title: Tom Harmon

text: At the urging of his high-school coach Douglass Kerr, who played end for Michigan in 1927 and 1928, Harmon enrolled at the University of Michigan in 1937. He played on the freshman football team that fall, while the varsity compiled a 4–4 record in its final season under head coach Harry Kipke. In November 1937, the Associated Press published a story that Tulane coach Bill Bevan had tried to lure Harmon to transfer to that school, where his older brother was a student-athlete. Harmon chose to remain at Michigan, leading the varsity football team to a 19–4–1 () record over the next three years.


title: Tom Harmon

text: In addition to football, Harmon was also a member of the basketball team for two years. He majored in English and speech at Michigan, aspiring to become a sports broadcaster, and, as a junior and senior, hosted a 15-minute program on the university radio station on Fridays.


title: Tom Harmon

text: In 1938, Michigan hired Fritz Crisler as its new football coach. As a sophomore, Harmon started seven of eight games at the right halfback position . He gained 405 rushing yards, averaging more than five yards per carry, and also completed 21 of 45 passes for 310 yards with only one interception. With Crisler as the coach, Harmon in the backfield, and consensus All-American Ralph Heikkinen at the guard position, the Wolverines lost only one game, a 7–6 loss to Minnesota, and improved their record to 6–1–1.


title: Tom Harmon

text: Harmon began to draw national press coverage in the fourth game of the 1938 season, as he led a second-half comeback against Yale. After losing to Minnesota in the third week of the season, the Wolverines trailed Yale 13–2 at halftime. Harmon set up Michigan's first touchdown with a pass to Norman Purucker in the third quarter and then led the Wolverines on their final drive late in the fourth quarter. The United Press described the game-winning drive as follows:


title: Tom Harmon

text: Michigan seemed to be fighting for a hopeless cause and the hand crawled around the clock toward the end of the game. In that moment of despair for all those who cheer for Michigan, Harmon came out of nowhere to dominate the field. When the Yale line braced on its own goal, Harmon gambled by waiting patiently with the ball in his hand until John Nicholson could get free to catch the pass that meant defeat for Yale.


title: Tom Harmon

text: Harmon continued to draw accolades the following week, as Michigan defeated Illinois by a 14–0 score. In the first quarter, Harmon ran for the Wolverines' first touchdown, "twisting and pushing his way the last few yards". He then "rifled" a pass to Forest Evashevski in the third quarter for Michigan's second touchdown.


title: Tom Harmon

text: In the final game of the 1938 season, Harmon led Michigan to an 18–0 victory over Ohio State in Columbus, Ohio, a game that was said to be the "climax of the Wolverines' return as a major gridiron power". Michigan had suffered four consecutive shutouts at the hands of the Buckeyes prior to the 1938 game. In the first quarter, Harmon ran for a touchdown, tallying Michigan's first points against Ohio State since 1933. In the fourth quarter, Harmon threw a 15-yard pass to Ed Frutig for Michigan's second touchdown.


title: Tom Harmon

text: At the end of the 1938 season, Harmon, described as "Michigan's sophomore sensation", won first-team honors on the United Press All-Big Ten Conference team. Harmon and teammate, Forest Evashevski, also won first-team all-conference honors from the Associated Press, becoming the first sophomores to be so honored since 1934.


title: Tom Harmon

text: As a junior in 1939, Harmon started at the right halfback position in seven of eight games. The Wolverines compiled a 6–2 record, with losses to Illinois and Minnesota, and were ranked number 20 in the final AP poll. For the season, Harmon rushed for 868 yards on 129 carries in eight games, an average of 6.7 yards per carry. His average of 108.5 yards per game was the best in the NCAA during the 1939 season, more than 20 yards higher than any other player (runner up John Polanski of Wake Forest averaged 88.2 rushing yards per game). He also led the nation in scoring with 102 points on 14 touchdowns, 15 extra points, and one field goal.


title: Tom Harmon

text: In the second game of the season, a 27–7 victory over Iowa, Harmon scored every point for Michigan, including four touchdowns and three extra points. His longest run of the day was for 91 yards. The Associated Press called it one of the most amazing individual performances seen in the Big Ten since the days of Red Grange, describing Harmon "[d]arting, dodging and twisting up and down the chalk lines like a ballet dancer". After the game, Michigan coach Crisler praised Harmon's all-around contributions:


title: Tom Harmon

text: Harmon has everything. He's best known as a runner, but I'd say his blocking and defensive work are equally good. . . . He has a wonderful change of pace and can dodge and cut on a dime.


title: Tom Harmon

text: In the third game of the season, an 85–0 victory over Chicago, Harmon ran 57 yards for a touchdown and threw touchdown passes to Forest Evashevski and Bob Westfall before being taken out of the game for the second- and third-string backfield.


title: Tom Harmon

text: In Michigan's fourth game, a 27–7 victory over Yale, Harmon scored three touchdowns, kicked three extra points, and gained 203 yards on 18 carries. His longest gain of the day was a 59-yard touchdown run on a reverse play around the left end.


title: Tom Harmon

text: In the final game of the 1939 season, Michigan defeated an Ohio State team that was ranked number six in the country. After the Buckeyes took a 14–0 lead in the first 10 minutes, Harmon led the Wolverines to a comeback victory by a 21–14 score. In the second quarter, Harmon threw a 49-yard pass to Joe Rogers and then connected with Evashevski for the touchdown. In the third quarter, Harmon scored Michigan's second touchdown on a run around the right end. With 50 second remaining in the game, Harmon faked a field goal attempt as the holder picked up the ball and ran 24 yards for a touchdown behind Harmon's blocking. Harmon also kicked all three extra points for Michigan.


title: Tom Harmon

text: At the end of the 1939 season, Harmon was selected as Michigan's most valuable player, and he was a consensus pick for the 1939 College Football All-America Team, receiving first-team honors from, among others, the All-America Board, the Associated Press, "Collier's Weekly", the International News Service, "Liberty", "Newsweek", the "Sporting News", the United Press, "Boys' Life", the Central Press Association, and "Life". He also finished second in the voting for the 1939 Heisman Trophy, garnering 405 votes, while Nile Kinnick won the award with 651 votes.


title: Tom Harmon

text: As a senior, Harmon started all eight games for Michigan, seven at left halfback and one at right halfback. The 1940 Michigan team compiled a 7–1 record, losing to national champion Minnesota by one point, and finished the season ranked number three in the final AP poll. For the season, Harmon rushed for 844 yards on 186 carries, an average of 4.5 yards per carry and 105.5 yards per game. For the second straight year, he also led the country in scoring with 117 points on 16 touchdowns, 18 extra points, and one field goal.


title: Tom Harmon

text: In the opening game of the 1940 season, Michigan defeated California by a 41–0 score. While celebrating his 21st birthday, Harmon scored four touchdowns, kicked four extra points, and threw a touchdown pass to David M. Nelson. Harmon's first touchdown came on the opening kickoff, which he returned 94 yards. His second touchdown came in the second quarter on a 72-yard punt return in which he reportedly dodged and swerved from one side of the field to the other, running about 100 yards before reaching the end zone. His third touchdown was on an 85-yard run in the second quarter. During the third touchdown run, a spectator jumped from the stands and ran onto the field trying to tackle Harmon. Even the 12th man, who was escorted off the field by police, could not stop Harmon from reaching the endzone. The Associated Press wrote that Harmon found California's defense "about as strong as a wet paper bag", noted that Harmon was "as hard to snare as a greased pig", and opined that the only reason Michigan's point total was not higher was that "Michigan's first-string players ran themselves into a complete state of exhaustion." After his performance against California, Fritz Crisler called Harmon "the greatest player I've ever coached".


title: Tom Harmon

text: In the second week of the season, Harmon, in a performance described by the Associated Press as "virtually a one-man show", ran for all three Michigan touchdowns and kicked all three extra points in a 21–14 victory over Michigan State. He increased his scoring total to 49 points after two games.


title: Tom Harmon

text: In the third week of the season, Michigan defeated Harvard by a 26–0 score, and Harmon increased his scoring total to 69 points, as he ran for three touchdowns, passed for another touchdown, and kicked two extra points. The United Press reported that the "smooth-gaited" Harmon "thrilled the spectators for more than three periods with brilliant dashes", and left the game in the fourth quarter to "tremendous applause" from the fans in Cambridge, Massachusetts.


title: Tom Harmon

text: In the season's fourth game, as Michigan defeated Illinois, 28–0, Harmon increased his point total to 80 as he ran for a touchdown and kicked a field goal and an extra point.


title: Tom Harmon

text: In Michigan's fifth game, Harmon played all 60 minutes and was responsible for both touchdowns in a 14–0 victory over a previously unbeaten Penn team featuring the country's second-leading scorer, Frank Reagan. Harmon ran 20 yards on a lateral from Evashevski for the first touchdown and passed 15 yards to Ed Frutig for the second. Harmon also kicked both of Michigan's extra points. He was responsible for 155 yards from scrimmage, played the second half with his shirt "half ripped off his back", and reportedly "gave the dogged Quaker defense a going over that will never be forgotten".


title: Tom Harmon

text: In the sixth game, Michigan suffered its only loss to Minnesota. Playing on a wet and slippery field, Harmon completed 9 of 14 passes, despite throwing what was described as "a bar of slippery soap", including a touchdown pass to Evashevski. Harmon missed the extra point kick that left Michigan trailing 7–6. Harmon later recalled: "It makes me sick to think of the chances we blew that day. We should have beaten them by four or five touchdowns. They're a good club, but we're better, and so is Northwestern."


title: Tom Harmon

text: In his final college football game, Harmon led the Wolverines to a 40–0 victory over Ohio State, scoring three rushing touchdowns, two passing touchdowns, and four extra points, and intercepting three passes, and punting three times for an average of 50 yards. In a display of sportsmanship and appreciation, the Ohio State fans in Columbus gave Harmon a standing ovation at game's end. No other Wolverine player has been so honored, before or since.


title: Tom Harmon

text: In his three seasons at Michigan, Harmon rushed for 2,151 yards on 399 carries, completed 101 of 233 passes for 1,396 yards and 16 touchdowns, and scored 237 points. During his career, he played all 60 minutes eight times. Harmon also scored 33 touchdowns, breaking Red Grange's collegiate record of 31 touchdowns. He led the nation in scoring in both 1939 and 1940 (a feat that remains unmatched). His career average of 9.9 points per game stood as an NCAA record for ten seasons.


