United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, which along with the United States House of Representatives—the lower chamber—comprises the legislature of the United States. The Senate chamber is located in the north wing of the Capitol, in Washington, D. C; the composition and powers of the Senate are established by Article One of the United States Constitution. The Senate is composed of senators; each state, regardless of its population size, is represented by two senators who serve staggered terms of six years. There being at present 50 states in the Union, there are presently 100 senators. From 1789 until 1913, senators were appointed by legislatures of the states; as the upper chamber of Congress, the Senate has several powers of advice and consent which are unique to it. These include the approval of treaties, the confirmation of Cabinet secretaries, Supreme Court justices, federal judges, flag officers, regulatory officials, other federal executive officials and other federal uniformed officers.
In addition to these, in cases wherein no candidate receives a majority of electors for Vice President, the duty falls to the Senate to elect one of the top two recipients of electors for that office. Furthermore, the Senate has the responsibility of conducting the trials of those impeached by the House; the Senate is considered both a more deliberative and more prestigious body than the House of Representatives due to its longer terms, smaller size, statewide constituencies, which led to a more collegial and less partisan atmosphere. The presiding officer of the Senate is the Vice President of the United States, President of the Senate. In the Vice President's absence, the President Pro Tempore, customarily the senior member of the party holding a majority of seats, presides over the Senate. In the early 20th century, the practice of majority and minority parties electing their floor leaders began, although they are not constitutional officers; the drafters of the Constitution created a bicameral Congress as a compromise between those who felt that each state, since it was sovereign, should be represented, those who felt the legislature must directly represent the people, as the House of Commons did in Great Britain.
This idea of having one chamber represent people while the other gives equal representation to states regardless of population, was known as the Connecticut Compromise. There was a desire to have two Houses that could act as an internal check on each other. One was intended to be a "People's House" directly elected by the people, with short terms obliging the representatives to remain close to their constituents; the other was intended to represent the states to such extent as they retained their sovereignty except for the powers expressly delegated to the national government. The Senate was thus not designed to serve the people of the United States equally; the Constitution provides that the approval of both chambers is necessary for the passage of legislation. First convened in 1789, the Senate of the United States was formed on the example of the ancient Roman Senate; the name is derived from Latin for council of elders. James Madison made the following comment about the Senate: In England, at this day, if elections were open to all classes of people, the property of landed proprietors would be insecure.
An agrarian law would soon take place. If these observations be just, our government ought to secure the permanent interests of the country against innovation. Landholders ought to have a share in the government, to support these invaluable interests, to balance and check the other, they ought to be so constituted. The Senate, ought to be this body. Article Five of the Constitution stipulates that no constitutional amendment may be created to deprive a state of its equal suffrage in the Senate without that state's consent; the District of Columbia and all other territories are not entitled to representation allowed to vote in either House of the Congress. The District of Columbia elects two "shadow U. S. Senators", but they are officials of the D. C. City Government and not members of the U. S. Senate; the United States has had 50 states since 1959, thus the Senate has had 100 senators since 1959. The disparity between the most and least populous states has grown since the Connecticut Compromise, which granted each state two members of the Senate and at least one member of the House of Representatives, for a total minimum of three presidential electors, regardless of population.
