1.
Arlington, Virginia
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Arlington County is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is coterminous with the U. S. Census Bureau-census-designated place of Arlington, as a result, the county is often referred to in the region simply as Arlington or Arlington, Virginia. In 2015, the population was estimated at 229,164. The land that became Arlington was originally donated by Virginia to the United States government to form part of the new federal district of Columbia. In 1846, Congress returned the land southwest of the Potomac River donated by Virginia due to issues involving Congressional representation, the General Assembly of Virginia changed the countys name to Arlington in 1920 to avoid confusion with the adjacent City of Alexandria. The county is situated in Northern Virginia on the bank of the Potomac River directly across from Washington. Arlington is also bordered by Fairfax County and City of Falls Church to the northwest, west and southwest, as of the 2010 census, the population was 207,627. Due to the proximity to downtown Washington, D. C. It is also home to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, the many federal agencies, government contractors, and service industries contribute to Arlingtons stable economy. It is the county in the United States by median family income. According to a 2016 study by Bankrate. com, Arlington is the best place to retire, the area that now constitutes Arlington County was originally part of Fairfax County in the Colony of Virginia. Land grants from the British monarch were awarded to prominent Englishmen in exchange for political favors, one of the grantees was Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron, who lends his name to both Fairfax County and the City of Fairfax. George Washington Parke Custis, grandson of First Lady Martha Washington, the estate was eventually passed down to Mary Anna Custis Lee, wife of General Robert E. Lee. The property later became Arlington National Cemetery during the American Civil War, the area that now contains Arlington County was ceded to the new United States federal government by the Commonwealth of Virginia. With the passage of the Residence Act in 1790, Congress approved a new permanent capital to be located on the Potomac River, the Residence Act originally only allowed the President to select a location within Maryland as far east as what is now the Anacostia River. However, President Washington shifted the federal territorys borders to the southeast in order to include the city of Alexandria at the Districts southern tip. In 1791, Congress amended the Residence Act to approve the new site, however, this amendment to the Residence Act specifically prohibited the erection of the public buildings otherwise than on the Maryland side of the River Potomac. As permitted by the U. S. Constitution, the shape of the federal district was a square, measuring 10 miles on each side
2.
Jack Dyer Crouch, II
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Jack Dyer Crouch II is a former American federal-government official and academic. Since 2014 he has been president and chief officer of United Service Organizations. Crouch was educated at the University of Southern California, located in Los Angeles, California, where he received a degree, masters degree. Between 1986 and 1990, he was legislative assistant to U. S. From 1990 to 1992, he served in the administration of U. S. President George H. W. Bush as the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Policy. From 1993 to 2001, Crouch was Associate Professor of Defense and Strategic Studies at Southwest Missouri State University, located in Springfield and he was a member of the board of editors of Comparative Strategy and a member of the board of advisors of the Center for Security Policy. While at Missouri, he served as a reserve deputy sheriff in Christian County. He was appointed Deputy National Security Advisor by U. S. President George W. Bush in March 2005. He previously served as the U. S. Ambassador to Romania and as an Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Policy, List of people from Springfield, Missouri List of University of Southern California people White House biography Appearances on C-SPAN
3.
United States Armed Forces
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The United States Armed Forces are the federal armed forces of the United States. They consist of the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, from the time of its inception, the military played a decisive role in the history of the United States. A sense of unity and identity was forged as a result of victory in the First Barbary War. Even so, the Founders were suspicious of a permanent military force and it played an important role in the American Civil War, where leading generals on both sides were picked from members of the United States military. Not until the outbreak of World War II did a standing army become officially established. The National Security Act of 1947, adopted following World War II and during the Cold Wars onset, the U. S. military is one of the largest militaries in terms of number of personnel. It draws its personnel from a pool of paid volunteers. As of 2016, the United States spends about $580.3 billion annually to fund its military forces, put together, the United States constitutes roughly 40 percent of the worlds military expenditures. For the period 2010–14, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute found that the United States was the worlds largest exporter of major arms, the United States was also the worlds eighth largest importer of major weapons for the same period. The history of the U. S. military dates to 1775 and these forces demobilized in 1784 after the Treaty of Paris ended the War for Independence. All three services trace their origins to the founding of the Continental Army, the Continental Navy, the United States President is the U. S. militarys commander-in-chief. Rising tensions at various times with Britain and France and the ensuing Quasi-War and War of 1812 quickened the development of the U. S. Navy, the reserve branches formed a military strategic reserve during the Cold War, to be called into service in case of war. Time magazines Mark Thompson has suggested that with the War on Terror, Command over the armed forces is established in the United States Constitution. The sole power of command is vested in the President by Article II as Commander-in-Chief, the Constitution also allows for the creation of executive Departments headed principal officers whose opinion the President can require. This allowance in the Constitution formed the basis for creation of the Department of Defense in 1947 by the National Security Act, the Defense Department is headed by the Secretary of Defense, who is a civilian and member of the Cabinet. The Defense Secretary is second in the chain of command, just below the President. Together, the President and the Secretary of Defense comprise the National Command Authority, to coordinate military strategy with political affairs, the President has a National Security Council headed by the National Security Advisor. The collective body has only power to the President
4.
United States Department of Defense
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The Department is the largest employer in the world, with nearly 1.3 million active duty servicemen and women as of 2016. Adding to its employees are over 801,000 National Guardsmen and Reservists from the four services and it is headquartered at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, just outside of Washington, D. C. The Department of Defense is headed by the Secretary of Defense, Military operations are managed by nine regional or functional Unified Combatant Commands. The Department of Defense also operates several joint services schools, including the National Defense University, the history of the defense of the United States started with the Continental Congress in 1775. The creation of the United States Army was enacted on 14 June 1775 and this coincides with the American holiday Flag Day. The Second Continental Congress would charter the United States Navy, on 13 October 1775, today, both the Navy and the Marine Corps are separate military services subordinate to the Department of the Navy. The Preamble of the United States Constitution gave the authority to federal government, to defend its citizens and this first Congress had a huge agenda, that of creating legislation to build a government for the ages. Legislation to create a military defense force stagnated, two separate times, President George Washington went to Congress to remind them of their duty to establish a military. In a special message to Congress on 19 December 1945, the President cited both wasteful military spending and inter-departmental conflicts, deliberations in Congress went on for months focusing heavily on the role of the military in society and the threat of granting too much military power to the executive. The act placed the National Military Establishment under the control of a single Secretary of Defense, the National Military Establishment formally began operations on 18 September, the day after the Senate confirmed James V. Forrestal as the first Secretary of Defense. The National Military Establishment was renamed the Department of Defense on 10 August 1949, under the Department of Defense Reorganization Act of 1958, channels of authority within the department were streamlined, while still maintaining the authority of the Military Departments. Also provided in this legislation was a centralized authority, the Advanced Research Projects Agency. The Act moved decision-making authority from the Military Departments to the Joint Chiefs of Staff and it also strengthened the command channel of the military over U. S. forces from the President to the Secretary of Defense. Written and promoted by the Eisenhower administration, it was signed into law 6 August 1958, because the Constitution vests all military authority in Congress and the President, the statutory authority of the Secretary of Defense is derived from their constitutional authorities. Department of Defense Directive 5100.01 describes the relationships within the Department. The latest version, signed by former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates in December 2010, is the first major re-write since 1987, the Office of the Secretary of Defense is the Secretary and Deputy Secretarys civilian staff. S. Government departments and agencies, foreign governments, and international organizations, OSD also performs oversight and management of the Defense Agencies and Department of Defense Field Activities. OSD also supervises the following Defense Agencies, Several defense agencies are members of the United States Intelligence Community and these are national-level intelligence services that operate under the jurisdiction of the Department of Defense but simultaneously fall under the authorities of the Director of National Intelligence
5.
US Congress
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The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States consisting of two chambers, the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the Capitol in Washington, D. C, both senators and representatives are chosen through direct election, though vacancies in the Senate may be filled by a gubernatorial appointment. Members are usually affiliated to the Republican Party or to the Democratic Party, Congress has 535 voting members,435 Representatives and 100 Senators. The House of Representatives has six non-voting members in addition to its 435 voting members and these members can, however, sit on congressional committees and introduce legislation. Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, the members of the House of Representatives serve two-year terms representing the people of a single constituency, known as a district. Congressional districts are apportioned to states by using the United States Census results. Each state, regardless of population or size, has two senators, currently, there are 100 senators representing the 50 states. Each senator is elected at-large in their state for a term, with terms staggered. The House and Senate are equal partners in the legislative process—legislation cannot be enacted without the consent of both chambers, however, the Constitution grants each chamber some unique powers. The Senate ratifies treaties and approves presidential appointments while the House initiates revenue-raising bills, the House initiates impeachment cases, while the Senate decides impeachment cases. A two-thirds vote of the Senate is required before a person can be forcibly removed from office. The term Congress can also refer to a meeting of the legislature. A Congress covers two years, the current one, the 115th Congress, began on January 3,2017, the Congress starts and ends on the third day of January of every odd-numbered year. Members of the Senate are referred to as senators, members of the House of Representatives are referred to as representatives, congressmen, or congresswomen. One analyst argues that it is not a solely reactive institution but has played a role in shaping government policy and is extraordinarily sensitive to public pressure. Several academics described Congress, Congress reflects us in all our strengths, Congress is the governments most representative body. Congress is essentially charged with reconciling our many points of view on the public policy issues of the day. —Smith, Roberts, and Wielen Congress is constantly changing and is constantly in flux, most incumbents seek re-election, and their historical likelihood of winning subsequent elections exceeds 90 percent
6.
World War II
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World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the worlds countries—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing alliances, the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust and the bombing of industrial and population centres. These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history, from late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, and formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, Poland, Finland, Romania and the Baltic states. In December 1941, Japan attacked the United States and European colonies in the Pacific Ocean, and quickly conquered much of the Western Pacific. The Axis advance halted in 1942 when Japan lost the critical Battle of Midway, near Hawaii, in 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained all of its territorial losses and invaded Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in South Central China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy, thus ended the war in Asia, cementing the total victory of the Allies. World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world, the United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The victorious great powers—the United States, the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 46 years. Meanwhile, the influence of European great powers waned, while the decolonisation of Asia, most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery. Political integration, especially in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities, the start of the war in Europe is generally held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or even the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously and this article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935. The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September 1939, the exact date of the wars end is also not universally agreed upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 14 August 1945, rather than the formal surrender of Japan
7.
