, 1997)
Querétaro City, Querétaro, Mexico (September 2, 1997)
Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada (July 9, 1998)
Falkenberg, Halland County, Sweden (August 6, 2002)
Nam Định, Nam Định Province, Vietnam (December 27, 2004)
Nagykanizsa, Zala County, Hungary (2007)
See also
List of twin towns and sister cities in China
Yanzhao Evening News
References
External links
Shijiazhuang Government official website
1925 establishments in China
Cities in Hebei
Provincial capitals in China
Prefecture-level divisions of Hebei
|
412735
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rheumatic%20fever
|
Rheumatic fever
|
Rheumatic fever (RF) is an inflammatory disease that can involve the heart, joints, skin, and brain. The disease typically develops two to four weeks after a streptococcal throat infection. Signs and symptoms include fever, multiple painful joints, involuntary muscle movements, and occasionally a characteristic non-itchy rash known as erythema marginatum. The heart is involved in about half of the cases. Damage to the heart valves, known as rheumatic heart disease (RHD), usually occurs after repeated attacks but can sometimes occur after one. The damaged valves may result in heart failure, atrial fibrillation and infection of the valves.
Rheumatic fever may occur following an infection of the throat by the bacterium Streptococcus pyogenes. If the infection is left untreated, rheumatic fever occurs in up to three percent of people. The underlying mechanism is believed to involve the production of antibodies against a person's own tissues. Due to their genetics, some people are more likely to get the disease when exposed to the bacteria than others. Other risk factors include malnutrition and poverty. Diagnosis of RF is often based on the presence of signs and symptoms in combination with evidence of a recent streptococcal infection.
Treating people who have strep throat with antibiotics, such as penicillin, decreases the risk of developing rheumatic fever. In order to avoid antibiotic misuse this often involves testing people with sore throats for the infection; however, testing might not be available in the developing world. Other preventive measures include improved sanitation. In those with rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease, prolonged periods of antibiotics are sometimes recommended. Gradual return to normal activities may occur following an attack. Once RHD develops, treatment is more difficult. Occasionally valve replacement surgery or valve repair is required. Otherwise complications are treated as usual.
Rheumatic fever occurs in about 325,000 children each year and about 33.4 million people currently have rheumatic heart disease. Those who develop RF are most often between the ages of 5 and 14, with 20% of first-time attacks occurring in adults. The disease is most common in the developing world and among indigenous peoples in the developed world. In 2015 it resulted in 319,400 deaths down from 374,000 deaths in 1990. Most deaths occur in the developing world where as many as 12.5% of people affected may die each year. Descriptions of the condition are believed to date back to at least the 5th century BCE in the writings of Hippocrates. The disease is so named because its symptoms are similar to those of some rheumatic disorders.
Signs and symptoms
The disease typically develops two to four weeks after a throat infection. Symptoms include: fever, painful joints with those joints affected changing with time, involuntary muscle movements, and occasionally a characteristic non-itchy rash known as erythema marginatum. The heart is involved in about half of the cases. Damage to the heart valves usually occurs only after multiple attacks but may occasionally occur after a single case of RF. The damaged valves may result in heart failure and also increase the risk of atrial fibrillation and infection of the valves.
Pathophysiology
Rheumatic fever is a systemic disease affecting the connective tissue around arterioles, and can occur after an untreated strep throat infection, specifically due to group A streptococcus (GAS), Streptococcus pyogenes. The similarity between antigens of Streptococcus pyogenes and multiple cardiac proteins can cause a life-threatening type II hypersensitivity reaction. Usually, self reactive B cells remain anergic in the periphery without T cell co-stimulation. During a streptococcal infection, mature antigen-presenting cells such as B cells present the bacterial antigen to CD4+T cells which differentiate into helper T2 cells. Helper T2 cells subsequently activate the B cells to become plasma cells and induce the production of antibodies against the cell wall of Streptococcus. However the antibodies may also react against the myocardium and joints, producing the symptoms of rheumatic fever. S. pyogenes is a species of aerobic, cocci, gram-positive bacteria that are non-motile, non-spore forming, and forms chains and large colonies.
S. pyogenes has a cell wall composed of branched polymers which sometimes contain M protein, a virulence factor that is highly antigenic. The antibodies which the immune system generates against the M protein may cross-react with heart muscle cell protein myosin, heart muscle glycogen and smooth muscle cells of arteries, inducing cytokine release and tissue destruction. However, the only proven cross-reaction is with perivascular connective tissue. This inflammation occurs through direct attachment of complement and Fc receptor-mediated recruitment of neutrophils and macrophages. Characteristic Aschoff bodies, composed of swollen eosinophilic collagen surrounded by lymphocytes and macrophages can be seen on light microscopy. The larger macrophages may become Anitschkow cells or Aschoff giant cells. Rheumatic valvular lesions may also involve a cell-mediated immunity reaction as these lesions predominantly contain T-helper cells and macrophages.
In rheumatic fever, these lesions can be found in any layer of the heart causing different types of carditis. The inflammation may cause a serofibrinous pericardial exudate described as "bread-and-butter" pericarditis, which usually resolves without sequelae. Involvement of the endocardium typically results in fibrinoid necrosis and wart formation along the lines of closure of the left-sided heart valves. Warty projections arise from the deposition, while subendocardial lesions may induce irregular thickenings called MacCallum plaques.
Rheumatic heart disease
Chronic rheumatic heart disease (RHD) is characterized by repeated inflammation with fibrinous repair. The cardinal anatomic changes of the valve include leaflet thickening, commissural fusion, and shortening and thickening of the tendinous cords. It is caused by an autoimmune reaction to Group A β-hemolytic streptococci (GAS) that results in valvular damage. Fibrosis and scarring of valve leaflets, commissures and cusps leads to abnormalities that can result in valve stenosis or regurgitation. The inflammation caused by rheumatic fever, usually during childhood, is referred to as rheumatic valvulitis. About half of patients with rheumatic fever develop inflammation involving valvular endothelium. The majority of morbidity and mortality associated with rheumatic fever is caused by its destructive effects on cardiac valve tissue. The complicated pathogenesis of RHD is not fully understood, though it has been observed to use molecular mimicry via group A streptococci carbohydrates and genetic predisposition involving HLA Class II genes that trigger autoimmune reactions.
Molecular mimicry occurs when epitopes are shared between host antigens and Streptococcus antigens. This causes an autoimmune reaction against native tissues in the heart that are incorrectly recognized as "foreign" due to the cross-reactivity of antibodies generated as a result of epitope sharing. The valvular endothelium is a prominent site of lymphocyte-induced damage. CD4+ T cells are the major effectors of heart tissue autoimmune reactions in RHD. Normally, T cell activation is triggered by the presentation of bacterial antigens. In RHD, molecular mimicry results in incorrect T cell activation, and these T lymphocytes can go on to activate B cells, which will begin to produce self-antigen-specific antibodies. This leads to an immune response attack mounted against tissues in the heart that have been misidentified as pathogens. Rheumatic valves display increased expression of VCAM-1, a protein that mediates the adhesion of lymphocytes. Self-antigen-specific antibodies generated via molecular mimicry between human proteins and streptococcal antigens up-regulate VCAM-1 after binding to the valvular endothelium. This leads to the inflammation and valve scarring observed in rheumatic valvulitis, mainly due to CD4+ T cell infiltration.
While the mechanisms of genetic predisposition remain unclear, a few genetic factors have been found to increase susceptibility to autoimmune reactions in RHD. The dominant contributors are a component of MHC class II molecules, found on lymphocytes and antigen-presenting cells, specifically the DR and DQ alleles on human chromosome 6. Certain allele combinations appear to increase RHD autoimmune susceptibility. Human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class II allele DR7 (HLA-DR7) is most often associated with RHD, and its combination with certain DQ alleles is seemingly associated with the development of valvular lesions. The mechanism by which MHC class II molecules increase a host's susceptibility to autoimmune reactions in RHD is unknown, but it is likely related to the role HLA molecules play in presenting antigens to T cell receptors, thus triggering an immune response. Also found on human chromosome 6 is the cytokine TNF-α which is also associated with RHD. High expression levels of TNF-α may exacerbate valvular tissue inflammation, because as this cytokine circulates in the bloodstream, it triggers the activation of multiple pathways that stimulate further pro-inflammatory cytokine secretion. Mannose-binding lectin (MBL) is an inflammatory protein involved in pathogen recognition. Different variants of MBL2 gene regions are associated in RHD. RHD-induced mitral valve stenosis has been associated with MBL2 alleles encoding for high production of MBL. Aortic valve regurgitation in RHD patients has been associated with different MBL2 alleles that encode for low production of MBL. In addition, the allele IGHV4-61, located on chromosome 14, which helps code for the immunoglobulin heavy chain (IgH) is linked to greater susceptibility to RHD because it may affect protein structure of the IgH. Other genes are also being investigated to better understand the complexity of autoimmune reactions that occur in RHD.
Diagnosis
The original method of diagnosing rheumatic heart disease was through heart auscultation, specifically listening for the sound of blood regurgitation from possibly dysfunctional valves. However, studies have shown that echocardiography is much more efficient in detecting RHD due to its high sensitivity. An echocardiogram has the ability to detect signs of RHD before the development of more obvious symptoms such as tissue scarring and stenosis. Modified Jones criteria were first published in 1944 by T. Duckett Jones, MD. They have been periodically revised by the American Heart Association in collaboration with other groups. According to revised Jones criteria, the diagnosis of rheumatic fever can be made when two of the major criteria, or one major criterion plus two minor criteria, are present along with evidence of streptococcal infection: elevated or rising antistreptolysin O titre or anti-DNase B. A recurrent episode is also diagnosed when three minor criteria are present. Exceptions are chorea and indolent carditis, each of which by itself can indicate rheumatic fever. An April 2013 review article in the Indian Journal of Medical Research stated that echocardiographic and Doppler (E & D) studies, despite some reservations about their utility, have identified a massive burden of rheumatic heart disease, which suggests the inadequacy of the 1992 Jones' criteria. E & D studies have identified subclinical carditis in patients with rheumatic fever, as well as in follow-ups of rheumatic heart disease patients who initially presented as having isolated cases of Sydenham's chorea. Signs of a preceding streptococcal infection include: recent scarlet fever, raised antistreptolysin O or other streptococcal antibody titre, or positive throat culture. The last revision of 2015 suggested variable diagnostic criteria in low-risk and high-risk populations to avoid overdiagnosis in the first category and underdiagnosis in the last one. Low-risk populations were defined as those with acute rheumatic fever annual incidence ≤2 per 100 000 school-aged children or all-age rheumatic heart disease prevalence of ≤1 per 1000. All other populations were categorised as having a moderate or high risk.
Major criteria
Joint manifestations are the unique clinical signs that have different implications for different population-risk categories : Only polyarthritis (a temporary migrating inflammation of the large joints, usually starting in the legs and migrating upwards) is considered as a major criterion in low-risk populations, whereas monoarthritis, polyarthritis and polyarthralgia (joint pain without swelling) are all included as major criteria in high-risk populations.
Carditis: Carditis can involve the pericardium (pericarditis which resolves without sequelae), some regions of the myocardium (which might not provoke systolic dysfunction), and more consistently the endocardium in the form of valvulitis. Carditis is diagnosed clinically (palpitations, shortness of breath, heart failure, or a new heart murmur) or by echocardiography/Doppler studies revealing mitral or aortic valvulitis. Both of clinical and subclinical carditis are now considered a major criterion.
Subcutaneous nodules: Painless, firm collections of collagen fibers over bones or tendons. They commonly appear on the back of the wrist, the outside elbow, and the front of the knees.
Erythema marginatum: A long-lasting reddish rash that begins on the trunk or arms as macules, which spread outward and clear in the middle to form rings, which continue to spread and coalesce with other rings, ultimately taking on a snake-like appearance. This rash typically spares the face and is made worse with heat.
Sydenham's chorea (St. Vitus' dance): A characteristic series of involuntary rapid movements of the face and arms. This can occur very late in the disease for at least three months from onset of infection.
Minor criteria
Arthralgia: Polyarthralgia in low-risk populations and monoarthralgia in others. However, joint manifestations cannot be considered in both major and minor categories in the same patient.
Fever: ≥ 38.5 °C (101.3 °F) in low-incidence populations and ≥ 38 °C (100.4 °F) in high-risk populations.
Raised erythrocyte sedimentation rate (≥60 mm in the first hour in lox-risk populations and ≥30 mm/h in others) or C reactive protein (>3.0 mg/dL).
ECG showing a prolonged PR interval after accounting for age variability (Cannot be included if carditis is present as a major symptom)
Prevention
Rheumatic fever can be prevented by effectively and promptly treating strep throat with antibiotics.
In those who have previously had rheumatic fever, antibiotics in a preventative manner are occasionally recommended. As of 2017 the evidence to support long term antibiotics in those with underlying disease is poor.
The American Heart Association suggests that dental health be maintained, and that people with a history of bacterial endocarditis, a heart transplant, artificial heart valves, or "some types of congenital heart defects" may wish to consider long-term antibiotic prophylaxis.
Treatment
The management of rheumatic fever is directed toward the reduction of inflammation with anti-inflammatory medications such as aspirin or corticosteroids. Individuals with positive cultures for strep throat should also be treated with antibiotics.
Aspirin is the drug of choice and should be given at high doses.
One should watch for side effects like gastritis and salicylate poisoning. In children and teenagers, the use of aspirin and aspirin-containing products can be associated with Reye's syndrome, a serious and potentially deadly condition. The risks, benefits, and alternative treatments must always be considered when administering aspirin and aspirin-containing products in children and teenagers. Ibuprofen for pain and discomfort and corticosteroids for moderate to severe inflammatory reactions manifested by rheumatic fever should be considered in children and teenagers.
Vaccine
No vaccines are currently available to protect against S. pyogenes infection, although research is underway to develop one. Difficulties in developing a vaccine include the wide variety of strains of S. pyogenes present in the environment and the large amount of time and people that will be needed for appropriate trials for safety and efficacy of the vaccine.
Infection
People with positive cultures for Streptococcus pyogenes should be treated with penicillin as long as allergy is not present. The use of antibiotics will not alter cardiac involvement in the development of rheumatic fever. Some suggest the use of benzathine benzylpenicillin.
Monthly injections of long-acting penicillin must be given for a period of five years in patients having one attack of rheumatic fever. If there is evidence of carditis, the length of therapy may be up to 40 years. Another important cornerstone in treating rheumatic fever includes the continual use of low-dose antibiotics (such as penicillin, sulfadiazine, or erythromycin) to prevent recurrence.
Inflammation
While corticosteroids are often used, evidence to support this is poor. Salicylates are useful for pain.
Steroids are reserved for cases where there is evidence of an involvement of the heart. The use of steroids may prevent further scarring of tissue and may prevent the development of sequelae such as mitral stenosis.
Heart failure
Some patients develop significant carditis which manifests as congestive heart failure. This requires the usual treatment for heart failure: ACE inhibitors, diuretics, beta blockers, and digoxin. Unlike typical heart failure, rheumatic heart failure responds well to corticosteroids.
Epidemiology
About 33 million people are affected by rheumatic heart disease with an additional 47 million having asymptomatic damage to their heart valves. As of 2010 globally it resulted in 345,000 deaths, down from 463,000 in 1990.
In Western countries, rheumatic fever has become fairly rare since the 1960s, probably due to the widespread use of antibiotics to treat streptococcus infections. While it has been far less common in the United States since the beginning of the 20th century, there have been a few outbreaks since the 1980s. The disease is most common among Indigenous Australians (particularly in central and northern Australia), Māori, and Pacific Islanders, and is also common in Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, the Indian subcontinent, and North Africa.
Rheumatic fever primarily affects children between ages 5 and 17 years and occurs approximately 20 days after strep throat. In up to a third of cases, the underlying strep infection may not have caused any symptoms.
The rate of development of rheumatic fever in individuals with untreated strep infection is estimated to be 3%. The incidence of recurrence with a subsequent untreated infection is substantially greater (about 50%). The rate of development is far lower in individuals who have received antibiotic treatment. Persons who have had a case of rheumatic fever have a tendency to develop flare-ups with repeated strep infections.
The recurrence of rheumatic fever is relatively common in the absence of maintenance of low dose antibiotics, especially during the first three to five years after the first episode. Recurrent bouts of rheumatic fever can lead to valvular heart disease. Heart complications may be long-term and severe, particularly if valves are involved. In countries in Southeast-Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, and Oceania, the percentage of people with rheumatic heart disease detected by listening to the heart was 2.9 per 1000 children and by echocardiography it was 12.9 per 1000 children. Echocardiographic screening among children and timely initiation of secondary antibiotic prophylaxis in children with evidence of early stages of rheumatic heart disease may be effective to reduce the burden of rheumatic heart disease in endemic regions.
See also
Rapid strep test
References
External links
Chronic rheumatic heart diseases
Inflammations
Pediatrics
Rheumatology
Wikipedia medicine articles ready to translate
Wikipedia emergency medicine articles ready to translate
|
412740
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GoTriangle
|
GoTriangle
|
The Research Triangle Regional Public Transportation Authority, known as GoTriangle (previously Triangle Transit and Triangle Transit Authority or TTA), provides regional bus service to the Research Triangle region of North Carolina in Wake, Durham, and Orange counties. The GoTriangle name was adopted in 2015 as part of the consolidated GoTransit branding scheme for the Triangle. In , the system had a ridership of , or about per weekday as of .
History
The 1989 session of the North Carolina General Assembly enabled the creation of the Triangle Transit Authority as a regional public transportation authority serving Durham, Orange, and Wake counties. The new unit of local government was chartered by the NC Secretary of State on December 1, 1989.
1991 – the NC General Assembly, subject to County approvals, authorized Triangle Transit to levy a vehicle registration tax of up to $5 per registration. This tag tax finances the regional bus operations, vanpooling program, and planning program.
1992 – the Triangle Transit Authority (TTA) completed the Triangle Fixed Guideway Study, after securing a grant from the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) to study long-range regional public transportation for the three-county Triangle region (Durham, Orange, and Wake).
Feb 1995 – TTA Board of Trustees adopted the Preliminary Recommendations for a Regional Transit Plan, after evaluating several alternatives and received feedback from land use and transportation professionals, elected officials and the public.
Oct 1995 – TTA Board of Trustees adopted the recommendations for a Regional Transit Plan and subsequently incorporated into the region's two long-range transportation plans. This document guides regional transit planning efforts today.
1997 – the NC General Assembly, subject to County approvals, authorized Triangle Transit to levy a rental vehicle tax of up to 5% of gross receipts. This tax, effective January 1, 1998, will finance future capital projects.
Jan 1998 – TTA, in cooperation with the FTA, initiated the Preliminary Engineering (PE) phase of project development and started preparing a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the proposed Regional Rail Transit System.
May 2001 – The DEIS was prepared in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and all applicable federal rules and regulations.
Jan 2003 – FTA issued a Record of Decision (ROD), confirming that the analyses, mitigation, public involvement, and other objectives had been met.
Feb 2003 – Following the issuance of the ROD, the FTA approved TTA's request to enter Final Design.
Aug 2005 – TTA completed the 100% level of design and continued progressing toward the receipt of federal funds. In late 2007, due to rising project costs and a change in federal New Starts cost-benefits formulas, Triangle Transit elected not to submit a New Starts application for FTA funding. As a result, work on the regional rail system was suspended in order to reexamine costs and future funding options.
Triangle Transit was created to plan, finance, organize, and operate a public transportation system for the Research Triangle area. It has three main program areas:
Regional bus service
Vanpool service
Regional transit planning
From 1995, the cornerstone of Triangle Transit's long-term plan was a 28-mile rail corridor from northeast Raleigh, through downtown Raleigh, Cary, and Research Triangle Park, to Durham using DMU technology. There were proposals to extend this corridor 7 miles to Chapel Hill with light rail technology. However, in 2006 Triangle Transit deferred implementation indefinitely when the Federal Transit Administration declined to fund the program. Planning began on a new light rail project between Durham and Chapel Hill in 2013.
On March 17, 2008, after 15 years as Triangle Transit Authority, the Board of Trustees changed the agency's name and logo to Triangle Transit. Triangle Transit Board Chair Sig Hutchinson announced its new promise to the Triangle:
Triangle Transit improves our region’s quality of life by connecting people and places with reliable, safe, and easy-to-use travel choices that reduce congestion and energy use, save money, and promote sustainability, healthier lifestyles, and a more environmentally responsible community.
GoTriangle is governed by a thirteen-member Board of Trustees. Ten members are appointed by the region's principal municipalities and counties and three members are appointed by the North Carolina Secretary of Transportation.
Planning for a regional transit system began in the early 1990s under the guidance of the Triangle Transit Authority. In 1992, the Triangle Fixed Guideway Study was completed after securing a grant from the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) to study long-range regional public transportation for the three-county Triangle region (Durham, Orange, and Wake). The study examined regional economic growth opportunities and identified potential locations for growth, corridors that could connect these growth areas, and changes in land use that would need to take place to support transit. Recommendations from the plan were adopted by the TTA Board of Trustees in 1995, and were incorporated into the region's long-range transportation plans. By 1998, preliminary engineering and environmental planning of the project was underway. In 2003, the FTA issued a record of decision and allowed the project to move into final design.
TTA completed the 100% level of design and continued progressing toward the receipt of federal funds in 2005. In late 2007, due to rising project costs and a change in federal New Starts cost-benefits formulas, Triangle Transit elected not to submit a New Starts application for FTA funding. As a result, work on the regional rail system was suspended in order to reexamine costs and future funding options.
To analyze the future of regional rail in the Triangle, a partnership between TTA, Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (CAMPO), Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro Metropolitan Planning Organization (DCHC), NC Department of Transportation's Public Transportation Division (NCDOT), and Triangle J Council of Governments (TJCOG) jointly conducted The Transit Blueprint Technical Analysis Project. This 2007 effort was a collaboration between agencies to provide the technical basis for analyzing both future transit corridors and the planned or potential transit infrastructure investment within those corridors. The results of the Blueprint have been used to set priorities for major transit investments based on land use, travel market, and cost characteristics.
The Special Transit Advisory Commission (STAC), which met between May 2007 and April 2008, was a broad-based citizen group with 38 members from across the Research Triangle Region. The STAC was appointed by CAMPO and DCHC to assist in the joint development of a plan for a regional transit system and to craft recommendations for the transit component of their respective Long Range Transportation Plans (LRTPs), with a focus on major transit investments. The Commission presented their final report to the metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) at a joint meeting on May 21, 2008.
In 2009 the region's two planning organizations, CAMPO and DCHC, completed work on 2035 Long Range Transportation Plans. The plans include increased bus service and the addition of rail service. A coalition of transit, transportation, and environmental groups joined to support State House Bill 148, providing for future referendums for funding transit projects using voter-approved sales taxes. Triangle and Triad counties can hold referendums on a one-half cent sales tax for transit. Other counties are permitted to go to the voters for a one-quarter cent sales tax. With passage in the NC General Assembly in summer 2009, Governor Bev Perdue signed the bill into law in August 2009.
Currently, counties in the region are working with Triangle Transit, CAMPO and DCHC to finalize individual county plans, which will include enhanced transit options. County Commissions have the authority to call for a referendum when they are satisfied with the transit plans they have decided upon and are ready to go to the voters for funding. Durham County passed a one-half cent sales tax for transit in November 2011. The adopted bill also ties state funding into future projects.
In April 2012, a Notice of Intent (NOI) was published in the Federal Register indicating that the Federal Transit Administration and Triangle Transit intend to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Durham-Orange LRT project only. Scoping meetings for the D-O LRT project took place in May 2012 in order to bring together elected officials and regulatory agencies (the US Department of Transportation, US Environmental Protection Agency, US Army Corps of Engineers, and others). From their discussions, a Scoping Report was published and identified all human and natural environment aspects of the project that required additional analysis and consideration during the EIS phase.
Evaluation of the Wake Corridor and the Durham-Wake Corridor options continues in the background.
The Environmental Impact Analysis for the Durham-Orange LRT project started with Scoping in 2012 and continues in 2013 with environmental monitoring, delineation of the potential project boundaries and alignment, and agency communication and coordination.
Three public meetings in November 2013 will show the alternatives carried forward for further study in the Environmental Impact Statement phase.
Routes and Major Destinations
GoTriangle is a regional public transportation provider, offering a wide variety of transit and vanpool services to North Carolina's Triangle Region and outlying counties. Regional bus and shuttle service is available to Apex, Cary, Chapel Hill, Durham, Hillsborough, RDU International Airport, Research Triangle Park, Raleigh, Wake Forest, Wendell, and Zebulon.
GoTriangle is a supporting agency of the Special Transit Advisory Commission's work to plan for the region's transit future. The STAC completed its work in May 2008 and has provided its recommendations to the area's two planning organizations: Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (CAMPO) and Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro Metropolitan Planning Organization (DCHC MPO).
Route list
All GoTriangle routes operates in three categories. Core, Regional, and Express.
Core routes connect major destinations at all times. Regional routes provides additional service to existing Core routes and/or serves farther regions outside the Triangle.
Express routes only stop between major or more farther destinations and have non-stop sections, . They only run during rush-hours.
Fleet
GoTriangle's operates a fleet of Gillig Low Floor buses for its fixed-route service. They also operate paratransit buses for their ACCESS program. All buses have bike racks on, which can support up to two bikes. This is to improve public transit usage for the system. All buses are Wi-Fi enabled, either built-in or retrofitted for any model before 2017.
Current Roster
Here is the current bus roster as of October 2022,
Fleet Livery
During the three phases of the company, they went through three livery changes. The first one, used by TTA until 2007, utilized a white, dark green, and black body with a single stripe in the white body. The second one, used when it was rebranded to Triangle Transit, used a more vibrant livery. It uses a yellow-green body with orange, white, and blue waves on the body. When the company revamped itself to GoTriangle, it used the same livery as the other GoTransit operators around them. They used a gray base, with hues of green triangles around the back. Despite the switchover to GoTriangle, some buses operating that were made before 2012 retains the old Triangle Transit livery. The top stripe displays their new motto, Connecting all points of the Triangle.
Major Transit Systems & Centers
Regional Transit Center (Park & Ride)
GoTriangle currently has a transit center located near Slater Road in Durham. Originally located in RTP. This center also has a park and ride nearby. You can also find a office near the terminal.
This center is currently served by GoTriangle's 100, 700, and 800 routes at all times, GoTriangle's 310 route during weekdays, GoTriangle's 105, 311, 805, and NRX routes during peak hours only, and GoDurham's 12B route during weekdays
GoRaleigh
GoRaleigh is the transit agency serving Raleigh. Service operates from 4:30am–12:00am Monday-Saturdays, and roughly 5:00am–11:00pm during Sundays. They currently run 35 routes, separated into local routes, 'L' Circulator routes, and 'X' Express routes.
Most routes serve GoRaleigh Station, which is located near Moore Square. The terminal also serves GoTriangle's 100 and 300 routes at all times and GoTriangle's 105, 301, 305, CRX, DRX, FRX, WRX, and ZWX routes during peak hours only.
GoDurham
GoDurham is the transit system serving Durham. Service runs from 5:30 am–12:30 am during Mondays-Saturdays, and from 6:30 am–9:30 pm during Sundays. They operate 21 bus routes.
Almost all routes serve Durham Station, located near the Amtrak station. The terminal serves GoTriangle's 400 and 700 routes at all times and GoTriangle's 405, DRX, and ODX routes during peak hours only.
Chapel Hill Transit
Chapel Hill Transit is the transit system serving Chapel Hill and Carrboro. Service operates from 5 am to 1:15 am during weekdays, 8 am to 6:30 pm during Saturdays, and from 10:30 am to 11:30 pm during Sundays. They currently operate 20 routes, including express routes.
They serve the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, serving as a major transfer hub for all routes. The terminal serves GoTriangle's 400 and 800 routes at all times and GoTriangle's 405, 420, 805, and CRX routes during peak hours only.
Chapel Hill is building an 8.2 mile Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) with a projected cost of $125 million to commence passenger service in 2020 with annual operating cost of $3.4 million.
GoCary/GoApex
GoCary is the transit system serving Cary and operates GoApex, which serves Apex. Service runs between 6 am to 10 pm between Mondays-Saturdays and 7 am to 9 pm. They operate 8 routes. They also service GoApex, which only runs one route. They also offer paratransit services.
All GoCary routes serve Cary Station, while GoApex Route 1 serves Downtown Apex. GoTriangle's 300 route serves Cary Station at all times and GoTriangle's 301 and 310 route during weekdays. Downtown Apex is served by GoTriangle's 305 and 311 routes during peak hours only.
Orange Public Transportation
Orange Public Transportation is a transit program serving Hillsborough, Outer Chapel Hill, and Carrboro. They offer fixed-route bus service and paratransit services. They currently run three fixed-route circulator routes.
All routes serve Downtown Hillsborough. This area is served by GoTriangle's 405, 420, and ODX routes during peak hours only.
Rail transit planning
Durham–Orange Light Rail Transit
GoTriangle was planning a light rail line between the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and East Durham, traveling through Duke University and paralleling the North Carolina Railroad alignment through Durham and proceeding to North Carolina Central University (NCCU). The original project was estimated at $1.4 billion (in 2011). The final project was estimated to cost $2.5 billion (year of expenditure) or $141 million per mile with an annual operating cost of $28.7 million. The line would have had a connection to Amtrak via its station in Durham.
A final environmental impact statement was released by GoTriangle in February 2016, projecting 23,020 daily trips in 2040. The plan was amended to extend to NCCU in November 2016, projecting 26,880 daily trips in 2040. The line would have had 18 stations (4 stations in Orange County, 14 stations in Durham County); end-to-end travel time would have been 42–44 minutes. The line was projected to begin construction in 2020 and be complete by 2028 but ultimately was discontinued in April 2019.
Commuter rail
After the failure of the Durham–Orange Light Rail project, GoTriangle began studying the possibility of instating a commuter rail service which would serve Durham, Raleigh, Cary, Morrisville, Research Triangle Park, and Garner, possibly as far as Clayton. In 2023, the Federal Transit Administration revealed that it would not be providing funds for rail construction, citing the downturn in transit utilization following the COVID-19 pandemic. Officials indicated that bus rapid transit projects would be encouraged to proceed for providing transit in the area.
References
External links
Official webpage
Carpool and Vanpool Matching
Special Transit Advisory Commission Report
Bus transportation in North Carolina
Transportation in Raleigh, North Carolina
Research Triangle
|
412742
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juha%20Kankkunen
|
Juha Kankkunen
|
Juha Matti Pellervo Kankkunen (; born 2 April 1959) is a Finnish former rally driver. His factory team career in the World Rally Championship lasted from 1983 to 2002. He won 23 world rallies and four drivers' world championship titles, which were both once records in the series. Both Sébastien Loeb and Sébastien Ogier have since collected more world titles, but no driver was able to repeat Kankkunen's feat of becoming a world champion with three different manufacturers until Ogier matched this achievement in 2020.
Kankkunen was signed by Toyota Team Europe in 1983 and he took his first WRC win in his third year in the team. His performances got him a deal with the defending champions Peugeot for 1986, and Kankkunen was soon crowned the series' then youngest-ever champion. As Peugeot withdrew from the championship following the ban of Group B, Kankkunen moved to Lancia and became the first driver to successfully defend his title. After a two-year stint back at Toyota, he returned to Lancia and won a record third title in 1991.
In 1993, Kankkunen re-joined Toyota and won his fourth title. Following Toyota's disqualification and 12-month ban in 1995, Kankkunen did not return to active participation in the series until joining Ford halfway through the 1997 season replacing an underperforming Armin Schwarz. After moving to Subaru for 1999, he took his first win in over five years. Before retiring after the 2002 season, he competed part-time for Hyundai.
Kankkunen's achievements outside the WRC include winning the Dakar Rally in 1988 and the Race of Champions in 1988 and 1991. Following his retirement from active rallying, he has worked in the fields of business and politics. In 2007, Kankkunen set the world speed record on ice in a Bentley Continental GT. In 2011, he set a further record of 330.695 km/h in a convertible Bentley Continental Supersports.
Career
Kankkunen grew up on his family's farm in Laukaa in Central Finland, near the route of the Rally Finland. His father had rallying and ice racing as a hobby, and taught Juha how to drive on an ice racing track. Kankkunen began to drive when he was seven years old, and owned his first car at the age of 12. He debuted in rallying in 1978 and competed in his first World Rally Championship event at the 1979 1000 Lakes Rally in Finland, finishing 14th in a Ford Escort RS2000. Kankkunen was coached by Timo Mäkinen, a friend of his father's, and was able to compete often and gain experience with financial help from Timo Jouhki, future manager for many Finnish rally drivers such as Tommi Mäkinen and Mikko Hirvonen.
1983–85: Toyota
Due to good results for Toyota Finland in local events, Kankkunen was signed by the Toyota Team Europe, Toyota's factory WRC team headed by Ove Andersson. In his first season in the Toyota Celica Twincam Turbo, as teammate to the 1979 world champion Björn Waldegård, his three outings in the championship resulted in a sixth place at the 1000 Lakes, a seventh place at the RAC Rally in Great Britain and a retirement at the Rallye Côte d'Ivoire. The following year, Kankkunen competed in four WRC events with Fred Gallagher as his new regular co-driver, retiring in three and finishing fifth in his home event. In 1985, he started his season with a surprise victory at the Safari Rally, becoming the first driver to win the event on the first attempt. He went on to compete in four more rallies and take his second win at WRC's second endurance event, the Rallye Côte d'Ivoire, where he finished with the same amount of penalty minutes (4 hours and 46 minutes) as his teammate Waldegård but took the win by a tiebreaker.
1986: Peugeot
Kankkunen's performances with the Celica earned him his chance to come to the fore with the defending manufacturers' and drivers' champions Peugeot. The team signed him for the 1986 season to replace Ari Vatanen who was still recovering from his nearly fatal accident during the previous season. Kankkunen duly seized his opportunity, taking the second evolution of the Peugeot 205 Turbo 16 E2 to victory in the Swedish Rally, the Acropolis Rally and the Rally New Zealand and finishing on the podium in three more events. The season ended in controversy, when first Group B cars were banned for the next season after Henri Toivonen's fatal accident at the Tour de Corse, which outraged Peugeot team principal Jean Todt, and later the French Peugeot team were excluded at the Rallye Sanremo in Italy, resulting in a triple win for home country's Lancia. Despite the 205 T16s passing the pre-rally scrutiny, the stewards had decreed on re-examination that the cars' underbody fins were in fact illegal side skirts. Going into the season-ending Olympus Rally in the United States, Lancia's Markku Alén led Kankkunen by one point. Although Alén beat Kankkunen to the win, he was the world champion only for eleven days, until Peugeot's appeal went through. The FIA deemed the team's Sanremo exclusion illegal and annulled the results of the event, making Kankkunen the youngest champion in the history of the series.
1987: Lancia
Following the FIA's decision to ban Group B, Peugeot withdrew from the WRC and Kankkunen moved to drive the Lancia Delta HF 4WD for Lancia Martini, Lancia's factory WRC team. He was quickly comfortable in the car and led his Lancia debut in Monte Carlo until the very last stage, when Lancia boss Cesare Fiorio controversially forced him to finish second behind teammate Miki Biasion. Kankkunen later won the Olympus Rally by beating Biasion by only 12 seconds in a six-hour event. In a close battle for the drivers' world championship title, he edged out his teammates Biasion and Alén by winning the season-ending RAC Rally. At the Autosport Awards, Kankkunen was presented the "International Rally Driver Award" for the second year running. Despite becoming the first driver to successfully defend the world title, Kankkunen's uneasy acceptance of team orders designed to benefit Biasion, the Italian star in an Italian car, pre-empted a move elsewhere for the 1988 season.
1988–89: Toyota
Kankkunen chose to move back to Toyota Team Europe. Although he finished fifth in his first event with the Toyota Supra Turbo at the Safari Rally, his title defense quickly proved unsuccessful. Toyota debuted the new Toyota Celica GT-Four ST165 at the Tour de Corse, but the car was suffering from reliability issues. Kankkunen retired due to engine problems in three consecutive rallies and did not add to his points tally, finishing only 37th in the drivers' standings.
However, outside the World Rally Championship, he achieved much success. Returning to the wheel of a Peugeot 205 T16, he won the Dakar Rally on his first attempt after compatriot and teammate Ari Vatanen's 405 T16 was famously stolen while he was leading the event. Kankkunen also competed for Peugeot at the Pikes Peak International Hillclimb, finishing runner-up to again-teammate Vatanen, and at the first-ever Race of Champions, beating the 1985 world rally champion and former Peugeot teammate Timo Salonen in the final to become the first "Champion of Champions".
The 1989 season saw an improved Toyota. Kankkunen gave the GT-Four its first victory in the Rally Australia and finished third at the Tour de Corse and at the RAC. His results placed him third in the drivers' championship, behind Lancia drivers Biasion and Alex Fiorio. Toyota took career-best second place in the manufacturers' standings.
1990–92: Lancia
By the time Kankkunen took the long-awaited win for Toyota, he had already signed a deal to reacquaint himself with Lancia for the 1990 season. Halfway through the season, Kankkunen found himself only fourth in the championship and Toyota in the lead with their new star driver Carlos Sainz. Although Kankkunen later repeated his win in Australia and collected his fifth podium of the season in Sanremo, Sainz went on to take a dominant title. Kankkunen placed third in the drivers' world championship, between his teammates Didier Auriol and the defending world champion Biasion. Lancia edged out Toyota to take a record fourth manufacturers' title in a row.
In the 1991 season, Kankkunen won the Safari Rally, the Acropolis Rally, his home event 1000 Lakes Rally for the first time and the Rally Australia for the third year in a row. Before the season-ending RAC Rally, Toyota's Sainz led Kankkunen by one point in the championship. By winning the RAC ahead of Kenneth Eriksson and Sainz, Kankkunen became the first man to seal a third drivers' title since the World Rally Championship's 1973 inauguration. His 150 points during the season is still the record for most points in a single season. This was also the first time that two drivers took five wins during a WRC season. In the Race of Champions, Kankkunen became the second two-time winner after beating Auriol in the final.
In 1992, Kankkunen placed on the podium in each of the nine WRC events that he participated in, but took his only win at the Rally Portugal. The title fight again went down to the wire. Before the final rally, Sainz led Kankkunen by two points and Auriol, who had taken a record six wins during the season, by three points. Sainz's victory in the RAC ahead of Ari Vatanen and Kankkunen, combined with Auriol's retirement, confirmed the title in favour of the Spaniard.
1993–96: Toyota
After Lancia withdrew from the WRC after the 1992 season, Kankkunen rejoined Toyota to drive the Toyota Celica GT-Four ST185 with which Sainz had defeated him last year. Despite having to fare from mid-season with two substitute co-drivers after Juha Piironen suffered a brain hemorrhage, Kankkunen went on to take a record fourth drivers' title by winning five of his ten WRC events; the Safari Rally with Piironen, the Rally Argentina, the Rally Australia and the RAC Rally with his new co-driver Nicky Grist, and the 1000 Lakes Rally with Denis Giraudet due to Grist's pre-arrangement with Armin Schwarz. Kankkunen's win at the RAC marked his career 20th in the series, breaking compatriot Markku Alén's record for most wins. Kankkunen and his third-placed teammate Didier Auriol brought Toyota the manufacturers' crown, the first for a Japanese manufacturer. He also became only the second motorsportsman to be voted the Finnish Sportsman of the Year, after the 1982 F1 world champion Keke Rosberg.
In 1994, Kankkunen started well with a runner-up spot in Monte Carlo and a win in Portugal. In the Safari Rally, he crashed out from the lead after hitting a pothole made by rain at 180 km/h (112 mph). At the season's half-way point, Kankkunen and Subaru's Sainz tied the lead in the championship, but a few poor results soon dropped him out of the title fight; in Argentina and Sanremo, he suffered from mechanical problems and in Finland, he won the opening stage but lost 20 minutes on stage two after rolling his car. He climbed back into the points by finishing ninth. Finishing behind Auriol and Sainz in the overall standings, Kankkunen had to watch a teammate take the title for the only time in his career.
In 1995, with two more rallies to go, Kankkunen's consistent performances during the season had kept him in the lead of the championship seven points ahead of Subaru's Colin McRae. At the penultimate round, the Rally Catalunya, he was leading by almost a minute over Sainz and McRae and seemed to be heading towards his first WRC victory on tarmac, as well as closing in on his fifth title. However, a pacenote mistake by either him or his co-driver Grist resulted in a crash and a retirement. After the event, Toyota were found guilty of the implementation of illegal turbo restrictor bypasses on their ST205 cars. The team was given a 12-month ban by the FIA. Toyota drivers Kankkunen, Auriol and Armin Schwarz were also stripped of all points in the championships. FIA president Max Mosley stated that "there is no suggestion the drivers were aware of what was going on." In the following year (1996 which also happened to be the end of Nicky Grist's pairing with Kankkunen as a favor to replace Colin McRae's co-driver Derek Ringer from 1997 to 2002), Kankkunen competed for private Toyota teams in three events and finished fourth in Sweden, third in Indonesia and second in Finland.
1997–98: Ford
Halfway through the 1997 season, Kankkunen joined the Ford Motor Company factory team to replace a disappointing Armin Schwarz. Joining the M-Sport-run team too late to challenge for the title himself, Kankkunen's role was to support Ford and his teammate Carlos Sainz in their title fights. He started well by leading his second event with the team, the Acropolis Rally in Greece, until having to drop behind Sainz due to a team order. Kankkunen went on to finish only seconds behind Sainz also in Indonesia and New Zealand. In his home rally in Finland, he lost the win to the defending world champion, Mitsubishi's Tommi Mäkinen, by only seven seconds. This is still the narrowest winning margin in the history of the event. A fourth runner-up spot followed in the season-ending RAC Rally, now ahead of the Spaniard who had by then lost the title to Mäkinen.
Kankkunen stayed with Ford for the 1998 season with Belgian driver Bruno Thiry as his new teammate, after Sainz had opted to re-join Toyota. Ford was already moving resources into developing the new Ford Focus WRC and the team's last year with the Escort WRC was winless. Kankkunen drove the car on the podium on seven occasions, and both Ford and Kankkunen finished fourth in their respective championships. For the 1999 season, Ford signed the Subaru World Rally Team star Colin McRae and Kankkunen moved to replace him at Subaru.
1999–2000: Subaru
Kankkunen's first year with the Subaru World Rally Team and the Subaru Impreza WRC led to victories in Argentina and Finland. In Argentina, he took his first win in over five years, overtaking teammate Richard Burns on the last stage to win by a mere 2.4 seconds. Kankkunen was prepared to accept a team order in the form of a deliberate 10-second time penalty, but with the TV cameras filming, Subaru team principal David Richards stated that there would be no team orders. In his home event, Kankkunen beat Burns to what would be his final victory in the WRC. Despite a one-two for Subaru again at the season-ending RAC, Subaru lost the manufacturers' crown to Toyota by four points. For the third year in a row, Kankkunen placed fourth in the drivers' championship, while Mäkinen equalled Kankkunen's record of four titles. Kankkunen's 2000 season was a disappointment. His best result was second in the Safari Rally behind Burns. With only two other podium finishes to his name, Kankkunen placed eighth in the drivers' standings.
Later career
Subaru and Kankkunen did not reach a deal for 2001, and Kankkunen ended up competing in only one world rally during the season, the Rally Finland for the Hyundai factory team. He retired after his Accent WRC incurred several technical problems. For the 2002 season, Hyundai initially offered Kankkunen a full 14-event programme, which did not interest him, and the deal was modified to include only the nine gravel rallies. Despite a new evolution of the Accent WRC, Hyundai were unable to challenge the top teams: Peugeot, Ford and Subaru. Kankkunen's fifth place in the Rally New Zealand was the team's best result of the season. However, Kankkunen and the team's full-time drivers Freddy Loix and Armin Schwarz did narrowly give Hyundai its career-best fourth place in the manufacturers' world championship. Kankkunen retired from the WRC after the season.
Following his retirement, Kankkunen announced his intention to enter politics, echoing the career path of rallying compatriot Ari Vatanen. In 2004, he ran for the European Parliament as a candidate of the conservative National Coalition Party. While Vatanen was re-elected, Kankkunen's 17,815 votes were not enough to gain a seat. Kankkunen, a "Flying Finn" himself, was one of the shareholders in the now-bankrupt Flying Finn airline, the first low cost airline in Finland. The company's first airplane was named after him. Kankkunen, along with former NHL star Jari Kurri, has also been a shareholder in a company that builds luxury real estate in Ruka, Finland.
In early 2007, Kankkunen set a new world speed record on ice in his privately owned Bentley Continental GT on the frozen Gulf of Bothnia near Oulu, Finland. He averaged in both directions on the "flying kilometer", reaching a maximum speed of . Previously the record was held by a Bugatti EB110 Supersport. The Bentley was largely standard except a rollcage, some aerodynamic improvements and low-temperature fuel and calibration. Tires were from Nokian Tyres with spikes. Technical support was provided by Nokian and Bentley Motors. Kankkunen bettered the record to 330.695 km/h (205.48 mph) in 2011, driving an E85-powered Bentley Continental Supersports convertible. Bentley will release a limited edition of the Supersports to celebrate the achievement. The 100 models will be the most powerful road cars Bentley has ever produced.
It was announced on 23 July 2010 that Kankkunen would take part in the 2010 Rally Finland to mark the sixtieth jubilee of the event. He was joined by his long-time co-driver Juha Repo driving a Ford Focus RS WRC 08 for the Stobart M-Sport Ford Rally Team. At just over 51 years old, Kankkunen finished an impressive 8th, beating many WRC regulars.
Personal life
Kankkunen currently lives in Monaco but also spends time on his family farm in Laukaa, which includes a large country house and hundreds of hectares of land. He has a large car collection, which includes six Ferraris such as the F40 and the 288 GTO, as well as all the four rally cars with which he won the world championship. Kankkunen and his wife Pirjo filed for divorce in 2008. They have two sons named Tino and Niko. Juha's father Pekka (1934–2013) and his brother Timo were also former rally drivers.
WRC victories
Complete WRC results
References
External links
Juha Kankkunen Driving Academy
Kankkunen's profile at RallyBase
Kankkunen's profile at World Rally Archive
1959 births
Living people
Lancia people
People from Laukaa
Finnish rally drivers
World Rally Champions
World Rally Championship drivers
Off-road racing drivers
Dakar Rally drivers
Dakar Rally winning drivers
Finnish expatriates in Monaco
Sportspeople from Central Finland
Peugeot Sport drivers
Toyota Gazoo Racing drivers
Hyundai Motorsport drivers
Volkswagen Motorsport drivers
M-Sport drivers
|
412753
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allergic%20rhinitis
|
Allergic rhinitis
|
Allergic rhinitis, of which the seasonal type is called hay fever, is a type of inflammation in the nose that occurs when the immune system overreacts to allergens in the air. Signs and symptoms include a runny or stuffy nose, sneezing, red, itchy, and watery eyes, and swelling around the eyes. The fluid from the nose is usually clear. Symptom onset is often within minutes following allergen exposure, and can affect sleep and the ability to work or study. Some people may develop symptoms only during specific times of the year, often as a result of pollen exposure. Many people with allergic rhinitis also have asthma, allergic conjunctivitis, or atopic dermatitis.
Allergic rhinitis is typically triggered by environmental allergens such as pollen, pet hair, dust, or mold. Inherited genetics and environmental exposures contribute to the development of allergies. Growing up on a farm and having multiple siblings decreases this risk. The underlying mechanism involves IgE antibodies that attach to an allergen, and subsequently result in the release of inflammatory chemicals such as histamine from mast cells. It causes mucous membranes in the nose, eyes and throat to become inflamed and itchy as they work to eject the allergen. Diagnosis is typically based on a combination of symptoms and a skin prick test or blood tests for allergen-specific IgE antibodies. These tests, however, can give false positives. The symptoms of allergies resemble those of the common cold; however, they often last for more than two weeks and, despite the common name, typically do not include a fever.
Exposure to animals early in life might reduce the risk of developing these specific allergies. Several different types of medications reduce allergic symptoms, including nasal steroids, antihistamines, such as diphenhydramine, cromolyn sodium, and leukotriene receptor antagonists such as montelukast. Oftentimes, medications do not completely control symptoms, and they may also have side effects. Exposing people to larger and larger amounts of allergen, known as allergen immunotherapy (AIT), is often effective. The allergen can be given as an injection under the skin or as a tablet under the tongue. Treatment typically lasts three to five years, after which benefits may be prolonged.
Allergic rhinitis is the type of allergy that affects the greatest number of people. In Western countries, between 10 and 30% of people are affected in a given year. It is most common between the ages of twenty and forty. The first accurate description is from the 10th-century physician Abu Bakr al-Razi. In 1859, Charles Blackley identified pollen as the cause. In 1906, the mechanism was determined by Clemens von Pirquet. The link with hay came about due to an early (and incorrect) theory that the symptoms were brought about by the smell of new hay. Although the scent per se is irrelevant, the correlation with hay remains more than random, as peak hay-harvesting season overlaps with peak pollen season, and hay-harvesting work puts people in close contact with seasonal allergens.
Signs and symptoms
The characteristic symptoms of allergic rhinitis are: rhinorrhea (excess nasal secretion), itching, sneezing fits, and nasal congestion and obstruction. Characteristic physical findings include conjunctival swelling and erythema, eyelid swelling with Dennie–Morgan folds, lower eyelid venous stasis (rings under the eyes known as "allergic shiners"), swollen nasal turbinates, and middle ear effusion.
There can also be behavioral signs; in order to relieve the irritation or flow of mucus, people may wipe or rub their nose with the palm of their hand in an upward motion: an action known as the "nasal salute" or the "allergic salute". This may result in a crease running across the nose (or above each nostril if only one side of the nose is wiped at a time), commonly referred to as the "transverse nasal crease", and can lead to permanent physical deformity if repeated enough.
People might also find that cross-reactivity occurs. For example, people allergic to birch pollen may also find that they have an allergic reaction to the skin of apples or potatoes. A clear sign of this is the occurrence of an itchy throat after eating an apple or sneezing when peeling potatoes or apples. This occurs because of similarities in the proteins of the pollen and the food. There are many cross-reacting substances. Hay fever is not a true fever, meaning it does not cause a core body temperature in the fever over 37.5–38.3 °C (99.5–100.9 °F).
Cause
Pollen is often considered as a cause of allergic rhinitis, hence called hay fever (See sub-section below).
Predisposing factors to allergic rhinitis include eczema (atopic dermatitis) and asthma. These three conditions can often occur together which is referred to as the atopic triad. Additionally, environmental exposures such as air pollution and maternal tobacco smoking can increase an individual's chances of developing allergies.
Pollen-related causes
Allergic rhinitis triggered by the pollens of specific seasonal plants is commonly known as "hay fever", because it is most prevalent during haying season. However, it is possible to have allergic rhinitis throughout the year. The pollen that causes hay fever varies between individuals and from region to region; in general, the tiny, hardly visible pollens of wind-pollinated plants are the predominant cause. The study of the dispersion of these bioaerosols is called Aerobiology. Pollens of insect-pollinated plants are too large to remain airborne and pose no risk. Examples of plants commonly responsible for hay fever include:
Trees: such as pine (Pinus), mulberry (Morus), birch (Betula), alder (Alnus), cedar (Cedrus), hazel (Corylus), hornbeam (Carpinus), horse chestnut (Aesculus), willow (Salix), poplar (Populus), plane (Platanus), linden/lime (Tilia), and olive (Olea). In northern latitudes, birch is considered to be the most common allergenic tree pollen, with an estimated 15–20% of people with hay fever sensitive to birch pollen grains. A major antigen in these is a protein called Bet V I. Olive pollen is most predominant in Mediterranean regions. Hay fever in Japan is caused primarily by sugi (Cryptomeria japonica) and hinoki (Chamaecyparis obtusa) tree pollen.
"Allergy friendly" trees include: female ash, red maple, yellow poplar, dogwood, magnolia, double-flowered cherry, fir, spruce, and flowering plum.
Grasses (Family Poaceae): especially ryegrass (Lolium sp.) and timothy (Phleum pratense). An estimated 90% of people with hay fever are allergic to grass pollen.
Weeds: ragweed (Ambrosia), plantain (Plantago), nettle/parietaria (Urticaceae), mugwort (Artemisia Vulgaris), Fat hen (Chenopodium), and sorrel/dock (Rumex)
Allergic rhinitis may also be caused by allergy to Balsam of Peru, which is in various fragrances and other products.
Genetic factors
The causes and pathogenesis of allergic rhinitis are hypothesized to be affected by both genetic and environmental factors, with many recent studies focusing on specific loci that could be potential therapeutic targets for the disease. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified a number of different loci and genetic pathways that seem to mediate the body's response to allergens and promote the development of allergic rhinitis, with some of the most promising results coming from studies involving single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the interleukin-33 (IL-33) gene. The IL-33 protein that is encoded by the IL-33 gene is part of the interleukin family of cytokines that interact with T-helper 2 (Th2) cells, a specific type of T cell. Th2 cells contribute to the body's inflammatory response to allergens, and specific ST2 receptors, also known as IL1RL1, on these cells bind to the ligand IL-33 protein. This IL-33/ST2 signaling pathway has been found to be one of the main genetic determinants in bronchial asthma pathogenesis, and because of the pathological linkage between asthma and rhinitis, the experimental focus of IL-33 has now turned to its role in the development of allergic rhinitis in humans and mouse models. Recently, it was found that allergic rhinitis patients expressed higher levels of IL-33 in their nasal epithelium and had a higher concentration of ST2 serum in nasal passageways following their exposure to pollen and other allergens, indicating that this gene and its associated receptor are expressed at a higher rate in allergic rhinitis patients. In a 2020 study on polymorphisms of the IL-33 gene and their link to allergic rhinitis within the Han Chinese population, researchers found that five SNPs specifically contributed to the pathogenesis of allergic rhinitis, with three of those five SNPs previously identified as genetic determinants for asthma.
Another study focusing on Han Chinese children found that certain SNPs in the protein tyrosine phosphatase non-receptor 22 (PTPN22) gene and cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated antigen 4 (CTLA-4) gene can be associated with childhood allergic rhinitis and allergic asthma. The encoded PTPN22 protein, which is found primarily in lymphoid tissue, acts as a post-translational regulator by removing phosphate groups from targeted proteins. Importantly, PTPN22 can affect the phosphorylation of T cell responses, and thus the subsequent proliferation of the T cells. As mentioned earlier, T cells contribute to the body's inflammatory response in a variety of ways, so any changes to the cells' structure and function can have potentially deleterious effects on the body's inflammatory response to allergens. To date, one SNP in the PTPN22 gene has been found to be significantly associated with allergic rhinitis onset in children. On the other hand, CTLA-4 is an immune-checkpoint protein that helps mediate and control the body's immune response to prevent overactivation. It is expressed only in T cells as a glycoprotein for the Immunoglobulin (Ig) protein family, also known as antibodies. There have been two SNPs in CTLA-4 that were found to be significantly associated with childhood allergic rhinitis. Both SNPs most likely affect the associated protein's shape and function, causing the body to exhibit an overactive immune response to the posed allergen. The polymorphisms in both genes are only beginning to be examined, therefore more research is needed to determine the severity of the impact of polymorphisms in the respective genes.
Finally, epigenetic alterations and associations are of particular interest to the study and ultimate treatment of allergic rhinitis. Specifically, microRNAs (miRNA) are hypothesized to be imperative to the pathogenesis of allergic rhinitis due to the post-transcriptional regulation and repression of translation in their mRNA complement. Both miRNAs and their common carrier vessel exosomes have been found to play a role in the body's immune and inflammatory responses to allergens. miRNAs are housed and packaged inside of exosomes until they are ready to be released into the section of the cell that they are coded to reside and act. Repressing the translation of proteins can ultimately repress parts of the body's immune and inflammatory responses, thus contributing to the pathogenesis of allergic rhinitis and other autoimmune disorders. There are many miRNAs that have been deemed potential therapeutic targets for the treatment of allergic rhinitis by many different researchers, with the most widely studied being miR-133, miR-155, miR-205, miR-498, and let-7e.
Diagnosis
Allergy testing may reveal the specific allergens to which an individual is sensitive. Skin testing is the most common method of allergy testing. This may include a patch test to determine if a particular substance is causing the rhinitis, or an intradermal, scratch, or other test. Less commonly, the suspected allergen is dissolved and dropped onto the lower eyelid as a means of testing for allergies. This test should be done only by a physician, since it can be harmful if done improperly. In some individuals not able to undergo skin testing (as determined by the doctor), the RAST blood test may be helpful in determining specific allergen sensitivity. Peripheral eosinophilia can be seen in differential leukocyte count.
Allergy testing is not definitive. At times, these tests can reveal positive results for certain allergens that are not actually causing symptoms, and can also not pick up allergens that do cause an individual's symptoms. The intradermal allergy test is more sensitive than the skin prick test, but is also more often positive in people that do not have symptoms to that allergen.
Even if a person has negative skin-prick, intradermal and blood tests for allergies, they may still have allergic rhinitis, from a local allergy in the nose. This is called local allergic rhinitis. Specialized testing is necessary to diagnose local allergic rhinitis.
Classification
Seasonal allergic rhinitis (hay fever): Caused by seasonal peaks in the airborne load of pollens.
Perennial allergic rhinitis (nonseasonal allergic rhinitis; atopic rhinitis): Caused by allergens present throughout the year (e.g., dander).
Allergic rhinitis may be seasonal, perennial, or episodic. Seasonal allergic rhinitis occurs in particular during pollen seasons. It does not usually develop until after 6 years of age. Perennial allergic rhinitis occurs throughout the year. This type of allergic rhinitis is commonly seen in younger children.
Allergic rhinitis may also be classified as mild-intermittent, moderate-severe intermittent, mild-persistent, and moderate-severe persistent. Intermittent is when the symptoms occur <4 days per week or <4 consecutive weeks. Persistent is when symptoms occur >4 days/week and >4 consecutive weeks. The symptoms are considered mild with normal sleep, no impairment of daily activities, no impairment of work or school, and if symptoms are not troublesome. Severe symptoms result in sleep disturbance, impairment of daily activities, and impairment of school or work.
Local allergic rhinitis
Local allergic rhinitis is an allergic reaction in the nose to an allergen, without systemic allergies. So skin-prick and blood tests for allergy are negative, but there are IgE antibodies produced in the nose that react to a specific allergen. Intradermal skin testing may also be negative.
The symptoms of local allergic rhinitis are the same as the symptoms of allergic rhinitis, including symptoms in the eyes. Just as with allergic rhinitis, people can have either seasonal or perennial local allergic rhinitis. The symptoms of local allergic rhinitis can be mild, moderate, or severe. Local allergic rhinitis is associated with conjunctivitis and asthma.
In one study, about 25% of people with rhinitis had local allergic rhinitis. In several studies, over 40% of people having been diagnosed with nonallergic rhinitis were found to actually have local allergic rhinitis. Steroid nasal sprays and oral antihistamines have been found to be effective for local allergic rhinitis.
As of 2014, local allergenic rhinitis had mostly been investigated in Europe; in the United States, the nasal provocation testing necessary to diagnose the condition was not widely available.
Prevention
Prevention often focuses on avoiding specific allergens that cause an individual's symptoms. These methods include not having pets, not having carpets or upholstered furniture in the home, and keeping the home dry. Specific anti-allergy zippered covers on household items like pillows and mattresses have also proven to be effective in preventing dust mite allergies.
Studies have shown that growing up on a farm and having many older siblings can decrease an individual's risk for developing allergic rhinitis.
Studies in young children have shown that there is higher risk of allergic rhinitis in those who have early exposure to foods or formula or heavy exposure to cigarette smoking within the first year of life.
Treatment
The goal of rhinitis treatment is to prevent or reduce the symptoms caused by the inflammation of affected tissues. Measures that are effective include avoiding the allergen. Intranasal corticosteroids are the preferred medical treatment for persistent symptoms, with other options if this is not effective. Second line therapies include antihistamines, decongestants, cromolyn, leukotriene receptor antagonists, and nasal irrigation. Antihistamines by mouth are suitable for occasional use with mild intermittent symptoms. Mite-proof covers, air filters, and withholding certain foods in childhood do not have evidence supporting their effectiveness.
Antihistamines
Antihistamine drugs can be taken orally and nasally to control symptoms such as sneezing, rhinorrhea, itching, and conjunctivitis.
It is best to take oral antihistamine medication before exposure, especially for seasonal allergic rhinitis. In the case of nasal antihistamines like azelastine antihistamine nasal spray, relief from symptoms is experienced within 15 minutes allowing for a more immediate 'as-needed' approach to dosage. There is not enough evidence of antihistamine efficacy as an add-on therapy with nasal steroids in the management of intermittent or persistent allergic rhinitis in children, so its adverse effects and additional costs must be considered.
Ophthalmic antihistamines (such as azelastine in eye drop form and ketotifen) are used for conjunctivitis, while intranasal forms are used mainly for sneezing, rhinorrhea, and nasal pruritus.
Antihistamine drugs can have undesirable side-effects, the most notable one being drowsiness in the case of oral antihistamine tablets. First-generation antihistamine drugs such as diphenhydramine cause drowsiness, while second- and third-generation antihistamines such as cetirizine and loratadine are less likely to.
Pseudoephedrine is also indicated for vasomotor rhinitis. It is used only when nasal congestion is present and can be used with antihistamines. In the United States, oral decongestants containing pseudoephedrine must be purchased behind the pharmacy counter in an effort to prevent the manufacturing of methamphetamine. Desloratadine/pseudoephedrine can also be used for this condition
Steroids
Intranasal corticosteroids are used to control symptoms associated with sneezing, rhinorrhea, itching, and nasal congestion. Steroid nasal sprays are effective and safe, and may be effective without oral antihistamines. They take several days to act and so must be taken continually for several weeks, as their therapeutic effect builds up with time.
In 2013, a study compared the efficacy of mometasone furoate nasal spray to betamethasone oral tablets for the treatment of people with seasonal allergic rhinitis and found that the two have virtually equivalent effects on nasal symptoms in people.
Systemic steroids such as prednisone tablets and intramuscular triamcinolone acetonide or glucocorticoid (such as betamethasone) injection are effective at reducing nasal inflammation, but their use is limited by their short duration of effect and the side-effects of prolonged steroid therapy.
Other
Other measures that may be used second line include: decongestants, cromolyn, leukotriene receptor antagonists, and nonpharmacologic therapies such as nasal irrigation.
Topical decongestants may also be helpful in reducing symptoms such as nasal congestion, but should not be used for long periods, as stopping them after protracted use can lead to a rebound nasal congestion called rhinitis medicamentosa.
For nocturnal symptoms, intranasal corticosteroids can be combined with nightly oxymetazoline, an adrenergic alpha-agonist, or an antihistamine nasal spray without risk of rhinitis medicamentosa.
Nasal saline irrigation (a practice where salt water is poured into the nostrils), may have benefits in both adults and children in relieving the symptoms of allergic rhinitis and it is unlikely to be associated with adverse effects.
Allergen immunotherapy
Allergen immunotherapy (AIT, also termed desensitization) treatment involves administering doses of allergens to accustom the body to substances that are generally harmless (pollen, house dust mites), thereby inducing specific long-term tolerance. Allergen immunotherapy is the only treatment that alters the disease mechanism. Immunotherapy can be administered orally (as sublingual tablets or sublingual drops), or by injections under the skin (subcutaneous). Subcutaneous immunotherapy is the most common form and has the largest body of evidence supporting its effectiveness.
Alternative medicine
There are no forms of complementary or alternative medicine that are evidence-based for allergic rhinitis. Therapeutic efficacy of alternative treatments such as acupuncture and homeopathy is not supported by available evidence. While some evidence shows that acupuncture is effective for rhinitis, specifically targeting the sphenopalatine ganglion acupoint, these trials are still limited. Overall, the quality of evidence for complementary-alternative medicine is not strong enough to be recommended by the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology.
Epidemiology
Allergic rhinitis is the type of allergy that affects the greatest number of people. In Western countries, between 10 and 30 percent of people are affected in a given year. It is most common between the ages of twenty and forty.
History
The first accurate description is from the 10th century physician Rhazes. Pollen was identified as the cause in 1859 by Charles Blackley. In 1906 the mechanism was determined by Clemens von Pirquet. The link with hay came about due to an early (and incorrect) theory that the symptoms were brought about by the smell of new hay.
References
Further reading
External links
Allergology
Steroid-responsive inflammatory conditions
Type I hypersensitivity
Wikipedia medicine articles ready to translate
Wikipedia emergency medicine articles ready to translate
|
412765
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organic%20certification
|
Organic certification
|
Organic certification is a certification process for producers of organic food and other organic agricultural products, in the European Union more commonly known as ecological or biological products. In general, any business directly involved in food production can be certified, including seed suppliers, farmers, food processors, retailers and restaurants. A lesser known counterpart is certification for organic textiles (or organic clothing) that includes certification of textile products made from organically grown fibres.
Requirements vary from country to country (List of countries with organic agriculture regulation), and generally involve a set of production standards for growing, storage, processing, packaging and shipping that include:
avoidance of synthetic chemical inputs (e.g. fertilizer, pesticides, antibiotics, food additives), irradiation, and the use of sewage sludge;
avoidance of genetically modified seed;
use of farmland that has been free from prohibited chemical inputs for a number of years (often, three or more);
for livestock, adhering to specific requirements for feed, housing, and breeding;
keeping detailed written production and sales records (audit trail);
maintaining strict physical separation of organic products from non-certified products;
undergoing periodic on-site inspections.
In some countries, certification is overseen by the government, and commercial use of the term organic is legally restricted. Certified organic producers are also subject to the same agricultural, food safety and other government regulations that apply to non-certified producers.
Certified organic foods are not necessarily pesticide-free, as certain pesticides are allowed.
Purpose
Organic certification addresses a growing worldwide demand for organic food. It is intended to assure quality, prevent fraud, and to promote commerce. While such certification was not necessary in the early days of the organic movement, when small farmers would sell their produce directly at farmers' markets, as organics have grown in popularity, more and more consumers are purchasing organic food through traditional channels, such as supermarkets. As such, consumers must rely on third-party regulatory certification.
For organic producers, certification identifies suppliers of products approved for use in certified operations. For consumers, "certified organic" serves as a product assurance, similar to "low fat", "100% whole wheat", or "no artificial preservatives".
Certification is essentially aimed at regulating and facilitating the sale of organic products to consumers. Individual certification bodies have their own service marks, which can act as branding to consumers—a certifier may promote the high consumer recognition value of its logo as a marketing advantage to producers.
Methods
Third-party
In third party certification, the farm or the processing of the agriculture produce is certified in accordance with national or international organic standards by an accredited organic certification agency. To certify a farm, the farmer is typically required to engage in a number of new activities, in addition to normal farming operations:
Study the organic standards, which cover in specific detail what is and is not allowed for every aspect of farming, including storage, transport and sale.
Compliance — farm facilities and production methods must comply with the standards, which may involve modifying facilities, sourcing and changing suppliers, etc.
Documentation — extensive paperwork is required, detailing farm history and current set-up, and usually including results of soil and water tests.
Planning — a written annual production plan must be submitted, detailing everything from seed to sale: seed sources, field and crop locations, fertilization and pest control activities, harvest methods, storage locations, etc.
Inspection — annual on-farm inspections are required, with a physical tour, examination of records, and an oral interview. The vast majority of the inspections are pre-scheduled visits.
Fee — an annual inspection/certification fee (currently starting at $400–$2,000/year, in the US and Canada, depending on the agency and the size of the operation). There are financial assistance programs for qualifying certified operations.
Record-keeping — written, day-to-day farming and marketing records, covering all activities, must be available for inspection at any time.
In addition, short-notice or surprise inspections can be made, and specific tests (e.g. soil, water, plant tissue) may be requested.
For first-time farm certification, the soil must meet basic requirements of being free from use of prohibited substances (synthetic chemicals, etc.) for a number of years. A conventional farm must adhere to organic standards for this period, often two to three years. This is known as being in transition. Transitional crops are not considered fully organic.
Certification for operations other than farms follows a similar process. The focus is on the quality of ingredients and other inputs, and processing and handling conditions. A transport company would be required to detail the use and maintenance of its vehicles, storage facilities, containers, and so forth. A restaurant would have its premises inspected and its suppliers verified as certified organic.
Participatory
Participatory Guarantee Systems (PGS) represent an alternative to third party certification, especially adapted to local markets and short supply chains. They can also complement third party certification with a private label that brings additional guarantees and transparency. PGS enable the direct participation of producers, consumers and other stakeholders in:
the choice and definition of the standards
the development and implementation of certification procedures
the certification decisions
Participatory Guarantee Systems are also referred to as "participatory certification".
Alternative certification options
The word organic is central to the certification (and organic food marketing) process, and this is also questioned by some. Where organic laws exist, producers cannot use the term legally without certification. To bypass this legal requirement for certification, various alternative certification approaches, using currently undefined terms like "authentic" and "natural", are emerging. In the US, motivated by the cost and legal requirements of certification (as of Oct. 2002), the private farmer-to-farmer association, Certified Naturally Grown, offers a "non-profit alternative eco-labelling program for small farms that grow using USDA Organic methods but are not a part of the USDA Certified Organic program."
In the UK, the interests of smaller-scale growers who use "natural" growing methods are represented by the Wholesome Food Association, which issues a symbol based largely on trust and peer-to-peer inspection.
Organic certification and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
Organic certification, as well as fair trade certification, has the potential to directly and indirectly contribute to the achievement of some of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which are the eight international development goals that were established following the Millennium Summit of the United Nations in 2000, with all United Nations member states committed to help achieve the MDGs by 2015. With the growth of ethical consumerism in developed countries, imports of eco-friendly and socially certified produce from the poor in developing countries have increased, which could contribute towards the achievement of the MDGs. A study by Setboonsarng (2008) reveals that organic certification substantially contributes to MDG1 (poverty and hunger) and MDG7 (environmental sustainability) by way of premium prices and better market access, among others. This study concludes that for this market-based development scheme to broaden its poverty impacts, public sector support in harmonizing standards, building up the capacity of certifiers, developing infrastructure development, and innovating alternative certification systems will be required.
International food standards
The body Codex Alimentarius of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations was established in November 1961. The Commission's main goals are to protect the health of consumers and ensure fair practices in the international food trade. The Codex Alimentarius is recognized by the World Trade Organization as an international reference point for the resolution of disputes concerning food safety and consumer protection. One of their goals is to provide proper food labelling (general standard, guidelines on nutrition labelling, guidelines on labelling claims).
National variations
In some countries, organic standards are formulated and overseen by the government. The United States, the European Union, Canada and Japan have comprehensive organic legislation, and the term "organic" may be used only by certified producers. Being able to put the word "organic" on a food product is a valuable marketing advantage in today's consumer market, but does not guarantee the product is legitimately organic. Certification is intended to protect consumers from misuse of the term, and make buying organics easy. However, the organic labeling made possible by certification itself usually requires explanation. In countries without organic laws, government guidelines may or may not exist, while certification is handled by non-profit organizations and private companies.
Internationally, equivalency negotiations are underway, and some agreements are already in place, to harmonize certification between countries, facilitating international trade. There are also international certification bodies, including members of the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM) working on harmonization efforts. Where formal agreements do not exist between countries, organic product for export is often certified by agencies from the importing countries, who may establish permanent foreign offices for this purpose. In 2011 IFOAM introduced a new program—the IFOAM Family of Standards—that attempts to simplify harmonization. The vision is to establish the use of one single global reference (the COROS) to access the quality of standards rather than focusing on bilateral agreements.
The Certcost was a research project that conducted research and prepared reports about the certification of organic food. The project was supported by the European Commission and was active from 2008 to 2011. The website will be available until 2016.
North America
United States
In the United States, "organic" is a labeling term for food or agricultural products ("food, feed or fiber") that have been produced according to USDA organic regulations, which define standards that "integrate cultural, biological, and mechanical practices that foster cycling of resources, promote ecological balance, and conserve biodiversity". USDA standards recognize four types of organic production:
Crops: "Plants that are grown to be harvested as food, livestock feed, or fiber used to add nutrients to the field."
Livestock: "Animals that can be used in the production of food, fiber, or feed."
Processed/multi-ingredient products: "Items that have been handled and packaged (e.g. chopped carrots) or combined, processed, and packaged (e.g. bread or soup)."
Wild crops: "Plants from a growing site that is not cultivated."
Organic agricultural operations should ultimately maintain or improve soil and water quality, and conserve wetlands, woodlands, and wildlife.
In the U.S., the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990 "requires the Secretary of Agriculture to establish a National List of Allowed and Prohibited Substances which identifies synthetic substances that may be used, and the non- synthetic substances that cannot be used, in organic production and handling operations."
Also in the U.S., the Secretary of Agriculture promulgated regulations establishing the National Organic Program (NOP). The final rule was published in the Federal Register in 2000.
USDA Organic certification confirms that the farm or handling facility (whether within the United States or internationally) complies with USDA organic regulations. Farms or handling facilities can be certified by private, foreign, or State entities, whose agents are accredited by the USDA (accredited agents are listed on the USDA website). Any farm or business that grosses more than $5,000 annually in organic sales must be certified. Farms and businesses that make less than $5,000 annually are "exempt", and must follow all the requirements as stated in the USDA regulations except for two requirements:
Exempt operations do not need to be certified to "sell, label, or represent" their products as organic, but may not use the USDA organic seal or label their products as "certified organic". Exempt operations may pursue optional certification if they wish to use the USDA organic seal.
Exempt operations are not required to have a system plan that documents the specific practices and substances used in the production or handling of their organic products
Exempt operations are also barred from selling their products as ingredients for use in another producer or handler's certified organic product, and may be required by buyers to sign an affidavit affirming adherence to USDA organic regulations.
Before an operation may sell, label or represent their products as "organic" (or use the USDA organic seal), it must undergo a 3-year transition period where any land used to produce raw organic commodities must be left untreated with prohibited substances.
Operations seeking certification must first submit an application for organic certification to a USDA-accredited certifying agent including the following:
A detailed description of the operation seeking certification
A history of substances used on the land over the prior 3 years
A list of the organic products grown, raised, or processed
A written "Organic System Plan (OSP)" which outlines the practices and substances intended for use during future organic production.
Processors/handlers who are not primarily a farm (and farms with livestock and/or crops that also process products) must complete an Organic Handling Plan (OHP), and also include a product profile and label for each product
Certifying agents then review the application to confirm that the operation's practices follow USDA regulations, and schedule an inspection to verify adherence to the OSP, maintenance of records, and overall regulatory compliance
Inspection
During the site visit, the inspector observes onsite practices and compares them to the OSP, looks for any potential contamination by prohibited materials (or any risk of potential contamination), and takes soil, tissue, or product samples as needed. At farming operations, the inspector will also examine the fields, water systems, storage areas, and equipment, assess pest and weed management, check feed production, purchase records, livestock and their living conditions, and records of animal health management practices. For processing and handling facilities, the inspector evaluates the receiving, processing, and storage areas for organic ingredients and finished products, as well as assessing any potential hazards or contamination points (from "sanitation systems, pest management materials, or nonorganic processing aids"). If the facility also processes or handles nonorganic materials, the inspector will also analyze the measures in place to prevent commingling.
If the written application and operational inspection are successful, the certifying agent will issue an organic certificate to the applicant. The producer or handler must then submit an updated application and OSP, pay recertification fees to the agent, and undergo annual onsite inspections to receive recertification annually. Once certified, producers and handlers can have up to 75% of their organic certification costs reimbursed through the USDA Organic Certification Cost-Share Programs.
Federal legislation defines three levels of organic foods. Products made entirely with certified organic ingredients, methods, and processing aids can be labeled "100% organic" (including raw agricultural commodities that have been certified), while only products with at least 95% organic ingredients may be labeled "organic" (any non-organic ingredients used must fall under the exemptions of the National List). Under these two categories, no nonorganic agricultural ingredients are allowed when organic ingredients are available. Both of these categories may also display the "USDA Organic" seal, and must state the name of the certifying agent on the information panel.
A third category, containing a minimum of 70% organic ingredients, can be labeled "made with organic ingredients", but may not display the USDA Organic seal. Any remaining agricultural ingredients must be produced without excluded methods, including genetic modification, irradiation, or the application of synthetic fertilizers, sewage sludge, or biosolids. Non-agricultural ingredients used must be allowed on the National List. Organic ingredients must be marked in the ingredients list (e.g., "organic dill" or with an asterisk denoting organic status). In addition, products may also display the logo of the certification body that approved them.
Products made with less than 70% organic ingredients can not be advertised as "organic", but can list individual ingredients that are organic as such in the product's ingredient statement. Also, USDA ingredients from plants cannot be genetically modified.
Livestock feed is only eligible for labeling as "100% Organic" or "Organic".
Alcoholic products are also subject to the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau regulations. Any use of added sulfites in wine made with organic grapes means that the product is only eligible for the "made with" labeling category and therefore may not use the USDA organic seal. Wine labeled as made with other organic fruit cannot have sulfites added to it.
Organic textiles made be labeled organic and use the USDA organic seal if the finished product is certified organic and produced in full compliance with USDA organic regulations. If all of a specific fiber used in a product is certified organic, the label may state the percentage of organic fibers and identify the organic material.
Organic certification mandates that the certifying inspector must be able to complete both "trace-back" and "mass balance audits" for all ingredients and products. A trace-back audit confirms the existence of a record trail from time of purchase/production through the final sale. A mass balance audit verifies that enough organic product and ingredients have been produced or purchased to match the amount of product sold. Each ingredient and product must have an assigned lot number to ensure the existence of a proper audit trail.
Some of the earliest organizations to carry out organic certification in North America were the California Certified Organic Farmers, founded in 1973, and the voluntary standards and certification program popularized by the Rodale Press in 1972. Some retailers have their stores certified as organic handlers and processors to ensure organic compliance is maintained throughout the supply chain until delivered to consumers, such as Vitamin Cottage Natural Grocers, a 60-year-old chain based in Colorado.
Violations of USDA Organic regulations carry fines up to $11,000 per violation, and can also lead to suspension or revocation of a farm or business's organic certificate.
Once certified, USDA organic products can be exported to countries currently engaged in organic trade agreements with the U.S., including Canada, the European Union, Japan, and Taiwan, and do not require additional certification as long as the terms of the agreement are met.
In the United States the situation is undergoing its own FDA Food Safety Modernization Act.
Canada
In Canada, certification was implemented at the federal level on June 30, 2009. Mandatory certification is required for agricultural products represented as organic in import, export and inter-provincial trade, or that bear the federal organic logo. In Quebec, provincial legislation provides government oversight of organic certification within the province, through the Quebec Accreditation Board (Conseil D'Accréditation Du Québec). Only products that use at least 95% organic materials in production are allowed to bear the Canadian organic logo. Products between 70-95% may declare they have xx% of organic ingredients, however they do not meet requirements to bear the certified logo. Transitioning from a conventional agricultural operation to an organic operation takes the producers up to three years to receive organic certification, during which time products cannot be marketed as organic products, and producers will not receive pricing premiums on their goods during this time. Cows, sheep, and goats are the only livestock that are allowed to be transitioned to organic, under Canada's regulations. They must undergo organic management for one year before their products can be considered certified organic.
South America
Argentina
In Argentina, the Organic certification was implemented in December 2012, through a Ministry of Agriculture resolution. Organic products are labeled with the Orgánico Argentina seal, which is administered by SENASA and issued by four private companies. Organic production is regulated by the 25.127 Act, passed in 1999.
During 2019, of land were used for organic production certified with the Argentine seal.
Europe
Public organic certification
EU countries acquired comprehensive organic legislation with the implementation of the EU-Eco-regulation 1992. Supervision of certification bodies is handled on the national level. In March 2002 the European Commission issued an EU-wide label for organic food. It has been mandatory throughout the EU since July 2010. and has become compulsory after a two-year transition period.
In 2009 a new logo was chosen through a design competition and online public vote. The new logo is a green rectangle that shows twelve stars (from the European flag) placed such that they form the shape of a leaf in the wind. Unlike earlier labels no words are presented on the label lifting the requirement for translations referring to organic food certification.
The new EU organic label has been implemented since July 2010 and has replaced the old European Organic label. However, producers that have had already printed and ready to use packaging with the old label were allowed to use them in the upcoming two years.
The development of the EU organic label was develop based on Denmark's organic food policy and the rules behind the Danish organic food label which at the moment holds the highest rate of recognition among its users in the world respectively 98% and 90% trust the label.
The current EU organic label is meant to signal to the consumer that at least 95% of the ingredients used in the processed organic food is from organic origin and 5% considered an acceptable error margin.
Private organic certification
Besides the public organic certification regulation EU-Eco-regulation in 1992, there are various private organic certifications available:
Demeter International is the largest certification organization for biodynamic agriculture, and is one of three predominant organic certifiers. Demeter Biodynamic Certification is used in over 50 countries to verify that biodynamic products meet international standards in production and processing. The Demeter certification program was established in 1928, and as such was the first ecological label for organically produced foods.
Bio Suisse established in 1981 is the Swiss organic farmer umbrella organization. International activities are mainly focused on imports towards Switzerland and do not support export activities.
Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) is a private standard for organic clothing for the entire post-harvest processing (including spinning, knitting, weaving, dyeing and manufacturing) of apparel and home textiles made with organic fibres (such as organic cotton, organic wool etc.). It includes both environmental and social criteria. Established in 2002, the standard is used in over 68 countries and is endorsed by USDA and IFOAM - Organics International. The material must be at least 95% organic, as certified by "recognized international or national standards". If the material is 70% organic, it can be labeled as "made with organic".
Czech Republic
Following private bodies certify organic produce: KEZ, o. p. s. (CZ-BIO-001), ABCert, AG (CZ-BIO-002) and BIOCONT CZ, s. r. o. (CZ-BIO-003). These bodies provide controlling of processes tied with issueing of certificate of origin. Controlling of compliancy (to (ES) no 882/2004 directive) is provided by government body ÚKZÚZ (Central Institute for Supervising and Testing in Agriculture).
France
In France, organic certification was introduced in 1985. It has established a green-white logo of "AB - agriculture biologique". The certification for the AB label fulfills the EU regulations for organic food. The certification process is overseen by a public institute ("Agence française pour le développement et la promotion de l'agriculture biologique" usually shortened to "Agence bio") established in November 2001. The actual certification authorities include a number of different institutes like Aclave, Agrocert, COSMEBIO, Ecocert SA, Qualité France SA, Ulase, SGS ICS.
Germany
In Germany the national label was introduced in September 2001 following in the footsteps of the political campaign of "Agrarwende" (agricultural major shift) led by minister Renate Künast of the Greens party. This campaign was started after the outbreak of mad cow disease in 2000. The effects on farming are still challenged by other political parties. The national "Bio"-label in its hexagon green-black-white shape has gained wide popularity—in 2007 there were 2431 companies having certified 41,708 products. The popularity of the label is extending to neighbouring countries like Austria, Switzerland and France.
In the German-speaking countries there have been older non-government organizations that had issued labels for organic food long before the advent of the EU organic food regulations. Their labels are still used widely as they significantly exceed the requirements of the EU regulations. An organic food label like "demeter" from Demeter International has been in use since 1928 and this label is still regarded as providing the highest standards for organic food in the world. Other active NGOs include Bioland (1971), Biokreis (1979), Biopark (1991), Ecoland (1997), Ecovin (1985), Gäa e.V. (1989), Naturland (1981) and Bio Suisse (1981).
Greece
In Greece, there are 15 certification and inspection bodies approved by EU. Most of the certifications are obtained from BIOHELLAS and DIO ().
Ireland
In Ireland, organic certification is available from the Irish Organic Farmers and Growers Association, Demeter Standards Ltd. and Organic Trust Ltd.
Switzerland
In Switzerland, products sold as organic must comply at a minimum with the Swiss organic regulation (Regulation 910.18). Higher standards are required before a product can be labelled with the Bio Suisse label.
Sweden
In Sweden, organic certification is handled by the organisation KRAV with members such as farmers, processors, trade and also consumer, environmental and animal welfare interests.
United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom, organic certification is handled by a number of organizations, regulated by The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), of which the largest are the Soil Association and Organic Farmers and Growers. While UK certification bodies are required to meet the EU minimum organic standards for all member states; they may choose to certify to standards that exceed the minimums, as is the case with the Soil Association.
The farmland converted to produce certified organic food has seen a significant evolution in the EU15 countries, rising from 1.8% in 1998 to 4.1% in 2005. For the current EU25 countries however the statistics report an overall percentage of just 1.5% as of 2005. However, the statistics showed a larger turnover of organic food in some countries, reaching 10% in France and 14% in Germany. In France 21% of available vegetables, fruits, milk and eggs were certified as organic. Numbers for 2010 show that 5.4% of German farmland has been converted to produce certified organic food, as has 10.4% of Swiss farmland and 11.7% of Austrian farmland. Non-EU countries have widely adopted the European certification regulations for organic food, to increase export to EU countries.
Asia and Oceania
Australia
In Australia, organic certification is performed by several organisations that are accredited by the Biosecurity section of the Department of Agriculture (Australia), formerly the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service, under the National Standard for Organic and Biodynamic Produce. All claims about the organic status of products sold in Australia are covered under the Competition and Consumer Act 2010.
In Australia, the Organic Federation of Australia is the peak body for the organic industry in Australia and is part of the government's Organic Consultative Committee Legislative Working Group that sets organic standards.
Department of Agriculture accreditation is a legal requirement for all organic products exported from Australia. Export Control (Organic Produce Certification) Orders are used by the Department to assess organic certifying bodies and recognise them as approved certifying organisations. Approved certifying organisations are assessed by the Department for both initial recognition and on an at least annual basis thereafter to verify compliance.
In the absence of domestic regulation, DOA accreditation also serves as a 'de facto' benchmark for certified product sold on the domestic market. Despite its size and growing share of the economy "the organic industry in Australia remains largely self-governed. There is no specific legislation for domestic organic food standardisation and labelling at the state or federal level as there is in the USA and the EU".
Australian approved certifying organisations
The Department has several approved certifying organisations that manage the certification process of organic and bio-dynamic operators in Australia. These certifying organisations perform a number of functions on the Department's behalf:
Assess organic and bio-dynamic operators to determine compliance to the National Standard for Organic and Bio-Dynamic Produce and importing country requirements.
Issue a Quality Management Certificate (QM Certificate) to organic operators to recognise compliance to export requirements.
Issue Organic Produce Certificates (Export Documentation) for consignments of organic and bio-dynamic produce being exported.
As of 2015, there are seven approved certifying organisations:
AUS-QUAL Pty Ltd (AUSQUAL)
Australian Certified Organic (ACO)
Bio-Dynamic Research Institute (BDRI)
NASAA Certified Organic (NCO)
Organic Food Chain (OFC)
Safe Food Production Queensland (SFQ)
Tasmanian Organic-dynamic Producers (TOP)
There are 2567 certified organic businesses reported in Australia in 2014. They include 1707 primary producers, 719 processors and manufacturers, 141 wholesalers and retailers plus other operators.
Australia does not have a national logo or seal to identify which products are certified organic, instead the logos of the individual certifying organisations are used.
China
In China, the organic certification is administered by a government agency named Certification and Accreditation Administration of the People's Republic of China (CNCA). While the implementation of certification works, including site checking, lab test on soil, water, product qualities are performed by the China Quality Certification Center (CQC) which is an agency of Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ).The organic certification procedures in china are performed according to China Organic Standard GB/T 19630.1-4—2011 which was issued in year 2011. This standard has governed standard procedure for Organic certification process performed by CQC, including application, inspection, lab test procedures, certification decision and post certification administration. The certificate issued by CQC are valid for one year.
There are two logos that are currently used by the CQC for labeling products with Organic Certification, these are the Organic Logo and CQC Logo. No conversion to organic Logo now.
There were more than 19000 valid certificates and 66 organic certification bodies until 2018 in China.
India
In India, APEDA regulates the certification of organic products as per National Standards for Organic Production. "The NPOP standards for production and accreditation system have been recognized by European Commission and Switzerland as equivalent to their country standards." Organic food products manufactured and exported from India are marked with the India Organic certification mark issued by the APEDA. APEDA has recognized 11 inspection certification bodies, some of which are branches of foreign certification bodies, others are local certification bodies.
Japan
In Japan, the Japanese Agricultural Standard (JAS) was fully implemented as law in April 2001. This was revised in November 2005 and all JAS certifiers were required to be re-accredited by the Ministry of Agriculture.
Singapore
As of 2014 the Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority of Singapore had no organic certification process, but instead relied on international certification bodies; it does not track local producers who claim to have gotten organic certification.
Cambodia
In Cambodia, Cambodian Organic Agriculture Association (COrAA) is the only organization that is authorized to give certificate for organic agricultural products. It is a nationwide private organization working for the promotion of organic and sustainable agriculture in Cambodia. COrAA has developed both organic and chemical-free agricultural standards and provides third-party-certification to producers following these standards. In addition, the services that COrAA provides include technical training for the conversion from chemical/conventional to organic farming, marketing support, organic awareness building among the general public, and a platform for dialogue and cooperation among organic stakeholders in Cambodia.
Africa
Kenya
In Kenya, the Kenya Organic Agriculture Network (KOAN) is mandated to coordinate the Organic Sector. It is the national Coordinator and Issuer of the certificate under Participatory Guarantee System (PGS). KOAN is also the custodian of the Kilimohai Organic Mark of Organic Certification under the East Africa Organic Products Standards.
Issues
Organic certification is not without its critics. Some of the staunchest opponents of chemical-based farming and factory farming practices also oppose formal certification. They see it as a way to drive independent organic farmers out of business, and to undermine the quality of organic food. Other organizations such as the Organic Trade Association work within the organic community to foster awareness of legislative and other related issues, and enable the influence and participation of organic proponents.
