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1400_2 | Early years
Lincoln's parents were "Hard Shell" Baptists, joining the Little Pigeon Baptist Church near Lincoln City, Indiana, in 1823 when Abraham was 14 years old. In 1831, Lincoln moved to New Salem, which had no churches.
However, historian Mark Noll states that "Lincoln never joined a church nor ever made a clear profession of standard Christian belief."
Noll quotes Lincoln's friend Jesse Fell:
Noll argues Lincoln was turned against organized Christianity by his experiences as a young man witnessing how excessive emotion and bitter sectarian quarrels marked yearly camp meetings and the ministry of traveling preachers.
As a young man, Lincoln enjoyed reading the works of Thomas Paine. He drafted a pamphlet incorporating such ideas but did not publish it. After charges of hostility to Christianity almost cost him a congressional bid, he kept his unorthodox beliefs private. |
1400_3 | The one aspect of his parents' Calvinist religion that Lincoln apparently embraced wholeheartedly throughout his life was the "doctrine of necessity", also known as predestination, determinism, or fatalism.
It was almost always through these lenses that Lincoln assessed the meaning of the Civil War.
James Adams labeled Lincoln as a deist.
It has been reported that in 1834 he wrote a manuscript essay challenging orthodox Christianity modeled on Paine's book The Age of Reason, which a friend supposedly burned to protect him from ridicule.
According to biographer Rev. William Barton, Lincoln likely had written an essay something of this character, but it was not likely that it was burned in such a manner. William J. Johnson, New Salem schoolteacher Mentor Graham, with whom Lincoln boarded, reported in 1874 that the manuscript was "a defense of universal salvation." |
1400_4 | The existence of the manuscript influenced by Paine was originally described by Herndon in his biography on Lincoln. Harvey Lee Ross, mail carrier who lived in New Salem with Lincoln in 1834, asserts that this was a fictional story by Herndon. He states the following issues with the original biographer's account. Herndon was 16 years old in 1834 and lived 20 miles away in Springfield and did not have contact with Lincoln. There was no stove in Samuel Hill's store in 1834 where the manuscript was allegedly burned. There was not a copy of The Age of Reason on the bookshelf at the tavern where Herndon said Lincoln had read it. Finally, Ross states he was very well acquainted with everyone in the community of New Salem and he would have known about any conversations regarding a document of this nature. It is a reasonable conclusion that there was never a manuscript written and Paine was not a contributing factor in Lincoln's ideas towards religion. |
1400_5 | Noll writes, "At least early on, Lincoln was probably also a Universalist who believed in the eventual salvation of all people."
Lincoln was often perplexed by the attacks on his character by way of his religious choices. In a letter written to Martin M. Morris in 1843, Lincoln wrote:
In 1846, when Lincoln ran for Congress against Peter Cartwright, the noted evangelist, Cartwright tried to make Lincoln's religion or lack of it a major issue of the campaign. Responding to accusations that he was an "infidel", Lincoln defended himself, publishing a hand-bill to "directly contradict" the charge made against him. The declaration was released as follows: |
1400_6 | As Carl Sandburg recounts in Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years, Lincoln attended one of Cartwright's revival meetings. At the conclusion of the service, the fiery pulpiteer called for all who intended to go to heaven to rise. Naturally, the response was heartening. Then, he called for all those who wished to go to hell to stand. Unsurprisingly there were not many takers. Lincoln had responded to neither option. Cartwright closed in. "Mr. Lincoln, you have not expressed an interest in going to either heaven or hell. May I enquire as to where you do plan to go?" Lincoln replied: "I did not come here with the idea of being singled out, but since you ask, I will reply with equal candor. I intend to go to Congress." |
1400_7 | William Herndon, Lincoln's law partner, stated that Lincoln admired deists Thomas Paine and Voltaire. Herndon, an advocate of Darwin's, said Lincoln thought the works of authors like Darwin and Spencer "entirely too heavy for an ordinary mind to digest" but he read and was "interested ... greatly" in a book expounding on these ideas, "Vestiges of Creation", and he was "deeply impressed with the notion of the so-called 'universal law' — evolution ... and he became a warm advocate of the new doctrine."
Lincoln believed in God, but some said he doubted the idea that Christ is God. In a written statement to Herndon, James W. Keyes said Lincoln |
1400_8 | believed in a Creator of all things, who had neither beginning nor end, who possessing all power and wisdom, established a principal, in Obedience to which, Worlds move and are upheld, and animel and vegatable life came into existence. A reason he gave for his belief was, that in view of the Order and harmony of nature which all beheld, it would have been More miraculouis to have Come about by chance, than to have been created and arranged by some great thinking power.
Keyes also added that Lincoln once said
As to the christian theory, that, Christ is God, or equal to the Creator he said had better be taken for granted — for by the test of reason all might become infidels on that subject, for evidence of Christs divinity Came to us in somewhat doubtful Shape — but that the Sistom of Christianity was an ingenious one at least — and perhaps was Calculated to do good. |
1400_9 | During the White House years, Lincoln and his family often attended the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church, where the family pew he rented is marked by a plaque.
First Inaugural Address
On Monday, March 4, 1861, Lincoln delivered his first inaugural address, after the oath of office was administered by Chief Justice Roger Taney. Lincoln's speech addressed the national crisis of the southern secession from the union. Lincoln had hoped to resolve the conflict peacefully without a civil war. During the address, Lincoln stated "Intelligence, patriotism, Christianity, and a firm reliance on Him who has never yet forsaken this favored land are still competent to adjust in the best way all our present difficulty."
Later years
In 1862 and 1863, during the most difficult days of the Civil War and his presidency, Lincoln's utterances were sometimes marked with spiritual overtones.
1862: Bereavement and Emancipation |
1400_10 | On Thursday, February 20, 1862, at 5:00 p.m., Lincoln's eleven-year-old son, William Wallace Lincoln ("Willie"), died at the White House. Historians suggest that this may have been the most difficult personal crisis in Lincoln's life. After the funeral, he attempted a return to his routine but was unable. One week after the funeral, he isolated himself in his office and wept all day. Several people reported that Lincoln told them that his feelings about religion changed at this time. Willie is reported to have often remarked that he wanted to become a minister.
When his son died, Lincoln reportedly said, "May God live in all. He was too good for this earth. The good Lord has called him home. I know that he is much better off in Heaven." |
1400_11 | Spiritualism, popularly in vogue during this era, was tried by Lincoln's wife. She used the services of mediums and spiritualists to try to contact their dead son. Lincoln allegedly attended at least one seance at the White House at this time with his wife.
When Bishop Matthew Simpson gave the address at Lincoln's funeral he quoted him asking a soldier "Do you ever find yourself talking with the dead? Since Willie's death, I catch myself every day, involuntarily talking with him as if he were with me."
At the same time, the war was not going well for the Union. General George McClellan's failure in the Peninsula Campaign came about within months after Willie's death. Next came Robert E. Lee's impressive victory at the Second Battle of Bull Run, after which he said, "I have been driven many times upon my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go." |
1400_12 | According to Salmon Chase, as he was preparing to issue the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, Lincoln said, "I made a solemn vow before God, that if General Lee was driven back from Maryland I would crown the result by the declaration of freedom to the slaves." The differences in interpretation of Lincoln's statement may be due to the belief that "swearing or vowing" to God was considered blasphemous by some religious organizations.
