title: Presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson

text: Johnson's key foreign policy advisors were Dean Rusk, George Ball, McGeorge Bundy, Walt Rostow, Robert McNamara and (at the end) Clark Clifford. According to historian David Fromkin: Johnson was not a "hidden hand" president like Eisenhower, who appeared to let his cabinet make policy while in fact doing so him self. L.B.J. was what he seemed at the time: a president ill at ease in foreign policy who chose to rely on the judgment of the Kennedy team he inherited...When his advisers disagreed, would try to split the difference between them. He acted as a majority leader, reconciling diverse points of view within his own camp rather than making decisions on the merits of the issue. He wanted to quell dissent, and he was a master at it.


title: Presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson

text: All historians agree that Vietnam dominated the administration's foreign policy and all agree the policy was a political disaster on the home front. Most agree that it was a diplomatic disaster, although some say that it was successful in avoiding the loss of more allies. Unexpectedly, North Vietnam after it conquered the South became a major adversary of China, stopping China's expansion to the south in the way that Washington had hoped in vain that South Vietnam would do. In other areas the achievements were limited. Historian Jonathan Colman says that was because Vietnam dominated the attention; the USSR was gaining military parity; Washington's allies more becoming more independent (e.g. France) or were getting weaker (Britain); and the American economy was unable to meet Johnson's demands that it supply both guns and butter.


title: Presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson

text: Johnson took office during the Cold War, a prolonged state of very heavily armed tension between the United States and its allies on the one side and the Soviet Union and its allies on the other. Johnson was committed to containment policy that called upon the U.S. to block Communist expansion of the sort that was taking place in Vietnam, but he lacked Kennedy's knowledge and enthusiasm for foreign policy, and prioritized domestic reforms over major initiatives in foreign affairs.


title: Presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson

text: Though actively engaged in containment in Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Latin America, Johnson made it a priority to seek arms control deals with Moscow. The Soviet Union also sought closer relations to the United States during the mid-to-late 1960s, partly due to the increasingly worse Sino-Soviet split. Johnson attempted to reduce tensions with China by easing restrictions on trade, but the beginning of China's Cultural Revolution ended hopes of a greater rapprochement. Johnson was concerned with averting the possibility of nuclear war, and he sought to reduce tensions in Europe. The Johnson administration pursued arms control agreements with the Soviet Union, signing the Outer Space Treaty and the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, and laid the foundation for the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks. Johnson held a largely amicable meeting with Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin at the Glassboro Summit Conference in 1967, and in July 1968 the United States, Britain, and the Soviet Union signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty, in which each signatory agreed not to help other countries develop or acquire nuclear weapons. A planned nuclear disarmament summit between the United States and the Soviet Union was scuttled after Soviet forces violently suppressed the Prague Spring, an attempted democratization of Czechoslovakia.


title: Presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson

text: At the end of World War II, Vietnamese revolutionaries under Communist leader Ho Chi Minh sought to gain independence from France. By 1954 the French had been defeated and wanted out. The 1954 Geneva Agreements partitioned Vietnam with the U.S. supporting South Vietnam and the Communists taking control of North Vietnam. The Vietnam War began in 1955 as Communist forces started operating in South Vietnam. President Eisenhower sought to prevent the spread of Communism in Southeast Asia. He and Kennedy dispatched American military advisers to South Vietnam, and by the time Johnson took office, there were 16,700 American military personnel in South Vietnam. Despite some misgivings, Johnson ultimately came to support escalation of the U.S. role in Vietnam. He feared that the fall of Vietnam would hurt Democratic credibility on national security issues. Like the vast majority of American leaders in the mid-1960s, he was determined to prevent the spread of Communism.


title: Presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson

text: In August 1964, ambiguous evidence suggested two U.S. destroyers had been attacked by North Vietnamese torpedo boats in international waters from the Vietnamese coast in the Gulf of Tonkin. Although Johnson very much wanted to keep discussions about Vietnam out of the 1964 election campaign, he felt forced to respond to the supposed Communist aggression. He obtained from the Congress the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution on August 7, 1964. The resolution gave blanket congressional approval for use of military force to repel future attacks.


title: Presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson

text: Slowly and quietly Johnson waited until early 1965 before starting an eight-week bombing campaign against North Vietnam. It had little apparent effect. In a campaign known as Operation Rolling Thunder the U.S. would continue to bomb North Vietnam until late 1968, dropping 864,000 tons of bombs over three and a half years. Operation Rolling Thunder In March 1965, McGeorge Bundy called for American ground operations. Johnson agreed and also quietly changed the mission from defensive to offensive operations.


title: Presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson

text: In late July, McNamara and Johnson's top advisors recommended an increase in U.S. soldiers from 75,000 to over 200,000. Johnson agreed but felt boxed in by unpalatable choices. If he sent additional troops he would be attacked as an interventionist, and if he did not, he thought he risked being impeached. Under the command of General Westmoreland, U.S. forces increasingly engaged in search and destroy operations in South Vietnam. By October 1965, there were over 200,000 troops deployed in Vietnam. Most of these soldiers were drafted after leaving high school, and disproportionately came from poor families. College students could obtain deferments.


title: Presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson

text: Throughout 1965, few members of Congress or the administration openly criticized Johnson's handling of the war, though some, like George Ball, warned against expanding the U.S. presence in Vietnam. In early 1966, Robert Kennedy harshly criticized Johnson's bombing campaign, stating that the U.S. may be headed "on a road from which there is no turning back, a road that leads to catastrophe for all mankind." Soon thereafter, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, chaired by Senator James William Fulbright, held televised hearings examining the administration's Vietnam policy. Impatience with the president and doubts about his war strategy continued to grow on Capitol Hill. In June 1966, Senator Richard Russell, Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, reflecting the coarsening of the national mood, declared it was time to "get it over or get out."


title: Presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson

text: By late 1966, multiple sources began to report progress was being made against the North Vietnamese logistics and infrastructure; Johnson was urged from every corner to begin peace discussions. The gap with Hanoi, however, was an unbridgeable demand on both sides for a unilateral end to bombing and withdrawal of forces. Westmoreland and McNamara then recommended a concerted program to promote pacification; Johnson formally placed this effort under military control in October. Johnson grew more and more anxious about justifying war casualties, and talked of the need for decisive victory, despite the unpopularity of the cause. By the end of 1966, it was clear that the air campaign and the pacification effort had both failed, and Johnson agreed to McNamara's new recommendation to add 70,000 troops in 1967 to the 400,000 previously committed. Heeding the CIA's recommendations, Johnson also increased bombings against North Vietnam. The bombing escalation ended secret talks being held with North Vietnam, but U.S. leaders did not consider North Vietnamese intentions in those talks to be genuine.


title: Presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson

text: By the middle of 1967 nearly 70,000 Americans had been killed or wounded in the war, which was being commonly described in the news media and elsewhere as a "stalemate." Nonetheless, Johnson agreed to an increase of 55,000 troops, bringing the total to 525,000. In August, Johnson, with the Joint Chiefs' support, decided to expand the air campaign and exempted only Hanoi, Haiphong and a buffer zone with China from the target list. Later that month McNamara told a Senate subcommittee that an expanded air campaign would not bring Hanoi to the peace table. The Joint Chiefs were astounded, and threatened mass resignation; McNamara was summoned to the White House for a three-hour dressing down; nevertheless, Johnson had received reports from the CIA confirming McNamara's analysis at least in part. In the meantime an election establishing a constitutional government in the South was concluded and provided hope for peace talks.


title: Presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson

text: With the war arguably in a stalemate and in light of the widespread disapproval of the conflict, Johnson convened a group of veteran government foreign policy experts, informally known as "the Wise Men": Dean Acheson, Gen. Omar Bradley, George Ball, Mac Bundy, Arthur Dean, Douglas Dillon, Abe Fortas, Averell Harriman, Henry Cabot Lodge, Robert Murphy and Max Taylor. They unanimously opposed leaving Vietnam, and encouraged Johnson to "stay the course." Afterward, on November 17, in a nationally televised address, the president assured the American public, "We are inflicting greater losses than we're taking...We are making progress." Less than two weeks later, an emotional Robert McNamara announced his resignation as Defense Secretary. Behind closed doors, he had begun regularly expressing doubts over Johnson's war strategy, angering the president. He joined a growing list of Johnson's top aides who resigned over the war, including Bill Moyers, McGeorge Bundy, and George Ball.


title: Presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson

text: On January 30, 1968, the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese began the Tet offensive against South Vietnam's five largest cities. While the Tet offensive failed militarily, it was a psychological victory, definitively turning American public opinion against the war effort. In February 1968, influential news anchor Walter Cronkite expressed on the air that the conflict was deadlocked and that additional fighting would change nothing. Johnson reacted, saying "If I've lost Cronkite, I've lost middle America". Indeed, demoralization about the war was everywhere; 26 percent then approved of Johnson's handling of Vietnam, while 63 percent disapproved.


title: Presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson

text: The Tet Offensive convinced senior leaders of the Johnson administration, including the "Wise Men" and new Defense Secretary Clark Clifford, that further escalation of troop levels would not help bring an end to the war. Johnson was initially reluctant to follow this advice, but ultimately agreed to allow a partial bombing halt and to signal his willingness to engage in peace talks. On March 31, 1968, Johnson announced that he would halt the bombing in North Vietnam, while at the same time announcing that he would not seek re-election. He also escalated U.S. military operations in South Vietnam in order to consolidate control of as much of the countryside as possible before the onset of serious peace talks. Talks began in Paris in May, but failed to yield any results. Two of the major obstacles in negotiations were the unwillingness of the United States to allow the Viet Cong to take part in the South Vietnamese government, and the unwillingness of North Vietnam to recognize the legitimacy of South Vietnam. In October 1968, when the parties came close to an agreement on a bombing halt, Republican presidential nominee Richard Nixon intervened with the South Vietnamese, promising better terms so as to delay a settlement on the issue until after the election. Johnson sought a continuation of talks after the 1968 election, but the North Vietnamese argued about procedural matters until after Nixon took office.


