1.
Rose Parade
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The Rose Parade, also known as the Tournament of Roses Parade and the Rose Parade presented by Honda, is part of Americas New Year Celebration held in Pasadena, California each year on New Years Day. The parade includes flower-covered floats, marching bands, and equestrian units and is followed by the Rose Bowl college football game and it is produced by the nonprofit Pasadena Tournament of Roses Association. It is seen by millions more on television worldwide in more than 100 international territories and countries, the Rose Bowl is a college football game that was added in 1902 to help fund the cost of staging the parade. Since 2011, the parade has been sponsored by Honda, accordingly, the company has the parades first float, which like all floats, follows the parades theme. The 2017 parade featured 44 floats,19 equestrian units with approximately 400 horses, the Grand Marshals of the parade were Greg Louganis, Janet Evans and Allyson Felix. Members of Pasadenas Valley Hunt Club first staged the parade in 1890, since then the parade has been held in Pasadena every New Years Day, except when January 1 falls on a Sunday. In that case, it is held on the subsequent Monday and this exception was instituted in 1893, as organizers did not wish to disturb horses hitched outside Sunday church services. Many of the members of the Valley Hunt Club were former residents of the American East and Midwest and they wished to showcase their new California homes mild winter weather. At a club meeting, Professor Charles F, holder announced, In New York, people are buried in the snow. Here our flowers are blooming and our oranges are about to bear, lets hold a festival to tell the world about our paradise. So the club organized horse-drawn carriages covered in flowers, followed by foot races, polo matches, upon seeing the scores of flowers on display, the professor decided to suggest the name Tournament of Roses. Over the next few founding years, marching bands and motorized floats were added, by 1895, the event was too large for the Valley Hunt Club to handle, hence the Pasadena Tournament of Roses Association was formed. Activities soon included ostrich races, bronco busting demonstrations, and an odd novelty race between a camel and an elephant, soon reviewing stands were built along the parade route and newspapers in Eastern Seaboard cities started to take notice of the event. Tournament House is the given the former home where the organization is headquartered. The first associated football game was played on January 1,1902, originally titled the Tournament East-West football game, it is considered to be the first Rose Bowl. The next game was not played until New Years Day 1916, the game derives its modern name from Rose Bowl Stadium, which was built for the 1923 game. In 2002 and 2006, the Granddaddy of em all was not held the day as the parade. Not all fans were pleased with the change, some thought the atmosphere, once the BCS title game was separated from the host bowl, it no longer affected the date of the Rose Bowl Game
2.
Forrest Gump
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Forrest Gump is a 1994 American comedy-drama film based on the 1986 novel of the same name by Winston Groom. The film was directed by Robert Zemeckis and stars Tom Hanks, Robin Wright, Gary Sinise, Mykelti Williamson, the film differs substantially from Winston Grooms novel, including Gumps personality and several events that were depicted. Principal photography took place in late 1993, mainly in Georgia, North Carolina, extensive visual effects were used to incorporate the protagonist into archived footage and to develop other scenes. A comprehensive soundtrack was featured in the film, using music intended to pinpoint specific time periods portrayed on screen and its commercial release made it a top-selling soundtrack, selling over twelve million copies worldwide. In 1995 it won the Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director for Robert Zemeckis, Best Actor for Tom Hanks, Best Adapted Screenplay for Eric Roth, Best Visual Effects, and Best Film Editing. It also garnered other awards and nominations, including Golden Globes, Peoples Choice Awards. Since the films release varying interpretations have made of the films protagonist. In 1996, a restaurant, Bubba Gump Shrimp Company. The scene of Gump running across the country is referred to when real-life people attempt the feat. In 2011, the Library of Congress selected the film for preservation in the United States National Film Registry as being culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant. The plot is delivered in a number of flashbacks in the narrative of Forrest Gump as he sits at a bus stop with a suitcase full of mementos in Savannah. He initiates conversation with a stranger and recalls his childhood in Greenbow, Forrest is raised by a single mother who runs a bed and breakfast for travelling folk including at one point a young Elvis Presley, and has to wear leg braces to fix a crooked back. Despite having a diminished intellect, Forrest is admitted to school after his mother agrees to have sex with the principal. On his first day of school, Forrest meets Jenny Curran, the children bond, finding in each other a confidante and kindred spirit. With Jennys encouragement, Forrest runs away from a group of bullies, struggling until his leg braces break off and he features in the Stand in the Schoolhouse Door and listens to George Wallace. He then meets President John F. Kennedy as a member of the NCAA All-American team and they are sent to Vietnam under Lieutenant Dan Taylor. After four months of patrolling in rain, Bubba is killed during their first encounter, Lieutenant Dan sustains major injuries and loses both his legs. Forrest is wounded in the buttocks while saving members of his platoon—including Lieutenant Dan—and is awarded the Medal of Honor, while recovering from his wounds, Forrest discovers an aptitude for ping-pong, eventually playing against the Chinese in ping-pong diplomacy
3.
Gary Sinise
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Gary Alan Sinise is an American actor, director, and musician. Among other awards, he has won an Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award, Sinise is known for several memorable roles. In 2016, Sinise began starring in Criminal Minds, Beyond Borders, Sinise was born in Blue Island, Illinois, son of Robert L. Sinise, a film editor, and his wife Mylles Sinise. His paternal grandfather was of Italian descent, Sinises great-grandfather Vito Sinisi having immigrated from Ripacandida, Sinise briefly attended Glenbard West High School in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, and later graduated from Highland Park High School in Highland Park, Illinois, followed by Illinois State University. In 1974, Sinise and two friends, Terry Kinney and Jeff Perry, founded the Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Sinise honed his acting and directing skills at Steppenwolf, and received a Joseph Jefferson Award for his direction of Lyle Kesslers play Orphans. That took him from Chicago to New York City, and then to Londons West End, in 1982, Sinises career began to take off when he directed and starred in Steppenwolfs production of True West. In 1983, he earned an Obie Award for his direction, in 1988, Sinise directed Miles from Home, a film starring Richard Gere, about two brothers fight against the foreclosure of the family farm. Sinise collaborated with fellow actor Tom Hanks three times, including Forrest Gump, Apollo 13, and The Green Mile. Other noteworthy films in which Sinise has appeared include Of Mice and Men, Reindeer Games, Snake Eyes, Ransom, Mission to Mars, The Stand and he narrated the audiobooks for John Steinbecks Travels with Charley. In 2004, he began his first regular series, in the crime drama CSI, New York. He was credited as a producer from season two onwards and wrote the storyline of an episode, Dan Band, which Sinise and Kimo Williams co-founded in 2003. The band is named for Sinises character in Forrest Gump, apart from his television and movie work, Sinise is the host in the video for the Epcot ride Mission, SPACE, at Walt Disney World, Orlando, Florida, and a model for Baume & Mercier watches. Sinise said, Iraq is in the every day. But there are some positive stories, and how our soldiers are rebuilding schools and helping kids is one of them. Sinise was the narrator for the Discovery Channels miniseries When We Left Earth in 2008 and he was awarded the Presidential Citizen Medal by George W. Bush for work he did supporting the U. S. military and humanitarian work supporting Iraqi children. He narrated Army and Army Reserve Army Strong recruitment ads in late 2008 and he is also the national spokesperson for the American Veterans Disabled for Life Memorial. Sinise is the executive producer—along with David Scantling—of the Iraq War documentary Brothers at War, the film features an American military family and the experiences of three brothers, Jake Rademacher, Isaac Rademacher, and Joseph Rademacher. In November 2009, Sinise narrated the highly acclaimed World War II in HD on the History Channel, in 2010, he narrated the World War II documentary Missions That Changed The War on the Military Channel
4.
Walt Disney
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Walter Elias Walt Disney was an American entrepreneur, animator, voice actor and film producer. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons, as a film producer, Disney holds the record for most Academy Awards earned by an individual, having won 22 Oscars from 59 nominations. He was presented with two Golden Globe Special Achievement Awards and an Emmy Award, among other honors, several of his films are included in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress. Born in Chicago in 1901, Disney developed an early interest in drawing and he took art classes as a boy and got a job as a commercial illustrator at the age of 18. He moved to California in the early 1920s and set up the Disney Brothers Studio with his brother Roy, with Ub Iwerks, Walt developed the character Mickey Mouse in 1928, his first highly popular success, he also provided the voice for his creation in the early years. As the studio grew, Disney became more adventurous, introducing synchronized sound, full-color three-strip Technicolor, feature-length cartoons, the results, seen in features such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Fantasia, Pinocchio, Dumbo and Bambi, furthered the development of animated film. New animated and live-action films followed after World War II, including the critically successful Cinderella and Mary Poppins, in the 1950s, Disney expanded into the amusement park industry, and in 1955 he opened Disneyland. In 1965, he began development of theme park, Disney World, the heart of which was to be a new type of city. Disney was a smoker throughout his life, and died of lung cancer in December 1966 before either the park or the EPCOT project were completed. Disney was a shy, self-deprecating and insecure man in private and he had high standards and high expectations of those with whom he worked. Although there have been accusations that he was racist or anti-semitic and his reputation changed in the years after his death, from a purveyor of homely patriotic values to a representative of American imperialism. Nevertheless, Disney is considered an icon, particularly in the United States. Walt Disney was born on December 5,1901, at 1249 Tripp Avenue and he was the fourth son of Elias Disney—born in the Province of Canada, to Irish parents—and Flora, an American of German and English descent. Aside from Disney, Elias and Calls sons were Herbert, Raymond and Roy, in 1906, when Disney was four, the family moved to a farm in Marceline, Missouri, where his uncle Robert had just purchased land. In Marceline, Disney developed his interest in drawing when he was paid to draw the horse of a neighborhood doctor. Elias was a subscriber to the Appeal to Reason newspaper, Disney also began to develop an ability to work with watercolors and crayons. He lived near the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway line and he and his younger sister Ruth started school at the same time at the Park School in Marceline in late 1909. In 1911, the Disneys moved to Kansas City, Missouri, before long, he was spending more time at the Pfeiffers house than at home
5.
Roy E. Disney
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Roy Edward Disney, KCSG was a longtime senior executive for The Walt Disney Company, which his father, Roy Oliver Disney, and his uncle Walt Disney founded. At the time of his death he was a shareholder, and served as a consultant for the company and he is perhaps best known for organizing the ousting of two top Disney executives, first, Ron Miller in 1984, and then Michael Eisner in 2005. As the last member of the Disney family to be involved in the company, Roy Disney was often compared to his uncle. In 2006, Forbes magazine estimated his fortune at about $1.2 billion. Disney was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of Edna and Roy Oliver Disney and he graduated from Pomona College in 1951 and first began working for Walt Disney Productions as an assistant director and producer. He continued until 1967 when he was elected to the Board of Directors of the company, Roy Disney resigned as an executive from Walt Disney Productions in 1977 due to disagreements with corporate decisions then. As he claimed later, I just felt creatively the company was not going anywhere interesting and he retained a seat on the board of directors. Roy soon returned to the company as vice-chairman of the board of directors and chairman of the animation department, the Lion King, for instance, garnered nearly $1 billion since its release in the summer of 1994 and was the second highest-grossing film of the year. There was, however, a decline in profits starting at the end of the decade as Disney expanded into lower-grossing though profitable direct-to-video spin-offs. Roy was concerned about Jeffrey Katzenberg taking too much credit for the success of Disneys early 1990s releases, when Frank Wells died in a helicopter crash in 1994, Michael Eisner refused to promote Katzenberg to the vacated position of president. Tensions between Katzenberg, Eisner and Disney resulted in Katzenberg being forced to resign from the company that October, Katzenberg launched a lawsuit against Disney to recover money he felt he was owed and settled out of court for an estimated $250 million. Roy Disneys pet project was the film Fantasia 2000, a sequel to the 1940 animated movie Fantasia produced by his uncle Walt Disney, Walt Disney had planned a sequel to the original movie but it was never made. Roy decided to make this sequel, and he was the executive producer of the film that took nine years to produce and was finally released on December 17,1999. Like its predecessor, the film combined high-quality contemporary animation and classical music, however, it was not, like the original, after a struggle with CEO Michael Eisner, Roy Disneys influence began to wane as more executives friendly to Eisner were appointed to high posts. After his resignation, Disney helped establish the website SaveDisney. com, intended to oust Michael Eisner and his supporters from their positions and revamp the Walt Disney Company. This vigorous opposition, unusual in major corporations, persuaded Disneys board to strip Eisner of his chairmanship. The board did not give Eisners detractors what they really wanted, Roy Disneys campaign regarded Mitchell himself unfavorably, 25% of shareholders opposed Mitchells re-election to the board in the same election. On July 8, Roy and the Walt Disney Company, then still nominally headed by Eisner but, in fact, run by Eisners long-time lieutenant, Bob Iger, Roy rejoined the Walt Disney Company as a non-voting Director Emeritus and consultant
6.
