title: Red (Taylor Swift album)

text: Various media outlets have credited "Red" with inspiring a generation of artists; "The New York Times" critic Steven Hyden said "Red" encouraged new indie artists to put out music that is "aesthetically much closer to Swift's pop than anything in the rock underground". MTV said "Red" normalized intimacy in pop music and popularized Swift's vulnerable songwriting style with future artists such as Halsey, Kacey Musgraves, Troye Sivan, Billie Eilish, Olivia Rodrigo, and Conan Gray. Fans and critics have also dubbed "Red" an "autumnal album" due to its aesthetic and lyrical imagery. In 2019, an indie rock album titled "ReRed", featuring Wild Pink, Adult Mom, Chris Farren, and other artists, was released as a tribute to "Red". All of its proceeds go to Equal Justice Initiative.


title: Red (Taylor Swift album)

text: In November 2020, following a dispute over the ownership of the masters to her back catalog, Swift began re-recording her first six studio albums. "Fearless (Taylor's Version)", the first of her re-recorded albums, was released on April 9, 2021. On June 18, 2021, Swift announced "Red (Taylor's Version)" would be released on November 12, 2021, seven days earlier than originally planned. The new album contains all 30 songs Swift recorded for the 2012 release of "Red"; these include the charity single "Ronan", her recordings of the 2016 Little Big Town single "Better Man" and 2018 Sugarland single "Babe", the ten-minute version of "All Too Well", and six other new tracks. The re-recording was released to critical acclaim.


title: Darknet

text: A dark net or darknet is an overlay network within the Internet that can only be accessed with specific software, configurations, or authorization, and often uses a unique customized communication protocol. Two typical darknet types are social networks (usually used for file hosting with a peer-to-peer connection), and anonymity proxy networks such as Tor via an anonymized series of connections.


title: Darknet

text: The term "darknet" was popularized by major news outlets to associate with Tor Onion services, when the infamous drug bazaar Silk Road used it, despite the terminology being unofficial. Technology such as Tor, I2P, and Freenet was intended to defend digital rights by providing security, anonymity, or censorship resistance and is used for both illegal and legitimate reasons. Anonymous communication between whistle-blowers, activists, journalists and news organisations is also facilitated by darknets through use of applications such as SecureDrop.


title: Darknet

text: The term originally described computers on ARPANET that were hidden, programmed to receive messages but not respond to or acknowledge anything, thus remaining invisible, in the dark.


title: Darknet

text: Since ARPANET, the usage of dark net has expanded to include friend-to-friend networks (usually used for file sharing with a peer-to-peer connection) and privacy networks such as Tor. The reciprocal term for a darknet is a clearnet or the surface web when referring to content indexable by search engines.


title: Darknet

text: The term "darknet" is often used interchangeably with "dark web" because of the quantity of hidden services on Tor's darknet. Additionally, the term is often inaccurately used interchangeably with the deep web because of Tor's history as a platform that could not be search-indexed. Mixing uses of both these terms has been described as inaccurate, with some commentators recommending the terms be used in distinct fashions.


title: Darknet

text: "Darknet" was coined in the 1970s to designate networks isolated from ARPANET (the government-founded military/academical network which evolved into the Internet), for security purposes. Darknet addresses could receive data from ARPANET but did not appear in the network lists and would not answer pings or other inquiries.


title: Darknet

text: The term gained public acceptance following publication of "The Darknet and the Future of Content Distribution", a 2002 paper by Peter Biddle, Paul England, Marcus Peinado, and Bryan Willman, four employees of Microsoft who argued the presence of the darknet was the primary hindrance to the development of workable digital rights management (DRM) technologies and made copyright infringement inevitable. This paper described "darknet" more generally as any type of parallel network that is encrypted or requires a specific protocol to allow a user to connect to it.


title: Darknet

text: Journalist J. D. Lasica, in his 2005 book "Darknet: Hollywood's War Against the Digital Generation", described the darknet's reach encompassing file sharing networks. Subsequently, in 2014, journalist Jamie Bartlett in his book "The Dark Net" used the term to describe a range of underground and emergent subcultures, including camgirls, cryptoanarchists, darknet drug markets, self harm communities, social media racists, and transhumanists.


title: Darknet

text: All darknets require specific software installed or network configurations made to access them, such as Tor, which can be accessed via a customized browser from Vidalia (aka the Tor browser bundle), or alternatively via a proxy configured to perform the same function.


title: Darknet

text: Tor is the most popular instance of a darknet, often mistakenly equated with darknet in general. Alphabetical list:


title: Marie Fredriksson

text: Gun-Marie Fredriksson (; 30 May 1958 – 9 December 2019) was a Swedish singer, songwriter, pianist and painter, who was best known internationally as the lead vocalist of pop rock duo Roxette, which she formed in 1986 with Per Gessle. The duo achieved international success in the late 1980s and early 1990s with their albums "Look Sharp!" (1988) and "Joyride" (1991), and had multiple hits on the "Billboard" Hot 100, including four number ones.


title: Marie Fredriksson

text: Fredriksson had a successful career in her native country prior to forming Roxette. She was a member of punk group Strul, a band which created their own music festival in 1979. Strul's dissolution led to the creation of her next project, the short-lived MaMas Barn, after which she began releasing solo work. Her first album, "Het vind", was issued in 1984, followed by "Den sjunde vågen" in 1986 and "... Efter stormen" in 1987. Roxette's international breakthrough coincided with a period of inactivity for Fredriksson as a solo artist, punctuated only by the release of the non-album single "Sparvöga" in 1989. Subsequent solo albums included "Den ständiga resan" (1992) and "I en tid som vår" (1996).


title: Marie Fredriksson

text: In 2002, after fainting at home, Fredriksson was diagnosed with a brain tumour. During her rehabilitation, she continued to record music as a solo artist, resulting in "The Change" in 2004 and "Min bäste vän" in 2006, as well as the non-album single "Där du andas" in 2008—her first and only solo number one single in Sweden. She and Gessle later reunited to record more albums as Roxette, and the pair embarked on a worldwide concert tour. She also continued to record as a solo artist in her native Sweden, releasing "Nu!" in 2013. Fredriksson died on 9 December 2019 as a result of health issues stemming from her 2002 brain tumour.


title: Marie Fredriksson

text: Gun-Marie Fredriksson was born on 30 May 1958 outside the small Swedish village of Össjö. She was the youngest of five children born of Charles Gösta Fredriksson (1914–1981) and Inez Dagmar Fredriksson (née Hoffert, 1922–1998). When she was four years old, her parents sold their farm and relocated to Östra Ljungby, where Gösta took a job as a postman and Inez became a factory worker. Three years later, her oldest sister Anna-Lisa was involved in a fatal traffic collision; her car was crushed by a tanker truck while she was travelling to purchase a dress for her engagement party. Marie explained: "She was 20 – and I can barely remember her today. But I remember the grief, how the family was torn apart. Completely. After that I had to fend for myself. I was only seven years old."


title: Marie Fredriksson

text: With both parents in full-time employment but unable to afford child care, Marie and her underage siblings would often be left unaccompanied at home while their parents worked. It was during this period, with the help of siblings and friends, that she learned how to sing, read notation and play musical instruments. She also credited her pastor with encouraging her love of music, and said that she had been performing "ever since I was little and me and my sister Tina went to Sunday school. We had a wonderful pastor in Östra Ljungby. I've got really bright, lovely memories of that place, even when my big sister died. I loved all the songs. It was such a source of freedom for me… for both of us."


title: Marie Fredriksson

text: Her interest in music continued to grow throughout her teens, as she discovered artists such as The Beatles, Joni Mitchell, Jimi Hendrix and Deep Purple. She enrolled in a music school in the Svalöv Municipality at the age of seventeen, where she befriended students from the theatre department by composing music for their amateur plays. Since no other vocalist in the school could emulate Fredriksson's vocal range, she joined the cast of a musical she co-wrote. This musical toured throughout Sweden, with its run culminating in a performance in Stockholm for Prime Minister Olof Palme.


title: Marie Fredriksson

text: After graduating from music school in 1977, Fredriksson moved to Halmstad, where she worked in theatre before becoming involved in the local indie music scene. She formed punk group Strul (English: Hassle) in 1978 with then-boyfriend Stefan Dernbrant—the band consisted of an extensive and fractious lineup of musicians, the majority of whom would leave after a single performance. Strul established their own independent music festival in 1979, Strulfestivalen, which was financially lucrative for the band. The festival was held each summer for three years, until 1981. Dernbrant exited the group in December 1980 when he and Fredriksson ended their relationship. Due to the success of the festival, Fredriksson opted to continue performing under the Strul name alongside the band's other longest-serving member, guitarist Martin Sternhufvud. The group's popularity increased substantially in 1981, culminating in several performances on Swedish music television programmes. This exposure led to Strul signing with independent record label Bastun, which released their first and only single in June, the double A-side "Ki-I-Ai-Oo" / "Strul igen". The release was timed to coincide with the 1981 version of Strulfestivalen, which would be the last; three months later, the group permanently disbanded following a "disastrous" performance at the Pop Around the Clock festival, which was broadcast nationally on Swedish radio.


title: Marie Fredriksson

text: Following Strul's breakup, Fredriksson and Sternhufvud formed a new band, MaMas Barn (English: MaMas Children). The two were the only permanent members, with Sternhufvud moving to vocals and Fredriksson to keyboards. The name was created by combining the first two letters of both members' given name. The duo regularly shared a rehearsal space with Gyllene Tider, leading to the latter band's bassist and drummer – Anders Herrlin and Mickael "Syd" Andersson, respectively – becoming members. This close relationship between the two bands resulted in Fredriksson performing vocals on Gyllene Tider's 1981 song "Ingenting av vad du behöver" (English: "Nothing of What You Need"). The following year, MaMas Barn signed with CBS Records International before their recording contract was sold to WEA International, which financed the recording of their only album, "Barn som barn" (English: "Children as Children"). The album was produced by ABBA guitarist Finn Sjöberg and eventually released in November 1982. Although it was a critical success, the record struggled commercially, selling approximately 1,000 copies. The group disbanded shortly after.