In 1787, Virginia had ten times the population of Rhode Island, whereas today California has 70 times the population of Wyoming, based on the 1790 and 2000 censuses. This means some citizens are two orders of magnitude better represented in the Senate than those in other states. Seats in the House of Representatives are proportionate to the population of each state, reducing the disparity of representation. Before the adoption of the Seventeenth Amendment in 1913, senators were elected by the individual state legislatures. Problems with repeated vacant seats due to the inability of a legislature to elect senators, intrastate political struggles, bribery and intimidation had led to a growing movement to amend the Constitution to allow for the direct election of senators; the party composition of the Senate during the 116th Congress: Art
1940 Republican National Convention
The 1940 Republican National Convention was held in Philadelphia, from June 24 to June 28, 1940. It nominated Wendell Willkie of New York for President and Senator Charles McNary of Oregon for Vice-President; the contest for the 1940 Republican nomination was wide-open. Front-runners included Senator Arthur H. Vandenberg of Michigan, Senator Robert Taft of Ohio and Manhattan District Attorney Thomas E. Dewey. Republican Candidates Newspaper editor and owner Frank Gannett of New York Governor Arthur James of Pennsylvania House Minority Leader Joseph W. Martin of Massachusetts In the months leading up to the opening of the 1940 Republican National Convention, the three leading candidates for the GOP nomination were considered to be Senators Robert A. Taft of Ohio and Arthur Vandenberg of Michigan, District Attorney Thomas E. Dewey of New York. Taft was the leader of the GOP's conservative, non-interventionist wing, his main strength was in his native Midwest and parts of the South. Vandenberg, the senior Republican in the Senate, was the "favorite son" candidate of the Michigan delegation and was considered a possible compromise candidate.
Dewey, the District Attorney for Manhattan, had risen to national fame as the "Gangbuster" prosecutor who had sent numerous infamous mafia figures to prison, most notably "Lucky" Luciano, the organized-crime boss of New York City. All three men had campaigned vigorously during the primary season, but only 300 of the 1,000 convention delegates had been pledged to a candidate by the time the convention opened. Moreover, each of these candidates had weaknesses. Taft's outspoken non-interventionism and opposition to any American involvement in the European war convinced many Republican leaders that he could not win a general election as the French Third Republic fell to Nazi Germany in May 1940 and Germany threatened the United Kingdom. Dewey's relative youth - he was only 38 in 1940 - and lack of any foreign-policy experience caused his candidacy to weaken as the Nazi military emerged as a fearsome threat. In 1940 Vandenberg was a non-interventionist and his lackadaisical, lethargic campaign never caught the voter's attention.
This left an opening for a dark horse candidate to emerge. A Wall Street-based industrialist named Wendell Willkie, who had never before run for public office, emerged as the unlikely nominee. Willkie, a former Democrat, a pro-Roosevelt delegate at the 1932 Democratic National Convention, was considered an improbable choice. Willkie had first come to public attention as an articulate critic of Roosevelt's attempt to break up electrical power monopolies. Willkie was the CEO of the Commonwealth and Southern power company, he opposed the federal government's attempts to compete with private enterprise, claiming that the government had unfair advantages over private companies. Willkie did not dismiss all of Roosevelt's social welfare programs, in fact supported those he believed could do better than free enterprise. Furthermore, unlike the leading Republican candidates, Willkie was a forceful and outspoken advocate of aid to the Allies the United Kingdom, his support of giving all aid to the British "short of declaring war" won him the support of many Republicans on the East Coast, who disagreed with their party's isolationist leaders in Congress.
Willkie's persuasive arguments impressed these Republicans, who believed that he would be an attractive presidential candidate. Many of the leading press barons of the era, such as Ogden Reid of the New York Herald Tribune, Roy Howard of the Scripps-Howard newspaper chain and John and Gardner Cowles, Jr. publishers of the Minneapolis Star and the Minneapolis Tribune, as well as the Des Moines Register and Look magazine, supported Willkie in their newspapers and magazines. So, Willkie remained a long-shot candidate; the Nazi Army's rapid blitzkrieg into France in May 1940 shook American public opinion as Taft was telling a Kansas audience that America must concentrate on domestic issues to prevent Roosevelt from using the international crisis to extend socialism at home. Both Dewey and Vandenberg continued to oppose any aid to the United Kingdom that might lead to war with Germany. Sympathy for the embattled British was mounting daily, this aided Willkie's candidacy. By mid-June, little over one week before the Republican Convention opened, the Gallup poll reported that Willkie had moved into second place with 17%, that Dewey was slipping.
