title: Don Imus

text: Imus was born in Riverside, California, to a wealthy family, the son of John Donald Imus Sr. and Frances E. Imus ("née" Moore) who ran a ranch named The Willows near Kingman, Arizona. He was said to have Welsh, English, and Polish roots. Imus claimed at one time to practice Judaism then later recanted, calling himself, "spiritual." He had a younger brother, Fred Imus (1942–2011). Imus disliked school, moving "from one hideous private school to another" and described himself as a "horrible adolescent". When he was 15, his parents divorced. His father died when Imus was 20.


title: Don Imus

text: In 1957, while living in Prescott, Arizona, Imus dropped out of high school and joined the United States Marine Corps at Base Camp Pendleton where he was stationed in an artillery unit before transferring to the Drum and Bugle Corps. He left the Marines with an honorable discharge, and secured work as a window dresser in San Bernardino, before he was fired for performing strip teases on the mannequins for passersby. Imus then moved to Hollywood with his brother in an attempt to find success as musicians and songwriters, but they struggled to get radio DJs to play their songs on the air. This left Imus homeless, resorting to sleeping in a laundry and hitchhiking back to Arizona. After dropping out of the University of the Pacific, Imus worked as a brakeman on the Southern Pacific Railroad and in a uranium mine in Arizona. He suffered a mining accident that broke both of his legs.


title: Don Imus

text: In 1966, Imus enrolled at the Don Martin School of Radio and Television Arts and Sciences, in Hollywood, after seeing a newspaper advertisement; he was thrown out for being "uncooperative", but studied enough to obtain a broadcasting license from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Upon winning a talent contest at Johnny Otis's night club, he worked as a singer-songwriter, with Otis serving as his manager. After hearing a morning radio DJ at KUTY, in Palmdale, California, Imus went to the station and successfully persuaded the owner to hire him. He signed on the air on June 2, 1968. While at KUTY, Imus debuted his on-air character Billy Sol Hargis, a radio evangelist inspired by and named for preacher Billy James Hargis and businessman Billie Sol Estes. Imus was an instant success at the station; in two months, he had become number one in ratings for his time slot, and earned a "Billboard" Award for Air Personality of the Year in a medium-sized market.


title: Don Imus

text: Imus then had a brief tenure at KJOY in Stockton, California, from which he was fired due to an incident that some sources attributed to his Eldridge Cleaver look-a-like contest in which the winner would be incarcerated for a year. Other sources suggest the firing was because of his saying "hell" and multiple raunchy jokes on-air. Imus moved to KXOA in Sacramento, California, whose management team—including general manager Jack G. Thayer and program director John Lund—both left for identical positions at Cleveland station WGAR and took Imus with them. Thayer and Lund were hired by WGAR to revamp the station's old-line middle of the road (MOR) format, and had Imus as the centerpiece for their new adult contemporary format that had been developed at KXOA. Imus's tenure at WGAR lasted for less than 15 months but immediately showed success. The October/November 1970 Arbitron ratings listed Imus at number one in the 18–49 demo, ahead of WKYC's Jim Runyon and WJW's Ed Fisher; WGAR as a whole topped both the 25–34 and 25–49 demos. Imus was honored by "Billboard" as the number one radio personality for 1971, an honor he shared with KMPC's Gary Owens.


title: Don Imus

text: "Imus in the Morning" was controversial and satirical, with Imus's existing characters and comedy skits garnering immediate attention. One of his earliest on-air jokes involved promoting the 1958 Bobby Darin single "Queen of the Hop" as "a WGAR exclusive" and talking over it in the mode of a Top 40 deejay. Imus also became infamous for his series of prank calls, even dialing Ohio Attorney General William J. Brown's publicly listed phone number and inviting him to "join the swinging world of show biz". He once contacted an Ohio Bell phone operator to ask if she was married and if "you mess around", prompting the phone company's lawyers to contact the station. His most infamous prank call was to a McDonald's restaurant claiming to be an Ohio National Guard official and ordered 4,000 hamburgers as lunch for the troops. While the phone call was entirely scripted by Imus and Lund (with Lund voicing the McDonald's worker) the segment influenced a later FCC ruling that required all radio DJs to identify themselves when they make phone calls on the air. Imus also devoted one show to help a Yugoslavian immigrant find a bride in order to prevent his deportation after it was discovered he entered the country illegally. Meanwhile, Imus, Jack Thayer, and WGAR were hit with a defamation lawsuit by television meteorologist Robert Zames after Imus repeatedly questioned Zames's sobriety and joked about it on-air.


title: Don Imus

text: On December 2, 1971, less than three years into his radio career, Imus started his morning show at WNBC in New York City, with a $100,000 per year salary which was said to have been double his WGAR salary. On his second day, he overslept and missed the show. Imus was involved in various projects during his time at WNBC. In March 1973, he began a stand-up comedy and stage act called "Imus in the Evening"; his first shows were held at The Bitter End in New York City. By the early 1980s, he was earning as much as $10,000 a performance. Imus retired his stand-up in December 1985. He released three albums containing radio segments and songs: "1200 Hamburgers to Go" (1972), "One Sacred Chicken to Go" (1973), and "This Honky's Nuts" (1974). The latter features material from his stand-up comedy at Jimmy's Club in Manhattan.


title: Don Imus

text: Imus started to drink heavily during this period, which soon affected his working life. He started to miss work and became increasingly unmanageable. He missed 100 days of work in 1973. In August 1977, WNBC decided to reformat the station and let go of their on-air staff. Imus described himself as "awful" and "a jerk" during this time, and struggled to find a suitable job in New York City that satisfied his salary demands. He returned to Cleveland and began an afternoon drive show on WHK in 1978. He found the experience humiliating, but took the job in order to earn money and "get my act together". During this time, Imus recorded episodes of "IMUS, plus...", a late-night talk show on WNEW-TV in New York.


title: Don Imus

text: On September 3, 1979, Imus returned to the air in mornings at WNBC from 5:30 am. By this time, Imus had started to use cocaine; he quit in 1983. He continued to drink, and his on- and off-air behavior became erratic; he turned up for work without shoes and slept on park benches with large amounts of money in his pocket. By 1981, Imus and Charles McCord secured a deal with Paramount Pictures that involved the development of three screenplays, including work on "Joy of Sex". In April 1981, Imus renewed his contract with WNBC with a five-year deal worth $500,000 a year with bonuses if he surpassed ratings targets. Following the addition of Howard Stern in afternoons in 1982, Imus and Stern began a longtime feud though both were paired on WNBC print and television advertisements.


title: Don Imus

text: In July 1981, Imus released his first book, "God's Other Son", a novel about the life of his on-air character Billy Sol Hargis that he wrote with McCord. It was republished in 1994 and spent seven weeks on "The New York Times" best seller list. By October 1981, Imus was the most popular radio DJ in the US, reaching 220,000 regular listeners and number one in 12 of 13 demographic categories. Other regular Imus characters included the supposed general manager "Geraldo Santana Banana" (played by doo-wop singer Larry Chance), and "Moby Worm", a monstrous creature who devoured local schools (which was reported on the show's "breaking news updates").


title: Don Imus

text: Imus was also the utility announcer for Geraldo Rivera's monthly TV series "Good Night America", which aired as a recurring segment of ABC's "Wide World of Entertainment" program (1973–1976), and he was one of the inaugural video jockeys (VJ) for the launch of VH-1, sister cable channel to MTV, in 1985.


title: Don Imus

text: On October 7, 1988, after WNBC was sold to Emmis Broadcasting, the station permanently signed off the air to have WFAN, an all-sports station, move to the station's signal. The entire station staff was let go except Imus and his radio show team, who stayed to become WFAN's morning show.


title: Don Imus

text: In 1989, Imus signed a five-year deal to continue his show on WFAN. In April 1989, Imus was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame. Later in 1989, Imus accepted an invitation to become an honorary assistant coach for a basketball game between the Fordham Rams and La Salle Explorers the following January.


title: Don Imus

text: The show began syndication in June 1993 when it was simulcast on WEEI in Boston, followed by four other stations around the country. They began simulcasting on MSNBC in 1996.


title: Don Imus

text: Imus was instrumental in raising over $60 million for the Center for the Intrepid, a Texas rehabilitation facility for soldiers wounded in the Iraq War. The largest technological center of its kind in the country, it is designed to treat disabled veterans and help them with their transition back into the community. Imus also took on the cause of the living conditions at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center, visiting wounded veterans at the hospital to boost morale. Imus's reporting preceded Army resignations, including that of Lieutenant General Kevin Kiley, then Army Surgeon General. Imus had earlier criticized Kiley's personal fitness for military duty and dedication to wounded soldiers.


title: Don Imus

text: The program was heard on WABC starting on December 3, 2007. In 2018, Cumulus Media informed Imus that the company was going to stop paying him because of the bankruptcy reorganization that Cumulus was undergoing. The show aired its final episode on March 29, 2018.


title: Don Imus

text: Imus characterized the Rutgers University women's basketball team, a team that included nine African-American players, including the five starters, as "rough girls" on April 4, 2007. It occurred during a discussion about the NCAA Women's Basketball Championship where he was commenting on the players' tattoos. His executive producer Bernard McGuirk responded by referring to them as "hardcore hos". The discussion continued with Imus describing the women as "nappy-headed hos" and McGuirk remarking that the two teams looked like the "jigaboos versus the wannabes" as mentioned in Spike Lee's film "School Daze", apparently referring to the two teams' differing appearances.


title: Don Imus

text: In the immediate aftermath of the remarks, public outrage was directed at Imus and WFAN. Howard Stern discussed how he had heard Imus make racist comments which were directed at a black female co-worker while the two were working at WNBC. Management was aware of the comments at the time but had done nothing. Stern's co-host Robin Quivers confirmed that assertion and added that she had once been the target of Imus's racist remarks herself. Imus dismissed the controversy at first, calling the incident "some idiot comment meant to be amusing". He also stated that "nappy-headed hos" is a term which rap artists use to refer to black women. He said: That phrase didn't originate in the White community. That phrase originated in the Black community. Young Black women all through that society are demeaned and disparaged and disrespected by their own Black men, and they are called that name in Black hip hop.


title: Don Imus

text: On April 9, Imus appeared on Al Sharpton's syndicated radio talk show "Keepin' It Real with Al Sharpton" to address the controversy. Sharpton called the comments "abominable", "racist", and "sexist", and repeated his earlier demand that Imus be fired. Imus said, "Our agenda is to be funny and sometimes we go too far. And this time we went way too far. Here's what I've learned: that you can't make fun of everybody, because some people don't deserve it."


