1.
President of the United States
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The President of the United States is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the executive branch of the government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces. The president is considered to be one of the worlds most powerful political figures, the role includes being the commander-in-chief of the worlds most expensive military with the second largest nuclear arsenal and leading the nation with the largest economy by nominal GDP. The office of President holds significant hard and soft power both in the United States and abroad, Constitution vests the executive power of the United States in the president. The president is empowered to grant federal pardons and reprieves. The president is responsible for dictating the legislative agenda of the party to which the president is a member. The president also directs the foreign and domestic policy of the United States, since the office of President was established in 1789, its power has grown substantially, as has the power of the federal government as a whole. However, nine vice presidents have assumed the presidency without having elected to the office. The Twenty-second Amendment prohibits anyone from being elected president for a third term, in all,44 individuals have served 45 presidencies spanning 57 full four-year terms. On January 20,2017, Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45th, in 1776, the Thirteen Colonies, acting through the Second Continental Congress, declared political independence from Great Britain during the American Revolution. The new states, though independent of each other as nation states, desiring to avoid anything that remotely resembled a monarchy, Congress negotiated the Articles of Confederation to establish a weak alliance between the states. Out from under any monarchy, the states assigned some formerly royal prerogatives to Congress, only after all the states agreed to a resolution settling competing western land claims did the Articles take effect on March 1,1781, when Maryland became the final state to ratify them. In 1783, the Treaty of Paris secured independence for each of the former colonies, with peace at hand, the states each turned toward their own internal affairs. Prospects for the convention appeared bleak until James Madison and Edmund Randolph succeeded in securing George Washingtons attendance to Philadelphia as a delegate for Virginia. It was through the negotiations at Philadelphia that the presidency framed in the U. S. The first power the Constitution confers upon the president is the veto, the Presentment Clause requires any bill passed by Congress to be presented to the president before it can become law. Once the legislation has been presented, the president has three options, Sign the legislation, the bill becomes law. Veto the legislation and return it to Congress, expressing any objections, in this instance, the president neither signs nor vetoes the legislation
2.
Rob Reiner
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Robert Rob Reiner is an American actor, writer, director, producer, and activist. As an actor, Reiner first came to prominence with the role of Michael Stivic on All in the Family. That role earned him two Emmy Awards during the 1970s and he also directed the psychological horror-thriller Misery, the romantic comedy fantasy adventure The Princess Bride and the heavy metal mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap. Reiner was born to a Jewish family in the Bronx, New York, and is the son of Estelle Reiner, an actress, and Carl Reiner, a renowned comedian, actor, writer, producer and director. As a child, Reiner lived at 48 Bonnie Meadow Road in New Rochelle, New York and he studied at the UCLA Film School. In the late 1960s, Reiner acted in bit roles in television shows including Batman, The Andy Griffith Show, Room 222, Gomer Pyle, U. S. M. C. He began his writing for the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour in 1968 and 1969. The characters nickname became closely associated with him, even after he had left the role, Reiner has stated, I could win the Nobel Prize and theyd write Meathead wins the Nobel Prize. For his performance, Reiner won two Emmy Awards in addition to three other nominations and five Golden Globe nominations, after an extended absence, Reiner has recently returned to television acting with a recurring role on New Girl. In 1972, Reiner, Phil Mishkin, and Gerry Isenberg created the situation comedy The Super for ABC. Starring Richard S. Castellano, the show depicted the life of the harried Italian American superintendent of a New York City apartment building, Reiner and Mishkin co-wrote the premiere episode. Beginning in the 1980s, Reiner became known as a director of several successful Hollywood films that many different genres. Several of these film remains popular with fans and critics. He often collaborates with film editor Robert Leighton, whom he shares with fellow director-actor Christopher Guest as their go-to editor. Reiner has gone on to other critically and commercially successful films with his own company. These include several iconic films such as the romantic comedy When Harry Met Sally, subsequent films directed by Reiner include the political romance The American President, the courtroom drama Ghosts of Mississippi, and the uplifting comedy The Bucket List. He has also parodied himself with cameos in such as Dickie Roberts. Reiner has devoted time and energy to liberal activism in recent years
3.
Aaron Sorkin
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Aaron Benjamin Sorkin is an American screenwriter, producer, and playwright. Sorkins trademark rapid-fire dialogue and extended monologues are complemented, in television, Sorkin was born in Manhattan, New York City, to a Jewish family, and was raised in the New York suburb of Scarsdale. His mother was a schoolteacher and his father a lawyer who had fought in WWII. Bill, both his sister and brother went on to become lawyers. His paternal grandfather was one of the founders of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union, Sorkin took an early interest in acting. Before he reached his teenage years, his parents were taking him to the theatre to see such as Whos Afraid of Virginia Woolf. Sorkin attended Scarsdale High School where he involved in the drama. In eighth grade he played General Bullmoose in the musical Lil Abner, in Scarsdale Highs senior class production of Once Upon a Mattress, Sorkin played Sir Harry. He served as president in his junior and senior year at Scarsdale High School. In 1979, Sorkin attended Syracuse University, in his freshman year he failed a class that was a core requirement. It was a setback because he wanted to be an actor. Determined to do better, he returned in his sophomore year and you have the capacity to be so much better than you are, he started saying to me in September of my senior year. He was still saying it in May, on the last day of classes, he said it again, and I said, How. and he answered, Dare to fail. Ive been coming through on his ever since. One weekend, while housesitting at a place he found an IBM Selectric typewriter, started typing, and felt a phenomenal confidence. He continued writing and eventually put together his first play, Removing All Doubt, which he sent to his old Syracuse theatre teacher, Arthur Storch, in 1984, Removing All Doubt was staged for drama students at his alma mater, Syracuse University. After that, he wrote Hidden in This Picture which debuted off-off-Broadway at Steve Olsens West Bank Cafe Downstairs Theatre Bar in New York City in 1988, the contents of his first two plays got him a theatrical agent. Producer John A. McQuiggan saw the production of Hidden in This Picture, Sorkin got the inspiration to write his next play, a courtroom drama called A Few Good Men, from a phone conversation with his sister Deborah
4.
Michael Douglas
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Michael Kirk Douglas is an American actor and producer. Douglass career includes a range of films in independent and blockbuster genres, for which he has received a number of accolades. These awards include the Golden Globe Cecil B. Douglas is the son of Kirk Douglas. He received his Bachelor of Arts in Drama from the University of California and his early acting roles included film, stage, and television productions. Douglas first achieved prominence for his performance in the ABC police procedural television series The Streets of San Francisco, in 1975 Douglas produced One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest, having acquired the rights to the Ken Kesey novel from his father. The film received critical and popular acclaim, and won the Academy Award for Best Picture, after leaving The Streets of San Francisco in 1976, Douglas went on to produce films including The China Syndrome and Romancing the Stone. He won the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy for Romancing the Stone, in which he also starred and he reprised the role in the sequel Wall Street, Money Never Sleeps. Douglass subsequent film roles included, Black Rain, The War of the Roses, Basic Instinct, The American President, The Game, Traffic and Wonder Boys, Solitary Man, and Ant-Man. Douglas was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey, the first child of actors Kirk Douglas and his parents met at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. His paternal grandparents were Jewish immigrants from Chavusy, and his father was born Issur Danielovitch and his mother was from Devonshire Parish, Bermuda, and had English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh, French, Belgian, and Dutch ancestry. Douglas has a brother, Joel Douglas, and two paternal half-brothers, Peter Douglas and Eric Douglas, from stepmother Anne Buydens. Douglas attended The Allen-Stevenson School in New York City, Eaglebrook School in Deerfield, Massachusetts and he received his B. A. in drama from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1968, where he was also the Honorary President of the UCSB Alumni Association. He studied acting with Wynn Handman at The American Place Theatre in New York City and his first TV breakthrough role came with a 1969 CBS-TV Playhouse special, The Experiment—and it was the only time he was billed as M. K. Douglas. Michael Douglas started his career in the late 1960s and early 1970s, appearing in little known films such as Hail. Adam at 6 A. M. and Summertree, earned him a nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Male Newcomer. His first significant role came in the TV series The Streets of San Francisco from 1972 to 1976, Douglas later said that Malden became a mentor and someone he admired and loved deeply. After Douglas left the show, he had an association with his mentor until Maldens death on July 1,2009. In 2004, Douglas presented Malden with the Monte Cristo Award of the Eugene ONeill Theater Center in Waterford, in 1975, Douglas received from his father, Kirk Douglas, the rights to the novel One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest
5.
Annette Bening
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Annette Carol Bening is an American actress. She began her career on stage with the Colorado Shakespeare Festival company in 1980 and she was nominated for the 1987 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for her Broadway debut in Coastal Disturbances. She is a four-time Academy Award nominee, for the films The Grifters, American Beauty, Being Julia, in 2006, she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. After her film debut in the 1988 film The Great Outdoors, she starred in Valmont, Bugsy, The American President, The Siege, Open Range, Bening was born in Topeka, Kansas, the daughter of Shirley Katherine and Arnett Grant Bening. Her mother was a singer and soloist, and her father was a sales training consultant. Her parents, natives of Iowa, were practicing Episcopalians and conservative Republicans and she is of mostly German and English descent. Bening has one sister, Jane, and two brothers, Bradley and Byron, the family moved to Wichita, Kansas in 1959, where she spent her early childhood. In 1965, her father took a job with a company in San Diego, California and she began acting in junior high school, playing the lead in The Sound of Music. She graduated in 1975 from Patrick Henry High School, where she studied drama and she then spent a year working as a cook on a charter boat taking fishing parties out on the Pacific Ocean, and scuba diving for recreation. Bening attended San Diego Mesa College, then completed a degree in theatre arts at San Francisco State University. Bening began her career on stage with the Colorado Shakespeare Festival company in 1980 and she was a member of the acting company at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco while studying acting as part of the Advanced Theatre Training Program. There, she starred in productions as Shakespeares Macbeth as Lady Macbeth. Bening also starred in productions of Pygmalion and The Cherry Orchard at the Denver Center Theatre Company during the 1985–86 season and she made her Broadway debut in 1987, garnering a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Play for her performance in Coastal Disturbances. Bening made her debut in The Great Outdoors. Her second film appearance was as the Marquise de Merteuil in Valmont and her breakthrough role was in The Grifters, which starred John Cusack and Anjelica Huston, and earned Bening a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. In 1991, she portrayed Virginia Hill in Barry Levinsons biopic Bugsy, later, she appeared in Regarding Henry with Harrison Ford. In 1994, Bening and Beatty starred in Love Affair, which also featured Katharine Hepburn, in 1995, Bening appeared in The American President, followed by Tim Burtons sci-fi spoof Mars Attacks. In 1998, she co-starred with Denzel Washington and Bruce Willis in The Siege, the biggest critical and commercial success of her career thus far was the 1999 film American Beauty, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture and was directed by Sam Mendes
6.
