AcharyaChanakya/simple-wikipedia huggingface dataset:
The editor who worked on "The Town and the City" found the long, scroll-like manuscript hard to understand, and even harder to work with. Kerouac's publisher rejected the novel, as did every other publisher he went to. Nor was anyone interested in "The Subterraneans", a shorter novel he wrote in three nights, about his romance with an African-American woman. Such a relationship was taboo in America during the 1950s. Kerouac continued to write, from short stories and essays to long novels, and even poetry. He tried many different subjects, but had almost nothing published. He also worked different jobs, including brakeman and .
It turned out that Joan Haverty was pregnant by Kerouac, and she gave birth to a daughter, Jan-Michelle. Kerouac denied he was the father at first, but a blood test later proved it was likely. She also grew to look like him, and he accepted her as his child. Joan sued Kerouac for child support, but he was ill and could not work at the time, and she collected almost no money. Kerouac only saw Jan a few times, but talked to her more often by telephone. Joan mostly kept them apart.
Allen Ginsberg became well-known during the 1950s for his writings, in particular a poem called "Howl", whose title came from Kerouac's of it. Ginsberg mentioned his friends in some of his works, including Kerouac, and wanted the people who liked him to give them and their writings a chance. Finally Viking Press agreed to publish "On the Road", after many changes to the manuscript. The novel became a bestseller, and Kerouac was a celebrity after years of little success. Magazines began to request articles and essays from him. He appeared on many television programs, including "The Steve Allen Show". Steve Allen liked him, and they recorded an album together, with Kerouac reading aloud and Allen playing piano. He recorded another album later, with jazz musicians Al Cohn and Zoot Sims.
Kerouac wrote and published more novels, including "The Dharma Bums", "Doctor Sax", "Maggie Cassidy", "Visions of Gerard" (a of his older brother, who died in childhood), "Big Sur" (about the stresses brought on by fame, and how the people he knew saw him differently), "Desolation Angels", and "Book of Dreams" (a ). He studied Buddhism, and this also influenced his writing. He wrote "Some of the Dharma" as an introduction to Buddhism, though he remained a Catholic.
As Kerouac, Ginsberg, and their friends became famous, a trend among the group of writers and artists was noticed, and was written about in the mainstream media. Kerouac was asked to describe his generation. He explained that the pressures of 20th century living had 'beaten' normal ways of thinking and working out of them, and they preferred the beat of bebop and jazz to most other music, "so I guess you could say we're a "beat generation"."
"Beat Generation" became the name for the new sense of style coming from artists and writers in New York and San Francisco. Kerouac's circle of friends and acquaintances (and their imitators) were called the Beats, with Kerouac himself called "King of the Beats" by the media. (The term was later parodied as "", implying such people were Communists, and would hurt the country.) Kerouac narrated a movie, called "Pull My Daisy", about the Beat phenomenon.
An ongoing problem Kerouac had with fame was that people thought he did all the things he wrote about. Much of what he described (like Neal Cassady's lawless nature, , and drug use) was only what he saw in other people. Not everyone who read Kerouac's stories understood this. Some people wanted to blame him for doing bad things, or getting others to do them. Other people wanted to do those kinds of things with Kerouac. Shy by nature, Kerouac pulled away. He became almost a in the house he bought for his mother. He also began to abuse alcohol.
During the 1960s, American society went through many changes, in part because of the influence of the Beats. Many young people read "On the Road", and saw things they related to, and it made them want to experience more in their own lives. Other writers liked the looseness of Kerouac's style, and it made them think more about their own writing, how to study life, and how to better express themselves. Many musicians were affected by Kerouac's books, including Bob Dylan, Donovan, and The Doors.
Kerouac was more disappointed than happy to be famous. Even though he liked some of what he inspired, he felt that the public largely got the wrong message from his books. He saw many people take what the Beats wrote as a kind of permission to get into trouble, or abandon (give up) people and things they cared about. He felt for the , but disagreed with them on the Vietnam War, the role of government, and . He also lost some of his old friends, when their views differed.
Kerouac still abused alcohol and other drugs, and it harmed his health. He became bloated and irritable, and looked drunk on his last television appearance, on William F. Buckley's "Firing Line" in 1968. He married for the third time, to Stella Sampas, the sister of a boyhood friend. Stella looked after Kerouac and his mother, kept the public and others away, and tried to get him to stop drinking alcohol.
His daughter Jan-Michelle also began to write during her teen years. He gave her his , and told her "You can use my (last) name." She wrote under the name Jan Kerouac, and published novels and stories herself, from the 1970s to the 1990s. Kerouac's mother became sick, and he sometimes worked at her bedside on stories. She helped him work out the ending of "Pic", his novel about a young African-American.
Kerouac wrote and reworked new material until the last day of his life. He died in St. Petersburg, Florida during emergency surgery, to try to repair a caused by cirrhosis, due to his alcohol abuse. He was buried in his hometown, and was hardly remembered there at first. Even though he was world famous, Kerouac earned very little money as a writer. He died with only a few hundred dollars in the bank. It was years before his grave received a headstone.
