1.
Ronald Reagan
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Ronald Wilson Reagan was an American politician and actor who was the 40th President of the United States, from 1981 to 1989. Before his presidency, he was the 33rd Governor of California, from 1967 to 1975, after a career as a Hollywood actor and union leader. Raised in a family in small towns of northern Illinois, Reagan graduated from Eureka College in 1932. After moving to Hollywood in 1937, he became an actor, Reagan was twice elected President of the Screen Actors Guild, the labor union for actors, where he worked to root out Communist influence. In the 1950s, he moved into television and was a speaker at General Electric factories. Having been a lifelong Democrat, his views changed and he became a conservative and in 1962 switched to the Republican Party. In 1964, Reagans speech, A Time for Choosing, in support of Barry Goldwaters foundering presidential campaign, Building a network of supporters, he was elected Governor of California in 1966. Entering the presidency in 1981, Reagan implemented sweeping new political, in his first term he survived an assassination attempt, spurred the War on Drugs, and fought public sector labor. During his re-election bid, Reagan campaigned on the notion that it was Morning in America, foreign affairs dominated his second term, including ending of the Cold War, the bombing of Libya, and the Iran–Contra affair. Publicly describing the Soviet Union as an empire, and during his famous speech at the Brandenburg Gate. Jack, a salesman and storyteller, was the grandson of Irish Catholic immigrants from County Tipperary, Reagan had one older brother, John Neil Reagan, who became an advertising executive. As a boy, Reagans father nicknamed his son Dutch, due to his fat little Dutchman-like appearance and Dutchboy haircut, Reagans family briefly lived in several towns and cities in Illinois, including Monmouth, Galesburg, and Chicago. In 1919, they returned to Tampico and lived above the H. C, Pitney Variety Store until finally settling in Dixon. After his election as president, residing in the upstairs White House private quarters, for the time, Reagan was unusual in his opposition to racial discrimination, and recalled a time in Dixon when the local inn would not allow black people to stay there. Reagan brought them back to his house, where his mother invited them to stay the night and have breakfast the next morning, after the closure of the Pitney Store in late 1920 and the familys move to Dixon, the midwestern small universe had a lasting impression on Reagan. Reagan attended Dixon High School, where he developed interests in acting, sports and his first job was as a lifeguard at the Rock River in Lowell Park in 1927. Over a six-year period, Reagan reportedly performed 77 rescues as a lifeguard and he attended Eureka College, a Disciples-oriented liberal arts school, where he became a member of the Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity, a cheerleader, and studied economics and sociology. While involved, the Miller Center of Public Affairs described him as an indifferent student and he majored in economics and sociology, and graduated with a C grade
2.
Pittsburgh
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Pittsburgh is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in the United States, and is the county seat of Allegheny County. The city proper has a population of 304,391. The metropolitan population of 2,353,045 is the largest in both the Ohio Valley and Appalachia, the second-largest in Pennsylvania, and the 26th-largest in the U. S. The city features 30 skyscrapers, two inclines, a fortification and the Point State Park at the confluence of the rivers. Aside from steel, Pittsburgh has led in manufacturing of aluminum, glass, shipbuilding, petroleum, foods, sports, transportation, computing, autos, and electronics. For part of the 20th century, Pittsburgh was behind only New York and Chicago in corporate headquarters employment, Americas 1980s deindustrialization laid off area blue-collar workers and thousands of downtown white-collar workers when the longtime Pittsburgh-based world headquarters moved out. The area has served also as the federal agency headquarters for cyber defense, software engineering, robotics, energy research. The area is home to 68 colleges and universities, including research and development leaders Carnegie Mellon University, the region is a hub for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, sustainable energy, and energy extraction. Pittsburgh was named in 1758 by General John Forbes, in honor of British statesman William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham. The current pronunciation, which is unusual in English speaking countries, is almost certainly a result of a printing error in some copies of the City Charter of March 18,1816. The error was repeated commonly enough throughout the rest of the 19th century that the pronunciation was lost. After a public campaign the original spelling was restored by the United States Board on Geographic Names in 1911. The area of the Ohio headwaters was long inhabited by the Shawnee, the first known European to enter the region was the French explorer/trader Robert de La Salle from Quebec during his 1669 expedition down the Ohio River. European pioneers, primarily Dutch, followed in the early 18th century, Michael Bezallion was the first to describe the forks of the Ohio in a 1717 manuscript, and later that year European fur traders established area posts and settlements. In 1749, French soldiers from Quebec launched an expedition to the forks to unite Canada with French Louisiana via the rivers, during 1753–54, the British hastily built Fort Prince George before a larger French force drove them off. The French built Fort Duquesne based on LaSalles 1669 claims, the French and Indian War, the North American front of the Seven Years War, began with the future Pittsburgh as its center. British General Edward Braddock was dispatched with Major George Washington as his aide to take Fort Duquesne, the British and colonial force were defeated at Braddocks Field. General John Forbes finally took the forks in 1758, Forbes began construction on Fort Pitt, named after William Pitt the Elder while the settlement was named Pittsborough
3.