title: Marie Fredriksson

text: Believing Fredriksson to be "too talented to be hiding behind keyboards", Gessle invited her to audition for Gyllene Tider's producer Lars-Göran "Lasse" Lindbom. Impressed with her voice, Lindbom offered Fredriksson a contract as a solo artist on EMI Sweden, although she initially refused the deal, saying she was "too nervous" and "lacked the confidence" to be a solo artist. She performed duet vocals on "Så nära nu" (English: "So Near Now"), the lead single from the Lasse Lindbom Band's 1982 album "Romantisk Blackout". The album was successful in Sweden, and she joined Lindbom's band as a featured vocalist for an extensive tour of the country. Following its completion in the autumn of 1983, Fredriksson recorded backing vocals for Gyllene Tider's debut English album "The Heartland Café", released in Sweden under the band's original name, and in EP format in North America under the name Roxette—derived from the Dr. Feelgood song of the same name.


title: Marie Fredriksson

text: On Gessle's insistence, Fredriksson agreed to embark on a solo career in late 1983, recording her debut album from December 1983 to June 1984, with Lindbom as co-writer and producer. "Ännu doftar kärlek" (English: "Still the Scent of Love") was issued as her debut single in May 1984, becoming a top twenty hit on Sverigetopplistan, Sweden's national record chart. Her debut album, "Het vind" (English: "Hot Wind"), was released in September, and also peaked within the Sverigetopplistan top twenty. The album was promoted by a three-month double bill concert tour, featuring Fredriksson performing as a solo artist alongside Lindbom's eponymous band. The title track was issued as the second and final single in October, b/w a Swedish version of Cyndi Lauper's "All Through the Night", retitled "Natt efter natt" (English: "Night After Night").


title: Marie Fredriksson

text: Her first solo tour took place from March to June 1985, after which she performed vocals for Spännande Ostar (English: Exciting Cheeses). This cover band appeared on several Swedish television programmes, and consisted of Fredriksson and Lindbom performing alongside Per Gessle and Mats Persson. The same year, Fredriksson and Lindbom travelled to the Canary Islands to write songs for her second solo album. "Den sjunde vågen" (English: "The Seventh Wave") was released in February 1986 and peaked at number six on Sverigetopplistan, selling over 90,000 copies. "Den bästa dagen" (English: "The Best Day") and "Silver i din hand" (English: "Silver in Your Hand") were issued as singles, while the title track and "Mot okända hav" (English: "Toward Unknown Seas") were top ten hits on Svensktoppen, Sweden's airplay-based chart. She won the 1986 Rockbjörnen award for Best Swedish Female, and embarked on her second tour as a solo artist.


title: Marie Fredriksson

text: While Fredriksson had established herself as a prominent soloist, Gessle's solo work struggled to replicate the success of Gyllene Tider; his second studio album "Scener" (1985) sold less than 20,000 copies, a significant drop from the 400,000 copies sold by "Moderna tider" four years earlier. EMI Sweden's managing director, Rolf Nygren, suggested Gessle translate one of his Swedish compositions to English and record it as a duet with Fredriksson. The resulting song, "Neverending Love", was issued under the band name Roxette—the name Gyllene Tider had used to release "The Heartland Café" in North America in 1984. The track peaked at number three on the Swedish Singles Chart, and was one of the most popular songs on Swedish radio that year. Their debut album, "Pearls of Passion", was a major success upon release in October 1986, peaking at number two and eventually selling over 200,000 copies, but it failed to chart internationally. Roxette embarked on their first tour in the summer of 1987, "Rock runt riket" (""Rock Around the Kingdom""), a 15-date co-headlining tour with Eva Dahlgren and Ratata.


title: Marie Fredriksson

text: Fredriksson's third studio album, "... Efter stormen" (English: "After the Storm"), was issued in October 1987. It peaked at number one and sold over 50,000 copies within a month of release, and was certified platinum by the Swedish Recording Industry Association for shipments in excess of 100,000 units. Both the title track and "Bara för en dag" (English: "Just for a Day") were top ten hits on Svensktoppen, and she promoted the album with a sold-out concert tour. Roxette released their second studio album, "Look Sharp!", on 21 October 1988. Once again, it was an immediate commercial success in Sweden, selling over 140,000 copies within ten days of release, but failed to chart internationally.


title: Marie Fredriksson

text: Two weeks later, EMI released "Den flygande holländaren" ("The Flying Dutchman"), a tribute album to musician Cornelis Vreeswijk, who died the previous year. Fredriksson performed three songs on the compilation. One of these, "Felicia – Adjö", became her first number one on Svensktoppen. "Den flygande holländaren" peaked at number two for three consecutive weeks in Sweden, held off the top spot by "Look Sharp!". The compilation was certified double platinum there, denoting shipments in excess of 200,000 units. The non-album single "Sparvöga" ("Sparrow-eye") was recorded as the theme music for a miniseries of the same name, and became both her highest-peaking and best-selling single to date when it was issued in February 1989. Fredriksson won the award for Pop/Rock Female at the 1989 Grammis, the Swedish equivalent of the Grammy Awards, as well as the Rockbjörnen award for Best Swedish Female, for the fourth consecutive year.


title: Marie Fredriksson

text: "The Look" was issued as the third single from "Look Sharp!" in Sweden, and was a top ten hit upon release in January 1989. The following month, the track unexpectedly entered the "Billboard" Hot 100, despite the duo not having a recording contract in the US; the local branch of EMI had previously rejected Roxette as "unsuitable for the American market." An exchange student from Minnesota returned from Sweden and asked his local Minneapolis-based Top 40 radio station to play the song. The track quickly became popular, and the station began distributing the song to their sister radio operations throughout the US. "The Look" topped the chart after just eight weeks, and went on to peak at number one in a total of 25 countries. The single's parent album eventually sold over 9 million copies worldwide. "Listen to Your Heart" was the band's second number one on the Hot 100, while the album's final single, "Dangerous", spent two weeks at number two. Fredriksson ended 1989 performing on-stage as part of The Husbands, a cover band formed by Lasse Lindbom and Niklas Strömstedt.


title: Marie Fredriksson

text: In 1990, Fredriksson contributed a cover of the Evert Taube composition "Så skimrande var aldrig havet" ("The Sea Was Never So Sparkling") to the tribute album "Taube". The same year, Touchstone Pictures approached Gessle to compose a song for the upcoming film "Pretty Woman". As he did not have time to compose a new song—Roxette had recently embarked on their first international concert tour—a new edit of their 1987 single "It Must Have Been Love" was created, and featured prominently in the movie. The track became their third number one on the Hot 100, and remains one of Roxette's best-known and most successful singles. The following year, the duo released their third album, "Joyride", which remains their most successful release, with worldwide sales of over 11 million copies. The title track gave them their fourth and final number one on the Hot 100, while "Fading Like a Flower (Every Time You Leave)" peaked at number two. The album was promoted by the "Join the Joyride! Tour", their biggest and widest ranging tour.


title: Marie Fredriksson

text: Fredriksson returned to solo work following the recording of Roxette's fourth album, "Tourism". She was a featured vocalist on "Änglamark" (""Angel Land""), a Band Aid-style recording spearheaded by former ABBA vocalist Anni-Frid Lyngstad under the banner Artister för Miljö (Artists for the Environment), which was released in July 1992. She also performed the track alongside all of the other featured artists during a televised gala the following month. Fredriksson's fourth solo album, "Den ständiga resan" ("The Eternal Journey"), was released that October, and remains both her highest-selling and most critically successful solo studio album, with sales of over 185,000 copies in Sweden as of 2002. She was nominated for three awards at the 1993 Grammis, including Songwriter of the Year and Artist of the Year, winning the latter. "Så länge det lyser mittemot" ("As Long as There Is Light on the Other Side") and "Mellan sommar och höst" ("Between Summer and Autumn") were issued as commercial singles; the latter song, "Så stilla så långsamt" ("So Still, So Slow") and "Det regnar igen" ("It's Raining Again"), were also top ten hits on Svensktoppen. She toured in support of the record.


title: Marie Fredriksson

text: Her first musical collaboration with husband Mikael Bolyos, "Herren ber för dig" ("The Lord Prays for You"), was released in November 1994 on the charitable compilation "Vilda fåglar: sånger om barn" ("Wild Birds: Songs About Children"), the proceeds of which were donated to children's hospitals in Nordic territories. The next summer, she was a featured vocalist with Bolyos' band Sugarcane, during their concert residency in Halmstad nightclub Penny Lane. She took part in this residency every summer between 1995 and 2002, performing vocals on several of Bolyos' original compositions and numerous cover versions, including "The Good Life".


title: Marie Fredriksson

text: Her fifth solo album, "I en tid som vår" ("In a Time Like Ours"), was recorded by Fredriksson and Bolyos at their home studio in Djursholm between February and September 1996. She was eight months pregnant when it was released in November, so was unable to promote it. The album peaked at number two on Sverigetopplistan, and lead single "Tro" became the longest-charting song of her career on the Swedish Singles Chart, either as a solo artist or as part of Roxette; it reached number eight and spent a total of 29 weeks on the chart. Her duet with Anni-Frid Lyngstad, "Alla mina bästa år" ("All My Best Years") – from Frida's 1996 album "Djupa andetag" ("Deep Breaths") – was released as a single in February 1997.


title: Marie Fredriksson

text: Fredriksson and Gessle collaborated on a new Roxette album throughout 1997 and 1998; "Have a Nice Day" was eventually released in February 1999. She was more involved in its composition and production than on previous Roxette releases, recording numerous demos at her Djursholm studio and singing lead vocals on ten of the album's fourteen songs. The record includes "Waiting for the Rain", the first Roxette song written and composed solely by Fredriksson. Prior to the album's release, the duo signed a new recording contract with their longterm label EMI, which saw Fredriksson obtain the copyright for her entire solo discography. The process of recording the album was reputedly difficult and confrontational, with Fredriksson later heavily criticising co-producer Michael Ilbert: "I ended up under his thumb. He would only communicate with Per and [Roxette's regular producer] Clarence Öfwerman. He complained to everyone that my voice was weak, that I needed to re-record vocals, and that my songs weren't good enough. He criticised me until I started crying. I lost all my confidence, and no longer felt happy in Roxette."


title: Marie Fredriksson

text: Her first greatest hits album, "Äntligen – Marie Fredrikssons bästa 1984–2000", was released in 2000, and was the second best-selling album of the year in Sweden, behind the Beatles compilation "1". It was also one of the best-selling albums of 2001 in the country, and was certified triple platinum for shipments of almost 250,000 units. The two new songs recorded for the compilation, "Äntligen" ("Finally") and "Det som var nu" ("That What Was Now"), were both minor hits. The latter song featured Patrik Isaksson, and was a Swedish re-recording of a demo originally produced by Fredriksson for "Have a Nice Day". The record was promoted with a Swedish tour.


