1.
Victory in Europe 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
2.
Times Square
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It stretches from West 42nd to West 47th Streets. One of the worlds busiest pedestrian areas, it is also the hub of the Broadway Theater District, Times Square is one of the worlds most visited tourist attractions, drawing an estimated 50 million visitors annually. Approximately 330,000 people pass through Times Square daily, many of them tourists, the southern triangle of Times Square has no specific name, but the northernmost of the two triangles is called Father Duffy Square. Since 2008, the booth has been backed by a red, sloped, triangular set of stairs, which is used by people to sit, talk, eat. When Manhattan Island was first settled by the Dutch, three small streams united near what is now 10th Avenue and 40th street and these three streams formed the Great Kill. From there the Great Kill wound through the low-lying Reed Valley, known for fish and waterfowl, the name was retained in a tiny hamlet, Great Kill, that became a center for carriage-making, as the upland to the south and east became known as Longacre. Before and after the American Revolution, the area belonged to John Morin Scott, scotts manor house was at what is currently 43rd Street, surrounded by countryside used for farming and breeding horses. By 1872, the area had become the center of New Yorks horse carriage industry, the locality had not previously been given a name, and city authorities called it Longacre Square after Long Acre in London, where the horse and carriage trade was centered in that city. William Henry Vanderbilt owned and ran the American Horse Exchange there, in 1910 it became the Winter Garden Theatre. The first theater on the square, the Olympia, was built by cigar manufacturer, by the early 1890s this once sparsely settled stretch of Broadway was ablaze with electric light and thronged by crowds of middle- and upper-class theatre, restaurant and cafe patrons. In 1904, New York Times publisher Adolph S. Ochs persuaded Mayor George B, mcClellan, Jr. to construct a subway station there, and the area was renamed Times Square on April 8,1904. Just three weeks later, the first electrified advertisement appeared on the side of a bank at the corner of 46th Street, the north end later became Duffy Square, and the former Horse Exchange became the Winter Garden Theatre. The New York Times, according to Nolan, moved to spacious offices west of the square in 1913. The old Times Building was later named the Allied Chemical Building in 1963, now known simply as One Times Square, it is famed for the Times Square Ball drop on its roof every New Years Eve. In 1913, the Lincoln Highway Association, headed by entrepreneur Carl G. Fisher, chose the intersection of 42nd Street and Broadway to be the Eastern Terminus of the Lincoln Highway. This was the first road across the United States, which originally spanned 3,389 miles coast-to-coast through 13 states to its terminus in Lincoln Park in San Francisco. Times Square grew dramatically after World War I and it became a cultural hub full of theatres, music halls, and upscale hotels. Times Square quickly became New Yorks agora, a place to gather to await great tidings and to celebrate them, advertising also grew significantly in the 1920s, growing from $25 million to $85 million over the decade
3.
Arkansas
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Arkansas is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. Its name is of Siouan derivation from the language of the Osage denoting their related kin, the states diverse geography ranges from the mountainous regions of the Ozark and the Ouachita Mountains, which make up the U. S. Interior Highlands, to the forested land in the south known as the Arkansas Timberlands, to the eastern lowlands along the Mississippi River. Arkansas is the 29th largest by area and the 33rd most populous of the 50 United States, the capital and most populous city is Little Rock, located in the central portion of the state, a hub for transportation, business, culture, and government. The northwestern corner of the state, such as the Fayetteville–Springdale–Rogers Metropolitan Area and Fort Smith metropolitan area, is a population, education, the largest city in the eastern part of the state is Jonesboro. The largest city in the part of the state is Pine Bluff. The Territory of Arkansas was admitted to the Union as the 25th state on June 15,1836, in 1861 Arkansas withdrew from the United States and joined the Confederate States of America during the Civil War. Upon returning to the Union in 1868, the state would continue to suffer due to its reliance on slavery. White rural interests continued to dominate the politics until the Civil Rights Movement. Arkansas began to diversify its economy following World War II and relies on its service industry, aircraft, poultry, steel, tourism, cotton, and rice. The culture of Arkansas is observable in museums, theaters, novels, television shows, restaurants, wright, and physicist William L. McMillan, who was a pioneer in superconductor research, have all lived in Arkansas. The name Arkansas derives from the root as the name for the state of Kansas. The Kansa tribe of Native Americans are closely associated with the Sioux tribes of the Great Plains, the word Arkansas itself is a French pronunciation of a Quapaw word, akakaze, meaning land of downriver people or the Sioux word akakaze meaning people of the south wind. In 2007, the legislature passed a non-binding resolution declaring the possessive form of the states name to be Arkansass which has been followed increasingly by the state government. Arkansas borders Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, Oklahoma to the west, Missouri to the north, as well as Tennessee, the United States Census Bureau classifies Arkansas as a southern state, sub-categorized among the West South Central States. The state line along the Mississippi River is indeterminate along much of the border with Mississippi due to these changes. Arkansas can generally be split into two halves, the highlands in the northwest half and the lowlands of the southeastern half, the highlands are part of the Southern Interior Highlands, including The Ozarks and the Ouachita Mountains. The southern lowlands include the Gulf Coastal Plain and the Arkansas Delta and this dual split can yield to general regions named northwest, southwest, northeast, southeast, or central Arkansas
4.