Obstacles to small independent producers
Originally, in the 1960s through the 1980s, the organic food industry was composed of mainly small, independent farmers, selling locally. Organic "certification" was a matter of trust, based on a direct relationship between farmer and consumer. Critics view regulatory certification as a potential barrier to entry for small producers, by burdening them with increased costs, paperwork, and bureaucracy
In China, due to government regulations, international companies wishing to market organic produce must be independently certified. It is reported that "Australian food producers are spending up to $50,000 to be certified organic by Chinese authorities to crack the burgeoning middle-class market of the Asian superpower." Whilst the certification process is described by producers as "extremely difficult and very expensive", a number of organic producers have acknowledged the ultimately positive effect of gaining access to the emerging Chinese market. For example, figures from Australian organic infant formula and baby food producer Bellamy's Organic indicate export growth, to China alone, of 70 per cent per year since gaining Chinese certification in 2008, while similar producers have shown export growth of 20 per cent to 30 per cent a year following certification
Peak Australian organic certification body, Australian Certified Organic, has stated however that "many companies have baulked at risking the money because of the complex, unwieldy and expensive process to earn Chinese certification." By comparison, equivalent certification costs in Australia are less than $2,000 (AUD), with costs in the United States as low as $750 (USD) for a similarly sized business.
Manipulative use of regulations
Manipulation of certification regulations as a way to mislead or outright dupe the public is a very real concern. Some examples are creating exceptions (allowing non-organic inputs to be used without loss of certification status) and creative interpretation of standards to meet the letter, but not the intention, of particular rules. For example, a complaint filed with the USDA in February 2004 against Bayliss Ranch, a food ingredient producer and its certifying agent, charged that tap water had been certified organic, and advertised for use in a variety of water-based body care and food products, in order to label them "organic" under US law. Steam-distilled plant extracts, consisting mainly of tap water introduced during the distilling process, were certified organic, and promoted as an organic base that could then be used in a claim of organic content. The case was dismissed by the USDA, as the products had been actually used only in personal care products, over which the department at the time extended no labeling control. The company subsequently adjusted its marketing by removing reference to use of the extracts in food products.
In 2013, the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission said that water can no longer be labelled as organic water because, based on organic standards, water cannot be organic and it is misleading and deceptive to label any water as such.
False assurance of quality
The label itself can be used to mislead many customers that food labelled as being organic is safer, healthier and more nutritious. Thus, a product may be labelled organic, but have no significant nutritional value compared to other products.
Erosion of standards
Critics of formal certification also fear an erosion of organic standards. Provided with a legal framework within which to operate, lobbyists can push for amendments and exceptions favorable to large-scale production, resulting in "legally organic" products produced in ways similar to current conventional food. Combined with the fact that organic products are now sold predominantly through high volume distribution channels such as supermarkets, the concern is that the market is evolving to favor the biggest producers, and this could result in the small organic farmer being squeezed out.
In the United States large food companies, have "assumed a powerful role in setting the standards for organic foods". Many members of standard-setting boards come from large food corporations. As more corporate members have joined, many nonorganic substances have been added to the National List of acceptable ingredients. The United States Congress has also played a role in allowing exceptions to organic food standards. In December 2005, the 2006 agricultural appropriations bill was passed with a rider allowing 38 synthetic ingredients to be used in organic foods, including food colorings, starches, sausage and hot-dog casings, hops, fish oil, chipotle chili pepper, and gelatin; this allowed Anheuser-Busch in 2007 to have its Wild Hop Lager certified organic "even though [it] uses hops grown with chemical fertilizers and sprayed with pesticides."
See also
List of countries with organic agriculture regulation
List of organic food topics
NSF International
Organic farming
Organic clothing
Organic cotton
Standards of identity for food
Farm assurance
Certified Naturally Grown
Herbicide
Biopesticide
Organic food culture
References
Citations and notes
General
Agricultural Marketing Service, USDA National Organic Program: Final Rule (7 CFR Part 205; Federal Register, Vol. 65, No. 246, 21 December 2000)
OCPP/Pro-Cert Canada Organic Agriculture & Food Standard (OC/PRO IS 350/150)
The Australian Organic Industry: A Profile, 2004, (pdf)
External links
PGS India - Decentralized Organic Farming Certification System
Certification marks
Ecolabelling
European Union food law
Farm assurance
Product certification
Management theory
|
412771
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music%20of%20immigrant%20communities%20in%20the%20United%20States
|
Music of immigrant communities in the United States
|
The vast majority of the inhabitants of the United States are immigrants or descendants of immigrants. This article will focus on the music of these communities and discuss its roots in countries across Africa, Europe and Asia, excluding only Native American music, indigenous and immigrant Latinos, Puerto Rican music, Hawaiian music and African American music. The music of Irish- and Scottish-Americans will be a special focus, due to their extreme influence on Appalachian folk music and other genres.
These sorts of music are often sustained and promoted by a variety of ethnic organizations.
Armenia
See: Music of Armenia
Following the Armenian genocide of 1915 perpetrated by the Young Turk government in Turkey, large numbers of Armenians settled in the Central Valley area of California, especially around Fresno. Of the second- and third-generation musicians from this community, Richard Hagopian became a minor star in the Armenian-American community. Alan Hovhaness used traditional Armenian music in his compositions. Daja Yavasharian is a solo violinist who performs classical music.
The ethnically Armenian heavy metal band System of a Down features Armenian melodic elements in many of their songs and has written songs dedicated to the Armenian genocide. The group is very active in promoting genocide awareness and recognition.
Cape Verde
See: Music of Cape Verde
There are more Cape Verdeans outside of their homeland than there are in the island chain itself. In the United States, California and Hawaii are home to large Cape Verdean populations, but the largest concentration is in New England, especially Rhode Island and Southeastern Massachusetts. Many of these immigrants came via whaling ships in the 19th century. Cape Verdean music is most famously morna, but other genres exist and the Cape Verdean community has produced string bands like The B-29s, Notias, Augusto Abrio and the Cape Verdean Serenaders. There were also Cape Verdean big bands, including the Creole Vagabonds and the Don Verdi Orchestra. More modern musicians include Frank de Pina, Mendes Brothers (and their influential record label, MB Records), Saozinha, Creole Sextet and Rui Pina.
China
See: Music of China
Chinese-American bands include Say Bok Gwai . The pop-rapper Jin has lately gained some national renown as well. The electronic group Shanghai Restoration Project has been rising through the charts in online downloadable music stores.
Czech lands
See: Music of the Czech Republic
Though associated with Slovenia, Germany and Poland as well, the Czech Republic includes Bohemia, the ancestral home of polka music. Polka has a long history in the United States, and the city of Chicago, among others, had produced numerous innovations in the genre.
Eastern European Jews
See: Jewish music, Eastern European music, Secular Jewish culture
Early in the 20th century, Eastern European immigrants settled across the United States. Many were Ashkenazi Jews, who brought with them their swift, eminently dance-able klezmer music. Harry Kandel, a clarinetist, stood out in the field, alongside Abe Schwartz, Naftule Brandwein and Dave Tarras.
Later, in the 1980s, a new generation of klezmer roots revivalists made innovative fusions of klezmer with punk rock and other influences. These bands include the Flying Klezmer Bulgar Band and The Klezmatics.
England
As the homeland of many of the settlers of the original Thirteen Colonies, and a major source of immigration thereafter, England's musical traditions are closely tied to those of the United States, especially Appalachian folk music. In the 1850s, there was a thriving brass band tradition in the United States, drawing on British bands formed around factory workers.
France
See: Music of France
The most well-known kind of French music in the United States is that of the Cajuns of Louisiana. Cajun and Creole music has spawned many popular artists in the zydeco genre, including Clifton Chenier.
Germany
See: Music of Germany
German immigrants brought with them a variety of music, waltzes, polkas and oom-pah bands among them. A German musical society of the mid-19th century formed the Seventh Regiment Band, the only exclusively regimental band of the Civil War-era and one of the most popular brass bands of the time. German bandleader Friendrich Wilhelm Wieprecht was also influential, collecting full scores for his compilation of instrumentations of popular works, für die jetzige Stimmenbesetzung. Instruments included the bassoon, contrabassoon, bass tuba, trumpet, trombone, clarinet, piccolo, oboe, French horn, saxhorn, drums and cymbal. Wieprecht was recognized at the time as a key figure in the reorganization of the Prussian military bands.
The music of the Amish, a religious community descended from German and Swiss settlers who eschew modern technology in favor of simplicity, is entirely religious, and is sung in a style that has not been widely performed in Europe for centuries.
The songs of the Pennsylvania German culture, a mixture of British, South German and other elements, are primarily German, with many based on British tunes. Pennsylvania spirituals are a well-known kind of folk hymn, most of which date to the early 19th century.
Greece
See: Music of Greece and
Greek folk music
Greek-American immigrant music includes styles of Greek music such as Ancient, traditional, with emphasis in Greek literature and poetry.
Some of the well-known Greek supporters and remarkable personalities of Greek immigrant music art in America are: Stamatis Spanoudakis, Nana Mouskouri, Maria Farantouri, Marinella, Yanni, Mikis Theodorakis, Vicky Leandros etc. and remarkable composers and pianists such as Manos Loïzos and Stefanos Korkolis. Until the 1930s the Greek discography was separated by two musical genres: the Greek folk music and the Elafró tragoudi (literally: "light song"). The latter was made by ensembles of singers/musicians or solo artists like Attik and Nikos Gounaris. It was the Greek version of the international popular music of that era. In the 1930s the first rebetiko recordings had a massive impact on Greek music in America. The tradition of eastern liturgical chant, encompassing the Greek-speaking world, developed in the Byzantine Empire from the establishment of its capital, Constantinople.
A big sign of the Greek immigrant music culture has left the Greek soprano Maria Kallas.
Immigrant Greek music also includes music from Greek islands the Nisiotika and the famous dance Sirtaki with well-known artists like Yiannis Parios etc.
Greek music history extends far back into ancient Greece, since music was a major part of ancient Greek theater. Music genres and styles like Laïko, Hasapiko and rebetiko are also well-known. Performers include Johnny Otis and Tatiana Troyanos. Classic laïkó as it is known today, was the mainstream popular music of Greece during the
1960s and 1970s. Laïkó was dominated by singers such as Tolis Voskopoulos and Stelios Kazantzidis.
Among the most significant songwriters and lyricists of this period are George Zambetas and the big names of the Rebetiko era that where still in business, like Vassilis Tsitsanis and Manolis Chiotis. Many artists combined the traditions of éntekhno and laïkó with considerable success, such as the composers Stavros Xarchakos and Mimis Plessas.
The Pontic genre of immigrant music which is well-known from the remarkable minority of Pontians in America, retains elements of the musical traditions of ancient Greece, Byzantine music and the tradition of Caucasus. The prime instruments in Pontic music are the Pontic lyra (Kemenche), which has origins in Byzantine period and it is related closely with the Byzantine lyra and Cretan lyra. Other instruments include drums, lute, askomandoura (a type of bagpipe) and aulos.
It is also known The well-known Cretan music of the dominant folk instrument Cretan lyra on the island as the results of immigrant music; a three-stringed bowed instrument similar to the Byzantine Lyra. It is often accompanied by the askomandoura (a type of bagpipe) and the Cretan laouto (λαούτο). The earliest documented music on Crete comes from Ancient Greece. Cretan music like most traditional Greek, began as product of ancient and Byzantine inspirations.
India
The Indian diaspora (and significant portion of other South Asian diaspora) enjoy Indian music, which includes Indian classical music and non-classical Indian music. The non-classical music has at least two categories: film music (original sound tracks) and non-film music (often called Indi-pop). The Bollywood music represents Hindi language film songs. Indian diaspora speaking non-Hindi languages enjoy music of their own languages, such as Tamil music, Bengali music, Punjabi music and so on. Fusion between popular Indian music (such as Bollywood or Bhangra music) and American music has taken place, and is popular in certain areas with high Indian American population density.
Iran
See: Music of Iran or Persian Music
After the 1979 revolution, the new Iranian government banned all pop music and many other genres. Numerous Iranians, including musicians, entered into exile, many settling in the Los Angeles-area. The Iranian-American scene produced several stars in the Iranian-in-exile community, including Dariush, Ebi, Homeira, Hayedeh, Mahasti, Moein and more.
There are also many newcomers in Persian/Iranian Music who have made huge impression. Below are a list of them:
Andy Madadian, Mansour, Leila Forouhar, Shahrzad Sepanlou, Arash, Shadmehr Aghili, Jamshid, Cameron Cartio, Muhammad, Kamran & Hooman, Fereydoun, Hi-5, Shaghayegh, Shahriar and much more
Ireland
Joseph Halliday, a Dubliner, is notable for having introduced the keyed bugle in 1810. While not a technical innovation (the keyed trumpet was already known), it did become extremely popular in the burgeoning brass band tradition and inspired a whole family of instruments, the ophicleides. In the middle of the 19th century, Irish bandleader Patrick Sarsfield Gilmore was very influential, having introduced a wide range of reed instruments as well as developing instrumentation that allowed a large wind ensemble to approximate the effects of a full orchestra.
The 1960s saw the Clancy Brothers (with Tommy Makem) become minor celebrities in the United States, especially in the Irish-American community. They appeared at Carnegie Hall and on The Ed Sullivan Show. Mick Moloney’s Irish-American Music and Dance Festival has existed for over twenty years and remains an important part of the Irish-American scene.
In the eighties several high-profile Irish artists emigrated to the US, including Mary Black, Dolores Keane and Maura O'Connell. At the same time groups sprang up in America to play Irish music at a professional level. Mick Moloney founded Green Fields of America in 1977 to bring together immigrant Irish and native-born players of Irish music. Although they did not record an album until 1989, they created a ripple. The band contained several people who went on achieve international fame – Seamus Egan, Eileen Ivers and Jerry O'Sullivan. Another early Irish-American band was Cherish the Ladies formed in 1985.
The rules of the All-Ireland championships allow non Irish residents to complete and thanks to Irish cultural centres in New York and Chicago, young US citizens began to win in dancing and fiddling. Chicago-born Liz Carroll came second in 1974 with her fiddling. In 1992 she was a member of Trian, who recorded two highly regarded albums of strictly traditional no-frills Irish instrumentals. Some films gave exposure to Irish music – "Barry Lyndon" (1975 – The Chieftains), "The Brothers McMullen" (1984 – Seamus Egan), "Dancing at Lughnasa" (1998 – Arty McGlynn) and "Titanic" (1997). The touring stage show "Riverdance" (1995) was probably the biggest single publicity blaze in the cause of Irish-American music. The New York "Kips Bay Ceilidh Band" recorded an admired album of dance tunes (1993).
Celtic new age music from Clannad (Ireland), harpist Loreena McKennitt (Canada) and Nightnoise (Ireland) were popular in a low-key way in the US. Tríona and Mícheál O Dhomhnaill from Nightnoise had emigrated to the US in the 70s and started recording in 1984. There were pop hits for Enya (originally from Clannad). Among the immigrants from Ireland was Susan McKeown. She had been recording since 1990 but won international praise for "Lowlands" (2000). In 1996 the Irish-American supergroup Solas was formed. The group contained multi-instrumentalist Seamus Egan and a powerful new singer Karan Casey. The Chieftains had been visiting America since the 70s but by 2003 the audience was big enough to justify a DVD, live from Nashville.
Italy
See: Music of Italy
Italian-Americans are concentrated on the Eastern Seaboard, especially in New York City. Their music includes square dances, tarantellas, mazurkas, waltzes and polkas, and music for mandolin, banjo, guitar and accordion.
Italian folk traditions have had a lasting influence of barbershop singing and doo wop. Neapolitan bandleader Francis Scala was bandleader of the U.S. Marine Band after immigrating in 1840; as is common in Naples, he placed the clarinet (which he played himself) in a prominent place in his performances.
Jamaica
See: Music of Jamaica
Undoubtedly the most influential Jamaican-American entertainer is DJ Kool Herc, who is often credited as the inventor of hip hop. He immigrated to New York City and brought with him the roots of hip hop—a DJ isolating and repeating a percussion break while an MC spoke over the beats.
Second generation Jamaican Busta Rhymes was later an important gangsta rapper during the 1990s; his style is similar to that found in Jamaican dub, dancehall and reggaeton.
For more information about Caribbean cultural influence in the United States, see Holger Henke's, The West Indian Americans, Westport: Greenwood Press 2001.
Japan
Large-scale Japanese immigration to the United States began early in the 20th century, and traditional music came with them. California and Hawaii were two of the biggest destinations for these immigrants. The first North American taiko group was Seiichi Tanaka's San Francisco Taiko Dojo in San Francisco, which was founded in 1968.
Norway
Norwegian-American folk music in the United States is mostly found in Minnesota and surrounding states. Reinlenders, polkas and waltzes are played; of these, waltzes are by far the most common . Instruments include the psalmodikon, fiddle and accordion. Celebrations like Syttende Mai have become an important outlet for traditional Norwegian music.
Pakistan
Pakistani music in the United States is largely influenced by homegrown Pakistani American musicians and bands. The Kominas are an American-Pakistani taqwacore band from Boston.
There have been a number of successful American musicians of Pakistani origin; they include Nadia Ali, rappers Bohemia and Mr. Capone-E, Junoon member Salman Ahmad, the Qaiyum brothers (MCs GQ and JAQ), as well as Explosions in the Sky guitarist Munaf Rayani. Much of the works contributed by Pakistani musicians in the U.S. are often inspired by a fusion of contemporary and traditional American and Pakistani musical genres.
Philippines
See: Music of the Philippines and Filipino American music
There is an organization that gives out Filipino American Music Entertainment Awards.
External links:
Filipino-American music in Los Angeles archive
Poland
See: Music of Poland
While Polish folk music still exists in its "old country" form, the most prevalent form of music evolved from traditional polkas, , waltzes and Krakowiaks into what is common among the community today. This music form was pioneered by such musicians as Bernie Witkowski, Frank Wojnarowski, AmPol Aires, and Eddie Ziema. Royal Polish music, such as the polonaise (polonez), and folk music, mazur, oberek, krakowiak, kujawiak, and regional music, are celebrated by various Polish folk groups around the country.
The Polish community is strongest in the area around Chicago, Illinois. Chicago's Orkiestra Makowska, led by George Dzialowy, defined that city's unique sound for many years.
The city's Polish-American community spawned a wave of musicians that are usually considered polka players, though their actual output is quite varied. Chicago-style polka music has a distinctive sound from that found in other parts of the country. New England, Buffalo, NY, Detroit, Pittsburgh and Minneapolis also have Polish-American musical traditions and each has its own distinctive sound.
More than 50,000 Polish-Americans live in the area around Houston, Texas. There is a rich tradition of Polish fiddling from Texas that had declined into obscurity until a recent revitalization by performers like Brian Marshall. Polish settlers arrived beginning in the middle of the 19th century, settling in Panna Maria, a village just south of San Antonio. A few decades later, a new wave of Polish migrants settled in Chappell Hill, Stoneham, Brenham, Bremond, Anderson, Carlos and New Waverly. These people's folk music consisted of bowed bass, fiddle and sometimes a clarinet, with the later additions of drums, accordions and guitars. Within Texas, Polish music was diverse, with a rhythmic style predominant in the Chappell Hill/Brenham area, and a melodic sound in Bremond. The group, Brave Combo is an example of what is commonly called within the industry Tex-Mex polka music. The Czech and Polish settlers in Texas had a major influence on the traditional Mexican folk music forming what we now know as Tejano music.
Portugal
See: Music of Portugal
In the United States there are Portuguese American singers and bands known such as Jorge Ferreira, Arlindo Andrade, Marc Dennis, Jack Sebastião (R.I.P.), Nélia, Sergio Royal, Mauricio Morais, Alcides Machado, Chico Avila, Luis Fontes Sousa José Norberto, Ana Lisa, Nelson, Michelle Romeiro, José Lobo, Jorge Pereira and Eratoxica. also perform world music, rock, dance or pimba music. Fado is also popular in the U.S., and there, Ramana Vieira is one of the representers of this music genre. Portuguese American musicians are usually based in New England, New Jersey and California. Nowadays, about 5,000 000 Portuguese Americans live in the United States. The majority of them comes from Madeira and Azores Islands.
Serbia and Montenegro
See: Music of Serbia and Montenegro
There is a Serbian rock scene in the Greater Cleveland area.
Slovenia
See: Music of Slovenia
Slovenian-American polka musician Frankie Yankovic is by far the most famous musician of that genre. He began his career in the 1930s, beginning with some regional hits in the Detroit and Cleveland areas, followed by mainstream success in the later 1940s.
Ukraine
See: Music of Ukraine
Ukrainian-Americans in the Cleveland and Detroit area have kept a folk scene alive, also producing a minor crossover star in the 1920s and 30s, Pawlo Humeniuk, the King of the Ukrainian Fiddlers.
Recently, the Ukrainian immigrant band Gogol Bordello have emerged into the mainstream.
Uruguay
The list of many crossover musicians also includes classical three-time Grammy nominated composer Miguel del Aguila see: Music of Uruguay
Vietnam
See: Music of Vietnam
There is a Vietnamese American Philharmonic orchestra. Popular musicians in the Vietnamese-American community include Thanh Lan.
References
Immigrant communities
|
412792
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic%20Republic%20of%20Iran%20Air%20Force
|
Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force
|
The Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force (IRIAF; ) is the aviation branch of the Islamic Republic of Iran Army. The present air force came into being when the Imperial Iranian Air Force was renamed in 1979 following the Iranian Revolution. The IRIAF was heavily involved in the Iran–Iraq War, carrying out major operations like Operation Kaman 99, Operation Sultan 10, the H-3 airstrike, and the first attack on a nuclear reactor in history, Operation Scorch Sword. As a result of eight years of aerial combat in that conflict, the IRIAF has the second highest claimed number of fighter aces in the region, exceeded only by the Israeli Air Force; as many as seven IRIAF pilots claimed more than six kills, mostly achieved in the F-14 Tomcat. Veterans of the Iran–Iraq War would go on to form the core of the IRIAF command.
History
The IRIAF came into being when the former Imperial Iranian Air Force (IIAF) was renamed following the Islamic Revolution in Iran, in February 1979. The British publishing company Orbis' Warplane partwork magazine seems to indicate the renaming did not actually take place until after the Iran–Iraq War had broken out.
This "new" Iranian air force largely inherited the equipment and structure of the former IIAF, even losing most of its leading officers in the course of post-revolutionary chaos, as well as due to the prosecution of those considered as loyal to the Shah, pro-U.S. or elsewhere by the new government in Tehran.
Due to strained relations with the west, Iran had to procure new equipment from Brazil, the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China. Since the Revolution, the exact composition of the IRIAF has been hard to determine, but estimates do exist. Many aircraft belonging to the Iraqi Air Force took refuge in Iran during the Persian Gulf War in 1991, and many were put into service with the IRIAF or taken apart for spare parts.
Due to the continuous spare parts shortages faced by the air force, a decision was made in the late 1980s to develop a local aerospace industry to support the air force.
In 2002, Iran, with the co-operation of Ukraine, successfully started the manufacture of the Iran-140, a licence-built version of the Antonov An-140 transport aircraft. Simultaneously, Iran began construction of two domestically produced fighters, upgraded using technology from the F-14 Tomcat and the F-5 Tiger II. The fighters have been named the Azarakhsh and the Shafaq.
Since then the country has also become self-sufficient in the manufacture of helicopters. The country claims that it is capable of producing the U.S. AH-1 Cobra gunship. Additionally, Iran also produces Bell Helicopter Bell 212 and Bell 206 helicopters in serial production. These are known respectively as the Shabaviz 2-75 and the Shabaviz 206.
Iran–Iraq War (1980–88)
A series of purges and forced retirements resulted in the manpower of the service being halved between February 1979 and July 1980, leaving the IRIAF ill-prepared for the Iran–Iraq War (also called the "1st Persian Gulf War"). The sudden Iraqi air strikes against eight major Iranian airbases and four other military installations, launched on the afternoon of 22 September 1980, came as a complete surprise and caused a shock in the IRIAF.
The Iranians retaliated with operation Kaman-99 which involved 206 F-4, F-5 and F-14 aircraft.
On 23 September 1980, Iran launched Operation Kaman 99 as 40 F-4 Phantoms, armed with Mark 82, Mark 83 and Mark 84 bombs and AGM-65 Maverick missiles, took off from Hamadan. After refueling in mid-air the Phantoms reached the Iraqi capital Baghdad, where they attacked: al-Rashid, al-Habbaniyah and al-Kut airbases.
Meanwhile, eight More F-4s took off from Tehran and launched a second attack on the al-Rashid airbase.
Iran proceeded to launch 58 F-5E Tiger IIs from Tabriz, which were sent to attack Mosul Airbase. After the attack on Mosul Airbase, another 50 F-5Es were dispatched to strike Nasiriyah Airbase, which was heavily damaged.
As all 148 Iranian F-4s and F-5s had been sent for a bombing raid on Iraq, 60 F-14 Tomcats were scrambled to defend Iranian airspace against a possible Iraqi retaliation. Iranian F-14s managed to down 2 Iraqi MiG-21s (1 MiG-21RF and 1 MiG-21MF) and 3 Iraqi MiG-23s (MiG-23MS), an Iranian F-5E also shot down an Iraqi Su-20 during the operation. Iraqi MiG-23s managed to down 2 F-5Es, while Iraqi MiG-21s also downed 2 F-5Es. Iraqis also shot down one of their own Il-76MD strategic airlifters with a SA-3 SAM.
The Iraqis however were well prepared for the attack and had flown over most of their air force to other Arab countries, such as Saudi Arabia, this made sure that most of the Iraqi Air Force survived the operation.
Saddam Hussein and the Iraqi military were dealt a heavy blow when Iranian Air Force vulnerabilities failed to materialize. All Iraqi air bases' near Iran were out of order for weeks and, according to Iran, Iraq's aerial efficiency was reduced by 55%. This allowed Iranians to regroup and prepare for the upcoming Iraqi invasion.
Although the readiness rates of the IRIAF significantly increased in the following months, its overall role and influence declined, as the clerical government prioritized resources for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) militias and simultaneously attempted to develop a separate air arm for this service.
Despite limitations and sanctions, the IRIAF achieved a successful kill rate in air-to-air combat against Iraqi jets, to the point that in air-to-air engagements, Iran's kill ratio was roughly 5:1, which is only surpassed by the Israelis against Syria in 1982 and the US in the Gulf war in 1991. It got to the point where Iraq ordered its pilots to avoid air-to-air engagements (especially with the F-14). After the successful liberation of most Iranian areas captured by the Iraqis in the first half of 1982, the situation of the IRIAF changed completely. From an air arm that was offensive by nature, it was largely relegated to air defense and relatively infrequent bombing attacks against targets of industrial and military significance inside Iraq. Simultaneously, the IRIAF had to learn how to maintain and keep operational its large fleet of U.S.-built aircraft and helicopters without outside help, due to American sanctions. Relying primarily on antiquated equipment purchased from the US in the 1970s, the Iranians began establishing their own aerospace industry.
Starting from 1984 and 1985, the IRIAF found itself confronted by an ever-better organized and equipped opponent, as the Iraqi Air force—reinforced by deliveries of advanced fighter-bombers from France and the Soviet Union—launched numerous offensives against Iranian air bases, military bases, industrial infrastructures, power plants, oil-export hubs, and population centers. These became better known as "The Tanker War" and "The War of the Cities". To defend against an increasing number of Iraqi air strikes, the IRIAF leaned heavily on its large fleet of Grumman F-14 Tomcat interceptor fighters. Tomcats were mainly deployed in defense of the strategically important Khark Island (main hub for Iranian oil exports), and Tehran. Over 300 air-to-air engagements against IQAF fighters, fighter-bombers, and bombers, were fought in these areas alone between 1980 and 1988.
Confronted with the fact that it could not obtain replacements for equipment lost in what became a war of attrition against Iraq, the IRIAF remained defense-orientated for the rest of the conflict, conserving its surviving assets as a "force in being". From mid 1987, the IRIAF found itself confronted also with U.S. Navy fighters over the Persian Gulf. A number of confrontations that occurred between July 1987 and August 1988 stretched available IRIAF assets to the limit, exhausting its capability to defend Iranian air space against Iraqi air strikes.
With this brutal air fight during 8 consecutive years, many Iranian fighter pilots, claimed world records during the war, such as General Yadollah Khalili, who holds the worldwide record of the longest straight flight in a fighter plane, having flown an F-14 non-stop for 11 hours, thus having had to do aerial refuelling 8 times during the process, or like Fereydoun Ali Mazandarani, who holds the record for being the first pilot to do aerial refuelling in an F-14 in a night environment. As a result of this war, the IRIAF developed proven tactics and skillful battle tested pilots, thus becoming one of the most experienced air arms in the region.
The most notable Iranian fighter pilots were Fereydoun Ali Mazandarani, Fazlollah Javidnia, Jalil Zandi and Shahram Rostami. Other notable pilots include, Hossein Khalatbari, Abbas Doran, Hassan Harandi, Abolfazl Mehreganfar, Ghafour Jeddi, Abbas Babaei and Ali Eghbali Dogahe among many others.
Post Iran–Iraq War
Immediately after the end of the Iran–Iraq War, the IRIAF was partially rebuilt through limited purchases of MiG-29 fighters and Su-24 bombers from the Soviet Union, as well as F-7M and FT-7 fighters from China. While providing needed reinforcement to the Iranian Air Force, these types never replaced the older, U.S.-built F-4 Phantoms, F-14s (the IRIAF is now the only air arm in the world using the fighter), or F-5s. Instead, the IRIAF continued its efforts to keep these types in service, and began a number of projects to refurbish and upgrade them.
1990s
During the 1991 Persian Gulf War, numerous Iraqi pilots flew Iraqi Air Force aircraft to Iran to avoid destruction by coalition forces. The Iranians impounded these aircraft and never returned them, putting them in service in the IRIAF and claiming them as reparations for the Iran–Iraq War. The aircraft included several Mirage F1s, MiG-23s, MiG-29s, Su-20s, Su-22Ms, Su-24s, Su-25s and a number of Il-76s, including the secret, one-off AEW-AWACS Il-76 "ADNAN 1" prototype.
Even after the cease-fire with Iraq, the IRIAF carried out several air raids against Kurdish bases in northern Iraq. The first of such raids was conducted using eight F-4s armed with rockets and cluster bombs on 6 April 1992 against People's Mujahedin of Iran's Camp Ashraf. During this event one F-4 was shot down by either insurgent or Iraqi military AAA and both pilots (Lt. Col Amini and Cpt. Sharifi) were captured and not freed until 1998. Despite threats of response, Iraq was not able to retaliate due to its own fight against Kurdish separatist guerrillas and the Western-imposed no-fly zones that crippled and limited its air force's operations.
In 2007, Iraq asked Iran to return some of the scores of Iraqi fighter plans that flew there ahead of the Gulf War in 1991. And as of 2014, Iran was receptive to the demands and was working on refurbishing an unspecified number of jets. In late 2014, Iran returned 130 military aircraft to Iraq.
2000s
In 2006, after Iranian media published a series of reports suggesting that Venezuela was interested in selling its 21 F-16 Fighting Falcons to Iran, a Hugo Chavez adviser confirmed to the Associated Press that "Venezuela's military is considering selling its fleet of U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets to another country, possibly Iran, in response to a U.S. ban on arms sales to President Hugo Chávez's government". In response, Sean McCormack, a U.S. State Department spokesperson, warned Venezuela that "without the written consent of the United States, Venezuela can't transfer these defense articles, and in this case F-16s, to a third country".
According to Moscow Defense Brief, Russia delivered 6 Su-25UBK ground attack fighter-trainers, 12 Mi-171Sh military transport helicopters, 21 Mi-171 transport helicopters, and 3 Mi-17B-5 medical helicopters to Iran between 2000 and 2006. A $700 million repair and modernization program of the IRIAF MiG-29 and Su-24 fighters was also completed.
On 22 September 2009, an IRIAF Il-76 collided with an F-5E shortly after an annual parade in Tehran and crashed near Varamin, killing all seven people on board.
2010s
At the end of 2014, there was evidence that the IRIAF was involved in the 2014 military intervention against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. A video released by Aljazeera seemed to show an Iranian F-4 Phantom II bombing some ISIS buildings in Diyala Governorate.
2020s
The IRIAF air fleet is aging, some aircraft are more than 40 years old, and this has led to several crashes. On May 24, 2022 two Chinese-built Chengdu J-7 crashed east of Isfahan killing the pilots. A F-5F crashed into a school in Tabriz on February 21, 2022, killing both crew and a person on the ground. On June 1, 2021, another F-5F crashed near Dezful, killing both crew. Additionally, on 25 December 2019, an MiG-29 crashed in the Sabalan mountains, and on Aug. 26, 2018, an F-5F crash-landed near Dezful, killing the pilot and injuring the co-pilot.
Structure
Note: former outdated Jane's Sentinel estimate of units 1993 data (Source: Jane's Sentinel, Islamic Republic of Iran, 1993, – not complete) has now been replaced by newer 2019 data
The IRIAF's composition has changed very little since 1979. There have been limited relocations and unit disbandments in the late 1980s (F-4D/E and F-14 fleet at Shiraz and Mehrabad). Deployments during the war with Iraq were mainly of temporary character. A major reorganization of existing air-defense SAM and AAA units took place in 1985. There have not been any major reorganizations in the 1990s.
Equipment, capabilities, and performance also strongly influenced the development of the Iraqi Air Force (IQAF) in the 1980s, but also that of the United Arab Emirates Air Force, in the 1990s and the most recent times.
As of 2013 the Iranian authorities also changed the command structure (tactical air bases, military installations, civil airports) and this former status is not in effect any longer. Almost all airfields indicated of being of some strategic importance for contingency scenarios have now been made suitable for combined military and civilian usage. This is also in accordance with the fact that IRIAF only is operating small composite (easy to relocate at very short notice) units spread out all over the country instead of the former large fix-based units. Therefore, all combined airfields are accommodated with basic cross-service capabilities to handle all IRIAF aircraft. The main facilities for logistics and technical overhaul however remain concentrated at some larger airfields.
Iran has been under sanctions since 1979 and thus the country has become capable of servicing and overhauling its own military and civilian aircraft. However, less tension in the current (2015) international situation led to a decrease of the sanctions, and the Iranian government is now capable again in ordering a new fleet of civilian aircraft replacing the aged types.
Jane's 360 military capabilities assessment 2019
Jane's Sentinel in 1993 (p. 27) listed TAB 1 at Mehrabad with six squadrons (F-5Es, F-7Ms, F-14/MiG-29, C-130H/Ilyushin Il-76, Boeing 707/747, and Fokker F-27 Friendship/Dassault Falcon); TAB 2 at Tabriz with three squadrons (F-4D/E "Phantom II"; F-5E, Chengdu F-7M) and a flight of C-130; TAB 3 at Hamadan with a squadron each of Chinese-built Shenyang F-6 and F-7M; TAB 4 at Dezful with a squadron each of F-4D/E and F-5E; TAB 5 was not identified; TAB 6 at Bushehr with a squadron of F-4D/E, and two flights, one of F-7M and one of C-130H; TAB 7 at Shiraz with three squadrons (of F-4D/E; F-14/MiG-29, and C-130H/Il-76) and a flight of F 27; TAB 8 at Isfahan with three squadrons (of F-5E; F-6; and F-7M) and a flight of F 27; TAB 9 at Bandar Abbas with two squadrons (of F-4D/E and F-7M) and a F-14A detachment, plus a flight of Lockheed P-3F Orion; TAB 10 at Chah Bahar with a squadron of F-6 and a flight of C-130H/Il-76; and TAB 11 listed at Ghale Morghi (Beech F33) and Mushshak (PC-7, Tucano), the Flying Training School, plus detachments at Aghajari.
Aircraft
Current inventory
In 2007, Iraq asked Iran to return some of the scores of Iraqi fighter planes that flew there ahead of the Gulf War in 1991. As of 2014, Iran was receptive to the demands and was working on refurbishing an unspecified number of jets. In late 2014, Iran returned 130 military aircraft to Iraq.
Rumored future expansion plans
A 13-year long UN arms embargo imposed on Iran was lifted on 18 October 2020. Although there was speculation that when the arms embargo ended the Iranian Air Force would undertake an expansion and modernization program, this has not yet happened.
One of the most crucial aspects of this program, along with the personnel training and facilities construction, will be the purchase of the most advanced Russian and Chinese jets in considerable quantities. There have been rumors that the IRIAF would be interested in the following aircraft for its modernization program:
Su-30: It is reported that Israeli defense officials were investigating a potential Iran–Russia deal, in which Iran would pay $1 billion for a dozen squadrons’ worth of Su-30 jets. Iran and Russia have both denied this and have rejected these claims as propaganda. In a broadcast the Mehr News Agency a dozen Su-30s were seen on 15, 16 September 2008; further the report reads: "In this joint maneuver of the IRIAF and the AFAGIR which is called the 'Guardians of the Nations Skies' the Air Forces of Iran have tested domestically developed systems as well as newly purchased systems (from Russia and China)." The purchase of this fighter would improve Iranian air force capability significantly, as it would be able to cover almost the entire Middle East from the Iranian territory.
Su-34 Fullback: Unconfirmed reports stated that Iran is considering the purchase of the tactical bomber in considerable numbers, once the arms embargo ends, in order to obtain a crucial tactical bombing capability over its neighbours, while replacing its older Su-24.
Su-35: Iran is reportedly interested in this aircraft in order to obtain a crucial edge over its potential rivals in the region.
Su-57: Iranian interest in this 5th generation platform is well known, and reportedly it is interested in purchasing several squadrons once the arms embargo is lifted. The purchase of this combat jet, would give Iran a crucial advantage in air capability, as the IRIAF would be able to cover the entire Middle East from Iran (as far as Cairo and Yemen without refuelling).
J-10: The Russian news agency Novosti reported that Business & Financial Markets said Iran has signed a deal with China to buy two squadrons/24 of J-10 fighter planes with Russian-made AL-31FN engines. The total cost of the planes is estimated at $1 billion, and deliveries are expected between 2008 and 2010. China denied that it had agreed to sell its home-grown fighter jets to Iran, saying no talks had taken place. Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao told reporters: "It's not true, it is an irresponsible report, China has not had talks with Iran on J-10 jets."
JF-17 Thunder: According to Global Security, in July 2003 Chengdu Aircraft Industrial Corporation (CAIC) unveiled the new 'Super-7' or Chao Qi fighter plane to the public, China supposedly received orders from Iran. The plane, now called the FC-1 is an export version of the JF-17 Thunder and entered production in 2006.
Shenyang J-31: There are some unconfirmed rumours that Iran is interested in this aircraft as a 5th generation complement for its Su-57 purchases, once the arms embargo is lifted.
Reportedly, Iranian interest also goes for other no less important air elements, such as tanker and support aircraft. The pursued aircraft in this regard are:
Beriev A-100
Ilyushin Il-78
HESA Simourgh
Facilities
In the last several years several new airfields have been constructed in central- and eastern Iran. Some of these facilities have since seen full-scale deployments of IRIAF units, and it now appears that at least two became permanent "Tactical Fighter Bases" (TFBs). These are the first such bases established since 1979. Except new airfields, with Chinese support, the IRIAF constructed also a number of new early warning radar sites around the country. Its ability to control the national airspace, however, remains limited—mainly due to the rugged terrain and lack of airborne early warning assets.
Aside from maintaining 17 TFBs, the IRIAF operates numerous temporary detachments on several minor airfields around the country. Ex-Iraqi Mirage F.1EQs, usually based at TFB.14, near Mashhad, were frequently seen over the Persian Gulf in 2005 and 2006.
Major operations
Iran–Iraq War
Operation Kaman 99, Iran's biggest air raid during the Iran–Iraq war with a strength of more than 140 aircraft.
Operation Scorch Sword, an Iranian airstrike on an Iraqi nuclear reactor under construction.
H-3 airstrike, The IRIAF's boldest operation in Iraq.
Operation Morvarid, a successful joint operation by the IRIAF and the Islamic Republic of Iran Navy in the Persian Gulf against the Iraqi Air Force and Navy.
Operation Sultan 10, an operation to disrupt delivery of new French fighter planes to the Iraqi Air force and the associated training of personnel, during the Iran–Iraq war.
See also
Flying ace
F-14 Tomcat operational history
Iranian aerial victories during the Iran–Iraq war
Iraqi aerial victories during the Iran–Iraq war
List of aces of aces
References
Notes
External links
Official site of the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force
Military units and formations established in 1979
1979 establishments in Iran
|
412806
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack%20LaLanne
|
Jack LaLanne
|
Francois Henri LaLanne (; September 26, 1914 – January 23, 2011), the “Godfather of Fitness” was an American fitness and nutrition guru and motivational speaker. He described himself as being a "sugarholic" and a "junk food junkie" until he was 15 years old. He also had behavioral problems but "turned his life around" after listening to a public lecture about the benefits of good nutrition by health food pioneer Paul Bragg. During his career, he came to believe that the country's overall health depended on the health of its population, and he referred to physical culture and nutrition as "the salvation of America".
LaLanne hosted the first and longest-running nationally syndicated fitness television program, The Jack LaLanne Show, from 1951 to 1985. He published numerous books on fitness and was widely recognized for publicly preaching the health benefits of regular exercise and a good diet. He started working out with weights when they were an oddity. As early as 1936, at the age of 21, he opened the nation's first modern health club in Oakland, California, which became a prototype for dozens of similar gyms bearing his name, later licensing them to Bally.
One of LaLanne's 1950s television exercise programs was aimed toward women, whom he also encouraged to join his health clubs. He invented a number of exercise machines, including the pulley and leg extension devices and the Smith machine, as well as protein supplement drinks, resistance bands, and protein bars. He also popularized juicing and the jumping jack. He produced his own series of videos so viewers could be coached virtually. He pioneered coaching the elderly and disabled to exercise in order to enhance their strength and health.
LaLanne also gained recognition for his success as a bodybuilder and for his prodigious feats of strength. At the age of 70, handcuffed and shackled, he towed 70 boats, carrying a total of 70 people, a mile and a half through Long Beach Harbor. Steve Reeves credited LaLanne as his inspiration to build his muscular physique while keeping a slim waist. Arnold Schwarzenegger, as governor of California, placed him on his Governor's Council on Physical Fitness, and on the occasion of LaLanne's death he credited LaLanne for being "an apostle for fitness" by inspiring "billions all over the world to live healthier lives".
LaLanne was inducted into the California Hall of Fame and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Early life
LaLanne was born in San Francisco, California, the son of Jennie (née Garaig) and Jean/John LaLanne, French immigrants from Oloron-Sainte-Marie. Both entered the US in the 1880s as young children at the Port of New Orleans. LaLanne had two older brothers, Ervil, who died in childhood (1906–1911), and Norman (1908–2005), who nicknamed him "Jack". He grew up in Bakersfield, California and later moved with his family to Berkeley, California circa 1928. In 1939, his father died at the age of 58 in a San Francisco hospital, which LaLanne attributed to "coronary thrombosis and cirrhosis of the liver". In his book The Jack LaLanne Way to Vibrant Health, LaLanne wrote that as a boy he was addicted to sugar and junk food. He had violent episodes directed against himself and others, describing himself as "a miserable kid ... it was like hell".
Besides having a bad temper, LaLanne also suffered from headaches and bulimia, and temporarily dropped out of high school at the age of 14. The following year, aged 15, he heard health food pioneer Paul Bragg give a talk on health and nutrition, focusing on the "evils of meat and sugar". Bragg's message had a powerful influence on LaLanne, who then changed his life and started focusing on his diet and exercise. In his own words, he was "born again". and besides his new focus on nutrition, he began working out daily (although while serving during World War II as a Pharmacist Mate First Class at the Sun Valley Naval Convalescent Hospital, LaLanne stated that he started in bodybuilding at "age 13"). Describing his change of diet, LaLanne stated, "I had to take my lunch alone to the football field to eat so no one would see me eat my raw veggies, whole bread, raisins and nuts. You don't know the crap I went through".
Writer Hal Reynolds, who interviewed LaLanne in 2008, notes that he became an avid swimmer and trained with weights; he described his introduction to weight lifting thus:
LaLanne went back to school, where he made the high school football team, and later went on to college in San Francisco where he earned a Doctor of Chiropractic degree. He studied Henry Gray's Anatomy of the Human Body and concentrated on bodybuilding and weightlifting.
Fitness career
Early wrestling career
LaLanne won the American Athletic Foundation Wrestling Championship in 1930, the American Athletic Union medal for wrestling in 1936, and was put on the 1936 Olympic wrestling team but was taken off the team because he was “charging money for exercise” by opening a gym and thus “considered a professional”.
Health clubs
Arnold Schwarzenegger said of Lalanne, “It doesn’t matter where you go, there’s a health club, and it all started with Jack LaLanne.”
In 1936, he opened the nation's first health and fitness club in Oakland, California, where he offered supervised weight and exercise training and gave nutritional advice. His primary goal was to encourage and motivate his clients to improve their overall health. Doctors, however, advised their patients to stay away from his health club, a business totally unheard of at the time, and warned their patients that "LaLanne was an exercise 'nut', whose programs would make them 'muscle-bound' and cause severe medical problems". LaLanne recalls the initial reaction of doctors to his promotion of weight lifting:
LaLanne designed the first leg extension machines, pulley machines using cables, weight selectors, and many other inventions, none of which he patented, that are now standard in the fitness industry. He invented the original model of what became the Smith machine. He invented resistance bands, which he marketed as the Glamour Stretcher for women and the Easy Way for men with different tensions. LaLanne encouraged women to lift weights (though at the time it was thought this would make women look masculine and unattractive), and he was the first to have a coed health club. By the 1980s, Jack LaLanne's European Health Spas numbered more than 200. He eventually licensed all his health clubs to the Bally company, now known as Bally Total Fitness. Though not associated with any gym, LaLanne continued to lift weights until his death.
Books, television and other media
LaLanne presented fitness and exercise advice on television for 34 years. The Jack LaLanne Show was the longest-running television exercise program. According to the SF Chronicle TV program archives, it first began on 28 September 1953 as a 15-minute local morning program (sandwiched between the morning news and a cooking show) on San Francisco's ABC television station, KGO-TV, with LaLanne paying for the airtime himself as a way to promote his gym and related health products. LaLanne also met his wife Elaine while she was working for the local station. In 1959, the show was picked up for nationwide syndication, and continued until 1985.
The show was noted for its minimalist set, where LaLanne inspired his viewers to use basic home objects, such as a chair, to perform their exercises along with him. Wearing his standard jumpsuit, he urged his audience "with the enthusiasm of an evangelist," to get off their couch and copy his basic movements, a manner considered the forerunner of today's fitness videos. In 1959, LaLanne recorded Glamour Stretcher Time, a workout album that provided phonograph-based instruction for exercising with an elastic cord called the Glamour Stretcher. As a daytime show, much of LaLanne's audience were stay-at-home mothers. LaLanne's wife Elaine LaLanne was part of the show to demonstrate the exercises and to show that doing them would not ruin the figures or musculature of women. LaLanne also included his dog Happy as a way to attract children to the show. Later in the run, another dog named Walter was used, with LaLanne claiming "Walter" stood for "We All Love To Exercise Regularly".
LaLanne published several books and videos on fitness and nutrition, appeared in movies, and recorded a song with Connie Haines. He marketed exercise equipment, a range of vitamin supplements, and two models of electric juicers. These include the "Juice Tiger", as seen on Amazing Discoveries with Mike Levey, and "Jack LaLanne's Power Juicer". It was on the show that LaLanne introduced the phrase "That's the power of the juice!" However, in March 1996, 70,000 Juice Tiger juicers, 9% of all its models, were recalled after 14 injury incidents were reported. The Power Juicer is still sold in five models.
LaLanne celebrated his 95th birthday with the release of a new book titled Live Young Forever.
Personal health routine
Diet
One of LaLanne’s sayings was “If man made it, don’t eat it”.
LaLanne blamed ultra-processed foods for many health problems. For most of his life, he eschewed sugar and white flour while eating many fruits and vegetables, and he ate a mostly dairy-free and meatless diet that included lots of egg whites and fish. He also took vitamin supplements.
The NY Times reported in his obituary that he avoided snacks and ate two meals a day, although he once said that he ate three meals a day. His breakfast, after working out for two hours, consisted of hard-boiled egg whites, a cup of broth, oatmeal with soy milk, and seasonal fruit. Other sources say that breakfasts were homemade protein shakes: one was protein powder shake with wheat germ, brewer's yeast, bone meal, juice, and handfuls of vitamins and minerals consisting of “100 liver-yeast tablets, 15,000 milligrams of vitamin C, 2000 units of B, some boron and some zinc, also 75 alfalfa and kelp tablets”.
Another shake LaLanne consumed consisted of egg whites and soybean with carrot juice, celery juice, and some fruit. One source reported that his lunch was four boiled egg whites, five servings of fresh fruit, plus five raw vegetables. For dinner, he and his wife typically ate a high-protein salad with egg whites along with fish (often salmon) and some wine. He did not drink coffee.
He once described his diet by saying, “ At least eight to 10 raw vegetables and three to four pieces of fresh fruit a day. I have natural grains, beans, brown rice, lentils, wheat. And I get most of my protein from fish and egg whites. I eat no meat of any kind. I drink my breakfast. Half carrot juice, half celery juice and then I put an apple and a banana in it and 50 grams of protein made out of egg whites and soybean. For lunch I’ll have three pieces of fresh fruit, three to six egg whites and whole wheat toast. And Elaine makes soup for me with vegetables but no cream or butter. Elaine and I eat out practically every night, but we have the restaurants trained. We call them that we’re coming in, and they’ll have a raw vegetable salad and I’ll have oil dressing loaded up with chopped garlic. I take my own pita bread made out of whole wheat with no salt or oils. And I’ll have a baked potato and fish.”
Exercise
When exercising, LaLanne worked out repetitively with weights until he experienced "muscle fatigue" in whatever muscle groups he was exercising, or when it became impossible for him to go on with a particular routine; this is most often referred to as "training to failure". LaLanne moved from exercise to exercise without stopping. To contradict critics who thought this would leave him tightly musclebound and uncoordinated, LaLanne liked to demonstrate one-handed balancing. His home contained two gyms and a pool that he used daily.
He continued with his two-hour workouts into his 90s, which also included walking. He stated, "If I died, people would say 'Oh look, Jack LaLanne died. He didn't practice what he preached.'"
LaLanne summed up his philosophy about good nutrition and exercise:
Views on food additives and drugs
LaLanne often stressed that artificial food additives, drugs, and processed foods contributed to making people mentally and physically ill. As a result, he writes, many people turn to alcohol and drugs to deal with symptoms of ailments, noting that "a stream of aches and pains seems to encompass us as we get older". He refers to the human bloodstream as a "River of Life," which is "polluted" by "junk foods" loaded with "preservatives, salt, sugar, and artificial flavorings".
Relying on evidence from The President's Council on Physical Fitness, he also agreed that "many of our aches and pains come from lack of physical activity". As an immediate remedy for symptoms such as constipation, insomnia, tiredness, anxiety, shortness of breath, or high blood pressure, LaLanne states that people will resort to various drugs: "We look for crutches such as sleeping pills, pep pills, alcohol, cigarettes, and so on."
Family
LaLanne was married to his second wife, Elaine Doyle LaLanne, for over five decades. They had three children: a daughter named Yvonne LaLanne from his first marriage, a son named Dan Doyle from Elaine's first marriage, and a son named Jon LaLanne together. Yvonne is a chiropractor in California; Dan and Jon are involved in the family business, BeFit Enterprises, which they and their mother and sister plan to continue. Another daughter from Elaine's first marriage, Janet Doyle, died in a car accident at age 21 in 1974.
Death
LaLanne often said, “I can never die; that would ruin my image!” The fitness guru died, of respiratory failure due to pneumonia, at his home on January 23, 2011. He was 96. According to his family, he had been sick for a week but refused to see a doctor. They added that he had been performing his daily workout routine the day before his death. He is buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Hollywood Hills, California.
LaLanne's feats
(As reported on Jack LaLanne's website)
1954 (age 40)Swam the entire length of the Golden Gate in San Francisco, under water, with of air tanks and other equipment strapped to his body; a world record.
1955 (age 41)Swam from Alcatraz Island to Pier 43 in San Francisco while handcuffed. When interviewed afterwards, he was quoted as saying that the worst thing about the ordeal was being handcuffed, which significantly reduced his ability to do a jumping jack.
1956 (age 42)Set what was claimed as a world record of 1,033 push-ups in 23 minutes on You Asked For It, a television program hosted by Art Baker.
1957 (age 43)Swam the Golden Gate channel while towing a cabin cruiser. The swift ocean currents turned this one-mile (1.6 km) swim into a swimming distance of .
1958 (age 44)Maneuvered a paddleboard nonstop from Farallon Islands to the San Francisco shore. The trip took 9.5 hours.
1959 (age 45)Did 1,000 push-ups and 1,000 chin-ups in 1 hour, 22 minutes, to promote The Jack LaLanne Show going nationwide. LaLanne said this was the most difficult of his stunts, but only because the skin on his hands started ripping off during the chin-ups. He felt he couldn't stop, because it would be seen as a public failure.
1974 (age 60)For the second time, he swam from Alcatraz Island to Fisherman's Wharf. Again, he was handcuffed, but this time he was also shackled and towed a boat, according to his obituary in Los Angeles Times in 2011 and his website. However, according to an account of this event published the day after it occurred in the Los Angeles Times, written by Philip Hager, a Times staff writer, LaLanne was neither handcuffed nor shackled if each of those terms has the conventional meaning of "tightly binding the wrists or ankles together with a pair of metal fasteners". Hager says that LaLanne "had his hands and feet bound with cords that allowed minimal freedom". But "minimal" clearly did not mean "no" freedom, since elsewhere in the article Hager describes LaLanne's method of propulsion through the water as "half-breast-stroke, half-dog paddle" which is how you swim with your hands tied.
1975 (age 61)Repeating his performance of 21 years earlier, he again swam the entire length of the Golden Gate Bridge, underwater and handcuffed, but this time he was shackled and towed a boat.
1976 (age 62)To commemorate the "Spirit of '76," United States Bicentennial, he swam one mile (1.6 km) in Long Beach Harbor. He was handcuffed and shackled, and he towed 13 boats (representing the 13 original colonies) containing 76 people.
1979 (age 65)Towed 65 boats in Lake Ashinoko, near Tokyo, Japan. He was handcuffed and shackled, and the boats were filled with of Louisiana Pacific wood pulp.
1980 (age 66)Towed 10 boats in North Miami, Florida. The boats carried 77 people, and he towed them for over one mile (1.6 km) in less than one hour.
1984 (age 70)He towed 70 rowboats, one with several guests, from the Queen's Way Bridge in the Long Beach Harbor to the Queen Mary, 1 mile.
Awards and honors
On June 10, 2005, then governor Arnold Schwarzenegger launched the California Governor's Council on Physical Fitness and Sport. In his address, Schwarzenegger paid special tribute to LaLanne, who he credited with demonstrating the benefits of fitness and a healthy lifestyle for 75 years. In 2008, he inducted LaLanne into the California Hall of Fame and personally gave him an inscribed plaque at a special ceremony.
In 2007, LaLanne was awarded The President's Council's Lifetime Achievement Award. The award is given to "individuals whose careers have greatly contributed to the advancement or promotion of physical activity, fitness, or sports nationwide". Winners are chosen based on the "individual's career, the estimated number of lives the individual has touched through his or her work, the legacy of the individual's work, and additional awards or honors received over the course of his or her career".
Other honors
1963: Founding member of President's Council on Physical Fitness under President Kennedy
President's Council of Physical Fitness Silver Anniversary Award
Governor's Council on Physical Fitness Lifetime Achievement Award
The Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans
American Academy of Achievement, 1975
American Cancer Society
American Heart Association
American Medical Association
WBBG Pioneer of Fitness Hall of Fame
APFC Pioneer of Fitness Hall of Fame
Patriarch Society of Chiropractors
NFLAHealthy American Fitness Award
Received an Award from the Oscar Heidenstam Foundation Hall of Fame
Received National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Gold Circle Award commemorating over 50 years in the Television Industry
IHRSA Person of the Year Award
Jack Webb Award from the Los Angeles Police Historical Society
Interglobal's International Infomercial Award
The Freddie, Medical Media Public Service Award
Freedom Forum Al Neuharth Free Spirit Honoree
Lifetime Achievement Award from Club Industry
1992 (age 78): The Academy of Body Building and Fitness Award
1994 (age 80): The State of California Governor's Council on Physical Fitness Lifetime Achievement Award
1996 (age 82): The Dwight D. Eisenhower Fitness Award
1999 (age 85): The Spirit of Muscle Beach Award
2002 (age 88): A star on the Hollywood Boulevard Walk of Fame. At his induction ceremony, LaLanne did pushups on the top of his star.
2005 (age 91): The Jack Webb Award from the Los Angeles Police Department Historical Society; the Arnold Classic Lifetime Achievement Award; the Interglobal's International Infomercial Award; the Freddie Award; the Medical Media Public Service Award; Free Spirit honoree at Al Neuharth's Freedom Forum; Inaugural Inductee into the National Fitness Hall of Fame
2008 (age 94): Inducted by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (fellow 2005 inductee of the National Fitness Hall of Fame) and Maria Shriver into the California Hall of Fame
2012 (posthumously): Together with his wife, inducted into the International Sports Hall of Fame.
Filmography
LaLanne appeared as himself in the following films and television shows:
You Bet Your Life (1961)
Peter Gunn (1960) – LaLanne appeared in an episode with Craig Stevens.
Mister Ed (1961), episode "Psychoanalyst Show" (as "Instructor"), (1963), episode "Doctor Ed"
The Addams Family (Season 2, 1966), episode "Fester Goes on a Diet"
Batman (man on roof with girls, uncredited cameo) (1966)
Here's Lucy (Season 2, 1969), episode "Lucy and the Bogie Affair"
Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In (Episode #5.14, 1971), Guest Performer
Fit & Fun Time (kids TV pilot) (1972)
The Chevy Chase Show
Amazing Discoveries (1991)
The Simpsons (Season 10, 1999), episode "The Old Man and the 'C' Student"
Beefcake (1999)
Hollywood's Magical Island: Catalina (2003)
"Mostly True Stories: Urban Legends Revealed" (2004)
Penn & Teller: Bullshit! (Season 2, 2004)
The Year Without a Santa Claus (2006), Hercules
References
External links
Official
Media and publications
, video, 31 January 2011
LaLanne's book Live Young Forever.
Interviews
Interview with Jack LaLanne on his 93rd birthday
Interview with Jack LaLanne
Interview by Donald Katz
Interview by Dennis Hughes of Share Guide
Taped interview with Dr. McDougall 02 July, 1994
Jack LaLanne interview at Archive of American Television12 September 2003
Miscellaneous
CPSC Tiger Juicer Recall Page
Official Jack LaLanne Power Juicer page
Jack LaLanne Power Juicer manual
Jack LaLanne interviewed by Janice Hughes and Dennis Hughes
Memorials and retrospectives
Life Magazine remembers Jack LaLanneslideshow
Chicago Tribune photo gallery of Jack LaLanne |1914-2011
1914 births
2011 deaths
American bodybuilders
American chiropractors
American exercise and fitness writers
American exercise instructors
American health and wellness writers
American nutritionists
American people of French descent
Berkeley High School (Berkeley, California) alumni
Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills)
Deaths from pneumonia in California
Deaths from respiratory failure
Diet food advocates
People associated with physical culture
People from Morro Bay, California
Television personalities from San Francisco
Writers from San Francisco
|
412807
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jason%20Mraz
|
Jason Mraz
|
Jason Thomas Mraz (; born June 23, 1977) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. He rose to prominence with the release of his debut studio album, Waiting for My Rocket to Come (2002), which spawned the single "The Remedy (I Won't Worry)", that peaked at number 15 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. His second studio album Mr. A-Z (2005) peaked at number five on the Billboard 200.
His third studio album, We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things. (2008) peaked at number 3 on the Billboard 200 and was certified four times Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The album's lead single "I'm Yours", reached the top ten on the Billboard Hot 100, while spending a then-record 76 weeks on the Hot 100, and was certified Diamond by the RIAA. The album also spawned the Grammy Award winning singles "Make It Mine", and "Lucky" with Colbie Caillat.
His fourth album, Love Is a Four Letter Word (2012), peaked at number two on the Billboard 200 and spawned the single "I Won't Give Up", which became his second top ten hit on the Hot 100. He went on to release the top ten albums Yes! (2014) and Know. (2018). After signing a three-album agreement with BMG in 2020, he released the albums Look for the Good (2020) and Mystical Magical Rhythmical Radical Ride (2023).
Along with receiving two Grammy Award wins, Mraz is also the recipient of two Teen Choice Awards, a People's Choice Award and the Hal David Songwriters Hall of Fame Award. As of July 2014, Mraz has sold over seven million albums, and over 11.5 million in digital singles.
Early life
Mraz was born and raised in Mechanicsville, Virginia. He is of Czech descent through his paternal grandfather, who moved to the United States from Austria-Hungary in 1915. His surname is ; , ). His parents, Tom (Tomáš ) Mraz and June Tomes, divorced when he was five years old, leaving Mraz to live with his father while his sister lived with his mother. His father is a postal worker, and his mother is vice president at a branch of Bank of America.
While attending Lee-Davis High School, Mraz was a member of the cheerleading squad, school chorus, and drama club. He starred as Joseph in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and as Snoopy in Snoopy! The Musical. During this period of his life, he struggled with his sexuality at times, wondering if he was gay. Mraz graduated in 1995.
After high school, Mraz attended the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in New York City for about a year and a half, originally to work in musical theater. When his roommates played guitar he would provide the vocals. Eventually, a friend gave him a guitar that was about to be thrown away and Mraz learned to play and write his own music. Mraz credits an early girlfriend as being one of the influences that drove him to songwriting. She encouraged him to write his thoughts on paper which helped him get "all of the voices in my head to shut up" and "become something I could follow."
Mraz moved to the Shockoe Bottom neighborhood of Richmond, Virginia, where he took a series of odd jobs, including elementary-school janitor, and joined the Ashland Stage Company. Mraz then enrolled at Longwood University in Farmville, Virginia, on a scholarship. Instead of attending classes, he headed west on a road trip that ultimately brought him to San Diego, where he decided to stay.
Music career
1999–2001: Career beginnings
Soon after moving to San Diego in 1999, Mraz became a roadie for the band Elgin Park. He met future band member Toca Rivera at Java Joe's, a coffee house in the Ocean Beach neighborhood of San Diego known for being formative in the careers of Jewel and Steve Poltz. Mraz performed once a week for nearly three years, building a following in San Diego and online.
Mraz self-published the albums A Jason Mraz Demonstration (1999), From the Cutting Room Floor (2001) and Oh Love, In Sadness (The E Minor EP in F) (2001). In 2001, Mraz released the live acoustic album Live at Java Joe's, performing with percussionist Rivera and bassist Ian Sheridan. The album featured several songs he would later re-release, including "1000 Things", "You and I Both" and "Halfway Home." The album was later released on iTunes on March 11, 2008, under the title Jason Mraz: Live & Acoustic 2001. Mraz returned to perform at Java Joe's for the 15th anniversary of the album on January 29, 2016. Mraz' last self-released album was Sold Out (In Stereo) on March 21, 2002.
2002–2004: Waiting for My Rocket to Come
In late 2001, Mraz signed a recording contract with Elektra Records and moved to Los Angeles. In 2002, he opened for Jewel on her tour. On October 15, 2002, Mraz released his first major label debut album, Waiting for My Rocket to Come, which peaked at number 55 on the Billboard 200. The day after the album's release, Mraz played on "The Late Late Show With Craig Kilborn". "You & I Both" was released as a promotional single prior to the album's release, but received minimal airplay.
In early 2003, Mraz released his first commercial single "The Remedy (I Won't Worry)." The track was co-written by music production team The Matrix, and became Mraz's first top-40 single on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number 15. The song was inspired by a high school friend who was diagnosed with cancer. At the time of the album's release, Mraz said that he did not like "The Remedy (I Won't Worry)" and had not wanted it on the album. In June 2003, "You & I Both" was released commercially as the second single from the album. Waiting for My Rocket to Come was certified Platinum in May 2005 for selling 1 million units.
Mraz opened for Tracy Chapman in 2003 at the Royal Albert Hall in London. In 2004, while on tour, Mraz released a live album with an accompanying DVD, Tonight, Not Again: Jason Mraz Live at the Eagles Ballroom. He performed with his touring band, including drummer Adam King, Rivera, Sheridan and keyboardist Eric Hinojosa, along with a guest appearance from Blues Traveler frontman John Popper.
2005–2007: Mr. A–Z
On July 26, 2005, Mraz released his second major label album, Mr. A–Z, produced by Steve Lillywhite for Atlantic Records. The album's lead single, "Wordplay", was produced by Kevin Kadish, and entered the Billboard 200 at number 5. The album earned a Grammy Award nomination for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical, while Lillywhite received a nomination for Producer of the Year.
Mraz began a long-running tour in support of Mr. A–Z at the San Diego Music Awards on September 12, 2005. The tour featured several opening acts, including Bushwalla and Tristan Prettyman, with whom he had written the duet "Shy That Way" in 2002. Mraz opened for Alanis Morissette during her 2005 Jagged Little Pill Acoustic tour, and for the Rolling Stones on five dates during their 2005–06 world tour. In March 2006, he performed in Singapore as part of the annual Mosaic Music Festival. That May, he toured mostly small venues and music festivals in the U.S., along with a few shows in the United Kingdom and Ireland where he supported James Blunt. The tour included a May 6, 2006 acoustic show with P.O.D., Better Than Ezra, Live, and The Presidents of the United States of America. Mraz was featured as a headlining guest of St. Louis's annual Fair St. Louis and performed a free concert at the base of the Gateway Arch on July 1, 2006. During this time, Mraz was also the opening act at several dates for Rob Thomas' Something to Be Tour.
In 2005, Mraz was one of many singers featured in the fall advertisement campaign for The Gap campaign "Favorites", singing a cover of Bob Marley's "One Love". 2006 saw the release of Selections for Friends, the live, online-only album recorded during the Songs for Friends Tour. In 2007, "The Beauty in Ugly", an earlier track penned by Mraz originally titled "Plain Jane", was rewritten for the ABC television show Ugly Betty. The song was featured as a part of ABC's "Be Ugly in '07" campaign.
2008–2011: We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things.
On May 13, 2008, Mraz released his third studio album, We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things. The album debuted at number 3 on the Billboard 200 and was later certified quadruple platinum. It broke into the top 10 of many international music charts. Mraz said that the album title was taken from the work of Scottish artist David Shrigley. Prior to its release, Mraz released three EPs, each with acoustic versions of songs from the album.
The album's lead single, "I'm Yours", was written in August 2004 and was initially released in demo form on the limited edition EP Extra Credit in 2005. Through Mraz's live performances of the song, it gained in popularity with fans. "I'm Yours" became Mraz's first Top 10 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at #6 on September 20, 2008. It ultimately spent 76 weeks on the Hot 100, longer than any other song in the magazine's 51-year history (a record since broken by Imagine Dragons with "Radioactive" in 2014). It was a major commercial success in the US and was certified 7x multi-Platinum by the RIAA for sales of over seven million. The song was also successful internationally, topping the charts in New Zealand, Norway, Portugal and Sweden, and peaking in the top ten on the charts in 11 other countries. By May 2012, it had gained over 125,000,000 hits on YouTube. It was the first song to top the charts in four different radio formats: Mainstream Top 40, Adult Contemporary, Adult Top 40 and Triple A. "Make It Mine" was released as the second single from the album but failed to chart on the Billboard Hot 100. "Lucky" with Colbie Caillat was released as the third single from the album and peaked at number 48 on the Billboard Hot 100.
At the 2009 Grammy Awards, "I'm Yours" was nominated for Song of the Year and Best Male Pop Vocal Performance, and We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things. was nominated for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical. In 2009, Mraz was awarded the Hal David Starlight Award from the Songwriters Hall of Fame. In 2010, Mraz won two Grammy Awards for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance ("Make It Mine") and Best Pop Collaboration ("Lucky" with Colbie Caillat). "I'm Yours" was also named ASCAP's 2010 Song of the Year.
Mraz's 2008 world tour traveled across the United States, Europe, Asia, and Australia. His personal photo travelogue from the world tour was published as a book, titled A Thousand Things (2008). The book was launched with a photo exhibition at Charles Cowles Gallery in New York City at the end of 2008. Also in 2008, Mraz played with Eric Clapton to a crowd of 45,000 in Hyde Park, London, sold out London's Royal Albert Hall, and performed at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Oslo. That year, he embarked on the Music, Magic & Make Peace Tour with Bushwalla, The Makepeace Brothers, and magician Justin Willman.
In 2009, Mraz recorded "The Way Is Love", an unreleased Roy Orbison song, as a duet with Willie Nelson. In November 2009, he released the live CD/DVD Jason Mraz's Beautiful Mess: Live on Earth, recorded in Chicago during the Gratitude Café tour. The following year, he went to Brazil to record "Simplesmente Todo" with Milton Nascimento, who sings in Portuguese while Mraz sings in English. He also did some writing with Dido and recorded new material with producer Martin Terefe. Mraz released the live EP, Life Is Good on October 5, 2010.
2012–2013: Love Is A Four Letter Word
Mraz released the live EP, Live Is A Four Letter Word, on February 28, 2012. His fourth studio album, Love Is a Four Letter Word was released on April 13, 2012. It reached number 2 on the Billboard 200, and the top 20 in 10 other countries. The album's lead single, "I Won't Give Up", debuted at number 8 on the Billboard Hot 100, and number 1 on the Digital Songs chart. It charted in 15 countries in total, and in October 2013 was certified 4x multi-platinum, for selling in excess of 4 million units. Further singles from the album were "93 Million Miles" and "The Woman I Love", but these releases were not as successful.
Love Is a Four Letter Word was nominated for a 2012 Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical. In 2012, he played sold-out shows at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, Madison Square Garden in New York and the O2 Arena in London, and performed at President Barack Obama and family's lighting of the national Christmas tree at the White House; a noted Obama supporter, he has also performed at numerous other events involving Obama and Vice President Joe Biden. Also in 2012, he performed "You Did It" at the presentation ceremony for the Kennedy Center's Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, won that year by Ellen DeGeneres.
In September 2013, Mraz was featured on the Hunter Hayes song "Everybody's Got Somebody but Me", which was later certified Gold. The same month, he was featured on the Travie McCoy single "Rough Water". That year, Mraz won a People's Choice Award for Favorite Male Artist.
2014–2019: Yes! and Know.
Mraz's fifth studio album, Yes!, was released on July 15, 2014. It was recorded with all-female folk rock band Raining Jane, with whom Mraz had previously collaborated on the track "A Beautiful Mess" for his 2008 album We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things. The album's lead single, "Love Someone", was released on May 19, 2014; Mraz performed the song for Time. On June 20, 2014, he released We Can Take the Long Way, a music video trilogy for the first three songs on Yes!, which premiered on the USA Today website.
In 2015, Mraz was featured on "Bad Idea" and "You Matter to Me" on the Sara Bareilles album What's Inside: Songs From Waitress. On September 27, 2017, it was announced that Mraz would make his Broadway debut in the musical Waitress. He took on the role of Dr. Pomatter from November 3, 2017, until February 11, 2018.
On August 10, 2018, Mraz released his sixth studio album, Know.. He referred to the new album as "bright and shiny" and a "classic-sounding pop acoustic, vocally driven record with positive lyrics and love songs." The album was preceded by the release of two singles: "Have It All" was released on April 27, 2018, and was inspired by a blessing he received from a Buddhist monk during a trip to Myanmar in 2012. It was accompanied by a video filmed with performing arts students from his hometown of Richmond. The album's second single, "Unlonely", was released in June. In July 2018, Mraz shared the lyric video for the song "More Than Friends", a duet with Meghan Trainor. On August 7, 2018, he partnered with Fathom Events for the one-night-only release of Jason Mraz - Have It All The Movie, a concert film and behind the scenes footage of the making of the "Have It All" video, in 600 movie theaters throughout North America. In 2019, he was featured on the album The Secret by Alan Parsons as lead vocalist on the song "Miracle". On August 13, 2019, Mraz was named the first-ever District Advocate Ambassador to continue the fight for music creators' rights.
2020–present: Look for the Good and Mystical Magical Rhythmical Radical Ride
In June 2020, Jason Mraz signed a three-album agreement with BMG led by Vice President of A&R Jaime Neely, Executive Vice President of Repertoire & Marketing Thomas Scherer, Vice President of Marketing and Recorded Music Cyndi Lynott, and Vice President of Creative Synch Jonathan Palmer. Jason also founded Interrabang Records, through which his 2020 album, Look for the Good, was released, as well as singer-songwriter Gregory Page's eighteenth album, One Hell of a Memory.
On February 15, 2023, Mraz released the single "I Feel Like Dancing" for his upcoming album Mystical Magical Rhythmical Radical Ride. The album was released on June 23, 2023, which was also Mraz's 46th birthday.
Personal life
Mraz lives a health-conscious lifestyle and has said that he eats mostly raw vegan foods. His vegan diet has also influenced his music. He owns a five-and-a-half acre avocado farm in Oceanside, California. He is an investor at Café Gratitude, a vegan restaurant in Los Angeles, and named his 2011 tour Gratitude Café in its honor. His hobbies include surfing, yoga and photography.
Mraz is on Season 32 of Dancing With the Stars and partnered with pro dancer Daniella Karagach.
Relationships and sexuality
Mraz married Sheridan Edley in 2001. They divorced the following year.
Mraz was engaged to singer-songwriter and long-time close friend Tristan Prettyman on Christmas Eve 2010; they broke off the engagement six months later.
On October 25, 2015, Mraz married his girlfriend, Christina Carano, in a private ceremony in his hometown of Mechanicsville, Virginia.
In June 2018, Mraz penned a "love letter" to the LGBT community, as part of a Billboard feature during gay pride month. A line in the poem, "I am bi your side. / All ways" led some media reports to state that the poem represented Mraz's coming out as bisexual. In an article published on July 19, 2018, by Billboard, Mraz said he has had previous experiences with men, even while dating Carano. Mraz said Carano defined him as a "two-spirit", a description that was criticized by some as misappropriating a word originally designed solely for the native population, and for distorting the term's meaning.
At an event celebrating his latest album release at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles on June 22, 2023, Mraz announced that he and Carano had recently divorced.
Social activism and philanthropy
Mraz is a social activist whose philanthropic efforts span wide-ranging issues, including environmentalism, human rights, and LGBT equality.
In 2003, after learning one of his beer bottles was listed for sale on eBay, Mraz was inspired to auction off items of his wardrobe online, raising money for the Make a Wish Foundation.
During early tours, he encouraged his fans to drop off food items as they arrived at the venue, an effort to support local food banks.
In 2009, he participated in a rescue mission to Ghana with members of Free the Slaves, a global nonprofit working to liberate children sold into slavery. In 2012, he was featured as the first-ever straight man on the cover of Instinct magazine in recognition of his efforts in support of LGBT rights.
The Jason Mraz Foundation was established in 2011, with a mission to support charities in the areas of human equality, environment preservation and education. Organizations supported by the foundation include VH1's Save The Music Foundation, MusiCares, Surfrider Foundation, Free the Children, Life Rolls On, the School of the Performing Arts in the Richmond Community, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and the True Colors Fund, which promotes LGBT equality.
Mraz was named the 2010 Surf Industry Manufacturers Association (SIMA) Humanitarian of the Year. He also received the Clean Water Award in 2010 from the Surfrider Foundation, for helping to preserve the world's oceans and beaches. That same year, he teamed up with The Nature Conservancy and created a PSA using his song "I'm Yours" to raise awareness about the nonprofit organization's efforts to protect the earth.
On December 16, 2012, Mraz headlined the Milestone Concert in Myanmar to raise awareness about human trafficking, making him the first foreign artist to play an open-air concert in Myanmar. The concert was organized by MTV EXIT and held in the People's Square in Yangon, with over 70,000 people in attendance, as part of an initiative to raise awareness about human trafficking in Myanmar. Also in 2012, Mraz spent a week in Antarctica with a group of environmentalists, scientists and researchers on a mission led by Al Gore, to learn about the effects of climate change.
Mraz is a continued supporter of WhyHunger, a grassroots support organization dedicated to fighting hunger and poverty in the United States. The organization was founded by late musician Harry Chapin and Radio DJ Bill Ayres in 1975.
On June 19, 2020, Mraz announced he would be donating all profits from his album Look for the Good to Black Lives Matter and other organizations working toward equality and justice.
Politics
On October 24, 2019, Mraz endorsed Bernie Sanders for president in the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries stating, "Bernie is the perfect candidate to follow Trump & continue to shake up the system for the benefit of true American values: Life, Liberty & The Pursuit of Happiness".
Discography
Studio albums
Waiting for My Rocket to Come (2002)
Mr. A–Z (2005)
We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things. (2008)
Love Is a Four Letter Word (2012)
Yes! (2014)
Know. (2018)
Look for the Good (2020)
Mystical Magical Rhythmical Radical Ride (2023)
Awards and nominations
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"
|-
! scope="col" | Award
! scope="col" | Year
! scope="col" | Nominee(s)
! scope="col" | Category
! scope="col" | Result
! scope="col" class="unsortable"|
|-
! scope="row" rowspan=4|Grammy Awards
| rowspan="2"|2009
| rowspan="2"|"I'm Yours"
| Song of the Year
|
| rowspan=4|
|-
| rowspan=2|Best Male Pop Vocal Performance
|
|-
| rowspan="2"|2010
| "Make It Mine"
|
|-
| "Lucky" (with Colbie Caillat)
| Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals
|
|-
! scope="row" rowspan=2|Pop Awards
| rowspan=2|2021
| Himself
| Icon of the Year
|
| rowspan=2|
|-
| Look for the Good
| Album of the Year
|
|-
! scope="row" rowspan=15|San Diego Music Awards
| rowspan=2|2002
| rowspan=3|Himself
| Best Acoustic
|
| rowspan=2|
|-
| rowspan=2|Artist of the Year
|
|-
| rowspan=2|2003
|
| rowspan=2|
|-
| "The Remedy (I Won't Worry)"
| Song of the Year
|
|-
| 2004
| rowspan=2|Himself
| rowspan=2|Artist of the Year
|
|
|-
| rowspan=3|2009
|
| rowspan=2|
|-
| "Lucky" (with Colbie Caillat)
| Song of the Year
|
|-
| We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things.
| Album of the Year
|
|
|-
| rowspan=4|2014
| Himself
| Artist of the Year
|
| rowspan=2|
|-
| rowspan=2|"Love Someone"
| Best Music Video
|
|-
| Song of the Year
|
| rowspan=2|
|-
| Yes!
| Album of the Year
|
|-
| rowspan=3|2019
| Himself
| Artist of the Year
|
| rowspan=3|
|-
| "Have It All"
| Song of the Year
|
|-
| Know.
| Album of the Year
|
Other awards
|-
| 2004
| rowspan=2|Jason Mraz
| Pollstar Concert Industry Awards for Best New Touring Artist
|
|-
| rowspan=4|2009
| Teen Choice Award for Choice Music – Male Artist
|
|-
| We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things.
| Teen Choice Award for Choice Album (Male Artist)
|
|-
| rowspan=3|Jason Mraz
| American Music Award for Favorite Adult Contemporary Artist
|
|-
| Songwriters Hall of Fame Hal David Starlight Award
|
|-
| style="text-align:center;" | 2010
| People's Choice Award for Favorite Male Artist
|
|-
| style="text-align:center;" | 2010
| "I'm Yours"
| ASCAP Song of the Year
|
|-
| style="text-align:center;" | 2010
| Jason Mraz
| Surf Industry Manufacturers Association Humanitarian of the Year
|
|-
| style="text-align:center;" | 2010
| Jason Mraz
| Surfrider Foundation Clean Water Award
|
|-
| style="text-align:center;" | 2012
| rowspan="2" | "I Won't Give Up"
| Best Love Song
|
|-
| style="text-align:center;" | 2012
| MVPA Awards for Best Adult Contemporary Video
|
|-
| style="text-align:center;" | 2012
| Jason Mraz
| ASCAP Foundation Champion Award
|
|-
| style="text-align:center;" | 2013
| Jason Mraz
| People's Choice Award for Pop Male Artist
|
|-
| style="text-align:center;" | 2013
| Jason Mraz
| MTV Europe Music Award For Best World Stage
|
|-
Bibliography
A Thousand Things (2008, I Love Books)
Filmography
Film
Television appearances (selected)
American Music Awards (2003)
Late Night with Conan O'Brien (2003)
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (2003, 2005, 2008)
New Year's Rockin' Eve (2004)
The Ellen DeGeneres Show (2004, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2014)
Jimmy Kimmel Live! (2004, 2005, 2009, 2012)
The EBS space (EBS 스페이스 공감) (2006)
Late Show with David Letterman (2008, 2009, 2012)
Nobel Peace Prize Concert (2008)
Rachael Ray (2008)
American Idol (2009, 2019)
Saturday Night Live (2009, 2019)
Spicks and Specks (TV series) (2009)
The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien (2009)
Grammy Awards (2009, 2010)
Family Guy (2010)
The Jay Leno Show (2010)
Sesame Street (2010)
Chelsea Lately (2012)
Conan (2012)
Dancing With the Stars (2012)
The Fresh Beat Band (2012)
Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (2012)
Opening Act (2012)
Today (2012)
VH1 Storytellers (2012)
Watch What Happens: Live (2012)
Live from Daryl's House (2012)
American Restoration (2015)
Live from the Artists Den (2014)
K-pop Star 4 (케이팝 스타 4) (2015)
Today Show with Hoda and Jena (2019)
Celebrity Show-Off (2020)
Celebrity Wheel of Fortune (2021)
Rick and Morty (2022) - Brachiosaurus (voice; in "Juricksic Mort")
Dancing with the Stars'' (2023)
References
External links
Jason Mraz collection at the Internet Archive's live music archive
Playlist: Jason Mraz – Nightline 07/17/09 – Reggae to rock, Mraz reveals his musical influences.
Jason Mraz Interview at NAMM Oral History Collection
1977 births
American male singer-songwriters
American people of Czech descent
Atlantic Records artists
Bisexual male actors
Bisexual male musicians
Bisexual singers
Bisexual songwriters
Elektra Records artists
Grammy Award winners
LGBT people from Virginia
LGBT producers
American LGBT rights activists
American LGBT singers
American LGBT songwriters
American bisexual musicians
American bisexual actors
Living people
Musicians from Richmond, Virginia
Musical groups from San Diego
Singer-songwriters from Virginia
American folk-pop singers
Guitarists from Virginia
American male guitarists
People from Mechanicsville, Virginia
21st-century American male singers
21st-century American singer-songwriters
20th-century American LGBT people
21st-century American LGBT people
Singer-songwriters from California
American Musical and Dramatic Academy alumni
People from Oceanside, California
|
412808
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jennifer%20Granholm
|
Jennifer Granholm
|
Jennifer Mulhern Granholm (born February 5, 1959) is a Canadian-American politician. Since 2021, she has served as the 16th United States secretary of energy. A member of the Democratic Party, she previously served as the 47th governor of Michigan from 2003 to 2011, and as the 51st attorney general of Michigan from 1999 to 2003, as the first woman to hold both offices.
Born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Granholm moved to California at age four. She obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Berkeley in 1984 and a Juris Doctor degree from Harvard Law School in 1987. She then clerked for Judge Damon Keith of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, became an assistant U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan in 1991, and was appointed to the Wayne County Corporation Counsel in 1995.
In 1998, Granholm ran for attorney general of Michigan, defeating Republican nominee John Smietanka. She ran for governor of Michigan in 2002 and was elected the state's first female governor. She was re-elected in 2006.
Granholm was a member of the presidential transition team for Barack Obama before he assumed office in 2009. After leaving public office, Granholm took a position at the UC Berkeley and, with her husband Daniel Mulhern, authored A Governor's Story: The Fight for Jobs and America's Future, released in 2011. She became host of The War Room with Jennifer Granholm. In 2017, she was hired as a CNN political contributor.
After President-elect Joe Biden announced his intention to nominate Granholm to head the United States Department of Energy in 2020, she was confirmed by the U.S. Senate in 2021.
Early life and education
Granholm was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, to Shirley Alfreda (née Dowden) and Victor Ivar Granholm, both bank tellers. Granholm's maternal grandparents came from Ireland and Newfoundland, respectively. Her paternal grandfather was Hugo "Anders" Granholm, who immigrated to Penny, British Columbia, Canada, in the late 1920s from Robertsfors, Sweden, where his father was the mayor. The former Minister for Enterprise and Energy and former Deputy Prime Minister of Sweden, Maud Olofsson, lives in Robertsfors, and when the two met in Sweden, the media revealed that Olofsson's husband is a relative of Granholm. Her paternal grandmother was Judith Olivia Henriette (Solstad) Granholm, an emigrant from Gjerstad in Southern Norway. She came with the ship SS Bergensfjord from Oslo to Halifax, and from there she took the railway to Penny, British Columbia, where her uncles and several others had established a small logging village.
Granholm's family immigrated to California when she was four years old. She grew up in Anaheim, San Jose, and San Carlos. Granholm attended Ida Price Junior High and Del Mar High School before graduating from San Carlos High School in 1977 and won the Miss San Carlos beauty pageant. As a young adult, she attempted to launch a Hollywood acting career but abandoned her efforts at age 21. In 1978, she appeared on The Dating Game, and held jobs as a tour guide at Universal Studios and in customer service at the Los Angeles Times and was the first female tour guide at Marine World Africa USA in Redwood City, piloting boats with 25 tourists aboard.
In 1980, at age 21, she became a naturalized U.S. citizen, and worked for John B. Anderson's campaign for president of the United States as an Independent in the 1980 election. She then enrolled at the University of California, Berkeley, the first person in her family to attend college. She was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and graduated in 1984 with a B.A. in political science and French. During a year in France, she helped to smuggle clothes and medical supplies to Jewish people in the Soviet Union and became involved in the Anti-Apartheid Movement. She then earned a Juris Doctor degree at Harvard University, also with honors, in 1987. At Harvard Law School, Granholm served as editor-in-chief of the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review.
Early career
After graduating from Harvard Law School, Granholm clerked for Judge Damon Keith, a senior judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, from 1987 to 1988. She also worked for the Michael Dukakis 1988 presidential campaign. After working as an attorney in the Wayne County executive office from 1989 to 1991, Granholm became an assistant U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan in 1991. She helped to prosecute drug dealers, gang members and child pornographers, sued the state and fought against credit card fraud. Of the 154 people Granholm tried, 151 were convicted. In 1995, she was appointed as Corporation Counsel for Wayne County, the youngest person to hold the position. Granholm defended the county against lawsuits, sued the state over road taxes, and fought to uphold environmental laws.
Michigan Attorney General (1999–2003)
1998 election
Thirty-seven-year Democratic Attorney General Frank J. Kelley chose not to run for a 10th term in 1998 and Granholm entered the race to succeed him. Unopposed for the Democratic nomination, she faced Republican John Smietanka, the 1994 nominee and former U.S. attorney for the Western District of Michigan, in the general election. The campaign began as a relatively friendly one, with both agreeing that they wanted to expand the Internet Crimes Unit, start neighbourhood-based crime-fighting programmes and continue working as a consumer advocate, as Kelley had done.
However, the race turned bitter in mid-September, when Smietanka ran television ads that called Granholm an "inexperienced" and "dangerous" liberal. He also tried to link Granholm to Democratic gubernatorial nominee Geoffrey Fieger's crime plan, which called for greater emphasis on rehabilitation for non-violent criminals and shortening their prison terms. Granholm, who had disavowed Fieger's crime plan the day it was released, said the claim was "a lie, just a lie" and that as attorney general, "you are the person who is to protect the consumer from deceitful ads." Asked what separated her from Smietanka, Granholm replied, "Besides honesty?" Kelley also came to Granholm's defence, starring in an advertisement where he called Smietanka's ads "garbage" and a "con" and accused him of running a "dishonest campaign". For his part, Smietanka was angered by Democratic advertisements that referred to late child support payments he had made and claimed that he had lied about how much of his own money he donated to his campaign.
After a close race, with polls showing the two candidates with virtually identical votes, Granholm defeated Smietanka by 1,557,310 votes (52.09%) to 1,432,604 (47.91%). After Granholm was elected governor in 2002, arguments arose between Smietanka and then-Republican Governor John Engler about who was most responsible for Granholm's meteoric rise in Michigan politics. Smietanka blamed Engler for trying to force him out of the 1998 race in favour of G. Scott Romney, for dredging up the issue of his missed child support payments and for not supporting him more fully after he defeated Romney at the Republican convention. Engler countered that Smietanka was a weak candidate who should have stepped aside for Romney, who would have beaten the inexperienced Granholm; she would then not have had a launch pad for her gubernatorial campaign in 2002.
Tenure
Granholm was sworn into office on January 1, 1999, becoming the first female attorney general of Michigan. She served a single term, from 1999 to 2003. In office, she continued Kelley's work on protecting citizens and consumers' rights and established Michigan's first High Tech Crime Unit, appointing Terrence Berg as its first chief.
In April 1999, Granholm announced a lawsuit against RVP Development, builders of the Arcadia Bluffs Golf Course, alleging that poor construction of the course had led to illegal discharges of sediment into Lake Michigan from erosion following heavy storms in 1998, which had "turned a ravine into a ravaged gorge". Development company President Richard Postma refused to pay the $425,000 of state fines, saying he had made moves to stop the erosion and accused Granholm of trying to make him "a poster child for her campaign of the future". Granholm responded that his "perception of the political landscape in Michigan is as poor as his ability to construct a golf landscape". After years of negotiations and legal wrangling, the lawsuit was settled in August 2003, with RVP Development agreeing to pay a $125,000 fine.
During her tenure as Attorney General, Granholm became a harsh critic of the annual tradition at The University of Michigan called the Naked Mile. Through her efforts, the event was essentially cancelled by April 2000 never to emerge again. In July 2000, Granholm's office settled with J.C. Penney after the retailer made numerous pricing and scanning errors in stores in Michigan. The issue came to the attention of the attorney general's office after a "repeat and progressively worse error rate" that saw 33% of items sold in December 1999 being sold for more at the register than they were listed for on the shelves. J.C. Penney paid a fine and agreed to designate "pricing associates" to monitor for errors in pricing.