title: Marie Fredriksson

text: In 2001, Roxette released their seventh album, "Room Service". Even though Ilbert was not present for this album's recording, Marie later said she "lost all desire to continue Roxette", and would appear at the recording studio as infrequently as possible; she instructed her taxi driver to wait outside while she recorded vocals for "Milk and Toast and Honey". The album was supported with a European tour, after which Fredriksson "called for a meeting" with Gessle, wherein she discussed disbanding Roxette, to which Gessle agreed. She issued a box set containing all of her previous studio albums, "Kärlekens guld" ("Love's Gold"), in June 2002. Roxette scheduled the release of two new compilation albums, "The Ballad Hits" and "The Pop Hits", which were to be promoted with performances at the 2002 edition of the pan-European orchestral concert series "Night of the Proms". A press conference announcing these appearances as Roxette's "swan song" was scheduled to take place in the Netherlands on 12 September 2002.


title: Marie Fredriksson

text: On 11 September 2002, Fredriksson complained of feeling unwell after jogging with her husband. She collapsed in a bathroom after becoming nauseous, with the impact of the fall fracturing her cranium. She then had an epileptic seizure. Scans later indicated she had a brain tumour in the back of her head. The diagnosis led to the cancellation of Roxette's "Night of the Proms" appearances. After waiting several weeks for the effects of the fracture and resulting concussion to subside, she underwent successful surgery to remove the tumour, which was malignant, and she endured months of chemotherapy and radiation treatment.


title: Marie Fredriksson

text: In January 2003, King of Sweden Carl Gustaf XVI awarded Roxette the Litteris et Artibus ("Culture and Education") award. Both Gessle and Fredriksson attended the ceremony, which was the first event Fredriksson appeared at after her operation, and one of very few public appearances she made over the next two years. Lasting effects of the tumour included her being blind in one eye and having limited hearing and mobility, as well as being unable to read or write. She was also unable to speak for a considerable period of time after her treatment. On 21 October 2005, Fredriksson conducted an interview with Swedish newspaper "Aftonbladet", saying: "It's been three very difficult years, [but] I'm healthy. I'm not receiving treatment any more."


title: Marie Fredriksson

text: Following her diagnosis and treatment, Fredriksson and Bolyos began work on her next studio album as a form of therapy at their home studio in Djursholm. "The Change" debuted atop the Swedish Album Chart, and was certified gold for shipments in excess of 30,000 units. It ended 2004 as the 18th best selling album in the country. Several of the songs included were debuted during Fredriksson's live appearances with Sugarcane in the mid-1990s. It was also her first studio album to receive a worldwide release. Lead single "" was a top ten hit in Sweden. Despite being unable to read or write, Fredriksson rediscovered her love of drawing during her illness, and began using charcoal to create artwork as another form of therapy. She drew the cover art which accompanied "The Change", and held her first art exhibition – titled "After the Change" – at the vernissage of the Doktor Glas gallery in Kungsträdgården, Stockholm in October 2005. Every painting displayed at the exhibition was sold by the end of the second day. She held further art exhibitions, titled "A Table in the Sun", in both Stockholm and Gothenburg in 2008.


title: Marie Fredriksson

text: In February 2006, she released an album of Swedish cover songs titled "Min bäste vän" ("My Best Friend"), which peaked at number three on the Swedish Albums Chart. Later that year, she collaborated with Gessle on the recording of two new Roxette songs: "One Wish" and "Reveal", which were released on the greatest hits compilation "". Fredriksson performed vocals on several tracks of Bolyos' debut solo album "A Family Affair", which was released in June 2007. In November, Capitol Records issued a ballad compilation of Fredriksson's Swedish-language solo material, "Tid för tystnad – Marie Fredrikssons ballader" ("Time for Silence – Marie Fredriksson's Ballads"). The compilation contained two previously unreleased recordings, one of which, "Ordet är farväl" ("The Word Is Goodbye"), was based on a lyric Py Bäckman wrote for Fredriksson's 1984 album "Het vind".


title: Marie Fredriksson

text: "Där du andas" ("Where You Breathe") was released in August 2008 as the theme song to the film "Arn – The Kingdom at Road's End", and became Fredriksson's first number one single in her home country. During the winter of 2008, she took part in the "Stjärnklart" ("Starlit") series of concerts, which saw her performing an abbreviated set alongside other vocalists in Swedish concert halls. In May 2009, she joined Gessle on-stage at the Melkweg in Amsterdam to perform acoustic renditions of several Roxette songs, during a concert of his "Party Crasher Tour". Immediately after the gig, Gessle announced to "Aftonbladet" that Roxette would perform at the 2009 edition of "Night of the Proms". On the first night of that tour, "Expressen" reported that the duo had been recording material for a new album since May 2009.


title: Marie Fredriksson

text: The duo reunited for a private performance at the Wedding of Victoria, Crown Princess of Sweden, and Daniel Westling at Stockholm Palace on 18 June 2010. Roxette then embarked on a seven-date tour of Europe in the summer of 2010. "She's Got Nothing On (But the Radio)" was released in January 2011, becoming a substantial hit in mainland Europe, and their highest-peaking single in Germany since 1992's "How Do You Do!". Their eighth studio album, "Charm School", followed the next month. "The Neverending World Tour", their first world tour in fifteen years, began in March 2011, eventually concluding in February 2016. Another studio album, "Travelling", was released in March 2012. In June 2013, Fredriksson performed "Ännu doftar kärlek" at the Wedding of Princess Madeleine and Christopher O'Neill. In November, she released "Nu!" ("Now!"), her first album of original Swedish material since 1996. It was supported by a nineteen-date tour of Swedish concert halls, her first solo concerts since 2000.


title: Marie Fredriksson

text: Roxette's tenth studio album, "Good Karma", was released in June 2016, and was due to be promoted with a European tour celebrating the duo's 30th anniversary. However, these concerts were cancelled after Fredriksson was advised by her doctors to cease all touring activity, due to poor health. She released a statement saying: "Sadly, now my touring days are over and I want to take this opportunity to thank our wonderful fans that [have] followed us on our long and winding journey." Fredriksson released three non-album singles after she announced her retirement from touring: "Alone Again" and "I Want to Go" in 2017, and "Sing Me a Song" in 2018.


title: Marie Fredriksson

text: Fredriksson met her husband, keyboardist Mikael "Micke" Bolyos, during the Australian leg of "Join the Joyride!" in December 1991. She later said of the impact meeting Bolyos had on her professional career: "If [we] hadn't met, I don't know if I would have been able to continue in Roxette much longer. I couldn't handle the personal side of life on tour. I was hanging out in bars, drinking too much. I was sad a lot of the time and had a hard time with the press, when I always had to be nice and say the right things, always having to be available to everybody, always putting on a smile and being happy. Marie Fredriksson the performer had grown in stature, at the expense of Marie the private person. I had less and less space to be myself, and when I was myself I felt uncertain, small and lost."


title: Marie Fredriksson

text: The couple married in a private ceremony in May 1994, which was attended only by immediate family members. Her decision not to invite Gessle and his wife to the wedding briefly became a source of tension between the duo. She later explained: "Some of our friends felt excluded and disappointed. Today I understand that, for example, Per and [his wife] were hurt [not to be invited], but then I didn't see it that way. My only concern was that I wanted the wedding to be private. It was what felt important then." Fredriksson and Bolyos had two children: a daughter named Inez Josefin (born 29 April 1993) and a son named Oscar Mikael (born 26 November 1996).


title: Marie Fredriksson

text: Fredriksson died on 9 December 2019 at the age of 61, following a 17-year-long battle with cancer after her 2002 brain tumour diagnosis. A private funeral, with only her immediate family in attendance, took place at an undisclosed location. Among the tributes expressed to Fredriksson was a statement from King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, who said "We have been struck by the sad news that singer Marie Fredriksson has passed away. For many in our country, even in my family, her music is closely associated with memories from particularly important moments in life." A concert in memory of Fredriksson took place at the Stora Teatern in Gothenburg on 20 January, featuring performances from Per Gessle and Eva Dahlgren. The concert was broadcast in its entirety five days later on Sveriges Television.


title: Marie Fredriksson

text: A previously unreleased solo song titled "Sea of Love" was issued posthumously on the first anniversary of her death. Recorded in 2017, it was the final track she recorded in her lifetime, and was inspired by the peaceful demonstrations that followed the 2017 Stockholm truck attack. Roxette issued a compilation album of outtakes titled "Bag of Trix" on 11 December 2020, containing several previously unreleased demos composed by Fredriksson. Another solo song, "Stay", was released as a non-album single on 28 May 2021.


title: Kristy McNichol

text: Christina Ann McNichol (born September 11, 1962) is an American former actress. She is known for such film roles as Angel in "Little Darlings", Polly in "Only When I Laugh" as well as Barbara Weston in the TV sitcom "Empty Nest". She won two Emmy Awards for her portrayal of teenage daughter Letitia "Buddy" Lawrence in the TV drama "Family". McNichol retired from acting in 2001.


title: Kristy McNichol

text: McNichol was born on September 11, 1962, in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of James and Carolyn McNichol. Her father was a carpenter and her mother worked odd jobs to support the family, including as a secretary, cosmetics salesperson and movie extra. McNichol is Scottish/Irish on her father's side and her mother is of Lebanese descent.


title: Kristy McNichol

text: She appeared with her brother Jimmy McNichol in commercials and later, on her own, in guest appearances on such other series as "Starsky & Hutch"; "The Bionic Woman"; "Love, American Style"; and "The Love Boat", thanks to family friend Desi Arnaz. Her first stint as a series regular came in the role of Patricia Apple in the short-lived television series "Apple's Way" (1974).


title: Kristy McNichol

text: In 1976, she was cast as Letitia "Buddy" Lawrence in the television drama series "Family" (1976–80). She was nominated for the Emmy Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Dramatic Series three years in a row (1977–79), winning in 1977 and 1979.