Martin Sheen
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Other notable films in Sheens career include Gandhi, Gettysburg, The Departed, and The Amazing Spider-Man. He also starred in the television series The West Wing as President Josiah Bartlet, in film, Sheen has won the Best Actor award at the San Sebastián International Film Festival for his performance as Kit Carruthers in Badlands. Willard in Apocalypse Now earned a nomination for the BAFTA Award for Best Actor, Sheen received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1989. Born and raised in the United States by immigrant parents, he adopted the stage name Martin Sheen to help him gain acting parts and he is the father of four children, all of whom are actors. Although known as an actor, Sheen also has directed one film, Cadence, appearing alongside sons Charlie, Sheen has narrated, produced, and directed documentary television, earning two Daytime Emmy awards in the 1980s. In addition to film and television, Sheen has been active in liberal politics, Sheen was born in Dayton, Ohio, the son of Mary-Ann and Francisco Estévez Martínez. During birth, Sheens left arm was crushed by forceps, giving him limited lateral movement of that arm, both of Sheens parents were immigrants, his mother from Borrisokane, County Tipperary, Ireland, and his father was born in Salceda de Caselas, Galicia, Spain. After moving to Dayton in the 1930s, his father was a factory worker/machinery inspector at the National Cash Register Company, Sheen grew up on Brown Street in the South Park neighborhood, one of ten children. Due to his fathers work, the family lived in Bermuda on St. Johns Road, Pembroke, Martin was the first child to be born in Dayton, Ohio, after the family returned from Bermuda. Sheen contracted polio as a child and had to remain bedridden for a year and his doctors treatment using Sister Kennys method helped cure him and he regained use of his legs. When he was years old, Sheens mother died. The family was able to remain together with the assistance of Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Dayton, raised as a Catholic, he graduated from Chaminade High School. At fourteen years, he organized a strike of golf caddies while working at a golf club in Dayton. He complained about the golfers, They often used obscene language in front of us and we were little boys and they were abusive. And they, for the most part, were upstanding members of the community, Sheen was drawn to acting at a young age, but his father disapproved of his interest in the field. Despite his fathers opposition, Sheen borrowed money from a Catholic priest and moved to New York City in his early twenties and he spent two years in the Living Theatre company. It was in New York that he met the legendary Catholic activist Dorothy Day, Sheen deliberately failed the entrance examination for the University of Dayton so that he could pursue his acting career. He adopted his name, Martin Sheen, from a combination of the CBS casting director, Robert Dale Martin, who gave him his first big break
7.
Michael J. Fox
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Michael Andrew Fox, OC, known as Michael J. Fox, is a Canadian-American actor, author, producer, and activist. Other notable roles have included Marty McFly from the Back to the Future trilogy, Fox was diagnosed with Parkinsons disease in 1991, at age 29, and disclosed his condition to the public in 1998. Fox semi-retired from acting in 2000 as the symptoms of his disease worsened, since 2001, Fox has mainly worked as a voice-over actor in films such as Stuart Little and Disneys Atlantis, The Lost Empire. On the CBS TV show The Good Wife, he earned Emmy nominations for three years for his recurring role as crafty attorney Louis Canning. Fox has also taken recurring guest roles and cameo appearances in Boston Legal, Scrubs, Curb Your Enthusiasm and he was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2010. He also was inducted into Canadas Walk of Fame in 2000, Michael Andrew Fox was born on June 9,1961, in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, to Phyllis, an actress/payroll clerk, and William Fox, a police officer and Canadian Forces member. Foxs family lived in cities and towns across Canada because of his fathers career. The family finally moved to the Vancouver suburb of Burnaby, British Columbia and his father died on January 6,1990, from a heart attack. Fox attended Burnaby Central Secondary School, and now has a named for him in Burnaby South Secondary. Fox, at age 15, starred in the Canadian television series Leo and Me produced by the CBC, shortly after his marriage, he decided to move back to Vancouver. Fox was discovered by producer Ronald Shedlo and made his American television debut in the television film Letters from Frank, as he explained in his autobiography, Lucky Man, A Memoir and in interviews, he needed to come up with a different name. He did not like the sound of Michael A, Fox during a time when fox was coming to mean attractive and because his middle initial sounded too much like the Canadian eh. He also didnt like the sound of Andrew or Andy, so he decided to adopt a new middle initial and settled on J, Foxs first feature film roles were Midnight Madness and Class of 1984, credited in both as Michael Fox. Shortly afterward, he began playing Young Republican Alex P. Keaton in the show Family Ties which aired on NBC for seven seasons, in an interview with Jimmy Fallon in April 2014, Fox stated he negotiated the role at a payphone at Pioneer Chicken. He received the role only after Matthew Broderick was unavailable, Family Ties had been sold to the television network using the pitch Hip parents, square kids, with the parents originally intended to be the main characters. However, the reaction to Foxs performance led to his character becoming the focus of the show following the fourth episode. At its peak, the audience for Family Ties drew one-third of Americas households every week, Fox won three Emmy awards for Family Ties, in 1986,1987, and 1988. He also won a Golden Globe Award in 1989, Brandon Tartikoff, one of the shows producers, felt that Fox was too short in relation to the actors playing his parents, and tried to have him replaced
8.
Marc Shaiman
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Marc Shaiman is a Grammy, Emmy, Tony winning, and multi Oscar nominated American composer and lyricist for films, television, and theatre. He is perhaps best known for writing the music and co-writing the lyrics for the Broadway musical version of the John Waters film Hairspray, Shaiman was born in Newark, New Jersey, the son of Claire and William Robert Shaiman. He grew up in Scotch Plains, New Jersey and attended Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School and he lives in both Los Angeles and New York City. Shaiman married Lieutenant Commander Louis Mirabal on March 26,2016, Shaiman started his career as a theatre/cabaret musical director. He then became vocal arranger for Bette Midler, eventually becoming her musical director and co-producer of many of her recordings, including The Wind Beneath My Wings and he helped create the material for her performance on the penultimate The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. His work with both Bette Midler and Billy Crystal led to his involvement on their films and his film credits include Broadcast News, Beaches, When Harry Met Sally. He frequently works on films by Billy Crystal and Rob Reiner and he has also appeared in many of these films. Shaiman has earned five Academy Award nominations, a Tony Award and a Grammy Award for his work on the musical Hairspray, and he is the first recipient of the Film & TV Music Award for Best Score for a Comedy Feature Film. He began his professional relationships with Billy Crystal and Martin Short during his tenure at Saturday Night Live and he wrote and sang the song Yes for his agents film Finding Kraftland. Shaiman co-produced and co-wrote cuts on Mariah Careys 2010 Christmas album Merry Christmas II You, Shaiman wrote original songs for the musical-based television show for NBC, Smash, as well as serving as Executive Producer. Shaiman and co-lyricist Wittman supplied the score for the new musical Charlie, the show has broken box-office house records at The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane and an Original West End Cast recording was released. Shaiman co-wrote Billy Crystals farewell to Jay Leno which featured Carol Burnett, Shaiman and Wittman were honored on April 28,2014, by The New York Pops Orchestra at Carnegie Hall. Shaiman produced Bette Midlers latest recording, Its the Girls, which had the highest debut of Midlers recording career on the Billboard Album charts, Shaiman appeared on The Saturday Night Live 40th Anniversary Special, having co-created Martin Short & Maya Rudolphs salute to musical sketch characters. Jennifer Hudson sang Shaiman and Wittmans Smash song I Cant Let Go at the 87th Academy Awards, after the amendment was passed, donor information became public. To protest the passage of California Proposition 8 in November 2008, the 3-minute video was distributed on the internet at FunnyOrDie. com, beginning on December 3,2008. It was written and produced in just a few days, the cast includes Jack Black, Neil Patrick Harris, John C. Reilly, Allison Janney, Andy Richter, Maya Rudolph, Margaret Cho, Rashida Jones, Shaiman plays the piano and appears briefly in the video. It received 1.2 million internet hits in its first day, † = Oscar nominee Prop 8 - The Musical 2009 Webby winner-Best Comedy, Short or Individual Episode
9.