title: Presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson

text: Johnson's Middle Eastern policy relied on the "three pillars" of Israel, Saudi Arabia, and Iran. In the mid-1960s, concerns about the Israeli nuclear weapons program led to increasing tension between Israel and neighboring Arab states, especially Egypt. At the same time, the Palestine Liberation Organization launched terrorist attacks against Israel from bases in the West Bank and the Golan Heights. The Johnson administration attempted to mediate the conflict, but communicated through Fortas and others that it would not oppose Israeli military action. On June 5, 1967, Israel launched an attack on Egypt, Syria, and Jordan, beginning the Six-Day War. Israel quickly seized control of Gaza, the West Bank, East Jerusalem, Golan Heights and the Sinai Peninsula. As Israeli forces closed in on the Syrian capital of Damascus, the Soviet Union threatened war if Israel did not agree to a cease fire. Johnson pressured the Israeli government into accepting a cease fire, and the war ended on June 11. In the aftermath of the war, the United States and Britain sponsored UN Resolution 242, which called on Israel to release the territory it conquered in the war in exchange for a lasting peace.


title: Presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson

text: Under the direction of Assistant Secretary of State Thomas C. Mann, the United States placed an emphasis on Kennedy's Alliance for Progress, which provided economic aid to Latin America. Like Kennedy, Johnson sought to isolate Cuba, which was under the rule of the Soviet-aligned Fidel Castro. In 1965, the Dominican Civil War broke out between the government of President Donald Reid Cabral and supporters of former President Juan Bosch. On the advice of Abe Fortas, Johnson dispatched over 20,000 Marines to the Dominican Republic. Their role was not take sides but to evacuate American citizens and restore order. The U.S. also helped arrange an agreement providing for new elections. Johnson's use of force in ending the civil war alienated many in Latin America, and the region's importance to the administration receded as Johnson's foreign policy became increasingly dominated by the Vietnam War.


title: Presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson

text: Harold Wilson, the British Prime Minister from 1964 to 1970, believed in a strong "Special Relationship" with the United States and wanted to highlight his dealings with the White House to strengthen his own prestige as a statesman. President Lyndon Johnson disliked Wilson, and ignored any "special" relationship. Johnson needed and asked for help to maintain American prestige, but Wilson offered only lukewarm verbal support for the Vietnam War. Wilson and Johnson also differed sharply on British economic weakness and its declining status as a world power. Historian Jonathan Colman concludes it made for the most unsatisfactory "special" relationship in the 20th century. The press generally portrayed the relationship as strained. Its tone was set early on when Johnson sent Secretary of State Dean Rusk as head of the American delegation to the state funeral of Winston Churchill in January 1965, rather than the new vice president, Hubert Humphrey. Johnson himself had been hospitalized with influenza and advised by his doctors against attending the funeral. This perceived slight generated much criticism against the president, both in the U.K. and in the U.S.


title: Presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson

text: As the economies of Western Europe recovered, European leaders increasingly sought to recast the alliance as a partnership of equals. This trend, along with Johnson's conciliatory policy towards the Soviet Union and his escalation of the Vietnam War, led to fractures within NATO. Johnson's request that NATO leaders send even token forces to South Vietnam were denied by leaders who lacked a strategic interest in the region. West Germany and especially France pursued independent foreign policies, and in 1966 French President Charles de Gaulle withdrew France from NATO. The withdrawal of France, along with West German and British defense cuts, substantially weakened NATO, but the alliance remained intact. Johnson refrained from criticizing de Gaulle and he resisted calls to reduce U.S. troop levels on the continent.


title: Presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson

text: Since 1954, the American alliance with Pakistan had caused India to move closer to the Soviet Union. Johnson hoped that a more evenhanded policy towards both countries would soften the tensions in South Asia and bring both nations closer to the United States. He ended the traditional American division of South Asia into 'allies' and 'neutrals' and sought to develop good relations with both India and Pakistan by supplying arms and money to both while maintaining neutrality in their intense border feuds. His policy pushed Pakistan closer to Communist China and India closer to the Soviet Union. Johnson also started to cultivate warm personal relations with Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri of India and President Ayub Khan of Pakistan. However, he inflamed anti-American sentiments in both countries when he cancelled the visits of both leaders to Washington, following Khan's trip to China in March 1965.


title: Presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson

text: Johnson made eleven international trips to twenty countries during his presidency. He flew 523,000 miles aboard Air Force One while in office. One of the most unusual international trips in presidential history occurred before Christmas in 1967. The President began the trip by going to the memorial service for Australian Prime Minister Harold Holt, who had disappeared in a swimming accident and was presumed drowned. The White House did not reveal in advance to the press that the President would make the first round-the-world presidential trip. The trip was 26,959 miles completed in only 112.5 hours (4.7 days). Air Force One crossed the equator twice, stopped in Travis Air Force Base, Calif., then Honolulu, Pago Pago, Canberra, Melbourne, Vietnam, Karachi and Rome.


title: Presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson

text: Segregationist Governor George C. Wallace entered several 1964 Democratic presidential primaries, taking a large share of the vote in several states before announcing that he would seek the presidency as an independent or member of a third party. Meanwhile, the Republican Party saw a contested series of primaries between conservative Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona and liberal Governor Nelson Rockefeller of New York. Rockefeller had appeared to be the front-runner at one point, but a divorce badly damaged his candidacy. Goldwater emerged as the prohibitive favorite in June 1964, and he was formally nominated at the July 1964 Republican National Convention. After the nomination of Goldwater, Wallace heeded the requests of Southern conservatives to withdraw from the race.


title: Presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson

text: The 1964 Democratic National Convention re-nominated Johnson and celebrated his accomplishments after less than one year in office. Early in the campaign, Robert F. Kennedy was a widely popular choice to run as Johnson's vice presidential running mate, but Johnson and Kennedy had never liked one another. Hubert Humphrey was ultimately selected as Johnson's running mate, as the Johnson campaign hoped that Humphrey would strengthen the ticket in the Midwest and industrial Northeast. Johnson, knowing full well the degree of frustration inherent in the office of vice president, put Humphrey through a gauntlet of interviews to guarantee his absolute loyalty and having made the decision, he kept the announcement from the press until the last moment to maximize media speculation and coverage. At the end of the Democratic Convention, polls showed Johnson in a comfortable position to obtain re-election.


title: Presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson

text: Goldwater was perhaps the most conservative major party nominee since the passage of the New Deal, and Johnson and Goldwater both sought to portray the election as a choice between a liberal and a conservative;. Early in the 1964 presidential campaign, Goldwater had appeared to be a strong contender, as his support in the South threatened to flip Southern states to the Republican Party. However, Goldwater lost momentum as the campaign progressed. On September 7, 1964, Johnson's campaign managers broadcast the "Daisy ad," which successfully portrayed Goldwater as a dangerous warmonger. The combination of an effective ad campaign, Goldwater's perceived extremism, the Goldwater campaign's poor organization, and Johnson's popularity led Democrats to a major election victory. Johnson won the presidency by a landslide with 61.05 percent of the vote, the largest share of the popular vote won by any presidential candidate since the 1820 presidential election. In the Electoral College, Johnson defeated Goldwater by margin of 486 to 52. Goldwater's only victories were in his home state of Arizona and five states in the Deep South. In the concurrent congressional elections, the Democratic Party grew its majority in both the House and the Senate. The huge election victory emboldened Johnson to propose liberal legislation in the 89th United States Congress.


title: Presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson

text: Regardless of Goldwater's background (his father was born in the Judaic community but left it and became an Episcopalian), Johnson won a large majority of the Jewish vote. It was a liberal constituency that gave strong support to the Great Society.


title: Presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson

text: After the smashing reelection victory of President Johnson in 1964, the Democratic Congress passed a raft of liberal legislation. Labor union leaders claimed credit for the widest range of liberal laws since the New Deal era, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964; the Voting Rights Act of 1965; the War on Poverty; aid to cities and education; increased Social Security benefits; and Medicare for the elderly. The 1966 elections were an unexpected disaster, with defeats for many of the more liberal Democrats. According to Alan Draper, the AFL-CIO Committee on Political Action (COPE) was the main electioneering unit of the labor movement. It ignored the white backlash against civil rights, which had become a main Republican attack point. The COPE assumed falsely that union members were interested in issues of greatest salience to union leadership, but polls showed this was not true. They members were much more conservative. The younger union members were much more concerned about taxes and crime, and the older ones had not overcome racial biases. Furthermore a new issue--the War in Vietnam-- was bitterly splitting the liberal coalityion into hawks (led by Johnson and Vice-President Hubert Humphrey) and doves (led by Senators Eugene McCarthy and Robert Kennedy).Alan Draper, "Labor and the 1966 Elections." "Labor History" 30.1 (1989): 76-92.</ref>


title: Presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson

text: Johnson's coalition of big businessmen, trade unions, liberal intellectuals, white ethnic minorities, and blacks began to disintegrate even before the 1966 election. Trade unions did not do as well as corporations during the Johnson years. Social welfare did poorly because Americans preferred reduction in taxes to social improvements. The Great Society was further weakened by reactions against urban violence (by white ethnics) and against the Vietnam War (by intellectuals and students). Republicans campaigned on law and order concerns stemming from urban riots, Johnson's conduct of the Vietnam War, and on the sluggish economy; they warned of looming inflation and growing federal deficits.


title: Presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson

text: In the midterm elections, Democrats lost 47 seats in the House to the Republicans, and also three in the Senate. Nevertheless, the Democrats retained majority control of both House and Senate. The losses hit the party's liberal wing hardest, which in turn decreased Johnson's ability to push his agenda through Congress. The elections also helped the Republicans rehabilitate their image after their disastrous 1964 campaign.


title: Presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson

text: As he had served less than two years of President Kennedy's term, Johnson was constitutionally eligible for election to a second full term in the 1968 presidential election under the provisions of the 22nd Amendment. However, beginning in 1966, the press sensed a "credibility gap" between what Johnson was saying in press conferences and what was happening on the ground in Vietnam, which led to much less favorable coverage. By year's end, the Democratic governor of Missouri, Warren E. Hearnes, warned that "frustration over Vietnam; too much federal spending and... taxation; no great public support for your Great Society programs; and ... public disenchantment with the civil rights programs" had eroded the president's standing. There were bright spots; in January 1967, Johnson boasted that wages were the highest in history, unemployment was at a 13-year low, and corporate profits and farm incomes were greater than ever. Asked to explain why he was unpopular, Johnson responded, "I am a dominating personality, and when I get things done I don't always please all the people."


