prompt_front: Answer the question based on the given passages. Only give me the answer and do not output any other words.

Question: On May 25, 2017 Greg Gianforte won the special election following the resignation of a politican that current holds what position?

The following are given passages.
Context 1: Passage 1:
Beth Turner
Beth P  Turner (born May 13, 1958 in Maine) is an American politician who served as a member of the Maine House of Representatives for the 141st district from 2011 to 2018  She was first elected on March 1, 2011, in a special election following the death of Rep  Everett McLeod in December 2010 
Turner served on the MSAD 31 School Board and the Select Board in her hometown of Burlington, Maine prior to her election the House of Representatives 
Passage 2:
San Diego mayoral special election, 2005
The 2005 San Diego mayoral special election was a special election held on Tuesday, November 8, 2005, to elect the mayor for San Diego  The special election was necessary due to the resignation of former Mayor Dick Murphy 
Municipal elections in California are officially non-partisan, though some candidates do receive funding and support from various political parties  The non-partisan special primary was held Tuesday, June 3, 2008  San Diego City Council member Donna Frye and former San Diego police chief Jerry Sanders received the most votes and advanced to the November special general election  Sanders was elected mayor with a majority of the votes in November 

Dick Murphy resignation
On April 25, 2005, Dick Murphy announced that he would resign as mayor of San Diego, effective July 15, 2005  Murphy had only recently been reelected as mayor in the highly contested 2004 mayoral election  Murphy's resignation occurred during investigations by the SEC and the FBI into the San Diego pension scandal   The city held a special election to fill the vacancy at mayor  Following Murphy's resignation, Michael Zucchet served as acting mayor for three days before he too resigned due to a corruption conviction that was later overturned  Council member Toni Atkins then served as acting mayor until the mayoral election was complete 

Candidates
Declared
Jerry Sanders, former San Diego police chief  (Voter registration: Republican)
Donna Frye, city council member (Voter registration: Democratic)
Steve Francis, businessman (Voter registration: Republican)
Pat Shea, lawyer (Voter registration: Republican)
Richard Rider, retired stock broker and financial planner (Voter registration: Libertarian)
Myke Shelby, Harley Davidson dealer (Voter registration: Republican)
Shawn A  McMillan, lawyer (Voter registration: Republican)
Jim Bell, environmental designer (Party preference: Democratic)
Ed Kolker
Jeremy Ledford
Thomas Knapp

Campaign
The special election to replace Murphy attracted a crowded field of eleven official candidates on the ballot  Donna Frye, a member of the San Diego City Council who had almost beaten Murphy with a write-in campaign in the 2004 election, was the only democrat among the top-tier candidates  Former police chief Jerry Sanders ran on a platform of executive experience, having successfully turn around the financial situations of the local chapters of the Red Cross and United Way since retiring as police chief  Steve Francis, founder and chairman of AMN Healthcare Services emphasized downsizing city government and implementing business principles  Francis outspent his rivals in the campaign, putting nearly $2 million of his own money into his campaign  Lawyer Pat Shea ran on a platform that San Diego should declare bankruptcy to deal with the pension scandal, a position that the other front runners disagreed with Frye won the plurality of votes in the July primary and advanced to the general election along with runner-up Sanders  However, Sanders and third-place finisher Francis, both republicans, combined for a majority of votes cast in the primary  After conceding the primary election, Francis endorsed Sanders for the general election   Sanders was elected mayor with a majority of the votes in the November general election 

Primary election
Polling
Results
General election
Polling
Results
Notes
Passage 3:
David Jacoby
David or Dave Jacoby may refer to:

David Jacoby (politician)
David Jacoby (sportscaster)
Dave Jacoby (powerlifter)
David Jacoby (historian)
Passage 4:
Greg Gianforte
Gregory Richard Gianforte ( JEE-ən-FOR-tay; born April 17, 1961) is an American businessman, politician, software engineer, and writer serving as the 25th governor of Montana since 2021  A member of the Republican Party, Gianforte served as the U S  representative for Montana's at-large congressional district from 2017 to 2021 
In 1997, Gianforte and his wife, Susan, co-founded RightNow Technologies, a customer relationship management software company  The company went public in 2004; by that time, it employed over 1,000 workers  RightNow Technologies was acquired by Oracle Corporation for $1 5 billion in 2011 In 2016, Gianforte ran for governor of Montana as the Republican nominee, losing to incumbent governor Steve Bullock  In May 2017, Gianforte defeated Democratic nominee Rob Quist in a special election for Montana's at-large congressional seat to fill a vacancy created by the appointment of Ryan Zinke as U S  Secretary of the Interior  Gianforte was convicted of assault in state court in June 2017 stemming from his election-eve body-slamming attack on The Guardian political reporter Ben Jacobs in May 2017  He was fined and sentenced to community service and anger management therapy  Gianforte was reelected in 2018, defeating Democratic nominee Kathleen Williams 
Gianforte did not seek reelection to the House of Representatives in 2020 and instead was a candidate in the 2020 Montana gubernatorial election  In the November general election, he defeated incumbent lieutenant governor Mike Cooney  He is the first Republican to serve as governor of Montana since Judy Martz left office in 2005 

Early life and education
Gregory Richard Gianforte was born on April 17, 1961, in San Diego, California  He is the oldest son of Frank Richard Gianforte, who had a career as an aerospace engineer and, later, as a landlord  His mother, Dale Douglass, worked for General Dynamics in San Diego, and later was a school math teacher  Gianforte is of Italian, English, and Scottish ancestry  He has two younger brothers, Douglass and Michael  After the age of three, Gianforte was raised in the Valley Forge and King of Prussia suburbs northwest of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, including Wayne, an affluent unincorporated township community that extends into Montgomery, Chester, and Delaware Counties During his high school years in the 1970s, Gianforte started a software business  He attended Upper Merion Area High School in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, where he was elected class president during his junior and senior years  Gianforte was also captain of his school football team, where he played left offensive guard  He graduated from high school in 1979 
Gianforte graduated in 1983 from his father's alma mater, Stevens Institute of Technology, with a BE in electrical engineering and a master's degree in computer science  He directed a computer lab with 12 programmers  He was a member of the Delta Tau Delta men's fraternity, and enjoyed playing squash 

Career
Software entrepreneurship
Gianforte began his career in 1983 at Bell Laboratories, working in product acquisition  Frustrated by the bureaucratic corporate hierarchy at Bell Labs, Gianforte departed to co-found Brightwork Development Inc , a developer of server-based LAN management software for the banking industry, which was based in Tinton Falls, New Jersey  He and his partners sold the company to McAfee Associates for $10 million in 1994  Gianforte then began working for McAfee as head of North American sales  In 1995, he moved to Bozeman, Montana Gianforte and his wife, Susan, a mechanical engineer by trade, co-founded RightNow Technologies in 1997  Part of Gianforte's strategy was to leverage the internet as a means to overcome geographic barriers to building a globalized business  By the time the company went public in 2004, it employed over 1,000 workers and executives in Bozeman and globally, with offices in the U K , Asia, and Australia  Future U S  senator Steve Daines was among its executives  The company was acquired by Oracle Corporation for $1 5 billion in 2011  At the time, Gianforte's 20% stake in the company was worth about $290 million  Right Now Technologies had contracts with federal agencies, including handling all of the online search queries for the Social Security Administration and Medicare websites  In 2012, Gianforte sued the Montana Democratic Party for defamation, alleging the House campaign ads it aired critical of then House candidate Daines were libelous  Gianforte alleged the party aired television ads that claimed that Right Now Technologies capitalized itself with public contracts, and then offshored jobs In 2005, Gianforte and Marcus Gibson co-wrote the book Bootstrapping Your Business: Start and Grow a Successful Company with Almost No Money  He has offered business lectures on entrepreneurship and building a global business 

Philanthropy and civic life
In 2004, Gianforte and his wife founded the Gianforte Family Foundation, which has promoted his creationist beliefs in the public sphere, and has made tens of millions of dollars in charitable contributions  The foundation describes its primary mission as supporting "the work of faith-based organizations engaged in outreach work, strengthening families, and helping the needy; organizations in Montana that work to improve education, support entrepreneurship, and create jobs; and organizations that enhance the local community of Bozeman, Montana " Gianforte, his wife, and his son, Richard, are the foundation's three trustees  The foundation had assets of $113 million in 2013 The Gianforte Family Foundation has given nearly $900,000 to the Montana Family Foundation, in some years making up half of that organization's total revenue  The Montana Family Foundation has promoted conservative and Christian values in the Montana legislature  Asked why he donated to the group, Gianforte said it was because the organization aligns with his views Through his nonprofit, the Gianforte Family Charitable Trust, Gianforte has contributed substantial funds to several conservative organizations  Some have led legal efforts to dismantle federal campaign finance regulations  Gianforte has donated to the Family Research Council and Focus on the Family, which advocate for a constitutional amendment prohibiting same-sex marriage, as well as the Montana Family Foundation, which is "the state's primary advocate against LGBT policies"  Gianforte served on the board of the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice, an education reform organization founded by economist Milton Friedman which advocates for school vouchers Gianforte believes in Young Earth creationism  He has donated at least $290,000 to the Glendive Dinosaur and Fossil Museum, a Montana creationist museum that teaches visitors that the theory of evolution is false, that the Earth is about 6,000–6,400 years old, and that humans and dinosaurs coexisted during the same period  The museum claims dinosaurs were aboard Noah's Ark, and that they likely went extinct 4,300 years ago during the great flood described in the Book of Genesis  The Gianforte Family Foundation also donated a Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton replica to the museum 

Affiliations and investments
Gianforte has had a variety of business interests and investments  In November 2013, he was appointed to the board of FICO, which profiles consumer credit risks for lenders  The same month, Gianforte acquired 8,000 shares of FICO, which were then valued at more than $464,000 00  He is a partner in MGRR No  1, a limited liability company that has received grain subsidies since 1995  Gianforte was the founding board chair of the Montana High Tech Business Alliance  He resigned as chair in June 2017, when he was sworn into Congress In financial disclosure forms filed in 2017, Gianforte indicated that he owned $150,000 worth of shares in VanEck Vectors Russia ETF and $92,400 in the IShares MSCF Russia ETF, totaling just under $250,000 in two exchange-traded funds focused on investments in Russia  The investments attracted attention because they included shares in Gazprom and Rosneft, which have been subject to U S  sanctions since the Russian invasion of Crimea, but because the per-person ownership stake in these companies is so small in such index funds, they are exempt from sanctions  After the issue was raised in Gianforte's 2017 congressional campaign, Gianforte stated that his Russia holdings were a small portion of his overall investments and pledged to place all of his assets in a blind trust if elected Through a holding corporation, Gianforte owns a 12-seat private jet, which he has used as a strategic asset on the campaign trail  He made the aircraft available to others in his congressional caucus to travel back to Washington for important votes 

U S  House of Representatives (2017–2021)
Elections
2017 special election campaign
On March 1, 2017, Republican Representative Ryan Zinke of Montana's at-large congressional district resigned his seat after the United States Senate confirmed him as United States Secretary of the Interior  A special election was scheduled to fill the remainder of Zinke's term  Gianforte had already announced his intention to seek the seat on January 25, before Zinke's resignation  At a March 6 convention, the Republican Party nominated Gianforte  He faced Democratic musician and former Montana Arts Council member Rob Quist and Libertarian nominee Mark Wicks in the general election In a departure from previous pledges made during his gubernatorial campaign, Gianforte relaxed his past pledges to refuse all PAC money, and began to turn away only corporate PAC funding  His campaign began accepting contributions from political party and leadership PACs Gianforte distanced himself from Donald Trump during the 2016 Republican presidential primary and did not attend Trump's sole rally in Montana, citing a scheduling conflict  But he endorsed Trump in the 2016 general election and continued to express support for him during his 2017 special election campaign for Congress  Gianforte's campaign was supported by Vice President Mike Pence and Donald Trump Jr , who both stumped for Gianforte in the state  Gianforte tacked close to Trump's political narratives, promoting his outsider status as a first time political candidate, touting his experience as a technology entrepreneur, and criticizing policies leading to sanctuary cities and "the liberal elite "Gianforte supported repeal of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare)  He declined to say whether he supported the American Health Care Act, the House Republican legislation to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act  On May 4, 2017, Gianforte held a private conference call with Republican-leaning lobbyists in Washington in which he offered a more supportive view of the AHCA  He said that it "sounds like we just passed a health care thing, which I'm thankful for  Sounds like we're starting to repeal and replace " Later that May, he said he would not "vote for a repeal and a replace unless I know it protects people with preexisting conditions, lowers rates and preserves rural access"  Gianforte assaulted a reporter in response to questions about how the AHCA would make health insurance too expensive for people with preexisting conditions 
Gianforte opposed the legalization of marijuana for recreational use, comparing marijuana to more addictive drugs  He supported allowing the use of medical marijuana for "people in chronic pain, under the care of a doctor "Gianforte opposes abortion except in cases where a woman's life is in danger  He favors removing federal funding from Planned Parenthood  He has said that he supports government enforcement of nondiscrimination for workers, but not for customers  He opposed increasing in the minimum wage  Gianforte supported Executive Order 13769, to ban immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries  He opposed resettlement of refugees in Montana  He opposed sanctuary cities policies  Gianforte blamed the Obama administration for "the situation with Russia" and favored a multilateral strategy to stand against Russian aggression  He supported Trump's decision to fire FBI Director James Comey Gianforte opposed efforts to transfer federal lands to the states  He called for changes to the Endangered Species Act  He supported amending the Equal Access to Justice Act to reduce environmental litigation, saying that "environmental extremists" had abused the act  He acknowledged human-caused climate change but "did not have specific ideas on how to address climate change"  He has said that "the climate is always changing" and believes that closing coal-fired power plants would not help mitigate climate change  He supported Trump's repeal of the Clean Power Plan and has called for investments in clean coal technology  Gianforte has criticized the length of time the Department of Interior spends to evaluate applications to drill and frack for shale gas 
Gianforte outlined his position on retirement by using the Biblical example of Noah  He said:There's nothing in the Bible that talks about retirement  And yet it's been an accepted concept in our culture today  Nowhere does it say, "Well, he was a good and faithful servant, so he went to the beach"  The example I think of is Noah  How old was Noah when he built the ark? 600  He wasn't, like, cashing Social Security checks  He wasn't hanging out  He was working  So I think we have an obligation to work  The role we have in work may change over time, but the concept of retirement is not biblical 

Election-eve assault on journalist
On May 24, 2017, the day before the House special election, Ben Jacobs, a political reporter for The Guardian newspaper who was covering the election, reported to the Gallatin County, Montana Sheriff's Office that Gianforte had assaulted him at Gianforte's Bozeman campaign office after Jacobs asked him a question about health care policy  Jacobs said that Gianforte "bodyslammed" him to the floor and broke his glasses  Jacobs was hospitalized after the attack In the immediate aftermath of the incident, Gianforte made misleading statements to a Gallatin County Sheriff's Office sergeant who reported to Gianforte's campaign office to investigate Jacobs's complaint   Gianforte told the sergeant, "the liberal media is trying to make a story " In the hours after the assault, the Gianforte campaign issued a press release falsely blaming the reporter, claiming that Jacobs grabbed Gianforte's wrist and caused them both to fall to the ground  But an audio recording of the incident appeared to support Jacobs's statement, and other reporters who were present at the scene corroborated Jacobs's version of events  An eyewitness to the attack, Fox News reporter Alicia Acuna, testified that "Gianforte grabbed Jacobs by the neck with both hands and slammed him into the ground", then "began punching the man" and "yelling something to the effect of 'I'm sick and tired of this!'" Acuna said, "at no point did any of us who witnessed this assault see Jacobs show any form of physical aggression toward Gianforte, who left the area after giving statements to local sheriff's deputies " Another journalist who was an eyewitness to the assault, Alexis Levinson, tweeted that she "heard a giant crash and saw Ben's feet fly in the air as he hit the floor "The Gallatin County Sheriff's Office cited Gianforte for misdemeanor assault  On August 25, 2017, he was briefly booked into jail, fingerprinted, and had his mugshot taken, after his legal team lost a bid to avoid that process  On October 10, 2017, Gianforte's mugshot was released publicly by a Gallatin County court order The Helena Independent Record editorial board rescinded its endorsement of Gianforte and noted that before the attack, Gianforte had encouraged his supporters to boycott certain newspapers, singled out a reporter in a room to point out that he was outnumbered, and joked about choking a news writer  Two other well-circulated Montana newspapers, the Billings Gazette, and the largest in the state, the Missoulian, also rescinded their endorsements of Gianforte  Speaker Paul Ryan and other members of Congress urged Gianforte to apologize In his acceptance speech the night of his May 25 victory, Gianforte apologized to Jacobs and the Fox News crew for his assault  On June 7, he made a written apology to Jacobs and donated $50,000 to the Committee to Protect Journalists, which accepted the funds because it was part of the settlement and said it would put them towards the U S  Press Freedom Tracker  In return, Jacobs agreed to not pursue a civil claim against Gianforte Gianforte subsequently pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault in Gallatin County District Court, acknowledging that Jacobs "did not initiate any physical contact with me" and writing a letter to Jacobs saying that Jacobs did not start the physical altercation  Gianforte was originally sentenced to four days in jail, to be completed in part through a work program, but he was ineligible for the work program due to the assault conviction  The judge then switched the sentence to 40 hours of community service, 20 hours of anger management therapy, a 180-day deferred sentence, and a $300 fine along with an $85 court fee During the court hearing, Jacobs said that he hoped to interview Gianforte in the future, as he was trying to do at the time of the assault  Gianforte said in court to Jacobs, "I am sorry, and if and when you are ready, I look forward to sitting down with you in D C " As of October 2017, Gianforte had not sat down with Jacobs for an interview, and the issue was not pursued further 
 Since the assault, Jacobs has, through his attorney, accused Gianforte of whitewashing his guilt, twice sending Gianforte cease-and-desist letters about his accounts of his culpability in the assault  Gianforte met with the Missoulian newspaper editorial board in October 2018, and, when asked about the assault, maintained that his original false statement to sheriff's deputies in the immediate aftermath of the incident was his best recollection of events, a statement that Gianforte later contradicted under oath in court with an admission of guilt connected to his guilty plea On October 18, 2018, during a rally in Missoula, Montana, President Donald Trump congratulated Gianforte for his assault on Jacobs  While verbally praising Gianforte's prowess in carrying out a body slam, Trump made gestures with his hands and arms to pantomime a fighting maneuver  According to analysts, this marked the first time a sitting president had "openly and directly praised a violent act against a journalist on American soil" Gianforte's assault of Jacobs achieved political notoriety  During an October 2018 campaign event with then Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp, Representative Jody Hice implored the small crowd that had gathered to oppose the resurgence of Democratic candidates in the 2018 midterm elections  Hice declared, "It's time for this so called blue wave to be body-slammed!"

2018 House campaign
In 2018, Gianforte ran against Democratic nominee Kathleen Williams, a state legislator and natural resources expert from Bozeman, and Libertarian Party candidate Elinor Swanson, a lawyer from Billings Gianforte opposed Williams's proposal to allow those 55 and older to buy into Medicare, remarking, "Medicare for all is Medicare for none", and cautioned that Medicare would be at risk of spending cuts if Democrats won a majority in the House  Williams criticized Gianforte for introducing a bill to remove federal protections from several wilderness study areas in Montana without holding any public meetings on the issue Polling data in the weeks leading up to the election showed Gianforte and Williams in a close contest within the margin of error  Gianforte was reelected by a 5% margin  Exit polling data indicated that Gianforte had his strongest support at the polls from men older than 44 and from those with annual incomes above $50,000 

Tenure
115th Congress
Gianforte was sworn into the House of Representatives on June 21, 2017  At his inauguration ceremony, he announced his support for congressional term limits, barring members of Congress from becoming lobbyists, and withholding congressional pay if no budget is passed  It is unusual for members of Congress to announce such support for legislation in their inauguration  Montana Democrats mailed Gianforte an orange prison jumpsuit on the day of his inauguration The first bill Gianforte introduced, on June 21, 2017, was H R  2977, the Balanced Budget Accountability Act, which, as he summarized it, would withhold pay from members of Congress unless a balanced budget is passed  The bill did not achieve a committee hearing Gianforte touted refundable tax credits for low income parents as an achievement of the Republican Caucus in the 115th Congress In 2018, Gianforte expressed opposition to the aluminum and steel tariffs imposed by President Trump, expressing fears about the impact of retaliatory tariffs (the trade war) on Montana agricultural exports Gianforte chaired the Interior Subcommittee of the Oversight Committee through the end of the 115th Congress in 2018  He introduced legislation to nullify Wilderness Study Area (WSA) designations from more than 800,000 acres of land in Montana under the stewardship of the federal Bureau of Land Management and the U S  Forest Service 

116th Congress
In the 2018 midterm elections, the Republicans lost control of the House to the Democrats, and Gianforte began his second term in January 2019 in the minority caucus  Over his career, Gianforte voted in line with Trump's position in about 93 3% of key votes  He voted with Trump's position more often than Montana U S  Senator Steve Daines, a fellow Republican In January 2019, during the 2018–2019 United States federal government shutdown, Gianforte said that he "didn't come here to Washington to shut the government down" but expressed support for Trump and blamed Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi for the shutdown  He opposed the impeachment inquiry against Donald Trump over the Trump-Ukraine scandal, calling it a "sham", and voted against both articles of impeachment against Trump (abuse of power and obstruction of Congress)  Gianforte voted against a measure to bar Trump from initiating military action against Iran without congressional consent; a spokesman for Gianforte said in 2019 that he would not "discuss the conditions under which he would vote in favor of authorizing military force against Iran because talking about it strengthens the position [of] Iran's regime " Gianforte voted against the 2020 House Democrats police reform bill; against restoring part of the Voting Rights Act; against universal background checks for gun purchases; and against the 2020 D C  statehood bill  In line with Trump's position, he voted against legislation to block U S  arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, but he opposed Trump's decision in 2019 to withdraw U S  forces from northern Syria, where they had been stationed as part of U S  efforts to block Turkish attacks on Kurdish forces  Gianforte voted against legislation in 2019 to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour  He voted against legislation to overturn Trump's emergency declaration to divert federal appropriations for construction of a border wall  He opposed federal action to combat climate change and supported Trump's withdrawal of the U S  from the Paris Agreement on climate change, voting against legislation to block Trump from withdrawing from the agreement  Gianforte voted against reauthorizing the Export–Import Bank and against a bill allowing the government to negotiate lower prices for prescription drugs  He voted for the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement on trade Gianforte is one of the few tech executives to be elected to political office in the U S  After Representative Darrell Issa left office in 2019, Gianforte became the wealthiest member of Congress, a distinction he held until the January 2020 appointment of Kelly Loeffler to represent Georgia in the Senate In December 2020, Gianforte was one of 126 Republican members of the House of Representatives to sign an amicus brief in support of Texas v  Pennsylvania, a lawsuit filed at the United States Supreme Court contesting the results of the 2020 presidential election, in which Joe Biden defeated Trump  The Supreme Court declined to hear the case on the basis that Texas lacked standing under Article III of the Constitution to challenge the results of an election held by another state House Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued a statement that called signing the amicus brief an act of "election subversion"  She also reprimanded Gianforte and the other House members who supported the lawsuit: "The 126 Republican Members that signed onto this lawsuit brought dishonor to the House  Instead of upholding their oath to support and defend the Constitution, they chose to subvert the Constitution and undermine public trust in our sacred democratic institutions "Committee assignments

Natural Resources Committee
Subcommittee on Federal Lands
Subcommittee on Water, Power, and Oceans
Oversight Committee
Subcommittee on Information Technology
Subcommittee on Interior (Chair, 115th Congress)
Subcommittee on Intergovernmental AffairsCaucus memberships

Congressional Western Caucus

Governor of Montana
Elections
2016
On January 20, 2016, Gianforte announced his candidacy for the Republican Party's nomination for governor of Montana in the 2016 election  A citizen of Butte filed a political practices complaint against him, alleging that he began campaigning before registering; the complaint was dismissed In a campaign speech that year, Gianforte stated that he had been involved in discussions with Facebook about bringing a new call center to Montana, but that Facebook had declined because of that state's business equipment tax  A Facebook spokesman disputed Gianforte's claims, saying that no discussions with him had taken place and that the tax was not the reason the company decided not to locate a call center in Montana  Gianforte stood by his statement, saying he had spoken with a Facebook executive the previous fall During his gubernatorial campaign, Gianforte pledged not to accept special interest PAC money and ran television ads criticizing his opponent for doing so  He came under scrutiny when an audio tape surfaced revealing his past advocacy to replace state income tax and state business tax revenue with a state sales tax Management of public lands was a point of contention in Gianforte's 2016 campaign for governor  In 2009, Gianforte's LLC filed a lawsuit against the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks about the boundaries of an easement for public access to the East Gallatin River adjacent to his property  Gianforte's suit against the state became an issue in the 2016 campaign, with his critics characterizing it as a wealthy out-of-stater's effort to block public access to a popular stream  Gianforte consistently denied the allegations and called the issue a misunderstanding, noting the suit was never served, though the lawsuit was settled outside of court  Gianforte opposes same-sex marriage and abortion Incumbent governor Steve Bullock defeated Gianforte in the November general election, 50%–46% 

2020
Gianforte contended with Attorney General Tim Fox and State Senator Al Olszewski for the Republican nomination in the 2020 Montana gubernatorial election  Gianforte drew parallels between his experience building a large technology company in Bozeman and Trump's business background, and shared anecdotes of visits to the White House meant to illustrate their ties Gianforte won the Republican nomination  In the November general election, he defeated incumbent lieutenant governor Mike Cooney 

Tenure
Gianforte was sworn in as governor on January 4, 2021 
On February 12, 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Gianforte lifted Montana's statewide mask mandate  The previous day, he signed a bill giving liability protections to businesses and healthcare providers  In May 2021, Gianforte signed a bill into law that limited the ability of hospitals and other businesses to require that their staff be vaccinated against COVID-19 and prohibited businesses from requiring that customers be vaccinated in order to access facilities  Montana became the only state with such a ban on employers On February 18, 2021, Gianforte signed a constitutional carry bill into law On March 16, 2021, Gianforte signed a bill changing Montana's system of choosing judges, giving the governor, with the state senate's approval, more control over the process On April 2, 2021, Gianforte signed a bill banning sanctuary cities in Montana; at the time, there were no sanctuary cities in Montana  Montana became the 13th state to ban sanctuary cities 
Later that April, Gianforte signed a bill into law that ended same-day voter registration in Montana, in addition to a separate bill that prevented students from using a student ID as voter ID  He also signed a bill making it easier for individuals to challenge government regulations for violating their religious beliefs, and signed three bills restricting abortion On April 30, 2021, Gianforte signed a bill requiring individuals to undergo gender reassignment surgery in order to change their birth certificate  On May 7, 2021, he signed a bill banning transgender athletes from girls' sports in public schools  On April 28, 2023, he signed a bill banning gender-affirming care for transgender minors 