After the September 11, 2001 attacks, Granholm directed state agencies to work with lawmakers in keeping the fight against terrorism within the powers of the state. She also imposed a regulation on gasoline dealers to keep them from raising prices dramatically, something which occurred sporadically across Michigan immediately following the attacks. In February 2002, Granholm announced that her office was joining with the AARP Michigan State Office to help consumers fight calls from telemarketers.
Governor of Michigan (2003–2011)
2002 election
In the 2002 election, incumbent Republican governor John Engler was term-limited and not able to run for re-election to a fourth term in office. The Republicans unified around Engler's lieutenant governor, Dick Posthumus. Meanwhile, Granholm faced a competitive primary against former U.S. Ambassador to Canada and governor James Blanchard and U.S. Representative and former House Minority Whip David E. Bonior. Blanchard had been defeated for reelection by Engler in 1990 and Bonior had resigned as Democratic whip to run for governor, his House district having been redrawn to make it all but unwinnable for him.
Granholm, seen by many as a "fresh face" after the 12-year Engler administration, raised more money than Blanchard and Bonior and consistently led them in polls by large margins. Her campaign led to increased turnout among women and she comfortably won the Democratic primary with 499,129 votes (47.69%) to Bonior's 292,958 (27.99%) and Blanchard's 254,586 (24.32%).
Granholm was the heavy favorite in the general election, boasting strong support from working women, African-Americans and voters under 30 years of age. She campaigned on her record on crime and was seen as more charismatic than Posthumus. Despite the 2002 elections being a good year for Republicans nationwide, who gained control of the U.S. Senate and increased their hold on the U.S. House, Granholm defeated Posthumus by 1,633,796 votes (51.42%) to 1,506,104 (47.40%).
First term (2003–2007)
Granholm was sworn in as the 47th governor of the state of Michigan on January 1, 2003. Upon her inauguration, in addition to becoming the state's first female governor, she also became its third governor who was not a natural-born citizen of the United States and its fourth who was not born within the United States. The earlier two non-natural-born citizens were Fred M. Warner, who was born in England and was the 26th governor from 1905 to 1911; and John Swainson, who was also born in Canada and was the 42nd governor from 1961 to 1963. George W. Romney, who was born in Mexico and was the 27th governor from 1963 to 1969, was a natural-born citizen by virtue of his parents' U.S. citizenship at the time of his birth.
Granholm emphasized Michigan's need to attract young people and businesses via the Cool Cities Initiative. As governor, she was a member of the National Governors Association, chairing its Health and Human Services Committee and co‑chairing its Health Care Task Force. She is also a former chair of the Midwestern Governors Association. She lived in the official Michigan Governor's Residence, located near the Capitol Building.
During Granholm's first year in office, she made a significant number of budget cuts to deal with a $1.7billion deficit (about two percent of the annual state budget). She was upset by proposals to cut state funding to social welfare programs, such as homeless shelters and mental health agencies.
Granholm has been a proponent of education reform since the first year of her term. In her first State of the State Address in 2003, Granholm announced Project Great Start to focus on reforming education for children from birth to age five. Project Great Start has coordinated public and private efforts to encourage educating new parents and encouraging parents to read to their children.
Granholm emphasized post-secondary education for Michiganders following the decline in Michigan manufacturing jobs, many of which did not require a college degree. In 2004 she asked Lieutenant Governor John D. Cherry to lead the Commission on Higher Education and Economic Growth to double the number of college graduates in Michigan. Many of the commission's recommendations were enacted into law during Granholm's tenure as governor, e.g. increasing high school graduation standards (The Michigan Merit Curriculum) so that every Michigan high school student takes a college preparatory curriculum, which includes four years of math and English/language arts and three years of science and social studies, beginning with students who entered high school in the fall of 2006.
At an awards ceremony on October 28, 2004, Granholm was inducted into the "Michigan Women's Hall of Fame". She has also been the recipient of the Michigan Jaycees 1999 "Outstanding Young Michiganders" and the YWCA "Woman of the Year" awards.
During the 2004 presidential election in Michigan, Granholm campaigned hard for Democratic nominee John Kerry after early polls showed President George W. Bush with a narrow lead. She cited the economy as the main concern for Michiganders, not the Iraq War or the War on Terror, which meant that with "the deficit larger; the Dow dropping; unemployment claims up, hitting an all-time high; General Motors profits below expectations, with health claims crippling profits; flu vaccine in short supply; oil prices rising" her state was badly hit.
In February 2005, Michigan's Republican-dominated legislature refused to vote on Granholm's proposed state budget, citing concerns over cuts to state funding for higher education. In the previous years of Granholm's term, many cuts to higher education had been demanded and voted in the legislature in order to balance the state budget. The year before, Republican leaders had called Granholm a "do‑nothing governor", claiming that she failed to lead, while Democrats accused legislative Republicans of being obstructionist. In January 2005, Granholm presented an early budget proposal, demanded immediate response from the Legislature, and held a press conference outlining the highlights of the proposed budget. After refusing to consider, debate, or vote on the proposed budget, Republicans stated they would prefer that the legislature have more involvement in the formation of the state budget.
Michigan's economy had been losing jobs since 2000, largely owing to the decline in the American manufacturing sector. Granholm supported diversification of Michigan's economy away from its historical reliance on automotive manufacturing. She pushed through a $2billion 21st Century Jobs Fund to attract jobs to Michigan in the life sciences, alternative energy, advanced manufacturing, and homeland security sectors.
2006 election
Granholm ran for a second term in the 2006 election. Her opponent was Republican businessman and politician Dick DeVos.
Both the Granholm campaign and the Michigan Democratic Party put out television commercials produced by Joe Slade White focusing on her efforts to revive Michigan's economy and accusing DeVos of cutting Michigan jobs while he was head of what was then called Amway. Granholm won re-election, defeating DeVos. The election results were 56 percent for Granholm, 42 percent for DeVos, and a little over one percent for minor-party candidates Gregory Creswell, Douglas Campbell, and Bhagwan Dashairya. Granholm's share of the vote was 4.9 percent higher than in her first gubernatorial election in 2002. Granholm's campaign was managed by Howard Edelson.
Second term (2007–2011)
The 2006 elections saw a return to power by the Democrats in the Michigan State House of Representatives and the retention of Republican control over the Michigan Senate. The partisan division of power in Michigan's state government led to a showdown between Granholm and lawmakers over the FY 2008 state budget that resulted in a four-hour shutdown of nonessential state services in the early morning of October 1, 2007, until a budget was passed and signed. The budget cut services, froze state spending in areas such as the arts, increased the state income tax, and created a new set of service taxes on a variety of businesses, e.g. ski lifts and interior design and landscaping companies, to address a state budget shortfall. As a result of the controversial budget, some taxpayer and business advocates called for a recall campaign against Granholm and lawmakers who voted for the tax increases.
The budget crisis eventually led Standard & Poor's to downgrade Michigan's credit rating from AA to AA-. Additionally, the crisis contributed to sinking approval ratings for Granholm, which went from 43 percent in August 2007 to a low of 32 percent in December 2007. She had one of the lowest approval ratings for any governor in the United States.
In 2007 Granholm proposed and signed into law the No Worker Left Behind Act to provide two years of free training or community college for unemployed and displaced workers. Since its launch in August 2007, more than 130,000 people have enrolled in retraining. The program caps tuition assistance at $5000 per year for two years, or $10,000 per person, and covers retraining in high-demand occupations and emerging industries.
The Department of Energy, Labor, and Economic Growth reported back in October 2009 that 62,206 people had enrolled and that of the 34,355 who had completed training, 72% had found work or retained their positions and a further 18,000 were still in long-term or short-term training. 16% of all enrollees had withdrawn or failed to complete the training. As of July 2010, more than two years after the program was launched, 65,536 people were in training or involved in on-the-job training. Dropouts had been reduced to 13.1% of enrollments.
Granholm delivered her sixth State of the State address on January 29, 2008. The speech focused mainly on creating jobs in Michigan through bringing alternative energy companies to Michigan. Through passing a renewable portfolio standard, which would require that ten percent of Michigan's energy would come from renewable sources by 2015 and twenty-five percent by 2025, Granholm expected the alternative energy industry to emerge in Michigan. Since the passage of the standard, Mariah Power, Global Wind Systems, Cascade Swift Turbine, Great Lakes Turbine, and 38 other companies have announced new projects in Michigan. The solar and wind power industries now provide more than ten thousand jobs in Michigan.
Granholm also called in the speech for an incentive package to offer tax breaks to filmmakers who shoot in Michigan and use local crews in production. A package of bills offering film industry incentives was approved by both houses of the Michigan legislature and signed into law by Granholm on April 7, 2008.
Partly because of pressure from Granholm, Michigan's Democratic presidential primary was moved up to January 15, leading the Democratic National Committee to strip the Michigan Democratic Party of its delegates (Michigan historically had held its caucuses on February 9). Granholm has been named by some as a possible candidate for United States attorney general. She was the policy chair of the Democratic Governors Association.
On April 29, 2008, Granholm had emergency surgery to fix a health issue that stemmed from a 1993 accident. Because of the surgery, Granholm had to postpone a trip to Israel and Kuwait. She finally made the journey in November 2008 and signed a water technology partnership agreement with the Israeli government. In addition, she delivered the keynote address at an automotive event organized by the Michigan Israel Business Bridge and the Israel Export Institute.
In response to a May 14, 2008, resolution by the Detroit City Council that Granholm remove Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick from office because of eight (later ten) felony counts against him, Granholm began an inquiry that culminated in a removal hearing on September 3, 2008. On September 3, Granholm outlined the legal basis for the hearings, arguments were made, and three witnesses were called. On the morning of September 4, Kilpatrick agreed to two plea deals in which he pleaded guilty to two counts of perjury and no contest one count of assaulting and obstructing a police officer in two separate cases. Both deals required his resignation. When the hearing reconvened later that day, Granholm said the hearing would be adjourned until September 22 as a result of the plea deals, and if Kilpatrick's resignation became effective before then the hearing would be cancelled.
In September 2008, Governor Granholm undertook the role of Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin in a series of practice debates with Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden.
With the election of Barack Obama as president, Granholm joined his economic advisory team, having had extensive experience running the Michigan economy, and there was speculation that she might join the Obama administration. On May 13, 2009, the Associated Press reported that President Obama was considering Granholm, among others, for possible appointment to the United States Supreme Court. Eventually Obama chose Sonia Sotomayor.
In 2010, Granholm was barred from seeking re-election due to Michigan's term limits law. Her governorship ended on January 1, 2011, when Republican Rick Snyder, who won the 2010 election, was sworn in.
Subsequent career
Granholm is a distinguished adjunct professor of law and public policy at the UC Berkeley Goldman School of Public Policy and UC Berkeley School of Law. In the Autumn of 2011, she taught a graduate course entitled "Governing in Tough Times". She is also a senior research fellow at the Berkeley Energy and Climate Institute (BECI). As a senior advisor to The Pew Charitable Trusts' Clean Energy Program and founder of The American Jobs Project at UC Berkeley, Granholm spearheads a campaign for a national clean energy policy that promotes and funds American energy independence and home-grown manufacturing and innovation for wind, solar, and advanced battery industries across the United States. She is a regular contributor to NBC's political talk show Meet the Press, has written on U.S. energy policy and has co-authored a book with her husband, A Governor's Story: The Fight For Jobs and America's Economic Future, which was released in September 2011 and was about the lessons Michigan's experience can offer to America.
Granholm served on the board of directors of the Dow Chemical Company from March to October 2011. In May 2011, she joined the board of directors of Marinette Marine Corporation, a Wisconsin ship builder and Defense contractor. Granholm is currently serving as the sponsor of , a warship under construction by the company. In August 2013, she joined the board of Talmer Bancorp, a Michigan financial institution. Granholm continued to serve on the Talmer board until the company was acquired by the Chemical Financial Corporation at the end of August 2016. In August 2016, she joined the board of ChargePoint, a corporation which manages a network of electric vehicle charging stations. In March 2017, Granholm also joined the board of Proterra, a manufacturer of electric buses and charging stations.
In October 2011, Current TV announced that she would be joining its new political primetime lineup as host of the new program The War Room with Jennifer Granholm. In January 2013, she announced that she was leaving the network due to the sale to Al Jazeera.
In October 2012, she became a "household name" after delivering what has been described as a "hyperactive" and "sharp-tongued" speech at the 2012 Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, on September 6. Granholm's speech centered on the automotive industry crisis of 2008–2010; specifically, President Obama's decision to bail out General Motors and Chrysler, its beneficial effects on the U.S. economy, and Mitt Romney's opposition to the bailout.
In January 2014, she was picked to co-chair Priorities USA Action opposite Jim Messina. She has previously said Hillary Clinton "is the strongest candidate out there should she decide to raise her hand" in regard to the upcoming 2016 presidential election. Granholm previously supported Clinton over Barack Obama in the 2008 election campaign. She considered running for the United States Senate in 2014 to replace retiring Democrat Carl Levin, but decided against doing so.
In August 2015, months after Hillary Clinton's campaign announcement for the 2016 presidential election, Granholm transitioned from Priorities USA Action to Correct the Record, another Clinton-aligned political committee whose classification allows Granholm to serve as a direct "surrogate" for Hillary Clinton on the campaign trail. In August 2016, Granholm was named by Clinton to the team planning for her potential presidential transition.
Speculation of a return to office
Granholm was twice mentioned as a possible U.S. Secretary of Energy, first in December 2008 when President-elect Obama was assembling his first-term Cabinet and again in December 2010, when it was rumoured that Secretary Steven Chu might resign.
Granholm was also twice considered by President Obama to be a potential Supreme Court candidate. In May 2009, she was on the shortlist of candidates to replace the retiring Associate Justice David Souter. She attended a CAFE standards meeting at the White House on May 19 and spoke with Obama, but officials would not comment on whether the two discussed a potential court appointment. Obama chose Sonia Sotomayor, who was confirmed by the Senate in August. After the retirement of Associate Justice John Paul Stevens in May 2010, Granholm was again spoken of as a potential candidate; Obama chose Elena Kagan, who was confirmed in August.
In March 2011, with Tim Kaine poised to resign as chairman of the Democratic National Committee to run for the U.S. Senate from Virginia in 2012, Granholm was mentioned as a potential successor. However, she made clear early on that she was not interested, which was reported to have "stunned" senior Democrats, who were "surprised and disappointed" that Granholm had taken herself out of the running. U.S. Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida was elected instead.
After President Obama was re-elected in 2012, Granholm was reportedly considered for a position in Obama's second-term Cabinet, specifically to succeed Chu as secretary of energy, Ray LaHood as U.S. secretary of transportation, Hilda Solis as U.S. secretary of labor or Eric Holder as U.S attorney general. Granholm herself dampened such speculation, citing her sharp criticism of Republicans during the 2012 election and her time presenting on Current TV.
In March 2013, Michigan's senior U.S. senator, Democrat Carl Levin, announced that he would not run for a seventh term in 2014. Granholm was mentioned as a candidate to succeed him, but she announced shortly after that she would not run. She endorsed U.S. Representative Gary Peters, who defeated Republican nominee Terri Lynn Land in the general election.
In September 2014, when U.S Attorney General Eric Holder announced his intention to step down, there was speculation that Granholm might be a potential candidate to succeed him. Loretta Lynch was ultimately nominated and confirmed for the position.
There was speculation that Granholm's increased visibility from her senior role in the Clinton campaign indicated that she would be under consideration for a position in the U.S. Cabinet or Democratic National Committee leadership if Clinton had won the 2016 election.
Secretary of Energy (2021–present)
Then-President-elect Joe Biden nominated Granholm to be the next secretary of energy. Granholm was seen as one of Biden’s least controversial nominees, winning support from unions, environmental groups, and some Republicans. University of California, Berkeley professor of energy Daniel Kammen, who worked with Granholm at UC Berkeley, said she will be "phenomenal for DOE" because "she understands the technology, she understands deployment and she knows how to run a big agency." She appeared before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on January 27, 2021, and the committee voted to advance her nomination in a 13–4 vote on February 3, 2021. She was confirmed by the Senate 64–35 on February 25, 2021, and was sworn into office later that day by Vice President Kamala Harris. She is the first secretary of energy born outside the United States.
In April 2021, she said President Joe Biden "has a goal of getting to net zero carbon dioxide for this country by 2050. And that means that we have got to figure out ways to clean up our fossil fuel industry." On May 19, 2022, the Department of Energy announced a $3.5 billion program funded under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to create four large-scale regional direct air capture hubs each consisting of a network of carbon dioxide removal projects.
Granholm had a call with Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman Al Saud. They discussed closer cooperation in the energy field. In late 2021, she blamed the OPEC oil cartel led by Saudi Arabia and the U.S. gas and petroleum industry for rising fuel prices in the United States. When asked what her plans were to increase oil production in the United States, she laughingly replied: "That is hilarious. Would that I had the magic wand on this."
Granholm signed a detailed ethics agreement for the top energy government job and has since then, violated certain provisions of the STOCK Act.
On December 16, 2022, Granholm cleared J. Robert Oppenheimer, American theoretical physicist, often credited as the "father of the atomic bomb" for his role in the Manhattan Project – the World War II undertaking that developed the first nuclear weapons, of the 1954 revocation of his security clearance due to a "flawed investigation".
Personal life
While Granholm was at Harvard, she met fellow law student and Michigan native Daniel Mulhern, a theology graduate from Yale University. They married in 1986 and they took each other's surname as their middle names. They have three children.
On October 21, 2010, Granholm was made a Commander of the Royal Order of the Polar Star, First Class, by the King of Sweden "for her work in fostering relations between Michigan and Sweden to promote a clean energy economy."
Granholm is Roman Catholic. She converted to Catholicism while at Harvard Law School.
Electoral history
See also
Barack Obama Supreme Court candidates
List of female state attorneys general in the United States
List of female governors in the United States
List of female United States Cabinet members
List of foreign-born United States Cabinet members
List of U.S. state governors born outside the United States
References
External links
Biography at the United States Department of Energy
Articles on Granholm from The New York Times
1959 births
Living people
20th-century American politicians
20th-century American women politicians
21st-century American politicians
21st-century American women lawyers
21st-century American lawyers
21st-century American women politicians
American beauty pageant winners
American people of Irish descent
American people of Norwegian descent
American people of Swedish descent
Biden administration cabinet members
Canadian emigrants to the United States
Canadian people of Irish descent
Canadian people of Norwegian descent
Canadian people of Swedish descent
Canadian Roman Catholics
Catholics from Michigan
Converts to Roman Catholicism
CNN people
Commanders First Class of the Order of the Polar Star
Current TV people
Democratic Party governors of Michigan
Goldman School of Public Policy faculty
Harvard Law School alumni
Michigan Attorneys General
Naturalized citizens of the United States
People from Anaheim, California
People from San Carlos, California
Politicians from San Jose, California
Politicians from Vancouver
UC Berkeley School of Law faculty
United States Secretaries of Energy
University of California, Berkeley alumni
Women in Michigan politics
Women state constitutional officers of Michigan
Women state governors of the United States
Women members of the Cabinet of the United States
Beauty queen-politicians
Biden administration personnel
|
412809
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endometrial%20cancer
|
Endometrial cancer
|
Endometrial cancer is a cancer that arises from the endometrium (the lining of the uterus or womb). It is the result of the abnormal growth of cells that have the ability to invade or spread to other parts of the body. The first sign is most often vaginal bleeding not associated with a menstrual period. Other symptoms include pain with urination, pain during sexual intercourse, or pelvic pain. Endometrial cancer occurs most commonly after menopause.
Approximately 40% of cases are related to obesity. Endometrial cancer is also associated with excessive estrogen exposure, high blood pressure and diabetes. Whereas taking estrogen alone increases the risk of endometrial cancer, taking both estrogen and a progestogen in combination, as in most birth control pills, decreases the risk. Between two and five percent of cases are related to genes inherited from the parents. Endometrial cancer is sometimes loosely referred to as "uterine cancer", although it is distinct from other forms of uterine cancer such as cervical cancer, uterine sarcoma, and trophoblastic disease. The most frequent type of endometrial cancer is endometrioid carcinoma, which accounts for more than 80% of cases. Endometrial cancer is commonly diagnosed by endometrial biopsy or by taking samples during a procedure known as dilation and curettage. A pap smear is not typically sufficient to show endometrial cancer. Regular screening in those at normal risk is not called for.
The leading treatment option for endometrial cancer is abdominal hysterectomy (the total removal by surgery of the uterus), together with removal of the Fallopian tubes and ovaries on both sides, called a bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy. In more advanced cases, radiation therapy, chemotherapy or hormone therapy may also be recommended. If the disease is diagnosed at an early stage, the outcome is favorable, and the overall five-year survival rate in the United States is greater than 80%.
In 2012, endometrial cancers newly occurred in 320,000 women and caused 76,000 deaths. This makes it the third most common cause of death in cancers which only affect women, behind ovarian and cervical cancer. It is more common in the developed world and is the most common cancer of the female reproductive tract in developed countries. Rates of endometrial cancer have risen in a number of countries between the 1980s and 2010. This is believed to be due to the increasing number of elderly people and increasing rates of obesity.
Signs and symptoms
Vaginal bleeding or spotting in women after menopause occurs in 90% of endometrial cancer. Bleeding is especially common with adenocarcinoma, occurring in two-thirds of all cases. Abnormal menstrual cycles or extremely long, heavy, or frequent episodes of bleeding in women before menopause may also be a sign of endometrial cancer.
Symptoms other than bleeding are not common. Other symptoms include thin white or clear vaginal discharge in postmenopausal women. More advanced disease shows more obvious symptoms or signs that can be detected on a physical examination. The uterus may become enlarged or the cancer may spread, causing lower abdominal pain or pelvic cramping. Painful sexual intercourse or painful or difficult urination are less common signs of endometrial cancer. The uterus may also fill with pus (pyometrea). Of women with these less common symptoms (vaginal discharge, pelvic pain, and pus), 10–15% have cancer.
Risk factors
Risk factors for endometrial cancer include obesity, insulin resistance and diabetes mellitus, breast cancer, use of tamoxifen, never having had a child, late menopause, high levels of estrogen, and increasing age. Immigration studies (migration studies), which examine the change in cancer risk in populations moving between countries with different rates of cancer, show that there is some environmental component to endometrial cancer. These environmental risk factors are not well characterized. It is found that adiposity is associated with the earlier diagnosis of EC, particularly the endometrioid subtype.
Hormones
Most of the risk factors for endometrial cancer involve high levels of estrogens. An estimated 40% of cases are thought to be related to obesity. In obesity, the excess of adipose tissue increases conversion of androstenedione into estrone, an estrogen. Higher levels of estrone in the blood causes less or no ovulation, and exposes the endometrium continuously to high levels of estrogens. Obesity also causes less estrogen to be removed from the blood. Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), which also causes irregular or no ovulation, is associated with higher rates of endometrial cancer for the same reasons as obesity. Specifically, obesity, type II diabetes, and insulin resistance are risk factors for Type I endometrial cancer. Obesity increases the risk for endometrial cancer by 300–400%.
Estrogen replacement therapy during menopause when not balanced (or "opposed") with progestin is another risk factor. Higher doses or longer periods of estrogen therapy have higher risks of endometrial cancer. Women of lower weight are at greater risk from unopposed estrogen. A longer period of fertility—either from an early first menstrual period or late menopause—is also a risk factor. Unopposed estrogen raises an individual's risk of endometrial cancer by 2–10 fold, depending on weight and length of therapy. In trans men who take testosterone and have not had a hysterectomy, the conversion of testosterone into estrogen via androstenedione may lead to a higher risk of endometrial cancer. Higher circulating testosterone levels in women have also been identified as an independent endometrial cancer risk factor through Mendelian randomization analysis.
Genetics
Genetic disorders can also cause endometrial cancer. Overall, hereditary causes contribute to 2–10% of endometrial cancer cases. Lynch syndrome, an autosomal dominant genetic disorder that mainly causes colorectal cancer, also causes endometrial cancer, especially before menopause. Women with Lynch syndrome have a 40–60% risk of developing endometrial cancer, higher than their risk of developing colorectal (bowel) or ovarian cancer. Ovarian and endometrial cancer develop simultaneously in 20% of people. Endometrial cancer nearly always develops before colon cancer, on average, 11 years before. Carcinogenesis in Lynch syndrome comes from a mutation in MLH1 or MLH2: genes that participate in the process of mismatch repair, which allows a cell to correct mistakes in the DNA. Other genes mutated in Lynch syndrome include MSH2, MSH6, and PMS2, which are also mismatch repair genes. Women with Lynch syndrome represent 2–3% of endometrial cancer cases; some sources place this as high as 5%. Depending on the gene mutation, women with Lynch syndrome have different risks of endometrial cancer. With MLH1 mutations, the risk is 54%; with MSH2, 21%; and with MSH6, 16%.
Women with a family history of endometrial cancer are at higher risk. Two genes most commonly associated with some other women's cancers, BRCA1 and BRCA2, do not cause endometrial cancer. There is an apparent link with these genes but it is attributable to the use of tamoxifen, a drug that itself can cause endometrial cancer, in breast and ovarian cancers. The inherited genetic condition Cowden syndrome can also cause endometrial cancer. Women with this disorder have a 5–10% lifetime risk of developing endometrial cancer, compared to the 2–3% risk for unaffected women.
Common genetic variation has also been found to affect endometrial cancer risk in large-scale genome-wide association studies. Sixteen genomic regions have been associated with endometrial cancer and the common variants explain up to 7% of the familial relative risk.
Other health problems
Some therapies for other forms of cancer increase the lifetime risk of endometrial cancer, which is a baseline 2–3%. Tamoxifen, a drug used to treat estrogen-positive breast cancers, has been associated with endometrial cancer in approximately 0.1% of users, particularly older women, but the benefits for survival from tamoxifen generally outweigh the risk of endometrial cancer. A one to two-year course of tamoxifen approximately doubles the risk of endometrial cancer, and a five-year course of therapy quadruples that risk. Raloxifene, a similar drug, did not raise the risk of endometrial cancer. Previously having ovarian cancer is a risk factor for endometrial cancer, as is having had previous radiotherapy to the pelvis. Specifically, ovarian granulosa cell tumors and thecomas are tumors associated with endometrial cancer.
Low immune function has also been implicated in endometrial cancer. High blood pressure is also a risk factor, but this may be because of its association with obesity. Sitting regularly for prolonged periods is associated with higher mortality from endometrial cancer. The risk is not negated by regular exercise, though it is lowered.
Protective factors
Smoking and the use of progestin are both protective against endometrial cancer. Smoking provides protection by altering the metabolism of estrogen and promoting weight loss and early menopause. This protective effect lasts long after smoking is stopped. Progestin is present in the combined oral contraceptive pill and the hormonal intrauterine device (IUD). Combined oral contraceptives reduce risk more the longer they are taken: by 56% after four years, 67% after eight years, and 72% after twelve years. This risk reduction continues for at least fifteen years after contraceptive use has been stopped. Obese women may need higher doses of progestin to be protected. Having had more than five infants (grand multiparity) is also a protective factor, and having at least one child reduces the risk by 35%. Breastfeeding for more than 18 months reduces risk by 23%. Increased physical activity reduces an individual's risk by 38–46%. There is preliminary evidence that consumption of soy is protective. Mendelian randomization analyses have established potential protective factors such as LDL cholesterol, later age of menarche and sex hormone binding globulin.
Pathophysiology
Endometrial cancer forms when there are errors in normal endometrial cell growth. Usually, when cells grow old or get damaged, they die, and new cells take their place. Cancer starts when new cells form unneeded, and old or damaged cells do not die as they should. The buildup of extra cells often forms a mass of tissue called a growth or tumor. These abnormal cancer cells have many genetic abnormalities that cause them to grow excessively.
In 10–20% of endometrial cancers, mostly Grade 3 (the highest histologic grade), mutations are found in a tumor suppressor gene, commonly p53 or PTEN. In 20% of endometrial hyperplasias and 50% of endometrioid cancers, PTEN has a loss-of-function mutation or a null mutation, making it less effective or completely ineffective. Loss of PTEN function leads to up-regulation of the PI3k/Akt/mTOR pathway, which causes cell growth. The p53 pathway can either be suppressed or highly activated in endometrial cancer. When a mutant version of p53 is overexpressed, the cancer tends to be particularly aggressive. P53 mutations and chromosome instability are associated with serous carcinomas, which tend to resemble ovarian and Fallopian carcinomas. Serous carcinomas are thought to develop from endometrial intraepithelial carcinoma.
PTEN and p27 loss of function mutations are associated with a good prognosis, particularly in obese women. The Her2/neu oncogene, which indicates a poor prognosis, is expressed in 20% of endometrioid and serous carcinomas. CTNNB1 (beta-catenin; a transcription gene) mutations are found in 14–44% of endometrial cancers and may indicate a good prognosis, but the data is unclear. Beta-catenin mutations are commonly found in endometrial cancers with squamous cells. FGFR2 mutations are found in approximately 10% of endometrial cancers, and their prognostic significance is unclear. SPOP is another tumor suppressor gene found to be mutated in some cases of endometrial cancer: 9% of clear cell endometrial carcinomas and 8% of serous endometrial carcinomas have mutations in this gene.
Type I and Type II cancers (explained below) tend to have different mutations involved. ARID1A, which often carries a point mutation in Type I endometrial cancer, is also mutated in 26% of clear cell carcinomas of the endometrium, and 18% of serous carcinomas. Epigenetic silencing and point mutations of several genes are commonly found in Type I endometrial cancer. Mutations in tumor suppressor genes are common in Type II endometrial cancer. PIK3CA is commonly mutated in both Type I and Type II cancers. In women with Lynch syndrome-associated endometrial cancer, microsatellite instability is common.
Development of an endometrial hyperplasia (overgrowth of endometrial cells) is a significant risk factor because hyperplasias can and often do develop into adenocarcinoma, though cancer can develop without the presence of a hyperplasia. Within ten years, 8–30% of atypical endometrial hyperplasias develop into cancer, whereas 1–3% of non-atypical hyperplasias do so. An atypical hyperplasia is one with visible abnormalities in the nuclei. Pre-cancerous endometrial hyperplasias are also referred to as endometrial intraepithelial neoplasia. Mutations in the KRAS gene can cause endometrial hyperplasia and therefore Type I endometrial cancer. Endometrial hyperplasia typically occurs after the age of 40. Endometrial glandular dysplasia occurs with an overexpression of p53, and develops into a serous carcinoma.
Diagnosis
Diagnosis of endometrial cancer is made first by a physical examination, endometrial biopsy, or dilation and curettage (removal of endometrial tissue; D&C). This tissue is then examined histologically for characteristics of cancer. If cancer is found, medical imaging may be done to see whether the cancer has spread or invaded tissue.
Examination
Routine screening of asymptomatic people is not indicated since the disease is highly curable in its early, symptomatic stages. Instead, women, particularly menopausal women, should be aware of the symptoms and risk factors of endometrial cancer. A cervical screening test, such as a Pap smear, is not a useful diagnostic tool for endometrial cancer because the smear will be normal 50% of the time. A Pap smear can detect disease that has spread to the cervix. Results from a pelvic examination are frequently normal, especially in the early stages of disease. Changes in the size, shape or consistency of the uterus or its surrounding, supporting structures may exist when the disease is more advanced. Cervical stenosis, the narrowing of the cervical opening, is a sign of endometrial cancer when pus or blood is found collected in the uterus (pyometra or hematometra).
Women with Lynch syndrome should begin to have annual biopsy screening at the age of 35. Some women with Lynch syndrome elect to have a prophylactic hysterectomy and salpingo-oophorectomy to greatly reduce the risk of endometrial and ovarian cancer.
Transvaginal ultrasound to examine the endometrial thickness in women with postmenopausal bleeding is increasingly being used to aid in the diagnosis of endometrial cancer in the United States. In the United Kingdom, both an endometrial biopsy and a transvaginal ultrasound used in conjunction are the standard of care for diagnosing endometrial cancer. The homogeneity of the tissue visible on transvaginal ultrasound can help to indicate whether the thickness is cancerous. Ultrasound findings alone are not conclusive in cases of endometrial cancer, so another screening method (for example endometrial biopsy) must be used in conjunction. Other imaging studies are of limited use. CT scans are used for preoperative imaging of tumors that appear advanced on physical exam or have a high-risk subtype (at high risk of metastasis). They can also be used to investigate extrapelvic disease. An MRI can be of some use in determining if the cancer has spread to the cervix or if it is an endocervical adenocarcinoma. MRI is also useful for examining the nearby lymph nodes.
Dilation and curettage or an endometrial biopsy are used to obtain a tissue sample for histological examination. Endometrial biopsy is the less invasive option, but it may not give conclusive results every time. Hysteroscopy only shows the gross anatomy of the endometrium, which is often not indicative of cancer, and is therefore not used, unless in conjunction with a biopsy. Hysteroscopy can be used to confirm a diagnosis of cancer. New evidence shows that D&C has a higher false negative rate than endometrial biopsy.
Before treatment is begun, several other investigations are recommended. These include a chest x-ray, liver function tests, kidney function tests, and a test for levels of CA-125, a tumor marker that can be elevated in endometrial cancer.
Classification
Endometrial cancers may be tumors derived from epithelial cells (carcinomas), mixed epithelial and mesenchymal tumors (carcinosarcomas), or mesenchymal tumors.
Traditional classification of endometrial carcinomas is based either on clinical and endocrine features (Type I and Type II), or histopathological characteristics (endometrioid, serous, and clear-cell). Some tumors are difficult to classify and have features overlapping more than one category. High grade endometrioid tumors, in particular, tend to have both type I and type II features.
Carcinoma
The vast majority of endometrial cancers are carcinomas (usually adenocarcinomas), meaning that they originate from the single layer of epithelial cells that line the endometrium and form the endometrial glands. There are many microscopic subtypes of endometrial carcinoma, but they are broadly organized into two categories, Type I and Type II, based on clinical features and pathogenesis. The two subtypes are genetically distinct.
Type I endometrial carcinomas occur most commonly before and around the time of menopause. In the United States, they are more common in white women, particularly those with a history of endometrial hyperplasia. Type I endometrial cancers are often low-grade, minimally invasive into the underlying uterine wall (myometrium), estrogen-dependent, and have a good outcome with treatment. Type I carcinomas represent 75–90% of endometrial cancer.
Type II endometrial carcinomas usually occur in older, post-menopausal people, in the United States are more common in black women, and are not associated with increased exposure to estrogen or a history of endometrial hyperplasia. Type II endometrial cancers are often high-grade, with deep invasion into the underlying uterine wall (myometrium), are of the serous or clear cell type, and carry a poorer prognosis. They can appear to be epithelial ovarian cancer on evaluation of symptoms. They tend to present later than Type I tumors and are more aggressive, with a greater risk of relapse and/or metastasis.
Endometrioid adenocarcinoma
In endometrioid adenocarcinoma, the cancer cells grow in patterns reminiscent of normal endometrium, with many new glands formed from columnar epithelium with some abnormal nuclei. Low-grade endometrioid adenocarcinomas have well differentiated cells, have not invaded the myometrium, and are seen alongside endometrial hyperplasia. The tumor's glands form very close together, without the stromal tissue that normally separates them. Higher-grade endometrioid adenocarcinomas have less well-differentiated cells, have more solid sheets of tumor cells no longer organized into glands, and are associated with an atrophied endometrium. There are several subtypes of endometrioid adenocarcinoma with similar prognoses, including villoglandular, secretory, and ciliated cell variants. There is also a subtype characterized by squamous differentiation. Some endometrioid adenocarcinomas have foci of mucinous carcinoma.
The genetic mutations most commonly associated with endometrioid adenocarcinoma are in the genes PTEN, a tumor suppressor; PIK3CA, a kinase; KRAS, a GTPase that functions in signal transduction; and CTNNB1, involved in adhesion and cell signaling. The CTNNB1 (beta-catenin) gene is most commonly mutated in the squamous subtype of endometrioid adenocarcinoma.
Serous carcinoma
Serous carcinoma is a Type II endometrial tumor that makes up 5–10% of diagnosed endometrial cancer and is common in postmenopausal women with atrophied endometrium and black women. Serous endometrial carcinoma is aggressive and often invades the myometrium and metastasizes within the peritoneum (seen as omental caking) or the lymphatic system. Histologically, it appears with many atypical nuclei, papillary structures, and, in contrast to endometrioid adenocarcinomas, rounded cells instead of columnar cells. Roughly 30% of endometrial serous carcinomas also have psammoma bodies. Serous carcinomas spread differently than most other endometrial cancers; they can spread outside the uterus without invading the myometrium.
The genetic mutations seen in serous carcinoma are chromosomal instability and mutations in TP53, an important tumor suppressor gene.
Clear cell carcinoma
Clear cell carcinoma is a Type II endometrial tumor that makes up less than 5% of diagnosed endometrial cancer. Like serous cell carcinoma, it is usually aggressive and carries a poor prognosis. Histologically, it is characterized by the features common to all clear cells: the eponymous clear cytoplasm when H&E stained and visible, distinct cell membranes. The p53 cell signaling system is not active in endometrial clear cell carcinoma. This form of endometrial cancer is more common in postmenopausal women.
Mucinous carcinoma
Mucinous carcinomas are a rare form of endometrial cancer, making up less than 1–2% of all diagnosed endometrial cancer. Mucinous endometrial carcinomas are most often stage I and grade I, giving them a good prognosis. They typically have well-differentiated columnar cells organized into glands with the characteristic mucin in the cytoplasm. Mucinous carcinomas must be differentiated from cervical adenocarcinoma.
Mixed or undifferentiated carcinoma
Mixed carcinomas are those that have both Type I and Type II cells, with one making up at least 10% of the tumor. These include the malignant mixed Müllerian tumor, which derives from endometrial epithelium and has a poor prognosis.
Undifferentiated endometrial carcinomas make up less than 1–2% of diagnosed endometrial cancers. They have a worse prognosis than grade III tumors. Histologically, these tumors show sheets of identical epithelial cells with no identifiable pattern.
Other carcinomas
Non-metastatic squamous cell carcinoma and transitional cell carcinoma are very rare in the endometrium. Squamous cell carcinoma of the endometrium has a poor prognosis. It has been reported fewer than 100 times in the medical literature since its characterization in 1892. For primary squamous cell carcinoma of the endometrium (PSCCE) to be diagnosed, there must be no other primary cancer in the endometrium or cervix and it must not be connected to the cervical epithelium. Because of the rarity of this cancer, there are no guidelines for how it should be treated, nor any typical treatment. The common genetic causes remain uncharacterized. Primary transitional cell carcinomas of the endometrium are even more rare; 16 cases had been reported . Its pathophysiology and treatments have not been characterized. Histologically, TCCE resembles endometrioid carcinoma and is distinct from other transitional cell carcinomas.
Sarcoma
In contrast to endometrial carcinomas, the uncommon endometrial stromal sarcomas are cancers that originate in the non-glandular connective tissue of the endometrium. They are generally non-aggressive and, if they recur, can take decades. Metastases to the lungs and pelvic or peritoneal cavities are the most frequent. They typically have estrogen and/or progesterone receptors. The prognosis for low-grade endometrial stromal sarcoma is good, with 60–90% five-year survival. High-grade undifferentiated endometrial sarcoma (HGUS) has a worse prognosis, with high rates of recurrence and 25% five-year survival. HGUS prognosis is dictated by whether or not the cancer has invaded the arteries and veins. Without vascular invasion, the five-year survival is 83%; it drops to 17% when vascular invasion is observed. Stage I ESS has the best prognosis, with five-year survival of 98% and ten-year survival of 89%. ESS makes up 0.2% of uterine cancers.
Metastasis
Endometrial cancer frequently metastasizes to the ovaries and Fallopian tubes when the cancer is located in the upper part of the uterus, and the cervix when the cancer is in the lower part of the uterus. The cancer usually first spreads into the myometrium and the serosa, then into other reproductive and pelvic structures. When the lymphatic system is involved, the pelvic and para-aortic nodes are usually first to become involved, but in no specific pattern, unlike cervical cancer. More distant metastases are spread by the blood and often occur in the lungs, as well as the liver, brain, and bone. Endometrial cancer metastasizes to the lungs 20–25% of the time, more than any other gynecologic cancer.
Histopathology
There is a three-tiered system for histologically classifying endometrial cancers, ranging from cancers with well-differentiated cells (grade I), to very poorly-differentiated cells (grade III). Grade I cancers are the least aggressive and have the best prognosis, while grade III tumors are the most aggressive and likely to recur. Grade II cancers are intermediate between grades I and III in terms of cell differentiation and aggressiveness of disease.
The histopathology of endometrial cancers is highly diverse. The most common finding is a well-differentiated endometrioid adenocarcinoma, which is composed of numerous, small, crowded glands with varying degrees of nuclear atypia, mitotic activity, and stratification. This often appears on a background of endometrial hyperplasia. Frank adenocarcinoma may be distinguished from atypical hyperplasia by the finding of clear stromal invasion, or "back-to-back" glands which represent nondestructive replacement of the endometrial stroma by the cancer. With progression of the disease, the myometrium is infiltrated.
Staging
Endometrial carcinoma is surgically staged using the FIGO cancer staging system. The 2009 FIGO staging system is as follows:
Myometrial invasion and involvement of the pelvic and para-aortic lymph nodes are the most commonly seen patterns of spread. A Stage 0 is sometimes included, in this case it is referred to as "carcinoma in situ". In 26% of presumably early-stage cancers, intraoperative staging revealed pelvic and distant metastases, making comprehensive surgical staging necessary.
Management
Surgery
The initial treatment for endometrial cancer is surgery; 90% of women with endometrial cancer are treated with some form of surgery. Surgical treatment typically consists of hysterectomy including a bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy, which is the removal of the uterus, and both ovaries and Fallopian tubes. Lymphadenectomy, or removal of pelvic and para-aortic lymph nodes, is performed for tumors of histologic grade II or above. Lymphadenectomy is routinely performed for all stages of endometrial cancer in the United States, but in the United Kingdom, the lymph nodes are typically only removed with disease of stage II or greater. The topic of lymphadenectomy and what survival benefit it offers in stage I disease is still being debated. In women with presumed stage I disease, a 2017 systematic review found no evidence that lymphadenectomy reduces the risk of death or relapse of cancer when compared with no lymphadenectomy. Women who undergo lymphadenectomy are more likely to experience systemic morbidity related to surgery or lymphoedema/lymphocyst formation. In stage III and IV cancers, cytoreductive surgery is the norm, and a biopsy of the omentum may also be included. In stage IV disease, where there are distant metastases, surgery can be used as part of palliative therapy. Laparotomy, an open-abdomen procedure, is the traditional surgical procedure; however, in those with presumed early stage primary endometrial cancer, laparoscopy (keyhole surgery) is associated with reduced operative morbidity and similar overall and disease free survival. Removal of the uterus via the abdomen is recommended over removal of the uterus via the vagina because it gives the opportunity to examine and obtain washings of the abdominal cavity to detect any further evidence of cancer. Staging of the cancer is done during the surgery.
The few contraindications to surgery include inoperable tumor, massive obesity, a particularly high-risk operation, or a desire to preserve fertility. These contraindications happen in about 5–10% of cases. Women who wish to preserve their fertility and have low-grade stage I cancer can be treated with progestins, with or without concurrent tamoxifen therapy. This therapy can be continued until the cancer does not respond to treatment or until childbearing is done. Uterine perforation may occur during a D&C or an endometrial biopsy. Side effects of surgery to remove endometrial cancer can specifically include sexual dysfunction, temporary incontinence, and lymphedema, along with more common side effects of any surgery, including constipation.
Add-on therapy
There are a number of possible additional therapies. Surgery can be followed by radiation therapy and/or chemotherapy in cases of high-risk or high-grade cancers. This is called adjuvant therapy.
Chemotherapy
Adjuvant chemotherapy is a recent innovation, consisting of some combination of paclitaxel (or other taxanes like docetaxel), doxorubicin (and other anthracyclines), and platins (particularly cisplatin and carboplatin). Adjuvant chemotherapy has been found to increase survival in stage III and IV cancer more than added radiotherapy. Mutations in mismatch repair genes, like those found in Lynch syndrome, can lead to resistance against platins, meaning that chemotherapy with platins is ineffective in people with these mutations. Side effects of chemotherapy are common. These include hair loss, low neutrophil levels in the blood, and gastrointestinal problems.
In cases where surgery is not indicated, palliative chemotherapy is an option; higher-dose chemotherapy is associated with longer survival. Palliative chemotherapy, particularly using capecitabine and gemcitabine, is also often used to treat recurrent endometrial cancer.
Low certainty evidence suggests that in women with recurrent endometrial cancer who have had chemotherapy, receiving drugs that inhibit the mTOR pathway may reduce the risk of disease worsening compared to having more chemotherapy or hormonal therapy. Though, mTOR inhibitors may increase the chance of experiencing digestive tract ulcers.
Radiotherapy
Adjuvant radiotherapy is commonly used in early-stage (stage I or II) endometrial cancer. It can be delivered through vaginal brachytherapy (VBT), which is becoming the preferred route due to its reduced toxicity, or external beam radiotherapy (EBRT). Brachytherapy involves placing a radiation source in the organ affected; in the case of endometrial cancer a radiation source is placed directly in the vagina. External beam radiotherapy involves a beam of radiation aimed at the affected area from outside the body. VBT is used to treat any remaining cancer solely in the vagina, whereas EBRT can be used to treat remaining cancer elsewhere in the pelvis following surgery. However, the benefits of adjuvant radiotherapy are controversial. Though EBRT significantly reduces the rate of relapse in the pelvis, overall survival and metastasis rates are not improved. VBT provides a better quality of life than EBRT.
Radiotherapy can also be used before surgery in certain cases. When pre-operative imaging or clinical evaluation shows tumor invading the cervix, radiation can be given before a total hysterectomy is performed. Brachytherapy and EBRT can also be used, singly or in combination, when there is a contraindication for hysterectomy. Both delivery methods of radiotherapy are associated with side effects, particularly in the gastrointestinal tract.
Hormonal therapy
Hormonal therapy is only beneficial in certain types of endometrial cancer. It was once thought to be beneficial in most cases. If a tumor is well-differentiated and known to have progesterone and estrogen receptors, progestins may be used in treatment. There is no evidence to support the use of progestagen in addition to surgery for newly diagnosed endometrial cancer. About 25% of metastatic endometrioid cancers show a response to progestins. Also, endometrial stromal sarcomas can be treated with hormonal agents, including tamoxifen, hydroxyprogesterone caproate, letrozole, megestrol acetate, and medroxyprogesterone. This treatment is effective in endometrial stromal sarcomas because they typically have estrogen and/or progestin receptors. Progestin receptors function as tumor suppressors in endometrial cancer cells. Preliminary research and clinical trials have shown these treatments to have a high rate of response even in metastatic disease.
In 2010 hormonal therapy is of unclear effect in those with advanced or recurrent endometrial cancer. There is insufficient evidence to inform women considering hormone replacement therapy after treatment for endometrial cancer.
Targeted therapy
Dostarlimab has been approved by the FDA for therapy of endometrial cancer with specific biomarker
Monitoring
The tumor marker CA-125 is frequently elevated in endometrial cancer and can be used to monitor response to treatment, particularly in serous cell cancer or advanced disease. Periodic MRIs or CT scans may be recommended in advanced disease and women with a history of endometrial cancer should receive more frequent pelvic examinations for the five years following treatment. Examinations conducted every three to four months are recommended for the first two years following treatment, and every six months for the next three years.
Women with endometrial cancer should not have routine surveillance imaging to monitor the cancer unless new symptoms appear or tumor markers begin rising. Imaging without these indications is discouraged because it is unlikely to detect a recurrence or improve survival, and because it has its own costs and side effects. If a recurrence is suspected, PET/CT scanning is recommended.
Prognosis
Survival rates
The five-year survival rate for endometrial adenocarcinoma following appropriate treatment is 80%. Most women, over 70%, have FIGO stage I cancer, which has the best prognosis. Stage III and especially Stage IV cancers has a worse prognosis, but these are relatively rare, occurring in only 13% of cases. The median survival time for stage III–IV endometrial cancer is nine to ten months. Older age indicates a worse prognosis. In the United States, white women have a higher survival rate than black women, who tend to develop more aggressive forms of the disease by the time of their diagnosis. Tumors with high progesterone receptor expression have a good prognosis compared to tumors with low progesterone receptor expression; 93% of women with high progesterone receptor disease survived to three years, compared with 36% of women with low progesterone receptor disease. Heart disease is the most common cause of death among those who survive endometrial cancer, with other obesity-related health problems also being common. Following diagnosis, quality of life is also positively associated with a healthy lifestyle (no obesity, high-quality diet, physical activity).
Recurrence rates
Recurrence of early stage endometrial cancer ranges from 3 to 17%, depending on primary and adjuvant treatment. Most recurrences (75–80%) occur outside of the pelvis, and most occur within two to three years of treatment—64% within two years and 87% within three years.
Higher-staged cancers are more likely to recur, as are those that have invaded the myometrium or cervix, or that have metastasized into the lymphatic system. Papillary serous carcinoma, clear cell carcinoma, and endometrioid carcinoma are the subtypes at the highest risk of recurrence. High-grade histological subtypes are also at elevated risk for recurrence.
The most common site of recurrence is in the vagina; vaginal relapses of endometrial cancer have the best prognosis. If relapse occurs from a cancer that has not been treated with radiation, EBRT is the first-line treatment and is often successful. If a cancer treated with radiation recurs, pelvic exenteration is the only option for curative treatment. Palliative chemotherapy, cytoreductive surgery, and radiation are also performed. Radiation therapy (VBT and EBRT) for a local vaginal recurrence has a 50% five-year survival rate. Pelvic recurrences are treated with surgery and radiation, and abdominal recurrences are treated with radiation and, if possible, chemotherapy. Other common recurrence sites are the pelvic lymph nodes, para-aortic lymph nodes, peritoneum (28% of recurrences), and lungs, though recurrences can also occur in the brain (<1%), liver (7%), adrenal glands (1%), bones (4–7%; typically the axial skeleton), lymph nodes outside the abdomen (0.4–1%), spleen, and muscle/soft tissue (2–6%).
Epidemiology
, approximately 320,000 women are diagnosed with endometrial cancer worldwide each year and 76,000 die, making it the sixth most common cancer in women. It is more common in developed countries, where the lifetime risk of endometrial cancer in women is 1.6%, compared to 0.6% in developing countries. It occurs in 12.9 out of 100,000 women annually in developed countries.
In the United States, endometrial cancer is the most frequently diagnosed gynecologic cancer and, in women, the fourth most common cancer overall, representing 6% of all cancer cases in women. In that country, it was estimated that 52,630 women were diagnosed yearly and 8,590 would die from the disease. Northern Europe, Eastern Europe, and North America have the highest rates of endometrial cancer, whereas Africa and West Asia have the lowest rates. Asia saw 41% of the world's endometrial cancer diagnoses in 2012, whereas Northern Europe, Eastern Europe, and North America together comprised 48% of diagnoses. Unlike most cancers, the number of new cases has risen in recent years, including an increase of over 40% in the United Kingdom between 1993 and 2013. Some of this rise may be due to the increase in obesity rates in developed countries, increasing life expectancies, and lower birth rates. The average lifetime risk for endometrial cancer is approximately 2–3% in people with uteruses. In the UK, approximately 7,400 cases are diagnosed annually, and in the EU, approximately 88,000.
Endometrial cancer appears most frequently during perimenopause (the period just before, just after, and during menopause), between the ages of 50 and 65; overall, 75% of endometrial cancer occurs after menopause. Women younger than 40 make up 5% of endometrial cancer cases and 10–15% of cases occur in women under 50 years of age. This age group is at risk for developing ovarian cancer at the same time. The worldwide median age of diagnosis is 63 years of age; in the United States, the average age of diagnosis is 60 years of age. White American women are at higher risk for endometrial cancer than black American women, with a 2.88% and 1.69% lifetime risk respectively. Japanese-American women and American Latina women have a lower rates and Native Hawaiian women have higher rates.
Research
There are several experimental therapies for endometrial cancer under research, including immunologic, hormonal, and chemotherapeutic treatments. Trastuzumab (Herceptin), an antibody against the Her2 protein, has been used in cancers known to be positive for the Her2/neu oncogene, but research is still underway. Immunologic therapies are also under investigation, particularly in uterine papillary serous carcinoma.
Cancers can be analyzed using genetic techniques (including DNA sequencing and immunohistochemistry) to determine if certain therapies specific to mutated genes can be used to treat it. PARP inhibitors are used to treat endometrial cancer with PTEN mutations, specifically, mutations that lower the expression of PTEN. The PARP inhibitor shown to be active against endometrial cancer is olaparib. Research is ongoing in this area as of the 2010s.
Research is ongoing on the use of metformin, a diabetes medication, in obese women with endometrial cancer before surgery. Early research has shown it to be effective in slowing the rate of cancer cell proliferation. Preliminary research has shown that preoperative metformin administration can reduce expression of tumor markers. Long-term use of metformin has not been shown to have a preventative effect against developing cancer, but may improve overall survival.
Temsirolimus, an mTOR inhibitor, is under investigation as a potential treatment. Research shows that mTOR inhibitors may be particularly effective for cancers with mutations in PTEN. Ridaforolimus (deforolimus) is also being researched as a treatment for people who have previously had chemotherapy. Preliminary research has been promising, and a stage II trial for ridaforolimus was completed by 2013. There has also been research on combined ridaforolimus/progestin treatments for recurrent endometrial cancer. Bevacizumab and tyrosine kinase inhibitors, which inhibit angiogenesis, are being researched as potential treatments for endometrial cancers with high levels of vascular endothelial growth factor. Ixabepilone is being researched as a possible chemotherapy for advanced or recurrent endometrial cancer. Treatments for rare high-grade undifferentiated endometrial sarcoma are being researched, as there is no established standard of care yet for this disease. Chemotherapies being researched include doxorubicin and ifosfamide.
There is also research in progress on more genes and biomarkers that may be linked to endometrial cancer. The protective effect of combined oral contraceptives and the IUD is being investigated. Preliminary research has shown that the levonorgestrel IUD placed for a year, combined with six monthly injections of gonadotropin-releasing hormone, can stop or reverse the progress of endometrial cancer in young women; specifically complex atypical hyperplasia however the results have been inconclusive. An experimental drug that combines a hormone with doxorubicin is also under investigation for greater efficacy in cancers with hormone receptors. Hormone therapy that is effective in treating breast cancer, including use of aromatase inhibitors, is also being investigated for use in endometrial cancer. One such drug is anastrozole, which is currently being researched in hormone-positive recurrences after chemotherapy. Research into hormonal treatments for endometrial stromal sarcomas is ongoing as well. It includes trials of drugs like mifepristone, a progestin antagonist, and aminoglutethimide and letrozole, two aromatase inhibitors.
Research continues into the best imaging method for detecting and staging endometrial cancer. As current diagnostic methods are invasive and inaccurate, researchers are looking into new ways to catch endometrial cancer, especially in its early stages. A study found that using a technique involving infrared light on simple blood test samples detected uterine cancer with high accuracy (87%), and could detect precancerous growths in all cases. In surgery, research has shown that complete pelvic lymphadenectomy along with hysterectomy in stage 1 endometrial cancer does not improve survival and increases the risk of negative side effects, including lymphedema. Other research is exploring the potential of identifying the sentinel lymph nodes for biopsy by injecting the tumor with dye that shines under infrared light. Intensity modulated radiation therapy is currently under investigation, and already used in some centers, for application in endometrial cancer, to reduce side effects from traditional radiotherapy. Its risk of recurrence has not yet been quantified. Research on hyperbaric oxygen therapy to reduce side effects is also ongoing. The results of the PORTEC 3 trial assessing combining adjuvant radiotherapy with chemotherapy were awaited in late 2014.
There is not enough evidence to determine if people with endometrial cancer benefit from additional behavioural and life style interventions that are aimed at losing excess weight.
History and culture
Endometrial cancer is not widely known by the general populace, despite its frequency. There is low awareness of the symptoms, which can lead to later diagnosis and worse survival.
References
External links
American Cancer Society's Detailed Guide: Endometrial Cancer
U.S. National Cancer Institute: Uterine cancer
Anatomical pathology images
Gynaecological cancer
Wikipedia medicine articles ready to translate
Women's health
|
412823
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag%20of%20Iran
|
Flag of Iran
|
The national flag of Iran (), also known as the tricolor (), is a tricolour comprising equal horizontal bands of green, white and red with the national emblem ("Allah") in red centred on the white band and the takbir written 11 times each in the Kufic script in white, at the bottom of the green and the top of the red band. After the Iranian Revolution of 1979, the present-day flag was adopted on 29 July 1980.
Many Iranian exiles opposed to the Iranian government use alternate flags, including the tricolor flag with the Lion and Sun at the center, or the tricolor without additional emblems.
Flag description
Emblem
The parliament of Iran, per the 1980 constitution, changed the flag and seal of state insofar as the Lion and Sun were replaced by the red emblem in the centre of the flag. Designed by Hamid Nadimi, and officially approved by Parliament and the Leader Grand Ayatollah Khomeini on 9 May 1980, this emblem is a highly stylised composite of various Islamic elements: a geometrically symmetric form of the word Allah ("God") and overlapping parts of the phrase lā ʾilāha ʾillā l-Lāh (There is no God Except Allah), forming a monogram consisting of four crescents and a line in the shape of a tulip. The four crescents read from right to left; the first crescent is the letter aleph, the second crescent is the first laam; the vertical line is the second laam, and the third and fourth crescents together form the heh. Above the central stroke is a tashdid (a diacritical mark indicating gemination) resembling "W". The tulip shape of the emblem as a whole memorialises those who have died for Iran and symbolises the values of patriotism and self-sacrifice, building on a legend that red tulips grow from the shed blood of martyrs. This emblem is somewhat similar to the Khanda but has no relation to Sikhism and its meaning to that religious community.
Kufic script
Written in white and repeated eleven times on the inner edges of each the green and the red band is the phrase Allahu Akbar (God is the greatest) in a stylised version of the kufic script. This symbolises the calls of Allahu Akbar on the night of 22 Bahman (11 February 1979) when the national radio of Iran broadcast: "From Tehran, the voice of the Islamic Republic of Iran" and marked the unofficial beginning of the Islamic Republic (with the official day being 2 May). This writing renders the flag non-reversible.
Colours
The colours of the Iranian flag are traditional, probably dating from at least the 18th century, and they can be interpreted as representing the Islamic religion (green), peace (white), and courage (red).
Cyrus the Great, a Persian, defeated his grandfather Astyages, the High Judge (King) of the Medes, and founded Iran by uniting the Persians and the Medes. The Iranian flag (which was later designed under Darius I the Great) symbolised this unity and victory (green above white and red) as the flag of the people of Iran.
Colours scheme
Construction
Physical requirements for the Iranian flag, a simple construction sheet, and a compass-and-straightedge construction for the emblem and the takbir are described in the national Iranian standard ISIRI 1. The flag's aspect ratio is explicitly set at 4:7 in the standard. Several other sizes of parts of the flags are described in the simple construction sheet, but these values are not all consistent with the precise values obtained if following the classical construction.
History
Flags, standards, and banners have always been important national and imperial symbols for Iranians, both in war and peace. Xenophon reports that Cyrus the Great's standard was a golden eagle with spread wings, mounted on a long shaft.
The best-known symbol of Iran in recent centuries has been the Lion and Sun motif, which is a graphic expression of the astrological configuration of the sun in the sign of Leo, although both celestial and animal figures have long and independent histories in Iranian heraldry. Late in the nineteenth century the Lion and Sun motif was combined with an earlier scimitar motif and superimposed on a tricolour of green, white, and red. With minor modifications, this remained the official flag until the revolution of 1979.
Prehistory
The oldest flag found in Iran is the Bronze Age Shahdad Standard, found in Shahdad, Kerman Province, dating back to , made of bronze. It features a seated man and a kneeling woman facing each other, with a star in between. This iconography can be found in other Bronze Age pieces of art in the area as well.
Achaemenid empire
The Old Persian word for "banner, standard" was drafša- (Avestan drafša-, Middle Persian drafš, cognate with Sanskrit drapsá-).
Xenophon in Cyropaedia (7.1.4) describes the standard of Artaxerxes II at Cunaxa as "a golden eagle, with outspread wings, borne aloft on a long spear-shaft", the same banner recorded to be used by Cyrus the Great.
According to Herodotus (9.59), each Persian army division had its own standard, and "all officers had banners over their tents" (Xenophon, 8.5.13). One such banner, a square plaque in saltire, is depicted on a Greek vase, the so-called "Douris cup" held by the Louvre. A similar design is known from an Urartian bronze disk from Altıntepe.
Similar square plaques on poles are known from six of the audience scenes of the Throne Hall relief at Persepolis. The Alexander Mosaic of Pompeii, a Roman-era copy of a Hellenistic painting dated , also shows the royal Persian standard., depicted as a rectangular plaque, possibly originally in purple, with a dark red border with yellow dots. In the field, a golden bird is only partially preserved. The "royal falcon" of Persia (varəγna) represented farr or "glory", while the eagle was associated with the Achaemenid dynasty itself.
A square tile representing a miniature (12 cm2) banner
was discovered at Persepolis in 1948. The tile is made of Egyptian blue frit and likely represents Ancient Egyptian Horus, but in the Persian context suggests local association with the Avestan varəγna or the royal eagle of the Achaemenids.
Sassanid empire
In Sassanid times the imperial flag was a leather rectangle covered with a thin layer of silk ornamented with jewels, with a four-pointed star at the centre, indicating the four corners of the world. This is the same star referred to as Akhtare Kaviani ("the Kaviani star") by Ferdowsi in the epic Shahnameh (Book of Kings). The flag was larger than the original Derafsh Kaviani apron and suspended from a lance, the point of which appeared above it. Attached to the lower edge were tassels of yellow, magenta, and scarlet, with large pendant jewels. The flag was destroyed by invading Muslim Arabs after their decisive defeat of the Sassanids.
Seljuk Empire
Various emblems and banners have been recorded to be used by the Seljuks in different periods. Early Seljuks were using their traditional emblems, but they gradually adopted local Muslim emblems and banners. The official flag of the empire was most probably a black flag, similar to the flag of the Abbasid Caliphate. The flag was decorated with emblems, which were either superimposed over it or was placed above the flag. This black flag was traditionally presented to the Seljuk sovereigns by the Abbasid caliphs.
A yellow flag was also used to denote Seljuk sovereignty over a town.
Ghaznavid dynasty
The Turkic Ghaznavid dynasty were invested in promoting Iranian culture. They are known to have displayed a number of heraldic emblems that harked back to pre-Islamic Iran, including the Sun and Lion motif, as well as the Griffin motif. Their banners appear to have shown chequered motifs.
Safavid dynasty
The Safavid dynasty (1501–1736) used three green flags, each with a different emblem. Ismail I, the first Safavid king, designed a green flag with a golden full moon. In 1524 Tahmasp I replaced the moon with an emblem of a sheep and sun; this flag was used until 1576. It was then that Ismail II adopted the first Lion and Sun device, embroidered in gold, which was to remain in use until the end of the Safavid era. During this period the Lion and Sun stood for two pillars of the society: the state and religion. Although various alams and banners were employed by the Safavids (especially during the reign of the first two kings), by the time of Shah Abbas I the Lion and Sun symbol had become one of the most popular emblems of Iran.
The Safavid interpretation of this symbol is believed to have been based on a combination of historical legends like the Shahnameh, stories of prophets, and other Islamic sources. For the Safavids the king (shah) had two functions: he was both a ruler and a holy personage. This double role was considered the patrimony of the Iranian kings, derived from Jamshid, mythical founder of the ancient Persian kingdom, and Ali, the first Shi'a Imam. Jamshid was associated with the sun and Ali with the lion (from his epithet "Lion of God"). The correspondence may originally have been based on a learned interpretation of the Shahnameh references to "the Sun of Iran" and "the Moon of the Turanians". Since the crescent moon had been adopted as the dynastic (and ultimately national) emblem of the Ottoman sultans, who were the new sovereigns of Rum, the Safavids of Iran, needing to have a dynastic and national emblem of their own, chose the Lion and Sun motif. The sun had further important meanings for the Safavid world, where time was organised around a solar calendar, in contrast to the Arabo-Islamic lunar system. In the zodiac the sun is linked to Leo; for the Safavids the Lion and Sun symbol conveyed the double meaning of the royal and holy figure of the shah (Jamshid and Ali), the auspicious astrological configuration bringing the cosmic pair and the earthly—king and imam—together.
Regarding the Safavid understanding of the Lion and Sun motif, Shahbazi suggests that "the Safavids had reinterpreted the lion as symbolizing Imam ʿAlī and the sun as typifying the 'glory of religion', a substitute for the ancient farr-e dīn." They reintroduced the ancient concept of God-given glory (farr) to justify their rulership, attributing these qualities to Ali while tracing the king's genealogy through the Shia Fourth Imam's mother to the royal Sassanian house.
Flags
Afsharid dynasty
Nader Shah consciously avoided the using the colour green, as green was associated with Shia Islam and the Safavid dynasty.
The two imperial standards were placed on the right of the square already mentioned: one of them was in stripes of red, blue, and white, and the other of red, blue, white, and yellow, without any other ornament: though the old standards required 12 men to move them, the SHAH lengthened their staffs, and made them yet heavier; he also put new colours of silk upon them, the one red and yellow striped, the other yellow edged with red: they were made of such an enormous size, to prevent their being carried off by the enemy, except by an entire defeat. The regimental colours were a narrow slip of silk, sloped to a point, some were red, some white, and some striped.
Navy Admiral flag being a white ground with a red Persian Sword in the middle.
Although based on the writings of Jonas Hanway, we can see that the flags of the army regiments of King Nader were three-eared, but we cannot come to a conclusion about whether the royal flags of that time were three-eared or four-eared.
Flags
Zand dynasty
The state flag of the Zand dynasty was a white triangular pennant with a green border and a gold lion and sun in the centre. Another version included the same design but with green and red.
Flags
Early Qajar dynasty
Few sources directly describe the national flag during Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar's reign. Gholam Hossein Afzal ol-Molk refers to the Beyraq Qapuq (execution flag) of the Naserid period as originating from Agha Mohammad Khan's time. This pennon flag is red and displays the lion and sun motif with a sword, although it is unlikely that the emblem resembled that of Agha Mohammad Khan's time given the sword-less design on the coins of this era. Several modern sources attribute a square flag with a red background and a pale yellow circle in the center, featuring a lion and a sun motif with a sword, to the period of Agha Mohammad Shah. The only visible source for this design is an unidentified portrait of Agha Mohammad Shah, where such a banner is present next to him. This painting was featured on the cover of the 1992 book Les Rois oubliés: L'épopée de la dynasty Kadjare, by Ali Mirza Qajar (grandson of Mohammad Ali Shah Qajar). Moreover, the painting was also photographed at a Qajar family gathering at Chateau de Bonmont, Cheserex, Switzerland in 2003. Although the painting may belong to members of the Qajar family, no other source has confirmed the prevalence of such a flag during Agha Mohammad Khan's reign. Additionally, the prominence of pennon or triangular flags during this time questions the accuracy of the square flag.
In contradistinction, various contemporary and modern sources provide more detailed descriptions of Iranian flags and the development of the lion and sun motif during Fath-Ali Shah's rule, particularly in military contexts. Colonel Gaspard Drouville, a French officer who served as a military instructor for the Iranian government after the signing of the Treaty of Finckenstein, authored a two-volume travelogue that offers additional information on Iranian flags and standards. Drouville expounds that in 1813, Fath-Ali Shah Qajar and Abbas Mirza attended a royal inspection of the regular infantry in Azarbaijan to personally confer each standard to their respective corps. These flags included the lion and sun motif, a date or number pertaining to the unit, and the inscription: "Sultan ibn Sultan Fath-Ali Shah Qajar" (Sultan son of Sultan Fath-Ali Shah Qajar), in reference to Abbas Mirza's title. The flags and standards are further described as similar to those of the French, adorned with taffeta white streamers and golden fringes. Based on Drouville's illustration, the larger flags of the regular infantry were painted red, and the flagpole was crowned by the silver Hand of Ali. The smaller standards that were prescribed to the cavalry lancers were a deep blue and featured a crouching lion brandishing a curved sword before a setting sun. These standards were topped by golden spears that were "as sharp as those of the Houlans".
The depiction of a sword-wielding lion on a blue-colored flag in Drouville's book is a noteworthy observation, as it represents an early instance of the lion and sun emblem associated with a sword. Drouville's travels to Iran took place between 1812 and 1813, but his book was not published until 1825. This leaves open the question of when exactly the flag evolved to include the sword-wielding lion and sun motif.
An illustration by the French battle painter Joseph Louis Hippolyte Bellangé depicts Abbas Mirza reviewing Persian regular troops. The infantry corps carries a standard with a spearhead finial bearing a couchant lion and sun with a sword, similar to the cavalry flag of the Nezam lancers depicted by Drouville. However, as the work dates to 1835, two years after Abbas Mirza's death, the flag's design may be an artistic oversight.
In his accounts of the Russo-Persian war, Captain Yermolov, the Russian commander-in-chief in the Caucasus, documented the Iranian military in detail. One excerpt from his notes provides a vivid portrayal of a Nezam drummer, soldier, and officer carrying a Sarbaz infantry military banner dated to 1817. This banner, which shares many similarities with contemporary European regimental flags, features a lion and sun motif devoid of a sword within a white lozenge accented by a golden border. The light blue banner boasts a flagpole crowned by the silver Hand of Ali.
A painting, believed to be the work of Allahverdi Afshar between 1814 and 1817, which adorned the walls of Abbas Mirza's Ojan castle portrays the Iranian triumph at the Battle of Sultanabad on 13 February 1812. The painting exhibits Persian troops carrying banners of Napoleonic style, featuring the passant lion and sun equipped with a sword.
No contemporary sources have made any other indications of a sword wielded by the lion until the reign of Mohammad Shah. Nonetheless, this illustration provides valuable insight into the evolution of the emblem and its use on Iranian flags during the Qajar period. However, Zoka mentions the inscription of a coin from the Urmia mint, dated 1833 (1249 AH), in which a couchant lion is depicted holding a sword. According to Zoka, these sources prove that the earliest representation of the sword-wielding lion and sun pre-dates the reign of Mohammad Shah and was likely institutionalized in the latter years of Fath-Ali Shah's reign.
During Fath-Ali Shah's reign, the state flag and other flags adopted by the Iranian government purportedly opted for square or rectangular shapes over the pennon flags commonly used in earlier eras. Another distinction noted in the designs of the lion and sun depicted on coins and flags of Fath-Ali Shah's era relative to those of prior years is the appearance of the lion. Before the middle of Fath-Ali Shah's reign, a Persian lion, which is maneless and smaller in stature was prominent, whereas later depictions evolved to an African lion. Towards the end of Fath-Ali Shah's reign the two common symbols of the Qajar empire were combined to include the Zulfiqar and the lion and sun in the official flag.
While there is little evidence, several modern sources state that Fath-Ali Shah adopted three different state flags; a plain red flag with a couchant lion and sun motif as the war flag, a plain white flag with a couchant lion and sun for diplomatic purposes, and a green flag with a lion passant in front of the setting sun, wielding a sword during peacetime.
Alexis Soltykoff's Voyage en Perse includes an illustration depicting a standing lion wielding a sword. The painting is titled "Entrée de l'ambassade de Perse a St. Petersbourg" (Entrance of the Persian Embassy to St. Petersburg) and shows the arrival of Mirza Abolhassan Khan Ilchi, then the Iranian ambassador to Russia, in 1838. The image features a Persian standard-bearer holding a rectangular flag with a lion passant, holding a curved sword in front of the setting sun. Atop the flagpole is the Hand of Ali finial. The painting was included in Soltykoff's book, which was published in 1851, several years after the events it depicts.
French orientalist Louis Dubeux stated that one of the privileges enjoyed by the Shah of Iran was the right to "raise" several flags. Dubeux suggests that Mohammad Shah had two flags. He describes one of these flags as displaying the Zulfiqar while the other depicted a couchant lion and sun motif.
While Iranian flags and military banners were largely uniform and similar in design by Mohammad Shah's reign, Ahmad Naqash's 1860 oil painting depicting the successful Iranian siege of the fort of Ghurian in 1837 serves as a contradictory source of information. Several noteworthy discrepancies arise. Firstly, the use of pennon banners is unusual as square and rectangular flags were more prominently used in Iran and adopted by the military at that time. Secondly, the sword-less lion and sun motif depicted in the painting is outdated. Thirdly, the white and green color combination contradicts contemporary literature describing military banners and standards as being red or blue. According to Zoka, the painter may have relied on local designs as the work likely originated from Isfahan or Shiraz, where forts in the provinces often raised flags different from those in Tehran. Zoka also suggests that the Herat expedition's army could have reused dated standards predating the new designs.
Under Nasser al-Din Shah, the principal flag was white with a green border on three sides and a lion and emblem in the centre. There was also a naval ensign which had a red and green border and a civil ensign which looked the same as the naval ensign but without the lion and sun in the middle.
All flags had a 3:4 ratio.
Flags
Post-Constitutional Revolution
The first version of the modern Iranian tricolour was adopted in the wake of the Iranian Constitutional Revolution of 1906. The Supplementary Fundamental Laws of 7 October 1907 described the flag as a tricolour of green, white, and red, with a lion and sun emblem in the middle. A decree dated 4 September 1910 specified the exact details of the emblem, including the shape of the lion's tail ("like an italic S") and the position and the size of the lion, the sword, and the sun.
During this period, the colours of the flag were very pale, with the red appearing closer to pink in practice. There were three variants of the flag in use. The state flag was a tricolour with the lion and sun emblem in the centre. The national flag and civil ensign was a plain tricolour with no emblem. The naval ensign and war flag was similar to the state flag, but the emblem was surrounded by a wreath and surmounted by a crown. All three flags had a 1:3 ratio.
The flag was modified twice during the Pahlavi era. In 1933, the colours of the flag were darkened and the design of the emblem was changed. The sun's facial features were removed and the Kiani Crown on the naval ensign was replaced with the Pahlavi Crown. In 1964, the ratio was changed from 1:3 to 4:7 and the emblem on the naval ensign was shrunk to fit entirely within the white stripe.
Following the Iranian Revolution, the Interim Government of Iran removed the crown from the naval ensign. The old state and national flags remained unchanged until 29 July 1980, when the modern Iranian flag was adopted.
Historical flags
The new Iranian government viewed the Lion and Sun symbol as representing the "oppressive Westernising monarchy" that had to be replaced, despite the emblem's traditional Shi'a meanings and the lion's association with Ali, the first Imam of the Shi'a. For that reason, the name of the Red Lion and Sun Society was changed to Red Crescent Society.
Currently, the Lion and Sun flag is used by Iranian communities in exile as a symbol of opposition to the Islamic Republic. Some political groups in Iran, including monarchists, continue to use it as well. In Los Angeles, California and other cities with large Iranian expatriate communities, the Lion and Sun, as a distinguishing marker, appears on Iranian flags and souvenirs to an extent that far surpasses its display during the years of monarchy in its homeland, where the plain tricolour was usually used.
After the Islamic Revolution in Iran and the replacement of the lion and sun flag with the new flag, new designs of this flag were still presented, prominently by the MeK.
The use of the tri-color Iran flag with the writing "Women Life Freedom" has been used during the Mahsa Amini protests that began in September 2022. Participants held up Iranian flags during the diaspora protests in Berlin, many with the tagline "Women, Life, Freedom" in both English and German.
See also
Emblem of Iran
Imperial Standards of Iran
Lion and Sun
Flag of Kurdistan
Flag of Tajikistan
List of flags used by Iranian peoples
List of Iranian flags
Flags of the Islamic Republic of Iran Armed Forces
References
Citations
External links
Flags of the World.
Vexilla Mundi.
Flags Of Iran
Flags i. Of Persia—Encyclopædia Iranica
Iran Flag & National Anthem
Geometric, algebraic and numeric construction of the National Flag
Iran's Lion and Sun flag website
Iran
Flags of Iran
Iran
Iranian culture
Iran
National symbols of Iran
|
412827
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guanajuato
|
Guanajuato
|
Guanajuato (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Guanajuato (), is one of the 32 states that make up the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 46 municipalities and its capital city is Guanajuato.
It is located in central Mexico and is bordered by the states of Jalisco to the west, Zacatecas to the northwest, San Luis Potosí to the north, Querétaro to the east, and Michoacán to the south. It covers an area of . The state is home to several historically important cities, especially those along the "Bicentennial Route", which retraces the path of Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla's insurgent army at the beginning of the Mexican War of Independence. This route begins at Dolores Hidalgo, and passes through the Sanctuary of Atotonilco, San Miguel de Allende, Celaya, and the capital of Guanajuato. Other important cities in the state include León, the state's biggest city, Salamanca, and Irapuato. The first town established by the Spaniards in Guanajuato is Acámbaro while the first to be named a city is Salvatierra.
Guanajuato is between the arid north of the country and the lusher south, and is geographically part of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt, the Mexican Plateau. It was initially settled by the Spanish in the 1520s due to mineral deposits found around the city of Guanajuato, but areas such as the Bajío region also became important for agriculture and livestock. Mining and agriculture were the mainstays of the state's economy, but have since been eclipsed by the secondary sector. Guanajuato has particularly seen growth in the automotive industry. The name Guanajuato comes from Purépecha (or in older orthography "quanax huato"), which means "frog hill".
Geography
Guanajuato is in the center of Mexico, northwest of Mexico City, bordering Zacatecas, San Luis Potosí, Michoacán, Querétaro, and Jalisco. It is the 20th-largest of Mexico's states, with an area of 30,589 km². It has an average altitude of above sea level, with its territory divided among three of Mexico's physical regions, the Sierra Madre Oriental, the Mexican Plateau and the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt. The Sierra Madre Oriental in Guanajuato consists of the Sierra Gorda and the Sierra del Azafrán in the northeast. The Mexican Plateau extends through the center of the state. It is subdivided into various regions parted by low-lying mountain chains such as the Sierra de la Cuatralba and the Sierra de Cubo. The Trans Mexican Volcanic Belt crosses the state in the south and includes the Bajío area, the Altos de Jalisco and the valleys area in the far south. The state is crossed by several mountain ranges with mountains between 2,300 and 3,000 meters high. Mountain ranges average 2,305 meters and flat areas lie at around 1,725 meters above mean sea level. Other important mountain ranges include the Sierra Gorda to the north, the Sierra de Guanajuato in the southeast, the Comanja in the northwest and the Codorniz in the east.
The state is divided into five regions, taking into consideration geography and climate: Altos de Guanajuato, La Sierra Central, Bajío, La Sierra Gorda, and Los Valles del Sur. The Altos de Guanajuato, in the north, are a chain of forested mountains interspersed with pastures, small fields and areas with cacti and other desert plants. They begin near the border with San Luis Potosí, and extend south to Dolores Hidalgo, San Miguel de Allende, and the Querétaro border. This area's altitude varies from 1,800 meters to peaks over 2,900, such as La Giganta and La Sierra del Cubo. The climate is mostly semiarid with a rainy season in the summer, with average temperatures between 15 and 20 °C. Winter lows often reach 0 °C or lower with frosts. Wildlife is found mostly in the most rugged and inaccessible areas and includes deer, coyotes, eagles and rattlesnakes.
La Sierra Gorda is shared between Guanajuato and Querétaro and is considered an important biosphere. This area is the most rugged in the state where most of the natural areas and small villages remain intact due to their inaccessibility. The Sierra Gorda is part of the Sierra Madre Occidental, with extreme variations in its geography and climate. The rugged terrain means that there are a wide number and variety of micro-climates, although average temperatures vary only between 16 and 19 °C. It lowest point is a canyon called Paso de Hormigas in Xichú at 650 meters above sea level with a very warm climate suitable for tropical fruit. The highest point is Pinal de Zamorano at 3,300 meters, followed by El Picacho de Pueblo Nuevo, El Zorillo and El Cuervo, all above 2,700 meters. The largest changes are seen in arid versus wetter zones, which can often be relatively nearby, with foliage changing from rainforest to pine forest to desert landscapes. In 1997, the federal government declared the Sierra Gorda region in Querétaro a Biosphere Reserve, with Guanajuato's portion added in 2007. On the Guanajuato side, it covers 236,882 hectares over the municipalities of Xichú, San Luis de la Paz, Atarjea, Victoria and Santa Catarina. Culturally, the Sierra Gorda region is the far western part of La Huasteca, which extends over parts of Querétaro, San Luis Potosí, Hidalgo and Veracruz.
The Sierra Central is a series of low, gentle mountains in the center of the state that are part of the Sierra Madre Occidental. They cover 12 municipalities: Ocampo, San Felipe, León, Silao, Guanajuato, Dolores Hidalgo, San Miguel de Allende, Irapuato, Salamanca, Santa Cruz de Juventino Rosas, Comonfort and Apaseo el Grande. Wild vegetation runs from tropical rainforest to arid grasslands with cactus, with cypress trees along rivers and other surface water. Wildlife includes raccoons, quail, rabbits, skunks and migratory birds. The land is productive, especially for fruit orchards producing guavas, tejocote, apples, limes, quince and more. Desert fruits such as cactus pears (tuna), garambullos and xoconostle are also produced commercially.
The state's best-known geographical region is the Bajío, a relatively low and flat area of between 1,700 and 1,800 meters that surrounds the Lerma River and its tributaries. Centered in Guanajuato, parts also extend into Querétaro and Jalisco. This low area is the source of its name, coming from the Spanish word "bajo" or low. The Bajío is filled with rolling hills and interrupted by the occasional chain of low mountains such as the Gavia and the Culiacán. Before the Spanish arrived, this area was covered in dense forests of holm oak and mesquite trees, but mining's need for wood fuel eventually cleared them. Today, the area is the center of most of the state's agriculture and industry since the terrain allows for highways and large farms, which produce grains, vegetables and fruit. This farmland is considered some of Mexico's most productive.
Los Valles del Sur, also called the Valles Abajeños, are valleys located in southwestern Guanajuato, bordering Michoacán. This area is distinguished by the large number of Purépecha place names and covers the municipalities of Valle de Santiago, Yuriria, Tarimoro, Apaseo el Alto, Moroleón, Uriangato, Santiago Maravatío, Acámbaro, Jerécuaro, Coroneo and Tarandacuao. The area is part of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt, with elevations ranging between 1,700 and 2,000 meters. The soil is fertile due to its volcanic base, producing crops such as sorghum, wheat, corn and vegetables. The land also produces building materials such as tezontle and black sandstone. In the higher elevations, there are forests of pine and holm oak but these have been much reduced by deforestation. The more arid areas have mesquite, nopal and other desert plants. There are several small lakes, the best known being Lake Yuriria as well as canyons and cave systems, some of which were used for ceremonial purposes by pre-Hispanic peoples. It is also the home the Siete Luminarias de Valle de Santiago, a set of seven inactive volcanic craters in the northwest and southwest of the Santiago Valley. The volcano cones rise abruptly out of the ground with craters up to one kilometer across. Locals call the formations "holes" (hoyos) and they are named La Alberca, La Cíntora, Estrada, Blanca, Alvarez, Solís and Rincón de Parangueo. La Cíntora and Rincón de Parangueo contain cave paintings and evidence that people once lived in the craters. La Alberca ("The Pool") is a crater lake open to the public for swimming, rowing or boating. The name of Siete Luminarias ("Seven Lanterns") comes from an imagined prehistoric time when the seven were active at once.
The state has about 1,500 bodies of surface water, along with underground aquifers in most parts of the state. Its principal lake is Lake Cuitzeo, on the border with Michoacán and the Yuriria. Several of the Siete Luminarias craters have also developed crater lakes, especially La Joya, Parangueo and Olla de Zìntora. The most important river in Guanjuato and one of the most important in the country is the Lerma, along with its tributaries Guanajuato River, La Laja, and Turbio. The Lerma river basin covers 81% of the state (center and south); the Pánuco River basin (north of the state) and Cuitzeo Lake cover the remainder. The Lerma is regulated by various dams in part to control the fact that it ran very high in the rainy season and very low in the dry season. These dams include the Ignacio Allende, la Purísima, Solís, La Gavia, Conejo II and Santa Ifigenia.
Climate
Climates in the state are grouped by precipitation and average temperatures into three major groups. The semiarid climate is characterized by the fact that evaporation often exceeds precipitation. Most of the vegetation in these areas is arid grassland with desert plants such as nopal. These climates cover about 40% of the state, mostly in the north. Semiarid temperate regions are found in the municipalities of San Felipe, San Diego de la Unión, San Luis de la Paz, part of Dolores Hidalgo and San José de Iturbide, where precipitation varies between 400 and 500 mm and the average temperature is between 16 and 18 °C. Semiarid semihot climates can be found north of Dolores Hidalgo, around León and in areas near Celaya. In these municipalities, rainfall averages between 600 and 700 mm and the average annual temperature is between 18 and 20 °C. Temperate climates are judged by the presence of holm oak and pine forest, pine forests and/or pine forests with meadows. Humidity varies in these forest regions. Temperate semi-moist areas are mostly found in the southeast municipalities of Apaseo, Coroneo and Jerécuaro and in the center of the state. Precipitation varies from 600 to 700 mm and the average temperature is between 16 and 18 °C. Temperate and somewhat humid climates have rainfall averages of between 700 and 800 mm, with temperatures between 16 and 18 °C. These can be found in Pénjamo, Coroneo, Jerécuaro and parts of Guanajuato (municipality) and Dolores Hidalgo. Temperate climates with the most humidity are in Santa Rosa and municipality of Guanajuato. These have rainfall averages over 800 mm and average temperatures under 16 °C. Hot and moist climates in the state have temperatures ranging from 18 to 22 °C and are associated with tropical rainforest, with some grassland. These climates are subdivided into two types, one that receives less rainfall with a significant dry season and one that is wetter. The drier type is found in Abasolo, Irapuato, Salamanca and Romita. In total, these hot and relatively moist climates can be found in about 40% of the state.
Ecology
From the beginning of the colonial period, much of Guanajato's environment suffered greatly from the mining techniques and intensive agriculture the Spanish introduced. The process has been ongoing since then to modern times. Before the conquest, the state was covered in forests, but mining requires large amounts of fuel to process minerals, so they were cut down for fuel and construction projects. Agriculture leached nutrients from the soil, caused erosion, and introduced plants, animals and diseases that have had a large impact.
Today, the state contains 21 protected areas that extend over 63,611 hectares in 26 municipalities. These include Sierra de Lobos, Siete Luminarias, the Silva Dam, Megaparque de Dolores Hidalgo, Cuenca de la Esperanza, Las Fuentes, Peña Alta, Pinal de Zamorano, Parque Metropolitano, La Joya Crater, Lake Yuriria, Las Musas, Culiacán and La Gavia Mountains, Sierra de los Agustinos, Sierra de Pénjamo, Cerro de Cubilete, Cerro de Amoles, La Purisima Dam, Arandas Mountain, La Soledad Dam, and the upper basin of the Temascatío River. Another protected area is the Sierra Gorda Biosphere Reserve. In Guanajuato, it extends over 236,882 hectares and contains 182 bird species, 42 mammal species and 84 plant species, including two recently discovered ones, Beaucamea compacta and Calibanus glassianus. The park contains a number of species in danger of extinction, including the black bear and the puma. The climate is semiarid with variations in temperature due to altitude changes, but most of the area is covered in tropical forest in which many plants lose leaves during the dry season from November to May.
History
Pre-Hispanic era
In the pre-Hispanic era, the Bajio saw the most human development due to the fertility of the soil and the presence of surface water for agriculture. The oldest group to inhabit the area were the people now known as the Chupícuarios, who dominated the center of the Bajío area and were active between 800 BCE and 300 CE. Their largest city is now the site called Chupícuaro, and their influence was widespread being found in the modern states of Zacatecas, Querétaro, Colima, Nayarit, Hidalgo, State of Mexico, Michoacán and Guerrero. Chupícuaro cities were associated with the Toltec city of Tula and when this city fell, these agricultural cities of Guanajuato also went into decline. This and a prolonged drought cause these cities to be abandoned between the 10th and 11th centuries with only the Guamares left ethnically.
Then Chichimeca and other nomadic groups entered the area. These nomadic indigenous groups are generically referred to as Chichimeca, but in reality they were a variety of ethnicities such as the Guachichiles, Chichimeca Jonaz and Guamares. These groups were warlike, semi nomadic and did not practice significant agriculture, nor did they construct cities. Part of the state was also inhabited by the Otomi but they were mostly displaced or dominated by the Purépecha in the southwest and the Chichimeca in other parts. By the 16th century, most of Mesoamerica was dominated by either the Aztec Empire or Purépecha Empire, but Guanajuato was under the control of neither. It was on the northern border of the Purépecha Empire with southern Guanajuato showing significant cultural influence in the southern valleys, and Aztecs had ventured into the area looking for minerals. However, most of the state was dominated by various Chichimeca tribes as part of what the Spanish would call the "Gran Chichimeca". These Chichimeca were mostly nomadic with some scattered agricultural communities, mostly in the north.
Spanish colonial period
As the area of Guanajuato lies on the boundary of the arid north of Mexico, at first relatively few Spanish came to settle - as opposed to points south, which had much more abundant rainfall and indigenous labor. The first Spanish expedition to visit the Guanajuato area, led by Cristóbal de Olid in 1522, arrived in the Yuririhapúndaro and Pénjamo areas. The discovery of silver and gold in the area of the city of Guanajuato spurred Spanish settlement of the area in the 1520s and 1530s.
Following the Spanish arrival, native tribes retreated to the most inaccessible areas of the Bajío and to the mountain ranges in the state, resisting the invaders, attacking settlements and travelers along the routes that connected Spanish settlements and mining camps. The Spanish were unable to force the natives of this area (unlike the more settled indigenous peoples) to work, and brought African slaves and indigenous peoples from other areas to work the haciendas and mines. The colonization efforts in the eastern part of the state began in 1542 when Spanish land-grants were issued for the Apaseo and Chamácuaro areas. In 1555 San Miguel el Grande was founded to protect roads linking mining camps and cities with Mexico City to the south-east. The Villa de León was founded in 1576 to counter attacks by the indigenous peoples. But through the first centuries of the colonial period, the city of Guanajuato dominated because of its mines. The official name of the state is Guanajuato, Estado Libre y Soberano (Guanajuato, Free and Sovereign State). "Guanajuato" comes from Purépecha Quanaxhuato, which has been translated as both "place of frogs" and "places of many hills". The coat of arms of the state is that of the city of Guanajuato, as granted by Carlos I of Spain ().