Neal Cassady died more than a year before, of exposure, alongside a railroad track in Mexico. He set out to become a writer or musician, but he never got far with either. He only published one book, "The First Third", which was about his youth. Cassady earned most of his money from labor, and was often out of work and owed money. He spent a long time in jail after he was arrested for selling marijuana. Sometimes the fact that Cassady was well-known through Kerouac kept him from having the life he wanted. Cassady had a family with Carolyn, but she had to both work, and raise the children when her husband was away. Carolyn later wrote a memoir.
Kerouac's works, especially "On the Road", are now more popular than ever. Generations have discovered his works, as a means of learning about life and attitudes in America during his lifetime, as a way to measure their own sense of experience, or as examples of and in .
Less than half of Kerouac's writings were published during his lifetime, but nearly all are now available. The ones published later drew hundreds of times more money than his most famous works, when they first appeared. His hometown Lowell remembers Kerouac today with a , and cultural events every year. His grave now has a headstone, which reads "He honored life". A street in Lowell was renamed "Jack Kerouac Alley" in his memory.
"The Subterraneans" was made into a movie by MGM in 1960, but the was almost completely different from the book. "On the Road" was considered many times to be made into a movie, once with actor Marlon Brando as Dean Moriarty and another time with Sean Penn, but this never got farther than . The movie rights were resold in the 1990s, for more than ten times Kerouac's lifetime earnings, and a movie of "On the Road" appeared in 2012, starring Sam Riley and Garrett Hedlund as Kerouac and Cassidy, with Kristen Stewart and Kirsten Dunst as LuAnne Henderson and Carolyn Cassady.
A movie, "Heart Beat", was made in 1980, about the relationship between Carolyn Robinson, Neal Cassady and Jack Kerouac. It starred Sissy Spacek, Nick Nolte, and John Heard.
Kerouac appears as "Hank" in William S. Burroughs's novel "Naked Lunch", and was played by Nicholas Campbell in the 1991 movie version.
He was also the subject of a song by 10,000 Maniacs, "Hey Jack Kerouac".
He and Neal Cassady are the subject of a song by Tom Waits, "Jack & Neal/California Here I Come". Waits also covered a song written by Kerouac, titled "On the Road", on his' album "Orphans".
Himno Istmeño
Himno Istmeño is the anthem of Panama. It was written by Santos Jorge. It is known as the Isthmus Anthem.
Jack Neo (born Neo Chee Keong on 24 January 1956) is a Singaporean movie director at MediaCorp, a Singapore media company. He directed "I Not Stupid", "Money No Enough", "Ah Boys to Men" and "Ah Boys to Men 2", all of which were very popular. Neo was once a comedian.
Neo received the Best Director Award at the Silver Screen Awards in 1998. He was also awarded with the Lifetime Achievement Award in the following year for his contributions to Singapore's media industry. In 2004, Neo became the first moviemaker in Singapore to be honoured with the Public Service Award. He also received the Cultural Medallion on 21 October 2005 together with musician Dick Lee.
In 2008, Neo and Mark Lee bought the Singapore master franchise rights for Old Town White Coffee. It is a coffee retail store from Ipoh, Malaysia. Their first store at Big Splash opened on 30 March in 2008.
Neo married Irene Kng in 1988 and they have four children. It is his second marriage. He is a Christian and worships at City Harvest Church.
In March 2010, it was revealed Neo had an affair with model Wendy Chong. Later it was reported that Neo tried to have relations with up to 11 women.
Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky (11 November 1821 – 9 February 1881) was a Russian novelist.
In his 20s he joined a group of radicals in St Petersburg They were into French socialist ideas. A police agent reported the group to the authorities. On 22 April 1849, Dostoyevsky was arrested and imprisoned with the other members. After months of questioning and investigation they were tried. They were found guilty of planning to distribute subversive propaganda and condemned to death by firing squad.
The punishment was changed to a sentence of exile and hard labour, but not before they were forced to go through a mock execution. In 1859 a new tsar allowed Dostoyevsky to end his Siberian exile. A year later he was back in St Petersburg. The experience had cost him ten years of his life. It is the root of all his writing.
Raised in an educated and religious family, Dostoyevsky's beliefs changed through his life. In prison, he focused intensely on the figure of Christ and on the "New Testament", the only book allowed in prison. In a letter to the woman who had sent him the "New Testament", Dostoyevsky wrote that he was a "child of unbelief and doubt up to this moment, and I am certain that I shall remain so to the grave". He also wrote that "even if someone were to prove to me that the truth lay outside Christ, I should choose to remain with Christ rather than with the truth".
From an analysis of religious ideas in "Crime and Punishment", "The Idiot", "The Demons" ("The Possessed"), and "The Brothers Karamazov", James Townsend thinks Dostoyevsky held orthodox Christian beliefs except for his view of salvation from sin. According to Townsend, "Dostoevsky almost seemed to embrace an in-this-life purgatory", in which people suffer to pay for their sins, rather than the Christian doctrine of salvation through Christ. Malcolm Jones sees elements of Islam and Buddhism in Dostoyevsky's religious convictions. Colin Wilson in "The Outsider" describes him as a "tormented half-atheist-half-Christian".
