Maxwell D. Taylor
General Maxwell Davenport "Max" Taylor was a senior United States Army officer and diplomat of the mid-20th century. He served with distinction in World War II, most notably as commander of the 101st Airborne Division, nicknamed "The Screaming Eagles". After the war he served as the fifth Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, having been appointed by President John Kennedy, he was the father of biographer and historian John Maxwell Taylor and military historian and author Thomas Taylor. Born in Keytesville and raised in Kansas City, Taylor graduated from Northeast High School and attended Kansas City Polytechnic Institute. In 1918, he passed competitive examinations for Congressional appointment by William Patterson Borland to either the United States Military Academy or United States Naval Academy, passed the USMA entrance examination. Taylor attended West Point, graduated fourth in his class in 1922, was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers, he served in Hawaii with the 3rd Engineers from 1923 to 1926.
Taylor transferred to the Field Artillery and from 1926 to 1927 served with the 10th Field Artillery, receiving promotion to first lieutenant. Having demonstrated a facility for foreign languages, he studied French in Paris and was assigned to West Point as an instructor in French and Spanish. In 1933 he graduated from the Field Artillery School, he completed the course at the United States Army Command and General Staff College in 1935. Taylor was promoted to captain in August 1935 and served at the American embassy in Tokyo from 1935 to 1939, including attaché duty in China in 1937, he graduated from the United States Army War College in 1940 and was promoted to major in July 1940. Taylor served on the War Plans Division staff in 1940 and took part in a defense cooperation mission to Latin American countries, he commanded the 12th Field Artillery Battalion from 1940 to 1941, served in the Office of the Secretary of the General Staff until 1942. He received temporary promotions to lieutenant colonel in December 1941, colonel in February 1942, brigadier general in December 1942.
In 1942, Taylor became chief of staff of the 82nd Airborne Division, followed by command of the 82nd Airborne Division Artillery, took part in combat in Sicily and Italy. In 1943, during the planning for the Allied invasion of Italy, Taylor's diplomatic and language skills resulted in his secret mission to Rome to coordinate an 82nd air drop with Italian forces. General Dwight D. Eisenhower said that "the risks he ran were greater than I asked any other agent or emissary to take during the war."Hundreds of miles behind the front lines of battle, Taylor was forced by the rules of engagement to wear his American military uniform, so that if captured he could not be shot as a spy. He met with Marshal Pietro Badoglio and General Carboni; the air drop near Rome to capture the city was called off at the last minute when Taylor realized that German forces were moving in to cover the intended drop zones. Transport planes were in the air when Taylor's message canceled the drop, preventing the mission.
These efforts behind enemy lines got. After the campaigns in the Mediterranean, Taylor was assigned to become the Commanding General of the 101st Airborne Division, nicknamed "The Screaming Eagles", training in England in preparation for the Allied invasion of Normandy, after the division's first commander, Major General William Lee, suffered a heart attack. Taylor received temporary promotion to major general in May 1944. Taylor took part in the division's parachute jump into Normandy on June 6, 1944, the first Allied general officer to land in France on D-Day, he subsequently commanded the 101st in the Battle of Normandy, including in the capture of Carentan on June 13, the division continued to fight in the campaign as regular infantry. The 101st Airborne Division was pulled out of the line in late June, having been in continuous action for nearly a month and, in early July, returned to England to rest and refit and absorb replacements, after having suffered over 4,600 casualties. Having been brought up to strength, Taylor led the 101st in Operation Market Garden in the Netherlands in September 1944.