GI (military)
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G. I. is a noun used to describe the soldiers of the United States Army and airmen of the United States Army Air Forces—and for U. S. Marines and sailors—and also for general items of their equipment, the term G. I. has been used as an initialism of Government Issue or General Issue, but it originally referred to galvanized iron, as used by the logistics services of the United States Armed Forces. The letters G. I. were used to denote equipment made from galvanized iron, such as trash cans, in U. S. Army inventories. During World War I, American soldiers sardonically referred to incoming German artillery shells as G. I. cans, also during that war, G. I. started being interpreted as Government Issue or General Issue for the general items of equipment of soldiers and airmen. The term G. I. came into use in the United States with the start of the Selective Service System in 1940. Next, the use of G. I. expanded from 1942 through 1945, the American Five-star General Dwight D. Eisenhower said in 1945 that the truly heroic figure of this war G. I. Joe and his counterpart in the air, the navy, G. I. was also used as an adjective for anything having to do with the Army or Army Air Force. Digger —A similar term used in Australia Dogface Doughboy Folk etymology G. I
8.
Korean War
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The Korean War began when North Korea invaded South Korea. The United Nations, with the United States as the principal force, China came to the aid of North Korea, and the Soviet Union gave some assistance. Korea was ruled by Japan from 1910 until the days of World War II. In August 1945, the Soviet Union declared war on Japan, as a result of an agreement with the United States, U. S. forces subsequently moved into the south. By 1948, as a product of the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States, Korea was split into two regions, with separate governments, both governments claimed to be the legitimate government of all of Korea, and neither side accepted the border as permanent. The conflict escalated into open warfare when North Korean forces—supported by the Soviet Union, on that day, the United Nations Security Council recognized this North Korean act as invasion and called for an immediate ceasefire. On 27 June, the Security Council adopted S/RES/83, Complaint of aggression upon the Republic of Korea and decided the formation, twenty-one countries of the United Nations eventually contributed to the UN force, with the United States providing 88% of the UNs military personnel. After the first two months of war, South Korean forces were on the point of defeat, forced back to the Pusan Perimeter, in September 1950, an amphibious UN counter-offensive was launched at Inchon, and cut off many North Korean troops. Those who escaped envelopment and capture were rapidly forced back north all the way to the border with China at the Yalu River, at this point, in October 1950, Chinese forces crossed the Yalu and entered the war. Chinese intervention triggered a retreat of UN forces which continued until mid-1951, after these reversals of fortune, which saw Seoul change hands four times, the last two years of fighting became a war of attrition, with the front line close to the 38th parallel. The war in the air, however, was never a stalemate, North Korea was subject to a massive bombing campaign. Jet fighters confronted each other in combat for the first time in history. The fighting ended on 27 July 1953, when an armistice was signed, the agreement created the Korean Demilitarized Zone to separate North and South Korea, and allowed the return of prisoners. However, no treaty has been signed, and the two Koreas are technically still at war. Periodic clashes, many of which are deadly, continue to the present, in the U. S. the war was initially described by President Harry S. Truman as a police action as it was an undeclared military action, conducted under the auspices of the United Nations. In South Korea, the war is referred to as 625 or the 6–2–5 Upheaval. In North Korea, the war is referred to as the Fatherland Liberation War or alternatively the Chosǒn War. In China, the war is called the War to Resist U. S
9.
Vietnam War
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It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam and the government of South Vietnam. The war is considered a Cold War-era proxy war. As the war continued, the actions of the Viet Cong decreased as the role. U. S. and South Vietnamese forces relied on air superiority and overwhelming firepower to conduct search and destroy operations, involving ground forces, artillery, in the course of the war, the U. S. conducted a large-scale strategic bombing campaign against North Vietnam. The North Vietnamese government and the Viet Cong were fighting to reunify Vietnam and they viewed the conflict as a colonial war and a continuation of the First Indochina War against forces from France and later on the United States. The U. S. government viewed its involvement in the war as a way to prevent a communist takeover of South Vietnam and this was part the domino theory of a wider containment policy, with the stated aim of stopping the spread of communism. Beginning in 1950, American military advisors arrived in what was then French Indochina, U. S. involvement escalated in the early 1960s, with troop levels tripling in 1961 and again in 1962. Regular U. S. combat units were deployed beginning in 1965, despite the Paris Peace Accord, which was signed by all parties in January 1973, the fighting continued. In the U. S. and the Western world, a large anti-Vietnam War movement developed as part of a larger counterculture, the war changed the dynamics between the Eastern and Western Blocs, and altered North–South relations. Direct U. S. military involvement ended on 15 August 1973, the capture of Saigon by the North Vietnamese Army in April 1975 marked the end of the war, and North and South Vietnam were reunified the following year. The war exacted a huge human cost in terms of fatalities, estimates of the number of Vietnamese soldiers and civilians killed vary from 966,000 to 3.8 million. Some 240, 000–300,000 Cambodians,20, 000–62,000 Laotians, and 58,220 U. S. service members died in the conflict. Various names have applied to the conflict. Vietnam War is the most commonly used name in English and it has also been called the Second Indochina War and the Vietnam Conflict. As there have been several conflicts in Indochina, this conflict is known by the names of its primary protagonists to distinguish it from others. In Vietnamese, the war is known as Kháng chiến chống Mỹ. It is also called Chiến tranh Việt Nam, France began its conquest of Indochina in the late 1850s, and completed pacification by 1893. The 1884 Treaty of Huế formed the basis for French colonial rule in Vietnam for the seven decades
10.
Hollywood
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Hollywood is an ethnically diverse, densely populated neighborhood in the central region of Los Angeles, California. It is notable as the home of the U. S. film industry, including several of its studios, and its name has come to be a shorthand reference for the industry. Hollywood was a community in 1870 and was incorporated as a municipality in 1903. It was consolidated with the city of Los Angeles in 1910, in 1853, one adobe hut stood in Nopalera, named for the Mexican Nopal cactus indigenous to the area. By 1870, an agricultural community flourished, the area was known as the Cahuenga Valley, after the pass in the Santa Monica Mountains immediately to the north. According to the diary of H. J. Whitley, known as the Father of Hollywood, along came a Chinese man in a wagon carrying wood. The man got out of the wagon and bowed, the Chinese man was asked what he was doing and replied, I holly-wood, meaning hauling wood. H. J. Whitley had an epiphany and decided to name his new town Hollywood, Holly would represent England and wood would represent his Scottish heritage. Whitley had already started over 100 towns across the western United States, Whitley arranged to buy the 500-acre E. C. Hurd ranch and disclosed to him his plans for the land. They agreed on a price and Hurd agreed to sell at a later date, before Whitley got off the ground with Hollywood, plans for the new town had spread to General Harrison Gray Otis, Hurds wife, eastern adjacent ranch co-owner Daeida Wilcox, and others. Daeida Wilcox may have learned of the name Hollywood from Ivar Weid, her neighbor in Holly Canyon and she recommended the same name to her husband, Harvey. In August 1887, Wilcox filed with the Los Angeles County Recorders office a deed and parcel map of property he had sold named Hollywood, Wilcox wanted to be the first to record it on a deed. The early real-estate boom busted that year, yet Hollywood began its slow growth. By 1900, the region had a post office, newspaper, hotel, Los Angeles, with a population of 102,479 lay 10 miles east through the vineyards, barley fields, and citrus groves. A single-track streetcar line ran down the middle of Prospect Avenue from it, but service was infrequent, the old citrus fruit-packing house was converted into a livery stable, improving transportation for the inhabitants of Hollywood. The Hollywood Hotel was opened in 1902 by H. J. Whitley who was a president of the Los Pacific Boulevard, having finally acquired the Hurd ranch and subdivided it, Whitley built the hotel to attract land buyers. Flanking the west side of Highland Avenue, the structure fronted on Prospect Avenue, the hotel was to become internationally known and was the center of the civic and social life and home of the stars for many years. Whitleys company developed and sold one of the residential areas
11.
George W. Casey Jr.
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George William Casey Jr. is a retired United States Army general who last served as the 36th Chief of Staff of the U. S. Army from April 10,2007 to April 11,2011. Casey previously served as Commanding General, Multi-National Force – Iraq from June 2004 to February 8,2007 and had been in the Army for his adult working life. He now resides outside of Boston, Casey was born in Sendai during the Allied occupation of Japan. His father, George W. Casey Sr. was a West Point graduate who rose to the rank of Major General and served in two wars. His father commanded the 1st Cavalry Division in Vietnam and was killed on July 7,1970 when his helicopter crashed in South Vietnam en route to a hospital to visit wounded U. S. soldiers. Casey, a military brat, grew up on Army posts in the U. S. and Germany and graduated from Boston College High School in Dorchester, after high school, he applied to West Point, like his father, but was unsuccessful. Additionally, Casey worked for Vince Lombardi during one summer when the latter was coach of the Washington Redskins, Casey was commissioned through the Army ROTC in 1970 following graduation from Georgetown University. Casey served in the Mechanized Infantry during the portion of his career. He was commander of the 3rd Brigade of the 1st Cavalry Division, and he deployed as part of Operation Joint Endeavor to Bosnia-Herzegovina from July 1996 to August 1997. He and the Rear Command Post staff were based in Slavonski Brod, Casey took command of the 1st Armored Division in July 1999. His next position was Director of the Joint Staff in Washington, following these assignments, Casey was nominated and confirmed as the 30th Vice Chief of Staff of the Army, serving in that post until June 2004. Casey served as the senior commander in Iraq from June 2004 to February 2007. He replaced Lieutenant General Ricardo S. Sanchez, caseys goal was to encourage the Iraqis to take ownership of their problems and responsibility for their own security. For his part as a commander, he focused on training Iraqi forces, limiting the role of American forces. Meanwhile, U. S. diplomats would focus on building and strengthening the Iraqi government and he expressed his view that a large and intrusive American presence in Iraq would not solve the political and security problems in that country and could even fuel the insurgency. S. In August 2005, Casey used specific troop numbers in his discussion of a possible drawdown. He said the level of 138,000 could be reduced by 30,000 in the early months of 2006 as Iraqi security forces took on a greater role. President Bush publicly called the talk speculation and rebuked the general, and the other thing is that they can continue to blame us for all of Iraq’s difficulties, which are at base of their problems
12.