Mickey Mouse
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Mickey Mouse is a funny animal cartoon character and the official mascot of The Walt Disney Company. He was created by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks at the Walt Disney Studios in 1928, an anthropomorphic mouse who typically wears red shorts, large yellow shoes, and white gloves, Mickey has become one of the worlds most recognizable characters. Mickey first was seen in a single test screening, Mickey officially debuted in the short film Steamboat Willie, one of the first sound cartoons. He went on to appear in over 130 films, including The Band Concert, Brave Little Tailor, Mickey appeared primarily in short films, but also occasionally in feature-length films. Ten of Mickeys cartoons were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film, one of which, Lend a Paw, in 1978, Mickey became the first cartoon character to have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Beginning in 1930, Mickey has also featured extensively as a comic strip character. His self-titled newspaper strip, drawn primarily by Floyd Gottfredson, ran for 45 years. Mickey has also appeared in books such as Disney Italys Topolino, MM Mickey Mouse Mystery Magazine, and Wizards of Mickey. He also appears in other such as video games as well as merchandising and is a meetable character at the Disney parks. Mickey generally appears alongside his girlfriend Minnie Mouse, his pet dog Pluto, his friends Donald Duck and Goofy, though originally characterized as a mischievous antihero, Mickey was rebranded over time as an everyman, usually seen as a flawed, but adventurous hero. I only hope that we never lose sight of one thing – that it was all started by a mouse, in the spring of 1928, with the series going strong, Disney asked Mintz for an increase in the budget. Angrily, Disney refused the deal and returned to produce the final Oswald cartoons he contractually owed Mintz, Disney was dismayed at the betrayal by his staff but determined to restart from scratch. The new Disney Studio initially consisted of animator Ub Iwerks and an apprentice artist, Les Clark. One lesson Disney learned from the experience was to always make sure that he owned all rights to the characters produced by his company. In the spring of 1928, Disney asked Ub Iwerks to start drawing up new character ideas, Iwerks tried sketches of various animals, such as dogs and cats, but none of these appealed to Disney. A female cow and male horse were also rejected and they would later turn up as Clarabelle Cow and Horace Horsecollar. A male frog was also rejected and it would later show up in Iwerks own Flip the Frog series. Walt Disney got the inspiration for Mickey Mouse from a mouse at his desk at Laugh-O-Gram Studio in Kansas City
7.
Medal of Honor
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The medal is normally awarded by the President of the United States in the name of the U. S. Congress. There are three versions of the medal, one for the Army, one for the Navy, personnel of the Marine Corps and Coast Guard receive the Navy version. U. S. awards including the Medal of Honor do not have titles and while there is no official abbreviation. The Medal of Honor is the oldest continuously issued combat decoration of the United States armed forces, because the medal is presented in the name of Congress, it is often referred to as the Congressional Medal of Honor. However, the name is Medal of Honor, which began with the U. S. Armys version. Within United States Code the medal is referred to as the Medal of Honor, in 1990, Congress designated March 25 annually as National Medal of Honor Day. The capture saved the fort of West Point from the British Army, although the Badge of Military Merit fell into disuse after the American Revolutionary War, the concept of a military award for individual gallantry by members of the U. S. 539 Certificates were approved for this period and this medal was later replaced by the Army Distinguished Service Medal which was established on January 2,1918. Those Army members who held the Distinguished Service Medal in place of the Certificate of Merit could apply for the Army Distinguished Service Cross effective March 5,1934. There were no awards or medals at the beginning of the Civil War except for the Certificate of Merit which was awarded for the Mexican-American War. Scott however, was strictly against medals being awarded which was the European tradition, after Scott retired in October 1861, the Secretary of the Navy, Gideon Welles, adopted the idea of a decoration to recognize and honor distinguished naval service. Senator James W. Secretary Wells directed the Philadelphia Mint to design the new military decoration, on May 15,1862, the United States Navy Department ordered 175 medals with the words Personal Valor on the back from the U. S. Mint in Philadelphia. Senator Henry Wilson, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Military Affairs, the resolution was approved by Congress and signed into law on July 12,1862. During the war, Townsend would have some medals delivered to recipients with a letter requesting acknowledgement of the Medal of Honor. By mid-November the War Department contracted with Philadelphia silversmith William Wilson and Son, the Army version had The Congress to written on the back of the medal. Both versions were made of copper and coated with bronze, which gave them a reddish tint,1863, Congress made the Medal of Honor a permanent decoration. On March 3, Medals of Honor were authorized for officers of the Army, the Secretary of War first presented the Medal of Honor to six Union Army volunteers on March 25,1863 in his office. 1890, On April 23, the Medal of Honor Legion is established in Washington,1896, The ribbon of the Army version Medal of Honor was redesigned with all stripes being vertical
8.
Charles Frederick Holder
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Charles Frederick Holder was the inventor of big-game fishing and a founder of Pasadenas Tournament of Roses and the Tuna Club of Avalon on Santa Catalina Island, California. Holder came from a wealthy Massachusetts Quaker family and his father was the zoologist Joseph Bassett Holder and his mother Emily Augusta Gove. He attended the Friends school in Providence, Rhode Island, and Allens preparatory school at West Newton, Massachusetts, in 1869, he attended the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis but he did not continue in the Navy after graduation. After working as a curator at New Yorks American Museum of Natural History, he moved to Pasadena, a passionate naturalist throughout his life, he was known for his books on marine zoology and the first books on big-game fishing, a sport Holder pioneered in 1898. His books are noted for their combination of accurate scientific detail with exciting narratives, from 1890 to 1891, Holder was a President of the Tournament of Roses Association, and for 1910 he was named the tournament grand marshal. He became known in Pasadena, California, as a businessman, philanthropist, in 1898, he founded the Tuna Club of Avalon in Avalon, California on Santa Catalina Island, California, as an international organization that called for proper management of all game fish. In 1910, he traveled with Frederick Russell Burnham to Mexico and uncovered Mayan artifacts, including the Esperanza Stone, a supposedly paranormal relic described in The Book of the Damned. Holder died in Pasadena as a result of an accident and is buried in Mountain View Cemetery in Altadena, California, next to his wife. In 1998, he was inducted in the International Game Fish Association Hall of Fame, throughout, Holder argues for the sportsmans role in conservation. Sport fishing in California and Florida, bulletin of the Bureau of fisheries, volume XXVIII. Proceedings of the Fourth International fishery congress, Washington
9.
Shirley Temple
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Shirley Temple Black was an American actress, singer, dancer, businesswoman and diplomat who was most notable as Hollywoods number one box-office star from 1935 to 1938. As an adult, she was named United States ambassador to Ghana and to Czechoslovakia, Shirley Temple began her film career in 1932 at age 3. In 1934, she found fame in Bright Eyes, a feature film designed specifically for her talents. Licensed merchandise that capitalized on her image included dolls, dishes. Her box-office popularity waned as she reached adolescence and she appeared in a few films of varying quality in her mid-to-late teens, and retired from films in 1950 at the age of 22. Temple returned to business in 1958 with a two-season television anthology series of fairy tale adaptations. She made guest appearances on shows in the early 1960s. She sat on the boards of corporations and organizations including The Walt Disney Company, Del Monte Foods, in 1988, she published her autobiography, Child Star. Temple was the recipient of awards and honors, including the Kennedy Center Honors. She is 18th on the American Film Institutes list of the greatest female American screen legends of Classic Hollywood cinema, Shirley Temple was born on April 23,1928, in Santa Monica, California. She was the child of Gertrude Amelia Temple, a homemaker, and George Francis Temple. The family was of English, German, and Dutch ancestry and she had two brothers, George Francis, Jr. and John Stanley. The family moved to Brentwood, Los Angeles and her mother supported her young daughters singing, dancing, and acting talents, and in September 1931, enrolled her in Meglins Dance School in Los Angeles. About this time, her mother began styling her daughters hair in ringlets, while at Meglins, she was spotted by Charles Lamont, a casting director for Educational Pictures. Although Shirley hid behind the piano while in the studio, Lamont took a shine to her, invited her to audition, Educational Pictures were about to launch their Baby Burlesks, multiple short films satirizing recent film and political events, using preschool children in every role. Baby Burlesks was a series of one-reelers, another series of two-reelers called Frolics of Youth followed, with Shirley playing Mary Lou Rogers, to underwrite production costs at Educational, she and her child co-stars modeled for breakfast cereals and other products. She was lent to Tower Productions for a role in her first feature film in 1932 and, in 1933, to Universal, Paramount. After Educational Pictures declared bankruptcy in 1933, her father purchased her contract for $25, while walking out of the viewing of her last Frolics of Youth picture, Fox Film songwriter Jay Gorney saw the little girl dancing in the movie theater lobby
10.
Buzz Aldrin
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Buzz Aldrin is an American engineer and former astronaut. As the Lunar Module Pilot on Apollo 11, he was one of the first two humans to land on the Moon, and the person to walk on it. He set foot on the Moon at 03,15,16 on July 21,1969 and he is a former U. S. Air Force officer with the Command Pilot rating. Aldrin was born January 20,1930, in Mountainside Hospital, in Glen Ridge and his parents were Edwin Eugene Aldrin Sr. a career military man, and Marion Aldrin, who lived in neighboring Montclair. He is of Scottish, Swedish, and German ancestry, Aldrin was a Boy Scout and earned the rank of Tenderfoot Scout. The nickname Buzz originated in childhood, the younger of his two elder sisters mispronounced brother as buzzer, and this was shortened to Buzz, Aldrin made it his legal first name in 1988. Aldrin graduated third in his class at West Point in 1951 with a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering and he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the United States Air Force and served as a jet fighter pilot during the Korean War. He flew 66 combat missions in F-86 Sabres and shot down two Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 aircraft, the June 8,1953, issue of Life magazine featured gun camera photos taken by Aldrin of one of the Soviet pilots ejecting from his damaged aircraft. That same year, he graduated from the Squadron Officer School at Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama and he flew F-100 Super Sabres as a flight commander at Bitburg Air Base, West Germany, in the 22d Fighter Squadron. In January 1963, Aldrin earned a Sc. D. degree in astronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, if only I could join them in their exciting endeavors. On completion of his doctorate, he was assigned to the Gemini Target Office of the Air Force Space Systems Division in Los Angeles before his selection as an astronaut, Aldrin was selected as a member of the third group of NASA astronauts in October 1963. Because test pilot experience was no longer a requirement, this was the first selection for which he was eligible, after the deaths of the original Gemini 9 prime crew, Elliot See and Charles Bassett, Aldrin and Jim Lovell were promoted to backup crew for the mission. He was confirmed as pilot on Gemini 12, the last Gemini mission and he set a record for EVA, demonstrating that astronauts could work outside spacecraft. Aldrin was chosen for the crew of Apollo 11 and made the first lunar landing with commander Neil Armstrong on July 20,1969. The next day, Aldrin became the person to walk on the Moon. Aldrins first words on the Moon were Beautiful view, then, in response to Armstrong asking, Isnt it magnificent. He was also the first person to urinate while on the Moon, there has been speculation about the extent of Aldrins desire at the time to be the first astronaut to walk on the Moon and its impact on his pre-flight, in-mission and post-flight actions. Also, Armstrong was the Mission Commander, and other astronauts who would command later Apollo missions were not sympathetic to Aldrins views
11.
Jackie Robinson
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Jack Roosevelt Jackie Robinson was an American professional baseball second baseman who became the first African American to play in Major League Baseball in the modern era. Robinson broke the color line when the Brooklyn Dodgers started him at first base on April 15,1947. The Dodgers, by signing Robinson, heralded the end of segregation in professional baseball that had relegated black players to the Negro leagues since the 1880s. Robinson was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962, Robinson had an exceptional 10-year baseball career. Robinson played in six World Series and contributed to the Dodgers 1955 World Series championship, in 1997, MLB universally retired his uniform number,42, across all major league teams, he was the first pro athlete in any sport to be so honored. MLB also adopted a new tradition, Jackie Robinson Day, for the first time on April 15,2004. Robinsons character, his use of nonviolence, and his unquestionable talent challenged the basis of segregation which then marked many other aspects of American life. He influenced the culture of and contributed significantly to the Civil Rights Movement, Robinson also was the first black television analyst in MLB, and the first black vice president of a major American corporation, Chock full oNuts. In the 1960s, he helped establish the Freedom National Bank, in recognition of his achievements on and off the field, Robinson was posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal and Presidential Medal of Freedom. Robinson was born on January 31,1919, into a family of sharecroppers in Cairo and he was the youngest of five children born to Mallie and Jerry Robinson, after siblings Edgar, Frank, Matthew, and Willa Mae. His middle name was in honor of former President Theodore Roosevelt, after Robinsons father left the family in 1920, they moved to Pasadena, California. The extended Robinson family established itself on a residential plot containing two small houses at 121 Pepper Street in Pasadena, Robinsons mother worked various odd jobs to support the family. Growing up in poverty in an otherwise affluent community, Robinson. As a result, Robinson joined a gang, but his friend Carl Anderson persuaded him to abandon it. In 1935, Robinson graduated from Washington Junior High School and enrolled at John Muir High School, recognizing his athletic talents, Robinsons older brothers Mack and Frank inspired Jackie to pursue his interest in sports. At Muir Tech, Robinson played several sports at the varsity level and lettered in four of them, football, basketball, track and he played shortstop and catcher on the baseball team, quarterback on the football team, and guard on the basketball team. With the track and field squad, he won awards in the broad jump and he was also a member of the tennis team. In late January 1937, the Pasadena Star-News newspaper reported that Robinson for two years has been the athlete at Muir, starring in football, basketball, track, baseball
12.