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
5.
Rhode Island
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Rhode Island, officially the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. Rhode Island is the smallest in area, the eighth least populous, and its official name is also the longest of any state in the Union. Rhode Island is bordered by Connecticut to the west, Massachusetts to the north and east, the state also shares a short maritime border with New York. It boycotted the 1787 convention that drew up the United States Constitution, on May 29,1790, Rhode Island became the 13th and last state to ratify the Constitution. Rhode Islands official nickname is The Ocean State, a reference to the fact that the state has several large bays, Rhode Island covers 1,214 square miles, of which 1,045 square miles are land. Despite its name, most of Rhode Island is located on the mainland of the United States, the official name of the state is State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, which is derived from the merger of four settlements. Rhode Island is now commonly called Aquidneck Island, the largest of several islands in Narragansett Bay, Providence Plantation was the name of the colony founded by Roger Williams in the area now known as the city of Providence. This was adjoined by the settlement of Warwick, hence the plural Providence Plantations and it is unclear how Aquidneck Island came to be known as Rhode Island, although there are two popular theories. Explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano noted the presence of an island near the mouth of Narragansett Bay in 1524, subsequent European explorers were unable to precisely identify the island that Verrazzano had named, but the Pilgrims who later colonized the area assumed that it was Aquidneck. A second theory concerns the fact that Adriaen Block passed by Aquidneck during his expeditions in the 1610s, historians have theorized that this reddish appearance resulted from either red autumn foliage or red clay on portions of the shore. The earliest documented use of the name Rhode Island for Aquidneck was in 1637 by Roger Williams, the name was officially applied to the island in 1644 with these words, Aquethneck shall be henceforth called the Isle of Rodes or Rhode-Island. The name Isle of Rodes is used in a document as late as 1646. Dutch maps as early as 1659 call the island Red Island, Williams was a theologian forced out of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Seeking religious and political tolerance, he and others founded Providence Plantation as a proprietary colony. Providence referred to the concept of providence, and plantation was an English term for a colony. State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations is the longest official name of any state in the Union, advocates for excising plantation asserted that the word specifically referred to the British colonial practice of establishing settlements which disenfranchised native people. Advocates for retaining the name argued that plantation was simply an archaic English synonym for colony, the referendum election was held on November 2,2010, and the people voted overwhelmingly to retain the entire original name. It shares a maritime border with New York State between Block Island and Long Island
6.
U.S. Space & Rocket Center
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Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama is a museum operated by the government of Alabama, showcasing rockets, achievements, and artifacts of the U. S. space program. The center offers bus tours of nearby Marshall Space Flight Center, two camp programs offer visitors the opportunity to stay on the grounds and learn more about their respective subject matter. Space Camp gives an in-depth exposure to the program through participant use of simulators, lectures. Similarly, Aviation Challenge offers a taste of military pilot training including simulations, lectures. Both camps provide residential and day camp programs for children. Space & Rocket Center has one of the most extensive collections of space artifacts, displays include rockets, engines, spacecraft, simulators, and hands-on exhibits. The rocketry collection includes numerous engines, as well, engines from the V-2 engine to NERVA to the Space Shuttle Main Engine are on display as well. The Apollo program gets full coverage in the Davidson Center for Space Exploration with artifacts outlining Apollo missions. Astronauts crossed the service structures red walkway to the White Room, both on display, and climbed in the Command Module atop a Saturn V which was their cabin for the trip to the moon, Apollo 16s command module is on display. The Saturn V Instrument Unit controlled five F-1 engines in the first stage of the rocket as it lifted off the pad, several exhibits relate the complexity and magnitude of that phase of the journey. They took a Lunar Module to the surface where they collected moon rocks such as the Apollo 12 specimen at the museum. Later moon trips took a Lunar Rover, the first few moon trips ended at a Mobile Quarantine Facility where astronauts stayed to ensure containment of any moon bugs after that mission. A restored engineering mock-up of Skylab is also on display, showing the Apollo projects post-lunar efforts, various simulators help visitors understand the spaceflight experience. Space Shot lets the rider experience launch-like 4 gs and 2–3 seconds of weightlessness, g-Force Accelerator offers 3 gs of acceleration for an extended period by means of a centrifuge. Several other simulators entertain and educate visitors, other exhibits offer a hands-on understanding of concepts related to rocketry or space travel. A bell jar demonstrates the reason for using a rocket instead of a propeller in the vacuum of space, a wind tunnel offers visitors the opportunity to manipulate a model to see how forces change with its orientation, and The Mind of Saturn exhibit demonstrates gyroscopic force. An Apollo trainer offers visitors the opportunity to climb in, some simulators on exhibit were used for astronaut training. A Project Mercury simulator shows the conditions endured by the first Americans in space
7.