Castle Rock Entertainment
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Castle Rock Entertainment is an American film and television production company founded in 1987 by Martin Shafer, director Rob Reiner, Andrew Scheinman, Glenn Padnick and Alan Horn. It is a subsidiary of Time Warners Warner Bros, Reiner and Scheinman already had a production company. They were friends with Shafer, who worked with Horn at 20th Century Fox at the time, Horn was disappointed at Fox and agreed to join the trio at forming the company. Horn brought along Padnick, who was an executive at Embassy Television, in Castle Rock, Horn became the CEO, Shafer ran the film division, Padnick ran TV, and Reiner & Scheinman became involved in the development of productions. The company was backed by The Coca-Cola Company, the then-parent company of Columbia Pictures. Coke and the companys founders jointly owned a stake in the company, months after the deal, Coke exited the entertainment business, succeeded by Columbia Pictures Entertainment. In 1989, Castle Rock was supported by another backer, Group W, some of Nelsons holdings were later acquired by New Line Cinema, which took over Nelsons duty. Columbia, shortly after the formation, thereafter had to re-invest with a substantial change in terms when accumulated losses exhausted its initial funding. Reiner has stated that Castle Rocks purpose was to allow freedom to individuals. Castle Rock was to make films of the highest quality, whether they made or lost money, Castle Rock has also produced several television shows, such as the successful sitcom Seinfeld and the animated sitcom Mission Hill. In August 1993, Turner Broadcasting System agreed to acquire Castle Rock, the sale was completed on December 22,1993. The motivation behind the purchase to allow a company to handle the overhead. Turner Broadcasting eventually merged with Time Warner in 1996, Castle Rock Entertainment then became a division of Warner Bros. MGM owns the rights to the pre-1994 Castle Rock Entertainment films because of the acquisition of the pre-1996 PolyGram library where Nelson Entertainment was in it. Warner Bros. through Castle Rock, owns its post-1994 library and the TV rights to the pre-1994 library with the exception of Seinfeld and Thea
10.
Columbia Pictures
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The studio was founded in 1918 as Cohn-Brandt-Cohn Film Sales by brothers Jack and Harry Cohn and Jacks best friend Joe Brandt, released its first feature film in August 1922. It adopted the Columbia Pictures name in 1924, and went public two years later and its name is derived from Columbia, a national personification of the United States, which is used as the studios logo. In its early years, it was a player in Hollywood. With Capra and others, Columbia became one of the homes of the screwball comedy. In the 1930s, Columbias major contract stars were Jean Arthur, in the 1940s, Rita Hayworth became the studios premier star and propelled their fortunes into the late 1950s. Rosalind Russell, Glenn Ford, and William Holden also became major stars at the studio, in 1982, the studio was purchased by The Coca-Cola Company, and launched TriStar Pictures as a joint venture with HBO and CBS. Five years later, Coca-Cola spun off Columbia, which was sold to Tri-Star, after a brief period of independence with Coca-Cola maintaining a financial interest, the combined studio was acquired by Sony in 1989. It is one of the film studios in the world. It was one of the so-called Little Three among the eight major film studios of Hollywoods Golden Age, Brandt was president of CBC Film Sales, handling sales, marketing and distribution from New York along with Jack Cohn, while Harry Cohn ran production in Hollywood. The studios early productions were short subjects, Screen Snapshots, the Hall Room Boys. The start-up CBC leased space in a Poverty Row studio on Hollywoods famously low-rent Gower Street, among Hollywoods elite, the studios small-time reputation led some to joke that CBC stood for Corned Beef and Cabbage. Brandt eventually tired of dealing with the Cohn brothers, and sold his stake to Harry Cohn. In an effort to improve its image, the Cohn brothers renamed the company Columbia Pictures Corporation on January 10,1924, Cohn remained head of production as well, thus concentrating enormous power in his hands. He would run Columbia for the next 34 years, the second-longest tenure of any studio chief, even in an industry rife with nepotism, Columbia was particularly notorious for having a number of Harry and Jacks relatives in high positions. Humorist Robert Benchley called it the Pine Tree Studio, because it has so many Cohns, Columbias product line consisted mostly of moderately budgeted features and short subjects including comedies, sports films, various serials, and cartoons. Columbia gradually moved into the production of higher-budget fare, eventually joining the tier of Hollywood studios along with United Artists. Like United Artists and Universal, Columbia was an integrated company. It controlled production and distribution, it did not own any theaters, helping Columbias climb was the arrival of an ambitious director, Frank Capra
11.
Universal Pictures
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Universal Pictures is an American film studio owned by Comcast through the Universal Filmed Entertainment Group division of its wholly owned subsidiary NBCUniversal. The company was founded in 1912 by Carl Laemmle, Mark Dintenfass, Charles O. Baumann, Adam Kessel, Pat Powers, William Swanson, David Horsley and its studios are located in Universal City, California, and its corporate offices are located in New York City. Universal Pictures is a member of the Motion Picture Association of America and is one of Hollywoods Big Six studios. Universal Studios was founded by Carl Laemmle, Mark Dintenfass, Charles O. Baumann, Adam Kessel, Pat Powers, William Swanson, David Horsley, Robert H. Cochrane, one story has Laemmle watching a box office for hours, counting patrons and calculating the days takings. Within weeks of his Chicago trip, Laemmle gave up dry goods to buy the first several nickelodeons, for Laemmle and other such entrepreneurs, the creation in 1908 of the Edison-backed Motion Picture Trust meant that exhibitors were expected to pay fees for Trust-produced films they showed. Soon, Laemmle and other disgruntled nickelodeon owners decided to avoid paying Edison by producing their own pictures, in June 1909, Laemmle started the Yankee Film Company with partners Abe Stern and Julius Stern. Laemmle broke with Edisons custom of refusing to give billing and screen credits to performers, by naming the movie stars, he attracted many of the leading players of the time, contributing to the creation of the star system. In 1910, he promoted Florence Lawrence, formerly known as The Biograph Girl, the Universal Film Manufacturing Company was incorporated in New York on April 30,1912. Laemmle, who emerged as president in July 1912, was the figure in the partnership with Dintenfass, Baumann, Kessel, Powers, Swanson, Horsley. Eventually all would be out by Laemmle. Following the westward trend of the industry, by the end of 1912 the company was focusing its efforts in the Hollywood area. On March 15,1915, Laemmle opened the worlds largest motion picture production facility, Universal City Studios, studio management became the third facet of Universals operations, with the studio incorporated as a distinct subsidiary organization. Unlike other movie moguls, Laemmle opened his studio to tourists, Universal became the largest studio in Hollywood, and remained so for a decade. However, it sought an audience mostly in towns, producing mostly inexpensive melodramas, westerns. In its early years Universal released three brands of feature films — Red Feather, low-budget programmers, Bluebird, more ambitious productions, and Jewel, their prestige motion pictures. Directors included Jack Conway, John Ford, Rex Ingram, Robert Z. Leonard, George Marshall and Lois Weber, despite Laemmles role as an innovator, he was an extremely cautious studio chief. Unlike rivals Adolph Zukor, William Fox, and Marcus Loew and he also financed all of his own films, refusing to take on debt. Character actor Lon Chaney became a card for Universal in the 1920s
12.
Romance film
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Romance films make the romantic love story or the search for strong and pure love and romance the main plot focus. Occasionally, romance lovers face obstacles such as finances, physical illness, various forms of discrimination, as in all quite strong, deep, and close romantic relationships, tensions of day-to-day life, temptations, and differences in compatibility enter into the plots of romantic films. In romantic television series, the development of romantic relationships may play out over many episodes. Historical romance - A romantic story with a period setting and this includes films such as Gone with the Wind, Doctor Zhivago and Titanic. Romantic drama usually revolves around an obstacle which prevents deep and true love between two people. Music is often employed to indicate the mood, creating an atmosphere of greater insulation for the couple. The conclusion of a romantic drama typically does not indicate whether a final union between the two main characters will occur. Chick flick is a term associated with romance films as many are targeted to a female audience. As such, the terms cannot be used interchangeably, films of this genre include Dirty Dancing, The Notebook, Dear John, A Walk to Remember, and Romeo + Juliet. Romantic comedies are films with light-hearted, humorous plotlines, centered on romantic ideals such as true love is able to surmount most obstacles. Humour in such films tends to be of a verbal, low-key variety or situational, films within this genre include Four Weddings and a Funeral, Love Actually, Moonstruck, As Good as It Gets, Somethings Gotta Give, It Happened One Night, When Harry Met Sally. Romantic fantasies describe fantasy stories using many of the elements and conventions of the romance genre, romantic action comedies are films that blend romantic comedy and action. Examples include Killers, Knight and Day, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, This Means War, romantic thriller is a genre of film which has a storyline combining elements of the romance film and the thriller genre. Some examples of romantic thriller films are The Adjustment Bureau, The Phantom of the Opera, The Tourist, The Bodyguard, Unfaithful, and Wicker Park
13.
Richard Dreyfuss
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Dreyfuss won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1977 for The Goodbye Girl, and was nominated in 1995 for Mr. Hollands Opus. Dreyfuss was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Geraldine Dreyfus, a peace activist, and Norman Dreyfus, an attorney and restaurateur and he has commented that he grew up thinking that Alfred Dreyfus and are from the same family. His father disliked New York, and moved the family first to Europe, and later to Los Angeles, California, Dreyfuss attended Beverly Hills High School. Dreyfuss began acting in his youth, at Temple Emanuel of Beverly Hills Arts Center and he debuted in the TV production In Mamas House, when he was fifteen. During this time, he acted in a few small TV roles on shows, Peyton Place, Gidget, That Girl, Bewitched, during the late 1960s and early 1970s, he also performed on stage on Broadway, Off-Broadway, repertory, and improvisational theater. Dreyfuss appeared in the play The Time of Your Life, which was revived on March 17,1972 at the Huntington Hartford Theater in Los Angeles, dreyfusss first film role was a small, uncredited appearance in The Graduate. He had one line, Shall I get the cops and he was also briefly seen as a stage hand in Valley of the Dolls, in which he had a few lines. In 1973 he starred in the CBS pilot Catch-22 and he appeared in the subsequent Dillinger, and landed a role in the 1973 hit American Graffiti, acting with other future stars such as Harrison Ford and Ron Howard. Dreyfuss played his first lead role in the Canadian film The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, receiving positive reviews, Dreyfuss went on to star in the box office blockbusters Jaws and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, both directed by Steven Spielberg. This record stood for 25 years until it was broken in 2003 by Adrien Brody and he entered rehabilitation and eventually made a Hollywood comeback with the films Down And Out In Beverly Hills in 1986 and Stakeout the following year. Dreyfuss also starred in the Rob Reiner movie, Stand by Me, Dreyfuss plays the elder Gordie Lachance, who narrates the film. In 1988, he reunited with director Paul Mazursky to star in the political farce Moon Over Parador, in 1989, Dreyfuss reunited with Spielberg on Always, a remake of A Guy Named Joe in which he co-starred with Holly Hunter. He had a role opposite Bill Murray in the 1991 comedy What About Bob. as a psychiatrist who goes crazy while trying to cope with a particularly obsessive new patient. That same year, Dreyfuss produced and starred as Georges Picquart in Prisoner of Honor and he recited Kaddish as part of a performance of Leonard Bernsteins Third Symphony with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Gilbert Levine. Dreyfuss was nominated for an Oscar and a Golden Globe for his performance as Glenn Holland in Mr. Hollands Opus, since then, he has continued working in the movies, television and the stage. In 2001/2002, he played Max Bickford in the television drama The Education of Max Bickford, in April 2004, he appeared in the revival of Sly Fox on Broadway. Dreyfuss recorded the voiceover to the Apple, Inc. then Apple Computer, think Different ad campaign in 1997. In November 2004, he was scheduled to appear in The Producers in London, both he and his assistant for the production stated that Dreyfuss was accumulating injuries that required him to wear physical therapy supports during rehearsals
14.