He was not present for the division's action during the Siege of Bastogne as part of the Battle of the Bulge, as he was attending a staff conference in the United States. The Divisional Artillery commander, Brigadier General Anthony McAuliffe, exercised command in his absence. Taylor called the defense of Bastogne the 101st Airborne Division's "finest hour" of the war and stated that his absence was one of his greatest disappointments of the war. After Bastogne Taylor's 101st saw little further service in the war and was sent to the United States in late 1945, where it was deactivated in November. From 1945 to 1949 Taylor was superintendent of West Point. In 1947, he drafted the first official Honor Code publication marking the beginning of the written "Cadet Honor Code" at West Point. Afterwards he was the commander of allied troops in Berlin from 1949 to 1951. In July 1951 he was promoted to lieutenant general and assigned as the U. S. Army Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations and Administration at the Pentagon.
In June 1953, he was sent to Korea, where he commanded the Eighth United States Army during the final combat operations of the Korean War. From 1955 to 1959, he was the Army Chief of Staff, succeeding his former mentor, Matthew B. Ridgway. During his tenure, Taylor attempted to guide the service into the age of nuclear weapons by restructuring the infantry division. Observers such as Colonel David Hackworth have written that the effort gutted th
John F. Campbell (general)
John Francis Campbell was the commander of the Resolute Support Mission and United States Forces - Afghanistan. He was the last commander of the International Security Assistance Force. Prior to this, he served as the 34th Vice Chief of Staff of the United States Army, he is a member of the board of directors of BAE Systems. The son of a U. S. Air Force senior master sergeant, Campbell was born at Loring Air Force Base in Maine in 1957 and grew up on military bases around the world. In 1971 he became an Eagle Scout in Fairfield, California's Boy Scout Troop 270. In 1975 he graduated from Fairfield High School, where he was a participant in the Air Force Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps program, he graduated from the United States Military Academy in June 1979 and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the infantry. His first assignments were as a rifle platoon leader, company executive officer, anti-tank platoon leader with the 3rd Battalion, 28th Infantry Regiment in Wiesbaden, Germany.
After attending the Infantry Officer Advanced Course and the Special Forces Qualification Course, Campbell served as a Battalion Adjutant and Operational Detachment Alpha Commander in 1st Battalion, 5th Special Forces Group at Fort Bragg, North Carolina followed by assignments in the 82nd Airborne Division as commander of Bravo Company, 3rd Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment and as the Division Assistant Operations and Training Officer. Campbell was assigned as the Assistant Professor of Military Science and the Professor of Military Science at the University of California, Davis, he was selected to attend the Command and General Staff College, after which he was again assigned to Ft. Bragg and the 82nd Airborne Division, where he served as the Division Training and Operations Officer, Brigade Operations Officer for 2nd Brigade, 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment and as the Aide-de-camp for the XVIII Airborne Corps Commander. Campbell commanded the 2nd Battalion 5th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii followed by attendance at the United States Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.
Upon graduation, he was assigned to the Joint Staff. Campbell commanded 1st Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division and the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment and deployed his Brigade Combat Team to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Following command Campbell was assigned to the Army Staff and served as the Executive Officer to the 35th Chief of Staff of the United States Army, Peter J. Schoomaker. After promotion to general officer, in 2005, Campbell was assigned to Fort Hood, Texas as the Deputy Commanding General for Maneuver for the 1st Cavalry Division and deployed to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom as the DCG-M for Multi-National Division – Baghdad for both the 4th Infantry Division and the 1st Cavalry Division. Campbell's following assignment was as the Deputy Director for The Joint Staff. In 2009, Campbell was named 101st Airborne Division, at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. While serving as the Commanding General, he commanded Combined Joint Task Force 101 the operational headquarters for Regional Command East in Afghanistan from June 2010 to May 2011.
