1.
United States presidential election, 2000
–
The United States presidential election of 2000 was the 54th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 7,2000, Bush was seen as the early favorite for the Republican nomination and, despite a contentious primary battle with Senator John McCain and other candidates, secured the nomination by Super Tuesday. Bush chose former Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney as his running mate, both major party candidates focused primarily on domestic issues, such as the budget, tax relief, and reforms for federal social insurance programs, although foreign policy was not ignored. Clinton and Gore often did not campaign together, a deliberate decision resulting from the Lewinsky sex scandal two years prior. This was the closest presidential election in the history, with a. 009% margin,537 votes. The narrow margin there triggered a mandatory machine recount the next day, after which Gore requested recounts in four counties, including populous South Florida, litigation ensued in numerous counties in both state and federal courts, ultimately reaching the Florida Supreme Court and the United States Supreme Court. Nationwide, this was the presidential election in which the winner received fewer votes than his opponent. After the election, recounts conducted by news media organizations continued a primary focus on ballots that machines read as not showing a vote. Based on the review of these ballots, their results indicated that Bush would have won if certain recounting methods had been used, but that Gore might have won under other standards and scenarios. The Green Party gained widespread attention during the 2000 presidential election when the ticket composed of Ralph Nader. Nader was vilified by some Democrats, who accused him of spoiling the election for Al Gore, Naders impact on the 2000 election has remained controversial. Until 2016, this was the last time a Republican candidate won a vote in the region of New England. As of 2017, this was the last election where a Republican candidate won New Hampshire, traditionally, the primary elections are indirect elections where voters cast ballots for a slate of party delegates pledged to a particular candidate. The partys delegates then officially nominate a candidate to run on the partys behalf, President Bill Clinton, a Democrat and former Governor of Arkansas, was ineligible to seek reelection to a third term due to restrictions of the Twenty-second Amendment. In accordance with Section I of the Twentieth Amendment, his term expired at 12,00 noon EST on January 20,2001, Democratic candidates Al Gore, Vice President of the United States Bill Bradley, former U. S. Senator from New Jersey Al Gore from Tennessee was a consistent front-runner for the nomination, of these, only Wellstone formed an exploratory committee. Running an insurgency campaign, Bradley positioned himself as the alternative to Gore, the closest Bradley came to a victory was his 50–46 loss to Gore in the New Hampshire primary. On March 14, Al Gore clinched the Democratic nomination, none of Bradleys delegates were allowed to vote for him, so Gore won the nomination unanimously at the Democratic National Convention
2.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
–
In 1682, William Penn, an English Quaker, founded the city to serve as capital of the Pennsylvania Colony. Philadelphia was one of the capitals in the Revolutionary War. In the 19th century, Philadelphia became an industrial center. It became a destination for African-Americans in the Great Migration. The areas many universities and colleges make Philadelphia a top international study destination, as the city has evolved into an educational, with a gross domestic product of $388 billion, Philadelphia ranks ninth among world cities and fourth in the nation. Philadelphia is the center of activity in Pennsylvania and is home to seven Fortune 1000 companies. The Philadelphia skyline is growing, with a market of almost 81,900 commercial properties in 2016 including several prominent skyscrapers. The city is known for its arts, culture, and rich history, Philadelphia has more outdoor sculptures and murals than any other American city. Fairmount Park, when combined with the adjacent Wissahickon Valley Park in the watershed, is one of the largest contiguous urban park areas in the United States. The 67 National Historic Landmarks in the city helped account for the $10 billion generated by tourism, Philadelphia is the only World Heritage City in the United States. Before Europeans arrived, the Philadelphia area was home to the Lenape Indians in the village of Shackamaxon, the Lenape are a Native American tribe and First Nations band government. They are also called Delaware Indians and their territory was along the Delaware River watershed, western Long Island. Most Lenape were pushed out of their Delaware homeland during the 18th century by expanding European colonies, Lenape communities were weakened by newly introduced diseases, mainly smallpox, and violent conflict with Europeans. Iroquois people occasionally fought the Lenape, surviving Lenape moved west into the upper Ohio River basin. The American Revolutionary War and United States independence pushed them further west, in the 1860s, the United States government sent most Lenape remaining in the eastern United States to the Indian Territory under the Indian removal policy. In the 21st century, most Lenape now reside in the US state of Oklahoma, with communities living also in Wisconsin, Ontario. The Dutch considered the entire Delaware River valley to be part of their New Netherland colony, in 1638, Swedish settlers led by renegade Dutch established the colony of New Sweden at Fort Christina and quickly spread out in the valley. In 1644, New Sweden supported the Susquehannocks in their defeat of the English colony of Maryland
3.
First Union Center
–
The Wells Fargo Center is a multi-purpose indoor arena located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is the arena of the Philadelphia 76ers of the National Basketball Association, the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League. The arena lies at the southwest corner of the South Philadelphia Sports Complex, which includes Lincoln Financial Field, Citizens Bank Park and it is owned by Comcast Spectacor, which also owns the Flyers, and is operated by its arena-management subsidiary, Global Spectrum. Since 2010, naming rights have been held by financial services company Wells Fargo, Wells Fargo center has hosted two political conventions, hosting the 2000 Republican National Convention and 2016 Democratic National Convention. In addition, the arena is a venue for concerts. Before its construction, the arena was tentatively called Spectrum II. However, the contract has gone through multiple hands due to bank mergers, first by First Union Bank in 1998, Wachovia in 2003. Installation of the new Wells Fargo Center branding began on July 27,2010, with the removal of the Wachovia Center signage, work was completed in September 2010. The 76ers then signed a sponsorship agreement with Firstrust Bank as their official banking sponsor. The Wells Fargo Center officially seats 20,318 for NBA and NCAA basketball and 19,541 for NHL hockey, with additional standing-room admissions available in luxury and club-box suites, the total paid capacity increases. The Wells Fargo Center has 126 luxury suites,1,880 club-box seats, in addition, the offices, studios, and production facilities of NBC Sports affiliate Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia are all located in the facility. On August 1,2006, Comcast Spectacor announced it would install a new scoreboard to replace the original one made by Daktronics. The new scoreboard, manufactured by ANC Sports, is similar to other scoreboards in new NBA & NHL arenas, an additional linear LED display lining the entire arena was also installed between the suite and mezzanine levels. The PA announcer at the Wells Fargo Center for Flyers games is Lou Nolan, who moved with the team from the Spectrum, matt Cord is the PA announcer for 76ers games. Jim Bachman is the PA announcer for Villanova basketball games, kevin Casey handled PA duties for the Philadelphia Wings during their tenure. The arena has a seating capacity of 21,000 seated. On August 13,1996, a concert by Ray Charles was the first event at the Wells Fargo Center. Each spectator was given a commemorative key acknowledging they helped open the arena, the inaugural concert, on September 2,1996, featured Oasis, with The Manic Street Preachers and The Screaming Trees, before an estimated crowd of 12,000
4.
George W. Bush
–
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States from 2001 to 2009. He was also the 46th Governor of Texas from 1995 to 2000 and he is the eldest son of Barbara and George H. W. Bush. After graduating from Yale University in 1968 and Harvard Business School in 1975, Bush married Laura Welch in 1977 and ran unsuccessfully for the House of Representatives shortly thereafter. He later co-owned the Texas Rangers baseball team before defeating Ann Richards in the 1994 Texas gubernatorial election and he is the second president to assume the nations highest office after his father, following the lead of John Quincy Adams. He is also a brother of Jeb Bush, a former Governor of Florida who was a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in the 2016 presidential election, the September 11 terrorist attacks occurred eight months into Bushs first term as president. Bush responded with what became known as the Bush Doctrine, launching a War on Terror, a military campaign that included the war in Afghanistan in 2001. He also promoted policies on the economy, health care, education, Social Security reform and his tenure included national debates on immigration, Social Security, electronic surveillance, and torture. In the 2004 Presidential race, Bush defeated Democratic Senator John Kerry in another close election. After his re-election, Bush received increasingly heated criticism from across the spectrum for his handling of the Iraq War, Hurricane Katrina. Amid this criticism, the Democratic Party regained control of Congress in the 2006 elections, Bush left office in 2009, returning to Texas where he purchased a home in Crawford. He wrote a memoir, Decision Points and his presidential library was opened in 2013. His presidency has been ranked among the worst in historians polls published in the late 2000s and 2010s. George Walker Bush was born on July 6,1946, at Grace-New Haven Hospital in New Haven, Connecticut, as the first child of George Herbert Walker Bush and his wife, the former Barbara Pierce. He was raised in Midland and Houston, Texas, with four siblings, Jeb, Neil, Marvin, another younger sister, Robin, died from leukemia at the age of three in 1953. His grandfather, Prescott Bush, was a U. S and his father, George H. W. Bush, was Ronald Reagans Vice President from 1981 to 1989 and the 41st U. S. President from 1989 to 1993. Bush has English and some German ancestry, along with more distant Dutch, Welsh, Irish, French, Bush attended public schools in Midland, Texas, until the family moved to Houston after he had completed seventh grade. He then spent two years at The Kinkaid School, a school in Houston. Bush attended high school at Phillips Academy, a school in Andover, Massachusetts
5.
Texas
–
Texas is the second largest state in the United States by both area and population. Other major cities include Austin, the second most populous state capital in the U. S. Texas is nicknamed the Lone Star State to signify its former status as an independent republic, and as a reminder of the states struggle for independence from Mexico. The Lone Star can be found on the Texan state flag, the origin of Texass name is from the word Tejas, which means friends in the Caddo language. Due to its size and geologic features such as the Balcones Fault, although Texas is popularly associated with the U. S. southwestern deserts, less than 10 percent of Texas land area is desert. Most of the centers are located in areas of former prairies, grasslands, forests. Traveling from east to west, one can observe terrain that ranges from coastal swamps and piney woods, to rolling plains and rugged hills, the term six flags over Texas refers to several nations that have ruled over the territory. Spain was the first European country to claim the area of Texas, Mexico controlled the territory until 1836 when Texas won its independence, becoming an independent Republic. In 1845, Texas joined the United States as the 28th state, the states annexation set off a chain of events that caused the Mexican–American War in 1846. A slave state before the American Civil War, Texas declared its secession from the U. S. in early 1861, after the Civil War and the restoration of its representation in the federal government, Texas entered a long period of economic stagnation. One Texan industry that thrived after the Civil War was cattle, due to its long history as a center of the industry, Texas is associated with the image of the cowboy. The states economic fortunes changed in the early 20th century, when oil discoveries initiated a boom in the state. With strong investments in universities, Texas developed a diversified economy, as of 2010 it shares the top of the list of the most Fortune 500 companies with California at 57. With a growing base of industry, the leads in many industries, including agriculture, petrochemicals, energy, computers and electronics, aerospace. Texas has led the nation in export revenue since 2002 and has the second-highest gross state product. The name Texas, based on the Caddo word tejas meaning friends or allies, was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves, during Spanish colonial rule, the area was officially known as the Nuevo Reino de Filipinas, La Provincia de Texas. Texas is the second largest U. S. state, behind Alaska, though 10 percent larger than France and almost twice as large as Germany or Japan, it ranks only 27th worldwide amongst country subdivisions by size. If it were an independent country, Texas would be the 40th largest behind Chile, Texas is in the south central part of the United States of America. Three of its borders are defined by rivers, the Rio Grande forms a natural border with the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas to the south
6.
Dick Cheney
–
Richard Bruce Dick Cheney is an American politician and businessman who was the 46th Vice President of the United States from 2001 to 2009, under President George W. Bush. Born in Lincoln, Nebraska, Cheney was primarily raised in Sumner, Nebraska and he attended Yale and then the University of Wyoming, at the latter of which he earned a BA and an MA in Political Science. Cheney was selected to be the Secretary of Defense during the Presidency of George H. W. Bush, during his time in the Department of Defense, Cheney oversaw the 1991 Operation Desert Storm, among other actions. Out of office during the Clinton administration, Cheney was the Chairman, in July 2000, Cheney was chosen by presumptive Republican Presidential nominee George W. Bush as his running mate in the 2000 Presidential election. They defeated their Democratic opponents, incumbent Vice President Al Gore, in 2004 Cheney was reelected to his second term as Vice President, defeating Senator John Kerrys running mate, Senator John Edwards. He was a proponent of Operation Iraqi Freedom and defender of the Administrations anti-terrorism record. He became at odds with President Bushs position against same-sex marriage in 2004 and he has been cited as the most powerful Vice President in American history. At the same time he has been among the least favored politicians in the history of the United States, Cheney was born in Lincoln, Nebraska, the son of Marjorie Lorraine and Richard Herbert Cheney. He is of predominantly English, as well as Welsh, Irish, although not a direct descendant, he is collaterally related to Benjamin Pierce Cheney, the early American expressman. His father was a soil conservation agent for the U. S. Department of Agriculture and his mother was a star in the 1930s. He attended Calvert Elementary School before his family moved to Casper, Wyoming and he attended Yale University, but by his own account had problems adjusting to the college, and failed out twice. Among the influential teachers from his days in New Haven was Professor H. Bradford Westerfield and he later attended the University of Wyoming, where he earned both a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Arts in political science. He subsequently started, but did not finish, doctoral studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, in November 1962, at the age of 21, Cheney was convicted of driving while intoxicated. He was arrested for DWI again the following year, Cheney said that the arrests made him think about where I was and where I was headed. I was headed down a bad road if I continued on that course, in 1964, he married Lynne Vincent, his high school sweetheart, whom he had met at age 14. When Cheney became eligible for the draft, during the Vietnam War, he applied for, initially, Cheney was not drafted due to his marriage to Lynne Cheney. When the draft was expanded to include married men without children and he applied for his fifth exemption on January 19,1966, when his wife was about 10 weeks pregnant. He was granted 3-A status, the exemption, which excluded men with children or dependent parents
7.