title: Presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson

text: As the 1968 election approached, Johnson began to lose control of the Democratic Party, which was splitting into four factions. The first group consisted of Johnson and Humphrey, labor unions, and local party bosses (led by Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley). The second group consisted of antiwar students and intellectuals who coalesced behind Senator Eugene McCarthy of Minnesota in an effort to "dump Johnson." The third group included Catholics, Hispanics and African Americans, who rallied behind Robert Kennedy. The fourth group consisted of traditionally segregationist white Southerners like George C. Wallace. Despite Johnson's growing unpopularity, conventional wisdom held that it would be impossible to deny re-nomination to a sitting president. Nonetheless, McCarthy came in a surprisingly close second in the March 12 New Hampshire primary, the first Democratic primary in the 1968 campaign. McCarthy's victory was widely seen as indicative of the strength of the anti-war movement in the Democratic Party, and Kennedy joined the race on March 16. At the end of a March 31 speech, Johnson shocked the nation when he announced he would not run for re-election by concluding with the line: "I shall not seek, and I will not accept, the nomination of my party for another term as your president." The next day, his approval ratings increased from 36 percent to 49 percent.


title: Presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson

text: Historians have debated the factors that led to Johnson's surprise decision. Shesol says Johnson wanted out of the White House but also wanted vindication; when the indicators turned negative he decided to leave. Woods writes that Johnson realized he needed to leave in order for the nation to heal. Dallek says that Johnson had no further domestic goals, and realized that his personality had eroded his popularity. His health was not good, and he was preoccupied with the Kennedy campaign; his wife was pressing for his retirement and his base of support continued to shrink. Leaving the race would allow him to pose as a peacemaker. Bennett, however, says Johnson "had been forced out of a reelection race in 1968 by outrage over his policy in Southeast Asia." Johnson may also have hoped that the convention would ultimately choose to draft him back into the race.


title: Presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson

text: Humphrey entered the race after Johnson's withdrawal, making the 1968 Democratic primaries a three-way contest between Humphrey, Kennedy, and McCarthy. Kennedy cut into McCarthy's liberal and anti-war base, while also winning the support of the poor and working class. He won a series of primary victories, but was assassinated in June by Sirhan Sirhan, an Arab nationalist. With Johnson's support, Humphrey won the presidential nomination at the tumultuous 1968 Democratic National Convention, held in Chicago in late August. The violent clashes in Chicago between anti-war protesters marred the convention. After the convention, polls showed Humphrey losing the general election by 20 points.


title: Presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson

text: Humphrey faced two major opponents in the 1968 general election campaign. The Republicans nominated former Vice President Richard Nixon, and Nixon selected Governor Spiro Agnew as his running mate. Nixon attacked the Great Society and the Supreme Court, and indicated that he would bring peace in Vietnam. With the support of Strom Thurmond and other Southern Republicans, Nixon pursued a Southern Strategy that focused on winning the support of Southern white voters who had been alienated by the Johnson administration's actions on civil rights. Humphrey's other major challenger, George Wallace, ran as the candidate of the American Independent Party, receiving support from the Ku Klux Klan and far-right groups like the John Birch Society. Wallace's strongest backing came from pro-segregation Southerners, but he also appealed to white working class areas in the North with his "law and order" campaign. As a third party candidate, Wallace did not believe that he could win the presidency, but he hoped to win enough electoral votes to force a contingent election in the House of Representatives.


title: Presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson

text: Humphrey's polling numbers improved after a September 30 speech in which he broke with Johnson's war policy, calling for an end to the bombing of North Vietnam. In what was termed the October surprise, Johnson announced to the nation on October 31, 1968, that he had ordered a complete cessation of "all air, naval and artillery bombardment of North Vietnam", effective November 1, should the North Vietnamese government be willing to negotiate and citing progress with the Paris peace talks. However, Nixon won the election, narrowly edging Humphrey with a plurality of the popular vote and a majority of the electoral vote. Wallace captured 13.5 percent of the popular vote and 46 electoral votes. Nixon capitalized on discontent over civil rights to break the Democratic Party's hold on the South. He also performed well in the states west of the Mississippi River, due in part to rising resentment against the federal government in those states. Both the South and the West would be important components of the GOP electoral coalition in subsequent elections. Despite Nixon's victory in the 1968 presidential election, Democrats retained control of both houses of Congress.


title: Presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson

text: Historians argue that Johnson's presidency marked the peak of modern liberalism in the United States after the New Deal era, and Johnson is ranked favorably by many historians. Johnson's presidency left a lasting mark on the United States, transforming the United States with the establishment of Medicare and Medicaid, various anti-poverty measures, environmental protections, educational funding, and other federal programs. The civil rights legislation passed under Johnson are nearly-universally praised for their role in removing barriers to racial equality. A 2018 poll of the American Political Science Association's Presidents and Executive Politics section ranked Johnson as the tenth best president. A 2017 C-SPAN poll of historians also ranked Johnson as the tenth best president. Johnson's handling of the Vietnam War remains broadly unpopular, and, much as it did during his tenure, often overshadows his domestic accomplishments. A 2006 poll of historians ranked Johnson's escalation of the Vietnam War as the third-worst mistake made by a sitting president. Historian Kent Germany writes that, "the legacies of death, renewal, and opportunity attached to the Johnson administration are ironic, confusing, and uncertain. They will likely remain that way." Germany explains:


title: Presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson

text: Johnson's persuasiveness and understanding of Congress helped him to pass remarkable flurry of legislation and gained him a reputation as a legislative master. Johnson was aided by his party's large congressional majorities and a public that was receptive to new federal programs, but he also faced a Congress dominated by the powerful conservative coalition of southern Democrats and Republicans, who had successfully blocked most liberal legislation since the start of World War II. Though Johnson established many lasting programs, other aspects of the Great Society, including the Office of Economic Opportunity, were later abolished. The perceived failures of the Vietnam War nurtured disillusionment with government, and the New Deal coalition fell apart in large part due to tensions over the Vietnam War and the 1968 election. Republicans won five of six presidential elections after Johnson left office. Ronald Reagan came into office in 1981 vowing to undo the Great Society, though he and other Republicans were unable to repeal many of Johnson's programs.


title: Presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson

text: Fredrik Logevall argues "there still seems much to recommend the 'orthodox' view that [Johnson] was a parochial and unimaginative foreign policy thinker, a man vulnerable to cliches about international affairs and lacking interest in the world beyond America's shores." Many historians emphasize Johnson's provincialism. The “been in Texas too long” school of interpretation was coined in the Warren I. Cohen and Nancy Bernkopf Tucker anthology, "Lyndon Johnson Confronts the World" to describe the consensus of historians who see Johnson as a politician with a narrow vision. One smaller group of scholars, called the "Longhorn School", argues that—apart from Vietnam—Johnson had a fairly good record in foreign policy. Many of the "Longhorn School" are students of Robert Dallek, who has argued that "the jury is still out on Johnson as a foreign policy leader". By contrast, Nicholas Evan Sarantakes argues:


title: Hamza Ali Abbasi

text: Hamza Ali Abbasi (Urdu/; born 23 June 1984) is a Pakistani film and television actor, director, and the religious student of Islamic scholar Javed Ahmad Ghamidi.


title: Hamza Ali Abbasi

text: He is known for his roles as Afzal in the drama serial "Pyarey Afzal", and as Salahuddin in the drama serial "Mann Mayal".


title: Hamza Ali Abbasi

text: In 2013, he appeared in two feature films, "Main Hoon Shahid Afridi" and "Waar", for which he received the Best Star Debut Male and Best Supporting Actor awards at the 1st ARY Film Awards.


title: Hamza Ali Abbasi

text: Abbasi was born into a Punjabi family of civil servants to Major (Retd) Mazhar Ali Abbasi, an army officer, and Begum Nasim Akhtar Chaudhry, a politician affiliated with the Pakistan Peoples Party.


title: Hamza Ali Abbasi

text: He gained his Bachelor's in International Relations from the United States and his Master's in the same subject from the Quaid-e-Azam University.


title: Hamza Ali Abbasi

text: He also passed the CSS exams and was working as a civil service officer in the police group before abandoning the job to concentrate on his passions, film-making and acting.


title: Hamza Ali Abbasi

text: He started his career in 2006 as a theatre actor and appeared in several plays such as "Bombay Dreams", "Phantom of the Opera", and "Home is Where Your Clothes Are". He made his directorial debut with the feature film "Mud House and the Golden Doll", which he describes as a simple story about simple people.


title: Hamza Ali Abbasi

text: His breakthrough was the movie "Waar" (2013). He was initially an assistant director to Bilal Lashari, before the later offered him a role in the movie, that he considers important for his future career.


title: Hamza Ali Abbasi

text: He voiced "Baba Bandook", the main antagonist, and "Vadero Pajero" in the Unicorn Black produced animated series, "Burka Avenger".


title: Hamza Ali Abbasi

text: He supports the political party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, of which he was elected the cultural secretary in January 2018 before quitting the function in April of the same year because he didn't feel "to represent Pakistan’s culture" through his movies.


title: Hamza Ali Abbasi

text: In 2018 he exposed journalist and former wife of Imran Khan, Reham Khan, by revealing the manuscript of the book beforehand. She also claimed to have been threatened directly by Hamza Ali Abbasi via emails. When Abbasi denied the claim, Khan further stated that it was gimmick of Reham Khan's to malign him because of his closeness to Imran Khan.


title: Akureyri

text: Akureyri (, ) is a town in northern Iceland. It is Iceland's fifth-largest municipality, after Reykjavík, Hafnarfjörður, Reykjanesbær and Kópavogur, and the largest town outside Iceland's more populated southwest corner.


title: Akureyri

text: Nicknamed the "Capital of North Iceland", Akureyri is an important port and fishing centre. The area where Akureyri is located was settled in the 9th century, but did not receive a municipal charter until 1786. Allied units were based in the town during World War II. Further growth occurred after the war as the Icelandic population increasingly moved to urban areas.


title: Akureyri

text: The area has a relatively mild climate because of geographical factors, and the town's ice-free harbour has played a significant role in its history.


title: Akureyri

text: The Norse Viking Helgi "magri" (the slim) Eyvindarson originally settled the area in the 9th century. The first mention of Akureyri is in court records from 1562, when a woman was sentenced there for adultery. In the 17th century, Danish merchants based their camps at the current site of Akureyri, which was one of the numerous spits of land in Pollurinn. The main reasons for choosing this spot for trading operations were the outstanding natural harbour and the fertility of the area. The merchants did not live at Akureyri year-round, but returned home in the winter.