Lobbying
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Lobbying is the act of attempting to influence the actions, policies, or decisions of officials in their daily life, most often legislators or members of regulatory agencies. Lobbying is done by many types of people, associations and organized groups, including individuals in the sector, corporations, fellow legislators or government officials. Lobbyists may be among a legislators constituencies, meaning a voter or bloc of voters within their district, or not, they may engage in lobbying as a business. Professional lobbyists are people whose business is trying to influence legislation, regulation, or other government decisions, actions, individuals and nonprofit organizations can also lobby as an act of volunteering or as a small part of their normal job. Governments often define and regulate organized group lobbying that has become influential, the ethics and morality of lobbying are dual-edged. Lobbying is often spoken of with contempt, when the implication is that people with inordinate socioeconomic power are corrupting the law in order to serve their own interests. The failure of government officials to serve the public interest as a consequence of lobbying by special interests who provide benefits to the official is an example of agent misdirection. One story held that the term originated at the Willard Hotel in Washington, DC, a lobbyist is a person who tries to influence legislation on behalf of a special interest or a member of a lobby. Governments often define and regulate organized group lobbying as part of laws to prevent political corruption, Lobby groups may concentrate their efforts on the legislatures, where laws are created, but may also use the judicial branch to advance their causes. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, for example, filed suits in state and their efforts resulted in the Supreme Court declaring such laws unconstitutional. They may use a device known as amicus curiae, literally friend of the court. Briefs are written documents filed with a court, typically by parties to a lawsuit, amici curiae briefs are briefs filed by people or groups who are not parties to a suit. These briefs are entered into the records, and give additional background on the matter being decided upon. Advocacy groups use these briefs both to share their expertise and to promote their positions, over the past twenty years lobbying in Australia has grown from a small industry of a few hundred employees to a multibillion-dollar per year industry. Lobbying has become a fact of life and is now endemic in local, state. It is not just the local councillors and state and federal politicians being lobbied, in Australia, lobbyists are expected to organise a pass to obtain access to the federal parliament. The Parliamentary Pass must be signed by two parliamentarians and it is administered by the Department of Parliamentary Services and has the enforcement of the Criminal Code Act 1995. The Pass is valid for two years, however, the Parliamentary Pass is not absolutely necessary, as some lobbyists are simply signed in on the day of their visit as guests of Senators or Members
15.
Academy Awards
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The various category winners are awarded a copy of a golden statuette, officially called the Academy Award of Merit, which has become commonly known by its nickname Oscar. The awards, first presented in 1929 at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, are overseen by AMPAS, the awards ceremony was first broadcast on radio in 1930 and televised for the first time in 1953. It is now live in more than 200 countries and can be streamed live online. The Academy Awards ceremony is the oldest worldwide entertainment awards ceremony and its equivalents – the Emmy Awards for television, the Tony Awards for theater, and the Grammy Awards for music and recording – are modeled after the Academy Awards. The 89th Academy Awards ceremony, honoring the best films of 2016, were held on February 26,2017, at the Dolby Theatre, in Los Angeles, the ceremony was hosted by Jimmy Kimmel and was broadcast on ABC. A total of 3,048 Oscars have been awarded from the inception of the award through the 88th, the first Academy Awards presentation was held on May 16,1929, at a private dinner function at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel with an audience of about 270 people. The post-awards party was held at the Mayfair Hotel, the cost of guest tickets for that nights ceremony was $5. Fifteen statuettes were awarded, honoring artists, directors and other participants in the industry of the time. The ceremony ran for 15 minutes, winners were announced to media three months earlier, however, that was changed for the second ceremony in 1930. Since then, for the rest of the first decade, the results were given to newspapers for publication at 11,00 pm on the night of the awards. The first Best Actor awarded was Emil Jannings, for his performances in The Last Command and he had to return to Europe before the ceremony, so the Academy agreed to give him the prize earlier, this made him the first Academy Award winner in history. With the fourth ceremony, however, the system changed, for the first six ceremonies, the eligibility period spanned two calendar years. At the 29th ceremony, held on March 27,1957, until then, foreign-language films had been honored with the Special Achievement Award. The 74th Academy Awards, held in 2002, presented the first Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, since 1973, all Academy Awards ceremonies always end with the Academy Award for Best Picture. The Academy also awards Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting, see also § Awards of Merit categories The best known award is the Academy Award of Merit, more popularly known as the Oscar statuette. The five spokes represent the branches of the Academy, Actors, Writers, Directors, Producers. The model for the statuette is said to be Mexican actor Emilio El Indio Fernández, sculptor George Stanley sculpted Cedric Gibbons design. The statuettes presented at the ceremonies were gold-plated solid bronze
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Golden Globe Award
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Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign. The annual ceremony at which the awards are presented is a part of the film industrys awards season. The 74th Golden Globe Awards, honoring the best in film, the 1st Golden Globe Awards, honoring the best achievements in 1943 filmmaking, was held in January 1944, at the 20th Century-Fox studios. Subsequent ceremonies were held at venues throughout the next decade, including the Beverly Hills Hotel. In 1950, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association made the decision to establish an honorary award to recognize outstanding contributions to the entertainment industry. Recognizing its subject as a figure within the entertainment industry. The official name of the award became the Cecil B. In 1963, the Miss Golden Globe concept was introduced, in its inaugural year, two Miss Golden Globes were named, one for film and one for television. The two Miss Golden Globes named that year were Eva Six and Donna Douglas, respectively, in 2009, the Golden Globe statuette was redesigned. It was unveiled at a conference at the Beverly Hilton prior to the show. The broadcast of the Golden Globe Awards, telecast to 167 countries worldwide, generally ranks as the third most-watched awards show each year, behind only the Oscars, gervais returned to host the 68th and 69th Golden Globe Awards the next two years. Tina Fey and Amy Poehler hosted the 70th, 71st and 72nd Golden Globe Awards in 2015, the Golden Globe Awards theme song, which debuted in 2012, was written by Japanese musician and songwriter Yoshiki Hayashi. On January 7,2008, it was announced due to the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike. The ceremony was faced with a threat by striking writers to picket the event, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association was forced to adopt another approach for the broadcast. In acting categories, Meryl Streep holds the record for the most competitive Golden Globe wins with eight, however, including honorary awards, such as the Henrietta Award, World Film Favorite Actor/Actress Award, or Cecil B. DeMille Award, Barbra Streisand leads with nine, additionally, Streisand won for composing the song Evergreen, producing the Best Picture, and directing Yentl in 1984. Jack Nicholson, Angela Lansbury, Alan Alda and Shirley MacLaine have six awards each, behind them are Rosalind Russell and Jessica Lange with five wins. Meryl Streep also holds the record for most nominations with thirty, at the 46th Golden Globe Awards an anomaly occurred, a three way-tie for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama
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American Film Institute
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The American Film Institute is an American film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the moving picture arts in America. AFI is supported by funding and public membership. The institute is composed of leaders from the film, entertainment, business, a board of trustees chaired by Sir Howard Stringer and a board of directors chaired by Robert A. Daly guide the organization, which is led by President and CEO Bob Gazzale. Prior leaders were founding director George Stevens, Jr. and Jean Picker Firstenberg. <ref>AFI Board of Trustees etc. American Film Institute. October 2014. Retrieved December 24,2014. </ref>Two years later, in 1967, AFI was established, supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Motion Picture Association of America and the Ford Foundation. The institute established a program for filmmakers known then as the Center for Advanced Film Studies. The institute moved to its current eight-acre Hollywood campus in 1981, the film training program grew into the AFI Conservatory, an accredited graduate school. AFI educates audiences and recognizes excellence through its awards programs and 10 Top 10 Lists. In 1969, the established the AFI Conservatory for Advanced Film Studies at Greystone. The first class included filmmakers Terrence Malick, Caleb Deschanel and Paul Schrader, mirroring a professional production environment, Fellows collaborate to make more films than any other graduate level program. Admission to AFI Conservatory is highly selective, with a maximum of 140 graduates per year, in 2013, Emmy and Oscar-winning director, producer and screenwriter James L. Brooks joined AFI as Artistic Director of the AFI Conservatory where he provides leadership for the film program. Brooks artistic role at the AFI Conservatory has a legacy that includes Daniel Petrie, Jr. Robert Wise. Award-winning director Bob Mandel served as Dean of the AFI Conservatory for nine years, jan Schuette took over as Dean in 2014. AFI Conservatorys alumni have careers in film, television and on the web and they have been recognized with all of the major industry awards – Academy Award, Emmy Award, guild awards, and the Tony Award. The AFI Catalog, started in 1968, is a web-based filmographic database, early print copies of this catalog may also be found at your local library. Each year the AFI Awards honor the ten outstanding films and ten outstanding television programs, the awards are a non-competitive acknowledgement of excellence. The Awards are announced in December and a luncheon for award honorees takes place the following January. The juries consisted of over 1,500 artists, scholars, critics and historians, with movies selected based on the films popularity over time, historical significance, citizen Kane was voted the greatest American film twice. AFI operates two film festivals, AFI Fest in Los Angeles, and AFI Docs in Silver Spring, Maryland, AFI Fest is the American Film Institutes annual celebration of artistic excellence
18.