title: Tom Harmon

text: Harmon was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1954, the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame in 1962, the Indiana Football Hall of Fame in 1974, and the University of Michigan Athletic Hall of Honor (as one of five inaugural inductees) in 1978. In 2007, Harmon was ranked 16th on ESPN's Top 25 Players in College Football list. Harmon was also ranked fifth on the Big Ten Network's program "Big Ten Icons", honoring the greatest athletes in the Big Ten Conference's history.


title: Tom Harmon

text: In November 1940, Michigan's equipment manager announced that Harmon's jersey number, 98, would be retired when Harmon played his last game. About 73 years later, Michigan unretired Harmon's jersey as part of its Michigan Football Legends program. During a ceremony in September 2013, Harmon was honored as a Michigan Football Legend, and Devin Gardner was chosen as the first Michigan player since 1940 to wear the jersey.


title: Tom Harmon

text: In December 1940, Harmon was selected by the Chicago Bears with the first selection in the first round of the 1941 NFL Draft. However, Harmon declined to sign with the Bears, initially stating that he was through playing football and instead planned to pursue a career in radio and the movies.


title: Tom Harmon

text: In March 1941, Harmon signed a contract with Columbia Pictures to star in a motion picture, titled "Harmon of Michigan", with filming set to commence in July 1941, after Harmon graduated from Michigan. The film was released later that year. His film appearances included two Paramount Martin and Lewis comedies as a sports announcer, "That's My Boy" (1951) and "The Caddy" (1953).


title: Tom Harmon

text: On October 10, 1941, the New York Americans of the rival American Football League announced that they had signed Harmon to play in the final four games of the 1941 season for around $1,500 per game.


title: Tom Harmon

text: In May 1941, the draft board in Lake County, Indiana, announced that Harmon had been classified as 1-B and deferred as a student until July 1, 1941. In July 1941, Harmon was granted a further 60-day deferment based on his claim that he was the sole support for his parents. In September 1941, he appeared in front of the draft board seeking a permanent deferment. His request was denied, and he was classified as 1-A. Harmon, then working as a radio announcer in Detroit, stated that he intended to appeal the ruling. His appeal was denied in October 1941, and he was given until November 1941 to enlist.


title: Tom Harmon

text: Harmon applied to enlist as a cadet in the United States Army Air Corps in early November 1941. He was granted permission to enlist as a cadet in March 1942. Despite rumors that he had washed out of flight school, Harmon underwent his first 60 hours of flight training at Oxnard Air Force Base in Camarillo, California, and then finished basic flying school at Gardner Army Airfield in Taft, California, in September 1942. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant and a twin-engined bomber pilot and assigned to Williams Field in Arizona in October 1942.


title: Tom Harmon

text: In April 1943, an Army bomber piloted by Harmon, and nicknamed "Old 98" after Harmon's football jersey number, crashed into the South American jungle while en route to North Africa. Harmon reported that he had been flying through heavy rain turbulence for two hours. When Harmon tried to fly the plane to an opening in the weather, there was a sharp crack from the right wing and engine, and Harmon was unable to pull the plane from a steep dive. After ordering his crew to bail out, Harmon parachuted from the plane at 1,500 feet. He ended up in a tree 20 yards from where his plane crashed. Out of a crew of six, Harmon was the sole survivor of the crash and spent several days working his way through jungle and swamp. He ultimately came upon natives in Dutch Guiana who escorted him in a dugout canoe to a village, where he was taken by outrigger canoe to a base of the Antilles Air Command.


title: Tom Harmon

text: After a brief assignment as a Lockheed P-38 Lightning pilot in North Africa, Harmon was assigned to duty with the 449th Fighter Interceptor Squadron in China in the summer of 1943. In October of that year, while escorting bombers on a low-level mission over Kiukiang, Harmon's P-38 was shot down over the Yangtze River by a Japanese Zero during a dogfight. According to some accounts, Harmon shot down two Zeros in a dogfight over the Kiukiang docks and warehouses. Harmon was forced to bail out into Japanese-occupied China. He was later rescued by anti-Japanese Chinese guerrillas. Harmon was awarded the Purple Heart and the Silver Star for his actions with the 449th Fighter Squadron.


title: Tom Harmon

text: Harmon returned from China in January 1944. In November 1944, Harmon's account of his war service was published by Thomas Y. Crowell Company under the title, "Pilots Also Pray". He was promoted to the rank of captain in April 1945, and he was discharged from the military at the end of the war on August 13, 1945.


title: Tom Harmon

text: In August 1945, upon his discharge from the military, Harmon joined the college all-star team to play against the NFL champions (the Green Bay Packers) in the annual College Football All-Star Classic in Chicago. Although the Packers defeated the college all-star team by a 19–7 score, Harmon provided a highlight with a 76-yard kickoff return that set up the all-stars' only touchdown. Harmon also kicked the extra point.


title: Tom Harmon

text: Even before his playing days had ended, Harmon had begun to pursue a career in broadcasting. Before joining the military, he worked as the sports editor for WJR radio in Detroit. In September 1945, Harmon returned to Detroit's WJR radio to broadcast Michigan football games for the 1945 season. In October 1945, Harmon was hired to do a Saturday evening sports-feature program to be broadcast on the Mutual Radio Network. He said at the time that his playing days were behind him and that he intended to move to California after the football season was over.


title: Tom Harmon

text: Harmon's retirement from football was short-lived. In July 1946, he signed a two-year contract to play professional football for the Los Angeles Rams. Harmon later recalled that his return to the playing field was reluctant and made necessary by a $7,000 tax bill he received for his prewar earnings.


title: Tom Harmon

text: A "series of injuries to war-weakened muscles" hampered his comeback. He appeared in 10 games for the Rams during the 1946 NFL season, rushing for 236 yards on 47 carries, and catching 10 passes for 199 yards. He had an 84-yard run against the Chicago Bears on October 14, 1946, that was the longest in the NFL in 1946. He also gained 135 yards on 18 carries in a 1946 game against the Green Bay Packers. The following year, Harmon appeared in 12 games for the Rams, gaining 306 rushing yards on 60 carries, and catching five passes for 89 yards.


title: Tom Harmon

text: Harmon believed that his talents did not fit with the T-formation offense run by the Rams, and having broken his nose 13 times, he retired for good from his playing career after the 1947 season. Harmon later recalled that he went from a $1,500-a-week job as a player to a $100-a-week position as an announcer in Glendale, California.


title: Tom Harmon

text: After retiring as a player in 1947, Harmon returned to his career as a sports broadcaster, becoming one of the first and most successful athletes to make the transition from player to broadcaster. Harmon attributed his successful career in radio and television to the early education he received from his drama teacher, Mary Gorrell, at Horace Mann high school. During the 1948 season, he broadcast Rams' games for KFI radio in Los Angeles. In the late 1940s, he was the play-by-play announcer for NBC on the first television broadcast of a Rose Bowl Game. From around 1950 to 1962, Harmon worked as a sportscaster for the CBS network. He also handled the nightly sport report on KTLA television in Los Angeles from 1958 to 1964.


title: Tom Harmon

text: In 1962, Harmon joined the sports staff of the ABC radio network. He developed a concept for a 10-minute daily sports program. He hired the crew, purchased the equipment, found sponsors, and then sold the program to ABC. His 10-minute broadcasts became a staple of the ABC radio network. By 1965, his company, Tom Harmon Sports, was generating annual gross revenue of $1 million and had six full-time employees.


title: Tom Harmon

text: In the early 1970s, Harmon was the spokesman in television commercials for Kellogg's Product 19 cereal. He also worked as the play-by-play announcer for UCLA Bruins football games on KTLA during the 1960s and 1970s. In his later years, he was the host of "Raider Playbook" on KNBC in Los Angeles and also handled play-by-play responsibility for Los Angeles Raiders' preseason games.


title: Tom Harmon

text: In August 1944, Harmon married actress and model Elyse Knox in a ceremony at St. Mary's student chapel at the University of Michigan. Harmon saved his silk parachute from the crash of his P-38, and it was used as the material for his wife's wedding dress. The couple had three children:


title: Tom Harmon

text: On March 15, 1990, Harmon suffered a heart attack at the Amanda Travel Agency in West Los Angeles after winning a golf tournament at Bel Air Country Club. He was taken to UCLA Medical Center, where he died at age 70.


title: Politics of Germany

text: Germany is a democratic and federal parliamentary republic, where federal legislative power is vested in the (the parliament of Germany) and the (the representative body of the , Germany's regional states).


title: Politics of Germany

text: The federal system has, since 1949, been dominated by the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). The judiciary of Germany is independent of the executive and the legislature, while it is common for leading members of the executive to be members of the legislature as well. The political system is laid out in the 1949 constitution, the (Basic Law), which remained in effect with minor amendments after German reunification in 1990.


title: Politics of Germany

text: The constitution emphasizes the protection of individual liberty in an extensive catalogue of human and civil rights and divides powers both between the federal and state levels and between the legislative, executive and judicial branches.


title: Politics of Germany

text: West Germany was a founding member of the European Community in 1958, which became the EU in 1993. Germany is part of the Schengen Area, and has been a member of the eurozone since 1999. It is a member of the United Nations, NATO, the G7, the G20 and the OECD.


title: Politics of Germany

text: Beginning with the election of Konrad Adenauer in 1949, the Federal Republic of Germany had Christian Democratic chancellors for 20 years until a coalition between the Social Democrats and the Liberals took over. From 1982, Christian Democratic leader Helmut Kohl was chancellor in a coalition with the Liberals for 16 years. In this period fell the reunification of Germany, in 1990: the German Democratic Republic joined the Federal Republic. In the former GDR's territory, five "Länder" (states) were established or reestablished. The two parts of Berlin united as one "Land" (state).


title: Politics of Germany

text: The political system of the Federal Republic remained more or less unchanged. Specific provisions for the former GDR territory were enabled via the "unification treaty" between the Federal Republic and the GDR prior to the unification day of 3 October 1990. However, Germany saw in the following two distinct party systems: the Green party and the Liberals remained mostly West German parties, while in the East the former socialist state party, now called The Left Party, flourished along with the Christian Democrats and Social Democrats.