title: Kristy McNichol

text: In 1977, she appeared in the TV special "The Carpenters at Christmas", performing several musical numbers with the duo. In 1978, Jimmy and she made their foray into music, recording the album "Kristy and Jimmy McNichol" for RCA Records (AFL1-2875). Produced by Phil Margo and Mitch Margo, it included the singles "He's So Fine" (a cover of The Chiffons' 1963 hit), which peaked at number 70 on the "Billboard" chart and "Page by Page". The McNichols promoted the album at New York's Studio 54 discothèque with other celebrities. In 1978, McNichol performed with Jimmy in a second Carpenters' holiday special, titled "The Carpenters: A Christmas Portrait".


title: Kristy McNichol

text: McNichol was one of the bigger teen stars of that era. She appeared on talk shows such as "The Mike Douglas Show" and "Dinah!" and made several appearances on "Battle of the Network Stars" and other celebrity-based sports shows. In 1978, she starred in the acclaimed TV movie "Summer of My German Soldier".


title: Kristy McNichol

text: McNichol began her film career in 1977 in "Black Sunday", but her scenes were cut. In 1978, she starred with Burt Reynolds and Sally Field in the black comedy "The End".


title: Kristy McNichol

text: In 1980, she played the leading role in the hit coming-of-age movie "Little Darlings", which co-starred Tatum O'Neal, Matt Dillon and Cynthia Nixon. Her performance was acclaimed by many reviewers, including those who disliked the film. Later in 1980, she appeared with Dennis Quaid and Mark Hamill in "The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia", for which she received a six-figure salary—unprecedented for a teenager. In 1981, she co-starred in Neil Simon's "Only When I Laugh" and was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress.


title: Kristy McNichol

text: McNichol was nominated for a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actress for her performance in the 1982 movie "The Pirate Movie". The same year, she suffered an emotional breakdown while playing the lead role in the comedy-drama "Just the Way You Are" that was being filmed in France. She later told "People" magazine that she could not sleep and she cried the entire time she was in France. She had nightmares when she did sleep and she cried on set. She did not return to the production after Christmas to finish the movie; filming had to be interrupted for a year while McNichol recovered. She later said that the breakdown had been caused by the pressures of her childhood career, as well as the pressure to hide her sexuality from the public..


title: Kristy McNichol

text: In 1986, McNichol appeared in "Women of Valor", a TV movie about American nurses in a World War II Japanese POW camp. She made two theatrical films in 1988: "You Can't Hurry Love" and "Two Moon Junction".


title: Kristy McNichol

text: In the same year, she began the role of Barbara Weston on "Empty Nest", a spin-off of "The Golden Girls". She left the show in 1992 after being diagnosed with bipolar disorder but returned for its final episode in 1995. It was her last on-screen performance. However, she later voiced characters in the animated TV series "Extreme Ghostbusters" (1997) and "Invasion America" (1998).


title: Kristy McNichol

text: In June 2001, McNichol announced that she had retired from acting. Her publicist released this statement:


title: Kristy McNichol

text: McNichol lost a close friend and former lover Elisabeth Brooks when Brooks died from cancer on September 7th, 1997. Brooks died a few days shy of McNichol's 35th Birthday.


title: Kristy McNichol

text: After her retirement, McNichol taught acting at a private school in Los Angeles and devoted much of her time to charity work. In 2012, McNichol ended years of speculation when she revealed that she is a lesbian and has lived with her partner Martie Allen since the early 1990s. She made the statement in the hopes that her openness would help young people who are bullied because of their sexuality.


title: The Shard

text: The Shard, also referred to as the Shard of Glass, Shard London Bridge, and formerly London Bridge Tower, is a 72-storey skyscraper, designed by the Italian architect Renzo Piano, in Southwark, London, that forms part of The Shard Quarter development. Standing high, The Shard is the tallest building in the United Kingdom, and the seventh-tallest building in Europe. It is also the second-tallest free-standing structure in the United Kingdom, after the concrete tower of the Emley Moor transmitting station. It replaced Southwark Towers, a 24-storey office block built on the site in 1975.


title: The Shard

text: The Shard's construction began in March 2009; it was topped out on 30 March 2012 and inaugurated on 5 July 2012. Practical completion was achieved in November 2012. The tower's privately operated observation deck, The View from The Shard, was opened to the public on 1 February 2013. The glass-clad pyramidal tower has 72 habitable floors, with a viewing gallery and open-air observation deck on the 72nd floor, at a height of . The Shard was developed by Sellar Property Group on behalf of LBQ Ltd and is jointly owned by Sellar Property (5%) and the State of Qatar (95%). The Shard is managed by Real Estate Management (UK) Limited.


title: The Shard

text: In 1998, London-based entrepreneur Irvine Sellar and his partners decided to redevelop the 1970s-era Southwark Towers following a UK government white paper encouraging the development of tall buildings at major transport hubs. Sellar flew to Berlin in the spring of 2000 to meet the Italian architect Renzo Piano for lunch. According to Sellar, Piano spoke of his contempt for conventional tall buildings during the meal, before flipping over the restaurant's menu and sketching a spire-like sculpture emerging from the River Thames.


title: The Shard

text: In July 2002, the Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott, ordered a planning inquiry after the development plans for the Shard were opposed by the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment and several heritage bodies, including the Royal Parks Foundation and English Heritage. The inquiry took place in April and May 2003, and on 19 November 2003, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister announced that planning consent had been approved. The government stated that:


title: The Shard

text: Sellar and his original partners CLS Holdings plc and CN Ltd (acting for the Halabi Family Trust) secured an interim funding package of £196 million in September 2006 from the Nationwide Building Society and Kaupthing Singer & Friedlander. This enabled them to pay off the costs already incurred and to buy out the Southwark Towers occupational lease from the building's tenants, PricewaterhouseCoopers. Vacant possession of the site was secured a year later, after PricewaterhouseCoopers completed the relocation of their operations.


title: The Shard

text: In September 2007, preparations for the demolition of Southwark Towers began. However, later that same month, turbulence in the financial markets reportedly put the Shard's construction in jeopardy, threatening to render the project an example of the Skyscraper Index.


title: The Shard

text: In November 2007, building contractor Mace was awarded the contract to build the Shard for a fixed price of no more than £350 million. However, this price increased to almost £435 million in October 2008.


title: The Shard

text: In April 2008, demolition of Southwark Towers was visibly under way, and by October, the building had been substantially reduced in height, and was no longer visible on the skyline. The demolition was completed in early 2009, and site preparation began for the construction of the Shard.


title: The Shard

text: Towards the end of 2007, the gathering uncertainty in the global financial markets sparked concerns about the viability of the Shard. However, in January 2008, Sellar announced that it had secured funding from a consortium of Qatari investors, who had paid £150 million to secure an 80% stake in the project. The consortium included Qatar National Bank, QInvest, Qatari Islamic Bank and the Qatari property developer Barwa Real Estate, as well as Sellar Property. The deal involved a buyout of the Halabi and CLS Holdings stakes, and part of the Sellar Property stake. The new owners promised to provide the first tranche of finance, allowing construction of the tower to begin. In 2009, the State of Qatar consolidated its ownership of London Bridge Quarter (known now as Shard Quarter), including The Shard, through the purchase of the private Qatari investors' stakes. Shard Quarter is today jointly owned by the State of Qatar and Sellar.


title: The Shard

text: Renzo Piano, the project's architect, designed The Shard as a spire-like sculpture emerging from the River Thames. He was inspired by the railway lines next to the site, the London spires depicted by the 18th-century Venetian painter Canaletto, and the masts of sailing ships. Piano's design met criticism from English Heritage, who claimed the building would be "a shard of glass through the heart of historic London", giving the building its name, The Shard. Piano considered the slender, spire-like form of the tower a positive addition to the London skyline, recalling the church steeples featured in historic engravings of the city, and believed that its presence would be far more delicate than opponents of the project alleged. He proposed a sophisticated use of glazing, with expressive façades of angled glass panes intended to reflect sunlight and the sky above, so that the appearance of the building will change according to the weather and seasons. The building features 11,000 panes of glass, with a total surface area of equivalent to the area of almost eight Wembley football pitches.


title: The Shard

text: The Shard was designed with energy efficiency in mind. It is fitted with a combined heat and power (CHP) plant, operating on natural gas from the National Grid. Fuel is efficiently converted to electricity, and heat is recovered from the engine to provide hot water for the building.


title: The Shard

text: Following the destruction of New York's World Trade Center (WTC) in the terror attacks of 11 September 2001, architects and structural engineers worldwide began re-evaluating the design of tall structures. The Shard's early conceptual designs were among the first in the UK to be amended following the publication of the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) report into the collapse of the WTC. The building is designed to maintain its stability under very onerous conditions, with its post-tensioned concrete and composite floors, load-bearing pillars, and tapering shape giving it a sway tolerance of .


title: The Shard

text: In 2014, The Shard claimed first place at the Emporis Skyscraper Awards, recognising buildings over completed in the previous twelve months. The Emporis judges hailed the building as "a skyscraper that is recognized immediately and which is already considered London's new emblem".


title: The Shard

text: For the construction of the skyscraper some path-breaking engineering methods were used, such as top-down construction, where foundations are dug while the core is built up – this was a first for the UK. In February 2009, a mobile crane and a small piling rig arrived on site. In early March 2009, the crane began putting steel beams into the ground, as part of preparations for the core of the building. Full construction began on 16 March 2009. Demolition work on New London Bridge House started in May 2009, as part of the concurrent London Bridge Place project. The first steelwork went into The Shard's piles on 28 April. Five cranes were used to build The Shard, with four of them 'jumping' with the tower as it rose. Crane 1 was erected in September 2009 and Crane 2 was erected at the beginning of October. By 20 October 2009, steel beams began appearing on site, with concrete being poured at the northern part of the site, ready for Crane 3.


title: The Shard

text: By March 2010, the concrete core was rising steadily at about a day. After a pause in March–April 2010, it continued rising, reaching the 33rd floor in mid-June, almost level with the top of Guy's Hospital, which stands at . On 27 July 2010, the core stopped rising, having reached the 38th floor, and was reconfigured for further construction. By mid-November 2010, the core had reached the 68th floor, with the tower's steel reaching the 40th floor and glass cladding enveloping a third of the building. In late November, the core's height exceeded , ending One Canada Square's 18-year reign as Britain's tallest building.