David L. Wolper
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Wolper directed the 1959 documentary The Race for Space, which was nominated for an Academy Award. His 1971 film about the study of insects, The Hellstrom Chronicle, Wolper was born in New York City, the son of Anna and Irving S. Wolper. For his work on television, he had received his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the pre-1968 library is owned by Cube Entertainment, the post-1970 library is owned by Warner Bros. The filmed segment was recovered in the wreckage and was broadcast in the television series Primal Man, the cause of the crash remains unsolved. In 1988, Wolper was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame, Wolper died on August 10,2010, of congestive heart disease and complications of Parkinsons disease at his Beverly Hills home. He was survived by his wife of 36 years, Gloria Hill, Wolper was also survived by ten grandchildren. His company was involved in the following productions and he was a distributor of the early shows, and became an executive producer with The Race for Space in 1958. Official website David L. Wolper at the Internet Movie Database David L. Wolper interview video at the Archive of American Television
13.
Louis Zamperini
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Louis Silvie Louie Zamperini was a US prisoner of war survivor in World War II, a Christian evangelist and an Olympic distance runner. Zamperini took up running in high school and qualified for the US in the 5000m race for the 1936 Berlin Olympics and he finished 8th in the event. In 1941 he was commissioned into the United States Army Air Forces as a Lieutenant and he served as a bombardier in B-24 Liberators in the Pacific. On a search and rescue mission, mechanical difficulties forced Zamperinis plane to crash in the ocean, after drifting at sea for 46-47 days he landed on the Japanese occupied Marshall Islands and was captured. He was taken to a camp in Japan where he was tortured. Following the war he initially struggled to overcome his ordeal, later he became a Christian Evangelist with a strong belief in forgiveness. Zamperini is the subject of two films, the 2014 Unbroken and the 2015 Captured by Grace. Zamperini was born January 26,1917 in Olean, New York, to Anthony Zamperini and Louise Dossi and he had an older brother named Pete and two younger sisters, Virginia and Sylvia. He was raised in a strict Catholic household, the family moved to Torrance, California, in 1919, where Louis attended Torrance High School. Zamperini and his family spoke no English when they moved to California and his father taught him how to box in self-defense. Soon he claimed to be beating the tar out of one of them. He added, but I was so good at it that I started relishing the idea of getting even, I was sort of addicted to it. To stop him getting into trouble, his older brother Pete got Zamperini involved in the school track team where Pete was already a star. Pete took Louis on training runs, at the end of his freshman year, he finished 5th in the All City C-division 660-yard dash. It was the recognition, nobody in school, except for a few of my buddies, then, as I started winning races, other kids called me by name. Pete told me I had to quit drinking and smoking if I wanted to do well, I decided that summer to go all out. I wouldnt even have a milkshake, after a summer of running in 1932, starting with his first cross-country race, and throughout the last three years of high school, Zamperini was undefeated. He started beating his brothers records, in 1934, Zamperini set a world interscholastic record for the mile, clocking in at 4,21.2 minutes at the preliminary meet to the California state championships
14.
Greg Louganis
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Gregory Efthimios Greg Louganis is an American Olympic diver, LGBT activist, and author who won gold medals at the 1984 and 1988 Olympic Games on both the springboard and platform. He is the male and the second diver in Olympic history to sweep the diving events in consecutive Olympic Games. In 1984, he received the James E. Sullivan Award from the Amateur Athletic Union as the most outstanding athlete in the United States. Louganis was born in El Cajon, California, and is of Samoan and his teenage biological parents placed him for adoption when he was eight months old and he was raised in California by his adoptive parents, Frances and Peter Louganis. His adoptive father was of Greek descent and he started taking dance, acrobatics and gymnastics classes at 18 months, after witnessing his sisters classes and attempting to join in. By the age of three, he was practicing daily and was competing and giving public performances, for the next few years, he regularly competed, and performed at various places including nursing homes and the local naval base. As a child, he was diagnosed with asthma and allergies, so to help with the conditions, he was encouraged to continue the dance and he also took up trampolining, and at the age of nine began diving lessons after the family got a swimming pool. He attended Santa Ana High School in Santa Ana, California, Valhalla High School in El Cajon, California, as well as Mission Viejo High School, in 1978, he joined the University of Miami where he studied theater. In 1981, he transferred to the University of California, Irvine, where in 1983 he graduated with a major in drama, as a Junior Olympic competitor, Louganis caught the eye of Sammy Lee, two-time Olympic champion, who began coaching him. At sixteen Louganis took part in the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, two years later, with Dibiasi retired, Louganis won his first world title in the same event with the help of coach Ron OBrien. Louganis was a favorite for two golds in the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, but an American boycott of the games prevented him from participating. Louganis won two titles at the championships in 1982, where he became the first diver in a major international meeting to get a perfect score of 10 from all seven judges. At the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, with scores and leads over his opponents. In the 10m finals, he won the medal, performing a 3.4 difficulty dive in his last attempt, earning 86.70 points for a total of 638.61. His comeback earned him the title of ABCs Wide World of Sports Athlete of the Year for 1988, at the time of the 1988 accident, Louganis did not disclose to the public that he was HIV positive, a diagnosis he had received six months before the Olympics. His doctor placed him on the antiretroviral drug AZT, which he took four hours round-the-clock. As expected of the culture at that time, most of his sponsors dropped him as a client when his HIV status was announced in 1995. The exception was swimsuit manufacturer Speedo, which retained him as an endorser of its products until 2007, the blood was diluted by thousands of gallons of water, and chlorine kills HIV, said John Ward, chief of HIV-AIDS surveillance at the U. S
15.
Allyson Felix
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Allyson Michelle Felix is an American track and field sprinter who competes in the 100 meters,200 meters, and 400 meters. At 200 meters, she is the 2012 Olympic champion, a 3-time World champion, at 400 meters, she is the 2015 World champion and 2016 Olympic silver medalist. She has won five additional Olympic gold medals as a member of the United States womens relay teams, the 2012 U. S. Olympic 4 x 100 meters team also set the womens 4x100 meters world-record that still stands. Felixs 200 meters best of 21.69 secs from 2012, in 2013, she broke the world best for the rarely contested 150 meters distance, running 16.36 secs.72. As a participant in the US Anti-Doping Agencys Project Believe program and she is coached by Bobby Kersee. Her older brother Wes Felix is also a sprinter, also running the 200 m, he was the USA Junior Champion in 2002 and the Pac-10 champion in 2003 and 2004 while running for USC. Wes now acts as the agent for his sister, Felix describes her running ability as a gift from God, For me, my faith is the reason I run. I definitely feel I have this gift that God has blessed me with. But Felixs slightness was at seeming odds with her speed on the track and strength in the gym and she credits much of her success to her coach, Samson Young. Felix began to discover her athletic talents after she tried out for track in the ninth grade, just ten weeks after that first tryout, she finished ninth in the 200 m at the CIF California State Meet. In the coming seasons, she became a winner at the meet. In 2003 she was named the national girls High School Athlete of the Year by Track, as a senior, Felix finished second in the 200 m at the US Indoor Track & Field Championships. A few months later, in front of 50,000 fans in Mexico City, she ran 22.11 seconds, Felix graduated in 2003, making headlines by forgoing college eligibility to sign a professional contract with Adidas. Adidas paid her a sum and picked up her college tuition at the University of Southern California. She has since graduated with a degree in elementary education.18, Felix became the youngest gold medalist sprinter in the 200 meters at the World Championships in Helsinki in 2005 and then successfully defended her title at Osaka two years later. At Osaka, Felix caught Jamaican Veronica Campbell on the bend and surged down the straight to finish in 21.81 seconds, after the final she stated that I feel so good, I am so excited. I have been waiting for so long to run such a time and it has not been an easy road, but finally I managed, said Felix. At that time, she addressed her future, saying, My next goal is not the world record, I want to take it step by step
16.
2024 Summer Olympics
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The 2024 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad, is a forthcoming international multi-sport event. Bidding for the games started in 2015, with five cities in contention. The two remaining candidate sites are Los Angeles and Paris, the host of the Summer Olympic Games is scheduled to be announced at the 130th International Olympic Committee Session in Lima, Peru, on 13 September 2017. However, IOC President Thomas Bach has suggested to both cities the 2024 and 2028 Summer Olympics at the session in Lima. On 17 March 2017, the International Olympic Committee has moved closer toward picking both Los Angeles and Paris to host a Summer Games in a double vote that year. The candidature process was announced at the time as the names of the five candidates cities on 16 September 2015. olympic. Hamburg withdrew its bid due to a referendum held on November 29,2015, while, citing fiscal difficulties, on February 22,2017, it was reported that Budapest withdrew its bid, after a petition against the bid collected more signatures than necessary for a referendum. In a statement released the IOC’s evaluation commission praised the candidates for “creativity, the International Olympic Committee wanted feedback on the formation of a working group that will consider giving 2024 to one city and 2028 to the other. On April 5,2017 the race between Los Angeles and Paris for the 2024 Summer Olympics caused a debate from Facebook fans. On 19 February 2013, the United States Olympic Committee sent letters to the mayors of 37 American cities to gauge their interest in hosting the 2024 Olympics, the cities included were Atlanta, Chicago, Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, Washington D. C. On 10 June 2014, the USOC met in Boston to confirm the shortlist of cities drawn up for the 2024 Olympics, on 13 June 2014, the USOC announced its shortlist for potential host cities, Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Washington. On 26 September 2014, The U. S. Olympic Committee received near-unanimous support from the sports federations in a poll asking whether they would support a bid for the 2024 Olympics. Forty of the 47 national governing bodies took part in the poll and all 40 answered positively to the question, during the closed door meeting each of the four cities were given two hours to present their citys bids. Following the final presentation, the USOC announced that the United States would bid to host the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, but did not announce which city would bid. On 8 January 2015, the USOC selected Boston to be the city from the United States but on 27 July 2015 Bostons bid was withdrawn. On 1 September 2015 the USOC announced that Los Angeles was chosen for the United States bid for the 2024 Summer Games, Baku, Azerbaijan Baku submitted a bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics and submitted a bid for the 2020 Summer Olympics. Baku failed to become a candidate both times, upon failing to become a candidate for the 2020 Games, it was stated that Baku would come back again next time even stronger. Baku National Stadium also hosted the 2015 European Games, istanbul is expected to bid for the 2019 European Games, as European Olympic Committee president Spyros Capralos stated that hosting the European Games would help with its future Olympic bids
17.
Bill Cosby
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William Henry Bill Cosby, Jr. is an American stand-up comedian, actor, author, and singer. Cosbys start in comedy began at the hungry i in San Francisco and was followed by his landing a starring role in the 1960s television show I Spy. He was also a regular on the television series The Electric Company during the shows first two seasons. Throughout the 1970s, Cosby starred in a number of films, after attending Temple University in the 1960s, he received his bachelors degree there in 1971. In 1973, he received a degree from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. His dissertation discussed the use of Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids as a tool in elementary schools. The sitcom highlighted the experiences and growth of an affluent African-American family, Cosby has been the subject of publicized sexual assault allegations since about 2000. He surrendered to authorities on December 30,2015, and was released on $1 million bail, Cosby is scheduled to go on trial on or before June 5,2017. Cosby was born on July 12,1937 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and he is one of four sons of Anna Pearl, a maid, and William Henry Cosby Sr. who served as a mess steward in the U. S. Navy. During much of Cosbys early childhood, his father was away in the U. S. armed forces, as a student, he described himself as a class clown. Cosby was the captain of both the team and the track and field team at Mary Channing Wister Public School in Philadelphia. Early on, though, teachers noted his propensity for clowning around rather than studying, at FitzSimons Junior High School, Cosby began acting in plays as well as continuing his devotion to playing sports. Cosby went on to Philadelphias Central High School, a magnet and academically rigorous university prep school where he played football, basketball, baseball, and ran track. In addition, Cosby was working before and after school, selling produce, shining shoes and he transferred to Germantown High School, but failed the tenth grade. Instead of repeating, he got a job as an apprentice at a repair shop, which he liked. In 1956, Cosby enlisted in the Navy, serving at the Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia, Naval Station Argentia, Newfoundland and at the Bethesda Naval Hospital in Maryland. During his four years in the Navy, Cosby served as a Hospital Corpsman working in therapy with Navy. He finished his equivalency diploma via correspondence courses and was awarded a track, there, he studied physical education while running track and playing fullback on the universitys football team
18.