Fueled by his favorable media attention, Willkie's pro-British statements won over many of the delegates. As the delegates were arriving in Philadelphia, Gallup reported that Willkie had surged to 29%, Dewey had slipped 5 more points to 47%, Taft and former President Herbert Hoover trailed at 8%, 8%, 6% respectively. Hundreds of thousands as many as one million, telegrams urging support for Willkie poured in, many from "Willkie Clubs" that had sprung up across the country. Millions more signed petitions circulating everywhere. At the 1940 Republican National Convention itself, keynote speaker Harold Stassen, the Governor of Minnesota, announced his support for Willkie and became his official floor manager. Hundreds of vocal Willkie supporters packed the upper galleries of the convention hall. Willkie's amateur status and his fresh face appealed to delegates as well as voters; the delegations were selected not by primaries but by party leaders in each state, they had a keen sense of the fast-changing pulse of public opinion.
Gallup found the same thing in polling data not reported until after the convention: Will
Carl Hayden
Carl Trumbull Hayden was an American politician and the first United States Senator to serve seven terms. Serving as Arizona's first Representative for eight terms before entering the Senate, Hayden set the record for longest-serving member of the United States Congress more than a decade before his retirement from politics; the longtime Dean of the United States Senate served as its president pro tempore and chairman of both its Rules and Administration and Appropriations committees. He was a member of the Democratic Party. Having earned a reputation as a reclamation expert early in his congressional career, Hayden backed legislation dealing with public lands, mining and other projects affecting the Western United States. In addition, he played a key role in creating the funding formula for the federal highway system. President John F. Kennedy said of Hayden, "Every Federal program which has contributed to the development of the West—irrigation, reclamation—bears his mark, the great Federal highway program which binds this country together, which permits this State to be competitive east and west and south, this in large measure is his creation."Known as the "Silent Senator", Hayden spoke on the Senate floor.
Instead his influence came from committee meetings and Senate cloakroom discussions where his comments were "given a respect comparable to canon law". A colleague said of him, "No man in Senate history has wielded more influence with less oratory," while The Los Angeles Times wrote that Hayden had "assisted so many projects for so many senators that when old Carl wants something for his beloved Arizona, his fellow senators fall all over themselves giving him a hand. They'd vote landlocked Arizona a navy if he asked for it." Hayden was born to Charles Trumbull Hayden and Sallie Calvert Davis on October 2, 1877, in Hayden's Ferry, Arizona Territory. Charles Hayden was a Connecticut-born merchant and freight operator who had moved west due to a lung ailment and homesteaded a claim on the south bank of the Salt River. Charles Hayden had served as a probate judge and, following Grover Cleveland's 1884 election, had been considered for the territorial governorship. Sallie Davis was an Arkansas-born schoolteacher who served as vice president of the Arizona Territorial Suffrage Association during the 1890s.
Following the birth of their son and Sallie Hayden had three daughters: Sarah and Mary. Anna died unexpectedly at two-and-one-half years of age; the Hayden family operated a variety of business interests including a ferry service, a gristmill, a general store, agricultural interests. While he was growing up, Hayden's family took several trips, including journeys to Washington, D. C. and the 1893 Chicago World's Fair. To these, Hayden added several solo trips, including a horseback trip to the Grand Canyon and a trip to Mexico City when he was fourteen. Hayden attended Arizona Territorial Normal School. After his graduation from normal school in June 1896 he was enrolled at Stanford University where he studied economics, history and philosophy with an interest in attending law school after graduation. While at Stanford, he was sophomore class president and participated in debate, fiction writing and track. During his junior year, Hayden suffered his only election defeat when he narrowly lost the race for student body president.