Democratic Party (United States)
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The Democratic Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The Democrats dominant worldview was once socially conservative and fiscally classical liberalism, while, especially in the rural South, since Franklin D. Roosevelt and his New Deal coalition in the 1930s, the Democratic Party has also promoted a social-liberal platform, supporting social justice. Today, the House Democratic caucus is composed mostly of progressives and centrists, the partys philosophy of modern liberalism advocates social and economic equality, along with the welfare state. It seeks to provide government intervention and regulation in the economy, the party has united with smaller left-wing regional parties throughout the country, such as the Farmer–Labor Party in Minnesota and the Nonpartisan League in North Dakota. Well into the 20th century, the party had conservative pro-business, the New Deal Coalition of 1932–1964 attracted strong support from voters of recent European extraction—many of whom were Catholics based in the cities. After Franklin D. Roosevelts New Deal of the 1930s, the pro-business wing withered outside the South, after the racial turmoil of the 1960s, most southern whites and many northern Catholics moved into the Republican Party at the presidential level. The once-powerful labor union element became smaller and less supportive after the 1970s, white Evangelicals and Southerners became heavily Republican at the state and local level in the 1990s. However, African Americans became a major Democratic element after 1964, after 2000, Hispanic and Latino Americans, Asian Americans, the LGBT community, single women and professional women moved towards the party as well. The Northeast and the West Coast became Democratic strongholds by 1990 after the Republicans stopped appealing to socially liberal voters there, overall, the Democratic Party has retained a membership lead over its major rival the Republican Party. The most recent was the 44th president Barack Obama, who held the office from 2009 to 2017, in the 115th Congress, following the 2016 elections, Democrats are the opposition party, holding a minority of seats in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. The party also holds a minority of governorships, and state legislatures, though they do control the mayoralty of cities such as New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, and Washington, D. C. The Democratic Party traces its origins to the inspiration of the Democratic-Republican Party, founded by Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and that party also inspired the Whigs and modern Republicans. Organizationally, the modern Democratic Party truly arose in the 1830s, since the nomination of William Jennings Bryan in 1896, the party has generally positioned itself to the left of the Republican Party on economic issues. They have been liberal on civil rights issues since 1948. On foreign policy both parties changed position several times and that party, the Democratic-Republican Party, came to power in the election of 1800. After the War of 1812 the Federalists virtually disappeared and the national political party left was the Democratic-Republicans. The Democratic-Republican party still had its own factions, however. As Norton explains the transformation in 1828, Jacksonians believed the peoples will had finally prevailed, through a lavishly financed coalition of state parties, political leaders, and newspaper editors, a popular movement had elected the president
19.
White House Chief of Staff
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The White House Chief of Staff has traditionally been the highest-ranking employee of the White House. With the creation of the new position of White House Chief Strategist by the Trump administration, the Chief of Staffs position is a modern successor to the earlier role of the presidents private secretary. The role was formalized as the assistant to the president in 1946, the Chief of Staff is appointed by and serves at the pleasure of the president, it does not require Senate confirmation. Reince Priebus is the current Chief of Staff, the duties of the White House chief of staff vary greatly from one administration to another, and in fact, there is no legal requirement that the president even fill the position. Because of these duties, the chief of staff has at times been labeled The Gatekeeper. Originally, the duties now performed by the chief of staff belonged to the private secretary and were fulfilled by crucial confidants. Cortelyou, Joseph Tumulty, and Louis McHenry Howe to Presidents Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, the job of gatekeeper and overseeing the presidents schedule was separately delegated to the appointments secretary, as with FDRs aide Edwin Pa Watson. From 1933 to 1939, as he expanded the scope of the federal governments policies and powers in response to the Great Depression. It was not until 1939, during Franklin D. Roosevelts second term in office, Roosevelt was able to get Congress to approve the creation of the Executive Office of the President, which would report directly to the president. In 1946, in response to the growth of the U. S. governments executive branch. Charged with the affairs of the White House, it was the predecessor to the modern chief of staff. It was in 1953, under Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower, assistant to the president became a rank generally shared by the chief of staff with such senior aides as deputy chiefs of staff, the White House counsel, the White House press secretary, and others. This new system did not catch on immediately and this concentration of power in the Nixon and Ford White House led presidential candidate Jimmy Carter to campaign in 1976 with the promise that he would not appoint a chief of staff. And indeed, for the first two and a years of his presidency, he appointed no one to the post. The average term of service for a White House chief of staff is a little under 2.5 years, john R. Steelman, under Harry S. Truman, was the last chief of staff to serve for an entire presidential administration. Steelman also holds the record for longest-serving chief of staff, most White House chiefs of staff are former politicians, and many continue their political careers in other senior roles. Lyndon Johnsons chief of staff W. Marvin Watson became postmaster general later in LBJs term, richard Nixons Chief of Staff Alexander Haig became secretary of state under Ronald Reagan. Cheney later became a Congressman for Wyoming, secretary of defense under George H. W. Bush and vice president in the George W. Bush administration
20.
Conservatism in the United States
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Historians argue that the conservative tradition has played a major role in American politics and culture since the 1790s. However they have stressed that a conservative movement has played a key role in politics only since the 1950s. The recent movement is based in the Republican Party, though some Democrats were also important figures early in the movements history, the history of American conservatism has been marked by tensions and competing ideologies. Fiscal conservatives and libertarians favor small government, low taxes, limited regulation, Social conservatives see traditional social values as threatened by secularism, they tend to support voluntary school prayer and oppose abortion and same sex marriage. Some also want the teaching of intelligent design or creationism allowed, the 21st century has seen an increasingly fervent conservative support for Second Amendment rights of private citizens to own firearms. Neoconservatives want to expand American ideals throughout the world, paleoconservatives advocate restrictions on immigration, non-interventionist foreign policy, and stand in opposition to multiculturalism. Nationwide most factions, except some libertarians, support a unilateral foreign policy, the conservative movement of the 1950s attempted to bring together these divergent strands, stressing the need for unity to prevent the spread of godless communism. All other activities of government tend to diminish freedom and hamper progress, the growth of government must be fought relentlessly. In this great social conflict of the era, we are, without reservations and we believe that truth is neither arrived at nor illuminated by monitoring election results, binding though these are for other purposes, but by other means, including a study of human experience. On this point we are, without reservations, on the conservative side, President Ronald Reagan set the conservative standard in the 1980s, in the 2010s the Republican leaders typically claim fealty to it. For example, most of the Republican candidates in 2012 claimed to be standardbearers of Reagans ideological legacy, the 1980s and beyond became known as the Reagan Era. Typically, conservative politicians and spokesmen in the 21st century proclaim their devotion to Reagans ideals and policies on most social, economic and they support a strong policy of law and order to control crime, including long jail terms for repeat offenders. Most conservatives support the death penalty for particularly egregious crimes, the law and order issue was a major factor weakening liberalism in the 1960s. From 2001 to 2008, Republican President George W. Bush stressed cutting taxes and minimizing regulation of industry and banking, Conservatives generally advocate the use of American military power to fight terrorists and promote democracy in the Middle East. According to a 2014 poll, 38% of American voters identify as conservative or very conservative, 34% as moderate, although the study does show some distinction between the concentration of moderates and conservatives or liberals between the Republican and Democratic parties. Among Democrats, 44% are self-identified liberals, 19% as conservatives, for Republicans 70% self-identified as conservative, 24% as moderate, and 5% as liberal. Conservatism appears to be growing stronger at the state level, the trend is most pronounced among the least well-off, least educated, most blue collar, most economically hard-hit states. Conservatives generally believe that government action is not the solution to problems as poverty and inequality
21.
Liberalism in the United States
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Liberalism in the United States is a broad political philosophy centered on the unalienable rights of the individual. Modern liberalism in the United States includes issues such as marriage, voting rights for all adult citizens, civil rights, environmentalism. The origins of American liberalism lie in the ideals of the Enlightenment. The Constitution of the United States of 1787 set up the first modern republic, with sovereignty in the people, however, the Constitution limited liberty, in particular by accepting slavery. The Founding Fathers recognized the contradiction, and most expected slavery to wither away, indeed, it was abolished in all the Northern states by 1804, but due to the demand for raw cotton by the Industrial Revolution, plantation slavery continued to flourish in the Deep South. From the time of the American Revolution to the present day, the states abolished many restrictions on voting for white males in the early 19th century. The Constitution was amended in 1865 to abolish slavery, in 1870 to extend the vote to Black men, in 1920 to extend the vote to women, and in 1971 to lower the voting age to 18. The Jim Crow system of the South between the 1890s and 1960s relegated blacks to second class citizenship, until it was overthrown by the Civil Rights Movement, thomas Jefferson believed that America should remain a nation of small farmers. As the American economy began to shift to manufacturing and services, liberals began to fear threats to liberty from corruption and monopolies. The dominance of the Republican Party for most of the era 1860–1932, the Third Party System, during the Progressive Era of the early 20th century, laws were passed restricting monopolies and regulating railroad rates. According to James Reichley, it was during this era that the term took on its current meaning. Prior to the early 1900s, the term had usually described classical liberalism, which emphasizes limited government, and Theodore Roosevelt who came out of retirement to run again for president under a third party called Progressive Party. Later, political figures such as Franklin Roosevelt adopted the term liberal to describe an individual in favor of some government activism, after 1933, modern liberals used the New Deal to provide jobs during the Great Depression. The Social Security Act of 1935 provided retirement and disability income for Americans unable to work or unable to find jobs, in the Social Security Act of 1965, this was extended to provide benefits for Americans unable to work due to illness. A reaction against modern American liberalism began with Barry Goldwater, which led to the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980. Deregulation began in the mid-1970s and had support from both liberals and conservatives. Clinton pushed to extend modern liberal ideals especially in the areas of health care, according to Louis Hartz, liberalism was the only significant political tradition in the United States. However, in the 1970s, Bernard Bailyn, Gordon Wood, in the 1980s, J. David Green returned to Hartzs thesis, but saw two different types of liberalism in the tradition, which he called humanist and reform
22.