title: Politics of Germany

text: After 16 years of the Christian–Liberal coalition, led by Helmut Kohl, the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) together with the Greens won the Bundestag elections of 1998. SPD vice chairman Gerhard Schröder positioned himself as a centrist candidate, in contradiction to the leftist SPD chairman Oskar Lafontaine. The Kohl government was hurt at the polls by slower economic growth in the East in the previous two years, and constantly high unemployment. The final margin of victory was sufficiently high to permit a "red-green" coalition of the SPD with Alliance 90/The Greens (), bringing the Greens into a national government for the first time.


title: Politics of Germany

text: Initial problems of the new government, marked by policy disputes between the moderate and traditional left wings of the SPD, resulted in some voter disaffection. Lafontaine left the government (and later his party) in early 1999. The CDU won in some important state elections but was hit in 2000 by a party donation scandal from the Kohl years. As a result of this Christian Democratic Union (CDU) crisis, Angela Merkel became chair.


title: Politics of Germany

text: The next election for the was on 22 September 2002. Gerhard Schröder led the coalition of SPD and Greens to an eleven-seat victory over the Christian Democrat challengers headed by Edmund Stoiber (CSU). Three factors are generally cited that enabled Schröder to win the elections despite poor approval ratings a few months before and a weaker economy: good handling of the 100-year flood, firm opposition to the US 2003 invasion of Iraq, and Stoiber's unpopularity in the east, which cost the CDU crucial seats there.


title: Politics of Germany

text: In its second term, the red–green coalition lost several very important state elections, for example in Lower Saxony where Schröder was the prime minister from 1990 to 1998. On 20 April 2003, chancellor Schröder announced massive labor market reforms, called Agenda 2010, that cut unemployment benefits. Although these reforms sparked massive protests, they are now credited with being in part responsible for the relatively strong economic performance of Germany during the euro-crisis and the decrease in unemployment in Germany in the years 2006–2007.


title: Politics of Germany

text: On 22 May 2005 the SPD received a devastating defeat in its former heartland, North Rhine-Westphalia. Half an hour after the election results, the SPD chairman Franz Müntefering announced that the chancellor would clear the way for new federal elections.


title: Politics of Germany

text: This took the republic by surprise, especially because the SPD was below 20% in polls at the time. The CDU quickly announced Angela Merkel as Christian Democrat candidate for chancellor, aspiring to be the first female chancellor in German history.


title: Politics of Germany

text: New for the 2005 election was the alliance between the newly formed Electoral Alternative for Labor and Social Justice (WASG) and the PDS, planning to fuse into a common party (see Left Party.PDS). With the former SPD chairman, Oskar Lafontaine for the WASG and Gregor Gysi for the PDS as prominent figures, this alliance soon found interest in the media and in the population. Polls in July saw them as high as 12%.


title: Politics of Germany

text: Whereas in May and June 2005 victory of the Christian Democrats seemed highly likely, with some polls giving them an absolute majority, this picture changed shortly before the election on 18 September 2005.


title: Politics of Germany

text: The election results of 18 September were surprising because they differed widely from the polls of the previous weeks. The Christian Democrats even lost votes compared to 2002, narrowly reaching the first place with only 35.2%, and failed to get a majority for a "black–yellow" government of CDU/CSU and liberal FDP. But the red–green coalition also failed to get a majority, with the SPD losing votes, but polling 34.2% and the greens staying at 8.1%. The Left reached 8.7% and entered the "Bundestag", whereas the far-right NPD only got 1.6%.


title: Politics of Germany

text: The most likely outcome of coalition talks was a so-called grand coalition between the Christian Democrats (CDU/CSU) and the Social Democrats (SPD). Three party coalitions and coalitions involving The Left had been ruled out by all interested parties (including The Left itself). On 22 November 2005, Angela Merkel was sworn in by President Horst Köhler for the office of Bundeskanzlerin.


title: Politics of Germany

text: The existence of the grand coalition on federal level helped smaller parties' electoral prospects in state elections. Since in 2008, the CSU lost its absolute majority in Bavaria and formed a coalition with the FDP, the grand coalition had no majority in the "Bundesrat" and depended on FDP votes on important issues. In November 2008, the SPD re-elected its already retired chair Franz Müntefering and made Frank-Walter Steinmeier its leading candidate for the federal election in September 2009.


title: Politics of Germany

text: As a result of that federal election, the grand coalition brought losses for both parties and came to an end. The SPD suffered the heaviest losses in its history and was unable to form a coalition government. The CDU/CSU had only little losses but also reached a new historic low with its worst result since 1949. The three smaller parties thus had more seats in the German "Bundestag" than ever before, with the liberal party FDP winning 14.6% of votes.


title: Politics of Germany

text: The CDU/CSU and FDP together held 332 seats (of 622 total seats) and had been in coalition since 27 October 2009. Angela Merkel was re-elected as chancellor, and Guido Westerwelle served as the foreign minister and vice chancellor of Germany. After being elected into the federal government, the FDP suffered heavy losses in the following state elections. The FDP had promised to lower taxes in the electoral campaign, but after being part of the coalition they had to concede that this was not possible due to the economic crisis of 2008. Because of the losses, Guido Westerwelle had to resign as chair of the FDP in favor of Philipp Rösler, federal minister of health, who was consequently appointed as vice chancellor. Shortly after, Philipp Rösler changed office and became federal minister of economics and technology.


title: Politics of Germany

text: After their electoral fall, the Social Democrats were led by Sigmar Gabriel, a former federal minister and prime minister of Lower Saxony, and by Frank-Walter Steinmeier as the head of the parliamentary group. He resigned on 16 January 2017 and proposed his longtime friend and president of European Parliament Martin Schulz as his successor and chancellor candidate.


title: Politics of Germany

text: Germany has seen increased political activity by citizens outside the established political parties with respect to local and environmental issues such as the location of Stuttgart 21, a railway hub, and construction of Berlin Brandenburg Airport.


title: Politics of Germany

text: The 18th federal elections in Germany resulted in the re-election of Angela Merkel and her Christian democratic parliamentary group of the parties CDU and CSU, receiving 41.5% of all votes. Following Merkel's first two historically low results, her third campaign marked the CDU/CSU's best result since 1994 and only for the second time in German history the possibility of gaining an absolute majority. Their former coalition partner, the FDP, narrowly failed to reach the 5% threshold and did not gain seats in the Bundestag.


title: Politics of Germany

text: Not having reached an absolute majority, the CDU/CSU formed a grand coalition with the social-democratic SPD after the longest coalition talks in history, making the head of the party Sigmar Gabriel vice-chancellor and federal minister for economic affairs and energy. Together they held 504 of a total 631 seats (CDU/CSU 311 and SPD 193). The only two opposition parties were The Left (64 seats) and Alliance '90/The Greens (63 seats), which was acknowledged as creating a critical situation in which the opposition parties did not even have enough seats to use the special controlling powers of the opposition.


title: Politics of Germany

text: The 19th federal elections in Germany took place on 24 September 2017. The two big parties, the conservative parliamentary group CDU/CSU and the social democrat SPD were in a similar situation as in 2009, after the last grand coalition had ended, and both had suffered severe losses; reaching their second worst and worst result respectively in 2017.


title: Politics of Germany

text: Many votes in the 2017 elections went to smaller parties, leading the right-wing populist party AfD (Alternative for Germany) into the Bundestag which marked a big shift in German politics since it was the first far-right party to win seats in parliament since the 1950s.


title: Politics of Germany

text: With Merkel's candidacy for a fourth term, the CDU/CSU only reached 33.0% of the votes, but won the highest number of seats, leaving no realistic coalition option without the CDU/CSU. As all parties in the Bundestag strictly ruled out a coalition with the AfD, the only options for a majority coalition were a so-called "Jamaican" coalition (CDU/CSU, FDP, Greens; named after the party colors resembling those of the Jamaican flag) and a grand coalition with the SPD, which was at first opposed by the Social Democrats and their leader Martin Schulz.


title: Politics of Germany

text: Coalition talks between the three parties of the "Jamaican" coalition were held but the final proposal was rejected by the liberals of the FDP, leaving the government in limbo. Following the unprecedented situation, for the first time in German history different minority coalitions or even direct snap coalitions were also heavily discussed. At this point, Federal President Steinmeier invited leaders of all parties for talks about a government, being the first president in the history of the Federal Republic to do so.


title: Politics of Germany

text: Official coalition talks between CDU/CSU and SPD started in January 2018 and led to a renewal of the grand coalition on 12 March 2018 as well as the subsequent re-election of Angela Merkel as chancellor.


title: Politics of Germany

text: Scheduled elections for the new Bundestag were held on 26 September 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic. Angela Merkel did not stand for a fifth term but handed her post over after the second longest term for a chancellor in German history. Olaf Scholz was sworn in as the new chancellor on 8 December 2021. His Social Democrats had won the majority of votes and formed a liberal-left coalition government with The Greens and the FDP.


title: Politics of Germany

text: In February 2022, Frank-Walter Steinmeier was elected for a second five-year term as Germany's president. Although largely ceremonial post, he has been seen as a symbol of consensus and continuity.


title: Politics of Germany

text: After Russia's Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Germany’s previous foreign policy towards Russia ( traditional Ostpolitik) has been severely criticized for having been too credulous and soft.


title: Politics of Germany

text: The "Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany" (Grundgesetz der Bundesrepublik Deutschland) is the Constitution of Germany. It was formally approved on 8 May 1949, and, with the signature of the Allies of World War II on 12 May, came into effect on 23 May, as the constitution of those states of West Germany that were initially included within the Federal Republic. The 1949 Basic Law is a response to the perceived flaws of the 1919 Weimar Constitution, which failed to prevent the rise of the Nazi party in 1933. Since 1990, in the course of the reunification process after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Basic Law also applies to the eastern states of the former German Democratic Republic.


title: Politics of Germany

text: The German head of state is the federal president. As in Germany's parliamentary system of government, the federal chancellor runs the government and day-to-day politics, while the role of the federal president is mostly ceremonial. The federal president, by their actions and public appearances, represents the state itself, its existence, its legitimacy, and unity. Their office involves an integrative role. Nearly all actions of the federal president become valid only after a countersignature of a government member.


title: Politics of Germany

text: The president is not obliged by Constitution to refrain from political views. The president is expected to give direction to general political and societal debates, but not in a way that is linked to party politics. Most German presidents were active politicians and party members prior to the office, which means that they have to change their political style when becoming president. The function comprises the official residence of Bellevue Palace.


title: Politics of Germany

text: Under Article 59 (1) of the Basic Law, the federal president represents the Federal Republic of Germany in matters of international law, concludes treaties with foreign states on its behalf and accredits diplomats.