Art Linkletter
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Arthur Gordon Art Linkletter was a Canadian-born American radio and television personality. He was the host of House Party, which ran on CBS radio and television for 25 years, Linkletter was famous for interviewing children on House Party and Kids Say the Darndest Things, which led to a series of books quoting children. He became a naturalized United States citizen in 1942, Linkletter was born Arthur Gordon Kelly in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. In his autobiography, Confessions of a Happy Man, he revealed that he had no contact with his parents or his sister or two brothers since he was abandoned when only a few weeks old. He was adopted by Mary and Fulton John Linkletter, an evangelical preacher, when he was five, his family moved to San Diego, California, where he graduated from San Diego High School at age 16. During the early years of the Great Depression, he rode trains around the country doing odd jobs, in 1934, he earned a bachelors degree in teaching from San Diego State Teachers College, where he was a member of the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity. While attending San Diego State, he played for the team and was a member of the swimming team. He had previously planned to attend Springfield College, but did not, in 1935 he met Lois Foerster. They were married at Grace Lutheran Church in San Diego, November 28,1935 and their marriage lasted until Linkletters death, 74 1⁄2 years later. After receiving his degree, Linkletter decided to go to work as a radio announcer at KGB in San Diego. He directed radio programs for fairs and expositions in the mid-1930s, afterwards, he moved to San Francisco and continued his radio career. In 1943, Linkletter pleaded guilty to falsely claiming US citizenship, he was fined $500, in the 1940s, Linkletter worked in Hollywood with John Guedel on their pioneering radio show, People Are Funny, which employed audience participation, contests and gags. The series served as a prototype for future radio and television game shows, People Are Funny became a television show in 1954 and ran until 1961. Other early television shows Linkletter worked on included Life With Linkletter with his son Jack and he also acted in two movies, People Are Funny and Champagne for Caesar. But, out of friendship for Disney, Linkletter volunteered his experience as a live program broadcaster to help organize ABCs coverage of the Disneyland opening in 1955 on what was his 43rd birthday. Besides being an on-air host, he recruited his two co-hosts, Ronald Reagan and Bob Cummings, the park opening experience convinced Linkletter that Disneyland was going to be a huge success. This turned out to be extremely lucrative and he appeared for two stints of two weeks each, as a guest host of The Tonight Show in 1962 between Jack Paars departure and Johnny Carsons arrival as its new host. In the 1950s, Linkletter hosted a 15-minute series for syndication titled Art Linkletter And The Kids, in the 1950s, Linkletter became a major investor in and promoter of the hula hoop
19.
Fred Rogers
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WQED developed his own show in 1968 and it was distributed nationwide by Eastern Educational Television Network. Over the course of three decades on television, Fred Rogers became an icon of American childrens entertainment and education and he was also known for his advocacy of various public causes. Rogers received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, some forty honorary degrees, and he was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame, was recognized by two Congressional resolutions, and was ranked No.35 among TV Guides Fifty Greatest TV Stars of All Time. Several buildings and artworks in Pennsylvania are dedicated to his memory, Rogers was born in Latrobe, Pennsylvania,40 miles southeast of Pittsburgh, to James and Nancy Rogers, he had one sister, Elaine. Early in life, he spent much of his time with his maternal grandfather, Fred McFeely. He would often sing along as his mother would play the piano, Rogers graduated from Latrobe High School. He studied at Dartmouth College, then transferred to Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida, Rogers was also a trained general aviation pilot. At Rollins, he met Sara Joanne Byrd, an Oakland, Florida native and they had two sons, James and John. Rogers was red–green color blind, swam every morning, and neither smoked nor drank and he was a vegetarian on ethical grounds, stating I dont want to eat anything that has a mother. Despite recurring rumors, he never served in the military and his office at WQED Pittsburgh famously did not have a desk, only a sofa and armchairs, because Rogers thought a desk was too much of a barrier. Fred Rogers had a moment when he first saw television in his parents home. He entered seminary after college, but, after his first experience as a viewer and he thus applied for a job at NBC in New York City in 1951 and then worked on musical programs including Your Hit Parade, The Kate Smith Hour, and The Voice of Firestone. He also worked on Gabby Hayes show for children, ultimately, Rogers decided that commercial televisions reliance on advertisement and merchandising undermined its ability to educate or enrich young audiences, so he quit NBC. In 1954, he began working at WQED, a Pittsburgh public television station, Rogers began wearing his famous sneakers when he found them to be quieter than his work shoes as he moved about behind the set. The show won a Sylvania Award for best childrens show and was briefly broadcast nationally on NBC, during his off hours, he would leave the WQED studios during his lunch breaks to study theology at the nearby Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. Rogers, however, was not interested in preaching, and, after his ordination and he had also done work at the University of Pittsburghs program in Child Development and Child Care. Many of his famous set pieces—Trolley, Eiffel Tower, the tree, Mr. Dressup also used some of the songs that would be featured on Rogers later program. The two of them co-starred on Butternut Square on CBC TV between October 19,1964, and February 10,1967
20.
James Rolph
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James “Sunny Jim” Rolph Jr. was an American politician and a member of the Republican Party. He was elected to a term as the 27th governor of California from January 6,1931 until his death on June 2,1934 at the height of the Great Depression. Previously, Rolph had been the 30th mayor of San Francisco from January 8,1912 until his resignation to become governor, Rolph remains the longest serving mayor in San Francisco history. Rolph was born in San Francisco and he had four brothers and two sisters. After attending school in the Mission District, he went to work as a boy in a commission house. He married Annie Marshall Reid and had at least one son, James Rolph, Rolph entered the shipping business in 1900, by forming a partnership with George Hind. He would over the next serve as president of two banks, one of which he helped establish. Although he was asked to run for mayor in 1909, he chose to wait until 1911 to run for mayor—a position that he would hold for nineteen years, as mayor, he was known as Sunny Jim and his theme song was There Are Smiles That Make You Happy. In 1915 he appeared as himself in a documentary film titled Mabel and Fatty Viewing the Worlds Fair at San Francisco. In 1924, Rolph appeared as himself in a Slim Summerville comedy short film, Hello, Rolph knew of the power in San Francisco of the Roman Catholic Church. Italians, Irish, French and Germans made up the majority of the population of the City and he established a deep friendship with Archbishop Edward Joseph Hanna. In turn, Hanna would support Rolph in his 1930 election as governor of California, in addition to his mayoral duties and overseeing his shipping interests, he directed the Ship Owners and Merchants Tugboat Company and the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce. He also was vice-president of the Panama-Pacific International Exposition and president of the Merchants Exchange and he resigned in 1931 to assume the office of governor of California. Four days before the lynching he had announced he would not call on the National Guard to prevent the lynching, after violence erupted during the San Joaquin cotton strike in October 1933, Governor Rolph appointed a fact-finding committee to investigate the deaths of several strikers. After suffering several heart attacks, he died in Santa Clara County on June 2,1934, aged 64, Rolph was the second governor to die in office, the first being Washington Bartlett in 1887. He is buried at Greenlawn Memorial Park in Colma, California and he was succeeded by Lieutenant Governor Frank Merriam in the Governors Office. One of the names of the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge is the James “Sunny Jim” Rolph Bridge. Biography from the State of California James Rolph, Jr. at The Political Graveyard Biography from the Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco James Rolph at the Internet Movie Database
21.
Charles S. Farnsworth
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Major General Charles Stewart Farnsworth was a United States Army officer and civic leader. Farnsworth was born in Lycoming County, Pennsylvania and attended public schools. He worked for Western Union and the Bell Telephone company before being appointed to the United States Military Academy in 1883, while at Fort Shaw, he married Laura Galey. In 1894, he married Helen Bosard of Grand Forks, North Dakota, after graduating in 1887, Farnsworth was sent to various posts in the Great Plains. He was stationed at Fort Sisseton in South Dakota, Fort Shaw in Montana, in 1893 he became Professor of Military Science and Tactics at the University of North Dakota. In addition to his job, Farnsworth was also head coach of the North Dakota Fighting Sioux football team from 1895 to 1896. During the Spanish–American War, Farnsworth served as a quartermaster in Cuba and was an aide to Adna Chaffee, after the war, Farnsworth was sent to Alaska where he founded and constructed Fort Gibbon. He was then sent to the Philippines where he founded and built Fort William McKinley and he also expanded the cantonments at the Presidio of San Francisco. In 1909, he attended the U. S. Army Command and he graduated from the U. S. Army War College in 1916. During the Pancho Villa Expedition into Mexico, Farnsworth served as a battalion commander, Farnsworth was the commandant of the U. S. Army Infantry Training School at Fort Sill shortly after the American entry into World War I in April 1917. He then commanded the 159th Infantry Brigade, part of the 80th Infantry Division, at Camp Lee, in 1918, Farnsworth was promoted to major general and placed in command of the 37th Infantry Division of the Ohio Army National Guard. He brought the division to the Western Front, where it participated in the Battle of Saint-Mihiel, for his service during World War I, Farnsworth received the Army Distinguished Service Medal and the Silver Star medal. He also received the Croix de guerre with Palm and the Légion dhonneur from France, from Belgium, he received the Order of Léopold. After World War I, he commanded Camp Bowie, Texas before being ordered to Fort Benning, there, Farnsworth organized the U. S. Army Infantry School and served as its first commandant. In July 1920, Farnsworth became Chief of Infantry and he served in that position until his retirement in 1925. As Chief of Infantry, Farnsworth traveled around the country inspecting reserve units and he also reviewed reports by junior officers George S. Patton and Dwight D. Eisenhower on infantry tactics and the use of armor. Farnsworth dismissed both reports and retired from the army on March 27,1925, Farnsworth and his wife moved to Altadena, California after his retirement and lived on Las Flores Drive, close to his son. They became involved in the community, gen. Farnsworth was the president of the Altadena Citizens Association and the Altadena Beautification League
22.
Mary Pickford
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Gladys Louise Smith, known professionally as Mary Pickford, was a Canadian-American film actress, writer, director, and producer. She was a co-founder of the film studio United Artists and one of the original 36 founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Known in her prime as Americas Sweetheart and the girl with the curls, Pickford was one of the Canadian pioneers in early Hollywood and a significant figure in the development of film acting. Pickford was one of the earliest stars to be billed under her name and she was awarded the second ever Academy Award for Best Actress for her first sound film role in Coquette and also received an honorary Academy Award in 1976. In consideration of her contributions to American cinema, the American Film Institute ranked Pickford as 24th in its 1999 list of greatest female stars of classic Hollywood Cinema, Mary Pickford was born Gladys Louise Smith in 1892 at 211 University Avenue, A Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Her father, John Charles Smith, was the son of English Methodist immigrants and her mother, Charlotte Hennessey, was of Irish Catholic descent and worked for a time as a seamstress. She had two siblings, Charlotte, called Lottie, and John Charles, called Jack, who also became actors. To please her husbands relatives, Pickfords mother baptized her children as Methodists, John Charles Smith was an alcoholic, he abandoned the family and died on February 11,1898, from a fatal blood clot caused by a workplace accident when he was a purser with Niagara Steamship. When Gladys was age four, her household was under infectious quarantine and their devoutly Catholic maternal grandmother asked a visiting Roman Catholic priest to baptize the children. Pickford was at this time baptized as Gladys Marie Smith, Charlotte Smith began taking in boarders after being widowed. One of these was a stage manager. At his suggestion, Gladys was given two roles, one as a boy and the other as a girl, in a stock company production of The Silver King at Torontos Princess Theatre. She subsequently acted in many melodramas with Torontos Valentine Company, finally playing the child role in their version of The Silver King. By the early 1900s, theatre had become a family enterprise, Gladys, her mother and two younger siblings toured the United States by rail, performing in third-rate companies and plays. After six impoverished years, Pickford allowed one more summer to land a role on Broadway. In 1906 Gladys, Lottie and Jack Smith supported singer Chauncey Olcott on Broadway in Edmund Burke, Gladys finally landed a supporting role in a 1907 Broadway play, The Warrens of Virginia. The play was written by William C. deMille, whose brother, Cecil, David Belasco, the producer of the play, insisted that Gladys Smith assume the stage name Mary Pickford. After completing the Broadway run and touring the play, however, on April 19,1909, the Biograph Company director D. W. Griffith screen-tested her at the companys New York studio for a role in the nickelodeon film, Pippa Passes
23.