At the same time, Lincoln sat down in his office and penned the following words: |
1400_13 | The will of God prevails. In great contests each party claims to act in accordance with the will of God. Both may be, and one must be, wrong. God cannot be for and against the same thing at the same time. In the present civil war it is quite possible that God's purpose is something different from the purpose of either party -- and yet the human instrumentalities, working just as they do, are of the best adaptation to effect His purpose. I am almost ready to say that this is probably true -- that God wills this contest, and wills that it shall not end yet. By his mere great power, on the minds of the now contestants, He could have either saved or destroyed the Union without a human contest. Yet the contest began. And, having begun He could give the final victory to either side any day. Yet the contest proceeds. |
1400_14 | This concept continued to dominate Lincoln's public remarks for the rest of the war. The same theological allegory was to be prominent in Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address in March 1865:
1863: Gettysburg
In late 1862 and early 1863 Lincoln would endure more agonies. The defeat of General Ambrose Burnside at Fredericksburg followed by the defeat of General Joseph Hooker at Chancellorsville sent Lincoln into a deep depression. "If there is a worse place than hell I am in it", Lincoln told Andrew Curtin in December 1862.
1863 was to be the year, however, in which the tide turned in favor of the Union. The Battle of Gettysburg in July 1863 was the first time that Lee was soundly defeated. Prompted by Sarah Josepha Hale, in the fall, Lincoln issued the first Federally mandated Thanksgiving Day to be kept on the last Thursday in November. Reflecting on the successes of the past year, Lincoln said, |
1400_15 | No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.
In December 1863, Lincoln's Secretary of the Treasury decided on a new motto, "In God We Trust", to engrave on U.S. coins. Lincoln's involvement in this decision is unclear. |
1400_16 | When a pious minister told Lincoln he "hoped the Lord is on our side", the president responded, "I am not at all concerned about that.... But it is my constant anxiety and prayer that I and this nation should be on the Lord's side."
In November 1863, Lincoln travelled to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, to participate in the dedication of the cemetery established there for the thousands of soldiers who died during the recent battle. There he gave his celebrated speech, the Gettysburg Address, wherein he hoped that the nation shall, "under God", have a new birth of freedom. The words "under God" may not have been in his written manuscript, but it is posited by some sources that he added them extemporaneously from the podium.
According to scholars, he may have drawn the expression from George Washington's hagiographer, Parson Weems. |
1400_17 | 1864
In 1864, some former slaves in Maryland presented Lincoln with a gift of a Bible. According to one report, Lincoln replied:
In regard to this great book, I have but to say, it is the best gift God has given to man. All the good the Saviour gave to the world was communicated through this book. But for it we could not know right from wrong. All things most desirable for man's welfare, here and hereafter, are to be found portrayed in it.
In response to the reported speech in Maryland, Lincoln's law partner Herndon remarked "I am aware of the fraud committed on Mr. Lincoln in reporting some insane remarks supposed to have been made by him, in 1864, on the presentation of a Bible to him by the colored people of Baltimore. No sane man ever uttered such folly, and no sane man will ever believe it." |
1400_18 | In September 1864, Lincoln, placing the Civil War squarely within a divine province, wrote in a letter to a member of the Society of Friends, "The purposes of the Almighty are perfect, and must prevail, though we erring mortals may fail accurately to perceive them in advance. We hoped for a happy termination of this terrible war long before this; but God knows best, and has ruled otherwise...we must work earnestly in the best light He gives us, trusting that so working still conduces to the great ends He ordains. Surely He intends some great good to follow this mighty convulsion, which no mortal could make, and no mortal could stay."
1865
On the day Lincoln was assassinated, he reportedly told his wife at Ford's Theatre that he wanted to visit the Holy Land and that "there was no place he so much desired to see as Jerusalem." |
1400_19 | Following Lincoln's assassination a memory book, The Lincoln Memorial Album—Immortelles, in which people could write their thoughts includes some comments on Lincoln's religion. One entry, written by a well-known Presbyterian minister, the Rev. John H. Barrows, claimed that Lincoln had become a Christian in 1863 but provided no evidence. He said:
In the anxious uncertainties of the great war, he gradually rose to the heights where Jehovah became to him the sublimest of realities, the ruler of nations....When darkness gathered over the brave armies fighting for the nation's life, this strong man in the early morning knelt and wrestled in prayer with Him who holds the fate of empires. When the clouds lifted above the carnage of Gettysburg, he gave his heart to the Lord Jesus Christ. |
1400_20 | The pastor of a church in Freeport, Illinois, in November 1864, said that a man from Illinois visited Lincoln in the White House and, after conducting other business, asked the president if he loved Jesus. The pastor said that Lincoln buried his face in his handkerchief as tears came to his eyes and then answered:
When I left home to take this chair of state, I requested my countrymen to pray for me. I was not then a Christian. When my son died, the severest trial of my life, I was not a Christian. But, when I went to Gettysburg and looked upon the graves of our dead heroes who had fallen in defense of their country, I then and there consecrated myself to Christ. Yes, I do love Jesus.
This quote appeared on page one of the Freeport Weekly Journal on December 7, 1864. |
1400_21 | This has been portrayed to have been Lincoln's "reply" to this unnamed Illinois minister when asked if he loved Jesus. Some versions of this have Lincoln using the word "crosses" instead of "graves", and some have him saying "Christ" instead of "Jesus". William Eleazar Barton quotes this version in The Soul of Abraham Lincoln (1920), but further writes: |
1400_22 | This incident must have appeared in print immediately after Lincoln's death, for I find it quoted in memorial addresses of May, 1865. Mr. Oldroyd has endeavored to learn for me in what paper he found it and on whose authority it rests, but without result. He does not remember where he found it. It is inherently improbable, and rests on no adequate testimony. It ought to be wholly disregarded. The earliest reference I have found to the story in which Lincoln is alleged to have said to an unnamed Illinois minister, "I do love Jesus" is in a sermon preached in the Baptist Church of Oshkosh, Wisconsin, April 19, 1865, by Rev. W.W. Whitcomb, which was published in the Oshkosh Northwestern, April 21, 1865, and in 1907 issued in pamphlet form by John E. Burton. |
1400_23 | Allen C. Guelzo wrote that "Given that Lincoln never made any such profession publicly to anyone else, the account itself is dubious," though he added that Lincoln's wife is quoted as saying that "he felt religious More than Ever about the time he went to Gettysburg.”
After his assassination
Following Lincoln's assassination, there were competing biographies, some claiming Lincoln had been a Christian and others that he had been a non-believer. In 1872, Colonel Ward Hill Lamon published his Life of Abraham Lincoln; From his Birth to his Inauguration as President using interviews and correspondences collected by William Herndon, Lincoln's law partner in Springfield. Lamon had also been a law partner with Lincoln in Illinois, from 1852 until 1857, and later was Lincoln's personal bodyguard in Washington. Lamon's biography stated that Lincoln did not himself believe in the divinity of Jesus, and that several who knew him as a young man described him as an "infidel". |
1400_24 | Mary Todd Lincoln strongly disagreed with the portrayal of her husband. She may have enlisted people such as Rev. Noyes W. Miner to testify to Lincoln's faith. Miner lived across the street from the Lincolns in Springfield, Illinois, and Lincoln was known to visit with Miner, a Baptist minister. Miner was also one of the ministers who officiated at the burial of Abraham Lincoln. Miner wrote, Lincoln "believed not only in the overwhelming Providence of God, but in the divinity of the Sacred Scriptures." Miner also related the story that on the night he was assassinated, Lincoln supposedly told Mary that he desired to visit the Holy Land.
Rev. James Armstrong Reed, in preparing his 1873 lectures on the religion of Lincoln, asked a number of people if there was any evidence of Lincoln being an "infidel" in his later life. The reply from Phineas Gurley, pastor of the same New York Avenue Presbyterian Church while Lincoln was an attender, to Reed's question was: |
1400_25 | I do not believe a word of it. It could not have been true of him while here, for I have had frequent and intimate conversations with him on the subject of the Bible and the Christian religion, when he could have had no motive to deceive me, and I considered him sound not only on the truth of the Christian religion but on all its fundamental doctrines and teaching. And more than that: in the latter days of his chastened and weary life, after the death of his son Willie, and his visit to the battle-field of Gettysburg, he said, with tears in his eyes, that he had lost confidence in everything but God, and that he now believed his heart was changed, and that he loved the Saviour, and, if he was not deceived in himself, it was his intention soon to make a profession of religion.