State of the Union
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The State of the Union address is a speech presented by the President of the United States to a joint session of the United States Congress, except in the first year of a new presidents term. The address not only reports on the condition of the nation but also allows the President to outline his legislative agenda, during most of the countrys first century, the President primarily only submitted a written report to Congress. With the advent of radio and television, the address is now broadcast live across the country on most networks, although the language of this Section of the Constitution is not specific, by tradition, the President makes this report annually in late January or early February. Between 1934 and 2013 the date has been as early as January 3, before that time, most presidents delivered the State of the Union as a written report. When a presidential inauguration occurs in January, the date may be delayed until February, what began as a communication between president and Congress has become a communication between the president and the people of the United States. Since the advent of radio, and then television, the speech has been broadcast live on most networks, to reach the largest audience, the speech, once given during the day, is now typically given in the evening, after 9pm ET. George Washington delivered the first regular annual message before a joint session of Congress on January 8,1790, in New York City, in 1801, Thomas Jefferson discontinued the practice of delivering the address in person, regarding it as too monarchical. Instead, the address was written and then sent to Congress to be read by a clerk until 1913 when Woodrow Wilson re-established the practice despite some initial controversy, however, there have been exceptions to this rule. Presidents during the half of the 20th century have sent written State of the Union addresses. The last President to do this was Jimmy Carter in 1981, for many years, the speech was referred to as the Presidents Annual Message to Congress. The actual term State of the Union first emerged in 1934 when Franklin D. Roosevelt used the phrase, prior to 1934, the annual message was delivered at the end of the calendar year, in December. The ratification of the 20th Amendment on January 23,1933 changed the opening of Congress from early March to early January, since 1934, the message or address has been delivered to Congress in January or February. The Twentieth Amendment also established January 20 as the beginning of the presidential term, in years when a new president is inaugurated, the outgoing president may deliver a final State of the Union message, but none has done so since Jimmy Carter sent a written message in 1981. In 1953 and 1961, Congress received both a written State of the Union message from the president and a separate State of the Union speech by the incoming president. In 1936, President Roosevelt set a precedent when he delivered the address at night, only once before—when Woodrow Wilson asked Congress to order the U. S. into World War I—had a sitting president addressed Congress at night. Calvin Coolidges 1923 speech was the first to be broadcast on radio, harry S. Trumans 1947 address was the first to be broadcast on television. Johnsons address in 1965 was the first delivered in the evening, three years later, in 1968, television networks in the United States, for the first time, imposed no time limit for their coverage of a State of the Union address. Johnson, this address was followed by extensive televised commentary by, among others, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Ronald Reagans 1986 State of the Union Address is the only one to have been postponed
23.
President of France
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The President of the French Republic, is the executive head of state of the French Fifth Republic. The powers, functions and duties of prior presidential offices, and their relation with the prime minister, the current President of France is François Hollande, who took office on 15 May 2012. Hollande has announced that he stand down in the upcoming 2017 French presidential election. President Chirac was first elected in 1995 and again in 2002, at that time, there was no limit on the number of terms, so Chirac could have run again, but chose not to. He was succeeded by Nicolas Sarkozy on 16 May 2007, following a further change, the Constitutional law on the Modernisation of the Institutions of the Fifth Republic,2008, a president cannot serve more than two consecutive terms. François Mitterrand and Jacques Chirac are the only Presidents to date who have served a two terms. In order to be admitted as a candidate, potential candidates must receive signed nominations from more than 500 elected officials. These officials must be from at least 30 départements or overseas collectivities, furthermore, each official may nominate only one candidate. There are exactly 45,543 elected officials, including 33,872 mayors, spending and financing of campaigns and political parties are highly regulated. There is a cap on spending, at approximately 20 million euros, if the candidate receives less than 5% of the vote, the government funds €8,000,000 to the party. Advertising on TV is forbidden but official time is given to candidates on public TV, an independent agency regulates election and party financing. After the president is elected, he or she goes through an investiture ceremony called a passation des pouvoirs. The French Fifth Republic is a semi-presidential system, unlike many other European presidents, the French President is quite powerful. The president holds the nations most senior office, and outranks all other politicians, the presidents greatest power is his/her ability to choose the prime minister. When the majority of the Assembly has opposite political views to that of the president, when the majority of the Assembly sides with them, the President can take a more active role and may, in effect, direct government policy. The prime minister is then the choice of the President. This device has been used in recent years by François Mitterrand, Jacques Chirac, since 2002, the mandate of the president and the Assembly are both 5 years and the two elections are close to each other. Therefore, the likelihood of a cohabitation is lower, among the powers of the government, The president promulgates laws
24.
State dinner
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It may form part of a state visit or diplomatic conference. In many countries around the world, there are different rules governed by protocol. In India, state banquets are held for foreign heads of state, Indian and foreign business leaders also attend. At the beginning of a banquet, a foreign head of state is greeted by the president in the North Drawing Room. A tent constructed in the Mughal Garden within the environs of the palace is the outdoor setting for state banquets. During the evening, the gardens are lit up with earthen diyas, string lights, inside the tent, speeches highlighting bilateral diplomatic relations are delivered by the President of India and the foreign head of state. The guests are offered a sumptuous meal of Indian delicacies while the Indian Navy Band performs music. State banquets follow an official ceremony which occurs at the Rashtrapati Bhavan earlier in the day. In the United Kingdom, state dinners are hosted by the head of state, traditionally all state dinners were held at Buckingham Palace because of its position in the heart of London. However, in recent years, banquets have also held at Windsor Castle in Berkshire. Organisation of the state dinner usually falls to the Master of the Household with a seating plan confirmed both by the Queen and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. State dinners are held for visiting heads of state and are very elaborate, Royal Protocol is generally very strict. All speeches that are read are again checked and confirmed by the Foreign office, gifts are exchanged by both parties. A state dinner is hosted by the President of the United States, other formal dinners for important people of other nations, such as a prince or princess, are called official dinners, the difference being that the federal government does not pay for them. State and official dinners are dictated by strict protocol in order to ensure that no diplomatic gaffes occur, the Graphics and Calligraphy Office located in the East Wing of the White House also bears numerous responsibilities. The White House Chief Calligrapher creates place cards with the names of the guests who are assigned seats around the tables in the State Dining Room, the Chief Calligrapher also designs and writes formal invitations that are mailed to the postal addresses of the guests. As is customary for all incoming state visits by foreign heads of state, in addition, state dinners held in recent years are also given media coverage by the public affairs TV channel, C-SPAN. In the early 19th century, dinners honoring the presidents Cabinet, Congress, under such conditions, large receptions and dinners were a rare occurrence as Washington, D. C. society was a collection of isolated villages widely separated and at times almost inaccessible
25.
Carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere
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Carbon dioxide is an important trace gas in Earths atmosphere. Currently it constitutes about 0. 04% by volume of the atmosphere, despite its relatively small concentration CO2 is a potent greenhouse gas and plays a vital role in regulating Earths surface temperature through radiative forcing and the greenhouse effect. Carbon dioxide is an part of the carbon cycle, a biogeochemical cycle in which carbon is exchanged between the Earths oceans, soil, rocks and the biosphere. Plants and other photoautotrophs use solar energy to produce carbohydrate from atmospheric carbon dioxide, almost all other organisms depend on carbohydrate derived from photosynthesis as their primary source of energy and carbon compounds. The current episode of global warming is attributed to increasing emissions of CO2, the present concentration is the highest in at least the past 800,000 years and likely the highest in the past 20 million years. The increase has been caused by anthropogenic sources, particularly the burning of fossil fuels, the daily average concentration of atmospheric CO2 at Mauna Loa Observatory first exceeded 400 ppm on 10 May 2013. It is currently rising at a rate of approximately 2 ppm/year, an estimated 30–40% of the CO2 released by humans into the atmosphere dissolves into oceans, rivers and lakes, which contributes to ocean acidification. Each part per million by volume represents approximately 2.13 gigatonnes of carbon in the atmosphere as a whole, following the start of the Industrial Revolution, atmospheric CO2 concentration has increased to 400 parts per million and continues to increase. This has caused the phenomenon of global warming, the global average concentration of CO2 in Earths atmosphere is currently about 0. 04%, or 400 parts per million by volume. There is a fluctuation of about 3–9 ppm which is negatively correlated with the Northern Hemispheres growing season. The Northern Hemisphere dominates the annual cycle of CO2 concentration because it has much greater land area, concentrations reach a peak in May as the Northern Hemisphere spring greenup begins, and decline to a minimum in October, near the end of the growing season. At the scientific recording station in Mauna Loa, the concentration reached 400 ppm for the first time in May 2013, the current concentration may be the highest in the last 20 million years. Carbon dioxide concentrations have varied widely over the Earths 4.54 billion year history, Carbon dioxide is believed to have been present in Earths first atmosphere, shortly after Earths formation. On long timescales, atmospheric CO2 concentration is determined by the balance among geochemical processes including organic carbon burial in sediments, silicate rock weathering, the net effect of slight imbalances in the carbon cycle over tens to hundreds of millions of years has been to reduce atmospheric CO2. On a timescale of billions of years, such downward trend appears bound to continue indefinitely as occasional massive historical releases of buried carbon due to volcanism will become less frequent. The rates of processes are extremely slow, hence they are of no relevance to the atmospheric CO2 concentration over the next hundreds or thousands of years. The loss of plant life would also result in the loss of oxygen. The most direct method for measuring atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations for periods before instrumental sampling is to measure bubbles of air trapped in the Antarctic or Greenland ice sheets
26.