William Sims
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William Sowden Sims was an admiral in the United States Navy who fought during the late 19th and early 20th centuries to modernize the navy. During World War I he commanded all United States naval forces operating in Europe and he also served twice as president of the Naval War College. Sims was born to American parents living in Port Hope, Ontario and he graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1880, the beginnings of an era of naval reform and greater professionalization. Luce founded the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island in 1884, during the same era, Naval War College instructor Captain Alfred Thayer Mahan was writing influential books on naval strategy and sea power. In March 1897, shortly after his promotion to lieutenant, Sims was assigned as the military attache to Paris, in this position he became aware of naval technology developments in Europe as well attaining familiarity with European politics which would greatly assist him during World War I. He was in this assignment during the Spanish–American War during which Sims was able to use his connections to gain information on Spain. As a young officer, Sims sought to reform naval gunnery by improving target practice and his superiors resisted his suggestions, failing to see the necessity. He was also hindered by his low rank, in 1902, Sims wrote directly to President Theodore Roosevelt. He was promoted to commander in 1907, from 1911 to 1912, Sims attended the Naval War College. Promoted to captain in 1911, he became Commander, Atlantic Destroyer Flotilla in July 1913, on March 11,1916, Sims became the first captain of the battleship USS Nevada. Nevada was the largest, most modern and most powerful ship in the U. S. Navy at that time, Sims selection as her captain shows the esteem in which Sims was held in the Navy. Shortly before the United States entered World War I, then Rear Admiral Sims was assigned as the president of the Naval War College in Newport, just before the U. S. entered the war, the Wilson administration sent him to London as the senior naval representative. After the U. S. entry in April 1917, Sims was given command over U. S. naval forces operating from Britain and he received a temporary promotion to vice admiral in May 1917. The major threat he faced was a highly effective German submarine campaign against freighters bringing vital food and he ended the war as a vice admiral, in command of all U. S. naval forces operating in Europe. In 1919 after the war ended in Allied victory, Sims publicly attacked the deficiencies of American naval strategy, tactics, policy and he charged the failures had cost the Allies 2,500,000 tons of supplies, thereby prolonging the war by six months. He estimated the delay had raised the cost of the war to the Allies by $15 billion, secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels was more of a politician than a naval strategist, but he ably countered the accusations. He pointed to Sims anglophilism and said his point in London was too narrow to assess accurately the overall war effort by the U. S. Navy. Daniels cited prewar naval preparations and strategy proposals made by other American leaders during the war to disprove Sims charges, despite the public acrimony, Sims emerged with his reputation unharmed and served a second tour as president of the Naval War College
24.
Harold Lloyd
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Harold Clayton Lloyd, Sr. was an American actor, comedian, film director, film producer, screenwriter, and stunt performer who is most famous for his silent comedy films. Harold Lloyd ranks alongside Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton as one of the most popular, Lloyd made nearly 200 comedy films, both silent and talkies, between 1914 and 1947. He is best known for his bespectacled Glass character, a resourceful and his films frequently contained thrill sequences of extended chase scenes and daredevil physical feats, for which he is best remembered today. Lloyd hanging from the hands of a high above the street in Safety Last. is one of the most enduring images in all of cinema. Lloyd did many of these dangerous stunts himself, despite having injured himself in August 1919 while doing publicity pictures for the Roach studio, an accident with a bomb mistaken as a prop resulted in the loss of the thumb and index finger of his right hand. Although Lloyds individual films were not as successful as Chaplins on average, he was far more prolific. Lloyd was born in Burchard, Nebraska, on April 20,1893, to James Darsie Lloyd and Sarah Elisabeth Fraser, in 1910, after his father succumbed to several failed business ventures, Lloyds parents divorced and his father moved with his son to San Diego. Lloyd had acted in theater since a child, but in California he began acting in film comedies around 1912. Lloyd worked with Thomas Edisons motion picture company, and his first role was a part as a Yaqui Indian in the production of The Old Monks Tale. At the age of 20, Harold moved to Los Angeles and he was also hired by Universal as an extra and soon became friends with aspiring filmmaker, Hal Roach. Lloyd began collaborating with Roach who had formed his own studio in 1913, Roach and Lloyd created Lonesome Luke, similar to and playing off the success of Charlie Chaplin films. Lloyd hired Bebe Daniels as an actress in 1914, the two of them were involved romantically and were known as The Boy and The Girl. In 1919, she left Lloyd to pursue her dramatic aspirations, Lloyd replaced Daniels with Mildred Davis in 1919. Lloyd was tipped off by Hal Roach to watch Davis in a movie, reportedly, the more Lloyd watched Davis the more he liked her. Lloyds first reaction in seeing her was that she looked like a big French doll, by 1918, Lloyd and Roach had begun to develop his character beyond an imitation of his contemporaries. Harold Lloyd would move away from tragicomic personas, and portray an everyman with unwavering confidence, the Glass character is said to have been created after Roach suggested that Harold was too handsome to do comedy without some sort of disguise. When I adopted the glasses, he recalled in a 1962 interview with Harry Reasoner, it more or less put me in a different category because I became a human being. He was a kid that you would meet next door, across the street, but at the same time I could still do all the things that we did before
25.
James Allred
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James V. Allred was a United States politician who served as the 33rd Governor of Texas during the New Deal era. He was thereafter a United States federal judge and he is remembered for his unwavering support of U. S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Christened James Burr V Allred, Allred was born in Bowie in Montague County in north central Texas, Burr and V were the names of his uncles. He was known as Vee until he enlisted in the United States Navy in 1918, Allred had enrolled in Rice Institute in 1917 but left school soon thereafter because of financial problems. He served in the U. S. Immigration Service for a short while before enlisting in the Navy World War I, allreds public-service career began in 1923, when Governor Pat Neff appointed him assistant district attorney in Wichita Falls to complete an unexpired term. He was elected to a term in 1924. In 1926 he ran for Attorney General of Texas as a Democrat but was defeated in the primary, in his next try for office, in 1930, he was elected attorney general at the age of thirty-one, having defeated the incumbent, Robert L. Bobbitt of Laredo. Allred became the youngest man to hold that office and he then served two terms as governor, from 1935 to 1939. Allred was confirmed by the United States Senate on February 16,1939 and he served in that office until May 15,1942, when he resigned to run against an incumbent senator, W. Lee ODaniel, for his seat in the U. S. Senate. The Texas Regulars also opposed the 1949 Smith v. Allwright decision of the United States Supreme Court, the fight centered on the lack of specifics in Texas law in regard to the selection of presidential electors. The courts ruled that parties have wide discretion in choosing electors so long as an existing law is not violated. In the dispute, Allred ran afoul not only of Senator ODaniel, on September 23,1949, he was again nominated to the Southern District of Texas, to another newly created judgeship, by President Harry S. Truman. Allred was again confirmed by the Senate, on October 12,1949 and his last residence had been in Corpus Christi during this judicial tenure. He is interred at Riverside Cemetery, Wichita Falls, Texas and he has been described as a talented and fiery lawyer. As attorney general he filed a number of suits, including many anti-trust cases. As governor he embraced Roosevelts New Deal, and during his administrations the legislature passed social security measures that included old-age assistance and he opposed the Ku Klux Klan and repeal of prohibition. He married Joe Betsy Miller of Wichita Falls on June 20,1927 and she was born on October 15,1905, in Altus, Oklahoma, and died on June 7,1993, in Wichita Falls. James and Betsy Allred had three sons, James V. Jr. William David, and Sam Houston, who was born in the Sam Houston bed in the Sam Houston bedroom of the Texas Governors Mansion
26.
Leo Carrillo
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Leopoldo Antonio Carrillo Spanish pronunciation, was an American actor, vaudevillian, political cartoonist, and conservationist. Although he played many different ethnicities in his career, Leo Carrillo was Castillian Spanish. His great-great grandfather José Raimundo Carrillo, was a soldier in the Spanish Portolá expedition colonization of Las Californias, franciscan Friar Junípero Serra performed the marriage ceremony for Don Jose Raimundo and Tomasa Ignacia Lugo in 1781. His great-grandfather Carlos Antonio Carrillo was Governor of Alta California and his great-uncle, José Antonio Carrillo, was a three-time mayor of Los Angeles and twice married to sisters of Governor Pío Pico. His paternal grandfather, Pedro Carrillo, who was educated in Boston, was a writer, the family moved from San Diego to Los Angeles then to Santa Monica, where Carrillos father Juan José Carrillo, served as the citys police chief and later the first mayor. His cousin was Broadway star William Gaxton, proud of his heritage, Carrillo wrote a book, The California I Love, published shortly before his death in 1961. A university graduate, Carrillo worked as a newspaper cartoonist for the San Francisco Examiner before turning to acting on Broadway, in Hollywood, he appeared in more than 90 films, including The Gay Desperado, in which he usually played supporting or character roles. Duncan Renaldo starred as The Cisco Kid, the popular syndicated series ran from 1950 until 1956, notable as the first TV series filmed in color. After The Cisco Kid ended production, Carrillo appeared in the episode Rescue at Sea of the military drama. He was eventually made an ambassador by the California Governor at the time. As a result of his service to California, west of Malibu on CA-1 Pacific Coast Highway, City of Westminster, California named an elementary school for him. Leo Carrillo Ranch Historic Park, originally Rancho de los Kiotes, in Carlsbad, Rancho Carrillo Trail, also in Carlsbad, is named for Leo Carrillo. In 1944, for instance, he performed a Wild West act at the massive rally organized by David O, the gathering drew 93,000, with Cecil B. DeMille as the master of ceremonies and with speeches by Hedda Hopper. Among the others in attendance were Ann Sothern, Ginger Rogers, Randolph Scott, Adolphe Menjou, Gary Cooper, Eddy Arnold, William Bendix, and Walter Pidgeon. In 1913, Carrillo married Edith Shakespeare Haeselbarth, of Nyack, New York and they remained together until her death in 1953. They lived in Los Alisos on Channel Road, in Santa Monica Canyon, the Carrillos had one child, a daughter, Marie Antoinette. They spent part of their time at their 4, 500-acre ranch in Carlsbad, Carrillo frequently permitted Boy Scout groups to camp on the grounds
27.
Edgar Bergen
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Edgar John Bergen was an American actor, comedian and radio performer, best known for his proficiency in ventriloquism and his characters Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd. He is also the father of actress Candice Bergen, Bergen was born in Chicago, Illinois, one of five children and the youngest of two sons of Swedish immigrants Nilla Svensdotter and Johan Henriksson Berggren. He lived on a farm near Decatur, Michigan until he was 4 when his family returned to Sweden where he learned the language and he taught himself ventriloquism from a pamphlet called The Wizards Manual when he was 11 after his family returned to Chicago. He attended Lake View High School, after his father died when he was just 16, he went out to work as an apprentice accountant, a furnace stoke, a player piano operator, and a projectionist in a silent-movie house. The famous ventriloquist Harry Lester was so impressed by Edgar that he gave the teenager almost daily lessons for three months in the fundamentals of ventriloquism. In the fall of 1919, Edgar paid Chicago woodcarver Theodore Mack $36 to sculpt a likeness of a rascally red-headed Irish newspaperboy he knew, the head went on a dummy named Charlie McCarthy, which became Bergens lifelong sidekick. He had created the body himself, using a length of broomstick for the backbone. For college he attended Northwestern University where he was enrolled in the program to please his mother. He switched to Speech & Drama but never completed his degree and he gave his first public performance at Waveland Avenue Congregational Church located on the northeast corner of Waveland and Janssen. He lived across the street from the church and he cut out an R and a G from his family name and went from Berggren to Bergen on the showbills. Between June 1922 and August 1925, he performed every summer on the professional Chautauqua circuit, Bergen had an interest in aviation, becoming a private pilot. His first performances were in vaudeville, at which point he changed his last name to the easier-to-pronounce Bergen. He worked in one-reel movie shorts, but his success was on the radio. He and Charlie were seen at a New York party by Elsa Maxwell for Noël Coward and it was there that two producers saw Bergen and Charlie perform. They then recommended them for a guest appearance on Rudy Vallées program and their initial appearance was so successful that the following year they were given regular cast rolls as part of The Chase and Sanborn Hour. Under various sponsors, they were on the air from May 9,1937 to July 1,1956, the popularity of a ventriloquist on radio, when one could see neither the dummies nor his skill, surprised and puzzled many critics, then and now. Even knowing that Bergen provided the voice, listeners perceived Charlie as a genuine person, thus, in 1947, Sam Berman caricatured Bergen and McCarthy for the networks glossy promotional book, NBC Parade of Stars, As Heard Over Your Favorite NBC Station. Bergens skill as an entertainer, especially his characterization of Charlie, Bergens success on radio was paralleled in the United Kingdom by Peter Brough and his dummy Archie Andrews
28.