title: Politics of Germany

text: All federal laws must be signed by the president before they can come into effect. The president does not have formal a veto, but the conditions for refusing to sign a law on the basis of unconstitutionality are the subject of debate. The office is currently held by Frank-Walter Steinmeier (since 2017).


title: Politics of Germany

text: The federal president does have a role in the political system, especially at the establishment of a new government and the dissolution of the Bundestag (parliament). This role is usually nominal but can become significant in case of political instability. Additionally, a federal president together with the Federal Council can support the government in a "legislatory emergency state" to enable laws against the will of the Bundestag (Article 81 of the Basic Law). However, so far the federal president has never had to use these "reserve powers".


title: Politics of Germany

text: The "Bundeskanzler" (federal chancellor) heads the "Bundesregierung" (federal government) and thus the executive branch of the federal government. They are elected by and responsible to the "Bundestag", Germany's parliament. The other members of the government are the federal ministers; they are chosen by the Chancellor. Germany, like the United Kingdom, can thus be classified as a parliamentary system. The office is currently held by Olaf Scholz (since 2021).


title: Politics of Germany

text: The Chancellor cannot be removed from office during a four-year term unless the "Bundestag" has agreed on a successor. This constructive vote of no confidence is intended to avoid a similar situation to that of the Weimar Republic in which the executive did not have enough support in the legislature to govern effectively, but the legislature was too divided to name a successor. The current system also prevents the Chancellor from calling a snap election.


title: Politics of Germany

text: Except in the periods 1969–1972 and 1976–1982, when the Social Democratic party of Chancellor Brandt and Schmidt came in second in the elections, the chancellor has always been the candidate of the largest party, usually supported by a coalition of two parties with a majority in the parliament. The chancellor appoints one of the federal ministers as their deputy, who has the unofficial title Vice Chancellor (). The office is currently held by Robert Habeck (since 2021).


title: Politics of Germany

text: The German Cabinet ( or ) is the chief executive body of the Federal Republic of Germany. It consists of the chancellor and the cabinet ministers. The fundamentals of the cabinet's organization are set down in articles 62–69 of the Basic Law. The current cabinet is Scholz (since 2021).


title: Politics of Germany

text: Federal legislative power is divided between the "Bundestag" and the "Bundesrat". The "Bundestag" is directly elected by the German people, while the "Bundesrat" represents the governments of the regional states ("Länder"). The federal legislature has powers of exclusive jurisdiction and concurrent jurisdiction with the states in areas specified in the constitution.


title: Politics of Germany

text: The "Bundestag" is more powerful than the "Bundesrat" and only needs the latter's consent for proposed legislation related to revenue shared by the federal and state governments, and the imposition of responsibilities on the states. In practice, however, the agreement of the "Bundesrat" in the legislative process is often required, since federal legislation frequently has to be executed by state or local agencies. In the event of disagreement between the "Bundestag" and the "Bundesrat", either side can appeal to the (Mediation Committee), a conference committee-like body of 16 "Bundesrat" and 16 "Bundestag" members, to find a compromise.


title: Politics of Germany

text: The "Bundestag" (Federal Diet) is elected for a four-year term and consists of 598 or more members elected by a means of mixed-member proportional representation, which Germans call "personalised proportional representation". 299 members represent single-seat constituencies and are elected by a first past the post electoral system. Parties that obtain fewer constituency seats than their national share of the vote are allotted seats from party lists to make up the difference. In contrast, parties that obtain more constituency seats than their national share of the vote are allowed to keep these so-called overhang seats. In the parliament that was elected in 2009, there were 24 overhang seats, giving the "Bundestag" a total of 622 members. After Bundestag elections since 2013, other parties obtain extra seats ("balance seats") that offset advantages from their rival's overhang seats. The current "Bundestag" is the largest in German history with 736 members.


title: Politics of Germany

text: A party must receive either five percent of the national vote or win at least three directly elected seats to be eligible for non-constituency seats in the "Bundestag". This rule, often called the "five percent hurdle", was incorporated into Germany's election law to prevent political fragmentation and disproportionately influential minority parties.


title: Politics of Germany

text: The first "Bundestag" elections were held in the Federal Republic of Germany ("West Germany") on 14 August 1949. Following reunification, elections for the first all-German "Bundestag" were held on 2 December 1990. The last federal election was held on 26 September 2021.


title: Politics of Germany

text: The main difference between the Federal Constitutional Court and the Federal Court of Justice is that the Federal Constitutional Court may only be called if a constitutional matter within a case is in question (e.g. a possible violation of human rights in a criminal trial), while the Federal Court of Justice may be called in any case.


title: Politics of Germany

text: Germany maintains a network of 229 diplomatic missions abroad and holds relations with more than 190 countries. It is the largest contributor to the budget of the European Union (providing 27%) and third largest contributor to the United Nations (providing 8%). Germany is a member of the NATO defence alliance, the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the G8, the G20, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).


title: Politics of Germany

text: Germany has played a leading role in the European Union since its inception and has maintained a strong alliance with France since the end of World War II. The alliance was especially close in the late 1980s and early 1990s under the leadership of Christian Democrat Helmut Kohl and Socialist François Mitterrand. Germany is at the forefront of European states seeking to advance the creation of a more unified European political, defence, and security apparatus. For a number of decades after WWII, the Federal Republic of Germany kept a notably low profile in international relations, because of both its recent history and its occupation by foreign powers.


title: Politics of Germany

text: During the Cold War, Germany's partition by the Iron Curtain made it a symbol of East–West tensions and a political battleground in Europe. However, Willy Brandt's "Ostpolitik" was a key factor in the "détente" of the 1970s. In 1999, Chancellor Gerhard Schröder's government defined a new basis for German foreign policy by taking a full part in the decisions surrounding the NATO war against Yugoslavia and by sending German troops into combat for the first time since World War II.


title: Politics of Germany

text: The governments of Germany and the United States are close political allies. The 1948 Marshall Plan and strong cultural ties have crafted a strong bond between the two countries, although Schröder's very vocal opposition to the Iraq War had suggested the end of Atlanticism and a relative cooling of German–American relations. The two countries are also economically interdependent: 5.0% of German exports in goods are US-bound and 3.5% of German imported goods originate from the US with a trade deficit of -63,678.5 million dollars for the United States (2017). Other signs of the close ties include the continuing position of German–Americans as the largest reported ethnic group in the US, and the status of Ramstein Air Base (near Kaiserslautern) as the largest US military community outside the US.


title: Politics of Germany

text: The policy on foreign aid is an important area of German foreign policy. It is formulated by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and carried out by the implementing organisations. The German government sees development policy as a joint responsibility of the international community. It is the world's fourth biggest aid donor after the United States, the United Kingdom and France. Germany spent 0.37 per cent of its gross domestic product (GDP) on development, which is below the government's target of increasing aid to 0.51 per cent of GDP by 2010.


title: Politics of Germany

text: Germany comprises sixteen states that are collectively referred to as . Due to differences in size and population, the subdivision of these states varies especially between city-states () and states with larger territories (). For regional administrative purposes five states, namely Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Hesse, North Rhine-Westphalia and Saxony, consist of a total of 22 Government Districts (). As of 2009 Germany is divided into 403 districts () on municipal level, these consist of 301 rural districts and 102 urban districts.


title: Chick-fil-A and LGBT people

text: In June 2012, following a series of public comments opposing same-sex marriage by Dan T. Cathy, Chick-fil-A's chief executive officer, related issues have arisen between the international fast food restaurant and the LGBT community. This followed reports that Chick-fil-A's charitable endeavor, the S. Truett Cathy-operated WinShape Foundation, had donated millions of dollars to organizations seen by LGBT activists as hostile to LGBT rights. Activists called for protests and boycotts, while supporters of the restaurant chain and opponents of same-sex marriage ate there in support of the restaurant. National political figures both for and against the actions spoke out and some business partners severed ties with the chain.


title: Chick-fil-A and LGBT people

text: The outcome of the initial controversy was mixed, as Chick-fil-A's sales rose twelve percent to $4.6 billion in the period immediately following the controversy; this was largely attributed to former Governor of Arkansas Mike Huckabee's counter-boycott launched in support of the restaurant. However, the company's public image and standing with the LGBT community was damaged, with the chain facing criticism and condemnation from politicians and gay rights activists, as well as efforts by activists and political officials to ban the restaurant from college campuses, airports, and elsewhere. Chick-fil-A released a statement in July 2012 stating, "Going forward, our intent is to leave the policy debate over same-sex marriage to the government and political arena." In March 2014, tax filings for 2012 showed the group stopped funding all but one organization which had been previously criticized, the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.


title: Chick-fil-A and LGBT people

text: In 2017, tax filings showed that the groups supported by Chick-fil-A expanded to include The Salvation Army, which has been seen as counter to LGBTQ rights. In November 2019, Chick-fil-A announced that it would not make contributions in 2020 to the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and The Salvation Army. They did not establish any criteria for corporate donations that would rule out future contributions to groups criticized as anti-LGBTQ.


title: Chick-fil-A and LGBT people

text: The WinShape Foundation, a charitable endeavor of Chick-fil-A founder S. Truett Cathy and his family, stated that it would not allow same-sex couples to participate in its marriage retreats. Chick-fil-A gave over $8 million to the WinShape Foundation in 2010. Equality Matters, an LGBT watchdog group, published reports of donations by WinShape to organizations that Equality Matters considers anti-gay, including $2 million in 2009, $1.9 million in 2010 and a total of $5 million since 2003, including grants to the Family Research Council and Georgia Family Council. WinShape contributed grants to the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and Exodus International, an organization noted for supporting ex-gay conversion therapy.The Marriage and Family Foundation received $994,199 in 2009 and $1,188,380 in 2010. The Family Research Council, an organization listed as an anti-gay hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center in winter 2010, received $1000.


title: Chick-fil-A and LGBT people

text: In January 2011, the media reported that the American fast food restaurant chain Chick-fil-A was co-sponsoring a marriage conference along with the Pennsylvania Family Institute (PFI), an organization that had filed an amicus brief against striking down Proposition 8 in California (see "Perry v. Brown"). The PFI lobbied against a state effort to ban discrimination in Pennsylvania on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. Responding on its official company Facebook page, Chick-fil-A said that support of the PFI retreat had come from a local franchisee, stating "We have determined that one of our independent restaurant operators in Pennsylvania was asked to provide sandwiches to two Art of Marriage video seminars."