Noah Brooks, a newspaperman, and a friend and biographer of Lincoln's, in reply to Reed's inquiry if there was any truth to claims that Lincoln was an "infidel", stated: |
1400_26 | In addition to what has appeared from my pen, I will state that I have had many conversations with Mr. Lincoln, which were more or less of a religious character, and while I never tried to draw anything like a statement of his views from him, yet he freely expressed himself to me as having 'a hope of blessed immortality through Jesus Christ.' His views seemed to settle so naturally around that statement, that I considered no other necessary. His language seemed not that of an inquirer, but of one who had a prior settled belief in the fundamental doctrines of the Christian religion. Once or twice, speaking to me of the change which had come upon him, he said, while he could not fix any definite time, yet it was after he came here, and I am very positive that in his own mind he identified it with about the time of Willie's death. He said, too, that after he went to the White House he kept up the habit of daily prayer. Sometimes he said it was only ten words, but those ten words he had. |
1400_27 | There is no possible reason to suppose that Mr. Lincoln would ever deceive me as to his religious sentiments. In many conversations with him, I absorbed the firm conviction that Mr. Lincoln was at heart a Christian man, believed in the Savior, and was seriously considering the step which would formally connect him with the visible church on earth. Certainly, any suggestion as to Mr. Lincoln's skepticism or Infidelity, to me who knew him intimately from 1862 till the time of his death, is a monstrous fiction -- a shocking perversion. |
1400_28 | According to an affidavit signed under oath in Essex County, New Jersey, February 15, 1928, by Mrs. Sidney I. Lauck, then a very old woman: "After Mr. Lincoln's death, Dr. Gurley told me that Mr. Lincoln had made all the necessary arrangements with him and the Session of the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church to be received into the membership of the said church, by confession of his faith in Christ, on the Easter Sunday following the Friday night when Mr. Lincoln was assassinated." Mrs. Lauck was, she said, about thirty years of age at the time of the assassination.
While this is possible, Dr. Gurley did not mention anything about Lincoln's impending membership at the funeral in the White House, in which he delivered the sermon that has been preserved, nor in his reply to Reed (above). |
1400_29 | Francis Bicknell Carpenter, the author of Six Months in the White House, told Reed that he "believed Mr. Lincoln to be a sincere Christian" and reported that Lincoln had told a woman from Brooklyn in the United States Christian Commission that he had had "a change of heart" and intended "at some suitable opportunity to make a profession of religion".
Rev. Madison Clinton Peters, in his 1909 biography wrote, "That he was a true and sincere Christian, in fact, if not in form, is fully proved by many extracts from his letters and public utterances."
Quotations attributed to Mrs. Lincoln seem inconsistent. She wrote to Reverend Smith, the pastor in Springfield: "When too - the overwhelming sorrow came upon us, our beautiful bright angelic boy, Willie was called away from us, to his Heavenly Home, with God's chastising hand upon us - he turned his heart to Christ." |
1400_30 | But Ward Lamon claimed that Mary Lincoln said to William Herndon: "Mr. Lincoln had no hope and no faith in the usual acceptance of these words".
and Herndon claimed she told him that "Mr. Lincoln's maxim and philosophy were, 'What is to be, will be, and no prayers of ours can arrest the decree.' He never joined any church. He was a religious man always, I think, but was not a technical Christian."
However, Mary Lincoln utterly denied these quotes, insisting that Herndon had "put those words in her mouth." She wrote,
With very great sorrow & natural indignation have I read of Mr Herndon, placing words in my mouth--never once uttered. I remember the call he made on me for a few minutes at the [St. Nicholas] hotel as he mentions, your welcome entrance a quarter of an hour afterward, naturally prevented a further interview with him. Mr Herndon, had always been an utter stranger to me, he was not considered an habitué, at our house. |
1400_31 | Herndon's reply to these accusations was never answered. |
1400_32 | John Remsburg (1848–1919), President of the American Secular Union in 1897, argued against claims of Lincoln's conversion in his book Six Historic Americans (1906). He cites several of Lincoln's close associates:
The man who stood nearest to President Lincoln at Washington—nearer than any clergyman or newspaper correspondent—was his private secretary, Col. John G. Nicolay. In a letter dated May 27, 1865, Colonel Nicolay says: "Mr. Lincoln did not, to my knowledge, in any way change his religious ideas, opinions, or beliefs from the time he left Springfield to the day of his death."
His lifelong friend and executor, Judge David Davis, affirmed the same: "He had no faith in the Christian sense of the term." |
1400_33 | His biographer, Colonel Lamon, intimately acquainted with him in Illinois, and with him during all the years that he lived in Washington, says: "Never in all that time did he let fall from his lips or his pen an expression which remotely implied the slightest faith in Jesus as the son of God and the Savior of men." Both Lamon and Herndon published biographies of their former colleague after his assassination relating their personal recollections of him. Each denied Lincoln's adherence to Christianity and characterized his religious beliefs as deist or skeptical. |
1400_34 | 1866
In a letter held by The Raab Collection dated February 4, 1866, William Herndon wrote that: |
1400_35 | Mr. Lincoln's religion is too well known to me to allow of even a shadow of a doubt; he is or was a Theist & a Rationalist, denying all extraordinary - supernatural inspiration or revelation. At one time in his life, he was an elevated Pantheist, doubting the immortality of the soul as the Christian world understands that term. He believed that the soul lost its identity and was immortal as a force. Subsequent to this he rose to the belief of a God, and this is all the change he ever underwent. I speak knowing what I say. He was a noble man- a good great man for all this. My own ideas of God- his attributes - man, his destiny, & the relations of the two, are tinged with Mr. Lincoln's religion. I cannot, for the poor life of me, see why men dodge the sacred truth of things. In my poor lectures I stick to the truth and bide my time. I love Mr. Lincoln dearly, almost worship him, but that can't blind me. He's the purest politician I ever saw, and the justest man. I am scribbling- that's |
1400_36 | the word- away on a life of Mr. Lincoln- gathering known- authentic & true facts of him. Excuse the liberties I have taken with you- hope you won't have a fight with Johnson. Is he turning out a fool - a Tyler? He must go with God if he wants to be a living and vital power. |
1400_37 | Modern views
In Lincoln: A Life of Purpose and Power (2006), Richard Carwardine of Oxford University highlights Lincoln's considerable ability to rally evangelical Northern Protestants to the flag by nourishing the millennial belief that they were God's chosen people. Historian Allen C. Guelzo notes: "This was no mean feat, coming from a man who had been suspected of agnosticism or atheism for most of his life. Yet by the end, while still a religious skeptic, Lincoln, too, seemed to equate the preservation of the Union and the freeing of the slaves with some higher, mystical purpose."
Guelzo, director of Civil War Era Studies at Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania, published Abraham Lincoln: Redeemer President in 1999. Guelzo argues that Lincoln's boyhood inculcation of Calvinism was the dominant thread running through his adult life. He characterizes Lincoln's worldview as a kind of "Calvinized Deism". |
1400_38 | A Bible that belonged to President Abraham Lincoln resurfaced 150 years after his death. The Bible was gifted to President Lincoln by the Citizens Volunteer Hospital of Philadelphia on June 16, 1864. It was then passed on to his neighbor Rev. Noyes W. Miner by the first lady Mary Lincoln on October 15, 1872. Miner's family has passed the keepsake down from generation to generation and recently donated the Bible for the public to see. Another Bible owned by Lincoln was used by both former President Obama and President Trump at their inaugurations.