Many scholars see Dostoyevsky as one of the greatest psychologists in literature. His works have had a big effect on twentieth-century fiction. Very often, he wrote about characters who live in poor conditions. Those characters are sometimes in extreme states of mind. They might show both a strange grasp of human psychology as well as good analyses of the political, social and spiritual states of Russia of Dostoevsky's time. Many of his best-known works are prophetic. He is sometimes considered to be a founder of existentialism, most frequently for "Notes from Underground", which has been described as "the best overture for existentialism ever written". He is also famous for writing "The Brothers Karamazov", which many critics, such as Sigmund Freud, have said was one of the best novels ever written.
His attack on nihilism is in his great novel "Demons", or "The Possessed". Published in 1872, it is a "dark comedy, cruelly funny in its depiction of high-minded intellectuals toying with revolutionary notions without understanding anything of what revolution means in practice".
The plot is a version of actual events at the time. A former teacher of divinity turned terrorist, Sergei Nechaev, had written a pamphlet, "The Catechism of a Revolutionary", which argued that any means (including blackmail and murder) could be used to advance the cause of revolution. Nechaev planned to kill a student who questioned his ideas.
One of the characters in "Demons" confesses: "I got entangled in my own data, and my conclusion contradicts the original idea from which I start. From unlimited freedom, I conclude with unlimited despotism". This suggests that the result of abandoning morality for the sake of an idea will be tyranny more extreme than any in the past.
English versions of titles come after the Russian title.
The last five stories (1873-1877) are included in "A Writer's Diary".
Julia Grant
Julia Boggs Dent Grant (January 26, 1826 – December 14, 1902), was the wife of the 18th President of the United States, Ulysses S. Grant, and was First Lady of the United States from 1869 to 1877.
She was born at White Haven plantation west of St. Louis, Missouri. She was the daughter of Colonel Frederick Dent, a slaveholding planter and merchant, and Ellen Wrenshall-Dent.
After her schooling, she and Ulysses S. Grant got engaged in 1844. At that time, Ulysses S. Grant was a Lieutenant in the US Army. In the meanwhile, Mexican War began. Ulysses went to war. He returned from the war after many years. They married in 1848.
The Grants had three sons and a daughter:
She entered the White House in 1869 to begin, in her words, "the happiest period" of her life. With Cabinet wives as her allies, she entertained extensively and lavishly. The social highlight of the Grant years was the White House wedding of their daughter in 1874. Contemporaries noted her finery, jewels, and silks and laces. After four years of war, an assassination, and an impeachment trial, Washington was ready for a little levity, and Julia obliged. She offered a full array of events and became a popular hostess. She planned lavish state dinners, where guests enjoyed expensive wines and liquors.
As First Lady it was suggested to her that she have an operation to correct her crossed eyes, but President Grant said that he liked her that way.
Upon leaving the White House in 1877, the Grants made a trip around the world. Julia proudly recalled details of hospitality and magnificent gifts they received. A highlight of the trip was an overnight stay and dinner hosted for them by Queen Victoria at Windsor Castle in England. They also enjoyed a swing through the Far East, being cordially received at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo by the Emperor and Empress of Japan.
In 1884 Grant suffered yet another business failure and they lost all they had.
She became the first First Lady to write a memoir, though she was unable to find a publisher, and had been dead almost 75 years before "The Personal Memoirs of Julia Dent Grant (Mrs. Ulysses S. Grant)" was finally published in 1975.
She had attended in 1897 the dedication of Grant's monumental tomb overlooking the Hudson River in New York City. She was laid to rest in a sarcophagus beside her husband. She had ended her own chronicle of their years together with a firm declaration: "the light of his glorious fame still reaches out to me, falls upon me, and warms me."
Jane Pierce
Jane Means Appleton Pierce (March 12, 1806 – December 2, 1863), wife of U.S. President Franklin Pierce, was First Lady of the United States from 1853 to 1857.
Her father’s name was Jesse Appleton. When her father died, her mother moved with her to Amherst, New Hampshire.
How she met Pierce, a young lawyer with political ambitions, is unknown, but her brother-in-law Alpheus S. Packard was one of Pierce's instructors at Bowdoin. Franklin, almost 30, married Jane, 28, on November 19, 1834, at the bride's maternal grandparents' home in Amherst, New Hampshire. The Reverend Silas Aiken, Jane's brother-in-law, conducted the small ceremony. The couple honeymooned six days at the boardinghouse of Sophia Southurt near Washington, D.C..
Franklin Pierce was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives by the time they married and became a U.S. Senator in 1837. Jane hated life in Washington, D.C., and encouraged her husband to resign his Senate seat and return to New Hampshire, which he did in 1842. Service in the Mexican-American War brought him the rank of Brigadier General and local fame as a hero. He returned home safely, and for four more years the Pierces lived quietly at Concord, New Hampshire, in the happiest period of their lives, where they watched their son Benjamin "Benny" grow up.
Lucy Webb Hayes
Lucy Ware Webb Hayes (August 28, 1831 – June 25, 1889) was a First Lady of the United States and the wife of President Rutherford B. Hayes.
Lucy was nicknamed "Lemonade Lucy." She did not serve alcohol in the White House.
She was born in Chillicothe, Ohio. She was the daughter of James Webb, a doctor, and Maria Cook-Webb. Lucy was descended from seven veterans of the American Revolution. Her father died when she was a child. With her mother, she moved to Delaware, Ohio where in 1847 she met Rutherford B. Hayes.