title: Don Imus

text: Imus was suspended soon after. Media commentators were divided on the suspension. On MSNBC's "Scarborough Country" on April 10, Pat Buchanan said that Imus is "a good guy" who "made a bad mistake and apologized for it" and that the show should stay on the air. Comedian Bill Maher said that if a comedian apologizes for stepping over a line, that should suffice. MSNBC media analyst Steve Adubato disagreed, saying that this incident was "not isolated". Joe Klein made the same charge, referring to Imus's comment about "The New York Times" reporter Gwen Ifill 14 years before as evidence of a pattern of offensive comments. On "The View", Rosie O'Donnell spoke out in support of keeping Imus on the air on free speech grounds. Emil Steiner of "The Washington Post" argued that Sharpton used the issue to further divide America along racial lines.


title: Don Imus

text: The Rutgers basketball team held a news conference at which coach C. Vivian Stringer stated that the team would meet with Imus to discuss his comments. Several of the players expressed their outrage over his remarks. Team captain Essence Carson said that Imus's remarks had "stolen a moment of pure grace from us".


title: Don Imus

text: "Chicago Tribune" columnist Clarence Page had confronted Imus about his characterization of certain black athletes and got him to take a pledge to stop. After the Rutgers team incident, Page said that he would not appear on the show again and said of the original two-week suspension:


title: Don Imus

text: CBS Radio canceled "Imus in the Morning" the next day. CBS President and chief executive officer Leslie Moonves stated:


title: Don Imus

text: The day before, CBS chairman Sumner Redstone said that he trusted that Moonves would "do the right thing," but he didn't elaborate. Moonves had met with Sharpton and Jesse Jackson shortly before the announcement was made. Moonves said in an internal memo that employee concerns were a factor in the decision to cancel Imus's show, but he also said that the decision was "about a lot more than Imus." Moonves said that CBS had to take Imus off the air in order to change "a culture that permits a certain level of objectionable expression that hurts and demeans a wide range of people."


title: Don Imus

text: General Motors (Imus's biggest advertiser), Staples Inc., GlaxoSmithKline, Sprint Nextel, PetMeds, American Express, and Procter & Gamble either pulled their ads outright or suspended advertising on Imus's show to protest his remarks. Bigelow Tea Company expressed uncertainty about renewing their ads with Imus's show.


title: Don Imus

text: Just hours after the announcement of his firing, Imus met with Stringer and her team at Drumthwacket, the New Jersey governor's mansion. The three-hour meeting was arranged by Buster Soaries, the former New Jersey Secretary of State and Stringer's pastor. New Jersey governor Jon Corzine planned to attend the meeting but was injured in a car accident on the way. Imus left without commenting, but Stringer said that the meeting went well. She later commented that they had accepted Imus's apology because he came to the meeting "in spite of the fact that he lost his job. So let's give him credit for that." She also emphasized that the basketball team had not called for Imus to be fired.


title: Don Imus

text: Senator John Kerry criticized CBS for being too harsh. He said that a "long suspension" would be "appropriate to pay a price on the airwaves but I'm not sure that it was appropriate to say you're off forever."


title: Don Imus

text: Imus hired prominent attorney Martin Garbus by May 2, 2007, to pursue a wrongful termination lawsuit against CBS for the remaining $40 million on his five-year contract. The contract contained a clause indicating that CBS hired and supported Imus to produce "irreverent" and "controversial" programming. CBS announced a settlement with Imus on his $40 million contract on August 14. Rutgers basketball player Kia Vaughn filed a suit that same day against Imus, NBC Universal, CBS Corporation, MSNBC, CBS Radio, Viacom, Westwood One Radio, and Bernard McGuirk, citing slander, libel, and defamation of character. She was the only player to pursue legal damages. Vaughn dropped the lawsuit on September 11, 2007, citing her desire to concentrate on her studies and basketball training.


title: Don Imus

text: On July 8, 2007, the "Drudge Report" indicated that Imus would return to the air before the 2008 presidential election. The "New York Post" reported on July 16, 2007, that Imus was in search of a black comedian to join the show upon its return to help cushion racially insensitive comments that he might say on the air. The same paper reported on July 27, 2007, that CBS was close to a buyout of Imus's contract. The report also said that Imus's representatives had contacted Buckley Broadcasting, Citadel Broadcasting, and Clear Channel Communications. Imus reached a settlement with CBS Radio over his contract on August 14, leaving him free to pursue other media opportunities.


title: Don Imus

text: On November 1, Citadel announced that they had agreed to a multi-year syndication contract with Imus. The new "Imus in the Morning" program would be distributed nationally by Citadel Media and would be based at Citadel-owned WABC in New York City beginning in December. "The New York Times" reported on November 14 that Imus had agreed to terms with cable network RFD-TV to air a video simulcast of the new radio program. Charles McCord and Bernard McGuirk joined him in the new version of the show, and he returned to the airwaves on ABC Radio and RFD-TV on December 3. Sharpton said in an interview, "We'll monitor him; I'm not saying I'm going to throw a banquet for him and say welcome home. He has the right to make a living, but because he has such a consistent pattern with this we are going to monitor him to make sure he doesn't do it again." Jesse Jackson appeared on "Imus in the Morning" on April 4, 2008, to discuss the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., a booking that would have seemed impossible nearly a year before, when Jackson joined 50 demonstrators in Chicago demanding that "Imus must go", and many media commentators declared Imus's "rehabilitation" complete.


title: Don Imus

text: In September 2008, Imus signed a multi-year deal with Fox Business Network to simulcast his radio show "Imus in the Morning".


title: Don Imus

text: Controversy once again surrounded Imus when he made the following statements regarding the suspension of Cowboys' cornerback Adam Jones.


title: Don Imus

text: In response, Jones said, "I'm truly upset about the comments. Obviously Mr. Imus has problems with blacks. I'm upset, and I hope the station he works for handles it accordingly. I will pray for him." Imus said that his comments were misinterpreted. "I meant that he was being picked on because he's black." WABC vice president Phil Boyce said that it was unlikely that disciplinary action would be pursued against Imus, and none was.


title: Don Imus

text: For two weeks in fall 2006, Imus delivered ongoing "rants" against Texas Congressman Joe Barton, describing him as "a lying fat little skunk from Texas", a "pipsqueak" and a "coward and a crybaby". Imus also called Barton a "congressional dirtbag", because Barton used his position as a committee chair to prevent passage of the Combating Autism Act, which would authorize funds for autism research. In the weeks before Congress recessed on September 29, 2006, Barton used his chairmanship to prevent the legislative proposal from coming to a vote in the House, rousing the ire of Imus and his wife, staunch supporters of autism research. The bill already had been passed unanimously by the Senate, but Barton opposed the Senate bill's stipulation that Centers of Excellence in Environmental Health and Autism investigate "a broad array of environmental factors that may have a possible role in autism spectrum disorders."


title: Don Imus

text: Nichole Mallette sued Imus on November 29, 2004, for wrongful termination and defamation after a Thanksgiving 2003 incident in which she was allegedly fired from her position as nanny and escorted off his property at 4:15 am. Don and Deirdre Imus were allegedly upset over Mallette's possession of a cap-gun and pocket knife on ranch property.


title: Don Imus

text: One of the doctors who worked at the Imus Ranch, Dr. Howard Allen Pearson, sued Imus for slander and civil assault on July 8, 2005. Dr. Pearson accused Imus of threatening him during a July 13, 2004 confrontation at the ranch, after a disagreement over how to care for one of the children at the ranch. Imus subsequently referred to Pearson several times on the air as "an arrogant fucking doctor who doesn't mind letting a child suffer." Pearson was a world-famous pediatric cancer specialist who was the former chairman of the pediatrics department of the Yale Medical School as well as a co-founder (with Paul Newman) of another facility for ill children, the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp. In late 2005, Imus expressed his grievances about the case on the record to journalist Buzz Bissinger, for a "Vanity Fair" article which was published in the February 2006 issue.


title: Don Imus

text: Longtime sports commentator Warner Wolf was fired in 2016, after ten years on the show, and Wolf subsequently sued Imus and various other parties in New York for age discrimination. Wolf was in his late 70s at the time. The suit was dismissed in 2019 on a technicality: when he was fired, Wolf was a Florida resident who had been doing his segments from a home studio. The Manhattan Supreme Court ruled that the State of New York had no jurisdiction over this matter, and an appellate court agreed.


title: Don Imus

text: Don Imus was also a part owner of Autobody Express stores with his late brother, Fred (who was a frequent caller to the radio show, commenting on NASCAR races, the NFL and related pop culture matters). The Autobody Express stores were located in Santa Fe, and inside the Mohegan Sun Native American Casino in Uncasville, Connecticut. In 2003, the company failed and both stores closed.


title: Don Imus

text: Imus owned a small coffee and pastry store also located in the Mohegan Sun casino. The Autobody Express became Imus Ranch Foods, which offered its signature chips and salsa via online sales and in Northeastern stores, prior to the discontinuation of the Imus Ranch Foods line in 2014.


title: Don Imus

text: Imus won four Marconi Awards, three for Major Market Personality of the Year (1990, 1992 and 1997) and one for Network Syndicated Personality (1994).


title: Don Imus

text: Imus was married twice. Around 1969, he married his first wife Harriet Showalter, who had two daughters from a previous marriage, Nadine and Toni; Don Imus legally adopted Showalter's daughters. The couple had two daughters of their own, Ashley and Elizabeth. They divorced in 1979. Imus married Deirdre Coleman on December 17, 1994, and they stayed together until Imus's death in 2019. Their son Frederick Wyatt was born in 1998. Imus adopted his sixth child, Zach, in the 2010s.


title: Don Imus

text: At the time of his death, Imus resided in Brenham, Texas, at a ranch he acquired in 2013. He moved there full-time in 2015, after ending his Fox Business television simulcast in New York and from there started broadcasting his show solely on radio with the cast members broadcasting from the WABC radio studios. His former waterfront mansion in Westport, Connecticut, was sold that same year for $14.4 million.


title: Don Imus

text: According to journalist Robert D. McFadden, Imus was admired for his private charity work. He raised millions for the rehabilitation of wounded veterans of the Iraq war and for children with cancer and siblings of victims of sudden infant death syndrome, who had spent summers since 1999 on his ranch near Ribera, New Mexico.


title: Don Imus

text: In 1999, Imus and Deirdre founded the Imus Ranch, a working cattle ranch near Ribera, New Mexico, southeast of Santa Fe, for children with cancer. The ranch was used as a tax deduction by Imus, and eventually, due to the personal use of the ranch by the Imus family, saw its property tax exemption reduced to 55%. The ranch was also criticized for the relatively high ratio of cost to each child served, which was over $25,000. The summer program serving children ended in 2014, following a rib injury Imus suffered in a fall from a horse.