United States Naval Academy
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The United States Naval Academy is a four-year coeducational federal service academy in Annapolis, Maryland, United States. The entire campus is a National Historic Landmark and home to historic sites, buildings. It replaced Philadelphia Naval Asylum, in Philadelphia, that served as the first United States Naval Academy from 1838 to 1845 when the Naval Academy formed in Annapolis. Candidates for admission generally must both apply directly to the academy and receive a nomination, usually from a Member of Congress, students are officers-in-training and are referred to as midshipmen. Tuition for midshipmen is fully funded by the Navy in exchange for an active duty service obligation upon graduation, approximately 1,200 plebes enter the Academy each summer for the rigorous Plebe Summer, but only about 1,000 midshipmen graduate. The United States Naval Academy has some of the highest paid graduates in the according to starting salary. Midshipmen are required to adhere to the academys Honor Concept, the United States Naval Academys campus is located in Annapolis, Maryland, at the confluence of the Severn River and the Chesapeake Bay. In its 2016 edition, U. S. News & World Report ranked the U. S. Naval Academy as the No.1 public liberal arts college and tied for the 9th best overall liberal arts college in the U. S. In the category of High School Counselor Rankings of National Liberal Arts Colleges, Military Academy and the U. S. Air Force Academy, and is tied for the No.5 spot for Best Undergraduate Engineering program at schools where doctorates not offered. In 2016, Forbes ranked the U. S. Naval Academy as No.24 overall in its report Americas Top Colleges, nominations may be made by members of and delegates to Congress, the President or Vice-President, the Secretary of the Navy or certain other sources. Candidates must also pass a fitness test and a thorough medical exam as part of the application process. In the 21st century, there have been about 1,200 students in each new class of plebes, the U. S. government pays for tuition, room, and board. Midshipmen receive monthly pay of $1,017.00, as of 2015, from this amount, pay is automatically deducted for the cost of uniforms, books, supplies, services, and other miscellaneous expenses. Midshipmen only receive a portion of their pay in cash while the rest is released during firstie year. Midshipmen fourth-class to midshipmen second-class receive monthly stipends of $100, $200, $300, Midshipmen first-class receive the difference between pay and outstanding expenses. Students at the academy are addressed as Midshipman, an official military rank. The same term comprises both males and females, upon graduation, most naval academy midshipmen are commissioned as ensigns in the Navy or second lieutenants in the Marine Corps and serve a minimum of five years after their commissioning. If they are selected to serve as a pilot, they will serve 8–11 years minimum from their date of winging, Foreign midshipmen are commissioned into the armed forces of their native countries
4.