Personal life
While working at Bell Labs in New Jersey in the 1980s, Gianforte met his wife, Susan, the first-generation daughter of German immigrants  They married in 1988  Gianforte and his wife have resided in Bozeman since moving from New Jersey in 1995  They have four children  Gianforte was raised Presbyterian  He and his wife attend Grace Bible Church, a nondenominational church in Bozeman Gianforte is an avid hunter  In a 2016 interview, he described entertaining investment bankers from Scotland and New York at his Montana home, in connection with his company's public stock offering, where he served them a dinner of mountain lion teriyaki, antelope chops wrapped in bacon, and elk tenderloin  On October 28, 2000, he was fined $70 for violating state Fish and Wildlife Commission rules by killing an elk  In February 2021, he violated state hunting regulations by trapping and shooting an adult black wolf known as "1155"  While born in Yellowstone National Park and radio collared in 2018, it was roughly 10 miles (16 km) north of the park's boundary  As Gianforte had not completed a wolf trapping certification course, he was issued a written warning by Fish, Wildlife and Parks  In December, he killed a mountain lion near the same area that was also being monitored by the National Park Service  "M220" was radio collared in 2019 and was estimated to be five years old when he was driven up a tree by the hunting group's dogs and shot in compliance with Montana state laws Gianforte received an honorary doctorate from Stevens Institute of Technology and gave the commencement speech in 2012  In 2007, he received an honorary doctorate from Montana State University's College of Engineering  In 2007, Gianforte was inducted into the CRM Hall of Fame  He received the 2003 Stevens Institute of Technology's Stevens Honor Award  Gianforte was named Pacific Northwest Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst & Young in 2003 As of 2018, Gianforte's net worth was more than $189 million, which made him one of Congress's wealthiest members 

Electoral history
Writings
Gianforte, Greg; and Gibson, Marcus (2005)  Bootstrapping your business: start and grow a successful company with almost no money  Adams Media 
Gianforte, Greg (2008)  Eight to great : eight steps to delivering an exceptional customer experience  www BookSurge com 
Gianforte, Greg (2012)  Attack of the customers : why critics assault brands online and how to avoid becoming a victim  Self-published 
Passage 5:
Ryan Zinke
Ryan Keith Zinke (; born November 1, 1961) is an American politician and businessman serving as the U S  representative for Montana's 1st congressional district since 2023  A member of the Republican Party, Zinke served in the Montana Senate from 2009 to 2013 and as the U S  representative for the at-large congressional district from 2015 to 2017  He was appointed United States Secretary of the Interior by President Donald Trump in 2017 and served until his resignation in 2019 following a series of ethical scandals Zinke played college football at the University of Oregon and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in geology  He also has a Master of Business Administration and a Master of Science in global leadership  He was a U S  Navy SEAL from 1986 until 2008, retiring with the rank of commander  The first Navy SEAL to be elected to the U S  House, Zinke formerly served as a member of the Natural Resources Committee and the Armed Services Committee  As a member of Congress, Zinke supported the use of ground troops in the Middle East to combat ISIS and opposed the Affordable Care Act, various environmental regulations, and the transfer of federal lands to individual states 
Zinke was appointed as United States Secretary of the Interior by Donald Trump  He was confirmed on March 1, 2017, becoming the first Navy SEAL and the first Montanan since statehood to occupy a Cabinet position As Secretary, Zinke opened some federal lands for oil, gas and mineral exploration and extraction  His actions as Secretary of the Interior raised ethical questions and were investigated by the Interior Department's Office of Inspector General  In October 2018, Interior's inspector general referred the investigation to the Justice Department  On December 15, 2018, Trump announced that Zinke would leave his post as of January 2, 2019, to be replaced by his deputy, David Bernhardt  The Inspector General's report concluded that Zinke had repeatedly violated ethical rules and then lied to investigators  His tenure as Secretary of the Interior was plagued by scandals, including his insistence that special flagpoles be erected so that flags could be raised or lowered when he was in residence, spending over $200,000 of taxpayer money to do so  Zinke left his post at the Department of the Interior at end of 2018 after serving two years amid mounting misconduct allegations related to his Whitefish corruption scandal 

Early life and education
Zinke was born in Bozeman, Montana, and raised in Whitefish  He is the son of Jean Montana (Harlow) Petersen and Ray Dale Zinke, a plumber  He was a Boy Scout and earned his Eagle Scout award  He was a star athlete at Whitefish High School and accepted a football scholarship to the University of Oregon in Eugene; recruited as an outside linebacker, he switched to offense and was an undersized starting center for the Ducks of the Pac-10 under head coach Rich Brooks  Zinke earned a B S  in geology in 1984 and graduated with honors  He intended to pursue a career in underwater geology  Despite never working as a geologist, Zinke publicly calls himself a geologist  He earned an M B A  from National University in 1993 and a Master of Science in global leadership from the University of San Diego in 2003 

Military career
Zinke served as a U S  Navy SEAL from 1986 to 2008, retiring at the rank of commander  He graduated from Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL training (BUD/S) class 136 in February 1986 and subsequently served with SEAL Team ONE  Following SEAL Tactical Training and completion of a six-month probationary period, he received the 1130 designator as a Naval Special Warfare Officer, entitled to wear the Special Warfare insignia also known as "SEAL Trident"   Zinke was assigned as a First Phase Officer of BUD/S from 1988 to 1991  In 1991, he received orders to United States Naval Special Warfare Development Group (NSWDG) and completed a specialized selection and training course  Zinke served at the command until 1993, during which time he planned, rehearsed and operated during classified operations  He then served as a Plans officer for Commander in Chief, U S  Naval Forces, Europe and served a second tour with NSWDG as team leader, ground force commander, task force commander and current operations officer from 1996 to 1999 In the late 1990s, Zinke paid back the Navy $211 after improperly billing the government for personal travel expenses  His former commanding officer, now-retired Vice Admiral Albert M  Calland III, said that as a result, Zinke received a June 1999 Fitness Report that blocked him from being promoted to a commanding officer position or to the rank of captain  Zinke acknowledged the error but maintains that the incident did not adversely affect his career  His promotion from lieutenant commander to commander was approved the next year From 1999 to 2001, Zinke served as executive officer for the Naval Special Warfare Unit Two and then as executive officer, Naval Special Warfare Center from 2001 to 2004  In 2004, Zinke was the deputy and acting commander of the Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force-Arabian Peninsula  His campaign website stated that he was "the deputy and acting commander" of Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force–Arabian Peninsula and "led a force of more than 3,500 Special Operations personnel in Iraq" in 2004  Retired Major General Michael S  Repass, who was Zinke's superior in Iraq, told The New York Times that these claims "might be a stretch" but that Zinke "did a good job" and was "a competent guy"  After his tours in Iraq, Zinke served "as the second-ranking officer (and briefly acting commander) of the main SEAL training center " In 2006, he was selected to establish the Naval Special Warfare Advanced Training Command, serving as dean of the graduate school until his retirement from active duty in 2008  The graduate school had 250 educators, offering over 43 college-level courses to over 2,500 students annually at 15 different locations worldwide  Zinke retired from the Navy in 2008 

Awards and decorations
Business ventures
In 2005, Zinke formed Continental Divide International, a property management and business development consulting company  His family members are officers of the company  In 2009, Zinke formed the consulting company On Point Montana  He served on the board of the oil pipeline company QS Energy (formerly Save the World Air) from 2012 to 2015  In November 2014, Zinke announced that he would pass Continental Divide to his family while remaining in an advisory role 

Political career
Montana Senate (2009–2013)
Zinke was elected to the Montana Senate in 2008, serving from 2009 to 2013, representing the city of Whitefish  While serving in the State Senate, he "was widely seen as a moderate Republican" but drifted to the right  Zinke was selected as chair of the Senate Education Committee and promoted technology in the classroom, rural access to education and local control over schools  He also served on the Senate Finance and Claims Committee  As a state senator, Zinke was also a member of the SEMA-supported State Automotive Enthusiast and Leadership Caucus, a bipartisan group of state lawmakers sharing an appreciation for automobiles 

Global warming and clean energy
In 2008, Zinke said he "support[s] increased coal production for electrical generation and believe[s] it can and should be done with adequate environmental safeguards" and that he "believe[s] the use of alternate energy sources and clean coal is preferred over petroleum based fuels"  In 2010, he signed a letter calling global warming "a threat multiplier for instability in the most volatile regions of the world" and saying that "the clean energy and climate challenge is America's new space race"  The letter spoke of "catastrophic" costs and "unprecedented economic consequences" that would result from failing to act on climate change and asked then-President Obama and then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi to champion sweeping clean-energy and climate legislation 

2012 campaign for lieutenant governor
Zinke was the running mate of Montana gubernatorial candidate Neil Livingstone in the 2012 election  The Livingstone/Zinke ticket finished fifth out of seven in the Republican primary with 12,038 votes (8 8% of the vote) In 2012, Zinke founded the super PAC Special Operations for America (SOFA) to support Mitt Romney's 2012 presidential campaign  It raised over $100,000 and paid $28,258 to Continental Divide International, Zinke's company, for fundraising consulting  Zinke appointed right-wing commentator Paul E  Vallely, a promoter of "birther" claims and other anti-Obama conspiracy theories, to SOFA's board  Zinke announced he was resigning as chairman of SOFA on September 30, 2013, with his friend former Navy SEAL Gary Stubblefield taking his place  While Zinke's financial disclosure report for 2014 listed him as chairman of SOFA, SOFA had been making independent expenditures in support of Zinke's campaign since November 20, 2013  In 2014, the Campaign Legal Center and Democracy 21 filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission regarding coordination between Zinke's campaign and SOFA  As of December 2016, the FEC had taken no action on the matter 

Radio show
In 2013, Zinke hosted a radio show in which he engaged with and promoted fringe conspiratorial views, including birtherism (the contention that Obama was not born in the United States)  Zinke said on the show that he was not sure whether Obama was a foreign citizen and called on Obama to release his college transcripts  Later, in 2016, as a congressman, Zinke appeared on the radio show Where's Obama's Birth Certificate, known for its promotion of birther conspiracy theories 

2014 House election
In the spring of 2014, Zinke announced his candidacy for Montana's at-large congressional district, a seat vacated when the incumbent, Steve Daines, successfully sought a seat in the U S  Senate During the Republican primary, Zinke attracted attention for calling Hillary Rodham Clinton "the real enemy" and the "anti-Christ " He touted his anti-abortion credentials and was endorsed by the Montana Right to Life Association Zinke won the five-way Republican primary with 43,766 votes (33 25%) and defeated Libertarian perennial candidate Mike Fellows and Democratic nominee John Lewis, a former state director for U S  Senator Max Baucus, in the general election,
with 55 4% of the nearly 350,000 votes cast statewide 

U S  House of Representatives (2015–2017)
In Congress, Zinke supported the deployment of U S  ground troops to combat ISIS, "abandoning" the Affordable Care Act, and cutting regulations  He supported a Republican effort to repeal the estate tax Zinke condemned the "anti-Semitic views" held by neo-Nazis planning a march in support of Richard B  Spencer in Whitefish, Montana, in January 2017 

Political positions
Education
In 2015, Zinke voted for an amendment proposed by Representative Dave Loebsack that provided for the expansion of the use of digital learning through the establishment of a competitive grant program to implement and evaluate the results of technology-based learning practices  The amendment passed, 218–213 

Environmental regulation
Zinke frequently voted in opposition to environmentalists on issues including coal extraction and oil and gas drilling  When Trump opened nearly all U S  coastal waters to extractive drilling, rescinding Obama's protections, nearly a dozen coastal states protested  Zinke visited with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and exempted only Florida's coast from drilling 

Climate change
Zinke has shifted over time on the issue of climate change  In 2010, while in the Montana Senate, Zinke was one of nearly 1,200 state legislators who signed a letter to President Obama and Congress calling for "comprehensive clean energy jobs and climate change legislation " But since 2010, he has repeatedly expressed doubt about anthropogenic climate change; in an October 2014 debate, Zinke said, "it's not a hoax, but it's not proven science either " During Senate confirmation hearings on his nomination as Interior Secretary, Zinke said that humans "influence" climate change, but did not acknowledge the scientific consensus that human activity is the dominant cause of climate change 

Transfers of federal lands to states
Zinke broke with most Republicans on the issue of transfers of federal lands to the states, calling such proposals "extreme" and voting against them  In July 2016, he withdrew as a delegate to the Republican National Convention in protest of the portion of the party's draft platform that would require that certain public lands be transferred to state control  Zinke said he endorsed "better management of federal land" rather than transfers 

Committee assignments
Committee on Armed Services
Subcommittee on Seapower and Projection Forces
Subcommittee on Intelligence, Emerging Threats and Capabilities
Committee on Natural Resources
Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources

2016 House election
In 2016, Zinke ran unopposed in the Republican primary on June 7 and faced Democratic nominee and Superintendent of Public Instruction Denise Juneau in the general election on November 8  He defeated Juneau with 56% of the vote 

Secretary of the Interior (2017–2019)
Donald Trump Jr  recommended to his father that Zinke be nominated for Secretary of the Interior  Zinke was named as then-President-elect Donald Trump's nominee for United States Secretary of the Interior on December 13, 2016  The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee approved his nomination by a 16–6 vote on January 31, 2017, and he was confirmed by the full Senate by a 68–31 vote on March 1  Among the senators expressing support for Zinke's confirmation was Jon Tester of Montana  Zinke was sworn into office by Vice President Mike Pence the same day The day after his swearing-in, Zinke rode a United States Park Police horse named Tonto several blocks to the entrance of the Department of Interior's Main Interior Building to his official welcoming ceremony On May 24, 2017, in the Montana special election to fill Zinke's vacated House seat, Republican nominee Greg Gianforte defeated Democratic nominee Rob Quist, with 49 7% of the vote to Quist's 44 1% 

Rescinded ban on lead bullets
On his first full day in office, Zinke rescinded the policy implemented by outgoing Fish and Wildlife Service Director Daniel M  Ashe on January 19, 2017, the last day of the Obama administration, that banned the use of lead bullets and lead fishing tackle in national wildlife refuges  Zinke said: "Over the past eight years … hunting, and recreation enthusiasts have seen trails closed and dramatic decreases in access to public lands across the board  It worries me to think about hunting and fishing becoming activities for the land-owning elite  This package of secretarial orders will expand access for outdoor enthusiasts and also make sure the community's voice is heard " The regulation was meant to help prevent lead contamination of plants and animals The move was opposed by the Sierra Club, Center for Biological Diversity, and other environmental groups  The rollback was praised by Senator Steve Daines, the National Rifle Association, and National Shooting Sports Foundation, as well as other "gun rights advocates, sportsmen's groups, conservatives and state wildlife agencies "

National Monument reductions
In April 2017, Zinke began reviewing at least 27 national monuments to determine whether any of them could be reduced in size  In June 2017, he recommended that Bears Ears National Monument's boundaries be scaled back  In August, he added the Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument and Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument to the list of monuments to be shrunk, while also calling for new management rules for multiple national monuments to decrease the number of actions that are prohibited within the monuments In December 2017, Trump signed executive proclamations that reduced Bears Ears National Monument by 85% and Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument by almost 46%  These moves prompted several legal challenges  A day later, Zinke issued a report recommending that Trump also shrink two more national monuments—Gold Butte National Monument in Nevada and Cascade–Siskiyou National Monument in Oregon  He also recommended changes to the management of six other national monuments  These changes were welcomed by Republicans such as Representative Rob Bishop, the chair of the House Natural Resources Committee, but condemned by Democrats and environmentalist groups such as the Natural Resources Defense Council and Sierra Club After The New York Times took Zinke's Interior Department to court, it won and got 25,000 documents, of which 4,500 pages were related to Zinke's multi-monument review, and which showed the administration set out to increase coal, oil and gas mining access  The documents also showed that the Zinke administration's new map largely matched a map previously promoted by longtime Utah Senator Orrin Hatch, whose plan claimed it "would resolve all known mineral conflicts for SITLA [Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration] within the Bears Ears… the real [beneficiaries] are Utah schoolchildren and the people of San Juan County", a claim the Utah Diné Bikéyah tribe disputed as hypocritical 

Expenditure controversies
In September 2017, it was reported that on June 26, Zinke had chartered a jet belonging to an oil industry executive for a flight from Las Vegas to Kalispell, Montana  Zinke had been in Las Vegas to make an announcement related to public lands and to deliver a speech to the National Hockey League's Vegas Golden Knights, an expansion franchise owned by William P  Foley, a major donor to Zinke's congressional campaigns  The chartered flight cost taxpayers $12,375  Costs for commercial flights between Las Vegas and Kalispell typically start at $300  Upon arrival in Kalispell, Zinke spent the night at his private residence before delivering remarks at the annual meeting of the Western Governors Association the next morning  Zinke and his staffers returned to Washington on a commercial flight the next day Zinke used private aircraft and performed political duties in relation to an April 1 trip between St  Croix and St  Thomas in the U S  Virgin Islands  Zinke had been in St  Croix on March 30 for an official meeting with Governor Kenneth Mapp during the day, and spent the night at a fundraiser for the Republican Party of the Virgin Islands, where donors of between $1,500 and $5,000 were allowed to have their pictures taken with Zinke  The next morning, he took a private flight costing the government $3,150 to St  Thomas to celebrate the centennial of the islands' handover to the United States by Denmark In December 2017, Politico reported that Zinke had booked government helicopters for more than $14,000 to travel in June and July 2017  One of these trips was the swearing-in ceremony of his successor in Congress; the Department of Interior defended the use of government helicopters instead of a two-hour car drive by saying Zinke would otherwise not be able to fully participate in the ceremony  An Interior spokesperson also told a Politico reporter asking about the expenses, "Shame on you for not respecting the office of a member of Congress " Another of these trips was the use of a Park Police helicopter to have a horseback ride with Vice President Mike Pence; the Interior Department justified the use of the helicopter over the three-hour car drive by saying, "the Secretary will be able to familiarize himself with the in-flight capabilities of an aircraft he is in charge of" and that Park Police staff would "provide an added measure of security to the Secretary during his travel " Zinke dismissed Politico's reporting as "total fabrications and a wild departure of reality" but did not identify any inaccuracies in it In March 2018, the Associated Press reported that the Interior Department spent approximately $139,000 to upgrade three sets of double doors in Zinke's office  A spokesperson claimed Zinke was unaware of the relevant work contract 

Inspector general investigations and other inquiries
In October 2017, the Interior Department's Office of Inspector General (OIG) launched an investigation into Zinke's use of three charter flights during his tenure as Interior Secretary  In April 2018, OIG released its report, concluding that Zinke's chartered flight to give the June 2017 speech to the Las Vegas Golden Knights was authorized "without complete information" and that the speech was not official business because Zinke did not discuss the Interior Department or his role as Interior Secretary  OIG concluded that the two other charter flights, one to Alaska and the other to the U S  Virgin Islands, "appeared to have been reasonable as related to official DOI business "In October 2017, the United States Office of Special Counsel launched a Hatch Act investigation into Zinke's meeting with the Vegas Golden Knights In a March 2018 Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Zinke said it was false that he had taken a "private jet anywhere," noting that the charter flights he took were on aircraft with propellers, not jet engines As of October 30, 2018, the OIG had referred Zinke to the Department of Justice for investigation, including of whether he lied to the OIG about his involvement in reviewing a tribal casino project in Connecticut  The two Connecticut tribes claim that the Interior Department refused to sign off on the casino project after intense lobbying by MGM Resorts International and two Nevada Republican lawmakers  Zinke said the OIG interviewed him twice about the casino decision and that he was truthful both times  In late 2019, Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen stalled the probe into Zinke  Federal prosecutors had proposed to move forward with possible criminal charges against Zinke over his involvement in the casino deal  In doing so, Rosen also prevented the Interior Department's Office of Inspector General from making a report about the casino deal public 

Flying of Secretarial flag
Assuming his duties as Interior Secretary, Zinke ordered Interior Department officials to fly the official Secretarial Flag over the Main Interior Building whenever he was in the building, and that of his deputy, David Bernhardt, whenever Zinke was away and Bernhardt the highest-ranking official present  According to The Washington Post, "no one can remember [the flag ritual] ever happening in the federal government "

Trophy hunting
In November 2017, it was announced that Trump, on Zinke's advice, wanted to lift the import ban on elephant and other big-game trophies from Zambia and Zimbabwe to the United States  A passionate hunter, Zinke justified himself to critics by saying that he had his best childhood memories of hunting with his father and that he was anxious to promote hunting for American families  Trump and Zinke received considerable criticism for the decision  Critics feared that lifting the import ban would trigger a wave of U S  hunters, and that the decision would be a major blow to the survival of the elephant species  Two days later, Trump put his decision on hold, saying that he wanted to better inform himself on the issue  In 2014, before the Obama Administration instituted the ban, U S  hunters killed 671 elephants, 741 lions, 311 leopards, 1,412 Cape buffaloes and 32 rhinos, and shipped them to the U S 

Greater sage-grouse
In 2017, Zinke took steps to unwind a 2015 plan that protected the greater sage-grouse  The Interior Department sought to change sage grouse habitat management plans in 10 states in a way that could open the sage-grouse habitat to mineral extraction and grazing  These proposals were welcomed by the oil and gas industry and condemned by environmentalists  In April 2021, a federal judge blocked this expansion of livestock grazing in Nevada across four hundred square miles (1,000 km2) of some of the highest-priority sage-grouse habitat in the West 

Migratory Bird Treaty Act
Under Zinke, the Interior Department adopted a restrictive interpretation of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, issuing a guidance document stating that the killing of birds "resulting from an activity is not prohibited by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act when the underlying purpose of that activity is not to take birds " The move was opposed by a bipartisan group of 17 former top Interior Department officials, including seven former heads of migratory bird management at the U S  Fish and Wildlife Service, who served in each administration from Nixon to Obama  In a letter sent to Zinke and members of Congress, the former officials wrote, "This legal opinion is contrary to the long-standing interpretation by every administration (Republican and Democrat) since at least the 1970s "

Interior Department employees
In June 2017, Zinke called for the elimination of 4,000 jobs from the Interior Department and supported the White House proposal to cut the department's budget by 13 4%  The same month, he ordered 50 Interior members of the Senior Executive Service to be reassigned, "forcing many into jobs for which they had little experience and that were in different locations " The scope of the move was unusual  One reassigned Interior senior executive, scientist Joel Clement, published an op-ed in The Washington Post saying that the reassignment was retaliation against him "for speaking out publicly about the dangers that climate change poses to Alaska Native communities " The moves prompted the Interior Departments' Office of Inspector General to launch a probe In 2017, in a speech to the National Petroleum Council, Zinke said that one-third of Interior Department employees were disloyal to Trump and that "I got 30 percent of the crew that's not loyal to the flag"  His remarks prompted objections from the Coalition to Protect America's National Parks, Public Lands Foundation and Association of Retired Fish and Wildlife Service Employees (which called the comments "simply ludicrous, and deeply insulting") and Senator Maria Cantwell, the ranking member of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources (who said that Zinke had a "fundamental misunderstanding of the role" of the federal civil service) 

Budget proposals
In 2018, Zinke proposed budget cuts to the Interior Department for fiscal year 2019, mostly from the Bureau of Land Management, U S  Fish and Wildlife Service, and U S  Geological Survey  His proposed budget would also have cut the Land and Water Conservation Fund to $8 million from $425 million in 2018 

2018 wildfires
In August 2018, Zinke said that "environmental terrorist groups" were to blame for the wildfires in California, and that they had "nothing to do with climate change"  Fire scientists and forestry experts reject that, attributing the increasingly destructive wildfires to heat and drought caused by climate change  Later that month, Zinke acknowledged that climate change played a part in the fires  He also said that preventing removal of dead trees has increased the amount of flammable material and hurt timber salvaging 

Calendar omissions
In October 2018, FOIA requests revealed that Zinke's calendar, which was supposed to cover the Secretary of the Interior's activities, contained glaring omissions  Zinke met with lobbyists and business executives on a number of occasions  Reporting from September 2018 noted that the calendars of his activities were "so vaguely described    that the public is unable tell what he was doing or with whom he was meeting "

Departure from office
On December 15, 2018, Trump announced that Zinke would leave "the Administration at the end of the year"; he later tweeted that he would name the new Secretary of the Interior the following week  According to The Washington Post, Zinke had submitted his resignation the same morning  Zinke himself later posted a statement on Twitter, saying, "I cannot justify spending thousands of dollars defending myself and my family against false allegations…It is better for the President and Interior to focus on accomplishments rather than fictitious allegations " His resignation came just a week after former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly's departure was announced 
Zinke was facing several federal probes, including the "Montana land deal" in which a foundation of Zinke's and the chairman of energy firm Halliburton, David Lesar, were accused of wrongdoing in relation to a development project in Zinke's home town of Whitefish, Montana  The DOJ also was investigating his use of personal email In May 2020, Zinke criticized the investigations that led to his departure, saying they were politicized and that such investigations would result in only billionaires being able to afford to serve in a public office 

Later career
In January 2019, Zinke began a new job as the managing director of Artillery One, a cryptocurrency investment firm founded by investor Daniel Cannon, saying that he was "going to make Artillery One great again " In an interview, he said, "I'm focused on cybersecurity, protection of infrastructure and emerging countries that can act as a test bed for new technologies  There is some suspicion that blockchain does not really work  We think it does and we want to showcase the utility and flexibility of the model " The company is working on a test bed project in Kosovo, where Zinke served during his time in the U S  Navy  Zinke also took consulting jobs with several energy firms 

2022 congressional election
In June 2021, Zinke officially announced his candidacy for reelection to the U S  House of Representatives  He sought election in Montana's 1st congressional district, which was reconstituted after the 2020 census  Montana had been split between two districts from 1919 to 1993, but for the next three decades had been represented by a single member 
Zinke narrowly defeated Democratic nominee Monica Tranel to return to Congress  He represents the western third of the state, including Missoula, Butte, Bozeman, Kalispell, and his hometown of Whitefish 

Tenure
Syria
In 2023, Zinke voted against H Con Res  21, which directed President Joe Biden to remove U S  troops from Syria within 180 days 

Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023
Zinke was among the 71 Republicans who voted against final passage of the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 in the House 

Personal life
Zinke married Lolita Hand on August 8, 1992  Both had been married before; Hand was a widow with a young daughter  He and Hand also have two children together Zinke splits his time among Washington, D C ; Whitefish, Montana; and Santa Barbara, California, his wife's hometown  Politico reported that he no longer resides at his Whitefish house and spends more time in Santa Barbara  Zinke is Missouri Synod Lutheran 

Electoral history
See also
Environmental policy of the Donald Trump administration
List of members of the United States House of Representatives in the 115th Congress by seniority
List of Montana state senators
Political appointments of Donald Trump#Department of the Interior
United States Senate election in Montana, 2018
Whitefish Energy
Passage 6:
Louisiana State Treasurer special election, 2017
The Louisiana State Treasurer special election took place on October 14, 2017, to elect the state treasurer of Louisiana, with a runoff election to be held on November 18, 2017, if necessary  Incumbent Republican State Treasurer John Kennedy was elected to the U S  Senate in 2016   First Assistant Treasurer Ron Henson replaced Kennedy as treasurer, and served until the special election  Henson did not run in the special election Under Louisiana's jungle primary system, all candidates appeared on the same ballot, regardless of party and voters may vote for any candidate, regardless of their party affiliation  If no candidate receives a majority of the vote during the primary election, a runoff election will be held between the top two candidates  Louisiana is the only state that has a jungle primary system (California and Washington have a similar "top two primary" system)  Republican candidates received over 65% of the vote as John Schroder and Derrick Edwards advanced to the runoff  Republican John Schroder defeated Democrat Derrick Edwards in the runoff 