In 1590 the Villa de San Luis de la Paz was founded and named after the peace (paz) treaty between the Spanish and the Chichimeca. With the Spanish occupying most of the most productive land and its resources, the indigenous of the area became extremely impoverished. This eventually allowed the Spanish to negotiate peace with chiefs in exchange for basic goods such as blankets, clothes and food. This would bring temporary truces. Evangelization efforts would bring longer-term submission. Franciscans and Augustinians worked to gradually modify the worldview of the Chichimecas and others until many moved out of the mountains and into other settlements and professed, at least nominally, the Catholic faith. However, the indigenous remained extremely marginalized and poor, losing both their language and their culture until most eventually intermarried with outsiders to produce mestizos.
Through the Spanish colonial period, most of the area's wealth came from mining, with much of the agriculture springing up to support the mining communities. The height of mining came in the 18th century, mostly from the mines in the hills around the city of Guanajuato, leading to the construction of a large number of notable civil and religious buildings in the same area. The extremely fertile Bajío area became a major agricultural area for New Spain. Both mining and agriculture brought in more Spanish and Criollos to take advantage, as well as mestizos and some African slaves to work the mines and fields, making the area's population grow rapidly and eventually concentrate in urban centers. The area became an intendancy () or province in 1786, when the authorities divided New Spain into twelve parts.
Independence and 19th century
Despite the riches the area produced, most lived in oppression and poverty at the end of the 18th century, working on haciendas and in mines while a few, mostly European-born Spaniards, lived in opulence. Not only the indigenous, mestizo and Negro slaves were having problems with the social order. Many Criollos or New World-born Spanish were marginalized by the Spain-born. One of the first rebellions against colonial rule came in 1766, when a group attacked the Caja Real in Guanajuato city to protest high taxes. In 1767, there were protests against the expulsion of the Jesuits by the Spanish Crown. These were put down with extreme force, but they spurred conspiracies, and groups organizing against colonial rule, especially in San Miguel el Grande and León.
Numerous plans were made, but few were carried out or had impact until 1809. In that year, a group consisting of Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, Ignacio Allende, Juan Aldama, Miguel Domínguez and more, began to plan an armed revolt against the colonial government. In 1810, the plot was discovered and Hidalgo decided to put their plans into action in September instead of the planned date in December. On 15 September, Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla declared the Grito de Dolores in the town of Dolores (Hidalgo). Hidalgo, accompanies by Ignacio Allende, left Dolores with about 800 men, half of whom were on horseback. Just through sheer numbers, Hidalgo's army had some early victories, going through the economically important and densely populated province of Guanajuato. One of Hidalgo's first stops was at the Sanctuary of Atotonilco. There, Hidalgo affixed an image of the Virgin to a lance to adopt it as his banner. He then inscribed the following slogans to his troops' flags: "Long live religion! Long live our most Holy Mother of Guadalupe! Long live Ferdinand VII! Long live America and death to bad government!" The extent and the intensity of the movement took viceregal authorities by surprise. San Miguel and Celaya were captured with little resistance. On 21 September 1810, Hidalgo was proclaimed general and supreme commander after arriving to Celaya. At this point, Hidalgo's army numbered about 50,000. However, because of the lack of military discipline, the insurgents soon fell into robbing, looting and ransacking the towns they were capturing. On 28 September 1810, Hidalgo arrived at the city of Guanajuato. The town's Spanish and Criollo populations took refuge in the heavily fortified Alhóndiga de Granaditas granary defended by Quartermaster Riaños. The insurgents overwhelmed the defenses in two days and killed an estimated 400–600 men, women and children. Fighting associated with the War of Independence would return near the end of the conflict. Military commanders Luis de Cortázar and Anastasio Bustamante joined forces with Agustín de Iturbide and took the city of Guanajuato on 8 July 1821, declaring the entire state independent of Spanish rule. In 1824, Guanajuato was officially proclaimed a state of Mexico by the Constitutional Congress of Mexico.
The years after the end of the War of Independence were extremely unstable, and would continue to be unstable through most of the rest of the 19th century. Dolores and San Miguel adopted the names of Dolores Hidalgo and San Miguel de Allende in honor of those who began the independence movement and in 1826, the first constitution of the state of Guanajuato was adopted. Like much of the rest of the country, Guanajuato was affected by the prolonged fighting between Liberal and Conservative factions as well as the foreign incursions that dominated the 19th century. Guanajuato's status vacillated between state (when Liberals were in charge) and department (when Conservatives held the upper hand). Under Liberal ideals, educational institutions such as the Colegio de la Santisima Trinidad and the Colegio de la Purisima Concepción were secularized and under control of the State. In 1847, General Gabriel Valencia raised an army of 6,000 men to fight the U.S. invasion of Mexico. In 1848, in opposition to the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, General Marian Paredes, General Manuel Doblado and priest Celedonio Dómeco de Jarauta revolted, taking the state capital, but they were defeated and Domeco was executed by firing squad. In 1855, Conservative Manuel Doblado, then the governor of Guanajuato, forced Juan Álvarez out of the presidency after he took power from Antonio López de Santa Anna. In 1858, the government under President Benito Juárez moved from Mexico City to the city of Guanajuato before moving again to Manzanillo and then Veracruz during the Reform War. During this three-year period, the state would vacillate various times between the Liberals and Conservatives. In 1863, it was taken over by the French as they installed Maximilian I as emperor of Mexico. Maximillian did not reign long but the governor he appointed for Guanajuato, Florencio Antillón remained in Guanajuato until 1877.
Mexican Revolution to the present
The situation stabilized over much of the government of Porfirio Díaz at the end of the 19th century and the economy improved, but the Diaz government was oppressive. Diaz installed Francisco Mena as governor of the state, who made a fortune through the concession of railway lines which were being built to modernize the country. Even though slavery was officially abolished during the War of Independence, most laborers in farms and mines were extremely underpaid and in a number of cases not paid at all. Agricultural production reached a peak at the end of the 19th century, earning the state the nickname of the "granary of the Republic". Industrialization took hold in cities such as León, Salvatierra, Celaya and San Francisco del Rincón, making shoes, textiles and hats. One battle of the Mexican Revolution occurred in Celaya in 1915 between the troops of Álvaro Obregón and Francisco Villa. Many from the state fought and died in other parts of Mexico, leaving behind widows and children. After the war, the large landholdings were broken up and land redistributed into ejidos, or commonly held land, which benefitted many rural families.
After the end of the Mexican Revolution, fighting in Mexico continues with the Cristero War. Fighting related to this was most prominent in Pénjamo and León, but occurred in other areas as well. In 1946, an uprising against the government by a group called the Sinarquistas occurred in Leon. However, most of the state was peaceful most of the time, allowing the economy to recover. This was especially true of the agricultural sector, producing wheat, corn, sorghum, alfalfa, strawberries in Irapuato and goats in various parts. Goat milk cajeta candy from Celaya is known in most of Mexico. The first Festival Internacional Cervantino occurred in 1972. In the 1980s, two of the state's cities, Guanajuato and San Miguel de Allende were declared World Heritage Sites.
Today, the Bajio is one of the major grain producing regions in Mexico. The Guanajuato congress has asked for help against the theft of religious art in the state, which has the third highest incidence of such. One of the major occurrences was the theft of the gold crown of the Black Christ of Salamanca in 2010. The celebration of Mexico's Bicentennial was particularly important to the state as initial events of the War in Independence occurred here. The state set up a Bicentennial Route to encourage visitors to the cities associated with Miguel Hidalgo's first campaigns. The state held a marathon from San Miguel Allende to Dolores Hidalgo for the Bicentennial with Omar Luna winning with a time of 2h23m14s. The state sponsored the Expo Bicentenario 2010 from 17 July to 20 November just outside the capital city. The site was marked by a giant Mexican flag flying alongside older historic flags, including a replica of the standard with an image of the Virgin of Guadalupe that Miguel Hidalgo carried as the insurgent banner. The Expo was housed in a series of pavilions which demonstrated the Mexican culture, history, traditions and customs. There were also pavilions hosted by various Latin American countries who also celebrated their Bicentennials around the same time.
Demographics
As of 2005, the state had a population of 4,893,812, which is the sixth largest population in Mexico. About 67% live in urban areas, with the rest in rural areas, and women slightly outnumbering men. The largest population centers are León with 1,134,842 people, Irapuato with 440,134, Celaya with 382,958, and Salamanca with 226,654.
Religion
Over 94% of the population professes the Catholic religion, and the state is considered to be very conservative and adherent to Catholic principles both socially and politically.
Indigenous peoples
Guanajuato has the fourth lowest number of people who can speak an indigenous language. However, the ethnically indigenous population is about 10,347 (2005) or 2.6% of the population over the age of five. The languages spoken are Chichimeca Jonaz, Otomi and Nahuatl. The two most important indigenous groups are the Chichimeca Jonaz and the Otomi, both of which are concentrated in the Valles de Sur area. Culturally, both groups show significant Purépecha influence. Both live in arid regions, where rainfall is precious and the diet includes foods such as pitayas, Myrtillocactus geometrizans (garambullo), cactus pear, nopal and agave. Hunting was an important source of protein but the scarcity of game has all but extinguished this practice. Subsistence agriculture forms the basis of the economy and provides much of the current diet. However, these peoples are extremely poor, and many migrate to other places to find work.
In what is now the state of Guanajuato, there were a number Nahua) groups who built cities in the first millennium CE. but then abandoned them long before the arrival of the Spanish. It is believed that the Chichimeca came to dominate the area after the fall of these cities, and the Chichimeca Jonaz believe that the eagle, which is sacred to them, led them here. At the time of the Spanish conquest, the only Chichimeca group left were the Chichimeca Jonaz, who were semi-nomadic and warlike. These qualities allowed these Chichimecas to resist Spanish domination for many years. However, the deterioration of the environment by the Spanish depleted resources for these people and finally made them submit.
The Chichimeca Jonaz refer to themselves and other indigenous as "uza" (singular) or "ézar" (plural), which roughly translates to "Indian". Their language is Oto-Pamean and related to their neighbors, the Otomi. Most Chichimecas are found in the municipality of San Luis de la Paz, in the community of Rancho Uza or Mision Chichimeca. This community subdivides into the Mision de Abajo in the east and Mision de Arriba in the west. This area borders lands of the Huasteca and Pame groups, and there have been conflicts among the three. The Chichimeca Jonaz have a mixed Catholic-indigenous belief system. While outwardly Catholic, many rituals still follow the cycles found in nature, such as planting and harvesting and lunar cycles. The most important "spirit guides" are the eagle and water, with the Virgin of Guadalupe playing an important role as Universal Mother. One important saint is Isidore the Laborer, who is connected to the bringing of rain.
The Otomis of the state are concentrated in the community of Cieneguilla in the municipality of Tierra Blanca. In pre-Hispanic times, these people were semi-nomadic, desert dwellers. During the Conquest, these and other Otomi groups allied themselves with the Spanish, in part because the Aztecs and others considered the Otomi to be backwards and barbaric. The Otomi also speak an Oto-Pamean language and are related to other Otomi groups scattered around the central and southern areas of Mexico. Today, however, most children are not learning the language from their parents, putting it in danger of extinction in spite of efforts to introduce bilingual education.
Immigration
Concentrating in San Miguel de Allende, foreign residents from the United States and Canada came, in the early 2000s, because of the area's mild climate, cultural opportunities, and low crime rate. While accounting for only about ten percent of San Miguel's total population, they had a large impact on the area economically, accounting for most home buyers. Estimates of foreign residents range from 8,000 to 12,000 with about 7,000 of these from the United States alone. This makes San Miguel one of the largest American communities in Mexico, large enough to warrant its own U.S. consulate to provide services such as notary and passport.
Since that time, Guanajuato has had a significant rise in violent crime, the second highest homicide rate in the nation, with Mexican President López Obrador calling out the state's attorney general for inaction on the matter.
There is a growing presence of East Asians, primarily Japanese, in the Bajio region. As of early 2014, there were more than three thousand Japanese immigrants in the Bajio area, and it's claimed that this population is larger than the historical Japanese community in Mexico City. The Guanajuato government believes that by 2016 there will be five thousand families installed in the region. This immigration is being driven by foreign investment in the Bajio, especially in the automotive sector. The large Japanese community prompted the opening of a Japanese consulate in Leon. There is also a Korean community in the area that is likewise growing as a result of foreign investment.
Economy
Being located in the center of the country has important economic implications for the state, as a number of major national highways and railways pass through. The state is also a center of industry with most of the state's major cities and economy located in the La Sierra Central and El Bajío regions. It has equal access to both the Pacific Ocean and Gulf of Mexico as well as the major metropolitan areas of Monterrey, Mexico City and Guadalajara. In 2008, the total GDP for the state was US$38,204,000,000 (427,503,000,000 MXN) or 3.88% of the total for the country. From 2003 to 2008, the economy grew 1.06% (adjusted for inflation). The state has the sixth-largest economy in Mexico behind Mexico City, the State of Mexico, Nuevo León, Jalisco, and Veracruz. As of 2008, Guanajuato ranks fourth in per capita income at US$7,609, behind Mexico City, Nuevo León and Jalisco, with a rate of increase of 2.04%. Manufacturing accounts for 28% of total GDP, down slightly from a high of over 30%. Its importance is followed by commerce at 16.3% and real estate at 11.2%. Agriculture, which includes forestry, fishing and hunting accounts for 4.6. Other activities include financial and other professional services (17.6%) and transportation and storage at 11.8%. Employment figures break down differently with 13.2% employed in agriculture, 36.4% in mining and industry and 47.3 percent in commerce, services and tourism. There are two significant migration patterns in the state. Twenty-seven of 46 municipalities have a high level of migration out to other areas, with 19 having a moderate to low level of the same. The annual rate of migration to the United States is 7.07 people per thousand.
Industry, crafts and mining
Industry is the most important segment in the modern state economy, accounting for about 30%. Most of this is the production of automobiles and automobile parts, pharmaceuticals and other modern items. It also includes more traditional items such as processed foods (cheese, canned items and more) as well as shoes and other leather goods in León and a variety of crafts. The economy in this area continues to grow although there has been some drop in its percentage of GDP due to drop in prices for a number of manufactured products. The state has two large thermoelectrical plants in Salamanca and Celaya. Oil refining in Salamanca received raw material through pipelines from Poza Rica, Veracruz and from Tabasco.
One traditional industry is the making of shoes and other leather items, especially in León. This industry grew 50% from 2009 to 2010 in the number of enterprises dedicated to it. They now total 7,981 and employ 297,413 people directly and indirectly according to INEGI. In 2010, Volkswagen announced a new motor plant to be built in Silao. The project is projected to cost US$550 million and will employ 700 people making 330,000 motors per year starting in 2013. A spokesman for the company acknowledged that part of the reason to build the plant was the existence of a General Motors plant in the same area as well as the existence of the Parque Industrial Puerto Interior which offers access to different transportation modes. The Centro de Innovación (Innovation Center) of Microsoft was inaugurated in 2010 in León. This establishment is meant to support businesses and governments to form software and technology enterprises with the goal of starting fifty new businesses with ten to twenty employees each.
Almost all handcrafts (98%) are made in micro and small enterprises, most of which are family-owned. Almost all them, which mostly consist of glass, wrought iron, ceramic and wooden items, are exported to the United States (91%). However, craft items are under pressure from imitations from Central America and Asia. The crafts sector of industry is not considered a particularly active segment of the state's population with no data as to the percentage of the state's GDP it represents. Most crafts over time have become specialties of more or more municipalities.
Majolica pottery has been made in the state since colonial times after being introduced by the Spanish. Since then, areas have developed specialties in form and decoration, but techniques have not changed much for over 400 years. Most clay is extracted from the Dolores Hidalgo region and most is produced in Dolores Hidalgo, San Miguel de Allende and the city of Guanajuato. Another area noted for its work is Tarandacuaro, which makes high-fire ceramics. The two best-known workshops are Fabrica Javier Servin and Taller Checuan. The ceramics of this area have distinctive, very intricate, mostly geometric designs, which are painted on by hand. The municipality promotes the work through its Centro Turistico de Desarrollo de Tarandacuao.
Acámbaro is noted for its bread. The city has two well-known bakeries by the name of Panificadora Loaeza and La Antigua Panificadora El Triunfo. One local bread specialty is the tallado, which has a base of egg and butter and can have fillings such as fig, coconut, raisins and chocolate. This bread is the result of recipes brought by the Franciscans, modified over time by the native indigenous potters’ community.
San Francisco del Rincón has had a tradition of making hats since the 18th century. Traditionally, the hats were made from palm fronds brought from the Michoacán coast area, but today many workshops and factories use synthetic fibers. In traditional workshops, the work is divided by sex, with women weaving the fibers together and men pressing it into shape, putting in the supports and other details. The quality of the hats made here has made them exportable.
In San Luis de la Paz and Coroneo, wool is worked into clothing, especially into coats, gloves, vests, scarves and other items for winter wear. Some of the workshops still work with large old weaving looms. In addition, there are workshops which make rugs, zarapes, and other items for the home. In Coroneo, the craft 100 years ago was practiced only by women. The most common item is still the zarape, which is decorated with figures such as horse heads and deer as well as fretwork on the edges. However, sweaters, capes, rebozos, bags and even wool shoes can also be found for sale. One other specialty is rugs woven on large looms.
Apaseo el Alto is known for its work in fine woods, which began with the workshop of Domingo Garcia sixty years ago. Since then, about 150 workshops have been established in the municipality, employing about 500 craftsmen. Items include sculptures such as religious figures and animals and utilitarian items such as utensils and furniture. Craftsmen first began working with a wood called "patol" and juniper, but today they work with various woods such as walnut, cedar, mahogany and Ceiba pentandra (the kapok).
Celaya is known in much of Mexico for its cajeta, a kind of spreadable caramel, often made with goat's milk, sugar and cinnamon. The mixture can be eaten straight from a spoon or used in a variety of recipes. The best known outlet for cajeta in the city is Cajetas La Tradicional, which has been in business for over 70 years.
Metalworking can mostly be found in the communities of Guanajuato and Salamanca. Although the capital's mines no longer produce large quantities of gold and silver, silver items are still made and sold in the city. Wrought iron work for doors, windows and railings are also a specialty in certain areas of the city. Oxidized bronze items are a specialty of Salamanca, producing mostly decorative items. Most of the items made in Guanajuato city are still done Baroque style and sold in the city center. Pénjamo is one of very few places outside of the state of Jalisco to produce tequila. It is the home of the Tequila Corralejo brand, which is still made on the now former hacienda of Corralejo. The installation gives tours and has a museum called the Museo del Vino y la Botellas (Museum of Spirits and Bottles). The museum contains a collection of about 3,000 bottles, almost all of which with their original contents. Nearby is the factory that makes the distinctive blue bottles of this brand.
Glass making was brought to Mexico during the early colonial period. Most items made in Guanajuato are single-colored items in blue, green, yellow and red. San Miguel de Allende has the best-known tradition where curiously shaped bottles, vases, glass sets and small cups for tequila are produced. Wax candles and other items are a specialty in Salamanca, where they are especially in demand during Holy Week. Comonfort is known for the making of molcajetes from volcanic stone, and San Miguel is known for figures and other items made from brass. Dolores Hidalgo is known for ice cream and ices, much of which is simply sold next to the parish church. Flavors include sapote, mango, honey, aloe, tequila and banana.
Mining, manufacturing and construction accounts for over 27% of the state's GDP. Mining is a traditional economic activity for the state, with deposits making it one of the world's richest areas in the past. However, in comparison gold and silver ores are mostly depleted today. Gold and silver ore is still mined with silver still the major ore produced, followed by gold, lead, copper, zinc and sulfur. Most employed in mining are still related to metals rather than non-metals. Other products being mined or being studied are mercury, tin, copper, lead, sand, fluorite, feldspar, lime, kaolin, and more.
Agriculture
While the agricultural sector, which includes crops, livestock, fishing and forestry activities, accounts for only 4.6% of Guanajuato's current GDP, the sector is an important part of the state's identity and is still a major producer of a number of items nationally. The state has 1.1 million hectares suitable for agriculture, over 36% of the state's territory. Over of land is under cultivation, with the main crops being corn, sorghum, beans, wheat, barley and broccoli. Today, the Bajio is still one of the major grain producing regions in Mexico. Certain areas of the state have large orchards producing peaches, strawberries, cactus pear, avocado, grapes, apples, quince, walnuts, apricots and guava.
Livestock raising is an important economic activity and can be found in all parts of the state, with animals such cattle, pigs, goats, sheep and domestic fowl, with hectares dedicated to this activity. The Los Altos and Bajío are the state's livestock producing regions, especially dairy cows. It is one of the most important dairy producing states in Mexico. By volume, most of the meat produced is from domestic fowl, with pork coming in second, followed by beef, goat and sheep. Guanajuato produces 25.4% of the goat meat in the country.
Only a very small percentage of the economy is based on fishing and forestry. Fishing is not a major economic activity as it is limited to the small rivers and lakes of the region. Of the two major lakes, one is shared with neighboring Michoacán state. Of the fish is that is caught or raised, most is carp, followed by mojarra. There are 150,000 hectares of forest in the state, which about half theoretically exploitable. However, forests in this state have been historically depleted with species such as holm oak, pine and oyamel in danger of extinction. The lack of forest cover has led to erosion and other environmental problems. Most forestry products come from pine and holm oak, with most being harvested in the area around the city of Guanajuato.
Commerce, services and tourism
About 95% of the state's visitors are from Mexico, with the rest from other countries. Within the state, there are about seventy hotels ranked as four or five stars. The three main cities for tourism are the capital city of Guanajuato, San Miguel de Allende and Dolores Hidalgo. Guanajuato is visited for its colonial architecture and its role in Mexico's history, especially during the War of Independence. Similarly, San Miguel has cultural and historical value. Both have been designated World Heritage Sites. Although not a World Heritage Site, Dolores Hidalgo is particularly important as the site as it is where Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla gave the cry called "El Grito" which began the War of Independence.
The state has set up tourist routes such as the Ruta de Independencia, Ruta de Aventura (Aventure Route), Ruta Arqueológica (Archeological Route), Ruta de los Conventos (Monastery Route) and Ruta Artesanal (Handcrafts Route). The Ruta de la Independencia or Independence Route comprises ten municipalities through which the insurgent army under Miguel Hidalgo passed. These include San Miguel de Allende, Dolores Hidalgo, Guanajuato, León, Irapuato, Pénjamo, Salamanca, Celaya, Salvatierra and Acámbaro. In preparation for the Bicentennial of Mexico's independence, the state rehabilitated and marked the sites in which the significant historic events occurred in each of these locations.
The Ruta de Aventura connects ghost towns and abandoned mines with natural areas for hiking, mountain biking and ATV as well as other extreme sports such as paragliding. One of the ghost towns is Mineral de Pozos in the northeast of the state. The town still has its cobblestone streets with names such as Relámpago (lightning), Estrellas (stars) and Flores (Flowers). The houses here are abandoned, many in ruins and none with roofs. The town reached its height during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when it was called Ciudad Porfirio Díaz, but the mines later gave out and the population left. In 1982, the town was declared a Historic Monument Zone. Although no one lives there, tourism keeps a few businesses alive around the main square such as the Pozos cantina, which exhibits photographs and other memorabilia on its walls. Outside the town is the Santa Brigida mine which sustained the town until it gave out. It is marked by three large ovens with tall pyramid roofs. These were constructed by the Jesuits to work ore from the mine. The Ruta Arqueológica (Archeological Route) links the two pre-Hispanic sites of Plazuelas and Peralta which are currently open to visitors with two others which are scheduled to be opened sometime in the future: La Virgen de la Cañada in San Miguel de Allende and El Cóporo in Ocampo.
The Ruta de los Conventos or Monastery Route is concentrated in the south of the state, where a number of large religious complexes were built in the early colonial period for evangelization purposes. The Agustino de San Pablo Church and Monastery is located in Yuriria founded by the Augustinians who arrived from Michoacán in the 16th century. It is a monumental fortress-like construction designed by Friar Diego de Chávez y Alvarado and Pedro del Toro and constructed in an area with relatively little population. The monastery became a center from which missionaries would be trained and then sent forth and its size and battlements helped to protect it from Chichimeca attacks. The church retains its original function and Plateresque facade, but the monastery area has been converted into a museum. The Las Capucinas Church and Convent is in Salvatierra and is one of only three complexes built for nuns in the entire state during the colonial period. It has a fortress like appearance and its construction is attributed to Joaquin de Heredia, of the San Carlos Academy. During the Porfirio Díaz presidency, the convent was used as a Civil Hospital and later as a school, which still remains with the name of Colegio José María Morelos. The San Francisco Church and Monastery is in Acámbaro and built between 1734 and 1743. Its facade is Baroque of light pink stone. Inside, the church contains one of the most notable main altars in the Bajio region. It is Neoclassical built of gray and pink stone with gilded details, with an image of the Virgen María Refugio de Pecadores (Virgin Mary Refuge of Sinners), which is replica of an image in Zacatecas.
The Ruta Artesanal (Handcrafts Route) connects a number of municipalities which specialize in one or more handcrafted items, including food. These include Acámbaro, noted for its bread, Coroneo for its wool items and Tarancuaro for ceramics.
The state also has a large number of water parks and thermal springs converted into water parks. Some of these include El Trébol, Villa Gasco and Comanjilla near León, Caldera Abasolo near Irapuato and Abasolo and Los Arcos and Agua Caliente near Celaya.
Culture
Festivals
Culturally, the state is best known for the annual Festival Internacional Cervantino, which takes place in the city of Guanajuato and some other affiliated venues in the state. The event sponsors a large number of artistic and cultural events with artists invited from Mexico and other parts of the world. The festival hosts events such as opera, theater productions, film showings, art exhibitions, academic conferences and talks, concerts and dance recitals. The performances occur in 70 different venues over most of the month of October. In addition to the major events in venues, artists such as dancers, clowns and more, give small and sometimes impromptu shows on the streets, sidewalks and small plazas that are located in the city. Because of this, the event brings many visitors to the city who wander the streets, visiting the many sights of the city. During the event, hotel occupancy rates are as high as 98%. In 2010, invited artists included the Da Motus! Swiss dance company. The event is named in honor of Miguel de Cervantes, author of Don Quixote. The festival began in 1972, as short plays performed by University of Guanajuato students based on the works of Cervantes. In 2010, special guests included the state of Querétaro and the country of Colombia. The 2010 edition of the festival included performers such as Tangokineses from Argentina, Cumbia Cienaguera from Colombia. In total, there were 424 events over 26 days.
A parallel event is the Festival International Cervantino Callejero which is sponsored by an organization called the Centro Libre de Experimentacion Teatral y Artistica (CLETA). In 2010, this event had 300 performances with social themes. This annual event was begun in 1975, in part inspired by the Beatles' Abbey Road album cover. The Festival Internacional de Cine en Corto began in 1997 and today is one of the most important cinematographic events in the country. It was established in Guanajuato in an effort to decentralize cultural events away from Mexico City. Most events associated with the festival take place in the city of Guanajuato and San Miguel Allende and awards prizes in various categories including commercials. The showing of films is sometimes in unusual locations such as one of Guanajuato's tunnels under the city or in the municipal cemetery at midnight.
Cuisine
Many of the dishes that are traditionally eaten in Guanajuato are regional variations of dishes known in other parts such as carnitas, tamales, birria and pozole. A version of the enchilada is called the enchilada minero (miners’ enchilada), which is a tortilla fried in lard and then filled with chicken and covered with a sauce made with guajillo chili peppers, a ranchero cheese and chopped potatoes and carrots. Recently, there has been a movement to update many of these dishes, keeping to traditional ingredients, called "Guanajuato fusion". This is most popular in upscale restaurants in San Miguel de Allende and Guanajuato and can include dishes such as tuna with chili peppers and duck with mesquite honey.
The state is better known as the producer of a number of food products such as cajeta, bread, candy, and ice cream. The best-known food product is cajeta, a soft, spreadable sweet product made with goat's milk, sugar, and flavorings. The best known place for this is Celaya. The cajeta can be flavored with vanilla, coconut, strawberry, and others; it is eaten with a spoon from the container, spread on bread, or made into candies. Another typical sweet in the state is called charamuscas. It is made with piloncillo, which is melted to form shapes. In the city of Guanajuato, one can find charamuscas in the shape of mummies. Alfeñique refers to glass sugar based candies used to form figures and is most popular for Day of the Dead. Chilacayote is a candy made from a type of melon of the same name, which is prepared by soaking pieces of the fruit in sugar solution. Handmade ice cream is a specialty of Dolores Hidalgo, made with all natural ingredients, often using recipes passed down for generations. While ice cream and ices are made in other parts of the state, these stand out because of the many unusual flavors offered such as beer, pulque, chile relleno, even shrimp and mole. The Franciscans taught the indigenous how to work with wheat and bake bread. Because there had already been a tradition of kneading clay for pottery, the kneading and baking of wheat bread became established quickly, adapting the original recipes to local tastes. The best known breads are those from Acámbaro, especially the type called "pan grande". Other well-known types are pan ranchero, tallado, pan huevo and pan leche. The first indigenous master baker in Guanajuato was Abraham de Silva Cuín, who, in 1526, began to make breads in unique forms and flavors.
Architecture
Most of the state's architecturally significant buildings are in Mexican Baroque style, especially in the capital city. This was because the mines of the state were at maximum production during the 18th century, when this style was fashionable. It can be found in mansions and civil buildings of that time but the most ornate examples are churches, with intricate facades and altarpieces both which often use the "estipite" column (inverted, truncated pyramid). A number of Baroque altarpieces from this time are also gilded with gold from local mines. Within the city of Guanajuato, the most notable examples are the San Cayetano or La Valenciana Church, the Basilica of Guanajuato, the Temple of the Company of Jesus and the San Roque Church. Outside the capital, notable examples include the Parish of Nuestra Señora de los Dolores, the La Tercera Orden Temple and the Casa de Visitas in Dolores Hidalgo, the San Francisco Church and Monastery and the San Agustin Church in Celaya, and the Basilica Cathedral and the Nuestra Señora de los Angeles Church in León. There are some examples were the Baroque also contains indigenous elements such as the San José Church in Irapuato and the San Agustin Monastery and Church in Yuriria. At the beginning of the 19th century, Baroque was giving way to Neoclassical. The Mexican War of Independence ended most major constructions, but in many churches in the state, Baroque altarpieces were replaced with Neoclassical ones. A few Neoclassical constructions did manage to be built, mostly by Francisco Eduardo Tresguerras and include the obelisk monument to Charles IV of Spain, the Del Carmen Church, The San Agustin Tower and the Dolores Chapel. Neoclassical works by others include the Entrance Arch of León, the Teatro Principal in Guanajuato and the Santiago Apostól Parish in Silao. From the 19th century on, trends became more modern with one notable exception. The Parish of San Miguel in San Miguel Allende had its facade redone by self-taught architect Zeferino Gutierrez. Working from only images from postcards of Gothic cathedrals in Europe, Gutierrez created the imposing Gothic-like front, which is unique in the state.
The uniqueness of the state of Guanajuato even led Disney's Coco team to be inspired by the city. The colorful buildings all over Mexico gave the animators inspiration to bring the culture and heritage to the film.
Arts and literature
Guanajuato is home or place of origin of three important painters: Diego Rivera, José Chávez Morado and Olga Costa. Rivera was born in the city of Guanajuato and spent his early childhood there. When he was older, he moved to Mexico City to study painting and eventually became one of Mexico's most famous muralists. José Chávez Morado was a prolific painter who lived and worked in the city of Guanajuato. He initially worked with José Clemente Orozco, who impressed him both with art as well as politics. Chávez Morado's most prolific period was between 1955 and 1967, when he realized works in the Ciudad Universitaria in Mexico City, the Secretariat of Communications and Transportation building in Mexico City and the Alhóndiga de Granaditas in his hometown. Olga Costa's real last name was Kostakowsky, but it was Hispanicized to Costa. She was born in Leipzig, Germany but she and her family moved to Mexico when she was very young. She was friends with and contemporaries of Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, Rufino Tamayo and Carlos Mérida, as well as wife to José Chávez Morado. She is best known for founding the Galería Espiral and co-founder of the Sociedad de Arte Moderno and the Salon de Plastica Mexicana. Her best known work is titled "Vendedora de Frutas".
Other artists include Manuel Leal, whose works are mostly scenes from the state, Romualdo Garcia, better known as a photographer than painter, Hermenegildo Bustos, Hilario Gómez Sánchez and Luis Ferro Márquez. The state also produced one well-known sculptor by the name of Tomás Chávez Morado, brother of José. His works can be seen at the Museo Regional de la Alhóndiga de Granaditas and the Museo del Caracol in Mexico City.
Guanajuato's three main literary figures are Jorge Ibargüengoitia, Juan Ibáñez and Efraín Huerta. Ibargüengoitia was one of Mexico's most important writers of the 20th century, noted for his satirical works with social themes. Examples of his work include Los relámpagos de agosto, Los pasos de Lopez and Estas ruinas que ves. Ibáñez was a dramatist who was active in the second half of the 20th century. His best known work is Los caifanes, produced as a movie in 1966. Huerta began as a journalist and movie critic but his fame came as a poet. Some of his works include Absoluto amor, Línea del alba, Poemas de guerra y esperanza, and La rosa primitiva.
Government and politics
Politically the state is divided into eight regions: Region I North/Dolores Hidalgo, Region II North-East/San Luis de la Paz, Region III/León, Region IV Center-West/Guanajuato, Region V East/Celaya, Region VI South-West/Irapuato, Region VII Center-South/Salamanca and Region VIII/South-East/Acambaro. It is also divided into 46 municipalities for local government purposes. The municipalities are grouped into 15 political regions for elections.
The state government is headed by an elected governor who controls the executive branch of government. The governor has one six-year term with no reelection. The governor is required to report on the state of the government each year on August 1. This branch contains a large number of secretariats and other offices related to social issues, economic issues, education, law and administration. The legislative branch is unicameral with 36 elected representatives. Elections for congress occur every three years. This branch has various commissions related to legal, municipal and economic issues. The judicial branch consists of various levels of courts as well as the attorneys general offices. They are all presided over by a "presidencia".
Education
Guanajuato ranks seventh in the country in the number of schools per capita and sixth in teacher-student ratio. The state has over 4,000 preschools, 4,600 primary schools, about 1400 middle schools, about 650 high schools, 73 teachers’ colleges, 125 institutions offering bachelor's degrees and 60 offering advanced degrees. 12.1% of the population over 15 is illiterate according to the 2005 census.
About half of the state's municipalities have one or more institutions of higher education, with the most important being the University of Guanajuato. This university is in the city of Guanajuato, and began as a Jesuit school for children in the first half of the 18th century. The establishment of this school was sponsored by Josefa Teresa de Busto y Moya, sister of the Marquis of San Clemente, who obtained permission for the school from the Spanish Crown in 1732 and established the institution in her home. She donated a fifth of her fortune to it and worked to obtain donations from other wealthy families in the city. Over time, the school grew and began to offer high school and professional level studies. It had several names over its history, from Real Colegio de la Purísima Concepción (1767), Colegio del Estado (1828), and Colegio Nacional de Guanajuato (1867) to its current name, adopted in 1945. The name "Colegio del Estado" was prompted by the fact that the institution became property of the state in 1828. In 1945, it gained university status.
Today the institution serves approximately 30,000 students at the high school, bachelor's and graduate levels. In addition to the main campus in the city, there are nine others in other parts of Guanajuato state. The university hosts a number of the events of the Festival Cervantino, with its famous stairway acting as seating. The institution's best-known facility is the main building in Guanajuato city, which was built in Neoclassical style in green stone. It houses the Dean's office, administrative offices and a number of the institution's departments. The main building is recognizable by its long staircase with 113 steps, which empties onto the Callejon del Estudiante. Under the main roof is a 16th-century chapel that was sponsored by Vasco de Quiroga for indigenous mine workers, the Templo de los Hospitales (Temple of the Hospitals). It is also the place that received the image of the Virgin of the Rosary, now called the Nuestra Señora de Guanajuato.
Other institutions include Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM) campus León and Irapuato, Universidad de León (UDL), Politécnico de Guanajuato, Universidad De La Salle Bajío, Universidad Iberoamericana, Universidad Santa Fe, Universidad de Celaya, Universidad Quetzalcóatl, Universidad Pedagógica Nacional (UPN), Instituto Politécnico Nacional (IPN) Unidad Profesional Interdisciplinaria de Ingeniería (UPIIUG). Instituto Tecnológico de Celaya (ITC), Instituto Tecnológico Roque (ITR), Instituto Tecnológico de León (ITL), Universidad Tecnológica del Norte de Guanajuato (UTNG), Universidad Tecnológica de León (UTL), Universidad Tecnológica del Suroeste del Estado (UTSOE), Universidad Tecnológica de San Miguel de Allende, Universidad Tecnológica de Salamanca, Universidad Politécnica de Guanajuato (UPG), Universidad Politécnica de Penjamo (UPPE), Universidad Politécnica de Juventino Rosas (UPJR) and Universidad Politécnica del Bicentenario (UPB), Instituto Tecnológico Superior de Irapuato (ITESI), Instituto Tecnológico Superior de Guanajuato (ITESG), Instituto Tecnológico Superior del Sur de Guanajuato (ITSUR), and Instituto Tecnológico Superior de Salvatierra. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) has begun to build a campus in the city of León to serve 15,000 students in the west of Mexico. The project will be built on a 60-hectare site in the south of the city to serve students in Guanajuato, Jalisco, Aguascalientes, Querétaro, San Luis Potosí, Michoacán and Zacatecas, starting in 2011. The first major to be offered is orthodontics, which is not offered by any other school in the region and will be followed by 11 others. Guanajuato also has the research centers CIMAT, CINVESTAV, CRODE, CIATEC, CIO, CICSUG, CIQI, IIBE, IIEDUG, IIC, IIM, INIFAP, and the laboratories CFE LAPEM and LANGEBIO.
Media
Newspapers of Guanajuato include: a. m. de Guanajuato, a. m. de Irapuato, a. m. de San Francisco del Rincón, a. m. el periódico libre de Celaya, Al Día, El Heraldo de León, El Sol de Irapuato, El Sol de Salamanca, El Sol del Bajío, Esto del Bajío, La Prensa del Bajío, Milenio León, Noticias Vespertinas, Periódico AM, líder en noticias de León, and Periódico Correo.
Transportation
Guanajuato's highways directly connect to three of Mexico's ten major highways (Mexico City-Nuevo Laredo, Querétaro-Ciudad Juárez and Manzanillo-Tampico). The state has 11,061 km of highway, 5,281 km of which are rural. It also has 1,249 km of federal highways and 2,462 of state highways. In July 2010, the state government of Guanajuato in Mexico awarded the 30-year concession of
the US$122 million Libramiento de Celaya toll road to consortium Concesionaria Bicentenario. The consortium will be responsible for constructing, operating and maintaining two highway sections. Work on the 12.9 km Libramiento Nororiente stretch was scheduled to start in September 2010 and on the 16.5 km Libramiento Sur stretch on August 9, 2010.
Like in the rest of Mexico, rail lines are almost exclusively used for the transportation of freight in the industrial areas of the state and, like the highway system, connects to most of the major national lines, with a total of 1,085 km in the state. The most important line is the Empalme Escobedo in the municipalities of Comonfort, Acámbaro and Irapuato. In Celaya, there is a "ferropuerto" (rail-port), an installation on 57 hectares used to transfer 1 million tons of freight each year. The facility has customs and other offices to facilitates international shipments.
The Guanajuato International Airport, formerly the Bajío International Airport is located in the municipality of Silao between the cities of Silao and León. The airport currently serves ten airlines and serves many domestic and international destinations. There is one other airport in Celaya which serves domestic destinations as well as airfields in San Miguel Allende, Doctor Mora, Irapuato, Manuel Doblado and San Francisco del Rincón.
Archeological sites
Chupícuaro is a site located in the south of the state on one side of the Lerma River. It is one of the older sites of Mesoamerica, having been active from 800 BCE to 300 CE and shows some of the earliest evidence of agriculture. The site has low flat rectangular platforms, with evidence of earlier structures below, which were probably the foundation of multigenerational houses; however most of the site is now under the waters of the Solís Dam. This site, along with some nearby contemporary sites, is known for its pottery called "Blanco Levantado", characterized with red and other colored lines on a light or cream background. This pottery has been shown to have elements in common with pottery in Zacatecas, other areas in northwest Mexico and even that of the Hohokam in Arizona and researchers believe that these people had trade relations that far north even finding turquoise. While the site has been extensively studied, it has also suffered looting, including some at the hands of Guanajuato authorities.
Tierra Blanca is a large site which was a true city, not a ceremonial site, but most of the site had been sacked and practically destroyed when it fell and later as an archeological site although early photographs of it remain. There is evidence in Tula that this city, or one like it, had had significant influence on the Tula civilization. For this reason, the time span for Tierra Blanca is placed at before 950 CE although there is little evidence at the site itself to date it.
Carabino is located in the northeast of the state. At this site items from and influenced by the city of Tula are found dating the city to about 900 to 1150 CE. There is some evidence to suggest that the city was a colony of one of the cities of the center of Mexico. In Villa de Reyes in the far north in the Valley of San Luis, there also evidence of Toltec presence or influence. However, this later site was occupied first between 550 and 710 CE, then again in the Toltec era 200 to 300 years later. Evidence suggests that groups in these parts of Guanajuato had an effect on the organization of the Toltec Empire as settlements were abandoned sometime between 600 and 900 CE. Through the Toltecs' influence in the Valley of Mexico, Guanajuato cultures eventually had some influence on the much later Aztec.
Plazuelas is located just west of Pénjamo in the foothills of the Sierra de Pénjamo. The site, which is noted for the complexity of its architecture, was occupied during the first millennium of the Common Era with its height at around 600 to 900 CE. The site was constructed over three hillsides separated by two large arroyos called Los Cuijes and Agua Nacida. The ethnicity of its occupants is not known nor is its original name. It appears to have been a theocracy with the elite inhabiting the hillsides and the rest of the population on flatter lands below. The most important construction at the site is the complex called Casas Tapadas, which contains several large structures and one Mesoamerican ball court.
Peralta is located on Abasolo, 21 km from Pénjamo. It developed between 300 and 700 CE, at the time that Teotihuacan was declining and Tula was rising. According to archeologists, the city declined and collapsed due to the overexploitation of the surrounding deciduous rainforest and it was abandoned around 900 CE. The site occupies 150 hectares divided into a center with five surrounding settlements. The most important structure is called the "Patio Hundido" (Sunken Patio), whose name comes from the four pyramids that are at the corners. Another important building is the La Mesita (The Small Table) or Recinto de los Gobernantes (Governors' Precinct). It has a large plaza which is considered to have been the main square for the city. Among the walls and other structures a semicircle dedicated to the Danza de Voladores has been discovered.
Cañada de la Virgen contains a number of closely related architectonic complexes. Complex A, also called the Casa de los Trece Cielos (House of the Thirteen Heavens or Skies), consists of a large "sunken" patio like that in Peralta surrounded a pyramidal base over 25 meters high and platforms that enclose the west, north and south sides. El Cóporo is situated on a small mountain and probably used by a group related to the Toltecs. It was at its height between 500 and 600 CE. but abandoned by 900 CE. It is a ceremonial center constructed of adobe and earth. One unique aspect of its construction is a series of columns which sink into the earth to a depth of about two and a half meters.
Other archeological sites in the state include Morales in San Miguel and El Cóporo in the northwest. The latter has figurines that show influence from groups in Zacatecas.
See also
LIX Legislature of the Congress of Guanajuato
References
Bibliography
External links
Guanajuato: Governmental portal
Official Youtube page
Official financial website
Guanajuato City Official Guide Guanajuato City
History - History of the city of Guanajuato History with graphic timeline and resources to analyze the events
States of Mexico
States and territories established in 1823
1823 establishments in Mexico
|
412841
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My%20Family
|
My Family
|
My Family is a British sitcom created and initially co-written by Fred Barron, which was produced by DLT Entertainment and Rude Boy Productions, and broadcast by BBC One for eleven series between 2000 and 2011, with Christmas specials broadcast from 2002 onwards. My Family was voted 24th in the BBC's "Britain's Best Sitcom" in 2004 and was the most watched sitcom in the United Kingdom in 2008. As of 2011, it is one of only twelve British sitcoms to pass the 100-episode mark. In April 2020, BBC One began airing the series from the first episode in an 8 pm slot on Friday nights; along with this all 11 series were made available on BBC iPlayer.
The show chronicles the lives of the Harpers, a fictional middle-class British family. Set in Chiswick in west London, it stars Robert Lindsay and Zoë Wanamaker as husband and wife Ben and Susan Harper, with Kris Marshall, Daniela Denby-Ashe and Gabriel Thomson as their children Nick, Janey and Michael.
Background
In 1999, Fred Barron was considering producing a British sitcom the same way sitcoms were produced in the U.S. My Family was to feature a group of writers in a writers' room rather than the standard one or two, something that had been attempted in the UK with shows including Goodnight Sweetheart and On the Buses, but was nevertheless atypical. My Family was consciously designed to have wide appeal, featuring characters with whom viewers could build relationships similar to the earlier BBC sitcom 2point4 Children which was also concentrated around a family unit.
The show chronicles the lives of the Harpers, a fictional middle-class British family who live at 78 Lancaster Road, Chiswick, London. Dentist Ben and his wife Susan, a tour guide who later works for an art gallery, have three children: Nick, Janey, and Michael, who endanger their lives. Susan is a control freak, but Ben prefers to leave the children to it and stay as uninvolved as possible. Janey later goes to University, but drops out and moves back in later, while Nick finally gets his own place.
Mainly focusing on Ben and Susan, the show featured sub-stories ranging from Nick's schemes to Abi and Roger's love life. It is described as a "dysfunctional family"-style sitcom; however, many of the episodes feature the family working together to get one another out of trouble. Nick's bizarre jobs became a major feature of the first four series. After the departure of Nick, more prominence was given to Abi and Roger's love life, Michael's misadventures, Janey's endless list of boyfriends, and Alfie's dream of musical stardom.
The show saw considerable development and change in its characters' lives, seeing Janey turn from teenage rebel to loving mother, Nick turn from slacker to a mature adult, Abi marry Roger, and Michael go through and beyond his school days. Meanwhile, Ben remained the same grumpy dentist, Susan remained the same control freak, and Alfie remained the same slow-witted lodger.
Cast and characters
The main characters in My Family are parents Ben and Susan Harper. They have three children, Nick, Janey and Michael. Nick is a regular character until the 2003 Christmas special, and makes one appearance in 2004's fifth series before making his final My Family appearance in the 2005 Comic Relief short as actor Kris Marshall wanted to do other projects and avoid being type-cast. Janey is a regular until the 2002 Christmas special and does not appear in series four (2003), while the character is at university. Janey returns as a main character in series five.
Abi Harper first appears in series three as the daughter of Ben's cousin Richard. Series three also sees the first appearance of Roger Bailey, Jnr. Roger, who becomes a main character in the fourth series, is a dentist and the son of Ben's former mentor. In the 2005 Christmas special Alfie Butts, a friend of Nick's, moves into the Harper household.
My Family features several recurring characters. Series one features Daisy Donovan as Ben's dental assistant, Brigitte. In the second series "Stupid" Brian appears as Janey's boyfriend. Series four features Michael's girlfriend Fiona. That series also sees the introduction of Michael's friend Hubert and Susan's mother Grace Riggs, who both appear in subsequent series until series seven. A minor recurring character from the 2006 Christmas special to series seven is Denis, the local Vicar. In addition, Mr. Alexander Casey, the Harpers' neighbour, appears in three episodes, "Driving Miss Crazy" (2001), "Neighbour Wars" (2008), and "Mary Christmas" (2010)
Overview
Main characters
Robert Lindsay (2000–11) portrays Ben Harper. Ben Harper is an overly-misanthropic and cynical dentist. When he is not at work sacking another assistant or trying to avoid fellow-dentist Roger, he is at home trying to relax (which never works). Ben isn't a bad man; behind his sardonic exterior he does really love his family and has to put up with being bossed about and manipulated by his wife Susan and continually fleeced for money by his children.
Zoë Wanamaker (2000–11) portrays Susan Harper. Susan Harper is a control freak and very good at getting her way. She is constantly worried about her three children and often forces Ben to go out of his way to monitor or look after them. Susan is a tour guide but seems to spend most of her time at home. She is a terrible cook. This is a homage to Butterflies, in which the male lead is also a dentist called Ben and the rest of the family often have to sneak the food she has prepared into the bin without her noticing.
Kris Marshall (2000–05) portrays Nick Harper. Nick Harper is the oldest sibling. He is a layabout who is constantly changing jobs – a self-employed stuntman one minute, a gorilla-o-gram the next, at one point a sperm-donor. Extremely laid-back, Nick cannot be trusted to look after money or handle important tasks. He was last seen moving into his own flat, and from phone conversations Ben and Susan have with him, he seems to be coping with living on his own.
Daniela Denby-Ashe (2000–02; 2004–11) portrays Janey Harper. Fashion-conscious, money-loving, boy-mad Janey spends all her time on the phone, switching boyfriends, or pestering Ben for shopping money. Whilst at Manchester University (spending yet more of her dad's money) Janey got pregnant. She was expelled and returned home to once again take advantage of her parents. Susan does not seem to mind, as it means she now has Kenzo Harper to look after.
Gabriel Thomson (2000–11) portrays Michael Harper. Michael (or "Mikey" as Ben calls him) is Susan and Ben's youngest, a smart, geeky adolescent. He looks down on his family, thinking he is more sensible than the rest of them put together, and often ends up getting them out of trouble. Since starting university he has experimented with bleached hair and piercings. In series 10 Michael comes out and tells his family that he is gay; he is relieved when they accept this.
Siobhan Hayes (2002–08) portrays Abi Harper. Abi moved into the Harper household in the third series. She is Ben's first cousin once removed, very clumsy and very dim, and often seen telling off Ben or Susan. When she finally realized that Roger was madly in love with her, they married in series seven, but she later left him to become a nun.
Keiron Self (2002–11) portrays Roger Bailey. Roger is the over-enthusiastic dentist who works in the same building as Ben. He often turns up at the Harper household uninvited and proceeds to unintentionally annoy Ben. For a long period Roger was trying to build up the courage to ask Abi out. They were, after all, ideally suited – like Abi, Roger possesses no common sense and is gullible. Eventually they did marry but have since split as Abi has decided to become a nun. He's now a part-time policeman as well a dentist.
Rhodri Meilir (2005–09) portrays Alfie Butts. Alfie is a friend of Nick's who turned up at the Harper household at Christmas 2005. Alfie comes from a small community in Wales which, based on his stories, has some rather backwards traditions. Also, there weren't many girls where he came from, so he savors spending time at the Harpers' and meeting Michael's friends. Most of the family have turned to him at various times for advice. He's a struggling musician who is very laid-back about life despite not having a home or a steady income. He did not appear in the 2009 Christmas special and was completely absent from the whole of series 10 and 11, with no explanation.
Tayler Marshall (2006–11; character introduced in 2003) portrays Kenzo Harper. Kenzo is the youngest member of the Harper household, son of Janey, grandson of Ben and Susan and nephew of Michael and Nick. Even at such a young age, he's shown a massive intelligence which at times even rivals, and at times even beats, Michael's. At the end of series nine, he has done a project about his family and he tells them his teachers want him to see a psychologist. As portrayed by Tayler Marshall, Kenzo bears a striking resemblance to his uncle Nick (Kris Marshall). Before becoming Kenzo in 2006, Tayler Marshall portrayed a guest at Kenzo's third-birthday party in 2005.
Other characters
Daisy Donovan portrays Brigitte McKay, Ben Harper's dental assistant for the entire first series. She was known for her unique way of thinking and living, and often tried to offer Ben and his patients spiritual guidance. She often forgot to take phone messages for Ben and irritated him while he worked. She and Nick appeared to be attracted to each other.
Chloe Bale portrays Sasha, Janey's best friend in series 8–11. Storylines focused on the pair getting into trouble (usually instigated by Sasha). She was disliked by Ben, then by Janey until they became friends again.
Maxine an unseen character was Janey's best friend from school. Although she was never seen, it was hinted that Maxine was very much like Janey: popular, and fashion-conscious. Janey once admitted to Susan that she hung out with Maxine because Maxine's alleged "ugliness" made Janey look more beautiful. Janey was also jealous that Maxine's parents treated her with expensive designer labels. It is unknown if they kept in touch.
Rosemary Leach portrays Grace Riggs, Susan Harper's mother, known for her addiction to alcohol, especially martinis. She and Susan have a cold relationship, and are locked in a constant psychological battle. Grace has had various boyfriends in the show and was the one who told Ben that Susan was married before she married him. She likes to make Susan feel guilty for not visiting her and often uses deceitful tactics to lure her over. Her own late mother, Mary, owned a highly-successful brothel in London's West End. She first appeared in series two, played by Avril Elgar and credited as "Rebecca" (although she was not referred to by name in the episode). She did not reappear until Leach took up the role in series four. It was announced in the episode "A Decent Proposal" that she had died.
Kevin Bishop portrays Stupid Brian, Janey's boyfriend in the show's second series when he and Janey were still at school but he was getting into decorating. Although he lived up to the nickname 'Stupid Brian,' he was surprising apt at building a bookshelf for the Harpers' kitchen.
Alex Dawson portrays Hubert, Michael's best friend (it's unknown whether they're still in touch). Hubert was known for being very square but very smart. He once created a television remote that could gain 'free' access channels that required PINs for them.
Andy Taylor portrays Hotel Receptionist, appearing in five episodes. He appears in different hotels across the country as a hotel receptionist. Each time he encountered the Harper family he became more familiar with their dysfunctional antics. He once suspected that Susan was an escort and that Ben had a mistress.
Nickolas Grace portrays Mr. Casey, the Harpers' next-door neighbour, although he doesn't get along with them. Viewers first met him as a recent widower who had adopted a dog and named her Gemma. He also tried to scam Ben for money after Ben ran over this dog.
Rachel Hyde-Harvey portrays Fiona, Michael's girlfriend throughout the fourth series. She and Michael are caught in bed together but never had sex. They are also caught kissing in the airing cupboard, and in another scene they begin to take their clothes off but Susan is listening and says they should stop.
Nathan Brine portrays Scott Marsh in series 10. Scott is Michael's first boyfriend. In his first appearance, Ben accidentally outed him to his homophobic father and he was forced to leave home. Susan invited him to live at the house, but Michael and Scott moved into a new flat instead. A few episodes later, it was revealed that Scott and Michael had split up, although they got back together in the same episode.
Guest cast
My Family has used several actors from various past hit sitcoms, most notably David Haig from The Thin Blue Line, Belinda Lang of 2point4 Children, Diana Weston (Robert Lindsay's former long-term partner) from The Upper Hand who portrayed a trans woman named Charlie, Pauline Quirke of Birds of a Feather played a bank robber (whilst her husband in Birds of a Feather was a bank robber), and Sam Kelly from On the Up.
Anna Crilly
John Barrowman
David Haig
Beatriz Batarda
Kevin Bishop
Barbara Keogh
Dani Harmer
Belinda Lang
Rosemary Leach
Sylvestra Le Touzel
Peter Capaldi
Frances Barber
Anne Robinson
Sally Bretton
Trevor Peacock
Jan Francis
Gerard Horan
Michael Obiora
Preeya Kalidas
Christopher Ryan
Daisy Donovan
Vicki Pepperdine
Mac McDonald
Emma Amos
Nickolas Grace
Andy Taylor
Rolf Harris
Jamie Foreman
Anthony Head
Danny Webb
Anna Chancellor
Ben Jones
Eric Sykes
Lucy Punch
Pauline Quirke
Perry Benson
Diana Weston
Lorraine Chase
Jeremy Clyde
Richard Whiteley
Robert Webb
Edna Doré
Sam Kelly
Morgana Robinson
Paul Bown
Ainsley Harriott
Russ Abbot
Clive Rowe
Jay Simon
John Challis
Nathaniel Parker
Julian Clary
Rupert Vansittart
Victoria Wicks
Tony Selby
Rupert Evans
Clive Russell
Episodes
The first episode aired on 19 September 2000, with the final episode on 2 September 2011. 120 episodes, including ten specials, were broadcast as well as one Comic Relief short.
The BBC and UKTV refuse to re-broadcast the series four episode "Blind Justice", due to the receipt of 4 complaints (from a viewing public of 12m). Although no reason was given, it is likely that was considered offensive to blind people. This episode is banned from British TV, but it is still on BBC iPlayer, the series four UK DVD release and has been screened on BBC America.
The episodes are recorded in front of a live audience in Pinewood Studios, Iver, Buckinghamshire, except where the set used is too large, this is then filmed, and played out to an invited audience 'as-live'. Also, the show, unlike most British sitcoms but in common with most American television comedies, has no location footage. Scenes taking place outdoors were actually sets.
The series is scripted by a team of writers, following the American model. Historically, British sitcoms were more generally written by one or two writers. By employing a wider number of writers to brainstorm jokes for each episode, DLT Entertainment UK Ltd, the production company, has been able to maintain a consistent and relatively long-lived product without having to wait for a single writer to produce more material.
Opening sequence
At the start of the first two series, it slides across four boxes with each character's face in them. The first box stands alone with Ben and Susan in it. The other three are lapped over each other with a photo of Michael, Janey and Nick from left to right in them. While it slides across at the start, each character's face turns with Janey and Nick smiling and the others being fairly plain faced. Once the boxes are placed, the boxes with youngsters in them drop to the bottom of the screen and are replaced with the show's logo.
At the start of the third series, four rectangle blocks fall onto a completely white screen to create Ben's face. Those blocks are then replaced with blocks that create Susan's face; each block then shows different parts of the other characters to finally reveal Nick's face. It continues to do this for Janey, Michael and (starting from the fourth episode entitled "Of Mice and Ben") the new character to the show Abi. Abi's (for the first three episodes, Michael's) face then falls into the bottom right corner while the previous faces spread across to other places of the white screen. It reveals that Nick, Janey and Michael are next to Abi and Ben and Susan are with each other at the top left of the screen. The logo fades on the top right of the screen.
The fourth series is similar to the third series opening sequence. Only difference is that the photo of each character is changed, each block does not show different parts of each character when it transitions; instead it transitions in various styles, for example in an opening in a window blind style. Series five titles still remain similar; the photos are changed again and there are eleven rectangles instead of four. Nick is almost completely absent from the opening titles in series five except in episode six of series five titled "My Will Be Done"; he was missing in some episodes from series four and a few from series three.
The series six opening titles have cut-outs of each character, as they fade into the white screen and zoom in and out and eventually stop moving. The line-up from left to right is Abi, Michael, Susan, Ben, Janey and Roger. The titles remain the same for series seven and eight; the one difference is that Janey's clothes are changed. In series nine, the line-up changes due to Abi's departure at the end of the previous series. Her place is taken by Alfie, who has been a regular since series six but never appeared in the titles until the ninth series. Starting in the 2009 Christmas Special, Alfie has been replaced by Kenzo.
Writers
The first writer of My Family was its creator, Fred Barron with British writer, Penny Croft. Barron wrote eight episodes up until the fourth series. Other major writers include James Hendrie and Ian Brown who wrote numerous episodes, including the first episode together up until the 2004 Christmas Special. Steven and Jim Armogida are the only writers to remain on the show throughout its run.
Writers such as Sophie Hetherington, Georgia Pritchett, James Cary and Tess Morris have all written at least one episode for the sitcom at one point. None of these writers have written more than five episodes. Andrea Solomons has written many episodes for My Family, she wrote from the second series to the sixth series. Meanwhile, Darin Henry has written one episode for the fifth series before returning for the eighth series onwards.
Paul Minett and Brian Leveson are the sitcom's current main writers. Credited for most of the specials, at least three episodes from every series since 2005. Bert-Tyler Moore and George Jeffrie both have written a few episodes for the sitcom in its sixth and seventh series and returned for series ten. Tom Leopold wrote two episodes for the sixth series only. Tom Anderson, currently My Family's executive producer and showrunner, wrote his first episode for series seven and wrote until series ten, but remained showrunner for series eleven. Ed Dyson and David Cantor have written episodes for the seventh, eighth, ninth and eleventh series. Table correct as of episode 120.
Show runners
Fred Barron (2000–2003)
Ian Brown & James Hendrie (2004–2005)
Tom Leopold (2006)
Tom Anderson (2007–2011)
Reception
Critical reception
Initially, the show received a poor critical response, and many dismissed its humour as mundane and dated. In spite of this, the programme received above average audience ratings, and further series were commissioned, with critical approval gradually improving as the series progressed. Bruce Dessau, writing on the 100th episode, noted that it was a comedy that "the critics hate, but the public love", on the basis of ratings.
Zoë Wanamaker said in 2007 that she was no longer happy with the quality of the writing, claiming she and co-star Robert Lindsay even refused to film one episode because it was so poor. In May 2009, the two stars revealed they were still unhappy with the writing quality, with Lindsay stating "There's some real dross (in the scripts) and we're aware of it". He later admitted that the eleventh series might be the last stating "As far as Zoë (Wanamaker) and I are concerned, we will do a tenth series of 16 episodes, which the BBC will probably split into a tenth and eleventh, then that will be it."
In 2004, the show came 24th in Britain's Best Sitcom.
Ratings
Note: The tenth series features nine episodes, but the final two did not originally air with the series and were held over and included within the eleventh series, therefore, for the purpose of listing average ratings, the two episodes will appear in the ratings table for the eleventh series as they aired in that year.
Awards and nominations
Cancellation
BBC One controller Danny Cohen, when commenting on the decision to axe the series, said "Now that all the Harper children have flown the nest we feel it's time to make room for new comedies". Robert Lindsay said in an interview with The Daily Telegraph: "I'm amazed by the public's love for the series [...] When Kris Marshall left in 2005 I was convinced that was it. But somehow Zoë and I have kept the essence of it together."
DVD releases
All episodes are available on DVD in the UK. Each of the eleven series were released on DVD both individually and as a box set in the UK, minus the Christmas specials. On 20 November 2006, Christmas 2002 – 2005 was released on DVD, followed by Christmas 2006 – 2010 on 5 December 2011. In Canada and the United States series one to four are available on Region 1 DVD. In Australia Series one to seven are available on Region 4 DVD. A box set containing Series one to five was released on 7 April 2011 in Australia. In the UK, series 1, series 2 and series 3 were released on DVD by Video Collection International, series 4 was released on DVD by 2 Entertain and series 5, series 6, the four (2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005) Christmas specials, series 7, series 8, series 9, series 10, series 11 and the five (2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010) Christmas specials were released on DVD by both 2 Entertain and BBC Video. Series eight was released on 6 October 2011 in Australia. Series 9 was released 3 November 2011 in Australia. Series 10 was released 3 May 2012 in Australia. A box set containing Series 6 to 10 was released 7 November 2012 in Australia. In Australia as of 20 August 2019, Series 11 and both Christmas Specials have not been released in Region 4.
References
Specific
General
Mark Lewisohn, "Radio Times Guide to TV Comedy", BBC Worldwide Ltd, 2003
https://web.archive.org/web/20091115112108/http://www.bbc.co.uk/showsandtours/shows/tickets/tv
External links
2000 British television series debuts
2011 British television series endings
2000s British sitcoms
2000s British LGBT-related comedy television series
2010s British sitcoms
2010s British LGBT-related comedy television series
BBC television sitcoms
British LGBT-related sitcoms
Chiswick
English-language television shows
Television series about dysfunctional families
Television series about marriage
Television series about siblings
Television shows set in London
Works about dentistry
Television series produced at Pinewood Studios
|
412847
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver%20Cowdery
|
Oliver Cowdery
|
Oliver H. P. Cowdery (October 3, 1806 – March 3, 1850) was an American religious leader who, with Joseph Smith, was an important participant in the formative period of the Latter Day Saint movement between 1829 and 1836. He was the first baptized Latter Day Saint, one of the Three Witnesses of the Book of Mormon's golden plates, one of the first Latter Day Saint apostles and the Assistant President of the Church.
In 1838, as Assistant President of the Church, Cowdery resigned and was excommunicated on charges of denying the faith. He had claimed that Smith had been engaging in a sexual relationship with Fanny Alger, a teenage servant in his home. Cowdery became a Methodist, but was rebaptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) in 1848.
Biography
Early life
Oliver Cowdery was born October 3, 1806, in Wells, Vermont; his father, William, moved the family to the nearby town of Poultney when Cowdery was three years old. His mother, Rebecca Fuller Cowdery, died on September 3, 1809. In his youth, Cowdery hunted for buried treasure using a divining rod, a common practice at the time.
At age 20, Cowdery left Vermont for upstate New York, where his older brothers had settled. He clerked at a store for just over two years and in 1829 became a school teacher in Manchester. Cowdery lodged with different families in the area, including that of Joseph Smith, Sr., who was said to have provided Cowdery with additional information about the golden plates of which Cowdery said he had heard "from all quarters."
Book of Mormon scribe and witness
Cowdery met Joseph Smith, Jr. on April 5, 1829—a year and a day before the official founding of the Church of Christ—and heard from him how he had received golden plates containing ancient reformed Egyptian writings. Cowdery told Smith that he had seen the golden plates in a vision before the two had met.
Before meeting Cowdery, Smith had virtually stopped translating after the first 116 pages had been lost by Martin Harris. Working with Cowdery, however, Smith completed the manuscript of what would become the Book of Mormon in a remarkably short period (April 7–June 1829), during what Richard Bushman later called a "burst of rapid-fire translation." Cowdery also unsuccessfully attempted to translate part of the Book of Mormon by himself.
Cowdery and Smith claimed that on May 15, 1829, they received the Aaronic priesthood from the resurrected John the Baptist, after which they baptized each other in the Susquehanna River. Cowdery said that he and Smith later went into the forest and prayed "until a glorious light encircled us, and as we arose on account of the light, three persons stood before us dressed in white, their faces beaming with glory." One of the three announced that he was the Apostle Peter and said the others were the apostles James and John.
Later that year, Cowdery reported sharing a vision, along with Smith and David Whitmer, in which an angel showed him the golden plates. Harris said he saw a similar vision later that day. Cowdery, Whitmer and Harris signed a statement to that effect and became known as the Three Witnesses. Their testimony has subsequently been published in nearly every edition of the Book of Mormon.
Second Elder of the church
When the Church of Christ was organized on April 6, 1830, Smith became "First Elder" and Cowdery "Second Elder." Although Cowdery was technically second in authority to Smith from the organization of the church through 1838, in practice Sidney Rigdon, Smith's "spokesman" and counselor in the First Presidency, began to supplant Cowdery as early as 1831. Cowdery held the position of Assistant President of the Church from 1834 until his excommunication in 1838. He was also a member of the first presiding high council of the church, organized in Kirtland, Ohio, in 1834.
On December 18, 1832, Cowdery married Elizabeth Ann Whitmer, the daughter of Peter Whitmer, Sr. and sister of David, John, Jacob and Peter Whitmer, Jr. They had six children, of whom only one daughter survived to maturity.
Cowdery helped Smith publish a series of revelations first called the Book of Commandments and later, as revised and expanded, the Doctrine and Covenants. He was also the editor, or on the editorial board, of several early church publications, including the Evening and Morning Star, the Messenger and Advocate and the Northern Times.
When the church created a bank known as the Kirtland Safety Society (KSS) in 1837, Cowdery obtained the money-printing plates. Sent by Smith to Monroe, Michigan, he became president of the Bank of Monroe, in which the church had a controlling interest. Both banks failed that same year. Cowdery moved to the newly founded Latter Day Saint settlement in Far West, Missouri, and suffered ill health through the winter of 1837–38.
Early written history of the church
In 1834 and 1835, with the help of Smith, Cowdery published a contribution to an anticipated "full history of the rise of the church of Latter Day Saints" as a series of articles in the Messenger and Advocate. His version was not entirely congruent with the later official history of the church. For instance, Cowdery ignored Smith's first vision but described an angel (rather than God the Father or Jesus Christ) who called Smith to his work in September 1823. He placed the religious revival that inspired Smith in 1823 (rather than 1820) and stated that this revival experience had caused Smith to pray in his bedroom (rather than the woods of the official history). Further, after first asserting that the revival had occurred in 1821, when Smith was in his "fifteenth year", Cowdery corrected the date to 1823 and stated that it was in Smith's seventeenth year (though 1823 was actually Smith's eighteenth year).
1838 split with Smith
By early 1838, Smith and Cowdery disagreed on three significant issues. First, Cowdery competed with Smith for leadership of the new church and "disagreed with the Prophet's economic and political program and sought a personal financial independence [from the] Zion society that Joseph Smith envisioned." Then, in March 1838, Smith and Rigdon took over the Far West church, which had been under the presidency of W. W. Phelps and Cowdery's brothers-in-law, and initiated policies that Cowdery, Phelps, and the Whitmers believed violated the separation of church and state. Finally, in January 1838, Cowdery wrote his brother Warren that he and Smith:
"had some conversation in which in every instance I did not fail to affirm that which I had said was strictly true. A dirty, nasty, filthy affair of his and Fanny Alger's was talked over in which I strictly declared that I had never deserted from the truth in the matter, and as I supposed was admitted by himself."
Alger, a teenage maid living with the Smiths in Kirtland, may have been Smith's first plural wife, a practice Cowdery opposed.
On April 12, 1838, a church court excommunicated Cowdery after he had failed to appear at a hearing on his membership and sent a letter of resignation instead. David Whitmer was also excommunicated from the church at the same time, and apostle Lyman E. Johnson was disfellowshipped; John Whitmer and Phelps had been excommunicated for similar reasons a month earlier.
Cowdery and the Whitmers became known as "the dissenters" but continued to live in and around Far West, where they owned a great deal of property. On June 17, 1838, Rigdon announced to a large Latter Day Saint congregation that the dissenters were "as salt that had lost its savor" and that it was the duty of the faithful to cast them out "to be trodden beneath the feet of men." The Salt Sermon was seen as a threat of violence and an implicit instruction to the Danites, a secret vigilante group.
The Danite Manifesto, a letter addressed to Cowdery and the other dissenters, was signed by some eighty-four Latter Day Saints (but not Smith). It warned:
you shall have three days after you receive this communication to you, including twenty-four hours in each day, for you to depart with your families peaceably; which you may do undisturbed by any person; but in that time, if you do not depart, we will use the means in our power to cause you to depart.
Cowdery and the dissenters fled the county. Reports about their treatment circulated in nearby non-Mormon communities and increased the tension that led to the 1838 Mormon War, which ultimately resulted in the Latter Day Saints' expulsion from Missouri.
1838–48
Between 1838 and 1848, Cowdery studied and practiced law in Tiffin, Ohio, where he became a civic and political leader. He joined the local Methodist church and served as secretary in 1844. Cowdery, also edited the local Democratic newspaper until it was learned that he was one of the Three Witnesses, at which time he was reassigned as assistant editor. He was nominated as his district's Democratic Party candidate for the Ohio State Senate in 1846, but was defeated when his Mormon background was discovered. Some contemporary Mormons believed that Cowdery had denied his testimony of the Book of Mormon, while others believed he may have repeated his testimony even while estranged from the church. There is no evidence for either scenario.
After the Smith's death on June 27, 1844, a succession crisis split the Latter Day Saint movement. Cowdery's father and brother were followers of James J. Strang, who pressed his claim as the movement's new "Prophet, Seer, and Revelator" by claiming that he had found and translated ancient records engraved upon metal plates, similar to the golden plates Smith had translated in the 1820s. In 1847, Cowdery and his brother moved to Elkhorn, Wisconsin, about twelve miles away from Strang's headquarters in Voree. In Elkhorn he entered law practice with his brother and became co-editor of the Walworth County Democrat. In 1848 he ran for state assemblyman but was again defeated when his Mormon ties were disclosed.
LDS Church member
In 1848, Cowdery traveled to the frontier settlement of Winter Quarters (in present-day Nebraska) to meet with followers of Brigham Young and the Quorum of the Twelve, asking to be reunited with the church. The Twelve referred the application to the high council in Pottawattamie County, Iowa, which convened a meeting with all high priests in the area to consider the matter. After Cowdery convinced the meeting attendees that he no longer maintained any claim to leadership within the church, his application for rebaptism was unanimously approved. On November 12, 1848, Cowdery was rebaptized by Orson Hyde of the Quorum of the Twelve into—what had become following the succession crisis—the LDS Church in Indian Creek at Kanesville, Iowa.
After his rebaptism, Cowdery desired to relocate to the State of Deseret (present-day Utah) in the coming spring or summer, but due to financial and health problems he decided that he would not be able to make the journey in 1849. Because he was not with the LDS settlement in the State of Deseret, he was not immediately given a position of responsibility in the church. However, in July 1849, Young wrote Cowdery a letter inviting him to travel to Washington, D.C., with Almon W. Babbitt to press the State of Deseret's desire for statehood and to draft a formal application. Cowdery's deteriorating health did not allow him to accept this assignment, and within eight months he had died.
In 1912, the official church magazine Improvement Era published a statement by Jacob F. Gates, son of early Mormon leader Jacob Gates, who had died twenty years prior. According to the recollection by his son, the elder Gates had visited Cowdery in 1849 and inquired about his witness testimony concerning the Book of Mormon. Cowdery reportedly reaffirmed his witness:
"Jacob, I want you to remember what I say to you. I am a dying man, and what would it profit me to tell you a lie? I know," said he, "that this Book of Mormon was translated by the gift and power of God. My eyes saw, my ears heard, and my understanding was touched, and I know that whereof I testified is true. It was no dream, no vain imagination of the mind—it was real".;
On March 3, 1850, Cowdery died in David Whitmer's home in Richmond, Missouri.
As purported co-author of the Book of Mormon
Critics who doubt the origin theory of the Book of Mormon have speculated that Cowdery may have played a role in the work's composition. LDS scholar Daniel Peterson, however, has noted that the original manuscript of the Book of Mormon seems to corroborate Smith's story in that it was in its majority dictated to Cowdery, with aural errors in it; and the Printer's Manuscript, in which Cowdery participated in producing, contains copyist errors with his calligraphy, rendering him unlikely of being aware of the content beforehand.
Speculation of pre-1829 connection between Cowdery and Smith
Cowdery was a third cousin of Lucy Mack Smith, Joseph Smith's mother. There is also a geographical connection between the Smiths and the Cowderys. During the 1790s, both Joseph Smith, Sr. and Lucy Mack Smith, and two of Cowdery's relatives were living in Tunbridge, Vermont.
New Israelites
Joseph Smith, Sr. and Cowdery's father, William, may have been members of a Congregationalist sect known as the New Israelites, organized in Rutland County, Vermont. The Cowdery family lived in Rutland County in the early 19th century and later attended a Congregationalist church in Poultney, Vermont. Witnesses from Vermont connected William Cowdery to the sect before these witnesses could have known that his son, Oliver, was a dowser.
Vermont residents interviewed by a local historian said that Joseph Smith, Sr. was also a member of the New Israelites and was one of its "leading rods-men". But although residents said that he lived in Poultney, Vermont, "at the time of the Wood movement here", there are no other records placing Smith closer than about 50 miles away. On the other hand, Smith's involvement with the New Israelites would be consistent with his links to Congregationalism and the report from James C. Brewster than in 1837 Smith, Sr. admitted that he entered the money digging business "more than thirty years" ago.
Cowdery and View of the Hebrews
For several years, Cowdery and his family attended the Congregational Church in Poultney, Vermont, when its minister was the Rev. Ethan Smith, author of View of the Hebrews, an 1823 book suggesting that Native Americans were of Hebrew origin, a not uncommon speculation during the colonial and early national periods. In 2000, David Persuitte argued that Cowdery's knowledge of View of the Hebrews significantly contributed to the final version of the Book of Mormon, a connection first suggested as early as 1902. Fawn Brodie wrote that it "may never be proved that Joseph saw View of the Hebrews before writing the Book of Mormon, but the striking parallelisms between the two books hardly leave a case for mere coincidence." Richard Bushman and John W. Welch reject the connection and argue that there is little relationship between the contents of the two books.
Footnotes
References
Brooke, John L. The Refiner's Fire: The Making of Mormon Cosmology, 1644–1844. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1994.
Cowdrey, Wayne L. Davis, Howard A. Vinik, Arthur Who Really Wrote the Book of Mormon? The Spalding Enigma Concordia Publishing House: St. Louis, 2005.
Gunn, Stanley R. Oliver Cowdery, Second Elder and Scribe. Bookcraft: Salt Lake City, 1962. 250–51.
Legg, Phillip R., Oliver Cowdery: The Elusive Second Elder of the Restoration, Herald House: Independence, Missouri, 1989.
Mehling, Mary, Cowdrey-Cowdery-Cowdray Genealogy p. 181, Frank Allaben: 1911.
Quinn, D. Michael, Early Mormonism and the Magic World View, Revised and enlarged (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1998), 36–39.
Smith, Joseph, B. H. Roberts, ed., History of the Church (Salt Lake City: Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1902), seven volumes.
Vogel, Dan, ed., Early Mormon Documents [EMD] (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1998), five volumes.
Welch, John W. and Morris, Larry E., eds., Oliver Cowdery: Scribe, Elder, Witness (Provo, UT: The Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, 2006); .
Further reading
External links
Oliver Cowdery, by Dale R. Broadhurst, at olivercowdery.com
Oliver Cowdery's Genealogy, at olivercowdery.com
Oliver Cowdry legal documents, MSS SC 355 at L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University
Oliver Cowdrey stipulation in estate settlement, MSS SC 258 at L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University
Oliver Cowdery notarized affidavit, MSS SC 1035 at L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University
Oliver Cowdery docket book, MSS 4029 at L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University
1806 births
1850 deaths
American Latter Day Saint leaders
American Latter Day Saint missionaries
Angelic visionaries
Apostles of the Church of Christ (Latter Day Saints)
Book of Mormon witnesses
Converts to Mormonism
Doctrine and Covenants people
Editors of Latter Day Saint publications
Latter Day Saint missionaries in the United States
Leaders in the Church of Christ (Latter Day Saints)
Members of the First Presidency (LDS Church)
Official historians of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Ohio Democrats
People excommunicated by the Church of Christ (Latter Day Saints)
People from Elkhorn, Wisconsin
People from Wells, Vermont
Religious leaders from Vermont
Wisconsin Democrats
|
412862
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satsuma%20Rebellion
|
Satsuma Rebellion
|
The Satsuma Rebellion, also known as the , was a revolt of disaffected samurai against the new imperial government of Japan, nine years into the Meiji era. Its name comes from the Satsuma Domain, which had been influential in the Restoration and became home to unemployed samurai after military reforms rendered their status obsolete. The rebellion lasted from 29 January until 24 September of 1877, when it was decisively crushed, and its leader, Saigō Takamori, was shot and mortally wounded.
Saigō's rebellion was the last and most serious of a series of armed uprisings against the new government of the Empire of Japan, the predecessor state to modern Japan. The rebellion was very expensive for the government, which forced it to make numerous monetary reforms including leaving the gold standard. The conflict effectively ended the samurai class and ushered in modern warfare fought by conscript soldiers instead of military nobles. It was also the last civil war fought in Japan.
Background
Although Satsuma had been one of the key players in the Meiji Restoration and the Boshin War, and although many men from Satsuma had risen to influential positions in the new Meiji government, there was growing dissatisfaction with the direction the country was taking. The modernization of the country meant the abolition of the privileged social status of the samurai class, and had undermined their financial position. The very rapid and massive changes to Japanese culture, language, dress and society appeared to many samurai to be a betrayal of the jōi ("expel the barbarian") portion of the sonnō jōi justification used to overthrow the former Tokugawa shogunate.
Saigō Takamori, one of the senior Satsuma leaders in the Meiji government who had initially supported the reforms, was especially concerned about growing political corruption - popular prints depicted the rebel army with banners bearing the words . Saigō was a strong proponent of war with Korea in the Seikanron debate of 1873. At one point, he offered to visit Korea in person and to provide a casus belli by the likely outcome of his being assassinated by Korean nationalists. Saigō expected both that a war would ultimately be successful for Japan and also that the initial stages of it would offer a means by which the samurai whose cause he championed could find meaningful and beneficial death. When the plan was rejected, Saigō resigned from all of his government positions in protest and returned to his hometown of Kagoshima, as did many other Satsuma ex-samurai in the military and police forces.
To help support and employ these men, in 1874 Saigō established a private academy known as the Shi-gakkō in Kagoshima. Soon 132 branches were established all over the prefecture. The “training” provided was not purely academic: although the Chinese classics were taught, all students were required to take part in weapons training and instruction in tactics. Saigō also started an artillery school. The schools resembled paramilitary political organizations more than anything else, and they enjoyed the support of the governor of Satsuma, who appointed disaffected samurai to political offices, where they came to dominate the Kagoshima government. Support for Saigō was so strong that Satsuma had effectively seceded from the central government by the end of 1876.
Status of combatants
Imperial military
As per the 1873 conscription law, Japan was divided into six military districts with conscripts drawn by lots, with seven years service (three active and four reserve) for the conscripted and service for 20 years in the national militia for those not chosen for active service.
A cavalry squadron contained 150 in wartime. However, due to difficulties in securing horses suited for modern war, only three squadrons were available, for a total of 450 cavalrymen (including the Imperial guard squadron). An infantry regiment had three battalions of 1,088 men and 16 battalion staff each. 14 such regiments existed for a total of 45,920 infantry. An engineer company contained 150 men. The engineers had 10 companies, giving a total of 1,500 engineers. The train companies contained 80 men. There were a total of six companies giving a total of 480 men. There were also nine coastal artillery battalions of 100 men, a total of 900 men.
The mobile artillery consisted of 12 mountain gun batteries with 1,920 men and six field gun batteries with 780 men, with each battery containing 12 guns. A total of 2,700 men with 108 guns were in the mobile artillery.
The imperial guard, a force drawn from the pro-imperial forces of the Boshin War, was organised into two regiments of infantry (4,384), one cavalry squadron (150), one artillery battalion (12 guns and 290 men), one engineer company (150), and a train company (80 men), giving a total of 5,054 men.
Imperial police
In 1871, the imperial government organised the Rasotsu, which expanded rapidly from its original 3,000 to 18,000 in 1877. These policemen were militarised and saw action throughout the rebellion. During the conflict, the government side expended, on average, 322,000 rounds of ammunition and 1,000 artillery shells per day.
Rebel forces
The forces of Saigo were only partly modernised, with an ad hoc organisation made in 1877 with 6 infantry battalions of 2,000 men, each with 10 companies of 200 per battalion. There was little to no cavalry in the rebel army and only 200 gunners for the 28 mountain, 2 field and 30 mortar pieces assembled by the rebels.
Prelude
Word of Saigō's academies was greeted with considerable concern in Tokyo. The government had just dealt with several small but violent samurai revolts in Kyūshū, and they found the prospect of rebellion by the numerous and fierce Satsuma samurai, led by the famous and popular Saigō, an alarming one. In December 1876, the Meiji government sent a police officer named Nakahara Hisao and 57 other men to investigate reports of subversive activities and unrest. The men were captured, and under torture, confessed that they were spies who had been sent to assassinate Saigō. Although Nakahara later repudiated the confession, it was widely believed in Satsuma and was used as justification by the disaffected samurai that a rebellion was necessary in order to "protect Saigō". Fearing a rebellion, the Meiji government sent a warship to Kagoshima to remove the weapons stockpiled at the Kagoshima arsenal on January 30, 1877. This, accompanied by an elimination of samurai rice stipends in 1877, provoked open conflict. Outraged by the government's tactics, 50 students from Saigō's academy attacked the Somuta Arsenal and carried off weapons. Over the next three days, more than 1000 students staged raids on the naval yards and other arsenals.
Presented with this sudden success, the greatly dismayed Saigō was reluctantly persuaded to come out of his semi-retirement to lead the rebellion against the central government.
In February 1877, the Meiji government dispatched Hayashi Tomoyuki, an official with the Home Ministry with Admiral Kawamura Sumiyoshi in the warship Takao to ascertain the situation. Satsuma's governor, Oyama Tsunayoshi, explained that the uprising was in response to the government's assassination attempt on Saigō, and asked that Admiral Kawamura (Saigō's cousin) come ashore to help calm the situation. After Oyama departed, a flotilla of small ships filled with armed men attempted to board Takao by force, but were repelled. The following day, Hayashi declared to Oyama that he could not permit Kawamura to go ashore when the situation was so unsettled, and that the attack on Takao constituted an act of lèse-majesté.
On his return to Kobe on February 12, Hayashi met with General Yamagata Aritomo and Itō Hirobumi, and it was decided that the Imperial Japanese Army would need to be sent to Kagoshima to prevent the revolt from spreading to other areas of the country sympathetic to Saigō. On the same day, Saigō met with his lieutenants Kirino Toshiaki and Shinohara Kunimoto and announced his intention of marching to Tokyo to ask questions of the government. Rejecting large numbers of volunteers, he made no attempt to contact any of the other domains for support, and no troops were left at Kagoshima to secure his base against an attack. To aid in the air of legality, Saigō wore his army uniform. Marching north, his army was hampered by the deepest snowfall Satsuma had seen in more than 50 years, which, because of the similarity to the weather that had greeted those setting out to enact the Meiji Restoration nine years earlier, was interpreted by some as a sign of divine support.
The Southwestern War
Siege of Kumamoto Castle
The Satsuma vanguard crossed into Kumamoto Prefecture on February 14. The commandant of Kumamoto Castle, Major General Tani Tateki had 3,800 soldiers and 600 policemen at his disposal. However, most of the garrison was from Kyūshū, while a significant number of officers were natives of Kagoshima; their loyalties were open to question. Rather than risk desertions or defections, Tani decided to stand on the defensive. On February 19, the first shots of the war were fired as the defenders of Kumamoto Castle opened fire on Satsuma units attempting to force their way into the castle. Kumamoto Castle, built in 1598, was among the strongest in Japan, but Saigō was confident that his forces would be more than a match for Tani's conscripts, who were still demoralized by the recent Shinpūren rebellion.
On February 22, the main Satsuma army arrived and attacked Kumamoto Castle in a pincer movement. Fighting continued into the night. Imperial forces fell back, and acting Major Nogi Maresuke of the Kokura Fourteenth Regiment lost the regimental colors in fierce fighting. However, despite their successes, the Satsuma army failed to take the castle and began to realize that the conscript army was not as ineffective as first assumed. After two days of fruitless attack, the Satsuma forces dug into the rock-hard icy ground around the castle and tried to starve the garrison out in a siege. The situation was especially desperate for the defenders as their stores of food and ammunition had been depleted by a warehouse fire shortly before the rebellion began. During the siege, many Kumamoto ex-samurai flocked to Saigō's banner, swelling his forces to around 20,000 men. In the meantime, on March 9, Saigō, Kirino, and Shinohara were stripped of their court ranks and titles.
On the night of April 8, a force from Kumamoto Castle made a sortie, forcing open a gap in the Satsuma lines and enabling desperately needed supplies to reach the garrison. The main Imperial Army, under General Kuroda Kiyotaka with the assistance of General Yamakawa Hiroshi, arrived in Kumamoto on April 12, putting the now heavily outnumbered Satsuma forces to flight.
Battle of Tabaruzaka
On March 4, Imperial Army General Yamagata ordered a frontal assault against Tabaruzaka, guarding the approaches to Kumamoto, which developed into an eight-day-long battle. Tabaruzaka was held by some 15,000 samurai from Satsuma, Kumamoto and Hitoyoshi against the Imperial Army's 9th Infantry Brigade (some 9,000 men).
At the height of the battle, Saigō wrote a private letter to Prince Arisugawa, restating his reasons for going to Tokyo. His letter indicated that he was not committed to rebellion and sought a peaceful settlement. The government, however, refused to negotiate.
In order to cut Saigō off from his base, an imperial force with three warships, 500 policemen, and several companies of infantry landed in Kagoshima on March 8, seized arsenals, and took Satsuma's governor into custody.
Yamagata also landed a detachment with two infantry brigades and 1,200 policemen behind the rebel lines, so as to fall on them from the rear from Yatsushiro Bay. Imperial forces landed with few losses, then pushed north seizing the city of Miyanohara on March 19. After receiving reinforcements, the imperial force, now totaling 4,000 men, attacked the rear elements of the Satsuma army and drove them back.
Tabaruzaka was one of the most intense campaigns of the war. Imperial forces emerged victorious, but with heavy casualties on both sides. Each side had suffered more than 4,000 killed or wounded.
Retreat from Kumamoto
After his failure to take Kumamoto, Saigō led his followers on a seven-day march to Hitoyoshi. Morale was extremely low, and lacking any strategy, the Satsuma forces dug in to wait for the next Imperial Army offensive. However, the Imperial Army was likewise depleted, and fighting was suspended for several weeks to permit reinforcement. When the offensive was resumed, Saigo retreated to Miyazaki, leaving behind numerous pockets of samurai in the hills to conduct guerilla attacks.
On July 24, the Imperial Army forced Saigō out of Miyakonojō, followed by Nobeoka. Troops were landed at Ōita and Saiki north of Saigō's army, and Saigō was caught in a pincer attack. However, the Satsuma army was able to cut its way free from encirclement. By August 17, the Satsuma army had been reduced to 3000 combatants, and had lost most of its modern firearms and all of its artillery.
The surviving rebels made a stand on the slopes of Mount Enodake, and were soon surrounded. Determined not to let the rebels escape again, Yamagata sent in a large force which outnumbered the Satsuma army 7:1. Most of Saigō's remaining forces either surrendered or committed seppuku. However, Saigō burned his private papers and army uniform on August 19, and slipped away towards Kagoshima with his remaining able-bodied men. Despite Yamagata's efforts over the next several days, Saigō and his remaining 500 men reached Kagoshima on September 1 and seized Shiroyama, overlooking the city.
Battle of Shiroyama
Saigō and his remaining samurai were pushed back to Kagoshima where, in a final battle, the Battle of Shiroyama, Imperial Army troops under the command of General Yamagata Aritomo and marines under the command of Admiral Kawamura Sumiyoshi outnumbered Saigō 60-to-1. However, Yamagata was determined to leave nothing to chance. The imperial troops spent several days constructing an elaborate system of ditches, walls and obstacles to prevent another breakout. The five government warships in Kagoshima harbor added their firepower to Yamagata's artillery, and began to systematically reduce the rebel positions.