Lucy Hayes studied at Ohio Wesleyan University. She was the first First Lady to graduate from college.
As First Lady, Hayes supported her husband's ban of alcoholic beverages at state functions, excepting only the reception for Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich of Russia in 1877, at which wine was served. She also instituted the custom of conducting an Easter egg roll on the White House lawn. A devout Methodist, she joined the president in saying prayers after breakfast and conducting group hymn sings with the cabinet and congressmen on Sunday evenings.
The Hayes had four sons and a daughter to live to their adulthood:
She died of a stroke on June 25, 1889. When she died, people in the United States lowered the flag to half-mast.
Caroline Harrison
Caroline Lavinia Scott Harrison (October 1, 1832 - October 25, 1892) was the wife of Benjamin Harrison. She was the First Lady of the United States from 1889 until her death.
Her birthplace was Oxford, Ohio. Her parents were Mary Potts Neal and Dr. John W. Scott. She met the young Ben when he was a student at Miami University. They married on 20th October 1853. They had three children. Their first child was Russell Benjamin (1854-1936). Their second child was Mary Scott (1856-1930). Their third child was a daughter, born in 1861. In the same year, their third child died.
When her husband became the President of the United States in 1889, they both moved to the White House. Caroline gave stylish parties. She became sick with tuberculosis. She could not participate in social functions after that. She died of tuberculosis on 25th October 1892.
Helen Herron Taft
Helen Louise Herron "Nellie" Taft (June 2, 1861 – May 22, 1943) was the wife of William Howard Taft and First Lady of the United States from 1909 to 1913.
Her parents were Harriet Collins and John W. Herron. She was their fourth child. She spent her childhood in Cincinnati, Ohio.
When Helen Herron was 18 years old, she met Will Taft. They married in 1886. William Howard Taft and Helen Herron Taft had three children:
She was a part of her husband’s rise in administration and politics. When her husband became the president, she gave special attention to the social life at the White House. When she suffered from stroke, her daughter Helen Taft Manning left college for a year to look after the social life at the White House.
During their stay at the White House, the couple celebrated their silver wedding anniversary in 1911. People celebrate a silver anniversary after 25 years of any occasion. She had also written a book named "Recollections of Full Years". The book tells about her work and life. Her husband died in 1930. She continued to live in Washington D.C. after the death of her husband. She died on May 22, 1943.
Mary McElroy
Mary Arthur McElroy (July 5, 1841 – January 8, 1917) was the sister of the 21st President of the United States, Chester A. Arthur, and served as a hostess for his administration (1881–1885). She assumed the role because Arthur's wife, Ellen Lewis Herndon Arthur, had died only a year and a half earlier.
She was born in Greenwich, New York. Her parents were William and Malvina S. Arthur. Her parents had nine children, Mary being the last. In 1880, her brother Chester Arthur, became the Vice President of the United States. In July 1881, after the assassination of the President, James Garfield, Chester A. Arthur became the president of the United States and he requested his sister to become "First Lady" during his term in office.
In November 1880, McElroy's brother Chester Arthur was elected vice president. In July 1881, President James Garfield was fatally wounded and died on September 19, 1881. Arthur succeeded him, and asked McElroy to care for his young daughter Ellen and act as "Mistress of the White House." Because she had her own family in Albany, McElroy lived in Washington, D.C. only during the busy winter social season. Although Arthur never officially granted her the protocol of a formal position, she proved to be a popular and competent hostess. The procedures she and her brother developed for the social functions were used by future First Ladies for decades.
McElroy presided over a number of events and honored former First Ladies Julia Gardiner Tyler and Harriet Lane, James Buchanan's niece and social hostess, by asking them to help her receive guests at the White House. McElroy's oldest daughter May and Arthur's daughter Nell often assisted. Her final reception took place on February 28, 1885, one week before the end of the Arthur administration: 3,000 people attended (including Adolphus Greely) and 48 daughters of officials and of the social elite assisted her.
When her brother retired as the President, Mary went to live in Albany, New York.
She died on January 8, 1917 at the age of 75 in Albany, New York.
Frances Folsom Cleveland
Frances Clara Folsom Cleveland Preston (July 21, 1864 – October 29, 1947) was the wife of the President of the United States Grover Cleveland and the 27th First Lady of the United States from 1886 to 1889 and again from 1893 to 1897.
She was born in Buffalo, New York. Her birth name was Frances Clara Folsom. Her parents were Emma C. Harmon and Oscar Folsom. Her father later became a law partner of Grover Cleveland. All of her ancestors were from England. Cleveland was a family friend to Oscar's family. After Oscar’s death, Cleveland looked after the family. He arranged for education of Frances Folsom. She studied at Wells College. Cleveland and Frances Folsom sent letters to each other.
In 1885, Frances Folsom and her mother came to White House to meet Cleveland. Cleveland and Frances Folsom became close to each other, despite being around 27 years younger than Cleveland. On 2 June 1886, they married. This was the first and only couple to wed in the White House. When Frances Folsom became Mrs. Cleveland, she took the role of the First Lady. She gave two receptions every week. She became very popular.