Candidates
Republican Party
Declared
Angele Davis, businesswoman and former commissioner of the Louisiana Department of Administration
Terry Hughes
Neil Riser, state senator and candidate for LA-05 in 2013
John Schroder, state representative

Withdrew
Julie Stokes, state representative

Declined
Ron Henson, incumbent state treasurer
Rob Maness, retired United States Air Force colonel and candidate for U S  Senate in 2014 and 2016

Democratic Party
Declared
Derrick Edwards, attorney and candidate for U S  Senate in 2016

Libertarian Party
Declared
Joseph D  Little

Jungle primary
Runoff
Passage 7:
Kevin Aguiar
Kevin Aguiar (born September 7, 1972) is an American politician who represented the 7th Bristol district in the Massachusetts House of Representatives  He was first elected in a 2008 special election following Robert Correia's resignation to become Mayor of Fall River, Massachusetts From 2002 to 2009, Aguiar served as a member of the Fall School Committee  He was defeated for re-election in the 2012 Democratic primary by challenger Alan Silvia, who succeeded him 
Passage 8:
Mike Aguirre
Jules Michael Aguirre (born 1949), more commonly known as Michael Jules Aguirre, was the City Attorney for the City of San Diego, California, from 2004 to 2008 
In 2013, he was a candidate for mayor in a special election following Mayor Bob Filner's resignation  He lost to Kevin Faulconer, placing fourth in a field of eleven candidates 

Early life
Aguirre was born to Julio and Margaret Aguirre  His father was of Spanish and Mexican descent and his mother is of Mexican descent 

Early career
Aguirre worked as Assistant U S  Attorney for the Department of Justice and directed a grand jury investigation of pension racketeering  He was then appointed as assistant counsel to the U S  Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations  After leaving government work, Aguirre set up his own firm specializing in securities fraud In the 1990s, Aguirre continued his securities practice and his electoral campaigns  In 1990, Aguirre allied with the Chicano Movement to file a successful federal voting rights lawsuit to overturn San Diego’s redistricting  In 1993, Aguirre successfully defended the United Farm Workers Union in Yuma, Arizona, in a case with lettuce grower Bruce Church  Aguirre took over the defense of the case after UFW President Cesar Chavez died following two days of testimony  Aguirre finished the jury trial, which the UFW lost, but he succeeded in getting the case overturned on appeal In 1996, Aguirre went to court to throw out a 1995 contract between the City of San Diego and the San Diego Chargers football team  In the contract, the city agreed to issue $60 million of bonds to renovate the football team's stadium, and, in a controversial clause, promised to constantly maintain the stadium as a state-of-the-art venue  The city had also agreed to guarantee the sale of 60,000 game tickets at prices to be set by the Chargers  Aguirre’s suit and the ensuing scandal surrounding the maintenance clause compelled the city to renegotiate with the Chargers in 1998 

City Attorney
Aguirre ran for San Diego City Attorney in 2004, in the midst of a financial crisis and investigations by the Securities and Exchange Commission  Scandal had erupted in the summer of 2003 over a pension deal that municipal employees received between 1996 and 2002  Workers were given increased benefits during this period, but the city did not contribute enough to municipal pension funds to cover the increased benefits  The resulting deficit of some $1 4 billion left the city’s finances in shambles and made it virtually impossible to issue municipal bonds  Aguirre ran as a "clean up the mess" outsider, with support from Democrats in the officially nonpartisan race, and won with 50 4% of the vote  A 2008 Wall Street Journal article praised Aguirre’s efforts to address the City of San Diego's hundreds of millions of dollars of unfunded pension liabilities In October 2007, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported that during the California wildfires of October 2007, Aguirre had called for an evacuation of the entire City of San Diego  Aguirre was heavily criticized for the idea but said that the paper had distorted his position  Aguirre's claim was that he had written a memo to the San Diego Mayor at the height of the fires, advising that the city should draw up a voluntary evacuation plan in light of federal regulations, the immediate threat of the fire, as well as concerns over weather conditions and air quality As City Attorney, Aguirre filed a legal action to force a developer to reduce the height of an already constructed office building near an airport  Federal Aviation Administration officials had later determined that the height of the building posed a threat to public safety, even if a city building permit had been issued  In 2009, a California Superior Court judge affirmed the City Attorney's position by determining the developer had no legal right to erect the building to the unsafe height, and the top several stories were ordered to be removed from the building In 2005, immediately upon taking office, Aguirre attempted unsuccessfully to overturn a city grant of $900 million in pension benefits to police and other city workers, which Aguirre contended had been illegal Aguirre sued Countrywide Financial in July 2008 over lending practices  and convinced a federal multi-district litigation judicial panel to move all Countrywide Financial foreclosure cases to the jurisdiction of the City of San Diego 
In 2008, Aguirre ran for a second term as City Attorney but was challenged by several other candidates  The president of the San Diego City Council Scott Peters ran with the backing of city unions, while Superior Court Judge Jan Goldsmith was backed by the Republican political establishment  In the five-candidate nonpartisan primary election in June 2008, Aguirre qualified for the general election by coming in second place after Goldsmith  In the general election on November 4, 2008, Aguirre lost to Goldsmith: 59 5 percent to 40 5 percent 

After leaving office
After leaving his post as City Attorney, Aguirre returned to private legal practice by forming the law firm of Aguirre Morris & Severson, along with two colleagues from the City Attorney's office: Mia Severson, who had headed the City Attorney's civil litigation division; and Chris Morris, who had headed the City's Criminal Division  Aguirre also started the National Center for Regulatory Reform, which has issued extensive reports on the Market Crash of 2008 
Following the resignation of Mayor Bob Filner in August 2013, Aguirre declared his intention to run in the special election for mayor to replace him  In the primary election held November 19, 2013, Aguirre came in a distant fourth with 4 44 percent of the vote, and thus did not advance to the runoff election held in November In 2014, Aguirre represented a woman named Ruth Hendricks who was challenging the $4 7 billion settlement deal for the failed San Onofre nuclear plant in San Diego County  His questions during the settlement approval process were not addressed  By 2015, his questions about backchannel dealings between regulators and utility companies were being taken more seriously, as criminal investigators seized notes from a secret meeting in Poland where the framework of a San Onofre deal was first discussed 

Electoral history
Context 2: Passage 1:
Sinbad the Sailor
Sinbad the Sailor (; Arabic: سندباد البحري, romanized: Sindibādu al-Bahriyy  or Sindbad) is a fictional mariner and the hero of a story-cycle  He is described as hailing from Baghdad during the early Abbasid Caliphate (8th and 9th centuries A D )  In the course of seven voyages throughout the seas east of Africa and south of Asia, he has fantastic adventures in magical realms, encountering monsters and witnessing supernatural phenomena 

Origins and sources
The tales of Sinbad are a relatively late addition to the One Thousand and One Nights – they do not feature in the earliest 14th-century manuscript, and they appear as an independent cycle in 18th- and 19th-century collections  The tale reflects the trend within the Abbasid realm of Arab and Muslim sailors exploring the world  The stories display the folk and themes present in works of that time  The Abbasid reign was known as a period of great economic and social growth  Arab and Muslim traders would seek new trading routes and people to trade with  This process of growth is reflected in the Sinbad tales  The Sinbad stories take on a variety of different themes  Later sources include Abbasid works such as the "Wonders of the Created World", reflecting the experiences of 13th century Arab mariners who braved the Indian Ocean The Sinbad cycle is set in the reign of the Abbasid Caliph Harun al-Rashid (786–809)  The Sinbad tales are included in the first European translation of the Nights, Antoine Galland's Les mille et une nuits, contes arabes traduits en français, an English edition of which appeared in 1711 as The new Arabian winter nights entertainments and went through numerous editions throughout the 18th century 
The earliest separate publication of the Sinbad tales in English found in the British Library is an adaptation as The Adventures of Houran Banow, etc  (Taken from the Arabian Nights, being the third and fourth voyages of Sinbad the Sailor ), around 1770  An early US edition, The seven voyages of Sinbad the sailor  And The story of Aladdin; or, The wonderful lamp, was published in Philadelphia in 1794  Numerous popular editions followed in the early 19th century, including a chapbook edition by Thomas Tegg  Its best known full translation was perhaps as tale 120 in Volume 6 of Sir Richard Burton's 1885 translation of The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night 

Tales
Sinbad the Porter and Sinbad the Sailor
Like the 1001 Nights, the Sinbad story-cycle has a frame story which goes as follows: in the days of Harun al-Rashid, Caliph of Baghdad, a poor porter (one who carries goods for others in the market and throughout the city) pauses to rest on a bench outside the gate of a rich merchant's house, where he complains to God about the injustice of a world which allows the rich to live in ease while he must toil and yet remain poor  The owner of the house hears and sends for the porter, finding that they are both named Sinbad  The rich Sinbad tells the poor Sinbad that he became wealthy "by Fortune and Fate" in the course of seven wondrous voyages, which he then proceeds to relate 

First Voyage of Sinbad the Sailor
After dissipating the wealth left to him by his father, Sinbad goes to sea to repair his fortune  He sets ashore on what appears to be an island, but this island proves to be a gigantic sleeping whale on which trees have taken root ever since the whale was young  Awakened by a fire kindled by the sailors, the whale dives into the depths, the ship departs without Sinbad, and Sinbad is only saved by a passing wooden trough sent by the grace of Allah  He is washed ashore on a densely wooded island  While exploring the deserted island, he comes across one of the king's grooms  When Sinbad helps save the king's mare from being drowned by a sea horse (not a seahorse, but a supernatural horse that lives underwater), the groom brings Sinbad to the king  The king befriends Sinbad, and he rises in the king's favor and becomes a trusted courtier  One day, the very ship on which Sinbad set sail docks at the island, and he reclaims his goods (still in the ship's hold)  Sinbad gives the king his goods and in return the king gives him rich presents  Sinbad sells these presents for a great profit  Sinbad returns to Baghdad, where he resumes a life of ease and pleasure  With the ending of the tale, Sinbad the sailor makes Sinbad the porter a gift of a hundred gold pieces and bids him return the next day to hear more about his adventures 

Second Voyage
On the second day of Sinbad's tale-telling (but the 549th night of Scheherazade's), Sinbad the sailor tells how he grew restless of his life of leisure, and set to sea again, "possessed with the thought of traveling about the world of men and seeing their cities and islands " Accidentally abandoned by his shipmates again, he finds himself stranded in an island which contains roc eggs  He attaches himself with the help of his turban to a roc and is transported to a valley of giant snakes which can swallow elephants; these serve as the rocs' natural prey  The floor of the valley is carpeted with diamonds, and merchants harvest these by throwing huge chunks of meat into the valley: the birds carry the meat back to their nests, and the men drive the birds away and collect the diamonds stuck to the meat  The wily Sinbad straps one of the pieces of meat to his back and is carried back to the nest along with a large sack full of precious gems  Rescued from the nest by the merchants, he returns to Baghdad with a fortune in diamonds, seeing many marvels along the way 

Third Voyage
Sinbad sets sail again from Basra  But by ill chance, he and his companions are cast up on an island where they are captured by a "huge creature in the likeness of a man, black of colour,     with eyes like coals of fire and large canine teeth like boar's tusks and a vast big gape like the mouth of a well  Moreover, he had long loose lips like camel's, hanging down upon his breast, and ears like two Jarms falling over his shoulder-blades, and the nails of his hands were like the claws of a lion " This monster begins eating the crew, beginning with the Reis (captain), who is the fattest  (Burton notes that the giant "is distinctly Polyphemus" )
Sinbad hatches a plan to blind the beast with the two red-hot iron spits with which the monster has been kebabbing and roasting the ship's company  He and the remaining men escape on a raft they constructed the day before  However, the giant's mate hits most of the escaping men with rocks and they are killed  After further adventures (including a gigantic python from which Sinbad escapes using his quick wits), he returns to Baghdad, wealthier than ever 

Fourth Voyage
Impelled by restlessness, Sinbad takes to the seas again and, as usual, is shipwrecked  The naked savages amongst whom he finds himself feed his companions a herb which robs them of their reason (Burton theorises that this might be bhang), prior to fattening them for the table  Sinbad realises what is happening and refuses to eat the madness-inducing plant  When the cannibals lose interest in him, he escapes  A party of itinerant pepper-gatherers transports him to their own island, where their king befriends him and gives him a beautiful and wealthy wife 
Too late Sinbad learns of a peculiar custom of the land: on the death of one marriage partner, the other is buried alive with his or her spouse, both in their finest clothes and most costly jewels  Sinbad's wife falls ill and dies soon after, leaving Sinbad trapped in a cavern, a communal tomb, with a jug of water and seven pieces of bread  Just as these meagre supplies are almost exhausted, another couple—the husband dead, the wife alive—are dropped into the cavern  Sinbad bludgeons the wife to death and takes her rations 
Such episodes continue; soon he has a sizable store of bread and water, as well as the gold and gems from the corpses, but is still unable to escape, until one day a wild animal shows him a passage to the outside, high above the sea  From here, a passing ship rescues him and carries him back to Baghdad, where he gives alms to the poor and resumes his life of pleasure 
Burton's footnote comments: "This tale is evidently taken from the escape of Aristomenes the Messenian from the pit into which he had been thrown, a fox being his guide  The Arabs in an early day were eager students of Greek literature " Similarly, the first half of the voyage resembles the Circe episode in The Odyssey, with certain differences: while a plant robs Sinbad's men of their reason in the Arab tales, it is Circe's magic which "fattened" Odysseus' men in The Odyssey  It is in an earlier episode, featuring the 'Lotus Eaters', that Odysseus' men are fed a similar magical fruit which robs them of their senses 

Fifth Voyage
"When I had been a while on shore after my fourth voyage; and when, in my comfort and pleasures and merry-makings and in my rejoicing over my large gains and profits, I had forgotten all I had endured of perils and sufferings, the carnal man was again seized with the longing to travel and to see foreign countries and islands " Soon at sea once more, while passing a desert island Sinbad's crew spots a gigantic egg that Sinbad recognizes as belonging to a roc  Out of curiosity, the ship's passengers disembark to view the egg, only to end up breaking it and having the chick inside as a meal  Sinbad immediately recognizes the folly of their behaviour and orders all back aboard ship  However, the infuriated parent rocs soon catch up with the vessel and destroy it by dropping giant boulders they have carried in their talons Shipwrecked yet again, Sinbad is enslaved by the Old Man of the Sea, who rides on his shoulders with his legs twisted round Sinbad's neck and will not let go, riding him both day and night until Sinbad would welcome death  (Burton's footnote discusses possible origins for the old man—the orang-utan, the Greek god Triton—and favours the African custom of riding on slaves in this way) Eventually, Sinbad makes wine and tricks the Old Man into drinking some  Sinbad kills him after he falls off  A ship carries him to the City of the Apes, a place whose inhabitants spend each night in boats off-shore, while their town is abandoned to man-eating apes  Yet through the apes, Sinbad recoups his fortune and eventually finds a ship which takes him home once more to Baghdad 

Sixth Voyage
"My soul yearned for travel and traffic"  Sinbad is shipwrecked yet again, this time quite violently as his ship is dashed to pieces on tall cliffs  There is no food to be had anywhere, and Sinbad's companions die of starvation until only he is left  He builds a raft and discovers a river running out of a cavern beneath the cliffs  The stream proves to be filled with precious stones and it becomes apparent that the island's streams flow with ambergris  He falls asleep as he journeys through the darkness and awakens in the city of the king of Serendib (Sri Lanka/Ceylon), "diamonds are in its rivers and pearls are in its valleys"  The king marvels at what Sinbad tells him of the great Haroun al-Rashid, and asks that he take a present back to Baghdad on his behalf, a cup carved from a single ruby, with other gifts including a bed made from the skin of the serpent that swallowed an elephant ("And whoso sitteth upon it never sickeneth"), and "A hundred thousand miskals of Sindh lign-aloesa ", and a slave-girl "like a shining moon"  Sinbad returns to Baghdad, where the Caliph wonders greatly at the reports Sinbad gives of Serendib 

Seventh and Last Voyage
The ever-restless Sinbad sets sail once more, with the usual result  Cast up on a desolate shore, he constructs a raft and floats down a nearby river to a great city  Here the chief of the merchants gives Sinbad his daughter in marriage, names him his heir, and conveniently dies  The inhabitants of this city are transformed once a month into birds, and Sinbad has one of the bird-people carry him to the uppermost reaches of the sky, where he hears the angels glorifying God, "whereat I wondered and exclaimed, 'Praised be God! Extolled be the perfection of God!'" But no sooner are the words out than there comes fire from heaven which all but consumes the bird-men  The bird-people are angry with Sinbad and set him down on a mountain-top, where he meets two youths, servants of God who give him a golden staff; returning to the city, Sinbad learns from his wife that the bird-men are devils, although she and her father were not of their number  And so, at his wife's suggestion, Sinbad sells all his possessions and returns with her to Baghdad, where at last he resolves to live quietly in the enjoyment of his wealth, and to seek no more adventures 
Burton includes a variant of the seventh tale, in which Haroun al-Rashid asks Sinbad to carry a return gift to the king of Serendib  Sinbad replies, "By Allah the Omnipotent, Oh my lord, I have taken a loathing to wayfare, and when I hear the words 'Voyage' or 'Travel,' my limbs tremble"  He then tells the Caliph of his misfortune-filled voyages; Haroun agrees that with such a history "thou dost only right never even to talk of travel"  Nevertheless, at the Caliph's command, Sinbad sets forth on this, his uniquely diplomatic voyage  The king of Serendib is well pleased with the Caliph's gifts (which include, among other things, the food tray of King Solomon) and showers Sinbad with his favour  On the return voyage, the usual catastrophe strikes: Sinbad is captured and sold into slavery  His master sets him to shooting elephants with a bow and arrow, which he does until the king of the elephants carries him off to the elephants' graveyard  Sinbad's master is so pleased with the huge quantities of ivory in the graveyard that he sets Sinbad free, and Sinbad returns to Baghdad, rich with ivory and gold  "Here I went in to the Caliph and, after saluting him and kissing hands, informed him of all that had befallen me; whereupon he rejoiced in my safety and thanked Almighty Allah; and he made my story be written in letters of gold  I then entered my house and met my family and brethren: and such is the end of the history that happened to me during my seven voyages  Praise be to Allah, the One, the Creator, the Maker of all things in Heaven and Earth!" 
Some versions return to the frame story, in which Sinbad the Porter may receive a final generous gift from Sinbad the Sailor  In other versions the story cycle ends here, and there is no further mention of Sinbad the Porter 

Adaptations
Sinbad's quasi-iconic status in Western culture has led to his name being recycled for a wide range of uses in both serious and not-so-serious contexts, frequently with only a tenuous connection to the original tales  Many films, television series, animated cartoons, novels, and video games have been made, most of them featuring Sinbad not as a merchant who stumbles into adventure, but as a dashing dare-devil adventure-seeker 

Theatrical films
English language animated films
Sinbad the Sailor (1935) is an animated short film produced and directed by Ub Iwerks 
Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor (1936) is a two-reel animated cartoon short subject in the Popeye Color Feature series, produced in Technicolor and released to theatres on 27 November 1936 by Paramount Pictures  It was produced by Max Fleischer for Fleischer Studios, Inc  and directed by Dave Fleischer 
Sinbad (1992) is an animated film originally released on 18 May 1992 and based on the classic Arabian Nights tale, Sinbad the Sailor, and produced by Golden Films 
Sinbad: Beyond the Veil of Mists (2000) is the first feature-length computer animation film created exclusively using motion capture  While many animators worked on the project, the human characters were entirely animated using motion capture 
Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas (2003) is an American animated adventure film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by DreamWorks Pictures  The film uses traditional animation with some computer animation  It was directed by Tim Johnson 

Non-English language animated films
Arabian naito: Shindobaddo no bôken (Arabian Nights: Adventures of Sinbad) (1962) (animated Japanese film) 
A Thousand and One Nights (1969) Story created by Osamu Tezukui, combination of other One Thousand and One Nights stories and the legends of Sinbad 
Pohádky Tisíce a Jedné Noci (Tales of 1,001 Nights) (1974), a seven-part animated film by Karel Zeman 
Doraemon: Nobita's Dorabian Nights (1991) 
Sinbad (film trilogy) (2015–2016) is a series of Japanese animated family adventure films produced by Nippon Animation and Shirogumi 
The Adventures of Sinbad (2013) is an Indian 2D animated film directed by Shinjan Neogi and Abhishek Panchal, and produced by Afzal Ahmed Khan 
Sinbad: Pirates of Seven Storm (2016) A Russian animated film by CTB Film Company 

Live-action English language theatrical films
Arabian Nights is a 1942 adventure film directed by John Rawlins and starring Sabu, Maria Montez, Jon Hall and Leif Erickson  The film is derived from The Book of One Thousand and One Nights but owes more to the imagination of Universal Pictures than the original Arabian stories  Unlike other films in the genre (The Thief of Bagdad), it features no monsters or supernatural elements 
Sinbad the Sailor (1947) is a 1947 American Technicolor fantasy film directed by Richard Wallace and starring Douglas Fairbanks Jr , Maureen O'Hara, Walter Slezak, and Anthony Quinn  It tells the tale of the "eighth" voyage of Sinbad, wherein he discovers the lost treasure of Alexander the Great 
Son of Sinbad (1955) is a 1955 American adventure film directed by Ted Tetzlaff  It takes place in the Middle East and consists of a wide variety of characters including over 127 women 
The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958) is a 1958 Technicolor heroic fantasy adventure film directed by Nathan H  Juran and starring Kerwin Mathews, Torin Thatcher, Kathryn Grant, Richard Eyer, and Alec Mango  It was distributed by Columbia Pictures and produced by Charles H  Schneer 
Captain Sindbad (1963) is a 1963 independently made fantasy and adventure film, produced by Frank King and Herman King (King Brothers Productions), directed by Byron Haskin, that stars Guy Williams and Heidi Brühl  The film was shot at the Bavaria Film studios in Germany and was distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer 
The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1973) a fantasy film directed by Gordon Hessler and featuring stop motion effects by Ray Harryhausen  It is the second of three Sinbad films released by Columbia Pictures 
Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger (1977) is a fantasy film directed by Sam Wanamaker and featuring stop motion effects by Ray Harryhausen  The film stars Patrick Wayne, Taryn Power, Margaret Whiting, Jane Seymour, and Patrick Troughton  It is the third and final Sinbad film released by Columbia Pictures 

Live-action English language direct-to-video films
Sinbad: The Battle of the Dark Knights (1998) - DTV film about a young boy that must go back in time to help Sinbad 
The 7 Adventures of Sinbad (2010) is an American adventure film directed by Adam Silver and Ben Hayflick  As a mockbuster distributed by The Asylum, it attempts to capitalise on Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and Clash of the Titans 
Sinbad and The Minotaur (2011) starring Manu Bennett is a 2011 Australian fantasy B movie directed by Karl Zwicky serving as an unofficial sequel to the 1947 Douglas Fairbanks Jr  film and Harryhausen's Sinbad trilogy  It combines Arabian Nights hero Sinbad the Sailor with the Greek legend of the Minotaur 
Sinbad: The Fifth Voyage (2014) starring Shahin Sean Solimon, low budget film 
Sinbad and the War of the Furies (2016) An American action film starring John Hennigan, direct-to-streaming 

Live-action non-English language films
Sinbad Khalashi, or Sinbad the Sailor is a 1930 Indian silent action-adventure film by Ramchandra Gopal Torney 
Sinbad Jahazi, or Sinbad the Sailor, is a 1952 Indian Hindi-language adventure film by Nanabhai Bhatt 
Sindbad ki Beti, or Daughter of Sindbad, is a 1958 Indian Hindi-language fantasy film by Ratilal  It follows the daughter of Sindbad as she goes out in search for her missing father 
Son of Sinbad is a 1958 Indian Hindi-language film by Nanabhai Bhatt  A sequel to Sinbad Jahazi, it follows the adventures of the son of Sinbad in high seas 
Sinbad contro i sette saraceni (Sinbad against the Seven Saracens)  (Italian: Sindbad contro i sette saraceni, also known as Sinbad Against the 7 Saracens) is a 1964 Italian adventure film written and directed by Emimmo Salvi and starring Gordon Mitchell  The film was released straight to television in the United States by American International Television in 1965 
Sindbad Alibaba and Aladdin is a 1965 Indian Hindi-language fantasy-adventure musical film by Prem Narayan Arora  It starred Pradeep Kumar in the role of Sindbad 
Shehzade Sinbad kaf daginda (Prince Sinbad of the Mountains) (1971) (Turkish film) 
Simbad e il califfo di Bagdad (Sinbad and the Caliph of Baghdad) (1973) (Italian film) 
Sinbad of the Seven Seas (1989) is a 1989 Italian fantasy film produced and directed by Enzo G  Castellari from a story by Luigi Cozzi, revolving around the adventures of Sinbad the Sailor  Sinbad must recover five magical stones to free the city of Basra from the evil spell cast by a wizard, which his journey takes him to mysterious islands and he must battle magical creatures in order to save the world 

Television
English language series and films
Sinbad Jr  and his Magic Belt (1965) 
The Freedom Force (TV Series) (1978) 
The Adventures of Sinbad (1979) - TV animated film 
Mystery Science Theater 3000 (1993) episode: The Magic Voyage of Sinbad
The Fantastic Voyages of Sinbad the Sailor (1996–1998) is an American animated television series based on the Arabian Nights story of Sinbad the Sailor and produced by Fred Wolf Films that aired beginning 2 February 1998 on Cartoon Network 
The Adventures of Sinbad (1996–98) is a Canadian Action/Adventure Fantasy television series following on the story from the pilot of the same name 
The Backyardigans (2007) episode: "Sinbad Sails Alone" 
Sinbad (2012) - A UK television series from Sky1 
Sindbad & The 7 Galaxies (2016 by Sun TV, picked up by Toonavision in 2020) is an animated children's comedy adventure TV series created by Raja Masilamani and IP owned by Creative Media Partners Note: Sinbad was mentioned, but did not actually appear, in the Season 3 episode Been There, Done That of Xena Warrior Princess when one of the story's lovers tells Xena that he was hoping that Hercules would have appeared to save his village from its curse 