He learned to "always run scared" in future elections. Hayden met Nan Downing, while at Stanford; the couple married on February 14, 1908, produced no children. One semester from graduation, in December 1899, Hayden was forced to drop out of school when his father became ill. Charles Hayden died on February 5, 1900, leaving his son with responsibility for the family and control of the family business interests. Hayden sold the mercantile business to pay off outstanding debts and rented most of the family's properties to provide an income that allowed him to move his mother and sisters to Palo Alto, where his sisters could attend college. In the fall of 1903, he enlisted in the Arizona Territorial National Guard and was elected captain within two months. Soon after his return from Stanford, Hayden became active in Democratic Party politics. In September 1900 he represented Tempe as a delegate at a county level convention and became chairman of the Maricopa County Democratic Central Committee in 1902.
Hayden was elected to a two-year term on the Tempe town council. Following passage of the National Reclamation Act of 1902 he was sent to Washington, D. C. by interests in Tempe to lobby for funding of the Salt River Project. Hayden led the Arizona Territory delegation to the 1904 Democratic National Convention in St. Louis. In 1904 he was elected Maricopa County treasurer. Hayden's two years as treasurer provided him practical experience with public finance and budgetary processes. After one term as county treasurer, he chose to pursue the more lucrative office of sheriff—the position providing a travel budget and a percentage of collected fees; the November 1906 election saw Hayden defeat his Republican and Prohibition party challengers by the largest margin of victory in any of the county races. By the time Hayden became sheriff, Maricopa County had transformed from a Wild West frontier into a quiet agricultural settlement. Based in Phoenix, which had grown to a population of 10,000 people, he performed duties such as maintaining order, collecting fees from saloons and gambling halls, transportation of prisoners to other parts of the territory, enforcing local ordinances such as a Phoenix law requiring local Indians t
Everett Dirksen
Everett McKinley Dirksen was an American politician of the Republican Party. He represented Illinois in the United States House of the United States Senate; as Senate Minority Leader from 1959 to 1969, he played a visible and key role in the politics of the 1960s. He helped write and pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Civil Rights Act of 1968, both landmark pieces of legislation during the Civil Rights Movement, he was one of the Senate's strongest supporters of the Vietnam War. A talented orator with a florid style and a notably rich baritone voice, his flamboyant speeches caused his detractors to refer to him as "The Wizard of Ooze". Born in Pekin, Dirksen served as an artillery officer during World War I and opened a bakery after the war. After serving on the Pekin City Council, he won election to the House of Representatives in 1932. In the House, he was supported much of the New Deal, he won election to the Senate in 1950. In the Senate, he favored conservative economic policies and supported the internationalism of President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Dirksen succeeded William F. Knowland as Senate Minority Leader after the latter declined to seek re-election in 1958; as the Senate Minority Leader, Dirksen emerged as a prominent national figure of the Republican Party during the 1960s. He developed a good working relationship with Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield and supported President Lyndon B. Johnson's handling of the Vietnam War, he helped break the Southern filibuster of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. While still serving as Senate Minority Leader, Dirksen died in 1969. Dirksen was born in Pekin, Illinois, a small city near Peoria, He was the son of German immigrants from East Frisia, Antje born in Loquard, Johann Friedrich Dirksen, born in Jennelt. Everett's parents gave him the middle name "McKinley" for President William McKinley, he had a fraternal twin, Thomas Reed Dirksen, another brother, named for President Benjamin Harrison. Johann and Antje Dirksen spoke a Low German dialect at home, taught German to their children, but Johann had lived in the United States long enough to become politically aware.
Johann Dirksen, who worked at the Pekin Wagon Works as a design painter in addition to farming, had a debilitating stroke when Everett Dirksen was five years old, he died when Everett Dirksen was nine. He had been Antje's second husband. Dirksen grew up on a farm managed by his mother on Pekin's outskirts, in a neighborhood called Bonchefiddle, Low German for "Beantown", because frugal immigrants grew beans for the family dinner table in their front yards instead of decorative flowers, he attended the local schools, graduated from Pekin High School in 1913 as the class salutatorian, helped support the family by working at a Pekin corn refining factory. A visit to the Minnesota home of one of his half brothers led to Dirksen's attendance at the University of Minnesota, he was a pre-law student from 1914 to 1917, paid his tuition by working in the classified advertising department at the Minneapolis Tribune, as a door-to-door magazine and book salesman, an attorney's assistant, a clerk in a railroad freight office.