Harvard University
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Although never formally affiliated with any denomination, the early College primarily trained Congregationalist and Unitarian clergy. Its curriculum and student body were gradually secularized during the 18th century, james Bryant Conant led the university through the Great Depression and World War II and began to reform the curriculum and liberalize admissions after the war. The undergraduate college became coeducational after its 1977 merger with Radcliffe College, Harvards $34.5 billion financial endowment is the largest of any academic institution. Harvard is a large, highly residential research university, the nominal cost of attendance is high, but the Universitys large endowment allows it to offer generous financial aid packages. Harvards alumni include eight U. S. presidents, several heads of state,62 living billionaires,359 Rhodes Scholars. To date, some 130 Nobel laureates,18 Fields Medalists, Harvard was formed in 1636 by vote of the Great and General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. In 1638, it obtained British North Americas first known printing press, in 1639 it was named Harvard College after deceased clergyman John Harvard an alumnus of the University of Cambridge who had left the school £779 and his scholars library of some 400 volumes. The charter creating the Harvard Corporation was granted in 1650 and it offered a classic curriculum on the English university model—many leaders in the colony had attended the University of Cambridge—but conformed to the tenets of Puritanism. It was never affiliated with any denomination, but many of its earliest graduates went on to become clergymen in Congregational. The leading Boston divine Increase Mather served as president from 1685 to 1701, in 1708, John Leverett became the first president who was not also a clergyman, which marked a turning of the college toward intellectual independence from Puritanism. When the Hollis Professor of Divinity David Tappan died in 1803 and the president of Harvard Joseph Willard died a year later, in 1804, in 1846, the natural history lectures of Louis Agassiz were acclaimed both in New York and on the campus at Harvard College. Agassizs approach was distinctly idealist and posited Americans participation in the Divine Nature, agassizs perspective on science combined observation with intuition and the assumption that a person can grasp the divine plan in all phenomena. When it came to explaining life-forms, Agassiz resorted to matters of shape based on an archetype for his evidence. Charles W. Eliot, president 1869–1909, eliminated the position of Christianity from the curriculum while opening it to student self-direction. While Eliot was the most crucial figure in the secularization of American higher education, he was motivated not by a desire to secularize education, during the 20th century, Harvards international reputation grew as a burgeoning endowment and prominent professors expanded the universitys scope. Rapid enrollment growth continued as new schools were begun and the undergraduate College expanded. Radcliffe College, established in 1879 as sister school of Harvard College, Harvard became a founding member of the Association of American Universities in 1900. In the early 20th century, the student body was predominately old-stock, high-status Protestants, especially Episcopalians, Congregationalists, by the 1970s it was much more diversified
5.
NASA
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President Dwight D. Eisenhower established NASA in 1958 with a distinctly civilian orientation encouraging peaceful applications in space science. The National Aeronautics and Space Act was passed on July 29,1958, disestablishing NASAs predecessor, the new agency became operational on October 1,1958. Since that time, most US space exploration efforts have led by NASA, including the Apollo Moon landing missions, the Skylab space station. Currently, NASA is supporting the International Space Station and is overseeing the development of the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle, the agency is also responsible for the Launch Services Program which provides oversight of launch operations and countdown management for unmanned NASA launches. NASA shares data with various national and international such as from the Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite. Since 2011, NASA has been criticized for low cost efficiency, from 1946, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics had been experimenting with rocket planes such as the supersonic Bell X-1. In the early 1950s, there was challenge to launch a satellite for the International Geophysical Year. An effort for this was the American Project Vanguard, after the Soviet launch of the worlds first artificial satellite on October 4,1957, the attention of the United States turned toward its own fledgling space efforts. This led to an agreement that a new federal agency based on NACA was needed to conduct all non-military activity in space. The Advanced Research Projects Agency was created in February 1958 to develop technology for military application. On July 29,1958, Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act, a NASA seal was approved by President Eisenhower in 1959. Elements of the Army Ballistic Missile Agency and the United States Naval Research Laboratory were incorporated into NASA, earlier research efforts within the US Air Force and many of ARPAs early space programs were also transferred to NASA. In December 1958, NASA gained control of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA has conducted many manned and unmanned spaceflight programs throughout its history. Some missions include both manned and unmanned aspects, such as the Galileo probe, which was deployed by astronauts in Earth orbit before being sent unmanned to Jupiter, the experimental rocket-powered aircraft programs started by NACA were extended by NASA as support for manned spaceflight. This was followed by a space capsule program, and in turn by a two-man capsule program. This goal was met in 1969 by the Apollo program, however, reduction of the perceived threat and changing political priorities almost immediately caused the termination of most of these plans. NASA turned its attention to an Apollo-derived temporary space laboratory, to date, NASA has launched a total of 166 manned space missions on rockets, and thirteen X-15 rocket flights above the USAF definition of spaceflight altitude,260,000 feet. The X-15 was an NACA experimental rocket-powered hypersonic research aircraft, developed in conjunction with the US Air Force, the design featured a slender fuselage with fairings along the side containing fuel and early computerized control systems
6.