Upon relinquishing command of the 101st Airborne Division in August 2011 to Major General James C. McConville, Campbell was promoted to Lieutenant General and became the Army Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations and Training. Campbell was promoted to General and sworn in as the Army Vice Chief of Staff on 8 March 2013. On July 23, 2014, Campbell was confirmed by the United States Senate to succeed General Joseph Dunford as commander International Security Assistance Force and United States Forces—Afghanistan. Campbell was succeeded by General John W. Nicholson Jr. on March 2, 2016, retired on May 1, 2016. On July 25, 2016, Turkish daily Yeni Şafak wrote that Campbell was "behind the failed coup" that started on July 15. Campbell dismissed the allegation, stating that he had not traveled outside the United States since returning home from Afghanistan, he stated that on the day of the coup, he and journalist Geraldo Rivera had met to socialize over drinks, a claim Rivera corroborated. Kunduz hospital airstrike This article incorporates public domain material from the United States Government document "http://www.isaf.nato.int/en/about-isaf/leadership/major-general-john-f.-campbell.html".
Media related to John F. Campbell at Wikimedia Commons Appearances on C-SPAN
World War II
World War II known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. The vast majority of the world's countries—including all the great powers—eventually formed two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. A state of total war emerged, directly involving more than 100 million people from over 30 countries; the major participants threw their entire economic and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. World War II was the deadliest conflict in human history, marked by 50 to 85 million fatalities, most of whom were civilians in the Soviet Union and China, it included massacres, the genocide of the Holocaust, strategic bombing, premeditated death from starvation and disease, the only use of nuclear weapons in war. Japan, which aimed to dominate Asia and the Pacific, was at war with China by 1937, though neither side had declared war on the other. World War II is said to have begun on 1 September 1939, with the invasion of Poland by Germany and subsequent declarations of war on Germany by France and the United Kingdom.
From late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, Finland and the Baltic states. Following the onset of campaigns in North Africa and East Africa, the fall of France in mid 1940, the war continued between the European Axis powers and the British Empire. War in the Balkans, the aerial Battle of Britain, the Blitz, the long Battle of the Atlantic followed. On 22 June 1941, the European Axis powers launched an invasion of the Soviet Union, opening the largest land theatre of war in history; this Eastern Front trapped most crucially the German Wehrmacht, into a war of attrition. In December 1941, Japan launched a surprise attack on the United States as well as European colonies in the Pacific. Following an immediate U. S. declaration of war against Japan, supported by one from Great Britain, the European Axis powers declared war on the U.
S. in solidarity with their Japanese ally. Rapid Japanese conquests over much of the Western Pacific ensued, perceived by many in Asia as liberation from Western dominance and resulting in the support of several armies from defeated territories; the Axis advance in the Pacific halted in 1942. Key setbacks in 1943, which included a series of German defeats on the Eastern Front, the Allied invasions of Sicily and Italy, Allied victories in the Pacific, cost the Axis its initiative and forced it into strategic retreat on all fronts. In 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained its territorial losses and turned toward Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in Central China, South China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy and captured key Western Pacific islands; the war in Europe concluded with an invasion of Germany by the Western Allies and the Soviet Union, culminating in the capture of Berlin by Soviet troops, the suicide of Adolf Hitler and the German unconditional surrender on 8 May 1945.
Following the Potsdam Declaration by the Allies on 26 July 1945 and the refusal of Japan to surrender under its terms, the United States dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6 and 9 August respectively. With an invasion of the Japanese archipelago imminent, the possibility of additional atomic bombings, the Soviet entry into the war against Japan and its invasion of Manchuria, Japan announced its intention to surrender on 15 August 1945, cementing total victory in Asia for the Allies. Tribunals were set up by fiat by the Allies and war crimes trials were conducted in the wake of the war both against the Germans and the Japanese. World War II changed the political social structure of the globe; the United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The Soviet Union and United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the nearly half-century long Cold War. In the wake of European devastation, the influence of its great powers waned, triggering the decolonisation of Africa and Asia.