WPRI-TV
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WPRI-TV, VHF digital channel 13, is a CBS-affiliated television station licensed to Providence, Rhode Island, United States. WPRI-TV is owned by Nexstar Media Group, and also operates Fox affiliate WNAC-TV, owned by Super Towers, WPRIs transmitter is located in Rehoboth, Massachusetts. The station debuted on March 27,1955 known as WPRO-TV and it was Rhode Islands third television station and was owned-and-operated by retailer Cherry & Webb along with WPRO radio. WPRO-TV was originally supposed to go on-the-air in 1953 but ran into several delays and it originally planned to build a transmitter in Rehoboth but legal disputes with town officials forced Cherry & Webb to find a site in Johnston, Rhode Island. The station then planned to sign-on in 1954 but Hurricane Carol destroyed the Johnston transmitter, the legal disputes in Rehoboth were finally settled in late-1954 and WPRO got the go-ahead to begin construction there. The channel was due to join CBS because of WPRO radios long affiliation with CBS radio, when WPRO-TV finally got on-the-air, ABC gave it right of first refusal for its more popular shows. Within less than a year, WNET had gone dark and this station continued to share ABC with WJAR until WTEV-TV signed-on in 1963. Channel 12s studios were located on the top floor of 24 Mason Street in Downtown Providence with its radio sisters. The three stations news facilities were completely integrated, on-air personalities from radio and TV created newscasts together. And some radio news reporters headed into the field with photographers to cover stories simultaneously for radio, legendary Providence radio personality Salty Brine had a daily childrens show on WPRO-TV. News personalities included Mort Blender and Walter Cryan while the beloved Hank Bouchard did a multitude of on-air duties and that included announcing, hosting programs, and giving the weather report. Cherry & Webb sold WPRO-AM-FM-TV to Albany, New York-based Capital Cities Television Corporation, predecessor of Capital Cities Communications, poole Broadcasting then changed WPRO-TVs call letters to the present WPRI-TV. It wanted to trade on the well-known WPRO calls and also realized that PRI could stand for Providence, Capital Cities retained ownership of the WPRO radio stations until 1993 with the last seven being ABC-owned stations airing ABC Radio. However, the three continued to share the Mason Street studio until 1974, when they moved to separate facilities in East Providence. Poole retained ownership of channel 12 until 1977 when it sold its three stations to Knight-Ridder Broadcasting. WPRI swapped affiliations with WTEV and became an ABC affiliate on June 27,1977 after this sale as a result of an affiliation deal between ABC and Knight-Ridder. In 1989, Knight-Ridder left the business selling WPRI and WTKR in Norfolk, Virginia to Narragansett Television LP. Narragansett Television sold WPRI to CBS in 1995 making it a network owned-and-operated station, at midnight on September 10,1995, WPRI reversed the 1977 swap with WLNE and officially rejoined CBS
8.