General Dynamics
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General Dynamics Corporation is an American aerospace and defense multinational corporation. Formed by mergers and divestitures, it is the worlds fifth-largest defense contractor based on 2012 revenues, General Dynamics is headquartered in West Falls Church, Fairfax County, Virginia. The company has changed markedly in the post–Cold War era of defense consolidation and it has four main business segments, Marine Systems, Combat Systems, Information Systems Technology, and Aerospace. General Dynamics former Fort Worth Division manufactured one of the Western worlds most-produced jet fighters, the F-16 Fighting Falcon—until 1993, in 1999, the company re-entered the airframe business with its purchase of Gulfstream Aerospace. General Dynamics traces its ancestry to John Philip Hollands Holland Torpedo Boat Company and this company was responsible for developing the U. S. Navys first submarines built at Lewis Nixons Crescent Shipyard, located in Elizabethport, New Jersey. The revolutionary submarine boat Holland VI was built there, its keel being laid down in 1896, crescents superintendent and naval architect, Arthur Leopold Busch, supervised the construction of this submarine. After being launched on 17 May 1897, it was purchased by the Navy. The Holland was officially commissioned on 12 October 1900 and became the United States Navys first submarine, the Navy placed an order for more submarines, which were developed in rapid succession and were assembled at two different locations on both coasts. These submarines were known as the A-Class or Adder Class, Holland effectively lost control of the company and found himself earning a salary of $90 a week as chief engineer, while the company that he founded was selling submarines for $300,000 each. Holland resigned from the company effective April 1904, rice became Electric Boats first President, remaining there from that time until 1915 when he stepped down just prior to his death on 2 November 1915. Electric Boat gained a reputation for unscrupulous arms dealing in 1904-05, when it sold submarines to Japans Imperial Japanese Navy and Russias Imperial Russian Navy, who were then at war. Holland submarines were sold to the British Royal Navy through the English armaments company Vickers. The new pioneering craft originally developed by the company was now legitimized as genuine naval weapons by the worlds most powerful navies. In the post-World War II wind-down, Electric Boat was cash-flush but lacking in work, hoping to diversify, president and chief executive officer John Jay Hopkins started looking for companies that would fit into Electric Boats market. Hopkins quickly found that Canadair, owned by the Canadian government, was suffering from similar post-war malaise and was up for sale, Hopkins bought the company for $10 million in 1946. Even by the Canadian governments calculations, the factory alone was more than $22 million. When Electric Boat purchased Canadair, its line and inventory systems were in disorder. Hopkins hired Canadian-born mass-production specialist H. Oliver West to take over the presidents role, as defense spending increased with the onset of the Cold War, Canadair went on to win many Canadian military contracts for the Royal Canadian Air Force, and became a major aerospace company
7.
St. Louis
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St. Louis is an independent city and major U. S. port in the state of Missouri, built along the western bank of the Mississippi River, on the border with Illinois. Prior to European settlement, the area was a regional center of Native American Mississippian culture. The city of St. Louis was founded in 1764 by French fur traders Pierre Laclède and Auguste Chouteau, in 1764, following Frances defeat in the Seven Years War, the area was ceded to Spain and retroceded back to France in 1800. In 1803, the United States acquired the territory as part of the Louisiana Purchase, during the 19th century, St. Louis developed as a major port on the Mississippi River. In the 1870 Census, St. Louis was ranked as the 4th-largest city in the United States and it separated from St. Louis County in 1877, becoming an independent city and limiting its own political boundaries. In 1904, it hosted the Louisiana Purchase Exposition and the Summer Olympics, the economy of metro St. Louis relies on service, manufacturing, trade, transportation of goods, and tourism. This city has become known for its growing medical, pharmaceutical. St. Louis has 2 professional sports teams, the St. Louis Cardinals of Major League Baseball, the city is commonly identified with the 630-foot tall Gateway Arch in Downtown St. Louis. The area that would become St. Louis was a center of the Native American Mississippian culture and their major regional center was at Cahokia Mounds, active from 900 AD to 1500 AD. Due to numerous major earthworks within St. Louis boundaries, the city was nicknamed as the Mound City and these mounds were mostly demolished during the citys development. Historic Native American tribes in the area included the Siouan-speaking Osage people, whose territory extended west, European exploration of the area was first recorded in 1673, when French explorers Louis Jolliet and Jacques Marquette traveled through the Mississippi River valley. Five years later, La Salle claimed the region for France as part of La Louisiane. The earliest European settlements in the area were built in Illinois Country on the east side of the Mississippi River during the 1690s and early 1700s at Cahokia, Kaskaskia, migrants from the French villages on the opposite side of the Mississippi River founded Ste. In early 1764, after France lost the 7 Years War, Pierre Laclède, the early French families built the citys economy on the fur trade with the Osage, as well as with more distant tribes along the Missouri River. The Chouteau brothers gained a monopoly from Spain on the fur trade with Santa Fe, French colonists used African slaves as domestic servants and workers in the city. In 1780 during the American Revolutionary War, St. Louis was attacked by British forces, mostly Native American allies, the founding of St. Louis began in 1763. Pierre Laclede led an expedition to set up a fur-trading post farther up the Mississippi River, before then, Laclede had been a very successful merchant. For this reason, he and his trading partner Gilbert Antoine de St. Maxent were offered monopolies for six years of the fur trading in that area
8.