Wyoming
–
Wyoming /waɪˈoʊmɪŋ/ is a state in the mountain region of the western United States. The state is the tenth largest by area, the least populous, Wyoming is bordered on the north by Montana, on the east by South Dakota and Nebraska, on the south by Colorado, on the southwest by Utah, and on the west by Idaho. Cheyenne is the capital and the most populous city in Wyoming, the state population was estimated at 586,107 in 2015, which is less than the population of 31 of the largest U. S. cities. The Crow, Arapaho, Lakota, and Shoshone were some of the inhabitants of the region. Southwestern Wyoming was included in the Spanish Empire and then Mexican territory until it was ceded to the United States in 1848 at the end of the Mexican–American War. The region acquired the name Wyoming when a bill was introduced to Congress in 1865 to provide a government for the territory of Wyoming. The territory was named after the Wyoming Valley in Pennsylvania, with the name ultimately being derived from the Munsee word xwé, wamənk, the mineral extraction industry—especially coal, oil, natural gas, and trona—along with the travel and tourism sector are the main drivers behind Wyomings economy. Agriculture has historically been an important component of the economy with the main commodities being livestock, hay, sugar beets, grain. The climate is generally semi-arid and continental, being drier and windier in comparison to the rest of the United States, except for the 1964 election, Wyoming has been a politically conservative state since the 1950s, with the Republican party winning every presidential election. Wyoming is one of three states to have borders along only straight latitudinal and longitudinal lines, rather than being defined by natural landmarks. Wyoming is bordered on the north by Montana, on the east by South Dakota and Nebraska, on the south by Colorado, on the southwest by Utah, and on the west by Idaho. It is the tenth largest state in the United States in total area, from the north border to the south border it is 276 miles, and from the east to the west border is 365 miles at its south end and 342 miles at the north end. The Great Plains meet the Rocky Mountains in Wyoming, the state is a great plateau broken by many mountain ranges. Surface elevations range from the summit of Gannett Peak in the Wind River Mountain Range, at 13,804 feet, to the Belle Fourche River valley in the states northeast corner, at 3,125 feet. In the northwest are the Absaroka, Owl Creek, Gros Ventre, Wind River, in the north central are the Big Horn Mountains, in the northeast, the Black Hills, and in the southern region the Laramie, Snowy and Sierra Madre ranges. The Snowy Range in the central part of the state is an extension of the Colorado Rockies in both geology and appearance. The Wind River Range in the west central part of the state is remote and includes more than 40 mountain peaks in excess of 13,000 ft tall in addition to Gannett Peak, the highest peak in the state. The Big Horn Mountains in the central portion are somewhat isolated from the bulk of the Rocky Mountains
8.
Alan Keyes
–
Alan Lee Keyes is an American conservative political activist, pundit, author, former diplomat, and perennial candidate for public office. A doctoral graduate of Harvard University, Keyes began his career in the U. S. Foreign Service in 1979 at the United States consulate in Bombay, India, Keyes ran for President of the United States in 1996,2000, and 2008. He was the Republican nominee for the U. S. Senate in Maryland against Paul Sarbanes in 1988 and Barbara Mikulski in 1992, in all three cases, Keyes lost by large margins. Keyes hosted a radio show, The Alan Keyes Show, Americas Wake-Up Call. The show was briefly simulcast by National Empowerment Television, in 2002, he briefly hosted a television commentary show on the MSNBC cable network, Alan Keyes Is Making Sense. Since 1998, Keyes has served as a columnist for World Net Daily, born in a naval hospital on Long Island, New York, Keyes was the fifth child of mother Gerthina and father Allison L. Keyes, a U. S. Army sergeant and a teacher. Due to his fathers tours of duty, the Keyes family traveled frequently, Keyes lived in Georgia, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Texas, Virginia and overseas in Italy. After high school, Keyes attended Cornell University, where he was a member of the Cornell University Glee Club and he studied political philosophy with American philosopher and essayist Allan Bloom and has said that Bloom was the professor who influenced him most in his undergraduate studies. Keyes has stated that he received threats for opposing Vietnam war protesters who seized a campus building. Shortly thereafter, he left the school and spent a year in Paris under a Cornell study abroad program connected with Bloom, Keyes continued his studies at Harvard University, where he resided in Winthrop House, and completed his Bachelor of Arts degree in government affairs in 1972. During his first year of school, Keyess roommate was William Kristol. In 1988, Kristol ran Keyess unsuccessful U. S. Senate campaign in Maryland, Keyes earned his Ph. D. in government affairs from Harvard University in 1979, having written a dissertation on Alexander Hamilton and constitutional theory, under Harvey C. Due to student deferments and a draft number, Keyes was not drafted to serve in the Vietnam War. Keyes and his family were supporters of the war, in which his father served two tours of duty. Keyes was criticized by opponents of the war in Vietnam, but he says he was supporting his father and his brothers, Keyes is married to Jocelyn Marcel Keyes, of East Indian descent, from Calcutta. The couple has three children, Francis, Maya, and Andrew, Keyes is a traditional Catholic and a third-degree Knight of Columbus. He is also a friend of Brazilian conservative philosopher and journalist Olavo de Carvalho
9.
Maryland
–
The states largest city is Baltimore, and its capital is Annapolis. Among its occasional nicknames are Old Line State, the Free State, the state is named after Henrietta Maria of France, the wife of Charles I of England. George Calvert was the first Lord of Baltimore and the first English proprietor of the colonial grant. Maryland was the state to ratify the United States Constitution. Maryland is one of the smallest U. S. states in terms of area, as well as one of the most densely populated, Maryland has an area of 12,406.68 square miles and is comparable in overall area with Belgium. It is the 42nd largest and 9th smallest state and is closest in size to the state of Hawaii, the next largest state, its neighbor West Virginia, is almost twice the size of Maryland. Maryland possesses a variety of topography within its borders, contributing to its nickname America in Miniature. The mid-portion of this border is interrupted by Washington, D. C. which sits on land that was part of Montgomery and Prince Georges counties and including the town of Georgetown. This land was ceded to the United States Federal Government in 1790 to form the District of Columbia, the Chesapeake Bay nearly bisects the state and the counties east of the bay are known collectively as the Eastern Shore. Close to the town of Hancock, in western Maryland, about two-thirds of the way across the state. This geographical curiosity makes Maryland the narrowest state, bordered by the Mason–Dixon line to the north, portions of Maryland are included in various official and unofficial geographic regions. Much of the Baltimore–Washington corridor lies just south of the Piedmont in the Coastal Plain, earthquakes in Maryland are infrequent and small due to the states distance from seismic/earthquake zones. The M5.8 Virginia earthquake in 2011 was felt moderately throughout Maryland, buildings in the state are not well-designed for earthquakes and can suffer damage easily. The lack of any glacial history accounts for the scarcity of Marylands natural lakes, laurel Oxbow Lake is an over one-hundred-year-old 55-acre natural lake two miles north of Maryland City and adjacent to Russett. Chews Lake is a natural lake two miles south-southeast of Upper Marlboro. There are numerous lakes, the largest of them being the Deep Creek Lake. Maryland has shale formations containing natural gas, where fracking is theoretically possible, as is typical of states on the East Coast, Marylands plant life is abundant and healthy. Middle Atlantic coastal forests, typical of the southeastern Atlantic coastal plain, grow around Chesapeake Bay, moving west, a mixture of Northeastern coastal forests and Southeastern mixed forests cover the central part of the state
10.
John McCain
–
John Sidney McCain III is an American politician who currently serves as the senior United States Senator from Arizona. He was the Republican nominee for the 2008 U. S. presidential election, McCain followed his father and grandfather, both four-star admirals, into the United States Navy, graduating from the U. S. Naval Academy in 1958. He became an aviator, flying ground-attack aircraft from aircraft carriers. During the Vietnam War, he was almost killed in the 1967 USS Forrestal fire, in October 1967, while on a bombing mission over Hanoi, he was shot down, seriously injured, and captured by the North Vietnamese. He was a prisoner of war until 1973, McCain experienced episodes of torture, and refused an out-of-sequence early repatriation offer. His war wounds have left him with physical limitations. He retired from the Navy as a captain in 1981 and moved to Arizona, elected to the U. S. House of Representatives in 1982, McCain served two terms. He was first elected to the U. S. Senate in 1986, winning re-election easily five times, while generally adhering to conservative principles, McCain at times has had a media reputation as a maverick for his willingness to disagree with his party on certain issues. He is also known for his work in the 1990s to restore relations with Vietnam. McCain ran for the Republican nomination in 2000 but lost a primary season contest to George W. Bush of Texas. He subsequently adopted more orthodox conservative stances and attitudes and largely opposed actions of the Obama administration, by 2013, however, he had become a key figure in the Senate for negotiating deals on certain issues in an otherwise partisan environment. In 2015, McCain became chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, John McCain was born on August 29,1936, at Coco Solo Naval Air Station in the Panama Canal Zone, to naval officer John S. McCain Jr. and Roberta McCain. He has a brother named Joe and an elder sister named Sandy. At that time, the Panama Canal was under U. S. control, McCains family tree includes Scots-Irish and English ancestors. Both his father and his grandfather, John S. McCain Sr. became four-star United States Navy admirals. The McCain family followed his father to various postings in the United States. Altogether, he attended about 20 schools, in 1951, the family settled in Northern Virginia, and McCain attended Episcopal High School, a private preparatory boarding school in Alexandria. He excelled at wrestling and graduated in 1954, following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather, McCain entered the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis
11.
Arizona
–
Arizona is a state in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the Western United States and the Mountain West states and it is the sixth largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix, Arizona is one of the Four Corners states. It has borders with New Mexico, Utah, Nevada, California, and Mexico, Arizonas border with Mexico is 389 miles long, on the northern border of the Mexican states of Sonora and Baja California. Arizona is the 48th state and last of the states to be admitted to the Union. Historically part of the territory of Alta California in New Spain, after being defeated in the Mexican–American War, Mexico ceded much of this territory to the United States in 1848. The southernmost portion of the state was acquired in 1853 through the Gadsden Purchase, Southern Arizona is known for its desert climate, with very hot summers and mild winters. There are ski resorts in the areas of Flagstaff, Alpine, in addition to the Grand Canyon National Park, there are several national forests, national parks, and national monuments. To the European settlers, their pronunciation sounded like Arissona, the area is still known as alĭ ṣonak in the Oodham language. Another possible origin is the Basque phrase haritz ona, as there were numerous Basque sheepherders in the area, There is a misconception that the states name originated from the Spanish term Árida Zona. See also lists of counties, islands, rivers, lakes, state parks, national parks, Arizona is in the Southwestern United States as one of the Four Corners states. Arizona is the sixth largest state by area, ranked after New Mexico, of the states 113,998 square miles, approximately 15% is privately owned. The remaining area is public forest and park land, state trust land, Arizona is well known for its desert Basin and Range region in the states southern portions, which is rich in a landscape of xerophyte plants such as the cactus. This regions topography was shaped by volcanism, followed by the cooling-off. Its climate has hot summers and mild winters. The state is well known for its pine-covered north-central portion of the high country of the Colorado Plateau. Like other states of the Southwest United States, Arizona has an abundance of mountains, despite the states aridity, 27% of Arizona is forest, a percentage comparable to modern-day France or Germany. The worlds largest stand of pine trees is in Arizona
12.