Mickey Rooney
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Mickey Rooney was an American actor, vaudevillian, comedian and radio personality. In a career spanning nine decades and continuing until shortly before his death, a versatile performer, he became a celebrated character actor later in his career. Laurence Olivier once said he considered Rooney the best there has ever been, clarence Brown, who directed him in two of his earliest dramatic roles, National Velvet and The Human Comedy, said he was the closest thing to a genius I ever worked with. Rooney first performed in vaudeville as a child and made his debut at the age of six. At thirteen he played Puck in the play and later the 1935 film adaptation of A Midsummer Nights Dream, critic David Thomson hailed his performance as one of cinemas most arresting pieces of magic. In 1938, he co-starred in Boys Town, at nineteen he was the first teenager to be nominated for an Oscar for his leading role in Babes in Arms, and he was awarded a special Academy Juvenile Award in 1939. At the peak of his career between the ages of 15 and 25, he made films, which made him one of MGMs most consistently successful actors. Rooney was the top box office attraction from 1939 to 1941, and one of the actors of that era. Drafted into the Army during World War II, he served two years entertaining over two million troops on stage and radio and was awarded a Bronze Star for performing in combat zones. Returning from the war in 1945, he was too old for juvenile roles but too short to be a movie star. Nevertheless, Rooneys popularity was renewed with well-received supporting roles in such as Requiem for a Heavyweight, Its a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. In the early 1980s, he returned to Broadway in Sugar Babies, Rooney made hundreds of appearances on TV, including dramas, variety programs, and talk shows, and won an Emmy in 1964, with another Emmy plus a Golden Globe for his role in Bill. At his death, Vanity Fair called him the original Hollywood train wreck and he struggled with alcohol and pill addiction and married eight times, the first time to Ava Gardner. Despite earning millions during his career, he had to file for bankruptcy in 1962 due to mismanagement of his finances. Shortly before his death in 2014 at age 93, he alleged mistreatment by some members and testified before Congress about what he alleged was physical abuse. By the end of his life, his millions in earnings had dwindled to an estate that was valued at only $18,000 and he died owing medical bills and back taxes, and contributions were solicited from the public. His mother was a chorus girl and a burlesque performer. When Rooney was born, they were appearing in a Brooklyn production of A Gaiety Girl, Rooney later recounted in his memoirs that he began performing at the age of 17 months as part of his parents routine, wearing a specially tailored tuxedo
13.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
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Franklin Delano Roosevelt, commonly known as FDR, was an American statesman and political leader who served as the 32nd President of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. A Democrat, he won a record four presidential elections and emerged as a figure in world events during the mid-20th century. He directed the United States government during most of the Great Depression and he is often rated by scholars as one of the three greatest U. S. Presidents, along with George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. Roosevelt was born in 1882 to an old, prominent Dutch family from Dutchess County and he attended the elite educational institutions of Groton School, Harvard College, and Columbia Law School. At age 23 in 1905, he married Eleanor Roosevelt, and he entered politics in 1910, serving in the New York State Senate, and then as Assistant Secretary of the Navy under President Woodrow Wilson. In 1920, Roosevelt was presidential candidate James M. Coxs running mate and he was in office from 1929 to 1933 and served as a reform governor, promoting the enactment of programs to combat the depression besetting the United States at the time. In the 1932 presidential election, Roosevelt defeated incumbent Republican president Herbert Hoover in a landslide to win the presidency, Roosevelt took office while in the United States was in the midst of the worst economic crisis in its history. Energized by his victory over polio, FDR relied on his persistent optimism and activism to renew the national spirit. He created numerous programs to support the unemployed and farmers, and to labor union growth while more closely regulating business. His support for the repeal of Prohibition in 1933 added to his popularity, the economy improved rapidly from 1933–37, but then relapsed into a deep recession in 1937–38. The bipartisan Conservative Coalition that formed in 1937 prevented his packing the Supreme Court, when the war began and unemployment ended, conservatives in Congress repealed the two major relief programs, the WPA and CCC. However, they kept most of the regulations on business, along with several smaller programs, major surviving programs include the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Wagner Act, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and Social Security. His goal was to make America the Arsenal of Democracy, which would supply munitions to the Allies, in March 1941, Roosevelt, with Congressional approval, provided Lend-Lease aid to Britain and China. He supervised the mobilization of the U. S. economy to support the war effort, as an active military leader, Roosevelt implemented a war strategy on two fronts that ended in the defeat of the Axis Powers and initiate the development of the worlds first atomic bomb. His work also influenced the creation of the United Nations. Roosevelts physical health declined during the war years, and he died 11 weeks into his fourth term. One of the oldest Dutch families in New York State, the Roosevelts distinguished themselves in other than politics. One ancestor, Isaac Roosevelt, had served with the New York militia during the American Revolution, Roosevelt attended events of the New York society Sons of the American Revolution, and joined the organization while he was president
14.
Salvation Army
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The Salvation Army is a Christian Protestant church and international charitable organisation structured in a quasi-military fashion. The organisation reports a membership of over 1.5 million, consisting of soldiers, officers. Its founders Catherine and William Booth sought to bring salvation to the poor, destitute and it is present in 127 countries, running charity shops, operating shelters for the homeless and disaster relief and humanitarian aid to developing countries. The theology of the Salvation Army is derived from that of Methodism although it is distinctive in institution, the Armys doctrine is typical of evangelical Protestant denominations. The Armys purposes are the advancement of the Christian religion, of education, the relief of poverty, and other charitable objects beneficial to society or the community of mankind as a whole. The Army was founded in 1865 in London by one-time Methodist circuit-preacher William Booth as the East London Christian Mission, in 1878 Booth reorganised the mission, becoming its first General and introducing the military structure which has been retained to the present day. The current world leader of The Salvation Army is General André Cox, the Salvation Army was founded in Londons East End in 1865 by one-time Methodist Reform Church minister William Booth and his wife Catherine as the East London Christian Mission. The name The Salvation Army developed from an incident on 19 and 20 May, William Booth was dictating a letter to his secretary George Scott Railton and said, We are a volunteer army. Bramwell Booth heard his father and said, Volunteer, Im no volunteer, Im a regular. Railton was instructed to cross out the volunteer and substitute the word salvation. The Salvation Army was modelled after the military, with its own flag and its own hymns, often with words set to popular, Booth and the other soldiers in Gods Army would wear the Armys own uniform, for meetings and ministry work. He became the General and his ministers were given appropriate ranks as officers. When William Booth became known as the General, Catherine is known as the Mother of The Salvation Army, William preached to the poor, and Catherine spoke to the wealthy, gaining financial support for their work. She also acted as a minister, which was unusual at the time. William Booth described the approach, The three ‘Ss’ best expressed the way in which the Army administered to the down and outs, first, soup, second, soap. In 1880, the Salvation Army started its work in three countries, Australia, Ireland, and the United States. When the first official officers arrived in Australia and the United States, they found groups of Salvationists already waiting for them and started working with each other. The Booths did not include the use of sacraments in the Armys form of worship, other beliefs are that its members should completely refrain from drinking alcohol, smoking, taking illegal drugs and gambling
15.
National Jewish Welfare Board
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The National Jewish Welfare Board was formed on April 9,1917, three days after the United States declared war on Germany, in order to support Jewish soldiers in the U. S. military during World War I. The impetus for creating the organization stemmed from Secretary of War, Newton Baker and Secretary of Navy, the organization was also charged with recruiting and training rabbis for military service, as well as providing support materials to these newly commissioned chaplains. The JWB also maintained oversight of Jewish chapel facilities at military installations and these merged organizations included the YWHA, YMHA, and the National Council of Young Mens Hebrew and Kindred Association. In 1941, in a response to a mandate from President Franklin D, the six organizations pooled their resources and the United Service Organizations, which quickly became known as the USO, was incorporated in New York on February 4,1941. The organization is now the JWB Jewish Chaplains Council, part of JCC of North America, National Jewish Welfare Board Records, I-337, American Jewish Historical Society, Boston, MA and New York, NY. National Jewish Welfare Board Records, I-298, American Jewish Historical Society, Boston, MA and New York, National Jewish Welfare Board Military Chaplaincy Records, I-249, American Jewish Historical Society, Boston, MA and New York, NY. National Jewish Welfare Board, Army-Navy Division Records, I-180, American Jewish Historical Society, Boston, MA and New York, National Jewish Welfare Board, Bureau of War Records, I-52, American Jewish Historical Society, Boston, MA and New York, NY
16.
Thomas Dewey
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Thomas Edmund Dewey was an American lawyer, prosecutor, and politician. He served as the 47th Governor of New York from 1943 to 1954, in 1944, he was the Republican candidate for President, but lost to President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the closest of Roosevelts four presidential elections. He was again the Republican candidate in 1948, but lost to President Harry S. Truman in one of the greatest upsets in presidential election history. As a New York City prosecutor early in his career, Dewey was relentless in his effort to curb the power of the American Mafia, most famously, he successfully prosecuted Mafioso kingpin Charles Lucky Luciano on charges of compulsory prostitution in 1936. Luciano was given a prison sentence. Dewey almost succeeded in apprehending Jewish mobster Dutch Schultz as well, Dewey led the moderate or progressive faction of the Republican Party, in which he fought conservative Ohio Senator Robert A. Taft. Dewey was an advocate for the professional and business community of the Northeastern United States, in addition he played a large part in the election of Dwight D. Eisenhower as President in 1952. Deweys successor as leader of the progressive Republicans was Nelson Rockefeller, the New York State Thruway is named in Deweys honor. Dewey was born and raised in Owosso, Michigan, where his father, George Martin Dewey, owned, edited, and published the local newspaper, the Owosso Times. His mother, Annie, whom he called Mater, bequeathed her son a healthy respect for common sense and the average man or woman who possessed it. One journalist noted that he did show leadership and ambition above the average, by the time he was thirteen and he graduated from the University of Michigan in 1923, and from Columbia Law School in 1925. While at the University of Michigan, he joined Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, a fraternity for men of music. He was an excellent singer with a deep, baritone voice and he briefly considered a career as a professional singer, but decided against it after a temporary throat ailment convinced him that such a career would be risky. He then decided to pursue a career as a lawyer and he also wrote for The Michigan Daily, the universitys student newspaper. On June 16,1928, Dewey married Frances Eileen Hutt, a native of Sherman, Texas, she was a stage actress, after their marriage she dropped her acting career. They had two sons, Thomas E. Dewey Jr. and John Martin Dewey, in 1945, Dewey told a reporter that my farm is my roots. The heart of this nation is the small town. Dapplemere was part of a rural community called Quaker Hill
17.