Westinghouse Electric Corporation
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The Westinghouse Electric Corporation was an American manufacturing company. It was founded on January 8,1886, as Westinghouse Electric Company and later renamed Westinghouse Electric Corporation by inventor, George Westinghouse had previously founded the Westinghouse Air Brake Company. The corporation purchased CBS broadcasting company in 1995 and became CBS Corporation in 1997, Westinghouse Electric was founded by George Westinghouse in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1886. The firm became active in developing electric infrastructure throughout the United States, in addition to George Westinghouse, early engineers working for the company included Frank Conrad, Benjamin Garver Lamme, Oliver B. Shallenberger, William Stanley, Nikola Tesla, Stephen Timoshenko and Vladimir Zworykin, early on Westinghouse was a rival to Thomas Edisons electric company. In 1892 Edison was merged with Westinghouses chief AC rival, the Thomson-Houston Electric Company, making even bigger competitor, Westinghouse changed its name to Westinghouse Electric Corporation in 1945. Westinghouse purchased CBS in 1995 and became CBS Corporation in 1997, in 1998, CBS established a brand licensing subsidiary Westinghouse Licensing Corporation. In 1997/1998 the Power Generation Business Unit, headquartered in Orlando, FL, was sold to Siemens AG, a year later, CBS sold all of its nuclear power businesses to British Nuclear Fuels Limited. Soon after, BNFL gained license rights on the Westinghouse trademarks and that company was sold to Toshiba in 2007. The first commercial Westinghouse steam turbine generator, a 1,500 kW unit. The machine, nicknamed Mary-Ann, was the first steam turbine generator to be installed by a utility to generate electricity in the US. George Westinghouse had based his original steam turbine design on designs licensed from the English inventor Charles Parsons. or were built overseas under Westinghouse license. Major Westinghouse licensees or joint venture partners included Mitsubishi Heavy Industries of Japan and Harbin Turbine Co. Westinghouse boasted 50,000 employees by 1900, and established a formal research and development department in 1906. While the company was expanding, it would experience internal financial difficulties, during the Panic of 1907, the Board of Directors forced George Westinghouse to take a six-month leave of absence. Westinghouse officially retired in 1909 and died years later in 1914. Under new leadership, Westinghouse Electric diversified its business activities in electrical technology and it acquired the Copeman Electric Stove Company in 1914 and Pittsburgh High Voltage Insulator Company in 1921. Westinghouse also moved into broadcasting by establishing Pittsburghs KDKA, the first commercial radio station. Westinghouse expanded into the business, establishing the Westinghouse Elevator Company in 1928
9.