While attending college, Dirksen participated in the Student Army Training Corps, attained the rank of major in the school's corps of cadets. He gained his first political experience by giving local and on-campus speeches in support of Republican nominee Charles Evans Hughes during the 1916 campaign for president. At the start of World War I, Benjamin Dirksen was medically unfit for military service, Thomas was married. With the Dirksens under local scrutiny because of their German heritage—Dirksen's mother refused to take down a living room photo of Kaiser Wilhelm II, as demanded by a self-appointed Pekin "loyalty commission", on the grounds that "it's a free country"—it fell to Everett Dirksen to demonstrate the family's patriotism by serving in uniform. Dirksen dropped out of college to enlist in the United States Army. On January 4, 1917—his twenty-first birthday—Dirksen joined the Army, he completed his initial training in field artillery at Camp Custer, performed duty with his unit at Camp Jackson, South Carolina, attained the rank of sergeant.
Dirksen went to France in 1918, attended the artillery school and officer training at Saumur. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant, assigned to the 328th Field Artillery Regiment, a unit of the 85th Division. Dirksen was trained as an aerial observer, conducted target acquisition and assessment of field artillery bombardments in the Saint-Mihiel sector as a member of the 328th Field Artillery's 13th and 19th Balloon Companies, he performed the same duty for the 69th Balloon Company, a unit of the IV Corps. He subsequently served in the Intelligence staff section of the IV Corps headquarters. Dirksen performed post-war occupation duty with IV Corps in Germany until mid-1919. Offered the opportunity to remain with the Army of Occupation because of his fluency in German, Dirksen declined, received his discharge, returned to Pekin, he was a member of the Reformed Church in America, founded in the 18th century by Dutch immigrants. After the war, Dirksen invested money in an electric washing machine business, but it failed, after which he joined his brothers in running the Dirksen Bro
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was an American army general and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, he was a five-star general in the United States Army and served as supreme commander of the Allied Expeditionary Forces in Europe, he was responsible for planning and supervising the invasion of North Africa in Operation Torch in 1942–43 and the successful invasion of France and Germany in 1944–45 from the Western Front. Born David Dwight Eisenhower in Denison, Texas, he was raised in Kansas in a large family of Pennsylvania Dutch ancestry, his family had a strong religious background. His mother was born a Lutheran, married as a River Brethren, became a Jehovah's Witness. So, Eisenhower did not belong to any organized church until 1952, he cited constant relocation during his military career as one reason. He graduated from West Point in 1915 and married Mamie Doud, with whom he had two sons. During World War I, he was denied a request to serve in Europe and instead commanded a unit that trained tank crews.
Following the war, he served under various generals and was promoted to the rank of brigadier general in 1941. After the U. S. entered World War II, Eisenhower oversaw the invasions of North Africa and Sicily before supervising the invasions of France and Germany. After the war, Eisenhower served as Army Chief of Staff and took on the role as president of Columbia University. In 1951–52, he served as the first Supreme Commander of NATO. In 1952, Eisenhower entered the presidential race as a Republican to block the isolationist foreign policies of Senator Robert A. Taft, who opposed NATO and wanted no foreign entanglements, he won that election and the 1956 election in landslides, both times defeating Adlai Stevenson II. He became the first Republican to win since Herbert Hoover in 1928. Eisenhower's main goals in office were to contain the expansion of the Soviet Union and reduce federal deficits. In 1953, he threatened the use of nuclear weapons until China agreed to peace terms in the Korean War.