title: Chick-fil-A and LGBT people

text: Tax filings for 2012 showed that Chick-fil-A created a new foundation, the Chick-fil-A Foundation, to provide grants to outside groups. It funded only one previously funded group, the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Other filings for WinShape Foundation showed no funding for groups opposed to LGBT causes.


title: Chick-fil-A and LGBT people

text: On June 16, 2012, while on the syndicated radio talk show, "The Ken Coleman Show", Chick-fil-A president and chief operating officer (COO) Dan Cathy stated:


title: Chick-fil-A and LGBT people

text: The following month, on July 2, "Biblical Recorder" published an interview with Dan Cathy, who was asked about opposition to his company's "support of the traditional family." He replied: "Well, guilty as charged." Cathy continued:


title: Chick-fil-A and LGBT people

text: The day after the Supreme Court of the United States struck down Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act, Cathy tweeted, "Sad day for our nation; founding fathers would be ashamed of our gen. to abandon wisdom of the ages re: cornerstone of strong societies." The tweet was subsequently deleted, but was archived by "Topsy".


title: Chick-fil-A and LGBT people

text: In March 2014, Cathy said he regretted drawing his company into the controversy. He told the "Atlanta Journal-Constitution" he has been working with Shane Windmeyer of Campus Pride since 2012. The article noted that WinShape and the Chick-fil-A Foundation had "dramatically" cut donations to groups opposed by same-sex marriage supporters.


title: Chick-fil-A and LGBT people

text: In September 2012, The Civil Rights Agenda (TCRA) announced that Chick-fil-A had "ceased donating to organizations that promote discrimination, specifically against LGBT civil rights". This change in policy was not confirmed by Chick-fil-A officials. Chick-fil-A officials did state in an internal document that they "will treat every person equally, regardless of sexual orientation". In a letter from Chick-fil-A's Senior Director of Real Estate, the company states, "The WinShape Foundation is now taking a much closer look at the organizations it considers helping, and in that process will remain true to its stated philosophy of not supporting organizations with political agendas."


title: Chick-fil-A and LGBT people

text: According to Focus on the Family website, "CitizenLink.com": "Contrary to reports first made by the gay-activist group The Civil Rights Agenda (TCRA) on Tuesday and later picked up by mainstream media outlets, Chick-fil-A and its charitable-giving arm, the WinShape Foundation, did not agree to stop making donations to groups that support the biblical definition of marriage in exchange for being allowed to open a franchise in Chicago."


title: Chick-fil-A and LGBT people

text: Former Arkansas Governor and FOX News commentator Mike Huckabee claimed on September 21, 2012, that he had "talked earlier today personally with Dan Cathy, CEO of Chick-fil-A about the new reports that Chick-fil-A had capitulated to demands of the supporters of same sex marriage. This is not true. The company continues to focus on the fair treatment of all of its customers and employees, but to end confusion gave me this statement." The statement provided by Chick-fil-A was posted on Huckabee's website but the company did not respond to requests for comment. In March 2014, new tax filings from 2012 showed that the company had stopped funding all but one organization which had been previously criticized by LGBT activists and supporters, and that group received just $25,390. The company created a new foundation, the Chick-fil-A Foundation, to fund outside groups. WinShape Foundation's 2012 tax filings showed funding only for its own programs, a Berry College scholarship fund, and Lars WinShape, a home for needy children in Brazil.


title: Chick-fil-A and LGBT people

text: In 2017, Chick-fil-A said it was warning all its franchisees against speaking out publicly or getting involved in anything that could blur the line between their private beliefs and their public roles as extensions of the Chick-fil-A brand. In 2017, that message extended to politics, in part to keep the brand from being exploited by candidates. The company turned down several candidates who tried to use Chick-fil-A to bolster their campaigns, according to David Farmer, Chick-fil-A's vice president of menu strategy and development. "There are several candidates who would like to use us as a platform," Farmer told Business Insider. "We are not engaging. Chick-fil-A is about food, and that's it. "The company still encourages its franchisees to get 'entrenched' in their communities..." Traditionally, that has meant getting involved in local churches. Chick-fil-A says its focus now—both for local and corporate involvement and philanthropy—is on youth and education causes.In 2017, Chick-fil-A said it was warning all its franchisees against speaking out publicly or getting involved in anything that could blur the line between their private beliefs and their public roles as extensions of the Chick-fil-A brand. In 2017, that message extended to politics, in part to keep the brand from being exploited by candidates. The company turned down several candidates who tried to use Chick-fil-A to bolster their campaigns, according to David Farmer, Chick-fil-A's vice president of menu strategy and development. "There are several candidates who would like to use us as a platform," Farmer told Business Insider. "We are not engaging. Chick-fil-A is about food, and that's it. "The company still encourages its franchisees to get 'entrenched' in their communities..."


title: Chick-fil-A and LGBT people

text: In an interview with "Bisnow" in 2019, Chick-fil-A President Tim Tassopoulos said the company will stop donating to charities with anti-LGBT views. The company will instead donate to charities focused on education, homelessness and hunger. These new organizations could include both faith-based and non-faith-based charities, but the company said none of the organizations have anti-LGBT positions. Nonetheless, it is not clear that the company has discontinued funding non-profit organizations that are hostile to LGBT rights.


title: Chick-fil-A and LGBT people

text: On May 29, 2019, the Federal Aviation Administration's office of civil rights started an investigation on Buffalo Niagara International Airport and San Antonio International Airport for excluding Chick-fil-A from opening a restaurant in their airport because of the company's long history of supporting and funding anti-LGBTQ organizations. Federal requirements prohibit airport operators from excluding persons on the basis of religious creed from participating in airport activities that receive or benefit from FAA grant funding."


title: Chick-fil-A and LGBT people

text: After the publication of Cathy's interviews, Democrat Thomas Menino, the Mayor of Boston, stated that he would not allow the company to open franchises in the city "unless they open up their policies." Menino subsequently wrote a letter to Dan Cathy, citing Cathy's earlier statement on "The Ken Coleman Show", and responded: "We are indeed full of pride for our support of same sex marriage and our work to expand freedom for all people."


title: Chick-fil-A and LGBT people

text: In Chicago, Democratic alderman Proco Joe Moreno announced his determination to block Chick-fil-A's bid to build a second store in the city: "They'd have to do a complete 180", Moreno said in outlining conditions under which he would retract the block. "They'd have to work with LGBT groups in terms of hiring, and there would have to be a public apology from [Cathy]." Moreno received backing from Chicago's Mayor, Rahm Emanuel: "Chick-fil-A values are not Chicago values", Emanuel said in a statement. "They disrespect our fellow neighbors and residents. This would be a bad investment, since it would be empty." Also according to Moreno, Chick-fil-A included a statement of respect for all people regardless of sexual orientation in an internal document called "Chick-fil-A: Who We Are". A document released by Chick-fil-A on September 20, 2012, did not mention any organizations opposed to same-sex marriage as being part of Chick-fil-A's donation base. WinShape Marriage will continue to be supported financially, with a stated focus on couple retreats to strengthen marriages.


title: Chick-fil-A and LGBT people

text: San Francisco soon followed suit on July 26, 2012, when mayor Democrat Edwin M. Lee, the city's first Asian American mayor, tweeted, "Very disappointed #ChickFilA doesn't share San Francisco's values & strong commitment to equality for everyone." Lee followed that tweet with "Closest #ChickFilA to San Francisco is 40 miles away & I strongly recommend that they not try to come any closer."


title: Chick-fil-A and LGBT people

text: Later the same month, Washington D.C. mayor Democrat Vincent C. Gray continued the trend by announcing Chick-fil-A is not welcome in his city, and proceeded to call it "hate chicken".


title: Chick-fil-A and LGBT people

text: The proposed bans in Boston and Chicago drew criticism from some liberal pundits, legal experts, and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Kevin Drum of "Mother Jones" magazine said "[T]here's really no excuse for Emanuel's and Menino's actions... you don't hand out business licenses based on whether you agree with the political views of the executives. Not in America, anyway ... what makes this whole situation so weird is that Chick-fil-A President Dan Cathy has always opposed gay marriage. He's a devout Southern Baptist, just like his father, who founded the company. The place is closed on Sundays, for crying out loud. There's just nothing new here." UCLA law professor and blogger Eugene Volokh observed, "[D]enying a private business permits because of such speech by its owner is a blatant First Amendment violation."


title: Chick-fil-A and LGBT people

text: Echoing those views were Glenn Greenwald of "Salon", professor John Turley of The George Washington University Law School, Adam Schwartz, a senior attorney with the ACLU, and Michael C. Dorf, the Robert S. Stevens Professor of Law at Cornell University Law School.


title: Chick-fil-A and LGBT people

text: In March 2019, Texas' attorney general, Ken Paxton, opened an investigation after the city of San Antonio decided to reject the application for Chick-fil-A to open a store at San Antonio International Airport because of the company's stand on LGBT issues. Paxton said that the ban was "the opposite of tolerance" and a "discriminatory decision" based on the religious beliefs of the chain's owners. It was not until mid-August 2019 that city officials agreed to release documents about its decision to exclude the company from the airport "based on the restaurant chain's donations to religious ministries". On June 10, 2019, Texas governor Greg Abbott signed into law Senate Bill 1978, colloquially known as the "Save Chick-fil-A Bill", which forbids local governments from taking adverse steps against companies or individuals based on their religious beliefs. On September 5, a group of five individuals filed suit against the City of San Antonio citing this new law.


title: Chick-fil-A and LGBT people

text: Students at several colleges and universities launched efforts to ban or remove the company's restaurants from their campuses. On November 3, 2011, New York University's Student Senators Council voted 19 to 4 to retain the Chick-fil-A franchise on campus. This vote came before a petition with over 11,000 signatures opposing its presence on campus was sent to the student council. Christine Quinn, a lesbian politician and then-Speaker of the City Council who was seeking the nomination as Democratic candidate for the mayoralty in the next election, was outspoken in her opposition to keeping the Chick-fil-A franchise or allowing others, and wrote a letter to this effect to NYU President John Sexton on official letterhead, opening with the words, "I write as the Speaker of the NYC Council", urging NYU to evict a Chick-fil-A due to Cathy's opposition to same-sex marriage.