Prescott Bush
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Prescott Sheldon Bush Sr. was an American banker and politician. He was a Wall Street executive banker and a U. S. Senator and he was the father of President George H. W. Bush and the grandfather of President George W. Bush, Florida Governor Jeb Bush, and television personality Billy Bush. Bush was born in Columbus, Ohio, to Samuel Prescott Bush, Bush attended St. Georges School in Newport, Rhode Island, from 1908 to 1913. In 1913, he enrolled at Yale College, where his grandfather, James Smith Bush, three subsequent generations of the Bush family have been Yale alumni. Prescott Bush was admitted to the Zeta Psi fraternity and Skull, George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush are also members of that society. According to Skull and Bones lore, Prescott Bush was among a group of Bonesmen who dug up and removed the skull of Geronimo from his grave at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, in 1918. According to historian David L. Miller, the Bonesmen probably dug up somebody at Fort Sill, Prescott Bush was a cheerleader, played varsity golf and baseball, and was president of the Yale Glee Club. After graduation, Bush served as an artillery captain with the American Expeditionary Forces during World War I. He received intelligence training at Verdun, France, and was assigned to a staff of French officers. Alternating between intelligence and artillery, he came under fire in the Meuse-Argonne offensive, after his discharge in 1919, Prescott Bush went to work for the Simmons Hardware Company in St. Louis, Missouri. The Bush family moved to Columbus, Ohio, in 1923, in November 1923, he became president of sales for Stedman Products in South Braintree, Massachusetts. During this time, he lived in a Victorian house at 173 Adams Street in Milton, Massachusetts, in 1924, Bush became vice-president of the investment bank A. Harriman & Co. where his father-in-law, George Herbert Walker was president. Bushs Yale classmates and fellow Bonesmen E. Roland Harriman and Knight Woolley also worked with the company, in 1925, he joined the United States Rubber Company of New York City as manager of the foreign division, and moved to Greenwich, Connecticut. In 1931, he became a partner of Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. which was created through the 1931 merger of A. Harriman & Co with Brown Bros. & Co. and he was an avid golfer, and in 1935 named head of the USGA. From 1944 to 1956, Prescott Bush was a member of the Yale Corporation, in July 1942, the bank was suspected of holding gold on behalf of Nazi leaders. Journalist Duncan Campbell pointed out documents showing that Prescott Bush was a director, according to journalist Joe Conason, Prescott Bushs involvement with UBC was purely commercial and he was not a Nazi sympathizer. Historian Herbert Parmet agreed with that assessment, Prescott Bush was politically active on social issues. He was involved with the American Birth Control League as early as 1942 and he was also an early supporter of the United Negro College Fund, serving as chairman of the Connecticut branch in 1951
18.
Volunteering
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Volunteering is generally considered an altruistic activity where an individual or group provides services for no financial gain to benefit another person, group or organization. Volunteering is also renowned for skill development and is intended to promote goodness or to improve human quality of life. Volunteering may have benefits for the volunteer as well as for the person or community served. It is also intended to make contacts for possible employment, many volunteers are specifically trained in the areas they work, such as medicine, education, or emergency rescue. Others serve on a basis, such as in response to a natural disaster. The verb was first recorded in 1755 and it was derived from the noun volunteer, in C.1600, one who offers himself for military service, from the Middle French voluntaire. In the non-military sense, the word was first recorded during the 1630s, the word volunteering has more recent usage—still predominantly military—coinciding with the phrase community service. In a military context, an army is a military body whose soldiers chose to enter service. Such volunteers do not work for free and are given regular pay, during this time, America experienced the Great Awakening. People became aware of the disadvantaged and realized the cause for movement against slavery, younger people started helping the needy in their communities. In 1851, the first YMCA in the United States was started, followed seven years later by the first YWCA. During the American Civil War, women volunteered their time to sew supplies for the soldiers and the Angel of the Battlefield Clara Barton and a team of volunteers began providing aid to servicemen. Barton founded the American Red Cross in 1881 and began mobilizing volunteers for disaster relief operations, the Salvation Army is one of the oldest and largest organizations working for disadvantaged people. Though it is a charity organization, it has organized a number of volunteering programs since its inception, prior to the 19th century, few formal charitable organizations existed to assist people in need. The Great Depression saw one of the first large-scale, nationwide efforts to coordinate volunteering for a specific need, after World War II, people shifted the focus of their altruistic passions to other areas, including helping the poor and volunteering overseas. A major development was the Peace Corps in the United States in 1960, when President Lyndon B. Johnson declared a War on Poverty in 1964, volunteer opportunities started to expand and continued into the next few decades. The process for finding volunteer work became more formalized, with more volunteer centers forming and new ways to find work appearing on the World Wide Web. According to the Corporation for National and Community Service, about 64.5 million Americans, or 26.5 percent of the adult population and this calculates at about 125–150 hours per year or 3 hours per week at a rate of $22 per hour
19.
Maxene Andrews
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The Andrews Sisters were an American close harmony singing group of the swing and boogie-woogie eras. The group consisted of three sisters, contralto LaVerne Sophia, soprano Maxene Angelyn, and mezzo-soprano Patricia Marie Patty, throughout their long career, the sisters sold well over 75 million records. Their 1941 hit Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy can be considered an example of rhythm. The Andrews Sisters harmonies and songs are still today, and have been covered by entertainers such as Bette Midler, Christina Aguilera, Pentatonix. The group was inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 1998, writing for Bloomberg, Mark Schoifet said the sisters became the most popular female vocal group of the first half of the 20th century. They are still widely acclaimed today for their famous close harmonies, the sisters were born to Peter Andreos and Olga, their father was Greek and their mother Norwegian-American of the Lutheran faith. Following the collapse of their fathers Minneapolis restaurant, the sisters went on the road to support the family and they started their career as imitators of an earlier successful singing group, the Boswell Sisters who were popular in the 1930s. They followed this success with a string of best-selling records over the two years and they became a household name by the 1940s. Instrumental to the success over the years were their parents, their orchestra leader and musical arranger, Vic Schoen, and Jack and David Kapp. During World War II they entertained the Allied forces extensively in America, Africa and Italy, visiting Army, Navy, Marine and Coast Guard bases, war zones, hospitals, and munitions factories. They encouraged U. S. citizens to war bonds with their rendition of Irving Berlins song Any Bonds Today. While touring, they often treated three random servicemen to dinner when they were dining out. I. An ad in the 1951 Radio Annual showed photos of the Andrews as children, as singers, and as old women in the then-future year of 1975, sadly. In the 1950s, Patty Andrews decided to break away from the act to be a soloist and she had married the trios pianist, Walter Weschler, who then became the groups manager and demanded more money for Patty. Patty attributed the breakup to the deaths of their parents, We had been nearly all our lives. Then in one year our dream world ended and our mother died and then our father. All three of us were upset, and we were at each others throats all the time, in 1951, they recorded The Windmill Song which is an adaptation of the French song Maître Pierre written in 1948 by Henri Betti and Jacques Plante. The English lyrics were written by Mitchell Parish, the Andrews Sisters formally broke up in 1953
20.
George Raft
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George Raft was an American film actor and dancer identified with portrayals of gangsters in crime melodramas of the 1930s and 1940s. His parents were married on November 17,1895, in Manhattan, georges elder sister, Eva, known as Katie, was born on April 18,1896. On the 1910 census, he is listed as being eight years old, a boyhood friend of gangsters Owney Madden and Bugsy Siegel, Raft acknowledged having narrowly avoided a life of crime. Raft became part of the act of flamboyant speakeasy hostess Texas Guinan, and his success led him to Broadway. He later made a film called Broadway about this period in which he plays himself. He had a success as a dancer in London in 1926. Fred Astaire, in his autobiography Steps in Time, says Raft was a lightning-fast dancer, vi Kearney, later a dancer in shows for Charles B. Cochran and André Charlot, was quoted as saying, Oh yes and we were in a big show together. Sometimes, to eke out our miserable pay, wed do an act after the show at a club. Hed tell me how he was going to be a big one day. I just laughed and said, Come on, Georgie, stop dreaming, were both in the chorus and you know it. But by that time Id decided to marry, how many times do I have to tell you. chorus girls dont go out with chorus boys. In 1929, Raft relocated to Hollywood and took small roles, in Taxi. starring James Cagney and Loretta Young, Raft has a colorful unbilled dancing role as Cagneys competitor in a dance contest, who wins only to be knocked down by Cagney. His big break came later that year as the nickel-flipping second lead alongside Paul Muni in Scarface. Rafts convincing portrayal and his friendships with Owney Madden, Bugsy Siegel. When Gary Coopers romantic escapades put him on one gangsters hit list and he was one of the three most popular gangster actors of the 1930s, with James Cagney and Edward G. Robinson, Raft ranked far above Humphrey Bogart in fame and box-office clout throughout the decade. Raft memorably dances into the picture in his opening scene wearing a derby, although Raft received third billing in Manpower, he played the lead. The years 1940 and 1941 proved to be Rafts career peak, Raft chose Raoul Walshs Manpower over The Maltese Falcon because the Falcons director, John Huston, had never directed before and a racier pre-Code version of the film already existed
21.
Bob Hope
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Bob Hope KBE, KC*SG, KSS was an American comedian, vaudevillian, actor, singer, dancer, athlete, centenarian and author. With a career spanning nearly 80 years, Hope appeared in over 70 feature films and short films, in addition to hosting the Academy Awards 19 times, he appeared in many stage productions and television roles and was the author of 14 books. The song Thanks for the Memory is widely regarded as Hopes signature tune, born in Eltham, Kent, Hope arrived in America with his family at the age of four and grew up in Cleveland, Ohio. He began his career in business in the early 1920s, initially on stage. He was praised for his timing, specializing in one-liners and rapid-fire delivery of jokes. He also appeared in numerous specials for NBC television, starting in 1950, Hope participated in the sports of golf and boxing and owned a small stake in his hometown baseball team, the Cleveland Indians. He died at age 100 at his home in Toluca Lake, Hope was born in Eltham, Kent the fifth of seven sons. They married in April 1891 and lived at 12 Greenwood Street in Barry, before moving to Whitehall, Bristol, and then St George, Bristol. In 1908, the family emigrated to the United States aboard the SS Philadelphia and passed through Ellis Island on March 30,1908, before moving to Cleveland, from age 12, Hope earned pocket money by busking, singing, dancing, and performing comedy. He entered many dancing and amateur talent contests and won a prize in 1915 for his impersonation of Charlie Chaplin, for a time, he attended the Boys Industrial School in Lancaster, Ohio. As an adult, he donated sizable sums of money to the institution, Hope had a brief career as a boxer in 1919, fighting under the name Packy East. He had three wins and one loss and participated in a few staged charity bouts later in life, Hope worked as a butchers assistant and a lineman in his teens and early twenties. Hope also had a stint at Chandler Motor Car Company. Deciding on a business career, he and his girlfriend signed up for dancing lessons. Encouraged after they performed in an engagement at a club, Hope formed a partnership with Lloyd Durbin. Silent film comedian Fatty Arbuckle saw them perform in 1925 and found work with a touring troupe called Hurleys Jolly Follies. Within a year, Hope had formed an act called the Dancemedians with George Byrne, Hope and Byrne had an act as a pair of Siamese twins as well and danced and sang while wearing blackface before friends advised Hope that he was funnier as himself. In 1929, Hope informally changed his first name to Bob, in one version of the story, he named himself after racecar driver Bob Burman
22.