1996 Republican National Convention
–
The 1996 National Convention of the Republican Party of the United States convened at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, California, from August 12 to August 15,1996. After a bitter primary, Dole had secured the Republican nomination—but at high cost, within his own party, Dole was under pressure from both sides of the political spectrum. Social liberals such as California Governor Pete Wilson and Massachusetts Governor William Weld loudly argued to remove the Human Life Amendment plank from the convention platform. On the right, primary opponents Patrick Buchanan and Alan Keyes withheld endorsements—Buchanan staged a rally for his supporters in nearby Escondido on the eve of the San Diego convention, indeed, past comments by Kemp labeling Dole as a tax-raiser surfaced. The long, bitter primary had also left the Dole campaign short of funds as a result of election spending limits in the months leading up to the convention. The Dole campaign sought to use the convention to unite the party, to appeal to political moderates, the convention ran smoothly overall, and the Dole-Kemp team seemed to benefit in the short term. Opinion polls taken shortly after the conclusion of the convention showed the Republicans with a significant bump of increased support, however, this bump was extremely temporary, and they continued to trail the incumbent Clinton-Gore team, they went on to lose the election by almost nine points. Indeed, San Diegos bid had been considered unlikely to win, the San Diego Host Committee, Sail to Victory 96, was organized on September 8,1995. It would also be the first national party convention since the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, the possibility that the explosion of TWA Flight 800 weeks before was a terrorist incident also weighed on convention planners. The Convention Center was located on the waterfront, near a harbor frequented by thousands of small one of which Dole. The police, Coast Guard, and other security presence was massive, Convention planners situated the designated protest area several blocks away from the convention center, sparking criticism and legal action. It was later moved to a lot closer to the building which had originally been designated as a transportation center for the handicapped. The convention was successful for San Diego, bringing positive publicity to the city and its revitalized waterfront, the convention committee, however, overran its budget by some $20 million, largely because of the extra costs of security. CNN AllPolitics,1996 Republican National Convention, archived fact, news, chat and speech transcripts, and links EmergencyNet News Service, GOP National Convention Security Plan, August 10,1996
13.
2004 Republican National Convention
–
The convention is one of a series of historic quadrennial meetings at which the Republican candidate for President of the United States and party platform are formally adopted. Attendance included 2,509 delegates and 2,344 alternate delegates from the states, territories, the convention marked the formal end of the active primary election season. The theme of the convention was Fulfilling Americas Promise by Building a Safer World, Bush and Cheney faced the Democratic Partys ticket of John Kerry and John Edwards in the 2004 presidential election. At the helm of the Platform Committee was United States Senator and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee, Congresswoman Melissa Hart of Pennsylvania, the committee worked with the Bush campaign to develop the draft platform. The platform adopted by the 2004 Republican National Convention was the longest in the partys history compared to the mere 1, at 48,000 words, it was twice the length of the one adopted at the 2004 Democratic National Convention which was only 19,500 words. On July 19, control of Madison Square Garden was officially handed over to the Republican Party under the administration of Chief Executive Officer of the Convention, Bill Harris. Mayor Michael Bloomberg thanked the party for their choice, for which he had lobbied, noting it as a significant display of support for the city. Expected security expenditures reached $70 million, $50 million of which was funded by the federal government, the city employed an active beat of 10,000 police officers deployed as Hercules teams—uniformed in full riot gear and body armor, and equipped with submachine guns and rifles. Commuter and Amtrak trains entering and exiting Penn Station were scoured by bomb-sniffing dogs as uniformed officers were attached to buses carrying delegates. All employees of buildings surrounding Madison Square Garden were subjected to thorough screening, the NYPD infiltrated and compiled dossiers on protest groups, leading to over 1,800 arrests and subsequent fingerprinting. The convention took place in New York City a week before the anniversary of September 11. The attacks were a theme of the convention, from the choice of speakers to repeated invocations of the attacks. At the convention, there was a performance of Amazing Grace by Daniel Rodriguez, relatives of three of the victims spoke and talked about how September 11 brought the country together. Also contributing musically were Brooks & Dunn, Sara Evans, Lee Ann Womack, early in the summer leading up to the 2004 Republican National Convention, Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie announced the first slate of convention speakers. He added, It is an honor to announce the addition of these outstanding Americans to the 2004 Republican National Convention program, for the past three and a half years, President Bush has led with strength and compassion and these speakers reflect that. Chief Executive Officer of the Convention Bill Harris commented, These speakers have seen President Bushs strong, steady leadership and their vast experience and various points of view are a testament to the depth and breadth of the support for the Republican ticket in 2004. Considered to be one of the most interesting choices for speakers at the convention was an address by Georgia Senator Zell Miller. Miller had consistently voted with Republicans, in a Wall Street Journal editorial Miller cited that the reason for his defection was that, I barely recognize my party anymore
14.
Republican Party (United States)
–
The Republican Party, commonly referred to as the GOP, is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, the other being its historic rival, the Democratic Party. The party is named after republicanism, the dominant value during the American Revolution, there have been 19 Republican presidents, the most from any one party. The Republican Partys current ideology is American conservatism, which contrasts with the Democrats more progressive platform, further, its platform involves support for free market capitalism, free enterprise, fiscal conservatism, a strong national defense, deregulation, and restrictions on labor unions. In addition to advocating for economic policies, the Republican Party is socially conservative. As of 2017, the GOP is documented as being at its strongest position politically since 1928, in addition to holding the Presidency, the Republicans control the 115th United States Congress, having majorities in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. The party also holds a majority of governorships and state legislatures, the main cause was opposition to the Kansas–Nebraska Act, which repealed the Missouri Compromise by which slavery was kept out of Kansas. The Northern Republicans saw the expansion of slavery as a great evil, the first public meeting of the general anti-Nebraska movement where the name Republican was suggested for a new anti-slavery party was held on March 20,1854, in a schoolhouse in Ripon, Wisconsin. The name was chosen to pay homage to Thomas Jeffersons Republican Party. The first official party convention was held on July 6,1854, in Jackson and it oversaw the preserving of the union, the end of slavery, and the provision of equal rights to all men in the American Civil War and Reconstruction, 1861–1877. The Republicans initial base was in the Northeast and the upper Midwest, with the realignment of parties and voters in the Third Party System, the strong run of John C. Fremont in the 1856 United States presidential election demonstrated it dominated most northern states, early Republican ideology was reflected in the 1856 slogan free labor, free land, free men, which had been coined by Salmon P. Chase, a Senator from Ohio. Free labor referred to the Republican opposition to labor and belief in independent artisans. Free land referred to Republican opposition to the system whereby slaveowners could buy up all the good farm land. The Party strove to contain the expansion of slavery, which would cause the collapse of the slave power, Lincoln, representing the fast-growing western states, won the Republican nomination in 1860 and subsequently won the presidency. The party took on the mission of preserving the Union, and destroying slavery during the American Civil War, in the election of 1864, it united with War Democrats to nominate Lincoln on the National Union Party ticket. The partys success created factionalism within the party in the 1870s and those who felt that Reconstruction had been accomplished and was continued mostly to promote the large-scale corruption tolerated by President Ulysses S. Grant ran Horace Greeley for the presidency. The Stalwarts defended Grant and the system, the Half-Breeds led by Chester A. Arthur pushed for reform of the civil service in 1883. The Republicans supported the pietistic Protestants who demanded Prohibition, nevertheless, by 1890 the Republicans had agreed to the Sherman Antitrust Act and the Interstate Commerce Commission in response to complaints from owners of small businesses and farmers
15.
United States
–
Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
16.
First Union
–
First Union Corporation was a bank holding company that provided commercial and retail banking services in eleven states in the eastern U. S. In September 2001, First Union completed a merger with Wachovia National Bank to become Wachovia Corporation, as of the end of 2000, First Union had over $170 billion of total assets, over 70,000 employees and nearly 2,200 branches. First Union Corporation was founded as Union National Bank on June 2,1908, the bank merged with First National Bank and Trust Company of Asheville in 1958 to become First Union National Bank of North Carolina. In 1964, the bank added Cameron-Brown company, a mortgage banking, First Union Corporation was incorporated in 1967. Atlantic National Bank of Jacksonville, Florida, merged with First Union in 1985, in a deal announced in June 1992, First Union acquired South Carolina Federal Corp. In 1995, First Union acquired First Fidelity of Newark, New Jersey to expand into the Northeast, in April 1998, First Union acquired CoreStates Financial Corporation, headquartered in Philadelphia. At the time, this was the largest merger in US banking history, CoreStates traced its history to 1781 and the Bank of North America, the first bank chartered in the United States. Once the merger finalized, First Union claimed 1781 as its founding date and it continued to operate The Bank of North Americas first branch at Sixth and Chestnut in Philadelphia which opened in 1782. It is now the longest continuously operated branch in America and through subsequent mergers is now part of Wells Fargo, the acquisition of CoreStates brought problems. Many of these arose when First Union attempted to integrate the CoreStates, initially, CoreStates’ tellers received insufficient training with the new First Union systems and the two systems were unable to communicate with each other. This led to problems with account access and payments not correctly applied to loans, two years later, it closed the unit, writing off $1.7 billion in losses. On April 16,2001, First Union announced it would merge with Wachovia and this was viewed with great surprise by the financial press and security analysts. As an important part of the deal, while First Union was the nominal survivor, analysts said this move was most likely to help First Union acquire a new identity, as Wachovias reputation was far better with consumers than First Union. At the same time, Wachovias name and corporate identity would survive, the deal met with skepticism and criticism. Analysts, remembering the problems with the CoreStates acquisition, were concerned First Unions ability to merge with another large company, winston-Salems citizens and politicians suffered a blow to their civic pride because the merged company would be based in Charlotte, home to First Union. City leaders were concerned both by job losses and the loss of stature from losing a major corporate headquarters, First Union was concerned by the potential deposit attrition and customer loss in the city. First Union responded to concerns by placing the wealth management. On May 14,2001, Atlanta-based SunTrust announced a takeover bid for Wachovia
17.
Wells Fargo Center (Philadelphia)
–
The Wells Fargo Center is a multi-purpose indoor arena located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is the arena of the Philadelphia 76ers of the National Basketball Association, the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League. The arena lies at the southwest corner of the South Philadelphia Sports Complex, which includes Lincoln Financial Field, Citizens Bank Park and it is owned by Comcast Spectacor, which also owns the Flyers, and is operated by its arena-management subsidiary, Global Spectrum. Since 2010, naming rights have been held by financial services company Wells Fargo, Wells Fargo center has hosted two political conventions, hosting the 2000 Republican National Convention and 2016 Democratic National Convention. In addition, the arena is a venue for concerts. Before its construction, the arena was tentatively called Spectrum II. However, the contract has gone through multiple hands due to bank mergers, first by First Union Bank in 1998, Wachovia in 2003. Installation of the new Wells Fargo Center branding began on July 27,2010, with the removal of the Wachovia Center signage, work was completed in September 2010. The 76ers then signed a sponsorship agreement with Firstrust Bank as their official banking sponsor. The Wells Fargo Center officially seats 20,318 for NBA and NCAA basketball and 19,541 for NHL hockey, with additional standing-room admissions available in luxury and club-box suites, the total paid capacity increases. The Wells Fargo Center has 126 luxury suites,1,880 club-box seats, in addition, the offices, studios, and production facilities of NBC Sports affiliate Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia are all located in the facility. On August 1,2006, Comcast Spectacor announced it would install a new scoreboard to replace the original one made by Daktronics. The new scoreboard, manufactured by ANC Sports, is similar to other scoreboards in new NBA & NHL arenas, an additional linear LED display lining the entire arena was also installed between the suite and mezzanine levels. The PA announcer at the Wells Fargo Center for Flyers games is Lou Nolan, who moved with the team from the Spectrum, matt Cord is the PA announcer for 76ers games. Jim Bachman is the PA announcer for Villanova basketball games, kevin Casey handled PA duties for the Philadelphia Wings during their tenure. The arena has a seating capacity of 21,000 seated. On August 13,1996, a concert by Ray Charles was the first event at the Wells Fargo Center. Each spectator was given a commemorative key acknowledging they helped open the arena, the inaugural concert, on September 2,1996, featured Oasis, with The Manic Street Preachers and The Screaming Trees, before an estimated crowd of 12,000
18.
Philadelphia
–
In 1682, William Penn, an English Quaker, founded the city to serve as capital of the Pennsylvania Colony. Philadelphia was one of the capitals in the Revolutionary War. In the 19th century, Philadelphia became an industrial center. It became a destination for African-Americans in the Great Migration. The areas many universities and colleges make Philadelphia a top international study destination, as the city has evolved into an educational, with a gross domestic product of $388 billion, Philadelphia ranks ninth among world cities and fourth in the nation. Philadelphia is the center of activity in Pennsylvania and is home to seven Fortune 1000 companies. The Philadelphia skyline is growing, with a market of almost 81,900 commercial properties in 2016 including several prominent skyscrapers. The city is known for its arts, culture, and rich history, Philadelphia has more outdoor sculptures and murals than any other American city. Fairmount Park, when combined with the adjacent Wissahickon Valley Park in the watershed, is one of the largest contiguous urban park areas in the United States. The 67 National Historic Landmarks in the city helped account for the $10 billion generated by tourism, Philadelphia is the only World Heritage City in the United States. Before Europeans arrived, the Philadelphia area was home to the Lenape Indians in the village of Shackamaxon, the Lenape are a Native American tribe and First Nations band government. They are also called Delaware Indians and their territory was along the Delaware River watershed, western Long Island. Most Lenape were pushed out of their Delaware homeland during the 18th century by expanding European colonies, Lenape communities were weakened by newly introduced diseases, mainly smallpox, and violent conflict with Europeans. Iroquois people occasionally fought the Lenape, surviving Lenape moved west into the upper Ohio River basin. The American Revolutionary War and United States independence pushed them further west, in the 1860s, the United States government sent most Lenape remaining in the eastern United States to the Indian Territory under the Indian removal policy. In the 21st century, most Lenape now reside in the US state of Oklahoma, with communities living also in Wisconsin, Ontario. The Dutch considered the entire Delaware River valley to be part of their New Netherland colony, in 1638, Swedish settlers led by renegade Dutch established the colony of New Sweden at Fort Christina and quickly spread out in the valley. In 1644, New Sweden supported the Susquehannocks in their defeat of the English colony of Maryland
19.