Most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic expansion. Political integration in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities and create a common identity; the start of the war in Europe is held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred and the two wars merged in 1941; this article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935; the British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the fo
Melvin Laird
Melvin Robert "Bom" Laird was an American politician and statesman. He was a U. S. congressman from Wisconsin from 1953 to 1969 before serving as Secretary of Defense from 1969 to 1973 under President Richard Nixon. Laird was instrumental in forming the administration's policy of withdrawing U. S. soldiers from the Vietnam War. First elected in 1952, Laird was the last surviving Representative elected to the 83rd Congress at the time of his death. Laird was born in Omaha, the son of Melvin R. Laird Sr. a politician and clergyman. He grew up and attended high school in Marshfield, although in his junior year he attended Lake Forest Academy in Lake Forest, Illinois, he was nicknamed "Bambino" by his mother. Laird was the grandson of William D. Connor, the Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin from 1907 to 1909, the great-grandson of Robert Connor, a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly, his niece is wife of former Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle. He graduated from Carleton College in Minnesota in May 1944, having enlisted in the United States Navy a year earlier.
Following his commissioning as an ensign, he served on a destroyer, the USS Maddox, in the Pacific during the end of World War II. A recipient of the Purple Heart and several other decorations, Laird left the Navy in April 1946. Laird entered the Wisconsin State Senate at age 23, he represented a legislative district encompassing Wisconsin. He remained in the Senate until his election in November 1952 to the United States House of Representatives representing Wisconsin's 7th District in central Wisconsin, including the areas of Marshfield, Wisconsin Rapids and Stevens Point. In the 1964 Republican presidential primaries, Laird was an "unannounced" supporter of Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater, chaired the Platform Committee at that year's Republican convention, at which Goldwater was nominated. Laird was re-elected eight consecutive times and he was chairman of the House Republican Conference when Nixon selected him for the cabinet, he was known for his work on both domestic and defense issues, including his service on the Defense subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee.
He left Congress reluctantly, making it clear when he became secretary on January 22, 1969, that he intended to serve no more than four years. As a congressman Laird had supported a strong defense posture and had sometimes been critical of Secretary McNamara. In September 1966, characterizing himself as a member of the loyal opposition, he publicly charged the Johnson administration with deception about Vietnam war costs and for delaying decisions to escalate the ground war until after the 1966 congressional elections. Laird criticized McNamara's management and decision-making practices. Laird was the elder statesman chosen by the Republicans to convince Vice President Spiro Agnew to resign his position after Agnew's personal corruption became a public scandal, he had a prominent role in the selection of Gerald Ford as Agnew's replacement as Vice President. After he became Secretary of Defense and President Nixon appointed a Blue Ribbon Defense Panel that made more than 100 recommendations on DoD's organization and functions in a report on July 1, 1970.
The department implemented a number of the panel's proposals. Laird did not depart abruptly from the McNamara–Clifford management system, but rather instituted gradual changes, he pursued what he called "participatory management", an approach calculated to gain the cooperation of the military leadership in reducing the Defense budget and the size of the military establishment. While retaining decision-making functions for himself and the deputy secretary of defense, Laird somewhat decentralized policymaking and operations, he accorded the service secretaries and the JCS a more influential role in the development of budgets and force levels. He revised the PPBS, including a return to the use of service budget ceilings and service programming of forces within these ceilings; the powerful systems analysis office could no longer initiate planning, only evaluate and review service proposals. Laird noted this in his FY 1971 report, "Except for the major policy decisions, I am striving to decentralize decisionmaking as much as possible...
So, we are placing primary responsibility for detailed force planning on the Joint Chiefs and the Services, we are delegating to the Military Departments more responsibility to manage development and procurement programs." The military leadership was enthusiastic about Laird's methods. As the Washington Post reported after his selection as secretary of defense, "Around the military-industrial complex these days they're singing'Praise the Laird and pass the transformation.'" Laird did not shrink from centralized management where he found it warranted. His tenure saw the establishment of the Defense Investigative Service, the Defense Mapping Agency, the Office of Net Assessment, the Defense Security Assistance Agency. In October 1972 Congress passed legislation creating a second deputy secretary of defense position, a proposal Laird supported though he never filled the position. Laird paid special attention to two important interdepartmental bodies: the Washington Special Action Group, composed of senior Defense, CIA officials, which gathered information necessary for presidential decisions on the crisis use of U.