Republican Party (United States)
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The Republican Party, commonly referred to as the GOP, is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, the other being its historic rival, the Democratic Party. The party is named after republicanism, the dominant value during the American Revolution and it was founded by anti-slavery activists, modernists, ex-Whigs, and ex-Free Soilers in 1854. The Republicans dominated politics nationally and in the majority of northern States for most of the period between 1860 and 1932, there have been 19 Republican presidents, the most from any one party. The Republican Partys current ideology is American conservatism, which contrasts with the Democrats more progressive platform, further, its platform involves support for free market capitalism, free enterprise, fiscal conservatism, a strong national defense, deregulation, and restrictions on labor unions. In addition to advocating for economic policies, the Republican Party is socially conservative. As of 2017, the GOP is documented as being at its strongest position politically since 1928, in addition to holding the Presidency, the Republicans control the 115th United States Congress, having majorities in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. The party also holds a majority of governorships and state legislatures, the main cause was opposition to the Kansas–Nebraska Act, which repealed the Missouri Compromise by which slavery was kept out of Kansas. The Northern Republicans saw the expansion of slavery as a great evil, the first public meeting of the general anti-Nebraska movement where the name Republican was suggested for a new anti-slavery party was held on March 20,1854, in a schoolhouse in Ripon, Wisconsin. The name was chosen to pay homage to Thomas Jeffersons Republican Party. The first official party convention was held on July 6,1854, in Jackson and it oversaw the preserving of the union, the end of slavery, and the provision of equal rights to all men in the American Civil War and Reconstruction, 1861–1877. The Republicans initial base was in the Northeast and the upper Midwest, with the realignment of parties and voters in the Third Party System, the strong run of John C. Fremont in the 1856 United States presidential election demonstrated it dominated most northern states, early Republican ideology was reflected in the 1856 slogan free labor, free land, free men, which had been coined by Salmon P. Chase, a Senator from Ohio. Free labor referred to the Republican opposition to labor and belief in independent artisans. Free land referred to Republican opposition to the system whereby slaveowners could buy up all the good farm land. The Party strove to contain the expansion of slavery, which would cause the collapse of the slave power, Lincoln, representing the fast-growing western states, won the Republican nomination in 1860 and subsequently won the presidency. The party took on the mission of preserving the Union, and destroying slavery during the American Civil War, in the election of 1864, it united with War Democrats to nominate Lincoln on the National Union Party ticket. The partys success created factionalism within the party in the 1870s and those who felt that Reconstruction had been accomplished and was continued mostly to promote the large-scale corruption tolerated by President Ulysses S. Grant ran Horace Greeley for the presidency. The Stalwarts defended Grant and the system, the Half-Breeds led by Chester A. Arthur pushed for reform of the civil service in 1883
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Michigan
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Michigan /ˈmɪʃᵻɡən/ is a state in the Great Lakes and Midwestern regions of the United States. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, Michigan is the tenth most populous of the 50 United States, with the 11th most extensive total area. Its capital is Lansing, and its largest city is Detroit, Michigan is the only state to consist of two peninsulas. The Lower Peninsula, to which the name Michigan was originally applied, is noted to be shaped like a mitten. The Upper Peninsula is separated from the Lower Peninsula by the Straits of Mackinac, the two peninsulas are connected by the Mackinac Bridge. The state has the longest freshwater coastline of any political subdivision in the world, being bounded by four of the five Great Lakes, as a result, it is one of the leading U. S. states for recreational boating. Michigan also has 64,980 inland lakes and ponds, a person in the state is never more than six miles from a natural water source or more than 85 miles from a Great Lakes shoreline. What is now the state of Michigan was first settled by Native American tribes before being colonized by French explorers in the 17th century, the area was organized as part of the larger Northwest Territory until 1800, when western Michigan became part of the Indiana Territory. Eventually, in 1805, the Michigan Territory was formed, which lasted until it was admitted into the Union on January 26,1837, the state of Michigan soon became an important center of industry and trade in the Great Lakes region and a popular immigrant destination. Though Michigan has come to develop an economy, it is widely known as the center of the U. S. automotive industry. When the first European explorers arrived, the most populous tribes were Algonquian peoples, which include the Anishinaabe groups of Ojibwe, Odaawaa/Odawa, the three nations co-existed peacefully as part of a loose confederation called the Council of Three Fires. The Ojibwe, whose numbers are estimated to have been between 25,000 and 35,000, were the largest, French voyageurs and coureurs des bois explored and settled in Michigan in the 17th century. The first Europeans to reach what became Michigan were those of Étienne Brûlés expedition in 1622, the first permanent European settlement was founded in 1668 on the site where Père Jacques Marquette established Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan as a base for Catholic missions, missionaries in 1671–75 founded outlying stations at Saint Ignace and Marquette. Jesuit missionaries were received by the areas Indian populations, with relatively few difficulties or hostilities. In 1679, Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle built Fort Miami at present-day St. Joseph, in 1691, the French established a trading post and Fort St. Joseph along the St. Joseph River at the present day city of Niles. The hundred soldiers and workers who accompanied Cadillac built a fort enclosing one arpent, cadillacs wife, Marie Thérèse Guyon, soon moved to Detroit, becoming one of the first European women to settle in the Michigan wilderness. The town quickly became a major fur-trading and shipping post, the Église de Saint-Anne was founded the same year
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Hartford, Connecticut
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Hartford is the capital of the U. S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960, as of the 2010 Census, Hartfords population was 124,775, making it Connecticuts third-largest city after the coastal cities of Bridgeport and New Haven. Census Bureau estimates since then have indicated Hartfords subsequent fall to fourth place statewide as a result of sustained growth in the coastal city of Stamford. Nicknamed the Insurance Capital of the World, Hartford houses many insurance company headquarters, founded in 1635, Hartford is among the oldest cities in the United States. In 1868, resident Mark Twain wrote, Of all the towns it has been my fortune to see this is the chief. Following the American Civil War, Hartford was the richest city in the United States for several decades, today, Hartford is one of the poorest cities in the nation with 3 out of every 10 families living below the poverty line. In sharp contrast, the Hartford metropolitan area is ranked 32nd of 318 metropolitan areas in total economic production, various tribes, all part of the loose Algonquin confederation, lived in or around present-day Hartford. The area was referred to as Suckiaug, meaning Black Fertile River-Enhanced Earth, the first Europeans known to have explored the area were the Dutch, under Adriaen Block, who sailed up the Connecticut in 1614. Dutch fur traders from New Amsterdam returned in 1623 with a mission to establish a trading post, the original site was located on the south bank of the Park River in the present-day Sheldon/Charter Oak neighborhood. This fort was called Fort Hoop, or the House of Hope, in 1633, Jacob Van Curler formally bought the land around Fort Hoop from the Pequot chief for a small sum. It was home to perhaps a couple families and a few dozen soldiers, the area today is known as Dutch Point, and the name of the Dutch fort, House of Hope, is reflected in the name of Huyshope Avenue. The fort was abandoned by 1654, but its neighborhood in Hartford is still known as Dutch Point, the Dutch outpost, and the tiny contingent of Dutch soldiers that were stationed there, did little to check the English migration. The Dutch soon realized they were vastly outnumbered, the House of Hope remained an outpost, but it was steadily swallowed up by waves of English settlers. The English began to arrive 1637, settling upstream from Fort Hoop near the present-day Downtown, the settlement was originally called Newtown, but was changed to Hartford in 1637 in honor of Stones hometown of Hertford, England. Hooker also created the town of Windsor. The etymology of Hartford is the ford where harts cross, the Seal of the City of Hartford features a male deer, which in full maturity was referred to by the medieval hunting term hart. The fledgling colony along the Connecticut River had issues with the authority by which it was to be governed because it was outside of the jurisdiction of the Massachusetts Bay Colonys charter. Historians suggest that Hookers conception of self-rule embodied in the Fundamental Orders went on to inspire the Connecticut Constitution, today, one of Connecticuts nicknames is the Constitution State
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Fossil fuel
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Fossil fuels are fuels formed by natural processes such as anaerobic decomposition of buried dead organisms, containing energy originating in ancient photosynthesis. The age of the organisms and their resulting fossil fuels is typically millions of years, Fossil fuels contain high percentages of carbon and include petroleum, coal, and natural gas. Other commonly used derivatives include kerosene and propane, Fossil fuels range from volatile materials with low carbon, hydrogen ratios like methane, to liquids like petroleum, to nonvolatile materials composed of almost pure carbon, like anthracite coal. Methane can be found in hydrocarbon fields either alone, associated with oil, non-fossil sources in 2006 included nuclear 8. 5%, hydroelectric 6. 3%, and others amounting to 0. 9%. World energy consumption was growing about 2. 3% per year, the use of fossil fuels raises serious environmental concerns. The burning of fossil fuels produces around 21.3 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide per year and it is estimated that natural processes can only absorb about half of that amount, so there is a net increase of 10.65 billion tonnes of atmospheric carbon dioxide per year. Carbon dioxide is a gas that increases radiative forcing and contributes to global warming. A global movement towards the generation of energy is underway to help reduce global greenhouse gas emissions. Over geological time, this matter, mixed with mud. Despite these heat driven transformations, the energy is still photosynthetic in origin. There is a range of organic, or hydrocarbon, compounds in any given fuel mixture. The specific mixture of hydrocarbons gives a fuel its characteristic properties, such as boiling point, melting point, density, viscosity, some fuels like natural gas, for instance, contain only very low boiling, gaseous components. Others such as gasoline or diesel contain much higher boiling components, terrestrial plants, on the other hand, tend to form coal and methane. Many of the coal fields date to the Carboniferous period of Earths history, terrestrial plants also form type III kerogen, a source of natural gas. Fossil fuels are of importance because they can be burned. The use of coal as a fuel predates recorded history, coal was used to run furnaces for the melting of metal ore. Semi-solid hydrocarbons from seeps were also burned in ancient times, commercial exploitation of petroleum, largely as a replacement for oils from animal sources, for use in oil lamps began in the 19th century. Natural gas, once flared-off as an byproduct of petroleum production, is now considered a very valuable resource
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Gun control