Invasion of Normandy
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The Western Allies of World War II launched the largest amphibious invasion in history when they assaulted Normandy, located on the northern coast of France, on 6 June 1944. The invaders were able to establish a beachhead as part of Operation Overlord after a successful D-Day, Allied land forces came from the United States, Britain, Canada, and Free French forces. The Normandy invasion began with overnight parachute and glider landings, massive air attacks, the invasion began and during the evening the remaining elements of the airborne divisions landed. Land forces used on D-Day sailed from bases along the south coast of England, Allied forces rehearsed their D-Day roles for months before the invasion. On 28 April 1944, in south Devon on the English coast,749 U. S. soldiers and sailors were killed when German torpedo boats surprised one of these landing exercises, Exercise Tiger. In the months leading up to the invasion, the Allied forces conducted an operation, Operation Fortitude, aimed at misleading the Germans with respect to the date. There were several leaks prior to or on D-Day, through the Cicero affair, the Germans obtained documents containing references to Overlord, but these documents lacked all detail. Double Cross agents, such as the Spaniard Juan Pujol, played an important role in convincing the German High Command that Normandy was at best a diversionary attack. After being told, Eisenhower reduced Miller to lieutenant colonel and sent him back to the U. S. where he retired, another such leak was General Charles de Gaulles radio message after D-Day. He, unlike all the leaders, stated that this invasion was the real invasion. This had the potential to ruin the Allied deceptions Fortitude North, in contrast, Gen. Eisenhower referred to the landings as the initial invasion. A full moon occurred on 6 June, Allied Expeditionary Force Supreme Commander Dwight D. Eisenhower had tentatively selected 5 June as the date for the assault. The weather was fine during most of May, but deteriorated in early June, the Allied troop convoys already at sea were forced to take shelter in bays and inlets on the south coast of Britain for the night. It seemed possible that everything would have to be cancelled and the returned to their embarkation camps. The next full moon period would be nearly a month away, at a vital meeting on 5 June, Eisenhowers chief meteorologist forecast a brief improvement for 6 June. Commander of all forces for the invasion General Bernard Montgomery. Commander of the Allied Air Forces Air Chief Marshal Leigh Mallory was doubtful, on the strength of Staggs forecast, Eisenhower ordered the invasion to proceed. As a result, prevailing overcast skies limited Allied air support, some troops stood down and many senior officers were away for the weekend
23.
Edward G. Robinson
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Edward G. Robinson was a Romanian-born American actor. A popular star on stage and screen during Hollywoods Golden Age, he appeared in 40 Broadway plays and he is best remembered for his tough-guy roles as a gangster, such as his star-making film Little Caesar and Key Largo. During the 1930s and 1940s, he was a public critic of fascism and Nazism. His activism included contributing over $250,000 to more than 850 organizations involved in war relief, along with cultural, educational, during the 1950s, he was called to testify at the House Un-American Activities Committee during the Red Scare, but was cleared of any Communist involvement. Robinson received an Honorary Academy Award for his work in the film industry and he is ranked #24 in the American Film Institutes list of the 25 greatest male stars of Classic American cinema. Robinson was born as Emanuel Goldenberg to a Yiddish-speaking Romanian Jewish family in Bucharest, the son of Sarah and Morris Goldenberg, after one of his brothers was attacked by an antisemitic mob, the family decided to emigrate to the United States. Robinson arrived in New York City on February 14,1903, at Ellis Island I was born again, he wrote. Life for me began when I was 10 years old, an interest in acting and performing in front of people led to him winning an American Academy of Dramatic Arts scholarship, after which he changed his name to Edward G. Robinson. He served in the US Navy during World War I, but was never sent overseas and he began his acting career in the Yiddish Theater District in 1913 and made his Broadway debut in 1915. In 1923 made his debut as E. G. Robinson in the silent film. He played a gangster in the 1927 Broadway police/crime drama The Racket. Robinson went on to make a total of 101 films in his 50-year career. In 1939, at the time World War II broke out in Europe, he played an FBI agent in Confessions of a Nazi Spy, the first American film which showed Nazism as a threat to the United States. He volunteered for service in June 1942 but was disqualified due to his age at 48, although he became an active. The following year he played Paul Ehrlich in Dr. Ehrlichs Magic Bullet and Paul Julius Reuter in A Dispatch from Reuters and his career rehabilitation received a boost in 1954, when noted anti-communist director Cecil B. DeMille cast him as the traitorous Dathan in The Ten Commandments, the film was released in 1956, as was his psychological thriller Nightmare. As it turned out, Robinson died only days later. He had been notified of the honor, but died two months before the ceremony, so the award was accepted by his widow, Jane Robinson
24.
The Barretts of Wimpole Street
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The Barretts of Wimpole Street is a 1930 play by Rudolf Besier, based on the romance between Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett, and her fathers unwillingness to allow them to marry. The play gave actress Katharine Cornell her signature role, the Barretts of Wimpole Street was Rudolf Besiers only real success as a playwright. It was first staged August 20,1930, at the Malvern Festival in Malvern, directed by Sir Barry Jackson, the production starred Gwen Ffrangcon-Davies as Elizabeth Barrett Moulton-Barrett and Scott Sunderland as Robert Browning. The role of Elizabeth Barrett worked so well for Cornell that it became her signature role, the Barretts of Wimpole Street then went to Broadway, where it opened on February 9,1931, at the Empire Theatre, starring Katharine Cornell and Brian Aherne. It was revived there in 1934 and 1945 and it was filmed in 1934, starring Fredric March, Norma Shearer and Charles Laughton. That film was remade scene-for-scene and almost shot-for-shot, in colour, in 1957, starring Bill Travers, Jennifer Jones, both films were directed by Sidney Franklin. The play also spawned a musical and it was first set as The Third Kiss by Judge Fred G. Moritt, which was never produced, but that was reworked as Robert and Elizabeth, with music by Ron Grainer. It opened in London in 1964, starring June Bronhill and Keith Michell, a 1982 TV series The Barretts of Wimpole Street was made by the BBC starring Jane Lapotaire, Joss Ackland, Jeremy Brett and Nigel Stock. Rudolf Besier at the Internet Movie Database doolee. com Rudolf Besier at the Internet Broadway Database Playwrights, a Comedy in Five Acts. at Faded Page
25.
MGM
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Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of feature films and television programs. Its headquarters are in Beverly Hills, California and it is one of the worlds oldest film studios. In 1971, it was announced that MGM would merge with 20th Century Fox, over the next thirty-nine years, the studio was bought and sold at various points in its history until, on November 3,2010, MGM filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. MGM Resorts International, a Las Vegas-based hotel and casino company listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol MGM, is not currently affiliated with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. In 1966, MGM was sold to Canadian investor Edgar Bronfman Sr. whose son Edgar Jr. would later buy Universal Studios, the studio continued to produce five to six films a year that were released through other studios, mostly United Artists. Kerkorian did, however, commit to increased production and a film library when he bought United Artists in 1981. MGM ramped up production, as well as keeping production going at UA. It also incurred significant amounts of debt to increase production, the studio took on additional debt as a series of owners took charge in the 1980s and early 1990s. In 1986, Ted Turner bought MGM, but a few later, sold the company back to Kerkorian to recoup massive debt. The series of deals left MGM even more heavily in debt, MGM was bought by Pathé Communications in 1990, but Parretti lost control of Pathé and defaulted on the loans used to purchase the studio. The French banking conglomerate Crédit Lyonnais, the major creditor. Even more deeply in debt, MGM was purchased by a joint venture between Kerkorian, producer Frank Mancuso, and Australias Seven Network in 1996, the debt load from these and subsequent business deals negatively affected MGMs ability to survive as an independent motion picture studio. In 1924, movie theater magnate Marcus Loew had a problem and he had bought Metro Pictures Corporation in 1919 for a steady supply of films for his large Loews Theatres chain. With Loews lackluster assortment of Metro films, Loew purchased Goldwyn Pictures in 1924 to improve the quality, however, these purchases created a need for someone to oversee his new Hollywood operations, since longtime assistant Nicholas Schenck was needed in New York headquarters to oversee the 150 theaters. Mayer, Loew addressed the situation by buying Louis B. Mayer Pictures on April 17,1924, Mayer became head of the renamed Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, with Irving Thalberg as head of production. MGM produced more than 100 feature films in its first two years, in 1925, MGM released the extravagant and successful Ben-Hur, taking a $4.7 million profit that year, its first full year. Marcus Loew died in 1927, and control of Loews passed to Nicholas Schenck, in 1929, William Fox of Fox Film Corporation bought the Loew familys holdings with Schencks assent. Mayer and Thalberg disagreed with the decision, Mayer was active in the California Republican Party and used his political connections to persuade the Justice Department to delay final approval of the deal on antitrust grounds
26.
New York Times
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The New York Times is an American daily newspaper, founded and continuously published in New York City since September 18,1851, by The New York Times Company. The New York Times has won 119 Pulitzer Prizes, more than any other newspaper, the papers print version in 2013 had the second-largest circulation, behind The Wall Street Journal, and the largest circulation among the metropolitan newspapers in the US. The New York Times is ranked 18th in the world by circulation, following industry trends, its weekday circulation had fallen in 2009 to fewer than one million. Nicknamed The Gray Lady, The New York Times has long been regarded within the industry as a newspaper of record. The New York Times international version, formerly the International Herald Tribune, is now called the New York Times International Edition, the papers motto, All the News Thats Fit to Print, appears in the upper left-hand corner of the front page. On Sunday, The New York Times is supplemented by the Sunday Review, The New York Times Book Review, The New York Times Magazine and T, some other early investors of the company were Edwin B. Morgan and Edward B. We do not believe that everything in Society is either right or exactly wrong, —what is good we desire to preserve and improve, —what is evil, to exterminate. In 1852, the started a western division, The Times of California that arrived whenever a mail boat got to California. However, when local California newspapers came into prominence, the effort failed, the newspaper shortened its name to The New-York Times in 1857. It dropped the hyphen in the city name in the 1890s, One of the earliest public controversies it was involved with was the Mortara Affair, the subject of twenty editorials it published alone. At Newspaper Row, across from City Hall, Henry Raymond, owner and editor of The New York Times, averted the rioters with Gatling guns, in 1869, Raymond died, and George Jones took over as publisher. Tweed offered The New York Times five million dollars to not publish the story, in the 1880s, The New York Times transitioned gradually from editorially supporting Republican Party candidates to becoming more politically independent and analytical. In 1884, the paper supported Democrat Grover Cleveland in his first presidential campaign, while this move cost The New York Times readership among its more progressive and Republican readers, the paper eventually regained most of its lost ground within a few years. However, the newspaper was financially crippled by the Panic of 1893, the paper slowly acquired a reputation for even-handedness and accurate modern reporting, especially by the 1890s under the guidance of Ochs. Under Ochs guidance, continuing and expanding upon the Henry Raymond tradition, The New York Times achieved international scope, circulation, in 1910, the first air delivery of The New York Times to Philadelphia began. The New York Times first trans-Atlantic delivery by air to London occurred in 1919 by dirigible, airplane Edition was sent by plane to Chicago so it could be in the hands of Republican convention delegates by evening. In the 1940s, the extended its breadth and reach. The crossword began appearing regularly in 1942, and the section in 1946
27.