S. military forces.
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force is the aerial and space warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the five branches of the United States Armed Forces, one of the seven American uniformed services. Formed as a part of the United States Army on 1 August 1907, the USAF was established as a separate branch of the U. S. Armed Forces on 18 September 1947 with the passing of the National Security Act of 1947, it is the youngest branch of the U. S. Armed Forces, the fourth in order of precedence; the USAF is the largest and most technologically advanced air force in the world. The Air Force articulates its core missions as air and space superiority, global integrated intelligence and reconnaissance, rapid global mobility, global strike, command and control; the U. S. Air Force is a military service branch organized within the Department of the Air Force, one of the three military departments of the Department of Defense; the Air Force, through the Department of the Air Force, is headed by the civilian Secretary of the Air Force, who reports to the Secretary of Defense, is appointed by the President with Senate confirmation.
The highest-ranking military officer in the Air Force is the Chief of Staff of the Air Force, who exercises supervision over Air Force units and serves as one of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Air Force components are assigned, as directed by the Secretary of Defense, to the combatant commands, neither the Secretary of the Air Force nor the Chief of Staff of the Air Force have operational command authority over them. Along with conducting independent air and space operations, the U. S. Air Force provides air support for land and naval forces and aids in the recovery of troops in the field; as of 2017, the service operates more than 5,369 military aircraft, 406 ICBMs and 170 military satellites. It has a $161 billion budget and is the second largest service branch, with 318,415 active duty airmen, 140,169 civilian personnel, 69,200 reserve airmen, 105,700 Air National Guard airmen. According to the National Security Act of 1947, which created the USAF: In general, the United States Air Force shall include aviation forces both combat and service not otherwise assigned.
It shall be organized and equipped for prompt and sustained offensive and defensive air operations. The Air Force shall be responsible for the preparation of the air forces necessary for the effective prosecution of war except as otherwise assigned and, in accordance with integrated joint mobilization plans, for the expansion of the peacetime components of the Air Force to meet the needs of war. §8062 of Title 10 US Code defines the purpose of the USAF as: to preserve the peace and security, provide for the defense, of the United States, the Territories and possessions, any areas occupied by the United States. The stated mission of the USAF today is to "fly and win...in air and cyberspace". "The United States Air Force will be a trusted and reliable joint partner with our sister services known for integrity in all of our activities, including supporting the joint mission first and foremost. We will provide compelling air and cyber capabilities for use by the combatant commanders. We will excel as stewards of all Air Force resources in service to the American people, while providing precise and reliable Global Vigilance and Power for the nation".
The five core missions of the Air Force have not changed since the Air Force became independent in 1947, but they have evolved, are now articulated as air and space superiority, global integrated intelligence and reconnaissance, rapid global mobility, global strike, command and control. The purpose of all of these core missions is to provide, what the Air Force states as, global vigilance, global reach, global power. Air superiority is "that degree of dominance in the air battle of one force over another which permits the conduct of operations by the former and its related land, sea and special operations forces at a given time and place without prohibitive interference by the opposing force". Offensive Counterair is defined as "offensive operations to destroy, disrupt, or neutralize enemy aircraft, launch platforms, their supporting structures and systems both before and after launch, but as close to their source as possible". OCA is the preferred method of countering air and missile threats since it attempts to defeat the enemy closer to its source and enjoys the initiative.
OCA comprises attack operations, sweep and suppression/destruction of enemy air defense. Defensive Counter air is defined as "all the defensive measures designed to detect, identify and destroy or negate enemy forces attempting to penetrate or attack through friendly airspace". A major goal of DCA operations, in concert with OCA operations, is to provide an area from which forces can operate, secure from air and missile threats; the DCA mission comprises both passive defense measures. Active defense is "the employment of limited offensive action and counterattacks to deny a contested area or position to the enemy", it includes both ballistic missile defense and air-breathing threat defense, encompasses point defense, area defense, high-value airborne asset defense. Passive defense is "measures taken to reduce the probability of and to minimize the effects of damage caused by hostile action without the intention of taking the initiative", it includes warning.