After Saigō rejected a letter dated September 1 from Yamagata drafted by a young Suematsu Kenchō asking him to surrender, Yamagata ordered a full frontal assault on September 24, 1877. By 6 a.m., only 40 rebels were still alive. Saigō was severely wounded. Legend says that one of his followers, Beppu Shinsuke, acted as kaishakunin and aided Saigō in committing seppuku before he could be captured. However, other evidence contradicts this, stating that Saigō in fact died of the bullet wound and then had his head removed by Beppu in order to preserve his dignity.
After Saigo's death, Beppu and the last of the "ex-samurai" drew their swords and plunged downhill toward the Imperial positions and to their deaths. With these deaths, the Satsuma rebellion came to an end.
Aftermath
Financially, crushing the Satsuma Rebellion cost the government a total of (£8,400,000), forcing Japan off the gold standard and causing the government to print paper currency. Economic effects of the Satsuma Rebellion resulted in the passing of the Act of February 4, 1877, which reduced the land tax from 3% to 2.5%. The Rebellion reduced Japan's yearly expenditure from £13,700,000 to £10,250,000, and it raised Japan's national debt from £28,000,000 to £70,000,000. The costs of pacifying the former samurai led to the Meiji government becoming virtually bankrupt; the government was forced to sell off state-owned enterprises such as factories and mines to politically-connected merchants and former officials at low prices, leading to the instant formation of large industrial firms or zaibatsu. Meanwhile, the remnants of the militaristic faction that supported Saigo's invasion proposal evolved into Japanese right-wing groups such as the genyosha and kokuryūkai. These state-owned industries had been operating at a loss, and Finance Minister Matsukata Masayoshi decided to sell all of these to politically connected capitalists at a loss, except the railroad, telegraph and military industries. He also cancelled scholarships for Japanese students abroad and fired foreign experts.
The rebellion also effectively ended the samurai class, as the new Imperial Japanese Army built on heimin conscripts had proven itself in battle. More critically, the defeat of the samurai displayed the power of modern artillery and rifles, against which a banzai charge had no appreciable effect. On 22 February 1889, Emperor Meiji pardoned Saigō posthumously. Statues in Ueno Park, Tokyo and near the ruins of Kagoshima Castle stand in his memory. Saigō Takamori was labelled as a tragic hero by the people, and his actions were considered an honorable example of bushido and Yamato-damashii.
Name
In English, the most common name for the war is the "Satsuma Rebellion". Mark Ravina, the author of The Last Samurai: The Life and Battles of Saigo Takamori, argued that "Satsuma Rebellion" is not the best name for the war because the English name does not well represent the war and its Japanese name. Ravina said that the war's scope was much farther than Satsuma, and he characterizes the event as being closer to a civil war than a rebellion. Ravina prefers the English name "War of the Southwest."
See also
Citations
General and cited references
Buck, James H. "The Satsuma Rebellion of 1877: From Kagoshima Through the Siege of Kumamoto Castle". Monumenta Nipponica 28#4 (1973), pp. 427–446. . .
External links
Satsuma Rebellion: Satsuma Clan Samurai Against the Imperial Japanese Army
Organization of Imperial and Satsuma Forces
1877 in Japan
19th-century rebellions
Conflicts in 1877
Meiji Restoration
Rebellions in Japan
Satsuma Province
|
412877
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown%20trout
|
Brown trout
|
The brown trout (Salmo trutta) is a species of salmonid ray-finned fish and the most widely distributed species of the genus Salmo, endemic to most of Europe, West Asia and parts of North Africa, and has been widely introduced globally as a game fish, even becoming one of the world's worst invasive species outside of its native range.
Brown trout are highly adaptable and have evolved numerous ecotypes/subspecies. These include three main ecotypes: a riverine ecotype called river trout or Salmo trutta morpha fario; a lacustrine ecotype or S. trutta morpha lacustris, also called the lake trout (not to be confused with the lake trout in North America); and anadromous populations known as the sea trout or S. trutta morpha trutta, which upon adulthood migrate downstream to the oceans for much of its life and only returns to fresh water to spawn in the gravel beds of headstreams. Sea trout in Ireland and Great Britain have many regional names: sewin in Wales, finnock in Scotland, peal in the West Country, mort in North West England, and white trout in Ireland.
The lacustrine and riverine morphs of brown trout are both potamodromous, meaning they are also migratory, though only between freshwater bodies. Lacustrine trout mainly inhabit large lakes with calm and stratified deep water, while riverine trout forms fluvial populations typically in large rivers but sometimes in shallower creeks and alpine streams, both still migrating upstream during reproductive seasions. Anadromous and potamodromous morphs coexisting in the same river appear genetically identical. What determines the way they migrate remains unknown.
Taxonomy
The scientific name of the brown trout is Salmo trutta. The specific epithet trutta derives from the Latin trutta, meaning, literally, "trout". Behnke (2007) relates that the brown trout was the first species of trout described in the 1758 edition of Systema Naturae by Swedish zoologist Carl Linnaeus. Systema Naturae established the system of binomial nomenclature for animals. Salmo trutta was used to describe anadromous or sea-run forms of brown trout. Linnaeus also described two other brown trout species in 1758. Salmo fario was used for riverine forms. Salmo lacustris was used for lake-dwelling forms.
Range
The native range of brown trout extends from northern Norway and White Sea tributaries in Russia in the Arctic Ocean to the Atlas Mountains in North Africa. The western limit of their native range is Iceland in the north Atlantic, while the eastern limit is in Aral Sea tributaries in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Introduction outside their natural range
Brown trout have been widely introduced into suitable environments around the world, including North and South America, Australasia, Asia, and South and East Africa. Introduced brown trout have established self-sustaining, wild populations in many introduced countries. The first introductions were in Australia in 1864 when 300 of 1500 brown trout eggs from the River Itchen survived a four-month voyage from Falmouth, Cornwall to Melbourne on the sailing ship Norfolk. By 1866, 171 young brown trout were surviving in a Plenty River hatchery in Tasmania. Thirty-eight young trout were released in the river, a tributary of the River Derwent in 1866. By 1868, the Plenty River hosted a self-sustaining population of brown trout which became a brood source for continued introduction of brown trout into Australian and New Zealand rivers. Successful introductions into the Natal and Cape Provinces of South Africa took place in 1890 and 1892, respectively. By 1909, brown trout were established in the mountains of Kenya. The first introductions into the Himalayas in northern India took place in 1868, and by 1900, brown trout were established in Kashmir and Madras. In the 1950s and 1960s, , a French geologist, began the introduction of several species of salmonids on the remote Kerguelen Islands in the southern Indian Ocean. Of the seven species introduced, only brook trout, Salvelinus fontinalis, and brown trout survived to establish wild populations.
Introduction to Americas
The first introductions in Canada occurred in 1883 in Newfoundland and continued until 1933. The only Canadian regions without brown trout are Yukon and the Northwest Territories. Introductions into South America began in 1904 in Argentina. Brown trout are now established in Chile, Peru and the Falklands. Sea-run forms of brown trout exceeding are caught by local anglers on a regular basis.
The first introductions into the U.S. started in 1883 when Fred Mather, a New York pisciculturist and angler, under the authority of the U.S. Fish Commissioner, Spencer Baird, obtained brown trout eggs from a Baron Lucius von Behr, president of the . The von Behr brown trout came from both mountain streams and large lakes in the Black Forest region of Baden-Württemberg. The original shipment of "von Behr" brown trout eggs were handled by three hatcheries, one on Long Island, the Cold Spring Hatchery operated by Mather, one in Caledonia, New York, operated by pisciculturalist Seth Green, and other hatchery in Northville, Michigan. Additional shipments of "von Behr" brown trout eggs arrived in 1884. In 1885, brown trout eggs from Loch Leven, Scotland, arrived in New York. These "Loch Leven" brown trout were distributed to the same hatcheries. Over the next few years, additional eggs from Scotland, England, and Germany were shipped to U.S. hatcheries. Behnke (2007) believed all life forms of brown trout—anadromous, riverine, and lacustrine—were imported into the U.S. and intermingled genetically to create what he calls the American generic brown trout and a single subspecies the North European brown trout (S. t. trutta).
In April 1884, the U.S. Fish Commission released 4900 brown trout fry into the Baldwin River, a tributary of the Pere Marquette River in Michigan. This was the first release of brown trout into U.S. waters. Between 1884 and 1890, brown trout were introduced into suitable habitats throughout the U.S. By 1900, 38 states and two territories had received stocks of brown trout. Their adaptability resulted in most of these introductions establishing wild, self-sustaining populations.
Conservation status
The fish is not considered to be endangered, although some individual stocks are under various degrees of stress mainly through habitat degradation, overfishing, and artificial propagation leading to introgression. Increased frequency of excessively warm water temperatures in high summer causes a reduction in dissolved oxygen levels which can cause "summer kills" of local populations if temperatures remain high for sufficient duration and deeper/cooler or fast, turbulent more oxygenated water is not accessible to the fish. This phenomenon can be further exacerbated by eutrophication of rivers due to pollution—often from the use of agricultural fertilizers within the drainage basin.
Overfishing is a problem where anglers fail to identify and return mature female fish into the lake or stream. Each large female removed can result in thousands fewer eggs released back into the system when the remaining fish spawn.
In small streams, brown trout are important predators of macroinvertebrates, and declining brown trout populations in these specific areas affect the entire aquatic food web.
Global climate change is also of concern. S. trutta morpha fario prefers well-oxygenated water in the temperature range of . S. trutta bones from an archaeological site in Italy, and ancient DNA extracted from some of these bones, indicate that both abundance and genetic diversity increased markedly during the colder Younger Dryas period, and fell during the warmer Bølling-Allerød event.
Cover or structure is important to trout, and they are more likely to be found near submerged rocks and logs, undercut banks, and overhanging vegetation. Structure provides protection from predators, bright sunlight, and higher water temperatures. Access to deep water for protection in winter freezes, or fast water for protection from low oxygen levels in summer are also ideal. Trout are more often found in heavy and strong currents.
Characteristics
Defining characteristics include a slender body with a long, narrow head. The mouth is large, and on its roof, vomerine teeth are developed in a zig-zag pattern. The caudal fin is deltaform without forking, unlike that of the related Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar). Dark and red spots are often present on the sides, but do not extend to the tail. Parr trout (juvenile) often have a red margin on their adipose fin, with dark blotches along their sides that also become inconspicuous with age.
Freshwater brown trout range in colour from largely silver with relatively few spots and a white belly, to the more well-known brassy reddish-brown cast fading to creamy white on the fish's belly, with medium-sized spots surrounded by lighter halos. The more silver forms can be mistaken for rainbow trout. Regional variants include the so-called "Loch Leven" trout, distinguished by larger fins, a slimmer body, and heavy black spotting, but lacking red spots. The continental European strain features a lighter golden cast with some red spotting and fewer dark spots. Notably, both strains can show considerable individual variation from this general description. Early stocking efforts in the United States used fish taken from Scotland and Germany.
The brown trout is a medium-sized fish, growing to or more and a length of about in some localities, although in many smaller rivers, a mature weight of or less is common. S. t. lacustris reaches an average length of with a maximum length of and about .
On September 11, 2009, a 41.45-lb (18.80-kg) brown trout was caught by Tom Healy in the Manistee River system in Michigan, setting a new state record. As of late December 2009, the fish captured by Healy was confirmed by both the International Game Fish Association and the Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame as the new all-tackle world record for the species. This fish, which supplanted the former world record from the Little Red River in Arkansas, has in turn been exceeded by a specimen caught in the Ohau Canal in Twizel, New Zealand on 27 October 2020. The all-tackle length IGFA world record is a fish caught in Milwaukee Harbor, Wisconsin on 16 December 2011.
The spawning behaviour of brown trout is similar to that of the closely related Atlantic salmon. A typical female produces about 2,000 eggs per kg (900 eggs per lb) of body weight at spawning.
Brown trout can live 20 years, but as with the Atlantic salmon, a high proportion of males die after spawning, and probably fewer than 20% of anadromous female kelts recover from spawning . The migratory forms grow to significantly larger sizes for their age due to abundant forage fish in the waters where they spend most of their lives. Sea trout are more commonly female in less nutrient-rich rivers. Brown trout are active both by day and by night and are opportunistic feeders. While in freshwater, their diets frequently include invertebrates from the streambed, other fish, frogs, mice, birds, and insects flying near the water's surface. The high dietary reliance upon insect larvae, pupae, nymphs, and adults allows trout to be a favoured target for fly fishing. Sea trout are fished for especially at night using wet flies. Brown trout can be caught with lures such as spoons, spinners, jigs, plugs, plastic worm imitations, and live or dead baitfish.
Brown trout rarely form hybrids with other species; if they do, they are almost invariably infertile. One such example is the tiger trout, a hybrid with the brook trout.
Diet
Field studies have demonstrated that brown trout fed on several animal prey species, aquatic invertebrates being the most abundant prey items. However, brown trout also feed on other taxa such as terrestrial invertebrates (e.g. Hymenoptera) or other fish. Moreover, in brown trout, as in many other fish species, a change in the diet composition normally occurs during the life of the fish, and piscivorous behaviour is most frequent in large brown trout. These shifts in the diet during fish lifecycle transitions may be accompanied by a marked reduction in intraspecific competition in the fish population, facilitating the partitioning of resources.
First feeding of newly emerged fry is very important for brown trout survival in this phase of the lifecycle, and first feeding can occur even prior to emergence. Fry start to feed before complete yolk absorption and the diet composition of newly emerged brown trout is composed of small prey such as chironomid larvae or baetid nymphs.
Stocking, farming and non-native brown trout
The species has been widely introduced for sport fishing into North America, South America, Australia, New Zealand, and many other countries, including Bhutan, where they are the focus of a specialised fly fishery. The first planting in the United States occurred on April 11, 1884, into the Baldwin River, one mile east of Baldwin, Michigan. Brown trout have had serious negative impacts on upland native fish species in some of the countries where they have been introduced, particularly Australia. In Chile, Australia, New Zealand and other locations in the southern hemisphere, brown trout compete with fish from the family Galaxiidae, which also have affinity for well-oxygenated, cold streams. Brown trout additionally are voracious predators of invertebrates and can carry microbial pathogens like Aeromonas salmonicida. Genetic background is a very important factor when determining the success of trout populations, this information is vital to restore and enhance previous populations. Because of the trout's importance as a food and game fish, it has been artificially propagated and stocked in many places in its range, and fully natural populations (uncontaminated by allopatric genomes) probably exist only in isolated places, for example in Corsica or in high alpine valleys on the European mainland.
Farming of brown trout has included the production of infertile triploid fish by increasing the water temperature just after fertilisation of eggs, or more reliably, by a process known as pressure shocking. Triploids are favoured by anglers because they grow faster and larger than diploid trout. Proponents of stocking triploids argue, because they are infertile, they can be introduced into an environment that contains wild brown trout without the negative effects of cross-breeding. However, stocking triploids may damage wild stocks in other ways. Triploids certainly compete with diploid fish for food, space, and other resources. They could also be more aggressive than diploid fish and they may disturb spawning behaviour.
Angling
The brown trout has been a popular game fish of European anglers for centuries. It was first mentioned in angling literature as "fish with speckled skins" by Roman author Aelian (circa 200 AD) in On the Nature of Animals. This work is credited with describing the first instance of fly fishing for trout, the trout being the brown trout found in Macedonia. The Treatyse of Fysshynge with an Angle (1496) by Dame Juliana Berners, O.S.B is considered a foundational work in the history of recreational fishing, especially fly fishing. One of the most prominent fish described in the work is the brown trout of English rivers and streams:
The renowned The Compleat Angler (1653) by Izaak Walton is replete with advice on "the trout":
Throughout the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, angling authors, mostly British, some French, and later American, writing about trout fishing were writing about fishing for brown trout. Once brown trout were introduced into the U.S. in the 1880s, they became a major subject of American angling literature. In 1889, Frederic M. Halford, a British angler, author published Dry-Fly Fishing in Theory and Practice, a seminal work codifying a half century of evolution of fly fishing with floating flies for brown trout. In the late 19th century, American angler and writer Theodore Gordon, often called the "Father of American Dry Fly Fishing", perfected dry-fly techniques for the newly arrived, but difficult-to-catch brown trout in Catskill rivers such as the Beaverkill and Neversink Rivers. In the early 20th century, British angler and author G. E. M. Skues pioneered nymphing techniques for brown trout on English chalk streams. His Minor Tactics of the Chalk Stream (1910) began a revolution in fly fishing techniques for trout. In 1917, Scottish author Hamish Stuart published the first comprehensive text, The Book of The Sea Trout, specifically addressing angling techniques for the anadromous forms of brown trout.
Introductions of brown trout into the American West created new angling opportunities, none so successful from an angling perspective as was the introduction of browns into the upper Firehole River in Yellowstone National Park in 1890. One of the earliest accounts of trout fishing in the park is from Mary Trowbridge Townsend's 1897 article in Outing Magazine "A Woman's Trout Fishing in Yellowstone Park" in which she talks about catching the von Behr trout in the river:
Within the US, brown trout introductions have created self-sustaining fisheries throughout the country. Many are considered "world-class" such as in the Great Lakes and in several Arkansas tailwaters. Outside the U.S. and outside its native range in Europe, introduced brown trout have created "world-class" fisheries in New Zealand, Patagonia, and the Falklands.
References
Further reading
Clover, Charles. 2004. The End of the Line: How overfishing is changing the world and what we eat. Ebury Press, London.
External links
Life Cycle of the Sea Trout
Salmo trutta Linnaeus 1758 GLANSIS Species FactSheet (Distributional information for North America)
Salmo
Freshwater fish of Europe
Fish of the United States
Fish of the Western United States
Fish of Pakistan
Fish described in 1758
Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus
Freshwater fish of North America
|
412879
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rita%20Moreno
|
Rita Moreno
|
Rita Moreno (born Rosa Dolores Alverío Marcano; December 11, 1931) is a Puerto Rican actress, dancer, and singer. She is noted for her work on stage and screen in a career spanning over seven decades. Moreno is one of the last remaining stars from the Golden Age of Hollywood. Among her numerous accolades, she is one of a few performers to have been awarded an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony (EGOT) and the Triple Crown of Acting, with individual competitive Academy, Emmy, and Tony awards. Additional accolades include the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2004, the National Medal of Arts in 2009, the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 2013, the Kennedy Center Honor in 2015, and a Peabody Award in 2019.
Moreno's early work included supporting roles in the classic musical films Singin' in the Rain (1952) and The King and I (1956), before her breakout role as Anita in West Side Story (1961), which earned her the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, becoming the first Latin American woman to win an Academy Award. Her other notable films include Popi (1969), Carnal Knowledge (1971), The Four Seasons (1981), I Like It Like That (1994) and the cult film Slums of Beverly Hills (1998). Moreno portrayed Valentina in the 2021 remake of West Side Story directed by Steven Spielberg.
In theater, she starred as Googie Gomez in the 1975 Terrence McNally musical The Ritz earning her the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical. She reprised her role in the 1976 film directed by Richard Lester which earned her a BAFTA Award for Best Actress nomination. She also acted in Lorraine Hansberry's The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window in 1964 and in Neil Simon's The Odd Couple in 1985.
She was a cast member on the children's television series The Electric Company (1971-1977), and played Sister Peter Marie Reimondo on the HBO series Oz (1997-2003). She received two consecutive Primetime Emmy Awards for her roles on The Muppet Show in 1977 and The Rockford Files in 1978. She gained acclaim for her roles in Where on Earth Is Carmen Sandiego? (1994-1999), The CW series Jane the Virgin (2015–2019), and the Netflix revival of One Day at a Time (2017–2020). Her life was profiled in Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go for It (2021).
Early years
Moreno was born in Humacao, Puerto Rico, to Rosa María (née Marcano), a seamstress who was born in 1912, and Francisco José "Paco" Alverío, a farmer who was born in 1908. She was nicknamed "Rosita" and was raised in nearby Juncos. Her maternal grandparents were Justino Marcano (b. Puerto Rico) and Trinidad from Spain. Moreno's mother moved to New York City in 1936, taking her daughter, but not her son, Moreno's younger brother, Francisco, whom Moreno would not see again until 2021. Moreno adopted the surname of her first stepfather, Edward Moreno, Rosa Maria's second husband. She spent her teenage years living in the villages of Valley Stream on Long Island, part of the town of Hempstead bordering New York City.
Career
1945–1959: Theater debut and early films
Moreno began her first dancing lessons soon after arriving in New York with a Spanish dancer known as "Paco Cansino", who was a paternal uncle of film star Rita Hayworth. When she was 11 years old, she lent her voice to Spanish-language versions of American films. She had her first Broadway role, as "Angelina" in the 1945 production of Skydrift, by the age of 13, which caught the attention of Hollywood talent scouts. Moreno said she was raped by her agent while she was a teen actor.
Moreno's film career began in the later years of the Golden Age of Hollywood. Moreno and her mother moved to a Culver City "cottage" within walking distance of MGM. She acted steadily in films throughout the 1950s, usually in small roles, including in The Toast of New Orleans (1950) In 1952, she appeared in Stanley Donen's musical comedy film Singin' in the Rain alongside Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds and Donald O'Connor. In the film she played silent film star Zelda Zanders. She described having gotten the role by Gene Kelly "wanting her in the movie" and that she "seemed to fit the role for him". Moreno praised Kelly for casting her in a non-stereotypical Hispanic role playing Zelda saying, "he never said 'Oh she's too Latina', he just thought I'd be fine for it". She called the experience working in the film as an "amazing experience" and a "privilege".
In March 1954, Moreno was featured on the cover of Life magazine with the caption "Rita Moreno: An Actress's Catalog of Sex and Innocence". Moreno disliked most of her film work during this period, as she felt the roles she was given were very stereotypical. One exception was her supporting role in the film version of Rodgers and Hammerstein's The King and I directed by Walter Lang. In the film she played Tuptim, a slave brought from Burma to be one of the King's junior wives. She starred alongside Yul Brynner and Deborah Kerr. The film was a critical and financial success. It received nine Academy Award nominations including five wins including Best Actor, Best Art Direction - Color, Best Costume Design - Color, Best Original Score, and Best Sound Recording. In 1959, Moreno appeared as Lola Montez in Season 3, Episode 23, of the TV western Tales of Wells Fargo, episode title "Lola Montez".
1960–1969: Breakout with West Side Story
In 1961, Moreno landed the role of Anita in Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins' film adaptation of Leonard Bernstein's and Stephen Sondheim's groundbreaking Broadway musical West Side Story, which had been played by Chita Rivera on Broadway. Moreno earned acclaim for her performance. Bosley Crowther of The New York Times described Moreno's performance full of "spitfire". Variety wrote, "Moreno...presents a fiery characterization and also scores hugely". The film went on to win ten Academy Awards including for Best Picture. Moreno won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for that role.
After winning the Oscar, Moreno thought she would be able to continue to perform less stereotypical film roles, but was disappointed:
Moreno had a major role in Summer and Smoke (1961), released soon after West Side Story. She did appear in one film during her self-imposed exile from Hollywood – Cry of Battle (1963) – although it had been filmed directly before and after she won the Academy Award. She made her return to film in The Night of the Following Day (1968) with Marlon Brando, and followed that with Popi (1969), and Marlowe (1969) with James Garner. Moreno's Broadway credits include Last of the Red Hot Lovers (1969), the very short-lived musical Gantry (1970), and The Ritz, for which she won the 1975 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress. She appeared in the female version of The Odd Couple that ran in Chicago, for which she won the Sarah Siddons Award in 1985.
1970–1999: Established actress
From 1971 to 1977, Moreno was a main cast member on the PBS children's series The Electric Company. She screamed the show's opening line, "Hey, you guys!" Her roles on the show included Millie the Helper, the naughty little girl Pandora, and Otto, a very short-tempered director. Moreno also starred in Mike Nichols' Carnal Knowledge (1971) alongside Jack Nicholson, Candice Bergen, Ann-Margret, and Art Garfunkel. In the film she plays a prostitute named Louise, whom Jack Nicholson plays cards with. The film was a critical success. In 1976 she starred as Googie Gomez in Richard Lester's film adaptation of the comedy farce The Ritz alongside Jack Weston, Jerry Stiller, and F. Murray Abraham. Charles Champlin of the Los Angeles Times wrote that the film made the transition from the stage "surprisingly well, given the odds," with "two of the most flamboyantly entertaining and skillful comedy performances of the year" by Jack Weston and Rita Moreno.
Moreno's appearance on The Muppet Show earned her a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program in 1977. As a result, she became the third person (after Richard Rodgers and Helen Hayes) to have won an Oscar (1962), a Grammy (1972), a Tony (1975), and an Emmy (1977), frequently referred to as an "EGOT". She won another Emmy award the following year, 1978, this time a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress - Drama Series, for her portrayal of former call girl Rita Kapcovic on a three-episode arc on The Rockford Files.
In the 1980s Moreno starred as Lucille in Richard Benner's comedy-drama film Happy Birthday, Gemini alongside Madeline Kahn. She was in Alan Alda's The Four Seasons (1981) which was a financial and critical hit and starred Alda, Carol Burnett, Len Cariou, Sandy Dennis, and Jack Weston. She was a regular on the three-season network run of 9 to 5, a sitcom based on the film hit, during the early 1980s. Rita Moreno has made numerous guest appearances on television series in the 1980s, including The Love Boat, The Cosby Show, George Lopez, The Golden Girls, and Miami Vice.
In 1993, Moreno was invited to perform at President Bill Clinton's inauguration and later that month was asked to perform at the White House. During the mid-1990s, Moreno provided the voice of Carmen Sandiego on Fox's animated series Where on Earth Is Carmen Sandiego? In the franchise's 2019 animated series, Moreno voices the character Cookie Booker. In the late 1990s, Moreno played Sister Pete, a nun trained as a psychologist in the popular HBO series Oz, for which she won several ALMA Awards. She made a guest appearance on The Nanny as Coach Stone, Maggie's tyrannical gym teacher, whom Fran Fine also remembered from her school as Ms. Wickavich.
2000s–2010s
She released an eponymous album of nightclub songs in 2000 on the Varèse Sarabande label, with liner notes by Michael Feinstein.
In 2006, she portrayed Amanda Wingfield in Berkeley Repertory Theatre's revival of The Glass Menagerie.
She had a recurring role on Law & Order: Criminal Intent as the dying mother of Detective Robert Goren. She played the family matriarch on the short-lived 2007 TV series Cane, which starred Jimmy Smits and Hector Elizondo. She played the mother of Fran Drescher's character in the 2011–13 TV sitcom Happily Divorced.
Since then, she has continued to work in film, including a small voice role in the 2014 film Rio 2, perhaps her most commercially successful film. In September 2011, Moreno began performing a solo autobiographical show at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Rita Moreno: Life Without Makeup written by the theatre's artistic director Tony Taccone after hours of interviews with Moreno. In 2014, Moreno appeared in the NBC television film Old Soul, alongside Natasha Lyonne, Fred Willard and Ellen Burstyn. The film was intended as a pilot for a television series, but it was not picked up.
Moreno plays the matriarch of a Cuban-American family in the Netflix sitcom One Day at a Time, a remake produced by Norman Lear of Lear's 1975–84 sitcom. The first season premiered in January 2017. Critics overall praised the show, and especially the performances of Moreno and the series' star, Justina Machado. Also that year, Moreno and others contributed to Lin-Manuel Miranda's single "Almost Like Praying" where proceeds from the song went to the Hispanic Federation's UNIDOS Disaster Relief program to benefit those affected by Hurricane Maria that devastated the island of Puerto Rico.
2020s–present
In 2020–21, Moreno starred in and executive-produced the Steven Spielberg–directed adaptation of West Side Story. Moreno plays a newly created character, Valentina; she famously won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for playing Anita in the 1961 original movie. The film was released on December 10, 2021. Justin Chang of NPR wrote, "Sixty years later, Moreno is an executive producer on Spielberg's West Side Story. She also gives a poignant performance in the new role of Valentina, the widow of Doc, the drugstore owner. By her presence, Moreno teaches us how to approach this movie, as both an affectionate tribute and a gentle corrective."
On August 29, 2021, Moreno took part in the "Wicked in Concert" special on PBS, PBS.org and the PBS Video App, performing "The Wizard and I".
Moreno's life was profiled in the feature documentary entitled Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go for It which was produced by Lin-Manuel Miranda. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and received positive reviews. The Guardian declared, "Overall, she emerges just as vampish, feisty and fun as you’d expect, and as a gracious giver of speeches at ceremonies where she collects endless lifetime achievement awards".
In 2023, Moreno starred in the sports comedy 80 for Brady about four elderly women who travel to see Tom Brady and the New England Patriots play at the Super Bowl LI. Moreno co-starred alongside Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, and Sally Field, and played Abuelita Toretto, the grandmother of Dom (Vin Diesel), Jakob (John Cena), and Mia (Jordana Brewster) in Fast X, the tenth installment of the Fast & Furious franchise.
Personal life
From 1954 to 1962, Moreno was in an on-and-off relationship with Marlon Brando. She revealed in her memoir that she became pregnant by Brando and he arranged for an abortion. The abortion was botched, she went home and bled as the fetus died inside her and she had to be rushed to the hospital to have it surgically removed. Soon after, Brando fell in love with his co-star on Mutiny on the Bounty, yet returned to her; Moreno attempted suicide by overdosing on Brando's sleeping pills.
In 1965, Moreno married cardiologist and internist Leonard Gordon, who became her manager after he retired from medicine. In 1995, they relocated to Berkeley, California. They remained together until his death in 2010. Moreno and Gordon have one daughter, Fernanda Gordon Fisher, and two grandsons. Moreno said she once considered leaving her husband, but did not to avoid breaking up the family.
Awards and honors
Moreno has achieved what is called the Triple Crown of Acting, with individual competitive Academy, Emmy and Tony awards for acting; as well as the EGOT.
In 1962, she won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for West Side Story. In 1972, she received a Grammy Award for Best Children's Album for The Electric Company. In 1975, she won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for The Ritz. She won her Primetime Emmy Awards in 1977 and 1978 for her performances in The Muppet Show and The Rockford Files, respectively.
She has also received a Golden Globe Award, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, she was Inducted into the California Hall of Fame, 2007 In 2013, she received the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award which was presented to her by Morgan Freeman.
She has won numerous other honors, including various lifetime achievement awards and the Presidential Medal of Freedom, America's highest civilian honor. In 2009, President Barack Obama presented her with the National Medal of Arts. In 2015, she was awarded a Kennedy Center Honors Lifetime Artistic Achievement Award for her contribution to American culture, through performing arts. She was awarded the Peabody Career Achievement Award in 2019. She also received the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 2013, and was awarded the Peabody Award in 2019.
In 2000, The Hispanic Organization of Latin Actresses (HOLA) renamed their Award for Excellence in her honor, known as the HOLA Rita Moreno Award for Excellence.
Among Moreno's awards and recognition are the following:
Joseph Jefferson Award: Best Chicago Theatre Actress, 1968
Sarah Siddons Award for her portrayal of Olive Madison in the female version of The Odd Couple, 1985
Library of Congress Living Legends Award, April 2000
Special Recognition Award from the International Latin Music Hall of Fame, 2001
Hispanic Organization of Latin Actresses (HOLA) Lifetime Achievement Award, 2010
Latin Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, 2012
Honorary doctorate of music, awarded by the Berklee College of Music, May 7, 2016
Ellis Island Medal of Honor, May 11, 2018
Grand Marshal of the 2020 Rose Parade
BBC 100 Women, 2022
Acting credits
See also
List of Puerto Ricans
List of Puerto Ricans in the Academy Awards
List of people who have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony Award
List of Puerto Rican Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients
History of women in Puerto Rico
References
External links
Rita Moreno interview, Downstage Center XM Radio interview by the American Theatre Wing, January 2007; March 2007
Rita Moreno interview on PBS NewsHour, October 1, 2013 (0:48:28), at the American Archive of Public Broadcasting
TonyAwards.com Interview with Rita Moreno
Rita Moreno; video produced by Makers: Women Who Make America
Image of the United Civil Rights Committee with actress Rita Moreno at a march against de facto school segregation in Los Angeles, California, 1963. Los Angeles Times Photographic Archive (Collection 1429). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.
1931 births
Living people
20th-century Puerto Rican women singers
20th-century Puerto Rican singers
American film actresses
American child actresses
American musical theatre actresses
American sketch comedians
American stage actresses
American television actresses
Puerto Rican film actresses
Puerto Rican stage actresses
Best Supporting Actress Academy Award winners
Best Supporting Actress Golden Globe (film) winners
Grammy Award winners
People from Humacao, Puerto Rico
Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients
Primetime Emmy Award winners
20th-century Puerto Rican actresses
Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award
Tony Award winners
United States National Medal of Arts recipients
Hispanic and Latino American actresses
20th-century American actresses
21st-century American actresses
American voice actresses
Latin Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners
California Democrats
New York (state) Democrats
Women in Latin music
Kennedy Center honorees
Puerto Rican people of Spanish descent
|
412891
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music%20of%20Alabama
|
Music of Alabama
|
Alabama has played a central role in the development of both blues and country music. Appalachian folk music, fiddle music, gospel, spirituals, and polka have had local scenes in parts of Alabama. The Tuskegee Institute's School of Music (established 1931), especially the Tuskegee Choir, is an internationally renowned institution. There are three major modern orchestras, the Mobile Symphony, the Alabama Symphony Orchestra and the Huntsville Symphony Orchestra; the last is the oldest continuously operating professional orchestra in the state, giving its first performance in 1955.
State song
The state song of Alabama is entitled "Alabama". It was written by Julia Tutwiler and composed by Edna Gockel Gussen. It was adopted as the state song in 1931.
A State Senate bill (SB-458) was passed 32–1 in 2000 to move "Alabama" to the status of State Anthem, with "Stars Fell On Alabama", a song written in 1933 whose most popular release was by Jimmy Buffett in 1972 becoming the new State Song, and "My Home's in Alabama" (1980) by the Country group Alabama would become the State Ballad, but the bill failed in the State House.
Other grass roots efforts to make "Sweet Home Alabama" (1974) by Lynyrd Skynyrd the state song have also failed, but the song's potential official status made a comeback when the State Tourism Agency chose the song as the centerpiece of its 2008 marketing campaign.
Recording studios
Muscle Shoals, Alabama is renowned worldwide as one of the epicenters of the music industry, having been the birthplace of a number of classic recordings. The studios of the Muscle Shoals area (Florence, Sheffield, Muscle Shoals, and Tuscumbia) figure prominently in the history of rock, country and R&B through the 1960s, 70s & 80s. FAME Studios, Muscle Shoals Sound Studios, Wishbone Studios, Quinvy Studios, East Avalon Recorders/ClearDay Studio, and others have recorded local musicians and international superstars alike. Notable artists have included Aretha Franklin, Rolling Stones, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, Rod Stewart, Willie Nelson, Hank Williams Jr, Roy Orbison, and countless others have recorded there. The notable studio house bands include The Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, The Swampers, The Muscle Shoals Horns, and The Fame Gang.
Though not as popular a recording center as before, Muscle Shoals continues to be an important contributor to American popular music and is home to a number of the world's most successful songwriters, musicians and producers. Single Lock Records currently operates a recording studio, record label, and performance venue in the area.
The Hangout Music Festival (est. 2010) is an annual 3-day music festival held at the public beaches of Gulf Shores, Alabama.
Halls of fame
The Alabama Music Hall of Fame was created by the Alabama state legislature as a state agency in 1980. A 12,500 square foot (1,200 m²) exhibit hall opened in Tuscumbia in 1990.
The Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame (AJHoF) is located in Birmingham, housed in the historic Carver Theatre. It was founded in 1978 and opened a museum in 1993.
Styles of music
Indigenous music
Soul/R&B
Many artists in the realms of rhythm and blues and soul music have emerged from Alabama over the past 50 years, including Wilson Pickett, Percy Sledge, Martha Reeves of Martha and the Vandellas. Rick Hall established FAME Studios. In 1966, Rick Hall helped license Percy Sledge's "When a Man Loves a Woman", produced by Quin Ivy, to Atlantic Records, which then led to a regular arrangement under which Atlantic would send musicians to Hall's Muscle Shoals studio to record. The studio produced further hit records for Wilson Pickett, James & Bobby Purify, Aretha Franklin, Clarence Carter, Arthur Conley, and Otis Redding enhancing Hall's reputation as a white Southern producer who could produce and engineer hits for black Southern soul singers. He produced many sessions using guitarist Duane Allman. Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham wrote "I'm Your Puppet" for James & Bobby Purify. Members of The Commodores are from Tuskegee.
Rock/Pop
Rock and pop musicians from Alabama are Southern rock/pop/R&B band Wet Willie, the rock band Brother Cane, the power pop band Hotel of Birmingham, Bill McCorvey of the country band Pirates of the Mississippi, songwriter/producer Walt Aldridge, and Tommy Shaw of the rock band Styx. Dan Penn, from Alabama , worked with the Box Tops. The Birmingham area has had more than its fair share of American Idol contestants do well, including second season winner Ruben Studdard (who played football for Alabama A&M University).
Blues and Jazz
WC Handy, often referred to as the "father of the blues", was born and raised in Florence, Alabama, which since 1982 holds an annual WC Handy Music Festival "to preserve, present, and promote the musical heritage of Northwest Alabama". The festival is usually held in the summer, and cake and other foods are typically served.
Piedmont and country blues singer, guitarist, and songwriter Ed Bell was born near Fort Deposit.
Though born in Frayser, a community in North Memphis, Tennessee, Johnny Shines, Blues singer and guitarist, moved to Holt, Alabama, in Tuscaloosa County, in 1969, where he lived until he died. Shines died on April 20, 1992, in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.[1] He was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame later the same year.
Alabama has a rich jazz heritage, being the birthplace of such greats as Lionel Hampton, Erskine Hawkins, Nat King Cole, Cleveland Eaton, James Reese Europe, Cootie Williams, William Manuel Johnson, Urbie Green, Ward Swingle, Cow Cow Davenport, members of Take 6 and many more. Tubist Howard Johnson of the Saturday Night Live band hails from Montgomery. The museum of the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame honors many of these fine musicians. In the 1930s and 40s, college dance bands, such as the Alabama Cavaliers, the Auburn Knights and the Bama State Collegians played an important role in the history of jazz in the South. Birmingham, Alabama boasts several active big bands, including the SuperJazz Big Band, the Joe Giattina Orchestra, the Night Flight Big Band and the Magic City Jazz Orchestra, founded and directed by Ray Reach. In addition, there is a world-class horn section, the Tuscaloosa Horns, comprising some of Alabama's finest jazz/soul/funk instrumentalists. Also the newest/youngest break out big band in Alabama which incorporates everything from Duke Ellington to Bob Marley; the New South Jazz Orchestra which prominently features the Tuscaloosa Horns and the composing/arranging skills of members of the Tuscaloosa Horns.
Ward Swingle, world-famous multiple Grammy Award-winning jazz vocal composer and pianist, hails from Mobile.
Birmingham contributed prominently to the history of jazz in America. It is the hometown of numerous influential jazz musicians, including bassist Cleveland Eaton, pianist and vocalist Ray Reach, guitarist Johnny Smith, trumpeter and bandleader Erskine Hawkins, trumpeter and arranger Tommy Stewart, trumpeter Nelson Williams, composer Hugh Martin, arranger Sammy Lowe, bandleader Sun Ra, vibraphonist and bandleader Lionel Hampton, singer and guitarist Odetta, John Propst (pianist for Pete Fountain and Boots Randolph) and many more. Historical areas such as Tuxedo Junction and the Fourth Avenue Historic District played an important role in the evolution of jazz in Birmingham and the United States.
Gospel
Gospel music has an especially long tradition in the state, among both the white and black populations. Given the strongly religious coloring of Alabama's population historically, the genre is one example of many shared phenomena between the historically segregated cultures of the state. The two traditions are, however, distinct, and entail key distinctions, with Southern gospel incorporating elements of bluegrass and country music more strongly than "black" gospel.
Celtic
The state also has a Celtic music scene, which has produced bands like Henri's Notions, After Class, and the Birmingham-based harpist Cynthia Douglass, as well as a number of piping bands and promotional Celtic organizations.
Sacred Harp
Alabama is the leading state for Sacred Harp singing. More annual singings are held in Alabama than in any other state. The Sacred Harp: Revised Cooper Edition, a version of The Sacred Harp used across the southern parts of Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Texas, is published by the Sacred Harp Book Company of Samson, Alabama. The Sacred Harp/Shape Note Music and Cultural Center is located in Bessemer, Alabama.
Country, Bluegrass, and Old-time Music
The State of Alabama has a rich history in country, bluegrass and old-time music. The influence of Mississippi Delta blues to the west and the ancient sounds of Appalachian Folk Music to the north blend with native Jazz sounds to form a brand of country music with a unique Alabama flavor. "Country music may be recorded in Nashville, but it was born in the Heart of Dixie." (Will Vincent, Tall Pines Bluegrass).
North Alabama's contribution to bluegrass music over the years has been exceptional. From former "Bluegrass Boys" Rual Yarbrough and Jake Landers, mandolin virtuoso Hershel Sizemore, fiddling legend Al Lester and the incomparable Claire Lynch, to modern day country-star-turned-bluegrass artist Marty Raybon, the list goes on and on.
Probably one of the most well-known musicians to ever hail from Alabama is Hank Williams Sr., born in Georgiana. Hank's hits include "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry", "Lost Highway" and "Jambalaya (On the Bayou)". Hank and his wife Audrey are both buried in Oakwood Cemetery in Montgomery where the Hank Williams Museum resides downtown. A section of Interstate 65 between Georgiana and Montgomery was commemorated the "Lost Highway" in memory of Williams in 1997.
Other notable residents include Jimmy Buffett, though born in Pascagoula, Mississippi, grew up in the Mobile area. Country star Tammy Wynette was born on the Mississippi/Alabama line. The Louvin Brothers were pioneers of tight harmony country and bluegrass vocalizations. Vern Gosdin is another influential country music legend who came from the state of Alabama. Emmylou Harris was born in Birmingham. Shenandoah from Muscle Shoals became major stars. The group Alabama from Fort Payne is often credited with bringing country music groups (as opposed to solo vocalists) into the mainstream, paving the way for the success of today's top country groups.
Musicians from Alabama
Members of the Alabama Music Hall of Fame
Alabama – country superstar band, based in Fort Payne
Arthur Alexander – country-soul songwriter and singer, born in Sheffield
Ernest Ashworth – country star and a member of the Grand Ole Opry for 44 years, known for his hit "Talk Back Trembling Lips", from Huntsville
Blind Boys of Alabama – gospel group, based in Talladega
Clarence Carter – blues and soul singer, musician, songwriter and record producer, born in Montgomery
Nat King Cole – jazz and R&B musician/songwriter, born in Montgomery (d.1965)
The Commodores – soul/funk group formed in Tuskegee, had two number one Hot 100 hits, such as "Three Times a Lady" in 1978
William Levi Dawson – composer, organizer of the Tuskegee School of Music, from Anniston
Delmore Brothers – from Elkmont
Cleveland Eaton – jazz bassist, veteran of the Count Basie Orchestra and the Ramsey Lewis Trio, from Birmingham
James Reese Europe – ragtime and early jazz bandleader, arranger, and composer, born in Mobile
Eddie Floyd – soul-R&B singer and songwriter, born in Montgomery
Joe L. Frank – country music promoter from Mt. Rozell
Donna Jean Godchaux – singer, best known for having been a member of the Grateful Dead from 1972 until 1979, born in Florence
Rick Hall – record producer from Franklin County
W.C. Handy – father of the blues, born in Florence
Emmylou Harris – country singer/songwriter, born in Birmingham
Erskine Hawkins – big band leader
Jake Hess – gospel singer from Limestone County
Sonny James – early country star, born in Hacklebug
James Joiner – founder of Tune Recording Studio, songwriter, from Florence
Jamey Johnson – singer, songwriter, and ACM and CMA award winner from Enterprise
Buddy Killen – record producer and founder of Dial Records, executive at Tree Publishing
Louvin Brothers – influential close harmony group, from Section
Chuck Leavell – keyboardist, former member of the Allman Brothers Band, sideman for Eric Clapton and the Rolling Stones
Eddie Levert – founding member of The O'Jays, born in Bessemer
Rose Maddox – country singer-songwriter and fiddle player, who was the lead singer with the Maddox Brothers and Rose before a successful solo career, born in Boaz
Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section – renowned studio band, consisting of Jimmy Johnson, guitar, Roger Hawkins, drums, David Hood, bass, and Barry Beckett, keyboards
Jim Nabors – actor and singer of standards and gospel, born in Sylacauga, attended the University of Alabama
Odetta – singer, actress, guitarist, lyricist, and a civil and human rights activist, born in Birmingham
Spooner Oldham – songwriter & keyboardist, born in Centre
Dan Penn – singer, songwriter & record producer, from Vernon
Sam Phillips – founder of Sun Records, born in Florence
Wilson Pickett – R&B star, born in Prattville
Curly Putman – songwriter from Princeton
Martha Reeves – Motown lead singer, born in Eufaula
Lionel Richie – singer/songwriter, see also Commodores, born in Tuskegee, had five number one Hot 100 hits, including "All Night Long (All Night)" in 1983
Jimmie Rodgers – early country star, born in Geiger (d.1933)
Tommy Shaw – guitarist, singer, songwriter, rock bands Damn Yankees and Styx. Born in Prattville
Billy Sherrill – country producer, with 74 top 10 hits, born in Phil Campbell
Percy Sledge – 1960s soul star, born in Leighton
Candi Staton – singer-songwriter, born in Hanceville
Sun Ra – jazz musician and composer, born in Birmingham
The Temptations – four members: Eddie Kendricks (Union Springs), Paul Williams (Birmingham), Melvin Franklin (Montgomery), and Dennis Edwards (Fairfield)
Dinah Washington – jazz and blues singer, born in Tuscaloosa
Wet Willie – Southern rock band from Mobile
Jerry Wexler – New Yorker with Atlantic Records, responsible for the rise of Muscle Shoals
John T. "Fess" Whatley – music educator, worked with the Jazz Demons, the first jazz band in Birmingham
Hank Williams – country music pioneer, born in Georgiana (d. 1953), buried in Montgomery
Tammy Wynette – country singer, lived in Red Bay (d.1998)
Other musicians from Alabama
Act of Congress – band from Helena
Alabama Shakes – band from Athens, had a number one Billboard 200 album Sound & Color in 2015
Hank Ballard – R&B performer and songwriter, wrote "The Twist", lived in Bessemer
The Band Perry – country trio from Mobile
Belle Adair – indie pop-rock band from Florence
Bo Bice – runner-up, American Idol Season 4
Bibi Black – trumpeter from Huntsville
The Bridges – band from Oxford
Tony Brook – songwriter, from Luverne
Brother Cane – alternative band, based in Birmingham
Jimmy Buffett – popular singer/songwriter, from Mobile, attended Auburn University for a year
Oteil Burbridge – jazz bassist, member of the Allman Brothers Band, from Birmingham
Larry Byrom – rock guitarist, from Huntsville
Nell Carter – Broadway and TV, born in Birmingham
Course of Nature – alternative rock band from Enterprise
Seaborn McDaniel Denson – Sacred Harp teacher and composer
Thomas Jackson Denson – Sacred Harp teacher and composer
The Dirty Clergy – garage rock/pop band from Marion County
The Dexateens – rock band, originated out of Tuscaloosa
Doe B – rapper from Montgomery
Drive-By Truckers – alternative rock band of Shoals-area natives
Eddie Floyd – R&B singer, born in Montgomery
Flo Milli - rapper from Mobile
William Lee Golden – baritone singer with the country & gospel group The Oakridge Boys, lives in Brewton
Gucci Mane – rapper from Bessemer
Lionel Hampton – jazz vibes pioneer, lived in Birmingham
Ty Herndon – country singer, lives in Butler
Taylor Hicks – winner, American Idol Season 5, had a number one Hot 100 hit with "Do I Make You Proud" in 2006
Brent Hinds – singer/songwriter and guitarist, from Pelham, of heavy metal band Mastodon
Charlie Hodge – musician for Elvis Presley, member of the "Memphis Mafia", born in Decatur
Lonnie Holley, artist and musician from Birmingham, Dust-to-Digital Records
Adam Hood – singer/songwriter from Opelika
Hotel – pop-rock band from Birmingham from 1973–1982, recorded 2 albums with MCA Records, some chart success; very popular regional act in their day
The Immortal Lee County Killers – punk blues band from Auburn, 1999–2007
Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit – an Americana band from Muscle Shoals, had a number four album on the Billboard 200 with The Nashville Sound in 2017
Joe – from Opelika, had a number one Hot 100 hit with "Stutter" ft. Mystikal in 2001
Jamey Johnson – Montgomery, AL
Merle Kilgore – country musician, lived in Cullman
Will Kimbrough – singer/songwriter, producer, guitarist, multi-instrumentalist, lived in Mobile
Frederick Knight – R&B singer, songwriter and record producer, born in Birmingham
Nicolette Larson – 1970s songwriter, lived in Birmingham
Marty Lott, a.k.a. "The Phantom" – rockabilly, born in Prichard
Shelby Lynne – country music artist, singer-songwriter from St Stephens
Maddox Brothers and Rose – influential early country group, from Boaz
Man or Astro-man? – surf rock revivalists, Auburn
Maylene and the Sons of Disaster – Southern metal band based out of Birmingham
Brian McKnight – R&B singer and producer, born in Huntsville
Allison Moorer – Academy Award nominated country folk musician from Frankville
Tommy Oliver – pedal steel guitarist, lives in Tuscumbia
Wayne Perkins – guitarist, singer, songwriter, Muscle Shoals studio musician, played on Rolling Stones album, from Birmingham
Susanna Phillips – soprano, winner of the Metropolitan Opera's 2010 Beverly Sills Artist Award, born in Huntsville
The Pierces – Catherine & Allison Pierce, singers from Birmingham
Shane Porter – founder of the New South Jazz Orchestra, published composer/arranger, free-lance trumpeter, pianist, member of the Tuscaloosa Horns, from Tuscaloosa
Mac Powell – founding member of Christian Rock band Third Day – born in Clanton
Ray Reach – jazz pianist, from Birmingham
Rich Boy – rapper, real name Maurice Richards, born 1985 in Mobile
Rush of Fools – alternative Christian band from Birmingham.
Sex Clark Five – strum and drum, alternative rock from Huntsville
St. Paul & the Broken Bones – soul band from Birmingham
State Line Mob – Southern rock, Country duo group, Florence & Muscle Shoals natives, 2008 Winners of 2 Muscle Shoals music awards for Best new artist & Best new country album of the year.
Tommy Stewart – composer, arranger, pianist and trumpeter based in Birmingham
Ruben Studdard – winner of American Idol, Born in Birmingham
Take 6 – contemporary gospel group, from Huntsville
Maria Taylor – singer from Birmingham
Toni Tennille – half of 1970s hitmakers Captain & Tennille, born in Montgomery
Willie Mae "Big Momma" Thornton – blues and R&B artist, born in Ariton
Trust Company – rock band from Montgomery
Drake White – from Hokes Bluff
Waxahatchee – an indie music project by musician Katie Crutchfield from Birmingham
John Paul White – alt-folk musician, former member of The Civil Wars, resides in Florence, Alabama
Hank Williams Jr. – country music star, lived in Cullman, Alabama
Yelawolf – (Michael Wayne Atha) rapper and singer-songwriter from Gadsden
See also
List of songs about Alabama
List of songs about Birmingham, Alabama
WLAY (AM)
References
External links
Alabama Music Hall of Fame
Download traditional music
Alabama Symphony Orchestra
The Tuscaloosa Horns
Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame
Birmingham Live Music
New South Jazz Orchestra
Alabama culture
Alabama
Alabama
|
412899
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas%20%28band%29
|
Texas (band)
|
Texas are a Scottish rock band from Glasgow. They were founded in 1986 by Johnny McElhone (formerly of the bands Altered Images and Hipsway) and Sharleen Spiteri on lead vocals. Texas made their performing debut in March 1988 at the University of Dundee. They took their name from the 1984 Wim Wenders movie Paris, Texas.
The band released their debut album Southside in 1989, along with the debut single "I Don't Want a Lover", which was a top-ten hit on the UK Singles Chart and peaked within the top ten of the charts in many other European countries. Southside entered at number three on the UK Albums Chart and number 88 on the Billboard 200 album chart in the United States, and sold over two million copies worldwide. Despite the success of Southside, the follow-up albums Mothers Heaven (1991) and Ricks Road (1993) were less successful, peaking at number 32 and number 18 on the UK Albums Chart respectively, but achieved moderate success on various European markets.
The band's fortunes changed in 1997 with the release of their White on Blonde album, which entered at the top of the UK albums chart and became their biggest seller. To date it has been certified six times platinum in the United Kingdom. Follow up album The Hush (1999) was also successful, entering at the top of the UK albums chart and certified triple platinum. The band's Greatest Hits album, released in 2000, was another big-seller, again entering at the top of the UK albums chart, and certified six times platinum. Texas would go on to release a further two studio albums, Careful What You Wish For in 2003, and Red Book in 2005, both of which were certified gold in the United Kingdom. After the release of Red Book and a tour to support the album's release, Texas went on hiatus. Lead singer Sharleen Spiteri launched a solo career, releasing her debut solo album, Melody, in 2008.
As of 2017, Texas's worldwide sales were 40 million records and they have had thirteen top-ten singles on the UK singles chart and three number-one albums and eight UK top-ten albums on the UK albums chart. Their ninth studio album, Jump on Board, released in May 2017, peaked within the top ten of the album charts in Belgium and France, whilst their tenth studio album, Hi, released in May 2021, became their highest-charting album in the UK since 1999's The Hush, debuting at number three on the official UK albums chart and number one on the UK independent albums chart, and entering at number one in their native Scotland.
History
1989: Southside
Texas were formed in 1986 by singer Sharleen Spiteri, bass guitarist Johnny McElhone and guitarist Ally McErlaine. At the time, Spiteri was working at the Irvine Rusk salon as a hairdresser in Glasgow. In 1989, the band, now also featuring Tony McGovern, Eddie Campbell, Michael Bannister and Neil Payne, released their debut EP, Everyday Now.
The band's debut single, "I Don't Want a Lover", was released in January 1989. It peaked at number eight on the UK Singles Chart and No. 77 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, as well as top-40 positions in various countries worldwide. The band released their debut album, Southside, in March 1989, which peaked at number three on the UK Albums Chart and was certified Gold by the BPI. However, three further singles from the album all failed to make the UK top 40, with "Thrill Has Gone" reaching No. 60, "Everyday Now" faring little better at No. 44 (though reaching the Top 30 in France), and "Prayer for You" stalling at No. 73.
1991–1992: Mothers Heaven
The band's second album, Mothers Heaven, was released in September 1991. It was preceded by the single "Why Believe in You", but this failed to reach the UK top 40 stalling at No. 66 on the UK Singles Chart. This did not bode well for the album, which itself peaked at No. 32 in the UK. A second single, "In My Heart", fared worse and became Texas's lowest-charting single in the UK, reaching No. 74, making it their fifth single in a row to failed to break the top 40. A third single from the album, "Alone with You", was released in January 1992 and reached No. 32, giving them their second top-40 entry.
Ironically, immediately following the disappointing performance of the album and its singles, Texas released a new cover version of the Al Green classic "Tired of Being Alone" in April 1992. The single, which was not included on the album, was more successful and returned the band to the UK top 20, peaking at No. 19.
1993–1994: Ricks Road
Texas released their third album, Ricks Road in November 1993. It was preceded by two more top-40 singles, "So Called Friend" (UK No. 30) and "You Owe It All to Me" (UK No. 39). The album peaked at No. 18 on the UK Albums Chart. The music video for "You Owe It All to Me" was directed by Dani Jacobs, and was filmed in Arizona and features Spiteri and McErlaine filmed in the style of a road movie with the pair encountering another version of themselves along the way. A third single from the album, "So In Love With You", reached No. 28 in the UK in February 1994.
1997–1998: White on Blonde
Following an endorsement by then Radio 1 presenter Chris Evans on his Channel 4 show TFI Friday in 1997, Texas came back to the music scene with the international hit "Say What You Want". The song was released internationally on 6 January 1997 and became the band's highest-peaking single to date on the UK Singles Chart, reaching No. 3 in its second week of release. In February, Texas released their fourth album, White on Blonde, which went on to become the band's most successful album to date. The album debuted at No. 1 on the UK Albums Chart and returned to the top spot again six months later. It remained in the UK top 75 for 91 weeks. A total of five singles were taken from the album, all of which were top-ten hits in the UK. "Halo", released in April 1997, peaked at No. 10, "Black Eyed Boy", released in July 1997, peaked at No. 5, and "Put Your Arms Around Me", released in November 1997, also peaked at No. 10. In 1998, the song was featured in the film Ever After: A Cinderella Story, starring Drew Barrymore. The band then released a double A-sided single of "Insane" along with "Say What You Want (All Day, Every Day)"—a new version of the first hit from the album but now with additional rap vocals from the Wu-Tang Clan. The single peaked at No. 4 in the UK.
White on Blonde became the pinnacle of the band's success, and was certified 6 × Platinum by the BPI for UK sales in excess of 1.8 million copies. It was included in Q magazine's "50 Best Albums of 1997", and voted the 86th-best album of all time by Q readers in 1998. It also ranked No. 34 in Q "Best 50 Albums of Q's Lifetime", as well being included in Q "90 Best Albums of the 1990s". In 2010, it was nominated for the BRIT Awards "Best Album in the Past 25 Years".
1999–2001: The Hush and The Greatest Hits
In April 1999, Texas released the first single from their forthcoming fifth studio album. "In Our Lifetime" peaked at No. 4 on the UK Singles Chart and was also included on the Notting Hill film soundtrack that year. The band's fifth album, The Hush, was released in May 1999 and charted at No. 1 on the UK Albums Chart in its first week of release. A second single, "Summer Son", was released in August 1999, reaching No. 5, the band's seventh UK top-ten single at that point. A third and final single, "When We Are Together", was released in November 1999 and narrowly missed the UK top ten (peaking at 12). The album was certified 3 x Platinum by the BPI for UK sales in excess of 900,000 copies.
In October 2000, Texas released their first compilation album, The Greatest Hits. The album featured tracks spanning their career, from their 1989 debut to the current day and included three new songs. A new single, "In Demand" was released on 2 October 2000 and reached No. 6 in the UK, with a video that featured the actor Alan Rickman. When The Greatest Hits was released, it became the band's third consecutive album to debut at No. 1 in the UK. A second new single from the collection, "Inner Smile", was released at the end of 2000, also reaching No. 6 on the UK Singles Chart. The video for "Inner Smile" featured a homage to Elvis Presley (and specifically his '68 Comeback Special shows) with lead singer Spiteri dressed and made up to look like Elvis in his famous black leather suit. In July 2001, a remix of "I Don't Want A Lover" was released which made the UK top 20. By this time, The Greatest Hits album had become a huge success and was eventually certified 6 × Platinum by the BPI for UK sales in excess of 1.8 million copies.
The single "Like Lovers (Holding On)" was featured during the closing credits of the 2000 animated feature film Titan A.E. and also appears briefly in one scene as background music. The song was included on the Titan A.E. soundtrack as well.
2003: Careful What You Wish For
In September 2002, Spiteri gave birth to her daughter, Misty Kyd, although motherhood did not prevent her from working on another album. In October 2003, Texas released the first single from their upcoming sixth album titled "Carnival Girl" which featured rapping vocals by Canadian artist Kardinal Offishall. The song reached No. 9 on the UK Singles Chart. Later that month, the album Careful What You Wish For was released. The album peaked at No. 5 on the UK Albums Chart and was certified Gold by the BPI for sales of over 100,000 copies in the United Kingdom. In December 2003, a second and final single was released from the album entitled "I'll See It Through", though this peaked at a lowly No. 40 on the UK Singles Chart.
2005–2006: Red Book
The band returned in August 2005 with a new single "Getaway", which peaked at No. 6, becoming the band's tenth UK top-ten single. It was followed by another new single, "Can't Resist", released in October 2005. The song reached No. 13 in the UK, and was followed by the band's seventh studio album, Red Book, released in November 2005. The album reached No. 16 in the UK Albums Chart, ending their run of top-10 albums though was certified Gold by the BPI for sales of over 100,000 copies in the United Kingdom. A third and final single from the album, "Sleep", was released in January 2006 and peaked at No. 6 on the UK Singles Chart. The song featured vocals from Paul Buchannan from the Scottish band the Blue Nile and the video featured comedian Peter Kay. On 21 February 2006, a promo-only single, "What About Us", was released.
2007–2008: The BBC Sessions and hiatus
On 24 September 2007, the band released The BBC Sessions, which included radio sessions spanning from 1989 to 2005, with extensive liner notes and interviews with Spiteri. Cover songs include Elmore James's "It Hurts Me Too", the Beatles' "I've Got a Feeling", and Ashford & Simpson's "You're All I Need to Get By."
In 2008, Spiteri embarked on a solo career. Her debut album Melody was released in July 2008 and debuted at No. 3 in the UK. Spiteri's second solo studio album The Movie Songbook was released on 1 March 2010, and peaked at No. 13 in the UK.
2009–2011: McErlaine's collapse and reunion
On 8 September 2009, bandmember Ally McErlaine was hospitalised after he collapsed with a massive brain aneurysm at the age of 40. By February 2010, he was recovering well as reported by bandmate Spiteri in The Sunday Mail: "Ally is the most stubborn person I have ever come across, and I think his sheer pigheadedness is the reason he's still here! When he asked what was happening with Texas, I said it was up to him. He told me he wanted to get back into the studio."
After McErlaine survived his collapse—which kills in 80% of cases—Texas reunited for the first time since 2005. The band embarked on a tour in 2011 and lead singer Spiteri appeared on Popstar to Operastar on 12 June 2011 singing a version of the band's hit "Say What You Want". Prior to this, Texas had played at the Den Fynske Landsby Festival in Denmark. At the festival, they debuted a new track "The Conversation" which marked the first time the track has been played outside their native Glasgow.
Spiteri was also invited to make a series of cameo appearances at different events, all of which involved film scores. She sang Yvonne Elliman's "If I Can't Have You" for a Saturday Night Fever tribute concert and duetted with Italian singer Mauro Gioia on the "Love Theme from The Godfather".
2013–2017: The Conversation and Texas 25
In February 2013, Music Week announced the band had signed a new record deal with PIAS Recordings and were to release their first new album since reuniting. The Conversation was released on 20 May 2013. Physical formats included a single disc and double-disc deluxe edition. The latter featured a bonus disc entitled Live in Scotland. Also in 2013, a UK tour was announced and the album launched at two gigs, one at King Tut's Wah Wah Hut in Glasgow and the other at the 100 Club in London. Spiteri performed a cover of "River Deep – Mountain High" at these gigs as well as a selection of new tracks from The Conversation. Tracks are written mainly by Spiteri and McElhone, with Richard Hawley and Bernard Butler as collaborators. The album's lead single of the same name joined BBC Radio 2's playlist in April 2013 with two more singles, "Detroit City" and "Dry Your Eyes", following later that year. The album is certified Platinum in France and peaked at No. 4 on the UK Albums Chart.
In November 2014, Texas contributed to BBC Radio 2's Sounds of the 80s album with a cover of "Don't Talk to Me About Love" by Altered Images, a band which also included current Texas member Johnny McElhone in its lineup.
To celebrate the band's 25th anniversary, it was announced that some of their biggest hits would be re-recorded for a new album entitled Texas 25. The collection features eight songs from the band's back catalogue completely reworked with the help of New York production team Truth & Soul, as well as four brand new songs, and was released on 16 February 2015. Deluxe packages include a second disc of the hits in their original form. The lead single, "Start a Family", premiered online on 6 January 2015. A music video followed, once again starring Alan Rickman who was previously featured in the video for "In Demand".
The band also embarked on a new UK tour throughout April and May 2015. An Evening with Texas was a more intimate arrangement than previous shows and featured stories told by Spiteri from the band's 25 years together.
2017–2019: Jump on Board
The band released their ninth studio album, Jump on Board in May 2017 to critical acclaim, with "Let's Work it Out" serving as the lead single from the new album. Jump on Board performed well commercially in the band's native Scotland, debuting at number one on the Scottish Albums Chart. The album reached number one in France and performed well in the UK chart.
In support of the album, the band embarked on the Jump on Board Live Tour world tour.
2020–present: BMG Records and Hi
On 28 February 2020, the band announced on Twitter that its next album was called Hi, which was released on BMG on 28 May 2021. A single, also called "Hi", was released in December 2020 and reunited the band with the Wu-Tang Clan after 22 years. A video was released for the song with Small Axe actor Kadeem Ramsay, a promo video that also includes footage of Texas, RZA and Method Man performing "Say What You Want" at the BRIT Awards in 1998.
In April 2021, the second single from Hi was released. Called "Mr Haze", the track sampled the melody from "Love's Unkind" (a Giorgio Moroder production which was a top-10 hit for Donna Summer in the late 1970s) and was performed on The One Show on BBC One. Hi is the tenth album released by Texas and includes collaborations with Richard Hawley and Altered Images' Clare Grogan, the latter duetting with Spiteri on the song "Look What You’ve Done".
Another career-spanning greatest hits collection, The Very Best of 1989–2023, was released on 16 June 2023.
On 23 June 2023, the band played the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury Festival, UK.
Hiatus projects
After the release of Texas's 2005 album Red Book the band members confirmed that they would enter a hiatus. Spiteri performed as guest vocalist on Rammstein's "Rosenrot" album. She began work on her debut solo album, working with some of her former bandmates. She wrote the vast majority of the tracks on the album. She released her debut solo album Melody on 14 July 2008 with "All the Times I Cried" serving as the album's lead single. The song charted at No. 26 on the UK Singles Chart. Melody was proven popular in the United Kingdom, debuting at a high No. 3 on the UK Albums Chart. In other European countries where Texas were popular like in Belgium, the album charted at No. 15 on the Belgium Flanders Chart and No. 13 on the Belgium Wallonia Chart. The song "Don't Keep Me Waiting" was released as a single in Switzerland only, in which it charted at No. 78 on the singles chart there. A further two singles were released worldwide, "Stop, I Don't Love You Anymore" and "It Was You" which were both unpopular in the United Kingdom, missing the UK Top 100, with "Stop, I Don't Love You Anymore" charting at No. 107 and "It Was You" at No. 178. By 2009, Melody has been certified Gold by the BPI (United Kingdom) with sales of over 100,000.
Spiteri released her second solo studio album The Movie Songbook which consists of movie covers chosen by Spiteri herself was released on 1 March 2010. The album's lead single "Xanadu" was released in February 2010, and charted at No. 71 on the UK Singles Chart in March 2010. As for the album, it charted at No. 13 on the UK Albums Chart on 7 March 2010, thus becoming Spiteri's second UK top-40 album as a soloist, and her seventh UK top-40 album both as a soloist and a member of Texas. To promote the album, she performed in front of 55,000 fans supporting Paul McCartney on his Up and Coming Tour at Glasgow's Hampden Park.
In 2010, Spiteri was a judge on the Sky 1 reality show Must Be the Music.
Membership
Current members
Sharleen Spiteri – lead vocals, guitar, keyboards (1988–present)
Johnny McElhone – bass, guitar, keyboards (1988–present)
Ally McErlaine – guitar (1988–present)
Eddie Campbell – keyboards (1991–present)
Tony McGovern – guitar, backing vocals (1999–present)
Cat Myers – drums (2021–present)
Former members
Stuart Kerr – drums, backing vocals (1989–1991)
Richard Hynd – drums (1991–1999)
Mike Wilson – drums (1999–2001)
Steve Washington – drums (2001–2003)
Neil Payne – drums (2003–2006)
Michael Bannister – keyboards (2005–2019)
Ross McFarlane – drums (2011–2019)
Timeline
Discography
Southside (1989)
Mothers Heaven (1991)
Ricks Road (1993)
White on Blonde (1997)
The Hush (1999)
Careful What You Wish For (2003)
Red Book (2005)
The Conversation (2013)
Jump on Board (2017)
Hi (2021)
Awards and nominations
Brit Awards
|-
| rowspan="3"| 1998
| White on Blonde
| MasterCard British Album
|
|-
| "Say What You Want"
| Best British Single
|
|-
| rowspan="2"| Themselves
| rowspan="2"| Best British Group
|
|-
| 2000
|
|-
| 2001
| "In Demand"
| Best British Video
|
Ivor Novello Awards
|-
| rowspan=3|1998
| "Say What You Want"
| rowspan=2|Most Performed Work
|
|-
| "Black Eyed Boy"
|
|-
| Themselves
| Outstanding Song Collection
|
MTV Europe Music Awards
|-
| 1999
| Themselves
| Best UK & Ireland Act
|
Music & Media Year-End Awards
!Ref.
|-
| 1989
| Southside
| Debut Album of the Year
|
|
Music Week Women in Music Awards
|-
| 2017
| Sharleen Spiteri
| Inspirational Artist
|
NME Awards
|-
| 2003
| rowspan=2|Sharleen Spiteri
| rowspan=2|Sexiest Woman
|
|-
| 2005
|
NRJ Music Awards
|-
| 1999
| Themselves
| International Duo/Group of the Year
|
Q Awards
|-
| 1999
| The Hush
| Best Album
|
Smash Hits Poll Winners Party
|-
| 1989
| rowspan=2|Themselves
| Most Promising New Group
|
|-
| 2000
| Best British Band
|
References
External links
Red Sky July Ally McErlaine's other group
Musical groups from Glasgow
Musical groups established in 1986
Brit Award winners
Scottish alternative rock groups
Scottish pop rock music groups
Culture in East Dunbartonshire
1986 establishments in Scotland
1986 establishments in the United Kingdom
Mercury Records artists
Vertigo Records artists
PIAS Recordings artists
Female-fronted musical groups
|
412938
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve%20King
|
Steve King
|
Steven Arnold King (born May 28, 1949) is an American far-right politician and businessman who served as a U.S. representative from Iowa from 2003 to 2021. A member of the Republican Party, he represented Iowa's 5th congressional district until 2013 and the state's 4th congressional district from 2013 to 2021.
Born in 1949 in Storm Lake, Iowa, King attended Northwest Missouri State University from 1967 to 1970. He founded a construction company in 1975 and worked in business and environmental study before seeking the Republican nomination for a seat in the Iowa Senate in 1996. He won the primary and the general election, and was reelected in 2000. In 2002 King was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Iowa's 5th congressional district after the incumbent, Tom Latham, was reassigned to the 4th district after redistricting. He was reelected four times before the 2010 United States Census removed the 5th district and placed King in the 4th, which he represented from 2013.
King is an opponent of immigration and multiculturalism, and has a long history of racist and anti-immigrant rhetoric and white-nationalist affiliations. The Washington Post described King as "the Congressman most openly affiliated with white nationalism." King has been criticized for his affiliation with white supremacist ideas, made controversial statements against immigrants, and supported European right-wing populist and far-right politicians who have engaged in racism, anti-Semitism and Islamophobia.
For much of King's congressional tenure, Republican politicians and officials were silent about his rhetoric, and frequently sought his endorsement and campaigned with him because of his popularity with northwest Iowa's voters. Shortly before the 2018 election, the National Republican Congressional Committee withdrew funding for King's reelection campaign and its chairman, Steve Stivers, condemned King's conduct, although Iowa's Republican senators and governor continued to endorse him. King was narrowly reelected, but after a January 2019 interview in which he questioned the negative connotations of the terms "white nationalist" and "white supremacy", he was widely condemned by both parties, the media, and public figures, and the Republican Steering Committee removed him from all House committee assignments. King ran for reelection but, campaign funding and support having declined, lost the June 2020 Republican primary to Randy Feenstra by 10 points.
Personal life, education, and business career
King was born on May 28, 1949, in Storm Lake, Iowa, the son of Mildred Lila (née Culler), a homemaker, and Emmett A. King, a state police dispatcher. His father has Irish and German ancestry, and his mother has Welsh roots, as well as American ancestry going back to the colonial era. His grandmother was a German immigrant. King graduated in 1967 from Denison Community High School. In 1972, he married Marilyn Kelly, with whom he has three children. Though raised Methodist, King attends his wife's Catholic church, having converted 17 years after marrying her. His son Jeff King, a consultant, has been active in his political campaigns.
King attended Northwest Missouri State University from 1967 to 1970, where he was a member of the Alpha Kappa Lambda fraternity and majored in math and biology, but did not graduate. In 1975, King founded King Construction, an earthmoving company. In the 1980s, he founded the Kiron Business Association. King's involvement with the Iowa Land Improvement Contractors' Association led to regional and national offices in that organization and a growing interest in public policy.
Iowa State Senate (1997–2003)
In 1996, King was elected to Iowa's 6th Senate district, defeating incumbent senator Wayne Bennett in the primary 68%–31% and Democrat Eileen Heiden in the general election 64%–35%. In 2000, he won reelection to a second term, defeating Democratic nominee Dennis Ryan 70%–30%. During his tenure in the Iowa State Senate, King filed a bill requiring public schools to teach children that the U.S. "is the unchallenged greatest nation in the world and that it has derived its strength from... Christianity, free enterprise capitalism and Western civilization", and served as chief sponsor of a law making English the official language of Iowa.
U.S. House of Representatives (2003–2021)
Elections
2002
In 2002, after redistricting, King ran for the open seat in Iowa's 5th congressional district. The incumbent, fellow Republican Tom Latham, had his home drawn into the reconfigured 4th district. King finished first in the four-way Republican primary with 31% of the vote, less than the 35% voting threshold needed to win; subsequently, a nominating convention was held, at which he was nominated, defeating state house speaker Brent Siegrist 51%–47%. King won the general election, defeating Council Bluffs city councilman Paul Shomshor 62%–38%. He won all the counties in the predominantly Republican district except Pottawattamie.
2004
King won reelection to a second term, defeating Democratic candidate Joyce Schulte, 63%–37%. He won all the counties in the district except Clarke.
2006
In 2006, King won reelection to a third term, defeating Schulte again, 59%–36%. He won all the counties in the district except Clarke and Union.
2008
King won reelection to a fourth term, defeating Democratic candidate Rob Hubler, 60%–37%. For the first time in his career he won all 32 counties in his district.
2010
King won reelection to a fifth term, defeating Matt Campbell, 66%–32%. That was his highest percentage yet. King also won all 32 counties again.
2012
Iowa lost a district as a result of the 2010 census. King's district was renumbered the 4th, and pushed well to the east, absorbing Mason City and Ames. This placed King and his predecessor, Latham, in the same district. Latham opted to move to the reconfigured 3rd District to challenge Democratic incumbent Leonard Boswell. The reconfigured district was, at least on paper, much more competitive than King's old district. The old 5th had a Cook Partisan Voting Index of R+9, while the new 4th had a PVI of R+4. The new 4th was also mostly new to King; he retained only 45% of his former territory. It closely resembled the territory that Latham had represented from 1995 to 2003.
Soon afterward, former Iowa first lady Christie Vilsack, the wife of former governor and then current U.S. agriculture secretary Tom Vilsack, announced she was moving to the new 4th to challenge King. King received the endorsement of Mitt Romney, who said, "I'm looking here at Steve King because this man needs to be your congressman again. I want him as my partner in Washington, D.C." King won reelection to a sixth term, defeating Vilsack 53%–45%. King won all but seven counties, none of which he had previously represented: Webster, Boone, Story, Chickasaw, Floyd, Cerro Gordo, and Winnebago. King later said of his 2012 victory, "I faced $7 million, the best of everything Democrats can throw at me, their dream candidate and everything that can come from the Obama machine, and prevailed through all of that with 55 percent of my district that was new."
2014
On May 3, 2013, King announced that he would not run for the U.S. Senate in 2014.
King won reelection with 61.6% of the vote, defeating Democratic candidate Jim Mowrer.
2016
King won reelection, receiving 61.2% of the vote to Democratic nominee Kim Weaver's 38.6%.
2018
King faced his closest race to date in 2018, receiving 50.4% of the vote to 47% for Democratic nominee J. D. Scholten; Libertarian candidate Charles Aldrich received 2%. King likely prevailed due to Governor Kim Reynolds carrying the district with almost 61 percent of the vote in her bid for a full term. Turnout was down from the 2016 election; 370,259 voted in 2016, compared to 313,251 in 2018.
It was the closest a Democrat has come to winning what is now the 4th since Berkley Bedell left office in what was then the 6th District in 1986. That year, Republican Fred Grandy won with only 50.1 percent of the vote. Since then, the only other time a Republican has not won election by double digits in this district (which became the 5th in 1993 and the 4th in 2013) was King's 2012 race against Vilsack.
2020
In the wake of being stripped of his committee seats, King faced a credible primary challenger in State Senator Randy Feenstra, who represented much of the district's northwest portion. Feenstra outraised King by a significant margin. Ultimately, King lost to Feenstra, taking 36.7 percent of the vote to Feenstra's 45.7 percent.
Tenure
King is considered an outspoken fiscal and social conservative. After winning the 2002 Republican nomination, he said that he intended to use his seat in Congress to "move the political center of gravity in Congress to the right." During the 110th Congress, King voted with the majority of the Republican Party 90.9% of the time. He has continuously voted for Iraq War legislation, supported surge efforts and opposed a time table for troop withdrawals. During the 112th United States Congress King was one of 40 "staunch" members of the Republican Study Committee who frequently voted against Republican party leadership and vocally expressed displeasure with House bills. In August 2015, King was named the least effective member of Congress by InsideGov due to his persistent failures to get legislation out of committee. On December 18, 2019, King voted against both articles of impeachment against Trump, as did all 195 Republicans who voted.
Committee assignments
King served on the Judiciary, Agriculture, and Small Business Committees until January 14, 2019, when he was removed from all committee assignments after bipartisan condemnation of his remarks on white supremacy.
Caucus memberships
Republican Study Committee
Tea Party Caucus
Congressional Constitution Caucus
Congressional Western Caucus
Political positions
Abortion
King opposes abortion. He has a 100% rating from the National Right to Life Committee, indicating an anti-abortion voting record. King has also voted against allowing human embryonic stem cell research. He supports the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act, which would ban federal funding of abortions except in cases of what the bill calls "forcible rape". This would remove the coverage from Medicaid that covers abortions for victims of statutory rape or incest.
After Todd Akin made a controversial statement about "legitimate rape" on August 19, 2012, King came to his defense, characterizing the critical response as "petty personal attacks" and calling Akin a "strong Christian man". King said that Akin's voting record should be more important than his words. Six months later, King's defense of Akin (who lost his race) was seen as politically damaging by Steven J. Law of the Conservative Victory Project, a group including Karl Rove that was working to discourage conservative candidates they deemed unelectable, to enable more viable conservative candidates to gain office. Law said, "We're concerned about Steve King's Todd Akin problem."
King sponsored legislation to ban abortion of a fetus that has a detectable heartbeat, which can in some cases occur as early as 6 weeks (before many women know they are pregnant). A physician who performs a prohibited abortion would be subject to a fine, up to five years in prison, or both. A woman who undergoes a prohibited abortion could not be prosecuted for violating the provisions of this bill.
In August 2019, while defending his opposition to abortion in cases of rape or incest, King asked, "What if we went back through all the family trees and just pulled out anyone who was a product of rape or incest? Would there be any population of the world left if we did that?" Iowa State Senator Randy Feenstra, who went on to defeat King in the 2020 Republican primary, tweeted: "I am 100% pro-life but Steve King's bizarre comments and behavior diminish our message & damage our cause". Wyoming representative Liz Cheney called King's comments "appalling and bizarre" and called for his resignation. King's comments were also criticized by Steve Scalise, Kevin McCarthy, Donald Trump, and Elise Jordan.
Animal rights
In February 2010, King tweeted about chasing and shooting a raccoon that had tried to enter his house during a blizzard, prompting criticism from animal rights groups. He defended his actions, saying the animal might have been rabid.
In July 2012, King opposed the McGovern Amendment (to the 2012 Farm Bill) to establish misdemeanor penalties for knowingly attending an organized animal fight and felony penalties for bringing a minor to such a fight. He was also one of 39 House members to vote against an upgrade of penalties for transporting fighting animals across state lines in 2007. King received a score of zero on the 2012 Humane Society Legislative Fund's Humane Scorecard. Afterward, he put out a video clarifying his position, stating that it would be putting animals above humans if it were legal to watch humans fight but not animals. The issue prompted a feature segment on The Colbert Report criticizing King's reasoning. The main differences cited between human combat sports and dogfights were the ability to choose to participate and the consequences of losing a match.
On September 24, 2010, comedian Stephen Colbert testified to the House Agriculture Committee about the working conditions of migrant farmworkers. King said he wanted to eliminate them, replacing them with "everyday American workers". He also said, "Maybe we should be spending less time watching Comedy Central and more time considering all the real jobs that are out there, ones that require real hard labor". He praised the "Joe the Plumbers of the world who many days would prefer the aroma of fresh dirt to that of the sewage from American elitists who disparage them even as they flush." Colbert, in his faux-conservative character, lampooned King. "This is America! I don't want a tomato picked by a Mexican! I want it picked by an American, then sliced by a Guatemalan, and served by a Venezuelan in a spa where a Chilean gives me a Brazilian."
In July 2012, King introduced an amendment to the House Farm Bill that would legalize previously banned animal agriculture practices such as tail-docking, using banned arsenic-based drugs in chicken feed, and keeping impregnated pigs in small crates. "My language wipes out everything they've done with pork and veal," King said of his amendment. The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) President Wayne Pacelle said the measure could nullify "any laws to protect animals, and perhaps ... laws to protect the environment, workers, or public safety."
In May 2013, King introduced another amendment to the House Farm Bill, the Protect Interstate Commerce Act (PICA), saying, "PICA blocks states from requiring 'free range' eggs or 'free range' pork." In 2014, the controversial provision was dropped.
Climate change
King has dismissed concern over global warming, calling it a "religion" and claiming efforts to address climate change are useless. A day after claiming that climate change was more "a religion than a science," he reasserted that many scientists overreact when discussing the consequences of global warming, saying, "Everything that might result from a warmer planet is always bad in [environmentalists'] analysis. There will be more photosynthesis going on if the Earth gets warmer ... And if sea levels go up 4 or 6 inches, I don't know if we'd know that. We don't know where sea level is even, let alone be able to say that it's going to come up an inch globally because some polar ice caps might melt because there's suspended in the atmosphere."
Elections
King endorsed Ted Cruz in the 2016 Republican presidential primaries, saying Cruz was the "answer to my prayers". He endorsed and strongly supported Donald Trump after Trump won the nomination.
In December 2020, King was one of 126 Republican members of the House of Representatives who signed an amicus brief in support of Texas v. Pennsylvania, a lawsuit filed at the United States Supreme Court contesting the results of the 2020 presidential election, in which Joe Biden prevailed over incumbent Donald Trump. The Supreme Court declined to hear the case on the basis that Texas lacked standing under Article III of the Constitution to challenge the results of the election held by another state.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued a statement that called signing the amicus brief an act of "election subversion." Additionally, Pelosi reprimanded King and the other House members who supported the lawsuit: "The 126 Republican Members that signed onto this lawsuit brought dishonor to the House. Instead of upholding their oath to support and defend the Constitution, they chose to subvert the Constitution and undermine public trust in our sacred democratic institutions." New Jersey Representative Bill Pascrell, citing section three of the 14th Amendment, called for Pelosi to not seat the other Republicans who signed the brief supporting the suit. Pascrell argued that "the text of the 14th Amendment expressly forbids Members of Congress from engaging in rebellion against the United States. Trying to overturn a democratic election and install a dictator seems like a pretty clear example of that."
Fiscal policy
Objecting to "taxpayer-funded subsidies, pet projects and added bureaucracy", King voted against The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 in the U.S. House of Representatives, saying, "Our economy will not recover because government spends more. It will recover because people produce more." King also stood out as one of only 11 members of Congress to vote against the $51.8 billion Hurricane Katrina relief package in 2005, claiming there was no comprehensive plan for spending the aid money.
Gun rights
King opposes stricter regulations on gun ownership. In 2017, King said that a bill to close the so-called "gun show loophole" and add background checks for individuals who bought guns at gun shows would ruin "Christmas at the Kings'" if it passed. In 2018, King criticized 18-year-old Parkland shooting survivor X González, attempting to tie González to Communist Cuba. In 2018, he said that easy access to guns should not be blamed for gun violence, but rather video games, cultural changes, lack of prayer in schools, gun-free zones, family break-ups, and the stimulant medication Ritalin.
Health care
King is a staunch opponent of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) and has led attempts to repeal it. He fought against Medicare and Medicaid covering a number of medications such as Viagra, which he called "recreational drugs".
In January 2017, King said that in the wake of the 2016 presidential election, "it has become abundantly clear that the American people have overwhelmingly rejected Obamacare time and time again" and called for congressional Republicans to "take swift action to fulfill our promise to We the People and repeal this unconstitutional and egregious law passed by hook, crook and legislative shenanigan." In May 2017, King said he had moved from supporting the American Health Care Act, the Republican replacement to the Affordable Care Act, to being unsure as a result of benefits such as emergency services, hospitalization and prescription drugs that were added following his backing of the measure: "Once they negotiated [essential health benefits] with the Freedom Caucus and Tuesday Group, it is hard for me to imagine they will bring that language in the Senate, or that it will be effective because they diluted this thing substantially." King added that he and Trump agreed on the need for the federal government to not have a role in health insurance and that Republicans would not have had difficulty repealing the Affordable Care Act had the party prioritized its replacement within the first week of the 115th Congress, in January 2015.
LGBT rights
On April 3, 2009, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled in Varnum v. Brien unanimously that a state ban on same-sex marriage violated Iowa's constitution. King soon commented that the justices "should resign from their position" and the state legislature "must also enact marriage license residency requirements so that Iowa does not become the gay marriage Mecca." King, along with others, mounted a campaign against the three Iowa Supreme Court justices who were up for retention and had ruled on the gay marriage case. King bought $80,000 of radio advertising across the state calling for Iowans to vote against their retention. None of the three was retained.
On October 7, 2014, King was one of 19 members of Congress inducted into the LGBT civil rights advocacy group Human Rights Campaign's "Hall of Shame" for his opposition to LGBT equality.
In response to the Supreme Court's 2015 decision Obergefell v. Hodges, in which the court ruled that same-sex marriage is a constitutionally protected right, King called for a non-binding resolution saying that states may refuse to recognize the decision. He has also called for the abolition of civil marriage. On May 17, 2019, King was one of 173 representatives to vote against the Equality Act.
Lobbying
On February 26, 2010, King went to the House floor to protest Democrats' handling of health care reform and said, "Lobbyists do a very effective and useful job on this Hill ... There's a credibility there in that arena that I think somebody needs to stand up for the lobby, and it is a matter of providing a lot of valuable information."
Immigration
King voted against the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2020 which authorizes DHS to nearly double the available H-2B visas for the remainder of FY 2020.
King voted against Consolidated Appropriations Act (H.R. 1158) which effectively prohibits ICE from cooperating with Health and Human Services to detain or remove illegal alien sponsors of unaccompanied alien children (UACs).
King is a proponent of the Great Replacement theory, the theory states that the white population is being replaced by mass non-white immigrants.
Racist comments, controversies and far-right politics
The Washington Post has described King as "the U.S. congressman most openly affiliated with white nationalism", while Vanity Fair has said his opinions in this direction are "barely veiled". David Leonhardt in an opinion piece for The New York Times has explicitly identified King as being a "white nationalist". King has stirred controversy and come to prominence by making statements that have been described as racist or racially charged. He is a staunch opponent of immigration and multiculturalism, and has supported far-right European politicians. According to The Guardian, King "has long been one of the most vociferously anti-immigration members of the House Republican caucus." King has said that he is not a racist.
In October 2018, the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, Steve Stivers, condemned King as a racist, saying that King's actions and comments were "completely inappropriate" and constituted "white supremacy and hate." The NRCC said it would not help King in his 2018 re-election efforts. Representative Carlos Curbelo described King's comments and actions as "disgusting" and said that he would never vote for someone like King. Senator Ted Cruz called King's rhetoric "divisive" but stopped short of condemning him. Other Republicans, such as House Agriculture Committee Chairman Mike Conaway, dismissed the idea that King is racist.
In a January 2019 interview with The New York Times, King asked, "White nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization—how did that language become offensive?" He also said of the large increase in representation of minorities and women in the new Democrat-controlled House: "You could look over there and think the Democratic Party is no country for white men." He was subsequently condemned by numerous Republican members of Congress, including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and other members of the House Republican leadership. U.S. Senator Tim Scott criticized King harshly in a Washington Post op-ed, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell called King's remarks "unwelcome and unworthy of his elected position". Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro called for King to be censured and for a primary challenge against King. After the interview was published, and following backlash from across the political spectrum, King issued a statement via Twitter stating that he was "simply a Nationalist", that he did not advocate for "white nationalism and white supremacy", and that "I want to make one thing abundantly clear: I reject those labels and the evil ideology they define." King said The New York Times had misunderstood his comments, and that he did not question why "white nationalist" and "white supremacist" were offensive terms. On Twitter, he later stated: "As I told The New York Times, 'it's not about race; It's never been about race'." The House voted 416–1 to rebuke King's comments; Illinois Representative Bobby Rush was the lone "nay" vote, but only because he believed a rebuke was too lenient and that King deserved to be censured.
Immigration and multiculturalism
King is a staunch opponent of immigration and multiculturalism.
In April 2006, when asked if "the US economy simply couldn't function without" the presence of illegal immigrants, King said that he rejected that position "categorically". He said the 77.5 million people between the ages of 16 and 65 in the United States who are not part of the workforce "could be put to work and we could invent machines to replace the rest." In 2006, King called for an electrified fence on the US border, commenting that such fences were successful in containing livestock.