Pennsylvania
–
Pennsylvania /ˌpɛnsᵻlˈveɪnjə/, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state located in the northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The Appalachian Mountains run through its middle, Pennsylvania is the 33rd largest, the 5th most populous, and the 9th most densely populated of the 50 United States. The states five most populous cities are Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Allentown, Erie, the state capital, and its ninth-largest city, is Harrisburg. Pennsylvania has 140 miles of shoreline along Lake Erie and the Delaware Estuary. The state is one of the 13 original founding states of the United States, it came into being in 1681 as a result of a land grant to William Penn. Part of Pennsylvania, together with the present State of Delaware, had earlier been organized as the Colony of New Sweden and it was the second state to ratify the United States Constitution, on December 12,1787. Independence Hall, where the United States Declaration of Independence and United States Constitution were drafted, is located in the states largest city of Philadelphia, during the American Civil War, the Battle of Gettysburg, was fought in the south central region of the state. Valley Forge near Philadelphia was General Washingtons headquarters during the winter of 1777–78. Pennsylvania is 170 miles north to south and 283 miles east to west, of a total 46,055 square miles,44,817 square miles are land,490 square miles are inland waters, and 749 square miles are waters in Lake Erie. It is the 33rd largest state in the United States, Pennsylvania has 51 miles of coastline along Lake Erie and 57 miles of shoreline along the Delaware Estuary. Cities include Philadelphia, Reading, Lebanon and Lancaster in the southeast, Pittsburgh in the southwest, the tri-cities of Allentown, Bethlehem, the northeast includes the former anthracite coal mining communities of Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, Pittston City, and Hazleton. Erie is located in the northwest, the state has 5 regions, namely the Allegheny Plateau, Ridge and Valley, Atlantic Coastal Plain, Piedmont, and the Erie Plain. Straddling two major zones, the majority of the state, with the exception of the corner, has a humid continental climate. The largest city, Philadelphia, has characteristics of the humid subtropical climate that covers much of Delaware. Moving toward the interior of the state, the winter climate becomes colder, the number of cloudy days increase. Western areas of the state, particularly locations near Lake Erie, can receive over 100 inches of snowfall annually, the state may be subject to severe weather from spring through summer into fall. Tornadoes occur annually in the state, sometimes in large numbers, the Tuscarora Nation took up temporary residence in the central portion of Pennsylvania ca. Both the Dutch and the English claimed both sides of the Delaware River as part of their lands in America
20.
Republican National Convention
–
The Republican National Convention is a series of presidential nominating conventions of the United States Republican Party since 1856. Like the Democratic National Convention, it signifies the end of a primary season. In recent years, the nominee has been known well before the convention, some 2,472 delegates have attended the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio, July 18–21 to select the presidential nominee. The winner must carry 1, 237—half of the total, plus one, if no single candidate has secured a majority of delegates after the first ballot, a brokered convention results. It has never happened since the 1976 Republican National Convention, historically, the convention was the final determinant of the nomination, and often contentious as various factions of party insiders maneuvered to advance their candidates. Since the almost universal adoption of the election for selecting delegates in the last quarter of the 20th century, however. On the second ballot,55 percent of the delegates are free to vote for whomever they want, by the third ballot,85 percent of the delegates are free. The size of delegations to the Republican National Convention, for state, territory. Virgin Islands, are nominated as delegates to the national convention. In addition, each of the fifty states are allowed ten additional at-large delegates, Congressional delegation delegates Each state is allowed three district delegates for each member of the United States House of Representatives. Presidential support delegates A state can earn additional delegates if the state voted in the plurality for the GOP candidate, should Puerto Rico become a state between national conventions, it would earn additional delegates under this provision regardless of whether its voters supported the GOP or Democratic candidate. Republican state success delegates Each state can earn additional delegates based on how well the state party does in electing candidates to state, the composition of the individual state and territory delegations is determined by the bylaws of their respective state and territory parties. In the past, competing factions of a state party sometimes drew up lists of delegates. One of the first agenda items at a convention is therefore credentialing, Texas is the second-most populous state, and it is also a Republican stronghold. Its delegation would consist of 155 members, as follows, Under the at-large rule, under the Congressional delegation rule, Texas has 36 members in the House of Representatives, thus, Texas is allowed 108 delegates. Both houses of the Texas Legislature are controlled by the Republican Party, both United States Senators from Texas are Republicans, thus, Texas earns two additional delegates under this provision. The Texas delegation would thus consist of 10 +3 +108 +28 +1 +1 +2 +2 =155 members, California is the most-populous state, however, it is a Democratic Party stronghold. Its delegation would consist of 172 members, as follows, Under the at-large rule, under the Congressional delegation rule, California has 53 members in the House of Representatives, thus, California is allowed 159 delegates
21.
List of Governors of Texas
–
The governor has the power to consider bills passed by the Texas Legislature, by signing them into law, or vetoing them, and in bills relating to appropriations, the power of a line-item veto. He may convene the legislature, and grant pardons and reprieves, except in cases of impeachment, the State provides an official residence, the Governors Mansion in Austin. The incumbent, Greg Abbott, is the governor, of whom two have been women, to serve in the office since Texas statehood in 1845. When compared to those of states, the Governorship of Texas has been described as one of relative weakness. In some respects, it is the Lieutenant Governor of Texas, who presides over the Texas Senate, the governor is inaugurated on the third Tuesday of January every four years along with the Lieutenant Governor, and serves a term of four years. Prior to the present laws, in 1845, the states first constitution established the office of governor, the 1861 constitution, following secession from the Union, established the first Monday of November following election as the terms start. The constitution of 1869, enacted during Reconstruction, removed term limitations, the present constitution of 1876 returned terms to two years, but a 1972 amendment again returned them to four. Since its establishment, only one man has served in excess of eight years as governor, Price Daniel was elected to the governorship in 1956 and re-elected in 1958 and 1960 before losing his re-election for an unprecedented fourth term in the 1962 Democratic primary, missing the runoff. John Connally was elected in 1962 and re-elected in 1964 and 1966 before choosing to retire in 1968, in the case of a vacancy in the office, the lieutenant governor becomes governor. Prior to a 1999 amendment, the lieutenant governor only acted as governor until the expiration of the term to which he succeeded, the most recent death of a former Texas Governor was that of Bill Clements on May 29,2011 aged 94. The most recently serving governor of Texas who has died is Ann Richards, pictured in order of service, Texas has had two female governors, Miriam A. Ferguson was one of the first two women elected governor of a U. S. state, along with Nellie Tayloe Ross of Wyoming. Ross was inaugurated on January 5,1925, while Ferguson was inaugurated on January 20, Ferguson was the wife of former governor Jim Pa Ferguson, while Richards was elected in her own right, being neither the spouse nor widow of a governor. Baylor University is the most common alma mater of Texas governors, with five of them - Lawrence Sullivan Ross, Pat Morris Neff, Price Daniel, Mark White, and Ann Richards - considered alumni. To date, Coke Stevenson is the most recent governor who never attended college, three governors have served non-consecutive terms, Elisha M. Pease, Miriam A. Ferguson, and Bill Clements. As was the case in most Southern states, Texas did not elect any Republican governor from the end of Reconstruction until the twentieth century. Bill Clements was the states first Republican governor since Edmund J. Davis left office in 1874,105 years earlier. Rick Perry, who ascended to the governorship on December 21,2000 upon the resignation of then-Governor George W. Bush, won full four-year terms in 2002,2006 and 2010
22.
President of the United States
–
The President of the United States is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the executive branch of the government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces. The president is considered to be one of the worlds most powerful political figures, the role includes being the commander-in-chief of the worlds most expensive military with the second largest nuclear arsenal and leading the nation with the largest economy by nominal GDP. The office of President holds significant hard and soft power both in the United States and abroad, Constitution vests the executive power of the United States in the president. The president is empowered to grant federal pardons and reprieves. The president is responsible for dictating the legislative agenda of the party to which the president is a member. The president also directs the foreign and domestic policy of the United States, since the office of President was established in 1789, its power has grown substantially, as has the power of the federal government as a whole. However, nine vice presidents have assumed the presidency without having elected to the office. The Twenty-second Amendment prohibits anyone from being elected president for a third term, in all,44 individuals have served 45 presidencies spanning 57 full four-year terms. On January 20,2017, Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45th, in 1776, the Thirteen Colonies, acting through the Second Continental Congress, declared political independence from Great Britain during the American Revolution. The new states, though independent of each other as nation states, desiring to avoid anything that remotely resembled a monarchy, Congress negotiated the Articles of Confederation to establish a weak alliance between the states. Out from under any monarchy, the states assigned some formerly royal prerogatives to Congress, only after all the states agreed to a resolution settling competing western land claims did the Articles take effect on March 1,1781, when Maryland became the final state to ratify them. In 1783, the Treaty of Paris secured independence for each of the former colonies, with peace at hand, the states each turned toward their own internal affairs. Prospects for the convention appeared bleak until James Madison and Edmund Randolph succeeded in securing George Washingtons attendance to Philadelphia as a delegate for Virginia. It was through the negotiations at Philadelphia that the presidency framed in the U. S. The first power the Constitution confers upon the president is the veto, the Presentment Clause requires any bill passed by Congress to be presented to the president before it can become law. Once the legislation has been presented, the president has three options, Sign the legislation, the bill becomes law. Veto the legislation and return it to Congress, expressing any objections, in this instance, the president neither signs nor vetoes the legislation
23.
United States Secretary of Defense
–
The Secretary of Defense is the leader and chief executive officer of the Department of Defense, an Executive Department of the Government of the United States of America. The Secretary of Defenses power over the United States military is only to that of the President. This position corresponds to what is known as a Defense Minister in many other countries. The Secretary of Defense is appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate, Secretary of Defense is a statutory office, and the general provision in 10 U. S. C. This is also extended to the United States Coast Guard during any period of time in which its command, only the Secretary of Defense can authorize the transfer of operational control of forces between the three Military Departments and the nine Combatant Commands. The current Secretary of Defense is retired United States Marine Corps general James Mattis, the Army, Navy, and Marine Corps were established in 1775, in concurrence with the American Revolution. Based on the experiences of World War II, proposals were made on how to more effectively manage the large combined military establishment. The Army generally favored centralization while the Navy had institutional preferences for decentralization, the resulting National Security Act of 1947 was largely a compromise between these divergent viewpoints. The Act merged the Department of War with the Department of the Navy to form the National Military Establishment, the Act also separated the Army Air Forces from the Department of the Army to become its own branch of service, the Department of the Air Force. At first, each of the service secretaries maintained quasi-cabinet status, the position of the Deputy Secretary of Defense, the number two position in the department, was also created at this time. The last major revision of the framework concerning the position was done in the Goldwater–Nichols Department of Defense Reorganization Act of 1986. In particular, it elevated the status of joint service for commissioned officers, making it in practice a requirement before appointments to general officer and flag officer grades could be made. Because the Constitution vests all military authority in Congress and the President, as the head of DoD, all officials, employees and service members are under the Secretary of Defense. All of these positions, civil and military, require Senate confirmation. Department of Defense Directive 5100.01 describes the relationships within the Department. The latest version, signed by former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates in December 2010, is the first major re-write since 1987, the name of the principally military staff organization, organized under the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is the Joint Staff. In addition, there is the Joint Meritorious Unit Award, which is the ribbon and unit award issued to joint DoD activities. While the approval authority for DSSM, DMSM, JSCM, JSAM and JMUA is delegated to inferior DoD officials, Permanent Representative to NATO in recognition of U. S
24.