title: Don Imus

text: In the three years from 2014 onward, the ranch reported losses on its Form 990, totaling nearly $3 million. The board members of the non-profit were Imus, his wife Deirdre, and Imus's agents, Vincent and Robert Andrews.


title: Don Imus

text: In October 2014, the ranch was offered for sale with an asking price of $32 million. The ranch failed to sell after repeated efforts to do so, leading Imus to put the property up for auction in May 2017. The ranch was sold to broadcaster Patrick Gottsch in April 2018, for $12.5 million. A spokesperson for Imus stated that the non-profit organization had not been active since 2014.


title: Don Imus

text: During his early years broadcasting in New York City, Imus battled with alcoholism. In 1983, he was persuaded by Michael Lynne, then his lawyer, to attend Alcoholics Anonymous. Imus attended meetings and ceased to drink in public, but continued to in private. On July 17, 1987, after a nine-day vodka binge, he attended rehabilitation at a Hanley-Hazelden treatment center in West Palm Beach, Florida, for six weeks and remained sober. By 1991, Imus had adopted a vegetarian diet.


title: Don Imus

text: In 2000, Imus suffered serious injuries after a fall from a horse at his ranch and broadcast several shows from a hospital. The injuries resulted in chronic breathing problems, especially at higher altitudes, which he spoke about on his program.


title: Don Imus

text: In March 2009, Imus was diagnosed with stage 2 prostate cancer. He was advised to have radiation treatments, but said he chose to treat the disease holistically.


title: Don Imus

text: Imus was hospitalized at Baylor Scott & White Medical Center in College Station, Texas, on December 24, 2019. He died three days later, on December 27, at the age of 79, of complications from lung disease. In reporting his death, David Bauder of the Associated Press said, "the quote that might best serve as Imus's epitaph" was the shock jock's statement to "Vanity Fair" magazine in 2006: "I talk to millions of people every day. I just like it when they can't talk back."


title: Windows Me

text: Windows Millennium Edition, or Windows Me (marketed with the pronunciation of the pronoun "me"), is an operating system developed by Microsoft as part of its Windows 9x family of Microsoft Windows operating systems. It is the successor to Windows 98, and was released to manufacturing on June 19, 2000, and then to retail on September 14, 2000. It was Microsoft's main operating system for home users until the introduction of its successor Windows XP in October 2001.


title: Windows Me

text: Windows Me was targeted specifically at home PC users, and included Internet Explorer 5.5 (later default was Internet Explorer 6), Windows Media Player 7 (later default was Windows Media Player 9 Series) and the new Windows Movie Maker software, which provided basic video editing and was designed to be easy to use for consumers. Microsoft also incorporated features first introduced in Windows 2000, which had been released as a business-oriented operating system seven months earlier, into the graphical user interface, shell and Windows Explorer. Although Windows Me was still ultimately based around MS-DOS like its predecessors, access to real-mode DOS was restricted to decrease system boot time.


title: Windows Me

text: Windows Me was initially positively received when it was released, but it soon garnered a negative reception from many users due to stability problems. Windows Me is now infamously known by many as one of the worst operating systems Microsoft has ever produced, being unfavorably compared with its immediate predecessor, Windows 98, several years before. In October 2001, Windows XP was released to the public, having already been under development at the time of Windows Me's release, and popularized most of Windows Me's features, while being far more stable because of it being based on the Windows NT kernel. After the release of Windows XP in 2001, mainstream support for Windows Me ended on December 31, 2003, followed by extended support on July 11, 2006.


title: Windows Me

text: At the 1998 Windows Hardware Engineering Conference, Microsoft CEO Bill Gates stated that Windows 98 would be the last iteration of Windows to use the Windows 9x kernel, with the intention for the next consumer-focused version to be based on the Windows NT kernel, unifying the two branches of Windows. However, it soon became apparent that the development work involved was too great to meet the aim of releasing before the end of 2000, particularly given the ongoing parallel work on the eventually-canceled Neptune project. The Consumer Windows development team was therefore re-tasked with improving Windows 98 while porting some of the look-and-feel from Windows 2000. Microsoft President Steve Ballmer publicly announced these changes at the next Windows HEIC in 1999.


title: Windows Me

text: On July 23, 1999, the first alpha version of Windows Me was released to testers. Called Development Preview 1, it was very similar to Windows 98 SE, with a very early iteration of the new Help and Support feature as the only major change. Three more Development Previews were released over the subsequent two months.


title: Windows Me

text: The first beta version was released to testers and the industry press on September 24, 1999, with the second coming on November 24 that year. Beta 2 showed the first real changes from Windows 98, including importing much of the look-and-feel from Windows 2000, and the removal of real-mode DOS. Industry expert Paul Thurrott reviewed Beta 2 upon release and spoke positively of it in a review. By early 2000, Windows Me was reportedly behind schedule, and an interim build containing the new automatic update feature was released to allay concerns about a delayed-release.


title: Windows Me

text: In February 2000, Paul Thurrott revealed that Microsoft had planned to exclude Windows Me, as well as new releases of Windows NT 4.0, from CD shipments for MSDN subscribers. The reason given in the case of Me was that the OS was designed for consumers. However, Thurrott alleged that the real motivation behind both case to force software developers to move to Windows 2000. Three days later, following a write-in and call-in campaign by hundreds of readers, Microsoft announced that Windows Me (including development versions) would ship to MSDN subscribers after all. Microsoft also apologized personally to Thurrott, claiming he received misinformation, though in a follow-up article he stated that it was "clear that the decision [...] actually changed".


title: Windows Me

text: Beta 3 was released on April 11, 2000, and this version marked the first appearance of its final startup and shutdown sounds derived from Windows 2000, as the previous betas used Windows 98's startup and shutdown sounds.


title: Windows Me

text: Although Microsoft signed off on the final build of Windows Me on June 28, 2000, after trialing three Release Candidate builds with testers, the final retail release was pushed back to September 14 for reasons that were not clear.


title: Windows Me

text: Shortly after Windows Me was released to manufacturing on June 19, 2000, Microsoft launched a marketing campaign to promote it in the U.S., which they dubbed the "Meet Me Tour". A national partnered promotional program featured the new OS, OEMs and other partners in an interactive multimedia attraction in 25 cities.


title: Windows Me

text: Windows Me was released for retail sale on September 14, 2000. At launch time, Microsoft announced a time-limited promotion from September 2000 to January 2001 which entitled Windows 98 and Windows 98 SE users to upgrade to Windows Me for $59.95 instead of the regular retail upgrade price of $109. Non-upgrade versions cost $209, the same as Windows 98 on its release. In October 2001, Microsoft released Windows XP, which also included the ZIP folders, the Spider Solitaire game and Internet Explorer 6 by default.


title: Windows Me

text: Windows Me featured the shell enhancements inherited from Windows 2000 such as personalized menus, customizable Windows Explorer toolbars, auto-complete in Windows Explorer address bar and Run box, Windows 2000 advanced file type association features, displaying comments in shortcuts as tooltips, extensible columns in Details view (IColumnProvider interface), icon overlays, integrated search pane in Windows Explorer, sort by name function for menus, "Places bar" in common dialogs for "Open" and "Save", cascading Start menu special folders, some Plus! 95 and Plus! 98 themes, and updated graphics. The notification area in Windows Me and later supported 16-bit high color icons. The Multimedia control panel was also updated from Windows 98. "Taskbar and Start Menu" options allowed disabling of the drag and drop feature and could prevent moving or resizing the taskbar, which was easier for new users.


title: Windows Me

text: Windows Me restricted support for real mode MS-DOS. As a result, codice_5 in Windows Me disregards codice_1, codice_13 and codice_14 and directly executes codice_15. In its default configuration the system would neither boot into an MS-DOS command prompt nor exit to DOS from Windows; real mode drivers such as codice_16 could not be loaded and older applications that require real mode could not be run. Microsoft argued that the change improved the speed and reliability of the boot process.


title: Windows Me

text: In Windows Me, the codice_1 and codice_2 files are used only to set global environment variables. The two files (if present) are scanned for settings relating to the environment variables, and any other commands present are moved into a Windows registry key (see below). The two files thus contain only settings and preferences which configure the "global environment" for the computer during the boot phase or when starting a new virtual DOS machine (VDM).


title: Windows Me

text: To specify or edit other startup values (which, in Windows 98, would be present in the codice_2 file) the user must edit the following Windows registry key:


title: Windows Me

text: For troubleshooting and crash recovery, both the Windows Me CD-ROM and the Windows Me startup disk (a user-creatable floppy disk, known as the Emergency Boot Disk (EBD)) allowed booting into real mode MS-DOS.


title: Windows Me

text: It is possible to restore real mode DOS functionality through various unofficial means. Additionally, a registry setting exists that re-enables the "Restart in MS-DOS mode" option in the shutdown dialog box; however, unless patched unofficially with third-party software, Windows Me cannot be booted to MS-DOS real mode.


title: Windows Me

text: Unlike previous versions of Windows 9x, Windows Me was entirely aimed at home users, and thus had certain enterprise-oriented features removed. Several features of its predecessors did not work or were officially unsupported by Microsoft on Windows Me, including Automated Installation, Active Directory client services, System Policy Editor, Personal Web Server and ASP. These features were supported on its predecessors, Windows 98 and Windows 95. A Resource Kit publication, targeted towards system administrators, was never published for Windows Me.


title: Windows Me

text: Other features that were removed or never updated to work with Windows Me included Microsoft Fax, QuickView and DriveSpace, as well as the GUI FAT32 conversion tool. Several Windows Explorer commands were also modified in Windows Me, matching the menu structure in Windows 2000. While some were simply moved to a different location, certain functionality of the Go menu, as well as the Find command on the Tools menu, are no longer available. For the latter change Microsoft recommends using a variety of similar functionality labeled Search.


title: Windows Me

text: Windows Me, like Windows 98 Second Edition, did not ship with the WinG API or RealPlayer 4.0, unlike the original release of Windows 98, due to both of these having been superseded by DirectX and Windows Media Player, respectively.


title: Windows Me

text: Windows Me could have its components upgraded or have new components installed up to the latest versions:


title: Windows Me

text: The /nm setup switch can be used at the DOS command line to bypass the minimum system requirement checks, allowing for installation on a CPU as low as the 16 MHz 80486SX.