In July 2013, speaking about proposed immigration legislation, King said of illegal immigrants: "For every one who's a valedictorian, there's another 100 out there who weigh 130 pounds—and they've got calves the size of cantaloupes because they're hauling 75 pounds of marijuana across the desert." Despite strong rebukes from both Democrats and other Republicans, including House Speaker John Boehner, who called his statements "ignorant" and "hateful", and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, who called the comments "inexcusable", King defended his comments, saying he got the description from the border patrol.
In July 2015, referencing HUD secretary Julián Castro's remarks on how poorly the Republican Party was doing with Hispanic voters, King responded, "What does Julian Castro know? Does he know that I'm as Hispanic and Latino as he?" King is neither Hispanic nor Latino by either family history or ethnic definition.
In 2016, a journalist for the Iowa Starting Line reported that King displayed the Confederate flag on his office desk, although Iowa was part of the Union during the American Civil War. He removed it after a Confederate flag-waver later fatally shot two Iowa police officers. King attempted to block a bill that would remove Andrew Jackson and replace him with Harriet Tubman on the twenty-dollar bill. King praised Bernie Sanders numerous times for his view on immigration, saying they were "closer to mine than it is some of the presidential candidates on the Republican side."
In March 2017, King wrote "culture and demographics are our destiny. We can't restore our civilization with somebody else's babies." When asked about his comments, King stood by them, saying: "you need to teach your children your values" and "with the inter-marriage, I'd like to see an America that is just so homogenous that we look a lot the same". King was rebuked by members of his own party, including Speaker Paul D. Ryan, but praised by white supremacist David Duke and The Daily Stormer, a neo-Nazi website.
In July 2017, the House Appropriations Committee voted to fund the US-Mexico border wall, allocating $1.6 billion for it. King called for an additional $5 billion for the wall, to be paid for with federal dollars coming from Planned Parenthood, food stamps, and other federal welfare programs, saying, "I would find half of a billion of dollars of that right out of Planned Parenthood's budget, and the rest of it could come out of food stamps and the entitlements that are being spread out for people who have not worked in three generations."
On November 5, 2018, King referred to Mexican immigrants as "dirt" while at a campaign stop. The Weekly Standard reported the comment; King denied saying it and called on The Weekly Standard to release audio of the remarks. The Weekly Standard then released a recording of the exchange, confirming that King had made the remarks. In May 2019, King warned against "presuming that every culture is equal". On September 4, 2019, King posted a video of himself drinking water from water fountains over toilets at migrant facilities. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez criticized the GOP as "anti-immigrant" following the video.
President Barack Obama
On March 7, 2008, during his press engagements to announce his reelection campaign, King made remarks about then U.S. senator and Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and his middle name "Hussein", saying:
I don't want to disparage anyone because of their race, their ethnicity, their name—whatever their religion their father might have been, I'll just say this: When you think about the optics of a Barack Obama potentially getting elected President of the United States—I mean, what does this look like to the rest of the world? What does it look like to the world of Islam? I will tell you that, if he is elected president, then the radical Islamists, the al-Qaida, the radical Islamists and their supporters, will be dancing in the streets in greater numbers than they did on September 11.
On March 10, King defended his comments to the Associated Press, saying "[Obama will] certainly be viewed as a savior for them... That's why you will see them supporting him, encouraging him."
Obama said he did not take the comments too seriously, describing King as a person who thrives on making controversial statements to get media coverage. He said, "I would hope [Obama's opponent] Senator [John] McCain would want to distance himself from that kind of inflammatory and offensive remarks." The McCain campaign disavowed King's comments, saying "John McCain rejects the type of politics that degrades our civics... and obviously that extends to Congressman King's statement."
In mid-January 2009, King acknowledged that terrorists were not dancing in the streets, and had made statements opposing Obama. He said he found Obama's decision to use his middle name "Hussein" when sworn in as the 44th President of the United States to be "bizarre" and "a double standard".
In 2010, King speculated that Obama's immigration policies were influenced by racial favoritism toward black people.
In February 2020 on Twitter, King insinuated former DHS official Philip Haney had been murdered as a reprisal for "archiving data that incriminated the highest levels of the Obama administration".
Racial profiling
On June 14, 2010, King said on the House floor that racial profiling is an important component of law enforcement: "Some claim that the Arizona law will bring about racial discrimination profiling. First let me say, Mr. Speaker, that profiling has always been an important component of legitimate law enforcement. If you can't profile someone, you can't use those common sense indicators that are before your very eyes. Now, I think it's wrong to use racial profiling for the reasons of discriminating against people, but it's not wrong to use race or other indicators for the sake of identifying people that are violating the law." As an example of profiling, King described an instance when a taxi driver would stop for him before he had to hail a cab, just because he was in a business suit.
The same day, on G. Gordon Liddy's radio program, King said that Obama's policies favored black people: "The president has demonstrated that he has a default mechanism in him that breaks down the side of race—on the side that favors the black person in the case of Professor Gates and Officer Crowley." On January 13, 2018, King tweeted that racial oppression was a "thing of the past".
Comments on Western civilization
On July 18, 2016, King participated in a panel discussion on MSNBC, during which a panelist from Esquire magazine suggested that the 2016 convention could be the last in which "old white people would command the Republican Party's attention". King responded, "This whole 'old white people' business does get a little tired, Charlie. I'd ask you to go back through history and figure out where are these contributions that have been made by these other categories of people that you are talking about? Where did any other subgroup of people contribute more to civilization?" Panel moderator Chris Hayes later described King's comments as odious and preposterous. Panel member April Ryan described them as "in-my-face racism". That evening, King was asked about his comments during an interview with ABC News. King said he had meant to say that "Western civilization", rather than "white people", is the "superior culture": "when you describe Western civilization, that can mean much of Western civilization happens to be Caucasians. But we should not apologize for our culture or our civilization. The contributions that were made by Western civilization itself, and by Americans, by Americans of all races, stand far above the rest of the world. The Western civilization and the American civilization are a superior culture."
Attitudes towards Muslims
In September 2014, King called for the Obama administration to begin surveilling mosques to monitor recruitment to ISIS. Although BuzzFeed News said there was no evidence of such recruitment, King claimed it was occurring in parts of the United States. On December 9, 2015, he told MSNBC that he agreed with his party that Islam is "incompatible" with American life. In an interview with Breitbart News, King said he did not want Muslims working in meat-packing plants, because "I don't want people doing my pork that won't eat it, let alone hope I go to hell for eating pork chops." On March 7, 2019, he voted "present" on a resolution the US House passed condemning anti-Semitism and anti-Muslim discrimination. On August 27, 2019, King joked about Uyghur Muslims detained in China's Xinjiang re-education camps being forced to eat pork.
Abuse at Abu Ghraib prison
In May 2004, King compared the torture and prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib prison to "hazing". He argued that violence against American soldiers in Iraq was more extreme than the prisoner
abuse, saying that comparing the two was like comparing the crimes "committed by Jeffrey Dahmer compared to those of Heidi Fleiss", and that "if Tom Harkin and his Democrat allies want to continue to act like political cannibals and pitch partisan hooey to anyone who'll listen, then they're eating their own."
Affirmative action
King opposes affirmative action. He has said: "There's been legislation that's been brought through this House that sets aside benefits for women and minorities. The only people that it excludes are white men... Pretty soon, white men are going to notice they are the ones being excluded." In 2015, King introduced a bill that would require colleges to report affirmative action.
Support for far-right politics
On March 12, 2017, King expressed his support for Geert Wilders, a far-right Dutch politician known for his anti-Islam views, leading up to the election in the Netherlands, stating, "Wilders understands that culture and demographics are our destiny" and "We can't restore our civilization with somebody else's babies," referring to his views on ending birthright citizenship and promoting "an America that's just so homogenous that we look a lot [sic] the same." His statements received criticism from other politicians, including several Republicans, with Jeb Bush responding that "America is a nation of immigrants"; despite the backlash, King defended his statements. Others reported that King's statements were well received among white nationalists, garnering support from prominent members of that community. The next day on CNN, King said he was referring to culture, not ethnicity, saying: "It's the culture, not the blood. If you can go anywhere in the world and adopt these babies and put them into households that were already assimilated in America, those babies will grow up as American as any other baby with as much patriotism and love of country as any other baby." Former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke praised King's statement.
King supported French right-wing populist politician, leader of the Front National Marine Le Pen in the French 2017 presidential election. He sent her a message stating: "Our shared civilization must be saved".
King supported Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, a right-wing populist and strong opponent of admitting migrants during the European migrant crisis. On December 8, 2017, King tweeted Orbán's quote that "Diversity is not our strength. Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban , 'Mixing cultures will not lead to a higher quality of life but a lower one'." "Assimilation has become a dirty word to the multiculturalist Left. Assimilation, not diversity, is our American strength," he tweeted.
In June 2018, he retweeted a comment by Mark Collett, a British neo-Nazi and self-described admirer of Hitler, about Europe "waking up" to mass immigration.
On August 24, 2018, King was interviewed by the Austrian website Unzensuriert (Uncensored), which is connected to the country's Freedom Party, part of the First Kurz government. He agreed with the interviewer that American financier George Soros is involved with the "Great Replacement", a far-right conspiracy theory that claims to have identified a plot to replace white Europeans with minorities and immigrants.
King also endorsed right-wing Canadian political commentator Faith Goldy in the 2018 Toronto mayoral election. Goldy participated in a Neo-Nazi podcast and has been described as far-right or alt-right. In response to the Goldy endorsement, and King's other racially contentious remarks, Minnesota-based agricultural cooperative Land O'Lakes ended its support for his reelection.
In February 2021, after he left office, it was announced that he would be a speaker at Nick Fuentes' America First Political Action Conference.
White genocide
King subscribes to the white genocide conspiracy theory, and has stated this view while in Congress. Mother Jones and other media have reported more generally on his belief in and promotion of the conspiracy theory. In 2018, King spoke to an Austrian far-right publication about "the great replacement", which The New York Times described as "a conspiracy theory on the far right that claims shadowy elites are working behind the scenes to reduce white populations to minorities in their own countries." The theory gained notoriety after the alleged perpetrator of the 2019 Christchurch mosque shootings titled his manifesto after it.
Antisemitism controversy in 2018
In late October 2018, after the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) sent the House speaker, Paul Ryan, an open letter calling on him to censure King, citing King's relationship with far-right Freedom Party of Austria and other far-right groups in Europe. The letter accused King of engaging in antisemitic smearing of the Jewish investor and philanthropist George Soros. It concluded, "Rep. King has brought dishonor onto the House of Representatives. We strongly urge you and the congressional leadership to demonstrate your revulsion with Rep. King's actions by stripping him of his subcommittee chairmanship and initiating proceedings to formally censure or otherwise discipline him." Two leaders within the Iowa Jewish community also criticized King for being "an enthusiastic crusader for the same types of abhorrent beliefs held by the Pittsburgh shooter".
Post-political career
After King's loss in the 2020 Republican primary in Iowa's 4th Congressional district, he wrote a book giving his account of what happened and travelled for several months to promote it. The book is entitled Walking Through the Fire: My Fight for the Heart and Soul of America. It was put out by Fidelis Publishing, known for publishing Christian and Conservative books. King says he was motivated to write lest "the media and the elitists in the Republican Party write a political epitaph" for him. The book maintains that freedom of speech is being undermined and that the Democratic party is weaponizing terms like "white nationalist" and "white supremacist". King claims his attempts to warn America about this was why he lost his party's support "I'm trying to tell America, and what do they [Republican leadership] do? Politically assassinate me for trying to let them know what's happening to all of us."
He told the Des Moines Register that while he currently had no plans to return to politics, he would if there was a "groundswell". He went on to say, "I don't see that at this point. But I do see a lot of support, and we've got a lot of policies and causes that we need to push. We've got state conventions coming up and a platform to be shaped."
King has campaigned against carbon-capture pipelines; at an August 2023 event cosponsored by the John Birch Society, he criticized the use of eminent domain and financial motivations behind the pipelines.
References
External links
|-
|-
1949 births
20th-century American businesspeople
20th-century American politicians
American far-right politicians
20th-century American far-right politicians
21st-century American politicians
American anti-abortion activists
American conspiracy theorists
American critics of Islam
American Roman Catholics
Antisemitism in the United States
American people of German descent
American people of Irish descent
American people of Welsh descent
Alt-right politicians
American white nationalists
Discrimination against LGBT people in the United States
Businesspeople from Iowa
Catholic politicians from Iowa
Converts to Roman Catholicism from Methodism
Critics of multiculturalism
Republican Party Iowa state senators
Living people
Members of the United States Congress stripped of committee assignment
Northwest Missouri State University alumni
People from Crawford County, Iowa
People from Sac County, Iowa
People from Storm Lake, Iowa
Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Iowa
Tea Party movement activists
Alt-right Christians
|
412942
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lipopolysaccharide
|
Lipopolysaccharide
|
Lipopolysaccharides (LPS) are large molecules consisting of a lipid and a polysaccharide that are bacterial toxins. They are composed of an O-antigen, an outer core, and an inner core all joined by covalent bonds, and are found in the outer membrane of Gram-negative bacteria, such as E. coli and Salmonella. Today, the term endotoxin is often used synonymously with LPS, although there are a few endotoxins (in the original sense of toxins that are inside the bacterial cell that are released when the cell disintegrates) that are not related to LPS, such as the so-called delta endotoxin proteins produced by Bacillus thuringiensis.
Lipopolysaccharides can have substantial impacts on human health, primarily through interactions with the immune system. LPS is a potent activator of the immune system and pyrogen (agent that causes fever). In severe cases, LPS can play a role in causing septic shock. In lower levels and over a longer time period, there is evidence LPS may play an important and harmful role in autoimmunity, obesity, depression, and cellular senescence.
Discovery
The toxic activity of LPS was first discovered and termed endotoxin by Richard Friedrich Johannes Pfeiffer. He distinguished between exotoxins, toxins that are released by bacteria into the surrounding environment, and endotoxins, which are toxins "within" the bacterial cell and released only after destruction of the bacterial outer membrane. Subsequent work showed that release of LPS from gram negative microbes does not necessarily require the destruction of the bacterial cell wall, but rather, LPS is secreted as part of the normal physiological activity of membrane vesicle trafficking in the form of bacterial outer membrane vesicles (OMVs), which may also contain other virulence factors and proteins.
Functions in bacteria
LPS is a major component of the outer membrane of Gram-negative bacteria, contributing greatly to the structural integrity of the bacteria and protecting the membrane from certain kinds of chemical attack. LPS is the most abundant antigen on the cell surface of most Gram-negative bacteria, contributing up to 80% of the outer membrane of E. coli and Salmonella. LPS increases the negative charge of the cell membrane and helps stabilize the overall membrane structure. It is of crucial importance to many Gram-negative bacteria, which die if the genes coding for it are mutated or removed. However, it appears that LPS is nonessential in at least some Gram-negative bacteria, such as Neisseria meningitidis, Moraxella catarrhalis, and Acinetobacter baumannii. It has also been implicated in non-pathogenic aspects of bacterial ecology, including surface adhesion, bacteriophage sensitivity, and interactions with predators such as amoebae. LPS is also required for the functioning of omptins, a class of bacterial protease.
Composition
Lipopolysaccharides are composed of three parts: The O antigen (or O polysaccharide), the Core oligosaccharide, and Lipid A.
O-antigen
The repetitive glycan polymer contained within an LPS is referred to as the O antigen, O polysaccharide, or O side-chain of the bacteria. The O antigen is attached to the core oligosaccharide, and comprises the outermost domain of the LPS molecule. The composition of the O chain varies from strain to strain; there are over 160 different O antigen structures produced by different E. coli strains. The presence or absence of O chains determines whether the LPS is considered "rough" or "smooth". Full-length O-chains would render the LPS smooth, whereas the absence or reduction of O-chains would make the LPS rough. Bacteria with rough LPS usually have more penetrable cell membranes to hydrophobic antibiotics, since a rough LPS is more hydrophobic. O antigen is exposed on the very outer surface of the bacterial cell, and, as a consequence, is a target for recognition by host antibodies.
Core
The core domain always contains an oligosaccharide component that attaches directly to lipid A and commonly contains sugars such as heptose and 3-Deoxy-D-manno-oct-2-ulosonic acid (also known as KDO, keto-deoxyoctulosonate). The LPS cores of many bacteria also contain non-carbohydrate components, such as phosphate, amino acids, and ethanolamine substituents.
Lipid A
Lipid A is, in normal circumstances, a phosphorylated glucosamine disaccharide decorated with multiple fatty acids. These hydrophobic fatty acid chains anchor the LPS into the bacterial membrane, and the rest of the LPS projects from the cell surface. The lipid A domain is responsible for much of the toxicity of Gram-negative bacteria. When bacterial cells are lysed by the immune system, fragments of membrane containing lipid A are released into the circulation, causing fever, diarrhea, and possible fatal endotoxic shock (also called septic shock). The Lipid A moiety is a very conserved component of the LPS. However Lipid A structure varies among bacterial species. Lipid A structure largely defines the degree and nature of the overall host immune activation.
Lipooligosaccharides
The "rough form" of LPS has a lower molecular weight due to the absence of the O polysaccharide. In its place is a short oligosaccharide: this form is known as Lipooligosaccharide (LOS), and is a glycolipid found in the outer membrane of some types of Gram-negative bacteria, such as Neisseria spp. and Haemophilus spp. LOS plays a central role in maintaining the integrity and functionality of the outer membrane of the Gram negative cell envelope. LOS play an important role in the pathogenesis of certain bacterial infections because they are capable of acting as immunostimulators and immunomodulators. Furthermore, LOS molecules are responsible for the ability of some bacterial strains to display molecular mimicry and antigenic diversity, aiding in the evasion of host immune defenses and thus contributing to the virulence of these bacterial strains. In the case of Neisseria meningitidis, the lipid A portion of the molecule has a symmetrical structure and the inner core is composed of 3-deoxy-D-manno-2-octulosonic acid (KDO) and heptose (Hep) moieties. The outer core oligosaccharide chain varies depending on the bacterial strain.
LPS detoxification
A highly conserved host enzyme called acyloxyacyl hydrolase (AOAH) may detoxify LPS when it enters, or is produced in, animal tissues. It may also convert LPS in the intestine into an LPS inhibitor. Neutrophils, macrophages and dendritic cells produce this lipase, which inactivates LPS by removing the two secondary acyl chains from lipid A to produce tetraacyl LPS. If mice are given LPS parenterally, those that lack AOAH develop high titers of non-specific antibodies, develop prolonged hepatomegaly, and experience prolonged endotoxin tolerance. LPS inactivation may be required for animals to restore homeostasis after parenteral LPS exposure. Although mice have many other mechanisms for inhibiting LPS signaling, none is able to prevent these changes in animals that lack AOAH.
Dephosphorylation of LPS by intestinal alkaline phosphatase can reduce the severity of Salmonella tryphimurium and Clostridioides difficile infection restoring normal gut microbiota. Alkaline phosphatase prevents intestinal inflammation (and
"leaky gut") from bacteria by dephosphorylating the Lipid A portion of LPS.
Biosynthesis and transport
Biological effects on hosts infected with Gram-negative bacteria
Immune response
LPS acts as the prototypical endotoxin because it binds the CD14/TLR4/MD2 receptor complex in many cell types, but especially in monocytes, dendritic cells, macrophages and B cells, which promotes the secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines, nitric oxide, and eicosanoids. Bruce Beutler was awarded a portion of the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work demonstrating that TLR4 is the LPS receptor.
As part of the cellular stress response, superoxide is one of the major reactive oxygen species induced by LPS in various cell types that express TLR (toll-like receptor). LPS is also an exogenous pyrogen (fever-inducing substance).
LPS function has been under experimental research for several years due to its role in activating many transcription factors. LPS also produces many types of mediators involved in septic shock. Humans are much more sensitive to LPS than other animals (e.g., mice). A dose of 1 µg/kg induces shock in humans, but mice will tolerate a dose up to a thousand times higher. This may relate to differences in the level of circulating natural antibodies between the two species.
Said et al. showed that LPS causes an IL-10-dependent inhibition of CD4 T-cell expansion and function by up-regulating PD-1 levels on monocytes which leads to IL-10 production by monocytes after binding of PD-1 by PD-L1.
Endotoxins are in large part responsible for the dramatic clinical manifestations of infections with pathogenic Gram-negative bacteria, such as Neisseria meningitidis, the pathogens that causes meningococcal disease, including meningococcemia, Waterhouse–Friderichsen syndrome, and meningitis.
Portions of the LPS from several bacterial strains have been shown to be chemically similar to human host cell surface molecules; the ability of some bacteria to present molecules on their surface which are chemically identical or similar to the surface molecules of some types of host cells is termed molecular mimicry. For example, in Neisseria meningitidis L2,3,5,7,9, the terminal tetrasaccharide portion of the oligosaccharide (lacto-N-neotetraose) is the same tetrasaccharide as that found in paragloboside, a precursor for ABH glycolipid antigens found on human erythrocytes. In another example, the terminal trisaccharide portion (lactotriaose) of the oligosaccharide from pathogenic Neisseria spp. LOS is also found in lactoneoseries glycosphingolipids from human cells. Most meningococci from groups B and C, as well as gonococci, have been shown to have this trisaccharide as part of their LOS structure. The presence of these human cell surface 'mimics' may, in addition to acting as a 'camouflage' from the immune system, play a role in the abolishment of immune tolerance when infecting hosts with certain human leukocyte antigen (HLA) genotypes, such as HLA-B35.
LPS can be sensed directly by hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) through the bonding with TLR4, causing them to proliferate in reaction to a systemic infection. This response activate the TLR4-TRIF-ROS-p38 signaling within the HSCs and through a sustained TLR4 activation can cause a proliferative stress, leading to impair their competitive repopulating ability. Infection in mice using S. typhimurium showed similar results, validating the experimental model also in vivo.
Effect of variability on immune response
O-antigens (the outer carbohydrates) are the most variable portion of the LPS molecule, imparting antigenic specificity. In contrast, lipid A is the most conserved part. However, lipid A composition also may vary (e.g., in number and nature of acyl chains even within or between genera). Some of these variations may impart antagonistic properties to these LPS. For example, diphosphoryl lipid A of Rhodobacter sphaeroides (RsDPLA) is a potent antagonist of LPS in human cells, but is an agonist in hamster and equine cells.
It has been speculated that conical lipid A (e.g., from E. coli) is more agonistic, while less conical lipid A like that of Porphyromonas gingivalis may activate a different signal (TLR2 instead of TLR4), and completely cylindrical lipid A like that of Rhodobacter sphaeroides is antagonistic to TLRs. In general, LPS gene clusters are highly variable between different strains, subspecies, species of bacterial pathogens of plants and animals.
Normal human blood serum contains anti-LOS antibodies that are bactericidal and patients that have infections caused by serotypically distinct strains possess anti-LOS antibodies that differ in their specificity compared with normal serum. These differences in humoral immune response to different LOS types can be attributed to the structure of the LOS molecule, primarily within the structure of the oligosaccharide portion of the LOS molecule.
In Neisseria gonorrhoeae it has been demonstrated that the antigenicity of LOS molecules can change during an infection due to the ability of these bacteria to synthesize more than one type of LOS, a characteristic known as phase variation. Additionally, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, as well as Neisseria meningitidis and Haemophilus influenzae, are capable of further modifying their LOS in vitro, for example through sialylation (modification with sialic acid residues), and as a result are able to increase their resistance to complement-mediated killing or even down-regulate complement activation or evade the effects of bactericidal antibodies. Sialylation may also contribute to hindered neutrophil attachment and phagocytosis by immune system cells as well as a reduced oxidative burst. Haemophilus somnus, a pathogen of cattle, has also been shown to display LOS phase variation, a characteristic which may help in the evasion of bovine host immune defenses.
Taken together, these observations suggest that variations in bacterial surface molecules such as LOS can help the pathogen evade both the humoral (antibody and complement-mediated) and the cell-mediated (killing by neutrophils, for example) host immune defenses.
Non-canonical pathways of LPS recognition
Recently, it was shown that in addition to TLR4 mediated pathways, certain members of the family of the transient receptor potential ion channels recognize LPS. LPS-mediated activation of TRPA1 was shown in mice and Drosophila melanogaster flies. At higher concentrations, LPS activates other members of the sensory TRP channel family as well, such as TRPV1, TRPM3 and to some extent TRPM8.
LPS is recognized by TRPV4 on epithelial cells. TRPV4 activation by LPS was necessary and sufficient to induce nitric oxide production with a bactericidal effect.
Health effects
In general the health effects of LPS are due to its abilities as a potent activator and modulator of the immune system, especially its inducement of inflammation.
Endotoxemia
The presence of endotoxins in the blood is called endotoxemia. High level of endotoxemia can lead to septic shock, while lower concentration of endotoxins in the bloodstream is called metabolic endotoxemia. Endotoxemia is associated with obesity, diet, cardiovascular diseases, and diabetes, while also host genetics might have an effect.
Moreover, endotoxemia of intestinal origin, especially, at the host-pathogen interface, is considered to be an important factor in the development of alcoholic hepatitis, which is likely to develop on the basis of the small bowel bacterial overgrowth syndrome and an increased intestinal permeability.
Lipid A may cause uncontrolled activation of mammalian immune systems with production of inflammatory mediators that may lead to septic shock. This inflammatory reaction is mediated by Toll-like receptor 4 which is responsible for immune system cell activation. Damage to the endothelial layer of blood vessels caused by these inflammatory mediators can lead to capillary leak syndrome, dilation of blood vessels and a decrease in cardiac function and can lead to septic shock. Pronounced complement activation can also be observed later in the course as the bacteria multiply in the blood. High bacterial proliferation triggering destructive endothelial damage can also lead to disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) with loss of function of certain internal organs such as the kidneys, adrenal glands and lungs due to compromised blood supply. The skin can show the effects of vascular damage often coupled with depletion of coagulation factors in the form of petechiae, purpura and ecchymoses. The limbs can also be affected, sometimes with devastating consequences such as the development of gangrene, requiring subsequent amputation. Loss of function of the adrenal glands can cause adrenal insufficiency and additional hemorrhage into the adrenals causes Waterhouse-Friderichsen syndrome, both of which can be life-threatening.
It has also been reported that gonococcal LOS can cause damage to human fallopian tubes.
Auto-immune disease
The molecular mimicry of some LOS molecules is thought to cause autoimmune-based host responses, such as flareups of multiple sclerosis. Other examples of bacterial mimicry of host structures via LOS are found with the bacteria Helicobacter pylori and Campylobacter jejuni, organisms which cause gastrointestinal disease in humans, and Haemophilus ducreyi which causes chancroid. Certain C. jejuni LPS serotypes (attributed to certain tetra- and pentasaccharide moieties of the core oligosaccharide) have also been implicated with Guillain–Barré syndrome and a variant of Guillain–Barré called Miller-Fisher syndrome.
Link to obesity
Epidemiological studies have shown that increased endotoxin load, which can be a result of increased populations of endotoxin-producing bacteria in the intestinal tract, is associated with certain obesity-related patient groups. Other studies have shown that purified endotoxin from Escherichia coli can induce obesity and insulin-resistance when injected into germ-free mouse models. A more recent study has uncovered a potentially contributing role for Enterobacter cloacae B29 toward obesity and insulin resistance in a human patient. The presumed mechanism for the association of endotoxin with obesity is that endotoxin induces an inflammation-mediated pathway accounting for the observed obesity and insulin resistance. Bacterial genera associated with endotoxin-related obesity effects include Escherichia and Enterobacter.
Depression
There is experimental and observational evidence that LPS might play a role in depression. Administration of LPS in mice can lead to depressive symptoms, and there seem to be elevated levels of LPS in some people with depression. Inflammation may sometimes play a role in the development of depression, and LPS is pro-inflammatory.
Cellular senescence
Inflammation induced by LPS can induce cellular senescence, as has been shown for the lung epithelial cells and microglial cells (the latter leading to neurodegeneration).
Role as contaminant in biotechnology and research
Lipopolysaccharides are frequent contaminants in plasmid DNA prepared from bacteria or proteins expressed from bacteria, and must be removed from the DNA or protein to avoid contaminating experiments and to avoid toxicity of products manufactured using industrial fermentation.
Ovalbumin is frequently contaminated with endotoxins. Ovalbumin is one of the extensively studied proteins in animal models and also an established model allergen for airway hyper-responsiveness (AHR). Commercially available ovalbumin that is contaminated with LPS can falsify research results, as it does not accurately reflect the effect of the protein antigen on animal physiology.
In pharmaceutical production, it is necessary to remove all traces of endotoxin from drug product containers, as even small amounts of endotoxin will cause illness in humans. A depyrogenation oven is used for this purpose. Temperatures in excess of 300 °C are required to fully break down LPS.
The standard assay for detecting presence of endotoxin is the Limulus Amebocyte Lysate (LAL) assay, utilizing blood from the Horseshoe crab (Limulus polyphemus). Very low levels of LPS can cause coagulation of the limulus lysate due to a powerful amplification through an enzymatic cascade. However, due to the dwindling population of horseshoe crabs, and the fact that there are factors that interfere with the LAL assay, efforts have been made to develop alternative assays, with the most promising ones being ELISA tests using a recombinant version of a protein in the LAL assay, Factor C.
See also
Bioaerosol
Depyrogenation
Host-pathogen interface
Mucopolysaccharide
Nesfatin-1
Schwartzman reaction
AOAH
References
External links
Membrane-active molecules
Glycolipids
Bacterial toxins
|
412985
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jay%20Inslee
|
Jay Inslee
|
Jay Robert Inslee (; born February 9, 1951) is an American politician, lawyer, and economist who has served as the 23rd governor of Washington since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1993 to 1995 and again from 1999 to 2012, and was a candidate for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination. He is the longest-serving current governor in the United States.
Born and raised in Seattle, Inslee graduated from the University of Washington and Willamette University College of Law. He served in the Washington House of Representatives from 1989 to 1993. In 1992, Inslee was elected to represent , based around Central Washington, in the U.S. House of Representatives. Defeated for reelection in 1994, Inslee briefly returned to private legal practice. He made his first run for governor of Washington in 1996, coming in fifth in the blanket primary with 10% of the vote ahead of the general election, which was won by Democrat Gary Locke. Inslee then served as regional director for the United States Department of Health and Human Services under President Bill Clinton.
Inslee returned to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1999, this time for . The new district included Seattle's northern suburbs in King County, Snohomish County, and Kitsap County. He was reelected six times before announcing that he would make another run for the governorship in the 2012 election. He resigned from Congress to focus on his campaign. He defeated Republican Rob McKenna, the state attorney general, 51% to 48%. Inslee was reelected to a second term in 2016, defeating Republican Seattle Port Commissioner Bill Bryant, 54% to 45%. Inslee served as chair of the Democratic Governors Association for the 2018 election cycle.
Inslee was a candidate for the Democratic nomination for president of the United States in the 2020 election, launching his campaign on March 1, 2019. He suspended his campaign on August 21, citing extremely low poll numbers. The next day, Inslee announced his intention to seek a third term as governor in the 2020 election, which he won with 57% of the vote, becoming the first incumbent governor of Washington elected to a third term in more than 40 years.
As governor, Inslee has emphasized climate change, education, criminal justice reform, and drug policy reform. He has garnered national attention for his critiques of President Donald Trump. Inslee joined state attorney general Bob Ferguson and state solicitor general Noah Purcell in suing the Trump administration over Executive Order 13769, which halted travel for 90 days from seven Muslim-majority countries and imposed a total ban on Syrian refugees entering the United States. The case, Washington v. Trump, led to the order being blocked by the courts, and other executive orders later superseded it.
Early life, education, and legal career
Jay Robert Inslee was born February 9, 1951, in Seattle, Washington, the oldest of three sons of Adele A. (née Brown; d. 2007) and Frank E. Inslee (1926–2014). Inslee is a fifth-generation Washingtonian. Inslee describes his family as being of English and Welsh descent.
Inslee attended Seattle's Ingraham High School, where he was an honor-roll student and star athlete, graduating in 1969. He played center on his high school basketball team and was also the starting quarterback on his football team.
Inslee's interest in environmental issues originated at an early age, with his parents leading groups of high school students on trips cleaning Mount Rainier. He met his future wife, Trudi Tindall, at Ingraham during his sophomore year. Graduating at the height of the Vietnam War, Inslee received student deferments from the draft.
Inslee began college at Stanford University, where he initially intended on studying medicine. After a year, he was forced to drop out because he was unable to get a scholarship. He returned home and, living in his parents' basement, attended the University of Washington. He received a Bachelor of Arts with a major in economics in 1973. He then attended the Willamette University College of Law in Salem, Oregon, receiving a Juris Doctor in 1976.
Inslee and his wife were married on August 27, 1972, and have three sons: Jack, Connor, and Joseph. After Inslee finished law school, they moved to Selah, a suburb of Yakima. Inslee joined the law firm Peters, Schmalz, Leadon & Fowler, working as a city prosecutor. He practiced in Selah for 10 years. He first became politically active in 1985, while advocating for the construction of a new high school. The experience sparked Inslee's interest in politics, emboldening him to run for political office.
Washington House of Representatives (1989–1993)
Elections
Inslee ran for the Washington House of Representatives in 1988 after incumbent Republican State Representative Jim Lewis left office. His opponent, Lynn Carmichael, was the former mayor of Yakima and considered the front-runner in the race. Inslee also struggled to balance his more progressive ideology with the conservative leanings of Central Washington. His campaign attempted to rectify this by emphasizing his rural upbringing and legal experience supporting local average people, farms and businesses. The Washington State Trial Lawyers Association became Inslee's biggest contributor.
When presented with a potential state budget surplus, Inslee called for a tax cut for the middle class, which Carmichael called irresponsible. Inslee claimed Carmichael had supported a sales tax, which she denied. Inslee was an energetic and active campaigner, benefiting from retail politics.
In the blanket primary, Carmichael ranked first with 43% and Inslee ranked second with 40%. Republican Glen Blomgren ranked third with 17%. In the general election, Inslee defeated Carmichael 52%-48%. In 1990, Inslee was reelected with 62% of the vote against Republican Ted Mellotte.
Tenure
In the Washington state legislature, Inslee pursued a bill to provide initial funding to build five branch campuses of the Washington State University system. Although the bill failed, his tenacity made an impression on House Speaker Joe King, who said: "He's not afraid to incur the wrath of the speaker or the caucus." Inslee also focused on preventing steroid usage among high school athletes and pushed for a bill requiring all drivers to carry auto insurance. In 1991, he voted for a bill that required the state to devise a cost-effective energy strategy and state agencies and school districts to pursue and maintain energy-efficient operations.
Committee assignments
Inslee served on the Higher Education and Housing Committees.
Congress (1993–1995)
Elections
1992
In 1992, six-term incumbent U.S. Representative Sid Morrison chose not to run for reelection representing , instead mounting a campaign for governor. Morrison was a popular moderate Republican incumbent who was considered successful and well-liked in the Democratic-controlled Congress. Despite initially declining to run, Inslee launched a campaign for the open Congressional seat, based in the central-eastern part of the state. His home area of the district, anchored by Yakima, is relatively rural and agriculture-based, while the southeastern part is more focused on research and nuclear waste disposal, anchored by the Tri-Cities. Inslee defeated a favored state senator to win the Democratic primary by 1%. Despite the district's conservative lean, Inslee won the general election in an extremely close race.
1994
He lost his bid for reelection in the Republican Revolution of 1994 in a rematch against his 1992 opponent, Doc Hastings. Inslee attributed his 1994 defeat in large part to his vote for the Federal Assault Weapons Ban.
Tenure
In Congress, Inslee passed the Yakima River Enhancement Act, a bill long held up in Congress, by brokering a breakthrough with irrigators and wildlife advocates. He also helped to open Japanese markets to American apples and to fund and oversee the nation's biggest nuclear waste site at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation near Richland, Washington.
Committee assignments
United States House Committee on Agriculture
United States House Committee on Science, Space and Technology
Inter-congressional years (1995–1999)
Inslee moved to Bainbridge Island, a suburb of Seattle, and briefly resumed the practice of law.
1996 gubernatorial election
Inslee ran for governor of Washington in 1996, losing in the blanket primary. Democratic King County Executive and former State Representative Gary Locke ranked first with 24% of the vote. Democratic Mayor of Seattle Norm Rice ranked second with 18%, but did not qualify for the general election. Republican State Senator Ellen Craswell ranked third with 15%, and became the Republican candidate in the general election. Republican State Senator and Senate Majority Leader Dale Foreman ranked fourth with 13%. Inslee ranked fifth with 10%. No other candidate on the ballot received double digits.
After his failed gubernatorial bid, Inslee was appointed regional director for the United States Department of Health and Human Services by then-President Bill Clinton.
Congress (1999–2012)
Elections
Inslee ran again for Congress in 1998, this time in the 1st congressional district against two-term incumbent Rick White. His campaign attracted national attention when he became the first Democratic candidate to air television ads attacking his opponent and the Republican congressional leadership for the Lewinsky scandal. Inslee won with 49.8% of the vote to White's 44.1%; he had an unintentional assist in his successful return by the conservative third-party candidacy of Bruce Craswell, husband of 1996 GOP gubernatorial nominee Ellen Craswell.
Inslee was reelected six times. In 2000, he defeated State Senate Minority Leader Dan McDonald with 54.6% of the vote. In 2002, Inslee defeated former state representative Joe Marine with 55.6% of the vote after the district was made more Democratic by redistricting. He never faced another contest that close, and was reelected three more times with over 60% of the vote.
In July 2003, after Gary Locke announced he would not seek a third term as Washington's governor, Inslee briefly flirted with a gubernatorial bid before deciding to remain in Congress.
During the 2009-2010 campaign cycle, Inslee raised $1,140,025. In data compiled for the period 2005 to 2007 and excluding individual contributions of less than $200, 64 percent of Inslee's donations were from outside the state of Washington and 86 percent came from outside his district (compared to 79 percent for the average House member). 43 percent of Inslee's donations came from Washington, D.C., Virginia and Maryland. The largest interests funding Inslee's campaign were pharmaceutical and health-related companies, lawyers and law firms, and high-tech companies.
In 2010 he won by a 15-point margin, with 57.67% of the votes cast in his favor.
Tenure
As a member of the centrist New Democrat Coalition, Inslee vocally supported policies combating climate change.
Inslee was awarded a "Friend of the National Parks" award by the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) in 2001 for his support of legislation protecting the integrity and quality of the National Park System.
Inslee was "one of Congress's most ardent advocates of strong action to combat global warming," according to The New York Times. He was the first public figure to propose an Apollo-like energy program, in an opinion editorial in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer on December 19, 2002, and a series of similar pieces in other publications. Inslee co-authored Apollo's Fire: Igniting America's Clean Energy Economy, in which he argues that through improved federal policies the United States can wean itself off foreign oil and fossil fuel, create millions of green-collar jobs, and stop global warming. He has been a prominent supporter of the Apollo Alliance. Inslee strongly believes the Environmental Protection Agency should remain authorized to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. In a 2011 House hearing on the Energy Tax Prevention Act, he said Republicans have "an allergy to science and scientists" during a discussion of whether the regulation of greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act should remain in place following a controversial court finding on the issue.
Inslee was an outspoken critic of the George W. Bush administration's 2003 invasion of Iraq. On July 31, 2007, he introduced legislation calling for an inquiry to determine whether then United States Attorney General Alberto Gonzales should be impeached. Gonzales eventually resigned.
Still an avid basketball player and fan, Inslee identified as a member of "Hoopaholics", a charity group dedicated to "treatment of old guys addicted to basketball and who can no longer jump", as Inslee has often joked. In October 2009, he played basketball at the White House in a series of games featuring members of Congress on one team and members of the administration, including President Obama, on the other.
Inslee voted for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the federal health care law.
In 2011, Inslee voted in favor of authorizing the use of U.S. armed forces in the 2011 Libyan civil war and against limiting the use of funds to support NATO's 2011 military intervention in Libya.
Inslee was once touted as a candidate for United States Secretary of the Interior and for United States Secretary of Energy during the Presidential transition of Barack Obama.
On March 20, 2012, Inslee left Congress to focus on his campaign for governor of Washington.
Committee assignments
United States House Committee on Energy and Commerce
United States House Energy Subcommittee on Energy and Power
Caucus memberships
Congressional Friends of Animals Caucus
Congressional Internet Caucus
House Medicare and Medicaid Fairness Caucus
House Oceans Caucus
United States Congressional International Conservation Caucus
Congressional Arts Caucus
Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition
New Democrat Coalition
Governor of Washington (2013–present)
2012 gubernatorial election
On June 27, 2011, Inslee announced his candidacy for governor of Washington. His campaign focused on job creation, outlining dozens of proposals to increase job growth in clean energy, the aerospace industry, and biotechnology. He also supported a ballot measure to legalize gay marriage, which passed, and opposed tax increases. Though trailing in early polls, he won election with 51% of the vote, a three-point margin over his Republican opponent, state attorney general Rob McKenna.
2016 gubernatorial election
In December 2015, Inslee announced on Washington's public affairs TV channel TVW that he would run for a second term as governor. He emphasized increased spending on transportation and education as his primary first-term accomplishment, though he had struggled to work with the Republican-controlled Majority Coalition Caucus in the State Senate.
In the general election Inslee faced former Port of Seattle Commissioner Bill Bryant. The primary issues of the campaign were climate change, job creation, minimum wage, and capital gains taxes. Inslee far outraised Bryant, and was reelected in November with 54% of the vote.
2020 gubernatorial election
On March 1, 2019, Inslee announced he would run for president, but kept open the possibility of running for a third term if his presidential campaign failed. Several potential Democratic gubernatorial candidates, including state Attorney General Bob Ferguson, Commissioner of Public Lands Hilary Franz, and King County Executive Dow Constantine, were all waiting to announce campaigns until Inslee made his decision. As Inslee's presidential campaign failed to gain traction during the summer of 2019, he was pressured to drop out and make his gubernatorial plans clear to the other potential candidates. On August 21, 2019, Inslee dropped out of the presidential campaign and announced the next day he would run for reelection as governor.
Inslee's major opponents in the election were State Senator Phil Fortunato, Republic, Washington police chief Loren Culp, Yakima physician Raul Garcia, activist Tim Eyman and former Bothell mayor Joshua Freed. Inslee finished first in the primary, with 50% of the vote. Culp finished a distant second, with 17%. Inslee and Culp advanced to the general election, which Inslee won with 57% of the vote. His margin of victory was the largest in a gubernatorial election in Washington since Gary Locke's in 2000 and he also became the first Democrat in two decades to win a county in Eastern Washington, winning Whitman County.
Inslee became the first Washington governor elected to a third term since Dan Evans was reelected in 1972.
First term: 2013–2017
During the 2013 session, the legislature failed to create a fiscal budget plan during the initial session, and Inslee was forced to call two special sessions to provide time for a budget to be created. The Republican-controlled Senate and Democratic-controlled House each passed its own budget and could not agree on one. Finally, in June 2013, Inslee signed a $33.6 billion budget to which both houses had agreed as a compromise. The budget increased funding for education by $1 billion. It also adjusted property taxes and tax breaks in order to increase state revenue by $1 billion.
On June 13, 2013, Inslee signed an additional estate tax into law. The tax had bipartisan support, and passed the Senate, 30–19.
In December 2013, Inslee was elected to serve as finance chair of the Democratic Governors Association.
In January 2014, Inslee gave a speech commending machinists who voted to renew Boeing's contract with Seattle area union employees, allowing the company to build its Boeing 777x aircraft in Everett. He said the contract would bring Washington to a new industrial plateau and be a turning point for Washington jobs:
These jobs are in the thousands and it is not only on the 777X, the first model of the 777X, but all the subsequent derivative models as well.
The plan was to prevent Boeing from building part of the aircraft in Washington and part of it elsewhere, as they did with the Boeing 787, which was partially constructed in South Carolina.
On February 11, 2014, Inslee announced a moratorium on executions in Washington:
There have been too many doubts raised about capital punishment, there are too many flaws in this system today. There is too much at stake to accept an imperfect system.
Inslee cited the high cost of pursuing the death penalty, the randomness with which it is sought, and the lack of evidence that it is a deterrent.
Second term: 2017–2021
Inslee began his second term on January 11, 2017, proposing full funding of state education (in compliance with the McCleary decision) and addressing mental health needs while also raising worker pay. After newly inaugurated President Donald Trump signed an executive order on January 27 banning people from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States, Inslee and Attorney General Bob Ferguson announced their intention to sue Trump, alleging his order was unconstitutional. The civil action, Washington v. Trump, was filed on January 30 and on February 3 successfully earned a temporary restraining order to forbid federal enforcement of some of the ban's provisions. An appeal and request to stay filed by the federal government was subsequently denied by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Inslee and Ferguson declared victory over Trump on February 16, after his administration announced it would revise the travel ban to comply with the court decisions. Inslee garnered national media attention during the lawsuit.
During the 2017 legislative session, the Washington State Legislature failed to pass a state operating budget by the end of its regular session on April 25, so Inslee called for a 30-day special session. The legislature again failed to pass a budget during that session, forcing Inslee to call a third one, beginning June 22. As the state's fiscal year ends on June 30, a partial government shutdown was feared. Conflict over resource allocation between rural areas and urban areas was a major reason for the impasse. The State Senate passed a budget on June 30 and Inslee signed it into law shortly after 11 pm. Its specifics were still being released several hours after it was enacted. Lawmakers critiqued the haste with which the budget was considered and passed, having received the 616-page document only that day. By the end of the third session on July 20, the legislature had still failed to pass a capital budget concerning long-term goals and improvements. This was the third time during Inslee's tenure the state's budget was passed in the last week of the legislative session.
In December 2017 Inslee awarded $6.4 million in grant funding for apprenticeships and career connections to 29,000 youth in 11 communities. He called this initiative Career Connect Washington. It includes a Task Force and several prominent stakeholder groups including Alaska Airlines, Amazon, Boeing, Microsoft, and Kaiser Permanente. Career Connect Washington has established new apprenticeship opportunities, including the Aerospace Joint Apprenticeship Committee's registered Youth Apprenticeship program for high school students.
Inslee served as chair of the Democratic Governors Association for the 2018 election cycle, in which Democrats gained seven net governorships nationwide.
In December 2018, Inslee announced new legislation aimed at reducing the state's carbon emissions over approximately two decades. It would effectively require Washington utilities to end the use of fossil fuels by mid-century, making Washington "adopt a clean fuel standard", "promote electric and low-emission vehicles", and "provide incentives to renovate existing buildings to reduce" emissions.
In January 2019, Inslee said he would provide an expedited process for approximately 3,500 people convicted of small-time cannabis possession to apply for and receive pardons.
In March and April 2020, Inslee ordered significant social distancing measures statewide, including banning large events, a stay-at-home order, and the closing of all schools due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
On June 8, 2020, in the wake of protests over police brutality, a group of protesters established the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (also known as the Zone or the CHAZ) in Seattle. The Zone prides itself on offering free food and being free of police. However, it also experienced internal violence and vandalism, including four shootings in ten days. President Donald Trump condemned the Zone, saying that Seattle had been taken over by anarchists, and called on Inslee and the mayor of Seattle to "take back" the neighborhood from protesters. Inslee responded that he was unaware of the Zone's existence, but called on Trump to "stay out of Washington State's business".
In November 2020, Inslee was named a candidate for Secretary of Energy, Secretary of the Interior and the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency in the Biden Administration.
Third term: 2021–present
Inslee began his third term on January 13, 2021.
On April 8, 2021, Inslee signed a bill restoring voting rights to convicted felons after they finish serving their sentences. This made Washington the 20th state to have such laws, and it was primarily sponsored by representative Tarra Simmons, who was formerly incarcerated herself.
On May 4, 2021, Inslee signed a new capital gains tax into law. The tax narrowly passed the Senate, 25–24. It affects certain investments, such as the sale of stocks and bonds, and taxes profits that total $250,000 or more at 7%. It includes many exemptions, including retirement accounts, livestock, timber, and real estate. This was followed by two lawsuits, which were later consolidated into one, led by former state attorney general and Inslee's 2012 gubernatorial opponent Rob McKenna. The lawsuit alleges that the tax is a state income tax in disguise and is unconstitutional due to precedent, with a graduated state income tax being declared unconstitutional in 1933. In September 2021, Grant County superior court judge Brian Huber allowed this lawsuit to proceed. In March 2023, the Washington Supreme Court dismissed the lawsuit and upheld the new capital gains tax, which took effect in April 2023.
In August 2021, Inslee mandated vaccinations for state and health care workers by October 18 without a weekly testing alternative.
Upon the resignation of New York governor Andrew Cuomo on August 23, 2021, Inslee became the longest-serving current governor in the United States. Inslee filed initial paperwork to run for a fourth term in the 2024 election, but announced in May 2023 that he would not run for a fourth term. Although some governors have run for a fourth term, none has been elected to a fourth term in the state's history.
Following the resignation of Republican Secretary of State Kim Wyman, to take a job in the Biden administration, Inslee was tasked with appointing her replacement. He appointed state senator Steve Hobbs, a Democrat, noting that former Republican governor John Spellman appointed Republican Dan Evans to fill the vacancy created by the death of Democratic U.S. Senator Scoop Jackson in 1983. Hobbs is a moderate who opposed many of Inslee's priorities while in the state senate, including abolishing the death penalty, gun control, reducing carbon emissions, expanding voting rights to parolees, and a state income tax. These positions put him at odds with Inslee and were widely seen as a prime reason for his appointment. The appointment led to the Washington State Democratic Party holding all nine statewide executive offices for the first time since the Great Depression.
In 2023, Inslee praised the Washington House of Representatives' passage of a bill banning assault weapons.
2020 presidential campaign
Throughout 2018, speculation rose that Inslee might run for president of the United States in the 2020 election. He garnered national attention because of Washington v. Trump, a lawsuit challenging the Trump Administration's order to ban people from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States. While Inslee was chair of the Democratic Governors Association, Democrats gained seven net governorships in the 2018 gubernatorial elections, further propelling him into the national spotlight and fueling speculation that he would run. Inslee cited climate change as his primary motivation for running, strongly criticizing the Trump Administration's policies.
In January 2019, reports surfaced that Inslee was beginning to form an exploratory committee, the first step in a campaign. Inslee was a dark-horse candidate; initially, he was rarely included in polling for the primary, was not well known outside Washington, and made few trips to early primary states such as Iowa and New Hampshire. But he pointed to former Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, calling them "pretty much unknown governors of small states" and adding, "this is a wide-open field. No one has a lock on this. No one has a total crystal ball as to what the nation wants."
Inslee announced his candidacy for president on March 1, 2019, saying he would focus on combating climate change. His campaign requested a debate focused on climate change. The Democratic National Committee denied the request, but 53 of its voting members wrote an open letter protesting that decision.
Facing poor polling numbers and seeing no path to victory, Inslee announced the suspension of his campaign on The Rachel Maddow Show on August 21, 2019, and announced the following day that he would run for a third term as governor in the 2020 election. Inslee endorsed Joe Biden for the presidency on April 22, 2020.
Electoral history
Works
Jay Inslee and Bracken Hendricks, Apollo's Fire: Igniting America's Clean Energy Economy, Island Press (October 1, 2007),
References
External links
Inslee, Jay at HistoryLink
Governor Jay Inslee official website from the Government of the State of Washington
Jay Inslee for Governor campaign website
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
}}
|-
1951 births
20th-century American politicians
21st-century American politicians
American economists
American chief executives
American Protestants
Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Washington (state)
Democratic Party governors of Washington (state)
Living people
Democratic Party members of the Washington House of Representatives
Energy economists
People from Selah, Washington
Politicians from Seattle
University of Washington College of Arts and Sciences alumni
Washington (state) lawyers
Willamette University College of Law alumni
Candidates in the 2020 United States presidential election
|
412990
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deportation
|
Deportation
|
Deportation is the expulsion of a person or group of people from a place or country. The term expulsion is often used as a synonym for deportation, though expulsion is more often used in the context of international law, while deportation is more used in national (municipal) law. Forced displacement or forced migration of an individual or a group may be caused by deportation, for example ethnic cleansing, and other reasons. A person who has been deported or is under sentence of deportation is called a deportee.
Definition
Definitions of deportation apply equally to nationals and foreigners. Nonetheless, in the common usage the expulsion of foreign nationals is usually called deportation, whereas the expulsion of nationals is called extradition, banishment, exile, or penal transportation. For example, in the United States:
"Strictly speaking, transportation, extradition, and deportation, although each has the effect of removing a person from the country, are different things, and have different purposes. Transportation is by way of punishment of one convicted of an offense against the laws of the country. Extradition is the surrender to another country of one accused of an offense against its laws, there to be tried, and, if found guilty, punished. Deportation is the removal of an alien out of the country, simply because his presence is deemed inconsistent with the public welfare and without any punishment being imposed or contemplated either under the laws of the country out of which he is sent or of those of the country to which he is taken."
Expulsion is an act by a public authority to remove a person or persons against his or her will from the territory of that state. A successful expulsion of a person by a country is called a deportation.
According to the European Court of Human Rights, collective expulsion is any measure compelling non-nationals, as a group, to leave a country, except where such a measure is taken on the basis of a reasonable and objective examination of the particular case of each individual non-national of the group. Mass expulsion may also occur when members of an ethnic group are sent out of a state regardless of nationality. Collective expulsion, or expulsion en masse, is prohibited by several instruments of international law.
History
Deportations widely occurred in ancient history, and is well-recorded particularly in ancient Mesopotamia.
Deportation in the Assyrian Empire
Mass deportations of conquered nations, including Israelite Assyrian captivity.
Deportation in the Achaemenid Empire
Deportation was practiced as a policy toward rebellious people in Achaemenid Empire. The precise legal status of the deportees is unclear; but ill-treatment is not recorded. Instances include:
Deportation in the Parthian Empire
Unlike in the Achaemenid and Sassanian periods, records of deportation are rare during the Arsacid Parthian period. One notable example was the deportation of the Mards in Charax, near Rhages (Ray) by Phraates I. The 10,000 Roman prisoners of war after the Battle of Carrhae appear to have been deported to Alexandria Margiana (Merv) near the eastern border in 53 BC, who are said to married to local people. It is hypothesized that some of them founded the Chinese city of Li-Jien after becoming soldiers for the Hsiung-nu, but this is doubted.
Hyrcanus II, the Jewish king of Judea (Jerusalem), was settled among the Jews of Babylon in Parthia after being taken as captive by the Parthian-Jewish forces in 40 BC.
Roman POWs in the Antony's Parthian War may have suffered deportation.
Deportation in the Sasanian Empire
Deportation was widely used by the Sasanians, especially during the wars with the Romans.
During Shapur I's reign, the Romans (including Valerian) who were defeated at the Battle of Edessa were deported to Persis. Other destinations were Parthia, Khuzestan, and Asorestan. There were cities which were founded and were populated by Romans prisoners of war, including Shadh-Shapur (Dayr Mikhraq) in Meshan, Bishapur in Persis, Wuzurg-Shapur (Ukbara; Marw-Ḥābūr), and Gundeshapur. Agricultural land were also given to the deportees. These deportations initiated the spread Christianity in the Sassanian empire. In Rēw-Ardashīr (Rishahr; Yarānshahr), Persis, there was a church for the Romans and another one for Carmanians. Their hypothesized decisive role in the spread of Christianity in Persia and their major contribution to Persian economy has been recently criticized by Mosig-Walburg (2010). In the mid-3rd century, Greek-speaking deportees from north-western Syria were settled in Kashkar, Mesopotamia.
After the Arab incursion into Persia during Shapur II's reign, he scattered the defeated Arab tribes by deporting them to other regions. Some were deported to Bahrain and Kirman, possibly to both populate these unattractive regions (due to their climate) and bringing the tribes under control.
In 395 AD, 18,000 Roman populations of Sophene, Armenia, Mesopotamia, Syria, and Cappadocia were captured and deported by the "Huns". the prisoners were freed by the Persians as they reached Persia, and were settled in Slōk (Wēh Ardashīr) and Kōkbā (Kōkhē). The author of the text Liber Calipharum has praised the king Yazdegerd I (399–420) for his treatment of the deportees, who also allowed some to return.
Major deportations occurred during the Anastasian War, including Kavad I's deportation of the populations of Theodosiopolis and Amida to Arrajan (Weh-az-Amid Kavad).
Major deportations occurred during the campaigns of Khosrau I from the Roman cities of Sura, Beroea, Antioch, Apamea, Callinicum, and Batnai in Osrhoene, to Wēh-Antiyōk-Khosrow (also known as Rūmagān; in Arabic: al-Rūmiyya). The city was founded near Ctesiphon especially for them, and Khosrow reportedly "did everything in his power to make the residents want to stay". The number of the deportees is recorded to be 292,000 in another source.
Military occupation
Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention prohibits the deportation of people into or out of occupied territory under belligerent military occupation:
External deportation
All countries reserve the right to deport persons without right of abode even those who are longtime residents or possess permanent residency. In general, foreigners who have committed serious crimes, entered the country illegally, overstayed or broken the conditions of their visa, or otherwise lost their legal status to remain in the country may be administratively removed or deported. In some cases, even citizens can be deported; some of the countries in the Persian Gulf have deported their own citizens. They have paid the Comoros to give them passports and accept them.
In many cases, deportation is done by the government's executive apparatus, and as such is often subject to a simpler legal process (or none), with reduced or no right to trial, legal representation or appeal due to the subject's lack of citizenship. In the 1930s, during the Great Depression, more stringent enforcement of immigration laws were ordered by the executive branch of the U.S. government, which led to increased deportation and repatriation to Mexico. In the 1930s, during the Great Depression, between 355,000 and 2 million Mexicans and Mexican Americans were deported or repatriated to Mexico, an estimated 40 to 60% of whom were U.S. citizens - overwhelmingly children. At least 82,000 Mexicans were formally deported between 1929 and 1935 by the government. Voluntary repatriations were more common than deportations. In 1954, the executive branch of the U.S. government implemented Operation Wetback, a program created in response to public hysteria about immigration and immigrants from Mexico. Operation Wetback led to the deportation of nearly 1.3 million Mexicans from the United States. Between 2009 and 2016, about 3.2 million people were deported from the United States. Since 1997 U.S. mass deportations of non-citizens particularly convicted felons have risen steadily with the passing into law by the U.S. Congress of the 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Responsibility Act (IIRRA) which brought sweeping changes to the threshold for deportation of convicted felons that have been criticized by some as having human rights abuses. Since this time, the former U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Services (INS) has been transformed into Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and has renamed deportation as "expedited removal". The ICE website publishes removal statistics annually on its website. According to recent numbers ICE removed a total of 240,255 aliens in FY 2016, a two percent increase over FY 2015, but a 24 percent decrease from FY 2014.
Already in natural law of the 18th century, philosophers agreed that expulsion of a nation from the territory that it historically inhabits is not allowable. In the late 20th century, the United Nations drafted a code related to crimes against humanity; Article 18 of the Draft Code of Crimes Against the Peace and Security of Mankind declares "large scale" arbitrary or forcible deportation to be a crime against humanity.
Deportation often requires a specific process that must be validated by a court or senior government official. It should not be confused with administrative removal, which is the process of a country denying entry to individuals at a port of entry and expelling them.
Internal deportation
Deportation can also happen within a state, when (for example) an individual or a group of people is forcibly resettled to a different part of the country. If ethnic groups are affected by this, it may also be referred to as population transfer. The rationale is often that these groups might assist the enemy in war or insurrection. For example, the American state of Georgia deported 400 female mill workers during the Civil War on the suspicion they were Northern sympathizers.
In the 18th Century the Tipu Sultan, of Mysore, deported tens of thousands of civilians, from lands he had annexed, to serve as slave labour in other parts of his empire, for example the: Captivity of Mangalorean Catholics at Seringapatam.
During World War II, Joseph Stalin (see Population transfer in the Soviet Union) ordered the deportation of Volga Germans, Chechens, Crimean Tatars, Ukrainians and others to areas away from the front, including central and western Soviet Union. Some historians have estimated the number of deaths from the deportation to be as high as 1 in 3 among some populations. On February 26, 2004 the European Parliament characterized deportations of the Chechens as an act of genocide.
The Soviet Union also used deportation, as well as instituting the Russian language as the only working language and other such tactics, to achieve Russification of its occupied territories (such as the Baltic nations and Bessarabia). In this way, it removed the historical ethnic populations and repopulated the areas with Russian nationals. The deported people were sent to remote, scarcely populated areas or to GULAG labour camps. It has been estimated that, in their entirety, internal forced migrations affected some 6 million people. Of these, some 1 to 1.5 million perished.
After World War II approximately 50,000 Hungarians were deported from South Slovakia by Czechoslovak authorities to the Czech borderlands in order to alter the ethnic composition of the region. Between 110,000 and 120,000 Japanese and Japanese Americans on the West Coast, as well as about 3,000 Italian American and about 11,500 German American families, were forcibly resettled from the coasts to internment camps in interior areas of the United States of America by President Franklin Roosevelt.
In the late 19th and early 20th century, deportation of union members and labor leaders was not uncommon in the United States during strikes or labor disputes. For an example, see the Bisbee Deportation.
Colonial deportations
Deporting individuals to an overseas colony is a special case that is neither completely internal nor external. For example, from 1717 onwards, Great Britain deported around 40,000 British religious objectors and "criminals" to America before the practice ceased in 1776. Jailers sold the "criminals" to shipping contractors, who then sold them to plantation owners. The "criminals" worked for the plantation owner for the duration of their sentence. After Britain lost control of the area which became the United States, Australia became the destination for "criminals" deported to British colonies. Britain transported more than 160,000 British "criminals" to the Australian colonies between 1787 and 1855.
After the insurrection of the Communards resulting in The "Bloody Week" in 1871, the French government asked for an inquest into the causes of the uprising. The inquest concluded that the main cause of the insurrection was a lack of belief in God, and that this problem had to be corrected immediately. It was decided that a moral revival was needed, and a key part of this was deporting 4,500 Communards to New Caledonia. There was a two-part goal in this, as the government also hoped that the Communards would civilize the native Kanak people on the island. The government hoped that being exposed to the order of nature would return the Communards to the side of "good."
Clearly therefore, it may help deporting authorities to have access to a far-flung empire. Another example is provided by the case of the Second Boer War of 1899-1902 when the British deported about 26,000 Boer prisoners-of-war to overseas POW camps in Saint Helena, Ceylon, Bermuda and India.
Medical deportation
Russia expelled dozens of Chinese citizens for violating their terms of quarantine in 2020.
Deportation during World War II
Deportation in Nazi Germany
Nazi policies deported homosexuals, Jews, Poles, and Romani from their established places of residence to Nazi concentration camps or extermination camps set up at a considerable distance from their original residences. During the Holocaust, the Nazis made heavy use of euphemisms, where "deportation" frequently meant the victims were subsequently murdered, as opposed to simply being relocated.
Deportation in the Soviet Union
Under orders of Joseph Stalin the Soviet Union carried out a forced transfer of various groups before, during and after World War II (from 1930s up to the 1950s). During the June deportation of 1941, after the occupation of the Baltic countries, Eastern Poland and Moldavia, as was agreed by the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany in the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, in an attempt to subdue the countries for their forced incorporation into the Soviet Union, the Soviet Union deported tens-of-thousands of innocent people to Siberia.
Deportation in the Independent State of Croatia
An estimated 120,000 Serbs were deported from the Independent State of Croatia to German-occupied Serbia, and 300,000 fled by 1943.
Noteworthy deportees
Alexander Berkman, Emma Goldman, C.L.R. James, Claudia Jones, Fritz Julius Kuhn, Lucky Luciano, and Anna Sage were all deported from the United States by being arrested and brought to the federal immigration control station on Ellis Island in New York Harbor and, from there, forcibly removed from the United States on ships.
Opposition
Many criticize deportations, calling them inhuman, as the questioning the effectiveness of deportations. Some are completely opposed towards any deportations, while others state it is inhuman to take somebody to a foreign land without their consent.
In popular culture
In literature, deportation appears as an overriding theme in the 1935 novel, Strange Passage by Theodore D. Irwin.
Films depicting or dealing with fictional cases of deportation are many and varied. Among them are Ellis Island (1936), Exile Express (1939), Five Came Back (1939), Deported (1950), and Gambling House (1951). More recently, Shottas (2002) treated the issue of U.S. deportation to the Caribbean post-1997.
See also
Ethnic cleansing
Forced migration
Acadian deportation
Diaspora
Depopulation of Diego Garcia
Flight and expulsion of Germans (1944–50)
Impediment to expulsion
Indian Removal Act
Israelite deportation
June deportation
Operation Priboi
Penal transportation
Population transfer
Population transfer in the Soviet Union
Prussian deportations of 1885–1890
Seminole Wars
Soviet deportations from Estonia
Exile
Further reading
Garrity, Meghan (2022). "Introducing the Government-Sponsored Mass Expulsion Dataset". Journal of Peace Research.
References
Notes
Bibliography
Aguila, Jaime R. "Book Reviews: Decade of Betrayal: Mexican Repatriation in the 1930s. By Francisco E. Balderrama and Raymond Rodríguez". Journal of San Diego History. 52:3–4 (Summer-Fall 2006).
Balderrama, Francisco and Rodriguez, Raymond. Decade of Betrayal: Mexican Repatriation in the 1930s. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1995. .
Campana, Aurélie. "Case Study: The Massive Deportation of the Chechen People: How and why Chechens were Deported". Online Encyclopedia of Mass Violence. November 2007. Accessed August 11, 2008.
Christensen, Peter. The Decline of Iranshahr: Irrigation and Environments in the History of the Middle East, 500 B.C. to A.D. 1500 Copenhagen, Denmark: Museum Tusculanum Press, 1993. .
Conquest, Robert. The Nation Killers. New York: Macmillan, 1970.
Daniels, Roger. Coming to America: A History of Immigration and Ethnicity in American Life. New York: HarperCollins, 2002.
Dillman, Caroline Matheny. The Roswell Mills and A Civil War Tragedy: Excerpts From Days Gone by in Alpharetta and Roswell, Georgia. Vol. 1. Roswell, Ga.: Chattahoochee Press, 1996.
Fischer, Ruth and Leggett, John C. Stalin and German Communism: A Study in the Origins of the State Party. Edison, N.J.: Transaction Publishers, 2006.
Forsythe, David P. and Lawson, Edward. Encyclopedia of Human Rights. 2d ed. Florence, Ky.: Taylor & Francis, 1996.
Fragomen, Austin T. and Bell, Steven C. Immigration Fundamentals: A Guide to Law and Practice. New York: Practising Law Institute, 1996.
García, Juan Ramon. Operation Wetback: The Mass Deportation of Mexican Undocumented Workers in 1954. Westport, Ct.: Greenwood Publishing Group, 1980. .
Gibney,Matthew J. and Hansen, Randall. "Deportation and the Liberal State: The Involuntary Return of Asylum Seekers and Unlawful Migrants in Canada, the UK, and Germany". New Issues in Refugee Research: Working Paper Series No. 77. Geneva, Switzerland: United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, 2003.
Gutiérrez, David G. Walls and Mirrors: Mexican Americans, Mexican Immigrants, and the Politics of Ethnicity. Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press, 1995.
Hing, Bill Ong. Defining America Through Immigration Policy. Philadelphia, Pa.: Temple University Press, 2004.
Hitt, Michael D. Charged with Treason: The Ordeal of 400 Mill Workers During Military Operations in Roswell, Georgia, 1864–1865. Monroe, N.Y.: Library Research Associates, 1992.
International Law Commission. United Nations. Yearbook of the International Law Commission 1996: Report of the Commission to the General Assembly on the Work of Its 48th Session. New York: United Nations Publications, 2000.
Jaimoukha, Amjad M. The Chechens: A Handbook. Florence, Ky.: Routledge, 2005.
Kleveman, Lutz. The New Great Game: Blood and Oil in Central Asia. Jackson, Tenn.: Atlantic Monthly Press, 2003.
"The Law of Necessity As Applied in the Bisbee Deportation Case". Arizona Law Review. 3:2 (1961).
"Lewis Attacks Deportation of Leaders by West Virginia Authorities". The New York Times. July 17, 1921.
Lindquist, John H. and Fraser, James. "A Sociological Interpretation of the Bisbee Deportation". Pacific Historical Review. 37:4 (November 1968).
López, Ian F. Haney. Racism on Trial: The Chicano Fight for Justice. New ed. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Belknap Press, 2004.
Martin, MaryJoy. The Corpse On Boomerang Road: Telluride's War on Labor, 1899–1908. Lake City, Colo.: Western Reflections Publishing Co., 2004.
Mata, Albert G. "Operation Wetback: The Mass Deportation of Mexican Undocumented Workers in 1954 by Juan Ramon García". Contemporary Sociology. 1:5 (September 1983)
Mawdsley, Evan. The Stalin Years: The Soviet Union 1929–1953. Manchester, England: Manchester University Press, 2003.
McCaffray, Susan Purves and Melancon, Michael S. Russia in the European Context, 1789–1914: A Member of the Family. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005.
McKay, Robert R. "The Federal Deportation Campaign in Texas: Mexican Deportation from the Lower Rio Grande Valley during the Great Depression". Borderlands Journal. (Fall 1981).
Naimark, Norman M. Fires of Hatred: Ethnic Cleansing in Twentieth-Century Europe. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2001.
Nurbiyev, Aslan. "Relocation of Chechen 'Genocide' Memorial Opens Wounds". Agence France Press. June 4, 2008.
President's Mediation Commission. Report on the Bisbee Deportations Made by the President's Mediation Commission to the President of the United States. Washington, D.C.: President's Mediation Commission, November 6, 1917.
Silverberg, Louis G. "Citizens' Committees: Their Role in Industrial Conflict". Public Opinion Quarterly. 5:1 (March 1941).
Suggs, Jr., George G. Colorado's War on Militant Unionism: James H. Peabody and the Western Federation of Miners. 2nd ed. Norman, Okla.: University of Oklahoma Press, 1991.
Valenciana, Christine. "Unconstitutional Deportation of Mexican Americans During the 1930s: A Family History and Oral History". Multicultural Education''. Spring 2006.
External links
Punishments
Extradition
|
412996
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim%20Moran
|
Jim Moran
|
James Patrick Moran Jr. (born May 16, 1945) is an American politician who served as the mayor of Alexandria, Virginia, from 1985 to 1990, and as the U.S. representative for (including the cities of Falls Church and Alexandria, all of Arlington County, as well as a portion of Fairfax County) from 1991 to 2015.
A member of the Democratic Party, Moran chaired the New Democrat Coalition from 1997 to 2001.
He is of Irish descent and is the son of professional football player James Moran Sr. and the brother of former Democratic Party of Virginia Chairman Brian Moran.
Early life, education, and business career
Moran, the eldest of seven children, was born in Buffalo, New York, and grew up in Natick, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston. His parents were Dorothy (née Dwyer) and James Moran Sr., a professional football player for the Boston Redskins in 1935 and 1936; outside of football he worked as a probation officer. Both his father and mother were Roosevelt Democrats and supporters of the New Deal. Moran attended Marian High School in Framingham, Massachusetts.
Moran played college football on an athletic scholarship at the College of the Holy Cross, where his father had been a football star in the early 1930s. Moran received his B.A. in economics in 1967. After attending Baruch College of the City University of New York from 1967 to 1968, he received a Master of Public Administration from the University of Pittsburgh in 1970. After college, Moran followed his father's footstep to become an amateur boxer, and during a campaign in 1992, he admitted that he had used marijuana during his early twenties. Following a brief career as a stockbroker, Moran moved to Washington, D.C.
Early political career
He worked for five years at the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare as a budget officer before serving as a senior specialist for budgetary and fiscal policy at the Library of Congress. From 1976 to 1979, he was on the staff of U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations.
In 1979, Moran was elected to the Alexandria, Virginia, City Council. He was deputy mayor from 1982 until his resignation in 1984 as part of a nolo contendere plea bargain to a misdemeanor conflict of interest charge, which courts later erased. The incident stemmed from charges that Moran had used money from a political action committee to rent a tuxedo and buy Christmas cards; both of which were later judged by the Commonwealth Attorney to "fit the definition of constituent services", and were dismissed.
In 1985, Moran was elected mayor of Alexandria. He was reelected in 1988 and resigned after he was elected to Congress in November 1990.
U.S. House of Representatives
Elections
In 1990, Moran first won election to the United States House of Representatives, defeating five-term Republican incumbent Stan Parris. During the campaign, Parris, referring to the issue of the Gulf War, said, "The only three people I know who support Saddam Hussein's position are Moammar Gadhafi, Yasser Arafat, and Jim Moran." Moran angrily responded by saying that Parris was "a deceitful, fatuous jerk", and that he wanted "to break his nose". Moran's well-financed campaign also focused on Parris' opposition to abortion. Moran upset Parris, winning by 7.1 percent. He was sworn into office in January 1991.
In the next two elections, Moran faced Republican lawyer Kyle McSlarrow. During the 1992 campaign, McSlarrow accused Moran of "lying to the public". Moran responded by portraying McSlarrow as a drug abuser, referring to the candidate's admitted use of cocaine and marijuana while at the University of Virginia. Moran compared McSlarrow to Parris, saying that Parris had "[t]en times more integrity than McSlarrow. He didn't create lies." Moran defeated McSlarrow with 56 percent of the vote. He was helped by the 1990s redistricting, which cut out some of the more Republican-leaning areas of his district.
In 1994, Moran's daughter Dorothy was suffering from an inoperable brain tumor. During the campaign, neither Moran nor McSlarrow used the negative tactics of two years earlier. On his campaign strategy that election, McSlarrow said "It would not be a community service to shut down this campaign, but I probably will not talk much about Moran." Moran was reelected with 59 percent of the vote.
In 1998 and 2000, Moran faced Republican and flat tax advocate Demaris H. Miller. In the 1998 campaign Miller accused Moran of flip-flopping in his support of President Bill Clinton, after Moran, who had been a vocal supporter of the Clinton White House, voted in favor of opening an impeachment inquiry following the Monica Lewinsky scandal.
In 2002, Moran defeated Republican S. C. Tate and Independent R. V. Crickenberger.
In June 2004, Moran, for the first time since his election in 1990, had a Democratic opponent in a primary. Moran defeated Alexandria attorney Andrew M. Rosenberg, 59% to 41%. In November, he defeated Republican Lisa Marie Cheney.
In 2006, Moran defeated Republican challenger T. M. Odonoghue and Independent J. T. Hurysz.
In 2008, Moran again had a primary challenger; he won with 86% of the vote. In the general election, Moran faced Republican Mark Ellmore and Independent Green Ron Fisher. He won with 68 percent of the vote to Elmore's 30 percent.
In November 2009 Ellmore announced he would again challenge Moran, but dropped out of the race four months later. In the June 2010 Republican primary, attorney Matthew Berry narrowly lost to retired U.S. Army Colonel Jay Patrick Murray, after a last-minute mailing attacking Berry's homosexuality. Fisher again was on the ballot. During the campaign, Moran was criticized by military advocacy groups and conservatives for saying, at a local Democratic committee meeting, that Murray had not "served or performed any kind of public service". Moran responded by commending Murray's military service, while saying that he used the phrase in relation to Murray not having engaged in "local civic engagement" and not having served in local office. In November 2010, Moran was re-elected to an eleventh term with 61% of the vote.
In 2012 Moran faced another primary challenge, from Navy veteran Bruce Shuttleworth. A controversy erupted when the Democratic Party of Virginia disqualified Shuttleworth, saying he had fallen 17 signatures short of the 1,000 threshold required. Shuttleworth cried foul and filed a federal lawsuit; the party then allowed Shuttleworth on the ballot. Moran went on to win by a sizable margin. In November, Moran defeated Republican J. Patrick Murray, Independent Jason J. Howell, and Independent Green Janet Murphy, winning 64% of the vote.
Tenure
Moran represented Virginia's 8th congressional district, an area in Northern Virginia that is just across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C.; the district includes Arlington county, and the cities of Alexandria, Falls Church and parts of Fairfax. The redistricting that followed the 2000 census also gave Moran a portion of Reston, Virginia. His district is located in the Dulles Technology Corridor and is the home of many federal defense contractors as well as a significant number of those who work in the information technology industry. Many federal employees also reside within the district, mostly due to its proximity to Washington and because the United States Department of Defense and various other agencies are headquartered there.
During the mid 1990s, Moran co-founded and later co-chaired the New Democrat Coalition, a coalition of Democratic lawmakers who consider themselves to be moderates with regard to commerce, budgeting, and economic legislation, but vote as liberals on social issues. Moran was also a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC), the largest caucus operating within the Democratic caucus, which works to advance progressive issues and opinions. He joined the caucus prior to the 111th Congress.
1990s
In 1995, Moran and California Republican Duke Cunningham had to be restrained by the Capitol Police after a shoving match on the house floor over President Bill Clinton's decision to send U.S. troops to Bosnia. "I thought he had been bullying too many people for too long, and I told him so," Moran recalled. "He said he didn't mean to be so accusatory ... After that, he would bring me candy from California." Moran said that after the encounter he found Cunningham crying in the cloakroom.
During the final years of the Clinton administration, Moran was critical of the President: In 1998, during the Monica Lewinsky scandal, Moran was one of only 31 House Democrats to support launching a formal impeachment inquiry into President Bill Clinton. He told Time magazine that "This whole sordid mess is just too tawdry and tedious and embarrassing ... It's like a novel that just became too full of juicy parts and bizarre, sleazy characters." Moran is also reported to have told First Lady Hillary Clinton that if she had been his sister, he would have punched her husband in the nose. Moran eventually decided not to vote for impeachment, explaining that Clinton had not compromised the country's security, and that he still respected him for what he had accomplished as President. Moran proposed a resolution demanding that Clinton confess to a pattern of "dishonest and illegal conduct" surrounding his sexual involvement with Monica Lewinsky.
2000s
Moran was voted High Technology Legislator of the Year by the Information Technology Industry Council and was voted into the American Electronics Association Hall of Fame for his work on avoiding the Year 2000 crisis and his support of the IT Industry and defense contractors in Northern Virginia. He cosponsored failed bills in 2005 to provide the District of Columbia with a House seat and to prohibit slaughter of horses.
On April 28, 2006, Moran, along with four other members of Congress (the now-deceased Rep. Tom Lantos of California, Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas, and James McGovern and John Olver of Massachusetts), and six other activists, were arrested for disorderly conduct in front of the Sudanese embassy in Washington, D.C., and spent 45 minutes in a jail cell before being released. They were protesting the alleged role of Sudan's government in ethnic cleansing in Darfur. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, "Their protest and civil disobedience was designed to embarrass the military dictatorship's ongoing genocide of its non-Arab citizens."
The day after the Virginia Tech Massacre in 2007, Moran told a local radio station that the Federal Assault Weapons Ban should be reinstated, blaming the National Rifle Association of America and President George W. Bush for blocking gun control legislation. He further warned that if gun control legislation was not passed, then shootings such as the one at Virginia Tech will happen "time and time again." He later dismissed charges that he was politicizing the shooting, telling Politico that "as a legislator, your immediate reaction is to think something could be done to avoid this. I don't know why the idea of figuring out how to avoid it is a political partisan issue."
Shortly before the June 2008 Virginia Democratic primary, Moran endorsed Senator Barack Obama of Illinois for the presidency over New York Senator and former First Lady Hillary Clinton. Explaining his endorsement, he told a local newspaper that the long-term goal of closing Alexandria's coal-fired power plant would be more attainable under Obama than under Clinton. Obama won the Virginia primary, and carried the state when he won the general election in November.
In May 2009, Moran introduced a bill that would restrict broadcast advertisements for erectile dysfunction or male enhancement medication. He said that such ads were indecent and should be prohibited on radio and television between the hours of 6 am and 10 pm, in accordance with Federal Communications Commission policy. Later that year, Moran and former presidential candidate and former Governor of Vermont Howard Dean held a town hall meeting on the issue of health care at South Lakes High School in Reston, Virginia. The meeting was interrupted several times by protesters, most notably anti-abortion activist Randall Terry, who, along with about half a dozen supporters, caused such a commotion that he had to be escorted out by police. The incident was replayed several times over the next few weeks on television as an example of the tension at town halls that fall.
In February 2010, on the House floor, Moran called for the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell, the military policy of discharging soldiers on active duty who are openly homosexual. He spoke about a letter penned by a gay soldier who was then serving in the Afghanistan War, who had "learned that a fellow soldier was also gay, only after he was killed by an IED in Iraq. The partner of the deceased soldier wrote the unit to say how much the victim had loved the military; how they were the only family he had ever known ... This immutable human trait, sexual orientation, like the color of one's skin, does not affect one's integrity, their honor, our commitment to their country. Soldiers serving their country in combat should not have their sacrifices compounded by having to struggle with an antiquated "Don't ask, don't tell" policy. Let's do the right and honorable thing and repeal this policy."
As a member of the House Appropriations Committee, Moran worked to allocate federal funding to projects in Northern Virginia, usually in the technology and defense industries. He also assisted in authorizing the replacement of the Woodrow Wilson Memorial Bridge, a bridge between Alexandria, Virginia, and Prince George's County, Maryland, which had gained a reputation over the years among Northern Virginia residents as the site of numerous rush-hour traffic jams.
On March 9, 2010, Moran was named to succeed Norm Dicks of Washington as the chairman of the House Interior and Environment Appropriations Subcommittee. The chairmanship gave Moran authority over appropriations to the Department of the Interior, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and the National Endowment for the Arts; among other things. Moran said he was excited to be able to play a role in protecting the environment and conserving natural resources.
2010s
Moran became the ranking member of the subcommittee after the Democratic Party lost control of the House of Representatives following the November 2010 elections.
After President Obama's 2011 State of the Union Address, Moran was interviewed by Alhurra, an Arab television network. During the interview, he said, "a lot of people in [the United States of America] ... don't want to be governed by an African-American" and that the Democrats lost seats in the 2010 election for "the same reason the Civil War happened in the United States ... the Southern states, particularly the slaveholding states, didn't want to see a president who was opposed to slavery." The remarks received national media attention. The Washington Posts Jennifer Rubin said the remarks were "beyond uncivil" and "obnoxious".
On March 16, 2012, Moran was arrested outside the Sudanese embassy in Washington, DC, at a protest against human rights abuses perpetrated by the Sudanese government, specifically bombings in the Nuba Mountains and refusal to allow humanitarian aid organizations access to refugees. He was charged with disorderly conduct and released, along with George Clooney and several others.
On March 27, 2012, Moran introduced the AUTISM Educators Act that would implement a five-year pilot program allowing public schools to partner with colleges, universities, and non-profit organizations to promote teaching skills for educators working with high functioning students with autism. "This legislation is the product of a grassroots effort by parents, instructors, school officials and caring communities," he said. "Autism Spectrum Disorders are being diagnosed at an exploding rate. We have a responsibility to do everything in our power to provide the best education for our children."
In 2012, the bipartisan grassroots organization No Labels recognized Moran as a "Problem Solver" for "continued willingness to work across the aisle and find common ground with members of the opposite party on important issues. His attitude is what Congress needs more of."
Moran joined Virginia Reps. Gerry Connolly and Bobby Scott in asking Attorney General Eric Holder for a Department of Justice investigation into allegations of voter fraud in Virginia following charges that a contractor to the Republican Party of Virginia was caught discarding completed voter registration forms in a Harrisonburg, Virginia dumpster. Shortly thereafter, conservative activist James O'Keefe released a video alleging involvement by Moran's son in a voting fraud discussion; see #Voter fraud allegations below.
Moran occasionally appeared on MSNBC, usually on Hardball with Chris Matthews and The Ed Show.
He did not seek re-nomination to Congress in 2014, retiring after 24 years. Virginia's former lieutenant governor, Don Beyer, a fellow Democrat, was elected to succeed Moran.
Committee assignmentsCommittee on AppropriationsSubcommittee on Defense
Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies (Ranking Member)
Caucus memberships
LGBT Equality Caucus
Congressional Progressive Caucus
New Democrat Coalition (co-founder)
Animal Protection Caucus (co-Chair)
Sudan Caucus
Sportsmen's Caucus
International Conservation Caucus
Congressional Arts Caucus
Congressional Bike Caucus
Safe Climate Caucus
Crohn's and Colitis Caucus (co-Chair)
Political positions
Social issues
Moran voted against the Defense of Marriage Act, the Federal Marriage Amendment, and was in favor of repealing the military's Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy. He also supported gun control, voting for the Brady Bill and supporting a reinstatement of the Federal Assault Weapons Ban. At different times he voted to ban flag-burning and partial-birth abortions, though he reversed his positions on both issues. On education, he expressed support for the public education system, universal pre-kindergarten, and full funding for the No Child Left Behind program. Moran was given a 100% rating by the NARAL and 0% by the National Right to Life Committee, indicating a pro-abortion rights voting record. He also voted to expand research of embryonic stem cells and to allow minors to go across state lines to receive abortions.
On immigration, Moran supported a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants and did not support decreasing the number of legal immigrants allowed into the country or the enforcement of federal immigration laws by state and local police. He was a cosponsor of the Comprehensive Immigration Reform ASAP Act of 2009 (H.R.4321), which the House did not pass. He was given an overall immigration reduction grade of D by NumbersUSA. The American Immigration Lawyers Association scored him as having voted 31 times for the organization's position and 7 times against the organization's position.
In September 2009, Moran was one of 75 members of the House of Representatives to vote no on a bill to eliminate any federal funds going to community organizer ACORN.
Federal employees
Moran introduced and supported legislation to increase benefits and pay for federal workers, in part due to the Federal Government's large presence within the 8th District – 114,000 federal employees work within its bounds. He introduced a bill signed into law that allows FERS employees to buy back credit from a lapse in federal service toward annuity payments, with the goal of attracting individuals from the private sector back to public service. Moran also authored a law that allows a federal worker's unused sick leave to count toward their annuity. In the 112th Congress, he also spoke against attempts by Republicans to cut back the size of the federal workforce.
Environment
Moran listed the environment as one of his top issues, citing his high marks from the League of Conservation Voters and the Sierra Club. He used his positions as a member of the Appropriations Committee and as chairman of the Interior Appropriations Subcommittee to allocate federal funding for hiking trails and wildlife reserves in his district.
He also voted to ban logging on federal lands. He criticized the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for inaction on climate change, saying that "EPA had a historic opportunity to tackle head-on one of the greatest threats to our existence—global warming. Instead they balked under pressure from the administration, concluding the problem is so complex and controversial that it cannot be resolved." He also endorsed and voted for the Clean Air Act and said that global warming is an important issue to him. In 2010, Moran also expressed discontent with President Barack Obama's decision to allow oil drilling off the coast of the United States.
Economy, budget, and taxes
Moran often broke with his party on economic issues. For example, he supported Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) and other free trade agreements, harsher bankruptcy laws, and increased restrictions on the right to bring class action suits.
He voted for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) Reform and Accountability Act. He supported pay-as-you-go budgeting and believed "that the American government needs to strive to build up a surplus when possible, so that there are funds to support and sustain our country during tough financial times." Moran called former President George W. Bush "Fiscally irresponsible."Op Eds & Columns: EPA Decision Sets Back Global Warming Efforts , Moran.House.gov. Retrieved February 15, 2010.
Moran said he supported the redistribution of wealth, saying in November 2008 that "We have been guided by a Republican administration who believes in this simplistic notion that people who have wealth are entitled to keep it and they have an antipathy towards the means of redistributing wealth." He also said on his website that the recession was largely "a result of the imbalance in the distribution of wealth over the last eight years and an absence of oversight and accountability."
Social programs
Moran called Social Security "a safe, stable, and dependable source of financial assistance for retirees and their families," and strongly opposes privatizing Social Security, saying that it would "cripple the system". It was his position that any changes to the current system must "promote its long-term solvency without disrupting the core principles on which the program was founded."
Moran expressed support for Universal Healthcare and more specifically the public health insurance option, saying at a town hall meeting in Reston, Virginia, in August 2009 that "It could do the most to bring down long-term medical costs and to adequately insure every American."Healthcare – Congressman Jim Moran . Retrieved February 15, 2010. Moran ultimately voted for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which passed and was signed into law in March 2010.
Defense
Moran voted against authorizing the Iraq War in 2002 and did not support the troop increase for the Afghanistan War proposed by President Barack Obama in 2009, saying first that he appreciated Obama's "careful consideration regarding the U.S.'s engagement in Afghanistan", but later defining the issues on which he and the President disagreed:
Our security concern is Al-Qaeda, not the Taliban. Eight years ago we went into Afghanistan to eliminate al-Qaeda and the "safe haven" that Afghanistan's Taliban were providing the terrorist group responsible for the 9/11 attacks. Al-Qaeda has no significant presence today in all of Afghanistan. ... Instead of increasing our troop presence, the U.S. should limit its mission in Afghanistan to securing strategic Afghan population centers with the troops currently on the ground.
Comments prior to the invasion of Iraq
Prior to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Moran told an anti-war audience in Reston, Virginia, that if
If it were not for the strong support of the Jewish community for this war with Iraq, we would not be doing this. The leaders of the Jewish community are influential enough that they could change the direction of where this is going, and I think they should.
This brought criticism from many of his own party, including, among others, Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle and Senator Joe Lieberman. Nancy Pelosi, who was House Minority Leader at the time, remarked that "Moran's comments have no place in the Democratic Party."
Moran apologized for the remarks, saying that
I should not have singled out the Jewish community and regret giving any impression that its members are somehow responsible for the course of action being pursued by the administration, or are somehow behind an impending war ... What I was trying to say is that if more organizations in this country, including religious groups, were more outspoken against war, then I do not think we would be pursuing war as an option.
BRAC
Moran voted against BRAC 2005 which would move over 20,000 workers to Ft. Belvoir. The Army later decided to relocate approximately 6,400 Department of Defense workers to the Mark Center building in Alexandria. Moran opposed the selection of the Mark Center saying "I'm very disappointed ... It belonged at the Springfield site." Moran blocked federal funding for an HOV ramp directly to the Mark Center citing the impact upon Winkler Preserve.
At Moran's request, DoD ultimately delayed moving all workers to the Mark Center by one year. To help prevent gridlock, Moran got $20 million in short- and mid-term road improvements and a parking limit at the Mark Center of approximately 2,000 cars Moran also got $180 million to widen route 1 for the new Ft. Belvoir Hospital, an effort Sen. Webb called "a tribute to Congressman Moran's persistence."