Vice President of the United States
–
The executive power of both the vice president and the president is granted under Article Two, Section One of the Constitution. The vice president is elected, together with the president. The Office of the Vice President of the United States assists, as the president of the United States Senate, the vice president votes only when it is necessary to break a tie. Additionally, pursuant to the Twelfth Amendment, the president presides over the joint session of Congress when it convenes to count the vote of the Electoral College. Currently, the president is usually seen as an integral part of a presidents administration. The Constitution does not expressly assign the office to any one branch, causing a dispute among scholars whether it belongs to the executive branch, the legislative branch, or both. The modern view of the president as a member of the executive branch is due in part to the assignment of executive duties to the vice president by either the president or Congress. Mike Pence of Indiana is the 48th and current vice president and he assumed office on January 20,2017. The formation of the office of vice president resulted directly from the compromise reached at the Philadelphia Convention which created the Electoral College, the delegates at Philadelphia agreed that each state would receive a number of presidential electors equal to the sum of that states allocation of Representatives and Senators. The delegates assumed that electors would typically choose to favor any candidate from their state over candidates from other states, under a plurality election process, this would tend to result in electing candidates solely from the largest states. Consequently, the delegates agreed that presidents must be elected by a majority of the number of electors. To guard against such stratagems, the Philadelphia delegates specified that the first runner-up presidential candidate would become vice president, the process for selecting the vice president was later modified in the Twelfth Amendment. Each elector still receives two votes, but now one of those votes is for president, while the other is for vice president. The requirement that one of those votes be cast for a candidate not from the electors own state remains in effect. S, other statutorily granted roles include membership of both the National Security Council and the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution. As President of the Senate, the president has two primary duties, to cast a vote in the event of a Senate deadlock and to preside over. For example, in the first half of 2001, the Senators were divided 50-50 between Republicans and Democrats and Dick Cheneys tie-breaking vote gave the Republicans the Senate majority, as President of the Senate, the vice president oversees procedural matters and may cast a tie-breaking vote. As President of the Senate, John Adams cast 29 tie-breaking votes that was surpassed by John C. Calhoun with 31. Adamss votes protected the presidents sole authority over the removal of appointees, influenced the location of the national capital, on at least one occasion Adams persuaded senators to vote against legislation he opposed, and he frequently addressed the Senate on procedural and policy matters
25.
George H. W. Bush
–
George Herbert Walker Bush is an American politician who was the 41st President of the United States from 1989 to 1993 and the 43rd Vice President of the United States from 1981 to 1989. Republican Party, he was previously a congressman, ambassador, and he is the oldest living former President and Vice President. Prior to his sons presidency, he was referred to as George Bush or President Bush. Bush was born in Milton, Massachusetts, to Prescott Bush and Dorothy Walker Bush. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, Bush postponed his university studies, enlisted in the U. S. Navy on his 18th birthday and he served until the end of the war, then attended Yale University. Graduating in 1948, he moved his family to West Texas and entered the oil business, Bush became involved in politics soon after founding his own oil company, serving as a member of the House of Representatives and Director of Central Intelligence, among other positions. He failed to win the Republican nomination for President in 1980, but was chosen as a mate by party nominee Ronald Reagan. During his tenure, Bush headed administration task forces on deregulation, in 1988, Bush ran a successful campaign to succeed Reagan as President, defeating Democratic opponent Michael Dukakis. Foreign policy drove the Bush presidency, military operations were conducted in Panama and the Persian Gulf, the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, and the Soviet Union dissolved two years later. Domestically, Bush reneged on a 1988 campaign promise and, after a struggle with Congress and his presidential library was dedicated in 1997, and he has been active—often alongside Bill Clinton—in various humanitarian activities. Besides being the 43rd president, his son George also served as the 46th Governor of Texas and is one of only two other being John Quincy Adams—to be the son of a former president. His second son, Jeb Bush, served as the 43rd Governor of Florida, George Herbert Walker Bush was born at 173 Adams Street in Milton, Massachusetts, on June 12,1924, to Prescott Sheldon Bush and Dorothy Bush. The Bush family moved from Milton to Greenwich, Connecticut, shortly after his birth, growing up, his nickname was Poppy. Bush began his education at the Greenwich Country Day School in Greenwich. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, Bush decided to join the US, Navy, so after graduating from Phillips Academy in 1942, he became a naval aviator at the age of 18. He was assigned to Torpedo Squadron as the officer in September 1943. The following year, his squadron was based on USS San Jacinto as a member of Air Group 51, during this time, the task force was victorious in one of the largest air battles of World War II, the Battle of the Philippine Sea. After Bushs promotion to Lieutenant on August 1,1944, San Jacinto commenced operations against the Japanese in the Bonin Islands, Bush piloted one of four Grumman TBM Avenger aircraft from VT-51 that attacked the Japanese installations on Chichijima
26.
Vietnam War
–
It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam and the government of South Vietnam. The war is considered a Cold War-era proxy war. As the war continued, the actions of the Viet Cong decreased as the role. U. S. and South Vietnamese forces relied on air superiority and overwhelming firepower to conduct search and destroy operations, involving ground forces, artillery, in the course of the war, the U. S. conducted a large-scale strategic bombing campaign against North Vietnam. The North Vietnamese government and the Viet Cong were fighting to reunify Vietnam and they viewed the conflict as a colonial war and a continuation of the First Indochina War against forces from France and later on the United States. The U. S. government viewed its involvement in the war as a way to prevent a communist takeover of South Vietnam and this was part the domino theory of a wider containment policy, with the stated aim of stopping the spread of communism. Beginning in 1950, American military advisors arrived in what was then French Indochina, U. S. involvement escalated in the early 1960s, with troop levels tripling in 1961 and again in 1962. Regular U. S. combat units were deployed beginning in 1965, despite the Paris Peace Accord, which was signed by all parties in January 1973, the fighting continued. In the U. S. and the Western world, a large anti-Vietnam War movement developed as part of a larger counterculture, the war changed the dynamics between the Eastern and Western Blocs, and altered North–South relations. Direct U. S. military involvement ended on 15 August 1973, the capture of Saigon by the North Vietnamese Army in April 1975 marked the end of the war, and North and South Vietnam were reunified the following year. The war exacted a huge human cost in terms of fatalities, estimates of the number of Vietnamese soldiers and civilians killed vary from 966,000 to 3.8 million. Some 240, 000–300,000 Cambodians,20, 000–62,000 Laotians, and 58,220 U. S. service members died in the conflict. Various names have applied to the conflict. Vietnam War is the most commonly used name in English and it has also been called the Second Indochina War and the Vietnam Conflict. As there have been several conflicts in Indochina, this conflict is known by the names of its primary protagonists to distinguish it from others. In Vietnamese, the war is known as Kháng chiến chống Mỹ. It is also called Chiến tranh Việt Nam, France began its conquest of Indochina in the late 1850s, and completed pacification by 1893. The 1884 Treaty of Huế formed the basis for French colonial rule in Vietnam for the seven decades
27.
United States Senate
–
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress which, along with the House of Representatives, the lower chamber, composes the legislature of the United States. The composition and powers of the Senate are established by Article One of the United States Constitution. S. From 1789 until 1913, Senators were appointed by the legislatures of the states represented, following the ratification of the Seventeenth Amendment in 1913. The Senate chamber is located in the wing of the Capitol, in Washington. It further has the responsibility of conducting trials of those impeached by the House, in the early 20th century, the practice of majority and minority parties electing their floor leaders began, although they are not constitutional officers. This idea of having one chamber represent people equally, while the other gives equal representation to states regardless of population, was known as the Connecticut Compromise, there was also a desire to have two Houses that could act as an internal check on each other. One was intended to be a Peoples House directly elected by the people, the other was intended to represent the states to such extent as they retained their sovereignty except for the powers expressly delegated to the national government. The Senate was thus not designed to serve the people of the United States equally, the Constitution provides that the approval of both chambers is necessary for the passage of legislation. First convened in 1789, the Senate of the United States was formed on the example of the ancient Roman Senate, the name is derived from the senatus, Latin for council of elders. James Madison made the comment about the Senate, In England, at this day, if elections were open to all classes of people. An agrarian law would take place. If these observations be just, our government ought to secure the permanent interests of the country against innovation, landholders ought to have a share in the government, to support these invaluable interests, and to balance and check the other. They ought to be so constituted as to protect the minority of the opulent against the majority, the senate, therefore, ought to be this body, and to answer these purposes, the people ought to have permanency and stability. The Constitution stipulates that no constitutional amendment may be created to deprive a state of its equal suffrage in the Senate without that states consent, the District of Columbia and all other territories are not entitled to representation in either House of the Congress. The District of Columbia elects two senators, but they are officials of the D. C. city government. The United States has had 50 states since 1959, thus the Senate has had 100 senators since 1959. In 1787, Virginia had roughly ten times the population of Rhode Island, whereas today California has roughly 70 times the population of Wyoming and this means some citizens are effectively two orders of magnitude better represented in the Senate than those in other states. Seats in the House of Representatives are approximately proportionate to the population of each state, before the adoption of the Seventeenth Amendment in 1913, Senators were elected by the individual state legislatures
28.
Colin Powell
–
Colin Luther Powell is an American statesman and a retired four-star general in the United States Army. Powell was born in Harlem as the son of Jamaican immigrants, Powell was the first, and so far the only, African American to serve on the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He was the 65th United States Secretary of State, serving under U. S. President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2005, Powell was born in New York City and was raised in the South Bronx. His parents, Luther and Maud Powell, immigrated to the United States from Jamaica, Powell was educated in the New York City public schools, graduating from the City College of New York, where he earned a bachelors degree in geology. He also participated in ROTC at CCNY and received a commission as an Army second lieutenant upon graduation in June 1958 and his further academic achievements include a Master of Business Administration degree from George Washington University. Powell was a soldier for 35 years, during which time he held myriad command and staff positions. His last assignment, from October 1,1989 to September 30,1993, was as the 12th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, during this time, he oversaw 28 crises, including Operation Desert Storm in the 1991 Persian Gulf War. He also formulated the Powell Doctrine, following his military retirement, Powell wrote his best-selling autobiography, My American Journey. In addition, he pursued a career as a speaker, addressing audiences across the country. He was nominated by President Bush on December 16,2000 as Secretary of State, after being unanimously confirmed by the U. S. Senate, he was sworn in as the 65th Secretary of State on January 20,2001. Powell is the recipient of numerous U. S. and foreign military awards, several schools and other institutions have been named in his honor and he holds honorary degrees from universities and colleges across the country. Powell is married to the former Alma Vivian Johnson of Birmingham, the Powell family includes son Michael, daughters Linda and Anne, daughter-in-law Jane, and grandsons Jeffrey and Bryan. In 2016, while not a candidate, Powell received three votes for the office of President of the United States. Powell was born on April 5,1937, in Harlem and his parents were both of mixed African and Scots ancestry. Luther worked as a clerk and Maud as a seamstress. Powell was raised in the South Bronx and attended Morris High School, while at school, Powell worked at a local baby furniture store, where he picked up Yiddish from the eastern European Jewish shopkeepers and some of the customers. He also served as a Shabbos goy, helping Orthodox families with needed tasks on the Sabbath and he received his BS degree in geology from the City College of New York in 1958 and has said he was a C average student. He later earned an MBA degree from the George Washington University in 1971, despite his parents pronunciation of his name as /ˈkɒlᵻn/, Powell has pronounced his name /ˈkoʊlᵻn/ since childhood, after the heroic World War II flyer Colin P. Kelly Jr
29.
Joint Chiefs of Staff
–
After the 1986 reorganization of the military undertaken by the Goldwater-Nichols Act, the Joint Chiefs of Staff does not have operational command of U. S. military forces. Today, their responsibility is to ensure the personnel readiness, policy. The Joint Chiefs of Staff also act in an advisory capacity for the President of the United States. However, the Coast Guard is always a service and may operate under the Department of the Navy during wartime. The commandant of the Coast Guard is however, occasionally invited by the chairman to attend meetings of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. As the military of the United States grew in size following the American Civil War, the Army and Navy were unsupportive of each other at either the planning or operational level and were constrained by disagreements during the Spanish–American War in the Caribbean campaigns. The Joint Board acting as a committee was created to plan joint operations. Yet, the Joint Board accomplished little as its charter gave it no authority to enforce its decisions, the Joint Board also lacked the ability to originate its own opinions and was thus limited to commenting only on the problems submitted to it by the Secretaries of War and Navy. As a result, the Joint Board had little to no impact on the manner the United States conducted World War I, after World War I, in 1919 the two Secretaries agreed to reestablish and revitalize the Joint Board. The mission of the General staff was to develop plans for mobilization for the next war, the US was always designated Blue and potential enemies were assigned various other colors. This time, the Joint Boards membership would include the Chiefs of Staff, their deputies, under the Joint Board would be a staff called the Joint Planning Committee to serve the Board. Along with new membership, the Joint Board could initiate recommendations on its own initiative, however, the Joint Board still did not possess the legal authority to enforce its decisions. President of the United States Franklin D. Roosevelt and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Winston Churchill established the Combined Chiefs of Staff during the 1942 Arcadia Conference, the CCS would serve as the supreme military body for strategic direction of the combined US-British Empire war effort. The UK portion of the CCS would be composed of the British Chiefs of Staff Committee, the Joint Board had little influence during the war and was ultimately disbanded in 1947. Modeled on the British Chiefs of Staff Committee, the JCS first formal meeting was held on 9 February 1942, to coordinate U. S. military operations between War and Navy Departments. On 20 July 1942, Admiral Leahy became the Chief of Staff to the Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy, with the chiefs of staff of the services serving under his leadership. The first members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff were, As the table indicates, by the end of the war, however, each had been promoted, Leahy and King to Fleet Admiral, Marshall and Arnold to General of the Army. Arnold was later appointed to the grade of General of the Air Force, one of the Joint Chiefs of Staffs committees was the Joint Strategic Survey Committee
30.