title: Akureyri

text: Permanent settlement at Akureyri started in 1778, and eight years later, the town was granted its municipal charter by the king Christian VII, along with five other towns in Iceland. The king hoped to improve the living conditions of Icelanders by this action, because at the time, Iceland had never had urban areas. As far as the king was concerned, Akureyri was unsuccessful, because it did not grow from its population of 12. It lost its municipal status in 1836, but regained it in 1862. From then on, Akureyri grew because of the excellent port conditions and perhaps more because of the productive agricultural region around it. Agricultural products became an important sector of the economy.


title: Akureyri

text: During World War II, Akureyri was one of three air bases used by the Norwegian-British No. 330 Squadron RNoAF. The squadron, which was formed on 25 April 1941, flew Northrop N-3PB bombers: 'A' flight was based at RAF Reykjavik, 'B' flight at Akureyri and 'C' flight at Budareyri (Reyðarfjörður now). On 1 December 1940, 'A' and 'B' flights ceased operating from Norwegian bases, but 'C' flight continued to fly Northrop N-3PBs from Akureyri until 5 April 1943. No. 330 Squadron RNoAF also operated Catalina flying boats from Akureyri, which protected convoys between the United States, the United Kingdom, and Murmansk in northern Russia from attack by German submarines.


title: Akureyri

text: In the 20th century, Iceland experienced an exodus from the countryside to the towns. Commerce and service industries grew to be the primary employers in Akureyri in the 1990s. Jón Sveinsson, a popular author of children's books, was born in Akureyri and died in 1944.


title: Akureyri

text: In the early 21st century, fishing industries have become more important in Akureyri as two of the major fishing companies of Iceland have become a more important source of revenue and are expected to grow further in coming years. The University of Akureyri was founded in 1987 and is growing rapidly.


title: Akureyri

text: Since 2004, the former municipality of Hrísey, an island to the north, has been a part of Akureyri. Hrísey, which has a population of 210, is the second-largest island off Iceland and is a site for pet and livestock quarantine. The settlement was previously the site of fishing processing. The town is located on the southern part of the island. The northern part consists of privately owned land that requires passes to enter.


title: Akureyri

text: It is surrounded by mountains, the highest being Strýta (); to the west) and Kerling () at the head of Glerádalur , to the southwest. It has a narrow coastal strip of flat land; inland is a steep but low hill. In earlier times, a few spits of land (Icelandic: "eyri", thus Akur-eyri) jutted from the narrow coast, but much land has since been reclaimed from the sea, so that today the coastline is more even except for the largest spit, Oddeyri , which was formed by the river Glerá, which runs through the town. The name of the town is possibly derived from the name of a field that may have been situated near some of the sheltered locations by the river.


title: Akureyri

text: The body of sea between Oddeyri and the end of the fjord is known as Pollurinn ("The Pool") and is known for calm winds and a good natural harbour. Akureyri today is centered on Ráðhústorg (Town Hall Square) near the northwest corner of Pollurinn. The districts of Akureyri are: Innbær , the oldest part of town on the strip of land between the hill and Pollurinn south of the central area; Brekkan , on top of the hill; Oddeyri on the peninsula of the same name; and Glerárhverfi on the north bank of the Glerá (also referred to colloquially as Þorpið , 'the Village'). Because of the town's position at the head of a long fjord surrounded by high mountains, the climate is more typically inland than coastal, with greater variations in temperature (warmer summers, colder winters) than in many other inhabited parts of Iceland. However, the mountains shield the town from strong winds. The relatively warm climate (for its latitude) allows the botanical gardens to flourish without need of a greenhouse. The area around Akureyri has one of the warmest climates in Iceland, even though it is only from the Arctic Circle.


title: Akureyri

text: Akureyri has either the rare dry-summer subarctic climate (Köppen: "Dsc") if the 0 °C isotherm is used, or the very rare cold-summer mediterranean climate (Köppen: Csc) if the -3 °C isotherm is used, with cold though not severe winters and mild summers. The snow cover starts forming in late October and melts in April, yet snow can lie on the mountain peaks around Akureyri for the whole year. Akureyri is a very cloudy town, averaging only 1,029 sunshine hours annually, with barely any sunshine between November and February (which is also due to the town's location less than 100 km from the Arctic Circle), but precipitation is much lower than in southern Iceland because the prevailing winds are from the south — it is as little as a fifth as much as in Vík í Mýrdal.


title: Akureyri

text: On 1 January 2015, Akureyri had a population of 18,191; of whom 9,011 were males and 9,180 were females. About 3% of the population are foreign citizens, from 53 countries. In 2014, there were 229 births and 118 deaths in Akureyri. Immigration in 2014 was 1,097 individuals, while emigration was 1,122 residents. Population growth in 2014 was therefore 0.5%. The population in 1910 was 2,239, increasing to 7,711 in 1950 and 16,756 in 2005.


title: Akureyri

text: Crime statistics have been published by the Iceland national police for 2000. Akureyri had a reported 726 nontraffic offences per 10,000 population compared with a national average of 892, while 2,891 traffic offences per 10,000 population were recorded compared with a national average of 2,397. Akureyri has five police officers on call. Incidents have occurred where insufficient police officers were on duty to respond to criminal activity in progress, as confirmed by the mayor. However, Akureyri, and Iceland in general, has one of the lowest crime rates in the world.


title: Akureyri

text: The fishing industry has historically been a large and important part of the local economy. In recent years, other industries and business services have also begun. Higher education is also a growing sector in the local economy. About 20% of the work force is in the service industry.


title: Akureyri

text: Two of the five largest fishing companies in Iceland are headquartered in Akureyri, partly because of the ice-free port. Other large companies in Akureyri include Samherji, Norðurmjólk, Brim hf, and Vífilfell, the largest brewery in Iceland. Sjúkrahús Akureyrar (FSA/Akureyri Hospital) is a major employer in the area and is one of two major hospitals in Iceland.


title: Akureyri

text: Corporations pay a tax rate of 18% to the national government, which is one of the lowest in the world. No additional local corporate taxes are levied. Property tax, at 1.99%, accounts for most of the tax base. A local government deficit of ISK 1 billion (US$9 million) was anticipated in 2009, prompting a cut in salaries of the mayor, town councilors, and committee members by 10% and increases in local taxes and property taxes.


title: Akureyri

text: Akureyri has a robust cultural scene, with several bars and reputable restaurants (such as "Greifinn", "Bautinn", "RUB 23 Steak/Sushi", "Kung Fu sushi bar" and "Götubarinn"). The Icelandic folk dance ensemble "Vefarinn" comes from Akureyri. Folk culture, in general, is more prevalent in Akureyri than in Reykjavík. During the summer, several festivals are held in Akureyri and the surrounding area. One example is the medieval festival held every summer at Gásir. The Akureyri International Music Festival, a concert series by bands, was held for the fourth time in 2009. The town has one of the largest libraries in the country.


title: Akureyri

text: The "Vikudagur" newspaper is published in Akureyri. The Icelandic National Broadcasting Service (Ríkisútvarpið) operates two radio channels nationwide. The several radio stations in Akureyri include FM Akureyri and Voice FM 98.7. Several television stations can be watched in Akureyri. N4 is a station whose studios are located in Akureyri. Initially a local channel, it began to broadcast nationwide in 2008.


title: Akureyri

text: Sites that have been cited as areas of interest include various museums, churches, and the Botanical Gardens. Local museums include the Minjasafnið á Akureyri (Akureyri Museum), Listasafnið á Akureyri (Akureyri Art Museum), Nonnahús (Nonni house or Jón Sveinsson Memorial Museum, for the writer), Davíðshús (David's house or Davíð Stefánsson Memorial Museum, for the poet), Akureyri Museum of Industry, a motorcycle museum, and Flugsafn Íslands (Aviation Museum of Iceland). The most northerly 18 hole golf course in the world is in the town. The Náttúrufræðistofnun Norðurlands (Nature Museum) was opened in 1957 and is in the grounds of the Akureyri Botanical Garden. The Botanical Gardens (Lystigarður Akureyrar) are located in Spítalavegur. Large churches include the Akureyrarkirkja (The church of Akureyri) and Glerárkirkja (The church of Glerá). Sundlaug Akureyrar is a swimming pool in Akureyri.


title: Akureyri

text: New residential and commercial growth has required an extension of electricity and water distribution, as well as new water drilling. Much of the town is heated geothermally.


title: Akureyri

text: Akureyri is governed by a town council, directly elected by those over 18 with registered domicile in the town. The council has 11 members, who are elected for four-year terms. The mayor is appointed by the council: usually one of the council members is chosen, but they may also appoint a mayor who is not a member of the council.


title: Akureyri

text: The last elections to the town council were held on May 31, 2014. The People's List ("Listi fólksins"), which won an outright majority in 2010, and The Town List ("Bæjarlistinn") merged into L-list, the Town List of Akureyri. They had seven representatives together, but now have only two, 18.8%. The Independence Party (Sjálfstæðisflokkurinn) received the most votes, three seats in the council, 25.8%, instead of only one previously. Social Democratic Alliance (Samfylkingin) and Progressive Party (Framsóknarflokkurinn) each got two seats instead of the previous one each. Left-Green Movement (Vinstri hreyfingin grænt framboð) and Bright Future (Björt framtíð) each got one seat. L-list, Social Democratic Alliance, and the Progressive Party formed a new majority in the council. The new majority decided that Eiríkur Björn Björgvinsson, mayor of Akureyri since 2010, would continue to serve as mayor.


title: Akureyri

text: In 2007, a friendship and fisheries agreement was signed with Grimsby, United Kingdom, which according to "Ice News", might lead to a twin cities designation in the future.


title: Akureyri

text: There are two high schools (junior colleges) in Akureyri, one of them being the second oldest in Iceland. The Menntaskólinn á Akureyri is a junior college in Akureyri and so is the Verkmenntaskólinn á Akureyri (Akureyri Vocational College). The University of Akureyri (Háskólinn á Akureyri) was founded in 1987. There are 3 faculties or colleges, the Faculty of Business and Science, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences and Faculty of Health Sciences. The university offers master's degrees in several subjects.


title: Akureyri

text: Akureyri Airport, one of four international airports in Iceland and the only international airport in the north of the country, was constructed in 1955 replacing the airstrip at Melgerdismelar further to the south. The current airport is mostly used for domestic flights, with seasonal scheduled international flights and flights to Nerlerit Inaat in Greenland throughout the whole year. Icelandair flies several times a day to Reykjavík, and there are also domestic flights to Grímsey (a small island to the north) and to Vopnafjörður and Þórshöfn (both small settlements in northeast Iceland).