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Gun control is the set of laws or policies that regulate the manufacture, sale, transfer, possession, modification, or use of firearms by civilians. Most countries have a restrictive firearm guiding policy, with only a few legislations being categorized as permissive, Gun control refers to domestic regulation of firearm manufacture, trade, possession, use, and transport, specifically with regard to the class of weapons referred to as small arms. Usage of the gun control is sometimes politicized. Some of those in favor of legislation instead prefer to use such as gun-violence prevention, gun safety, firearms regulation, illegal guns. In 2007, it was estimated there were, globally, about 875 million small arms in the hands of civilians, law enforcement agencies. Of these firearms 650 million, or 75%, are held by civilians, U. S. civilians account for 270 million of this total. A further 200 million are controlled by military forces. Law enforcement agencies have some 26 million small arms, non-state armed groups have about 1.4 million firearms. Finally, gang members hold between 2 and 10 million small arms, together, the small arms arsenals of non-state armed groups and gangs account for, at most,1. 4% of the global total. Barring a few exceptions, most countries in the world allow civilians to purchase firearms subject to certain restrictions, in the remaining countries included in the sample, civilian firearm ownership is considered a privilege and the legislation governing possession of firearms is correspondingly more restrictive. During the mid-1990s, however, the United Nations Economic and Social Council adopted a series of resolutions relating to the ownership of small arms. These called for an exchange of data on national systems of firearm regulation, in 1997, the UN published a study based on member state survey data titled the United Nations International Study on Firearm Regulation which was updated in 1999. This study was meant to initiate the establishment of a database on civilian firearm regulations which would be run by the Centre for International Crime Prevention, who were to report on national systems of civilian firearm regulation every two years. These plans never reached fruition and further UN-led efforts to establish international norms for the regulation of firearms were stymied. Although the issue is no part of the UN policy debate. The Bamako Declaration, was adopted in Bamako, Mali, on 1 December 2000 by the representatives of the states of the Organisation of African Unity. High rates of gun mortality and injury are often cited as an impetus for gun control policies. A2004 National Research Council critical review found that some strong conclusions are warranted from current research
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Oval Office
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The Oval Office is the official office of the President of the United States. It is located in the West Wing of the White House Complex, the room features three large south-facing windows behind the presidents desk, and a fireplace at the north end. Presidents generally decorate the office to suit their taste, choosing new furniture, new drapery. Artwork is selected from the White Houses own collection, or borrowed from museums for the term in office. The Oval Office has become associated in Americans minds with the presidency itself through memorable images, such as a young John F. Kennedy, several presidents have addressed the nation from the Oval Office on occasion. George Washington never occupied the White House and he spent most of his presidency in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, which served as the temporary national capital for 10 years, 1790–1800, while Washington, D. C. was under construction. In 1790, Washington built a large, two-story, semi-circular addition to the rear of the Presidents House in Philadelphia, Washington received his guests, standing between the windows in his back drawing-room. The company, entering a front room and passing through a door, made their salutations to the President. The apsidal end of a room was a site of honor, for a host. President John Adams occupied the Philadelphia mansion beginning in 1797, curved foundations of Washingtons Bow Window were uncovered during a 2007 archaeological excavation of the Presidents House site. Architect James Hoban visited President Washington in Philadelphia in June 1792, the following month, he was named winner of the design competition for The White House. The elliptic salon at the center of the White House was the feature of Hobans original plan. An oval interior space was a Baroque concept that was adapted by Neoclassicism, Oval rooms became popular in eighteenth century neoclassical architecture. In November 1800, John Adams became the first President to occupy the White House, during the 19th century, a number of presidents used the White Houses second-floor Yellow Oval Room as a private office or library. The one-story Executive Office Building was intended to be a temporary structure, Building it to the west of the White House allowed the removal of a vast, dilapidated set of pre-Civil War greenhouses that had been constructed by President James Buchanan. Roosevelt moved the offices of the branch to the newly constructed wing in 1902. His workspace was a suite of Executive Office and Cabinet Room. The furniture, including the desk, was designed by architect Charles Follen McKim and executed by A. H. Davenport and Company
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Cornus florida
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Cornus florida is a species of flowering plant in the family Cornaceae native to eastern North America and northern Mexico. An endemic population once spanned from southernmost coastal Maine south to northern Florida, the tree is commonly planted as an ornamental in residential and public areas because of its showy bracts and interesting bark structure. The flowering dogwood is usually included in the dogwood genus Cornus as Cornus florida L. although it is treated in a separate genus as Benthamidia florida Spach. Two subspecies are recognized, Cornus florida subsp. Florida - eastern + south-central United States, flowering dogwood is a small deciduous tree growing to 10 m high, often wider than it is tall when mature, with a trunk diameter of up to 30 cm. A 10-year-old tree will stand about 5 m tall, the leaves are opposite, simple, ovate, 6–13 cm long and 4–6 cm broad, with an apparently entire margin, they turn a rich red-brown in fall. The flowers are small and inconspicuous, with four greenish-yellow bracts 4 mm long. Around 20 flowers are produced in a dense, rounded, umbel-shaped inflorescence, or flower-head, 1–2 cm in diameter. The flower-head is surrounded by four large white, pink or red petals, each bract 3 cm long and 2.5 cm broad, rounded. When in the wild they can typically be found at the forest edge, while most of the wild trees have white bracts, some selected cultivars of this tree also have pink bracts, some even almost a true red. They typically flower in early April in the part of their range, to late April or early May in northern. The similar Kousa dogwood, native to Asia, flowers about a month later and they are an important food source for dozens of species of birds, which then distribute the seeds. Flowering dogwood does best horticulturally in moist, acidic soil in a site with some afternoon shade and it does not do well when exposed to intense heat sources such as adjacent parking lots or air conditioning compressors. It also has a low salinity tolerance, the hardiness zone is 5–9 and the preferred pH is between 6. 0–7.0. In urban and suburban settings, care should be not to inflict mower damage on the trunk or roots, as this increases the tree’s susceptibility to disease. In regions where dogwood anthracnose is a problem, homeowners and public land managers are encouraged to know the symptoms, the selection of healthy, disease-free planting stock is essential and transplanting trees from the forest should be avoided. Sites should be selected for reasonably well-drained, fertile soils, full sun is recommended in high-hazard areas, new plantings should be mulched to a depth of 5 to 10 cm, avoiding the stem. Dead wood and leaves should be pruned and completely removed and destroyed yearly, plants should be watered weekly during droughts, with watering done in the morning, avoiding wetting the foliage
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Virginia
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Virginia is a state located in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, as well as in the historic Southeast. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are shaped by the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Chesapeake Bay, the capital of the Commonwealth is Richmond, Virginia Beach is the most populous city, and Fairfax County is the most populous political subdivision. The Commonwealths estimated population as of 2014 is over 8.3 million, the areas history begins with several indigenous groups, including the Powhatan. In 1607 the London Company established the Colony of Virginia as the first permanent New World English colony, slave labor and the land acquired from displaced Native American tribes each played a significant role in the colonys early politics and plantation economy. Although the Commonwealth was under one-party rule for nearly a century following Reconstruction, the Virginia General Assembly is the oldest continuous law-making body in the New World. The state government was ranked most effective by the Pew Center on the States in both 2005 and 2008 and it is unique in how it treats cities and counties equally, manages local roads, and prohibits its governors from serving consecutive terms. Virginias economy changed from agricultural to industrial during the 1960s and 1970s. Virginia has an area of 42,774.2 square miles, including 3,180.13 square miles of water. Virginias boundary with Maryland and Washington, D. C. extends to the mark of the south shore of the Potomac River. The southern border is defined as the 36° 30′ parallel north, the border with Tennessee was not settled until 1893, when their dispute was brought to the U. S. Supreme Court. The Chesapeake Bay separates the portion of the Commonwealth from the two-county peninsula of Virginias Eastern Shore. The bay was formed from the river valleys of the Susquehanna River. Many of Virginias rivers flow into the Chesapeake Bay, including the Potomac, Rappahannock, York, and James, the Tidewater is a coastal plain between the Atlantic coast and the fall line. It includes the Eastern Shore and major estuaries of Chesapeake Bay, the Piedmont is a series of sedimentary and igneous rock-based foothills east of the mountains which were formed in the Mesozoic era. The region, known for its clay soil, includes the Southwest Mountains around Charlottesville. The Blue Ridge Mountains are a province of the Appalachian Mountains with the highest points in the state. The Ridge and Valley region is west of the mountains and includes the Great Appalachian Valley, the region is carbonate rock based and includes Massanutten Mountain. The Cumberland Plateau and the Cumberland Mountains are in the southwest corner of Virginia, in this region, rivers flow northwest, with a dendritic drainage system, into the Ohio River basin
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United States Domestic Policy Council
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The council forms part of the Office of White House Policy which contains the DPC, the National Economic Council and various subordinate offices, such as the Office of National AIDS Policy. The Director of the DPC is titled the Assistant to the President, the Domestic Policy Council was established on April 11,1985 by President Ronald Reagan. The first Executive Director of the Council was Dr. Ralph Bledsoe, President George H. W. Bush re-established the Council on February 8,1989, appointing Dr. Kenneth Yale as Executive Director of the Council. On August 16,1993, the Council was expanded by Executive Order 12859, the Council oversees development and implementation of the President’s domestic policy agenda and ensures coordination and communication among the heads of relevant Federal offices and agencies. Even before the creation of the DPC, some form of a domestic policy staff had existed in the White House since the 1960s. President Lyndon B. Johnson assigned a senior-level aide to organize staff, in 1970, President Richard M. Nixon issued an executive order that created the Office of Policy Development, a large White House office with jurisdiction over economic and domestic policy
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