title: The Shard

text: The Shard's concrete core topped out at the 72nd floor in early 2011, standing at . The early part of January 2011 saw the installation of hydraulic screens, which were used to form the concrete floors of the hotel and apartment section of the tower, and rose with the floors up to the 69th floor. On 25 January 2011, the concrete pumps began pouring the first concrete floor at the 41st floor. By the end of February 2011, concrete flooring had risen to the 46th floor, with a new floor being poured on average every week. The cladding of the structure also progressed, mainly on the tower's "backpack". During this phase of construction, a fox was discovered living at the top of the unfinished skyscraper. The fox, named Romeo by staff, is thought to have entered the building through the central stairwell. It survived by eating scraps of food left by builders working on the incomplete structure. The fox was captured and taken to Riverside Animal Centre in Wallington.


title: The Shard

text: August 2011 saw steady progress in construction, with cladding enveloping more than half the building's exterior. Pouring of the concrete floors reached the 67th floor, and progression on the tower's cladding reached the 58th floor. By mid-August, the core box had been removed. By 19 September 2011, the tower's steel was approaching the height of the completed core, reaching almost . On 24 September, a final crane – at the time, the tallest ever built in Britain – was erected to install the skyscraper's upper spire. The spire was pre-fabricated and pre-assembled based upon 3D models, and underwent a "test run" in Yorkshire before being lifted onto the building itself. By late December 2011, the Shard had become the tallest building in the European Union, superseding the Commerzbank Tower in Frankfurt, Germany.


title: The Shard

text: The Shard's steel structure was topped out on 30 March 2012, when its , 500-tonne spire was winched into place. The steel structure thus reached a height of . The final 516 panes of glass were added shortly after, topping the tower out at its full height of .


title: The Shard

text: The Shard was inaugurated on 5 July 2012 by the Prime Minister of Qatar, Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani, in a ceremony attended by Prince Andrew, Duke of York. Practical completion of the building was achieved in November 2012.


title: The Shard

text: Standing at its highest point, and at the highest point of its steelwork, The Shard became the tallest building in the European Union in December 2011, and the tallest completed building in Europe on 30 March 2012. It is taller than Frankfurt's Commerzbank Tower at the record holder between 1997 and 2005 and three later skyscrapers of Moscow: the Triumph-Palace, Naberezhnaya Tower, and City of Capitals. These three had each held the title for roughly years. The Shard was overtaken by a fourth such tower in November 2012: the Mercury City Tower. The Shard was surpassed as the tallest European building outside Russia by the 310-metre (1,017 ft) Varso Tower, Warsaw, Poland in February 2021.


title: The Shard

text: The Shard is the second-tallest free-standing structure in the United Kingdom, after the concrete transmission tower at Emley Moor. Another planned London skyscraper, the Pinnacle (now replaced by 22 Bishopsgate), was originally proposed to rival the height of The Shard, but was reduced to a height of because of concerns from the Civil Aviation Authority. It is taller than all of the natural peaks in London and in adjoining counties, the highest of which is Walbury Hill, close to Wiltshire.


title: The Shard

text: The Shard comprises a 26-floor office complex, occupied by 32 companies across 10 business sectors, 3 restaurants—Aqua Shard, Oblix, and Hutong—the five-star Shangri-La The Shard, London hotel, 10 residential apartments, and the UK's highest viewing gallery, The View from The Shard.


title: The Shard

text: In February 2013, "The Sunday Times" reported that the developers of The Shard were in negotiations to secure the first tenants of the building's 26 floors of office space. At the time, potential tenants included financial restructuring specialists Duff & Phelps, private equity firm Hatton Corporation, and the South Hook Liquefied Natural Gas Company.


title: The Shard

text: The Shard's fourth, fifth, and sixth floors host the HCA (Hospital Corporations of America), part of London Bridge Hospital. The Shard's 31st, 32nd, and 33rd floors host three restaurants: Oblix, Hutong, and Aqua Shard. The building's Shangri-La Hotel occupies floors 34–52. The hotel was initially expected to open by the end of 2013, but its opening was ultimately delayed to 6 May 2014. In March 2014, Mathys & Squire became the first law firm to take tenancy in the building. In May 2014, the Foresight Group, an investment firm, moved its head UK office into The Shard on the 17th floor. In June 2015, Warwick Business School opened its new base in The Shard, occupying the same floor and was officially opened by the mayor of London, Boris Johnson. It houses a 100-seat lecture theatre and a smaller one at 60 seats, plus 8 seminar rooms and an IT lab, offering postgraduate and executive education.


title: The Shard

text: In July 2013, the Qatari broadcaster Al Jazeera Media Network announced that it would open a new television studio and newsroom for Al Jazeera English in The Shard. Al Jazeera moved in on 13 September 2014; its first live broadcast from the building was on 10 November 2014. The facility currently houses all primary operations for Al Jazeera Media Network's channels in London; it is capable of running an entire channel independent from Al Jazeera's other hubs, and is the network's second-biggest hub after its facility in Doha, Qatar.


title: The Shard

text: In January 2015, further tenants for The Shard were announced, including IO Oil & Gas Consulting, Gallup, and The Office Group. In May 2015, the American recruitment consultancy Robert Half International announced that it would move several branches of its business into The Shard, having purchased of floor space on the tower's tenth floor. In August 2015, the international law firm Greenberg Traurig announced that it would open its offices on the eighth floor of The Shard by the end of the year.


title: The Shard

text: Matches Fashion took over 35,000 sq ft in January 2016, and six months later expanded its headquarter's presence in The Shard by 40%. In March 2016, marketing agency Jellyfish signed a lease for of office space on the 22nd floor, with occupancy beginning later in the year. A month later, publishing house Dods Group let almost on Level 11, becoming The Shard's 28th office occupier. In December, Kraft Heinz relocated their European and UK headquarters from Hayes in Hillingdon to The Shard after taking on Levels 20 & 21.


title: The Shard

text: The Shard offices were announced as fully let in October 2017, following lettings to Mitie and existing occupiers, Foresight Group, and Warwick Business School.


title: The Shard

text: In December 2011, a group of recreational explorers calling themselves the Place Hackers evaded security and made their way to the top of the Shard building site, climbing one of the tallest cranes in the process. They later posted photographs of the London skyline taken from the top of the Shard on the Internet and received wide media attention. One member of the group, Oxford University researcher Bradley Garrett, later revealed to various news outlets that over 20 urban explorers had made their way to the top of the building during its construction. In a 2012 article for "Domus" magazine, Garrett wrote that "the conceptual barrier to places in our cities is brought about by a process of engineered exclusion" and that the explorers were "cultivating the creative city that money can't buy".


title: The Shard

text: BASE jumpers reportedly jumped from The Shard more than a dozen times between 2009 and 2012. Four jumps were reportedly made by Essex roofer Dan Witchalls, who had filmed one attempt with a helmet-mounted camera. The highest jump was said to have been from a height of . In March 2016 another person BASE jumped from The Shard.


title: The Shard

text: On 3 September 2012, a team of 40 people, including Prince Andrew, Duke of York, abseiled from the tower's 87th floor. This feat was performed to raise money for the Outward Bound Trust and the Royal Marines Charitable Trust Fund. In November 2012, the French urban climber Alain Robert was spotted in the building by security guards. At the end of the month, the Shard's owners won an injunction to prevent him from entering or climbing the building.


title: The Shard

text: On 11 July 2013, six female Greenpeace volunteers climbed the Shard and unfurled a flag in protest against Arctic oil drilling by Royal Dutch Shell. The women announced they were "experienced climbers", but medical personnel were summoned to the base of the tower nonetheless. The Shard's staff closed the tower's observatory and gave the women a safety briefing and other advice during their climb. After completing their 16-hour climb, the six women were arrested by police on suspicion of aggravated trespass.


title: Fall of Saigon

text: The Fall of Saigon, also known as the Liberation of Saigon by North Vietnamese or Liberation of the South by the Vietnamese government, and known as Black April by anti-communist overseas Vietnamese was the capture of Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam, by the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) and the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam (Viet Cong) on 30 April 1975. The event marked the end of the Vietnam War and the start of a transition period from the formal reunification of Vietnam into the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.


title: Fall of Saigon

text: The PAVN, under the command of General Văn Tiến Dũng, began their final attack on Saigon on 29 April 1975, with the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) forces commanded by General Nguyễn Văn Toàn suffering a heavy artillery bombardment. By the afternoon of the next day, the PAVN and the Viet Cong had occupied the important points of the city and raised their flag over the South Vietnamese presidential palace.


title: Fall of Saigon

text: The capture of the city was preceded by Operation Frequent Wind, the evacuation of almost all American civilian and military personnel in Saigon, along with tens of thousands of South Vietnamese civilians who had been associated with the Republic of Vietnam regime. A few Americans chose not to be evacuated. United States ground combat units had left South Vietnam more than two years prior to the fall of Saigon and were not available to assist with either the defense of Saigon or the evacuation. The evacuation was the largest helicopter evacuation in history. In addition to the flight of refugees, the end of the war and the institution of new rules by the communist government contributed to a decline in the city's population until 1979, after which the population increased again.


title: Fall of Saigon

text: On 3 July 1976, the National Assembly of the unified Vietnam renamed Saigon in honor of Hồ Chí Minh, the late Chairman of the Workers' Party of Vietnam and founder of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam).


title: Fall of Saigon

text: Various names have been applied to these events. The Vietnamese government officially calls it the "Day of liberating the South for national reunification" () or "Liberation Day" (), but the term "Fall of Saigon" is commonly used in Western accounts. It is called the "" (Day we Lost the Country), "" (Black April), "National Day of Shame" () or "National Day of Resentment" () by many Overseas Vietnamese who were refugees from communism.


title: Fall of Saigon

text: In Vietnamese, it is also known by the neutral name "April 30, 1975 incident" () or simply "April 30" ().


title: Fall of Saigon

text: The rapidity with which the South Vietnamese position collapsed in 1975 was surprising to most American and South Vietnamese observers, and probably to the North Vietnamese and their allies as well. For instance, a memo prepared by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and U.S. Army Intelligence, published on 5 March, indicated that South Vietnam could hold out through the current dry season—i.e., at least until 1976. These predictions proved to be grievously in error. Even as that memo was being released, General Dũng was preparing a major offensive in the Central Highlands of Vietnam, which began on 10 March and led to the capture of Buôn Ma Thuột. The ARVN began a disorderly and costly retreat, hoping to redeploy its forces and hold the southern part of South Vietnam, south of the 13th parallel.