In 1888, Cleveland lost the election. The couple lived in New York City. There their first child Ruth was born. In 1893 Cleveland again became the president. Frances Folsom again became active as the First Lady. In 1893, she gave birth to a second child, Esther. In 1895, she bore a third child, named Marion. By the time Cleveland had retired, Frances Folsom had become a very popular First Lady.
The couple retired to live in Princeton, New Jersey. During this time, they had two sons. She was by her husband’s side when he died in 1908. In 1913, Frances remarried. Her second husband was Thomas J. Preston, Jr., a professor of archeology.
Frances Folsom lived until the age of 83, and had become well known in the Princeton University community.
Elizabeth Anne Ford ("née" Bloomer; April 8, 1918 – July 8, 2011) was the widow of Gerald R. Ford, the 38th President of the United States. She was the First Lady of the United States from 1974 to 1977.
She was born in Chicago, Illinois. Her birth name was Betty Bloomer. Her parents were Hortense Neahr and William Stephenson Bloomer. She was the third child of her parents. She had two older brothers named Robert and William, Jr. She spent her childhood in Grand Rapids, Michigan and graduated from school there. In 1935, she graduated in dance from the Calla Travis Dance Studio. She gave dance lessons to earn money during the Great Depression.
Betty Bloomer married William G. (Bill) Warren, a furniture salesman. But the marriage did not last long. They divorced in 1947.
After that she started dating Gerald Ford. Ford was a good football player at his college, and a graduate of the University of Michigan and Yale Law School. They married on October 15, 1948. The Fords have three sons and one daughter:
As of 2005, the Fords have seven grandchildren.
In 1974, President Richard Nixon resigned. Nixon had named Gerald Ford as the Vice President of the United States. After Nixon's resignation, Ford became the 38th President of the United States. Betty Ford became the First Lady.
As the First Lady, Betty Ford played an active role. She spoke on many issues. She spoke on political and many other things. She had an open mind, and spoke honestly about benefit of mild psychiatric treatment. She also talked about marijuana use and premarital sex. She always supported women's rights. Her surgery for breast cancer made the public more aware of this disease.
In 1987, Betty Ford found a place into the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame. In 1978, she published her autobiography "The Times of My Life". In 1999, President Gerald Ford and Betty Ford jointly got the Congressional Gold Medal, "in recognition of their dedicated public service and outstanding humanitarian contributions to the people of the United States of America."
In 2003, Betty Ford published "Healing and Hope: Six Women from the Betty Ford Center Share Their Powerful Journeys of Addiction and Recovery".
She was the active Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Betty Ford Center, until 2005, when she gave that position to her daughter, Susan.
Betty Ford died on July 8, 2011 with her family by her bed.
Edith Roosevelt
Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt (August 6, 1861 - September 30, 1948), was the second wife of Theodore Roosevelt, the President of the United States. She acted as the First Lady of the United States from 1901 to 1909.
She was born in Norwich, Connecticut. Her parents were Charles (1825-1883) and Gertrude Tyler Carow (1836-1895). She spent her childhood in old New York City. As small children, Edith Kermit Carow and Corinne Roosevelt Robinson (younger sister of Theodore Roosevelt) played together. During childhood, she and "Teedie" (nickname of Theodore Roosevelt) were in and out of each other's houses.
Edith went to Roosevelt's wedding with Alice Hathaway Lee Roosevelt in 1880. Soon Alice Hathaway died. In 1885, Rooservelt married Edith.
Theodore Roosevelt and Edith were married in London in December 1886. They settled down in a house on Sagamore Hill, at Oyster Bay, headquarters for a family that added five children in ten years: Theodore Jr., Kermit, Ethel Carow, Archibald Bulloch, and Quentin. Throughout Roosevelt's intensely active career, family life remained close and entirely delightful.
After assassination of President William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt became the President. Mrs. Roosevelt became the First Lady. She guarded the privacy of her family. Still she was an active First Lady. The White House became a social center of that time.
After her husband’s death in 1919, she spent more or less a retired life. She also traveled outside the USA. But, she always came back to Sagamore Hill as her home. In 1932, she briefly came out of her retirement. She gave a speech in support of Herbert Hoover’s re-election for the presidency of the United States. At that time, her nephew-in-law Franklin Delano Roosevelt was also a candidate for the post of the president of the United States. She died at her Oyster Bay home in New York on September 30, 1948, at the age of 87.
Lucretia Rudolph-Garfield (April 19, 1832 – March 14, 1918), wife of James A. Garfield, was First Lady of the United States in 1881.
She was born in Garrettsville, Ohio. Her father was Zeb Rudolph, a farmer and co-founder of the Eclectic Institute at Hiram, and her mother was Arabella Mason-Rudolph. Lucretia "Crete" Rudolph was a devout member of the Churches of Christ. She was of German, Welsh, English and Irish ancestry. Lucretia Garfield's paternal great-grandfather immigrated to Pennsylvania (in a part that is now Delaware) from Württemberg, Germany.
She first met James A. Garfield while both were attending a school. They renewed their friendship in 1851 as students of the Western Reserve Eclectic Institute. They got married on November 11, 1858.