United States Department of Defense
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The Department is the largest employer in the world, with nearly 1.3 million active duty servicemen and women as of 2016. Adding to its employees are over 801,000 National Guardsmen and Reservists from the four services and it is headquartered at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, just outside of Washington, D. C. The Department of Defense is headed by the Secretary of Defense, Military operations are managed by nine regional or functional Unified Combatant Commands. The Department of Defense also operates several joint services schools, including the National Defense University, the history of the defense of the United States started with the Continental Congress in 1775. The creation of the United States Army was enacted on 14 June 1775 and this coincides with the American holiday Flag Day. The Second Continental Congress would charter the United States Navy, on 13 October 1775, today, both the Navy and the Marine Corps are separate military services subordinate to the Department of the Navy. The Preamble of the United States Constitution gave the authority to federal government, to defend its citizens and this first Congress had a huge agenda, that of creating legislation to build a government for the ages. Legislation to create a military defense force stagnated, two separate times, President George Washington went to Congress to remind them of their duty to establish a military. In a special message to Congress on 19 December 1945, the President cited both wasteful military spending and inter-departmental conflicts, deliberations in Congress went on for months focusing heavily on the role of the military in society and the threat of granting too much military power to the executive. The act placed the National Military Establishment under the control of a single Secretary of Defense, the National Military Establishment formally began operations on 18 September, the day after the Senate confirmed James V. Forrestal as the first Secretary of Defense. The National Military Establishment was renamed the Department of Defense on 10 August 1949, under the Department of Defense Reorganization Act of 1958, channels of authority within the department were streamlined, while still maintaining the authority of the Military Departments. Also provided in this legislation was a centralized authority, the Advanced Research Projects Agency. The Act moved decision-making authority from the Military Departments to the Joint Chiefs of Staff and it also strengthened the command channel of the military over U. S. forces from the President to the Secretary of Defense. Written and promoted by the Eisenhower administration, it was signed into law 6 August 1958, because the Constitution vests all military authority in Congress and the President, the statutory authority of the Secretary of Defense is derived from their constitutional authorities. Department of Defense Directive 5100.01 describes the relationships within the Department. The latest version, signed by former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates in December 2010, is the first major re-write since 1987, the Office of the Secretary of Defense is the Secretary and Deputy Secretarys civilian staff. S. Government departments and agencies, foreign governments, and international organizations, OSD also performs oversight and management of the Defense Agencies and Department of Defense Field Activities. OSD also supervises the following Defense Agencies, Several defense agencies are members of the United States Intelligence Community and these are national-level intelligence services that operate under the jurisdiction of the Department of Defense but simultaneously fall under the authorities of the Director of National Intelligence
10.
United States Attorney General
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The United States Attorney General is the head of the United States Department of Justice per 28 U. S. C. §503, concerned with affairs, and is the chief law enforcement officer. The 84th and current Attorney General is Jeff Sessions, who assumed the office on February 9,2017, the attorney general serves as a member of the Cabinet of the President of the United States and is the only cabinet officer who does not have the title Secretary of. The Attorney General is appointed by the President and takes office after confirmation by the United States Senate, the office of Attorney General was established by Congress by the Judiciary Act of 1789. In 1870, the Department of Justice was established to support the general in the discharge of their responsibilities. Parties No party Federalist Democratic-Republican Democratic Whig Republican Status As of April 2017, there are eleven, living former US Attorneys General, the most recent Attorney General to die was Janet Reno on November 7,2016. Barr served as acting general in their capacity as deputy attorney general. 2 Richard L. Thornburgh and Eric Holder served as acting general in their capacity as deputy attorney general. Both subsequently served as general, Thornburgh 1988–1991 and Holder 2009–2015. 4 Assistant Attorney General for the DOJ Civil Division Stuart M. Gerson was acting general from January 20,1993. Gerson was fourth in the line of succession at the Justice Department, during his time as Acting AG, Gerson supported the Brady bill and was in office in the beginnings of the Waco siege. Janet Reno, President Clintons nominee for attorney general, was confirmed on March 12, Acting Attorney General Gersons last day at the Justice Department was March 19. 5 On August 27,2007, President Bush named Solicitor General Paul Clement as the acting attorney general, to take office upon the resignation of Alberto Gonzales. According to administration officials, Clement took that office at 12,01 am September 17,2007, keisler served as acting attorney general until the nomination of Michael Mukasey on November 9,2007. 6 Deputy Attorney General Mark Filip was asked to assume the position of acting attorney general by then President-elect Obama, Filip led the Department while President Obamas nominee, then Attorney-General Designate Eric Holder, awaited confirmation by the United States Senate. Holder was confirmed on February 2,2009, and sworn in the next day, thus ending Filips tenure as the acting attorney general
11.