title: Windows Me

text: Windows Me is only designed to handle up to 512 MB of RAM without changes. Systems with larger RAM pools may lose stability; however, depending on the hardware and software configuration, it is sometimes possible to manually tweak the installation to continue working with somewhat larger amounts of RAM as well. The maximum amount of memory the operating system is designed to use is up to 1 GB of RAM. Systems with more than 1.5 GB of RAM may continuously reboot during startup.


title: Windows Me

text: In addition, until the release of Windows XP with Service Pack 1 in 2002, All versions of Windows were unable to handle hard drives that are over 137 GB in size with the default drivers, due to the operating system lacking support for 48-bit Logical Block Addressing ATAPI disk drives.


title: Windows Me

text: Compared with other releases of Windows, Windows Me had a short shelf-life of just over a year. Windows 2000 and Windows Me were eventually succeeded by newer Microsoft operating systems: Windows Me by Windows XP Home Edition, and Windows 2000 Professional by Windows XP Professional. Windows XP is noteworthy that the first preview build of Windows XP (then codenamed "Whistler") was released to developers on July 13, 2000, two months before Windows Me's general availability date.


title: Windows Me

text: Microsoft originally planned to end support for Windows Me on December 31, 2004. However, in order to give customers more time to migrate to newer Windows versions, particularly in developing or emerging markets, Microsoft decided to extend support until July 11, 2006. Microsoft ended support for Windows Me (and Windows 98) on this date because the company considered the operating system to be obsolete and prone to security risks, and recommended customers to upgrade to a newer version of Windows such as Windows XP for the latest security improvements.


title: Windows Me

text: Retail availability for Windows Me ended on December 31, 2003. The operating system is no longer available from Microsoft in any form (through MSDN or otherwise) due to the terms of Java-related settlements Microsoft made with Sun Microsystems.


title: Windows Me

text: The Windows Update website continued to be available after Windows Me's end of support date, however, during 2011, Microsoft retired the Windows Update v4 website and removed the updates for Windows Me from its servers.


title: Windows Me

text: Support for Office XP on Windows Me ended on July 12, 2011, ending support for all versions of Office on Windows Me.


title: Windows Me

text: Microsoft announced in July 2019 that the Microsoft Internet Games services on Windows Me (and XP) would end on July 31, 2019.


title: Windows Me

text: Windows Me initially received generally positive reviews, with reviewers citing the operating system's integrity protection (branded as "PC Health") and the new System Restore feature as steps forward for home users. However, users' real-world experience did not bear this out, with industry publications receiving myriad reports of problems with the "PC Health" systems, PCs refusing to shut down cleanly, and general stability problems.


title: Windows Me

text: As time went on, the reception became even more negative, to the point where it was heavily panned by users, mainly due to stability problems. Because of its many bugs and glitches, Windows Me is now infamously viewed as one of the worst operating systems of all time and the biggest failure in the Microsoft Windows operating systems, both in critical and retrospect, being unfavorably compared to its immediate predecessor and successor. A "PC World" article infamously dubbed Windows Me as "Mistake Edition" and placed it 4th in their "Worst Tech Products of All Time" feature in 2006. The article states: "Shortly after Me appeared in late 2000, users reported problems installing it, getting it to run, getting it to work with other hardware or software, and getting it to stop running." Consequently, as a result of these heavy criticisms, most home users ultimately opted to stick with its predecessor, Windows 98 Second Edition, for the remainder of Windows Me’s lifecycle until Windows XP, while some moved over to Windows 2000 Professional, despite the latter operating system being primarily marketed towards the high-end business and enterprise market at the time.


title: Windows Me

text: System Restore suffered from a bug in the date-stamping functionality that could cause System Restore to incorrectly date-stamp snapshots that were taken after September 8, 2001. This could prevent System Restore from locating these snapshots and cause the system restore process to fail. Microsoft released an update to fix this problem.


title: Windows Me

text: Byron Hinson and Julien Jay, writing for ActiveWin, took an appreciative look on the operating system. On the removal of real mode DOS support, they had noted "The removal of DOS has clearly made a difference in Windows Me in terms of stability (far less Blue screen of death are seen now) and booting speed has greatly increased." In a recommendation of the operating system upgrade for users of Windows 95 and 98, they had stated "If Windows Me isn't a revolutionary OS it's clear that Microsoft has focused its efforts to make it more user-friendly, stable and packed full of multimedia options. The result is great and the enhancements added are really worth the wait." The new features that Windows Me introduced were also praised and have since remained part of subsequent Windows versions.


title: Windows Me

text: Along with Windows 2000 from the Windows NT family, Windows Me was the last version of Windows that lacked product activation.


title: Ezetimibe

text: Ezetimibe is a medication used to treat high blood cholesterol and certain other lipid abnormalities. Generally it is used together with dietary changes and a statin. Alone, it is less preferred than a statin. It is taken by mouth. It is also available in the fixed combinations ezetimibe/simvastatin, ezetimibe/atorvastatin, ezetimibe/rosuvastatin, and ezetimibe/bempedoic acid.


title: Ezetimibe

text: The most commonly reported adverse events include upper respiratory tract infections, joint pain, diarrhea, and tiredness. Serious side effects may include anaphylaxis, liver problems, depression, and muscle breakdown. Use in pregnancy and breastfeeding is of unclear safety. Ezetimibe works by decreasing cholesterol absorption in the intestines.


title: Ezetimibe

text: Ezetimibe was approved for medical use in the United States in 2002. It is available as a generic medication. In 2020, it was the 100th most commonly prescribed medication in the United States, with more than 7million prescriptions.


title: Ezetimibe

text: A 2015 review found that adding ezetimibe to statin treatment of high blood cholesterol had no effect on overall mortality or cardiovascular mortality, although it significantly reduced the risk of myocardial infarction and stroke. A 2015 trial found that adding ezetimibe to simvastatin had no effect on overall mortality but did lower the risk of heart attack or stroke in people with prior heart attack. Several treatment guidelines recommend adding ezetimibe in select high risk persons in whom LDL goals cannot be achieved by maximally tolerated statin alone.


title: Ezetimibe

text: Ezetimibe is indicated in the United States as an add-on to dietary measures to reduce levels of certain lipids in people with:


title: Ezetimibe

text: A 2018 review found that ezetimibe used as sole treatment slightly lowered plasma levels of lipoprotein(a), but the effect was not large enough to be important.


title: Ezetimibe

text: Ezetimibe improves the non-alcoholic fatty liver disease activity score but the available evidence indicates it does not improve outcomes of hepatic steatosis.


title: Ezetimibe

text: The two contraindications to taking ezetimibe are a previous allergic reaction to it, including symptoms of rash, angioedema, and anaphylaxis, and severe liver disease, especially when taken with a statin.


title: Ezetimibe

text: Ezetimibe may have significant medication interactions with ciclosporin and with fibrates other than fenofibrate.


title: Ezetimibe

text: Common adverse drug reactions (≥1% of patients) associated with ezetimibe therapy include headache and/or diarrhea (steatorrhea). Infrequent adverse effects (0.1–1% of patients) include myalgia and/or raised liver function test (ALT/AST) results. Rarely (<0.1% of patients), hypersensitivity reactions (rash, angioedema) or myopathy may occur. Cases of muscle problems (myalgia and rhabdomyolysis) have been reported and are included as warnings on the label for ezetimibe.


title: Ezetimibe

text: Since NPC1L1 also regulates vitamin K uptake, the use of ezetimibe can lead to side effects in warfarin therapy.


title: Ezetimibe

text: The incidence of overdose with ezetimibe is rare; subsequently, few data exist on the effects of overdose. However, an acute overdose of ezetimibe is expected to produce an exaggeration of its usual effects, leading to loose stools, abdominal pain, and fatigue.


title: Ezetimibe

text: Ezetimibe inhibits the absorption of cholesterol from the small intestine and decreases the amount of cholesterol normally available to liver cells. The lower levels of cholesterol in the liver cells leads them to absorb more cholesterol from circulation and thus lowering the levels of circulating cholesterol. It blocks the critical mediator of cholesterol absorption, the Niemann-Pick C1-like 1 (NPC1L1) protein on the gastrointestinal tract epithelial cells, as well as in hepatocytes; it blocks aminopeptidase N and interrupts a caveolin 1–annexin A2 complex involved in trafficking cholesterol.


title: Ezetimibe

text: Within 4–12 hours of the oral administration of a 10-mg dose to fasting adults, the attained mean ezetimibe peak plasma concentration (C) was 3.4–5.5 ng/ml. Following oral administration, ezetimibe is absorbed and extensively conjugated to a phenolic glucuronide (active metabolite). Mean C (45–71 ng/ml) of ezetimibe-glucuronide is attained within 1–2 hours. The concomitant administration of food (high-fat vs. nonfat meals) has no effect on the extent of absorption of ezetimibe. However, coadministration with a high-fat meal increases its C by 38%. The absolute bioavailability cannot be determined, since ezetimibe is insoluble in aqueous media suitable for injection. Ezetimibe and its active metabolites are highly bound to human plasma proteins (90%).


title: Ezetimibe

text: Ezetimibe is primarily metabolized in the liver and the small intestine via glucuronide conjugation with subsequent renal and biliary excretion. Both the parent compound and its active metabolite are eliminated from plasma with a half-life around 22 hours, allowing for once-daily dosing. Ezetimibe lacks significant inhibitor or inducer effects on cytochrome P450 isoenzymes, which explains its limited number of drug interactions. No dose adjustment is needed in patients with chronic kidney disease or mild hepatic dysfunction (Child-Pugh score 5–6). Due to insufficient data, the manufacturer does not recommend ezetimibe for patients with moderate to severe hepatic impairment (Child-Pugh score 7–15). In patients with mild, moderate, or severe hepatic impairment, the mean AUC values for total ezetimibe are increased about 1.7-fold, 3-to-4-fold, and 5-to-6-fold, respectively, compared to healthy subjects.


title: Oakland Raiders

text: The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team that played in Oakland from its founding in 1960 to 1981 and again from 1995 to 2019 before relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan area. Between 1982 and 1994, the team played in Los Angeles as the Los Angeles Raiders.


title: Oakland Raiders

text: The team's first home game was at Kezar Stadium in San Francisco, against the Houston Oilers on September 11, 1960, with a 37-22 loss. They played their last game as an Oakland-based club on December 29, 2019, a game which they lost 16-15 to make them finish 3rd in the AFC West, eliminate them from playoff contention, and suffer a late-season collapse after starting with a 6-4 record.