title: Fall of Saigon

text: Supported by artillery and armor, the PAVN continued to march towards Saigon, capturing the major cities of northern South Vietnam at the end of March—Huế on the 25th and Đà Nẵng on the 28th. Along the way, disorderly South Vietnamese retreats and the flight of refugees—there were more than 300,000 in Đà Nẵng—damaged South Vietnamese prospects for a turnaround. After the loss of Đà Nẵng, those prospects had already been dismissed as nonexistent by American CIA officers in Vietnam, who believed that nothing short of B-52 strikes against Hanoi could possibly stop the North Vietnamese.


title: Fall of Saigon

text: By 8 April, the North Vietnamese Politburo, which in March had recommended caution to Dũng, cabled him to demand "unremitting vigor in the attack all the way to the heart of Saigon." On 14 April, they renamed the campaign the "Hồ Chí Minh campaign", after revolutionary leader Hồ Chí Minh, in hopes of wrapping it up before his birthday on 19 May. Meanwhile, South Vietnam failed to garner any significant increase in military aid from the United States, snuffing out President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu's hopes for renewed American support.


title: Fall of Saigon

text: On 9 April, PAVN forces reached Xuân Lộc, the last line of defense before Saigon, where the ARVN 18th Division made a last stand and held the city through fierce fighting for 11 days. The ARVN finally withdrew from Xuân Lộc on 20 April having inflicted heavy losses on the PAVN, and President Thiệu resigned on 21 April in a tearful televised announcement in which he denounced the United States for failing to come to the aid of the South. The North Vietnamese front line was now just from downtown Saigon. The victory at Xuân Lộc, which had drawn many South Vietnamese troops away from the Mekong Delta area, opened the way for PAVN to encircle Saigon, and they soon did so, moving 100,000 troops in position around the city by 27 April. With the ARVN having few defenders, the fate of the city was effectively sealed.


title: Fall of Saigon

text: The ARVN III Corps commander, General Toàn, had organized five centers of resistance to defend the city. These fronts were so connected as to form an arc enveloping the entire area west, north, and east of the capital. The Cu Chi front, to the northwest, was defended by the 25th Division; the Binh Duong front, to the north, was the responsibility of the 5th Division; the Bien Hoa front, to the northeast, was defended by the 18th Division; the Vung Tau and 15 Route front, to the southeast, were held by the 1st Airborne Brigade and one battalion of the 3rd Division; and the Long An front, for which the Capital Military District Command was responsible, was defended by elements of the re-formed 22nd Division. South Vietnamese defensive forces around Saigon totalled approximately 60,000 troops. However, as the exodus made it into Saigon, along with them were many ARVN soldiers, which swelled the "men under arms" in the city to over 250,000. These units were mostly battered and leaderless, which threw the city into further anarchy.


title: Fall of Saigon

text: The rapid PAVN advances of March and early April led to increased concern in Saigon that the city, which had been fairly peaceful throughout the war and whose people had endured relatively little suffering, was soon to come under direct attack. Many feared that once the communists took control of the city, a bloodbath of reprisals would take place. In 1968, PAVN and VC forces had occupied Huế for close to a month. After the communists were repelled, American and ARVN forces had found mass graves. A study indicated that the VC had targeted ARVN officers, Roman Catholics, intellectuals, businessmen, and other suspected counterrevolutionaries. More recently, eight Americans captured in Buôn Ma Thuột had vanished and reports of beheadings and other executions were filtering through from Huế and Đà Nẵng, mostly spurred on by government propaganda. Most Americans and citizens of other countries allied to the United States wanted to evacuate the city before it fell, and many South Vietnamese, especially those associated with the United States or South Vietnamese government, wanted to leave as well.


title: Fall of Saigon

text: As early as the end of March, some Americans were leaving the city. Flights out of Saigon, lightly booked under ordinary circumstances, were full. Throughout April the speed of the evacuation increased, as the Defense Attaché Office (DAO) began to fly out nonessential personnel. Many Americans attached to the DAO refused to leave without their Vietnamese friends and dependents, who included common-law wives and children. It was illegal for the DAO to move these people to American soil, and this initially slowed down the rate of departure, but eventually the DAO began illegally flying undocumented Vietnamese to Clark Air Base in the Philippines.


title: Fall of Saigon

text: On 3 April, President Gerald Ford announced "Operation Babylift", which would evacuate about 2,000 orphans from the country. One of the Lockheed C-5 Galaxy planes involved in the operation crashed, killing 155 passengers and crew and seriously reducing the morale of the American staff. In addition to the over 2,500 orphans evacuated by Babylift, Operation New Life resulted in the evacuation of over 110,000 Vietnamese refugees. The final evacuation was Operation Frequent Wind which resulted in 7,000 people being evacuated from Saigon by helicopter.


title: Fall of Saigon

text: By this time the Ford administration had also begun planning a complete evacuation of the American presence. The planning was complicated by practical, legal, and strategic concerns. The administration was divided on how swift the evacuations should be. The Pentagon sought to evacuate as fast as possible, to avoid the risk of casualties or other accidents. The U.S. Ambassador to South Vietnam, Graham Martin, was technically the field commander for any evacuation since evacuations are part of the purview of the State Department. Martin drew the ire of many in the Pentagon by wishing to keep the evacuation process as quiet and orderly as possible. His desire for this was to prevent total chaos and to deflect the real possibility of South Vietnamese turning against Americans and to keep all-out bloodshed from occurring.


title: Fall of Saigon

text: Ford approved a plan between the extremes in which all but 1,250 Americans—few enough to be removed in a single day's helicopter airlift—would be evacuated quickly; the remaining 1,250 would leave only when the airport was threatened. In between, as many Vietnamese refugees as possible would be flown out.


title: Fall of Saigon

text: American evacuation planning was set against other administration policies. Ford still hoped to gain additional military aid for South Vietnam. Throughout April, he attempted to get Congress behind a proposed appropriation of $722 million, which might allow for the reconstitution of some of the South Vietnamese forces that had been destroyed. National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger was opposed to a full-scale evacuation as long as the aid option remained on the table because the removal of American forces would signal a loss of faith in Thiệu and severely weaken him.


title: Fall of Saigon

text: There was also a concern in the administration over whether the use of military forces to support and carry out the evacuation was permitted under the newly passed War Powers Act. Eventually White House lawyers determined that the use of American forces to rescue citizens in an emergency was unlikely to run afoul of the law, but the legality of using military assets to withdraw refugees was unknown.


title: Fall of Saigon

text: While American citizens were generally assured of a simple way to leave the country just by showing up to an evacuation point, South Vietnamese who wanted to leave Saigon before it fell often resorted to independent arrangements. The under-the-table payments required to gain a passport and exit visa jumped sixfold, and the price of seagoing vessels tripled. Those who owned property in the city were often forced to sell it at a substantial loss or abandon it altogether; the asking price of one particularly impressive house was cut 75 percent within a two-week period. American visas were of enormous value, and Vietnamese seeking American sponsors posted advertisements in newspapers. One such ad read: "Seeking adoptive parents. Poor diligent students" followed by names, birthdates, and identity card numbers. A disproportionate fraction of Vietnamese in the 1975 wave of emigration who later achieved refugee status in the United States were former members of the South Vietnamese government and military. Though most expected to find political and personal freedom in the United States on account of their anti-Communist bonafides, many were placed in U.S. military detention centers for weeks to months.


title: Fall of Saigon

text: As the North Vietnamese chipped away more and more at South Vietnam, internal opposition to President Thiệu continued to accumulate. For instance, in early April, the Senate unanimously voted through a call for new leadership, and some top military commanders were pressing for a coup. In response to this pressure, Thiệu made some changes to his cabinet, and Prime Minister Trần Thiện Khiêm resigned. This did little to reduce the opposition to Thiệu. On 8 April, a South Vietnamese pilot and communist, Nguyễn Thành Trung, bombed the Independence Palace and then flew to a PAVN-controlled airstrip; Thiệu was not hurt.


title: Fall of Saigon

text: Many in the American mission—Martin in particular—along with some key figures in Washington, believed that negotiations with the communists were still possible, especially if Saigon could stabilize the military situation. Ambassador Martin's hope was that North Vietnam's leaders would be willing to allow a "phased withdrawal" whereby a gradual departure might be achieved in order to allow helpful locals and all Americans to leave (along with full military withdrawal) over a period of months.


title: Fall of Saigon

text: Opinions were divided on whether any government headed by Thiệu could effect such a political solution. The foreign minister of the Provisional Revolutionary Government (PRG) had indicated, on 2 April, that the PRG might negotiate with a Saigon government that did not include Thiệu. Thus, even among Thiệu's supporters, pressure was growing for his ouster.


title: Fall of Saigon

text: President Thiệu resigned on 21 April. His remarks were particularly hard on the Americans, first for forcing South Vietnam to accede to the Paris Peace Accords, second for failing to support South Vietnam afterwards, and all the while asking South Vietnam "to do an impossible thing, like filling up the oceans with stones." The presidency was turned over to Vice President Trần Văn Hương. The view of the North Vietnamese government, broadcast by Radio Hanoi, was that the new regime was merely "another puppet regime."


title: Fall of Saigon

text: With his overtures to the North rebuffed out of hand, Tran resigned on 28 April and was succeeded by General Duong Van Minh. Minh took over a regime that was by this time in a state of utter collapse. He had longstanding ties with the Communists, and it was hoped he could negotiate a ceasefire; however, Hanoi was in no mood to negotiate. On 28 April, PAVN forces fought their way into the outskirts of the city. At the Newport Bridge (), about five kilometres (three miles) from the city centre, the VC seized the Thảo Điền area at the eastern end of the bridge and attempted to seize the bridge but were repulsed by the ARVN 12th Airborne Battalion. As Bien Hoa was falling, General Toan fled to Saigon, informing the government that most of the top ARVN leadership had virtually resigned themselves to defeat.


title: Fall of Saigon

text: At 18:06 on 28 April, as President Minh finished his acceptance speech three A-37 Dragonflies piloted by former Republic of Vietnam Air Force (RVNAF) pilots, who had defected to the Vietnamese People's Air Force at the fall of Da Nang, dropped six Mk81 250 lb bombs on Tan Son Nhut Air Base damaging aircraft. RVNAF F-5s took off in pursuit, but they were unable to intercept the A-37s. C-130s leaving Tan Son Nhut reported receiving PAVN .51 cal and 37 mm anti-aircraft (AAA) fire while sporadic PAVN rocket and artillery attacks also started to hit the airport and air base. C-130 flights were stopped temporarily after the air attack but resumed at 20:00 on 28 April.