Notes
Further reading
Essay "The Religious Beliefs of Abraham Lincoln"
External links
The Puzzling Faith of Abraham Lincoln - essay by Mark Noll
Religion
Lincoln, Abraham
Lincoln, Abraham |
1401_0 | School of Rock (formerly known as The Paul Green School of Rock Music) is a music education program. This for-profit educational company operates and franchises after-school music instruction schools in the United States, Canada, South America, South Africa, Mexico, Australia and the Philippines. School of Rock currently has 260 open locations in nine countries serving more than 30,000 students. |
1401_1 | Though they offer a pre-school introduction to music for children age two through six, the majority of their students are in a performance-based program where students are accepted at any skill level, with the goal getting them on stage, playing a concert before a paying audience. The most skilled students in each school form a band and play concerts in their city, and the top students from each school compete to become a member of an "All-Star" band and tour regionally. They have recently expanded to offering career development for working bands, and "Grad School" for adult amateur musicians. Successful musicians occasionally serve as "Guest Professors" and perform with the students. |
1401_2 | History
Paul Green began giving traditional individual music lessons in his home in 1996. He invited a group of his students to sit in, or "jam", with his own band with disappointing results. But by the third week, he found that the students who played in a group had advanced much more than the students who received only traditional solo instruction. He modified his teaching method to supplement traditional instruction with group practice, with the goal of putting on a concert. He compared it to the difference between "...shooting hoops and playing basketball". In 1999, the most advanced students played their first public concert at an art gallery. The positive response to the live performances prompted Green to trade guitar lessons for public relations and marketing with Deanna Stull. Stull later became the entrepreneurial startup consultant for the creation of the 1320 Race Street school. |
1401_3 | He took out a loan for $7000 in 2002 and established a permanent location for the first Paul Green School of Rock Music in a dilapidated building at 1320 Race St, Philadelphia that has since been demolished. The location had a number of small rooms for individual instrumental instruction as well as larger performance spaces for full band practices. Spin magazine sent Smashing Pumpkins guitarist James Iha to profile Green and the school for the May 2002 issue.
Green chose to name the school after himself to avoid confusion with the Herbie Hancock television program and to use his measure of local fame, but always referred to the program as "Rock School" and answered the phone using the phrase. Additionally, Green established the domain SchoolofRock.com in 2001, first archived 24 May 2002. |
1401_4 | In 2002, a crew from the Viacom television channel VH1 filmed for four days at the Philadelphia location for a proposed reality TV series. After the shoot, the producers stopped returning Green's phone calls. In January 2003 filmmakers Don Argott and Sheena M. Joyce attended a concert by the students, and decided to make a documentary about the school five minutes after the concert started. |
1401_5 | They met with Green the next day and began shooting video one day later, intending to follow an entire school year. Midway through the nine months of shooting what became Rock School, they learned that the Viacom movie studio Paramount would be releasing a fictional film to be called School of Rock featuring Jack Black as Dewey Finn, a would-be rock star teaching children to play rock music. Many critics claimed that Black's characterization was based on Green's man-child persona though screenwriter Mike White claimed that he had "...never heard of Paul Green before". Green preferred the documentary, saying it "...opened a lot of other doors, corporate partnerships, and given us access to the rock stars that we play with. It was like Jack Black was the nationwide commercial for us and our movie was the industry cred." He considered a lawsuit, but decided against it, reasoning that the School benefited from the film saying "I considered suing, but what are you going to do? It's better, |
1401_6 | in a karmic sense, to just reap the rewards." |
1401_7 | In 2002 Green had more than 100 students, and in order to maintain an acceptable student to teacher ratio, opened an additional location in Downingtown, Pennsylvania. Expansion continued in counties around Philadelphia, then into southern New Jersey and Delaware. Green's dentist, Dr. Joseph Roberts, became chairman of the Board of the School and provided funding to expand to San Francisco, New York City, Austin, and Salt Lake City. |
1401_8 | Green was bought out in 2009 by investor Sterling Partners and the management team he had brought in, headed by former Clear Channel executive Matt Ross. Ross remained CEO until 2010, managing the company's expansion and private equity acquisition, when he was replaced as CEO by former McDonald's Ventures executive Chris Catalano, who had previously led the expansion their Chipotle and Redbox businesses. The name was shortened to School of Rock. In January 2012, the headquarters relocated from New Jersey to the Chicago suburb of Burr Ridge with a staff of 14, and an additional 11 employees in Denver. The company has 1,500 part-time employees, primarily music instructors in its owned and franchised locations.
In June 2014, Catalano was replaced with Dzana Homan, who had been Chief Operating Officer of the Goddard School child care centers, and had previous experience as CEO of Huntington Learning Centers and Futurekids. |
1401_9 | In April 2006, Guitar Player magazine publisher MPN announced a quarterly School of Rock magazine intended to focus on classic rock and musical tips for readers age twelve to eighteen. It lasted less than a year, closing during a contraction of the publishing industry.
Green's non-compete agreement expired in 2013, and he announced plans to open a Paul Green Rock Academy in Woodstock, NY to serve ages 8 to 18, as well as a Woodstock College of Music in Ulster County with Woodstock Music Festival promoter Michael Lang.
Franchising
The CNN Money website featured School of Rock as one of their Five Hot Franchises on 12 February 2013, stating that there are "more than 10,000 kids enrolled in 105 locations in 31 states, as well as Mexico." A January 2014 profile of CEO Dzana Homan in Entrepreneur magazine increased that number to "more than 145 School of Rock franchises in eight countries".
The company has plans to grow to more than 180 locations worldwide by the end of 2015. |
1401_10 | 25 of the locations were owned by the company as of 16 December 2012, the rest by franchisees. Purchasing a franchise requires an initial investment of $137,350 to $304,100 according to a review by Entrepreneur magazine that ranked it #211 of their 2013 Top 500 Franchise Opportunities, up from #289 in 2012, and #318 in 2011. This estimate includes a renewable ten-year franchise fee of $49,500. The franchisee also pays an 8% annual royalty fee, and is required to have a net worth of $300,000, and $100,000 cash available. Each location will require from 14 to 21 employees. The majority of the employees are music teachers who are also working musicians. |
1401_11 | The franchisee receives training in running the business, IT support including a website, assistance with real estate selection and designing the franchise location, grand opening and on-going marketing support, discounts on music equipment and a protected territory. The IT support includes access to a customized task management and internal social productivity site.
The majority of the schools are in dedicated locations, although in January 2013, the company announced that they intend to expand their program to co-locate with music retailers, who are having difficulty competing with online retailers and frequently have surplus floor space. The Charlotte, North Carolina, location was the model, being co-located in a Sam Ash Music store but has since moved to a new location.
Curriculum |
1401_12 | The schools operate year-round, offering a variety of programs. During the school year, they function as an after-school program, and during summer, winter and spring breaks they offer a day camp for intensive instruction.
The Burnsville, Minnesota, location originated an early childhood music education known as "Little Wing", after the Jimi Hendrix song. Children age two to three participate with a parent in the "Rockin' Robin" class, and children age four to six participate as part of a drop-off class known as "Free Bird". The program of 45-minute sessions is being rolled out to other locations.
At age seven, students can begin weekly lessons in the instrument of their choice in "Rock 101" classes. Once a student has basic competence in an instrument, they can move to the "Performance Program" where they have a weekly one-on-one private lesson and three hours weekly of group band rehearsal that culminates in a concert before an audience. |
1401_13 | The most skilled students of each school form a band and perform at various venues in their city, opening for established regional and national acts. The top 1% of each school can audition to become an AllStar. Many schools have songwriting and recording programs as well. In 2011 they introduced two new programs – "Band Coaching" for existing bands to improve aspects of their performance and Epic Albums" where students spend three to four months recording their own version of Nirvana's Nevermind, Radiohead's OK Computer, Led Zeppelin IV, Green Day's Dookie and Black Sabbath's Master of Reality. |
1401_14 | Most School instructors are working musicians with ongoing careers in rock music and a number are graduates of the program. Instructors are encouraged to stress the fundamentals of both popular music and music theory, using songs from popular bands and artists like Led Zeppelin, The Who, Pink Floyd, and music from genres such as 1980s glam metal, punk rock, and grunge. The teachers generally specialize in a single instrument, though many have skills in additional instruments and students are encouraged to learn multiple instruments. Instruction is available in electric guitar, bass guitar, drums, keyboards, and vocals.