title: Oakland Raiders

text: A few months after the inaugural American Football League draft in 1959, the owners of the yet-unnamed Minneapolis franchise accepted an offer to join the established National Football League as an expansion team (now called the Minnesota Vikings) in 1961, sending the AFL scrambling for a replacement. At the time, Oakland seemed an unlikely venue for a professional football team. The city had not asked for a team, there was no ownership group and there was no stadium in Oakland suitable for pro football (the closest stadiums were in Berkeley and San Francisco) and there was already a successful NFL franchise in the Bay Area in the San Francisco 49ers. However, the AFL owners selected Oakland after Los Angeles Chargers owner Barron Hilton threatened to forfeit his franchise unless a second team was placed on the West Coast. Accordingly, the city of Oakland was awarded the eighth AFL franchise on January 30, 1960, and the team inherited the Minneapolis club's draft picks.


title: Oakland Raiders

text: Upon receiving the franchise, a meeting of local civic leaders and businessmen was called, chaired by former United States Senator William Fife Knowland, editor of the "Oakland Tribune"; Edgar Kaiser of Kaiser Steel; developer Robert T. Nahas; and Oakland City Councilman Robert Osborne. Also attending the meeting were Oakland Mayor Clifford E. Rishell; City Councilmen Frank J. Youell, Felix Chialvo, Glenn E. Hoover, Fred Maggiora, John C. Houlihan, Dan Marovich, and Howard E. Rilea; Alameda County Board of Supervisors President Kent D. Pursel; and County Supervisors Emanuel P. Razeto, Leland W. Sweeney, and Francis Dunn. The gathering found a number of businessmen willing to invest in the new team. A limited partnership was formed to own the team headed by managing general partner Y. Charles (Chet) Soda, a local real estate developer, and included general partners Ed McGah, Oakland City Councilman Robert Osborne, F. Wayne Valley, restaurateur Harvey Binns, 1928 Olympic gold medalist Donald Blessing, and contractor Charles Harney, the builder of San Francisco's Candlestick Park, built on a bleak parcel of land he owned; the road leading to the stadium is known as Harney Way.


title: Oakland Raiders

text: A "name the team" contest was held by the "Oakland Tribune", and the winner was announced April 4, 1960 as the Oakland Señors. After a few days of being the butt of local jokes (and accusations that the contest was fixed, as Soda was fairly well known within the Oakland business community for calling his acquaintances "señor"), the fledgling team (and its owners) changed the team's name nine days later to the Oakland Raiders, which had finished third in the naming contest. The original team colors were black, gold and white. The now-familiar team emblem of a pirate (or "raider") wearing a football helmet was created, reportedly a rendition of actor Randolph Scott.


title: Oakland Raiders

text: Oakland Raiders games were broadcast locally on KNBC (680 AM; the station later became KNBR), with Bud (Wilson Keene) Foster handling play-by-play and Mel Venter providing color analysis. Foster, the "Voice of the California Golden Bears", had a long career in radio, 1945–1955 as the "Voice of the Oakland Oaks" of the defunct Pacific Coast League; Foster was the first 1946–49, 1951–53, "Voice of the San Francisco 49ers". After the 1962 season, Foster would only call CAL (University of California at Berkeley) football until his retirement. Raider games, 1963–65 were heard on KDIA 1410 AM, with Bob Blum and Dan Galvin. In 1966. KGO Radio 810 signed a contract with the Oakland Raiders. Bill King was hired for the play-by-play and Scotty Stirling (an "Oakland Tribune" sportswriter) was color commentator.


title: Oakland Raiders

text: When the University of California refused to let the Raiders play home games at Memorial Stadium in Berkeley, they chose Kezar Stadium in San Francisco as their home field. The team's first regular season home game was played on September 11, 1960, a 37–22 loss to the Houston Oilers.


title: Oakland Raiders

text: The Raiders were allowed to move to Candlestick Park for the final three home games of the 1960 season after gaining the approval of San Francisco's Recreation and Park Commission, marking the first time that professional football would be played at the new stadium. The change of venue however failed to attract larger crowds for the Raiders during their time at Candlestick Park, with announced attendance of 12,061 (vs. the Chargers in a 41–17 loss on December 4), 9,037 (vs. the New York Titans in a 31–28 loss on December 11) and 7,000 (estimated, vs. the Broncos in a 48–10 victory to close out the season on December 17) at Candlestick.


title: Oakland Raiders

text: The Raiders finished their first campaign with a 6–8 record, and lost $500,000. Desperately in need of money to continue running the team, Valley received a $400,000 loan from Buffalo Bills founder Ralph C. Wilson Jr.


title: Oakland Raiders

text: After the conclusion of the first season Soda dropped out of the partnership, and on January 17, 1961, Valley, McGah and Osborne bought out the remaining four general partners. Soon after, Valley and McGah purchased Osborne's interest, with Valley named as the managing general partner. After splitting the previous home season between Kezar and Candlestick, the Raiders moved exclusively to Candlestick Park in 1961, where total attendance for the season was about 50,000, and finished 2–12. Valley threatened to move the Raiders out of the area unless a stadium was built in Oakland, but in 1962 the Raiders moved into 18,000-seat Frank Youell Field (later expanded to 22,000 seats), their first home in Oakland. It was a temporary home for the team while the Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum was under construction. Under Marty Feldman and Red Conkright—the team's second and third head coaches since entering the AFL—the Raiders finished 1–13 in 1962, losing their first 13 games (and making for a 19–game losing streak from 1961 and 1962) before winning the season finale, and attendance remained low.


title: Oakland Raiders

text: After the 1962 season, Valley hired Al Davis, a former assistant coach of the San Diego Chargers, as head coach and general manager. At 33, he was the youngest person in over 30 years to hold the position of head coach, and the youngest person ever to hold the position of general manager, in professional football. Davis immediately changed the team colors to silver and black, and began to implement what he termed the "vertical game", an aggressive offensive strategy based on the West Coast offense developed by Chargers head coach Sid Gillman. Under Davis the Raiders improved to 10–4, and he was named the AFL's Coach of the Year in 1963. Though the team slipped to 5–7–2 in 1964, it rebounded to an 8–5–1 record in 1965. He also initiated the use of team slogans such as "Pride and Poise", "Commitment to Excellence", and "Just Win, Baby"—all of which are registered trademarks.


title: Oakland Raiders

text: In April 1966, Davis left the Raiders after being named AFL Commissioner. Two months later, the league announced its merger with the NFL. With the merger, the position of commissioner was no longer needed, and Davis entered into discussions with Valley about returning to the Raiders. On July 25, 1966, Davis returned as part-owner of the team. He purchased a 10 percent interest in the team for US$18,000, and became the team's third general partner — the partner in charge of football operations.


title: Oakland Raiders

text: On the field, the team Davis had assembled and coached steadily improved. With John Rauch (Davis's hand-picked successor) as head coach, the Raiders won the 1967 AFL Championship, defeating the Houston Oilers 40–7. The win earned the team a trip to Super Bowl II, where they were beaten 33–14 by Vince Lombardi's Green Bay Packers. The following two years, the Raiders again won Western Division titles, only to lose the AFL Championship to the eventual Super Bowl winners—the New York Jets (1968) and Kansas City Chiefs (1969).


title: Oakland Raiders

text: In 1969, John Madden became the team's sixth head coach, and under him the Raiders became one of the most successful franchises in the NFL, winning six division titles during the 1970s. It was during this period that the Raiders forged an image as a team of tough, take-no-prisoners players—such as future Hall of Fame offensive linemen Jim Otto, Gene Upshaw, and Art Shell; linebacker Ted (“the Stork”) Hendricks; defensive end Ben Davidson; and cornerback Willie Brown—who would occasionally cross the line into dirty play. Those teams also featured an additional foursome of future Hall of Fame players in tight end Dave Casper, kicker George Blanda, and wide receiver Fred Biletnikoff, as well as fiery quarterback Ken ("the Snake") Stabler.


title: Oakland Raiders

text: In 1970, the AFL–NFL merger took place and the Raiders became part of the Western Division of the American Football Conference in the newly merged NFL. The first post-merger season saw the Raiders win the AFC West with an 8–4–2 record and go all the way to the , where they lost to the Colts. Despite another 8–4–2 season in 1971, the Raiders failed to win the division or achieve a playoff berth.


title: Oakland Raiders

text: In 1972, with Wayne Valley out of the country for several weeks attending the Olympic Games in Munich, Davis's attorneys drafted a revised partnership agreement that gave him total control over all of the Raiders' operations. McGah, a supporter of Davis, signed the agreement. Under partnership law, by a 2–1 vote of the general partners, the new agreement was thus ratified. Valley was furious when he discovered this, and immediately filed suit to have the new agreement overturned, but the court sided with Davis and McGah. That year would see the team achieve a 10–3–1 record and another division title. In the , they were beaten by the Steelers 13–7 on a play that would later be known as the Immaculate Reception.


title: Oakland Raiders

text: In 1974, Oakland had a 12–2 regular season, which included a nine-game winning streak. They beat the Dolphins in the of the playoffs in a see-saw battle before falling to the Steelers in the . The playoff game against the Dolphins is known in NFL lore as the "Sea of Hands" game in which running back Clarence Davis caught a late 4th-quarter touchdown amid three Miami defenders to win 28–26 and end the Dolphins' chances of a three-peat and a fourth consecutive Super Bowl appearance.


title: Oakland Raiders

text: In the 1975 season opener, the Raiders beat Miami and ended the Dolphins' 31-game home winning streak. With an 11–3 record, they defeated Cincinnati in the , but again fell to the Steelers in the .


title: Oakland Raiders

text: In 1976, Valley sold his interest in the team, and Davis — who now owned only 25 percent of the Raiders — was firmly in charge. The Raiders beat Pittsburgh in a revenge match on the season opener and continued to cement their reputation for hard, dirty play by knocking WR Lynn Swann out for two weeks in a helmet-to-helmet collision. Al Davis later tried to sue Steelers coach Chuck Noll for libel after the latter called safety George Atkinson a criminal for the hit. The Raiders won 13 regular season games and a close victory over New England (the only team to beat them in the regular season) in the . They then knocked out the injury-plagued Steelers in the to go to Super Bowl XI. Oakland's opponent was the Minnesota Vikings, a team that had lost three previous Super Bowls. The Raiders led 16–0 at halftime. By the end, forcing their opponent into multiple turnovers, they won 32–14 for their first post-merger championship.


title: Oakland Raiders

text: The following season saw the Raiders finish 11–3, but lose the division title to 12–2 Denver. They settled for a wild card playoff berth, beating the Colts , but then falling to the Broncos 20–17 in the .