Ronald Reagan
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Ronald Wilson Reagan was an American politician and actor who was the 40th President of the United States, from 1981 to 1989. Before his presidency, he was the 33rd Governor of California, from 1967 to 1975, after a career as a Hollywood actor and union leader. Raised in a family in small towns of northern Illinois, Reagan graduated from Eureka College in 1932. After moving to Hollywood in 1937, he became an actor, Reagan was twice elected President of the Screen Actors Guild, the labor union for actors, where he worked to root out Communist influence. In the 1950s, he moved into television and was a speaker at General Electric factories. Having been a lifelong Democrat, his views changed and he became a conservative and in 1962 switched to the Republican Party. In 1964, Reagans speech, A Time for Choosing, in support of Barry Goldwaters foundering presidential campaign, Building a network of supporters, he was elected Governor of California in 1966. Entering the presidency in 1981, Reagan implemented sweeping new political, in his first term he survived an assassination attempt, spurred the War on Drugs, and fought public sector labor. During his re-election bid, Reagan campaigned on the notion that it was Morning in America, foreign affairs dominated his second term, including ending of the Cold War, the bombing of Libya, and the Iran–Contra affair. Publicly describing the Soviet Union as an empire, and during his famous speech at the Brandenburg Gate. Jack, a salesman and storyteller, was the grandson of Irish Catholic immigrants from County Tipperary, Reagan had one older brother, John Neil Reagan, who became an advertising executive. As a boy, Reagans father nicknamed his son Dutch, due to his fat little Dutchman-like appearance and Dutchboy haircut, Reagans family briefly lived in several towns and cities in Illinois, including Monmouth, Galesburg, and Chicago. In 1919, they returned to Tampico and lived above the H. C, Pitney Variety Store until finally settling in Dixon. After his election as president, residing in the upstairs White House private quarters, for the time, Reagan was unusual in his opposition to racial discrimination, and recalled a time in Dixon when the local inn would not allow black people to stay there. Reagan brought them back to his house, where his mother invited them to stay the night and have breakfast the next morning, after the closure of the Pitney Store in late 1920 and the familys move to Dixon, the midwestern small universe had a lasting impression on Reagan. Reagan attended Dixon High School, where he developed interests in acting, sports and his first job was as a lifeguard at the Rock River in Lowell Park in 1927. Over a six-year period, Reagan reportedly performed 77 rescues as a lifeguard and he attended Eureka College, a Disciples-oriented liberal arts school, where he became a member of the Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity, a cheerleader, and studied economics and sociology. While involved, the Miller Center of Public Affairs described him as an indifferent student and he majored in economics and sociology, and graduated with a C grade
28.
Irving Berlin
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Irving Berlin was an American composer and lyricist, widely considered one of the greatest songwriters in American history. His music forms a part of the Great American Songbook. Born in Imperial Russia, Berlin arrived in the United States at the age of five. He published his first song, Marie from Sunny Italy, in 1907, receiving 33 cents for the publishing rights and he also was an owner of the Music Box Theatre on Broadway. Alexanders Ragtime Band sparked a dance craze in places as far away as Berlins native Russia. In doing so, said Walter Cronkite, at Berlins 100th birthday tribute, he helped write the story of country, capturing the best of who we are. He wrote hundreds of songs, many becoming major hits, which him a legend before he turned thirty. During his 60-year career he wrote an estimated 1,500 songs, including the scores for 19 Broadway shows and 18 Hollywood films, with his songs nominated eight times for Academy Awards. Many songs became popular themes and anthems, including Easter Parade, White Christmas, Happy Holiday, This Is the Army, Mr. Jones, and Theres No Business Like Show Business. His Broadway musical and 1942 film, This is the Army, Celine Dion recorded it as a tribute, making it no.1 on the charts after the September 11 attacks in 2001. In 2015, pianist and composer Hershey Felder began touring nationwide as a show, portraying Berlin. Composer George Gershwin called him the greatest songwriter that has ever lived, Berlin was born on May 11,1888, in Tolochin, Russian Empire. He was one of eight children of Moses and Lena Lipkin Beilin and his father, a cantor in a synagogue, uprooted the family to America, as did many other Jewish families in the late 19th century. In 1893 they settled in New York City, as of the 1900 census, the name Beilin had changed to Baline. By daylight the house was in ashes, as an adult, Berlin said he was unaware of being raised in abject poverty since he knew no other life. Tsar Alexander III of Russia and then Tsar Nicholas II, his son, had revived with utmost brutality the anti-Jewish pogroms, which created the spontaneous mass exodus to America. When they reached Ellis Island, Israel was put in a pen with his brother and his Yiddish-speaking family eventually settled on Cherry Street, a windowless cold-water basement flat in the Theater District of the Lower East Side. His father, unable to find work as a cantor in New York, took a job at a kosher meat market and gave Hebrew lessons on the side
29.
This Is the Army
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This Is the Army is a 1943 American wartime musical comedy film produced by Hal B. Wallis and Jack L. Warner, and directed by Michael Curtiz, adapted from a stage musical with the same name, designed to boost morale in the U. S. during World War II. The screenplay by Casey Robinson and Claude Binyon was based on the 1942 Broadway musical by Irving Berlin, in World War I song-and-dance man Jerry Jones is drafted into the US Army, where he stages a revue called Yip Yip Yaphank. Among the teary, last-minute goodbyes Jones kisses his newlywed bride Ethel farewell, in the trenches of France, several of the soldiers in the production are killed or wounded by shrapnel from a German artillery barrage. Jones is wounded in the leg and must walk with a cane, nevertheless, he is resolved to find something useful to do, especially now that he is the father of a son. Eddie Dibble, the bugler, also survive. Twenty-five years later World War II is raging in Europe, jerrys son Johnny enlists in the Army shortly after Pearl Harbor. He tells his sweetheart Eileen Dibble that they cannot marry until he returns, Johnny reluctantly accepts an order to stage another musical, following in his fathers footsteps. The show goes on throughout the United States and eventually plays Washington. During the show it is announced that this is the last performance, Eileen, who has joined the Red Cross auxiliary, appears backstage. During a break in the show she brings a minister and convinces Johnny that they should marry now - which they do, in the alley behind the theater, the plot provides an envelope to showcase both revues. Davidson Rosemary DeCamp as Ethel Jones Ruth Donnelly as Mrs. OBrien Dorothy Peterson as Mrs. Nelson Gertrude Niesen as World War I Vocalist Ronald Reagan as Cpl, there he spoke with the commanding officers, including Capt. A. H. Rankin of Special Services, about restaging his original 1917 Army play, Ezra Stone was selected as director for the new contemporary play, and the two set up on base during the weekdays to put together the story and crew. Insisting on integration, Berlin was granted the chance to add African Americans into this play and this would not be unconventional for Berlin, but it would be for the United States Army—no whites and African Americans would appear on stage simultaneously. Though progressive in regard, Berlin was still planning on opening with a minstrel skit. Ezra Stone told his boss that it would be impossible to get 110 men out of blackface in time for the next number. Casting aside his minstrel show, Berlin instead wrote a new Puttin on the Ritz, the retooled play ran on Broadway, at the Broadway Theatre from July 4,1942, to September 26,1942. The show was directed by Sgt, the show was such a success that it went on the road
30.
Yip, Yip, Yaphank
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The commanding officer at Camp Upton had wanted to build a community building on the grounds of the army base, and thought that Sgt. Berlin could help raise the $35,000 needed for its construction. Berlins song, Oh, How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning, in July 1918, Yip, Yip Yaphank had a tryout run at Camp Uptons little Liberty Theatre, before moving on to Central Park Wests Century Theatre in August. The show was typical of revues and follies, featuring acrobatics, dancers, jugglers, included with the performances were military drills choreographed to music by Berlin. The show had its comedy too, including males dressed as Ziegfeld girls, Berlin himself as the reluctant soldier not wanting to join in reveille during the Oh, How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning skit. The finale, Were On Our Way to France, was the replacement for God Bless America, during this act, the whole company wore their full gear, and marched out of the theater, down the aisles and out to the street. During the Century Theatre run, the performers stayed at an armory downtown, by September 1918, the production had to move to the Lexington Theatre, where it would eventually end its run. On that night, the saw the usual ending, with the battle-ready men marching off to war. After the main performers were seen marching through the aisles, Sgt, irving Berlin and the rest of the crew were similarly dressed and marching out of the theater. This time, the men were going off to war, heading to France for real, the play earned the U. S. Army US$80,000 for Camp Uptons Community Building, though the army never had it built. Irving Berlin did not go to France, but would be listed among other great songwriters and playwrights of the time, the success of this musical led him to volunteer to do a similar revue during World War II, entitled This Is the Army. He also reprised Yaphanks most popular song, Oh, How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning, staged on Broadway, Army was such a smash, the military took it to London and Europe, and to the men fighting in the Pacific Theater. The show, as well as the story of its production, was also turned into the 1943 motion picture This Is the Army. Yanks A Poppin, a based on This Is the Army also played in the Pacific Theater. You Cant Stay Up on Bevo Oh, How I Hate To Get Up in the Morning I Can Always Find a Little Sunshine in the Y. M. C. A, to assure its success, Berlin was fortunate to get Eddie Cantor to sing it. Mandy would be sung by Eddie Cantor in the 1934 movie Kid Millions, mandy also later appeared in the 1954 film White Christmas, in a sequence sung and danced by Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney, and Vera-Ellen. Yip Yip Yaphank at the Internet Broadway Database
31.
God Bless America
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God Bless America is an American patriotic song written by Irving Berlin in 1918 and revised by him in 1938. The later version has notably recorded by Kate Smith, becoming her signature song. God Bless America takes the form of a prayer for Gods blessing and peace for the nation. Irving Berlin wrote the song in 1918 while serving the U. S. Army at Camp Upton in Yaphank, New York, the lyrics at that time included the line Make her victorious on land and foam, God bless America. As well as Stand beside her and guide her to the right with the light from above and he interprets this as an example of Berlins habit of interpolating bits of half-remembered songs into his own numbers. Berlin, born Israel Baline, had written several Jewish-themed novelty tunes. Berlin had made minor changes, by this time, to the right might have been considered a call to the political right. This was changed when Berlin published the music in March 1939. Woody Guthrie criticized the song, which he considered unrealistic and complacent, anti-Semitic groups such as the Ku Klux Klan also protested against the song due to its authorship by a Jewish immigrant. In 1943, Smiths rendition was featured in the patriotic musical This is the Army along with other Berlin songs, the manuscripts in the Library of Congress reveal the evolution of the song from victory to peace. Berlin gave the royalties of the song to The God Bless America Fund for redistribution to Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts in New York City. Smith performed the song on her two NBC television series in the 1950s and in her short-lived The Kate Smith Show on CBS, the song was used early in the Civil Rights Movement as well as at labor rallies. S. The Flyers even brought Smith in to live before Game 6 of the 1974 Stanley Cup Finals on May 19,1974. God Bless America was the campaign song for President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1940, as well as his Republican opponent. At that time, the song represented cultural and religious tolerance. C, on July 21,2011, Smiths version of the song was played as NASAs final wakeup call for the space shuttle Atlantis, capping the 30-year shuttle program. God Bless America has been performed at games of the National Hockey Leagues Philadelphia Flyers. At some Flyers home games, especially during big games and the playoffs, their main anthem singer,1 ranked anthemist in the NHL, Lauren Hart, as she sings God Bless America, accompanied by the great Kate Smith. At some Senators home games since 2000–01, if the team is from the U. S. their main anthem singer, Ontario Provincial Police Constable Lyndon Slewidge, has sung God Bless America
32.