China did agree and an armistice resulted that remains in effect. His New Look policy of nuclear deterrence prioritized inexpensive nuclear weapons while reducing funding for expensive Army divisions, he continued Harry S. Truman's policy of recognizing the Republic of China as the legitimate government of China, he won congressional approval of the Formosa Resolution, his administration provided major aid to help the French fight off Vietnamese Communists in the First Indochina War. After the French left he gave strong financial support to the new state of South Vietnam, he supported local military coups against democratically-elected governments in Guatemala. During the Suez Crisis of 1956, Eisenhower condemned the Israeli and French invasion of Egypt, he forced them to withdraw, he condemned the Soviet invasion during the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 but took no action. During the Syrian Crisis of 1957 he approved a CIA-MI6 plan to stage fake border incidents as an excuse for an invasion by Syria's pro-Western neighbours.
After the Soviet Union launched Sputnik in 1957, Eisenhower authorized the establishment of NASA, which led to the Space Race. He deployed 15,000 soldiers during the 1958 Lebanon crisis. Near the end of his term, his efforts to set up a summit meeting with the Soviets collapsed when a U. S. spy plane was shot down over the Soviet Union. He approved the Bay of Pigs invasion, left to his successor, John F. Kennedy, to carry out. On the domestic front, Eisenhower was a moderate conservative who continued New Deal agencies and expanded Social Security, he covertly opposed Joseph McCarthy and contributed to the end of McCarthyism by invoking executive privilege. Eisenhower signed the Civil Rights Act of 1957 and sent Army troops to enforce federal court orders that integrated schools in Little Rock, Arkansas, his largest program was the Interstate Highway System. He promoted the establishment of strong science education via the National Defense Education Act. Eisenhower's two terms saw widespread economic prosperity except for a minor recession in 1958.
In his farewell address to the nation, Eisenhower expressed his concerns about the dangers of massive military spending deficit spending and government contracts to private military manufacturers. Historical evaluations of his presidency place him among the upper tier of U. S. presidents. The Eisenhauer family migrated from Karlsbrunn in Nassau-Saarbrücken, to North America, first settling in York, Pennsylvania, in 1741, in the 1880s moving to Kansas. Accounts vary as to when the German name Eisenhauer was anglicized to Eisenhower. Eisenhower's Pennsylvania Dutch ancestors, who were farmers, included Hans Nikolaus Eisenhauer of Karlsbrunn, who migrated to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in 1741. Hans's great-great-grandson, David Jacob Eisenhower, was Eisenhower's father and was a college-educated engineer, despite his own father Jacob's urging to stay on the family farm. Eisenhower's mother, Ida Elizabeth Eisenhower, born in Virginia, of German Protestant ancestry, moved to Kansas from Virginia, she married David on September 23, 1885, in Lecompton, Kansas, on the campus of their alma mater, Lane University.
David owned a general store in Hope, but the business failed due to economic conditions and the family became impoverished. The Eisenhowers lived in Texas from 1889 until 1892, returned to Kansas, with $24 to their name at the time. David worked as a railroad mechanic and at a creamery. By 1898, the parents provided a suitable home for their large family; the future pr
Durham, New Hampshire
Durham is a town in Strafford County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 14,638 at the 2010 census. Durham is home to the University of New Hampshire; the primary settlement in the town, where 10,345 people resided at the 2010 census, is defined by the U. S. Census Bureau as the Durham census-designated place and includes the densely populated portion of the town centered on the intersection of New Hampshire Route 108 and Main Street, which includes the university that dominates the town. Situated beside Great Bay at the mouth of the Oyster River, Durham was called "Oyster River Plantation", it was settled in 1635 by pioneers who traveled up the Piscataqua River and across Little Bay to settle at the falls of the Oyster River. At the time, the land, now New Hampshire belonged to Massachusetts. Most of the coastal area was divided among four townships, for its first century, Durham was part of Dover; the village location was ideal for its fresh water, natural meadows for livestock, the transportation opportunities afforded by the waterways leading to the Atlantic Ocean.