Non-English language series and films
Arabian Nights: Sinbad's Adventures (Arabian Naitsu: Shinbaddo No Bôken, 1975) 
Manga Sekai Mukashi Banashi: The Arabian Nights: Adventures of Sinbad the Sailor (1976) Japanese anime TV series, Directed by Sadao Nozaki and Tatsuya Matano  Producer Yuji Tanno  The origins of this is a series called Manga Hajimete Monogatari  This is dubbed in English and narrated by Telly Savalas 
Alif Laila (1993–1997), an Indian television series based on the One Thousand and One Nights which aired on Doordarshan's DD National  Episodes titled "Sindbad Jahaazi" focus on the adventures of the sailor, where he is portrayed by Shahnawaz Pradhan 
Princess Dollie Aur Uska Magic Bag (2004–2006), an Indian teen fantasy adventure television series on Star Plus where Vaquar Shaikh portrays Sinbad, one of the main characters in the show along with Ali Baba and Hatim 
Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic (2012), Magi: The Kingdom of Magic (2013) and Magi: Adventure of Sinbad (2016) are Japanese fantasy adventure manga series 
Janbaaz Sindbad (2015–2016), an Indian adventure-fantasy television series based on Sinbad the Sailor which aired on Zee TV, starring Harsh Rajput in the titular role Note: A pair of foreign films that had nothing to do with the Sinbad character were released in North America, with the hero being referred to as "Sinbad" in the dubbed soundtrack  The 1952 Russian film Sadko (based on Rimsky-Korsakov's opera Sadko) was overdubbed and released in English in 1962 as The Magic Voyage of Sinbad, while the 1963 Japanese film Dai tozoku (whose main character was a heroic pirate named Sukezaemon) was overdubbed and released in English in 1965 as The Lost World of Sinbad 

Video games
In the Arabian Nights-themed video game Sonic and the Secret Rings, Sinbad looks almost exactly like Knuckles the Echidna 
In 1978 Gottlieb manufacturing released a pinball machine named Sinbad, the artwork featured characters from the movie Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger  Also released, in a shorter run, was an Eye of the Tiger pinball game 
in 1996 the pinball game Tales of the Arabian Nights was released featuring Sinbad  This game (manufactured by Williams Electronics) features Sinbad's battle with the Rocs and the Cyclops as side quests to obtain jewels  The game was adapted into the video game compilation Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection in 2009 
In 1984 game simply called Sinbad was released by Atlantis Software 
In 1986 game called Sinbad and the Golden Ship was released by Mastertronic Ltd 
Another 1986 game called The Legend of Sinbad was released by Superior Software 
in 1987 game called Sinbad and the Throne of the Falcon was released by Cinemaware 

Music
In Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's suite Scheherazade, the 1st, 2nd, and 4th movements focus on portions of the Sinbad story  Various components of the story have identifiable themes in the work, including rocs and the angry sea  In the climactic final movement, Sinbad's ship (6th voyage) is depicted as rushing rapidly toward cliffs and only the fortuitous discovery of the cavernous stream allows him to escape and make the passage to Serindib 
The song "Sinbad the Sailor" in the soundtrack of the Indian film Rock On!! focuses on the story of Sinbad the Sailor in music form 
Sinbad et la légende de Mizan (2013) A French stage musical  the musical comedy event in Lorraine  An original creation based on the history of Sinbad the Navy, heroes of 1001 nights  A quest to traverse the Orient, 30 artists on stage, mysteries, combats, music and enviable dances     A new adventure for Sinbad, much more dangerous than all the others 
Sinbad's adventures have appeared on various audio recordings as both readings and dramatizations, including Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves/Sinbad the Sailor (Riverside Records RLP 1451/Golden Wonderland GW 231, played by Denis Quilley), Sinbad the Sailor (Tale Spinners for Children on United Artists Records UAC 11020, played by Derek Hart), Sinbad the Sailor: A Tale from the Arabian Nights (Caedmon Records TC-1245/Fontana Records SFL 14105, read by Anthony Quayle), Sinbad the Sailor /The Adventures of Oliver Twist and Fagin (Columbia Masterworks ML 4072, read by Basil Rathbone), 1001 Nights: Sinbad the Sailor and Other Stories (Naxos Audio 8 555899, narrated by Bernard Cribbins) and The Arabian Nights (The Voyages of Sinbad the Sailor) (Disneyland Records STER-3988) 
"Nagisa no Sinbad" (渚のシンドバッド) was the 4th single released by Pink Lady, a popular Japanese duo in the late 1970s and early 1980s  The song has been covered by former idol group W and by the Japanese super group Morning Musume 

Literature
In The Count of Monte Cristo, "Sinbad the Sailor" is but one of many pseudonyms used by Edmond Dantès 
In his Ulysses, James Joyce uses "Sinbad the Sailor" as an alias for the character of W B  Murphy and as an analogue to Odysseus  He also puns mercilessly on the name: Jinbad the Jailer, Tinbad the Tailor, Whinbad the Whaler, and so on 
Edgar Allan Poe wrote a tale called "The Thousand-and-Second Tale of Scheherazade"  It depicts the 8th and final voyage of Sinbad the Sailor, along with the various mysteries Sinbad and his crew encounter; the anomalies are then described as footnotes to the story 
Polish poet Bolesław Leśmian's Adventures of Sindbad the Sailor is a set of tales loosely based on the Arabian Nights 
Hungarian writer Gyula Krúdy's Adventures of Sindbad is a set of short stories based on the Arabian Nights 
In John Barth's "The Last Voyage of Somebody the Sailor", "Sinbad the Sailor" and his traditional travels frame a series of 'travels' by a 20th-century New Journalist known as 'Somebody the Sailor' 
Pulitzer Prize winner Steven Millhauser has a story entitled "The Eighth Voyage of Sinbad" in his 1990 collection The Barnum Museum 

Comics
"Sinbad the Sailor" (1920) artwork by Paul Klee (Swiss-German artist, 1879–1940) 
In 1950, St  John Publications published a one shot comic called Son of Sinbad 
In 1958, Dell Comics published a one shot comic based on the film The 7th Voyage of Sinbad 
In 1963, Gold Key Comics published a one shot comic based on the film Captain Sinbad 
In 1965, Dell Comics published a 3 issue series called Sinbad Jr 
in 1965 Gold Key Comics published a 2 issue mini-series called The Fantastic Voyages of Sinbad 
In 1974 Marvel Comics published a two issue series based on the film The Golden Voyage of Sinbad in Worlds Unknown #7 and #8  They then published a one shot comic based on the film The 7th Voyage of Sinbad in 1975 with Marvel Spotlight #25 
In 1977, the British comic company General Book Distributors, published a one shot comic/magazine based on the film Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger 
In 1988, Catalan Communications published the one shot graphic novel The Last Voyage of Sinbad 
In 1989 Malibu Comics published a 4 issue mini-series called Sinbad, and followed that up with another 4 issue mini-series called Sinbad Book II: In the House of God In 1991 
In 2001, Marvel Comics published a one shot comic that teamed Sinbad with the Fantastic Four called Fantastic 4th Voyage of Sinbad 
In 2007, Bluewater Comics published a 3 issue mini-series called Sinbad: Rogue of Mars 
In 2008, the Lerner Publishing Group published a graphic novel called Sinbad: Sailing into Peril 
In 2009, Zenescope Entertainment debuted Sinbad in their Grimm Fairy Tales universe having him appearing as a regular ongoing character  He first appeared in his own 14 issue series called 1001 Arabian Nights: The Adventures of Sinbad  Afterwards he appeared in various issues of the Dream Eater saga, as well as the 2011 Annual, Giant-Size, and Special Edition one-shots 
In 2012, a graphic novel called Sinbad: The Legacy, published by Campfire Books, was released  He appears in the comic book series Fables written by Bill Willingham, and as the teenaged Alsind in the comic book series Arak, Son of Thunder—which takes place in the 9th century AD—written by Roy Thomas 
In Alan Moore's The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier, Sinbad appears as the Immortal Orlando's lover of thirty years, until he leaves for his 8th Voyage and never returns 
In The Simpsons comic book series "Get Some Fancy Book Learnin'", Sinbad's adventures are parodied as "Sinbart the Sailor" 
"The Last Voyage of Sinbad" by Richard Corben and Jan Strnad originally appeared as "New Tales of the Arabian Nights" serialized in Heavy Metal magazine, issues #15–28 (1978–79) and was later collected and reprinted as a trade paperback book 
Sinbad is a major character in the Japanese manga series Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic written and illustrated by Shinobu Ohtaka 

Theme parks
Sinbad provides the theme for the dark ride Sinbad's Storybook Voyage at Tokyo DisneySea 
Sinbad embarks on an adventure to save a trapped princess in the water-based boat ride, The Adventures of Sinbad at Lotte World in Seoul, South Korea 
The Efteling theme park at Kaatsheuvel in the Netherlands has a land themed after Sinbad called De Wereld van Sindbad (The World of Sinbad)  It includes the indoor roller coaster Vogel Rok, themed after Sinbad's fifth voyage, and Sirocco, a teacups ride 
The elaborate live-action stunt show The Eighth Voyage of Sinbad at the Universal Orlando Resort in Florida features a story inspired by Sinbad's voyages 

Other references
Actor and comedian David Adkins uses the stage name Sinbad 
An LTR retrotransposon from the genome of the human blood fluke, Schistosoma mansoni, is named after Sinbad  It is customary for mobile genetic elements like retrotransposons to be named after mythical, historical, or literary travelers; for example, the well-known mobile genetic elements Gypsy and Mariner 

See also
Aeneid
Gulliver's Travels
List of literary cycles
Odyssey
Sunpadh
The Voyage of Bran

Notes
Passage 2:
Battle of Hama
The Battle of Hama was fought some 24 km (15 mi) from the city of Hama in Syria on 29 November 903 between the forces of the Abbasid Caliphate and pro-Isma'ili Bedouin (called "Fatimids" or "Qarmatians")  The Abbasids were victorious, resulting in the capture and execution of the Isma'ili leadership  This removed the Isma'ili presence in northern Syria, and was followed by the suppression of another revolt in Iraq in 906  More importantly, it paved the way for the Abbasid attack on the autonomous Tulunid dynasty and the reincorporation of the Tulunid domains in southern Syria and Egypt into the Abbasid Caliphate 

Background
In the second half of the 9th century, the Isma'ili Shi'ite sect began establishing a network of agents and sympathizers across the Muslim world  It was a time of millennialist expectations, coinciding with a deep crisis of the Abbasid Caliphate during the decade-long Anarchy at Samarra, the rise of breakaway and autonomous regimes in the provinces, and the large-scale Zanj Rebellion, whose leader claimed Alid descent and proclaimed himself as the mahdi  In this chaotic atmosphere, and with the Abbasids preoccupied with suppressing the Zanj uprising, the Isma'ili missionaries found fertile ground, aided by dissatisfaction among the adherents of the rival Twelver branch of Shi'a Islam with the political quietism of their leadership and the recent disappearance of their own imam  Missionaries like Hamdan Qarmat and his brother-in-law Abu Muhammad Abdan spread their network of agents to the area around Kufa in the late 870s, and from there to Yemen (Ibn Hawshab, 882) and thence India (884), Bahrayn (Abu Sa'id al-Jannabi, 899), Persia, and Ifriqiya (Abu Abdallah al-Shi'i, 893)  In this period, the Isma'ili movement was based at Salamiya on the western edge of the Syrian Desert, and its leadership was assumed by Sa'id ibn al-Husayn, the future founder of the Fatimid Caliphate  Sa'id's claims to be the awaited mahdi instead of Muhammad ibn Isma'il, as had been hitherto assumed, caused a split in the movement in 899  Hamdan denounced the leadership in Salamiya, gathered the Iraqi missionaries and ordered them to cease the missionary effort  Shortly after he disappeared from his headquarters, and Abdan was assassinated at the instigation of Zakarawayh ibn Mihrawayh, who had remained loyal to Salamiya  These events caused a major split in the Isma'ili movement, between those who recognized Sa'id's claims to the imamate and those who rejected them  The latter are generally known by the term "Qarmatians", although this name was also applied by non-Isma'ilis in a pejorative sense to the supporters of the Fatimids After his role in the murder of Abdan, Zakarawayh ibn Mihrawayh escaped Iraq and resumed his missionary efforts among the Bedouin tribes of the eastern Syrian Desert, but with little success  He then sent his sons, al-Husayn and Yahya, who became known by the names Sahib al-Shama ("Man with the Mole") and Sahib al-Naqa ("Master of the She-camel"), to proselytize among the large Bedouin tribal confederation of the Banu Kalb, between Palmyra and the Euphrates River  Many Bedouin from the Banu'l-Ullays and Banu'l-Asbagh flocked to them, thus acquiring a potent military force, albeit one with limitations: the Bedouin were more concerned with extracting booty from the settled communities, and were ill-suited to campaigns of conquering and holding territories  Buoyed by their success, the brothers and their followers adopted the name al-Fatimiyyun ("Fatimids") and rose in revolt in 902  The motivations of al-Husayn, Yahya, and their father, who remained in Iraq, have been variously interpreted by modern scholars  Traditionally this movement has been regarded as wholly "Qarmatian" in character, and was called that by the Abbasid government  In recent years, however, the consensus follows the analysis of Heinz Halm, which has shown that Zakarawayh and his sons remained loyal to Sa'id, and that their actions aimed at securing possession of Syria and triggering a general rebellion against the Abbasids  Nevertheless, this uprising was apparently without the knowledge or authorization of Sa'id, and would end up placing him in mortal danger, as it alerted the authorities to the whereabouts of the Isma'ili movement's true leader, who had to flee to Ramla From their base in the region around Palmyra, the Fatimid Bedouin began launching raids against the Abbasid and Tulunid provinces of Syria, with devastating effect  In 902, they defeated the Tulunids under Tughj ibn Juff near Raqqa, and laid siege to Damascus for seven months, from December 902 until July 903  The city was successfully held by Tughj and the Sahib al-Naqa was killed  Leadership passed to the Sahib al-Shama, who led his men to ravage Homs, Hama, Ba'albek, and Ma'arrat al-Numan  Based at Salamiya, and in the expectation that his hidden master would come forth, the Bedouin began to establish the institutions of a state: at the mint of Homs, coins were issued in the name of the mahdi, and in the Friday sermon the name of the Abbasid caliph was dropped in favour of the—as yet unnamed—"Successor, the rightly-guided Heir, the Lord of the Age, the Commander of the Faithful, the Mahdi"  Encamped at Salamiya, the Bedouin waited for Sa'id's arrival in vain, from August to November 903  Despite al-Husayn's repeated entreaties in his correspondence with his master, however, Sa'id refused to leave the safety of Ramla 

Battle
In view of the apparent impotence of the Tulunid regime to stop the Bedouin raids, the Syrians called upon the Abbasid government to intervene directly, and on 30 July 903, Caliph al-Muktafi commanded that a campaign be undertaken  The campaign was nominally headed by al-Muktafi in person, who left Baghdad on 9 August and went to Raqqa  In mid-August, the Bedouin under a certain al-Mutawwaq surprised an Abbasid army some 10,000 strong near Aleppo, while it was resting and dispersed, with many troops seeking to escape the intense heat in a local river; the Abbasid troops were routed, and only about a thousand managed to reach the city, where, under the command of Abu al-Agharr, they repulsed the Bedouin attacks  At about the same time, however, the general Badr al-Hammami inflicted a heavy defeat on the Sahib al-Shama and his men near Damascus  The Bedouin fled to the desert, and Caliph al-Muktafi sent men under al-Husayn ibn Hamdan to pursue them  While al-Muktafi remained at Raqqa, command of the army in the field was given to the head of the department of the army (diwan al-jund), Muhammad ibn Sulayman al-Katib  On Tuesday, 29 November 903, the Abbasid army under Muhammad met the Fatimids at a location some 24 km from Hama  The course of the battle is described in a victory dispatch sent by Muhammad to the caliph afterwards and included in the History of the Prophets and Kings of al-Tabari According to the latter, on the morning of 29 November, the Abbasid army set out from al-Qarwanah towards al-Alyanah—both unidentified locations—deployed in full battle order  During the march, Muhammad ibn Sulayman received a report that a part of the Fatimid army, comprising 3,000 horse and many foot under one of the Isma'ili chief missionaries, al-Nu'man, had encamped at a locality some 12 Arabic miles (about 24 kilometres (15 mi)) from Hama, and that the other detachments of the Bedouin army had joined him there  Muhammad led his army towards the Bedouin encampment, and found them deployed in battle array  According to the report of Muhammad, the Bedouin left wing was led by Masrur al-Ulaymi and others, in charge of 1,500 horsemen  Behind the left wing was placed a reserve force of 400 cavalry  The Bedouin centre was commanded by al-Nu'man al-Ullaysi and other officers, and comprised 1,400 cavalry and 3,000 infantry, while the right wing was commanded by Kulayb al-Ullaysi and others and numbered 1,400 horsemen, with a reserve force of 200 horsemen more As the two armies advanced on each other, the Bedouin left thrust forward against the Abbasid right, which was commanded by al-Husayn ibn Hamdan  The troops of Ibn Hamdan repulsed the first Bedouin attack, and then the second, killing 600 horsemen  The Bedouin on the left broke and fled; Ibn Hamdan and his men pursued them and in a series of engagements killed all but 200 of them  Ibn Hamdan's troops reportedly captured 500 horses and 400 silver necklaces as well  The Bedouin right wing likewise attacked the Abbasid left, held by al-Qasim ibn Sima, Yumn al-Khadim, and the tribal allies of Banu Shayban and Banu Tamim  While the two wings were grappling with each other, an Abbasid detachment under Khalifah ibn al-Mubarak and Lu'lu' attacked the Bedouin on their flank and broke their lines  Here too the Bedouin fled pursued by the government forces, who took some 600 horses and 200 necklaces as booty  Several Fatimid commanders, including the missionary al-Nu'man, were killed at the battle Muhammad himself confronted the Bedouin centre along with several other officers: Khaqan, Nasr al-Qushuri, and Muhammad ibn Kumushjur led forces from the right flank, Wasf Mushgir, Muhammad ibn Ishaq ibn Kundajiq, Ahmad ibn Kayghalagh and his brother Ibrahim, al-Mubarak al-Qummi, Rabi'a ibn Muhammad, Muhajir ibn Tulayq, al-Muzaffar ibn Hajj, Abdallah ibn Hamdan (al-Husayn's brother), Jinni the Elder, Wasif al-Buktamir, Bishr al-Buktamiri, and Muhammad ibn Qaratughan  With the support of troops from the right wing, who after repelling the Bedouin left flanked their centre, the Abbasids were victorious here as well  The Fatimids broke and were pursued over several miles  Muhammad ibn Sulayman, fearful lest his army disperse itself during the pursuit, or leave the infantry and the baggage train—guarded by Isa ibn Muhammad al-Nushari—exposed to a Bedouin attack, halted the pursuit of his own detachment after half a mile  He set up camp there for the night, and with the Caliph's spear as a rallying point, began regrouping the various squadrons  Despite the overwhelming victory, Muhammad and his officers remained on guard during the night, concerned of a possible Bedouin attack 

Aftermath
The Sahib al-Shama did not take part in the battle, having remained behind at Salamiya along with the treasure he had hoarded there on behalf of his master  Enraged about the apparent abandonment by the supposed divinely-guided imam, the Sahib al-Shama turned against him: his residence at Salamiya was destroyed, and all family members and servants encountered there executed  This atrocity, along with the failure of the uprising, led later Fatimid historians to try and excise Sa'id's relationship with the sons of Zakarawayh in what Halm calls an act of damnatio memoriae  The Sahib al-Shama tried to rouse the chiefs of the Banu'l-Ullays to resistance, but they refused  Left with no other recourse, the Sahib al-Shama, along with his cousin al-Muddathir, his associate al-Muttawaq and a Greek page fled through the desert  By the time they reached the locality of al-Daliyah on the Euphrates Road near al-Rahba, they had run out of supplies  When a servant was sent to buy provisions in the settlement, he aroused the suspicions of the villagers with his strange dress and manner, so that they notified a local official, Abu Khubzah  The latter rode out with an escort, and after interrogating the servant went to the Qarmatians' camp and took them prisoner  They captured the Sahib al-Shama and his companions were then escorted by Abu Khubzah and the local governor, Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Kushmard, to Caliph al-Muktafi in Raqqa, which they entered on 19 December Al-Muktafi returned to Baghdad with the senior captives, who were thrown into prison  Muhammad ibn Sulayman remained at Raqqa to scour the countryside and round up the remaining rebels  He too then returned to Baghdad, which he entered in triumph on 2 February 904  Eleven days later, on 13 February, Muhammad and the sahib al-shurta of the capital, Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Wathiqi, presided over the public execution of the Fatimid leaders and Isma'ili sympathizers rounded up from Kufa and Baghdad The Abbasid victory near Hama did not yet fully eradicate the Isma'ili threat  In 906, the Banu Kalb, under Abu Ghanim Nasr, rose up in rebellion, raided the Hawran and Tiberias, and launched a failed attack on Damascus  They then sacked Tiberias and plundered Hit on the Euphrates  Nasr was soon cornered by the caliphal army, however, and killed by the Banu Kalb themselves in exchange for pardon  As a result, the Isma'ili activities shifted east to the Euphrates, where Zakarawayh ibn Mihrawayh (the father of al-Husayn and Yahya) had also rebelled in 906 near Kufa  After leading an unsuccessful attack on Kufa and number of devastating raids on Hajj caravans, he too was killed in early 907 by caliphal troops under Wasif ibn Sawartakin near al-Qadisiyya  With these defeats, the Isma'ili movement virtually ceased to exist in the Syrian Desert, although their counterparts in Bahrayn remained an active threat for several decades to come More importantly, the defeat of the Fatimid Bedouin at Hama opened the way for the Abbasids to recover the provinces of southern Syria and Egypt, held by the Tulunids  The Tulunid regime had become enfeebled due to internal strife, rivalries and the defection of senior officers, and the recent failures against the Bedouin  In 904, Muhammad ibn Sulayman led an army into Syria  The campaign met with little opposition; the Tulunid emir Harun ibn Khumarawayh was even assassinated by his uncles, whereupon several senior commanders switched sides  The Abbasids entered the Egyptian capital Fustat in January 905 without a fight, completing the reconquest of the province 
Passage 3:
Abna' al-dawla
The abnāʾ al-dawla (Arabic: أبناء الدولة, meaning "sons of the regime/dynasty"), often simply " the Abnāʾ", is a term for the Khorasani Arabs who had participated in the Abbasid Revolution of 749–750 and their descendants, who settled in Baghdad and Iraq  They became the ruling elite of the Abbasid Caliphate and formed the mainstay of the caliphal army  However, the term appears rarely in the sources until the time of the Fourth Fitna civil war in the 810s, when it is applied to the Khurasanis of Baghdad, who overwhelmingly supported Caliph al-Amin against his brother al-Ma'mun  The terms ahl Khurāsān ("people of Khurasan") and abnāʾ ahl Khurāsān ("sons of the people of Khurasan") are more frequently used for the Khurasanis who formed the mainstay of the Abbasid regime in general  Following al-Ma'mun's victory in the civil war, the abnāʾ al-dawla were largely replaced by the latter's Persian followers, and under his successor al-Mu'tasim, the rise of the Turkish slave-soldiers to power began 

Sources
Crone, Patricia (1998)  "The 'Abbāsid Abnā' and Sāsānid Cavalrymen"  Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society  8 (1): 1–19  ISSN 1356-1863  JSTOR 25183463 
Turner, John P  (2004)  "The abnāʾ al-dawla: The Definition and Legitimation of Identity in Response to the Fourth Fitna"  Journal of the American Oriental Society  124 (1): 1–22  ISSN 0003-0279  JSTOR 4132150 
Turner, John P  (2016)  "Abnāʾ"   In Fleet, Kate; Krämer, Gudrun; Matringe, Denis; Nawas, John; Rowson, Everett (eds )  Encyclopaedia of Islam (3rd ed )  Brill Online  ISSN 1873-9830 
Passage 4:
The Last Voyage of Somebody the Sailor
The Last Voyage of Somebody the Sailor is a novel by American writer John Barth, published in 1991  It is a postmodern metafictional story of a man who jumps overboard from a modern replica of a medieval Arab ship and is rescued by sailors from the world of Sinbad the Sailor  Eventually he makes his way to "Baghdad, the City of Peace", and finds himself in the stories of Sindbad and Scheherazade   The novel makes use of a challenging double-stranded narrative and a rich prose style 
Passage 5:
Bajkam
Abū al-Husayn Bajkam al-Mākānī (Arabic: أبو الحسين بجكم المكاني), referred to as Bajkam, Badjkam or Bachkam (from Bäčkäm, a Persian and Turkish word meaning a horse- or yak-tail), was a Turkish military commander and official of the Abbasid Caliphate  A former ghulam of the Ziyarid dynasty, Bajkam entered Abbasid service following the assassination of the Ziyarid ruler Mardavij in 935  During his five-year tenure at the Caliphate's court at Baghdad, he was granted the title of amir al-umara, consolidating his dominance over the caliphs al-Radi and al-Muttaqi and giving him absolute power over their domains  Bajkam was challenged throughout his rule by various opponents, including his predecessor as amir al-umara, Muhammad ibn Ra'iq, the Basra-based Baridis, and the Buyid dynasty of Iran, but he succeeded in retaining control until his death  He was murdered by a party of Kurds during a hunting excursion in 941, shortly after the accession of al-Muttaqi as Caliph  Bajkam was known both for his firm rule and for his patronage of Baghdad intellectuals, who respected and in some cases befriended him  His death led to a void in central power, resulting in a brief period of instability and fighting in Baghdad 

Early military career and service under Ibn Ra'iq
Details of Bajkam's early life are unknown  He was a Turk, and began his career as one of the ghilman (military slaves, usually of Turkish origin) of a vizier to the Daylamite warlord Makan ibn Kaki in northern Iran  His master then made a gift of his ghilman, including Bajkam, to Makan  The latter took care of the young Bajkam's training and education, something for which the latter showed his gratitude by adopting his patron's name as his nisba (surname) After Makan was defeated by Mardavij, founder of the Ziyarid dynasty, who came to control Daylam, Jibal and Tabaristan, he entered Mardavij's service, along with many others among Makan's ghilman  Mardavij mistreated his ghilman, who consequently murdered him at Isfahan in January 935, an act in which Bajkam may have been complicit  After Mardavij's death, most of the ghilman in Ziyarid service dispersed  Bajkam and his fellow officer Tuzun assumed the leadership of a large group and, after first offering their services to the new governor of Jibal, Hasan ibn Harun, proceeded to the Abbasid court at Baghdad  At first, their offers were rejected by the court, where the Caliph's Hujariyya bodyguards jealously guarded their prerogatives, but the ghilman were eventually taken into the service of Muhammad ibn Ra'iq, governor of Basra and Wasit in southern Iraq  Now known as Bajkam Ra'iqi, Bajkam created a large military force under his command consisting of his own followers as well as additional Turks and Daylamites summoned from Jibal In early November 936, the Caliph al-Radi (r  934–940) bestowed the newly created title of amir al-umara ("commander of commanders") on Ibn Ra'iq, who was effectively granted absolute control over the Caliphate  This provoked the reaction of various provincial governors as well as that of powerful interest groups in Baghdad itself, such as the caliphal bodyguards  Against them, Ibn Ra'iq employed Bajkam and his Turkish supporters  With their aid, he managed to neutralize the Hujariyya and Saji guard units, after which, in February 937, Bajkam was rewarded with the posts of sahib al-shurta (chief of police) and governor of the eastern provinces Far more difficult and protracted was the war against the ambitious governor of Ahwaz, Abu Abdallah al-Baridi, who aimed to supplant Ibn Ra'iq  Al-Baridi's family was of Basran origin, and had served the Abbasids in various roles as officials before managing to assert a weak hold over Khuzistan  Ibn Ra'iq himself was defeated and forced to leave Basra to the Baridis, but Bajkam saved the situation by scoring two major victories, despite being outnumbered, that allowed him to take possession of Khuzistan  The hard-pressed al-Baridi now turned to his powerful neighbour, the Buyid ruler of Fars, Ali ibn Buya, for help  Ali's brother Ahmad soon took over Khuzistan, and Ibn Ra'iq was forced to offer possession of the province as an independent domain if Bajkam would recover it  Bajkam however was repulsed by the Buyid forces, and fell back to Wasit Ignoring Ibn Ra'iq's orders to retake Khuzistan, Bajkam remained at Wasit, and began plotting to depose Ibn Ra'iq himself  To this end, Bajkam began seeking allies: he offered the governorship of Wasit to the Baridis, and through the former vizier Ibn Muqla, who wished to avenge himself on Ibn Ra'iq for his own downfall and confiscation of his property, gained the covert support of Caliph al-Radi himself  In September 938, Bajkam led his troops from Wasit to Baghdad  Ibn Ra'iq tried without success to impede his advance by destroying the great dams of the Nahrawan Canal and flooding the plain, but Bajkam's army entered the Abbasid capital without opposition, and al-Radi immediately transferred Ibn Ra'iq's title of amir al-umara to Bajkam 