Billboard magazine
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Billboard is an American entertainment media brand owned by the Hollywood Reporter-Billboard Media Group, a division of Eldridge Industries. It publishes pieces involving news, video, opinion, reviews, events and it is also known for its music charts, including the Billboard Hot 100 and Billboard 200, tracking the most popular singles and albums in different genres. It also hosts events, owns a publishing firm, and operates several TV shows, Billboard was founded in 1894 by William Donaldson and James Hennegan as a trade publication for bill posters. Donaldson later acquired Hennegens interest in 1900 for $500, in the 1900s, it covered the entertainment industry, such as circuses, fairs and burlesque shows. It also created a service for travelling entertainers. Billboard began focusing more on the industry as the jukebox, phonograph. Many topics it covered were spun-off into different magazines, including Amusement Business in 1961 to cover outdoor entertainment so that it could focus on music. After Donaldson died in 1925, Billboard was passed down to his children and Hennegans children, until it was sold to investors in 1985. The first issue of Billboard was published in Cincinnati, Ohio, on November 1,1894 by William Donaldson, initially, it covered the advertising and bill posting industry and was called Billboard Advertising. At the time, billboards, posters and paper advertisements placed in public spaces were the means of advertising. Donaldson handled editorial and advertising, while Hennegan, who owned Hennegan Printing Co. managed magazine production, the first issues were just eight pages long. The paper had columns like The Bill Room Gossip and The Indefatigable, a department for agricultural fairs was established in 1896. The title was changed to The Billboard in 1897, after a brief departure over editorial differences, Donaldson purchased Hennegans interest in the business in 1900 for $500, to save it from bankruptcy. That May, Donaldson changed it from a monthly to a paper with a greater emphasis on breaking news. He improved editorial quality and opened new offices in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, London and he also re-focused the magazine on outdoor entertainment like fairs, carnivals, circuses, vaudeville and burlesque shows. A section devoted to circuses was introduced in 1900, followed by more prominent coverage of events in 1901. Billboard also covered topics including regulation, a lack of professionalism, economics and it had a stage gossip column covering the private lives of entertainers, a tent show section covering traveling shows and a sub-section called Freaks to order. According to The Seattle Times, Donaldson also published articles attacking censorship, praising productions exhibiting good taste
33.
John Steinbeck
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John Ernst Steinbeck, Jr. was an American author of 27 books, including 16 novels, six non-fiction books, and five collections of short stories. He is widely known for the comic novels Tortilla Flat and Cannery Row, the multi-generation epic East of Eden, the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Grapes of Wrath is considered Steinbecks masterpiece and part of the American literary canon. In the first 75 years after it was published, it sold 14 million copies, the winner of the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature, he has been called a giant of American letters. His works are widely read abroad and many of his works are considered classics of Western literature, most of Steinbecks work is set in southern and central California, particularly in the Salinas Valley and the California Coast Ranges region. His works frequently explored the themes of fate and injustice, especially as applied to downtrodden or everyman protagonists, Steinbeck was born on February 27,1902, in Salinas, California. He was of German, English, and Irish descent, johann Adolf Großsteinbeck, Steinbecks paternal grandfather, shortened the family name to Steinbeck when he immigrated to the United States. The family farm in Heiligenhaus, Mettmann, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, is still named Großsteinbeck and his father, John Ernst Steinbeck, served as Monterey County treasurer. Johns mother, Olive Hamilton, a school teacher, shared Steinbecks passion for reading and writing. The Steinbecks were members of the Episcopal Church, although Steinbeck later became agnostic, Steinbeck lived in a small rural town, no more than a frontier settlement, set in some of the worlds most fertile land. He spent his summers working on ranches and later with migrant workers on Spreckels sugar beet farms. There he learned of the aspects of the migrant life and the darker side of human nature. He explored his surroundings, walking across local forests, fields, while working at Spreckels Sugar Company, he sometimes worked in their laboratory, which gave him time to write. He had considerable mechanical aptitude and fondness for repairing things he owned, Steinbeck graduated from Salinas High School in 1919 and went on to study English Literature at Stanford University near Palo Alto, leaving, without a degree, in 1925. He travelled to New York City where he took odd jobs while trying to write, when he failed to publish his work, he returned to California and worked in 1928 as a tour guide and caretaker at Lake Tahoe, where he met Carol Henning, his first wife. They married in January 1930 in Los Angeles, where, with friends, the elder Steinbecks gave John free housing, paper for his manuscripts, and from 1928, loans that allowed him to write without looking for work. When those sources failed, Steinbeck and his wife accepted welfare, whatever food they had, they shared with their friends. Carol became the model for Mary Talbot in Steinbecks novel Cannery Row, in 1930, Steinbeck met the marine biologist Ed Ricketts, who became a close friend and mentor to Steinbeck during the following decade, teaching him a great deal about philosophy and biology. Ricketts, usually quiet, yet likable, with an inner self-sufficiency
34.
USS Arkansas (BB-33)
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USS Arkansas was a dreadnought battleship, the second member of the Wyoming class, built by the United States Navy. She was the ship of the US Navy named in honor of the 25th state. She was laid down in January 1910, launched in January 1911, Arkansas was armed with a main battery of twelve 12-inch guns and capable of a top speed of 20.5 kn. Arkansas served in both World Wars, during the First World War, she was part of Battleship Division Nine, which was attached to the British Grand Fleet, but she saw no action during the war. During the interwar years, Arkansas performed a variety of duties, including training cruises for midshipmen, following the outbreak of World War II, Arkansas conducted Neutrality Patrols in the Atlantic prior to Americas entry into the war. Thereafter, she escorted convoys to Europe through 1944, in June, she supported the invasion of Normandy, in 1945, she transferred to the Pacific, and bombarded Japanese positions during the invasions of Iwo Jima and Okinawa. After the end of the war, she ferried troops back to the United States as part of Operation Magic Carpet, Arkansas was expended as a target in Operation Crossroads, a pair of nuclear weapon tests at Bikini Atoll in July 1946. Arkansas was laid down on 25 January 1910 at New York Shipbuilding in Camden and she was launched on 14 January 1911, after which fitting-out work was effected. The ship was completed by September 1912, and was commissioned into the US Navy on 17 September at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, the ship was 562 ft long overall and had a beam of 93 ft 3 in and a draft of 28 ft 6 in. She displaced 26,000 long tons as designed and up to 27,243 long tons at combat load. The ship was powered by four-shaft Parsons steam turbines and twelve coal-fired Babcock & Wilcox boilers rated at 28,000 shp, the ship had a cruising range of 8,000 nmi at a speed of 10 kn. The ship was armed with a battery of twelve 12-inch/50 caliber Mark 7 guns guns in six twin Mark 9 gun turrets on the centerline. The other four turrets were placed aft of the superstructure in two superfiring pairs, the secondary battery consisted of twenty-one 5-inch /51 caliber guns mounted in casemates along the side of the hull. The main armored belt was 11 in thick, while the gun turrets had 12 in thick faces, the conning tower had 11.5 in thick sides. In 1925, Arkansas was modernized in the Philadelphia Navy Yard and her displacement increased significantly, to 26,066 long tons standard and 30,610 long tons full load. Her beam was widened to 106 ft, primarily from the installation of anti-torpedo bulges, and draft increased to 29 ft 11.75 in. The ships deck armor was strengthened by the addition of 3.5 in of armor to the deck between the end barbettes, plus 1.75 in of armor on the third deck on the bow. The deck armor over the engines and boilers was increased by 0.75 in and 1.25 in, five of the 5-inch guns were removed and eight 3-inch /50 caliber anti-aircraft guns were installed
35.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
36.
Liberty ship
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The Liberty ship was a class of cargo ship built in the United States during World War II. Though British in conception, the design was adapted by the United States for its simple, mass-produced on an unprecedented scale, the now iconic Liberty ship came to symbolize U. S. wartime industrial output. The class was developed to meet British orders for transports to replace those torpedoed by German U-boats, the vessels were purchased both for the U. S. fleet and lend-lease deliveries of war materiel to Britain and the Soviet Union. Eighteen American shipyards built 2,710 Liberty ships between 1941 and 1945, easily the largest number of ships produced to a single design and their production mirrored on a much larger scale the manufacture of the Hog Islander and similar standardized ship types during World War I. Only three Liberty Ships are preserved, two as operational museum ships. S, the number was doubled in 1939 and again in 1940 to 200 ships a year. Ship types included two tankers and three types of merchant vessel, all to be powered by steam turbines, limited industrial capacity, especially for reduction gears, meant that relatively few of these ships were built. In 1940 the British government ordered 60 Ocean-class freighters from American yards to replace war losses and these were simple but fairly large with a single 2,500 horsepower compound steam engine of obsolete but reliable design. Britain specified coal-fired plants, because it then had extensive coal mines, the order specified an 18-inch increase in draft to boost displacement by 800 long tons to 10,100 long tons. The accommodation, bridge, and main engine were located amidships, the first Ocean-class ship, SS Ocean Vanguard, was launched on 16 August 1941. The design was modified by the United States Maritime Commission, in part to increase conformity to American construction practices, but more importantly to make it even quicker and cheaper to build. The US version was designated EC2-S-C1, EC for Emergency Cargo,2 for a ship between 400 and 450 feet long, S for steam engines, and C1 for design C1. The new design replaced much riveting, which accounted for one-third of the costs, with welding. It was adopted as a Merchant Marine Act design, and production awarded to a conglomerate of West Coast engineering and construction companies headed by Henry J. Kaiser known as the Six Companies. Liberty ships were designed to carry 10,000 long tons of cargo, usually one type per ship, but, during wartime, generally carried loads far exceeding this. On 27 March 1941, the number of ships was increased to 200 by the Defense Aid Supplemental Appropriations Act and increased again in April to 306. By 1941, the turbine was the preferred marine steam engine because of its greater efficiency compared to earlier reciprocating compound steam engines. Eighteen different companies built the engine. It had the advantage of ruggedness and simplicity
37.