The land along the river was settled, nearby dense forests provided the timber necessary to construct homes as well as boats. Oyster River Plantation took the form of a small agricultural village, the first generation of residents worked to clear and shape the land for planting; the town name "Durham" was suggested by the Rev. Hugh Adams, as claimed by him in an address to the General Assembly in 1738. Two of the earliest settlers of Dover were William and Edward Hilton, the direct descendants of Sir William de Hilton, Lord of Hilton Castle in County Durham, but there is nothing to prove that Durham was named in their honor. During King William's War, on July 18, 1694, the English settlement was attacked in the Raid on Oyster River by French career soldier Claude-Sébastien de Villieu with about 250 Abenaki from Norridgewock under command of their sagamore Bomazeen. In all, 104 inhabitants were killed and 27 taken captive, with half the dwellings, including the garrisons and burned to the ground.
The community rebuilt, by 1716 Durham was a separate parish. Incorporated in 1732, Durham at first included portions of the present-day towns of Madbury and Newmarket; because of its arable land, the town would develop as a farming community. Benjamin Thompson, a descendant of an early settler, bequeathed his assets and family estate, Warner Farm, to the state for the establishment of an agricultural college. Founded in 1866 in Hanover, the New Hampshire College of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts moved to Durham in 1893 and became the University of New Hampshire in 1923. Thompson Hall, built in 1892 with an iconic clock tower, is named in his honor. Designed in the Romanesque Revival style by the Concord architectural firm of Dow & Randlett, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1996. In 2017, Durham became the first community in New Hampshire to recognize Indigenous Peoples' Day in place of Columbus Day. In 2018, the Oyster River Cooperative School District, which includes Durham and Madbury, adopted Indigenous Peoples' Day on its school calendar.
Over the years the people of Durham have created several libraries: Durham Social Library: This library was incorporated by act of the New Hampshire Legislature in 1815. The library contained several hundred books and had a membership numbering nearly 50. Durham Agricultural Library: Formed Feb. 3, 1862, with Benjamin Thompson as president, this library was small and vocationally-based. Durham Social Library: Organized March 9, 1881, the library had a membership of 80 and several hundred books. In 1883 the Richardson house was purchased to house the library, it merged with the Durham Public Library. Durham Public Library: Established in 1892 through the provisions of a New Hampshire state act, this was the town's first "public" library, it contained more than 3,500 books and merged with the library of the New Hampshire College of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts. Library of the New Hampshire College of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts: Came to Durham with the arrival of the College in 1893; the College housed the library in a single room in Thompson Hall.
In 1900 Hamilton Smith gave the University $10,000 to construct a library, another $20,000 was obtained from Andrew Carnegie. In 1907 – a year after the town and the college agreed to merge their collective library resources – the building was completed. In March 1997 by a margin of 2-1, Durham voters passed a charter amendment to establish a Board of Trustees and allow plans for a new library to go forward. In July 1997 a temporary space was found for the new Public Library in a storefront between the dollar store and a pizzeria. Under the guidance of the Trustees and a newly formed Friends of the Library group, many volunteer townspeople come forward to sheetrock, assemble shelves, unpack and shelve 719 boxes of books. On July 21, 1997 a dedication ceremony was held for the new library, with Governor Jeanne Shaheen as the keynote speaker, it was the first new public library to be established in New Hampshire in a century. In July 2013 a new public library building was completed on Madbury Road.
A police force of some manner has served Durham since at least 1848. Durham Police Department is made up of 20 full-time and part-time officers and provides service 24-hours a day; the Police Department's Adopt-A-Cop program was instituted in 1999 to improve relationships between University of New Hampshire fraternities. Each fraternity is
New Year's Eve
In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Eve, the last day of the year, is on 31 December. In many countries, New Year's Eve is celebrated at evening social gatherings, where many people dance, drink alcoholic beverages, watch or light fireworks to mark the new year; some Christians attend a watchnight service. The celebrations go on past midnight into New Year's Day, 1 January. Tonga and Kiritimati, part of Kiribati, are examples of the first places to welcome the New Year while and Baker Island in the United States of America are among the last. In Algeria, New Year's Eve is celebrated with family and friends. In the largest cities, such as Algiers, Annaba, Oran, Sétif and Béjaïa, there are large celebrations which may feature concerts, late-night partying, fireworks at midnight and sparklers and shouts of "Bonne année!". The Martyrs' Memorial and the Grand-Post Place in Algiers are the main attraction for the majority of Algerians during the celebration. At 8pm, the President's message of greetings to Algerians is read on TV.