The students are paired with others of similar abilities to form bands, and assigned a band coach. Dependence upon their peers is credited with being more effective than their own parents at ensuring practice discipline. |
1401_15 | There are occasional "Guest Professor" workshops featuring accomplished musicians, which include discussions about past experiences, songwriting, live performance, and handling fame. Previous guest professors include Jon Anderson, Earl Slick, Dave Stewart, Mike Watt, former Santana drummer Michael Shrieve Peter Frampton, Roger Waters, Jackson Browne and Zack Wylde The guest may also spend time assisting the students on their technique and may perform a concert with the students.
Various locations have launched a "Grad School" program for those older than 18 who wish to participate in a performance based music education program. Five weeks of 45-minute private lessons are followed by 10 weeks of professionally guided two-hour rehearsals leading up to a pair of full length concerts. |
1401_16 | Locations take advantage of regional opportunities. In 2014 School of Rock Chicago launched Rock City Camp: An Opera of Rock in cooperation with The Second City to create an original stage production to be performed at the Athenaeum Theatre. In 2014, they again cooperated to produce a production of Tommy by The Who. The Portland location has an annual concert of music by Portland bands called Best! of Portland. Every song in the 2014 edition of the show featured a member of the original band, including The Thermals and Typhoon. |
1401_17 | In 2012, the School branched out with a variation on the traditional Catskill Mountains summer camp with Metal Camp: Mayhem in the Mountains, an intensive week-long event for musicians age 12 to 18, leading up to a concert. The Guest Professors for the 2012 event were "Metal" Mike Chlasciak - guitarist with Halford, Sebastian Bach and Testament, a teacher at the Chatham location and Jason McMaster - bassist with Watchtower, Dangerous Toys and Ignitor who teaches at the School of Rock Austin. Chlasciak was again the Guest Professor. Time Out: New York ranked it as one of the best summer camps for kids near New York City.
Fees vary depending on program participation and school location, but it is in the range of "a couple hundred dollars a month." As of May 2012, enrollment at the Wichita, Kansas location started at $225 a month, and $250 a month at the Cleveland location as of July 2012. The School has partnered with MySafeSchool to ensure the safety of their students. |
1401_18 | In August 2010, Wendy Winks and Carl Restivo, the former heads of the Hollywood branch, formed The Rock School Scholarship Fund, a tax-deductible 501(c)3 charitable organization to provide instruments and tuition for deserving students of any rock music school in the United States.
Performances
The school has "the ultimate goal of performing live in front of real crowds" and the official motto of the school is "To inspire the world to rock…on stage and in life". The founder of the school stated in the documentary about the school "Don't come to watch kids play music. Come to watch kids play music well". |
1401_19 | The School year consists of up to three seasons, each composed of up to five different theme shows (depending on the size of the branch). Each show is dedicated to a particular artist, band, genre, time period or historical event. Although some shows are more technically demanding, students can sign up for any show no matter what the age or skill level (although approval by the show's director is occasionally required). Shows usually consist of 20 to 25 songs chosen by the show's director (usually one of the teachers at the school) to make a ninety-minute concert. Three-hour rehearsals are held every week in preparation. The shows are performed at local clubs twice, usually on Friday and Saturday nights, and sometimes Saturday night and Sunday afternoon; however, some of the schools have their own venue for performances. Tickets are sold to defray the rental cost of the venue, usually for $10. |
1401_20 | Previously performed shows across all School of Rock locations include Rush vs. Dream Theater, Metallica's Master of Puppets, Big Four of Thrash Metal, Classic metal, Indie Rock, The Black Keys vs. The White Stripes, Black Sabbath, Santana, Ozzfest, Bonaroo, Warped Tour, Best Show Ever! progressive rock, The Allman Brothers Band, Guns N' Roses vs. Mötley Crüe, Hair Metal, Guns N' Roses vs. Aerosmith, Corporate Rock, Led Zeppelin, Queen, The Beatles, Metallica, Iron Maiden vs. Metallica, King Crimson, Jimi Hendrix, The 27 Club, Devo, Van Halen, Pink Floyd's The Wall, Punk and Reggae, Funk & Soul, Thrash Metal, Radiohead, Muse vs. Radiohead, Eagles vs. Fleetwood Mac, Rocky Horror vs. Hedwig, AC/DC, Best of the 80s/90s/00s, Punk rock, The Clash vs Ramones, Jesus Christ Superstar, The Who's Tommy, British Invasion, Iron Maiden vs. Judas Priest, Frank Zappa, Old School Blues, Women Who Rock, British Rock, The Doors, Grunge, Alice in Chains vs Pearl Jam, Guitar Gods, Yes, Dave Grohl vs Jack |
1401_21 | White, Rush, Red Hot Chili Peppers, David Bowie, Prince, Prince vs Michael Jackson, Green Day, The Clash, The Police, Talking Heads, CBGB, Bruce Springsteen, Motown, The Last Waltz and many more. |
1401_22 | Some locations produce a Best of Season show that is a compilation of songs from previous shows, usually to raise tuition for a scholarship. Locations are a mixture of franchised and company-operated, some having been established as independent entities prior to the founding of the Paul Green School of Rock Music and maintain their own traditions and values.
Five Dallas, Texas School of Rock locations will be performing at various Deep Ellum locations over Memorial Day weekend as part of the 3rd annual Rockstravaganza. More than 500 students will be performing as part of 80 bands. Venues are Trees, Club Dada, Boiler Room, Liquid Lounge, and 3 Links beginning 14 April 2013. |
1401_23 | On 28 June 2013, the multi-day Gemba competition was launched at Milwaukee's Summerfest music festival. Bands from 200 School of Rock locations traveled to compete in a Battle of Bands. The 2013 edition was judged by Slim Jim Phantom of Stray Cats, David Bowie guitarist Earl Slick, Jim Peterik of Survivor and The Ides of March, Bruce Kulick of Kiss, "Metal" Mike Chlasciak of Rob Halford's band, Eric Bloom of Blue Öyster Cult and Nathan Willett & Matt Maust of the Cold War Kids. The 2013 competition was won by the Seattle School of Rock. |
1401_24 | AllStars
The School of Rock AllStars is a select group of students comprising the top .1 percent of the students in the program, selected via an audition process where the student submits a five-minute video clip. The student answers four questions: "What is your favorite thing about School of Rock?", "What is your best School of Rock moment?", "How has music changed your life", and "Why do you want to be an AllStar". They must also include a performance of one Led Zeppelin, Beatles, or Rolling Stones song, and one solo song of their own choice. Originally, there was a single national AllStars team, but since expanding the number of schools, there are AllStar teams for seven different regions to keep tour length manageable. Applicants to represent a particular region are selected by the music directors of School location from a different region. |
1401_25 | Once chosen, the students practice together during the school holiday period. They tour such venues as B.B. King's in Times Square, The Knitting Factory and Whisky a Go Go in Los Angeles and New York City, The Roxy and Crash Mansion in Los Angeles, Stubbs in Austin, various Hard Rock Cafes and House of Blues, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and many of the biggest festivals in the country such as Lollapalooza, Summerfest and Austin City Limits.