title: Akureyri

text: The port of Akureyri is vital to the town, which largely bases its livelihood on fisheries. It is the site of large fish processing plants and has docking facilities for trawlers. It is also important for freight handling and for tourism, as cruise ships stop in Akureyri during the summer months. The ice-free nature of the port has been important in the town's establishment.


title: Akureyri

text: SBA-Norðurleið (Icelandic Bus Company - northern route) is an Akureyri-based company that provides a long-distance bus service to the town. Local bus services within Akureyri are provided by the SVA (Akureyri Bus Company), which does not charge fares. The cessation of fares in 2008 resulted in an increase of 130% in passenger numbers compared to the previous year when fares were charged.


title: Akureyri

text: Route 1 or the Ring Road (Þjóðvegur 1 or Hringvegur) connects the town with the other parts of the country, including Reykjavík, which is away. The road is mostly one lane in each direction, but is paved and open year-round. There are no paved roads from Akureyri to the unpopulated interior of the island. However, the F821 mountain road is open in summer: it climbs southwards from Akureyri and connects with the F26 mountain road across the interior to the SW of the country. Parking in the central area requires use of a parking disc indicating the time that parking has commenced. Parking is free but is limited in certain areas to a maximum period ranging from 15 minutes to 2 hours.


title: Akureyri

text: The Vaðlaheiði tunnel, opened for traffic in December 2018, reduced the road distance from Akureyri to Mývatn lake by . It ran overbudget and was one of Iceland's most expensive tunnel projects, encountering political and engineering difficulties. The total project cost is estimated to be between ISK 16-17 billion (US$160–170 million/EUR 130-138 million) reaching double the initially estimated ISK 8.7 billion.


title: Akureyri

text: Akureyri has been heated geothermally since the late 1970s. Starting in 1928, there were unsuccessful attempts to develop geothermal energy. During this period, electricity and oil were used for heating. Construction of a geothermal distribution system was begun in 1976 after the discovery of a commercially viable source in 1975. Distribution was widespread by 1979.


title: Akureyri

text: The Laugaland field near Akureyri was the first geothermal source commercially developed. The Ytri-Tjarnir field followed. To obtain sufficient water flow, additional fields were developed at Botn in 1980, Glerárdalur SW of the town in 1981, and Þelamörk north of the town in 1992. Water temperature is generally but can drop to during hot summer days. The cost of geothermal production is, at 32 mill/kwh, higher than the Icelandic national average of 11, but slightly less than the cost of imported heating oil. There is diminishing excess capacity but there are known and untapped resources near the town. Furthermore, there have been proposals to reinject water to extend the life of the sources.


title: Akureyri

text: Knattspyrnufélag Akureyrar (KA) and Þór are the two biggest multi-sport clubs in the town. They field teams in several sports, such as basketball, football and handball.


title: Akureyri

text: The most successful football team of late in the town has been Þór/KA, a joint women's team from KA and Þór. Since 2008, it has finished in the top four in the top-tier Úrvalsdeild kvenna, winning the national championship in 2012 and 2017. The clubs also have two men's football teams under their own names.


title: Akureyri

text: The clubs field a joint team in women's handball, KA/Þór. They fielded a joint men's team under the name Akureyri Handboltafélag from 2016 to 2017 before KA broke off from the cooperation and fielded a separate team in 2017–2018.


title: Akureyri

text: In basketball, Þór fields both men's and women's team. Its women's team has won the national championship three times: in 1969, 1971 and 1976.


title: Akureyri

text: The town's ice hockey team, Skautafélag Akureyrar, is the most successful team in the history of the Icelandic Hockey League, with 20 championships from 1992 to 2018.


title: Akureyri

text: The Akureyri Golf Club is the second oldest golf club in Iceland behind the Reykjavík Golf Club. It was established in 1935 and is the annual location of The Arctic Open held each summer solstice. The town is also the birthplace of Icelandic footballers Birkir Bjarnason and Aron Gunnarsson, as well as mixed martial arts fighter Gunnar Nelson.


title: Ruth Pointer

text: Ruth Esther Pointer (born March 19, 1946) is an American singer–songwriter who is best known as the eldest member of the American family vocal group the Pointer Sisters.


title: Ruth Pointer

text: Joining her sisters in 1972, the Pointer Sisters released their first album in 1973. The group eventually found fame with songs like "Yes We Can Can" (1973), their country crossover hit, "Fairytale" (1974) and "How Long (Betcha Got a Chick on the Side)" before Bonnie's exit in 1977. Continuing as a trio, the group found their biggest success covering tunes of rock, pop and new wave with singles such as "Fire" (1978), "He's So Shy" (1980), and "Slow Hand" (1981).


title: Ruth Pointer

text: The group found its biggest success with the release of the "Break Out" album in 1983 which featured hits such as "Automatic", "Jump (For My Love)", a re-released version of "I'm So Excited", "Neutron Dance", and "Baby Come And Get It". It's notable for featuring Ruth's lead vocals on "Automatic" and "Neutron Dance", which hit the top ten of the "Billboard" Hot 100 Chart and led to the group winning two Grammy Awards. Of the original members, Ruth, along with her sister Anita, are still active with The Pointer Sisters. In 1988, Pointer provided the singing voice of the character Rita the Disney film "Oliver & Company", where she sang the song "Streets of Gold" as well as a reprise of the song "Why Should I Worry" with fellow cast member Billy Joel. They were joined by Ruth's daughter, Issa, in the 1990s. The group was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1994.


title: Ruth Pointer

text: In October 2021, Pointer competed in season six of "The Masked Singer" as "Cupcake". Pointer revealed upon her unmasking that she was supposed to perform on the show as part of a duo with her sister Anita in a duplicated and recolored Cupcake costume. Anita was dealing with an illness, forcing Ruth to perform alone.


title: Ruth Pointer

text: Pointer has been married five times and has five children. The eldest are a daughter Faun (born 1965) and a son Malik (born 1966). Malik is a singer. Her daughter Issa Pointer (born 1978), is from a 1977 marriage with former Temptations member Dennis Edwards. In 1984, Pointer married noted bassist Don Boyette, divorcing in 1988.


title: Ruth Pointer

text: Pointer married Michael Sayles in 1990 and, at the age of 47 in 1993, she gave birth to twins, a boy named Conor and a girl named Ali. Both Issa Pointer and Ruth's granddaughter Sadako Pointer (born 1984) have performed as members of the Pointer Sisters.


title: Lever action

text: Lever-action is a type of action for repeating firearms that uses a manually operated cocking handle located around the trigger guard area (often incorporating it) that pivots forward to move the bolt via internal linkages, which will feed and extract cartridges into and out of the chamber, and cock the firing pin mechanism. This contrasts to other type of repeating actions such as the bolt-action, pump-action, semi-automatic, or automatic/selective-fire actions. A firearm using this operating mechanism is colloquially referred to as a levergun.


title: Lever action

text: Most lever-action firearms are rifles, but some lever-action shotguns and a few pistols have been made. The Winchester Model 1873 rifle is one of the most famous lever-action firearms, but many manufacturers (notably Henry and Marlin) also produce lever-action rifles. Even Colt's Mfg. Co. produced the 6403 lever-action Colt-Burgess rifles from 1883 until 1885. Mossberg produces the Mossberg model 464 in centerfire .30-30 and rimfire .22.


title: Lever action

text: In 1826, a lever-action revolver capable of firing six shots in less than six seconds was produced in Italy by Cesar Rosaglio and patented in 1829.


title: Lever action

text: The first lever-action rifles on the market were likely the Colt's 1st and 2nd Model Ring Lever rifles, both cap and ball rifles, produced by the Patent Arms Mfg. Co. Paterson, N.J.-Colt's Patent between 1837 and 1841. The ring lever was located in front of the trigger. This loading lever, when pulled, would index the cylinder to the next position and cock the internal hidden hammer.


title: Lever action

text: Multiple lever-action designs including the Volcanic pistol were designed before the American Civil War, but the first significant designs were the Spencer repeating rifle and Henry rifle both created in 1860. The Spencer was a lever-operated rifle with a removable seven-round tube magazine designed by Christopher Spencer. Over 20,000 were made, and it was adopted by the United States and used during the American Civil War, which marked the first adoption of an infantry and cavalry rifle with a removable magazine by any country. The early Spencer's rifle lever only served to unlock the action and chamber a new round; the hammer had to be cocked separately after chambering.


title: Lever action

text: The Henry rifle, invented by Benjamin Tyler Henry, a gunsmith employed by Oliver Winchester, had a centrally located hammer that was cocked by the rearward movement of the bolt rather than an offset hammer typical of muzzle-loading rifles. Henry also placed the magazine under the barrel rather than in the buttstock, a trend followed by most tube magazines ever since.


title: Lever action

text: John Marlin, founder of Marlin Firearms Company, New Haven, Connecticut, introduced Marlin's first lever-action repeating rifle as the Model 1881. This was chambered in rounds such as .45-70 Government and .38-55 Winchester. Its successor was the 1895 solid top design, which is known as the Marlin 336 today. It also gave rise to the Marlin Model 1894, which is still in production.


title: Lever action

text: By the 1890s, lever-actions had evolved into a form that would last for over a century. Both Marlin and Winchester released new model lever-action rifles in 1894. The Marlin rifle is still in production, whereas production of the Winchester 94 ceased in 2006. While externally similar, the Marlin and Winchester rifles are different internally. The Marlin has a single-stage lever-action, whilst the Winchester has a double-stage lever. The double-stage action is easily seen when the Winchester's lever is operated, as the entire trigger group drops down to unlock the bolt which then moves rearward to eject the spent cartridge.


title: Lever action

text: The fledgling Savage Arms Company became well known after the development of its popular hammerless Models 1895 and 1899 (which became named the Model 99) lever-action sporting rifles. The Models 1895/99 were produced from the introduction in 1899 until the expense of producing the rifle and declining interest in lever-action rifles from the 1950s on resulted in dropping the Model 99 from production in 2000. Unlike most Winchester and the Marlin lever-action rifles which used a tubular magazine requiring round nose or flat nose bullets, Arthur Savage designed his rifle using a rotary magazine. This allowed the 99 to use cartridges with Spitzer-pointed bullets for increased ballistic performance. The 99 was produced in many different cartridges and several different model variations. The final models eliminated the very expensive to produce rotary magazines, using a detachable box magazine instead. Despite this, the Model 99 was still very expensive to produce when compared to other lever-action rifles and combined with the affordability of the Savage bolt-action rifle, the Model 99 was discontinued.