title: Fall of Saigon

text: At 03:58 on 29 April, C-130E, #72-1297, flown by a crew from the 776th Tactical Airlift Squadron, was destroyed by a 122 mm rocket while taxiing to pick up refugees after offloading a BLU-82 at the base. The crew evacuated the burning aircraft on the taxiway and departed the airfield on another C-130 that had previously landed. This was the last USAF fixed-wing aircraft to leave Tan Son Nhat.


title: Fall of Saigon

text: At dawn on 29 April the RVNAF began to haphazardly depart Tan Son Nhut Air Base as A-37s, F-5s, C-7s, C-119s and C-130s departed for Thailand while UH-1s took off in search of the ships of Task Force 76. Some RVNAF aircraft stayed to continue to fight the advancing PAVN. One AC-119 gunship had spent the night of 28/29 April dropping flares and firing on the approaching PAVN. At dawn on 29 April, two A-1 Skyraiders began patrolling the perimeter of Tan Son Nhut at until one was shot down, presumably by an SA-7 missile. At 07:00 the AC-119 was firing on PAVN to the east of Tan Son Nhut when it too was hit by an SA-7 and fell in flames to the ground.


title: Fall of Saigon

text: At 06:00 on 29 April, General Dũng was ordered by the Politburo to "strike with the greatest determination straight into the enemy's final lair." After one day of bombardment and general offensive, the PAVN were ready to make their final push into the city.


title: Fall of Saigon

text: At 08:00 on 29 April Lieutenant General Trần Văn Minh, commander of the RVNAF and 30 of his staff arrived at the DAO Compound demanding evacuation, signifying the complete loss of RVNAF command and control.


title: Fall of Saigon

text: The continuing rocket fire and debris on the runways at Tan Son Nhut caused General Homer D. Smith, the U.S. defense attaché in Saigon, to advise Ambassador Martin that the runways were unfit for use and that the emergency evacuation of Saigon would need to be completed by helicopter. Originally, Ambassador Martin had intended to effect the evacuation by use of fixed-wing aircraft from the base. This plan was altered at a critical time when a South Vietnamese pilot decided to defect, and jettisoned his ordnance along the only runways still in use (which had not yet been destroyed by shelling).


title: Fall of Saigon

text: Under pressure from Kissinger, Martin forced Marine guards to take him to Tan Son Nhat in the midst of continued shelling, so he might personally assess the situation. After seeing that fixed-wing departures were not an option (a decision Martin did not want to make without firsthand knowledge of the situation on the ground, in case the helicopter lift failed), Martin gave the green light for the helicopter evacuation to begin in earnest.


title: Fall of Saigon

text: Reports came in from the outskirts of the city that the PAVN were closing in. At 10:48, Martin relayed to Kissinger his desire to activate Operation Frequent Wind, the helicopter evacuation of U.S. personnel and at-risk Vietnamese. At 10:51 on 29 April, the order was given by CINCPAC to commence Operation Frequent Wind. The American radio station began regular play of Irving Berlin's "White Christmas", the signal for American personnel to move immediately to the evacuation points.


title: Fall of Saigon

text: Under this plan, CH-53 and CH-46 helicopters were used to evacuate Americans and friendly Vietnamese to ships, including the Seventh Fleet, in the South China Sea. The main evacuation point was the DAO Compound at Tan Son Nhat; buses moved through the city picking up passengers and driving them out to the airport, with the first buses arriving at Tan Son Nhat shortly after noon. The first CH-53 landed at the DAO compound in the afternoon, and by the evening, 395 Americans and more than 4,000 Vietnamese had been evacuated. By 23:00 the U.S. Marines who were providing security were withdrawing and arranging the demolition of the DAO office, American equipment, files, and cash. Air America UH-1s also participated in the evacuation.


title: Fall of Saigon

text: The original evacuation plans had not called for a large-scale helicopter operation at the United States Embassy, Saigon. Helicopters and buses were to shuttle people from the embassy to the DAO Compound. However, in the course of the evacuation it turned out that a few thousand people were stranded at the embassy, including many Vietnamese. Additional Vietnamese civilians gathered outside the embassy and scaled the walls, hoping to claim refugee status. Thunderstorms increased the difficulty of helicopter operations. Nevertheless, the evacuation from the embassy continued more or less unbroken throughout the evening and night.


title: Fall of Saigon

text: At 03:45 on the morning of 30 April, Kissinger and Ford ordered Martin to evacuate only Americans from that point forward. Reluctantly, Martin announced that only Americans were to be flown out, due to worries that the North Vietnamese would soon take the city and the Ford administration's desire to announce the completion of the American evacuation. Ambassador Martin was ordered by President Ford to board the evacuation helicopter. The call sign of that helicopter was "Lady Ace 09", and the pilot carried direct orders from President Ford for Ambassador Martin to be on board. The pilot, Gerry Berry, had the orders written in grease-pencil on his kneepads. Ambassador Martin's wife, Dorothy, had already been evacuated by previous flights, and left behind her suitcase so a South Vietnamese woman might be able to squeeze on board with her.


title: Fall of Saigon

text: "Lady Ace 09" from HMM-165 and piloted by Berry, took off at 04:58—had Martin refused to leave, the Marines had a reserve order to arrest him and carry him away to ensure his safety. The embassy evacuation had flown out 978 Americans and about 1,100 Vietnamese. The Marines who had been securing the embassy followed at dawn, with the last aircraft leaving at 07:53. 420 Vietnamese and South Koreans were left behind in the embassy compound, with an additional crowd gathered outside the walls.


title: Fall of Saigon

text: The Americans and the refugees they flew out were generally allowed to leave without intervention from either the North or South Vietnamese. Pilots of helicopters heading to Tan Son Nhat were aware that PAVN anti-aircraft guns were tracking them, but they refrained from firing. The Hanoi leadership, reckoning that completion of the evacuation would lessen the risk of American intervention, had instructed Dũng not to target the airlift itself. Meanwhile, members of the police in Saigon had been promised evacuation in exchange for protecting the American evacuation buses and control of the crowds in the city during the evacuation.


title: Fall of Saigon

text: Although this was the end of the American military operation, Vietnamese continued to leave the country by boat and, where possible, by aircraft. RVNAF pilots who had access to helicopters flew them offshore to the American fleet, where they were able to land. Many RVNAF helicopters were dumped into the ocean to make room on the decks for more aircraft. RVNAF fighters and other planes also sought refuge in Thailand while two O-1s landed on .


title: Fall of Saigon

text: Ambassador Martin was flown out to the , where he pleaded for helicopters to return to the embassy compound to pick up the few hundred remaining hopefuls waiting to be evacuated.


title: Fall of Saigon

text: Many Vietnamese nationals who were evacuated were allowed to enter the United States under the Indochina Migration and Refugee Assistance Act.


title: Fall of Saigon

text: Decades later, when the U.S. government reestablished diplomatic relations with Vietnam, the former embassy building was returned to the United States. The historic staircase that led to the rooftop helicopter pad in the nearby apartment building used by the CIA and other U.S. government employees was salvaged and is on permanent display at the Gerald R. Ford Museum in Grand Rapids, Michigan.


title: Fall of Saigon

text: In the early hours of 30 April, Dũng received orders from the Politburo to attack. He then ordered his field commanders to advance directly to key facilities and strategic points in the city. The first PAVN unit to enter the city was the 324th Division. By now, the government had not made any sort of appeals to the people for donations of blood, food, etc.


title: Fall of Saigon

text: On the morning of 30 April, PAVN sappers attempted to seize the Newport Bridge but were repulsed by the ARVN Airborne. At 09:00 the PAVN tank column approached the bridge and came under fire from ARVN tanks which destroyed the lead T-54, killing the PAVN Battalion commander.


title: Fall of Saigon

text: The ARVN 3rd Task Force, 81st Ranger Group commanded by Major Pham Chau Tai defended Tan Son Nhut and they were joined by the remnants of the Loi Ho unit. At 07:15 on 30 April, the PAVN 24th Regiment approached the Bay Hien intersection () 1.5 km from the main gate of Tan Son Nhat Air Base. The lead T-54 was hit by M67 recoilless rifle and then the next T-54 was hit by a shell from an M48 tank. The PAVN infantry moved forward and engaged the ARVN in house to house fighting forcing them to withdraw to the base by 08:45. The PAVN then sent three tanks and an infantry battalion to assault the main gate and they were met by intensive anti-tank and machine gun fire knocking out the three tanks and killing at least twenty PAVN soldiers. The PAVN tried to bring forward an 85mm antiaircraft gun but the ARVN knocked it out before it could start firing. The PAVN 10th Division ordered eight more tanks and another infantry battalion to join the attack, but as they approached the Bay Hien intersection they were hit by an airstrike from RVNAF jets operating from Binh Thuy Air Base which destroyed two T-54s. The six surviving tanks arrived at the main gate at 10:00 and began their attack, with two being knocked out by antitank fire in front of the gate and another destroyed as it attempted a flanking manoeuvre.


title: Fall of Saigon

text: At 10:24, Minh announced an unconditional surrender. He ordered all ARVN troops "to cease hostilities in calm and to stay where they are", while inviting the Provisional Revolutionary Government to engage in "a ceremony of orderly transfer of power so as to avoid any unnecessary bloodshed in the population."


title: Fall of Saigon

text: At approximately 10:30 Major Pham at Tan Son Nhut Air Base heard of the surrender broadcast of President Minh and went to the ARVN Joint General Staff Compound to seek instructions. He called General Minh who told him to prepare to surrender. Pham reportedly told Minh, "If Viet Cong tanks are entering Independence Palace we will come down there to rescue you, sir." Minh refused Pham's suggestion and Pham then told his men to withdraw from the base gates. At 11:30 the PAVN entered the base.


title: Fall of Saigon

text: At Newport Bridge the ARVN and PAVN continued to exchange tank and artillery fire until the ARVN commander received President Minh's capitulation order over the radio. While the bridge was rigged with approximately 4000lbs of demolition charges, the ARVN stood down and at 10:30 the PAVN column crossed the bridge.