Elaine Chao
–
Elaine Lan Chao is a Taiwanese-American politician who is the 18th and current United States Secretary of Transportation. She is a member of the Republican Party, born in Taipei, Taiwan, Chao was the first Asian American woman and the first Taiwanese American in U. S. history to be appointed to a Presidents Cabinet. She spent four years as the president of the United Way of America, on November 29,2016, President-elect Donald Trump nominated Chao to serve as the Secretary of Transportation. She was confirmed by the Senate on January 31,2017, Chao is married to Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who has been the Senate Majority Leader since January 3,2015. Chao was born in Taipei, Taiwan, the eldest of six daughters, Chao was born to Ruth Mulan Chu Chao, a historian, and James S. C. Chao, who began his career as a merchant mariner and founded a shipping company in New York City called Foremost Shipping. Chaos parents had fled to Taiwan from Shanghai in China after the Chinese Communists took over following the Chinese Civil War in 1949. When she was 8 years old, in 1961, she came to the United States on a ship along with her mother. Her father had arrived in New York three years earlier after receiving a scholarship, Chao attended Tsai Hsing Elementary School in Taipei for kindergarten and first grade, and subsequently attended Syosset High School in Syosset, New York, on Long Island. She received a bachelor of arts in Economics from Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts, while at Mount Holyoke, she worked for the Admissions Department, and the Economics Department, edited the yearbook, played field hockey and was a member of the horseback riding club. In the first semester of her junior year Elaine was co-editor in chief of the yearbook, in the second semester of her junior year she did a domestic exchange to Dartmouth College, where she studied money and banking. She received a MBA degree from Harvard Business School in 1979, while at Harvard Business School she was the first woman at Harvard to be elected class officer and class marshall. She was a member of the club, the financial accounting club, the international business club. Chao has received 36 honorary doctorates, including an honorary DHL degree from Georgetown University in 2015 and she was granted a White House Fellowship in 1983 during the Reagan Administration. In 1986, Chao became Deputy Administrator of the Maritime Administration in the U. S. Department of Transportation, from 1988 to 1989, she served as Chairwoman of the Federal Maritime Commission. In 1989, President George H. W. Bush nominated Chao to be Deputy Secretary of Transportation, from 1991 to 1992, she was the Director of the Peace Corps. She was the first Asian Pacific American to serve in any of these positions, following her service in the government, Chao worked for four years as President and CEO of United Way of America. She is credited with returning credibility and public trust in the organization after a financial mismanagement scandal involving former president William Aramony
31.
United Way of America
–
The main areas include education, income, and health. United Way in America has been the largest non-profit organisation by donations from the public, the organization has roots in Denver, Colorado, where in 1887 church leaders began the Charity Organization Society, which coordinated services and fundraising for 22 agencies. The first Community Chest was founded in 1913 in Cleveland, Ohio, the number of Community Chest organizations increased from 39 to 353 between 1919 and 1929, and surpassed 1,000 by 1948. Laidlaw merged the Community Chest and other Detroit charities to form the United Foundation, walter Laidlaws work with the United Foundation became the model for united funds nationally and eventually the United Way organisation. In 1928, a Community Chest organization was established in Cape Town, by 1974, there were enough United Way organizations internationally to demand the kind of support provided by the national organization, United Way of America and United Way International was born. Its staff spoke eight languages, with a Board of Directors from more than seven countries, amundsen, Chief Administrative Officer, served as interim president during a yearlong search. By 1963, and after several changes, the term United Way was adopted. Laidlaw fell ill, William Aramony became CEO of the governing body known as the United Community Funds and Council of America. It moved from New York City to Alexandria, Virginia in 1971, after Aramonys departure in 1992, Kenneth W. Dam was named interim CEO until Elaine Chao was selected as UWAs second president. Betty Stanley Beene took over in 1997 and stayed until 2001, in 2014, Brian Gallagher received $1.54 million in compensation while the organization experienced its largest worldwide loss in revenue, volunteers and donors in many years. In May 2009, United Way of America and United Way International were integrated as one global entity, all of this is done in collaboration with diverse partners. Since 2008, the United Way of America has teamed up with the United Way of Southeastern Michigan, United Way also helps to promote other community service projects through their Alternative Spring Break Programs, such as the 10,000 Hours Show. The concert is organized by a campus and their local United Way. The programs mission is to raise awareness across the nation that young people can make a difference by joining their efforts to meet their communities needs. The goal in part is helping develop the next generation of active community leaders, the 10,000 Hours Show was founded in the fall of 2002 by undergraduates at the University of Iowa. Ben Folds performed the first show in the fall of 2003, since then, there have been a number of other successful shows. Because of the conditions in each community, the issues United Ways address are determined locally. Kobe Bryant has hosted the walk for several consecutive years, nearly 50,000 walkers have participated and raised over $4 million to help fight homelessness and successfully placed 14,000 people in permanent housing who previously were on the streets
32.
Mitch McConnell
–
Addison Mitchell Mitch McConnell Jr. is an American politician and the senior United States Senator from Kentucky. A member of the Republican Party, he has been the Majority Leader of the Senate since January 3,2015 and he is the 15th Republican and the second Kentuckian to lead his party in the Senate. During the administration of President Barack Obama, McConnell was known to the left as being an obstructionist, some on the right praised him for tenacity and courage, while others criticized him for being part of the political establishment and not keeping his promises to conservatives. From early 2016, McConnell refused to schedule Senate hearings for Obamas nominee to the Supreme Court, Merrick Garland, to replace Associate Justice Antonin Scalia, who died in February 2016. Garlands nomination remained before the Senate for 294 days, from March 16,2016 until it expired on January 3,2017, McConnell has repeatedly been found to have the lowest home state approval rating of any sitting senator. McConnell was born on February 20,1942, in a hospital in Sheffield, Alabama, which is now called the Helen Keller Hospital, McConnell is the son of Addison Mitchell McConnell, and his wife, Julia. As a youth, he overcame polio and his family moved to Georgia when he was eight. When he was a teenager, his family arrived in Louisville where he attended duPont Manual High School and he graduated with honors from the University of Louisville with a B. A. in political science in 1964. McConnell was president of the Student Council of the College of Arts and Sciences and he has maintained strong ties to his alma mater and remains a rabid fan of its sports teams. Three years later, McConnell graduated from the University of Kentucky College of Law, McConnell is of Scots-Irish and English descent. McConnell enlisted in the U. S. Army Reserve at Louisville and he received an Honorable Discharge for medical reasons after five weeks at Fort Knox. McConnell began interning for Senator John Sherman Cooper in 1964, later, McConnell was an assistant to Senator Marlow Cook and was a Deputy Assistant Attorney General under President Gerald R. Ford, where he worked alongside future Justice Antonin Scalia. In 1977, McConnell was elected the Jefferson County Judge/Executive, the top political office in Jefferson County. 1984 In 1984, McConnell ran for the U. S. Senate against two-term Democratic incumbent Walter Dee Huddleston. The election race wasnt decided until the last returns came in, McConnell was the only Republican Senate challenger to win that year, despite Ronald Reagans landslide victory in the presidential election. His campaign bumper stickers and television ads asked voters to Switch to Mitch,1990 In 1990, McConnell faced a tough re-election contest against former Louisville Mayor Harvey I. 1996 In 1996, he defeated Steve Beshear by 12. 6%,2002 In 2002, he was re-elected against Lois Combs Weinberg by 29. 4%, the largest majority by a statewide Republican candidate in Kentucky history. 2008 In 2008, McConnell faced his closest contest since 1990 and he defeated Bruce Lunsford by 6%
33.
Kentucky
–
Kentucky, officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state located in the east south-central region of the United States. Kentucky is one of four U. S. states constituted as a commonwealth, originally a part of Virginia, in 1792 Kentucky became the 15th state to join the Union. Kentucky is the 37th most extensive and the 26th most populous of the 50 United States, Kentucky is known as the Bluegrass State, a nickname based on the bluegrass found in many of its pastures due to the fertile soil. One of the regions in Kentucky is the Bluegrass Region in central Kentucky. In 1776, the counties of Virginia beyond the Appalachian Mountains became known as Kentucky County, the precise etymology of the name is uncertain, but likely based on an Iroquoian name meaning the meadow or the prairie. Kentucky is situated in the Upland South, a significant portion of eastern Kentucky is part of Appalachia. Kentucky borders seven states, from the Midwest and the Southeast, West Virginia lies to the east, Virginia to the southeast, Tennessee to the south, Missouri to the west, Illinois and Indiana to the northwest, and Ohio to the north and northeast. Only Missouri and Tennessee, both of which border eight states, touch more, Kentuckys northern border is formed by the Ohio River and its western border by the Mississippi River. The official state borders are based on the courses of the rivers as they existed when Kentucky became a state in 1792, for instance, northbound travelers on U. S.41 from Henderson, after crossing the Ohio River, will be in Kentucky for about two miles. Ellis Park, a racetrack, is located in this small piece of Kentucky. Waterworks Road is part of the land border between Indiana and Kentucky. Kentucky has a part known as Kentucky Bend, at the far west corner of the state. It exists as an exclave surrounded completely by Missouri and Tennessee, Road access to this small part of Kentucky on the Mississippi River requires a trip through Tennessee. The epicenter of the powerful 1811–12 New Madrid earthquakes was near this area, much of the outer Bluegrass is in the Eden Shale Hills area, made up of short, steep, and very narrow hills. The Jackson Purchase and western Pennyrile are home to several bald cypress/tupelo swamps, located within the southeastern interior portion of North America, Kentucky has a climate that can best be described as a humid subtropical climate. Temperatures in Kentucky usually range from daytime summer highs of 87 °F to the low of 23 °F. The average precipitation is 46 inches a year, Kentucky experiences four distinct seasons, with substantial variations in the severity of summer and winter. The highest recorded temperature was 114 °F at Greensburg on July 28,1930 while the lowest recorded temperature was −37 °F at Shelbyville on January 19,1994, due to its location, Kentucky has a moderate humid subtropical climate, with abundant rainfall
34.
Norman Schwarzkopf, Jr.
–
Herbert Norman Schwarzkopf Jr. was a United States Army general. While serving as Commander-in-chief, United States Central Command, he led all coalition forces in the Gulf War, born in Trenton, New Jersey, Schwarzkopf grew up in the United States and later in Iran. He was accepted by the U. S, Military Academy at West Point and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the United States Army in 1956. Schwarzkopf was highly decorated in Vietnam, being awarded three Silver Star Medals, two Purple Hearts, and the Legion of Merit. Rising through the ranks after the conflict, he commanded the U. S. 24th Infantry Division and was one of the commanders of the Invasion of Grenada in 1983. Assuming command of United States Central Command in 1988, Schwarzkopf was called on to respond to the Invasion of Kuwait in 1990 by the forces of Iraq under Saddam Hussein. Initially tasked with defending Saudi Arabia from Iraqi aggression, Schwarzkopfs command eventually grew to a force of over 750,000 troops. Schwarzkopf was presented with military honors, Schwarzkopf was born Herbert Norman Schwarzkopf Jr. on August 22,1934 in Trenton, New Jersey, to Herbert Norman Schwarzkopf Sr. and Ruth Alice. His father was a 1917 graduate of the United States Military Academy and his mother was a housewife from West Virginia who was distantly related to Thomas Jefferson. The senior Schwarzkopf later became the Superintendent of the New Jersey State Police, in January 1952, the younger Schwarzkopfs birth certificate was amended to make his name H. Norman Schwarzkopf, reportedly because his father detested his first name. The younger Schwarzkopf had two sisters, Ruth Ann and Sally Joan. Norman Schwarzkopf was described by friends as active and assertive, protective of his sisters. He spent his childhood attached to his father, who became the narrator for the Gang Busters radio program. When Norman Schwarzkopf was eight years old, his father returned to the military amid World War II and his continuous absence made home life difficult, particularly for his wife. In 1946, when Norman Schwarzkopf was 12, he moved with his father to Tehran, Iran, in Iran, Norman learned shooting, horseback riding, and hunting. Schwarzkopf developed a lifelong interest in Middle Eastern culture, the family moved to Geneva, Switzerland, in 1947, following a new military assignment for Herbert Schwarzkopf. The senior Schwarzkopf visited Italy, Heidelberg, Frankfurt, and Berlin, Germany during his duties. By 1951 he had returned to Iran briefly before returning to the United States, from a young age, Norman wanted to be a military officer, following his fathers example
35.