Brookside Golf Course
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Brookside Golf Course is a municipal golf facility in the western United States, located in southern California in Pasadena. Adjacent to the Rose Bowl stadium in the citys Arroyo Seco Natural Park, the 36-hole facility offers the C. W. Koiner Course, nay Course, divided by the concrete-channeled Arroyo Seco. Both courses were designed by architect William P, bell and the complex features a restaurant, banquet facilities, meeting rooms, pro shop, two practice putting greens, a chipping area, a practice bunker, and a driving range. The course hosted the Los Angeles Open on the PGA Tour in 1968, the par-72 C. W. Koiner Course measures over 7,200 yards, and is centrally run along the western and southern ends of the complex. Relatively flat, it has many strategically placed bunkers, long rough and this course is more open than the E. O. Nay Course and also appeals to the player looking for a challenge. Nay Course is the shorter of the two courses, measuring just over 6,000 yards, and is run along the northern end of the complex. Similarly featured, this course is relatively flat, the key difference between the courses is the smaller hitting areas of the E. O. Nay Course, and this course usually serves those of a lesser ability, though these courses are beautiful and stretch for a mile in green beauty, during football season and for special events, the courses are used as a parking lot for fans. The Rose Bowl uses the course for extra parking during home games for the UCLA Bruins football team, in 2010 and 2014, it was used for the BCS National Championship Games. This has not proven detrimental to the quality of the course and it does, however, impact availability of the course during UCLA home games and other special events. Official website Brookside Mens Golf Club
29.
Kay Kyser
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James Kern Kay Kyser was an American bandleader and radio personality of the 1930s and 1940s. Kay Kyser was born in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, the son of pharmacists Paul Bynum Kyser, journalist and newspaper editor Vermont C. Kyser graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a Bachelor of Arts degree and he was also senior class president. Because of his popularity and enthusiasm as a cheerleader, he was invited by Hal Kemp to take over as bandleader when Kemp ventured north to further his career and he began taking clarinet lessons but was better as an entertaining announcer than a musician. He adopted the initial of his name as part of his stage name. Long before his success, Kyser recorded two sessions for Victor in the late 1920s. These were issued on Victors V-40000 series devoted to country music, following graduation, Kyser and his band, which included Sully Mason on saxophone and arranger George Duning, toured Midwest restaurants and night clubs and gradually built a following. They were particularly popular at Chicagos Blackhawk restaurant, where Kyser came up with an act combining a quiz with music which became Kay Kysers Kollege of Musical Knowledge, the act was broadcast on the Mutual Broadcasting System in 1938 and then moved to NBC Radio from 1939 to 1949. The show rose in the ratings and spawned many imitators, Kyser led the band as The Ol Perfessor, spouting catchphrases, some with a degree of Southern American English terms, Thats right—youre wrong, Evenin folks, how yall. and Cmon, chillun. Although Kyser and his orchestra gained fame through the Kollege of Musical Knowledge and they had 11 number one records, including some of the most popular songs of the late 1930s and early 1940s. Unlike most other big bands of the era, which centered on only the bandleader, individual members of Kysers band became stars in their own right and would often receive the spotlight. Some of the more popular members included vocalist Harry Babbitt, cornetist Merwyn Bogue, trombonist Bruce King, saxophonist Jack Martin, Ginny Simms, Sully Mason, Mike Douglas and Georgia Carroll. Carroll, a fashion model and actress whose best-known role was Betsy Ross in Yankee Doodle Dandy, was dubbed Gorgeous Georgia Carroll when she joined the group in 1943. Within a year, she and Kyser married, Kyser was also known for singing song titles, a device copied by Sammy Kaye and Blue Barron. When the song began, one of the lead singers sang the title phrase. Several of his recordings spawned catch phrases, such as Praise the Lord and his group also had a major hit with the novelty tune, Three Little Fishes. It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc by the RIAA, Kay left a strong recording legacy in American popular music, including his Kollege of Musical Knowledge, said Babbitt. Im very fortunate and proud to have been a part of that band
30.
Earl Warren
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Earl Warren was an American jurist and politician, who served as the 30th Governor of California and later the 14th Chief Justice of the United States. Warren is the person elected to three consecutive terms as Governor of California, and with those three elected terms he is second only to Jerry Brown for total gubernatorial wins in California. Before holding these positions, he was the District Attorney for Alameda County, California, Warren was the nominee of the Republican Party for Vice President in 1948, as the running mate of Thomas E. Dewey. He was appointed to chair what became known as the Warren Commission, which was formed to investigate the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Earl Warren was born in Los Angeles, on March 19,1891, to Mathias H. Warren, a Norwegian immigrant whose family name was Varren, and his wife, Crystal. Mathias Warren was an employee of the Southern Pacific Railroad. After he was blacklisted for joining in a strike, the moved to Bakersfield, California. Matthias worked in a repair yard, and Earl had summer jobs in railroading. Earl Warren grew up in Bakersfield, where he attended Washington Junior High and his father was murdered there by an unknown person during a robbery. In 1912 Warren graduated with a B. A. in political science from the University of California, in 1914 he earned his J. D. at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law. He was a member of The Gun Club secret society, and the Sigma Phi Society, as an undergraduate, Warren also played clarinet in the Cal Band. Warren maintained a friendship with fellow Cal student Robert Gordon Sproul. In 1948, at the Republican National Convention, Sproul would nominate Warren for Vice President, Warren was admitted to the California bar in 1914. Warren worked a year for Associated Oil Company in San Francisco, then joined Robinson & Robinson, in August 1917, Warren enlisted in the U. S. Army for World War I service. Assigned to the 91st Division at Camp Lewis, Washington, 1st Lieutenant Earl Warren was discharged in 1918. After the war, he served as a clerk of the Judicial Committee for the 1919 Session of the California State Assembly, then as the Deputy City Attorney in Oakland, Warren came to the attention of powerful Republican Joseph R. Knowland, publisher of The Oakland Tribune. He was strongly influenced by California Governor Hiram Johnson and other leaders of the Progressive Era to oppose corruption, in 1925, Warren was appointed as the District Attorney of Alameda County. Warren was re-elected to three four-year terms, Warren vigorously investigated allegations that a deputy sheriff was taking bribes in connection with street-paving arrangements
31.
Amos Alonzo Stagg
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Amos Alonzo Stagg was an American athlete and pioneering college coach in multiple sports, primarily American football. His Chicago Maroons teams of 1905 and 1913 have been recognized as national champions and he was also the head basketball coach for one season at the University of Chicago, and the head baseball coach there for 19 seasons. At the University of Chicago, Stagg also instituted an annual basketball tournament. Both drew the top school teams and athletes from around the United States. Stagg played football as an end at Yale University and was selected to the first College Football All-America Team in 1889. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as both a player and a coach in the class of 1951 and was the only individual honored in both roles until the 1990s. Influential in other sports, Stagg developed basketball as a five-player sport and this 5 man concept allowed his 10 man football team the ability to compete with each other and to stay in shape over the winter. Stagg was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame in its first group of inductees in 1959, Stagg also forged a bond between sports and religious faith early on in his career that remained important to him for the rest of his life. Stagg was born in a poor Irish neighborhood of West Orange, New Jersey, Stagg attended Yale College, where he was a divinity student, and a member of the Psi Upsilon fraternity and Skull and Bones society. He played as a pitcher on his baseball team, he declined an opportunity to play for six different professional baseball teams. He nonetheless influenced the game through his invention of the batting cage, Stagg played on the 1888 team. He was an end on the first All-America team, selected in 1889 and he went on to earn an MPE from the Young Mens Christian Training School, now known as Springfield College. On March 11,1892, Stagg, still an instructor at the YMCA School, a crowd of 200 watched as the student team beat the faculty, 5–1. Stagg scored the basket for the losing side. He popularized basketball teams having five players and he later abandoned the theology career and received a MPE from Young Mens Christian Training School in 1891. Stagg became the first paid coach at Williston Seminary, a secondary school. This was also Staggs first time receiving pay to coach football and he would coach there one day a week while also coaching full-time at Springfield College. Stagg then coached at the University of Chicago from 1892 to 1932, University president Robert Maynard Hutchins forced out the septuagenarian Stagg, who he felt was too old to continue coaching
32.
Herbert Hoover
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Herbert Clark Hoover was an American politician who served as the 31st President of the United States from 1929 to 1933 during the Great Depression. He was defeated in a landslide in 1932 by Democrat Franklin D, a lifelong Quaker, he became a successful mining engineer around the globe and retired in 1912. In the First World War he built a reputation as a humanitarian by leading relief efforts in Belgium during the war. He headed the U. S. Food Administration during World War I and his reputation as a Progressive businessman fighting for efficiency and elimination of waste was built as the Secretary of Commerce 1921-28. Hoover was a leader in the Efficiency Movement, which held that every institution public and they all could be improved by experts who could identify the problems and solve them. He also believed in the importance of volunteerism and of the role of individuals in society, in the presidential election of 1928, Hoover easily won the Republican nomination, despite having no elected-office experience. Although Hoover never raised the issue, some of his supporters did in mobilizing anti-Catholic sentiment against his opponent Al Smith. He reluctantly approved the Smoot–Hawley Tariff of 1930, which sent foreign trade spiralling down and he believed it was essential to balance the budget despite falling tax revenue, so he raised the tax rates. The economy kept falling, and the unemployment rate rose to 25%, with industry, mining. This downward spiral, plus his support for policies that had lost favor, set the stage for Hoovers overwhelming defeat in 1932 by Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt. Most historians agree that Hoovers defeat in the 1932 election was caused primarily by the downward economic spiral, Hoover became a conservative spokesman for opposition to the domestic and foreign policies of the New Deal. He opposed entry into the Second World War and was not given any role to play, in 1946, President Harry S. Truman liked Hoover and appointed him to survey war-torn Germany which produced a number of reports that changed U. S. occupation policy. In 1947, Truman appointed Hoover to head the Hoover Commission, by the time of his death, he had rehabilitated his image. Nevertheless, Hoover is often ranked by historians as one of the worst U. S. presidents. Herbert Hoover was born on August 10,1874, in West Branch, Iowa, he would become the only President so far born in that state and the first born west of the Mississippi River. His father, Jesse Hoover, was a blacksmith and farm implement store owner, of German, German-Swiss, Jesse Hoover and his father Eli had moved to Iowa from Ohio twenty years previously. Hoovers mother, Hulda Randall Minthorn, was born in Norwich, Ontario, Canada, both of his parents were Quakers. At about age two he contracted the croup and he was so ill that he was momentarily thought to have died, until he was resuscitated by his uncle, John Minthorn
33.
William Halsey Jr.
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William Frederick Halsey Jr. GBE, known as Bill Halsey or Bull Halsey, was an American fleet admiral in the United States Navy. At the start of the War in the Pacific Halsey commanded the task force centered on the carrier Enterprise in a series of raids against Japanese-held targets. He was made commander, South Pacific Area and led the Allied forces over the course of the Battle for Guadalcanal, in 1943 he was made commander of the Third Fleet, the post he held through the rest of the war. Halsey was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey, on October 30,1882 and his father was a descendant of Senator Rufus King, who was an American lawyer, politician, diplomat, and Federalist. After waiting two years to receive an appointment to the United States Naval Academy, Halsey decided to study medicine at the University of Virginia and he chose Virginia because his best friend, Karl Osterhause, was there. While there, Halsey joined the Delta Psi fraternity and was also a member of the secretive Seven Society, after his first year, Halsey received his appointment to the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, and entered the Academy in the fall of 1900. Halsey graduated from the Naval Academy on February 2,1904, after lettering in football as a fullback and earning several athletic honors. He spent his service years in battleships and sailed with the main battle fleet aboard the battleship USS Kansas as Roosevelts Great White Fleet circumnavigated the globe from 1907 to 1909. Halsey was on the bridge of the battleship USS Missouri on Wednesday, April 13,1904, No explosion occurred, but the rapid burning of the powder burnt and suffocated to death 31 officers and men. This resulted in Halsey dreading the 13th of every month, especially when it fell on a Friday, after his service on the Missouri, Halsey served aboard torpedo boats, beginning with USS Du Pont in 1909. Halsey was one of the few officers who was promoted directly from Ensign to full lieutenant, at that time, the destroyer and the torpedo boat, though extremely hazardous, were the most effective way to bring the torpedo into combat against capital ships. Lieutenant Commander Halseys World War I service, including command of USS Shaw in 1918, in October 1922, he was the naval attaché at the American Embassy in Berlin, Germany. One year later, he was given additional duty as naval attaché at the American Embassies in Christiana, Norway, Copenhagen, Denmark and he then returned to sea duty, again in destroyers in European waters, in command of USS Dale and USS Osborne. In 1934 the chief of the Bureau of Aeronautics, Navy Admiral Ernest King, offered Halsey command of the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga, Captain Halsey elected to enroll as a cadet for the full 12-week Naval Aviator course rather than the simpler Naval Aviation Observer program. I thought it better to be able to fly the aircraft itself than to just sit back and be at the mercy of the pilot. Halsey earned his Naval Aviators Wings on May 15,1935, at the age of 52 and he went on to command the Saratoga, and later the Naval Air Station Pensacola at Pensacola, Florida. Halsey considered airpower an important part of the navy, commenting, The naval officer in the next war had better know his aviation. Captain Halsey was promoted to admiral in 1938
34.