title: Oakland Raiders

text: During a 1978 preseason game, Patriots WR Darryl Stingley was tragically injured by a hit from Raiders FS Jack Tatum and was left paralyzed for life. Although the Raiders achieved a winning record at 9–7, they failed to qualify for the playoffs.


title: Oakland Raiders

text: After ten consecutive winning seasons and one Super Bowl championship, John Madden left the Raiders (and coaching) in 1979 to pursue a career as a television football commentator. His replacement was former Raiders quarterback Tom Flores, the first Hispanic head coach in NFL history. Flores led the Raiders to another 9–7 season, but not the playoffs.


title: Oakland Raiders

text: The following off-season, the popular gun-slinging quarterback Ken Stabler was traded to the Houston Oilers, a move which was unpopular and criticized at the time. In the fifth week of the 1980 season, starting quarterback Dan Pastorini broke his leg and was replaced by former number-one draft pick Jim Plunkett. Plunkett led Oakland to an 11–5 record and a wild card berth. After playoff victories against the Houston Oilers, Cleveland Browns, and San Diego Chargers, the Raiders went to Super Bowl XV, and clinched their second NFL championship in five years with a 27–10 win over the favored Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl XV. With the victory, the Raiders became the first ever wild card team to win a Super Bowl. Two Super Bowl records of note occurred in this game: 1) Kenny King's 80-yard, first-quarter, catch-and-run reception from Jim Plunkett remained the longest touchdown Super Bowl pass play for the next 16 years; and 2) Rod Martin's three interceptions of Eagles' quarterback Ron Jaworski still stands today as a Super Bowl record. Reflecting on the last ten years during the post-game awards ceremony, Al Davis stated "...this was our finest hour, this was the finest hour in the history of the Oakland Raiders. To Tom Flores, the coaches, and the athletes: you were magnificent out there, you really were."


title: Oakland Raiders

text: The team would not see a repeat performance in 1981, falling to 7–9 and a losing record for the first time since 1964.


title: Oakland Raiders

text: Prior to the 1980 season, Al Davis attempted unsuccessfully to have improvements made to the Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum, specifically the addition of luxury boxes. On March 1, he signed a memorandum of agreement to move the Raiders from Oakland to Los Angeles. The move, which required three-fourths approval by league owners, was defeated 22–0 (with five owners abstaining). When Davis tried to move the team anyway, he was blocked by an injunction. In response, the Raiders not only became an active partner in an antitrust lawsuit filed by the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (who had recently lost the Los Angeles Rams), but filed an antitrust lawsuit of their own. After the first case was declared a mistrial, in May 1982 a second jury found in favor of Davis and the Los Angeles Coliseum, clearing the way for the move. With the ruling, the Raiders finally relocated to Los Angeles for the 1982 season to play their home games at the Los Angeles Coliseum.


title: Oakland Raiders

text: On June 23, 1995, Davis signed a letter of intent to move the Raiders back to Oakland. The move was approved by the Alameda County Board of Supervisors the next month, as well as by the NFL. The move was greeted with much fanfare, and under new head coach Mike White the 1995 season started off well for the team. Oakland started 8–2, but injuries to starting quarterback Jeff Hostetler contributed to a six-game losing streak to end the season, and the Raiders failed to qualify for the playoffs for a second consecutive season. As part of the agreement to bring the Raiders back to Oakland the city agreed that they would increase the capacity of the Coliseum. The result was a structure of 20,000 capacity seating that became known as Mount Davis after Davis. The structure was completed in time for the 1996 season.


title: Oakland Raiders

text: After two more unsuccessful seasons (7-9 in 1996 and 4–12 in 1997) under White and his successor, Joe Bugel, Davis selected a new head coach from outside the Raiders organization for only the second time when he hired Philadelphia Eagles offensive coordinator Jon Gruden, who previously worked for the 49ers and Packers under head coach Mike Holmgren. Under Gruden, the Raiders posted consecutive 8–8 seasons in 1998 and 1999, and climbed out of last place in the AFC West. Oakland finished 12–4 in the 2000 season, the team's most successful in a decade. Led by veteran quarterback Rich Gannon, Oakland won their first division title since 1990, and advanced to the AFC Championship, where they lost 16–3 to the eventual Super Bowl champion Baltimore Ravens.


title: Oakland Raiders

text: The Raiders acquired all-time leading receiver Jerry Rice prior to the 2001 season. They finished 10-6 and won a second straight AFC West title but lost their divisional-round playoff game to the eventual Super Bowl champion New England Patriots, in a controversial game that became known as the "Tuck Rule Game". The game was played in a heavy snowstorm, and late in the fourth quarter an apparent fumble by Patriots quarterback Tom Brady was recovered by Raiders linebacker Greg Biekert. The recovery would have led to a Raiders victory, however the play was reviewed and determined to be an incomplete pass (it was ruled that Brady had pump faked and then "tucked" the ball into his body, which, by rule, cannot result in a fumble – though this explanation was not given on the field, but after the NFL season had ended). The Patriots retained possession of the ball, and drove for a game-tying field goal. The game went into overtime and the Patriots won, 16–13.


title: Oakland Raiders

text: Shortly after the 2001 season, the Raiders made an unusual move that involved releasing Gruden from his contract and allowing the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to sign him. In return, the Raiders received cash and future draft picks from the Buccaneers. The sudden move came after months of speculation in the media that Davis and Gruden had fallen out with each other both personally and professionally. Bill Callahan, who served as the team's offensive coordinator and offensive line coach during Gruden's tenure, was named head coach.


title: Oakland Raiders

text: Under Callahan, the Raiders finished the 2002 season 11–5, won their third straight division title, and clinched the top seed in the playoffs. Rich Gannon was named MVP of the NFL after passing for a league-high 4,689 yards. After beating the New York Jets and Tennessee Titans by large margins in the playoffs, the Raiders made their fifth Super Bowl appearance in Super Bowl XXXVII. Their opponent was the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, coached by Gruden. The Raiders, who had not made significant changes to Gruden's offensive schemes, were intercepted five times by the Buccaneers en route to a 48–21 blowout. Some Tampa Bay players claimed that Gruden had given them so much information on Oakland's offense, they knew exactly what plays were being called.


title: Oakland Raiders

text: Callahan's second season as head coach was considerably less successful. Oakland finished 4–12, their worst showing since 1997. After a late-season loss to the Denver Broncos, a visibly frustrated Callahan exclaimed, "We've got to be the dumbest team in America in terms of playing the game." At the end of the 2003 regular season, Callahan was fired and replaced by former Washington Redskins head coach Norv Turner.


title: Oakland Raiders

text: The team's fortunes did not improve in Turner's first year. Oakland finished the 2004 season 5–11, with only one divisional win (a one-point victory over the Broncos in Denver). During a Week 3 victory against the Buccaneers, Rich Gannon suffered a neck injury that ended his season and eventually his career; he never returned to the team and retired before the 2005 season. Kerry Collins, who led the New York Giants to an appearance in Super Bowl XXXV and signed with Oakland after the 2003 season, became the team's starting quarterback.


title: Oakland Raiders

text: In an effort to bolster their offense, in early 2005 the Raiders acquired Pro Bowl wide receiver Randy Moss via trade with the Minnesota Vikings, and signed free agent running back Lamont Jordan of the New York Jets. After a 4–12 season and a second consecutive last-place finish, Turner was fired as head coach. On February 11, 2006, the team announced the return of Art Shell as head coach. In announcing the move, Al Davis said that firing Shell in 1995 had been a mistake.


title: Oakland Raiders

text: Under Shell, the Raiders lost their first five games in 2006 en route to a 2–14 finish, the team's worst record since 1962. Oakland's offense struggled greatly, scoring just 168 points (fewest in franchise history) and allowing a league-high 72 sacks. Wide receiver Jerry Porter was benched by Shell for most of the season in what many viewed as a personal, rather than football-related, decision. The Raiders also earned the right to the first overall pick in the 2007 NFL Draft for the first time since 1962, by virtue of having the league's worst record.


title: Oakland Raiders

text: One season into his second run as head coach, Shell was fired on January 4, 2007. On January 22, the team announced the hiring of 31-year-old USC offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin, the youngest coach in franchise history and the youngest coach in the NFL. In the 2007 NFL Draft, the Raiders selected LSU quarterback JaMarcus Russell with the #1 overall pick. Kiffin coached the Raiders to a 4–12 record in the 2007 season. After a 1–3 start to 2008 and months of speculation and rumors, Al Davis fired Kiffin on September 30, 2008. Tom Cable was named as his interim replacement, and officially signed as the 17th head coach of the Oakland Raiders on February 3, 2009.


title: Oakland Raiders

text: Their finish to the 2008 season would turn out to match their best since they lost the Super Bowl in the 2002 season. However, they still finished 5–11 and ended up third in the AFC West, the first time they did not finish last since 2002. They produced an identical record in 2009; however, the season was somewhat ameliorated by the fact that four of the Raiders' five wins were against opponents with above-.500 records. At the end of their 2009 campaign, the Raiders became the first team in NFL history to lose at least 11 games in seven straight seasons.


title: Oakland Raiders

text: In 2010, the Raiders had a better draft than those of the previous years and also cut Jamarcus Russell in May after he showed up to minicamp overweight. Replacing him as starting quarterback was Jason Campbell, traded from Washington. The outlook for the team improved, but it was not apparent after they opened by suffering a 38–13 rout in Tennessee. Returning to Oakland, the Raiders defeated St. Louis and then lost a 21–20 game in Arizona. After a home loss to Houston, they beat their division rival Chargers 35–27 for the first time in seven years, and then lost the "Battle of the Bay" to San Francisco. The Week 7 game in Denver set records as the Raiders defeated their division rival with eight touchdowns (two passing, five rushing, and one interception return), setting a score of 59–14 for the most points in franchise history. After beating Seattle 33–3 and then Kansas City 23–20 for a third straight win, the Raiders went into their bye week with a winning 5–4 record.


title: Oakland Raiders

text: However, after the bye week, the Raiders fell to Pittsburgh and Miami before beating San Diego and losing to the Jaguars. A home win over Denver in Week 15 saw the team approach a playoff spot, but faltered in a loss to the Colts which ensured that they would miss the postseason for the 8th straight year. By beating Kansas City in Week 17, the Raiders became the first team in NFL history to sweep their division and still not make the playoffs.


title: Oakland Raiders

text: Despite beginning to turn the team around, Tom Cable was fired by Al Davis soon after the season ended for remarking "I finally began to feel that we weren't losers." Davis then promoted offensive coordinator Hue Jackson to the head coaching position in his first public appearance since November 2009. The physically frail, but still sharp Davis explained his decision to fire Cable by saying "If .500 isn't losing, then I don't know what losing is." Some critics also argued that the Raiders failed to win a single game outside their own division or the weak NFC West.