General
–
A general officer is an officer of high rank in the army, and in some nations air forces or marines. The term general is used in two ways, as the title for all grades of general officer and as a specific rank. It originates in the 16th century, as a shortening of captain general, the adjective general had been affixed to officer designations since the late medieval period to indicate relative superiority or an extended jurisdiction. Today, the title of General is known in countries as a four-star rank. However different countries use different systems of stars for senior ranks and it has a NATO code of OF-9 and is the highest rank currently in use in a number of armies. The various grades of general officer are at the top of the rank structure. Lower-ranking officers in military forces are typically known as field officers or field-grade officers. There are two systems of general ranks used worldwide. In addition there is a system, the Arab system of ranks. Variations of one form, the old European system, were used throughout Europe. It is used in the United Kingdom, from which it spread to the Commonwealth. The other is derived from the French Revolution, where ranks are named according to the unit they command. The system used either a general or a colonel general rank. The rank of marshal was used by some countries as the highest rank. Many countries actually used two brigade command ranks, which is why some countries now use two stars as their brigade general insignia, mexico and Argentina still use two brigade command ranks. As a lieutenant outranks a sergeant major, confusion arises because a lieutenant is outranked by a major. Originally the serjeant major was, exclusively, the commander of the infantry, junior only to the captain general, the distinction of serjeant major general only applied after serjeant majors were introduced as a rank of field officer. Serjeant was eventually dropped from both titles, creating the modern rank titles
36.
Gulf War
–
The Iraqi Armys occupation of Kuwait that began 2 August 1990 was met with international condemnation, and brought immediate economic sanctions against Iraq by members of the UN Security Council. US President George H. W. Bush deployed US forces into Saudi Arabia, an array of nations joined the coalition, the largest military alliance since World War II. The great majority of the military forces were from the US, with Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom. Kuwait and Saudi Arabia paid around US$32 billion of the US$60 billion cost, the war was marked by the introduction of live news broadcasts from the front lines of the battle, principally by the US network CNN. The war has also earned the nickname Video Game War after the daily broadcast of images from cameras on board US bombers during Operation Desert Storm. The initial conflict to expel Iraqi troops from Kuwait began with an aerial and naval bombardment on 17 January 1991 and this was followed by a ground assault on 24 February. This was a victory for the coalition forces, who liberated Kuwait. The coalition ceased its advance, and declared a ceasefire 100 hours after the campaign started. Aerial and ground combat was confined to Iraq, Kuwait, Iraq launched Scud missiles against coalition military targets in Saudi Arabia and against Israel. The following names have been used to describe the conflict itself, Gulf War, a problem with these terms is that the usage is ambiguous, having now been applied to at least three conflicts, see Gulf War. The use of the term Persian Gulf is also disputed, see Persian Gulf naming dispute, with no consensus of naming, various publications have attempted to refine the name. Other language terms include French, la Guerre du Golfe and German, Golfkrieg, German, Zweiter Golfkrieg, French, most of the coalition states used various names for their operations and the wars operational phases. Operation Desert Storm was the US name of the conflict from 17 January 1991. Operation Desert Sabre was the US name for the offensive against the Iraqi Army in the Kuwaiti Theater of Operations from 24–28 February 1991, in itself. Operation Desert Farewell was the given to the return of US units and equipment to the US in 1991 after Kuwaits liberation. Operation Granby was the British name for British military activities during the operations, Opération Daguet was the French name for French military activities in the conflict. Operation Friction was the name of the Canadian operations Operazione Locusta was the Italian name for the operations, in addition, various phases of each operation may have a unique operational name. The US divided the conflict into three campaigns, Defense of Saudi Arabian country for the period 2 August 1990, through 16 January 1991
37.
Bob Dole
–
In the 1976 presidential election, Dole was the Republican Party nominee for Vice President and incumbent President Gerald Fords running mate. He ran unsuccessfully for the Republican presidential nomination in 1980 and 1988, in 1996, Dole secured the Republican nomination for President of the United States, but lost the general election to incumbent President Bill Clinton. Dole is currently a member of the council of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation and special counsel at the Washington. Dole is married to former U. S. cabinet member and former U. S, Senator Elizabeth Hanford Dole of North Carolina. Dole was born on July 22,1923, in Russell, Kansas, Doles father, who had moved the family to Russell shortly before Robert was born, earned money by running a small creamery. One of Doles fathers customers was the father of future Senator Arlen Specter, during the Great Depression, which severely impacted Kansas and its residents, the Dole family moved to the basement of their home and eventually rented out the upper floors to raise money. As a boy, Dole worked as a jerk in the local drug store. Dole graduated from Russell High School in the spring of 1941, Dole had been a star high school athlete in Russell, and Kansas basketball coach Phog Allen traveled to Russell to recruit him to play for the Jayhawks basketball team. While at KU, Dole played for the team, the track team. In football, Dole played at the end position, earning varsity letters in 1942 and 1944, while in college, Dole joined the Kappa Sigma Fraternity, and in 1970 was bestowed with the Fraternitys Man of the Year honor. Doles pre-med studies at KU were interrupted by World War II, after the war, Dole returned to become a law student. Dole attended the University of Arizona from 1948 to 1951 and earned both his law degree and BA degrees from Washburn University in 1952, Dole was initiated as a Freemason of Russell Lodge No. 177, Russell, Kansas on April 19,1955, Dole grew up in a house at 1035 North Maple in Russell and it remained his official residence throughout his political career. In 1942, Dole joined the United States Armys Enlisted Reserve Corps to fight in World War II, Dole was transported to the United States, where his recovery was slow, interrupted by blood clots and a life-threatening infection. After large doses of penicillin had not succeeded, Dole overcame the infection with the administration of streptomycin and he nevertheless remained despondent, not ready to accept the fact that my life would be changed forever. He was encouraged to see Hampar Kelikian, an orthopedist in Chicago who had working with veterans returning from war. Dr. K, as Dole later came to call him, operated on him seven times, free of charge, and had, in Doles words. Dole recovered from his wounds at the Percy Jones Army Hospital, Dole was decorated three times, receiving two Purple Hearts for his injuries, and the Bronze Star with combat V for valor for his attempt to assist a downed radioman
38.
Kansas
–
Kansas /ˈkænzəs/ is a U. S. state located in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka and its largest city is Wichita, Kansas is named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribes name is said to mean people of the wind or people of the south wind. For thousands of years, what is now Kansas was home to numerous, tribes in the eastern part of the state generally lived in villages along the river valleys. Tribes in the part of the state were semi-nomadic and hunted large herds of bison. When it was opened to settlement by the U. S. Thus, the area was a hotbed of violence and chaos in its early days as these forces collided. The abolitionists eventually prevailed, and on January 29,1861, after the Civil War, the population of Kansas grew rapidly when waves of immigrants turned the prairie into farmland. By 2015, Kansas was one of the most productive agricultural states, producing high yields of wheat, corn, sorghum, and soybeans. Kansas, which has an area of 82,278 square miles is the 15th largest state by area and is the 34th most populous of the 50 United States with a population of 2,911,641, residents of Kansas are called Kansans, officially. Mount Sunflower is Kansass highest point at 4,041 feet, for a millennia, the land that is currently Kansas was inhabited by Native Americans. The first European to set foot in present-day Kansas was Francisco Vázquez de Coronado, in 1803, most of modern Kansas was secured by the United States as part of the Louisiana Purchase. Southwest Kansas, however, was still a part of Spain, Mexico, from 1812 to 1821, Kansas was part of the Missouri Territory. The Santa Fe Trail traversed Kansas from 1821 to 1880, transporting manufactured goods from Missouri and silver and furs from Santa Fe, wagon ruts from the trail are still visible in the prairie today. In 1827, Fort Leavenworth became the first permanent settlement of white Americans in the future state, the Kansas–Nebraska Act became law on May 30,1854, establishing the U. S. territories of Nebraska and Kansas, and opening the area to broader settlement by whites. Kansas Territory stretched all the way to the Continental Divide and included the sites of present-day Denver, Colorado Springs, Missouri and Arkansas sent settlers into Kansas all along its eastern border. These settlers attempted to sway votes in favor of slavery, the secondary settlement of Americans in Kansas Territory were abolitionists from Massachusetts and other Free-Staters, who attempted to stop the spread of slavery from neighboring Missouri. Directly presaging the American Civil War, these forces collided, entering into skirmishes that earned the territory the name of Bleeding Kansas, Kansas was admitted to the United States as a free state on January 29,1861, making it the 34th state to enter the Union. He was roundly condemned by both the conventional Confederate military and the partisan rangers commissioned by the Missouri legislature and his application to that body for a commission was flatly rejected due to his pre-war criminal record
39.
George Pataki
–
George Elmer Pataki is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 53rd Governor of New York. A member of the Republican Party, Pataki was a lawyer who was elected mayor of his town of Peekskill, later going on to be elected to State Assembly. In 1994, Pataki ran for governor against three-term incumbent Mario Cuomo, Pataki, as of January 2017 is the last Republican to serve as Governor of New York. In early 2015, Pataki began exploring a candidacy for the Republican nomination for President of the United States in 2016, on December 29,2015, Pataki withdrew his presidential candidacy. Pataki was born in Peekskill, New York, Patakis paternal grandfather was János Pataki of Aranyos-Apáti, Austria-Hungary, who came to the United States in 1908 and worked in a hat factory. János had married Erzsébet, also Hungarian-born, around 1904 and their son, Patakis father, was Louis P. Pataki, a mailman and volunteer fire chief, who ran the Pataki Farm. Patakis maternal grandfather was Matteo Laganà, who married Agnes Lynch of County Louth and their daughter, Margaret Lagana, is Patakis mother. Pataki has a brother, Louis. George Pataki can still speak a little Hungarian today, as well as Spanish, French, after graduating from Peekskill High School, Pataki entered Yale University with George W. Bush in 1964 on an academic scholarship, and graduated in three years. While there Pataki served as Chairman of the Conservative Party of the Yale Political Union and he received his J. D. from Columbia Law School in 1970. While practicing law at Plunkett and Jaffe, P. C. in Peekskill, finnegan, who would go on to be the architect of Patakis ascendancy to power. Finnegan would go on to manage Patakis campaigns for Mayor, State Assembly, State Senate, finnegan was then appointed chief counsel to the governor in 1995, and played the key role in developing and negotiating nearly all of Patakis early legislative success. George Pataki first won elected office in November 1981, Pataki was elected Mayor of the City of Peekskill, which is located in the Northwestern part of Westchester County. Pataki defeated the Democratic incumbent Fred Bianco Jr. winning 70% of the vote, in November 1983, Pataki was re-elected Mayor, winning 74% of the vote. In November 1984, George Pataki was elected to the New York State Assembly, by defeating the one-term Democratic incumbent William J. Ryan, in November 1986, Pataki defeated Ryan in a rematch, capturing 63% of the vote. Pataki won a term in November 1988, winning 74% of the vote against Democratic candidate Mark Zinna. Pataki won a fourth and final term in November 1990, winning over 90% of the vote and he was an assemblyman in the 186th, 187th, 188th and 189th New York State Legislatures. From 1983 to 1992, the 91st Assembly district included parts of Westchester, Orange, Rockland, however, in 1992, Assembly Democrats substantially redrew the district boundaries, placing the newly renamed 90th Assembly district entirely within Westchester County
40.
New York (state)
–
New York is a state in the northeastern United States, and is the 27th-most extensive, fourth-most populous, and seventh-most densely populated U. S. state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south and Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Vermont to the east. With an estimated population of 8.55 million in 2015, New York City is the most populous city in the United States, the New York Metropolitan Area is one of the most populous urban agglomerations in the world. New York City makes up over 40% of the population of New York State, two-thirds of the states population lives in the New York City Metropolitan Area, and nearly 40% lives on Long Island. Both the state and New York City were named for the 17th-century Duke of York, the next four most populous cities in the state are Buffalo, Rochester, Yonkers, and Syracuse, while the state capital is Albany. New York has a diverse geography and these more mountainous regions are bisected by two major river valleys—the north-south Hudson River Valley and the east-west Mohawk River Valley, which forms the core of the Erie Canal. Western New York is considered part of the Great Lakes Region and straddles Lake Ontario, between the two lakes lies Niagara Falls. The central part of the state is dominated by the Finger Lakes, New York had been inhabited by tribes of Algonquian and Iroquoian-speaking Native Americans for several hundred years by the time the earliest Europeans came to New York. The first Europeans to arrive were French colonists and Jesuit missionaries who arrived southward from settlements at Montreal for trade, the British annexed the colony from the Dutch in 1664. The borders of the British colony, the Province of New York, were similar to those of the present-day state, New York is home to the Statue of Liberty, a symbol of the United States and its ideals of freedom, democracy, and opportunity. In the 21st century, New York has emerged as a node of creativity and entrepreneurship, social tolerance. On April 17,1524 Verrazanno entered New York Bay, by way of the now called the Narrows into the northern bay which he named Santa Margherita. Verrazzano described it as a vast coastline with a delta in which every kind of ship could pass and he adds. This vast sheet of water swarmed with native boats and he landed on the tip of Manhattan and possibly on the furthest point of Long Island. Verrazannos stay was interrupted by a storm which pushed him north towards Marthas Vineyard, in 1540 French traders from New France built a chateau on Castle Island, within present-day Albany, due to flooding, it was abandoned the next year. In 1614, the Dutch under the command of Hendrick Corstiaensen, rebuilt the French chateau, Fort Nassau was the first Dutch settlement in North America, and was located along the Hudson River, also within present-day Albany. The small fort served as a trading post and warehouse, located on the Hudson River flood plain, the rudimentary fort was washed away by flooding in 1617, and abandoned for good after Fort Orange was built nearby in 1623. Henry Hudsons 1609 voyage marked the beginning of European involvement with the area, sailing for the Dutch East India Company and looking for a passage to Asia, he entered the Upper New York Bay on September 11 of that year
41.