Bob Hope
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Bob Hope KBE, KC*SG, KSS was an American comedian, vaudevillian, actor, singer, dancer, athlete, centenarian and author. With a career spanning nearly 80 years, Hope appeared in over 70 feature films and short films, in addition to hosting the Academy Awards 19 times, he appeared in many stage productions and television roles and was the author of 14 books. The song Thanks for the Memory is widely regarded as Hopes signature tune, born in Eltham, Kent, Hope arrived in America with his family at the age of four and grew up in Cleveland, Ohio. He began his career in business in the early 1920s, initially on stage. He was praised for his timing, specializing in one-liners and rapid-fire delivery of jokes. He also appeared in numerous specials for NBC television, starting in 1950, Hope participated in the sports of golf and boxing and owned a small stake in his hometown baseball team, the Cleveland Indians. He died at age 100 at his home in Toluca Lake, Hope was born in Eltham, Kent the fifth of seven sons. They married in April 1891 and lived at 12 Greenwood Street in Barry, before moving to Whitehall, Bristol, and then St George, Bristol. In 1908, the family emigrated to the United States aboard the SS Philadelphia and passed through Ellis Island on March 30,1908, before moving to Cleveland, from age 12, Hope earned pocket money by busking, singing, dancing, and performing comedy. He entered many dancing and amateur talent contests and won a prize in 1915 for his impersonation of Charlie Chaplin, for a time, he attended the Boys Industrial School in Lancaster, Ohio. As an adult, he donated sizable sums of money to the institution, Hope had a brief career as a boxer in 1919, fighting under the name Packy East. He had three wins and one loss and participated in a few staged charity bouts later in life, Hope worked as a butchers assistant and a lineman in his teens and early twenties. Hope also had a stint at Chandler Motor Car Company. Deciding on a business career, he and his girlfriend signed up for dancing lessons. Encouraged after they performed in an engagement at a club, Hope formed a partnership with Lloyd Durbin. Silent film comedian Fatty Arbuckle saw them perform in 1925 and found work with a touring troupe called Hurleys Jolly Follies. Within a year, Hope had formed an act called the Dancemedians with George Byrne, Hope and Byrne had an act as a pair of Siamese twins as well and danced and sang while wearing blackface before friends advised Hope that he was funnier as himself. In 1929, Hope informally changed his first name to Bob, in one version of the story, he named himself after racecar driver Bob Burman
35.
Omar Bradley
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After the war, Bradley headed the Veterans Administration and became Army Chief of Staff. In 1949, Bradley was appointed the first Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Bradley was the last of only nine people to hold a five-star rank in the United States Armed Forces. Bradley, the son of schoolteacher John Smith Bradley and Mary Elizabeth Hubbard, was born into poverty in rural Randolph County, near Clark, Bradley was named after Omar D. Gray, a local newspaper editor admired by his father, and a local doctor called Nelson. He was of British ancestry, his ancestors having migrated from Great Britain to Kentucky in the mid-1700s and he attended country schools where his father taught. When Omar was 15 his father, with whom he credited passing on to him a love of books, baseball and shooting and his mother moved to Moberly, Missouri and remarried. Bradley graduated from Moberly High School in 1910, an outstanding student, Bradley had been planning on saving his money to enter the University of Missouri in Columbia, where he intended to study law. He finished second in the West Point placement exams at Jefferson Barracks Military Post in St. Louis, the first-place winner was unable to accept the Congressional appointment, and so Bradley took his place. While at the academy, Bradleys devotion to sports prevented him from excelling academically and he was a baseball star, and often played on semi-pro teams for no remuneration. While stationed at West Point as an instructor, Bradley became a Freemason in 1923, becoming a member of the West Point Lodge #877, Highland Falls, Bradleys first wife, Mary Quayle, grew up across the street from him in Moberly. The pair attended Central Christian Church and Moberly High School together, Moberly called Bradley its favorite son and throughout his life Bradley called Moberly his hometown and his favorite city in the world. At West Point, Bradley played three years of varsity baseball including on the 1914 team, from every player who remained in the army ultimately became a general. He graduated from West Point in 1915 as part of a class that contained many future generals, woodruff, John French Conklin, Walter W. Hess, and Edwin A. Zundel. Bradley was commissioned as a lieutenant into the Infantry Branch of the United States Army and was first assigned to the 14th Infantry Regiment. He served on the Mexico–United States border in 1915, when the United States entered World War I, in April 1917, he was promoted to captain and sent to guard the Butte, Montana copper mines. Bradley joined the 19th Infantry Division in August 1918, which was scheduled for European deployment, but the influenza pandemic, between the wars, he taught and studied. From 1920 to 1924, he taught mathematics at West Point and he was promoted to major in 1924 and took the advanced infantry course at Fort Benning, Georgia. After brief duty in Hawaii, he studied at the U. S. Army Command and General Staff School at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas in 1928–29. Upon graduating from the U. S. Army Command and General Staff College at Leavenworth, there the assistant commandant, Lieutenant Colonel George Marshall called him quiet, unassuming, capable, with sound common sense
36.
Paul G. Hoffman
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Paul Gray Hoffman was an American automobile company executive, statesman and global development aid administrator. Hoffman was born in Western Springs, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago and he quit college at 18 to sell Studebaker cars in Los Angeles, had made his first million dollars by the age of 34, and became president of Studebaker ten years later. Hoffman and Harold Sines Vance were the two executives most responsible for rescuing Studebaker from insolvency in the 1930s, from 1935 to 1948, Hoffman served as president of Studebaker. He took a leave of absence to spend a term as director of the Economic Cooperation Administration. From 1950 to 1953, he served as the president of the Ford Foundation. Returning to Studebaker in 1953, Hoffman was chairman of the corporation during the turbulent period leading up to, when Studebaker-Packard found itself nearing insolvency in 1956, the company entered into an Eisenhower Administration-brokered management agreement with Curtiss-Wright. Hoffman, Vance and S-P president James J. Nance all left the company, from 1966 to 1972, he was the first administrator of the United Nations Development Programme when it was founded, with David Owen as his co-administrator. On June 21,1974, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Richard Nixon
37.
Dwight D. Eisenhower
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Dwight David Ike Eisenhower was an American politician and Army general who served as the 34th President of the United States from 1953 until 1961. He was a general in the United States Army during World War II. He was responsible for planning and supervising the invasion of North Africa in Operation Torch in 1942–43, in 1951, he became the first Supreme Commander of NATO. Eisenhower was of mostly Pennsylvania Dutch ancestry and was raised in a family in Kansas by parents with a strong religious background. He graduated from West Point in 1915 and later married Mamie Doud, after World War II, Eisenhower served as Army Chief of Staff under President Harry S. Truman and then accepted the post of President at Columbia University. Eisenhower entered the 1952 presidential race as a Republican to counter the non-interventionism of Senator Robert A. Taft, campaigning against communism, Korea and he won in a landslide, defeating Democratic candidate Adlai Stevenson and temporarily upending the New Deal Coalition. Eisenhower was the first U. S. president to be constitutionally term-limited under the 22nd Amendment, Eisenhowers main goals in office were to keep pressure on the Soviet Union and reduce federal deficits. He ordered coups in Iran and Guatemala, Eisenhower gave major aid to help the French in the First Indochina War, and after the French were defeated he gave strong financial support to the new state of South Vietnam. Congress agreed to his request in 1955 for the Formosa Resolution, after the Soviet Union launched Sputnik in 1957, Eisenhower authorized the establishment of NASA, which led to the space race. During the Suez Crisis of 1956, Eisenhower condemned the Israeli, British and French invasion of Egypt and he also condemned the Soviet invasion during the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 but took no action. Eisenhower sent 15,000 U. S. troops to Lebanon to prevent the government from falling to a Nasser-inspired revolution during the 1958 Lebanon crisis. Near the end of his term, his efforts to set up a meeting with the Soviets collapsed because of the U-2 incident. On the domestic front, he covertly opposed Joseph McCarthy and contributed to the end of McCarthyism by openly invoking executive privilege and he otherwise left most political activity to his Vice President, Richard Nixon. Eisenhower was a conservative who continued New Deal agencies and expanded Social Security. Eisenhowers two terms saw considerable economic prosperity except for a decline in 1958. Voted Gallups most admired man twelve times, he achieved widespread popular esteem both in and out of office, since the late 20th century, consensus among Western scholars has consistently held Eisenhower as one of the greatest U. S. Presidents. The Eisenhauer family migrated from Karlsbrunn in the Saarland, to North America, first settling in York, Pennsylvania, in 1741, accounts vary as to how and when the German name Eisenhauer was anglicized to Eisenhower. Eisenhowers Pennsylvania Dutch ancestors, who were farmers, included Hans Nikolaus Eisenhauer of Karlsbrunn
38.
Carl L. Sitter
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Carl Leonard Sitter was a highly decorated United States Marine Corps officer and Korean War Medal of Honor recipient. He was born in Syracuse, Missouri, but grew up in Pueblo, upon graduating from Pueblos Central High School, he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps on June 22,1940. He served for eight months in Iceland, then was ordered to the Pacific area and he was serving as a corporal in the Wallis Islands when, on December 12,1942, he was given a field commission as a Second Lieutenant in the Marine Corps Reserve. He later received a regular commission, Sitter saw combat on Eniwetok in the Marshall Islands, and Guam in the Marianas. He was first wounded on February 20,1944 on Eniwetok and he was wounded again the following July on Guam, during the action in which he earned the Silver Star. Captain Sitter was awarded the Medal of Honor for leadership during a battle at Hagaru-ri. He is one of four Medal of Honor recipients from Pueblo, Colorado, the others being William J. Crawford, Drew Dennis Dix and he retired from active duty on June 30,1970, after reaching the rank of colonel in the Marine Corps. The President of the United States takes pride in presenting the MEDAL OF HONOR to CAPTAIN CARL L and his valiant leadership, superb tactics and great personal valor throughout thirty-six hours of bitter combat reflect the highest credit upon Captain Sitter, and the United States Naval Service. /S/ HARRY S. Sitter was also a member of Oasis of Mara Masonic Lodge No 735 in Twentynine Palms and he is one of four soldiers depicted in a sculpture at the Pueblo Medal of Honor Memorial. After 30 years in the Marine Corps, Sitter went to work for the Virginia Department of Social Services and he retired in 1985 at age 63. In 1998, at age 75, Sitter returned to college, Sitter died in Richmond, Virginia, and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia. List of Medal of Honor recipients This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the United States Marine Corps, whos Who in Marine Corps History. United States Marine Corps History Division, past Grand Marshals of the Tournament of Roses. Carl L. Sitter, A Profile in Courage
39.