In 1881, Garfield became the President of the United States. The family moved into the White House. Even at the age of 49, she was slim and looked lovely. She was not very much interested in her role as the First Lady. But, she was a charming lady and hosted parties at the White House. In May 1881, she fell ill and was suffering from malaria. She was resting at Long Branch, New Jersey, and was yet to become fit. At that time, she heard the news that someone had shot President Garfield, her husband. She rushed to Washington by train. On its way, the train met with an accident. She did not suffer any injury. When she reached Washington, she remained by the side of her husband. He could not remain alive and died after about three months.
After his death, she left for Ohio. There she lived for 36 years, and spent her time arranging and caring for the records of her husband’s career. A part of her home became a presidential library of her husband’s papers.
She died at her home in South Pasadena, California on March 4, 1918. Her casket was placed above ground beside the coffin of her husband in the lower level crypt of the presidential tomb at Lake View Cemetery in Cleveland, Ohio.
Biotechnology is a technology that involves the use of living organisms. Biotechnology is mainly used in agriculture, food science, and medicine. In biotechnology, living organisms are used to make useful chemicals and products or to perform an industrial task.
An example of biotechnology is the use of the fermentation reaction in yeast to make beer and other alcoholic drinks. Another example is the use of carbon dioxide produced by yeast to make bread rise.
Biotechnology is often used to refer to genetic engineering technology of the 21st century. However, the term is used for many ways of modifying biological organisms for the needs of humanity. It started with modifications of native plants into improved food crops through artificial selection and hybridization. Bioengineering is the science upon which all biotechnological applications are based. With the development of new approaches and modern techniques, traditional biotechnology industries are also acquiring new horizons enabling them to improve the quality of their products and increase the productivity of their systems.
Biotechnology has also made cloning (the process duplicating organisms) possible. A lot of people think that this is morally wrong while others think it could solve many diseases.
Biotechnology can be used to solve a great number of problems, ranging from product efficiency to reducing global warming.
Ida Saxton McKinley (June 8, 1847 – May 26, 1907), wife of William McKinley, was First Lady of the United States from 1897 to 1901.
She was born in Canton, Ohio. Her father was James A. Saxton, who was a famous banker. He educated Ida and their sister well. After their schooling, they went to Europe on a tour.
She started to work as a cashier in a bank. In 1867, Major William McKinley came to Canton to start his work as a lawyer. Ida and William McKinley came to know each other, and they fell in love. They married each other. While her husband devoted time to his work and career, Ida devoted time to her home and husband.
She had a daughter on the Christmas Day of 1871. They named their daughter Katherine. She bore a second daughter in April 1873. At that time Ida was very weak and ill. The second daughter dies in August. Their first daughter also died in 1876. By this time, Ida had become very weak and an invalid.
In the meanwhile, her husband has become a Congressman. He them became a governor of Ohio. He always paid his attention to his wife and cared for her. She spent most of her time in a small Victorian rocking chair. This chair was with her since her childhood.
When they entered the White House, Ida’s health was very weak. She took the role of the First Lady, but while seated in a blue velvet chair. She sat by the side of her husband during official dinners. The President kept a careful watch on her condition. At that time, very few people know of her bad physical condition. Only in recent years, people came to know of her bad physical condition.
Just after his second term as the President of the United States, an assassin shot William McKinley. McKinley at that time also remembered his wife’s weak condition. He told his secretary: “My wife…be careful, how you tell her; oh, be careful.”
After her husband’s death, Ida Saxton McKinley returned to Canton. Her younger sister cared for her. She visited her husband’s grave almost daily. She died in 1907. She lies buried by the side of her husband and their two daughters in Canton’s McKinley Memorial Mausoleum.
Edith Bolling Wilson
Edith White Bolling Galt Wilson (October 15, 1872 — December 28, 1961), second wife of U.S. President Woodrow Wilson, was First Lady of the United States from 1915 to 1921. She met the President in March 1915 and they married nine months later.
Her husband had suffered a long illness. There were many things which the President was needed to do which he could not do. She helped him. Because of this, some people had called her "the Secret President" and "the first woman to run the government".
Wilson was born in Wytheville, Virginia. Her parents were Sallie White and Judge William Holcombe Bolling. She was their seventh child, out of the total eleven children. Through her grandmother, she was a direct descendant of Pocahontas.
When she was 15 years old, she attended Martha Washington College to study music. She attended the second year at a smaller school in Richmond, Virginia.
Once when she was visiting her married sister in Washington, DC, Edith met Norman Galt. Norman Galt was a rich jeweler. She married him in 1896. For 12 years, she lived a good life in Washington D. C. But, she also faced some tragedies. In 1903, she gave birth to a son. The child only lived for a few days. The problem birth made her unable to have any more children. In 1908, her husband died. Edith Galt picked a manager to run the family’s jewelry business. The business continued to earn money.
In 1915, President Wilson and Edith Galt met each other. President Wilson liked her and asked her to marry him. They married on 18th December 1915. While asking her to marry him, President Wilson had said like a poet: "in this place time is not measured by weeks, or months, or years, but by deep human experiences..."