Animal rights
Moran was in favor of stronger prohibitions against animal fighting. He sponsored legislation to penalize those who "knowingly attend animal fights and allow minors to attend." He sponsored legislation limiting federal funding for horse slaughter inspection plants, effectively preventing the practice. In the past he promoted reinstating a five-year ban on slaughtering horses for food, noting that "horses hold an important place in our nation's history and culture ... they deserve to be cared for, not killed for foreign consumption." Moran in the past promoted safer keeping and treatment of exotic animals used in circus performances. In October 2014, Moran received the Lord Houghton Award from Cruelty Free International for his service and contribution to animal welfare.
Other
Moran does not support granting statehood to the District of Columbia. However, he voted to allow Washington, D.C., to send a voting representative to the United States Congress.
Controversies
MBNA loan
Moran's support for harsher bankruptcy law provisions and sponsorship of stricter bankruptcy legislation brought allegations in 2002 that his support came in return for financial favors by financial institutions which could benefit from such laws. In January 1998, one month before he introduced the legislation, credit card bank MBNA advocated that it would restrict the ability of consumer debtors to declare bankruptcy. Moran received a $447,000 debt consolidation loan at over 10% interest rate.
The Lieutenant Governor of Virginia at the time, Tim Kaine, joined Republican lawmakers in calling for a House Ethics Committee investigation into the loan, saying that Moran had made "an error in judgment" by accepting it. In his own defense, Moran said that the timing of the legislation's introduction was coincidental and had nothing to do with the loan. MBNA spokesman Brian Dalphon said that the bank had offered the mortgage package not knowing that Moran was a member of Congress, and that the loan "made good business sense" because with the mortgage loan, "we improved our position by getting security for an unsecured loan. ... He had credit cards with us, he was having financial difficulties; this put him in a better position to be able to pay us back from a cash-flow standpoint."
PMA group
The House Ethics Committee investigated several members of the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, including Moran, Peter J. Visclosky, Norm Dicks, Marcy Kaptur and the late John Murtha, who was the chairman at the time, for a conflict of interest in the allocation of the government contracts to clients of the PMA Group, which donated nearly a million dollars to Moran's political action committee, as well as a significant amount of money to the gubernatorial campaign of Moran's younger brother, Brian. Moran said that he was unaware of "who made donations", and "how much they gave", and therefore was not affected by the donations when allocating the funding.
In February 2010, the panel cleared Moran and the others, saying that they violated no laws. The panel concluded, as part of its 305-page report, that "simply because a member sponsors an earmark for an entity that also happens to be a campaign contributor ... does not support a claim that a member's actions are being influenced by campaign contributions". After PMA's founder, Paul Magliocchetti, pleaded guilty in September 2010 to six years of campaign finance fraud, Moran said that he would not return the $177,700 in PMA Group-related donations that he received from 1990 to 2010.
Insider trading
In November 2011, author Peter Schweizer published a book, Throw Them All Out, which included an allegation that Moran used information he got from a September 16, 2008 briefing, in which Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke warned of what became the financial crisis of 2007–2008, for his stock market activity:
Schweizer alleged that Moran made more than 90 trades that day. Moran defended himself by citing that the trades were made in the midst of the Great Recession and that all one had to do was turn on the television to see that stock prices were dropping fast.
Voter fraud allegations
On October 24, 2012 a video was released showing Patrick B. Moran, the Congressman's son and a field director with his father's campaign, discussing a plan to cast fraudulent ballots. It was proposed to him by someone who posed as a fervent supporter of the campaign. In response to the person's suggestion about trying to cast votes using the names of 100 inactive voters, Patrick Moran attempted to discourage the scheme, but also discussed the practical difficulties of forging documentation such as utility bills. The person he was speaking with was actually a conservative activist with James O'Keefe's Project Veritas, and was secretly recording the conversation. Patrick Moran resigned from the campaign, saying he didn't want to be a distraction during the election, and stating, "at no point have I, or will I ever endorse any sort of illegal or unethical behavior. At no point did I take this person seriously. He struck me as being unstable and joking, and for only that reason did I humor him. In hindsight, I should have immediately walked away, making it clear that there is no place in the electoral process for even the suggestion of illegal behavior, joking or not."
The following day, the Arlington County Police Department opened a criminal probe into the matter. Two days after the video was released, the Virginia State Board of Elections asked Attorney General of Virginia Ken Cuccinelli to investigate Moran's campaign for voter fraud. On January 31, 2013, Arlington County announced that the investigation, by its police department in collaboration with the Offices of the Virginia Attorney General and the Arlington County Commonwealth's Attorney, had concluded and that no charges would be brought. The County stated: "Patrick Moran and the Jim Moran for Congress campaign provided full cooperation throughout the investigation. Despite repeated attempts to involve the party responsible for producing the video, they failed to provide any assistance."
Anti-Semitism and the Iraq War
In 2003, Moran drew criticism for telling an audience in Reston, Virginia that “if it were not for the strong support of the Jewish community for this war with Iraq, we would not be doing this." The comment was condemned by then House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi and then Democratic Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle. In 2007, Moran again generated controversy for linking the Jewish community with the war, this time by blaming AIPAC for American involvement in Iraq, telling the progressive Jewish magazine Tikkun that “… AIPAC is the most powerful lobby and has pushed this war from the beginning … because they are so well organized, and their members are extraordinarily powerful – most of them are quite wealthy – they have been able to exert power.” The comments were again condemned by Democratic leadership as anti-semitic.
Later career
In February 2015, Moran joined McDermott Will & Emery as a senior legislative advisor. He later left the firm and became a senior policy advisor in the Washington, D.C. office of Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough. In April 2023, he started his own lobbying firm, Moran Global Strategies, representing clients such as Qatar and various defense contractors.
Virginia Tech announced in April 2016 that Moran had joined the School of Public and International Affairs as professor of practice.
Electoral history
|+ : Results 1990–2012
! Year
!
! Subject
! Party
! Votes
! %
!
! Opponent
! Party
! Votes
! %
!
! Opponent
! Party
! Votes
! %
|-
|1990
||
| |James Moran| |Democratic
| |88,745
| |51.7
|
| |Stanford Parris
| |Republican
| |76,367
| |44.6
|
| |Robert T. Murphy
| |Independent
| |5,958
| |3.5
|-
|1992
||
| |James Moran| |Democratic
| |138,542
| |56.1
|
| |Kyle E. McSlarrow
| |Republican
| |102,717
| |41.6
|
| |Alvin O. West
| |Independent
| |5,601
| |2.3
|-
|1994
||
| |James Moran| |Democratic
| |120,281
| |59.3
|
| |Kyle E. McSlarrow
| |Republican
| |79,568
| |39.3
|
| |R. Ward Edmonds
| |Independent
| |1,858
| |0.9
|-
|1996
||
| |James Moran| |Democratic
| |152,334
| |66.4
|
| |John E. Otey
| |Republican
| |64,562
| |28.1
|
| |R. Ward Edmonds
| |Independent
| |6,243
| |2.7
|-
|1998
||
| |James Moran| |Democratic
| |97,545
| |66.6
|
| |Demaris H. Miller
| |Republican
| |48,352
| |33.0
|
|-
|2000
||
| |James Moran| |Democratic
| |164,178
| |63.3
|
| |Demaris H. Miller
| |Republican
| |88,262
| |34.0
|
| |Ron Crickenberger
| |Independent
| |3,483
| |1.3
|-
|2002
||
| |James Moran| |Democratic
| |102,759
| |59.8
|
| |Scott Tate
| |Republican
| |64,121
| |37.3
|
| |Ron Crickenberger
| |Independent
| |4,558
| |2.6
|-
|2004
||
| |James Moran| |Democratic
| |171,986
| |59.7
|
| |Lisa Cheney
| |Republican
| |106,231
| |36.9
|
| |James Hurysz
| |Independent
| |9,004
| |3.1
|-
|2006
||
| |James Moran| |Democratic
| |144,700
| |66.4
|
| |Tom O'Donoghue
| |Republican
| |66,639
| |30.6
|
| |James Hurysz
| |Independent
| |6,094
| |2.8
|-
|2008
||
| |James Moran| |Democratic
| |222,986
| |67.9
|
| |Mark Ellmore
| |Republican
| |97,425
| |29.7
|
| |J. Ron Fisher
| |Independent Green
| |6,829
| |2.1
|-
|2010
||
| |James Moran| |Democratic
| |116,293
| |61.0
|
| |Jay Patrick Murray
| |Republican
| |71,108
| |37.3
|
| |J. Ron Fisher
| |Independent Green
| |2,704
| |1.4
|-
|2012
||
| |James Moran'''
| |Democratic
| |226,847
| |64.6
|
| |Jay Patrick Murray
| |Republican
| |107,370
| |30.6
|
| |Jason J. Howell
| |Independent
| |10,180
| |2.9
Personal life
Moran has been married and divorced three times. His second wife, Mary Howard Moran, filed for divorce in 1999, one day after an argument at the couple's Alexandria home that resulted in a visit from the police. The Congressman provided his own divorce papers a few months later, and in 2003 the couple officially separated. He remarried in 2004 to real estate developer LuAnn Bennett. In December 2010, Moran and Bennett announced they were separating.
Moran is the father of four children. A son, Patrick B. Moran, once worked as a field director for one of Moran's election campaigns but resigned in 2012 when allegations of voter fraud surfaced. Later in 2012, Patrick pleaded guilty to simple assault after being arrested after an incident with his girlfriend in front of a Columbia Heights bar on December 1. He was sentenced to probation.Sommer, Will. Rep. Jim Moran's Son Guilty of Beating Up His Girlfriend in Columbia Heights , Washington City Paper, December 12, 2012.
Another one of Moran's children is Dorothy, who was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor during her father's campaign for reelection against Kyle McSlarrow in 1994. It was said at the time that she had only a twenty percent chance of living to age five, but after almost two years of chemotherapy and herbal therapies she was declared cancer-free.
His brother, Brian Moran, is a former member of the Virginia House of Delegates, and the head of the Virginia Democratic Party between early 2011 and December 2012. He was an unsuccessful primary candidate for Governor of Virginia in the 2009 election.
References
External links
Jim Moran as featured in the film Finding Our Voices''
Better Know a District – Virginia's 8th – Jim Moran, The Colbert Report, December 6, 2005
|-
|-
|-
1945 births
21st-century American politicians
American stock traders
College of the Holy Cross alumni
Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Virginia
Employees of the United States Senate
Holy Cross Crusaders football players
Living people
Mayors of Alexandria, Virginia
Politicians from Arlington County, Virginia
Politicians from Buffalo, New York
People from Natick, Massachusetts
University of Pittsburgh alumni
Virginia city council members
Members of Congress who became lobbyists
|
413007
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple%20displays
|
Apple displays
|
Apple Inc. sold a variety of LCD and CRT computer displays in the past. Apple paused production of their own standalone displays in 2016 and partnered with LG to design displays for Macs. In June 2019, the Pro Display XDR was introduced, however it was expensive and targeted for professionals. Nearly three years later, in March 2022, the Studio Display was launched as a consumer-targeted counterpart to the professional monitor. These two are currently the only Apple-branded displays available.
CRT displays
In the beginning (throughout the 1970s), Apple did not manufacture or sell displays of any kind, instead recommending users plug-into their television sets or (then) expensive third party monochrome monitors. However, in order to offer complete systems through its dealers, Apple began to offer various third party manufactured 12″ monochrome displays, re-badged as the Monitor II.
First generation
Apple's manufacture history of CRT displays began in 1980, starting with the Monitor /// that was introduced alongside and matched the Apple III business computer. It was a 12″ monochrome (green) screen that could display 80×24 text characters and any type of graphics, however it suffered from a very slow phosphor refresh that resulted in a "ghosting" video effect. So it could be shared with Apple II computers, a plastic stand was made available to accommodate the larger footprint of the display.
Three years later came the introduction of the Apple manufactured Monitor //, which as the name implies, was more suited in look and style for the Apple II line and at the same time added improvements in features and visual quality. In 1984 a miniature 9″ screen, called the Monitor IIc, was introduced for the Apple IIc computer to help complement its compact size. This display was also the first to use the brand new design language for Apple's products called Snow White, as well as being the first display not in a beige color, but rather a bright, creamy off-white. By early 1985 came the first color CRTs, starting with the Monitor 100, a digital RGB display for the Apple III and Apple IIe (with appropriate card), followed shortly by the 14″ ColorMonitor IIe (later renamed to AppleColor Composite Monitor IIe) and ColorMonitor IIc (later renamed to AppleColor Composite Monitor IIc), composite video displays for those respective models. All of these Apple displays support the maximum Apple II Double Hi-Res standard of 560×192.
In 1986 came the introduction of the AppleColor RGB Monitor, a 12″ analog RGB display designed specifically for the Apple IIGS computer. It supported a resolution of 640×400 interlaced (640×200 non-interlaced) and could be used by the Macintosh II, in a limited fashion, with the Apple High Resolution Display Video Card. Also introduced that year was the Apple Monochrome Monitor, which cosmetically was identical to the former model but was a black and white composite display suitable in external appearance for the Apple IIGS, Apple IIc or Apple IIc Plus.
Second generation
The second generation of displays were built into the Lisa and Macintosh computers. The Macintosh had a 9-inch monochrome display that could display 512×342 pixels which would be used in all monochrome Compact Macintosh computers.
A new external AppleColor High-Resolution RGB Monitor was introduced in 1987 for the Macintosh II. It had a 13″ Trinitron CRT (the first Apple display to use an aperture grille CRT) with a fixed resolution of 640×480 pixels. The Macintosh II was a modular system with no internal display and was able to drive up to six displays simultaneously using multiple graphics cards. The desktop spanned multiple displays, and windows could be moved between displays or straddle them. In 1989, Apple introduced a series of monochrome displays for the Macintosh, the 20″ Macintosh Two Page Monochrome Display which could display two pages side by side, the 15″ Macintosh Portrait Display with a vertical orientation to display one page, and the 12″ High-Resolution Monochrome Monitor. In 1990, two 12″ displays were introduced for the low end, a 640×480 monochrome model and a 512×384 color model (560×384 for compatibility with Apple IIe Card), meant for the Macintosh LC. These were succeeded by the Macintosh Color Display series in 1992, which came in 14", 16" and 20" models, with resolutions of 640×480, 832×624, and 1152×870 respectively. There was also the Apple Performa Plus Display (a low-end Goldstar-built 14″ display with 640×480 resolution) for the Macintosh Performa series and the Apple Color Plus 14″ Display.
Third generation
The third generation of displays marked the end of the monochrome display era and the beginning of the multimedia era. The first display to include built-in speakers was introduced in 1993 as the Apple AudioVision 14 Display. The "Multiple Scan" series of displays began with the Multiple Scan 17 and 20 with Trinitron CRTs and the Multiple Scan 14 with shadow mask CRT, and would ultimately become Apple's value line of shadow mask displays. The AppleVision series of displays then became the high-end display line, using 17″ and 20″ Trinitron CRTs and with AV versions containing integrated speakers. The AppleVision line was later renamed to "ColorSync" display line when Steve Jobs returned to Apple.
The Macintosh Color Classic introduced a 10″ color Trinitron display to the Classic compact Macintosh, with a slightly enhanced resolution of 512×384 (560×384 to accommodate the Apple IIe Card) like the standalone 12″ color display. Apple continued the all-in-one series with the larger 14″ Macintosh LC 500 series, featuring a 14″, 640×480 Trinitron CRT until the LC 580 in 1995, which heralded the switch to shadow mask CRTs for the remainder of Apple's all-in-one computers until the switch to LCDs in 2002. The last Macintosh to include an integrated CRT was the eMac, which boosted the display area to 17″ with support up to 1280×960 resolution. It used a 4th generation flat-screen CRT and was discontinued in 2006.
Fourth generation
The fourth generation of displays were introduced simultaneously with the Blue & White Power Macintosh G3 in 1999, which included the translucent plastics of the iMac (initially white and blue "blueberry", then white and grey "graphite" upon the introduction of the Power Mac G4). The displays were also designed with same translucent look. The "Apple Studio Display" series of CRT displays were available in a 17″ Diamondtron and a 21″ Trinitron CRT, both driven by an LG-Manufactured chassis. The 17″ displays were notorious for faulty flybacks and failing in a manner that could destroy the monitor and catch fire. It's also reported that these monitors can destroy GPUs, and sometimes the entire computer. The last Apple external CRT display was introduced in 2000 along with the Power Mac G4 Cube. Both it and the new "LCD Studio Displays" featured clear plastics to match the Cube, and the new Apple Display Connector, which provided power, USB, and video signals to the display through a single cable. It was available only in a 17″ flat screen Diamondtron CRT. It was discontinued the following year.
Flat panel displays
The history of Apple LCDs started in 1984 when the Apple Flat Panel Display was introduced for the Apple IIc computer, principally to enhance the IIc's portability (see Apple IIc Portability enhancements). This monochrome display was capable of 80 columns by 24 lines, as well as double hi-res graphics, but had an odd aspect ratio (making images look vertically squished) and required a very strong external light source, such as a desk lamp or direct sunlight to be used. Even then it had a very poor contrast overall and was quite expensive (US$600), contributing to its poor sales and consequently it dropping from the market not long after its introduction. An estimated 10,000 IIc LCD displays were produced.
Portable displays
The next attempt at a flat panel was with the Macintosh Portable. More of a "luggable" than a laptop, it contained a high-resolution, active-matrix, 1-bit black & white, 9.8″ LCD with 640×400 resolution. Like the IIc Flat Panel, it was not backlit and required a bright light source to be used. A second generation model employed a backlit LCD. The PowerBook and MacBook series would continue to use LCD displays, following an industry-wide evolution from black-and-white to grayscale to color and ranging from 9″ to 17″. Two primary technologies were used, active matrix (higher quality and more expensive) and passive matrix displays (lower quality and cheaper). By 1998 all laptops would use active-matrix color LCDs, though the Newton products and eMate portables would continue to use black and white LCDs. Apple's current MacBook portable displays include LED backlighting and support either 2560×1600 or 2880×1800 pixel resolutions depending on screen size. The iPod series used black-and-white or color LCDs, the iPhone line uses LCD and OLED displays, and the Apple Watch uses OLED.
All-In-Ones
In 1997, Apple released the Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh (TAM), its first all-in-one desktop with an LCD display. Drawing heavily from PowerBook technology, the TAM featured a 12.1″ active matrix LCD capable of displaying up to 16 bit color at 800×600. While Apple chose to retain traditional and cheaper CRTs for its all-in-one desktop line for the next 4 years, the TAM is undoubtedly the predecessor for the successful LCD-based iMac line of all-in-one desktops starting with the iMac G4 released in 2002. A substantial upgrade over the TAM, it contained a 15″ LCD supporting up to 1024×768 resolution. It was followed by a 17″ and 20″ models boasting resolution of up to 1680 × 1050. In 2005, the iMac G5 dropped the 15″ configuration and in 2007, the new iMac dropped the 17″ and added a 24″ to the line-up, further boosting resolution to 1920 x 1200. In October 2009, new iMac models moved to 16:9 aspect ratio screens at 21.5 and 27 inches.
External displays
The first desktop color flat-panel was introduced on March 17, 1998, with the 15″ Apple Studio Display (15-inch flat panel) which had a resolution of 1024×768. After the eMate, it was one of the first Apple products to feature translucent plastics, two months before the unveiling of the iMac. Apple called its dark blue color "azul". It had a DA-15 input as well as S-video, composite video, ADB and audio connectors, though no onboard speakers. In January 1999 the coloring was changed to match the blue and white of the new Power Macintosh G3s, and the connector changed to DE-15 VGA.
The 22″ widescreen Apple Cinema Display was introduced in August 1999, simultaneously with the Power Mac G4 and in the beginning was sold only as an option to the Power Mac G4, selling for US$3,999. It had a native resolution of 1600×1024 and used a DVI connector. The display had a striped look on the bezel, similar to previous Studio Displays and iMacs. In December, the colors of the 15″ display were changed to "graphite" to match the new Power Mac G4s, and the input was changed from VGA to DVI, the audio and video features dropped, and the ADB functionality replaced by a two-port USB hub.
In 2000 the 22″ Cinema Displays switched to the ADC interface, and the 15″ Studio Display was remodeled to match the Cinema Display's easel-like form factor and also featured the Apple Display Connector. In 2001 an LCD-based 17″ Studio Display was introduced, with a resolution of 1280×1024. In 2002 Apple introduced the Cinema Display HD which had a 23″ widescreen display with a resolution of 1920×1200. In 2003 Apple introduced the 20″ Cinema Display with a resolution of 1680×1050 to replace the discontinued 22″ display.
In 2004 a new line was introduced, utilizing the same 20″ and 23″ panels alongside a new 30″ model, for $3,299. The displays had a sleek aluminum enclosure with a much narrower bezel than their predecessors. The 20″ model featured a 1680×1050 resolution, the 23″ 1920×1200, and the 30″ 2560×1600. The 30″ version requires a dual-link interface, because a single-link DVI connection (the most common type) doesn't have enough bandwidth to provide a picture to a display of this resolution. Initially, the only graphics cards that could power the new 30″ display were the Nvidia GeForce 6800 DDL series, available in both GT and Ultra forms. The DDL suffix signified the dual-link DVI capability. The less expensive of the two cards retailed for US$499, raising the net cost of owning and using the display to nearly $3,800. Later graphics options included the NVIDIA Quadro FX 4500; the card included two dual-link DVI connectors which allowed a Power Mac G5 to run two 30″ Cinema Displays simultaneously with the total number of pixels working out to 8.2 million.
In 2006 along with the introduction of the Mac Pro, Apple lowered the price of the 30″ Cinema Display to US$1999. The Mac Pro featured an NVIDIA GeForce 7300GT as the graphics card in its base configuration which is capable of running a 30″ Cinema Display and another 23″ display simultaneously. The Mac Pro is also available with both the ATI Radeon X1900XT card and the NVIDIA Quadro FX 4500 as build-to-order options. Each of these cards is capable of driving two 30″ Cinema Displays.
LED Cinema Display
With the introduction of the Unibody MacBook family, Apple introduced the 24-inch LED Cinema Display, its first desktop display to use the new Mini DisplayPort connector, and also the first with an LED-backlit LCD. It had built-in speakers, a powered 3-port USB hub on the rear, an iSight camera and microphone, and a MagSafe power adapter for laptops. It also connected by USB for peripherals. It has a resolution of 1920×1200 and retailed for US$899.00. In 2010 it was replaced with a new 27-inch version with a resolution of 2560×1440.
Thunderbolt Display
In 2011 Apple released the Apple Thunderbolt Display, replacing the Mini DisplayPort and USB connector with a Thunderbolt plug for display and data. A Gigabit Ethernet port, a FireWire 800 port and a Thunderbolt 2 port were added as well, and the iSight camera was upgraded with a 720p FaceTime camera. On June 23, 2016, Apple announced it had discontinued the Thunderbolt Display, ending Apple's production of standalone displays.
LG UltraFine
After Apple discontinued production of standalone displays in 2016, they partnered with LG to design the UltraFine line, with a 21.5-inch 4K display (22MD4KA-B) and 27-inch 5K display (27MD5KA-B), released in November 2016 alongside the Thunderbolt 3-enabled MacBook Pro. Both displays use a USB-C connector, with the 27-inch version integrating Thunderbolt 3 connectivity. On the rear of the displays is a three port USB-C hub. The 21.5-inch version provides up to 60W charging power, while the 27-inch provides up to 85W. The 21.5-inch is compatible with all Macs with a USB-C port, while the 27-inch version can only be used natively at full resolution with Macs with Thunderbolt 3, which includes all Macs with USB-C except the Retina MacBook. The 27-inch model is compatible with older Thunderbolt 2-equipped Macs using an adapter, but is limited to displaying their maximum output resolution. Both models include integrated stereo speakers, while the 27-inch model also includes a FaceTime camera. Like previous Apple displays, there are no physical buttons on the display, and brightness and speaker volume are controlled by a connected computer.
In May 2019 the 21.5-inch model was discontinued and replaced with a 23.7-inch model (24MD4KL-B) which added Thunderbolt 3 connectivity and increased the power output to 85W. In July 2019, the 27-inch model (27MD5KL-B) was updated with USB-C video input, adding compatibility with the 3rd generation iPad Pro at 4K resolution, and increased power output to 94W. Apple stopped selling the 27-inch model in March 2022 following the release of the Apple Studio Display, but the display is still in production according to LG.
Pro Display XDR
Apple announced the Pro Display XDR at the 2019 WWDC, the first Apple-branded display since the Apple Thunderbolt Display was discontinued in 2016. The display contains a 6016×3384 6K color-calibrated Extreme Dynamic Range (XDR) panel.
Studio Display
Apple announced the Apple Studio Display at the March 2022 Apple Special Event. It features a 27-inch, 5K Retina monitor, with 5120-by-2880 resolution at 218 pixels per inch, 600 nits brightness, wide color (P3), and True Tone technology.
Connectors
Apple has employed a large number of display connector designs over the years:
Original DA-15 (commonly but incorrectly known as a DB-15) used on all modular desktop Macs until the 1999 Blue and White Power Macintosh G3.
A 13W3 connector (as on Sun Microsystems machines) used on the Macintosh Portrait Display
A non-standard "mini-15" connector used on early PowerBooks which allowed an Apple display to be attached via a short adaptor cable.
The HDI-45 used on some "AV" model Centris, Quadra and the first-generation (NuBus) Power Macintosh machines.
Standard 15-pin high-density DE-15 VGA connector, first included on some Power Macintosh 9600 models and most PowerPC PowerBooks, and available on all current Macintoshes via a short adaptor cable.
The Apple Display Connector (ADC), which carries DVI, VGA, USB and power in one connector, was used on the PowerMac G4 and early models of the PowerMac G5.
A DVI connector was used on the 2001-2002 titanium PowerBook G4; all aluminum PowerBook G4 15″ and 17″; all aluminum MacBook Pro 15″ and 17″ models; Mac Mini G4, Power Mac G4, G5; Intel Mac Mini, and Mac Pro 2006–2012. PowerBook G4 12″, iMac G5 and Intel white iMacs mini-DVI ports.
A mini-VGA connector, which can provide VGA via a short adaptor cable. It appears on the white iBook, eMac, iMac G4 and G5, and first generation 12-inch PowerBook G4. Later models also support a composite and S-video adapter attached to this port.
A mini-DVI connector used on the 12″ PowerBook G4 (except first generation,) Intel-based iMacs, MacBooks, and Mac Minis.
A micro-DVI connector was used in the first generation MacBook Air to accommodate its small form factor.
A mini DisplayPort connector was used on some MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, iMac, Mac Mini and Mac Pro models.
Currently all Macs feature Thunderbolt connectors.
The Retina MacBook introduced USB-C connectivity for displays. The 2016 MacBook Pro uses a combination Thunderbolt 3 USB-C connector. They are backwards compatible with HDMI and DisplayPort.
Additionally, various Apple computers have been able to output:
S-video via standard 4-pin mini-DIN connector
Composite video, via:
S-video port and use of short adaptor cable (PowerBooks)
Standard phono connector (AV Macs)
Phono connector video out on the Apple II, II+, IIe, IIc, IIc+, IIGS, III, and III+. While not technically NTSC or PAL compatible, a suitable image would display on NTSC/PAL television monitors
A non-standard 3.5 mm jack that functions as either a headphone jack, or stereo audio and composite video out via an adaptor cable (FireWire Special Edition Clamshell iBooks and early "Dual USB" iBooks with external reset button)
S-video, Composite video, or VGA, via:
Mini-VGA when using an Apple Video Output Adapter (S-video & Composite or VGA)
The Apple Video Adapter was specially designed to allow users to connect to S-video or composite video devices. The video adapter cable plugs into the video output port (Mini-VGA) built into the back of certain Macintosh computers. The video output port supports VGA, S-Video and Composite video out. The Apple Video Adapter is for S-Video or Composite video output only, use a separate Apple VGA Adapter for VGA video output options. With the Apple Video Adapter you can connect to your TV, VCR, or overhead projector via S-Video or Composite cables.
Compatible with: iBook without an external reset button, 12-inch PowerBook G4, Mac Mini, eMac, iMac G5, or 17-inch iMac (1 GHz) with Mini-VGA port.
The Apple VGA Display Adapter was specially designed to allow users to connect certain Macintosh computers to an extra VGA display or external projector (equipped with VGA) for 24-bit video-mirroring. The VGA cable from your external display or projector cable plugs into the Mini-VGA video port built into your Macintosh via the Apple VGA Display Adapter.
Compatible with: eMac, iMac G5, iMac G4 flat-panel, 12-inch PowerBook G4, or iBooks having a Mini-VGA port. Most Macintosh computers with the Mini-VGA port can also use the Apple Video Adapter for S-video & Composite output options.
12-inch PowerBook G4 (first generation) models supported video-mirroring and extended video desktop modes through a mini-VGA port. All 15 and 17 inch PowerBook G4 models have a DVI port as well as an S-Video out port. The mini-VGA port on the 12-inch PowerBook was replaced by a mini-DVI port starting with the second revision of the machine.
The Retina MacBook Pro supports HDMI output from a built-in connector in addition to its two Thunderbolt connectors.
References
External links
Apple: Displays Support
EveryMac.com: Apple Displays
Apple displays video connectors
Apple Video Adapter for Macs with Mini-VGA
Apple VGA Display Adapter for Macs with Mini-VGA
List of Apple Video connectors
|
413023
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loading%20gauge
|
Loading gauge
|
A loading gauge is a diagram or physical structure that defines the maximum height and width dimensions in railway vehicles and their loads. Their purpose is to ensure that rail vehicles can pass safely through tunnels and under bridges, and keep clear of platforms, trackside buildings and structures. Classification systems vary between different countries, and gauges may vary across a network, even if the track gauge is uniform.
The term loading gauge can also be applied to the maximum size of road vehicles in relation to tunnels, overpasses and bridges, and doors into automobile repair shops, bus garages, filling stations, residential garages, multi-storey car parks and warehouses.
A related but separate gauge is the structure gauge, which sets limits to the extent that bridges, tunnels and other infrastructure can encroach on rail vehicles. The difference between these two gauges is called the clearance. The specified amount of clearance makes allowance for wobbling of rail vehicles at speed.
Overview
The loading gauge restricts the size of passenger coaches, goods wagons (freight cars) and shipping containers that can travel on a section of railway track. It varies across the world and often within a single railway system. Over time there has been a trend towards larger loading gauges and more standardization of gauges; some older lines have had their structure gauges enhanced by raising bridges, increasing the height and width of tunnels and making other necessary alterations. Containerisation and a trend towards larger shipping containers has led rail companies to increase structure gauges to compete effectively with road haulage.
The term "loading gauge" can also refer to a physical structure, sometimes using electronic detectors using light beams on an arm or gantry placed over the exit lines of goods yards or at the entry point to a restricted part of a network. The devices ensure that loads stacked on open or flat wagons stay within the height/shape limits of the line's bridges and tunnels, and prevent out-of-gauge rolling stock entering a stretch of line with a smaller loading gauge. Compliance with a loading gauge can be checked with a clearance car. In the past, these were simple wooden frames or physical feelers mounted on rolling stock. More recently, laser beams are used.
The loading gauge is the maximum size of rolling stock. It is distinct from the minimum structure gauge, which sets limits to the size of bridges and tunnels on the line, allowing for engineering tolerances and the motion of rail vehicles. The difference between the two is called the clearance. The terms "dynamic envelope" or "kinematic envelope" – which include factors such as suspension travel, overhang on curves (at both ends and middle) and lateral motion on the track – are sometimes used in place of loading gauge.
The railway platform height is also a consideration for the loading gauge of passenger trains. Where the two are not directly compatible, stairs may be required, which will increase loading times. Where long carriages are used at a curved platform, there will be gaps between the platform and the carriage door, causing risk. Problems increase where trains of several different loading gauges and train floor heights use (or even must pass without stopping at) the same platform.
The size of load that can be carried on a railway of a particular gauge is also influenced by the design of the rolling stock. Low-deck rolling stock can sometimes be used to carry taller shipping containers on lower gauge lines although their low-deck rolling stock cannot then carry as many containers.
Rapid transit (metro) railways generally have a very small loading gauge, which reduces the cost of tunnel construction. These systems only use their own specialised rolling stock.
Out of gauge
Larger out-of-gauge loads can also sometimes be conveyed by taking one or more of the following measures:
Operate at low speed, especially in places with limited clearance, such as platforms.
Cross over from a track with inadequate clearance to another track with greater clearance, even if there is no signalling to allow this.
Prevent operation of other trains on adjacent tracks.
Use refuge loops to allow trains to operate on other tracks.
Use of Schnabel cars (special rolling stock) that manipulate the load up and down or left and right to clear obstacles.
Remove (and later replace) obstacles.
Use gauntlet track to shift the train to side or center.
For locomotives that are too heavy, ensure that fuel tanks are nearly empty.
Turn off power in overhead wiring or in the third rail (use diesel locomotive)
Permanently adapt a certain route to larger gauge if there is repeated need for such trains.
History
The loading gauge on the main lines of Great Britain, most of which were built before 1900, is generally smaller than in other countries. In mainland Europe, the slightly larger Berne gauge (Gabarit passe-partout international, PPI) was agreed to in 1913 and came into force in 1914. As a result, British trains have noticeably and considerably smaller loading gauges and, for passenger trains, smaller interiors, despite the track being standard gauge, which is in line with much of the world.
This often results in increased costs for purchasing new trainsets or locomotives as they must be specifically designed for the existing British network, rather than being purchased "off-the-shelf". For example, the new trains for HS2 have a 50% premium applied to the "classic compatible" sets that will be "compatible" with the current (or "classic") rail network loading gauge as well as the HS2 line. The "classic compatible" trainsets will cost £40million per trainset whereas the HS2-only stock (built to European loading gauge and only suitable to operate on HS2 lines) will cost £27M per trainset despite the HS2-only stock being physically larger.
It was recognized even during the nineteenth century that this would pose problems and countries whose railroads had been built or upgraded to a more generous loading gauge pressed for neighboring countries to upgrade their own standards. This was particularly true in continental Europe where the Nordic countries and Germany with their relatively generous loading gauge wanted their cars and locomotives to be able to run throughout the standard gauge network without being limited to a small size. France, which at the time had the most restrictive loading gauge ultimately compromised giving rise to Berne gauge which came into effect just before World War I.
Military railways were often built to particularly high standards, especially after the American Civil War and the Franco-Prussian War showed the importance of railroads in military deployment as well as mobilization. The Kaiserreich was particularly active in the construction of military railways which were often built with great expense to be as flat, straight and permissive in loading gauge as possible while bypassing major urban areas, making those lines of little use to civilian traffic, particularly civilian passenger traffic. However, all those aforementioned factors have in some cases led to the subsequent abandoning of those railroads.
Standard loading gauges for standard track gauge lines
International Union of Railways (UIC) Gauge
The International Union of Railways (UIC) has developed a standard series of loading gauges named A, B, B+ and C.
PPI – the predecessor of the UIC gauges had the maximum dimensions with an almost round roof top.
UIC A: The smallest (slightly larger than PPI gauge). Maximum dimensions .
UIC B: Most of the high-speed TGV tracks in France are built to UIC B. Maximum dimensions .
UIC B+: New structures in France are being built to UIC B+. Up to has a shape to accommodate tractor-trailers loaded with ISO containers.
UIC C: The Central European gauge. In Germany and other central European countries, the railway systems are built to UIC C gauges, sometimes with an increment in the width, allowing Scandinavian trains to reach German stations directly, originally built for Soviet freight cars. Maximum dimensions .
Europe
European standards
In the European Union, the UIC directives were supplanted by ERA Technical Specifications for Interoperability (TSI) of European Union in 2002, which has defined a number of recommendations to harmonize the train systems. The TSI Rolling Stock (2002/735/EC) has taken over the UIC Gauges definitions defining Kinematic Gauges with a reference profile such that Gauges GA and GB have a height of (they differ in shape) with Gauge GC rising to allowing for a width of of the flat roof. All cars must fall within an envelope of wide on a radius curve. The TGVs, which are wide, fall within this limit.
The designation of a GB+ loading gauge refers to the plan to create a pan-European freight network for ISO containers and trailers with loaded ISO containers. These container trains (piggy-back trains) fit into the B envelope with a flat top so that only minor changes are required for the widespread structures built to loading gauge B on continental Europe. A few structures on the British Isles were extended to fit with GB+ as well, where the first lines to be rebuilt start at the Channel Tunnel.
Owing to their historical legacies, many member states' railways do not conform to the TSI specification. For example, Britain's role at the forefront of railway development in the 19th century has condemned it to the small infrastructure dimensions of that era. Conversely, the s of countries that were satellites of the former Soviet Union are much larger than the TSI specification. Other than for GB+, they are not likely to be retrofitted, given the enormous cost and disruption that would be entailed.
Double-decker carriages
A specific example of the value of these loading gauges is that they permit double decker passenger carriages. Although mainly used for suburban commuter lines, France is notable for using them on its high speed TGV services: the SNCF TGV Duplex carriages are high, and the Netherlands and Switzerland feature large numbers of double decker intercity trains as well.
Great Britain
Great Britain has (in general) the most restrictive loading gauge (relative to track gauge) in the world. That is a legacy of the British railway network being the world's oldest, and of having been built by a plethora of different private companies, each with different standards for the width and height of trains. After nationalisation, a standard static gauge W5 was defined in 1951 that would virtually fit everywhere in the network. The W6 gauge is a refinement of W5, and the W6a changed the lower body to accommodate third-rail electrification. While the upper body is rounded for W6a with a static curve, there is an additional small rectangular notch for W7 to accommodate the transport of ISO containers, and the W8 loading gauge has an even larger notch spanning outside of the curve to accommodate the transport of ISO containers. While W5 to W9 are based on a rounded roof structure, those for W10 to W12 define a flat line at the top and, instead of a strict static gauge for the wagons, their sizes are derived from dynamic gauge computations for rectangular freight containers.
Network Rail uses a W loading gauge classification system of freight transport ranging from W6A (smallest) through W7, W8, W9, W9Plus, W10, W11 to W12 (largest). The definitions assume a common "lower sector structure gauge" with a common freight platform at above rail.
In addition, gauge C1 provides a specification for standard coach stock, gauge C3 for longer Mark 3 coaching stock, gauge C4 for Pendolino stock and gauge UK1 for high-speed rail. There is also a gauge for locomotives. The size of container that can be conveyed depends both upon the size of the load that can be conveyed and the design of the rolling stock.
W6a: Available over the majority of the British rail network.
W8: Allows standard high shipping containers to be carried on standard wagons.
W9: Allows high Hi-Cube shipping containers to be carried on "Megafret" wagons that have lower deck height with reduced capacity. At wide, it allows for wide Euro shipping containers, which are designed to carry Euro-pallets efficiently
W10: Allows high Hi-Cube shipping containers to be carried on standard wagons and also allows wide Euro shipping containers. Larger than UIC A.
W11: Little used but larger than UIC B.
W12: Slightly wider than W10 at to accommodate refrigerated containers. Recommended clearance for new structures, such as bridges and tunnels.
UIC GC: Channel Tunnel and Channel Tunnel Rail Link to London; with proposals to upgrade the Midland Main Line northwards from London to GB+ standards.
A strategy was adopted in 2004 to guide enhancements of loading gauges and in 2007 the freight route utilisation strategy was published. That identified a number of key routes where the loading gauge should be cleared to W10 standard and, where structures are being renewed, that W12 is the preferred standard.
Height and width of containers that can be carried on GB gauges (height by width). Units as per source material.
W9: by
W10: by
W11: by
W12: by
Tube lines
City and South London Railway was built with tunnels of only diameter. Enlarged for Northern line to
Central line with tunnels of , increased on curves, reduced to near to stations. This makes Central line trains unique on the London Underground system because, although the loading gauge of the rolling stock is the same as the other 'tube' lines, the smaller size of the tunnel requires that the positive conductor rail is higher than on all other lines.
A Parliamentary committee headed by James Stansfeld then reported on 23 May 1892, "The evidence submitted to the Committee on the question of the diameter of the underground tubes containing the railways has been distinctly in favour of a minimum diameter of ". After that, all tube lines were at least that size.
Piccadilly line with tunnels of
Victoria line with tunnels of ; enlarged to reduce air friction.
Glasgow Subway with tunnels of and a unique track gauge of only .
Tyne and Wear Metro with tunnels of ; built to mainline rail network standards.
Sweden
Sweden uses shapes similar to the Central European loading gauge, but trains are allowed to be much wider.
There are three main classes in use (width × height):
Class SE-A is . Similar to OPS-NL (Netherlands), Victorian (Australia) and Chinese loading gauges.
Class SE-B is . Similar to Norwegian loading gauge.
Class SE-C is with a completely flat roof top. Similar to OPS-GC (Netherlands) loading gauge.
The Iron Ore Line north of Kiruna was the first electrified railway line in Sweden and has limited height clearance (SE-B) because of snow shelters. On the rest of the network belonging to the Swedish Transport Administration (Trafikverket), the structure gauge accepts cars built to SE-A and thus accepts both cars built to UIC GA and GB. Some modern electric multiple units, like Regina X50 with derivatives, are somewhat wider than normally permitted by SE-A at . This is generally acceptable as the extra width is above normal platform height, but it means that they can not use the high platforms that Arlanda Express uses (Arlanda Central Station has normal clearances). The greater width allows sleeping cars in which tall people can sleep with straight legs and feet, which is not the case on the continent.
Netherlands
In the Netherlands, a similar shape to the UIC C is used that rises to in height. The trains are wider allowing for width similar to Sweden. About one third of the Dutch passenger trains use bilevel rail cars. However, Dutch platforms are much higher than Swedish ones.
Betuweroute
Betuweroute: to allow double stacked container trains in the future. The present overhead line does not allow this height, as it has to follow standards.
Channel Tunnel
Channel Tunnel:
North America
Freight
The American loading gauge for freight cars on the North American rail network is generally based on standards set by the Association of American Railroads (AAR) Mechanical Division. The most widespread standards are AAR Plate B and AAR Plate C, but higher loading gauges have been introduced on major routes outside urban centers to accommodate rolling stock that makes better economic use of the network, such as auto carriers, hi-cube boxcars, and double-stack container loads. The maximum width of on and truck centers is valid on a radius or 13° curve.
Listed here are the maximum heights and widths for cars. However, the specification in each AAR plate shows a car cross section that is chamfered at the top and bottom, meaning that a compliant car is not permitted to fill an entire rectangle of the maximum height and width.
Technically, AAR Plate B is still the maximum height and truck center combination and the circulation of AAR Plate C is somewhat restricted. The prevalence of excess-height rolling stock, at first ~ piggybacks and hicube boxcars, then later autoracks, airplane-parts cars, and flatcars for hauling Boeing 737 fuselages, as well as high double-stacked containers in container well cars, has been increasing. This means that most, if not all, lines are now designed for a higher loading gauge. The width of these extra-height cars is covered by AAR Plate D-1.
All the Class I rail companies have invested in longterm projects to increase clearances to allow double stack freight. The mainline North American rail networks of the Union Pacific, the BNSF, the Canadian National, and the Canadian Pacific, have already been upgraded to AAR Plate K. This represents over 60% of the Class I rail network.
Passenger service
The old standard North American passenger railcar is wide by high and measures over coupler pulling faces with truck centers, or over coupler pulling faces with truck centers. In the 1940s and 1950s, the American passenger car loading gauge was increased to a height throughout most of the country outside the Northeast, to accommodate dome cars and later Superliners and other bilevel commuter trains. Bilevel and Hi-level passenger cars have been in use since the 1950s, and new passenger equipment with a height of has been built for use in Alaska and the Canadian Rockies. The structure gauge of the Mount Royal Tunnel limits the height of bilevel cars to .
New York City Subway
The New York City Subway is an amalgamation of three former constituent companies, and while all are standard gauge, inconsistencies in loading gauge prevent cars from the former BMT and IND systems (B Division) from running on the lines of the former IRT system (A Division), and vice versa. This is mainly because IRT tunnels and stations are approximately narrower than the others, meaning that IRT cars running on the BMT or IND lines would have platform gaps of over between the train and some platforms, whereas BMT and IND cars would not even fit into an IRT station without hitting the platform edge. Taking this into account, all maintenance vehicles are built to IRT loading gauge so that they can be operated over the entire network, and employees are responsible for minding the gap.
Another inconsistency is the maximum permissible railcar length. Cars in the former IRT system are . Railcars in the former BMT and IND can be longer: on the former Eastern Division, the cars are limited to , while on the rest of the BMT and IND lines plus the Staten Island Railway (which uses modified IND stock) the cars may be as long as .
Boston (MBTA)
The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority's (MBTA) rapid transit system is composed of four unique subway lines; while all lines are standard gauge, inconsistencies in loading gauge, electrification, and platform height prevent trains on one line from being used on another. The first segment of the Green Line (known as the Tremont Street subway) was constructed in 1897 to take the streetcars off Boston's busy downtown streets. When the Blue Line opened in 1904, it only ran streetcar services; the line was converted to rapid transit in 1924 due to high passenger loads, but the tight clearances in the tunnel under the Boston Harbor required narrower and shorter rapid transit cars. The Orange Line was originally built in 1901 to accommodate heavy rail transit cars of higher capacity than streetcars. The Red Line was opened in 1912, designed to handle what were for a time the largest underground transit cars in the world.
Los Angeles (LACMTA)
The Los Angeles Metro Rail system is an amalgamation of two former constituent companies, the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission and the Southern California Rapid Transit District; both of those companies were responsible for planning the initial system. It is composed of two heavy rail subway lines and several light rail lines with subway sections; while all lines are standard gauge, inconsistencies in electrification and loading gauge prohibit the light rail trains from operating on the heavy rail lines, and vice versa. The LACTC-planned Blue Line was opened in 1990 and partially operates on the route of the Pacific Electric interurban railroad line between downtown Los Angeles and Long Beach, which used overhead electrification and street-running streetcar vehicles. The SCRTD-planned Red Line (later split into the Red and Purple lines) was opened in 1993 and was designed to handle high-capacity heavy rail transit cars that would operate underground. Shortly after the Red Line began operations, the LACTC and the SCRTD merged to form the LACMTA, which became responsible for planning and construction of the Green, Gold, Expo, and K lines, as well as the D Line Extension and the Regional Connector.
Asia
Major trunk raillines in East Asian countries, including China, North Korea, South Korea, as well as the Shinkansen of Japan, have all adopted a loading gauge of maximum width and can accept the maximum height of .
China
The maximum height, width, and length of general Chinese rolling stock are , and respectively, with an extra out-of-gauge load allowance of height and width with some special shape limitation, corresponding to a structure gauge of . China is building numerous new railways in sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia (such as in Kenya and Laos), and these are being built to "Chinese Standards". This presumably means track gauge, loading gauge, structure gauge, couplings, brakes, electrification, etc. An exception may be double stacking, which has a height limit of . Metre gauge in China has a gauge of .
Japan, standard gauge
Translation of legend:
Trains on the Shinkansen network operate on track and have a loading gauge of maximum width and maximum height. This allows the operation of double-deck high-speed trains.
Mini Shinkansen (former conventional narrow gauge lines that have been regauged into ) and some private railways in Japan (including some lines of the Tokyo subway and all of the Osaka Metro) also use standard gauge; however, their loading gauges are different.
The rest of Japan's system is discussed under narrow gauge, below.
Hong Kong
South Korea
The body frame may have a maximum height of and a maximum width of with additional installations allowed up to . That width of 3,400 mm is only allowed above as the common passenger platforms are built to former standard trains of in width.
Philippines
There is currently no uniform standard for loading gauges in the country and both loading gauges and platform heights vary by rail line.
The North–South Commuter Railway allows passenger trains with a carbody width of and a height of . Additional installations shall also be allowed up to at a platform height of where it is limited by half-height platform screen doors. Above the platform gate height of above the platforms, out-of-gauge installations can be further maximized to the Asian standard at .
Meanwhile, the PNR South Long Haul will follow the Chinese gauge and therefore use a larger carbody width of from the specifications of passenger rolling stock, and a height of per P70-type boxcar specifications.
Africa
Some of the new railways being built in Africa allow for double-stacked containers, the height of which is about depending on the height of each container or plus the height of the deck of the flat wagon about totalling . This exceeds the China height standard for single stacked containers of . Additional height of about is needed for overhead wires for 25 kV AC electrification.
The permissible width of the new African standard gauge railways is .
Australia
The standard gauge lines of New South Wales Government Railways (NSWGR) allowed for a width of until 1910, after a conference of the states created a new standard of , with corresponding increase in track centres. The narrow widths have mostly been eliminated, except, for example, at the mainline platforms at Gosford railway station and some sidings. The longest carriages are .
The Commonwealth Railways adopted the national standard of when they were established in 1912, although no connection with New South Wales was made until 1970.
A double deck Electric Tangara train of the late 1980s was wide. Track centres from Penrith railway station to Mount Victoria railway station and Gosford and Wyong have been gradually widened to suit. The proposed Korean manufactured intercity sets are however wide, so further, costly modification was required beyond Springwood, which was completed in 2020.
The 1968 built Kwinana-Kalgoorlie standard gauge railway in Western Australia was built with a loading gauge of 12 ft (3.66 m) wide and 20 ft (6.1 m) tall to allow for trailer on flatcar (TOFC) traffic.
Broad gauge
Indian Gauge
The smallest loading gauge for a gauge railway is the Delhi Metro, which is wide and high.
Indian Railways has a maximum passenger loading gauge of 3,660 mm and a freight loading gauge of 3,250 mm, with development allowing a loading gauge of 3,710 mm.
Sri Lanka Railways has a loading gauge of between 3,200 mm and 4,267 mm.
Russian Gauge
In Finland, the rail cars can be up to wide with a permitted height from on the sides to in the middle. The track gauge is , differing from the Russian track gauge.
The Russian loading gauges are defined in standard GOST 9238 (ГОСТ 9238–83, ГОСТ 9238–2013) with the current 2013 standard named "Габариты железнодорожного подвижного состава и приближения строений" (construction of rolling stock clearance diagrams [official English title]). It was accepted by the Interstate Council for Standardization, Metrology and Certification to be valid in Russia, Belarus, Moldova, Ukraine, Uzbekistan and Armenia. Loading gauge is generally wider than Europe, but with many exception standards.
T: standard loading gauge
T: 5,300 mm height, 3,750 mm width
Tc: 5,200 mm height, 3,750 mm width: for tank and dumper cars
Tpr: 5,300 mm height, 3,500 mm width: extra out-of-gauge cargo load for main tracks
1-T: guaranteed loading gauge for all ex-USSR lines including old tunnels.
1-T: 5,300 mm height, 3,400 mm width
VM: for international stock for 1435 mm lines, standards for different lines
0-VM: 4,650 mm height, 3,250 mm width
1-VM: 4,700 mm height, 3,400 mm width
02-VM: 4,650 mm height, 3,150 mm width
03-VM: 4,280 mm height, 3,150 mm width
The standard defines static envelopes for trains on the national network as T, Tc and Tpr. The static profile 1-T is the common standard on the complete 1520 mm rail network including the CIS and Baltic states. The structure clearance is given as S, Sp and S250. There is a tradition that structure clearance is much bigger than the common train sizes. For international traffic, the standard references the kinematic envelope for GC and defines a modified GCru for its high-speed trains. For other international traffic, there are 1-T, 1-VM, 0-VM, 02-VM and 03-VMst/03-VMk for the trains and 1-SM for the structure clearance.
The main static profile T allows for a maximum width of rising to a maximum height of . The profile Tc allows that width only at a height of , requiring a maximum of below , which matches with the standard for train platforms (with a height of ). The profile Tpr has the same lower frame requirement but reduces the maximum upper body width to . The more universal profile 1-T has the complete body at a maximum width of still rising to a height of . Exceptions shall be double-stacking, maximum height shall be or .
The structure gauge S requires buildings to be placed at minimum of from the track centreline. Bridges and tunnels must have a clearance of at least wide and high. The structure gauge Sp for passenger platforms allows only above (the common platform height) requiring a width of below that line. The exceptions shall be double-stacking, minimum overhead wiring height must be (for maximum vehicle height of ) or (for maximum vehicle height of ).
The main platform is defined to have a height of at a distance of from the center of the track to allow for trains with profile T. Low platforms at a height of may be placed at from the center of the track. A medium platform is a variant of the high platform but at a height of . The latter matches with the TSI height in Central Europe. In the earlier standard from 1983, the profile T would only be allowed to pass low platforms at while the standard high platform for cargo and passenger platforms would be placed no less than from the center of the track. That matches with the Tc, Tpr and the universal 1-T loading gauge.
Iberian gauge
In Spain, rail cars can be up to 3.44 m (11 ft 3.5 in) with a permitted height of 4.33m (14 ft 2.5 in) and this loading gauge is called iberian loading gauge. It is the standard loading gauge for conventional (iberian gauge) railways in Spain.
In Portugal, there are three railway loading gauge standards for conventional (iberian gauge) railways: Gabarit PT b, Gabarit PT b+ and Gabarit C. Gabarit PT b (also called CPb) and Gabarit PT b+ (also called CPb+) allow rail cars to be 3.44 m (11 ft 3.5 in) wide with a permitted height of 4.5 m (14 ft 9 in), although CPb+ has a slightly larger profile area. Gabarit C allows rail cars to be 3.44 m (11 ft 3.5 in) wide with a permitted height of 4.7 m (15 ft 5 in). Gabarit PT b and PT b+ are both used, being PT b+ more common overall. Gabarit PT c is not used. In Lisbon, there is a suburban railway line, the Cascais Line, that follows a fourth non-standard loading gauge.
Irish Gauge
Ireland and Northern Ireland
Australia
Brazil
Narrow gauge
Narrow gauge railways generally have a smaller loading gauge than standard gauge ones, and this is a major reason for cost savings rather than the railgauge itself. For example, the Lyn locomotive of the Lynton and Barnstaple Railway is wide. By comparison, several standard gauge 73 class locomotives of the NSWR, which are wide, have been converted for use on cane tramways, where there are no narrow bridges, tunnels or track centres to cause trouble. The 6E1 locomotive of the South African Railways are wide.
A large numbers of railways using the gauge used the same rolling stock plans, which were wide.
Great Britain
Ffestiniog Railway
gauge =
width (brakevan mirrors) =
width (brakevan body) =
height =
length = (carriage)
Lynton and Barnstaple Railway
gauge =
Lyn (locomotive) over headstocks
length =
width =
height =
Passenger
length =
width = wide,
width over steps =
height =
Japan, narrow gauge
Translation of legend:
The Japanese national network operated by Japan Railways Group employs narrow gauge . The maximum allowed width of the rolling stock is and maximum height is ; however, a number JR lines were constructed as private railways prior to nationalisation in the early 20th century, and feature loading gauges smaller than the standard. These include the Chūō Main Line west of Takao, the Minobu Line, and the Yosan Main Line west of Kan'onji ( height). Nevertheless, advances in pantograph technology have largely eliminated the need for separate rolling stock in these areas.
There are many private railway companies in Japan and the loading gauge is different for each company.
South Africa
The South African national network employs gauge. The maximum width of the rolling stock is and maximum height is , which is greater than the normal British loading gauge for standard gauge vehicles.
New Zealand
The railways use gauge. The maximum width of the rolling stock is and maximum height is .
Other
gauge for the United Kingdom, Sierra Leone
minimum radius
width (see Everard Calthrop)
wagon length freight over headstocks
wagon length passenger over headstocks
tank engine length over headstocks
Structure gauge
The structure gauge, which refers to the dimensions of the lowest and narrowest bridges or tunnels of the track, complements the loading gauge, which specifies the tallest and widest allowable vehicle dimensions. There is a gap between the structure gauge and loading gauge, and some allowance needs to be made for the dynamic movement of vehicles (sway) to avoid mechanical interference causing equipment and structural damage.
Out of gauge
While it may be true that trains of a particular loading gauge can travel freely over tracks of a matching structure gauge, in practice, problems can still occur. In an accident at Moston station, an old platform not normally used by freight trains was hit by a train that wasn't within its intended W6a gauge because two container fastenings were hanging over the side. Analysis showed that the properly configured train would have passed safely even though the platform couldn't handle the maximum design sway of W6a. Accepting reduced margins for old construction is normal practice if there have been no incidents but if the platform had met modern standards with greater safety margin the out of gauge train would have passed without incident.
Trains larger than the loading gauge, but not too large, can operate if the structure gauge is carefully measured, and the trip is subject to various special regulations.
Gallery
See also
Berne gauge
Bridge
Clearance car
Clearance space
Cut
Platform gap
Railway platform height
Ride height
Structure gauge
Tunnel
References
Further reading
Jane's World Railways yearbook contains many though not all loading gauge diagrams.
External links
2002/732/EC: Commission Decision of 30 May 2002 concerning the technical specification for interoperability relating to the infrastructure subsystem of the trans-European high-speed rail system
Loading Gauges at The Self Site
Railway industrial Clearance Association
British Track Gauge & Loading Gauge
Railway line clearances and car dimensions including weight limitations of railroads in the United States, Canada, Mexico and Cuba.
AAR plates with UIC
AAR "plate" loading gauge diagrams compared to UIC (pdf & Autocad)
Permanent way
Rail loading gauge
|
413025
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Car-free%20days
|
Car-free days
|
On car-free days, people are encouraged to travel by means other than cars. Some cities, like Jakarta and Tehran, have weekly car-free days. Other such days are annual. World Car Free Day is celebrated on September 22. Organized events are held in some cities and countries.
The events, which vary by location, give motorists and commuters an idea of their locality with fewer cars. While projects along these lines had taken place from time to time on an ad hoc basis starting with the 1973 oil crisis, it was only in October 1994 that a structured call for such projects was issued in a keynote speech by Eric Britton at the International Ciudades Accessibles (Accessible Cities) Conference held in Toledo (Spain).
Within two years the first Days were organized in Reykjavík (Iceland), Bath (United Kingdom) and La Rochelle (France), and the informal World Car Free Days Consortium was organized in 1995 to support Car-Free Days worldwide. The first national campaign was inaugurated in Britain by the Environmental Transport Association in 1997, the French followed suit in 1998 as In town, without my car! and was established as a Europe-wide initiative by the European Commission in 2000. In the same year the Commission enlarged the program to a full European Mobility Week which now is the major focus of the Commission, with the Car-Free Day part of a greater new mobility whole.
In 1996, a Dutch action group, Pippi Autoloze Zondag, started a national campaign for car free days. Pippi organized monthly illegal street actions to take over the streets and stop the cars. After blocking the streets, there would be parties, picknicks, kids playing, rollerskate on the motorway, street painting and music artists playing. The police would break the party down and make arrests. Pippi went on to create a Dutch national group to fight for car free days. Pippi lobbied every single national parliament politician from the Netherlands and inspired Dutch national parties to adopt the concept of car free days in their agenda. Every major city government in the Netherlands received Pippi's proposals to implement car free days, forcing them to debate the issue. After two years of actions, several cities in the Netherlands relented and started to implement car free days.
Also in 2000, car free days went global with a World Carfree Day program launched by Carbusters, now World Carfree Network, and in the same year the Earth Car Free Day collaborative program of the Earth Day Network and the World Car Free Days collaborative.
Currently Bogotá holds the world's largest car-free weekday event covering the entire city. The first car-free day was held in February 2000 and became institutionalised through a public referendum.
According to The Washington Post, the event "promotes improvement of mass transit, cycling and walking, and the development of communities where jobs are closer to home and where shopping is within walking distance". Studies showed that for short trips in cities, one can reach more quickly using a bicycle rather than using a car.
While considerable momentum has been achieved in terms of media coverage, these events turn out to be difficult to organize to achieve real success (perhaps requiring significant reorganization of the host city's transportation arrangement) and even a decade later there is considerable uncertainty about the usefulness of this approach. Broad public support and commitment to change is needed for successful implementation. By some counts by advocates (disputed), more than a thousand cities worldwide organized “Days” during 2005.
In September 2007, Jakarta, the capital city of Indonesia, held its first Car-Free Day that closed the main avenue of the city from cars and invited local pedestrian to exercise and having their activities on the streets that were normally full of cars and traffic. Along the road from the Senayan traffic circle on Jalan Sudirman, South Jakarta, to the Selamat Datang Monument at the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle on Jalan Thamrin, all the way north to National Monument Central Jakarta, cars are cleared out for pedestrians. Since May 2012 Car-Free Day in Jakarta is held every Sunday. It is held on the main avenues of the city, Jalan Sudirman and Jalan Thamrin, from Senayan area to Monas (Monumen Nasional), from 6 AM to 11 AM.
While not an officially organized Car-Free Day, every year traffic in Israel stops (except for emergency vehicles) for more than 24 hours in observance of Yom Kippur. This encompasses all motorized vehicles, including cars and public transportation (buses, trains, taxis, airplanes etc.). Cycling enthusiasts of the Hiloni stream and other religions take advantage of this, and roads (except in religious neighborhoods) become de facto esplanade and cycleways. Air pollution in Israel that day, measured by nitrogen oxides, dropped by 99 percent.
Regional car-free days
In town, without my car! is an EU campaign.
Carfree days are also held in many U.S. cities, such as Portland, Oregon; and in Japan.
British Columbia hosts several Car Free Days organized by local communities, including those in Car Free Day Vancouver, Car Free Day North Vancouver, and Car Free Day Victoria.
Jakarta hosts Car Free Day weekly, every Sundays morning, around Sudirman-Thamrin avenues.
At Bangkok's celebration of World Car-Free Day 2018, celebrated on 22 September, Bangkok's Deputy Governor, Sakoltee Phattiyakul, who presided over the event, arrived in his official automobile, as did his entourage. He then mounted a bicycle for a ceremonial ride. Prior to the event, which encouraged not using cars, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration announced there would be extensive free automobile parking spaces available for participants who were to ride bicycles in the parade.
Bogota has celebrated car free day since 24 February 2000. This is an initiative to preserve the environment and to reflect about the use of the public transportation system.
China has an irregular event called No Car Day
History and timeline
First ten years
The Environmental Transport Association set the initial annual Car-Free Day on the first Tuesday in their Green Transport Week (around 17 June). In 2000 it was agreed to make it a self-standing day held on September 22, originally as a pan-European day organised under the auspices of the European Commission and later with international extensions—during which a large number of cities around the world are invited to close their centers to cars. Pedestrians, bicycles, public transit and other forms of sustainable transportation are encouraged on these days. People can reflect on what their city would look like with a lot fewer cars, and what might be needed to make this happen. Advocates claim that over 100 million people in 1,500 cities celebrate International Car-Free Day, though on days and in ways of their choice. This claim, however, is not confirmed.
Over the first decade of the car-free day movement (1994–2005), the world has seen hundreds of cities giving the approach a try in very different circumstances, some good, some undeniably bad, some of them on several occasions.
Activists in this field wondered what were the actual accomplishments. They suggested that it was agreeable to have a pleasant day with fewer cars and probably fewer accidents at least in some parts of the city, but considered that this was not the bottom line. For them the goal of a car-free day had from the beginning been to serve as a small step, as a catalyst in a much larger and more ambitious process of citywide systemic transformation toward a more truly sustainable mobility system. They suggested that with rare exceptions they were not seeing anything like that.
The persons involved in the movement thought that after ten years it was time to stand back and see what, if any, difference this approach had made. They asked themselves if CFDs made here or there had produced any significant permanent impacts on cities and the ways human beings get around in them. They wondered if they could be content with what the great bulk of these projects and programs had achieved and just keep going on as-is, or if it were not time to stand back and look again. They decided to fight complacency with a new international collaborative program starting in 2004.
Timeline: Some major events
The following chronology assembles some of the main events of the last decades, which together have gradually built on each other's accomplishments to leave us today with a movement that is only now beginning to get under way. There are a very large number of cities and events that are not covered here.
1956, Low Countries. The first car-free Sundays in the Netherlands and Belgium because of the Suez crisis. Every Sunday from November 25 to January 20, 1957, were car-free.
1958, New York City. Demonstrations of neighbors of the Washington Square Park area of New York City eventually block a proposed extension of Fifth Avenue, which would have eliminated this popular public park and social oasis.
1961, New York City. One of the ringleaders of the 1958 demonstration, Jane Jacobs, publishes The Death and Life of Great American Cities, Vintage Books, opening up the discussions of car restraint in cities.
Autumn, 1968, Groningen, Netherlands. First neighborhood Woonerf. The goal of this at first entirely illegal project led by local residents is to claim back the street from cars and create safe space for people.
1972, Delft, Netherlands. First official Woonerf opens.
1973, Abbaye de Royaumont, France. The OECD Development Center and EcoPlan (The Commons) organize a 4-day international brainstorm on combining car restraint and non-conventional or "in-between" transit (paratransit) in Third World cities.
1973–1974; due to the oil crisis, Denmark had car-free Sundays from 25 November 1973 to 10 February 1974.
January–February 1974, Switzerland. Four car-free Sundays were organized during the "Oil Crisis".
1981, East Germany (DDR). First German Car-free Day took place.
October 1988, Paris. "Cities without Cars?" program begins. International, unstructured, non-bureaucratic, topic-driven, long term cooperative program is launched by EcoPlan and the Commons. It later morphed into today's New Mobility Agenda.
September 1991, New York City. First International Conference on Auto-Free Cities. Organized by Transportation Alternatives.
September 1992, Toronto. Second International Conference on Auto-Free Cities.
September 1992, San Francisco. Critical Mass. More or less anarchist, at least self-organizing, group cranked up to take back the streets from cars.
Fall 1992, Paris, France. First @ccess Forum opened in cooperation with ECTF on Internet. Carfree Day concept discussed and expanded on this international list.
Fall 1992, Ottawa, Canada. Auto-Free Ottawa Newsletter started.
March 1994, Amsterdam. Car-Free Cities Network launched by DG XI and Eurocities.
14 October 1994, Toledo, Spain. Thursday: Carfree Day Proposal, work plan and public call for international collaboration is presented at Spanish "Ciudades Accesibles" Congress. (Representatives of Car-Free Cities and later Reykjavík, Bath and La Rochelle CFD projects all present.)
8 May 1996, Copenhagen. Copenhagen Declaration is issued by international meeting of European government groups.
June 1996, Reykjavík, Iceland. Carfree Day is organized by local government and held in Iceland's capital city.
11 June 1996, Bath, the first British Carfree Day organised within the Environmental Transport Association's Green Transport Week.
17 June 1997, Weybridge, the world's first national Car-Free Day inaugurated by the Environmental Transport Association in Britain. The ETA co-ordinates the annual CFDs.
9 September 1997, La Rochelle, France. Journée sans voiture. Led by Mayor Michel Crépeau and Jacques Tallut, La Rochelle organize France's first real CFD.
21 October 1997, Paris. Thursday: Carfree Day proposal made to French Ministry of the Environment. Proposal from this Consortium made as part of the Common's "Smogbuster" package for fighting car-related pollution and other problems in French cities. (The Ministry used this foundation to launch its own "En ville, sans ma voiture?" program one year later.)
26 October – 1 November 1997, Lyon, France. Towards Carfree Cities I conference. Organized by European Youth for Action and the Lyon-based Régroupement pour une ville sans voiture. Carbusters Magazine & Resource Centre launched.
Winter 1997, Amsterdam. Carfree Times published Volume 1, Number 1 (with no public support and made freely available).
Winter, 1997, Paris. @World Carfree Day Consortium. This open NGO site is established by The Commons as part of their long term New Mobility program on the WWW to support Carfree Day organization and expert follow-up in cities all over the world.
21 June 1998. Mobil Ohne Auto, Germany-wide Car Free Mobility Day.
22 September 1998, "En ville, sans ma voiture?", France. French Ministry of the Environment and 34 French cities organized "En ville, sans ma voiture?" ("A day in the city without my car?).
1 December 1999, Britain. First National ETA Carfree Planning support (UK) sharing information on planning for European Carfree Day in Britain
19 September 1999, Netherlands. First National Carfree Sunday in the Netherlands.
22 September 1999, First European "Pilot Day". On Wednesday, 22 September 1999, 66 French towns participate in "En ville, sans ma voiture ?" (2nd edition), while in parallel 92 Italian towns organize the first Italian National Carfree Day, "In cittá senza la mia auto". The Canton of Geneva also participates in what later was later called the first European "Pilot Day", wherein all the participating cities designated car-free areas in their centers.
Sunday, 26 September 1999. First Belgian CFD announced.
1 December 1999, Britain. Consortium of interested individuals and groups set up the first independent national support group on Web to promote CFDs in Britain (see menu to left for direct link)
Sunday, 6 February 2000, Italy. Environment Minister Edo Ronchi opens first of four successive Car-Free Sundays in Italy, to take place on the first Sunday of the month for the next four months.
24 February 2000, Bogotá, Colombia. The Bogotá Challenge. The City of Bogotá organizes Sin mi carro en Bogotá in cooperation with the World Carfree Day Consortium, the world's first large scale "Thursday" CFD project, and launches its Bogotá Challenge to the rest of the world.
10–18 June 2000, British Green Transport Week organised by the Environmental Transport Association.
24–27 June 2000, Bremen, Germany. Car Free Cities conference in Bremen.
21 September 2000. World Carfree Day – first global carfree day, launched and promoted by Carbusters (now World Carfree Network) and Adbusters Media Foundation.
22 September 2000. First European Carfree Day. The government sponsors report that 760 European towns jointly organized the first pan-European "In town, without my car!" day. Perhaps indicating growing confidence, the question mark has now become an exclamation point.
14 October 2000. Chengdu City of Sichuan Province, People's Republic of China, starts the first ever "Car-Free Day" in that nation.
29 October 2000. Bogotá holds the world's first Car Free Referendum (which passes with flying colors).
1 November 2000. Earth Carfree Day program launched by the Commons and WC/FD Consortium in cooperation with Earth Day Network.
23 November 2000 Shed Your Car Day – Fremantle. First Australian CFD.
1 February 2001. Bogotá launches the first ECFD 2001 project with its second Dia sin Carro.
Spring 2001. "Domeniche ecologiche 2001" – The Italian Ministry of the Environment organises the first Ecological Sundays car-free program, running on five weekends.
19 April 2001. First Earth Carfree Day. More than 300 groups and cities around the world participate in this first ECFD organised by The Commons WC/FD program and Earth Day Network.
September 2001. Second European CFD and second World Carfree Day.
September 22, 2001. Toronto becomes the first North American city to officially host a Carfree Day.
November 2001. United Nations contacts The Commons and proposed a joint world level project: the United Nations Carfree Days Programme, to be organized as a run-up to the Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development, demonstrating that this approach is one that can make a difference.
6–8 February 2002. First United National Regional Carfree Days Practicum organized for Latin America, in cooperation with and support of the third Carfree Day in Bogotá, Colombia. Practicum brings together a delegation of mayors from across the region to observe and exchange information on the CFD approach for their cities.
8–10 May 2002. Second UN Carfree Day Demonstration and Practicum for Regional Mayors took place in Fremantle, West Australia.
19 April 2002. First European Mobility Week launched by EC in Brussels. Planned as annual event in September as part of their "In town without my car!" program.
22 September 2002. Third World Carfree Day, promoted by Carbusters (now World Carfree Network) and Adbusters Media Foundation.
2002. Canadian Carfree Day Network established, and is active in a growing number of cities, including Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa and Winnipeg.
April 2003. Towards Car-Free Cities III, Prague, Czech Republic, organised by Carbusters (now World Carfree Network).
September 2003. Montreal becomes the first Canadian city to hold a major downtown, weekday street closure for automobiles.
September 2003, Camden, UK. Camden celebrates the first Travelwise Week building on Carfree Days celebrated every year since 2000.
22 September 2003. Fourth World Carfree Day, promoted by World Carfree Network and Adbusters Media Foundation.
July 2004. Towards Car-Free Cities IV, Humboldt University, Berlin, organised by World Carfree Network in partnership with Autofrei Wohnen, Autofrei Leben!, BUND (Friends of the Earth Germany), ITDP Europe, and other German organisations.
19 to 24 September 2004. Toronto's first New Mobility Week launched a public enquiry into new less-car packages of policies and measures.
16–23 September 2004. European Mobility Week.
22 September 2004 "In town, without my car!", organized by the European Commission and national partners.
22 September 2004. Fifth World Carfree Day, promoted by World Carfree Network and Adbusters Media Foundation.
July 2005. Towards Car-Free Cities V, Budapest, Hungary, organised by World Carfree Network and Clean Air Action Group, in partnership with Hungarian Traffic Club and Hungarian Young Greens.
22 September 2006. Car Free Day on Yonge Street and Yonge Dundas Square. The first downtown weekday street closure for automobiles in celebration of Toronto Car Free Day.
22 October 2007. Car Free Day in Jakarta, Indonesia, organized by Jakarta municipal government. The Car Free Day closed Jakarta's main avenues such as Jalan Thamrin and Jalan Sudirman from cars, and invited locals to have their sports and activities on the street. Since then, Car Free Day has become a weekly event in Jakarta, held on every Sunday.
22 October 2007. Car Free Day in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, organised by the Kaohsiung City Council. Thousands cycled from the Tower of Light to Singuang Ferry Wharf. All city public transportation service was made for free for a week from 22 to 28 September 2007. Kaohsiung has celebrated International Car Free Day since 2004. This year's slogan was 熄火愛地球, 高雄齊步走. A total of 1953 towns and cities participate from 38 countries around the world.
16–20 June 2008. Towards Carfree Cities Conference VIII in Portland, Oregon, organized by SHIFT.
21 September 2008. Annual Car Free Day in the Netherlands. At least 22 cities such as Nijmegen, Tilburg, Rotterdam, Arnhem, and Gouda are car-free.
28 September 2008. Car Free Day at Wood Green High Road, London, UK.
29 September 2009. World Car Free Day celebrated in Washington, D.C., with free bike repairs, yoga classes and groups that encourage environmentally friendly lives. One such group was involved in petitioning avid car users to go car-free for the first time.
2 June 2012. Carless Sunday at F. Ortigas Jr. Road, Ortigas Center, Barangay San Antonio Pasig, Philippines.
22 September 2013 Kuala Lumpur had its first Car Free Morning Program in the heart of the city's Golden Triangle promoted by Datuk Naim Mohamad and the Mayor of City Hall Kuala Lumpur Dato Seri Ahmad Feisal.
17 November 2013 onwards. Raahgiri Day ('Raahgiri' being Hindi for 'Way of the road'), the first sustained car free day in India was launched in Gurgaon. Subsequently, Raahgiri days have been held in 70 cities in 18 states across India.
20 September 2014. First bike-tourism Caracas 2014 in Caracas, Venezuela. A previous initiative to celebrate World Car Free Day.
27 September 2015, 'Paris sans Voiture' with city centre mostly free of cars and lower speed limit in other districts.
28 February 2016. First Car Free Sunday in the central business district to be celebrated with mass events in Singapore.
29 September 2016. Minneapolis, Minnesota, US, celebrates World Car Free Day.
21 September 2019, London, UK, closes more than 16 miles of central London roads as part of Car Free Day.
Car Free Day Call
The 1994 Car Free Day Call set out a challenge for a city, neighborhood or group:
To spend one carefully prepared day without cars.
To study and observe closely what exactly goes on during that day.
Then, to reflect publicly and collectively on the lessons of this experience and on what might be prudently and creatively done next to build on these.
The exercise considered car users to be "addicts" who need to be "treated" in some way. The organisers considered this to mean that motorists should have no choice but to be without cars, at least for a time. In this particular instance the proposed "treatment" was to find an answer to the following question in three main parts:
Is it possible to get drivers out of their cars in one or more cities...
In ways that will be tolerable in a pluralistic democracy...
For at least long enough to demonstrate what needs to happen to make a car-less (or, more accurately, less-car) urban transport paradigm actually work?
See also
Block party
Car-free movement
Car-free zone
Carfree city
Carless days (New Zealand political history)
Congestion pricing
Critical Mass
Cyclovia
Effects of the car on societies
Environmentalism
Hoy No Circula (Mexico)
In town, without my car! (EU)
List of car-free places
Mayor of London's Sky Ride
No Car Day (China)
Reclaim the Streets
Road pricing
Road space rationing (traffic restraint by license plate number)
Spare the air day (San Francisco Bay Area)
United Nations Car Free Days
Urban vitality
World Carfree Network
References
External links
Health awareness days
Car-free movement
September observances
Environmental awareness days
Open-streets events
|
413064
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle%20of%20Plassey
|
Battle of Plassey
|
The Battle of Plassey was a decisive victory of the British East India Company, under the leadership of Robert Clive, over the Nawab of Bengal and his French allies on 23 June 1757. The victory was made possible by the defection of Mir Jafar, Nawab Siraj-ud-Daulah's commander in chief. The battle helped the British East India Company take control of Bengal in 1772. Over the next hundred years, they continued to expand their control over vast territories in rest of the Indian subcontinent, including Burma.
The battle took place at Palashi (Anglicised version: Plassey) on the banks of the Hooghly River, about north of Calcutta (now Kolkata) and south of Murshidabad in West Bengal, then capital of Bengal Subah. The belligerents were the British East India Company, and the Nawab Siraj-ud-Daulah, the last independent Nawab of Bengal. He succeeded Alivardi Khan (his maternal grandfather). Siraj-ud-Daulah had become the Nawab of Bengal the year before, and he had ordered the English to stop the extension of their fortification. Robert Clive bribed Mir Jafar, the commander-in-chief of the Nawab's army, and also promised to make him Nawab of Bengal. Clive defeated Siraj-ud-Daulah at Plassey in 1757 and captured Calcutta.
The battle was preceded by an attack on British-controlled Calcutta by Nawab Siraj-ud-Daulah and the Black Hole massacre. The British sent reinforcements under Colonel Robert Clive and Admiral Charles Watson from Madras to Bengal and recaptured Calcutta. Clive then seized the initiative to capture the French fort of Chandannagar. Tensions and suspicions between Siraj-ud-daulah and the British culminated in the Battle of Plassey. The battle was waged during the Seven Years' War (1756–1763), and, in a mirror of their European rivalry, the French East India Company (La Compagnie des Indes Orientales) sent a small contingent to fight against the British. Siraj-ud-Daulah had a vastly numerically superior force and made his stand at Plassey. The British, worried about being outnumbered, formed a conspiracy with Siraj-ud-Daulah's demoted army chief Mir Jafar, along with others such as Yar Lutuf Khan, Jagat Seths (Mahtab Chand and Swarup Chand), Umichand and Rai Durlabh. Mir Jafar, Rai Durlabh and Yar Lutuf Khan thus assembled their troops near the battlefield but made no move to actually join the battle. Siraj-ud-Daulah's army with about 50,000 soldiers (including defectors), 40 cannons and 10 war elephants was defeated by 3,000 soldiers of Col. Robert Clive, owing to the flight of Siraj-ud-Daulah from the battlefield and the inactivity of the conspirators. The battle ended in approximately 11 hours.
This is judged to be one of the pivotal battles in the control of Indian subcontinent by the colonial powers. The British now had a great deal of influence over the Nawab, Mir Jafar, and as a result, they were able to get important concessions for earlier losses and trade income. The British further used this revenue to increase their military might and push the other European colonial powers such as the Dutch and the French out of South Asia, thus expanding the British Empire.
Background
The Bengal Subah; also referred to as Mughal Bengal , was the largest subdivision of the Mughal Empire and later an independent state under the Nawab of Bengal encompassing much of the Bengal region, which includes modern Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, between the 16th and 18th centuries. From 1741 to 1751, the Marathas under Raghuji Bhonsle invaded Bengal six times. In 1751, the Marathas signed a peace treaty with the Nawab of Bengal, according to which Mir Habib (a former courtier of Alivardi Khan, who had defected to the Marathas) was made provincial governor of Orissa under nominal control of the Nawab of Bengal. It made The Nawab of Bengal a tributary to the Marathas who agrees to pay Rs. 1.2 million annually as the chauth of Bengal and Bihar, and the Marathas agreed not to invade Bengal again. The Nawab of Bengal also paid Rs. 3.2 million to the Marathas, towards the arrears of chauth for the preceding years.
The British East India Company had a strong presence in India with its three main stations of Fort St. George in Madras, Fort William in Calcutta, and Bombay Castle in western India since the Anglo-Mughal War. These stations were independent presidencies governed by a president and a council, appointed by the Court of Directors in England. The British adopted a policy of allying themselves with various princes and Nawabs, promising security against usurpers and rebels. The Nawabs often gave them concessions in return for the security.
By the 18th century all rivalry had ceased between the British East India Company and the Dutch or Portuguese counterparts. The French had also established an East India Company under Louis XIV and had two important stations in India – Chandernagar in Bengal and Pondicherry (now Puducherry district) on the Carnatic coast, both governed by the presidency of Pondicherry. The French were a late comer in India trade, but they quickly established themselves in India and were poised to overtake Britain for control.
Carnatic Wars
The War of the Austrian Succession (1740–1748) marked the beginning of the power struggle between Britain and France and of European military ascendancy and political intervention in the Indian subcontinent. In September 1746, Mahé de La Bourdonnais landed off Madras with a naval squadron and laid siege to the port city. The defenses of Madras were weak and the garrison sustained a bombardment of three days before surrendering. The terms of the surrender agreed by Bourdonnais provided for the settlement to be ransomed back for a cash payment by the British East India Company. However, this concession was opposed by Joseph François Dupleix, the governor general of the Indian possessions of the Compagnie des Indes Orientales. When Bourdonnais left India in October, Dupleix reneged on the agreement. The Nawab of the Carnatic Anwaruddin Khan intervened in support of the British and the combined forces advanced to retake Madras, but despite vast superiority in numbers, the army was easily crushed by the French. As retaliation to the loss of Madras, the British, under Major Lawrence and Admiral Boscawen, laid siege to Pondicherry but were forced to raise it after thirty-one days. The Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748 forced Dupleix to yield Madras back to the British in return for Louisbourg and Cape Breton Island in North America.
The Treaty of Aix-La-Chapelle prevented direct hostilities between the two powers but soon they were involved in indirect hostilities as the auxiliaries of the local princes in their feuds. The feud Dupleix chose was for the succession to the positions of the Nizam of the Deccan and the Nawab of the dependent Carnatic province. The British and the French both nominated their candidates for the two posts. In both cases, Dupleix's candidates usurped both thrones by manipulation and two assassinations. In mid-1751, the French candidate for the Nawab's post, Chanda Sahib, laid siege to the British candidate Wallajah's last stronghold Trichinopoly, where Wallajah was holed up with his British reinforcements. He was aided by a French force under Charles, Marquis de Bussy.
On 1 September 1751, 280 Europeans and 300 sepoys under the command of Captain Robert Clive attacked and seized Arcot, the capital of the Carnatic, finding that the garrison had fled the night before. It was hoped that this would force Chanda Sahib to divert some of his troops to wrest the city back from the British. Chanda Sahib sent a force of 4,000 Indians under Raza Sahib and 150 Frenchmen. They besieged the fort and breached the walls in various places after several weeks. Clive sent out a message to Morari Rao, a Maratha chieftain who had received a subsidy to assist Wallajah and was encamped in the Mysore hills. Raza Sahib, learning of the imminent Maratha approach, sent a letter to Clive asking him to surrender in return for a large sum of money but this offer was refused. In the morning of 24 November, Raza Sahib tried to mount a final assault on the fort but was foiled in his attempt when his armoured elephants stampeded due to the British musketry. They tried to enter the fort through the breach several times but always repulsed with loss. The siege was raised the next day and Raza Sahib's forces fled from the scene, abandoning guns, ammunition and stores. With success at Arcot, Conjeeveram and Trichinopoly, the British secured the Carnatic and Wallajah succeeded to the throne of the Nawab in accordance with a treaty with the new French governor Godeheu.
Alwardi Khan ascended to the throne of the Nawab of Bengal after his army attacked and captured the capital of Bengal, Murshidabad. Alivardi's attitude to the Europeans in Bengal is said to be strict. During the Maratha invasions of Bengal, he allowed the strengthening of fortifications by the Europeans and the construction of the Maratha Ditch in Calcutta by the British. On the other hand, he collected large amounts of money from them for the upkeep of his war. He was well-informed of the situation in southern India, where the British and the French had started a proxy war using the local princes and rulers. Alwardi did not wish such a situation to transpire in his province and thus exercised caution in his dealings with the Europeans. However, there was continual friction; the British always complained that they were prevented from the full enjoyment of the farman of 1717 issued by Farrukhsiyar. The British, however, protected subjects of the Nawab, gave passes to native traders to trade custom-free and levied large duties on goods coming to their districts – actions which were detrimental to the Nawab's revenue.
In April 1756, Alwardi Khan died and was succeeded by his twenty-three-year-old grandson, Siraj-ud-daulah. His personality was said to be a combination of a ferocious temper and a feeble understanding. He was particularly suspicious of the large profits made by the European companies in India. When the British and the French started improving their fortifications in anticipation of another war between them, he immediately ordered them to stop such activities as they had been done without permission. When the British refused to cease their constructions, the Nawab led a detachment of 3,000 men to surround the fort and factory of Cossimbazar and took several British officials as prisoners, before moving to Calcutta. The defences of Calcutta were weak and negligible. The garrison consisted of only 180 soldiers, 50 European volunteers, 60 European militia, 150 Armenian and Portuguese militia, 35 European artillery-men and 40 volunteers from ships and was pitted against the Nawab's force of nearly 50,000 infantry and cavalry. The city was occupied on 16 June by Siraj's force and the fort surrendered after a brief siege on 20 June.
The prisoners who were captured at the siege of Calcutta were transferred by Siraj to the care of the officers of his guard, who confined them to the common dungeon of Fort William known as The Black Hole. This dungeon, in size with two small windows and originally employed by the British to hold only six prisoners, had 146 prisoners thrust into it. On 21 June, the doors of the dungeon were opened and only 23 of the 146 walked out, the rest died of asphyxiation, heat exhaustion and delirium. It appears that the Nawab was unaware of the conditions in which his prisoners were held which resulted in the unfortunate deaths of most of the prisoners. Meanwhile, the Nawab's army and navy were busy plundering the city of Calcutta and the other British factories in the surrounding areas.
When news of the fall of Calcutta broke in Madras on 16 August 1756, the Council immediately sent out an expeditionary force under Colonel Clive and Admiral Watson. A letter from the Council of Fort St. George, states that "the object of the expedition was not merely to re-establish the British settlements in Bengal, but also to obtain ample recognition of the Company's privileges and reparation for its losses" without the risk of war. It also states that any signs of dissatisfaction and ambition among the Nawab's subjects must be supported. Clive assumed command of the land forces, consisting of 900 Europeans and 1500 sepoys while Watson commanded a naval squadron. The fleet entered the Hooghly River in December and met with the fugitives of Calcutta and the surrounding areas, including the principal Members of the Council, at the village of Falta on 15 December. The Members of Council formed a Select Committee of direction. On 29 December, the force dislodged the enemy from the fort of Budge Budge. Clive and Watson then moved against Calcutta on 2 January 1757 and the garrison of 500 men surrendered after offering a scanty resistance. With Calcutta recaptured, the Council was reinstated and a plan of action against the Nawab was prepared. The fortifications of Fort William were strengthened and a defensive position was prepared in the north-east of the city.
Bengal campaign
On 9 January 1757, a force of 650 men under Captain Coote and Major Kilpatrick stormed and sacked the town of Hooghly, north of Calcutta. On learning of this attack, the Nawab raised his army and marched on Calcutta, arriving with the main body on 3 February and encamping beyond the Maratha Ditch. Siraj set up his headquarters in Omichund's garden. A small body of their army attacked the northern suburbs of the town but were beaten back by a detachment under Lieutenant Lebeaume placed there, returning with fifty prisoners.
Clive decided to launch a surprise attack on the Nawab's camp on the morning of 4 February. At midnight, a force of 600 sailors, a battalion of 650 Europeans, 100 artillerymen, 800 sepoys and 6 six-pounders approached the Nawab's camp. At 6:00, under the cover of a thick fog, the vanguard came upon the Nawab's advanced guard, who after firing with their matchlocks and rockets, ran away. They continued forward for some distance until they were opposite Omichund's garden, when they heard the galloping of cavalry on their right. The cavalry came within of the British force before the line gave fire, killing many and dispersing the rest. The fog hampered visibility beyond walking distance. Hence, the line moved slowly, infantry and artillery firing on either side randomly. Clive had intended to use a narrow raised causeway, south of the garden, to attack the Nawab's quarters in the garden. The Nawab's troops had barricaded the passage. At about 9:00, as the fog began to lift, the troops were overwhelmed by the discharge of two pieces of heavy cannon from across the Maratha Ditch by the Nawab's artillery. The British troops were assailed on all sides by cavalry and musket-fire. The Nawab troops then made for a bridge a mile further on, crossed the Maratha Ditch and reached Calcutta. The total casualties of Clive's force were 57 killed and 137 wounded. The Nawab's army lost 22 officers of distinction, 600 common men, 4 elephants, 500 horses, some camels and a great number of bullocks. The attack scared the Nawab into concluding the Treaty of Alinagar with the Company on 9 February, agreeing to restore the Company's factories, allow the fortification of Calcutta and restoring former privileges. The Nawab withdrew his army back to his capital, Murshidabad.
Concerned by the approach of de Bussy to Bengal and the Seven Years' War in Europe, the Company turned its attention to the French threat in Bengal. Clive planned to capture the French town of Chandannagar, north of Calcutta. Clive needed to know whose side the Nawab would intervene on if he attacked Chandannagar. The Nawab sent evasive replies and Clive construed this to be assent to the attack. Clive commenced hostilities on the town and fort of Chandannagar on 14 March. The French had set up defences on the roads leading to the fort and had sunk several ships in the river channel to prevent passage of the men of war. The garrison consisted of 600 Europeans and 300 sepoys. The French expected assistance from the Nawab's forces from Hooghly, but the governor of Hooghly, Nandkumar had been bribed to remain inactive and prevent the Nawab's reinforcement of Chandannagar. The fort was well-defended, but when Admiral Watson's squadron forced the blockade in the channel on 23 March, a fierce cannonade ensued with aid from two batteries on the shore. The naval squadron suffered greatly due to musket-fire from the fort. At 9:00 on 24 March, a flag of truce was shown by the French and by 15:00, the capitulation concluded. After plundering Chandannagar, Clive decided to ignore his orders to return to Madras and remain in Bengal. He moved his army to the north of the town of Hooghly.