Lewis Millett
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Lewis Lee Millett Sr. was a United States Army officer who received the Medal of Honor during the Korean War for leading the last major American bayonet charge. He enlisted into the National Guard while still in high school, when he thought that the United States would not participate in World War II he deserted and went to Canada with a friend where they joined the military and were sent to London. The U. S. did enter the war and by the time he made it to Europe they were in the fight so he transferred to the U. S. Army. While serving with the Army in World War II, he received a Silver Star for driving an ammunition truck away from a group of soldiers. During the Korean War, he was awarded the United States militarys highest decoration, the citation explains that he led a bayonet charge against the enemy. He later served in the Vietnam War as well and he retired from the Army in 1973 and died of congestive heart failure in 2009. Millett was born on December 15,1920, in Mechanic Falls and he grew up in South Dartmouth, Massachusetts, having moved there with his mother after his parents divorced and his mother remarried. His grandfather had served in the American Civil War and an uncle fought in World War I with the 101st Field Artillery Regiment of the Massachusetts Army National Guard. While still attending school in Dartmouth, he enlisted in the Massachusetts National Guard in 1938 and joined his uncles old regiment. In 1940, he joined the United States Army Air Corps, when it appeared that the U. S. would not enter World War II, Millett, eager to fight, deserted in mid-1941. With a friend who had received a bad conduct discharge from the U. S. Marine Corps, Millett hitchhiked to Canada and enlisted in the Canadian Army. Assigned to the Royal Regiment of Canadian Artillery, he was sent to the United Kingdom, by the time he arrived in the United Kingdom, the U. S. had entered the war, Millett transferred to the U. S. Army in 1942. Assigned to the 27th Armored Field Artillery Regiment, 1st Armored Division, during an engagement there, he drove a burning ammunition-filled half-track away from Allied soldiers, jumping to safety just before it exploded. For this action, he was awarded the U. S. militarys third-highest decoration and he later shot down a Messerschmitt Me-109 fighter plane using half-track mounted machine guns. Millett, by then a sergeant, next part in the Allied invasion of Italy at Salerno. It was at time that the U. S. Army discovered Millets 1941 desertion, he was court-martialed, convicted, ordered to pay a US$52 fine. Only weeks later, he was given a commission to second lieutenant. After World War II, Millett attended Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, by February 7,1951, Millett was serving in Korea as a captain and commander of Company E of the 2nd Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment
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Stanley T. Adams
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Stanley Stan Taylor Adams was a United States Army officer who received the U. S. militarys highest decoration, the Medal of Honor, for his actions in the Korean War. A native of Kansas, Adams fought in World War II as an enlisted soldier. He was sent to Korea as a sergeant soon after the outbreak of war there, commissioned as an officer shortly after receiving the medal, Adams continued to serve into the Vietnam War, eventually retiring as a lieutenant colonel. Born in De Soto, Kansas, on May 9,1922, during World War II, he was wounded in action while fighting in North Africa and Italy. After World War II, he served in Japan as part of the Allied occupation force. In July 1950, shortly after the onset of the Korean War, he was sent to South Korea as a sergeant first class with Company A of the 1st Battalion, 19th Infantry Regiment, 24th Division. In late January 1951, the Eighth Army, of which Adams unit was a part, Company A established a position south of Seoul near Sesim-ni on February 3, and Adams platoon set up an outpost on a ridge 200 yards forward of the rest of the company. At about 11,00 that night, enemy troops assaulted and pushed back the companies to either side of Company A, two hours later, in the early morning of February 4, Adams forward platoon was attacked by about 250 soldiers. After 45 minutes under intense machine gun and mortar fire, the platoon withdrew to the company position. Seeing that the force could only be routed by close quarters fighting. He continued to fight in combat for nearly an hour, despite being shot in the leg and knocked off his feet four times by grenades. When orders came for his battalion to withdraw, he stayed behind to provide covering fire, Adams was subsequently promoted to master sergeant and awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions during the battle. The medal was presented to him by President Harry S. Truman in a July 5,1951. Shortly after receiving the Medal of Honor, Adams was commissioned as a second lieutenant and he retired in 1970 as a lieutenant colonel. With his first wife Wava Adams he had a son, Gary, after their divorce he married Jean Adams and had a daughter, as a civilian, Adams lived in Alaska and worked as an administrator for the Internal Revenue Service there. He later moved to Bend, Oregon, and, after being diagnosed with Alzheimers disease and he died in the veterans home on April 19,1999, aged 76, and was buried at Willamette National Cemetery in Clackamas County. Adams wife, Jean, donated his Medal of Honor to the Oregon Veterans Home, upon her death in 2008, she left a substantial contribution of funds and memorabilia to the home. A multipurpose building, to be named the Stan & Jean Adams Veterans Community Center, is currently under construction at the facility, Adams, Company A, distinguished himself by conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty in action against an enemy
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Thomas J. Hudner Jr.
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Thomas Jerome Hudner Jr. is a retired officer of the United States Navy and a former naval aviator. Born in Fall River, Massachusetts, Hudner attended Phillips Academy, initially uninterested in aviation, he eventually took up flying and joined Fighter Squadron 32, flying the F4U Corsair at the outbreak of the Korean War. Arriving near Korea in October 1950, he flew missions from the USS Leyte. On 4 December 1950, Hudner and Brown were among a group of pilots on patrol near the Chosin Reservoir when Browns Corsair was struck by fire from Chinese troops. In an attempt to save Brown from his aircraft, Hudner intentionally crash-landed his own aircraft on a snowy mountain in freezing temperatures to help Brown. In spite of efforts, Brown died of his injuries and Hudner was forced to evacuate. In subsequent years, he has worked for veterans organizations in the United States. He is currently living in retirement in Concord, Massachusetts, the Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS Thomas Hudner will be named for him. Hudner was born 31 August 1924 in Fall River, Massachusetts and his father, Thomas Hudner Sr. was a businessman of Irish descent who ran a chain of grocery stores, Hudners Markets. Three brothers were born, named James, Richard. Hudner entered the prestigious Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, in 1939 and his family had a long history in the academy, with his father graduating in 1911 and his uncle, Harold Hudner, graduating in 1921. Eventually the three younger Hudner children would attend the academy as well, James in 1944, Richard in 1946 and Phillip in 1954. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor and the United States entry into World War II, one of 10 from Phillips to be accepted into the academy from his class, he entered the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, in 1943 and graduated in 1946. By the time he was commissioned, however, World War II had ended, Hudner attended the Naval Academy with a number of other notable classmates, including James B. Stockdale, Jimmy Carter, and Stansfield Turner and he played football at the academy, eventually becoming a starting running back for the junior varsity team. After graduation, Hudner served as an officer aboard several surface ships. During his initial years in the military, Hudner said he had no interest in aircraft, by 1948, Hudner became interested in aviation, and applied to flight school, seeing it as a new challenge. After a brief posting in Lebanon, Hudner was assigned to VF-32 aboard the USS Leyte and he later said he enjoyed this assignment, as he considered the Corsair to be safe and comfortable
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Raymond Harvey
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Raymond Harvey was a lieutenant colonel in the United States Army who served during World War II and the Korean War. He received the Medal of Honor for his actions on March 9,1951, raymond Harvey was born in Ford City, Pennsylvania and grew up in Sulphur, Oklahoma. Through his mother, Harvey was one-half Chickasaw Indian and he enlisted in the United States Army on August 16,1939. Harvey was decorated for valor several times, earning the Distinguished Service Cross, after World War II ended, Harvey entered the Armys Organized Reserve, and returned to active duty in 1948. He was serving with the 7th Infantry Division in 1950 when the Korean War began, shortly after the landing, and before the Chinese counterattack in November 1950, Harvey took command of the divisions Company C, 17th Infantry Regiment. Harvey was in command of the company the following March, when it led the attack of 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment on Hill 1232 near Taemi-Dong, where Harvey would earn the Medal of Honor. Wounded in the battle, Harvey was presented a third Silver Star while in the aid station, on July 5,1951, Harvey was presented the Medal of Honor by President Harry S Truman at a White House ceremony. Rank and organization, Captain, U. S. Army, Company C, 17th Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division Place and date, Vicinity of Taemi-Dong, Korea, March 9,1951 Entered service at, Pasadena, Calif. Born, March 1,1920 Ford City, Pennsylvania G. O,67, August 2,1951 Citation, Capt. Harvey Company C, distinguished himself by conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty in action. Rushing to the edge of the emplacement, he killed its crew with carbine fire. He then moved the 1st Platoon forward until it was halted by a curtain of automatic fire from well fortified hostile positions. Disregarding the hail of fire, he charged and neutralized a third emplacement. Miraculously escaping death from intense crossfire, Capt. Harvey continued to lead the assault, spotting an enemy pillbox well camouflaged by logs, he moved close enough to sweep the emplacement with carbine fire and throw grenades through the openings, annihilating its 5 occupants. Capt. Harveys valorous and intrepid actions served as an inspiration to his company, reflecting the utmost glory upon himself, Harvey was assigned by the U. S. Army to be military technical adviser to Samuel Fuller for his Korean War film Fixed Bayonets. Harvey remained in the Army after the Korean War and rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel before retiring in 1962. After retirement, he was employed by the Northrup Corporation, then worked as an investment banker and he retired fully after a stroke in 1981. He died in 1996 at the age of 76 and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington County, Medal of Honor recipients, Korean War. United States Army Center of Military History, short bio of Harvey in the factsheet on The Army Reserve in the Korean War
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Ernest R. Kouma
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Ernest Richard Kouma was a soldier in the United States Army during World War II and the Korean War. He rose to the rank of Master Sergeant and received the Medal of Honor for his actions on August 31 and September 1,1950, born in Nebraska, Kouma grew up on a family farm before enlisting in the US Army in 1940. Kouma served as a commander during World War II, seeing combat in Germany with the 9th Armored Division from 1944 to 1945. After that war, Kouma served as part of the force in South Korea. On the outbreak of the Korean War, Kouma commanded an M26 Pershing tank in the 2nd Infantry Division, wounded twice, Kouma killed 250 North Korean troops in this action. After receiving the medal, Kouma served as a recruiter and remained in the Army for 31 years and he lived in Kentucky until his death, and is buried in Fort Knox, Kentucky. Ernest Richard Kouma was born on November 23,1919, in Dwight, Nebraska and he spent much of his early life on the family farm before enlisting in the United States Army in June 1940. When the United States entered World War II, Kouma was trained as a crew member. He was assigned to the 9th Armored Division, the Division landed in Normandy late in September 1944, and moved to the front lines on October 23. Its first mission was patrol duty in a sector along the Luxembourg-German frontier. When the Germans launched their offensive, the 9th Armored Division was quickly involved in the Battle of the Bulge with next to no experience. The Division saw very heavy action at St. Vith, Echternach and Bastogne, its units, unprepared to counter the offensive, fighting in widely separated areas. The 9th Armored Division made a stand at Bastogne and held off the Germans long enough to enable the 101st Airborne Division to dig in for a defense of the city, resulting in the Battle of Bastogne. After a rest period in January 1945, the 9th Armored Division made preparations for a drive across the Roer River, the offensive was launched on February 28, and the 9th smashed across the Roer to Rheinbach, sending patrols into Remagen. The Ludendorff Bridge at Remagen was found intact, and was seized by elements of the 9th Armored Division minutes before demolition charges were set to explode on March 7,1945. The division exploited the bridgehead, moving south and east across the Lahn River toward Limburg, the Division drove on to Frankfurt and then turned to assist in the closing of the Ruhr Pocket. In April it continued east, encircled Leipzig and secured a line along the Mulde River, the division was shifting south to Czechoslovakia when the war in Europe ended on V-E Day in May 1945. Following the end of the war, Kouma decided to stay in the Army and he was moved to South Korea for occupation duties before being moved to Japan for the post-war occupation of that country
44.
Richard Nixon
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Richard Milhous Nixon was an American politician who served as the 37th President of the United States from 1969 until 1974, when he became the only U. S. president to resign from office. He had previously served as a U. S, Representative and Senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under the presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower. Nixon was born in Yorba Linda, California, after completing his undergraduate studies at Whittier College, he graduated from Duke University School of Law in 1937 and returned to California to practice law. He and his wife Pat moved to Washington in 1942 to work for the federal government and he subsequently served on active duty in the U. S. Navy Reserve during World War II. Nixon was elected to the House of Representatives in 1946 and to the Senate in 1950 and his pursuit of the Hiss Case established his reputation as a leading anti-communist, and elevated him to national prominence. He was the mate of Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Republican Party presidential nominee in the 1952 election. Nixon served for eight years as vice president and he waged an unsuccessful presidential campaign in 1960, narrowly losing to John F. Kennedy, and lost a race for Governor of California to Pat Brown in 1962. In 1968, he ran for the presidency again and was elected by defeating incumbent Vice President Hubert Humphrey, Nixon ended American involvement in the war in Vietnam in 1973 and brought the American POWs home, and ended the military draft. His administration generally transferred power from Washington D. C. to the states and he imposed wage and price controls for a period of ninety days, enforced desegregation of Southern schools and established the Environmental Protection Agency. Nixon also presided over the Apollo 11 moon landing, which signaled the end of the moon race and he was reelected in one of the largest electoral landslides in U. S. history in 1972, when he defeated George McGovern. The year 1973 saw an Arab oil embargo, gasoline rationing, the scandal escalated, costing Nixon much of his political support, and on August 9,1974, he resigned in the face of almost certain impeachment and removal from office. After his resignation, he was issued a pardon by his successor, in retirement, Nixons work writing several books and undertaking of many foreign trips helped to rehabilitate his image. He suffered a stroke on April 18,1994. Richard Milhous Nixon was born on January 9,1913 in Yorba Linda, California and his parents were Hannah Nixon and Francis A. Nixon. His mother was a Quaker and his father converted from Methodism to the Quaker faith, Nixons upbringing was marked by evangelical Quaker observances of the time, such as refraining from alcohol, dancing, and swearing. Nixon had four brothers, Harold, Donald, Arthur, four of the five Nixon boys were named after kings who had ruled in historical or legendary England, Richard, for example, was named after Richard the Lionheart. Nixons early life was marked by hardship, and he quoted a saying of Eisenhower to describe his boyhood, We were poor. The Nixon family ranch failed in 1922, and the moved to Whittier