Their love and romance also created a lot of talks in the social circle. Once an article in a Washington newspaper was about the Wilson couple. It talked of the couple while they were seeing a play in a theater before their marriage. The article stated: "The President gave himself up for the time being to "entertaining" his fiancee" But a printing error made it read like this: "The President gave himself up for the time being to "entering" his fiancee." The publishers called back the newspapers with the printing error. Still a few copies could not be called back. These copies are now very wanted items.
Mrs. Wilson had all the qualifications to act as the First Lady. She began her role as the First lady. During this time, World War I started. This limited the social activities at the White House. In 1917, the United States also joined the war. Mrs. Wilson started helping her husband who was under a lot of pressure because of the war. She also went with him to Europe during the process of peace.
President Wilson returned from Europe. He spent much of his time trying to get the Senate’s approval for the peace treaty. He was also trying to get approval for an agreement to create the League of Nations. In the meantime, his health was getting bad.
In September 1919, he suffered a stroke. He became partially paralyzed. Edith Wilson always stayed with him. She took over many common duties of the government and helped her husband in many official matters. At the same time, she sent many other official matters to the heads of departments or allowed them to remain undone.
She also wrote a book. The name of the book is "My Memoir". Its year of publication is 1939. In this book, she said that her husband’s doctors had asked her to take up many responsibilities of her husband. Many historians do not agree with her views.
Phyllis Levin, a historian had described her as "a woman of narrow views and formidable determination". He blamed her for many failures of the policies of the United States after the First World War.
In 1921, the Wilson couple retired to live in Washington. After three years her husband, Woodrow Wilson, died. She continued to live in Washington. People liked her, and she became a respected figure in the high society of the capital. Some people say that she liked and admired younger men. She lived a long life and lived to see President John F. Kennedy's inaugural parade. She died on December 28, 1961, the 105th anniversary of her second husband's birth. At the time of her death, she was 89 years. This made her the seventh longest-lived First Lady after Bess Truman, Nancy Reagan, Lady Bird Johnson, Betty Ford, Barbara Bush and Rosalynn Carter, respectively.
Florence Harding
Florence "Flossie" Mabel Kling Harding, previously DeWolfe (August 15, 1860 – November 21, 1924), wife of President Warren G. Harding, was the First Lady of the United States from 1921 to 1923.
Her birthplace is Marion, Ohio. Her birth name was Florence (Flossie) Mabel Kling. Her father’s name was Amos Kling. He was a rich and successful businessman. She was of German descent and French Huguenot ancestry. She did a course in music.
When she was 19 years old, she ran away from her home along with her childhood friend named Henry De Wolfe. No document is available to prove their legal marriage. But, the “common law” of Ohio covered such marriages. De Wolfe turned out to be a heavy drinker and he spent a lot of money. Florence bore a son to him. The son’s name was Marshall Eugene De Wolfe, also known as Marshall Eugene Kling. Soon after the birth of her son, she divorced De Wolfe in 1886. She returned to Marion, and started living there. She also started using her maiden name, that is, the name before her marriage. De Wolfe died when he was 35 years old.
She started to give piano lessons and started earning. However, her father did not like her daughter working and earning in this way. It was difficult for her to watch her son, and to give piano lessons. So she agreed to a proposal of his father. He gave her son to her parents to raise him. But, she continued to give piano lessons.
Charity (Chat) Harding was one of her students. She was the eldest sister of Warren G. Harding. Harding was the young publisher of the town’s only newspaper named Marion Daily Star. Now, this paper’s name is the Marion Star. Florence became closer to Warren G. Harding. The two married in 1891. The couple did not get any children of their own. But, Florence’s son Marshall Eugene De Wolfe sometimes lived with them.
Florence started to help her husband and his newspaper. Once she told: "I have only one real hobby - my husband." The newspaper’s circulation grew. Harding was also rising in politics of Ohio. He became a senator of the United States. In 1920, he won the US presidential elections.
When the Harding couple moved into the White House, she opened the grounds to the public. Earlier, due to the illness of President Woodrow Wilson the grounds and the mansion had been closed. In 1920, she suffered kidney problems. But, still she continued as an active First lady.
In the summer of 1923, the Harding couple started on their nationwide "Voyage of Understanding". During this journey, the President died in San Francisco, California in August 1923.
After the death of her husband, she tried to make a new life for her. She wanted to live in Washington for some time. However, her kidney problems increased. She returned to Marion for treatment and recovery. The treatment continued for months but could not save her life. She died on 21st November 1924.
She lies buried alongside her husband in the Harding Memorial in Marion, Ohio. Many historians think this be the most beautiful of Presidential Tombs in the United States.
Lou Henry Hoover
Louise "Lou" Henry Hoover (March 29, 1874 - January 7, 1944) was the wife of Herbert Hoover, the President of the United States. As the wife of the president, she acted as the First Lady of the United States from 1929 to 1933.
Her birthplace is Waterloo, Iowa. Her parents were Charles D. Henry and Florence. She spent her first ten years of her life at Iowa. Then, her father thought that the climate of southern California would be good for the health of Florence, his wife. The family came to live in Whittier, California. The place was later the childhood home of President Richard Nixon.
Her father, Charles Henry took her on camping trips. She became a very good horsewoman. She also hunted. She also developed interest for rocks, mineral, and mining.