title: Fall of Saigon

text: PAVN 203rd Tank Brigade (from 2nd Corps of Major general Nguyễn Hữu An) under the command of Commander Nguyễn Tất Tài and Political Commissar Bùi Văn Tùng was the first unit to burst through the gates of the Independence Palace around noon. Tank 843 (a Soviet T-54 tank) was the first to directly hit and struck the side gate of the Palace. This historic moment was recorded by the Australian cameraman Neil Davis. Tank 390 (a Chinese T-59 tank) then crashed through the main gate in the middle to enter the front yard. For many years, the official record of Vietnamese government and international historical sources maintained that Tank 843 was the first one to enter the Presidential Palace. However, in 1995, French war photographer Françoise Demulder published her photo showed that Tank 360 entered the main gate while Tank 843 was still behind the steel columns of the smaller gate on the right hand side (view from inside) and Tank 843's commander Bui Quang Than was running with the NLF flag on his hand. Both tanks were declared national treasures in 2012 and each was displayed in a different museum in Hanoi. Lieutenant Bui Quang Than was the man pulled down the Republic of Vietnam's flag on top of the Palace and raised the Viet Cong flag at 11:30 AM on 30 April 1975.


title: Fall of Saigon

text: The Tank Brigade 203 soldiers entered the Palace and found Minh and all members of his cabinet sitting and waiting for them. The political commissar Lieutenant colonel Bui Van Tung arrived at the Palace 10 minutes after the first tanks. Minh realised this was the highest ranking officer around then said: "We are waiting to hand over the cabinet", Tung replied immediately: "You have nothing to hand over but your unconditional surrender to us". Tung then wrote the surrender speech and escorted Minh to the Radio Saigon to announce it in order to avoid any further needless bloodshed. The surrender announcement was recorded by German journalist Börries Gallasch's tape recorder.


title: Fall of Saigon

text: Colonel Bùi Tín, a military journalist was at the Palace around noon to witnessed the events. In his memoir, he confirmed that Lt.-Col Bui Van Tung was the one accepted the surrender and wrote the statement for Minh. However, in an interview with WGBH Educational Foundation in 1981, he falsely claimed that he was the first high officer met Minh and accepted the surrender (with Tung's words). This claim was repeated after his defection from Vietnam and sometimes cited mistakenly by foreign correspondents and historians.


title: Fall of Saigon

text: Lieutenant colonel Bui Van Tung announced on the radio, "We, the representatives for the forces of the Liberation Army of South Vietnam, solemnly declare that the City of Saigon was completely liberated. We accepted the unconditional surrender of General Dương Văn Minh, the president of the Saigon administration". The Vietnam War was over.


title: Fall of Saigon

text: The communists renamed the city after Ho Chi Minh, former President of North Vietnam, although the name "Saigon" continued to be used by many residents and others. Order was slowly restored, although the by-then-deserted U.S. Embassy was looted, along with many other businesses. Communications between the outside world and Saigon were cut. The Viet Cong machinery in South Vietnam was weakened, owing in part to the Phoenix Program, so the PAVN was responsible for maintaining order and General Trần Văn Trà, Dũng's administrative deputy, was placed in charge of the city. The new authorities held a victory rally on 7 May.


title: Fall of Saigon

text: One objective of the Communist Party of Vietnam was to reduce the population of Saigon, which had become swollen with an influx of people during the war and was now overcrowded with high unemployment. "Re-education classes" for former soldiers in the ARVN indicated that in order to regain full standing in society they would need to move from the city and take up farming. Handouts of rice to the poor, while forthcoming, were tied to pledges to leave Saigon for the countryside. According to the Vietnamese government, within two years of the capture of the city one million people had left Saigon, and the state had a target of 500,000 further departures.


title: Fall of Saigon

text: Following the end of the war, according to official and non-official estimates, between 200,000 and 300,000 South Vietnamese were sent to re-education camps, where many endured torture, starvation, and disease while they were being forced to do hard labor.


title: Fall of Saigon

text: Whether the evacuation had been successful or not has been questioned following the end of the war. Operation Frequent Wind was generally assessed as an impressive achievement—Văn Tiến Dũng stated this in his memoirs and "The New York Times" described it as being carried out with "efficiency and bravery". On the other hand, the airlift was also criticized for being too slow and hesitant, and it was inadequate in removing Vietnamese civilians and soldiers who were connected with the American presence.


title: Fall of Saigon

text: The U.S. State Department estimated that the Vietnamese employees of the U.S. Embassy in South Vietnam, past and present, and their families totaled 90,000 people. In his testimony to Congress, Ambassador Martin asserted that 22,294 such people were evacuated by the end of April. In 1977, "National Review" alleged that some 30,000 South Vietnamese had been systematically killed using a list of CIA informants left behind by the U.S. embassy.


title: Fall of Saigon

text: An iconic photograph of evacuees entering a CIA Air America helicopter on the roof of the apartment building at 22 Gia Long Street is frequently mischaracterized as showing an evacuation from the "U.S. Embassy" via a "military" helicopter.


title: Fall of Saigon

text: 30 April is celebrated as a public holiday in Vietnam as Reunification Day (though the official reunification of the nation actually occurred on 2 July 1976) or "Liberation Day" (Ngày Giải Phóng). Along with International Workers' Day on 1 May, most people take the day off work and there are public celebrations.


title: Fall of Saigon

text: Among overseas Vietnamese the week of 30 April is referred to as "Black April" and it is also commemorated as a time of lamentation for the fall of Saigon and the fall of South Vietnam as a whole.


title: Monroe Doctrine

text: The Monroe Doctrine was a United States foreign policy position that opposed European colonialism in the Western Hemisphere. It held that any intervention in the political affairs of the Americas by foreign powers was a potentially hostile act against the United States. The doctrine was central to American foreign policy for much of the 19th and early 20th centuries.


title: Monroe Doctrine

text: President James Monroe first articulated the doctrine on December 2, 1823, during his seventh annual State of the Union Address to Congress (though it would not be named after him until 1850). At the time, nearly all Spanish colonies in the Americas had either achieved or were close to independence. Monroe asserted that the New World and the Old World were to remain distinctly separate spheres of influence, and thus further efforts by European powers to control or influence sovereign states in the region would be viewed as a threat to U.S. security. In turn, the United States would recognize and not interfere with existing European colonies nor meddle in the internal affairs of European countries.


title: Monroe Doctrine

text: By the end of the 19th century, Monroe's declaration was seen as a defining moment in the foreign policy of the United States and one of its longest-standing tenets. The intent and effect of the doctrine persisted for over a century, with only small variations, and would be invoked by many American statesmen and several American presidents, including Ulysses S. Grant, Theodore Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, and Ronald Reagan.


title: Monroe Doctrine

text: After 1898, the Monroe Doctrine was reinterpreted by Latin American lawyers and intellectuals as promoting multilateralism and non-intervention. In 1933, under President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the United States affirmed this new interpretation, namely through co-founding the Organization of American States. Into the 21st century, the doctrine continues to be variably denounced, reinstated, or reinterpreted.


title: Monroe Doctrine

text: Despite the United States' beginnings as an isolationist country, the foundation of the Monroe Doctrine was already being laid even during George Washington's presidency. According to S.E. Morison, "as early as 1783, then, the United States adopted the policy of isolation and announced its intention to keep out of Europe. The supplementary principle of the Monroe Doctrine, that Europe must keep out of America, was still over the horizon".


title: Monroe Doctrine

text: While not specifically the Monroe Doctrine, but this was extended to the Latin American colonies by the Monroe Doctrine. But Hamilton, writing in the "Federalist Papers", was already wanting to establish the United States as a world power and hoped that it would suddenly become strong enough to keep the European powers outside of the Americas, despite the fact that the European countries controlled much more of the Americas than the U.S. herself. Hamilton expected that the United States would become the dominant power in the New World and would, in the future, act as an intermediary between the European powers and any new countries blossoming near the U.S.


title: Monroe Doctrine

text: A note from James Madison (Thomas Jefferson's Secretary of State and a future president) to the U.S. ambassador to Spain, expressed the American federal government’s opposition to further territorial acquisition by European powers. Madison's sentiment might have been meaningless because, as was noted before, the European powers held much more territory in comparison to the territory held by the U.S. Although Thomas Jefferson was pro-French, in an attempt to keep the British–French rivalry out the U.S., the federal government under Jefferson made it clear to its ambassadors that the U.S. would not support any future colonization efforts on the North American continent.


title: Monroe Doctrine

text: The U.S. government feared the victorious European powers that emerged from the Congress of Vienna (1814–1815) would revive monarchical government. France had already agreed to restore the Spanish monarchy in exchange for Cuba. As the revolutionary Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) ended, Prussia, Austria, and Russia formed the Holy Alliance to defend monarchism. In particular, the Holy Alliance authorized military incursions to re-establish Bourbon rule over Spain and its colonies, which were establishing their independence.


title: Monroe Doctrine

text: Great Britain shared the general objective of the Monroe Doctrine, and even wanted to declare a joint statement to keep other European powers from further colonizing the New World. The British feared their trade with the New World would be harmed if the other European powers further colonized it. In fact, for many years after the doctrine took effect, Britain, through the Royal Navy, was the sole nation enforcing it, the U.S. lacking sufficient naval capability. The U.S. resisted a joint statement because of the recent memory of the War of 1812; however, the immediate provocation was the Russian Ukase of 1821 asserting rights to the Pacific Northwest and forbidding non-Russian ships from approaching the coast.


title: Monroe Doctrine

text: The full document of the Monroe Doctrine, written chiefly by future-President and then-Secretary of State John Quincy Adams, is long and couched in diplomatic language, but its essence is expressed in two key passages. The first is the introductory statement, which asserts that the New World is no longer subject to colonization by the European countries:


title: Monroe Doctrine

text: The second key passage, which contains a fuller statement of the Doctrine, is addressed to the "allied powers" of Europe; it clarifies that the U.S. remains neutral on existing European colonies in the Americas but is opposed to "interpositions" that would create new colonies among the newly independent Spanish American republics:


title: Monroe Doctrine

text: Because the U.S. lacked both a credible navy and army at the time, the doctrine was largely disregarded internationally. Prince Metternich of Austria was angered by the statement, and wrote privately that the doctrine was a "new act of revolt" by the U.S. that would grant "new strength to the apostles of sedition and reanimate the courage of every conspirator."


title: Monroe Doctrine

text: The doctrine, however, met with tacit British approval. They enforced it tactically as part of the wider Pax Britannica, which included enforcement of the neutrality of the seas. This was in line with the developing British policy of laissez-faire free trade against mercantilism. Fast-growing British industry sought markets for its manufactured goods, and, if the newly independent Latin American states became Spanish colonies again, British access to these markets would be cut off by Spanish mercantilist policy.