title: Chick-fil-A and LGBT people

text: On February 28, 2012, Northeastern University's Student Senate passed a resolution to cancel plans for a Chick-fil-A franchise on its campus, stating "the student body does not support bringing CFA [Chick-fil-A] to campus", and "Student concerns reflected CFA's history of donating to anti-gay organizations." The vote was 31 to 5, with 8 abstaining. The restaurant chain was finalizing a contract to bring it to NU when students protested. Davidson College in North Carolina announced on August 13, 2012, that, in response to a petition which received 500 signatures, the school would stop serving Chick-fil-A on campus at the monthly "After Midnight" events.


title: Chick-fil-A and LGBT people

text: Other forms of protest occurred. Gay rights activists organized a "Kiss Off" to occur on August 3, an event where LGBT individuals would show affection in public.


title: Chick-fil-A and LGBT people

text: On August 15, 2012, Floyd Lee Corkins II of Virginia entered the Washington, D.C., headquarters of the Family Research Council carrying 15 Chick-fil-A sandwiches, a 9 mm handgun, and a box of ammunition. After being asked for identification, he shot a security guard in the left arm and was wrestled to the ground by that same guard. Prosecutors said he told FBI agents that he wanted to use the sandwiches to "make a statement against the people who work in that building ... and with their stance against gay rights and Chick-fil-A", and that he planned "to kill as many people as I could ... then smear a Chicken-fil-A [sic] sandwich on their face".


title: Chick-fil-A and LGBT people

text: Chick-fil-A announced their expansion to Canada in the city of Toronto. This caused a number of boycotts and backlash from Canadians due to widespread support for LGBT rights in Canada.


title: Chick-fil-A and LGBT people

text: In August 2019, the "Toronto Star" ran an opinion piece, written by its National Columnist (staff), with the headline "Chick-fil-A is about to open in Toronto. I hope it fails". She said that comment was made because the company was operated by "someone who dislikes 'my lifestyle' as Chick-fil-A CEO Dan Cathy would probably refer to my lesbianism". The store opened on September 6, 2019, on Yonge St. at Bloor St. in Toronto, with LGBTQ2 protesters in attendance, complaining about the company's "history of supporting anti-LGBTQ causes", according to the "Toronto Star". At that time, the company confirmed its plan to open 14 others in the Greater Toronto Area over the subsequent five years.


title: Chick-fil-A and LGBT people

text: On November 18, 2019, it was reported that Chick-fil-A will stop donating to the Salvation Army and Fellowship of Christian Athletes, two Christian organizations that oppose same-sex marriage.


title: Chick-fil-A and LGBT people

text: In response to the July 2, 2012, interview, the Jim Henson Company, which had entered its "Pajanimals" in a kids' meal toy licensing arrangement in 2011, said that it would cease its business relationship with Chick-fil-A, and donate payment for the brand to Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD). Citing safety concerns, Chick-fil-A stopped distributing the toys. A spokeswoman stated the decision had been made on July 19 and was unrelated to the controversy.


title: Chick-fil-A and LGBT people

text: In August 2012, petitions with over 80,000 signatures were delivered to publisher HarperCollins demanding the publisher cut plans to include "Berenstain Bears" titles as part of a kids' meal promotion. Upon being presented with petitions demanding that Berenstain Bears be pulled from a Chick-fil-A promotion, HarperCollins issued a statement saying "We have a long history of diversity and inclusiveness and work tirelessly to protect the freedom of expression. It is not our practice to cancel a contract with an author, or any other party, for exercising their first amendment rights."


title: Chick-fil-A and LGBT people

text: In response to the controversy, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee initiated a Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day movement to counter a boycott of Chick-fil-A launched by same-sex marriage activists. More than 600,000 people RSVPed on Facebook for Huckabee's appreciation event.


title: Chick-fil-A and LGBT people

text: On August 1, 2012, Chick-fil-A restaurants experienced a large show of public support across the nation with the company reporting record-breaking sales. A consulting firm projected that the average Chick-fil-A restaurant increased sales by 29.9 percent and had 367 more customers than a typical Wednesday.


title: Chick-fil-A and LGBT people

text: In August 2012, conservative-leaning polling group Rasmussen Reports published the results of a telephone survey indicating that 61 percent of likely voters held a favorable view of Chick-fil-A, while 13 percent indicated they would participate in a boycott.


title: Chick-fil-A and LGBT people

text: Other notable public figures came to Chick-fil-A's defense, including former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, former US Senator Rick Santorum, and Ann Coulter; while New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg publicly disagreed with Cathy's positions but defended his right to express them under the First Amendment.


title: Chick-fil-A and LGBT people

text: In addition Chick-fil-A was able to expand throughout the rest of the 2010s and into the 2020s despite the controversy and growing acceptance of LGBT people in the United States.


title: Chick-fil-A and LGBT people

text: On October 18, 2019, it was announced that Chick-fil-A's location at the Oracle, Reading, in Reading, Berkshire, the first location in the United Kingdom, would close due to the Oracle not renewing their lease. The announcement happened only eight days after the location first opened, and had been preceded by severe criticism from LGBT rights activists in Reading and elsewhere in the UK.


title: Beth Gibbons

text: Beth Gibbons (born 4 January 1965) is an English singer and songwriter. She is the singer and lyricist for the band Portishead, which has released three albums. She released an album with Rustin Man, "Out of Season", in 2002, followed by an album with the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra in 2019.


title: Beth Gibbons

text: Gibbons was born in Exeter, Devon, England and raised on a farm with three sisters. Her parents divorced when she was young. At 22, she moved to Bath, then Bristol to pursue her singing career, where she met Geoff Barrow, her future collaborator in Portishead.


title: Beth Gibbons

text: With Adrian Utley, Gibbons and Barrow released the first Portishead album "Dummy" in 1994 and have produced two other studio albums, a live album, and various singles in the years since.


title: Beth Gibbons

text: She has also collaborated on a separate project with former Talk Talk bassist Paul Webb (Rustin Man). Before she joined Geoff Barrow in Portishead, she had auditioned for the singer's slot in .O.rang, the group formed by Webb after Talk Talk's late-Eighties departure from EMI, but Portishead's sudden success pre-empted matters. In October 2002, they released the album "Out of Season" in the United Kingdom under the name Beth Gibbons and Rustin Man. The album peaked at number 28 in the UK Albums Chart. It was released in the United States a year later: while touring in North America, "Variety" favourably described her performance with Rustin as "Billie Holiday fronting Siouxsie and the Banshees".


title: Beth Gibbons

text: Gibbons was also a judge for the 10th annual Independent Music Awards to support independent artists' careers.


title: Beth Gibbons

text: In June 2013, Gibbons announced plans for a new solo album with Domino Records. She contributed vocals to a cover of the song "Black Sabbath" with the British metal band Gonga, released on 24 April 2014.


title: Beth Gibbons

text: In 2018, Gibbons contributed vocal performances, along with Elizabeth Fraser of the Cocteau Twins, to the Spill Festival held in Ipswich in an audio installation entitled 'Clarion Calls', which uses the voices of 100 women to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I.


title: Beth Gibbons

text: In 2014, Gibbons performed Symphony No. 3 by Henryk Górecki with the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Krzysztof Penderecki. Gibbons sang in Polish. The performance was released in 2019; reviewing the album for "Pitchfork," Jayson Greene wrote: "Part of the tension comes from hearing her untrained voice scale these rocky heights. Her vibrato, tight and trilling and barely controlled, sounds an awful lot like someone fighting off a panic attack. This would get her dismissed from a traditional opera audition, probably, but it is magnificently effective at sending raw shudders through what can be a pretty well-worn work." In 2022, Gibbons featured on the track "Mother I Sober" from Kendrick Lamar's album "Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers". For her colaboration in the album she received a nomination for Album of the Year at the 65th Annual Grammy Awards as a featured artist and songwriter.


title: Beth Gibbons

text: She has cited Nina Simone, Bono of U2 for his performance on "The Joshua Tree", Otis Redding and Jimmy Cliff as a musical inspiration. She has named Janis Joplin, Edith Piaf, Janis Ian and Elizabeth Fraser.


title: Jon Rahm

text: Jon Rahm Rodríguez (born 10 November 1994) is a Spanish professional golfer. He was the number one golfer in the World Amateur Golf Ranking for a record 60 weeks and later became world number one in the Official World Golf Ranking, first achieving that rank after winning the Memorial Tournament in July 2020. In June 2021, Rahm became the first Spanish golfer to win the U.S. Open.


title: Jon Rahm

text: Rahm was born on 10 November 1994 in Barrika, Basque Country, Spain. He attended Arizona State University on a golf scholarship, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications. There he won 11 college golf tournaments, which is second in school history, behind only Phil Mickelson's 16 collegiate wins.


title: Jon Rahm

text: Rahm won the Ben Hogan Award in 2015 and 2016, the first player to win it twice. He was also the leading individual at the 2014 Eisenhower Trophy. He competed in the 2015 Phoenix Open as an amateur during his junior year, finishing tied for fifth place, three shots behind the winner. On 1 April 2015, Rahm became the 28th player to be the No. 1-ranked golfer in the World Amateur Golf Ranking. His first stint was for 25 consecutive weeks, after which he surrendered it, regained it, and held it for an additional 35 weeks. His total of 60 weeks spent atop the ranking is the all-time record. While ranked No. 1 in the world, he advanced to the quarterfinals of the 2015 U.S. Amateur before losing to Derek Bard.


title: Jon Rahm

text: He won the Mark H. McCormack Medal in 2015 as the leading player in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, which qualified him for the following year's U.S. Open and Open Championship. He closed out his collegiate career by winning the Pac-12 Conference championship and an NCAA regional championship before finishing tied for third in the national championship. He was the low amateur at the 2016 U.S. Open, finishing his final tournament as an amateur in a tie for 23rd place at 7-over-par.


title: Jon Rahm

text: After the U.S. Open, Rahm turned professional, which meant that he forfeited his exemption into the 2016 Open Championship. The next week Rahm played in his first event as a pro at the Quicken Loans National. He held or shared the lead for the first two rounds and finished tied for third place, four strokes behind the winner, Billy Hurley III. The finish was enough for Rahm to regain entry into The Open, as the Quicken Loans National was part of the Open Qualifying Series. Rahm finished tied runner-up in the RBC Canadian Open, securing Special Temporary Member status for the remainder of the season. He gained enough points as a non-member to earn a PGA Tour card for 2017.