title: Lever action

text: The Henry Lever-Action was used in the US Civil War and was used in the US until the Winchester Model 1866 rifle replaced it. The Spencer repeating rifle was also used in the US Civil War. Additionally, rifles using the lever-action design were used extensively during the 1930s by irregular forces in the Spanish Civil War. Typically, these were Winchesters or Winchester copies of Spanish manufacture. At least 9,000 Model 1895 rifles are known to have been provided by the Soviet Union in 1936 to the Spanish Republicans for use in the Spanish Civil War. Both the Russian Empire and the United States adopted the Winchester Model 1895 as a military weapon.


title: Lever action

text: Early attempts at repeating shotguns invariably centered around either bolt-action or lever-action designs, drawing obvious inspiration from the repeating rifles of the time. The earliest successful repeating shotgun was the lever-action Winchester Model 1887, designed by John Browning in 1885 at the behest of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company. The lever-action design was chosen for reasons of brand recognition despite the protestations of Browning, who pointed out that a slide action design would be much better for a shotgun. Initially chambered for black powder shotgun shells (as was standard at the time), the Model 1887 gave rise to the Winchester Model 1901, a strengthened version chambered for 10ga smokeless powder shells. Their popularity waned after the introduction of slide action shotguns such as the Winchester Model 1897, and production was discontinued in 1920. Modern reproductions are manufactured by Armi Chiappa in Italy, Norinco in China, and ADI Ltd. in Australia. Winchester continued to manufacture the .410 bore Model 9410, which is effectively a Winchester Model 94 chambered for .410 bore shotgun shells, until 2006.


title: Lever action

text: Australian firearm laws strictly control pump and semi-automatic actions. Lever operation falls into a more lenient category, hence the recent popularity of lever-action in that country.


title: Lever action

text: A one-off example of lever-action reloading on automatic firearms is the M1895 Colt–Browning machine gun. This weapon had a swinging lever beneath its barrel that was actuated by a gas bleed in the barrel, unlocking the breech to reload. This unique operation gave the nickname "potato digger," as the lever swung each time the weapon fired and would dig into the ground if the weapon was not situated high enough on its mount.


title: Lever action

text: The cartridges for lever-action rifles have a wide variety of calibers, bullet shapes, and powder loads which fall into two categories: Low-pressure cartridges with rounded bullets, and high-pressure cartridges with aerodynamic pointed ("spitzer") bullets.


title: Lever action

text: Some lever-actions are not as strong as bolt action or semi-automatic rifle actions. The weaker actions utilize low- and medium-pressure cartridges, somewhat similar to high-powered pistol ammunition. To increase the bullet's energy at relatively low velocities, these often have larger, heavier bullets than other types of rifles. The most common cartridge is the .30-30, introduced by Winchester with the Model 1894. Other common cartridges include: .38 Special/.357 Magnum, .44 Special/.44 Magnum, .41 Magnum, .444 Marlin, .45-70, .45 Colt, .32-20 Winchester, .35 Remington, .308 Marlin Express, .22 calibre rimfire, and .300 Savage. There is some dispute about which of these cartridges can safely be used to hunt large game or large predators. Even in the largest calibers, the low velocities give these cartridges much lower energies than Elephant gun cartridges with comparable calibers. However, even the smallest cartridges fit lightweight, handy rifles that can be excellent for hunting small herbivores, pest control, and personal defense.


title: Lever action

text: Some stronger, larger pistols (usually revolvers) also accept some of these cartridges, permitting the use of the same ammunition in both a pistol and rifle. The rifle's longer barrel and better accuracy permit higher velocities, longer ranges, and a wider selection of game.


title: Lever action

text: Some of these cartridges (e.g. the .45-70) are developmental descendants of very early black powder metallic cartridges. When metallic cartridges and lever-actions were first invented, very small, portable kits were developed for hand reloading and bullet molding (so-called "cowboy reloading kits"). These kits are still available for most low-pressure lever-action cartridges.


title: Lever action

text: Stronger lever-actions, such as the action of the Marlin Model 1894, can utilize high-pressure cartridges. Lever-action designs with strong, rotary locking bolts (such as the Browning BLR with seven locking lugs) safely use very high-powered cartridges like the .300 Winchester Magnum, .300 WSM, and 7 mm Remington Magnum. Tilting block designs such as the Savage Model 99 are also strong enough to handle high pressures.


title: Lever action

text: Many lever-actions have a tubular magazine under the barrel. To operate safely, cartridges for these have bullets with rounded tips, and some use rimfire primers rather than centerfire primers. The safety problem is that long-range aerodynamic supersonic bullets are pointed. In a tubular magazine, the points can accidentally fire centerfire cartridges. A related problem is that some pointed bullets have fragile tips, and can be damaged in a tubular magazine. Some lever-actions such as the Savage Model 99 can be fed from either box or rotary magazines. The Winchester Model 1895 also uses a box magazine, and is chambered for .30-06 and other powerful military cartridges. More recently, spitzer bullets with elastomeric tips have been developed.


title: Lever action

text: Lever-action shotguns such as the Winchester Model 1887 were chambered in 10 or 12-gauge black powder shotgun shells, whereas the Model 1901 was chambered for 10-gauge smokeless shotshells. Modern reproductions are chambered for 12 gauge smokeless shells, while the Winchester Model 9410 shotgun is available in .410 bore.


title: Lever action

text: While lever-action rifles have always been popular with hunters and sporting shooters, they have not been widely accepted by the military. Several reasons for that have been proposed.


title: Lever action

text: One significant reason for this is that it is harder to fire from the prone position with a lever-action rifle than it is with a straight pull or rotating bolt bolt-action rifle.


title: Lever action

text: While lever-action rifles generally possess a greater rate of fire than bolt-action rifles, that was not always a feature, since, until about the turn of the 20th century, most militaries were wary of it being too high, afraid that excessive round consumption would put a strain on logistics and military industry.


title: Lever action

text: Tubular magazines, similar to the one used on the first bolt-action rifle and used on hunting lever-action rifles to this day, is sometimes described as a problem: while it is indeed incompatible with pointed centerfire "spitzer" bullets developed in the 1890s (discounting recently invented elastomer-tipped ones) due to the point of each cartridge's projectile resting on the primer of the next cartridge in the magazine, lever-action rifles actually adapted for military use (such as the Winchester Model 1895, which saw service with the Russian Army in World War I) were fitted with a box magazine invented in the late 1870s.


title: Lever action

text: Another explanation for the lack of widespread use of lever-action designs stems from the initial inability to fire high-pressure cartridges made possible by the invention of smokeless powder in the 1880s. Safe operation could only be carried out by using low-pressure cartridges in the toggle-lock lever-action rifles such as the Henry rifle and the following Winchester Model 1866, Model 73, and Model 76 (which was used by the mounted police of Canada). The new lever-action designs, notably the Winchester Model 1886, Model 92, Model 94, and the Model 1895 (in 7.62x54R, a Russian military cartridge), with a strong locking-block action designed by John Moses Browning, were capable of firing higher-pressure cartridges.


title: Lever action

text: In the end, the problem was economical. By the time these rifles became available in the late 19th century, militaries worldwide had put cheap bolt-action rifles into service and were unwilling to invest in producing more expensive lever-action rifles.


title: Lever action

text: Due to the higher rate of fire and shorter overall length than most bolt-action rifles, lever-actions have remained popular to this day for sporting use, especially short- and medium-range hunting in forests, scrub, or bushland. Lever-action firearms have also been used in some quantity by prison guards in the United States, as well as by wildlife authorities in many parts of the world.


title: Lever action

text: Many newer lever-action rifles are capable of shooting groups smaller than 1 minute of angle (MOA), making their accuracy equal to the accuracy of most modern bolt-action rifles.


title: Lever action

text: Additionally, another advantage over typical bolt-action rifles is the lack of handedness: lever-actions, like pump actions, are frequently recommended as ambidextrous in sporting guidebooks.


title: Mike McShane

text: Michael McShane (born June 25, 1955) is an American actor, singer, and improvisational comedian. He appeared on the original British television show "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" (1988–97) and went on to appear in films such as " (1988)", "" (1991), "Richie Rich" (1994), and "Office Space" (1999). McShane has also been involved in several Disney productions, including "Tom and Huck" (1995), the television series "Brotherly Love" (1995–97), and "Tower of Terror" (1997). He also voiced the Revolting Slob in the Canadian-American variety television series "Crashbox".


title: Mike McShane

text: McShane voiced Marlon, Caracticus P. Doom and various other characters in Cosgrove Hall Films's "Avenger Penguins" (1993–94), Gareb in "Todd McFarlane's Spawn" (1997–99), and Quosmir in "Dave The Barbarian" (2004–05).


title: Mike McShane

text: McShane studied drama at San Joaquin Delta College and San Francisco State University, performing with Faultline Theatre, the San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, American Conservatory Theatre and the Eureka Theatre. McShane is also an alumnus of Los Angeles Theatresports.


title: Mike McShane

text: McShane gained exposure in the early 1990s from semi-regular appearances on the British show "Whose Line Is It Anyway?". He later appeared with fellow "Whose Line" players Tony Slattery in the comedy sketch show "S&M" and Sandi Toksvig in the sitcom "The Big One".


title: Mike McShane

text: Other TV roles include a guest appearance on "Seinfeld" as Kramer's nemesis Franklin Delano Romanowski (FDR). McShane played Friar Tuck in "Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves" in 1991, had a small role as a doomed hypnotherapist in the 1999 film "Office Space", and played the friendly scientist, Professor Keenbean, in the 1994 movie "Richie Rich". In 1998 he appeared in an episode of "Frasier" as Frank, the manager of the Shangri-La apartments. He also co-starred with Sir John Gielgud, Emily Watson and Rosemary Harris in "A Summer's Day Dream" for BBC "Performance" series.


title: Mike McShane

text: In 1995, McShane starred as Harley in the BBC Screen Two TV Movie "Crazy For A Kiss", about a young boy who is sent to a mental institution for teenagers in McShane's home state of Kansas. McShane appeared in "Tom and Huck" as Muff Potter and on "Brotherly Love" as the experienced but wisecracking mechanic, Lloyd.


title: Mike McShane

text: In 1997 he appeared in "Tower of Terror", a TV movie starring Steve Guttenberg and Kirsten Dunst based on the Disney attraction, as "Q".


title: Mike McShane

text: McShane also appeared with Dunst in the 1999 comedy film "Drop Dead Gorgeous", playing a quick-tempered beauty pageant judge who serves as caretaker for his learning disabled brother.