Amir al-umara
Despite the continued relegation of al-Radi to a ceremonial role, the relationship between the Caliph and Bajkam was strong, with al-Radi praising Bajkam for his harsh discipline and referring to the latter as his "protégé"  Al-Radi was appreciative of Bajkam's respect for his position as Caliph, and promised his support for the amir al-umara In October–November 938, Bajkam and the Caliph campaigned against the influential Hamdanid emir of Mosul, Hasan ibn Abdallah, who had taken advantage of the turmoil in Iraq to cease forwarding his province's revenue to Baghdad  Although Bajkam's army captured Mosul, Hasan fled before him to the remotest corners of his domain, where Bajkam's forces pursued him in vain  In the meantime, the local population resented the presence of the caliphal troops and launched guerilla warfare against them, while Ibn Ra'iq used Bajkam's absence to take control of Baghdad at the head of a Carmathian force  These developments forced Bajkam to negotiate with his rivals: the Hamdanids were restored in their province in exchange for the payment of the tax arrears, and Ibn Ra'iq was bought off with the governorship of the provinces of Tariq al-Furat, Diyar Mudar, Qinnasrin and al-'Awasim, which were also claimed by the Ikhshidids of Egypt  This arrangement allowed Bajkam and the Caliph to return to Baghdad in February 939 Bajkam, having consolidated his control over Baghdad, now turned to face the threat posed by the Buyids  To this end, he strengthened his ties with the Baridis of Basra, by handing over Wasit, as previously agreed, appointing Abu Abdallah al-Baridi as vizier of the Abbasid court (although the latter remained at Wasit and did not visit Baghdad), and, finally, by marrying himself to one of al-Baridi's daughters  Neither side really trusted the other—Bajkam is said to have remarked of his father-in-law, an inveterate intriguer, that his "turban covered the head not of a man but of a devil"—but the deal allowed a fragile peace to prevail in Iraq Bajkam's success against the Buyids was mixed: Wasit was saved from Buyid attack, and the Baridis led a successful campaign in Susiana, but an expedition into Jibal was crushed by the third Buyid brother, Hasan  The alliance with the Baridis quickly soured, however, as al-Baridi still maintained his ambition of replacing Bajkam, and Bajkam was aware of this  In late August 940, Bajkam removed al-Baridi from the vizierate and launched an attack on Wasit, which the Baridis abandoned without resistance  In the meantime, the Baghdad was in turmoil as religious violence had become commonplace, with fanatical members of the Hanbali school imposing their tenets on the general populace In December 940, al-Radi died  Bajkam remained at Wasit, but sent his secretary to Baghdad to convene a council of Abbasid aristocrats, who selected al-Muttaqi (r  940–944), al-Radi's brother, as Caliph  Bajkam also sent a slave named Takinak to the deceased Caliph's palace, the Dar al-Sultan, to procure various items, including the valuable al-Yatimah pearl  He also obtained three female slaves from al-Radi's palace, whose singing he remembered from his earlier visits to the Caliph Among al-Muttaqi's first actions as Caliph was the confirmation of Bajkam as amir al-umara  Despite al-Muttaqi's gesture of support, Bajkam still faced opposition among the semi-autonomous provincial governors, including al-Baridi 

Death and ensuing anarchy
Bajkam opened a campaign against al-Baridi in early spring 941  His lieutenants were at first defeated by the Baridis, whereupon Bajkam himself left Wasit to take the field  On his way to join his army, however, he was informed that his generals had achieved a major victory over the Baridis, and decided to return to Wasit  On 21 April 941, while travelling, he took part in a hunting excursion, during which he and his party encountered a band of Kurdish brigands  During a brief skirmish, Bajkam was slain when one of the Kurds stabbed him in the back with his lance Bajkam's unexpected death created a power vacuum in Baghdad, with disagreements between Daylamite and Turkish forces prompting the former to join the defeated al-Baridi  With their assistance, he marched on Wasit and Baghdad, capturing them, but was soon forced to flee due to the disorder that followed his usurpation of power  A Daylamite chief named Kurankij replaced him as de facto ruler of Baghdad, but he imposed tyrannical rule, and al-Muttaqi appealed to the former amir al-umara Ibn Ra'iq for assistance Ibn Ra'iq soon retook control of Baghdad, but political turmoil did not cease with his re-installation as amir al-umara  Once again, al-Baridi captured the city, and Ibn Ra'iq fled with the Caliph to Mosul, from where the Hamdanid rulers launched a successful attempt to restore them  The Hamdanid emir Hasan, after ordering the assassination of Ibn Ra'iq, was made amir al-umara and given the laqab of Nasir al-Dawla ("Defender of the Dynasty")  In 943, the Hamdanids were forced to retreat to Mosul when Tuzun, one of Bajkam's officers, seized power with military support; the following year, Tuzun captured, blinded, and deposed al-Muttaqi, assuming the role of amir al-umara  The Caliph's brother, al-Mustakfi (r  944–946), was appointed as his successor  The competition for control of the Caliph ended in 945, when the Buyid Ahmad took over the position of  amir al-umara with the title of Mu'izz al-Dawla  This began the period of undisputed Buyid control over Baghdad and Iraq, which lasted until the Seljuk conquest in the 1050s 

Character
Despite his slave origin, Bajkam was educated in Arabic (although he reportedly did not speak it for fear of making mistakes), respected by intellectuals and was known to seek the company of such men as al-Suli and the physician Sinan ibn Thabit  It is in their writings that glimpses of his character survive  According to the researcher Marius Canard, Bajkam was "covetous of power and money, he did not hesitate to resort to dissimulation and ruse, corruption and torture to attain his ends; he was at times cruel, though his bravery was legendary, and was more upright in character than Ibn Ra'iq"  Bajkam was also solicitous for the welfare of his subjects, and especially the inhabitants of Wasit cherished his memory 

See also
Passage 6:
Sa'id ibn Makhlad
Sa'id ibn Makhlad (Arabic: سعيد بن مخلد) (died 889) was a senior official of the Abbasid Caliphate  Born a Nestorian Christian, he converted to Islam and served as a secretary in the Abbasid capital, Baghdad  He rose to prominence during the regency of al-Muwaffaq over his brother, the Caliph al-Mu'tamid (r  870–892): between 878 and 885, he served as de facto vizier of the Caliphate, although he did not bear the title  His valuable assistance to al-Muwaffaq was recognized in 882 by the award of the honorific title Dhu'l-wizaratayn ("possessor of the two vizierates"), with which he appears even on coins  However, the activities of his brother, Abdun, who had remained a Christian and tried to obtain concessions for the Christian subjects of the Caliphate, brought about his sudden fall from power in 885  He died in 889 
Sa'id has been erroneously considered by some writers as the brother of another Christian convert, al-Hasan ibn Makhlad al-Jarrah, who was his predecessor as vizier 

Sources
Sourdel, Dominique (1971)  "Ibn Makhlad"   In Lewis, B ; Ménage, V  L ; Pellat, Ch  & Schacht, J  (eds )  Encyclopaedia of Islam  Volume III: H–Iram (2nd ed )  Leiden: E  J  Brill  p  859  OCLC 495469525 
Passage 7:
Nahrawan Canal
The Nahrevan Canal (Persian: کانال نرهوان) was a major irrigation system of the Sassanid and early Islamic periods in central Iraq, along the eastern banks of the Tigris and the lower course of the Diyala River  Created in the 6th century, it reached its peak under the Abbasid Caliphate, when it served the main water supply for the Abbasid capital of Baghdad, while the regions irrigated by it served as the city's main breadbasket  Its destruction and progressive abandonment from the mid-10th century onwards mirror the Abbasid Caliphate's decline 

History
The first irrigation works along the Diyala River were undertaken in Parthian times  Indeed, it may be that the lower part of the Nahrawan Canal was originally the lower course of the Diyala  The large-scale canal system of early medieval times however was created in the reign of the Sassanid ruler Khosrau I (r  531–579), who also established it as a separate administrative district (Bazidjan Khusraw)  A treasury and mint were possibly established there In early Islamic times, the town of Jisr al-Nahrawan in the middle of the canal was the site of the Battle of Nahrawan on 17 July 658 between Ali and the Kharijites under Abdallah ibn Wahb  Under the early Caliphates, and especially under the Abbasids who made nearby Baghdad their capital, the canal network was repaired and expanded, reaching its peak in the 9th and early 10th centuries  In Abbasid times, the region was divided into three tax districts, Upper, Middle and Lower Nahrawan The canal was breached in 937/8, during the revolt of Bajkam against Ibn Ra'iq; the latter tried to impede Bajkam's advance from Wasit to Baghdad by flooding the region in between  The move barely obstructed Bajkam, but succeeded in destroying the agriculture of the region, hitherto the breadbasket of the Abbasid capital  As Hugh N  Kennedy writes, "the breach of the Nahrawan canal was simply the most dramatic example of a widespread phenomenon of the time; and it was symbolic of the end of ‘Abbasid power just as the breach of the Marib Dam was of the end of the prosperity of pre-Islamic south Arabia"  The lower and middle Nahrawan were entirely abandoned for almost 14 years, until the Buyids under Mu'izz al-Dawla restored the canal  Nevertheless, the canal network continued to decline thereafter  As late as 1140, the Seljuq governor Bihruz tried to restore it, but according to the 13th-century scholar Yaqut al-Hamawi, infighting among the Seljuqs once again meant the neglect of the canal, and its use as a road by their troops compounded the destruction of the network  By Yaqut's time, the canal network had largely silted up and the countryside along them was abandoned 

Outline
In medieval times, the main canal was divided into three sections, described in detail by the 13th-century geographer Yaqut al-Hamawi, in his Mu'jam al-Buldan  The initial feeder canal drawing water from the Tigris at Dur al-Arabaya near Samarra and carrying it to the Diyala at Ba'quba was called al-katul al-Kisrawi ('the Cut of Khosrau')  During its course, it was joined by three smaller canals taken from the Tigris, the Yahudi ('of the Jews'), the al-Ma'muni, named after Caliph al-Ma'mun (r  813–833), and the largest of the three, the Abu'l-Jund ('father of the army'), built under Harun al-Rashid (r  786–809) Some 20 km south of the inflow of the Abu'l-Jund stood the town of Salwa or Bab Salwa (Basalwa), and a little further on the town of Ba'quba, the capital of the Upper Nahrawan district, some 50 km north-northeast of Baghdad  From there, the main canal, now known as the Tamarra, turned south to the towns of Bajisra (originally Bayt al-Jisr, 'bridge-house') and finally Jisr al-Nahrawan, from where it was known as the Nahrawan proper  From Bajisra a canal, the Nahr al-Khalis, connected the main canal with the Tigris at Baradan and supplied the eastern suburbs of Baghdad with water, while another, the Nahr Bin, connected Jisr al-Nahrawan with Kalwadha south of Baghdad  Just south of Jisr al-Nahrawan there was another canal, the Diyala canal—the present course of the namesake river—which joined the Tigris some 5 km south of Baghdad  Jisr al-Nahrawan itself was a wealthy place, as there the Khurasan Road connecting Baghdad with Central Asia crossed the canal  Surviving descriptions record that it was extended on both sides of the canal, each with its own mosques, markets and hostels for travellers and pilgrims  It was abandoned by the 14th century, as the road to Khurasan was diverted north, through Ba'quba Below Jisr al-Nahrawan came a large Sassanid-era weir (Shadhurwan), followed by the towns of Jisr Buran/Puran (named after Ma'mun's wife), Yarzatiya, 'Abarta, another weir, and the city of Iskaf Bani Junayd, divided by the canal in upper and lower towns  From Iskaf, the canal went on for another 100 km amidst a heavily cultivated landscape to rejoin the Tigris at Madharaya, near modern Kut 
Context 3: Passage 1:
James Hill (British Army officer)
Brigadier Stanley James Ledger Hill,  (14 March 1911 – 16 March 2006) was a British Army officer, who served as commander of the 3rd Parachute Brigade, part of the 6th Airborne Division, during the Second World War 
Born in Bath, Somerset, in 1911, Hill was educated at Marlborough College and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst before joining the British Army in 1931 and being commissioned into the Royal Fusiliers  He commanded a platoon for a short period, and was then attached to the command post of Field Marshal Lord Gort during the Battle of France in May 1940, where he oversaw the evacuation of Brussels as well as the beach at De Panne during the evacuation of Dunkirk  After a brief period of time in the Irish Free State, he volunteered for parachute training and joined the 1st Parachute Battalion, and was its commanding officer when its parent formation, the 1st Parachute Brigade, was deployed to North Africa 
Hill commanded the battalion during its first airborne operation in North Africa, dropping near the towns of Souk el-Arba and Béja, in Tunisia  It secured Beja and then sent out patrols to harass German troops, ambushing a convoy and inflicting numerous German casualties, and defended a bridge at Medjez el Bab, although it was eventually forced to retreat  Hill was wounded during an attack by the battalion on Gue Hill, in which he attempted to capture three Italian tanks using his revolver; the crews of two were successfully subdued without incident, but the third opened fire and hit Hill in the chest several times  He was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) and the French Legion of Honour for his service in North Africa and then evacuated back to England  There he took command of the 3rd Parachute Brigade in the newly formed 6th Airborne Division, and jumped with the brigade during Operation Tonga, the British airborne landings in Normandy on the night of 5/6 June 1944  After nearly being killed on D-Day, by an aircraft strafing his position, Hill commanded the brigade throughout the rest of the time it was in Normandy, once leading a counter-attack during a German assault, later being awarded the first Bar to his DSO 
After advancing to the Seine, the 6th Airborne Division was withdrawn to England in September 1944, but briefly served in the Ardennes in December during the Battle of the Bulge  Hill then commanded 3rd Parachute Brigade during Operation Varsity, the Allied airborne assault over the River Rhine, where he was nearly killed by a glider containing his own personal Jeep  He then commandeered a motorcycle and rode alongside the brigade as the 6th Airborne Division advanced from the Rhine to the River Elbe, at the end of which he was awarded a second Bar to his DSO as well as the American Silver Star  After the war, he was briefly military governor of Copenhagen, for which he was awarded the King Haakon VII Liberty Cross, and also raised and commanded the 4th Parachute Brigade (Territorial Army)  Retiring from the British Army in 1949, he became involved in a number of charities and businesses  James Hill died on 16 March 2006, aged 95 

Early life
Hill was born on 14 March 1911, in Bath, Somerset, the son of Major General Walter Hill  He was educated at Marlborough College, where he was the head of the college's Officer Training Corps, and then attended the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst; there he won the Sword of Honour and became captain of athletics  He joined the British Army in 1931, being commissioned as a 2nd lieutenant into the Royal Fusiliers (City of London regiment), the regiment which his father commanded  He ran the regimental athletic and boxing associations during his service with the regiment, and in 1936 transferred to the Supplementary Reserve in order to marry his first wife, Denys Gunter-Jones  For the next three years he worked as part of his family's ferry company 

Second World War
When the Second World War began in September 1939, Hill was recalled to his regiment and given command of the 2nd Battalion, Royal Fusiliers' advance party when the battalion left for France during the same month  The battalion was assigned to the 12th Infantry Brigade, part of the 4th Infantry Division  He then commanded a platoon for several months, when the battalion was stationed along the Maginot Line, before being promoted to the rank of Captain in January 1940 and joining the staff at Allied Headquarters  The Battle of France began in May 1940, by which time Hill was attached to the command post of Field Marshal Lord Gort; during this period he was involved in planning the evacuation of the civilian population of Brussels, and also carried Gort's dispatches to Calais ordering the withdrawal of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF)  At the end of the campaign, he took command of the evacuation of the beach at La Panne, and was on the last destroyer to leave Dunkirk  For these actions, he was awarded the Military Cross  On his return to Britain, he was promoted to Major and travelled to Dublin in the Irish Free State, where he planned for the evacuation of British citizens from the city should German forces land there  When this task was completed, he volunteered for the fledgling Parachute Regiment, part of the British Army's growing airborne forces, and undertook parachute training; when the 1st Parachute Battalion was formed on 15 August 1941, he was appointed as its second-in-command The battalion was part of 1st Parachute Brigade, which by mid-1942 had been expanded into 1st Airborne Division under the command of Major-General F A M  Browning  In July 1942 the 1st Parachute Battalion was selected to participate in the Dieppe Raid, and got as far as being loaded onto transport aircraft before poor weather cancelled the operation; when the raid was planned for a second time the parachute battalion was removed because their deployment was too dependent on there being good weather on the day of the raid  In mid September, as 1st Airborne Division was coming close to reaching full strength, Browning was informed that Operation Torch, the Allied invasion of North Africa, would take place in November  After being informed that an American airborne unit, the 509th Parachute Infantry Battalion, was to be used during the invasion, Browning successfully advocated for the 1st Parachute Brigade to also be included  He argued that a larger airborne force should be utilised during the invasion, as the large distances and comparatively light opposition would provide a number of opportunities for airborne operations  The War Office and Commander in Chief, Home Forces were won over by the argument, and agreed to detach the brigade from 1st Airborne Division and place it under the command of General Dwight D  Eisenhower, who would command all Allied troops participating in the invasion  After it had been brought to full operational strength, partly by cross posting personnel from the newly formed 2nd Parachute Brigade, and had been provided with sufficient equipment and resources, the brigade departed for North Africa at the beginning of November 1942 

North Africa
As an insufficient number of transport aircraft were allocated to the brigade, it was only possible to transport the 3rd Parachute Battalion by air  The rest of the brigade arrived at Algiers on 12 November, with some of its stores arriving slightly later  By the evening, reconnaissance parties had travelled to the airfield at Maison Blanche, with the remainder of the brigade following on the morning of 13 November; it was quartered in Maison Blanche, Maison Carree and Rouiba  After several ambitious airborne operations were planned but then cancelled by British First Army, on 14 November it directed that a single parachute battalion would be dropped the next day near Souk el-Arba and Béja; the battalion was to contact French forces at Beja to ascertain whether they would remain neutral, or support the Allies; secure and guard the cross roads and airfield at Soul el Arba; and patrol eastwards to harass German forces  1st Parachute Battalion was selected for the task, to which Hill objected  The battalion had been forced to unload the vessel carrying its supplies and equipment itself, and had also to arrange its own transportation to Maison Blanche as no drivers were provided at Algiers; when it had arrived at Maison Blanche, it had been subjected to several Luftwaffe air raids that targeted the airfield  Hill argued that as a result his men were exhausted, and he did not believe all of the battalion's equipment could be sorted out within twenty four hours; as such he asked for the operation to be postponed for a short period, but this was denied 
Hill faced further problems as he planned for the operation  The American pilots of the Dakota transport aircraft that would transport the battalion were inexperienced and had never conducted a parachute drop before, and there was no time for any training or exercises  There were also no photos of the airfield or the surrounding areas, and only a single, small scale map available for navigation  To ensure that the aircraft found the drop zone and delivered the battalion accurately, Hill sat in the cockpit of the leading Dakota and assisted the pilot  The Dakotas were escorted by four American P-38 Lightning fighters, which engaged and drove off two roving German fighters, but as the Dakotas approached the Tunisian border they encountered thick clouds and were forced to turn back, landing at Maison Blanche at 11:00  It was decided that the battalion would conduct the operation the next day, which allowed the paratroopers to rest for a night  1st Parachute Battalion took off on the morning of 16 November, and enjoyed excellent weather that allowed the transport aircraft to drop the battalion accurately around the airfield at Souk el Arba  Most of the paratroopers landed successfully, but one man was killed when his rigging line twisted around his neck mid drop, throttling him; one officer broke his leg on landing, and four men were wounded when a Sten gun was accidentally fired  The battalion's second in command, Major Alastair Pearson, remained at the airfield with a small detachment that collected the airborne equipment and supervised the burial of the casualty Meanwhile, Hill led the rest of the battalion, approximately 525 strong, in some commandeered trucks towards the town of Béja, an important road and railway centre approximately forty miles from the airfield  The battalion arrived at approximately 18:00 and was welcomed by the local French garrison, 3,000 strong, which Hill persuaded to cooperate with the paratroopers; in order to give the garrison and any German observers the impression that he possessed a larger force than he actually did, Hill arranged for the battalion to march through the town several times, wearing different headgear and holding different equipment each time  A short time after the battalion entered Béja, German aircraft arrived and bombed the town, although they caused little damage and no casualties  The next day, 'S' Company was sent with a detachment of engineers to the village of Sidi N'Sir, about twenty miles away; they were to contact the local French forces, believed to be pro British, and harass German forces  The detachment found the village and made contact with the French, who allowed them to pass through towards the town of Mateur; by nightfall the force had not reached the town, and decided to encamp for the night  At dawn a German convoy of armoured cars passed the detachment, and it was decided to set an ambush for the convoy if it returned, with anti-tank mines being laid on the road and a mortar and Bren guns being set up in concealed positions  When the convoy returned at approximately 10:00 the leading vehicle struck a mine and exploded, blocking the road, and the other vehicles were disabled with mortar fire, Gammon bombs and the remaining anti tank mines  A number of Germans were killed and the rest taken prisoner, with two paratroopers being slightly wounded  The detachment returned to Béja with prisoners and several slightly damaged armoured cars  After the success of the ambush, Hill sent a second patrol to harass local German forces, but it was withdrawn after it encountered a larger German force that inflicted several British casualties; Béja was also bombed by Stuka divebombers, inflicting civilian casualties and destroying a number of houses 
On 19 November, Hill visited the commanding officer of the French forces guarding a vital bridge at Medjez el Bab, and warned him that any attempt by German forces to cross the bridge would be opposed by the battalion  Hill attached 'R' Company to the French forces to ensure the bridge was not captured  German forces soon arrived at the bridge, and their commanding officer demanded that they be allowed to take control of the bridge and cross it to attack the British positions  The French rejected the German demands, and in conjunction with 'R' Company repelled subsequent German attacks that lasted several hours  The battalion was reinforced by the U S  175th Field Artillery Battalion and elements of the Derbyshire Yeomanry, but, despite fierce resistance, the German forces proved to be too strong, and by 04:30 on 20 November the Allied forces had yielded the bridge and the surrounding area to the Germans  Two days later, Hill received information that a strong Italian force, which included a number of tanks, was stationed at Gue Hill  Hill decided to attack the force and attempt to disable the tanks, and the following night moved the battalion, less a small guard detachment that remained at Béja, to Sidi N'Sir where it linked up with a force of French Senegalese infantry  Hill decided that the battalion's section of 3 inch mortars would cover 'R' and 'S' Companies as they advanced up Gue Hill and attacked the Italian force, while a small force of sappers would mine the road at the rear of the hill to ensure the Italian tanks could not retreat The battalion arrived at the hill without incident and began to prepare for the attack; however, just prior to the beginning of the attack there were several loud explosions from the rear of the hill  The anti tank grenades carried by the sappers had accidentally detonated, killing all but two of them  The battalion lost the element of surprise, and Hill immediately ordered the two companies to advance up the hill  The force reached the top and engaged a mixed force of German and Italian soldiers, who were assisted by three light tanks  Hill drew his revolver, and with his adjutant and a small group of paratroopers advanced on the tanks, firing shots through their observation ports in an attempt to persuade the crews to surrender  This tactic worked on two tanks, but upon reaching the third tank Hill and his men were fired upon by the tank's crew; Hill was shot three times in the chest and his adjutant wounded, although the tank crew were swiftly dispatched with small arms fire  Hill survived because of prompt medical treatment, and was replaced as commander of the battalion by Major Pearson, who supervised the routing of the rest of the German and Italian soldiers 