Victory over Japan Day
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Victory over Japan Day is the day on which the Empire of Japan surrendered in World War II, in effect ending the war. August 15 is the official V-J Day for the UK, while the official U. S. commemoration is September 2, the name, V-J Day, had been selected by the Allies after they named V-E Day for the victory in Europe. On September 2,1945, a surrender ceremony was performed in Tokyo Bay, Japan. In Japan, August 15 usually is known as the day for the end of the war. This official name was adopted in 1982 by an issued by the Japanese government. On 6 and 9 August 1945, the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima, on August 9, the Soviet Union declared war on Japan. The Japanese government on August 10 communicated its intention to surrender under the terms of the Potsdam Declaration, the news of the Japanese offer, however, was enough to begin early celebrations around the world. Allied soldiers in London danced in a line on Regent Street. Americans and Frenchmen in Paris paraded on the Champs-Elysées singing Dont Fence Me In, American soldiers in Berlin shouted Its over in the Pacific, and hoped that they would now not be transferred there to fight the Japanese. Germans stated that the Japanese were wise enough to—unlike themselves—give up in a hopeless situation, moscow newspapers briefly reported on the atomic bombings with no commentary of any kind. While Russians and foreigners alike could hardly talk about anything else, in Chungking, Chinese fired firecrackers and almost buried in gratitude. In Manila, residents sang God Bless America, on Tinian island, B-29 crews preparing for their next mission over Japan were told that it was cancelled, but that they could not celebrate because it might be rescheduled. S. President Harry S Truman via the Swiss diplomatic mission in Washington, a nationwide broadcast by Truman was aired at seven oclock p. m. on August 14 announcing the communication and that the formal event was scheduled for September 2. In his announcement of Japans surrender on August 14, Truman said that the proclamation of V-J Day must wait upon the signing of the surrender terms by Japan. In Australia, the name V-P Day was used from the outset, the Canberra Times of August 14,1945, refers to VP Day celebrations, and a public holiday for VP Day was gazetted by the government in that year according to the Australian War Memorial. In Washington, D. C. a crowd attempted to break into the White House grounds as they shouted We want Harry, in San Francisco two women jumped naked into a pond at the Civic Center to soldiers cheers. The largest crowd in the history of New York Citys Times Square gathered to celebrate. S, in the Garment District, workers threw out cloth scraps and ticker tape, leaving a pile five inches deep on the streets. A coast-to-coast frenzy of kissing occurred, with Life publishing photographs of such kisses in Washington, Kansas City, Los Angeles, one of the best-known kisses that day appeared in V-J Day in Times Square, one of the most famous photographs ever published by Life
9.
Harry S. Truman
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Harry S. Truman was an American politician who served as the 33rd President of the United States, assuming the office upon the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt during the waning months of World War II. In domestic affairs, he was a moderate Democrat whose liberal proposals were a continuation of Franklin Roosevelts New Deal, but the conservative-dominated Congress blocked most of them. He also used weapons to end World War II, desegregated the U. S. armed forces, supported a newly independent Israel. Truman was born in Lamar, Missouri, and spent most of his youth on his familys 600-acre farm near Independence, in the last months of World War I, he served in combat in France as an artillery officer with his National Guard unit. After the war, he owned a haberdashery in Kansas City, Missouri, and joined the Democratic Party. Truman was first elected to office as a county official in 1922. After serving as a United States Senator from Missouri and briefly as Vice President, he succeeded to the presidency on April 12,1945, upon the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Germany surrendered on Trumans 61st birthday, just a few weeks after he assumed the presidency, but the war with Imperial Japan raged on and was expected to last at least another year. Although this decision and the issues that arose as a result of it remain the subject of debate to this day. Truman presided over a surge in economic prosperity as America sought readjustment after long years of depression. His presidency was a point in foreign affairs, as the United States engaged in an internationalist foreign policy. Truman helped found the United Nations in 1945, issued the Truman Doctrine in 1947 to contain Communism and his political coalition was based on the white South, labor unions, farmers, ethnic groups, and traditional Democrats across the North. Truman was able to rally groups of supporters during the 1948 presidential election. The Soviet Union became an enemy in the Cold War, Truman oversaw the Berlin Airlift of 1948 and the creation of NATO in 1949, but was unable to stop Communists from taking over China. When communist North Korea invaded South Korea in 1950, he sent U. S. troops, after initial successes in Korea, however, the UN forces were thrown back by Chinese intervention, and the conflict was stalemated throughout the final years of Trumans presidency. Scholars, starting in 1962, ranked Trumans presidency as near great, Harry S. Truman was born on May 8,1884, in Lamar, Missouri, the oldest child of John Anderson Truman and Martha Ellen Young Truman. His parents chose the name Harry after his mothers brother, Harrison Harry Young, while the S did not stand for any one name, it was chosen as his middle initial to honor both of his grandfathers, Anderson Shipp Truman and Solomon Young. The initial has been written and printed followed by a period