She studied in two schools and got a certificate in teaching. Then she came to study at the Stanford University in 1894. She completed her course and became the first woman in Stanford's geology department. There she had met in a laboratory Herbert Hoover, her senior at the University.
Lou and Herbert Hoover married in 1899. Once Herbert Hoover said that her blue eyes and broad grins had attracted him.
The newlywed couple went to China where her husband became famous as a mining engineer. He also worked in many other countries and places of the world: for examples, in places in Ceylon, Burma, Siberia, Australia, Egypt, Japan, and Europe.
She had two sons: Herbert Charles Hoover (August 4, 1903 - July 9, 1969) and Allan Hoover (July 17, 1907 - November 4, 1993).
Her husband, Herbert Hoover earned a lot of fame after the First World War. He became famous for his good work in managing emergency relief programs. She lived with him, but sometimes spent time with her two sons in California. In 1919, the couple started constructing a house at Palo Alto, California. By this time, her husband became United States Secretary of Commerce. The couple lived in Washington for eight years. She did well socially as a wife of the Cabinet Secretary. She also took an active role in the Girl Scouts of the USA. She also served as the president of the Girl Scouts of the USA.
In 1929, the Hoover couple came to live into the White House. Lou Henry Hoover had a long experience as wife of a famous man who had worked in the United States and in many foreign countries. She started her role as the First Lady. She was charming and dressed handsomely. She did it very well all through the term of her husband as the President. However, during this period, the Hoovers broke a tradition. On the New Year’s Day of 1933, they were away from the White House. Thus, they were not present to greet the public personally. Their absence ended the tradition of the President and the First Lady greeting the public on the New Year’s Day.
In 1933, the Hoovers couple retired to Palo Alto. But, they also kept an apartment in New York. Mrs. Hoover died on 7th January 1944 at the age of 69. She died of a heart attack. After her death, Mr. Hoover came to know of many gifts given by his wife. She had helped many boys and girls to get education. Mr. Hoover described her as: "a symbol of everything wholesome in American life."
Now, their house in Palo Alto is the official residence of the President of Stanford University. The house is one of the National Historic Landmarks. Lou Henry Hoover Elementary School in Whittier (built in 1938) bears her name in her honor. Her statue stands at the place where her childhood home was at Waterloo, Iowa.
Anna Eleanor Roosevelt (October 11, 1884 − November 7, 1962) was the longest-serving First Lady of the United States, holding the post from 1933 to 1945 during her husband President Franklin D. Roosevelt's four terms in office.
She was also a political leader in her own right. She supported the civil rights movement. After the death of her husband in 1945, she started her career, as an author, speaker and spokesperson for human rights. She became a new role model for First Lady. President Harry S. Truman called her the "First Lady of the World", in honor of her many travels to help promote human rights.
Roosevelt received 35 honorary degrees during her life.
Her birthplace is 56 West 37th Street, New York City, New York. Her parents were Elliott Roosevelt I and Anna Hall Roosevelt. Two brothers followed young Anna Roosevelt. The Roosevelt family was completed with the addition of Elliott Jr. (1889-1893) and Hall Roosevelt (1891-1941). She is a fifth-cousin, once removed of Franklin Roosevelt, who later became her husband.
She was a favorite niece of Theodore Roosevelt, one of the Presidents of the United States.
Her family was a descendant of Claes Martenszen van Rosenvelt. He had came to New Amsterdam, Manhattan from the Netherlands in the 1640s. His grandsons, Johannes and Jacobus, began two branches of the Roosevelt family. Descendants of Johannes were Roosevelt family of the Oyster Bay, New York. Descendants of Jacobus were Roosevelt family of Hyde Park, New York. Eleanor was a descendant of the Johannes branch. Her future husband, Franklin was descended from the Jacobus branch.
Theodore Roosevelt, one of the Presidents of the United States, was her uncle. He was like a father to Eleanor, the future First Lady. Anna Eleanor liked to use the name Eleanor, using her name as Anna Eleanor only in official papers and for signing bank checks. From her mother side, she was a descendent of William Livingston, a signer of the U.S. Constitution.
Her parents died early. After this, her maternal grandmother, Marry Ludlow Hall (1843-1919) raised her. She spent her childhood in Tivoli, New York. Most of her mother’s family members tended to look down at her, perhaps because of her plain looks and six-foot tall frame. Even her Hyde Park Roosevelts, including her future mother-in-law, Sara Delano Roosevelt, would remark to her about the Manhattan Roosevelts: "we got all the looks and the money."
In recent times, allegations have surfaced that in her maternal grandmother’s home, she felt insecure. Many male members used to consume a lot of drinks. Once when she was visiting her aunt Bamie Roosevelt (sister of Theodore Roosevelt), she broke down and in tears exclaimed, "I have no real home."
Aunt Bamie was very helpful. She tried to find better educational opportunities for her. She arranged that Eleanor go to England for education, and Eleanor readily agreed.
Eleanor received encouragement from Bamie Roosevelt, sister of Theodore Roosevelt, to get a good education. She went to London, and started her studies in a girls’ boarding school at Allenswood, outside London. She studied there from 1899 to 1902. Mademoiselle Marie Souvestre was her headmistress. Later Eleanor would recall that Souvestre was one of the three main persons to influence her life.