Furthermore, Siraj-ud-Daula believed that the British East India Company did not receive any permission from the Mughal Emperor Alamgir II to fortify their positions in the territories of the Nawab of Bengal.
Conspiracy
The Nawab was infuriated on learning of the attack on Chandernagar. His former hatred of the British returned, but he now felt the need to strengthen himself by alliances against the British. The Nawab was plagued by fear of attack from the north by the Afghans under Ahmad Shah Durrani and from the west by the Marathas. Therefore, he could not deploy his entire force against the British for fear of being attacked from the flanks. A deep distrust set in between the British and the Nawab. As a result, Siraj started secret negotiations with Jean Law, chief of the French factory at Cossimbazar, and de Bussy. The Nawab also moved a large division of his army under Rai Durlabh to Plassey, on the island of Cossimbazar south of Murshidabad.
Popular discontent against the Nawab flourished in his own court. The Seths, the traders of Bengal, were in perpetual fear for their wealth under the reign of Siraj, contrary to the situation under Alivardi's reign. They had engaged Yar Lutuf Khan to defend them in case they were threatened in any way. William Watts, the Company representative at the court of Siraj, informed Clive about a conspiracy at the court to overthrow the ruler. The conspirators included Mir Jafar, paymaster of the army, Rai Durlabh, Yar Lutuf Khan and Omichund, a merchant and several officers in the army.</ref> Invited by Mir Jafar to join the conspiracy, Clive referred the matter to a committee of senior Company officials. By 1 May, the committee passed a resolution in support of the alliance. A treaty was signed between the British and Mir Jafar agreeing, in return for substantial financial incentives, to help him overthrow the Nawab. According to historian W. Dalrymple, the Jagat Seths offered Clive and the East India Company more than £4m (£420m as of 2019), an additional 110,000 rupees a month (£1.43m as of 2019) to pay for Company troops, and other landholding rights. On 2 May, Clive broke up his camp and sent half the troops to Calcutta and the other half to Chandernagar.
Mir Jafar and the Seths desired that the confederacy between the British and himself be kept secret from Omichund, but when he found out about it, he threatened to betray the conspiracy if his share was not increased to three million rupees (£300,000, which would be over £3m in 2019). Hearing of this, Clive suggested an expedient to the Committee. He suggested that two treaties be drawn – the real one on white paper, containing no reference to Omichund and the other on red paper, containing Omichund's desired stipulation, to deceive him. The Members of the Committee signed on both treaties, but Admiral Watson signed only the real one and his signature had to be counterfeited on the fictitious one.</ref> Both treaties and separate articles for donations to the army, navy squadron and committee were signed by Mir Jafar on 4 June.</ref>
Clive testified and defended himself thus before the House of Commons of Parliament on 10 May 1773, during the Parliamentary inquiry into his conduct in India:
Approach march
On 12 June, Clive was joined by Major Kilpatrick with the rest of the army from Calcutta at Chandernagar. The combined force consisted of 613 Europeans, 171 artillerymen controlling eight field pieces and two howitzers, 91 topasses, 2100 sepoys (mainly dusadhs) and 150 sailors. The army set out for Murshidabad on 13 June. Clive sent out the Nawab's messengers with a letter declaring his intention to march his army to Murshidabad to refer their complaints with regard to the treaty of 9 February with the principal officers of the Nawab's government. The Indian troops marched on shore while the Europeans with the supplies and artillery were towed up the river in 200 boats. On 14 June, Clive sent a declaration of war to Siraj. On 15 June, after ordering an attack on Mir Jafar's palace in suspicion of his alliance with the British, Siraj obtained a promise from Mir Jafar to not join the British in the field of battle. He then ordered his entire army to move to Plassey, but the troops refused to quit the city until the arrears of their pay were released. The delay caused the army to reach Plassey only by 21 June.
By 16 June, the British force had reached Paltee, north of which lay the strategically important town and fort of Katwa. It contained large stores of grain and military supplies and was covered by the river Aji. On 17 June, Clive despatched a force of 200 Europeans, 500 sepoys, one field piece and a small howitzer under Major Coote of the 39th Foot to capture the fort. The detachment found the town abandoned when they landed at midnight. At daybreak on 19 June, Major Coote went to the bank of the river and waved a white flag, but was met only by shot and a show of defiance by the governor. Coote split his Anglo-Indian force; the sepoys crossed the river and fired the ramparts while the Europeans crossed farther up from the fort. When the garrison saw the advancing troops, they gave up their posts and fled north. Hearing of the success, Clive and the rest of the army arrived at Katwa by the evening of 19 June.
At this juncture, Clive faced a dilemma. The Nawab had reconciled with Mir Jafar and had posted him on one flank of his army. Mir Jafar had sent messages to Clive, declaring his intention to uphold the treaty between them. Clive decided to refer the problem to his officers and held a council of war on 21 June. The question Clive put before them was whether, under the present circumstances, the army, without other assistance, should immediately cross into the island of Cossimbazar and attack the Nawab or whether they should fortify their position in Katwa and trust to assistance from the Marathas or other Indian powers. Of the twenty officers attending the council, thirteen including Clive were against immediate action, while the rest including Major Coote were in favour citing recent success and the high spirits of the troops. The council broke up and after an hour of deliberation, Clive gave the army orders to cross the Bhagirathi River (another name for the Hooghly River) on the morning of 22 June.
At 1:00, on 23 June, they reached their destination beyond the village of Plassey. They quickly occupied the adjoining mango grove, called Laksha Bagh, which was long and wide and enclosed by a ditch and a mud wall. Its length was angled diagonally to the Bhagirathi River. A little to the north of the grove at the bank of the river stood a hunting lodge enclosed by a masonry wall where Clive took up his quarters. The grove was about a mile from the Nawab's entrenchments. The Nawab's army had been in place 26 hours before Clive's. A French detachment under Jean Law would reach Plassey in two days. Their army lay behind earthen entrenchments running at right angles to the river for and then turning to the north-eastern direction for . There was a redoubt mounted by cannon at this turning along the entrenchment. There was a small hill covered by trees east of the redoubt. towards the British position was a small tank (reservoir) and further south was a larger tank, both surrounded by a large mound of earth.
Order of battle
British Forces
39th Regiment of Foot
Bengal European Regiment
The Madras Europeans
Bombay Regiment
1st Bengal Native Infantry
1st Company, Bengal Artillery
6 x 6-pdr field cannons (50 x men), Royal Artillery
Battle
At daybreak on 23 June, the Nawab's army emerged from their camp and started advancing towards the grove. Their army consisted of 30,000 infantry of all sorts, armed with matchlocks, swords, pikes and rockets and 20,000 cavalry, armed with swords or long spears, interspersed by 300 pieces of artillery, mostly 32, 24 and 18-pounders. The army also included a detachment of about 50 French artillerymen under de St. Frais directing their own field pieces. The French took up positions at the larger tank with four light pieces advanced by two larger pieces, within a mile of the grove. Behind them were a body of 5,000 cavalry and 7,000 infantry commanded by the Nawab's faithful general Mir Madan Khan and Diwan Mohanlal. The rest of the army numbering 45,000 formed an arc from the small hill to a position east of the southern angle of the grove, threatening to surround Clive's relatively smaller army. The right arm of their army was commanded by Rai Durlabh, the centre by Yar Lutuf Khan and the left arm closest to the British by Mir Jafar.
Clive watched the situation unfolding from the roof of the hunting lodge, anticipating news from Mir Jafar. He ordered his troops to advance from the grove and line up facing the larger tank. His army consisted of 750 European infantry with 100 Topasses, 2100 sepoys (dusadhs) and 100 artillery-men assisted by 50 sailors. The artillery consisted of eight 6-pounders and two howitzers. The Europeans and Topasses were placed in the centre of the line in four divisions, flanked on both sides by three 6-pounders. The sepoys were placed on the right and left in equal divisions. Clive posted two 6-pounders and two howitzers behind some brick-kilns north of the left division of his army to oppose the French fire.
Battle begins
At 8:00, the French artillery at the larger tank fired the first shot, killing one and wounding another from the grenadier company of the 39th Regiment. This, as a signal, the rest of the Nawab's artillery started a heavy and continuous fire. The advanced field pieces of the British opposed the French fire, while those with the battalion opposed the rest of the Nawab's artillery. Their shots did not serve to immobilize the artillery but hit the infantry and cavalry divisions. By 8:30, the British had lost 10 Europeans and 20 sepoys. Leaving the advanced artillery at the brick kilns, Clive ordered the army to retreat back to relative shelter of the grove. The rate of casualties of the British dropped substantially due to the protection of the embankment.
Death of Mir Madan Khan
After three hours, there had been no substantial progress and the positions of both sides had not changed. Clive called a meeting of his staff to discuss the way ahead. It was concluded that the present position would be maintained till after nightfall, and an attack on the Nawab's camp should be attempted at midnight. Soon after the conference, a heavy rainstorm occurred. The British used tarpaulins to protect their ammunition, while the Nawab's army took no such precautions. As a result, their gunpowder got drenched and their rate of fire slackened, while Clive's artillery kept up a continuous fire. As the rain began to subside, Mir Madan Khan, assuming that the British guns were rendered ineffective by the rain, led his cavalry to a charge. However, the British countered the charge with heavy grapeshot, mortally wounding Mir Madan Khan and driving back his men.
Siraj had remained in his tent throughout the cannonade surrounded by attendants and officers assuring him of victory. When he heard that Mir Madan was mortally wounded, he was deeply disturbed and attempted reconciliation with Mir Jafar, flinging his turban to the ground, entreating him to defend it. Mir Jafar promised his services but immediately sent word of this encounter to Clive, urging him to push forward. Following Mir Jafar's exit from the Nawab's tent, Rai Durlabh urged Siraj to withdraw his army behind the entrenchment and advised him to return to Murshidabad leaving the battle to his generals. Siraj complied with this advice and ordered the troops under Mohan Lal to retreat behind the entrenchment. He then mounted a camel and accompanied by 2,000 horsemen set out for Murshidabad.
Battlefield manoeuvres
At about 14:00, the Nawab's army ceased the cannonade and began turning back north to their entrenchments, leaving St. Frais and his artillery without support. Seeing the Nawab's forces retiring, Major Kilpatrick, who had been left in charge of the British force while Clive was resting in the hunting lodge, recognised the opportunity to cannonade the retiring enemy if St. Frais' position could be captured. Sending an officer to Clive to explain his actions, he took two companies of the 39th Regiment and two field pieces and advanced towards St. Frais' position. When Clive received the message, he hurried to the detachment and reprimanded Kilpatrick for his actions without orders and commanded to bring up the rest of the army from the grove. Clive himself then led the army against St. Frais' position which was taken at 15:00 when the French artillery retreated to the redoubt of the entrenchment, setting up for further action.
As the British force moved towards the larger tank, it was observed that the left arm of the Nawab's army had lingered behind the rest. When the rear of this division reached a point in a line with the northern point of the grove, it turned left and marched towards the grove. Clive, unaware that it was Mir Jafar's division, supposed that his baggage and stores were the intended target and sent three platoons under Captain Grant and Lieutenant Rumbold and a field piece under John Johnstone, a volunteer, to check their advance. The fire of the field piece halted the advance of the division, which remained isolated from the rest of the Nawab's army.
Meanwhile, the British field pieces began a cannonade on the Nawab's camp from the mound of the larger tank. As a result, many of the Nawab's troops and artillery started coming out of the entrenchment. Clive advanced half of his troops and artillery to the smaller tank and the other half to a rising ground to the left of it and started bombarding the entrenchment with greater efficiency, throwing the approaching trains into confusion. The Nawab's troops shot their matchlocks from holes, ditches, hollows and from bushes on the hill east of the redoubt while St. Frais kept up his artillery fire from the redoubt. Cavalry charges were also repulsed by the British field pieces. However, the British force sustained most of its casualties in this phase.
At this point, Clive realised that the lingering division was Mir Jafar's and concentrated his efforts at capturing the redoubt and hill east of it. Clive ordered a three-pronged attack with simultaneous attacks by two detachments on the redoubt and the hill supported by the main force in the centre. Two companies of grenadiers of the 39th Regiment, under Major Coote took the hill at 16:30 after the enemy fled without firing a shot. Coote pursued them across the entrenchment. The redoubt was also taken after St. Frais was forced to retreat. By 17:00, the British occupied the entrenchment and the camp left by a dispersing army. The British troops marched on and halted beyond Daudpur at 20:00.
The British losses were estimated at 22 killed and 50 wounded. Of the killed, three were of the Madras Artillery, one of the Madras Regiment and one of the Bengal European Regiment. Of the wounded, four were of the 39th Regiment, three of the Madras Regiment, four of the Madras Artillery, two of the Bengal European Regiment, one of the Bengal Artillery and one of the Bombay Regiment. Of the losses by the sepoys, four Madras and nine Bengal sepoys were killed while nineteen Madras and eleven Bengal sepoys were wounded. Clive estimates that the Nawab's force lost 500 men, including several key officers.
Aftermath
In the evening of 23 June, Clive received a letter from Mir Jafar asking for a meeting with him. Clive replied that he would meet Mir Jafar at Daudpur the next morning. When Mir Jafar arrived at the British camp at Daudpur in the morning, Clive embraced him and saluted him as the Nawab of Bengal, Bihar and Odisha. He then advised Mir Jafar to hasten to Murshidabad to prevent Siraj's escape and the plunder of his treasure. Mir Jafar reached Murshidabad with his troops on the evening of 24 June. Clive arrived at Murshidabad on 29 June with a guard of 200 European soldiers and 300 sepoys in the wake of rumours of a possible attempt on his life. Clive was taken to the Nawab's palace, where he was received by Mir Jafar and his officers. Clive placed Mir Jafar on the throne and acknowledging his position as Nawab, presented him with a plate of gold rupees.
Siraj-ud-daulah had reached Murshidabad at midnight on 23 June. He summoned a council where some advised him to surrender to the British, some to continue the war and some to prolong his flight. At 22:00 on 24 June, Siraj disguised himself and escaped northwards on a boat with his wife and valuable jewels. His intention was to escape to Patna with aid from Jean Law. At midnight on 24 June, Mir Jafar sent several parties in pursuit of Siraj. On 2 July, Siraj reached Rajmahal and took shelter in a deserted garden but was soon discovered and betrayed to the local military governor, the brother of Mir Jafar, by a man who was previously arrested and punished by Siraj. His fate could not be decided by a council headed by Mir Jafar and was handed over to Mir Jafar's son, Miran, who had Siraj murdered that night. His remains were paraded on the streets of Murshidabad the next morning and were buried at the tomb of Alivardi Khan.
According to the treaty drawn between the British and Mir Jafar, the British acquired all the land within the Maratha Ditch and beyond it and the zamindari of all the land between Calcutta and the sea. Besides confirming the firman of 1717, the treaty also required the restitution, including donations to the navy squadron, army and committee, of 22,000,000 rupees (£2,750,000) to the British for their losses. However, since the wealth of Siraj-ud-daulah proved to be far less than expected, a council held with the Seths and Rai Durlabh on 29 June decided that one half of the amount was to be paid immediately – two-thirds in coin and one third in jewels and other valuables. As the council ended, it was revealed to Omichund that he would receive nothing with regard to the treaty, hearing which he went insane.
Effects
Political effects
As a result of the war of Plassey, the French were no longer a significant force in Bengal. In 1759, the British defeated a larger French garrison at Masulipatam, securing the Northern Circars. By 1759, Mir Jafar felt that his position as a subordinate to the British could not be tolerated. He started encouraging the Dutch to advance against the British and eject them from Bengal. In late 1759, the Dutch sent seven large ships and 1400 men from Java to Bengal under the pretext of reinforcing their Bengal settlement of Chinsura even though Britain and Holland were not officially at war. Clive, however, initiated immediate offensive operations by land and sea and defeated the much larger Dutch force on 25 November 1759 in the Battle of Chinsura. The British then deposed Mir Jafar and installed Mir Qasim as the Nawab of Bengal. The British were now the dominant European power in Bengal. When Clive returned to England due to ill health, he was rewarded with an Irish peerage, as Baron Clive of Plassey and also obtained a seat in the British House of Commons.
The struggle continued in areas of the Deccan and Hyderabad such as Arcot, Wandewash, Tanjore and Cuddalore, culminating in 1761 when Col. Eyre Coote defeated a French garrison under de Lally, supported by Hyder Ali at Pondicherry. The French were returned Pondicherry in 1763 by way of the Treaty of Paris but they never again regained their former stature in India. The British would, in effect, emerge as rulers of the subcontinent in subsequent years.
The Battle of Plassey and the resultant victory of the British East India company led to puppet governments instated by them in various states of India.
The battlefield today
A monument was established in the battlefield, named the Palashi Monument.
See also
Battle of Buxar
Notes
References
Further reading
External links
Hand coloured map of the battle from the London Magazine, printed circa 1760
– basic map of the battlefield
Google Earth view of Plassey
Bengal Subah
Battle of Plassey
Battles involving the Indian kingdoms
Battles involving Bengal
Battles of the Seven Years' War
Battles involving Great Britain
Battles involving British India
Battles involving the British East India Company
Battles of the East Indies Campaign (1757–1763)
History of West Bengal
1757 in India
Nadia district
Plassey
|
413069
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geraldton
|
Geraldton
|
Geraldton (Wajarri: Jambinu, Wilunyu: Jambinbirri) is a coastal city in the Mid West region of Western Australia, north of the state capital, Perth.
As of June 2018, Geraldton had an urban population of 37,648. Geraldton is the seat of government for the City of Greater Geraldton, which also incorporates the town of Mullewa, Walkaway and large rural areas previously forming the shires of Greenough and Mullewa.
The Port of Geraldton is a major west coast seaport. Geraldton is an important service and logistics centre for regional mining, fishing, wheat, sheep and tourism industries.
History
Aboriginal
Clear evidence has established Aboriginal people living on the west coast of Australia for at least 40,000 years, though at present it is unclear when the first Aboriginal people reached the area around Geraldton.
The original local Aboriginal people of Geraldton are the Amangu people, with the Nanda immediately to the north and Badimaya immediately to the east. Today the Aboriginal people of the region generally identify as Yamatji or Wajarri people. Wajarri country is inland from Geraldton and extends as far south and west as Mullewa, north to Gascoyne Junction and east to Meekatharra. The Aboriginal people of the Murchison-Gascoyne region were instrumental in assisting early settlers in the area in identifying permanent water sources, and worked in the pearling, pastoral and fishing industries.
Yamatji art is a distinctive style of painting, using thousands of dots of ochre and other earth-based pigments to create patterns and images relevant to Yamatji/Wajarri culture.
The Western Australia Museum at the marina in Geraldton hosts a permanent exhibit on Yamatji/Wajarri culture and history of the region.
European arrival
Many European mariners encountered, or were wrecked on, the Houtman Abrolhos islands west of Geraldton during the 17th and 18th centuries. Although two mutineers from the were marooned on the mainland in 1629 there is no surviving evidence that they made landfall at or near the site of the current town.
The wreck of the Batavia, flagship of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) fleet on her maiden voyage, on Morning Reef of the Houtman Abrolhos on 4 June 1629, and the events surrounding the subsequent mutiny, rescue and punishment of her crew are of great historical significance to the region. A detailed account of the events is recorded in a 24 December 1897 Western Mail article "The Abrolhos Tragedy", translated from the notes of Francois Pelsaert, the commander of the Batavia when she ran aground. The Western Australian Museum in Geraldton houses an exhibition of clay pipes, silver coins, cannons, the original Batavia stone portico and numerous other relics recovered from the wreck of the Batavia and other notable local historical shipwrecks such as the , and .
The explorer George Grey, while on his second disastrous expedition along the Western Australian coast, passed over the future site of Geraldton on 7 April 1839. George Fletcher Moore, the colony's attorney-general, on the colonial schooner Champion, explored the region in January 1840 and discovered Champion Bay. He was followed by Captain John Clements Wickham and Lieutenant John Lort Stokes of , who led an expedition to the area in April 1840, and named and surveyed Point Moore and Champion Bay.
A decade later, explorer Augustus Gregory travelled through the area. A member of his party, James Perry Walcott, discovered lead ore in 1848 in the bed of the Murchison River. The Geraldine mine was subsequently established, named after the County Clare family home of Charles FitzGerald, the 4th Governor of Western Australia. The town of Geraldton, named after Governor FitzGerald, was surveyed in 1850 and land sales began in 1851.
World War II
During World War II Geraldton was the location of No. 4 Service Flying Training School RAAF. This flying school was formed on 10 February 1941 and disbanded in May 1945.
Climate
Geraldton has a Mediterranean climate (Csa) with semi-arid (Bsk) influence. Geraldton is very sunny, receiving around 164 clear days annually. Summers are long lasting and hot, though with relatively mild nights. Winters are short but mild and wet with cool nights.
In the winter the temperature is mild with daily highs averaging around . Most of the yearly rainfall falls in this period.
In the summer months, Geraldton averages , with some days over . Afternoon sea breezes cool coastal areas and summer temperatures in coastal suburbs of Geraldton (Seacrest, Tarcoola, Geraldton CBD, Beresford, Sunset Beach, Bluff Point and Drummond Cove) are generally cooler than in inland suburbs, such as Strathalbyn, Utakarra, Woorree, Deepdale and Moonyoonooka.
Demographics
In June 2018 the population of Geraldton was 37,648, a decline from the recent peak of 38,792 in 2014.
According to the 2016 census, in urban Geraldton:
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people made up 9.6% of the population.
76.4% of people were born in Australia. The most common other countries of birth were England 4.1%, New Zealand 1.9%, South Africa 1.4%, Philippines 1.3% and India 0.6%.
83.8% of people only spoke English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Malay 0.8%, Afrikaans 0.8%, Tagalog 0.6%, Italian 0.6% and Filipino 0.4%.
The most common responses for religion were Christian 62.2% (Catholic 26.5%, Anglican 16.5%) and No Religion 30.0%.
Economy
The economic output generated within Greater Geraldton, the local government area incorporating Geraldton, is estimated at $2.944 billion. Greater Geraldton represents 56.26% of the $5.233 billion in output generated in Mid West Region and 1.19% of the $247.705 billion in output generated in Western Australia.
Port of Geraldton
The Port of Geraldton is a major west coast port with seven bulk handling berths (and an average loading rate of seven tonnes per hour), ranking nationally (in tonnage for 2012/2013) 12th in exports (14,812,513); 23rd in imports (632,330); and 13th overall (15,444,843).
The major exports from the Geraldton port in 2012/2013 were (tonnage): iron ore (10,741,662); grain (2,618,507); mineral sands (849,933); copper concentrate (149,450); zinc concentrate (148,420); nickel concentrate (65,919); and livestock (2,758). Major imports were petroleum products (328,021). In 2012/2013 the Geraldton port serviced 328 bulk haulage vessels.
Tourism
Visitor Centre
The Geraldton Visitor Centre is located in the art gallery on 24 Chapman road.
Its former location was the original Railway Station, a historic building in Geraldton's West End, and was originally built in 1878. It was the first railway station constructed on a Government line in Western Australia.
Point Moore Lighthouse
The Point Moore Lighthouse, located south of the Geraldton Port is a cultural and historical attraction. It is the oldest surviving Commonwealth lighthouse in Western Australia and was also the first steel tower to be constructed on the mainland of Australia. The Point Moore lighthouse stands 35m tall and its 1000w Tungsten Halogen Lamp can be seen for 23 nautical miles. It began operation in 1878. The tower was prefabricated in Birmingham, England in 1876 and reached Australia by boat in 1877. However, the foundation for the lighthouse was laid at the wrong place by the local contractors and had to be reconstructed at the new site. Currently, it is a heritage-listed structure which is visited by photographers, travellers, couples, artists, etc.
Geraldton foreshore and city centre
In 2007, the Geraldton foreshore area, previously an abandoned railway marshalling yard, was redeveloped and today hosts a playground with water activities, public green spaces, public beaches, picnic areas, basketball court and shaded play areas. The project was completed in 2008.
Geraldton is a regular port of call for cruise ships with visits occurring approximately ten times per year. Volunteers, organised by the City of Greater Geraldton, greet visitors on arrival to provide information on activities and other assistance.
HMAS Sydney memorial
The memorial for the World War II cruiser is located on Gummer Avenue, at the summit of Mount Scott. The memorial recognises the loss of the light cruiser during a mutually destructive fight with the German auxiliary cruiser Kormoran off Shark Bay in November 1941, with none of the 645 crewmen aboard surviving. A temporary memorial, consisting of a large boulder, a flagpole, and a bronze plaque, was erected in 1998. A permanent memorial was dedicated on 18 November 2001, the day before the 60th anniversary. The HMAS Sydney memorial is made up of four major elements: 1. A stele, based on the ships prow; 2. A granite wall listing the ships company; 3. A bronze statue of a woman looking out to sea and waiting in vain for Sydney to return; and 4. A dome made up of 645 stainless steel seagulls. The 645 stainless steel seagulls represent the souls of the lost sailors. In Folklore, birds such as seagulls are sometimes known as 'soul birds' because they are regarded as the souls of people who died at sea. (Armstrong, 1958) Sydney
In May 2009, the memorial was recognised by the Australian government as being of national significance.
Activities
Geraldton has a Mediterranean climate with dry, sunny conditions and warm sea temperatures throughout the summer. Mean sea temperatures in the summer months (measured at 10m) are consistently above 22C, often exceeding 24C. Surface sea temperatures in summer regularly exceed 26C.
The Geraldton foreshore area has pathways for walking, running, cycling, dog-walking, skateboarding and in-line skating. There are skate parks at Cape Burney, Maitland Park, Wonthella, Strathalbyn, Tarcoola Beach, Forrester and Drummond Cove.
Farmers markets occur on Saturday from 8 am to 12 noon in Maitland Park on Cathedral Avenue and on Sunday at the Old railway station on the corner of Chapman Road and Forrest Street.
4WD access is permitted on many beaches around Geraldton. Access points are usually labelled with information and cautions. Road rules apply and beaches are patrolled by local rangers. Non-compliance to road rules or entry into prohibited areas attracts significant penalties. Many beaches are impassable at times around high tide and during periods of ocean surges. At certain times of year, access may become impossible due to beach erosion.
Windsurfing and kitesurfing
During the spring, summer and early autumn months from September through April, Geraldton experiences consistent seabreezes. Windsurfing and kitesurfing locations include Back Beach, Separation Point ("Seppos"), Point Moore, Hell's Gate, St. George’s and Sunset Beach. The region is a popular windsurfing location, attracting significant numbers of overseas visitors and product testing by manufacturers. In 2005, Geraldton was host to the Australian KiteSurfing Association (AKSA) Australian National Championships.
Surfing and stand-up paddlesurfing
Surfing, and more recently Stand-Up Paddlesurfing, are also popular activities in and around Geraldton. Popular surf spots include Flat Rocks, Greenough, Back Beach, Sunset Beach and Glenfield. Stand-Up Paddlesurfing spots include Point Moore, Town Beach, The Foreshore, St. Georges Beach and Drummond Cove to the north.
In winter, local weather conditions shift to predominantly easterly (offshore) winds. Indian Ocean storms generate large swells that produce good conditions for surfing (though the fringe barrier reef protecting the Geraldton coastline blocks much of the swell, significantly reducing the size of the waves that reach the beaches). Large swells may create potentially dangerous rip currents as water flows through passages between the reef.
Fishing, boating and sailing
Saltwater fishing, boating and sailing are popular along Geraldton's coastline.
Local and visiting recreational fishermen and women target a wide variety of native sport fish from the beaches and wharves that includes Mulloway, Bream, Tailor, Whiting, Sharks and Cod; larger fish such as Dhufish, Mackerel, Tuna, Snapper, Sampsonfish, Coral Trout and larger sharks, amongst many others are found on Geraldton's offshore reefs, located from approximately 8 km to more than 80 km offshore. A recreational fishing licence is not required when fishing from the shore but a licence must be obtained from the Department of Fisheries to fish from a boat. Significant fines apply for non-compliance. Recreational fishing for local Western Rock Lobster is also permitted during the season from December–April (exact dates vary from year to year) however, a special licence is required. Size and daily bag limits apply to certain species of fish and to all lobster catches.
The city is home to the Geraldton Yacht Club, which marked its 100th anniversary in 2014.
Scuba diving and snorkelling
Scuba diving and snorkelling are popular activities around Geraldton. There are several wreck diving sites off the coast, including the South Tomi, which was sunk in 2004. The South Tomi is a 58.7-metre long, 9.81-metre wide vessel that was built by Niigata Engineering and Shipping Co Ltd. in Niigata City, Japan. In March 2001, the Republic of Togo registered South Tomi. The same month, the ship was identified fishing illegally in Australian sub-Antarctic waters and pursued by Australian Fisheries officers for 14 days, covering 3,300 nautical miles (approximately 6,100 kilometres). The vessel was boarded by Australian defence forces 320 nautical miles (approximately 600 km) south of Cape Town in South Africa and inspected. The vessel was found to be carrying an illegal catch of protected Patagonian toothfish and the vessel and its catch were confiscated by Australian authorities. The vessel was escorted 8,500 km to Western Australia and arrived on 5 May in Fremantle. The catch was sold by the Australian government for $1.4 million. The City of Geraldton secured the vessel to be sunk as an artificial reef. The ship was towed from Fremantle to Geraldton and scuttled on 18 September 2004 2.9 nautical miles off the Geraldton coast. The site is registered with the WA Department of Fisheries as a wreck and is closed year round to fishing within the defined boundaries – commencing at 28°43.968'S 114°33.392'E, then east to 114°33.206'E, then north to 28°43.752'S, then east to 114°33.392'E, then south to the commencement point. Water depth at the site is approximately 24.5 metres and the deck is 13 metres from the surface. The wreck of the South Tomi is one of WA's Top 10 Dive Wrecks and provides an easily accessible diving alternative to the nearby Houtman Abrolhos.
Team sports
Geraldton has a number of resident sporting teams, including Australian Rules Football, Basketball, Netball, Soccer and Roller Derby League.
The men's basketball team, the Geraldton Buccaneers of the NBL1 West, has been described as the "pride of the city". They play at Activewest Stadium on Eighth Street, where most home games are sold out to capacity with upwards of 2,000 people.
Geraldton is home to the Mid West Academy of Sport, a non-profit community organisation providing support to sporting talent (athletes, coaches, officials and administrators) throughout the Mid West Region of Western Australia.
Horse racing
Geraldton is home to a horse racing industry and since 1887 has hosted the annual Geraldton Gold Cup meeting.
Events
The Geraldton Sunshine Festival, established in 1958, is one of Australia's longest-running festivals. The festival takes place annually in October, celebrating the arrival of Spring and providing opportunities for residents and visitors to engage with local businesses and other organisations.
The Goodness Sustainability and Innovation Festival is held each August in and around Geraldton and showcases and celebrates innovation and achievement towards sustainability in the Mid West.
The Big Sky Readers and Writers Festival – The festival has been hosted by the City of Geraldton and run by The Geraldton Library staff. Australian and International authors come together to share their knowledge and experiences in many ways, from intimate dinners to large scale debates.
Beaches
The main beaches in Geraldton are Tarcoola Beach, Back Beach, Separation Point, Point Moore, Pages Beach, Town Beach, Champion Bay, St Georges, Sunset Beach and Bluff Point.
Cathedrals
St. Francis Xavier Cathedral
The St Francis Xavier Cathedral was designed by World renowned Arts & Crafts architect and Catholic priest Monsignor John Hawes (1876–1956). Construction began in 1916 and was completed in 1938. The cathedral's architecture is unique and considered one of the finest cathedrals of the world built in the 20th century.
Cathedral of the Holy Cross
The Anglican cathedral of Geraldton was built during the 1960s.
Entertainment
Queens Park Theatre is the largest entertainment and conference venue in Geraldton, with a 673-seat auditorium (including box and circle seating), two large foyers with bars, a reception room, and a 500-seat outdoor amphitheatre. The theatre hosts professional events and performances from around the world.
Theatre 8 is an amateur theatre that presents various local talents.
The Orana Cinemas in the historical West End is Geraldton's only cineplex with 3D available on selected movies. During the summer months, a movie is sometimes shown at the side of Dome on Foreshore Drive by Sun City Cinema.
The main pubs near the Geraldton CBD are the Freemason's Hotel on Marine Terrace, The Camel Bar (next to the Post Office), The Vibe and the Geraldton Beach Hotel.
Facilities and services
Geraldton Airport provides multiple daily flights to and from Perth, operated by QantasLink. General aviation services include charter flights to the Abrolhos Islands, to WA minesites and to various tourist destinations. The main passenger terminal is equipped with a licensed café, a private lounge for hire and a free public Wi-Fi hotspot. Flight training schools, aircraft maintenance facilities and a local aero club are based here. Construction is underway as of 2014 on an Airport Technology Park.
The Greater Geraldton Regional Library is open seven days a week and provides free access to the Internet via a public WiFi hotspot. Other free public WiFi hotspots are available along the Geraldton Foreshore, from the marina to the Esplanade.
The Geraldton Batavia Coast Marina consists of three jetties, 47 commercial and recreation boat pens, 42 floating pens, boat ramps, toilets, carpark, fishing platform and a boardwalk.
Geraldton Volunteer Marine Rescue (active on weekends and public holidays) monitor marine radio frequency 27.88 MHz and VHF Channel 16. Local groups also monitor other frequencies such as 27.90 MHz, 27.91 MHz and VHF channels 72 and 73, as well as their own channels.
The Geraldton Regional Art Gallery opened in 1984 and was one of the first "A Class" regional galleries in Australia.
The Aquarena is a public swimming facility managed by the City of Greater Geraldton. It has 50-metre and 25-metre pools, a leisure pool, a water slide and hydrotherapy facilities, with water polo and swimming squads and group fitness sessions.
The Queen Elizabeth II Centre (QE2) is home to a variety of community and seniors' groups, and offers facilities for public hire, including two large halls with equipped kitchens. The QEII Centre is available for local and visiting seniors, group meetings and also provides an internet hub for seniors.
Communications
Geraldton is host to one of the 121 "points of interconnection" for the Australian National Broadband Network (NBN), providing service to the largest geographic region in Australia. Geraldton was the first regional community in Western Australia where the NBN Fibre to the Premises (FttP) network was deployed in July 2013. NBNCo provides a fixed wireless broadband service for some parts of the region and in 2013/2014 introduced high speed optic fibre broadband services to areas of Geraldton in and near the city centre.
All occupiable premises in Geraldton's urbanised areas between Tarcoola Beach in the south and Drummond Cove in the north are outfitted with NBN Fibre to the Premise services, with construction completed in mid 2017. (Excluding Mandurah) Geraldton is currently (2017) the only regional town in Western Australia with NBN Fibre to the Premise services.
A number of Internet Service Providers offer services to Geraldton that include (where available) Fibre to the Premise (FttP) via NBNCo, private fibre networks (Seacrest Estate), as well as via public spectrum (5.8 GHz Class License) wireless links. Upon completion of the nbn rollout, nearly all copper-based services (ADSL, Frame Relay, Standard Analogue Telephone lines, etc.) were decommissioned and are no longer available.
In 2012, the City of Greater Geraldton was one of 33 cities worldwide selected to receive a Smarter Cities® Challenge grant from IBM. The stated aim of the project is to "identify smart digital services and opportunities that leverage the increasing availability of broadband and to develop smart energy strategies that will enable the community's vision of becoming a carbon-neutral region by 2029".
The region is serviced by the major mobile phone companies with 3G networks provided by Telstra, Optus and Vodafone, and 4G and 4Gx (700 MHz) by Telstra.
Health and education
Healthcare
Geraldton has two hospitals: Geraldton Regional Hospital (GRH) (public) and St John of God Hospital (SJOGH) (private). Geraldton Regional Hospital is the only facility in Geraldton with a 24-hour Emergency Room.
Geraldton Regional Hospital is a 55-bed hospital comprising accident and emergency, medical, surgical, paediatrics, maternity, intensive nursing, chemotherapy unit, day surgery and a renal dialysis unit.
Allied health services (speech pathology, psychology, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, pharmacy and audiology) are also available at the hospital.
St John of God Hospital is a 60-bed hospital with medical, surgical, acute care, maternity and palliative care. There is also an adjoining specialist centre where residential specialists are based. This included three general surgeons, radiologists, an orthopaedic surgeon, two obstetrician/gynaecologists, an ophthalmologist, GPs and anaesthetists. Visiting specialists consulting rooms are also based here. Geraldton has visiting specialists covering a wide range of medical specialities. Most visit Geraldton monthly.
There are 42 private general practitioners resident in Geraldton, including four general practitioners employed by the Geraldton Regional Aboriginal Medical Service (GRAMS). Most of the GPs and resident specialists in Geraldton are involved in teaching Rural Clinical School medical students.
Community services include the Aboriginal Medical Service, the Community Drug Service Team, the Community Health and Development Centre, and the Community Mental Health Team.
Private diagnostic facilities include Geraldton Radiology at SJOGH, the PathWest at GRH and SJOG Pathology at SJOGH.
Tertiary education
Geraldton Universities Centre
The Geraldton Universities Centre is an independent, not-for-profit, incorporated body, supporting university courses in Geraldton on behalf of a range of universities including CQUniversity, Charles Sturt University and the University of Southern Queensland. The centre is an Australian first with university places allocated specifically for Geraldton, allowing students to study locally while living and working in the Mid West. The majority of graduates now work in regional Western Australia. The student body has grown from 20 student places in 2001 to more than 200 enrolled students in 2015, undertaking a range of bridging and full degree programs.
TAFE
Central Regional TAFE
Central Regional TAFE (formerly Durack Institute of Technology) is a college of TAFE providing education, training programs and services to the community including school leavers, mature age students, industry/corporate groups, international students, employers and those who study for their own personal and professional development.
Batavia Coast Maritime Institute
The Batavia Coast Maritime Institute (BCMI), a subsidiary of Central Regional TAFE, is a training, research and development facility located at Separation Point in Geraldton. BCMI offers coursework in Aquaculture, Aquaponics, Conservation & Land Management, Coxswain, Master Class V, Horticulture, Environmental Science, Marine Engine Driving Grade 1&2, Laboratory Sciences, Sustainability, Marine VHF Radio, Recreational Skippers Ticket and Restricted Coxswains.
Primary and secondary schools and colleges
Nearby
The Houtman Abrolhos islands are west of Geraldton.
The Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory Support Facility in Geraldton, operated by CSIRO, provides support services for the Square Kilometre Array project located at the Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory, 315 km northeast of Geraldton.
The Australian Defence Satellite Communications Station is located at Kojarena, 30 km east of Geraldton.
Transport
Geraldton has a public bus service run by TransGeraldton and is connected to Perth with coach services provided by Transwa. QantasLink provides commercial services from Geraldton Airport; Several charter companies provide tourist charter flights and services to the mining industry. The airport is also used for general aviation.
Media
Radio
Radio services available in Geraldton:
Tourist Radio (88.0FM)–(Information for travellers and tourists)
6 TTT (97.3FM) – (Community Access Radio Station)
ABC Midwest & Wheatbelt (6GN 828 AM) – Part of the ABC Local Radio Network.
Radio National – (6ABCRN 99.7 FM) – Speciality talk and music.
Triple J – (6JJJ 98.9 FM) – Music for young Australians (non-commercial, ABC affiliate)
ABC News Radio – (6PNN 101.3 FM) – Rolling News bulletins, news magazine programs and LIVE coverage from Federal Parliament House of Representatives.
ABC Classic – (6ABCFM 94.9 FM) – Classical and Jazz Music.
WAFM (96.5FM) – Top 40 Music
The Spirit Network (Radio 6BAY FM 98.1 \ 1512 AM) – Classic Hits / Adult Contemporary Music format aimed at 35 years + audience.
Radio Mama- 100.5FM- Indigenous Community station
Television
Television services available include:
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) – ABC TV, ABC TV Plus (formerly ABC Comedy)/KIDS, ABC Me, ABC News 24 (digital channels)
The Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) – SBS, SBS Viceland, SBS World Movies, SBS Food (formerly Food Network), NITV (digital channels)
GWN7 (Golden West Network), an affiliate station of the Seven Network
WIN Television, an affiliate station of the Ten Network
West Digital Television, an affiliate station of the Nine Network (provided jointly by Prime Television and WIN Television)
The programming schedule is mainly the same as the Seven, Nine and Ten stations in Perth, with variations for news bulletins, sport telecasts such as the Australian Football League and National Rugby League, children's and lifestyle programs and advertorials. GWN7 produces a 30-minute regional news program each weeknight (originating from Bunbury) with a newsroom based in Geraldton, covering the local area.
Newspapers
The Geraldton Guardian was established in 1878 as the Victorian Express and is the state's second oldest extant newspaper in continuous circulation (after The West Australian). It is published on Tuesday and Friday.
Yamaji News, published since 1995 by the Yamaji Languages Aboriginal Corporation, is a fortnightly Geraldton newspaper presenting issues and stories affecting indigenous people in the Gascoyne and Murchison districts.
The Midwest Times is published on Wednesday and is issued free to residents and businesses in the Geraldton and the Mid West.
Notable residents
Alfred Carson (1859–1944), journalist and social worker
Edith Cowan (1861–1932), the first woman elected to an Australian Parliament, was born and raised at Glengarry Station
Patricia Gallaher OAM (1937–2014), regional librarian established the Randolph Stow award for young writers
Geoff Gallop (1951– ), 27th Premier of Western Australia
Nene Gare (1919–1994), her novel The Fringe Dwellers was inspired by and set in Geraldton
Xavier Herbert (1901–1984), Miles Franklin Award-winning writer, was born here
Brenda Hodge, the last person sentenced to death in Australia. Her sentence was commuted when WA abolished the death penalty; she was eventually released from prison and now lives in Geraldton.
Chris Mainwaring (1965–2007), an Australian rules footballer, inaugural player for the West Coast Eagles
Jack Martin (1995– ), Australian rules footballer
Johny Narkle (2001– ), basketball player
Doris Pilkington (1937–2014), author best known for her 1996 book Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence
Liam Ryan (1996– ), Australian rules footballer
Lieutenant General John Sanderson (1940– ), 29th Governor of Western Australia, former Chief of the Australian Army
Brett Sheehan (1979– ) Rugby Union player for Reds, Waratahs and Western Force
Randolph Stow (1935–2010), Miles Franklin Award-winning novelist. His The Merry-Go-Round in the Sea was set in the Geraldton area in the 1940s
Tasma Walton (1973– ), a television and film actress, wife of Australian comedian, television presenter and producer Rove McManus
John Willcock (1879–1956), 15th Premier of Western Australia
Sir Ronald Wilson (1922–2005), Justice of the High Court of Australia, President of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission
Sir Albert Wolff (1899–1977), Chief Justice of Western Australia, Lieutenant Governor of Western Australia
See also
City of Greater Geraldton
References
External links
Geraldton Visitors Centre
City of Greater Geraldton
Western Australian Museum – Geraldton
Finding Sydney Foundation
Geraldton Port Authority
Greater Geraldton Regional Library
Geraldton Universities Centre
Queens Park Theatre
Everything Geraldton
Coastal cities in Australia
Mid West (Western Australia)
|
413087
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meggan%20%28character%29
|
Meggan (character)
|
Meggan Puceanu is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, usually as a supporting character in stories featuring Captain Britain, and the X-Men. A mutant empath and shapeshifting elemental, she was created by writer Alan Moore and artist Alan Davis, and first appeared in Mighty World of Marvel #7 (Dec. 1983), which was published in the United Kingdom by Marvel's British publication arm, Marvel UK. Her first appearance in an American Marvel publication was in The New Mutants Annual #2 (1986). She eventually chose the codename Gloriana, a name of victory coined by the demons of Hell.
Publication history
Meggan first appears in Marvel UK's Mighty World of Marvel #7 (Dec. 1983), and was created by writer Alan Moore and artist Alan Davis.
Her origin story is told in Captain Britain vol. 2 #8 (Aug. 1985), which was later reprinted in the Captain Britain trade paperback in the U.S.
Meggan's first American appearance is in The New Mutants Annual #2 (1986).
Her original family name is recorded for the first time in 2008 in Captain Britain and MI: 13 #7, and again in Captain Britain and MI: 13 Annual #1 (2009).
Fictional character biography
Born in a blizzard to a British Romanichal family near Fenborough Station in England, Meggan adapted to the cold by growing fur, to the horror of her family. Unfortunately, as an empathic metamorph, the more they saw her as a monster, the more monstrous she became, growing webbing upon her hands and feet, antennae on her head, claws, and patagia. The belief that she was some sort of monster was also affected by the fact that Meggan's birth took place near an ancient British fortress that was rumoured to be the site of dark magics. Meggan's family hid her away in their camper, where she watched television incessantly, totally immersing herself in the fantasy of the various British TV shows of the time (such as Gerry Anderson fare, Quatermass, Doctor Who and many more). Eventually, she met Captain Britain and fought him, but then befriended him. She fell in love with him, joining him as an adventurer. With him, she first encountered Gatecrasher's Technet. After having been told by a telepath that her inner soul looked as beautiful "as an iridescent butterfly", during combat against a commando of R.C.X.-controlled "Warpies", she stabilized her powers on an attractive form that pleased Brian (and thus pleased her). Captain Britain fell in love right back, and the two began a romantic relationship. Together, they defeated Baba Yaga. The two had a long and stormy courtship, marred by events both cosmic and mundane.
Forming Excalibur
Meggan then fought Gatecrasher's Technet alongside Captain Britain, Nightcrawler, Phoenix, and Shadowcat, and with them became a founding member of Excalibur. A few months after she and Brian helped found Excalibur, Meggan resumed the search for her parents, traveling to Europe with Phoenix (Rachel Summers) tracking a rumor of a "magic creature" hidden in a Gypsy's van. The story proved to be about a being belonging to a mystical race called the Neuri, who showed Meggan her true appearance. Meggan became attracted to Nightcrawler before long. Excalibur clashed with Arcade and the Crazy Gang, and Meggan temporarily switched bodies with the Crazy Gang's Knave. Brian could not deal with Nightcrawler's attraction toward Meggan (which was strongly reciprocated), and Meggan later developed a crush on Piotr "Peter" Rasputin, the X-Man Colossus.
Meggan and Brian are wed, with the celebration attended by all their friends (and some enemies) in the 125th issue of Excalibur.
Due to her odd upbringing, for many years, Meggan was naive in many of the aspects of culture, obsessed with television and functionally illiterate. For example, she did not know that Doctor Doom was such a horrific threat, though she soon learned when he attacked the entire team and attempted to destroy England.
Her Excalibur teammates, over the years, brought her up to speed with Earthly life and knowledge. Douglock took a personal effort in being her teacher after he joined the team. In the latter part of the Excalibur series, Meggan became much more self-confident, taking more of a leadership role, changing her costume and being much more threatening. She used the minimum of force needed, but did not hesitate to scare her adversaries.
Ruling Otherworld
When Roma stepped down and let Captain Britain become the Omniversal Guardian of the Otherworld, Meggan came to rule beside him as his queen. They supervised the origin of another Captain Britain, who became associated with the Avengers.
House of M
Later, the Scarlet Witch caused a hole in reality when she altered it to create the House of M. This set off a multidimensional tidal wave, threatening Otherworld and the other parallel realities of the Omniverse. Meggan and Captain Britain were sent to fix the hole, given only a short amount of time before Saturnyne would destroy the 616 reality to prevent it from hurting the other realities. Working with Princess Royal Elizabeth Glorianna Braddock and Rachel Summers, Meggan and Captain Britain located the hole in reality through which the tidal chaos wave was about to spread. Allowing the others to seal the gap, Meggan ventured into the void beyond and sacrificed herself to briefly slow the progress of the impacting chaotic energies to give Betsy, Rachel, and Captain Britain time to sew the reality tear.
When reality was restored, only a few remembered what had occurred during the House of M. Captain Britain and the others were among the many who didn't, having only vague memories of the ordeal and believing it to be a dream. As a result, Brian doesn't know about Meggan's sacrifice and has no idea where she is, leaving him in distress.
Plokta's Dream World
After Pete Wisdom releases the dark and evil magic to prevent the Skrull invasion in England, Plokta, a duke of Hell, tries to make a deal with Captain Britain and reveals what appears to be Meggan in his collection of otherworldly realms. Captain Britain, knowing it might be merely an illusion, states that he can't take the chance of it being real and plunges through the dimensional gate. After sealing it shut, Plokta informs his underlings that this was merely a dream world and he was delighted that Captain Britain allowed himself to be sealed within it. Within the dream world, Meggan and Captain Britain live at least several weeks believing it to be reality, though Brian expresses doubts about inconsistencies of the world. His train of thought on the subject, however, is disrupted when he and Meggan's quiet lunch in Braddock's pub is attacked by his deceased brother Jamie Braddock.
Meggan is eventually revealed to still be alive, but lost between dimensions.
Hell and back
Meggan is soon revealed to be trapped in Hell. Unlike most of its occupants, however, she is not in torment, and still senses hope reaching her from outside of Hell—a fact that disturbs the Lords of Hell greatly. During her audience with them, they trick her into using her empathy, which forces her to assume a hideous and misshapen form and trap her in it. The lords, having "judged" her, quickly exile her into another portion of Hell. However, an angry Meggan lashes out with her empathy, which causes all other lesser demons in her presence to rally behind her, having been affected by her anger. This catches the attention of Pluto, the Roman God of the Underworld (and old enemy of Hercules). They forge an alliance and he restores Meggan to her usual self.
She spends the following months leading her army of demon followers in waging a war against the Lords of Hell, very successfully since her empathy overwhelms the enemy armies, causing them to turn on their respective lords (most noticeably Blackheart). During one such battle, she feels nostalgic and reminisces about her husband Brian. This causes her army to feel happiness, something that they haven't experienced in a while—if at all. The demons name her Gloriana in honor of this feat, and idolize her further. After a while she forms a kingdom, "Elysium", to serve as a sanctuary for souls to escape torment, and gives Pluto part of her conquests in payment.
Following that, she left in hope of searching for a way home. After having wandered through a large part of Hell, she finally finds a crack through which moonlight pours through. Quickly she passes through the crack, only to be greeted by Doctor Doom on the other side, within Dracula's ship departing from the Moon.
Reunited with Brian
As Dracula begins his invasion of Britain, he is confronted with more resistance than expected, along with some of his vampires resisting him, going as far as even directly disobeying him. Doctor Doom contacts him briefly, telling him that he has left him a gift in his ship's hold. Located in the ship is Meggan, much to Dracula's confusion. However, he soon realizes that Meggan is the reason why his mental hold on the other vampires is growing weaker, since she uses her mental powers to "broadcast rebellion". Dracula attempts to kill her but is stopped by Captain Britain, who is furious at the vampire king. Meggan and Brian battle the vampires and Dracula until the ship and majority of vampires are destroyed via a spell. Once the battle is over, Meggan and Brian are happily reunited.
Meggan later joined Captain Britain in starting the Braddock Academy.
During the "Infinity" storyline, Meggan represented the Braddock Academy when Henry Pym planned a "Contest of Champions" event. She assists Henry Pym, She-Hulk and Wolverine in supervising the event.
Meggan and Brian (Captain Britain) are reunited with their Excalibur teammates as they welcome Nightcrawler back from the dead.
Powers and abilities
Meggan is a powerful superhuman, an "empathic metamorph" or "elemental megamorph", with the apparent ability to assume virtually any superhuman power in existence at will. Her abilities include empathy, an elemental link to nature and mystical energies, and shapeshifting.
Meggan's empathy enables her to sense the emotions and feelings of living creatures (from people, to animals, to plants), and including the ability to psionically perceive an object's or person's psychic, natural, and mystical energy aura. Meggan's empathy has also given her an affinity toward learning both human language and animal communication systems.
Her empathic powers used to make her sensitive to surrounding moods, making her change appearance depending on themselves, their needs, or perceptions, and make her vulnerable to certain telepathic manipulation. Primarily when she herself was either in a vulnerable emotional state, distracted, focused on the person in question or her powers were in a minor flux from lack of mystical sustenance.
She eventually overcame most of the issues of this, and rather learned to broadcast her own feelings to influence other people's emotions to the extent that she incited a rebellion in the part of hell ruled by Blackheart, and disrupted Dracula's control of his vampires by "broadcasting rebellion".
Meggan's empathy creates a psionic link to the natural forces of the Earth. By "speaking" to the elements, Meggan can command the environment around her, and her emotional state can affect the local ecosystems. Through thought alone, Meggan can extinguish forest fires, summon gale-force winds, and part the waters of a lake or cause earthquakes in a flash of anger. Meggan has even been observed causing electromagnetic pulses by commanding the magnetic fields around her, freezing opponents by rapidly dropping the air temperature around them, or increasing the powers of elemental mutants (such as increasing the temperature of Pete Wisdom's heat blasts). Meggan has used her elemental powers to affect man-made objects, such as making the atoms in a building's roof move apart, creating a hole in the roof that resealed itself once Meggan passed through. Meggan can also project very powerful blasts, orbs, waves and beams of elemental energy for different purpose, such as to destroy or hit objects or people with a great force, illuminate an area, etc, as well as generate energy constructions such as force fields or screens of elemental energy. She has also been observed controlling mystical energies. Meggan can also hover and fly; she once commented during a case where she was working undercover that her feet hurt, because she was unused to walking entirely, not seeing the point when she could more easily fly.
By combining her powers with Rachel Summers on an alternate Earth filled with magic, Meggan succeeded in bringing the dead back to life.
Meggan can alter her form at will and can assume the form of any creature, even those who only exist in legends. Initially, she changed forms unconsciously. As a newborn infant, she instinctively adopted a fur-covered, somewhat animal-like form in response to the cold weather around her. Her empathic powers made her vulnerable to the superstitions of her people and their fear of her powers caused her to shapeshift into an increasingly hideous form. It was not until she began adventuring with Captain Britain and working with psychic Alison Double that she came to understand the extent of her powers. Currently, Meggan's usual form is a blond woman with pointed ears (some texts indicate that this form is based, subconsciously, on Captain Britain's expectations). It took several more years for Meggan to discover her natural form: taller than a normal human, with longer platinum blond hair, pointed ears, and black eyes.
Meggan can add to her mass and shed this additional mass at will. Meggan adopts the special abilities, superhuman powers, and even aspects of the internal anatomy of whatever being she uses her metamorphic powers to imitate. She once became a Godzilla-like fire-breathing dragon, and on another occasion she became a werewolf that had all of a wolf's natural abilities. Meggan can assume the form of other people as well. Her facial features and overall physical appearance often change to a degree with her mood. Although she retains better control of her form as an adult, Meggan may consciously or unconsciously alter her appearance to resemble people or even animals she is with at the time and still occasionally changes form in response to the emotions around her: becoming beautiful when she feels loved, or hideous when she feels fear or anger, or she might become considerably less attractive when deeply depressed. Usually, this happens when she is under stress or spends significant time away from the British Isles. Her elemental powers also cause Meggan to change in response to her surroundings, growing fur in extreme cold, or gills when she is submerged or swimming underwater.
She can increase the density of her muscle tissue to boost her strength and/or speed to superhuman levels, shown capable of exceeding that of Captain Britain on two separate occasions. The use of this power is tied to the planet itself. During her confrontation with Galactus, she grew in stature to match the planet-eater's size, but the taller she grew, the more she was destabilizing the environment nearby.
Meggan's most formidable talent is her ability to instantly mimic the powers of other superhumans, in one case turning into fully empowered duplicates of Dazzler, Rogue, Colossus, Longshot, Storm, Wolverine, Rachel Summers, and Havok in rapid succession. Given sufficient magic energy in her surroundings she has even effortlessly turned into a female copy of the Silver Surfer. She has also transformed herself into sentient sand or water, and attained the associated properties.
Meggan is a skilled hand-to-hand combatant, trained by Captain Britain. She has no formal education and is self-taught about contemporary culture through television viewing, although her allies from Excalibur take the time to bring her 'up to speed'.
Reception
In 2014, Entertainment Weekly ranked Meggan 90th in their "Let's rank every X-Man ever" list.
In 2018, CBR.com ranked Meggan 5th in their "20 Most Powerful Mutants From The '80s" list.
Other versions
On Earth-597, a world where the Nazis have won World War II, Meggan is a member of that reality's equivalent of Excalibur, Lightning Force.
The world of Earth-1189 was devastated by nuclear war. After the death of her Brian Braddock, Meggan takes over the mantle of Captain Britain and becomes a member of the Corps.
On Earth-99746, a world populated by humanoid dinosaurs, the Excalibur-equivalent contains an alternate version of Meggan called Megon who helps defeat the Fantastic Five before traveling to Earth-616.
Two different versions of Meggan appear in the Secret Wars storyline; one version is from the domain Higher Avalon where she is carrying Brian Braddock's baby. The other version appears as a member of A-Force in the domain Arcadia.
Awards
1986: Won "Favourite Supporting Character" Eagle Award.
References
External links
Meggan at the International Catalogue of Superheroes
Meggan at the Marvel Universe
Meggan at UncannyXmen.Net
Meggan at ComicVine.com
illustrated biography of Meggan's discovery of her shape-shifting abilities
British superheroes
Characters created by Alan Davis
Characters created by Alan Moore
Comics characters introduced in 1983
Excalibur (comics)
Fictional British secret agents
Fictional empaths
Fictional queens
Marvel Comics characters who are shapeshifters
Marvel Comics characters with superhuman strength
Marvel Comics female superheroes
Marvel Comics mutants
Marvel Comics telepaths
Marvel UK characters
Romani comics characters
|
413092
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar%20thermal%20energy
|
Solar thermal energy
|
Solar thermal energy (STE) is a form of energy and a technology for harnessing solar energy to generate thermal energy for use in industry, and in the residential and commercial sectors.
Solar thermal collectors are classified by the United States Energy Information Administration as low-, medium-, or high-temperature collectors. Low-temperature collectors are generally unglazed and used to heat swimming pools or to heat ventilation air. Medium-temperature collectors are also usually flat plates but are used for heating water or air for residential and commercial use.
High-temperature collectors concentrate sunlight using mirrors or lenses and are generally used for fulfilling heat requirements up to 300 deg C / 20 bar pressure in industries, and for electric power production. Two categories include Concentrated Solar Thermal (CST) for fulfilling heat requirements in industries, and Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) when the heat collected is used for electric power generation. CST and CSP are not replaceable in terms of application.
The largest facilities are located in the American Mojave Desert of California and Nevada. These plants employ a variety of different technologies. The largest examples include, Ouarzazate Solar Power Station in Morocco (510 MW), Ivanpah Solar Power Facility (377 MW), Solar Energy Generating Systems installation (354 MW), and Crescent Dunes (110 MW). Spain is the other major developer of solar thermal power plants. The largest examples include, Solnova Solar Power Station (150 MW), the Andasol solar power station (150 MW), and Extresol Solar Power Station (100 MW).
History
Augustin Mouchot demonstrated a solar collector with a cooling engine making ice cream at the 1878 Universal Exhibition in Paris. The first installation of solar thermal energy equipment occurred in the Sahara approximately in 1910 by Frank Shuman when a steam engine was run on steam produced by sunlight. Because liquid fuel engines were developed and found more convenient, the Sahara project was abandoned, only to be revisited several decades later.
Low-temperature heating and cooling
Systems for utilizing low-temperature solar thermal energy include means for heat collection; usually heat storage, either short-term or interseasonal; and distribution within a structure or a district heating network. In some cases a single feature can do more than one of these things (e.g. some kinds of solar collectors also store heat). Some systems are passive, others are active (requiring other external energy to function).
Heating is the most obvious application, but solar cooling can be achieved for a building or for district cooling by using a heat-driven absorption or adsorption chiller (heat pump). There is a productive coincidence that the greater the driving heat from insolation, the greater the cooling output. In 1878, Auguste Mouchout pioneered solar cooling by making ice using a solar steam engine attached to a refrigeration device.
In the United States, heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems account for over 25% (4.75 EJ) of the energy used in commercial buildings (50% in northern cities) and nearly half (10.1 EJ) of the energy used in residential buildings. Solar heating, cooling, and ventilation technologies can be used to offset a portion of this energy. The most popular solar heating technology for heating buildings is the building integrated transpired solar air collection system which connects to the building's HVAC equipment. According to Solar Energy Industries Association over 500,000 m2 (5,000,000 square feet) of these panels are in operation in North America as of 2015.
In Europe, since the mid-1990s about 125 large solar-thermal district heating
plants have been constructed, each with over 500 m2 (5400 ft2) of solar
collectors. The largest are about 10,000 m2, with capacities of 7
MW-thermal and solar heat costs around 4 Eurocents/kWh without subsidies.
40 of them have nominal capacities of 1 MW-thermal or more. The Solar District Heating program (SDH) has participation from 14 European Nations and the European Commission, and is working toward technical and market development, and holds annual conferences.
Low-temperature collectors
Glazed solar collectors are designed primarily for space heating. They recirculate building air through a solar air panel where the air is heated and then directed back into the building. These solar space heating systems require at least two penetrations into the building and only perform when the air in the solar collector is warmer than the building room temperature. Most glazed collectors are used in the residential sector.
Unglazed solar collectors are primarily used to pre-heat make-up ventilation air in commercial, industrial and institutional buildings with a high ventilation load. They turn building walls or sections of walls into low cost, high performance, unglazed solar collectors. Also called, "transpired solar panels" or "solar wall", they employ a painted perforated metal solar heat absorber that also serves as the exterior wall surface of the building. Heat transfer to the air takes place on the surface of the absorber, through the metal absorber and behind the absorber. The boundary layer of solar heated air is drawn into a nearby perforation before the heat can escape by convection to the outside air. The heated air is then drawn from behind the absorber plate into the building's ventilation system.
A Trombe wall is a passive solar heating and ventilation system consisting of an air channel sandwiched between a window and a sun-facing thermal mass. During the ventilation cycle, sunlight stores heat in the thermal mass and warms the air channel causing circulation through vents at the top and bottom of the wall. During the heating cycle the Trombe wall radiates stored heat.
Solar roof ponds for solar heating and cooling were developed by Harold Hay in the 1960s. A basic system consists of a roof-mounted water bladder with a movable insulating cover. This system can control heat exchange between interior and exterior environments by covering and uncovering the bladder between night and day. When heating is a concern the bladder is uncovered during the day allowing sunlight to warm the water bladder and store heat for evening use. When cooling is a concern the covered bladder draws heat from the building's interior during the day and is uncovered at night to radiate heat to the cooler atmosphere. The Skytherm house in Atascadero, California uses a prototype roof pond for heating and cooling.
Solar space heating with solar air heat collectors is more popular in the USA and Canada than heating with solar liquid collectors since most buildings already have a ventilation system for heating and cooling. The two main types of solar air panels are glazed and unglazed.
Of the of solar thermal collectors produced in the United States in 2007, were of the low-temperature variety. Low-temperature collectors are generally installed to heat swimming pools, although they can also be used for space heating. Collectors can use air or water as the medium to transfer the heat to their destination.
Heat storage for space heating
A collection of mature technologies called seasonal thermal energy storage (STES) is capable of storing heat for months at a time, so solar heat collected primarily in Summer can be used for all-year heating. Solar-supplied STES technology has been advanced primarily in Denmark, Germany, and Canada, and applications include individual buildings and district heating networks. Drake Landing Solar Community in Alberta, Canada has a small district system and in 2012 achieved a world record of providing 97% of the community's all-year space heating needs from the sun. STES thermal storage mediums include deep aquifers; native rock surrounding clusters of small-diameter, heat exchanger equipped boreholes; large, shallow, lined pits that are filled with gravel and top-insulated; and large, insulated and buried surface water tanks.
Centralized district heating round the clock is also feasible with concentrated solar thermal (CST) storage plant.
Interseasonal storage. Solar heat (or heat from other sources) can be effectively stored between opposing seasons in aquifers, underground geological strata, large specially constructed pits, and large tanks that are insulated and covered with earth.
Short-term storage. Thermal mass materials store solar energy during the day and release this energy during cooler periods. Common thermal mass materials include stone, concrete, and water. The proportion and placement of thermal mass should consider several factors such as climate, daylighting, and shading conditions. When properly incorporated, thermal mass can passively maintain comfortable temperatures while reducing energy consumption.
Solar-driven cooling
Worldwide, by 2011 there were about 750 cooling systems with solar-driven heat pumps, and annual market growth was 40 to 70% over the prior seven years. It is a niche market because the economics are challenging, with the annual number of cooling hours a limiting factor. Respectively, the annual cooling hours are roughly 1000 in the Mediterranean, 2500 in Southeast Asia, and only 50 to 200 in Central Europe. However, system construction costs dropped about 50% between 2007 and 2011. The International Energy Agency (IEA) Solar Heating and Cooling program (IEA-SHC) task groups working on further development of the technologies involved.
Solar heat-driven ventilation
A solar chimney (or thermal chimney) is a passive solar ventilation system composed of a hollow thermal mass connecting the interior and exterior of a building. As the chimney warms, the air inside is heated causing an updraft that pulls air through the building. These systems have been in use since Roman times and remain common in the Middle East.
Process heat
Solar process heating systems are designed to provide large quantities of hot water or space heating for nonresidential buildings.
Evaporation ponds are shallow ponds that concentrate dissolved solids through evaporation. The use of evaporation ponds to obtain salt from sea water is one of the oldest applications of solar energy. Modern uses include concentrating brine solutions used in leach mining and removing dissolved solids from waste streams. Altogether, evaporation ponds represent one of the largest commercial applications of solar energy in use today.
Unglazed transpired collectors are perforated sun-facing walls used for preheating ventilation air. Transpired collectors can also be roof mounted for year-round use and can raise the incoming air temperature up to 22 °C and deliver outlet temperatures of 45-60 °C. The short payback period of transpired collectors (3 to 12 years) make them a more cost-effective alternative to glazed collection systems. As of 2015, over 4000 systems with a combined collector area of 500,000 m2 had been installed worldwide. Representatives include an 860 m2 collector in Costa Rica used for drying coffee beans and a 1300 m2 collector in Coimbatore, India used for drying marigolds.
A food processing facility in Modesto, California uses parabolic troughs to produce steam used in the manufacturing process. The 5,000 m2 collector area is expected to provide 15 TJ per year.
Medium-temperature collectors
These collectors could be used to produce approximately 50% and more of the hot water needed for residential and commercial use in the United States. In the United States, a typical system costs $4000–$6000 retail ($1400 to $2200 wholesale for the materials) and 30% of the system qualifies for a federal tax credit + additional state credit exists in about half of the states. Labor for a simple open loop system in southern climates can take 3–5 hours for the installation and 4–6 hours in Northern areas. Northern system require more collector area and more complex plumbing to protect the collector from freezing. With this incentive, the payback time for a typical household is four to nine years, depending on the state. Similar subsidies exist in parts of Europe. A crew of one solar plumber and two assistants with minimal training can install a system per day. Thermosiphon installation have negligible maintenance costs (costs rise if antifreeze and mains power are used for circulation) and in the US reduces a households' operating costs by $6 per person per month. Solar water heating can reduce CO2 emissions of a family of four by 1 ton/year (if replacing natural gas) or 3 ton/year (if replacing electricity). Medium-temperature installations can use any of several designs: common designs are pressurized glycol, drain back, batch systems and newer low pressure freeze tolerant systems using polymer pipes containing water with photovoltaic pumping. European and International standards are being reviewed to accommodate innovations in design and operation of medium temperature collectors. Operational innovations include "permanently wetted collector" operation. This innovation reduces or even eliminates the occurrence of no-flow high temperature stresses called stagnation which would otherwise reduce the life expectancy of collectors.
Solar drying
Solar thermal energy can be useful for drying wood for construction and wood fuels such as wood chips for combustion. Solar is also used for food products such as fruits, grains, and fish. Crop drying by solar means is environmentally friendly as well as cost effective while improving the quality. The less money it takes to make a product, the less it can be sold for, pleasing both the buyers and the sellers. Technologies in solar drying include ultra low cost pumped transpired plate air collectors based on black fabrics. Solar thermal energy is helpful in the process of drying products such as wood chips and other forms of biomass by raising the temperature while allowing air to pass through and get rid of the moisture.
Cooking
Solar cookers use sunlight for cooking, drying and pasteurization. Solar cooking offsets fuel costs, reduces demand for fuel or firewood, and improves air quality by reducing or removing a source of smoke.
The simplest type of solar cooker is the box cooker first built by Horace de Saussure in 1767. A basic box cooker consists of an insulated container with a transparent lid. These cookers can be used effectively with partially overcast skies and will typically reach temperatures of 50–100 °C.
Concentrating solar cookers use reflectors to concentrate solar energy onto a cooking container. The most common reflector geometries are flat plate, disc and parabolic trough type. These designs cook faster and at higher temperatures (up to 350 °C) but require direct light to function properly.
The Solar Kitchen in Auroville, India uses a unique concentrating technology known as the solar bowl. Contrary to conventional tracking reflector/fixed receiver systems, the solar bowl uses a fixed spherical reflector with a receiver which tracks the focus of light as the Sun moves across the sky. The solar bowl's receiver reaches temperature of 150 °C that is used to produce steam that helps cook 2,000 daily meals.
Many other solar kitchens in India use another unique concentrating technology known as the Scheffler reflector. This technology was first developed by Wolfgang Scheffler in 1986. A Scheffler reflector is a parabolic dish that uses single axis tracking to follow the Sun's daily course. These reflectors have a flexible reflective surface that is able to change its curvature to adjust to seasonal variations in the incident angle of sunlight. Scheffler reflectors have the advantage of having a fixed focal point which improves the ease of cooking and are able to reach temperatures of 450-650 °C. Built in 1999 by the Brahma Kumaris, the world's largest Scheffler reflector system in Abu Road, Rajasthan India is capable of cooking up to 35,000 meals a day. By early 2008, over 2000 large cookers of the Scheffler design had been built worldwide.
Distillation
Solar stills can be used to make drinking water in areas where clean water is not common. Solar distillation is necessary in these situations to provide people with purified water. Solar energy heats up the water in the still. The water then evaporates and condenses on the bottom of the covering glass.
High-temperature collectors
Where temperatures below about 95 °C are sufficient, as for space heating, flat-plate collectors of the nonconcentrating type are generally used. Because of the relatively high heat losses through the glazing, flat plate collectors will not reach temperatures much above 200 °C even when the heat transfer fluid is stagnant. Such temperatures are too low for efficient conversion to electricity.
The efficiency of heat engines increases with the temperature of the heat source. To achieve this in solar thermal energy plants, solar radiation is concentrated by mirrors or lenses to obtain higher temperatures – a technique called Concentrated Solar Power (CSP). The practical effect of high efficiencies is to reduce the plant's collector size and total land use per unit power generated, reducing the environmental impacts of a power plant as well as its expense.
As the temperature increases, different forms of conversion become practical. Up to 600 °C, steam turbines, standard technology, have an efficiency up to 41%. Above 600 °C, gas turbines can be more efficient. Higher temperatures are problematic because different materials and techniques are needed. One proposal for very high temperatures is to use liquid fluoride salts operating between 700 °C to 800 °C, using multi-stage turbine systems to achieve 50% or more thermal efficiencies. The higher operating temperatures permit the plant to use higher-temperature dry heat exchangers for its thermal exhaust, reducing the plant's water use – critical in the deserts where large solar plants are practical. High temperatures also make heat storage more efficient, because more watt-hours are stored per unit of fluid.
Commercial concentrating solar thermal power (CSP) plants were first developed in the 1980s. The world’s largest solar thermal power plants are now the 370 MW Ivanpah Solar Power Facility, commissioned in 2014, and the 354 MW SEGS CSP installation, both located in the Mojave Desert of California, where several other solar projects have been realized as well.
The principal advantage of CSP is the ability to efficiently add thermal storage, allowing the dispatching of electricity over up to a 24-hour period. Since peak electricity demand typically occurs between about 4 and 8 pm, many CSP power plants use 3 to 5 hours of thermal storage. With current technology, storage of heat is much cheaper and more efficient than storage of electricity. In this way, the CSP plant can produce electricity day and night. If the CSP site has predictable solar radiation, then the CSP plant becomes a reliable power plant. Reliability can further be improved by installing a back-up combustion system. The back-up system can use most of the CSP plant, which decreases the cost of the back-up system.
With reliability, unused desert, no pollution, and no fuel costs, the obstacles for large deployment for CSP are cost, aesthetics, land use and similar factors for the necessary connecting high tension lines. Although only a small percentage of the desert is necessary to meet global electricity demand, still a large area must be covered with mirrors or lenses to obtain a significant amount of energy. An important way to decrease cost is the use of a simple design.
When considering land use impacts associated with the exploration and extraction through to transportation and conversion of fossil fuels, which are used for most of our electrical power, utility-scale solar power compares as one of the most land-efficient energy resources available:
The federal government has dedicated nearly 2,000 times more acreage to oil and gas leases than to solar development. In 2010 the Bureau of Land Management approved nine large-scale solar projects, with a total generating capacity of 3,682 megawatts, representing approximately 40,000 acres. In contrast, in 2010, the Bureau of Land Management processed more than 5,200 applications gas and oil leases, and issued 1,308 leases, for a total of 3.2 million acres. Currently, 38.2 million acres of onshore public lands and an additional 36.9 million acres of offshore exploration in the Gulf of Mexico are under lease for oil and gas development, exploration and production.
System designs
During the day the sun has different positions. For low concentration systems (and low temperatures) tracking can be avoided (or limited to a few positions per year) if nonimaging optics are used. For higher concentrations, however, if the mirrors or lenses do not move, then the focus of the mirrors or lenses changes. A tracking system that follows the position of the sun is required. The tracking system increases the cost and complexity. With this in mind, different designs can be distinguished in how they concentrate the light and track the position of the sun.
Parabolic trough designs
Parabolic trough power plants use a curved, mirrored trough which reflects the direct solar radiation onto a glass tube containing a fluid (also called a receiver, absorber or collector) running the length of the trough, positioned at the focal point of the reflectors. The trough is parabolic along one axis and linear in the orthogonal axis. For change of the daily position of the sun perpendicular to the receiver, the trough tilts east to west so that the direct radiation remains focused on the receiver. However, seasonal changes in the angle of sunlight parallel to the trough does not require adjustment of the mirrors, since the light is simply concentrated elsewhere on the receiver. Thus the trough design does not require tracking on a second axis. The receiver may be enclosed in a glass vacuum chamber. The vacuum significantly reduces convective heat loss.
A fluid (also called heat transfer fluid) passes through the receiver and becomes very hot. Common fluids are synthetic oil, molten salt and pressurized steam. The fluid containing the heat is transported to a heat engine where about a third of the heat is converted to electricity.
Full-scale parabolic trough systems consist of many such troughs laid out in parallel over a large area of land. Since 1985 a solar thermal system using this principle has been in full operation in California in the United States. It is called the Solar Energy Generating Systems (SEGS) system. Other CSP designs lack this kind of long experience and therefore it can currently be said that the parabolic trough design is the most thoroughly proven CSP technology.
The SEGS is a collection of nine plants with a total capacity of 354 MW and has been the world's largest solar power plant, both thermal and non-thermal, for many years. A newer plant is Nevada Solar One plant with a capacity of 64 MW. The 150 MW Andasol solar power stations are in Spain with each site having a capacity of 50 MW. Note however, that those plants have heat storage which requires a larger field of solar collectors relative to the size of the steam turbine-generator to store heat and send heat to the steam turbine at the same time. Heat storage enables better utilization of the steam turbine. With day and some nighttime operation of the steam-turbine Andasol 1 at 50 MW peak capacity produces more energy than Nevada Solar One at 64 MW peak capacity, due to the former plant's thermal energy storage system and larger solar field. The 280MW Solana Generating Station came online in Arizona in 2013 with 6 hours of power storage. Hassi R'Mel integrated solar combined cycle power station in Algeria and Martin Next Generation Solar Energy Center both use parabolic troughs in a combined cycle with natural gas.
Enclosed trough
The enclosed trough architecture encapsulates the solar thermal system within a greenhouse-like glasshouse. The glasshouse creates a protected environment to withstand the elements that can negatively impact reliability and efficiency of the solar thermal system.
Lightweight curved solar-reflecting mirrors are suspended within the glasshouse structure. A single-axis tracking system positions the mirrors to track the sun and focus its light onto a network of stationary steel pipes, also suspended from the glasshouse structure. Steam is generated directly, using oil field-quality water, as water flows from the inlet throughout the length of the pipes, without heat exchangers or intermediate working fluids.
The steam produced is then fed directly to the field’s existing steam distribution network, where the steam is continuously injected deep into the oil reservoir. Sheltering the mirrors from the wind allows them to achieve higher temperature rates and prevents dust from building up as a result from exposure to humidity. GlassPoint Solar, the company that created the Enclosed Trough design, states its technology can produce heat for EOR for about $5 per million British thermal units in sunny regions, compared to between $10 and $12 for other conventional solar thermal technologies.
GlassPoint’s enclosed trough system has been utilized at the Miraah facility in Oman, and a new project has recently been announced for the company to bring its enclosed trough technology to the South Belridge Oil Field, near Bakersfield, California.
Power tower designs
Power towers (also known as 'central tower' power plants or 'heliostat' power plants) capture and focus the sun's thermal energy with thousands of tracking mirrors (called heliostats) in roughly a two square mile field. A tower resides in the center of the heliostat field. The heliostats focus concentrated sunlight on a receiver which sits on top of the tower. Within the receiver the concentrated sunlight heats molten salt to over . The heated molten salt then flows into a thermal storage tank where it is stored, maintaining 98% thermal efficiency, and eventually pumped to a steam generator. The steam drives a standard turbine to generate electricity. This process, also known as the "Rankine cycle" is similar to a standard coal-fired power plant, except it is fueled by solar energy.
The advantage of this design above the parabolic trough design is the higher temperature. Thermal energy at higher temperatures can be converted to electricity more efficiently and can be more cheaply stored for later use. Furthermore, there is less need to flatten the ground area. In principle a power tower can be built on the side of a hill. Mirrors can be flat and plumbing is concentrated in the tower. The disadvantage is that each mirror must have its own dual-axis control, while in the parabolic trough design single axis tracking can be shared for a large array of mirrors.
A cost/performance comparison between power tower and parabolic trough concentrators was made by the NREL which estimated that by 2020 electricity could be produced from power towers for 5.47 ¢/kWh and for 6.21 ¢/kWh from parabolic troughs. The capacity factor for power towers was estimated to be 72.9% and 56.2% for parabolic troughs. There is some hope that the development of cheap, durable, mass producible heliostat power plant components could bring this cost down.
The first commercial tower power plant was PS10 in Spain with a capacity of 11 MW, completed in 2007. Since then a number of plants have been proposed, several have been built in a number of countries (Spain, Germany, U.S., Turkey, China, India) but several proposed plants were cancelled as photovoltaic solar prices plummeted. A solar power tower went online in South Africa in 2016. Ivanpah Solar Power Facility in California generates 392 MW of electricity from three towers, making it the largest solar power tower plant when it came online in late 2013.
Dish designs
A dish Stirling system uses a large, reflective, parabolic dish (similar in shape to a satellite television dish). It focuses all the sunlight that strikes the dish up onto a single point above the dish, where a receiver captures the heat and transforms it into a useful form. Typically the dish is coupled with a Stirling engine in a Dish-Stirling System, but also sometimes a steam engine is used. These create rotational kinetic energy that can be converted to electricity using an electric generator.
In 2005 Southern California Edison announced an agreement to purchase solar powered Stirling engines from Stirling Energy Systems over a twenty-year period and in quantities (20,000 units) sufficient to generate 500 megawatts of electricity. In January 2010, Stirling Energy Systems and Tessera Solar commissioned the first demonstration 1.5-megawatt power plant ("Maricopa Solar") using Stirling technology in Peoria, Arizona. At the beginning of 2011 Stirling Energy's development arm, Tessera Solar, sold off its two large projects, the 709 MW Imperial project and the 850 MW Calico project to AES Solar and K.Road, respectively. In 2012 the Maricopa plant was bought and dismantled by United Sun Systems. United Sun Systems released a new generation system, based on a V-shaped Stirling engine and a peak production of 33 kW. The new CSP-Stirling technology brings down LCOE to USD 0.02 in utility scale.
According to its developer, Rispasso Energy, a Swedish firm, in 2015 its Dish Sterling system being tested in the Kalahari Desert in South Africa showed 34% efficiency.
Fresnel technologies
A linear Fresnel reflector power plant uses a series of long, narrow, shallow-curvature (or even flat) mirrors to focus light onto one or more linear receivers positioned above the mirrors. On top of the receiver a small parabolic mirror can be attached for further focusing the light. These systems aim to offer lower overall costs by sharing a receiver between several mirrors (as compared with trough and dish concepts), while still using the simple line-focus geometry with one axis for tracking. This is similar to the trough design (and different from central towers and dishes with dual-axis). The receiver is stationary and so fluid couplings are not required (as in troughs and dishes). The mirrors also do not need to support the receiver, so they are structurally simpler. When suitable aiming strategies are used (mirrors aimed at different receivers at different times of day), this can allow a denser packing of mirrors on available land area.
Rival single axis tracking technologies include the relatively new linear Fresnel reflector (LFR) and compact-LFR (CLFR) technologies. The LFR differs from that of the parabolic trough in that the absorber is fixed in space above the mirror field. Also, the reflector is composed of many low row segments, which focus collectively on an elevated long tower receiver running parallel to the reflector rotational axis.
Prototypes of Fresnel lens concentrators have been produced for the collection of thermal energy by International Automated Systems. No full-scale thermal systems using Fresnel lenses are known to be in operation, although products incorporating Fresnel lenses in conjunction with photovoltaic cells are already available.
MicroCSP
MicroCSP is used for community-sized power plants (1 MW to 50 MW), for industrial, agricultural and manufacturing 'process heat' applications, and when large amounts of hot water are needed, such as resort swimming pools, water parks, large laundry facilities, sterilization, distillation and other such uses.
Heat collection and exchange
Heat in a solar thermal system is guided by five basic principles: heat gain; heat transfer; heat storage; heat transport; and heat insulation. Here, heat is the measure of the amount of thermal energy an object contains and is determined by the temperature, mass and specific heat of the object. Solar thermal power plants use heat exchangers that are designed for constant working conditions, to provide heat exchange. Copper heat exchangers are important in solar thermal heating and cooling systems because of copper’s high thermal conductivity, resistance to atmospheric and water corrosion, sealing and joining by soldering, and mechanical strength. Copper is used both in receivers and in primary circuits (pipes and heat exchangers for water tanks) of solar thermal water systems.
Heat gain is the heat accumulated from the sun in the system. Solar thermal heat is trapped using the greenhouse effect; the greenhouse effect in this case is the ability of a reflective surface to transmit short wave radiation and reflect long wave radiation. Heat and infrared radiation (IR) are produced when short wave radiation light hits the absorber plate, which is then trapped inside the collector. Fluid, usually water, in the absorber tubes collect the trapped heat and transfer it to a heat storage vault.
Heat is transferred either by conduction or convection. When water is heated, kinetic energy is transferred by conduction to water molecules throughout the medium. These molecules spread their thermal energy by conduction and occupy more space than the cold slow moving molecules above them. The distribution of energy from the rising hot water to the sinking cold water contributes to the convection process. Heat is transferred from the absorber plates of the collector in the fluid by conduction. The collector fluid is circulated through the carrier pipes to the heat transfer vault. Inside the vault, heat is transferred throughout the medium through convection.
Heat storage enables solar thermal plants to produce electricity during hours without sunlight. Heat is transferred to a thermal storage medium in an insulated reservoir during hours with sunlight, and is withdrawn for power generation during hours lacking sunlight. Thermal storage mediums will be discussed in a heat storage section. Rate of heat transfer is related to the conductive and convection medium as well as the temperature differences. Bodies with large temperature differences transfer heat faster than bodies with lower temperature differences.
Heat transport refers to the activity in which heat from a solar collector is transported to the heat storage vault. Heat insulation is vital in both heat transport tubing as well as the storage vault. It prevents heat loss, which in turn relates to energy loss, or decrease in the efficiency of the system.
Heat storage for electric base loads
Heat storage allows a solar thermal plant to produce electricity at night and on overcast days. This allows the use of solar power for baseload generation as well as peak power generation, with the potential of displacing both coal- and natural gas-fired power plants. Additionally, the utilization of the generator is higher which reduces cost. Even short term storage can help by smoothing out the "duck curve" of rapid change in generation requirements at sunset when a grid includes large amounts of solar capacity.
Heat is transferred to a thermal storage medium in an insulated reservoir during the day, and withdrawn for power generation at night. Thermal storage media include pressurized steam, concrete, a variety of phase change materials, and molten salts such as calcium, sodium and potassium nitrate.
Steam accumulator
The PS10 solar power tower stores heat in tanks as pressurized steam at 50 bar and 285 °C. The steam condenses and flashes back to steam, when pressure is lowered. Storage is for one hour. It is suggested that longer storage is possible, but that has not been proven in an existing power plant.
Molten salt storage
Molten salt is used to transport heat in solar power tower systems because it is liquid at atmospheric pressure, provides a low-cost medium to store thermal energy, its operating temperatures are compatible with today's steam turbines, and it is non-flammable and nontoxic. Molten salt is also used in the chemical and metals industries to transport heat.
The first commercial molten salt mixture was a common form of saltpeter, 60% sodium nitrate and 40% potassium nitrate. Saltpeter melts at 220 °C (430 °F) and is kept liquid at 290 °C (550 °F) in an insulated storage tank. Calcium nitrate can reduce the melting point to 131 °C, permitting more energy to be extracted before the salt freezes. There are now several technical calcium nitrate grades stable at more than 500 °C.
This solar power system can generate power in cloudy weather or at night using the heat in the tank of hot salt. The tanks are insulated, able to store heat for a week. Tanks that power a 100-megawatt turbine for four hours would be about 9 m (30 ft) tall and 24 m (80 ft) in diameter.
The Andasol power plant in Spain is the first commercial solar thermal power plant using molten salt for heat storage and nighttime generation. It came on line March 2009. On July 4, 2011, a company in Spain celebrated an historic moment for the solar industry: Torresol’s 19.9 MW concentrating solar power plant became the first ever to generate uninterrupted electricity for 24 hours straight, using a molten salt heat storage.
In January 2019 Shouhang Energy Saving Dunhuang 100MW molten salt tower solar energy photothermal power station project was connected to grid and started operating. Its configuration includes an 11-hour molten salt heat storage system and can generate power consecutively for 24 hours.
Phase-change materials for storage
Phase Change Material (PCMs) offer an alternative solution in energy storage. Using a similar heat transfer infrastructure, PCMs have the potential of providing a more efficient means of storage. PCMs can be either organic or inorganic materials. Advantages of organic PCMs include no corrosives, low or no undercooling, and chemical and thermal stability. Disadvantages include low phase-change enthalpy, low thermal conductivity, and flammability. Inorganics are advantageous with greater phase-change enthalpy, but exhibit disadvantages with undercooling, corrosion, phase separation, and lack of thermal stability. The greater phase-change enthalpy in inorganic PCMs make hydrate salts a strong candidate in the solar energy storage field.
Use of water
A design which requires water for condensation or cooling may conflict with location of solar thermal plants in desert areas with good solar radiation but limited water resources. The conflict is illustrated by plans of Solar Millennium, a German company, to build a plant in the Amargosa Valley of Nevada which would require 20% of the water available in the area. Some other projected plants by the same and other companies in the Mojave Desert of California may also be affected by difficulty in obtaining adequate and appropriate water rights. California water law currently prohibits use of potable water for cooling.
Other designs require less water. The Ivanpah Solar Power Facility in south-eastern California conserves scarce desert water by using air-cooling to convert the steam back into water. Compared to conventional wet-cooling, this results in a 90% reduction in water usage at the cost of some loss of efficiency. The water is then returned to the boiler in a closed process which is environmentally friendly.
Electrical conversion efficiency
Of all of these technologies the solar dish/Stirling engine has the highest energy efficiency. A single solar dish-Stirling engine installed at Sandia National Laboratories National Solar Thermal Test Facility (NSTTF) produces as much as 25 kW of electricity, with a conversion efficiency of 31.25%.
Solar parabolic trough plants have been built with efficiencies of about 20%. Fresnel reflectors have a slightly lower efficiency (but this is compensated by the denser packing).
The gross conversion efficiencies (taking into account that the solar dishes or troughs occupy only a fraction of the total area of the power plant) are determined by net generating capacity over the solar energy that falls on the total area of the solar plant. The 500-megawatt (MW) SCE/SES plant would extract about 2.75% of the radiation (1 kW/m²; see Solar power for a discussion) that falls on its 4,500 acres (18.2 km²). For the 50 MW AndaSol Power Plant that is being built in Spain (total area of 1,300×1,500 m = 1.95 km²) gross conversion efficiency comes out at 2.6%.
Efficiency does not directly relate to cost: total cost includes the cost of construction and maintenance.
Standards
EN 12975 (efficiency test)
See also
Dover Sun House
Central solar heating
Energy tower (downdraft)
EnerWorks
List of solar thermal power stations
Ocean thermal energy conversion
Photovoltaic thermal hybrid solar collector
Solar power plants in the Mojave Desert
Solar tracker
Solar updraft tower
SolarPACES
Notes
References
External links
It's solar power's time to shine MSN Money
World's Largest Solar Thermal in Saudi Arabia
Onsite Renewable Technologies at United States Environmental Protection Agency website
Assessment of the World Bank/GEF Strategy for the Market Development of Concentrating Solar Thermal Power
Solar thermal energy calculator
Concentrating Solar Power An overview of the technology by Gerry Wolff, coordinator of TREC-UK
NREL Concentrating Solar Power Program Site
Comprehensive review of parabolic trough technology and markets
Nevada Gets First U.S. Solar Thermal Plant
Solar thermal and concentrated solar power barometer - 2013 Pdf
Solar Water Heating TechScope Market Readiness Assessment Report - UNEP
Guide for Solar Heating and Cooling Awareness-Raising Campaigns - UNEP
Guidelines for Standardization and Quality Assurance for Solar Thermal - UNEP
Guidelines for Solar Water Heating and Cooling Policy and Framework Conditions - UNEP
Solar Water Heating, a Strategic Planning Guide for Cities in Developing Countries - UNEP
Energy conversion
Renewable energy
|
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.