title: Oakland Raiders

text: During all this time, Al Davis, who was now past his 80th birthday and in increasingly poor health, refused to hire a general manager or relinquish his absolute control of the team's on-field activities and he continued to make all major decisions regarding draft picks, trades, or signings himself. He came under fire both for this and for strategies that were out-of-step with the contemporary NFL, in particular, his attempt to recreate the vertical game used by Daryl Lamonica and Jim Plunkett. Jamarcus Russell was drafted due to Davis's assumption that he had the proper physical traits needed for this style of play. The signing of Randy Moss in 2005 also proved a costly mistake that consumed large portions of salary cap space.


title: Oakland Raiders

text: The Raiders' biggest off-season moves were trading quarterback Bruce Gradkowski to Cincinnati and cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha to Philadelphia. With their new coach in place, the team opened 2011 in Denver for their first prime-time appearance in three years. On a rain-slicked Monday night, Oakland won an extremely sloppy game 23–20 after repeated penalties and Broncos mistakes. Kicker Sebastian Janikowski also booted a 63-yard field goal for only the third time in NFL history. In Week 2, the Raiders lost a wild shootout match in Buffalo 38–35, beat the Jets 34–24, and then lost to New England 31–19 for a 2–2 start.


title: Oakland Raiders

text: After flying to Houston for a match with the Texans, the Raiders were stunned by the news that Al Davis had died at his home on October 8 after having been with the franchise for all but its first three years of existence. A last-second interception from Texans quarterback Matt Schaub allowed the Raiders to win that game, but in the next week's match with Cleveland (a 24–17 win), Jason Campbell sustained a season-ending collarbone fracture. With backups Kyle Boller and Terrell Pryor considered unsuitable to replace him, the Raiders made a desperation bid with Cincinnati to acquire quarterback Carson Palmer, who had retired after a feud with that team, but was still under contract with them. With Al Davis's passing, Hue Jackson was effectively in charge of all on-field decisions and he finally convinced Bengals owner Mike Brown to give up Palmer in exchange for all of Oakland's first-round draft picks. The deal thus having been made, Palmer stood under center as the Raiders hosted Kansas City in Week 7. But the team lost as Kyle Boller threw three interceptions to open the game while Palmer replaced him early in the second half. However, he also threw three interceptions, losing 28–0.


title: Oakland Raiders

text: With the AFC West extremely weak, the Raiders vacillated between 3rd and 1st place as the season progressed. A three-game losing streak in December badly harmed their playoff chances, but up to Week 17, they remained in contention to clinch the division. However, the Raiders lost a must-win game at home to San Diego and so for the ninth year in a row failed to make the playoffs or produce a winning record.


title: Oakland Raiders

text: Despite rumors of selling the team, Al Davis's family indicated that they would retain ownership. At the conclusion of the 2011 season, Hue Jackson was fired and replaced by former Broncos defensive coordinator Dennis Allen, the first defensive-minded Raiders head coach since John Madden. At Davis's death, the once-elite franchise was a mess, with one of the NFL's oldest rosters, almost no salary cap space, and valuable first-round draft picks squandered on bust players and Carson Palmer. Surveys of players across the league consistently showed that the Raiders had become one of the least desirable teams to play for. In addition, with the Miami Marlins obtaining their own ballpark in 2012, the Raiders became the last team in the NFL to still share a stadium with a baseball franchise. The baseball infield for the Oakland Athletics at the Oakland Coliseum was present during Raiders games during the early NFL seasons. The end of the MLB season correlated with the beginning of the NFL season, which forced the Raiders to play certain games on a dirt field.


title: Oakland Raiders

text: The Raiders began 2012 by losing a very poorly executed home opener on Monday Night Football to San Diego 22–14. The team was plagued by fumbles and dropped passes, and did not score a touchdown until near the end. On the bright side, defensive performance was decent and helped contain the Chargers' passing game.


title: Oakland Raiders

text: After another miserable loss in Miami, the Raiders returned home to take on Pittsburgh in Week 3. In the 4th quarter, trailing by 10, wide receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey collided with Pittsburgh safety Ryan Mundy and was knocked out of the game. The loss of Heyward-Bey inspired the rest of the team, which rallied to tie the game 31-31, and with 4 seconds left, Sebastian Janikowski kicked a 43-yard field goal to win the game 34–31. In the end though, the Raiders finished the 2012 season 4–12.


title: Oakland Raiders

text: During 2013, there was little apparent sign of improvement as the Raiders once again finished 4–12, including a particularly embarrassing loss to the Eagles in Week 9 when quarterback Nick Foles threw a record seven touchdown passes. In Week 15, they gave up 56 points to the Chiefs.


title: Oakland Raiders

text: In 2014, Dennis Allen was fired after a 0–4 start and replaced by former Dolphins head coach and then-Raiders offensive line coach Tony Sparano for the remainder of the season. They became the first team to be mathematically eliminated from playoff contention and were guaranteed a fourth-place finish in the AFC West after a loss in Week 11 dropped them to 0–10. The Raiders were the last team in the league that year to win a game, finally doing so the next week against their division rival, the Kansas City Chiefs, but they were defeated 52–0 by the Rams the next week. The Raiders did manage to defeat their geographic rival, the San Francisco 49ers, and defeated Buffalo in Week 16, which mathematically eliminated the Bills from playoff contention for the 15th straight year. Oakland's final record that season was 3–13. Their offense struggled mightily, averaging just 282.2 yards per game (last in the league). Quarterback and second-round pick Derek Carr proved to be a positive addition, serving as the starter for the entire season and set a Raiders record for most passing yards in one season by a rookie. Also, linebacker Khalil Mack, selected in the first round, had 75 tackles and 4 sacks.


title: Oakland Raiders

text: On January 14, 2015, Jack Del Rio, the then-Denver Broncos defensive coordinator and former Jacksonville Jaguars head coach, was hired by the Oakland Raiders to be their new head coach. Del Rio's new coaching staff included former Minnesota Vikings offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave as offensive coordinator and former Vikings head coach Mike Tice as offensive line coach; both had worked with Del Rio at the Jaguars in the past.


title: Oakland Raiders

text: On February 19, 2015, the Raiders and the Chargers announced that they would build a privately financed $1.78 billion stadium in Carson, California if they were to move to the Los Angeles market. Both teams stated that they would continue to attempt to get stadiums built in their respective cities.


title: Oakland Raiders

text: The Raiders secured the #4 pick in the 2015 NFL draft, which was used on receiver Amari Cooper. The Raiders finished 7–9 in 2015, showing noticeable improvement over the previous season.


title: Oakland Raiders

text: The Committee set up by the league to deal with Los Angeles initially recommended the Carson Site, but the Chargers and Raiders were unable to secure the votes they needed to move. After hours of debate, the league voted to allow the St. Louis Rams to move on January 12, 2016, with the San Diego Chargers having the option to join them within a year. Davis then turned his attention to Las Vegas.


title: Oakland Raiders

text: In 2016, the team finished 12–4, finally making the postseason for the first time since 2002 with strong play on both offense and defense, but lost Derek Carr and backup Matt McGloin to season-ending injuries to close out the year. The Raiders were unable to win their first playoff game since 2002, falling to the Houston Texans 14–27 in a game in which third-string quarterback Connor Cook threw one touchdown and three interceptions. Musgrave was let go following the playoff loss.


title: Oakland Raiders

text: After over 10 years of failure to secure a new stadium in Oakland to replace the decaying coliseum (issues of which include sewage backups and flooding) and after missing out on Los Angeles, on March 27, 2017, the NFL granted the team permission to relocate to Las Vegas, Nevada, pending the new Allegiant Stadium's completion. The Raiders soon announced plans to stay in Oakland until the new stadium was completed in 2020. Ground was officially broken on the new stadium on November 13, 2017.


title: Oakland Raiders

text: Following a season-ending 4-game losing streak to finish 6–10 in 2017, in addition to a regression of the offense under Todd Downing, Del Rio was fired by Mark Davis.


title: Oakland Raiders

text: In January 2018, the Raiders re-hired Jon Gruden, signing him to a 10-year, $100-million contract, paying him $10 million a year and giving him near-total control over the team. The Raiders traded away Khalil Mack and Amari Cooper in separate deals, acquiring three first-round draft picks in the process. The Raiders finished 4–12 in Gruden's first season back with the team. On December 10, the Raiders fired general manager Reggie McKenzie, who had been with the Raiders since 2012.


title: Oakland Raiders

text: In the 2019 off-season, the Raiders acquired receiver Antonio Brown from the Pittsburgh Steelers via trade following Brown's falling out with the Steelers, only to release him after a chaotic preseason culminating with Brown getting into a heated argument with new general manager Mike Mayock. The Raiders finished the 2019 season with a 7–9 record and lost their last game at the Oakland Coliseum to the Jacksonville Jaguars 20–16, giving up a late touchdown in the closing seconds.


title: Oakland Raiders

text: On January 22, 2020, the team was officially renamed the "Las Vegas Raiders" and the relocation was completed in the following months.


title: Canadian Caper

text: The "Canadian Caper" was the joint covert rescue by the Canadian government and the CIA of six American diplomats who had evaded capture during the seizure of the United States embassy in Tehran, Iran, on November 4, 1979, after the Iranian Revolution, when Islamist students took most of the American embassy personnel hostage, demanding the return of the US-backed Shah for trial.


title: Canadian Caper

text: After the diplomats had been sheltered by the British mission and Canadian diplomatic personnel, the Canadian and United States governments worked on a strategy to gain their escape through subterfuge and use of Canadian passports. The "caper" involved a CIA officer (Tony Mendez and his colleague known as "Julio" for this event) joining the six diplomats in Tehran to form a fake film crew. It was purportedly made up of six Canadians, one Irishman and one Latin American, who were finishing scouting for an appropriate location to shoot a scene for the science-fiction film "Argo", production of which had in fact been abandoned. On the morning of Sunday, January 27, 1980, the full eight-person party passed through passport control, at the Mehrabad Airport in Tehran, boarded a Swissair flight to Zürich and escaped Iran.


title: Canadian Caper

text: An article written about these events was published in "Wired" in 2007. The article was used loosely—alongside a memoir Mendez wrote—as the basis of the 2012 film "Argo".