Condoleezza Rice
–
Condoleezza Condi Rice is an American political scientist and diplomat. She served as the 66th United States Secretary of State, the person to hold that office in the administration of President George W. Bush. Rice was the first female African-American Secretary of State, as well as the second African-American Secretary of State, Rice was President Bushs National Security Advisor during his first term, making her the first woman to serve in that position. Before joining the Bush administration, she was a professor of science at Stanford University. Rice also served on the National Security Council as the Soviet and Eastern Europe Affairs Advisor to President George H. W. Bush during the dissolution of the Soviet Union and she has logged more miles traveling than any other Secretary of State. While in the position, she chaired the Millennium Challenge Corporations board of directors, in March 2009, Rice returned to Stanford University as a political science professor and the Thomas and Barbara Stephenson Senior Fellow on Public Policy at the Hoover Institution. In September 2010, she became a faculty member of the Stanford Graduate School of Business and a director of its Global Center for Business and her name, Condoleezza, derives from the music-related term con dolcezza, which in Italian means, with sweetness. Rice has roots in the American South going back to the pre-Civil War era, Rice grew up in the Titusville neighborhood of Birmingham, and then Tuscaloosa, Alabama, at a time when the South was racially segregated. Rice began to learn French, music, figure skating and ballet at the age of three, at the age of fifteen, she began piano classes with the goal of becoming a concert pianist. While Rice ultimately did not become a professional pianist, she still practices often and she accompanied cellist Yo-Yo Ma playing Johannes Brahms Violin Sonata in D Minor at Constitution Hall in April 2002 for the National Medal of Arts Awards. In 1967, the moved to Denver, Colorado. She attended St. Marys Academy, an all-girls Catholic high school in Cherry Hills Village, Colorado, Rice enrolled at the University of Denver, where her father was then serving as an assistant dean. Rice initially majored in Music, and after her sophomore year, she went to the Aspen Music Festival, There, she later said, she met students of greater talent than herself, and she doubted her career prospects as a pianist. She began to consider an alternative major and she attended an International Politics course taught by Josef Korbel, which sparked her interest in the Soviet Union and international relations. Rice later described Korbel, as a figure in her life. In 1974, at age 19, Rice was inducted into the Phi Beta Kappa Society, while at the University of Denver she was a member of Alpha Chi Omega, Gamma Delta chapter. She obtained a degree in political science from the University of Notre Dame in 1975. She first worked in the State Department in 1977, during the Carter administration and she would also study Russian at Moscow State University in the summer of 1979, and intern with the RAND Corporation in Santa Monica, California
42.
Stanford University
–
Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California, adjacent to Palo Alto and between San Jose and San Francisco. Its 8, 180-acre campus is one of the largest in the United States, Stanford also has land and facilities elsewhere. The university was founded in 1885 by Leland and Jane Stanford in memory of their only child, Stanford was a former Governor of California and U. S. Senator, he made his fortune as a railroad tycoon. The school admitted its first students 125 years ago on October 1,1891, Stanford University struggled financially after Leland Stanfords death in 1893 and again after much of the campus was damaged by the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Following World War II, Provost Frederick Terman supported faculty and graduates entrepreneurialism to build self-sufficient local industry in what would later be known as Silicon Valley. The university is one of the top fundraising institutions in the country. There are three schools that have both undergraduate and graduate students and another four professional schools. Students compete in 36 varsity sports, and the university is one of two institutions in the Division I FBS Pac-12 Conference. Stanford faculty and alumni have founded a number of companies that produce more than $2.7 trillion in annual revenue. It is the alma mater of 30 living billionaires,17 astronauts and it is also one of the leading producers of members of the United States Congress. Sixty Nobel laureates and seven Fields Medalists have been affiliated with Stanford as students, alumni, Stanford University was founded in 1885 by Leland and Jane Stanford, dedicated to Leland Stanford Jr, their only child. The institution opened in 1891 on Stanfords previous Palo Alto farm, despite being impacted by earthquakes in both 1906 and 1989, the campus was rebuilt each time. In 1919, The Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace was started by Herbert Hoover to preserve artifacts related to World War I, the Stanford Medical Center, completed in 1959, is a teaching hospital with over 800 beds. The SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, which was established in 1962, in 2008, 60% of this land remained undeveloped. Besides the central campus described below, the university also operates at more remote locations, some elsewhere on the main campus. Stanfords main campus includes a place within unincorporated Santa Clara County. The campus also includes land in unincorporated San Mateo County, as well as in the city limits of Menlo Park, Woodside. The academic central campus is adjacent to Palo Alto, bounded by El Camino Real, Stanford Avenue, Junipero Serra Boulevard, the United States Postal Service has assigned it two ZIP codes,94305 for campus mail and 94309 for P. O. box mail
43.
Laura Bush
–
Laura Lane Welch Bush is the wife of the 43rd President of the United States, George W. Bush, and was the First Lady from 2001 to 2009. Bush graduated from Southern Methodist University in 1968 with a degree in education. After attaining her masters degree in science at the University of Texas at Austin. Bush met her husband, George W. Bush, in 1977. The couple had twin daughters in 1981, Bushs political involvement began during her marriage. She campaigned with her husband during his unsuccessful 1978 run for the United States Congress, as First Lady of Texas, Bush implemented many initiatives focused on health, education, and literacy. She became First Lady after her husband was inaugurated as president on January 20,2001, polled by The Gallup Organization as one of the most popular First Ladies, Bush was involved in national and global concerns during her tenure. She continued to advance her trademark interests of education and literacy by establishing the semi-annual National Book Festival in 2001 and she also advanced womens causes through The Heart Truth and Susan G. Komen for the Cure organizations. She represented the United States during her trips, which tended to focus on HIV/AIDS. Laura Lane Welch was born on November 4,1946 in Midland, Texas, Bush is of English, French, and Swiss ancestry. Her father was a builder and later successful real estate developer. Early on, her parents encouraged her to read, leading to what would become her love of reading and she said, I learned at home from my mother. When I was a girl, my mother would read stories to me. I have loved books and going to the library ever since, in the summer, I liked to spend afternoons reading in the library. I enjoyed the Little House on the Prairie and Little Women books, reading gives you enjoyment throughout your life. Bush has also credited her second grade teacher, Charlene Gnagy, on the night of November 6,1963, Laura Welch ran a stop sign and struck another car, resulting in the death of its driver. The victim was her friend and classmate Michael Dutton Douglas. By some accounts, Douglas had been Bushs boyfriend at one time, Bush and her passenger, both 17, were treated for minor injuries
44.
Elizabeth Dole
–
Mary Elizabeth Alexander Hanford Liddy Dole is an American politician who served in both the Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush presidential administrations, as well as in the United States Senate. She next served as North Carolinas first female U. S. senator and she is a member of the Republican Party and former chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee. She is married to former U. S. Senate majority leader,1976 Republican vice-presidential nominee and 1996 Republican presidential nominee Bob Dole, Dole was born Mary Elizabeth Alexander Hanford in Salisbury, North Carolina, to Mary Ella and John Van Hanford. Dole first met her husband, Bob Dole, in the spring of 1972 at a meeting arranged by her boss and mentor. The couple dated, and she became his wife on December 6,1975. They have no children, though she is stepmother to Bobs adult daughter Robin from his first marriage of 24 years, which ended in divorce in 1972. She attended individually, and later with her husband, the Foundry United Methodist Church in Washington, articles at the time reported that the Doles stopped attending Foundry in 1995, finding the pastor at the time, J. Philip Wogaman, too liberal. Dole attended Duke University and graduated with distinction in political science and she was a finalist for an Angier B. Duke scholarship, an award given to outstanding applicants who matriculate at Duke. She was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, and was a recipient of the Algernon Sydney Sullivan award, Dole is a sister of Delta Delta Delta. She was also elected president of the student government association,1958 May queen. 1997, Shared her experiences in humanitarian work in a Senior Week speech,2000, Delivered the commencement address, on the theme of representative government. Awarded an honorary degree, Doctor of Humane Letters, following her graduation from Duke, she did her post-graduate work at Oxford in 1959. After Oxford, she took a job as a student teacher at Melrose High School in Melrose, Massachusetts, for the 1959–1960 school year. While teaching, she pursued her masters degree in education from Harvard University. At graduation, she was one of 24 women in a class of 550 students and she is an alumna of the Phi Beta Kappa honor society. Dole, who had campaigned for the Kennedy–Johnson presidential ticket in 1960, when many Democrats left the White House following Richard Nixons replacement of Johnson, Dole did not. From 1969 to 1973, she served as deputy assistant to President Nixon for consumer affairs, in 1973, Nixon appointed her to a seven-year term on the Federal Trade Commission
45.
United States Secretary of Labor
–
Formerly, there was a U. S. Secretary of Commerce and Labor, who led this department along with the U. S. Department of Commerce as one department. Since the two split in 1913, the Department of Commerce is now headed by a separate U. S. Secretary of Commerce. The most recent Secretary of Labor to die was William Usery Jr. on December 10,2016, United States Deputy Secretary of Labor List of living former members of the United States Cabinet Hall of the Secretaries of Labor, Portraits and Biographies
46.
Lynne Cheney
–
Lynne Ann Cheney is an American author, scholar, and former talk-show host. She is the wife of the 46th Vice President of the United States, Dick Cheney, Lynne Ann Vincent was born on August 14,1941 in Casper, Wyoming. Her mother, Edna Lolita, became a deputy sheriff, and her father, a descendant of Mormon pioneers, and with roots in Denmark, Sweden, England, Ireland, and Wales, she was raised Presbyterian and became Methodist upon her marriage to Dick Cheney. Cheney received her Bachelor of Arts degree in English literature with highest honors from Colorado College and she continued her education with a Master of Arts degree from the University of Colorado in Boulder, and a PhD in 19th century British literature from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Cheney served as the sixth Chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities from 1986 to 1993, in 1995, she founded American Council of Trustees and Alumni, a think tank devoted to reforming higher education. She is a fellow in education and culture at the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research. She also serves as a director of Readers Digest Association, Inc, from 1995 to 1998, Cheney served as the co-host of the Sunday edition of CNNs Crossfire, replacing Tony Snow. Cheney served on Lockheed Corporations board of directors from 1994 to 2001 and she gave up the $120, 000-a-year position shortly before her husbands inauguration. She had served on the Lockheed boards Finance, and Nominating, in 2000, she was mentioned as a possible conservative female pick for Republican Vice Presidential nominee on the George W. Bush ticket. The appointed head of the committee was her husband, Dick Cheney, then the CEO of Halliburton. She also criticized video game developers for similar content, on an October 10,2007, episode of The Daily Show, Cheney stated her opposition to a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. Her daughter Mary is openly lesbian and Lynne Cheney, like her husband Dick, Cheney has one brother, Mark Vincent, who lives in Wyoming with his wife, Linda. She has been married to Richard Dick Cheney since 1964 and they have two daughters and seven grandchildren. Their daughters are Elizabeth Cheney and Mary Cheney, Elizabeth, also known as Liz, was born July 28,1966, and is married to Philip Perry, the former general counsel for the Department of Homeland Security. She graduated from the University of Chicago Law School in 1996 and has worked as an international law attorney, consultant, Mary was born March 14,1969. Openly lesbian, she lives with her partner, Heather Roan Poe, in Great Falls, Mary Cheney married Poe on June 22,2012, in Washington, D. C. She gave birth to their first child, Samuel David Cheney, in May 2007 and she is one of her fathers top campaign aides and closest confidantes. In July 2003, Mary became the director of vice presidential operations for the Bush-Cheney 2004 presidential re-election campaign and she was a vital part of the campaign