Kentucky
Kentucky the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state located in the east south-central region of the United States. Although styled as the "State of Kentucky" in the law creating it, Kentucky is one of four U. S. states constituted as a commonwealth. A part of Virginia, in 1792 Kentucky became the 15th state to join the Union. Kentucky is 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 major regions in Kentucky is the Bluegrass Region in central Kentucky, which houses two of its major cities and Lexington, it is a land with diverse environments and abundant resources, including the world's longest cave system, Mammoth Cave National Park, the greatest length of navigable waterways and streams in the contiguous United States, the two largest man-made lakes east of the Mississippi River. Kentucky is known for horse racing, bourbon distilleries, coal, the "My Old Kentucky Home" historic state park, automobile manufacturing, bluegrass music, college basketball, Kentucky Fried Chicken.
In 1776, the counties of Virginia beyond the Appalachian Mountains became known as Kentucky County, named for the Kentucky River. The precise etymology of the name is uncertain, but based on an Iroquoian name meaning " the meadow" or " the prairie". Others have put forth the possibility of Kenta Aki, which would come from Algonquian language and, would have derived from the Shawnees. Folk etymology states that this translates as "Land of Our Fathers." The closest approximation in another Algonquian language, Ojibwe translates it more-so to "Land of Our In-Laws", thus making a fairer English translation "The Land of Those Who Became Our Fathers." In any case, the word aki comes out as land in all Algonquian languages. Kentucky is situated in the Upland South. A significant portion of eastern Kentucky is part of Appalachia. Kentucky borders seven states, from the Southeast. West Virginia lies to the east, Virginia to the southeast, Tennessee to the south, Missouri to the west and Indiana to the northwest, Ohio to the north and northeast.
Only Missouri and Tennessee, both of which border eight states, touch more. Kentucky's northern border is formed by the Ohio River and its western border by the Mississippi River. However, the official border is 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 thoroughbred racetrack, is located in this small piece of Kentucky. Waterworks Road is part of the only land border between Kentucky. Kentucky has a non-contiguous part known at the far west corner of the state, it exists as an exclave surrounded by Missouri and Tennessee, is included in the boundaries of Fulton County. 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 causing the river to flow backwards in some places. Though the series of quakes did change the area geologically and affect the inhabitants of the area at the time, the Kentucky Bend was formed because of a surveying error, not the New Madrid earthquake.
Kentucky can be divided into five primary regions: the Cumberland Plateau in the east, the north-central Bluegrass region, the south-central and western Pennyroyal Plateau, the Western Coal Fields and the far-west Jackson Purchase. The Bluegrass region is divided into two regions, the Inner Bluegrass—the encircling 90 miles around Lexington—and the Outer Bluegrass—the region that contains most of the northern portion of the state, above the Knobs. Much of the outer Bluegrass is in the Eden Shale Hills area, made up of short and 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, only small higher areas of the southeast of the state has an oceanic climate influenced by the Appalachians. Temperatures in Kentucky range from daytime summer highs of 87 °F to the winter 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, it has four distinct seasons, but experiences the extreme cold as far northern states, nor the high heat of the states in the Deep South. Temperatures seldom drop below 0 degrees or rise above 100 degrees. Rain and snowfall totals about 45 inches per year. There are big variations in climate within the state; the northern parts tend to be about 5 degrees cooler than those in western parts of the state. Somerset in the south-central part receives 10 more inches of rain per year than, for instance, Covington to the north. Average temperatures for the entire Commonwe
Tennessee
Tennessee is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 16th most populous of the 50 United States. Tennessee is bordered by Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina to the east, Georgia and Mississippi to the south, Arkansas to the west, Missouri to the northwest; the Appalachian Mountains dominate the eastern part of the state, the Mississippi River forms the state's western border. Nashville is the state's capital and largest city, with a 2017 population of 667,560. Tennessee's second largest city is Memphis, which had a population of 652,236 in 2017; the state of Tennessee is rooted in the Watauga Association, a 1772 frontier pact regarded as the first constitutional government west of the Appalachians. What is now Tennessee was part of North Carolina, part of the Southwest Territory. Tennessee was admitted to the Union as the 16th state on June 1, 1796. Tennessee was the last state to leave the Union and join the Confederacy at the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861.