Lisbon
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Lisbon is the capital and the largest city of Portugal, with a population of 552,700 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km². Its urban area extends beyond the administrative limits with a population of around 2.7 million people. About 2.8 million people live in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area and it is continental Europes westernmost capital city and the only one along the Atlantic coast. Lisbon lies in the western Iberian Peninsula on the Atlantic Ocean, the westernmost areas of its metro area is the westernmost point of Continental Europe. Lisbon is recognised as a city because of its importance in finance, commerce, media, entertainment, arts, international trade, education. It is one of the economic centres on the continent, with a growing financial sector. Humberto Delgado Airport serves over 20 million passengers annually, as of 2015, and the motorway network, the city is the 7th-most-visited city in Southern Europe, after Istanbul, Rome, Barcelona, Madrid, Athens and Milan, with 1,740,000 tourists in 2009. The Lisbon region contributes with a higher GDP PPP per capita than any region in Portugal. Its GDP amounts to 96.3 billion USD and thus $32,434 per capita, the city occupies 32nd place of highest gross earnings in the world. Most of the headquarters of multinationals in the country are located in the Lisbon area and it is also the political centre of the country, as its seat of Government and residence of the Head of State. Lisbon is one of the oldest cities in the world, julius Caesar made it a municipium called Felicitas Julia, adding to the name Olissipo. Ruled by a series of Germanic tribes from the 5th century, in 1147, the Crusaders under Afonso Henriques reconquered the city and since then it has been a major political, economic and cultural centre of Portugal. Unlike most capital cities, Lisbons status as the capital of Portugal has never been granted or confirmed officially – by statute or in written form. Its position as the capital has formed through constitutional convention, making its position as de facto capital a part of the Constitution of Portugal. It has one of the warmest winters of any metropolis in Europe, the typical summer season lasts about four months, from June to September, although also in April temperatures sometimes reach around 25 °C. Although modern archaeological excavations show a Phoenician presence at this location since 1200 BC, another conjecture based on ancient hydronymy suggests that the name of the settlement derived from the pre-Roman appellation for the Tagus, Lisso or Lucio. Lisbons name was written Ulyssippo in Latin by the geographer Pomponius Mela and it was later referred to as Olisippo by Pliny the Elder and by the Greeks as Olissipo or Olissipona. The Indo-European Celts invaded in the 1st millennium BC, mixing with the Pre-Indo-European population and this indigenous settlement maintained commercial relations with the Phoenicians, which would account for the recent findings of Phoenician pottery and other material objects
38.
Jane Froman
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Jane Froman was an American singer and actress. During her thirty-year career, Froman performed on stage, radio and her life story was told in the 1952 film With a Song in My Heart. She was portrayed by Susan Hayward, who was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance, ellen Jane Froman was born in University City, Missouri, the daughter of Anna Tillman and Elmer Ellsworth Froman. Her childhood and adolescence were spent in the small Missouri town of Clinton, when Froman was about 5 years old, her father mysteriously disappeared and was never heard from again. Her mother later remarried William Hetzler, Froman developed a stutter around this time, which plagued her all of her life, except when she sang. In 1919, Froman and her mother moved to Columbia, Missouri, in 1921, at age 13, Froman and another young lady gave a piano-and-song recital at Christian College, now Columbia College. In 1926, Froman graduated from Christian College and later attended the University of Missouri School of Journalism, two years later in 1928, Froman moved to Cincinnati, where she studied voice at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music through 1930. She met vaudeville performer Don Ross when they auditioned for the job at WLW radio station in Cincinnati. She first appeared on WLW October 9,1929 on the King Taste night club and she made her national network debut on NBC July 31,1931. She was heard on the Florsheim Frolic program, broadcast on Sunday afternoons, Froman and Ross had their own program beginning July 4,1937. The 13-episode series on the NBC Red Network was a replacement for The Jack Benny Program. On January 4,1948, Froman joined the cast of The Pause That Refreshes and it was her first regular role on radio after the plane crash. There she joined Henry Thies orchestra and was a featured vocalist on a number of Thies Victor recordings, convinced she was star material, Ross became her unofficial manager and persuaded her to move to Chicago where he worked for NBC radio. In 1933 Froman moved to New York City where she appeared on Chesterfields Music that Satisfies radio program with Bing Crosby, in 1948, she joined the cast of The Pause That Refreshes, a Sunday night music program on CBS. In 1933, Froman joined the Ziegfeld Follies, where she was befriended by Fannie Brice, in 1934, at age 27, she became the top-polled girl singer. The famous composer and producer Billy Rose, when asked to name the top ten female singers, is reported to have replied, Jane Froman, Radio listeners apparently agreed with Rose, because Froman emerged atop a nationwide poll as the number-one female singer on the radio in 1934. Froman is credited with three movies, Kissing Time, Stars Over Broadway and Radio City Revels, beginning October 15,1952, she was a host of Jane Fromans U. S. A. Canteen, a 30-minute CBS Saturday program in which talented members of the armed services appeared with Froman, on December 30,1952, the length was reduced to 15 minutes with a twice-a-week schedule on Tuesdays and Thursdays
39.
With a Song in My Heart (film)
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She entertained the troops in World War II despite having to walk with crutches. The film stars Susan Hayward, Rory Calhoun, David Wayne, Thelma Ritter, Robert Wagner, Helen Westcott, Froman herself supplied Haywards singing voice. The movie was written and produced by Lamar Trotti and directed by Walter Lang, the title song, With a Song in My Heart, became famous in the UK as the theme to the long-running BBC radio show, Family Favourites. Jane Froman is a staff singer at a Cincinnati radio station. Jane gratefully marries her agent Don Ross, but soon both realize theyre not truly in love, janes popularity soars, and she leaves on a European tour. When her plane crashes, she is partially crippled, unable to walk without crutches, she nonetheless goes on to entertain U. S. troops during World War II. The Capitol Records album was released in formats, Capitol L-309, DDN-309, KDF-309. This album was the Best-selling album of 1952, and spent 25 weeks at the top of the Billboard chart, Jane Froman also released a single of the title song with Capital records. It won the Academy Award for Original Music Score and was nominated for Best Actress in a Leading Role, Best Actress in a Supporting Role, Best Costume Design, Color and Best Sound, Recording. The film won the Golden Globe award for best picture in the musical or comedy category, all except three songs featured the voice of Jane Froman, and were performed by Susan Hayward. Bland Stein Song - Music and lyrics by E. A, fenstad & Lincoln Colcord Back Home Again in Indiana - Music by James F. Hanley, lyrics by Ballard MacDonald Alabamy Bound - Music by Ray Henderson, lyrics by Bud Green & Buddy G
40.
Al Jolson
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Al Jolson was an American singer, film actor, and comedian. At the peak of his career, he was dubbed The Worlds Greatest Entertainer and his performing style was brash and extroverted, and he popularized a large number of songs that benefited from his shamelessly sentimental, melodramatic approach. Numerous well-known singers were influenced by his music, including Bing Crosby, David Bowie, Bob Dylan, Rod Stewart, Dylan once referred to him as somebody whose life I can feel. Broadway critic Gilbert Seldes compared him to the Greek god Pan, claiming that Jolson represented the concentration of our national health, in the 1930s, Jolson was Americas most famous and highest-paid entertainer. Between 1911 and 1928, Jolson had nine sell-out Winter Garden shows in a row, more than 80 hit records, and 16 national and international tours. Although he is best remembered today as the star of the first talking picture, The Jazz Singer, after the attack on Pearl Harbor, he was the first star to entertain troops overseas during World War II. After a period of inactivity, his stardom returned with The Jolson Story, for which Larry Parks played Jolson, the formula was repeated in a sequel, Jolson Sings Again. In 1950, he became the first star to entertain GIs on active service in the Korean War. He died just weeks after returning to the U. S. partly owing to the exertion of performing. Defense Secretary George Marshall posthumously awarded him the Medal of Merit, According to the St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture, Jolson was to jazz, blues, and ragtime what Elvis Presley was to rock n roll. Being the first popular singer to make a spectacular event out of singing a song and his specialty was performing on stage runways extending out into the audience. According to music historian Larry Stempel, No one had heard anything quite like it before on Broadway, author Stephen Banfield agreed, writing that Jolsons style was arguably the single most important factor in defining the modern musical. Jolson also enjoyed performing in blackface makeup, a convention since the mid-19th century. With his unique and dynamic style of singing black music, such as jazz and blues, as early as 1911, he became known for fighting against black discrimination on Broadway. Al Jolson was born as Asa Yoelson in the Jewish village of Srednik now known as Seredžius, near Kaunas in Lithuania, then part of the Russian Empire. He was the fifth and youngest child of Moses Rubin Yoelson and Nechama Naomi Cantor, his four siblings were Rose, Etta, another sister who died in infancy, and Hirsch. Jolson claimed not to know when he was born, and later chose to claim he was born on May 26,1886. His one-time sister-in-law, Margaret Weatherwax, claimed Jolson was the age as their father, Ralph
41.
V-E Day
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It thus marked the end of World War II in Europe. The term VE Day existed as early as September 1944, in anticipation of victory, on 30 April 1945, Adolf Hitler, the Nazi leader, committed suicide during the Battle of Berlin. Germanys surrender, therefore, was authorised by his successor, Reichspräsident Karl Dönitz, the administration headed by Dönitz was known as the Flensburg Government. The act of surrender was signed on 7 May in Reims, France and on 8 May in Berlin. The former Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc countries have historically celebrated the end of World War II on 9 May, however, the Baltic countries now commemorate VE day on 8 May. In Ukraine from 2015,8 May was designated as a day of Remembrance and Reconciliation, upon the defeat of Germany, celebrations erupted throughout the world. From Moscow to Los Angeles, people celebrated, in the United Kingdom, more than one million people celebrated in the streets to mark the end of the European part of the war. Princess Elizabeth and her sister Princess Margaret were allowed to wander incognito among the crowds, in the United States, the victory happened on President Harry Trumans 61st birthday. He dedicated the victory to the memory of his predecessor, Franklin D. Roosevelt, flags remained at half-staff for the remainder of the 30-day mourning period. Truman said of dedicating the victory to Roosevelts memory and keeping the flags at half-staff that his wish was that Franklin D. Roosevelt had lived to witness this day. Later that day, Truman said that the victory made it his most enjoyable birthday, massive celebrations also took place in Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami and especially in New Yorks Times Square. As the Soviet representative in Reims had no authority to sign the German instrument of surrender, the surrender ceremony was repeated in Berlin on 8 May, where the instrument of surrender was signed by supreme German military commander Wilhelm Keitel, by Georgy Zhukov and Allied representatives. East Germany as Tag der Befreiung, a holiday from 1950 to 1966. Between 1975 and 1990, as Tag des Sieges, France as Victoire 1945 Slovakia as Deň víťazstva nad fašizmom Czech Republic as Den vítězství or Den osvobození Poland as Narodowy Dzień Zwycięstwa – National Victory Day. Norway as Frigjøringsdagen Ukraine День памяті та примирення Ukraine День перемоги над нацизмом у Другій світовій війні — from 2015