title: Jon Rahm

text: In late January 2017, Rahm won the Farmers Insurance Open with a 60-foot eagle putt on the final hole to notch his maiden PGA Tour title. He jumped from 137th to 46th in the Official World Golf Ranking with the win, and also gained entry into the Masters Tournament, The Players Championship, the PGA Championship, and World Golf Championships events. On 2 March, Rahm played in his first World Golf Championships event at the WGC-Mexico Championship where he shot rounds of 67-70-67-68 (−12) to finish T3, two strokes behind winner Dustin Johnson.


title: Jon Rahm

text: In his second WGC event, the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play, Rahm was runner-up to Dustin Johnson in the championship match. Rahm debuted as the No. 21-seed in the field of 64 and went 3−0 in round-robin play, defeating Kevin Chappell 3 & 2, Shane Lowry 2 & 1, and countryman Sergio García 6 & 4. He continued his domination in the round of 16 with a second consecutive 6 & 4 win over Charles Howell III, and then bested that mark when he eliminated Søren Kjeldsen 7 & 5 in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals, he defeated Bill Haas 3 & 2, which set up his rematch with Johnson, who was attempting to win his third straight tournament. In the final, Rahm was 5-down after just 8 holes, but won holes 9, 10, 13, 15, and 16 to get to only 1-down going into the 18th. Both players made par on the final hole of the match and Rahm finished runner-up in his WGC-Match Play debut, which allowed him to ascend to a new career-high world ranking of 14th.


title: Jon Rahm

text: Rahm finished tied for 27th place in his first Masters and then finished 4th in the Wells Fargo Championship and joint runner-up in the Dean & DeLuca Invitational, results which lifted him into the top-10 of the World Rankings. Making his debut in a European Tour event, he finished tied for 10th in the Open de France and, the following week, he earned his first European Tour victory by winning the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open by six strokes.


title: Jon Rahm

text: Rahm finished the regular season in sixth place in the FedEx Cup rankings. He had top-10 finishes in all four of the FedEx Cup Playoff events and finished fifth in the final standings.


title: Jon Rahm

text: Rahm won the DP World Tour Championship, Dubai, the final event of the 2017 European Tour season. He was awarded the European Tour Rookie of the Year for finishing as the highest-ranked rookie in the Race to Dubai. However, some of his fellow European Tour pros such as Richard Bland suggested that the award should have gone to a more committed member of the tour. Outside the majors and WGCs, Rahm had played just four regular season European Tour events.


title: Jon Rahm

text: Rahm started 2018 by finishing runner-up eight strokes behind Dustin Johnson at the Sentry Tournament of Champions in Kapalua, Hawaii.


title: Jon Rahm

text: Later in the month, Rahm won the CareerBuilder Challenge after a sudden death playoff with Andrew Landry, for his second career PGA Tour victory. After matching scores on the first three extra holes, Rahm prevailed with a birdie on the fourth extra hole. The win lifted Rahm to a then career high 2nd in the world rankings. This made it four wins in just 38 professional starts for Rahm – a ratio bettered only by Tiger Woods in the past 30 years.


title: Jon Rahm

text: In his short professional career, Rahm has become renowned for his fiery on-course temper, which came to the fore during the final round of the Waste Management Phoenix Open, where he slammed his club into the ground.


title: Jon Rahm

text: In September 2018, Rahm qualified for the European team participating in the 2018 Ryder Cup. The European team won the Ryder Cup, defeating the U.S. 17.5 to 10.5 at Le Golf National outside of Paris, France.


title: Jon Rahm

text: On 28 April 2019, Rahm won the Zurich Classic of New Orleans on the PGA Tour with partner Ryan Palmer.


title: Jon Rahm

text: On 16 June 2019, Rahm finished tied for 3rd at the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach Golf Links in Pebble Beach, California.


title: Jon Rahm

text: On 7 July 2019, Rahm won the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open at Lahinch Golf Club. Rahm trailed 54-hole leader Robert Rock by five shots heading into the final 18 holes of the tournament. Beginning the round at eight-under overall, Rahm registered four birdies on the front nine to make the turn at 11-under overall and three-under 31 for the day. The 2017 Irish Open champion then shot five-under 31 on the back nine, including four birdies and an eagle, to close out the two-stroke victory.


title: Jon Rahm

text: On 6 October 2019, Rahm won his second consecutive Open de España at Club de Campo in Madrid. Rahm entered the final round with a five-shot lead and maintained that advantage with a final round 66, 5-under, to finish on 22 under 262.


title: Jon Rahm

text: On 24 November 2019, Rahm won the season-long Race to Dubai title on the European Tour with a victory at the DP World Tour Championship, Dubai. He also won the European Tour Golfer of the Year award.


title: Jon Rahm

text: On 19 July 2020, Rahm won the Memorial Tournament, lifting him to number one in the Official World Golf Ranking. He was the second Spaniard after Seve Ballesteros to be number one in the world. His reign as the number one golfer lasted two weeks, until Justin Thomas overtook him with victory in the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational.


title: Jon Rahm

text: On 30 August 2020, Rahm won the BMW Championship, the second tournament of the FedEx Cup Playoffs. Rahm shot a 64 in the final round and defeated Dustin Johnson in a playoff by making a 66-foot putt on the first playoff hole.


title: Jon Rahm

text: On 4 January 2021, it was announced that Rahm had signed a multi-year agreement with Callaway Golf Company, ending his association with TaylorMade that began when he turned professional.. The deal included all equipment and clothing.


title: Jon Rahm

text: In June, Rahm was forced to withdraw as the defending champion from the Memorial Tournament due to a positive COVID-19 test. At the time of the withdrawal, he had completed the third round with a six-stroke lead. On 20 June at Torrey Pines, Rahm finished with two birdies on the final two holes to win his first major tournament at the U.S. Open. He dedicated his win to the late Spanish golfer Seve Ballesteros.


title: Jon Rahm

text: In July, after a tie for third finish at the Open Championship, Rahm prepared to travel to Tokyo to prepare for the competition at the 2020 Summer Olympics. While taking his third and final COVID-19 test before departing, Rahm again tested positive, forcing him to withdraw from the event. Jorge Campillo replaced Rahm in the field.


title: Jon Rahm

text: In August, Rahm shot rounds of 63-67-67 to share a tie for the lead alongside Cameron Smith at The Northern Trust. A final round of 70 saw him finish in solo-third and two shots shy of a playoff.


title: Jon Rahm

text: For his performance on the 2020–21 PGA Tour, Rahm won the PGA Player of the Year award presented by the PGA of America, as well as the Vardon Trophy and the Byron Nelson Award for lowest scoring average.


title: Jon Rahm

text: In September 2021, Rahm played on the European team in the 2021 Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits in Kohler, Wisconsin. The U.S. team won 19–9 and Rahm went 3–1–1 including a loss in his Sunday singles match against Scottie Scheffler.


title: Jon Rahm

text: Rahm started off 2022 at the Sentry Tournament of Champions at Kapalua Resort in Hawaii. He shot 33 under par for four rounds including a 61 in the third round. This did break the original PGA Tour to par scoring record at 31 under par, however it was not good enough to win the tournament as Cameron Smith finished on 34 under par to take the title and eclipse the scoring record. Three weeks later at the Farmers Insurance Open, Rahm finished one shot out of the playoff between Luke List and Will Zalatoris, ultimately settling for a tied-third finish.


title: Jon Rahm

text: On 1 May, Rahm won the Mexico Open for his seventh career PGA Tour victory. In September, he shot a final-round 62, to finish tied-second at the BMW PGA Championship, one shot behind Shane Lowry. In October, Rahm won the Acciona Open de España, shooting a final-round 62 to win by six shots ahead of Matthieu Pavon. It was his third Open de España title, matching Seve Ballesteros. In November, Rahm won the European Tour's season-ending DP World Tour Championship. He won by two shots ahead of Tyrrell Hatton and Alex Norén. It was his ninth European Tour win and fifth Rolex Series win.


title: Jon Rahm

text: Rahm's surname originates from a Swiss ancestor who moved to Spain in the 1780s; his father is Basque, while his mother is from Madrid.


title: Jon Rahm

text: Rahm is a keen supporter of the Basque football team Athletic Club Bilbao, and was honoured as the club's special guest at a game in December 2019.


title: Jon Rahm

text: "Note that there is double counting of starts, wins, finishes and money for majors and WGC tournaments between the PGA Tour and European Tour stats."<br>


title: Mackinac Bridge

text: The Mackinac Bridge ( ) is a suspension bridge spanning the Straits of Mackinac, connecting the Upper and Lower peninsulas of the U.S. state of Michigan. Opened in 1957, the bridge (familiarly known as "Big Mac" and "Mighty Mac") is the world's 27th-longest main span and the longest suspension bridge between anchorages in the Western Hemisphere. The Mackinac Bridge is part of Interstate 75 (I-75) and the Lake Michigan and Huron components of the Great Lakes Circle Tour across the straits; it is also a segment of the U.S. North Country National Scenic Trail. The bridge connects the city of St. Ignace on the north end with the village of Mackinaw City on the south.


title: Mackinac Bridge

text: Envisioned since the 1880s, the bridge was designed by the engineer David B. Steinman and completed in 1957 only after many decades of struggles to begin construction.


title: Mackinac Bridge

text: The bridge opened on November 1, 1957, connecting two peninsulas linked for decades by ferries. At the time, the bridge was formally dedicated as the "world's longest suspension bridge between anchorages", allowing a superlative comparison to the Golden Gate Bridge, which has a longer center span between towers, and the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge, which has an anchorage in the middle.


title: Mackinac Bridge

text: It remains the longest suspension bridge with two towers between anchorages in the Western Hemisphere. Much longer anchorage-to-anchorage spans have been built in the Eastern Hemisphere, including the Akashi Kaikyō Bridge in Japan (), but the long leadups to the anchorages on the Mackinac make its total shoreline-to-shoreline length of longer than the Akashi Kaikyo ().


title: Mackinac Bridge

text: The length of the bridge's main span is , which makes it the third-longest suspension span in the United States and 20th longest suspension span worldwide. It is also one of the world's longest bridges overall.


title: Mackinac Bridge

text: The Algonquian peoples who lived in the straits area prior to the arrival of Europeans in the 17th century called this region "Michilimackinac", which is widely understood to mean "the Great Turtle." This is thought to refer to the shape of what is now called Mackinac Island. This interpretation of the word is debated by scholars. Trading posts at the Straits of Mackinac attracted peak populations during the summer trading season; they also developed as intertribal meeting places.