The 2010 AllStars tour was billed as "Live-Aid Remade" with a set list drawn from the original Live Aid concert 25 years previously. The 2011 AllStars "Rock The House" tour was a benefit for Ronald McDonald House Charities. The 21 city 2012 AllStars tour was a benefit for the Love Hope Strength Foundation and included multiple dates at Milwaukee's Summerfest, Connecticut's Gathering of the Vibes and the Van's Warped Tour. |
1401_26 | They often tour and play with successful rock musicians, such as the Butthole Surfers, Slash, Les Paul, Brendon Small, LeAnn Rimes, Perry Farrell, Jon Anderson, Peter Frampton, Eddie Vedder, Alice Cooper, Adrian Belew, Napoleon Murphy Brock, Stewart Copeland, John Wetton, Jeff "Skunk" Baxter, Ike Willis, and Ann Wilson. Students have performed with Roger Waters' on his 2010 tour of The Wall.
The 2013 AllStars list was announced 1 April 2013 and included 153 performers from across the United States and Mexico. The performers were assembled into six bands, and played multiple dates including all the days of both Gathering of the Vibes and Lollapalooza festivals. The tour was once again a benefit for the Love Hope Strength Foundation. |
1401_27 | Eric Svalgard, a teacher at Green's original School of Rock location and owner of the Wilmington, DE location, assembled a special "Z Team" from nine School of Rock locations to travel to Bad Doberon, Germany to play the 25th Zappanale, a festival of music by and associated with Frank Zappa. The Z Team both opened and closed the show.
Notable graduates
Chicago School graduate Michael Weisman was competing in the second season of the Oxygen reality TV series The Glee Project. On the next-to-last episode of the series that aired 7 August 2012 he was eliminated from the competition. |
1401_28 | Two of Paul Green's first group of students were siblings Eric and Julie Slick, who became the drummer and bassist of the Adrian Belew Power Trio, after they played with Belew during his Guest Professor gig at the Philadelphia School in 2006. Eric Slick is also the drummer of the band Dr. Dog. Belew said in a profile in Guitar Player magazine that "These kids give me energy, and make me feel young all over again. They really inspire me to create, and we're just starting."
Philadelphia student C.J. Tywoniak appeared in the film Rock of Ages as the guitarist in the band Wolfgang Von Colt. Fellow Philadelphia student Madi Diaz's songs have appeared in the television shows Drop Dead Diva and Army Wives, and was named by Paste magazine as one of the Top 10 Buzziest Acts of SXSW 2009. Both were featured in the documentary film Rock School. |
1401_29 | Chicago student Luke Sangerman is the youngest person to become a permanent performer with the Blue Man Group, beating 150 professionals in an open audition for the Chicago production at age 16.
The Los Angeles location's House Band was the backing band for the "Rock Music" episode of the American television program Dancing with the Stars in 2012.
Dallas student Dalton Rapattoni finished 3rd on the fifteenth season of American Idol and was part of the band IM5.
Boulder student Halle Tomlinson appeared on the 11th season of The Voice. She joined Alicia Keys' team and was eliminated in the battle rounds. |
1401_30 | New Canaan student, Dante Melucci, was cast as Freddy Hamilton, in School of Rock: The Musical on Broadway. He played the drummer in the original cast from previews until 8 May 2016. In the summer of 2015, School of Rock West LA multi-instrumentalist student Jersey Sullivan was cast as James (Security) in School of Rock: The Musical on Broadway. Sullivan also starred as Zack (Guitarist) while the regular cast member was away.
Roslyn, New York student, Madison Beer, a singer, performed with the program at age 13 and was discovered by Justin Bieber on YouTube just three years later at age 16.
Lydia Night met members of her bands Pretty Little Demons (Marlhy Murphy) and The Regrettes (Genessa Gariano, Sage Chavis, Maxx Morando) during their attendance at The School of Rock. |
1401_31 | Sandy, Utah student Maddie Rice, guitarist, has twice toured with K-Pop star Taeyang, occasionally performs with Rubblebucket, and is a member of the house band, Jon Batiste and Stay Human, on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
Fellow student, Nick Petty, guitarist, has toured with second place American Idol finisher, David Archuleta.
References
External links
School of Rock official website |
1401_32 | Companies based in Cook County, Illinois
Franchises
Educational institutions established in 1998
For-profit music schools in the United States
Music schools in California
Music schools in Colorado
Music schools in Connecticut
Music schools in Delaware
Music schools in Florida
Music schools in Georgia (U.S. state)
Music schools in Idaho
Music schools in Illinois
Music schools in Massachusetts
Music schools in Maryland
Music schools in Michigan
Music schools in Minnesota
Music schools in Missouri
Music schools in North Carolina
Music schools in Nebraska
Music schools in New Jersey
Music schools in New York (state)
Music schools in Ohio
Music schools in Oregon
Music schools in Pennsylvania
Music schools in Tennessee
Music schools in Texas
Music schools in Utah
Music schools in Virginia
Music schools in Washington (state)
Music schools in Wisconsin
Music schools in Mexico
1998 establishments in Pennsylvania |
1402_0 | George Wendell Pace (born 1929, died November 7, 2020) was an American professor of religion at Brigham Young University (BYU) in Provo, Utah. He was a popular writer and speaker on religion in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and part of a public criticism voiced by Apostle Bruce R. McConkie in 1982.
Biography
Pace was one of twelve children born to Agnes Judd and Presley D. Pace in Burley, Idaho. He was raised in the town, where his father served as Sheriff for 16 years. As a young man and a member of the LDS Church, Pace served a proselyting mission in western Canada.
In the late 1940s Pace studied at Utah State Agricultural College in Logan, where he also ran cross-country. While later attending BYU, Pace met and married Diane Carman of Portland, Oregon, with whom he would have 12 children. |
1402_1 | In the LDS Church, Pace would serve in various callings throughout his life, including as a Sunday School teacher in Provo, Utah, a high councilor, a branch president at the Missionary Training Center, a stake presidency councilor, and a stake president.
He passed away from complications related to COVID-19 on November 7th, 2020 at his residence in Provo, Utah.
Career
Pace had decided to teach LDS religion after several spiritual experiences. After graduating from BYU in Political Science, he returned to his hometown of Burley to teach LDS Seminary in 1956, living on the family farm. |
1402_2 | In 1961 Pace was appointed as the first director of the Institute of Religion adjacent to Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado, where he then completed his master's degree. In 1964 Pace became director of the Institute in Palo Alto, California, adjacent to Stanford University. Pace was accepted into the religion faculty at BYU in 1967 and completed his master's degree in 1968 and his doctorate in religious education in 1976.
As one of the most popular BYU professors, next to Stephen Covey, Pace regularly drew attendees larger than his actual class size. In 1978, BYU students named him Professor of the Year and he was known for spending large amounts of time helping students. Pace was also a popular speaker in BYU's Education Week and Know Your Religion programs, and had several motivational talks recorded and sold on cassette tapes. |
1402_3 | Pace was one of the few BYU faculty to vigorously oppose the appointment of Leonard J. Arrington as the LDS Church's historian; Arrington was the first Church Historian with professional academic qualifications and to not also hold a high place in the ecclesiastical hierarchy. In September 1976, with Apostle Ezra Taft Benson's assistant William Nelson, Pace wrote an anonymous critique of The Story of the Latter-day Saints as insufficiently reverential, which Benson and Mark E. Petersen then used to attack Arrington specifically and the professional attitude of the history department generally in a meeting with the first presidency on Sept 21st. It was decided that the volume would not be advertised by the church-owned publisher, Deseret Book, and all future manuscripts of the department must be read by an apostle before publication. Howard W. Hunter was in charge of the History Department at the time, resented being circumvented, and privately told Arrington he felt that Benson and |
1402_4 | Petersen's suggestion of concealing historical fact and adopting a uniformly providentialist point-of-view would have been "unethical and immoral" in a court of law. On November 24, Arrington learned that president Spencer W. Kimball had read the entire book himself, found nothing objectionable, and quietly removed all restrictions on marketing or endorsing the book. |
1402_5 | McConkie criticism
In 1982, Bruce R. McConkie, an apostle in the LDS Church, presented a televised sermon at BYU that was interpreted by some as an attack on Pace's book, What It Means to Know Christ. In his sermon, McConkie did not mention Pace or his book by name, though he excerpted a quote which he called "plain sectarian nonsense", and warned against developing a special spiritual relationship with Jesus Christ, apart from the Holy Ghost and God the Father. McConkie felt this was a "gospel hobby" that could lead to "an unwholesome holier-than-thou attitude" or "despondence". McConkie said he didn't intend to "downgrade" Jesus, but to teach true doctrine and warn his audience. McConkie later claimed he wasn't singling out or specifically thinking of Pace, but was warning against a general trend of "extreme behavior" of born-again type experiences. |
1402_6 | According to his son, Pace was personally devastated and saw this as a public condemnation and rebuke. He removed his book from the market, was released from his church position as stake president, and had a dramatic drop in class enrollment. Pace issued a formal apology in which he stated that his opinions may be misinterpreted, and he was glad that McConkie had clarified the issues. Pace wanted "to stay in the mainstream of the Church" and remain loyal to its leadership. In contrast, Pace's son cited the controversy as disillusioning him toward his religious leaders and motivating him to leave the LDS Church.