Richard H. Truly
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He was the first former astronaut to head the space agency. After his departure from NASA, he led the Georgia Tech Research Institute from 1992 to 1997, born November 12,1937, in Fayette, Mississippi, Truly attended segregated schools in Fayette and Meridian, Mississippi. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Aeronautical Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology in 1959 and he was a member of the Kappa Alpha Order. Being a member of the Navy ROTC at Georgia Tech, Truly entered the U. S. Navy and his initial tour of duty was in Fighter Squadron 33 where he flew F-8 Crusaders aboard USS Intrepid and USS Enterprise. He made more than 300 carrier landings, from 1963 to 1965, Truly was first a student and later an instructor at the U. S. Air Force Aerospace Research Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base, California. In 1965, Truly was among the first military astronauts selected to the United States Air Forces Manned Orbiting Laboratory program in Los Angeles and he joined the NASA Astronaut Corps in August 1969 after the cancellation of the MOL program. At NASA, he was a member of the support crew. Truly served as commander of STS-8 in 1983, after STS-8, Truly left NASA to become the first commander of the Naval Space Command. Three weeks after the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster, Truly returned to NASA to become NASAs Associate Administrator for Space Flight on February 20,1986 and his primary task was to watch over the Space Shuttles return to flight status. While it only took a few days to determine the reason for the accident. In the end, it took Truly and NASAs Return to Flight program 31 months before the Space Shuttle Discovery successfully flew on September 29,1988 with STS-26. In March 1986, Truly noted in a memo that there were several actions NASA needed to accomplish before launching another Shuttle flight and they included Solid Rocket Motor joint redesign, Critical Items review, and Operations and Maintenance Instructions review. Truly was named to head NASA as its eighth Administrator in May 1989 and he held this position until May 1992. He was credited by Carl Sagan with interceding in a dispute regarding whether Voyager 1 should be commanded to take one last photograph of Earth before completing its primary mission. The resulting photograph has become known as the Pale Blue Dot photograph. He retired from the Navy as a Vice Admiral shortly before becoming NASA Administrator, after leaving NASA, Truly became Vice President and Director of the Georgia Tech Research Institute, part of the Georgia Institute of Technology, in Atlanta, Georgia. He served in this role from 1992 to 1997, then he served as Director of the Department of Energys National Renewable Energy Laboratory and as Executive Vice President of the MRIGlobal from 1997–2005. In 2010, Truly was appointed to the Board of Trustees of the Colorado School of Mines by Governor Bill Ritter and he is currently the Vice Chairman of this board
12.
Charles Bolden
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Charles Frank Bolden, Jr. is a former Administrator of NASA, a retired United States Marine Corps Major General, and a former NASA astronaut. A1968 graduate of the United States Naval Academy, he became a Marine Aviator, after his service as an astronaut, he became Deputy Commandant of Midshipmen at the Naval Academy. On May 23,2009, President Barack Obama announced the nomination of Bolden as NASA Administrator, Bolden was confirmed by the Senate on July 15,2009. He is the first African American to head the agency on a permanent basis, on Jan 12,2017, Bolden announced his resignation from NASA during a town hall meeting at NASA Headquarters in Washington D. C. His last day would be January 19, and Robert M. Lightfoot Jr. was announced as acting NASA Administrator, Bolden graduated from C. A. Johnson High School in Columbia, South Carolina, in 1964. He is a member of Omega Psi Phi fraternity, Bolden was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps following graduation from the United States Naval Academy in 1968. He was president of his class and he underwent flight training at Pensacola, Florida, Meridian, Mississippi, and Kingsville, Texas, before being designated a Naval Aviator in May 1970. He flew more than 100 sorties into North and South Vietnam, Laos, while there, he served as an ordnance test pilot and flew numerous test projects in the A-6E, EA-6B, and A-7C/E airplanes. He logged more than 6,000 hours flying time, Bolden was selected as an astronaut candidate by NASA in 1980. He was a member of the NASA Astronaut Corps until 1994 when he returned to assignments in the Marine Corps, first as the Deputy Commandant of Midshipmen at the Naval Academy, in July 1997, he was assigned as the Deputy Commanding General of I Marine Expeditionary Force. From February to June 1998, he served as Commanding General, in July 1998, he was promoted to his final rank of major general and assumed his duties as the Deputy Commander, United States Forces Japan. He then served as the Commanding General, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing and he retired from the military in August 2004. Selected by NASA in May 1980, Bolden became an astronaut in August 1981, a veteran of four space flights, he has logged over 680 hours in space. Bolden served as pilot on STS-61-C and STS-31, and was the commander on STS-45. Bolden was the first person to ride the Launch Complex 39 slidewire baskets which enable rapid escape from a Space Shuttle on the launch pad. The need for a human test was determined following a launch abort on STS-41-D where controllers were afraid to order the crew to use the escape system. On Jan 12,2017, Bolden announced his resignation from NASA during a Town Hall meeting at NASA Headquarters in Washington D. C and his last day would be January 19, and Robert M. Lightfoot Jr. was announced as acting NASA Administrator. On STS-61-C, Bolden piloted Space Shuttle Columbia, during the six-day flight, crew members deployed the SATCOM Ku band satellite, and conducted experiments in astrophysics and materials processing
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