title: Canadian Caper

text: When the Islamic Iranian Revolution occurred, the US-backed Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, fled the country. Amid the turmoil, a mob of young Islamists, known as the Muslim Student Followers of the Imam's Line, stormed the US Embassy in Tehran on November 4, 1979, capturing dozens of diplomats and holding them hostage. They demanded the return of the Shah to Iran for trial. The provisional government fell shortly thereafter, when Prime Minister Mehdi Bazargan and his cabinet resigned.


title: Canadian Caper

text: Although the new Iranian government stated that the hostage-takers were students acting on their own, it joined in demands for the return of the Shah. Most of the hostages were held until early 1981.


title: Canadian Caper

text: Robert Anders, Cora Amburn-Lijek, Mark Lijek, Joseph Stafford, Kathleen Stafford and Lee Schatz were the six American diplomats who were harboured by Canadian diplomats Ken Taylor and John Sheardown and exfiltrated from Tehran in 1980. They were working in the consulate, a separate building in the embassy compound, when the Iranians came over the wall. Two groups of diplomats fled into Tehran's streets with orders to walk to the British Embassy: The Anders group (excluding Schatz), along with two Americans seeking consular services (including Kim King, who later had a local embassy employee help him obtain an exit visa and fly out of Iran); and the second group, including Consul General Richard Morefield. The latter took an indirect route and were soon captured and returned to the compound. The Anders group neared the British embassy, but saw a huge crowd staging a protest in their path. Robert Anders invited the others to his home, as he lived nearby.


title: Canadian Caper

text: Over a six-day odyssey, the Anders group, aided by Thai cook Somchai "Sam" Sriweawnetr, went from house to house, including one night spent at the British residential compound. After three days, the Bazargan government fell, and the diplomats realized the ordeal would not be over quickly. Looking for options, Anders contacted his old friend John Sheardown, a Canadian immigration officer, and received an enthusiastic invitation for the entire group. On November 10, five from the original Anders group (Anders, the Lijeks and the Staffords) arrived at the Sheardown residence. In addition to seeing John and Zena Sheardown, they were greeted by Canadian Ambassador Ken Taylor. The Staffords were taken by Taylor to his home, where they joined his wife Pat. The other three stayed with the Sheardowns. They were sheltered by the two Canadian households for a total of 79 days. On November 27, Taylor received a call from the Swedish ambassador Kaj Sundberg, asking him to take in American Lee Schatz. Schatz had initially slept on the floor at the Swedish embassy and later stayed at the apartment of Swedish consul Cecilia Lithander. However, the Swedish ambassador felt he could better impersonate a Canadian. Taylor agreed, and placed Schatz in the Sheardown residence.


title: Canadian Caper

text: The Canadians had undertaken great personal risk in sheltering the Americans, as they provided sanctuary in their private residences for the six endangered American diplomats. Two "friendly-country" embassy officials assisted as well, and an unoccupied diplomatic residence was used for several weeks.


title: Canadian Caper

text: Taylor contacted Flora MacDonald, Canadian Secretary of State for External Affairs, and Canadian Prime Minister Joe Clark for assistance. They expressed support for the sheltering effort. They decided to smuggle the six Americans out of Iran on an international flight by using Canadian passports for them. To do so, an Order in Council was made to issue official multiple copies of Canadian passports, with various fake identities, to the American diplomats in Canadian sanctuary. The passports that were issued contained a set of forged Iranian visas prepared by the US Central Intelligence Agency to be used in an attempt to escape from Iran.


title: Canadian Caper

text: The CIA enlisted its disguise and exfiltration expert, Tony Mendez, to provide a cover story, documents, appropriate clothing, and materials to change their appearances. Mendez worked closely with Canadian government staff in Ottawa, who forwarded the passports and other supporting material to the Canadian embassy through a Canadian diplomatic courier. Mendez flew to Tehran with an associate known as "Julio" to assist with the rescue. Julio and Mendez had previously worked together in the CIA's Office of Technical Service (OTS) branch.


title: Canadian Caper

text: Alternative passports and identities had been prepared for a variety of scenarios, but the cover story selected had the six as Canadians working on a Hollywood crew scouting movie locations. The elaborate back-story concerned a film named "Argo", based on the 1967 Roger Zelazny science fiction novel "Lord of Light". The original "Lord of Light" project, produced by Barry Geller and starring Rosey Grier, had been abandoned before the start of filming after funds were embezzled; concept art by Jack Kirby existed, and the script was set on a planet with a Middle-Eastern feel, which the team could use to justify their desire to scout locations in Iran.


title: Canadian Caper

text: To make the cover believable, Mendez enlisted the help of John Chambers, a veteran Hollywood make-up artist. They established a functioning office at Sunset Gower Studios on Sunset Boulevard, named "Studio Six Productions" (a nod to the six diplomats). It used office space that actor Michael Douglas had recently used while making the film "The China Syndrome" (1979). Telephone calls to the "Studio Six" office in Los Angeles would be answered, should anyone call to check on the film's production. Display ads for the upcoming "Studio Six" film were placed in Hollywood publications, and one such newspaper was given to Cora Lijek to carry as part of her cover materials. The team also prepared fake business cards, held a film party at a nightclub in Los Angeles, and took out early advertisements for the film in "Variety" and "The Hollywood Reporter" industry magazines. Robert Sidell, a friend of Chambers and also a makeup artist, posed as a film producer at related events, while his wife Joan performed as the receptionist at "Studio Six". Chambers was later awarded CIA's Intelligence Medal of Merit for his help in the operation.


title: Canadian Caper

text: A mistake was made in dating the visas, as the Iranian year begins at the spring equinox. One of the Canadian embassy officers spotted the mistake while checking the documents. Fortunately, extra passports had been included, so Mendez was able to insert new visa stamps with dates based on the Iranian calendar. As the weeks passed during this preparation, the American diplomats read and played games, mainly cards and Scrabble. Taylor worked to fly out non-essential Canadian embassy personnel. Taylor sent others on fake errands, both to establish erratic patterns and to case airport procedures. Tension rose as suspicious telephone calls and other activity indicated that the concealment of the diplomats might have been discovered.


title: Canadian Caper

text: Early on the morning of Sunday, January 27, 1980, Mendez, "Julio", and the six American diplomats, traveling with real Canadian passports and forged entry documents, easily made it through security at Tehran's Mehrabad International Airport. After a short delay because of mechanical difficulties with the McDonnell Douglas DC-8-62, the group boarded Swissair flight 363 (Registration: HB-IDL) for Zürich, Switzerland. By coincidence, the aircraft was named "Aargau", after the Aargau canton in northern Switzerland. Upon landing in Zürich, the six diplomats were taken by CIA operatives to a mountain lodge safe house for the night. There, they were told that, for diplomatic purposes, they would not be able to talk to the press and that they would be kept hidden in a secret location in Florida until the hostage situation was resolved. Mendez and Julio continued to Frankfurt, Germany, where Mendez wrote his after-action report.


title: Canadian Caper

text: The next day, the story broke in Montreal, in an article written by Jean Pelletier, Washington correspondent for "La Presse"; it was quickly picked up by the international press. The CIA drove the six diplomats from Switzerland to the US Ramstein Air Base in West Germany to be flown across the Atlantic to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.


title: Canadian Caper

text: The eight Americans in the "caper" left Iran on Sunday, January 27. The Canadians closed their embassy the same day. Ambassador Taylor and the remaining staff returned to Canada. The six American diplomats arrived in the United States on January 30, 1980.


title: Canadian Caper

text: The Canadians involved in the rescue were appointed to the Order of Canada, Canada's second-highest civilian award. They included:


title: Canadian Caper

text: Zena Sheardown, a British subject born in Guyana, would normally have been ineligible for the Order. Flora MacDonald intervened to ensure that she was awarded honorary membership, later converted to full membership when she became a Canadian citizen. Ambassador Taylor was subsequently awarded the Congressional Gold Medal by the United States Congress for his critical assistance to the United States.


title: Canadian Caper

text: Pelletier had uncovered some of the facts concerning the escaped diplomats before January 28, 1980, but he did not publish the story. He knew the safety of those involved had to be preserved, although there was great news value to the paper and writer. Several other news organizations also possessed some elements of the story. Pelletier's article ran on January 29 as soon as he knew the hostages had left Iran. But his exposure of the operation resulted in the US having to end their plans to house the six Americans secretly while the hostage drama continued. The "Argo" story was blown, but the CIA's role was kept secret by both the US and Canadian governments at the time. They wanted to ensure the safety of the remaining hostages. The CIA's full involvement was not revealed until 1997, when records were declassified.


title: Canadian Caper

text: President Jimmy Carter had officially maintained for negotiation purposes that all of the missing American diplomats were held hostage, so the news about six being rescued came as a complete surprise to the public. American gratitude for the Canadians' actions was displayed widely and by numerous American television figures and ordinary citizens alike, who particularly recognized Taylor for gratitude. The Canadian flag was flown in many locations across the United States, and ads were taken out on "Thank You" billboards.


title: Canadian Caper

text: In 1981, a television movie about the Canadian Caper was made, "", directed by Lamont Johnson, with Kenneth D. Taylor played by Gordon Pinsent. The movie was filmed in and around Toronto, and was an American-Canadian co-production. A children's illustrated book about the event was written by 2013 Eric Hoffer Award–winner Laura Scandiffio and Stephen MacEachern, entitled "Escapes!"


title: Canadian Caper

text: The critically and commercially successful film "Argo", based on this event, was released in North American cinemas on October 12, 2012. In the film, the role of John Sheardown and his wife Zena were omitted for reasons of length and cost. The film includes elements of both fact and fiction. In particular, the film focuses largely on the role the CIA played in the operation and minimizes the extended involvement of the Canadians, and their share of strategy and preparation. Former President Jimmy Carter acknowledged this in an interview in 2013, while also praising the film. In addition, the film incorrectly states that the six American diplomats had been turned away by the British and New Zealand embassies. The American diplomats spent one night in a British diplomatic compound before it became obvious that the militants were searching for the diplomats and had confronted the British embassy. All of the diplomats involved agreed that the residence of the Canadian Ambassador would be better suited to sheltering them. "Argo" won three Oscars, including Best Picture, at the 85th Academy Awards on February 24, 2013.


title: Canadian Caper

text: Historian Robert Wright also covered these events in his book "Our Man in Tehran" (2010). A companion documentary film of the same title was released in 2013. National Geographic also featured the story in its popular television series "Banged up Abroad" under the title "Argo".


title: Charles Delevingne

text: Charles Hamar Delevingne (born 25 June 1949) is an English property developer and the father of Cara and Poppy Delevingne. He is the son of socialite Angela Delevingne and the grandson of the lawyer and politician The 1st Viscount Greenwood.