Some have speculated that McConkie was reprimanded for downplaying Christ's importance and was asked to reemphasize Jesus in his future teachings.
Afterward |
1402_7 | After the fallout from the McConkie incident, Pace still retained his BYU religious professorship and served in leadership positions in the church. He served for a time as a professor at the BYU Jerusalem Center. Remembered as an effective teacher, in 2000 BYU Magazine printed his nomination for professor of the century. In the early 2000s Pace and his wife were overseeing BYU's China Teachers Program, which arranges for retired educators from BYU to teach at Chinese universities. |
1402_8 | Pace also continued publishing and public speaking in the LDS community. His work was published in an official LDS Church magazine and in the church-sanctioned Encyclopedia of Mormonism. Though originally published by Council Press, Pace's criticized book What It Means to Know Christ was even republished in 1988 by the church's own publisher, Deseret Book, as a new edition retitled Our Search to Know the Lord. The work remains in print under the name Knowing Christ, published by Cedar Fort, Inc. As a public speaker, Pace has addressed addiction recovery programs and religious topics into the late 1990s.
Published works
In 1975, Pace compiled a book of faith-promoting experiences entitled The Faith of Young Mormons. |
1402_9 | In 1981, Pace published What it Means to Know Christ, which sold very well. After Bruce R. McConkie's public criticisms, Pace revised the book and published it as Our Search to Know the Lord in 1988, and Knowing Christ in 1996. Pace was a contributor to the Encyclopedia of Mormonism in 1992.
The following is a list of Pace's works:
Audio recordings
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References
External links
1975 BYU Devotional talk by Pace
Church Magazine article |
1402_10 | 1929 births
20th-century Mormon missionaries
American leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
American Mormon missionaries in Canada
Brigham Young University alumni
Brigham Young University faculty
Church Educational System instructors
Colorado State University alumni
American Latter Day Saint writers
Living people
Mormonism-related controversies
People from Burley, Idaho
Writers from Provo, Utah
Utah State University alumni
Latter Day Saints from Colorado
Latter Day Saints from California
Latter Day Saints from Idaho
Latter Day Saints from Utah |
1403_0 | Thomas Richard Suozzi (; born August 31, 1962) is an American politician, attorney, and accountant who is the U.S. representative for New York's 3rd district.
Suozzi was the county executive of Nassau County, New York, from 2002 to 2009. He was first elected to the post in 2001 after four terms as mayor of Glen Cove, New York. In 2006, he ran unsuccessfully against Eliot Spitzer for the Democratic nomination for governor of New York. Suozzi was lost reelection in 2009 by Republican nominee Ed Mangano, and in a 2013 rematch was again defeated. He was first elected to the House of Representatives in 2016 and reelected in 2018 and 2020.
On November 29, 2021, Suozzi announced his candidacy for governor of New York in the 2022 election. |
1403_1 | Early and personal life
The son of former Glen Cove mayor Joseph A. Suozzi, Thomas Suozzi was born on August 31, 1962 in Glen Cove. His father was born in Italy and his mother, Marguerite, is of Irish and English descent. The youngest of five siblings, Tom Suozzi attended Catholic schools, graduating from Chaminade High School, Boston College, and Fordham University School of Law. He is trained as both a lawyer and a CPA.
Early political career
Mayor of Glen Cove
In 1993, Suozzi was elected mayor of Glen Cove, New York. He served as mayor for four terms. His father and his uncle, Vincent Suozzi, were mayors of Glen Cove before him. |
1403_2 | As mayor, Suozzi focused on environmental cleanup of commercial and industrial sites. A focal point of his administration was redeveloping brownfield and superfund sites. In 1994, the Glen Cove incinerator was permanently closed and dismantled. In 1998, the city demolished and redeveloped the defunct Li Tungsten Refinery grounds, a federal superfund site. Then-Vice President Al Gore recognized Suozzi for the city's environmental cleanup efforts and Glen Cove was awarded the Brownfields Award in 1998.
Nassau County Executive |
1403_3 | Suozzi was elected Nassau County Executive in 2001, becoming the first Democrat elected to the position in traditionally Republican Nassau in 30 years. He assumed office amid a fiscal crisis. By 1999, Nassau was on the brink of financial collapse: the county faced a $300 million annual deficit, was billions of dollars in debt, and its credit rating had sunk to one level above junk status. According to The New York Times, he "earned high marks from independent institutions for his signature achievement, the resuscitation of Nassau's finances." |
1403_4 | While in office, Suozzi cut spending and reduced borrowing and debt. He also oversaw 11 county bond upgrades over two years, eliminated deficits in Nassau, and accumulated surpluses. In 2005, Governing Magazine named Suozzi one of its Public Officials of the Year, calling him "the man who spearheaded Nassau County, New York's, remarkable turnaround from the brink of fiscal disaster." According to The New York Times, Suozzi garnered praise for social services like his "no wrong door" program, which centralized access to social services. |
1403_5 | In 2004, Georgina Morgenstern, a former Nassau County planning department employee, alleged Suozzi and Chief Deputy County Executive Anthony Cancellieri used county employees, resources and functions for illegal fundraising. Morgenstern said she was retaliated against and terminated without due process, and she subsequently filed a multimillion-dollar lawsuit. Suozzi was dismissed from the case and a federal jury in Central Islip rejected Morgenstern's claim that she was fired in retaliation for criticizing Suozzi.
Suozzi lost the 2009 county executive election to Ed Mangano. After working in the private sector as an attorney, Suozzi announced that he would seek a rematch against Mangano in 2013. He attacked Mangano for "presiding over a decline in the county", while also emphasizing that, while he was County Executive, Suozzi had eight years of balanced budgets and reduced crime. In November, Mangano defeated Suozzi, 59% to 41%. |
1403_6 | 2006 gubernatorial campaign
Suozzi declared his candidacy for governor of New York in the Democratic primary against Eliot Spitzer on February 25, 2006. The bid appeared from the start to be something of a long shot given Spitzer's reputation as a "corporate crusader", though Suozzi often pointed out that he prevailed as a long shot before when he first ran for Nassau County Executive.