Occupied by Union forces from 1862, it was the first state to be readmitted to the Union at the end of the war. Tennessee furnished more soldiers for the Confederate Army than any other state besides Virginia, more soldiers for the Union Army than the rest of the Confederacy combined. Beginning during Reconstruction, it had competitive party politics, but a Democratic takeover in the late 1880s resulted in passage of disenfranchisement laws that excluded most blacks and many poor whites from voting; this reduced competition in politics in the state until after passage of civil rights legislation in the mid-20th century. In the 20th century, Tennessee transitioned from an agrarian economy to a more diversified economy, aided by massive federal investment in the Tennessee Valley Authority and, in the early 1940s, the city of Oak Ridge; this city was established to house the Manhattan Project's uranium enrichment facilities, helping to build the world's first atomic bombs, two of which were dropped on Imperial Japan near the end of World War II.
Tennessee's major industries include agriculture and tourism. Poultry and cattle are the state's primary agricultural products, major manufacturing exports include chemicals, transportation equipment, electrical equipment; the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the nation's most visited national park, is headquartered in the eastern part of the state, a section of the Appalachian Trail follows the Tennessee-North Carolina border. Other major tourist attractions include the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga; the earliest variant of the name that became Tennessee was recorded by Captain Juan Pardo, the Spanish explorer, when he and his men passed through an American Indian village named "Tanasqui" in 1567 while traveling inland from South Carolina. In the early 18th century, British traders encountered a Cherokee town named Tanasi in present-day Monroe County, Tennessee; the town was located on a river of the same name, appears on maps as early as 1725. It is not known whether this was the same town as the one encountered by Juan Pardo, although recent research suggests that Pardo's "Tanasqui" was located at the confluence of the Pigeon River and the French Broad River, near modern Newport.
The meaning and origin of the word are uncertain. Some accounts suggest, it has been said to mean "meeting place", "winding river", or "river of the great bend". According to ethnographer James Mooney, the name "can not be analyzed" and its meaning is lost; the modern spelling, Tennessee, is attributed to James Glen, the governor of South Carolina, who used this spelling in his official correspondence during the 1750s. The spelling was popularized by the publication of Henry Timberlake's "Draught of the Cherokee Country" in 1765. In 1788, North Carolina created "Tennessee County", the third county to be established in what is now Middle Tennessee; when a constitutional convention met in 1796 to organize a new state out of the Southwest Territory, it adopted "Tennessee" as the name of the state. Tennessee is known as The Volunteer State, a nickname some claimed was earned during the War of 1812 because of the prominent role played by volunteer soldiers from Tennessee during the Battle of New Orleans.
Other sources differ on the origin of the state nickname. This explanation is more because President Polk's call for 2,600 nationwide volunteers at the beginning of the Mexican–American War resulted in 30,000 volunteers from Tennessee alone in response to the death of Davy Crockett and appeals by former Tennessee Governor and Texas politician, Sam Houston. Tennessee borders eight other states: Virginia to the north. Tennessee is tied with Missouri as the state bordering the most other states; the state is trisected by the Tennessee River. The highest point in the state is Clingmans Dome at 6,643 feet (
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101st Airborne Division
160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment
5th Special Forces Group
52nd Ordnance Group (EOD)
19th Air Support Operations Squadron (19th ASOS)