EPTV network airs a yearly New Year's Eve entertainment show, variying its name and guests, which features sketches and musical performances. Popular films are broadcast. At home or at restaurants, a special type of pastry cake, called "la bûche" is eaten, black coffee or soda is drunk with it, few minutes before the New Year's countdown. On New Year's Day, people children, write their "New Year's letter" on decorated paper, called "Carte de bonne année", to their parents and relatives, featuring their resolutions and wishes. In Egypt the new year is celebrated with fireworks, fire crackers, smashing glass bottles or breaking things on the street also. In Ghana, many people celebrate New Year's Eve by going to Church. At midnight, fireworks are displayed across various cities of Ghana in Accra and Tema. In Morocco, New Year's Eve is celebrated in the company of family and friends. People get together to eat cake and laugh. Traditionally, people celebrate it at home. At midnight, fireworks are displayed in the corniche of Casablanca.
In Nigeria, the New Year's Eve is celebrated by going to Church. The Lagos Countdown is an event in Nigeria, created to increase tourism and making Lagos a premium destination for business and leisure; the event lasts till 1 January. It is attended by an average of 100,000 people; the event takes place at the Eko Atlantic city, beside the Barbeach attracting thousands of domestic and foreign tourists who are entertained every evening by different artists... In South Sudan, people attend church services at many churches in Juba; the service begins at 9PM. At the stroke of midnight, people sing the famous carol, "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" to mark the beginning of the year with a blessing; the service ends at 12:30AM. In Rwanda, New Year's Eve is celebrated by going to church, taking part in social gatherings and family activities; the services start from 6 PM for the Roman Catholic church and 10 PM for the Protestants. At 00:00, the president delivers an end-of-year address, broadcast live on many Radio and Televisions stations.
Fireworks were introduced in recent years, with the most significant displays happening at Kigali Convention Centre, Rebero Hill, Mount Kigali, Bumbogo Hill. Traditional celebrations in Argentina include a family dinner of traditional dishes, including vitel tonné, sandwiches de miga, piononos. Like dessert: turrón, mantecol and pan dulce. Just before midnight, people flock to the streets to enjoy fireworks and light firecrackers; the fireworks can be seen in any terrace. The first day of the New Year is celebrated at midnight with champagne. People wish each other a happy New Year, sometimes share a toast with neighbours. Parties continue until dawn; the celebration is during the summer, like in many South American countries, so it's normal to see many families in the New Year at tourist centers of the Argentine Atlantic coast. The New Year, is one of Brazil's main holidays, it marks the beginning of the summer holidays, which last until Carnival. Brazilians traditionally have a copious meal with family or friends at home, in restaurants or private clubs, consume alcoholic beverages.
Champagne is traditionally drunk. Those spending New Year's Eve at the beach dress in white, to bring good luck into the new year. Fireworks and eating grapes or lentils are customs associated with the holiday; the beach at Copacabana in Rio de Janeiro is ranked among the top 10 New Year Fireworks display. The combination of live concerts, a spectacular fireworks display and millions of revelers combine to make the Copacabana's New Year's party one of the best in the world. In addition, the celebrations are broadcast on major Brazilian television networks including Rede Globo with the special Show da Virada. In other regions, different events take place; the most famous are on the edge such as Copacabana. In the Northeast, in Fortaleza, the party is in Iracema Beach, in Salvador, the change of year happens in a great music festival. In the South, the most famous festivities on th
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