Normandy
After his injuries were treated, Hill was evacuated to a hospital in North Africa to recover; although forbidden to do so, he often exercised by climbing out of the window of his hospital ward at night  For his actions in North Africa, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO), which "paid tribute to the brilliant handling of his force and his complete disregard of personal danger," as well as the French Légion d'honneur  By February 1943 he had recovered from his injuries, and was flown back to England where he met up with Brigadier Gerald W  Lathbury, commander of the newly raised 3rd Parachute Brigade  The War Office had authorised the raising of the brigade on 5 November 1942, comprising the 7th, 8th and 9th Parachute Battalions, all converted infantry battalions  The 9th Parachute Battalion was in need of a commanding officer and Lathbury offered the job to Hill, who accepted  His first action was to send the entire unit on a forced march, at the end of which he announced that the battalion would "work a six and a half day week" with Sunday afternoons off, until it was well-trained and fit  The 3rd Parachute Brigade was initially attached to the 1st Airborne Division, but in April 1943 Lathbury was given command of 1st Parachute Brigade, which departed with 1st Airborne Division at the end of April for the Mediterranean theatre and Operation Husky, the invasion of Sicily  The 3rd Parachute Brigade was detached from the division in March and remained in England, and on 23 April it was transferred into the newly formed 6th Airborne Division with Hill as the brigade's new commander  On 11 August, 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion was attached to the 3rd Parachute Brigade; although meant to be assigned to the newly formed 5th Parachute Brigade, also attached to the 6th Airborne Division, it instead replaced the 7th Parachute Battalion, which was transferred to the new parachute brigade 
The 6th Airborne Division, under the command of Major-General Richard Nelson Gale, was fully mobilised by late December 1943, with orders to prepare for airborne operations to be conducted during mid-1944  The division's first airborne operation would also be the first time it saw combat, conducting Operation Tonga, the British airborne landings in Normandy on the night of 5/6 June, D-Day  It was tasked with guarding the left flank of the British amphibious landings by securing the area east of the city of Caen, capturing a number of bridges that spanned several rivers and canals, and then preventing any Axis forces from advancing on the British beaches  The 3rd Parachute Brigade was given several tasks to accomplish  The 9th Parachute Battalion, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Terence Otway, was to assault and destroy the Merville Gun Battery, as well as capturing high ground and setting up roadblocks  The 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion was to destroy two bridges, and the 8th Parachute Battalion had the task of destroying three bridges  When the operation began, the brigade suffered from a combination of poor navigation by the pilots of their C-47 Dakota transport aircraft, heavy cloud cover and incorrectly marked drop zones, which led to all of its units being scattered over a wide area; Hill himself was dropped with several sticks from the 1st Canadian and 9th Parachute Battalions near the River Dives  He landed in a submerged river rank approximately half a mile from Cabourg, and was forced to wade through four feet of water and a number of flooded irrigation ditches before reaching dry land; the same flooded areas claimed the lives of a number of paratroopers from his brigade 
Collecting up a number of his men, he headed for the town of Sallenelles, where he hoped to find out how the 9th Parachute Battalion had fared assaulting the Merville Battery  En route, however, he and his party were strafed by low-flying German aircraft, forcing the paratroopers to dive for cover; when the aircraft had departed Hill stood up again, finding that he had been wounded in the buttocks and the officer next to him had been killed  Most of the other men had either been killed or wounded during the attack, leaving only himself and the commander of his headquarters defence platoon; once first aid had been administered to the wounded, Hill continued on and finally managed reach Ranville, where the headquarters of the General Officer Commanding (GOC), Major-General Gale, had been set up  After being informed by Gale that his brigade had successfully completed its objectives, Hill had his wound tended to, and then travelled to his own headquarters; there he found Lieutenant Colonel Pearson in temporary command, who informed him that many the brigade's staff had been killed during the drop  By 00:00 on the night of 6/7 June, the entire division was fully deployed on the eastern flank of the invasion beaches  The 3rd Parachute Brigade was holding a 4-mile (6 4 km) front, with the 9th Parachute Battalion at Le Plein, 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion at Les Mesneil and the 8th Parachute Battalion in the southern part of the Bois de Bavent For the rest of its time in Normandy the division acted in an infantry role  From 7 June until 16 August, it first consolidated and then expanded its bridgehead  The 3rd Parachute Brigade was responsible for a section of front around the Chateau Saint Come and a nearby manor, with the latter being used as the brigade's primary defensive position  The brigade was positioned next to the 1st Special Service Brigade, and from 7 June onwards German pressure rapidly increased against both brigade's positions, with a number of attacks being repelled between then and 10 June  On 10 June the decision was taken to expand the bridgehead to the east of the River Orne, with the 6th Airborne Division tasked with achieving this; however, it was deemed not to be strong enough, and the 5th Battalion, Black Watch was placed under the 3rd Parachute Brigade's command; the battalion launched an attack on the town of Breville on 11 June, but was met with extremely heavy resistance and was repulsed after suffering a number of casualties  The next day 3rd Parachute Brigade's entire front was subjected to fierce artillery bombardment and assaults by German tanks and infantry, with the Germans particularly focusing on the positions held by 9th Parachute Battalion  Both the 9th Parachute Battalion and the remnants of the 5th Black Watch defended the Chateau Saint Come but were gradually forced to retreat  Lieutenant Colonel Otway informed brigade headquarters, some 400 metres (1,300 ft) away, that his battalion would be unable to hold its ground for much longer; upon hearing this message, Brigadier Hill gathered together forty paratroopers from the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion and led a counter-attack that forced the German troops to withdraw German attempts to breach the 9th Parachute Battalion's positions did not end until 12 June, and Hill stated that the period 7–12 June were "five of the toughest days fighting I saw in five years of war " It was during this period that Hill was awarded the first Bar to his Distinguished Service Order, after supervising an assault by 12th Parachute Battalion on the town of Breville; the town dominated a long ridge near the Allied bridgehead, from which the German 346th Infantry Division launched repeated attacks  From then on until mid-August the division remained in static positions, holding the left flank of the Allied bridgehead and conducting vigorous patrolling  Finally, on 7 August the division was ordered to prepare to move over to the offensive, and on the night of 16/17 August it began to advance against stiff German opposition, its ultimate objective being the mouth of the River Seine (see 6th Airborne Division advance to the River Seine)  Hill's 3rd Parachute Brigade led the division's advance, being held up until nightfall at the village of Goustranville, but then securing several bridges and allowing the 5th Parachute Brigade to pass through its positions and continue the division's advance  The brigade remained around the Dives canal for several days, and then on 21 August it advanced towards Pont L'Eveque, but was stalled by German infantry and armour near Annebault until 8th Parachute Battalion secured the village  Fighting continued to be fierce, but by 24 August the entire division had advanced across the River Touques  After another three days of reorganising and patrolling, the division's time in Normandy came to an end; in nine days it had advanced 45 miles, captured 400 square miles (1,000 km2) of occupied territory and taken prisoner over 1,000 German soldiers  Its casualties for the period were 4,457, of which 821 would be killed, 2,709 wounded and 927 missing  It was finally withdrawn from the frontline in the last days of August, and embarked for England at the beginning of September 

Ardennes
On 16 December 1944, the Germans launched a huge offensive in the Ardennes forest, with the German objective to split British and American forces apart and capture the port of Antwerp, an important logistical base for the Allies  The initial assaults were extremely successful, creating a salient some fifty miles wide and forty-five miles deep, and by 23 December German units were advancing towards Dinant  American resistance was fierce, however, and blunted German advances in several areas, particularly the U S  101st Airborne Division around the town of Bastogne  By Christmas Day the offensive had been halted and contained, and an Allied counter-offensive began  Although the majority of the troops committed belonged to the American First and Third Armies, British XXX Corps also participated, with the British 6th Airborne Division as one of its leading divisions  The division had been in England since the beginning of September, and had been due to go on Christmas leave only days before the counter-offensive began; however, it was quickly transported to the Ardennes, arriving on the night of 24 December  By 26 December the 6th Airborne Division, now commanded by Major-General Eric Bols, had positioned itself between the towns of Dinant and Namur, and on 29 December it advanced against the German salient, with the 3rd Parachute Brigade, under James Hill, occupying an area around Rochefort When the German offensive had begun, Hill had been in hospital, undergoing reconstructive plastic surgery; this meant that he was unable to join the 3rd Parachute Brigade for two days  When he had recovered, however, he and his batman were flown to the Ardennes and he was able to rejoin the brigade  The 5th Parachute Brigade launched several attacks against German positions in the village of Bure, which resulted in heavy British casualties, and both brigades conducted a large number of offensive patrols  The 3rd Parachute Brigade did not see any action, as those German units occupying positions opposite to it withdrew without fighting  By the end of January, however, the division was transferred back to the Netherlands and set up new positions along the Maas river, where it conducted more patrolling against elements of the German 7th Parachute Division, which held positions on the other side of the Maas  These operations came to an end in late February, when the 6th Airborne Division was withdrawn back to England to prepare for a major airborne operation in March 

Rhine
On 24 March 1945 Operation Varsity began, an airborne operation to aid in the establishment of a bridgehead on the east bank of the River Rhine which involved the British 6th Airborne Division and the U S  17th Airborne Division, under Major General William Miley  Varsity was the airborne component of Operation Plunder, in which the British Second Army, under Lieutenant-General Miles C  Dempsey, and the U S  Ninth Army, under Lieutenant General William Simpson, crossed the Rhine at Rees, Wesel, and an area south of the Lippe Canal  Both divisions would be dropped near the town of Hamminkeln, and were tasked with a number of objectives: they were to seize the Diersfordter Wald, a forest that overlooked the Rhine, including a road linking several towns together; several bridges over a smaller waterway, the River Issel, were to be seized to facilitate the advance; and the town of Hamminkeln was to be captured  The 6th Airborne Division was specifically tasked with securing the northern portion of the airborne bridgehead, including Hamminkeln, a section of high ground to the east of Bergen, and several bridges over the River Issel  Hill's 3rd Parachute Brigade was to drop at the north-eastern corner of the Diersfordterwald forest and clear the western portion of the forest  It would then seize a hill known as the Schneppenberg, secure a road junction near Bergen and eventually link up with the 5th Parachute Brigade 
The 3rd Parachute Brigade dropped nine minutes later than planned, but otherwise landed accurately on drop zone 'A'  Hill landed near to the Diersfordterwald forest, which was occupied by German soldiers "who are switched-on people," killing a number of paratroopers whose parachutes became tangled up in the trees  His brigade headquarters was positioned by a copse which was supposed to have been immediately cleared, but when he arrived it was still occupied by German troops; Hill immediately ordered a company commander of the 8th Parachute Battalion to clear the copse  The officer did so, but was killed in the process  Hill then moved his headquarters to the copse, but was then nearly killed by an approaching glider which barely managed to pull up in time, landing in the trees above him; upon investigation, Hill discovered that it contained his batman and personal Jeep, which took some time to lower down safely  The brigade suffered a number of casualties as it engaged the German forces in the Diersfordter Wald, but by 11:00 hours the drop zone was all but completely clear of enemy forces and all battalions of the brigade had formed up  The key town of Schnappenberg was captured by the 9th Parachute Battalion in conjunction with the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion, the latter unit having lost its commanding officer to German small-arms fire only moments after he had landed  Despite taking casualties the brigade cleared the area of German forces, and by 13:45 Hill could report that the brigade had secured all of its objectives 
With Varsity a success, the 6th Airborne Division was ordered by Major General Matthew Ridgway, commander of U S  XVIII Airborne Corps, to advance eastwards  It was supported by the 6th Guards Tank Brigade, and many of the airborne troops used unconventional transport during the advance, including captured German staff cars, prams and even horses  Hill requisitioned a motorcycle for his batman and travelled alongside the 3rd Parachute Brigade as it advanced; at one point his batman stopped the motorcycle and relieved a captured German colonel of his binoculars before driving off again  Hill disapproved of battlefield looting and admonished his batman, although eventually relented by stating "If you can get me a pair [as well], you can keep them!" At midnight, 27/28 March the division came under the control of British VIII Corps, commanded by Lieutenant-General Evelyn Barker, and became part of the general Allied advance through Germany towards the Baltic Sea, with the 3rd Parachute Brigade as the division's leading unit  German resistance continued to be heavy, but the division managed to advance at a rapid pace despite this, with the brigade at one point advancing fifteen miles in twenty-four hours, with eighteen of those being spent in combat  By early April the 6th Airborne reached the River Weser, with the brigade approaching it near the town of Minden, accompanied by armoured support; as it did so, the brigade found itself moving parallel to several German tanks, with Hill sitting on the rear of one of the British tanks  Both sides opened fire, but did little damage, the two German tanks managing to outpace the brigade The brigade continued its fast pace of advance, with Hill continuing to ride pillion on his motorcycle, and by 23 April it had reached the River Elbe, having advanced 103 miles in fourteen days; the division had captured more than 19,000 prisoners during this period  After crossing the Elbe, the division once again came under the command of U S  XVIII Airborne Corps, with General Ridgway informing Major General Bols that it was vital the division reach the port of Wismar before the approaching Russian Army did, to ensure that Denmark was not occupied by the Soviet Union  Although the 5th Parachute Brigade was ordered to lead the division's advance, Hill was determined to reach Wismar first; after an extremely rapid advance he succeeded, with troops from the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion being the first to enter Wismar, beating an advancing Russian tank column by only a few miles  A few days later, on 7 May 1945, Germany surrendered and the war in Europe came to an end  Hill was awarded a second Bar to his DSO for his command of the 3rd Parachute Brigade during its advance from the Rhine to the Elbe, as well as the American Silver Star 

Post-war career
In May 1945 Hill served as military governor of Copenhagen, for which he was awarded the King Haakon VII Liberty Cross, and then assumed command of the 1st Parachute Brigade and oversaw its demobilisation  He retired from the British Army in July 1945, although he continued to serve as an officer in the Territorial Army, raising the 4th Parachute Brigade (Territorial Army) in 1947 and serving as its commanding officer until 1949  After standing down as commander of the brigade, Hill served on the board of a number of companies, including Lloyds Bank, the Associated Coal and Wharf Companies, and Powell Duffryn of Canada  Hill was an avid birdwatcher, with a particular claim to fame for being only the second person to discover a cuckoo's egg in the nest of a whinchat  He also helped to set up the Parachute Regiment Association and the Airborne Forces Security fund, acting as a trustee of the latter organisation for thirty years and chairman for five years  Hill married for a second time, wedding Joan Patricia Haywood in 1986  On 6 June 2004 he attended the 60th Anniversary of the Normandy landings, and a bronze statue of him was unveiled at Le Mesnil crossroads by Charles, Prince of Wales, Colonel-in-Chief of The Parachute Regiment  He died on 16 March 2006, two days after his 95th birthday  He is survived by his second wife and a daughter from the first marriage, Gillian Bridget Sanda 
Passage 2:
John Vereker, 6th Viscount Gort
Field Marshal John Standish Surtees Prendergast Vereker, 6th Viscount Gort,  (10 July 1886 – 31 March 1946) was a senior British Army officer  As a young officer during the First World War, he was decorated with the Victoria Cross for his actions during the Battle of the Canal du Nord  During the 1930s he served as Chief of the Imperial General Staff (the professional head of the British Army)  He is best known for commanding the British Expeditionary Force that was sent to France in the first year of the Second World War, only to be evacuated from Dunkirk the following year  Gort later served as Governor of Gibraltar and Malta, and High Commissioner for Palestine and Transjordan 

Early life and family
Vereker was born in London  His mother was Eleanor, Viscountess Gort née Surtees (1857–1933; later Eleanor Benson), who was a daughter of the writer Robert Smith Surtees  Vereker's father was John Gage Prendergast Vereker, 5th Viscount Gort (1849–1902) J  S  S  P  Vereker grew up in County Durham and the Isle of Wight  He was educated at Malvern Link Preparatory School, Harrow School, 
and entered the Royal Military College, Sandhurst in January 1904  As Viscount Gort, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Grenadier Guards on 16 August 1905, and promoted to lieutenant on 1 April 1907 In November 1908, Gort visited his uncle, Jeffrey Edward Prendergast Vereker, a retired British army major, who was living in Canada, at Kenora, Ontario  During a moose hunting trip, Gort slipped off a large boulder, causing his rifle to discharge; the bullet injured a local guide, William Prettie, who later died of his wound in Winnipeg  Gort returned immediately to England  While studying at Trinity College, Cambridge he was initiated into Isaac Newton University Lodge Gort commanded the detachment of Grenadier Guards that bore the coffin at the funeral of King Edward VII in May 1910  He was made a Member of the Royal Victorian Order for his services in that role On 22 February 1911, Gort married Corinna Katherine Vereker, his second cousin; the couple had two sons and a daughter, before divorcing (1925)  Their elder son, Charles Standish Vereker, was born on 23 February 1912, and served as a lieutenant with the Grenadier Guards, before committing suicide (26 February 1941)  A second son, Jocelyn Cecil Vereker, was born on 27 July 1913, but died before his second birthday  Gort's daughter, Jacqueline Corinne Yvonne Vereker, who was born on 20 October 1914, married (June 1940) The Honourable William Sidney, later the 1st Viscount De L'Isle 

First World War
On 5 August 1914, Gort was promoted to captain  He went to France with the British Expeditionary Force and fought on the Western Front, taking part in the retreat from Mons in August 1914  He became a staff officer with the First Army in December 1914 and then became Brigade Major of the 4th (Guards) Brigade in April 1915  He was awarded the Military Cross in June 1915  Promoted to the brevet rank of major in June 1916, he became a staff officer at the Headquarters of the British Expeditionary Force and fought at the Battle of the Somme throughout the autumn of 1916  He was given the acting rank of lieutenant-colonel in April 1917 on appointment as Commanding Officer of 4th Battalion Grenadier Guards and, having been awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) in June 1917, he led his battalion at the Battle of Passchendaele, earning a Bar to his DSO in September 1917  The bar's citation reads:
For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty  Although hit in two places in the shoulder by the bursting of a shell early in the day and in great pain, he refused to leave his battalion, and personally superintended the consolidation subsequent to a successful attack  He remained with them until 5 p m  on the following day, when he was ordered to come out and have his wounds dressed  His conduct set a very fine example of self-sacrifice, and was of great value in maintaining the high morale and offensive spirit of his battalion 
On 27 November 1918, sixteen days after the war came to an end, Gort was awarded the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces, for his actions on 27 September 1918 at the Battle of the Canal du Nord, near Flesquieres, France Victoria Cross citation

Captain (Brevet Major, Acting Lieutenant-Colonel), 1st Battalion The Grenadier Guards
Citation: For most conspicuous bravery, skilful leading and devotion to duty during the attack of the Guards Division on 27th September 1918, across the Canal du Nord, near Flesquieres, when in command of the 1st Battalion, Grenadier Guards, the leading battalion of the 3rd Guards Brigade 
Under heavy artillery and machine-gun fire he led his battalion with great skill and determination to the "forming-up" ground, where very severe fire from artillery and machine guns was again encountered 
Although wounded, he quickly grasped the situation, directed a platoon to proceed down a sunken road to make a flanking attack, and, under terrific fire, went across open ground to obtain the assistance of a Tank, which he personally led and directed to the best possible advantage  While thus fearlessly exposing himself, he was again severely wounded by a shell  Notwithstanding considerable loss of blood, after lying on a stretcher for a while, he insisted on getting up and personally directing the further attack  By his magnificent example of devotion to duty and utter disregard of personal safety all ranks were inspired to exert themselves to the utmost, and the attack resulted in the capture of over 200 prisoners, two batteries of field guns and numerous machine guns  Lt -Col  Viscount Gort then proceeded to organise the defence of the captured position until he collapsed; even then he refused to leave the field until he had seen the "success signal" go up on the final objective 

The successful advance of the battalion was mainly due to the valour, devotion and leadership of this very gallant officer 
Subsequent to this he became known as "Tiger" Gort  He won a second Bar to his DSO in January 1919, with the citation reading:

For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty in command of his battalion  He led his men up by night to relieve a battalion which had attacked and failed to reach its objective



ground_truth: United States Secretary of the Interior

prompt_front: Answer the question based on the given passages. Only give me the answer and do not output any other words.

Question: What else was Baghdad known as during the Abbasid Caliphate?

The following are given passages.
Context 3:  Regardless of danger he personally reconnoitred the line ahead of his troops, and got them on to the objective before dawn  During the three following days he again made forward reconnaissances, and leading his battalion gradually on, advanced the line 800 yards and gained a canal bank  It is impossible to speak too highly of this officer's initiative 
He was also mentioned in despatches eight times during the war 

Inter-war years
Gort was promoted to the substantive rank of major on 21 October 1919  After attending a short course at the Staff College, Camberley, in 1919 he joined Headquarters London District and, having been promoted to brevet lieutenant-colonel on 1 January 1921, he returned to the College as an instructor  He left the Staff College in May 1923 Gort was promoted to colonel in April 1926 (with seniority backdated to 1 January 1925)  In 1926 he became a staff officer at London District before becoming a chief instructor at the Senior Officers' School at Sheerness  In January 1927, he went to Shanghai, returning in August to give a first-hand account of the Chinese situation to the King and the Prince of Wales  He returned home to be a staff officer at Headquarters 4th Infantry Division at Colchester in July 1927 In June 1928, Gort was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire  He went on to command the Guards Brigade for two years from 1930 before overseeing training in India with the temporary rank of brigadier  In 1932, he took up flying, buying the de Havilland Moth aircraft Henrietta and being elected chairman of the Household Brigade Flying Club  On 25 November 1935, he was promoted, at the relatively young age (in peacetime, where promotion was painfully slow) of 49, to major-general  He returned to the Staff College in 1936 as its Commandant In May 1937, Gort was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath  In September 1937, he became Military Secretary to the War Minister, Leslie Hore-Belisha, with the temporary rank of lieutenant-general  On 6 December 1937, as part of a purge by Hore-Belisha of senior officers, Gort was appointed to the Army Council, made a general and replaced Field Marshal Sir Cyril Deverell as Chief of the Imperial General Staff (CIGS)  On 1 January 1938, he was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath  His appointment was generally well received in the army, although there was some resentment in his having passed over a number of much older and more senior officers, among them John Dill, Archibald Wavell and Alan Brooke, who would later become an outspoken critic of Gort  He was not especially highly regarded for his intelligence and so Major General Ronald Adam was appointed to be Gort's Deputy Chief of the Imperial General Staff As CIGS, Gort advocated the primacy of building a land army and defending France and the Low Countries over Imperial defence after France had said she would not be able on her own to defend herself against a German attack On 2 December 1938 Gort submitted a report on the readiness of the British Army  He observed that Nazi Germany, as a result of the acquisition of Czechoslovakia, was in a stronger position than the previous year and that as a result of the government's decision in 1937 to create a "general purpose" army, Britain lacked the necessary forces for the defence of France On 21 December Gort recommended to the Chiefs of Staff that Britain would need to help France defend the Netherlands and Belgium and that for that purpose the British Army needed complete equipment for four Regular army infantry divisions and two mobile armoured divisions, with the Territorial army armed with training equipment and then war equipment for four divisions  The First Sea Lord, Admiral Sir Roger Backhouse, replied that Britain's continental commitment might not be a limited liability  Gort replied: "Lord Kitchener had clearly pointed out that no great country can wage a 'little' war"  He also attacked as a fallacy the theory of strategic mobility by the use of seapower because in modern war land transport was faster and cheaper than transport by sea  The experience of David Lloyd George's 1917 Alexandretta project "proved that [maritime side-shows] invariably led to vast commitments out of all proportion to the value of the object attained"  If a purely defensive position was taken the Maginot Line would be broken, and the British Army (with anti-aircraft defence) was only getting £277 million out of a total £2,000 million spent on defence 

Second World War
On the outbreak of the Second World War, Gort was appointed by Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain as the Commander-in-Chief of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) in France, arriving there on 19 September 1939 During this time Gort played a part in a political manoeuvre, the Pillbox affair, that led to the dismissal of War Minister Leslie Hore-Belisha  Unimpressed by his qualities for command, Hore-Belisha described Gort as: "utterly brainless and unable to grasp the simplest problem"  Gort dismissed his subordinates' critiques of the Allies' Plan D, including his former friend Alan Brooke's correct prediction that it would allow the Wehrmacht to outflank the Allied forces, as defeatist Following the period of the "Phoney War", the Wehrmacht's attack and breakthrough in the Ardennes in May 1940 succeeded in splitting the Allied Armies, and surrounding the French First Army and BEF, Gort took the unilateral decision to abandon his orders received from the British Government for a southward attack to be made to support the French Army, instead on 25 May 1940 ordering a retreat by the BEF northwards to the French coast  On reaching the coast Gort oversaw the en masse retirement of the BEF back to the British Isles, involving the Battle of Dunkirk and the Dunkirk evacuation, while France was defeated and surrendered to Nazi Germany four weeks later With regard to his conduct as C -in-C  in France in 1940, Gort is credited by some historians as reacting efficiently to the crisis and saving the BEF, while others hold a more critical view of his leadership, seeing his decision to abandon France during Germany's attack into the west as defeatist Gort went on to serve in various positions for the remainder of the war, but the chaotic rout of the BEF under his command from France had convinced Winston Churchill, the newly installed British Prime Minister, that he was undesirable as a field commander, and he was side-lined to non-combatant posts  On the day of his return to England from France on 1 June 1940 he was appointed an ADC General to George VI  On 25 June he went by flying boat, with Duff Cooper, to Rabat, Morocco, to rally anti-Nazi French cabinet ministers, but was instead held on his flying boat  He quickly returned to Britain 
Gort was given the post of Inspector of Training and the Home Guard, and with nothing constructive to do visited Iceland, Orkney and Shetland   He went on to serve as Governor of Gibraltar (1941–42)  In 1943 he succeeded Lord Galway as Colonel Commandant of the Honourable Artillery Company, a position he held until his death 
As Governor of Malta (1942–44), Gort's courage and leadership during the siege was recognised by the Maltese giving him the Sword of Honour  He pushed ahead with extending the airfield into land reclaimed from the sea, against the advice of the British government, but was later thanked by the War Cabinet for his foresight when the airfield proved vital to the British Mediterranean campaign  The King gave Gort his field marshal's baton on 20 June 1943 at Malta   On 29 September, Gort, together with Generals Dwight D  Eisenhower and Harold Alexander, witnessed Marshal Pietro Badoglio signing the Italian surrender in Valletta harbour Gort was present when his son-in-law, Major William Sidney, received the Victoria Cross from General Sir Harold Alexander, Commander-in-Chief (C-in-C) of the Allied Armies in Italy, on 3 March 1944 in Italy 
Gort ended the war as High Commissioner for Palestine and Transjordan  He served in this office for only one year  In 1945 he nominated William James Fitzgerald, Chief Justice of Palestine, to enquire into the Jewish-Arab conflict in Jerusalem  Chief Justice Fitzgerald issued his report in which he proposed to divide the city into separate Jewish and Arab Quarters  Despite growing tensions in Palestine, Gort strove to cultivate good personal relations with both Jews and Arabs, and was greatly admired and respected by the Jewish and Arab communities 
During his time in Palestine, Gort's health deteriorated, and he was suffering from great pain and discomfort in his abdomen  He was in fact suffering from liver cancer, but the doctors he consulted in London were unable to properly diagnose his condition  Gort ruled Palestine at the time that the Jewish insurgency was beginning  Despite his efforts, he was unable to stem the growing confrontation between the Yishuv (Jewish community) and British authorities  On 5 November 1945, he stepped down as High Commissioner and returned to Britain  Commenting on his departure, The Palestine Post wrote that "No High Commissioner in the twenty-five years of British rule in Palestine enjoyed greater popular trust and none repaid it with greater personal kindness "

Death
After leaving Palestine and returning to England, Gort was admitted to Guy's Hospital in London, where exploratory surgery revealed that he was dying from inoperable liver cancer  In February 1946 he was created a Viscount in the Peerage of the United Kingdom under the same title as his existing Viscountcy in the Peerage of Ireland  On 31 March 1946, he died in Guy's Hospital at the age of 59 years  As he did not have a surviving son, the Irish Viscountcy of Gort passed to his brother, Standish Vereker, and the British creation became extinct  His body was entombed in the Sidney family vault at St  John the Baptist Church, Penshurst, in the county of Kent 

Film portrayal
Gort was portrayed by Cyril Raymond in the film Dunkirk (1958) 
Passage 3:
Richard O'Connor
General Sir Richard Nugent O'Connor,  (21 August 1889 – 17 June 1981) was a senior British Army officer who fought in both the First and Second World Wars, and commanded the Western Desert Force in the early years of the Second World War  He was the field commander for Operation Compass, in which his forces destroyed a much larger Italian army – a victory which nearly drove the Axis from Africa, and in turn, led Adolf Hitler to send the Afrika Korps under Erwin Rommel to try to reverse the situation  O'Connor was captured by a German reconnaissance patrol during the night of 7 April 1941 and spent over two years in an Italian prisoner of war camp  He eventually escaped after the fall of Mussolini in the autumn of 1943  In 1944 he commanded VIII Corps in the Battle of Normandy and later during Operation Market Garden  In 1945 he was General Officer in Command of the Eastern Command in India and then, in the closing days of British rule in the subcontinent, he headed Northern Command  His final job in the army was Adjutant-General to the Forces in London, in charge of the British Army's administration, personnel and organisation 
In honour of his war service, O'Connor was recognised with the highest level of knighthood in two different orders of chivalry  He was also awarded the Distinguished Service Order (twice), the Military Cross, the French Croix de Guerre and the Legion of Honour, and served as aide-de-camp to King George VI  He was also mentioned in despatches nine times for actions in the First World War, once in Palestine in 1939 and three times in the Second World War 