title: Mackinac Bridge

text: As exploitation of the state's mineral and timber resources increased during the 19th century, the area became an important transport hub. In 1881 the three railroads that reached the Straits, the Michigan Central, Grand Rapids & Indiana, and the Detroit, Mackinac & Marquette, jointly established the Mackinac Transportation Company to operate a railroad car ferry service across the straits and connect the two peninsulas.


title: Mackinac Bridge

text: Improved highways along the eastern shores of the Lower Peninsula brought increased automobile traffic to the Straits region starting in the 1910s. The state of Michigan initiated an automobile ferry service between Mackinaw City and St. Ignace in 1923; it eventually operated nine ferry boats that would carry as many as 9,000 vehicles per day. Traffic backups could stretch as long as .


title: Mackinac Bridge

text: After the opening of the Brooklyn Bridge in 1883, local residents began to imagine that such a structure could span the straits. In 1884, a store owner in St. Ignace published a newspaper advertisement that included a reprint of an artist's conception of the Brooklyn Bridge with the caption "Proposed bridge across the Straits of Mackinac".


title: Mackinac Bridge

text: The idea of the bridge was discussed in the Michigan Legislature as early as the 1880s. At the time, the Straits of Mackinac area was becoming a popular tourist destination, especially following the creation of Mackinac National Park on Mackinac Island in 1875.


title: Mackinac Bridge

text: At a July 1888 meeting of the board of directors of the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, Cornelius Vanderbilt II proposed that a bridge be built across the straits, of a design similar to the one then under construction across the Firth of Forth in Scotland. This would advance commerce in the region and help lengthen the resort season of the hotel.


title: Mackinac Bridge

text: Decades went by with no formal action. In 1920, the Michigan state highway commissioner advocated construction of a floating tunnel across the Straits. At the invitation of the state legislature, C. E. Fowler of New York City put forth a plan for a long series of causeways and bridges across the straits from Cheboygan, southeast of Mackinaw City, to St. Ignace, using Bois Blanc, Round, and Mackinac islands as intermediate steps.


title: Mackinac Bridge

text: In 1923, the state legislature ordered the State Highway Department to establish ferry service across the strait. More and more people used ferries to cross the straits each year, and as they did, the movement to build a bridge increased. Chase Osborn, a former governor, wrote:


title: Mackinac Bridge

text: By 1928, the ferry service had become so popular and so expensive to operate that Michigan Governor Fred W. Green ordered the department to study the feasibility of building a bridge across the strait. The department deemed the idea feasible, estimating the cost at $30 million (equivalent to $ in ).


title: Mackinac Bridge

text: In 1934, the Michigan Legislature created the "Mackinac Straits Bridge Authority" to explore possible methods of constructing and funding the proposed bridge. The Legislature authorized the Authority to seek financing for the project. In the mid-1930s, during the Great Depression, when numerous infrastructure projects received federal aid, the Authority twice attempted to obtain federal funds for the project but was unsuccessful. The United States Army Corps of Engineers and President Franklin D. Roosevelt endorsed the project but Congress never appropriated funds. Between 1936 and 1940, the Authority selected a route for the bridge based on preliminary studies. Borings were made for a detailed geological study of the route.


title: Mackinac Bridge

text: The preliminary plans for the bridge featured a 3-lane roadway, a railroad crossing on the underdeck of the span, and a center-anchorage double-suspension bridge configuration similar to the design of the San Francisco – Oakland Bay Bridge. Because this would have required sinking an anchorage pier in the deepest area of the Straits, the practicality of this design may have been questionable. A concrete causeway, approximately , extending from the northern shore, was constructed in shallow water from 1939 to 1941. However, a unique engineering challenge was created by the tremendous forces that operate against the base of the bridge, because the lakes freeze during the winter, causing large icebergs to place enormous stress on the bridge.


title: Mackinac Bridge

text: At that time, with funding for the project still uncertain, further work was put on hold because of the outbreak of World War II. The "Mackinac Straits Bridge Authority" was abolished by the state legislature in 1947, but the same body created a new Mackinac Bridge Authority three years later in 1950. In June 1950, engineers were retained for the project. By then, it was reported that cars queuing for the ferry at Mackinaw City did not reach St. Ignace until five hours later, and the typical capacity of 460 vehicles per hour could not match the estimated 1,600 for a bridge.


title: Mackinac Bridge

text: After a report by the engineers in January 1951, the state legislature authorized the sale of $85 million (equivalent to $ in ) in bonds for bridge construction on April 30, 1952. However, a weak bond market in 1953 forced a delay of more than a year before the bonds could be issued.


title: Mackinac Bridge

text: David B. Steinman was appointed as the design engineer in January 1953 and by the end of 1953, estimates and contracts had been negotiated. A civil engineer at the firm, Abul Hasnat, did the preliminary plans for the bridge. Total cost estimate at that time was $95 million (equivalent to $ in ) with estimated completion by November 1, 1956. Tolls collected were to pay for the bridge in 20 years. Construction began on May 7, 1954. The bridge was built under two major contracts. The Merritt-Chapman and Scott Corporation of New York was awarded the contract for all major substructure work for $25.7 million (equivalent to $ in ), while the American Bridge Division of United States Steel Corporation was awarded a contract of more than $44 million (equivalent to $ in ) to build the steel superstructure.


title: Mackinac Bridge

text: Construction, staged using the 1939–41 causeway, took three and a half years (four summers, no winter construction) at a total cost of $100 million and the lives of five workers. Contrary to popular belief, none of them are entombed in the bridge. It opened to traffic on schedule on November 1, 1957, and the ferry service was discontinued on the same day. The bridge was formally dedicated on June 25, 1958.


title: Mackinac Bridge

text: G. Mennen Williams was governor during the construction of the Mackinac Bridge. He began the tradition of the governor leading the Mackinac Bridge Walk across it every Labor Day. U.S. Senator Prentiss M. Brown has been called the "father of the Mackinac Bridge", and was honored with a special memorial bridge token created by the Mackinac Bridge Authority.


title: Mackinac Bridge

text: The bridge officially achieved its 100 millionth crossing exactly 40 years after its dedication, on June 25, 1998. The 50th anniversary of the bridge's opening was celebrated on November 1, 2007, in a ceremony hosted by the Mackinac Bridge Authority at the viewing park adjacent to the St. Ignace causeway. The bridge was designated as a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Civil Engineers in 2010.


title: Mackinac Bridge

text: The design of the Mackinac Bridge was directly influenced by the lessons from the first Tacoma Narrows Bridge, which failed in 1940 because of its instability in high winds. Three years after that disaster, Steinman had published a theoretical analysis of suspension-bridge stability problems, which recommended that future bridge designs include deep stiffening trusses to support the bridge deck and an open-grid roadway to reduce its wind resistance. Both of these features were incorporated into the design of the Mackinac Bridge. The stiffening truss is open to reduce wind resistance. The road deck is shaped as an airfoil to provide lift in a cross wind, and the center two lanes are open grid to allow vertical (upward) air flow, which fairly precisely cancels the lift, making the roadway stable in design in winds of up to .


title: Mackinac Bridge

text: The Mackinac Bridge is a toll bridge on Interstate 75 (I-75). The US Highway 27 (US 27) designation was initially extended across the bridge. In November 1960, sections of I-75 freeway opened from Indian River north to the southern bridge approaches in Mackinaw City, and US 27 was removed from the bridge. It is one of only three segments of I-75 that are tolled, the others being the American half of the International Bridge near Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, and Alligator Alley in Florida. The current toll is $4.00 for automobiles and $5.00 per axle for trucks. The Mackinac Bridge Authority raised the toll in 2007 to fund a $300 million renovation program, which would include completely replacing the bridge deck.


title: Mackinac Bridge

text: Painting of the bridge takes seven years, and when painting of the bridge is complete, it begins again. The current painting project began in 1999 and was expected to take 20 years to complete because the lead-based paint needs to be removed, incurring additional disposal requirements.


title: Mackinac Bridge

text: All five men are memorialized on a plaque near the bridge's northern end (Bridge View Park). Contrary to folklore, no bodies are embedded in the concrete.


title: Mackinac Bridge

text: One worker has died since the bridge was completed. Daniel Doyle fell from scaffolding on August 7, 1997. He survived the fall but fell victim to the water temperature. His body was recovered the next day in of water.


title: Mackinac Bridge

text: On September 10, 1978, a small private plane carrying United States Marine Corps Reserve officers Maj. Virgil Osborne, Capt. James Robbins, and Capt. Wayne W. Wisbrock smashed into one of the bridge's suspension cables while flying in a heavy fog. The impact tore the wings off the plane, which then plunged into the Straits of Mackinac. All three men were killed.


title: Mackinac Bridge

text: Because the bridge is not accessible to pedestrians, suicides by jumping from the bridge have been rare, with the most recent confirmed case taking place on December 31, 2012. There have been roughly a dozen suicides by people jumping off the bridge .


title: Mackinac Bridge

text: Some individuals have difficulty crossing bridges, a phenomenon known as gephyrophobia. The Mackinac Bridge Authority has a Drivers Assistance Program that provides drivers for those with gephyrophobia, or anyone who is more comfortable having someone else drive them across. More than a thousand people use this service every year. Those interested can arrange, either by phone or with the toll collector, to have their cars or motorcycles driven to the other end. There is an additional fee for this service.


title: Mackinac Bridge

text: Bicycles and pedestrians are not permitted on the bridge. Up until 2017, an exception was allowed for riders of two annual bicycle tours. As of March 13, 2020 a program to transport bicycles has been suspended indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A yearly exception is also made for pedestrians, see "Bridge Walk" below.


title: Mackinac Bridge

text: Travelers across the Mackinac Bridge can listen to an AM radio broadcast that recounts the history of the bridge and provides updates on driving conditions.


title: Mackinac Bridge

text: The first Mackinac Bridge Walk was held in 1958, when it was led by Governor G. Mennen Williams. The first walk was held during the Bridge's Dedication Ceremony held in late June, and has been held on Labor Day since 1959. Until 2018, school buses from local districts transported walkers from Mackinaw City to St. Ignace to begin the walk. Thousands of people, traditionally led by the Governor of Michigan, cross the five-mile (8 km) span on foot from St. Ignace to Mackinaw City. Before 1964, people walked the Bridge from Mackinaw City to St. Ignace. Prior to 2017, two lanes of the bridge would remain open to public vehicle traffic; this policy was changed in 2017 to close the entire bridge to public vehicle traffic for the duration of the event. The Bridge Walk is the only day of the year that hikers can hike this section of the North Country National Scenic Trail.