Few prominent Democrats apart from Nassau County Democratic Party Chairman Jay Jacobs supported his bid; most of New York's Democratic legislators and mayors campaigned for Spitzer. One of Suozzi's biggest supporters was Victor Rodriguez, founder of the now disbanded Voter Rights Party. Rodriguez eventually became the lead field organizer for Suozzi's Albany campaign office. The campaign was funded in part by Home Depot co-founder Kenneth Langone, former NYSE CEO Richard Grasso, David Mack of the MTA, and many people on Wall Street whom Spitzer had investigated and prosecuted. |
1403_7 | On June 13, 2006, Suozzi spoke before the New York State Conference of Mayors along with Spitzer and John Faso. Suozzi received a standing ovation from the crowd of mayors. On July 6, Suozzi announced to his followers that he had collected enough petitions to place himself on the primary ballot. During a debate, he said he had presidential aspirations. On August 7, Suozzi announced after much speculation that he would not seek an independent line were he to lose the primary.
2022 New York gubernatorial election
On November 29, 2021, Suozzi announced his candidacy for governor of New York in the 2022 election. Throughout his campaign, he has framed himself as a "common sense Democrat" who opposes some elected members of his party on issues like bail reform and New York's new congressional maps.
U.S. House of Representatives
Elections
2016 |
1403_8 | In June 2016, Suozzi won a five-way Democratic primary in New York's 3rd congressional district. He was endorsed by The New York Times, Newsday, and The Island Now. He narrowly defeated Republican State Senator Jack Martins in the general election on November 8, and began representing New York's 3rd congressional district in the 115th United States Congress in January 2017.
2018
In June 2018, Suozzi won the Democratic primary unopposed. In the general election, Suozzi defeated Republican nominee Dan DeBono, a future Trump administration Chief Infrastructure Funding Officer and former trader and investment banker, by 18 points.
Tenure |
1403_9 | As of November 2021, Suozzi had voted in line with Joe Biden's stated position 100% of the time.
Suozzi is a member of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, the United States Congressional International Conservation Caucus and the Climate Solutions Caucus. He is vice-chair of the Bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus, which consists of 22 Democrats and 22 Republicans. He is also co-chair of the Long Island Sound Caucus, co-chair of the Quiet Skies Caucus, and chair of the United States Merchant Marine Academy’s Board of Visitors.
Suozzi co-authored legislation to restore the State and Local Tax (SALT) Deduction, which was capped at $10,000 in 2017. |
1403_10 | In 2022, Suozzi strongly opposed a proposal by New York governor Kathy Hochul to permit homeowners to add one accessory dwelling unit (such as an extra apartment and backyard cottage) on lots that were zoned for single-family housing. The proposal was intended to alleviate the housing shortage in New York and make housing more affordable. Suozzi said that he supported efforts to tackle housing problems, but that he was against "ending single-family housing."
Committee assignments
Committee on Ways and Means
Congressional Executive Commission on China
Caucus memberships
Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus
United States Congressional International Conservation Caucus
Climate Solutions Caucus
Problem Solvers Caucus (Vice Chair)
Long Island Sound Caucus
Quiet Skies Caucus (Co-Chair)
United States Merchant Marine Academy’s Board of Visitors (Chair)
New Democrat Coalition
Electoral history |
1403_11 | Personal life
Suozzi and his wife, Helene, have three children. Their son Joe played baseball at Boston College and is in the minor-league system of the New York Mets.
See also
New York gubernatorial election, 2006
References
External links
Congressman Thomas Suozzi official U.S. House website
Campaign website
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1962 births
20th-century American politicians
21st-century American politicians
American people of English descent
American people of Irish descent
American politicians of Italian descent
Boston College alumni
Chaminade High School alumni
Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives
Fordham University School of Law alumni
Living people
Mayors of places in New York (state)
Members of the United States House of Representatives from New York (state)
Nassau County Executives
New York (state) Democrats
Politicians from Glen Cove, New York |
1404_0 | This is a list of the main career statistics of Serbian professional tennis player Novak Djokovic. Djokovic has won 86 ATP singles titles, including 20 Grand Slam. singles titles (tied with Roger Federer and second behind Rafael Nadal who has 21), five ATP Finals titles, and a record 37 ATP Masters titles. He is the only male player to have won all nine of the Masters tournaments, and has done so twice. He is the first and only male Serbian player, to win a Grand Slam and attain the number 1 ranking and only Serbian player, male or female, to win more than 10 slams. He was also a bronze medalist at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Djokovic is the only male player to win each GrandSlam, all Nine Masters and WTF events at least twice or more. |
1404_1 | Djokovic was first ranked world No. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) on 4 July 2011. From the 2010 Davis Cup final to the 2011 French Open, Djokovic held a 43-match win streak, behind only Guillermo Vilas (46 matches in 1977) and Ivan Lendl (44 matches from 1981 to 1982) on the all-time list. He won 41 straight matches from the start of 2011 until that year's French Open semifinals, second only to John McEnroe's record at the start of an ATP year (he started 42–0 in 1984). |
1404_2 | Historic achievements
Djokovic has won 20 Grand Slams (major) titles, tied for second all-time with Roger Federer behind Rafael Nadal (21) for most slams won in tennis history by male players. He is last male player out of eight male players all-time to achieve the Career Grand Slam in men's singles. He and Rafael Nadal are the only players to win each slam twice in the Open Era and the only ones to do so on 3 different surfaces and to do so after Roy Emerson and Rod Laver in the history of tennis. Djokovic is the only male player to hold all four Grand Slams on three different surfaces (Hardcourt, clay, and grass) at once (2015 Wimbledon to 2016 French Open) sice Rod Laver, and in the process became only male player to win 30 consecutive grand slams matches (2015 Wimbledon - 2016 Wimbledon). |
1404_3 | Djokovic has reached a joint-record 31 Grand Slam finals (tied with Federer) and has played the final of each Grand Slam tournament at least 6 times, an all-time record. His 11 Runner Up showing in grand slams finals are a record tied with Lendl (1st) and Federer (2nd). He is the only male player to appear in 9 finals in 2 different Grand Slams (9 AO & 9 US Open).
He is the second male player of the Open Era to win the first 3 Grand Slams in a calendar year (2021) after Laver won all 4 slams in 1969. He is the second male player in history after Federer to win 3 Grand Slam titles in three different seasons (2011, 2015, and 2021). He is the second male player to win 2 different Grand Slams 6 or more times (9 Australian Open and 6 Wimbledon) after Federer. |
1404_4 | He is the third male player of the Open Era to win at least 2 Grand Slams on hard, clay and grass courts after Mats Wilander and Nadal. He also has a record 37 ATP Masters 1000 titles, and has won 5 ATP Finals titles, including a record 4 consecutively from 2012 to 2015. His 5 ATP Finals titles are second-most alongside Ivan Lendl and Pete Sampras (Federer holds the record with 6 titles).
Djokovic is the second male player to win three consecutive Grand Slam tournaments on three different surfaces in the same calendar year (hard, clay and grass), doing so in 2021, and which Nadal did in 2010. |
1404_5 | Djokovic has won an all-time record of nine Australian Open men's singles titles, surpassing the previous record of 6 by Roy Emerson. Djokovic is the only male player to win 3 consecutive Australian Open titles during the Open Era, which he has done twice (2011–13 and 2019–21). Djokovic is the second of only two male players in history to win a Grand Slam singles title nine or more times, the other being Nadal (13 French Opens). He is 9–0 in Australian Open finals as well as 9–0 in Australian Open semifinals. |
1404_6 | Djokovic is the only player to defeat Nadal in straight sets in a Grand Slam final (Australian Open 2019) as well as the first player to defeat Nadal in straight sets at the French Open (2015 quarterfinal). Only Djokovic has defeated Nadal in a French Open semifinal (2021), ending Nadal's streak of 13–0 in French Open semifinals, as well as the only male player to defeat Nadal twice in the FO (2015 QF and 2021 Semifinal). Only Djokovic has won FO after defeating Nadal in earlier rounds, which he did in 2021 FO. From 2005 to 2021 apart from Nadal, Djokovic is the only male player to win more than one FO. He is the second male player to win both FO and Paris Masters in the same year (2021) after Andre Agassi (1999). Djokovic has won record 6 Paris Masters Titles. |
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