Early life
Richard Nugent O'Connor was born in Srinagar, Kashmir, India, on 21 August 1889  His father, Maurice O'Connor, was a major in the Royal Irish Fusiliers, and his mother, Lilian Morris, was the daughter of a former governor of India's central provinces  He attended Tonbridge Castle School in 1899 and The Towers School in Crowthorne in 1902  In 1903, aged 13, and after his father's death in an accident, he moved to Wellington College  "His career there was not distinguished in any way", however, although he enjoyed his time there Following this, he went to the Royal Military College at Sandhurst in January 1908  Despite his success in later life, his time there, as at Wellington (only a few miles away from Sandhurst), was not remarkable, and he did not mention his time there even in his later life   A year ahead of him at the college was a man who would play a significant role in O'Connor's future military career and life  This was Bernard Montgomery, about two years older than O'Connor, although it is unknown if the two men knew of each other at this very early stage of their military careers Passing out 38th in the order of merit, in September of the following year O'Connor, anxious to join a Scottish regiment, was commissioned, as a second lieutenant and posted to the 2nd Battalion of his new regiment, Cameronians (Scottish Rifles), the regiment of his choice, recruiting from Glasgow and Lanarkshire, and with which he was to maintain close ties with for the rest of his life  The battalion was initially stationed in Aldershot when O'Connor joined them in October 1909 before being rotated, in January 1910, to Colchester  It was here where he received signals and rifle training, after attending courses for both, resulting in his being appointed a regimental signals officer for the former, and becoming a distinguished marksman after attending the Small Arms School at Hythe, Kent  In September 1911 the battalion sailed for Malta where it was to remain for the next three years as part of a Malta brigade, with O'Connor, now a lieutenant (having been promoted to that rank in May), continuing in his role as regimental signals officer   By now it was becoming obvious that a war in Europe was on the horizon  As a result, for O'Connor, who at some point was appointed the Malta brigade's signal officer, the years of 1913 and 1914 were spent in training the men under his command for the duties that they would one day have to perform in battle 

First World War
During the First World War, O'Connor initially served as signals officer of the 22nd Brigade in the 7th Division and captain in command of the 7th Division's Signals Company  From October 1916, as a captain and later as a brevet major, he served as brigade major of 91st Brigade, 7th Division  He was awarded the Military Cross (MC) in February 1915  In March of that year he saw action at Arras and Bullecourt  O'Connor was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) and appointed brevet lieutenant-colonel while he was in command of the 2nd Infantry Battalion of the Honourable Artillery Company, part of the 7th Division, in June 1917  The citation for his DSO reads:

For conspicuous gallantry and resource  In consequence of a change in the situation a revision of plans became necessary, but, owing to darkness and heavy shelling, confusion arose  By his courage and promptness he quickly restored order, and organised a successful attack 
In November of that year, the division was ordered to support the Italians against the Austro-Hungarian forces at the River Piave which then formed part of the Italian Front  In late October 1918 the 2nd Battalion captured the island of Grave di Papadopoli on the Piave River for which O'Connor received the Italian Silver Medal of Military Valor and a Bar to his DSO At the end of the war, O'Connor reverted to his rank of captain and served as regimental adjutant from April to December 1919 

Between the wars
O'Connor attended the Staff College, Camberley in 1920  O'Connor's other service in the years between the world wars included an appointment from 1921 to 1924 as brigade major of the Experimental Brigade (or 5 Brigade) under the command of J  F  C  Fuller, which was formed to test methods and procedures for using tanks and aircraft in co-ordination with infantry and artillery 
He returned to his old unit, the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles), as adjutant from February 1924 to 1925  From 1925 to 1927 he served as a company commander at Sandhurst  He returned to the Staff College, Camberley as an instructor from October 1927 to January 1930  In 1930 O'Connor again served with the 1st Battalion, Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) in Egypt and from 1931 to 1932 in Lucknow, India  From April 1932 to January 1935 he was a general staff officer, grade 2 at the War Office  He attended the Imperial Defence College in London in 1935  In April 1936 O'Connor was promoted to full colonel and appointed temporary brigadier to assume command of the Peshawar Brigade in north west India  In September 1938 O'Connor was promoted to major-general and appointed General Officer Commanding 7th Infantry Division in Palestine, along with the additional responsibility as Military Governor of Jerusalem  For his services in Palestine O'Connor was mentioned in despatches In August 1939, shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War, the 7th Division was transferred to the fortress at Mersa Matruh, Egypt, where O'Connor was concerned with defending the area against a potential attack from the massed forces of the Italian Tenth Army over the border in Libya  The 7th Division later converted to become the 6th Division in November 1939  He was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath in July 1940 

Second World War
Italian Offensive and Operation Compass
Italy declared war on Britain and France on 10 June 1940 and, soon after, O'Connor was appointed commander of the Western Desert Force  He was tasked by Lieutenant-General Henry Maitland Wilson, commander of the British troops in Egypt, to push the Italian force out of Egypt, to protect the Suez Canal and British interests from attack On 13 September, Graziani struck: his leading divisions advanced sixty miles into Egypt where they reached the town of Sidi Barrani and, short of supplies, began to dig in  O'Connor then began to prepare for a counterattack  He had the 7th Armoured Division and the Indian 4th Infantry Division along with two brigades  British and Commonwealth troops in Egypt totalled around 36,000 men  The Italians had nearly five times as many troops along with hundreds more tanks and artillery pieces and the support of a much larger air force  Meanwhile, small raiding columns were sent out from the 7th Armoured and newly formed Long Range Desert Group to probe, harass, and disrupt the Italians (this marked the start of what became the Special Air Service)  The Royal Navy and Royal Air Force supported by bombarding enemy strongpoints, airfields and rear areas 
 During November, O'Connor was appointed an acting lieutenant-general in recognition of the increased size of his command The counteroffensive, Operation Compass, began on 8 December 1940  O'Connor's relatively small force of 31,000 men, 275 tanks and 120 artillery pieces, ably supported by an RAF wing and the Royal Navy, broke through a gap in the Italian defences at Sidi Barrani near the coast  The Desert Force cut a swath through the Italian rear areas, stitching its way between the desert and the coast, capturing strongpoint after strongpoint by cutting off and isolating them  The Italian guns proved to be no match for the heavy British Matilda tanks and their shells bounced off the armour  By mid-December the Italians had been pushed completely out of Egypt, leaving behind 38,000 prisoners and large stores of equipment The Desert Force paused to rest briefly before continuing the assault into Italian Libya against the remainder of Graziani's disorganised army  At that point, the Commander-in-Chief Middle East General Sir Archibald Wavell ordered the 4th Indian Division withdrawn to spearhead the invasion of Italian East Africa  This veteran division was to be replaced by the inexperienced 6th Australian Division, which, although tough, was untrained for desert warfare  Despite this setback, the offensive continued with minimal delay  By the end of 6 December the Australians besieged and took Bardia along with 40,000 more prisoners and 400 guns 
In early January 1941, the Western Desert Force was redesignated XIII Corps  On 9 January, the offensive resumed  By 12 January the strategic fortress port of Tobruk was surrounded  On 22 January it fell and another 27,000 Italian POWs were taken along with valuable supplies, food, and weapons  As Tobruk fell it was decided to have XIII Corps answerable directly to Wavell at HQ Middle East Command, removing HQ British troops Egypt from the chain of command  On 26 January the remaining Italian divisions in eastern Libya began to retreat to the northwest along the coast  O'Connor promptly moved to pursue and cut them off, sending his armour southwest through the desert in a wide flanking movement, while the infantry gave chase along the coast to the north  The lightly armoured advance units of 4th Armoured Brigade arrived at Beda Fomm before the fleeing Italians on 5 February, blocking the main coast road and their route of escape  Two days later, after a costly and failed attempt to break through the blockade, and with the main British infantry force fast bearing down on them from Benghazi to the north, the demoralised, exhausted Italians unconditionally capitulated  O'Connor and Eric Dorman-Smith cabled back to Wavell, "Fox killed in the open   "In two months, the XIII Corps/Western Desert Force had advanced over 800 miles (1,300 km), destroyed an entire Italian army of ten divisions, taken over 130,000 prisoners, 400 tanks and 1,292 guns at the cost of 500 killed and 1,373 wounded  In recognition of this, O'Connor was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath 

Reversal and capture
In a strategic sense, however, the victory of Operation Compass was not yet complete; the Italians still controlled most of Libya and possessed forces which would have to be dealt with  The Axis foothold in North Africa would remain a potential threat to Egypt and the Suez Canal so long as this situation continued  O'Connor was aware of this and urged Wavell to allow him to push on to Tripoli with all due haste to finish off the Italians  Wavell concurred as did Lieutenant-General Sir Henry Maitland Wilson, now the military governor of Cyrenaica, and XIII Corps resumed its advance  However, O'Connor's new offensive would prove short-lived: when the corps reached El Agheila, just to the southwest of Beda Fomm, Churchill ordered the advance to halt there  The Axis had invaded Greece and Wavell was ordered to send all available forces there as soon as possible to oppose this  Wavell took the 6th Australian Division, along with part of 7th Armoured Division and most of the supplies and air support for this ultimately doomed operation  XIII Corps HQ was wound down and in February 1941 O'Connor was appointed General Officer Commanding-in-Chief the British Troops in Egypt Matters were soon to become much worse for the British  By March 1941, Hitler had dispatched General Erwin Rommel along with the Afrika Korps to bolster the Italians in Libya  Wavell and O'Connor now faced a formidable foe under a commander whose cunning, resourcefulness, and daring would earn him the nickname "the Desert Fox"  Rommel wasted little time in launching his own offensive on 31 March  The inexperienced 2nd Armoured Division was soundly defeated and on 2 April Wavell came forward to review matters with Lieutenant-General Sir Philip Neame, by now the commander of British and Commonwealth troops in Cyrenaica (Wilson having left to command the Allied expeditionary force in Greece)  O'Connor was called forward and arrived from Cairo the next day, but declined to assume Neame's command because of his lack of familiarity with the prevailing conditions  However, he agreed to stay to advise On 6 April O'Connor and Neame, while travelling to their headquarters which had been withdrawn from Maraua to Timimi, were captured by a German patrol near Martuba 

Captivity and escape
O'Connor spent the next two and a half years as a prisoner of war, mainly at the Castello di Vincigliata near Florence, Italy  Here he and Neame were in the company of such figures as Major-General Sir Adrian Carton de Wiart and Air Vice Marshal Owen Tudor Boyd  Although the conditions of their imprisonment were not unpleasant, the officers soon formed an escape club and began planning a break-out  Their first attempt, a simple attempt to climb over the castle walls, resulted in a month's solitary confinement  The second attempt, by an escape tunnel built between October 1942 and March 1943, had some success, with two New Zealander brigadiers, James Hargest and Reginald Miles, reaching Switzerland  O'Connor and Carton de Wiart, travelling on foot, were at large for a week but were captured near Bologna in the Po Valley  Once again, a month's solitary confinement was the result It was only after the Italian surrender in September 1943 that the final, successful, attempt was made  With help from the Italian resistance movement, Boyd, O'Connor and Neame escaped while being transferred from Vincigliati  After a failed rendezvous with a submarine, they arrived by boat at Termoli, then went on to Bari where they were welcomed as guests by General Sir Harold Alexander, commanding the Allied Armies in Italy (AAI), then fighting on the Italian Front, along with the American General Dwight D  Eisenhower, on 21 December 1943  Upon his return to Britain, O'Connor was presented with the knighthood he had been awarded in 1941 and promoted to lieutenant-general  Montgomery suggested that O'Connor be his successor as British Eighth Army commander, but that post was instead given to Oliver Leese and O'Connor was given a corps to command 

VIII Corps and Normandy
On 21 January 1944 O'Connor became commander of VIII Corps, which consisted of the Guards Armoured Division, 11th Armoured Division, 15th (Scottish) Infantry Division, along with 6th Guards Tank Brigade, 8th Army Group Royal Artillery and 2nd Household Cavalry Regiment  The corps formed part of the British Second Army, commanded by Lieutenant-General Miles Dempsey, which itself was part of the Anglo-Canadian 21st Army Group, commanded by General Sir Bernard Montgomery, a friend who had also been a fellow instructor at the Staff College, Camberley in the 1920s, in addition to having served together in Palestine some years before  O'Connor's new command was to take part in Operation Overlord, the Allied invasion of German-occupied France, although it was not scheduled for the initial landings as it was to form part of the second wave to go ashore On 11 June 1944, five days after the initial landings in Normandy, O'Connor and the leading elements of VIII Corps arrived in Normandy in the sector around Caen, which would be the scene of much hard fighting during the next few weeks  O'Connor's first mission (with the 43rd (Wessex) Infantry Division under command, replacing the Guards Armoured Division) was to mount Operation Epsom, a break out from the bridgehead established by the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division, cross the Odon and Orne rivers, then secure the high-ground positions northeast of Bretteville-sur-Laize and cut Caen off from the south  The break-out and river crossings were accomplished promptly  The army group commander, Montgomery, congratulated O'Connor and his VIII Corps on their success  But cutting off Caen would prove much harder  VIII Corps was pushed back over the Orne  O'Connor tried to re-establish a bridgehead during Operation Jupiter with the 43rd (Wessex) Division, but met with little success  Although the operation had failed to achieve its tactical objectives, Montgomery was pleased with the strategic benefits in the commitment and fixing of the German armoured reserves to the Caen sector After being withdrawn into reserve on 12 July, the next major action for VIII Corps would be Operation Goodwood, for which the corps was stripped of its infantry divisions but had a third armoured division (7th Armoured Division) attached  The attack began on 18 July with a massive aerial bombardment by the 9th USAAF, and ended on 20 July with a three-pronged drive to capture Bras and Hubert-Folie on the right, Fontenay on the left, and Bourguébus Ridge in the centre  However, the attack ground to a halt in pouring rain, turning the battlefield into a quagmire, with the major objectives still not taken, notably the Bourguebus Ridge which was the key to any break-out 
Restored to its pre-invasion formation but with British 3rd Infantry Division attached, the corps was switched to the southwest of Caen to take part in Operation Bluecoat  15th (Scottish) Division attacked towards Vire to the east and west of Bois du Homme in order to facilitate the American advance in Operation Cobra (O'Connor, 5/3/25 July 29 1944)  A swift drive was followed by fierce fighting to the south during the first two days of the advance, with both sides taking heavy losses As the allies prepared to pursue the Germans from France, O'Connor learned that VIII Corps would not take part in this phase of the campaign  VIII Corps was placed in reserve, and its transport used to supply XXX Corps and XII Corps  His command was reduced in mid-August, with the transfer of the Guards Armoured Divisions and 11th Armoured Division to XXX Corps and 15th (Scottish) Division to XII Corps  While in reserve, O'Connor maintained an active correspondence with Montgomery, Hobart and others, making suggestions for improvements of armoured vehicles and addressing various other problems such as combat fatigue  Some of his recommendations were followed up; such as for mounting "rams" on armoured vehicles in order to cope with the difficult hedgerow country (O'Connor, 5/3/41- 5/3/44 Aug 24, 26 1944) 

Operation Market Garden and India
O'Connor remained in command of VIII Corps, for the time being, and was given the task of supporting Lieutenant-General Brian Horrocks' XXX Corps in Operation Market Garden, the plan by Montgomery to establish a bridgehead across the Rhine in the Netherlands  Following their entry into Weert at the end of September, VIII Corps prepared for and took part in Operation Aintree, the advance towards Venray and Venlo beginning on 12 October However, on 27 November O'Connor was removed from his post and was ordered to take over from Lieutenant-General Sir Mosley Mayne as GOC-in-C, Eastern Command, India  Smart's account says that Montgomery prompted the move for, "not being ruthless enough with his American subordinates", although Mead states that the initiative was taken by Field Marshal Sir Alan Brooke, the Chief of the Imperial General Staff (CIGS), but Montgomery made no attempt to retain O'Connor  He was succeeded as GOC VIII Corps by Major-General Evelyn Barker, a much younger man and formerly the GOC of the 49th (West Riding) Infantry Division who had been one of O'Connor's students at the Staff College at Camberley in the late 1920s  This marked the end of a long and distinguished combat career, although the new job was an important one, controlling the lines of communication of the Fourteenth Army  O'Connor was mentioned in despatches for the thirteenth and final time of his career on 22 March 1945 Having been promoted to full general in April 1945, O'Connor was appointed GOC-in-C North Western Army in India in October that year (the formation was renamed Northern Command in November of that year)  By now the war was over 

Post-war
From 1946 to 1947 he was Adjutant-General to the Forces and aide-de-camp general to the King  His career as adjutant general was to be short-lived, however  After a disagreement over a cancelled demobilisation for troops stationed in the Far East, O'Connor offered his resignation in September 1947, which was accepted  Montgomery, by then the CIGS in succession to Brooke, maintained that he had been sacked, rather than resigned, for being, "not up to the job " Not long after this he was installed as a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath 

Retirement and final years
O'Connor retired in 1948 at the age of fifty-eight  However, he maintained his links with the army and took on other responsibilities  He was Commandant of the Army Cadet Force in Scotland from 1948 to 1959; Colonel of the Cameronians, 1951 to 1954; Lord lieutenant of Ross and Cromarty from 1955 to 1964 and served as Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1964  His first wife, Jean, died in 1959, and in 1963 he married Dorothy Russell In July 1971, he was created Knight of the Order of the Thistle  O’Connor was interviewed concerning North African operations in episode 8, "The Desert: North Africa (1940–1943)”, of the acclaimed British documentary television series, The World at War  O'Connor died in London on 17 June 1981, just two months shy of his 92nd birthday  There was a small funeral, attended only by his family  There were also two memorial services, one held in London on 15 July, with O'Connor's great friend and admirer, Field Marshal Lord Harding, as he was now known, giving the address, where he stated the following:

Dick O'Connor was my ideal of a commander in battle; always approachable and ready to listen, yet firm and decisive and always fair in his judgement of people and events; modest to a degree, shunning the limelight and embarassed by praise; calmly resolute and courageously determined 
The second memorial service was held in Edinburgh on 11 August, where Lieutenant General Sir George Collingwood, who had been O'Connor's aide-de-camp in the late 1930s, made the address  Making references to O'Connor's campaign in the desert some forty years earlier, he then mentioned his numerous attempts to escape from captivity, along with his happy private life and his two "wonderful partners in the home", before ending his address with:

So there is in a sense a picture of three different people  The dedicated soldier and brilliant fighting Commander, a prisoner of war exerting all his energies and taking great risks to escape and return to serve his Country, and the quiet, unassuming little country gentleman with the kindly smile and charming manners, who was a wonderful host and a wonderful guest, but of course it was one and the same person and the chief facets of his character were, I think, great courage and determination, an impelling sense of duty, loyalty, extreme personal modesty, kindness and generosity and a delightful sense of humour  I think the jokes he liked best were those against himself 

Notes



ground_truth: the City of Peace

prompt_front: Answer the question based on the given passages. Only give me the answer and do not output any other words.

Question: Brigadier Stanley James Ledger Hill was attached to the command post of which senior British Army officer born on July 10, 1886?

The following are given passages.
Context 4:  It is the home of the Iowa Wolves of the NBA G League, the Iowa Wild of the American Hockey League, and the Iowa Barnstormers of the Indoor Football League 
The Simon Estes Riverfront Amphitheater is an outdoor concert venue on the east bank of the Des Moines River which hosts music events such as the Alive Concert Series 

The Des Moines Art Center, with a wing designed by architect I  M  Pei, presents art exhibitions and educational programs as well as studio art classes  The Center houses a collection of artwork from the 19th century to the present  An extension of the art center is downtown in an urban museum space, featuring three or four exhibitions each year 

The Pappajohn Sculpture Park was established in 2009  It showcases a collection of 24 sculptures donated by Des Moines philanthropists John and Mary Pappajohn  Nearby is the Temple for Performing Arts, a cultural center for the city  Next to the Temple is the 117,000-square-foot (10,900 m2) Central Library, designed by renowned English architect David Chipperfield 
Salisbury House and Gardens is a 42-room historic house museum on 10 acres (4 ha) of woodlands in the South of Grand neighborhood of Des Moines  It is named after—and loosely inspired by—King's House in Salisbury, England  Built in the 1920s by cosmetics magnate Carl Weeks and his wife, Edith, the Salisbury House contains authentic 16th-century English oak and rafters dating to Shakespeare's days, numerous other architectural features re-purposed from other historic English homes, and an internationally significant collection of original fine art, tapestries, decorative art, furniture, musical instruments, and rare books and documents  The Salisbury House is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and has been featured on A&E's America's Castles and PBS's Antiques Roadshow  Prominent artists in the Salisbury House collection include Joseph Stella, Lillian Genth, Anthony van Dyck and Lawrence Alma-Tadema 
Built in 1877 by prominent pioneer businessman Hoyt Sherman, Hoyt Sherman Place mansion was Des Moines' first public art gallery and houses a distinctive collection of 19th and 20th century artwork  Its restored 1,250-seat theater features an intricate rococo plaster ceiling and excellent acoustics and is used for a variety of cultural performances and entertainment 

Attractions
Arising in the east and facing westward toward downtown, the Iowa State Capitol building with its 275-foot (84 m), 23-karat gold leafed dome towering above the city is a favorite of sightseers  Four smaller domes flank the main dome  The Capitol houses the governor's offices, legislature, and the old Supreme Court Chambers  The ornate interior also features a grand staircase, mural "Westward", five-story law library, scale model of the USS Iowa, and collection of first lady dolls  Guided tours are available 
The Capitol grounds include a World War II memorial with sculpture and Wall of Memories, the 1894 Soldiers and Sailors Monument of the Civil War and memorials honoring those who served in the Spanish–American, Korean, and Vietnam Wars 
The West Capitol Terrace provides the entrance from the west to the state's grandest building, the State Capitol Building  The 10-acre (4 ha) "people's park" at the foot of the Capitol complex includes a promenade and landscaped gardens, in addition to providing public space for rallies and special events  A granite map of Iowa depicting all 99 counties rests at the base of the terrace and has become an attraction for in-state visitors, many of whom walk over the map to find their home county 

Iowa's history lives on in the State of Iowa Historical Museum  This modern granite and glass structure at the foot of the State Capitol Building houses permanent and temporary exhibits exploring the people, places, events, and issues of Iowa's past  The showcase includes native wildlife, American Indian and pioneer artifacts, and political and military items  The museum features a genealogy and Iowa history library, museum gift shop, and cafe 
Terrace Hill, a National Historic Landmark and Iowa Governor's Residence, is among the best examples of American Victorian Second Empire architecture  This opulent 1869 home was built by Iowa's first millionaire, Benjamin F  Allen, and restored to the late 19th century period  It overlooks downtown Des Moines and is situated on 8 acres (3 2 ha) with a re-created Victorian formal garden  Tours are conducted Tuesdays through Saturdays from March through December 
The 110,000-square-foot (10,000 m2) Science Center of Iowa and Blank IMAX Dome Theater offers seven interactive learning areas, live programs, and hands-on activities encouraging learning and fun for all ages  Among its three theaters include the 216-seat Blank IMAX Dome Theater, 175-seat John Deere Adventure Theater featuring live performances, and a 50-foot (15 m) domed Star Theater 

The Greater Des Moines Botanical Garden, an indoor conservatory of over 15,000 exotic plants, is one of the largest collections of tropical, subtropical, and desert-growing plants in the Midwest  The Center blooms with thousands of flowers year-round  Nearby are the Robert D  Ray Asian Gardens and Pavilion, named in honor of the former governor whose influence helped relocate thousands of Vietnamese refugees to Iowa homes in the 1970s and 1980s  Developed by the city's Asian community, the Gardens include a three-story Chinese pavilion, bonsai landscaping, and granite sculptures to highlight the importance of diversity and recognize Asian American contributions in Iowa 
Blank Park Zoo is a landscaped 22-acre (8 9 ha) zoological park on the south side  Among the exhibits include a tropical rain forest, Australian Outback, and Africa  The Zoo offers education classes, tours, and rental facilities 
The Iowa Primate Learning Sanctuary was established as a scientific research facility with a 230-acre (93 ha) campus housing bonobos and orangutans for the noninvasive interdisciplinary study of their cognitive and communicative capabilities 

The East Village, on the east side of the Des Moines River, begins at the river and extends about five blocks east to the State Capitol Building, offering an eclectic blend of historic buildings, hip eateries, boutiques, art galleries, and a wide variety of other retail establishments mixed with residences 
Adventureland Park is an amusement park in neighboring Altoona, just northeast of Des Moines  The park boasts more than 100 rides, shows, and attractions, including six rollercoasters  A hotel and campground is just outside the park  Also in Altoona is Prairie Meadows Racetrack and Casino, an entertainment venue for gambling and horse racing  Open 24 hours a day, year-round, the racetrack and casino features live racing, plus over 1,750 slot machines, table games, and concert and show entertainment   The racetrack hosts two Grade III races annually, the Iowa Oaks and the Cornhusker Handicap 
Living History Farms in suburban Urbandale tells the story of Midwestern agriculture and rural life in a 500-acre (2 0 km2) open-air museum with interpreters dressed in period costume who recreate the daily routines of early Iowans  Open daily from May through October, the Living History Farms include a 1700 Ioway Indian village, 1850 pioneer farm, 1875 frontier town, 1900 horse-powered farm, and a modern crop center 
Wallace House was the home of the first Henry Wallace, a national leader in agriculture and conservation and the first editor of Wallaces' Farmer farm journal  This restored 1883 Italianate Victorian houses exhibits, artifacts, and information covering four generations of Henry Wallaces and other family members 
Historic Jordan House in West Des Moines is a stately Victorian home built in 1850 and added to in 1870 by the first white settler in West Des Moines, James C  Jordan  Completely refurbished, this mansion was part of the Underground Railroad and today houses 16 period rooms, a railroad museum, West Des Moines community history, and a museum dedicated to the Underground Railroad in Iowa  In 1893 Jordan's daughter Eda was sliding down the banister when she fell off and broke her neck  She died two days later, and her ghost is reputed to haunt the house The Chicago Tribune wrote that Iowa's capital city has "walker-friendly downtown streets and enough outdoor sculpture, sleek buildings, storefronts and cafes to delight the most jaded stroller" 

Festivals and events
Des Moines plays host to a growing number of nationally acclaimed cultural events, including the annual Des Moines Arts Festival in June, Metro Arts Jazz in July, Iowa State Fair in August, and the World Food & Music Festival in September  On Saturdays from May through October, the Downtown Farmers' Market draws visitors from across the state  Local parades include Saint Patrick's Day Parade, Drake Relays Parade, Capitol City Pride Parade, Iowa State Fair Parade, Labor Day Parade, and Beaverdale Fall Festival Parade 
Other annual festivals and events include: Des Moines Beer Week, 80/35 Music Festival, 515 Alive Music Festival, ArtFest Midwest, Blue Ribbon Bacon Fest, CelebrAsian Heritage Festival, Des Moines Pride Festival, Des Moines Renaissance Faire, Festa Italiana, Festival of Trees and Lights, World Food & Music Festival, I'll Make Me a World Iowa, Latino Heritage Festival, Oktoberfest, Winefest, ImaginEve!, Iowa's Premier Beer, Wine & Food Show, and Wild Rose Film Festival 