title: Mike McShane

text: McShane provided voice work for the anime "", as D's sarcastic possessed left hand. He also provided the voice of Detective Twitch in the HBO animated series "Spawn". Other voice work by McShane includes the characters of Tuck and Roll, the twin pill bugs in "A Bug's Life" and the video game of the same name in 1998. He also provided the voice of Shalulu in Disney's redub of "Castle in the Sky", and Baron Rakan Harkonnen in the 2001 strategy game "". He provided the voice for Cid in the video games "Final Fantasy X" and "Final Fantasy X-2".


title: Mike McShane

text: McShane appeared as the voice of Audrey II (as well as playing a number of peripheral characters) in the London revival of "Little Shop of Horrors" at the Menier Chocolate Factory in Southwark between December 2006 and February 2007. The show was a critical success and was sold out for the duration of its run, and Mike had been contracted to continue in the role following the show's transfer to the West End at the Duke of York theatre. In September 2007 he took part in the British Library's celebration of Jack Kerouac, reading excerpts from On The Road on the 50th anniversary of its publication.


title: Mike McShane

text: In 2008, McShane appeared as a guest performer in "Paul Merton's Impro Chums", a live improv show, and was asked to join the permanent company for three UK tours, and is still ongoing with the group. and as Dr. Vaabit in episode 5 of BBC's sitcom "Lab Rats", and has appeared twice on the BBC radio programme "Just a Minute".


title: Mike McShane

text: In September 2012, McShane appeared as the character Grayle in the television series "Doctor Who" in the series 7 episode "The Angels Take Manhattan". In November 2012, Mike starred as a CIA military consultant in BBC Three comedy series "Bluestone 42". In February 2013, Mike created the role of Louis B. Mayer in the new musical "The Tailor Made Man" at The Arts Theatre in London's West End, garnering rave reviews.


title: Mike McShane

text: On May 17, 2013, Radio 5 Live's breakfast show accidentally announced Mike McShane had died. This was following the death of Paul Shane on May 16, 2013. A retraction was issued.


title: Mike McShane

text: In 2014, McShane was in the horror comedy film "Love in the Time of Monsters". From November 2014 through March 2015, he appeared in the Stephen Sondheim musical "Assassins" at the Menier Chocolate Factory.


title: Mike McShane

text: In August 2015 McShane appeared at an Edinburgh Fringe gala regarding mental health issues. At the same time he paid tribute to his friend Robin Williams. McShane said: “I worked with Robin when we were young and he came to see me backstage in the past, too. Any improviser my age or younger was inspired by him...Even with his condition he was still doing benefit gigs, making servicemen laugh and championing young acts. He would pick you up and make you feel like the exploration of your imagination and expression was a good thing. Laughter is good. It's group consensus and a release of tension.”


title: Sarah Steele

text: Sarah Jane Steele (born September 16, 1988) is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Marissa Gold on the CBS legal drama series "The Good Wife" (2011–2016) and its CBS All Access spinoff series "The Good Fight" (2017–2022).


title: Sarah Steele

text: Steele was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Her mother, Katherine A. High, is a hematology oncology physician at the University of Pennsylvania, and her father, George Steele, is an internal medicine physician specializing in nutrition who was on the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Steele graduated with the class of 2006 from The Episcopal Academy, a private school in southeast Pennsylvania. She graduated from Columbia University in 2011 with a B.A. in English.


title: Sarah Steele

text: Steele had her breakout role as Bernice in the 2004 comedy drama film "Spanglish". Steele went on to appear in an episode of the crime drama series "Law & Order"; the dark comedy film "Mr. Gibb", which co-stars Hayden Panettiere, Tim Daly and Dan Hedaya; and the drama film "Margaret", which co-stars Matt Damon, Matthew Broderick, Anna Paquin, Mark Ruffalo, and Allison Janney.


title: Sarah Steele

text: Steele appeared in the Off-Broadway production of "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie", which ran in September 2006 to December 2006 at the Acorn Theater. From 2007 to 2008, she appeared in the Off-Broadway play "Speech & Debate". From January to March 2012 she appeared in the Off-Broadway play "Russian Transport" at the Acorn Theatre, playing the role of Mira. In late 2014, Steele made her Broadway debut in "The Country House" by Donald Margulies, playing the granddaughter, Susie, opposite Blythe Danner. In 2015, she appeared in the play "The Humans", first Off-Broadway and then on Broadway. She has also appeared in other Off-Broadway and regional productions.


title: Sarah Steele

text: In 2009, Steele appeared on "Gossip Girl" as Kira Abernathy, Jenny Humphrey's rival at Cotillion and Eric van der Woodsen's friend. Steele appeared in three episodes of "The Good Wife" in 2011 as Marissa Gold, the daughter of Eli Gold (Alan Cumming). She reprised the role from 2014 to 2016 in the show's later seasons, appearing in a total of 22 episodes. She went on to reprise the role of Marissa Gold in the "Good Wife" spinoff series "The Good Fight", which premiered on CBS All Access in 2017.


title: The Late Late Show (American talk show)

text: The Late Late Show is an American late-night television talk and variety comedy show on CBS. It first aired in January 1995, with host Tom Snyder, who was followed by Craig Kilborn, Craig Ferguson, and current host James Corden. The show originates from Television City in Los Angeles.


title: The Late Late Show (American talk show)

text: The show differed from most late-night talk shows during its first two decades on air in that it did not use a house band or an in-studio announcer. The traditional opening monologue also tended to be different from that of other late night shows tending to avoid jokes with punch lines during Snyder and Ferguson's tenures in favor of a short conversational introduction when Snyder was host and a cold opening featuring either a musical parody, audience interaction, a short sketch or interaction between Ferguson and Geoff Peterson followed by an anecdotal stream of consciousness introduction during most of Ferguson's years. While Craig Kilborn opened with a monologue it tended to be shorter than that used by other late shows. Corden's approach to the monologue has been a hybrid of topical punchline jokes and a stream of consciousness, although it is usually very short, as the show tends to favor longer recorded sections.


title: The Late Late Show (American talk show)

text: While most late-night talk shows in the United States feature multiple guests individually, James Corden typically has all of his guests on at the same time in a similar fashion to most British talk shows.


title: The Late Late Show (American talk show)

text: Tom Snyder hosted the program from its inception in January 1995 until March 1999. The choice of Snyder as host was made by David Letterman, whose contract with CBS gave him (via production company Worldwide Pants) the power to produce the show in the timeslot immediately after his own program and who had an affinity for Snyder, whose NBC late night series "Tomorrow" had been succeeded by "Late Night with David Letterman". The time slot on CBS previously carried repeats of "Crimetime After Primetime". Snyder departed CNBC to host the "Late Late Show" on CBS.


title: The Late Late Show (American talk show)

text: Letterman and Snyder had a long history together: a 1978 "Tomorrow" episode hosted by Snyder was almost exclusively devoted to a long interview with up-and-coming new comedy talents Letterman, Billy Crystal and Merrill Markoe. And in 1982, when "Tomorrow" was canceled by NBC, Letterman's series "Late Night with David Letterman" succeeded "Tomorrow" in the timeslot, and Snyder had been offered but refused a move to after "Late Night" by NBC.


title: The Late Late Show (American talk show)

text: Snyder's show featured a mix of celebrities, politicians and other newsmakers, but was otherwise quite unlike the program hosted by Letterman. Snyder was a former newsman, not a comedian, and his show featured an intimate interview format with no studio audience present, similar to his old "Tomorrow" show of the 1970s, or to "Charlie Rose" show and "Later", which had abandoned the format the previous year and had followed "Late Night" under Letterman on NBC. Though the show lacked a studio audience, Snyder still frequently gave extended conversational monologues, many of which contained jokes that prompted audible laughter from the off-camera production staff. Without the need for an audience, the show originated from the intimate Studio 58 at CBS Television City.


title: The Late Late Show (American talk show)

text: Throughout most of the show's run, it was also simulcast over some CBS Radio stations, and Snyder accepted calls from viewers/listeners somewhat in the manner of Larry King; to accommodate this, the show was broadcast live in the Eastern and Central United States and on radio in the west, a rarity for late-night talk shows that had otherwise transitioned to tape, though due to existing syndication contracts and resistance to give up local control of timeslots, many stations, such as WJZ-TV in Baltimore, would delay it to as late as 3:05 a.m. When Snyder was on vacation, the show featured guest hosts such as Jon Stewart or Janeane Garofalo.


title: The Late Late Show (American talk show)

text: Saxophonist David Sanborn composed and performed the theme music and several other songs featured on the show, all of which were smooth jazz pieces to fit the show's low-key, middle-of-the-night mood. Sanborn had previously been a guest saxophonist in The World's Most Dangerous Band during "Late Night with David Letterman". Unlike other late-night shows, "The Late Late Show" did not have a house band (a tradition that carried on to its iterations under Kilborn and Ferguson) or any announcer, except for the last episode, when Snyder allowed one of his staff members to announce an introduction.


title: The Late Late Show (American talk show)

text: Letterman had offered the "Late Late" spot to Garry Shandling, a former permanent guest host of "The Tonight Show", but Shandling turned the offer down in favor of "The Larry Sanders Show" (NBC had previously approached Shandling about succeeding Letterman on "Late Night" but he had also declined that offer). He also offered the slot to "Later" host Bob Costas who also declined.


title: The Late Late Show (American talk show)

text: Letterman then insisted on Snyder despite CBS wanting a younger host with a comedy background and a more traditional late night talk variety format. In 1998, the network reportedly reasserted its desire for a host who could attract a younger demographic and asked Worldwide Pants not to renew Snyder's contract when it expired in September 1999, though other reports portray the decision to leave as Snyder's decision, with Snyder informing management that he wished to depart before his contract ended, as early as January 1999. Snyder would return to CBS to guest-host some episodes of the "Late Show" while Letterman recuperated from heart surgery in 2000.


title: The Late Late Show (American talk show)

text: Longtime late night television producer Peter Lassally was executive producer of Snyder's iteration of the program and mentored Jon Stewart when he was a guest host filling in for Snyder.


title: The Late Late Show (American talk show)

text: When Snyder announced he was leaving, the show was reformatted to resemble "Letterman" and other major late-night talk programs. Craig Kilborn took over in March 1999, having left "The Daily Show" (Where he was succeeded by Jon Stewart) to become the new "Late Late Show" host (previously he was an anchor on ESPN's "SportsCenter").