Museums
Des Moines Art Center
Des Moines Police Museum & Historical Society
Fort Des Moines Museum and Education Center
Jordan House Museum
Hoyt Sherman Place
Salisbury House
Science Center of Iowa
State Historical Society of Iowa
Terrace Hill – Official residence of the governor of Iowa
Wallace House Museum
World Food Prize Hall of Laureates
Wells Fargo History Museum

Government
Des Moines operates under a council–manager form of government  The council consists of a mayor (Frank Cownie) and is elected in citywide vote, two at-large members, and four members representing each of the city's four wards  In 2014, Jonathan Gano was appointed as the new Public Works Director  In 2015, Dana Wingert was appointed as Police Chief  In 2018, Steven L  Naber was appointed as the new City Engineer The council members include:
A plan to merge the governments of Des Moines and Polk County was rejected by voters during the November 2, 2004, election  The consolidated city-county government would have had a full-time mayor and a 15-member council that would have been divided among the city and its suburbs  Each suburb would still have retained its individual government but with the option to join the consolidated government at any time  Although a full merger was soundly rejected, many city and county departments and programs have been consolidated 

Transportation
Des Moines has an extensive skywalk system within its downtown core  With over four miles of enclosed walkway, it is one of the largest of such systems in the United States  The Des Moines Skywalk System has been criticized for hurting street-level business, though a recent initiative has been made to make street-level Skywalk entrances more visible 

Interstate 235 (I-235) cuts through the city, and I-35 and I-80 both pass through the Des Moines metropolitan area, as well as the city of Des Moines  On the northern side of the city of Des Moines and passing through the cities of Altoona, Clive, Johnston, Urbandale and West Des Moines, I-35 and I-80 converge into a long concurrency while I-235 takes a direct route through Des Moines, Windsor Heights, and West Des Moines before meeting up with I-35 and I-80 on the western edge of the metro  The Des Moines Bypass passes south and east of the city   Other routes in and around the city include US 6, US 69, Iowa 28, Iowa 141, Iowa 163, Iowa 330, Iowa 415, & Iowa 160 

Des Moines's public transit system, operated by DART (Des Moines Area Regional Transit), which was the Des Moines Metropolitan Transit Authority until October 2006, consists entirely of buses, including regular in-city routes and express and commuter buses to outlying suburban areas 
Characteristics of household ownership of cars in Des Moines are similar to national averages  In 2015, 8 5 percent of Des Moines households lacked a car, and increased to 9 6 percent in 2016  The national average was 8 7 percent in 2016  Des Moines averaged 1 71 cars per household in 2016, compared to a national average of 1 8 
Burlington Trailways, and Jefferson Lines run long-distance, intercity bus routes through Des Moines  The bus station is located north of downtown  Although Des Moines was historically a train hub, it does not have passenger train service  For east–west traffic it was served at the Rock Island Depot by the Corn Belt Rocket express from Omaha to the west, to Chicago in the east  The Rock Island also offered the Rocky Mountain Rocket from Colorado Springs in the west, to Chicago, and the Twin Star Rocket to Minneapolis to the north and Dallas and Houston to the south  The last train was an unnamed service ending at Council Bluffs, and it was discontinued on May 31, 1970   Today, this line constitutes the mainline of the Iowa Interstate Railroad  
Other railroads used the East Des Moines Union Station  Northward and northwest bound, there were Chicago and North Western trains to destinations including Minneapolis  The Wabash Railroad ran service to the southeast to St  Louis   These lines remain in use but are now operated by Union Pacific and BNSF 
The nearest Amtrak station is in Osceola, about 40 miles (64 km) south of Des Moines  The Osceola station is served by the Chicago–San Francisco California Zephyr; there is no Osceola–Des Moines Amtrak Thruway Motorcoach connecting service  There have been proposals to extend Amtrak's planned Chicago–Moline Quad City Rocket to Des Moines via the Iowa Interstate Railroad The Des Moines International Airport (DSM), on Fleur Drive in the southern part of Des Moines, offers nonstop service to destinations within the United States  The only international service is cargo service, but there have been discussions about adding an international terminal 

Education
The Des Moines Public Schools district is the largest community school district in Iowa with 32,062 enrolled students as of the 2012–2013 school year  The district consists of 63 schools: 38 elementary schools, eleven middle schools, five high schools (East, Hoover, Lincoln, North, and Roosevelt), and ten special schools and programs  Small parts of the city are instead served by Carlisle Community Schools, Johnston Community School District, the Southeast Polk Community School District and the Saydel School District Grand View Christian School is the only private school in the city, although Des Moines Christian School (in Des Moines from 1947 to 2006) in Urbandale, Dowling Catholic High School in West Des Moines, and Ankeny Christian Academy on the north side of the metro area serve some city residents 
Des Moines is also home to the main campuses of three four-year private colleges: Drake University, Grand View University, and Mercy College of Health Sciences  The University of Iowa has a satellite facility in the city's Western Gateway Park, while Iowa State University hosts Master of Business Administration classes downtown  Simpson College, Upper Iowa University, William Penn University, and Purdue University Global   Des Moines Area Community College is the area's community college with campuses in Ankeny, Des Moines, and West Des Moines  The city is also home to Des Moines University, an osteopathic medical school 

Media
The Des Moines market, which originally consisted of Polk, Dallas, Story, and Warren counties, was ranked 91st by Arbitron as of the fall of 2007 with a population of 512,000 aged 12 and older  But in June 2011 it was moved up to 72nd with the addition of Boone, Clarke, Greene, Guthrie, Jasper, Lucas, Madison and Marion counties 

Radio
Commercial stations
iHeartMedia owns five radio stations in the area, including WHO 1040 AM, a 50,000-watt AM news/talk station that has the highest ratings in the area and once employed future President Ronald Reagan as a sportscaster  In addition to WHO, iHeartMedia owns KDRB 100 3 FM (adult hits), KKDM 107 5 FM (contemporary hits), KXNO-FM 106 3, and KXNO 1460 AM (sports radio)  They also own news/talk station KASI 1430 AM and hot adult contemporary station KCYZ 105 1 FM, both of which broadcast from Ames 
Cumulus Media owns five stations that broadcast from facilities in Urbandale: KBGG 1700 AM (sports), KGGO 94 9 FM (classic rock), KHKI 97 3 FM (country music), KJJY 92 5 FM (country music), and KWQW 98 3 FM (classic hip hop) Saga Communications owns nine stations in the area: KAZR 103 3 FM (rock), KAZR-HD2 (oldies), KIOA 93 3 FM (oldies), KIOA-HD2 99 9FM & 93 3 HD2 (Rhythmic Top 40), KOEZ 104 1 FM (soft adult contemporary), KPSZ 940 AM (contemporary Christian music, religious teaching, and conservative talk), KRNT 1350 AM (ESPN Radio), KSTZ 102 5 FM (adult contemporary hits), and KSTZ-HD2 (classic country)  Other stations in the Des Moines area include religious stations KWKY 1150 AM, and KPUL 101 7 FM 

Non-commercial stations
Non-commercial radio stations in the Des Moines area include KDPS 88 1 FM, a station operated by the Des Moines Public Schools; KWDM 88 7 FM, a station operated by Valley High School; KJMC 89 3 FM, an urban contemporary station; K213DV 90 5 FM, the contemporary Christian K-Love affiliate for the area; and KDFR 91 3 FM, operated by Family Radio  Iowa Public Radio broadcasts several stations in the Des Moines area, all of which are owned by Iowa State University and operated on campus  WOI 640 am, the networks flagship station, and WOI-FM 90 1, the networks flagship "Studio One" station, are both based out of Ames and serve as the area's National Public Radio outlets  The network also operates classical stations KICG, KICJ, KICL and KICP   The University of Northwestern – St  Paul operates Contemporary Christian simulcasts of KNWI-FM at 107 1 Osceola/Des Moines, KNWM-FM at 96 1 Madrid/Ames/Des Moines, and K264CD at 100 7 in downtown Des Moines 
Low-power FM stations include KFMG-LP 99 1, a community radio station broadcasting from the Hotel Fort Des Moines and also webstreamed 

Television
The Des Moines-Ames media market consists of 35 central Iowa counties: Adair, Adams, Appanoose, Audubon, Boone, Calhoun, Carroll, Clarke, Dallas, Decatur, Franklin, Greene, Guthrie, Hamilton, Hardin, Humboldt, Jasper, Kossuth, Lucas, Madison, Mahaska, Marion, Marshall, Monroe, Pocahontas, Polk, Poweshiek, Ringgold, Story, Taylor, Union, Warren, Wayne, Webster, and Wright  It was ranked 71st by Nielsen Media Research for the 2008–2009 television season with 432,410 television households Commercial television stations serving Des Moines include CBS affiliate KCCI channel 8, NBC affiliate WHO-DT channel 13, and Fox affiliate KDSM-TV channel 17  ABC affiliate WOI-TV channel 5 and CW affiliate KCWI-TV channel 23 are both licensed to Ames and broadcast from studios in West Des Moines  KFPX-TV channel 39, the local ION affiliate, is licensed to Newton  Two non-commercial stations are also licensed to Des Moines: KDIN channel 11, the local PBS member station and flagship of the Iowa Public Television network, and KDMI channel 19, a TCT affiliate  Mediacom is the Des Moines area's cable television provider  Television sports listings for Des Moines and Iowa can be found on the Des Moines Register website 

Print
The Des Moines Register is the city's primary daily newspaper  As of March 31, 2007, the Register ranked 71st in circulation among daily newspapers in the United States according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations with 146,050 daily and 233,229 Sunday subscribers  Weekly newspapers include Juice, a publication aimed at the 25–34 demographic published by the Register on Wednesdays; Cityview, an alternative weekly published on Thursdays; and the Des Moines Business Record, a business journal published on Sundays, along with the West Des Moines Register, the Johnston Register, and the Waukee Register on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, or Thursdays depending on the address of the subscriber  Additionally, magazine publisher Meredith Corporation was based in Des Moines prior to its acquisition by IAC and merger with Dotdash in 2021 

Sports and recreation
Sports
Des Moines hosts professional minor league teams in several sports — baseball, basketball, hockey, indoor football, and soccer — and is home to the sports teams of Drake University which play in NCAA Division I 
The Des Moines Menace soccer club, a member of USL League Two, play their home games at Valley Stadium in West Des Moines 
Des Moines is home to the Iowa Cubs baseball team of the Triple-A East  The I-Cubs, which are the Triple-A affiliate of the major league Chicago Cubs, play their home games at Principal Park near the confluence of the Des Moines and Raccoon Rivers 
Wells Fargo Arena of the Iowa Events Center is home to the Iowa Barnstormers of the Indoor Football League, the Iowa Wild of the American Hockey League, and the Iowa Wolves of the NBA G League  The Barnstormers relaunched as an af2 club in 2008 before joining a relaunched Arena Football League in 2010 and the Indoor Football League in 2015; the Barnstormers had previously played in the Arena Football League from 1994 to 2000 (featuring future NFL Hall of Famer and Super Bowl MVP quarterback Kurt Warner) before relocating to New York  The Iowa Energy, a D-League team, began play in 2007  They were bought by the Minnesota Timberwolves in 2017 and were renamed the Iowa Wolves to reflect the new ownership  The Wild, the AHL affiliate of the National Hockey League's Minnesota Wild have played at Wells Fargo Arena since 2013; previously, the Iowa Chops played four seasons in Des Moines (known as the Iowa Stars for three of those seasons )
Additionally, the Des Moines Buccaneers of the United States Hockey League play at Buccaneer Arena in suburban Urbandale 
Des Moines is also home to the Drake University Bulldogs, an NCAA Division I member of the Missouri Valley Conference, primarily playing northwest of downtown at the on-campus Drake Stadium and Knapp Center  Drake Stadium is home to the famed Drake Relays each April  In addition to the Drake Relays, Drake Stadium has hosted multiple NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships and USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships The Vikings of Grand View University also compete in intercollegiate athletics in Des Moines  A member of the Heart of America Athletic Conference, within the NAIA, they field 21 varsity athletic teams  They were NAIA National Champions in football in 2013 
The Principal Charity Classic, a Champions Tour golf event, is held at Wakonda Club in late May or early June  The IMT Des Moines Marathon is held throughout the city each October 

Parks and recreation
Des Moines has 76 city parks and three golf courses, as well as three family aquatic centers, five community centers and three swimming pools  The city has 45 miles (72 km) of trails  The first major park was Greenwood Park  The park commissioners purchased the land on April 21, 1894 
The Principal Riverwalk is a riverwalk park district being constructed along the banks of the Des Moines River in the downtown  Primarily funded by the Principal Financial Group, the Riverwalk is a multi-year jointly funded project also funded by the city and state  Upon completion, it will feature a 1 2-mile (1 9 km) recreational trail connecting the east and west sides of downtown via two pedestrian bridges  A landscaped promenade along the street level is planned  The Riverwalk includes the downtown Brenton Skating Plaza, open from November through March 
Gray's Lake, part of the 167 acres (68 ha) of Gray's Lake Park, features a boat rental facility, fishing pier, floating boardwalks, and a park resource center  Located just south of the downtown, the centerpiece of the park is a lighted 1 9-mile (3 1 km) Kruidenier Trail, encircling it entirely 
From downtown Des Moines primarily along the east bank of the Des Moines River, the Neil Smith and John Pat Dorrian Trails are 28 2-mile (45 4 km) paved recreational trails that connect Gray's Lake northward to the east shore of Saylorville Lake, Big Creek State Park, and the recreational trails of Ankeny including the High Trestle Trail  These trails are near several recreational facilities including the Pete Crivaro Park, Principal Park, the Principal Riverwalk, the Greater Des Moines Botanical Garden, Union Park and its Heritage Carousel of Des Moines, Birdland Park and the Birdland Marina/Boatramp on the Des Moines River, Riverview Park, McHenry Park, and River Drive Park  Although outside of Des Moines, Jester Park has 1,834 acres (742 ha) of land along the western shore of Saylorville Lake and can be reached from the Neil Smith Trail over the Saylorville Dam 
Just west of Gray's Lake are the 1,500 acres (607 ha) of the Des Moines Water Works Park  The Water Works Park is along the banks of the Raccoon River immediately upstream from where the Raccoon River empties into the Des Moines River  The Des Moines Water Works Facility, which obtains the city's drinking water from the Raccoon River, is entirely within the Water Works Park  A bridge in the park crosses the Raccoon River  The Water Works Park recreational trails link to downtown Des Moines by travelling past Gray's Lake and back across the Raccoon River via either along the Meredith Trail near Principal Park, or along the Martin Luther King Jr  Parkway  The Water Works Park trails connect westward to Valley Junction and the recreational trails of the western suburbs: Windsor Heights, Urbandale, Clive, and Waukee  Also originating from Water Works Park, the Great Western Trail is an 18-mile (29 km) journey southward from Des Moines to Martensdale through the Willow Creek Golf Course, Orilla, and Cumming  Often, the location for summer music festivals and concerts, Water Works Park was the overnight campground for thousands of bicyclists on Tuesday, July 23, 2013, during RAGBRAI XLI 

Sister cities
The Greater Des Moines Sister City Commission, with members from the City of Des Moines and the suburbs of Cumming, Norwalk, Windsor Heights, Johnston, Urbandale, and Ankeny, maintains sister city relationships with:
 Kōfu, Japan (1958)
 Saint-Étienne, France (1985)
 Shijiazhuang, China (1985)
 Stavropol, Russia (1992)
 Pristina, Kosovo (2018) (Kosovo also opened Consulate in downtown Des Moines in 2015 – List of diplomatic missions of Kosovo)
 Catanzaro, Italy (2006)
 Kuala Terengganu, Malaysia (1987)

See also
List of people from Des Moines, Iowa
B-Bop's (1988)
Moingona
Des Moines Police Department
USS Des Moines, 3 ships
Des Moines-class cruiser

Notes
Passage 3:
The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid
The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid is a 2006 memoir by best-selling travel writer Bill Bryson  The book delves into Bryson's past, telling of his youth growing up in Des Moines, Iowa, during the 1950s and early 1960s  It also reveals the backstory between himself and Stephen Katz, who appeared in A Walk in the Woods and "Neither Here Nor There: Travels in Europe " Bryson also describes and comments on American life in the 1950s  The title of the book comes from an imaginary alter-ego Bryson invented for himself in his childhood, who has the ability to vaporise people The book was released on September 1, 2006, in the United Kingdom, where it was published by Doubleday  In the United States and Canada, the book was launched on  October 17, 2006, and was published by Broadway Books and Doubleday Canada respectively 

Plot
Bryson was born on December 8, 1951  He spent his childhood growing up in Des Moines, Iowa, part of the baby-boom generation born in the post-war years  He describes his early life and his parents, Bill Sr  and Mary Bryson  His father was a well-known sports writer for The Des Moines Register, the leading newspaper in Des Moines  His mother was also a writer for the Register, she also wrote for magazines like Better Homes and Gardens, Good Housekeeping, and House Beautiful 
He recounts many things that were invented during his childhood that fascinated him, which include frozen dinners, atomic toilets, and television  His middle-class, all-American lifestyle is shown constantly throughout the book, and the influence of his depression-era raised parents rubs off on him  He also remembers his adventures as "the Thunderbolt Kid," an alter ego he made up for himself when he felt powerless  He was able to vaporize people with his heat vision and thought that he came from another planet  He tells amusing stories of his misadventures as Billy Bryson, including his first days in school when he figured out that when the entire class was running drills to protect themselves from a bomb, he would simply read comic books instead  However, when the principal and a police officer came in one day to supervise, he got in trouble  Trouble was something fairly common for "the Thunderbolt Kid", as throughout his childhood his teachers were unamused by his activities  In fact, Bryson recounts how he really was uninterested in getting up before noon, thus not even going to school very often  Despite his unique behavior, Bryson tells his story through the eyes of a child, filled with hilarious observations about the world — from "Lumpy" Kowalski's curious nickname to the joy that was to be had in the department stores 
Though Bryson focuses mostly on his childhood, he tells of many of the events that were happening at the time, including the development of the atomic bomb, and the beginnings of the civil rights movement  He tells of his first days in junior high and high school, and during both he began smoking, drinking, and stealing, although he didn’t get caught for any of it  He met Stephen Katz in junior high school, when they were both in the school's audio-visual club  Katz would accompany Bryson on many of his travel experiences  At the end of the book, Bryson tells the reader that "life moves on", and that he wishes that the world could be more similar to life in the 1950s and 1960s  The last lines of the book are, "What a wonderful world that would be  What a wonderful world it was  We won’t see its like again, I'm afraid "

Reception
The book received mostly positive reviews from critics  Carole Cadwalladr of The Observer wrote "What Bryson has achieved with this book is final confirmation that he is the Frank Capra of American letters", and later added "And it really is a wonderful life to be immersed in the American Midwest in the Fifties with Bill as your tour guide [   ] Bryson has to pad his tale with other stuff  And it's the other stuff at which he excels " 
Ian Sansom of The Guardian stated "He has a natural-seeming style in which he doesn't so much tell jokes as let his sentences stretch out and relax into feet-up, contented good humour " and "Bryson's descriptions of 50s Des Moines [   ] makes you wish that you could emigrate, become a child, get a flat-top haircut and some long-laced baseball boots, and sneak in and take up residence unnoticed with little Billy Bryson in his parents' household " The only complaint Tom Fort of The Daily Telegraph made about the autobiography was that "His handicap is that he is entirely free of the malice, the appetite for smut, scandal and unpleasantness — above all, the narcissism — absolutely essential to the form "The book has a 73/100 rating at the website Metacritic, earning it the rank of "Generally favorable reviews" 

Editions
ISBN 0-7679-1936-X (US hardcover, 2006)
ISBN 0-385-60826-8 (UK hardcover, 2006)
ISBN 0-385-66161-4 (CDN hardcover, 2006)
ISBN 0-7679-1937-8 (US paperback, 2007)
ISBN 978-0-552-77254-9 (UK paperback, 2007)
ISBN 0-385-66162-2 (CDN paperback, 2007)
ISBN 0-7393-1523-4 (US audiobook, 2006)
ISBN 978-0-552-15365-2 (UK audiobook, 2006)
Passage 4:
Bill Bryson's African Diary
Bill Bryson's African Diary is a 2002 book by bestselling travel writer Bill Bryson  The book details a trip Bryson took to Kenya in 2002  Bryson describes his experiences there and observations about Kenyan culture, geography, and politics, as well as his visits to poverty-fighting projects run by CARE International, to which he donated all royalties for the book 

Reception
In a review published in the Guardian Lionel Shriver was critical of the book's length, describing it as "less a book than a pamphlet"   Shriver also disliked the book's tone, "a po-faced, gee-whizz sincerity ill-suited to a writer who has made his reputation for being light and wry (and even snide) in droll travel books "
Passage 5:
Notes from a Big Country
Notes from a Big Country, or as it was released in the United States, I'm a Stranger Here Myself, is a collection of articles written by Bill Bryson for The Mail on Sunday's Night and Day supplement during the 1990s, published together first in Britain in 1998 and in paperback in 1999  The book discusses Bryson's views on relocating to Hanover, New Hampshire, after spending two decades in Britain 
The American and British editions are not quite identical as, besides spelling differences, some explanatory information suitable for each intended audience is added or omitted within individual articles  This is freely acknowledged in the introduction 

Content
The book contains articles which Bryson wrote for the Mail between 1996 and 1998  He discusses a multitude of topics in the articles such as the death penalty, the war on drugs, gardening, commercials, book tours, inefficiency, Thanksgiving, and air travel 
Passage 6:
Michael Bryson
Michael G  Bryson (August 22, 1942 – May 22, 2012) was a news and sports reporter and editor from Des Moines, Iowa and the elder brother of travel writer Bill Bryson  He co-authored a book The Babe Didn't Point: And Other Stories About Iowans and Sports with his son Michael G  Bryson Jr in 1989  He wrote The Twenty-Four-Inch Home Run in 1990 
Bryson was an editor and associate publisher of the Sun Press Newspapers in Hawaii from 1979 to 1986  He covered the New York Mets in 1969 while a sports reporter for the Associated Press  He was a news reporter for the Des Moines Register and Tribune from 1970 to 1979  He attended Drake University 
Passage 7:
The Lost Continent: Travels in Small-Town America
The Lost Continent: Travels in Small-Town America is a book by travel writer Bill Bryson, chronicling his 13,978-mile trip around the United States in the autumn of 1987 and spring 1988   It was Bryson's first travel book He begins his journey, made almost entirely by car, in his childhood hometown of Des Moines, Iowa, heading from there towards the Mississippi River, often reminiscing about his childhood in Iowa  The journey was made after his father's death, and so is in part a collection of memories of his father in Des Moines while he was growing up 
The book is split into two sections: 'East' and 'West', the former part being considerably longer than the latter  These sections correspond to two separate journeys made in the autumn of 1987 and spring of 1988  The first section covers the Midwest, the Deep South, the East Coast and New England, before returning to Des Moines  The second section focuses on the Great Plains, the South West, California and the Rocky Mountains 
Bryson's goal in this trip was generally to avoid tourist destinations, instead choosing to experience the real every-day America, stopping at small towns and forgotten points of interest  This book is an overview of the United States from Bryson's point of view  There is less focus on factual insight into the history, geography and culture of the destinations in this book than is found in some of Bryson's later books, focusing instead on observations made with the intention of being humorous 

Bibliography
Bryson, Bill (1989): The Lost Continent: Travels in Small-Town America  London: Secker 

See also
Americana
Passage 8:
The Mother Tongue
The Mother Tongue is a 1990 book by Bill Bryson which compiles the history and origins of the English language and its various quirks  It is subtitled English And How It Got That Way  The book discusses the Indo-European origins of English, the growing status of English as a global language, the complex etymology of English words, the dialects of English, spelling reform, prescriptive grammar, and other topics including swearing  This account popularises the subject and makes it accessible to the lay reader, but it has been criticised for some inaccuracies, such as the perpetuation of several urban myths This book has also been published in the UK by Penguin Books under the title Mother Tongue: The English Language 
Bryson has since followed up this work with Made in America 
Passage 9:
Bill Bryson Sr 
William Eugene Bryson Sr  (March 3, 1915 – January 31, 1986) was an American sportswriter who wrote for The Des Moines Register from 1937 until his retirement in 1978  He covered 32 consecutive World Series 

Early life
Bryson was born and raised in Winfield, Iowa 

Career
Bryson began his career as a reporter for the Winfield Beacon, his hometown newspaper 
Bryson Sr  has been called "one of the finest sportswriters in the country and widely recognized as such " As his son Bill describes in The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid, due to the quality of Bryson Sr 's work, one prominent television sports journalist thought of him as being "possibly the greatest baseball writer there ever was " He contributed to Baseball Digest and many other publications 
The Babe Didn't Point: And Other Stories About Iowans and Sports, a book of some of his best sports stories, was published by his son Michael 

Personal life and death
Bryson married Mary Agnes McGuire (1913-2015), an editor for The Des Moines Register : 6  They had three children: Michael (who also became a sports journalist), Bill Jr  (who also became a journalist and a writer), and Mary Elizabeth  Bryson died of an apparent heart attack, on January 31, 1986, at his home in Des Moines, Iowa Bryson's son, Bill Jr , the renowned writer, published a loving tribute to his father in 2001 which described how Bryson had conducted what was probably  the very last interview with Babe Ruth, just a month before the legendary New York Yankee died in August 1948  The profile also includes the praise of Bryson noted above by a former NBC News president, who had said he "may have been the best baseball writer ever, anywhere "
Passage 10:
Down Under (book)
Down Under is the British title of a 2000 travelogue book about Australia written by best-selling travel writer Bill Bryson  In the United States and Canada it was published titled In a Sunburned Country, a title taken from the famous Australian poem, "My Country"  It was also published as part of Walk About, which included Down Under and another of Bryson's books, A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail, in one volume 

Summary
Bill Bryson describes his travels by railway and car throughout Australia, his conversations with people in all walks of life about the history, geography, unusual plants and animals of the country, and his wry impressions of the life, culture and amenities (or lack thereof) in each locality 
In a style similar to his book A Walk in the Woods, or William Least Heat-Moon's Blue Highways, Bryson's research enabled him to include many stories about Australia's 19th-century explorers and settlers who suffered extreme deprivations, as well as details about its natural resources, culture, and economy  His writings are intertwined with recurring humorous themes 

Synopsis
The book consists of three parts:
1  Into the Outback
The first part of the book mainly describes the journey taken by Bryson aboard the Indian Pacific from Sydney to Perth  He is accompanied on this journey by a young English photographer named Trevor Ray Hart  The author describes his experiences on the train, the places the train passes through on its way to Perth such as the Blue Mountains and White Cliffs  The author also supplies plenty of humor in the form of historical accounts of early explorers and settlers of Australia 

2  Civilized Australia (The Boomerang Coast)
This section of the book starts off with historical accounts from the time when Australia was discovered and goes on to illustrate how the Australians built a dynamic and prosperous society from a modest and unpropitious beginning  The rest of this section is devoted to the author's account of what he considers to be Civilized Australia, with accounts of Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Canberra, the Gold Coast, Surfers Paradise, and many countryside towns in between 
3  Around the Edges
This part of the journey covers the Great Barrier Reef, the cities of Cairns, Darwin, and Alice Springs, and the mighty monolithic rock Uluru   Later Bryson visits Perth and the Shark Bay area of Western Australia 



ground_truth: Lord Gort