title: The Late Late Show (American talk show)

text: When Kilborn was on the show, it began with an image of a full moon wavering behind gray stratus clouds, to the tuning of an orchestra, while the announcer—the recorded, modulated voice of Kilborn himself—blurted out, ""From the gorgeous, gorgeous Hollywood Hills in sunny California, it's your "Late Late Show" with Craig Kilborn. Tonight,"" and then the guests were announced, backed by the show's theme song, composed by Neil Finn. Then Kilborn was presented, ""Ladies and gentlemen, *pause* Mister Craig Kilborn"", with the 1970s disco band Wild Cherry song "Play That Funky Music".


title: The Late Late Show (American talk show)

text: After Kilborn's stand-up monologue, he walked to his "Bavarian oak desk" while Finn's theme song continued playing with the chorus ""The Late Late Show is starting. The Late Late Show is starting now."" The "Desk Chat" was said to be Craig's favorite part of the show.


title: The Late Late Show (American talk show)

text: During later seasons, the opening consisted of shots of various Los Angeles hotspots accompanied by a new theme song performed and written by Chris Isaak. For this new theme song, Kilborn would be played to the desk with a chorus of ""The Late Late Show is starting"".


title: The Late Late Show (American talk show)

text: Kilborn left the program on August 27, 2004, two weeks after surprising executives at CBS and Worldwide Pants by announcing after several weeks of talks that he was not seeking a contract renewal. In a June 2010 interview, Kilborn stated that he left late-night television due to his belief that the late-night time slot was too crowded for him to succeed. Executive Producer Peter Lasally later claimed that Kilborn quit because he did not get the raise he wanted.


title: The Late Late Show (American talk show)

text: With Kilborn only announcing in early August that he would not be returning to the "Late Late Show" in the fall, CBS and Worldwide Pants executives decided to have a series of guest hosts helm the show in on-air auditions. While initially saying they would choose a permanent host by the end of October, the process ended up extending into December. Drew Carey was the first guest host on September 20, 2004, and again the following night. Subsequent guest hosts included: Jason Alexander, Jeff Altman, Tom Arnold, Michael Ian Black, Tom Caltabiano, Adam Carolla, Tom Dreesen, David Duchovny, Damien Fahey, Craig Ferguson, Jim Gaffigan, Ana Gasteyer, David Alan Grier, D.L. Hughley, Lisa Joyner, Donal Logue, Rosie Perez, Ahmad Rashad, Jim Rome, Aisha Tyler, and "The Late Late Show" head writer Michael "Gibby" Gibbons culminating in four finalists being involved for week long final tryouts: Craig Ferguson, D. L. Hughley, Damien Fahey, and Michael Ian Black. It was announced on December 7, 2004, that Ferguson, a Scottish comedian best known from his role as Mr. Wick on "The Drew Carey Show", was to become Kilborn's permanent replacement. David Letterman later said he made the selection based on the recommendation of Peter Lassally.


title: The Late Late Show (American talk show)

text: Following the conclusion of the on-air auditions on December 3, 2004, guest hosts continued to fill out the roster until the end of the year and included: Jason Alexander, Donal Logue, David Alan Grier, Aisha Tyler, Drew Carey, Sara Rue, John Witherspoon, Joe Buck, Susan Sarandon, Don Cheadle, Daryl Mitchell, Bob Saget, Jim Rome, Ana Gasteyer, Damien Fahey and D.L. Hughley.


title: The Late Late Show (American talk show)

text: Under Craig Ferguson's tenure as host, the show started with a cold open, followed by opening credits and a commercial break. A loose comic monologue then followed, consistently including a greeting ("Welcome to Los Angeles, California, welcome to the "Late Late Show", I am your host, TV's Craig Ferguson") and the proclamation that "It's a great day for America, everybody!".


title: The Late Late Show (American talk show)

text: From 2010 the monologue also included banter with Geoff Peterson, his "robot skeleton sidekick", voiced and controlled by Josh Robert Thompson. This animatronic was constructed by the MythBusters' Grant Imahara but went through many revisions, the most important was the regular live control and voicing by Thompson. This changed the dynamic of the show as Ferguson had a recurring 'sidekick' to banter with.


title: The Late Late Show (American talk show)

text: After another commercial break, the banter continued with Ferguson sitting behind a desk. He usually read and responded to viewer e-mail and (since February 2010) Twitter messages for random responses to viewer questions.


title: The Late Late Show (American talk show)

text: During segments Ferguson occasionally received phone calls (voiced by Thompson) from a variety of characters, including celebrities, the 'very shy' band (Alfredo Sauce and the Shy Fellas) allegedly hiding behind the set's curtain, room service, a duplicate Geoff, and Miriam, a possible stalker who confused Ferguson with former host Craig Kilborn.


title: The Late Late Show (American talk show)

text: Generally one or two celebrities were interviewed; Ferguson started each by dramatically ripping up note cards written for the interview, "signalling to the audience, and to the guest, that this conversation need not be rigidly managed." At the end of an interview, Ferguson usually asked his guest to engage in one of various rituals; options included "Awkward Pause", "Mouth Organ", "Guess What the Queen is Thinking", the "Big Cash Prize," or simply joining Ferguson in throwing Frisbees at the show's "horse," Secretariat (actually two interns dressed in a pantomime horse costume).


title: The Late Late Show (American talk show)

text: Occasionally Craig requested Thompson (as Geoff) to interpret the thoughts of Secretariat or others, in one of a variety of celebrity voices, most notably Morgan Freeman. During a guest appearance, Morgan Freeman described Thompson's prompted vocal impression of himself as "impeccable".


title: The Late Late Show (American talk show)

text: Sometimes the show featured a stand-up comedian or a musical guest, the latter of which is typically pre-taped.


title: The Late Late Show (American talk show)

text: Ferguson incorporated various running gags. Early examples included themed weeks such as "Crab Week", "Magic Week" and "Shark Week". Shark Week was apparently a reference to Shark Week on the Discovery Channel, and that channel, saying that Ferguson has always loved Shark Week, scheduled him for an appearance on August 4, 2010. A "photo of Paul McCartney" joke (wherein Ferguson called for a photo of McCartney, which was actually a photo of actress Angela Lansbury and vice versa); the show often used variations of this gag featuring other pairs of look-alike celebrities, such as Cher being shown as Marilyn Manson, and a picture of Ann Coulter being shown whenever Ferguson requested a photo of Tom Petty.


title: The Late Late Show (American talk show)

text: The show ended with "What Did We Learn on the Show Tonight, Craig?", a segment that started with an animation of a kitten and in which Ferguson "removes his tie, puts his feet on his desk, and summarizes the preceding hour of TV."


title: The Late Late Show (American talk show)

text: Since the introduction of the Geoff character, Ferguson usually discussed the day's lesson with the robot.


title: The Late Late Show (American talk show)

text: Ferguson's tenure included the show's first high definition broadcast, on August 31, 2009. In March 2010, the "Late Late Show" won the Peabody Award for Excellence in Television for its "Evening with Archbishop Desmond Tutu" episode. According to the Peabody Board, "the Scottish-born Ferguson has made late-night television safe again for ideas."


title: The Late Late Show (American talk show)

text: The show had Peter Lassally as its executive producer through Ferguson's entire tenure. Lassally had previously been executive producer of "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson", "Late Night with David Letterman", and "Late Show with David Letterman".


title: The Late Late Show (American talk show)

text: In April 2012, CBS announced that they had reached an agreement with Ferguson to extend his contract through 2014. As part of the deal, the network began co-producing "The Late Late Show" for the first time.


title: The Late Late Show (American talk show)

text: From the beginning of Ferguson's tenure as host until August 10, 2012, "The Late Late Show" continued to originate from Studio 58 at CBS Television City, as it had dating back to the show's origins under Snyder. Ferguson often joked about the studio's small size, leaky roof, and poor lighting. On August 27, 2012, the program moved down the hall to the much larger Studio 56. Though the look of the main desk set was similar to the one in Studio 58, the extra space in Studio 56 allowed for more audience seating, a fireplace set for Geoff Peterson, an entrance & monologue set, a musical performance area, as well as a stable set for the show's pantomime horse, Secretariat.


title: The Late Late Show (American talk show)

text: Ferguson's contract was set to expire in June 2014. His contract called for him to be first in line to replace David Letterman as host of the "Late Show". Because CBS chose Stephen Colbert for that position, Ferguson reportedly received a windfall of as much as $10,000,000.


title: The Late Late Show (American talk show)

text: On April 28, 2014, Craig Ferguson announced he would leave "The Late Late Show" at the end of the year. He had reportedly made the decision prior to Letterman's announcement but agreed to delay making his own decision public until the reaction to Letterman's decision had died down. He had also originally intended to leave in the summer of 2014 but agreed to stay until the end of the year to give CBS more time to find a successor. His last show was December 19, 2014 and began with Ferguson performing "Bang Your Drum" with many of his guests over the years banging drums, including Desmond Tutu. The show featured Jay Leno as Ferguson's guest and cameos by Bob Newhart and Drew Carey in the closing segment, a parody of the finales of "Newhart", "The Sopranos" and "St. Elsewhere".


title: The Late Late Show (American talk show)

text: In the interim between Ferguson's departure in December 2014 and James Corden's premiere on March 23, 2015, CBS scheduled a number of guest hosts to helm the program. Repeats of Ferguson's show finished out 2014. Drew Carey hosted the week of January 5 and did so again the week of March 2. Other guest hosts included Judd Apatow, Will Arnett, Wayne Brady, Whitney Cummings, Jim Gaffigan, Billy Gardell, Sean Hayes, Thomas Lennon, John Mayer, Kunal Nayyar, Adam Pally, Jim Rome, Lauren Graham and Regis Philbin. In addition, the daytime show "The Talk" aired a special late night version in the week of January 12. Peter Lassally remained executive producer during this period and retired from television after a six decade career with the taping of Arnett's show on February 20, 2015, in which Lassally appeared in a cameo. Shows that aired for the rest of February, into March, had been pre-recorded in January for later broadcast in order to give CBS time to dismantle the Ferguson set and traditional audience seating, and build out a new set and audience arrangement for Corden's show. Shows taped by Cummings, Philbin and Pally originated from New York and were recorded without an audience from Studio 57 at the CBS Broadcast Center, the home studio for "CBS This Morning". Repeats were to fill out the two weeks between the final new Carey hosted show on March 6 and the premiere of Corden's show on the 23rd.