He was elected, as first write-in candidate for major national office, to the Senate in 1954. He was reelected for his first full term in 1956 and served until January 2003. He was originally a Democrat, but in 1964 he openly supported Barry Goldwater's presidential bid and became a Republican.
As the longest serving Republican he was President pro tempore of the United States Senate for three occasions (1981-1987, 1995-2001, and January 2001-June 2001), when Republican gained a majority. After Democrats took over the control of the Senate in June 2001 Thurmond became first honorary "president pro tempore emeritus".
Thurmond turned 100 years old on December 5, 2002, while still in office, the oldest person ever to serve in the U.S. Senate.
Started his career as opponent of racial integration, in his later years Thurmond supported desegregation.
His longtime Senate rival, Robert Byrd of West Virginia surpassed Thurmond's record of length of senatorial service in 2006. Byrd died in 2010.
After Thurmond's death in 2003, an attorney for his family confirmed that in 1925, when he was 22, Thurmond fathered a mixed-race daughter, Essie Mae Washington-Williams, with his family's housekeeper, Cassie Butler, then 16 years old. Thurmond paid for the girl's college education and provided other support. Washington-Williams died in February 2013 at the age of 87.
Thurmond died in his sleep on June 26, 2003, at 9:45 p.m. of heart failure at a hospital in Edgefield, South Carolina. He was 100 years old. Then-Senator Joe Biden delivered a eulogy, and later to the family burial plot in Willowbrook Cemetery in Edgefield, where he was buried.
Roman Forum
The Roman Forum is an area of the city of Rome which the ancient city developed around. It is the place where commerce, business, cult, and the administration of justice took place.
It was for centuries the centre of Roman public life. It was the site of triumphal processions and elections; the venue for public speeches, criminal trials, and gladiatorial matches. It was also the heart of commerce. Here statues and monuments mark the city's great men. It has been called the most celebrated meeting place in the world, and in all history.
The Forum is in the small valley between the Palatine and Capitoline Hills. Today it is a sprawling ruin of architectural fragments and excavations. It has 4.5 million sightseers each year.
The Roman Forum is famous for the number of buildings and other ancient ruins that it contains. These include:
Playwright
A playwright is a person who writes plays for the stage. Because the name of such a text is "drama", another word for this person is dramatist. Sometimes, dramas are written to be read and not played. In that case, they are called "closet dramas".
The word "wright" does not come from write. It is an ancient English term for a builder. For example, a "wheelwright" makes wheels. In a similar way, a playwright makes plays. When the term was first used, it was meant as an insult. Today it has lost this meaning.
The first playwrights in Western literature whose plays still exist were the Ancient Greeks. They were written around the 5th century BC. These playwrights are important as they wrote in a way that is still used by modern playwrights. Important among them are Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, and Aristophanes.
The most famous playwright may be William Shakespeare. A lot of later work is based on his tragedies and comedies. For example, "Kiss Me, Kate" is based on Shakespeare's "The Taming of the Shrew", and his "Romeo and Juliet" has been made again many times. Tom Stoppard created the play "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead" in 1966 which is a modern adaptation of "Hamlet".
Modern playwrights are usually less famous than past playwrights. Since television and movies were invented, theater has become less popular. Because it is less popular, not as many tickets are sold now, and producers often do not have enough money to make plays, and many playwrights are not known.
Iambe
Iambe was the goddess of rhyme and merriment in Greek mythology. She was the daughter of Pan and Echo.
Iambe is said to have created the iambic pentameter verse pattern in poetry. This is a metered verse with two different sounds, and it was named after Iambe. The iambic pentameter verse is used by many poets, one of which is William Shakespeare.
In the myth, Demeter, was sad about losing her daughter, Persephone. It was only Iambe who was able to make Demeter laugh. She did this by using poetry and wit to cheer Demeter up. When Demeter was not sad any more, the earth became fertile again. Iambe then became Demeter's first priestess.
Triangle (instrument)
The triangle is a musical instrument with three sides and curved corners. There is always one corner where the sides do not join. This makes it possible for the instrument to vibrate.
The player holds a small piece of string or leather from which the triangle is hanging, and he makes a sound by hitting the triangle with a triangle beater. In orchestras, where the percussionist may be playing several percussion instruments, the triangle may hang from a stand so that the player can move quickly to another instrument.
Triangles come in different sizes. Smaller ones will sound higher than larger ones.
The triangle can always be heard clearly above the sound of the orchestra or band.
Speaker
Speaker could mean:
Bernie Little
Bernie Little ("born" in McComb, Ohio on circa 1926 - "died" April 25, 2003) was the most successful owner in Unlimited Hydroplane racing history. His "Miss Budweiser" team won 134 of the 354 hydroplane races they entered. They won the high points championship 22 years in 40 years of competition, and the Gold Cup 14 times.
Little's team is also known for making an enclosed driver's seat to improve driver safety, after driver Dean Chenoweth was killed in a crash during a race in 1982.
His team employed some of the biggest names in their field, including designer Ron Jones, and driver Chip Hanauer who won more Gold Cup races than any other driver. He is second only to Bill Muncey in total races won.
Little has been inducted into the Unlimited Hydroplane Hall of Fame, the Florida Sports Hall of Fame, and the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America. Chenoweth, Hanauer, and another driver for Little, Tom D'Eath, are also in the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America.
Perseus
Perseus () is a hero in Greek mythology. He is the legendary founder of Mycenae and is most famous for killing the Gorgon Medusa. He is a demigod, the son of Zeus and the mortal princess Danaë. With his wife, the Ethiopian princess Andromeda, his children are the sons Perses, Alkaios, Sthenelos, Elektryon, and the daughter Gorgophone. Perseus is also the great-grandfather of Herakles, as well as his half-brother.
King Akrisios of Argos was told by an oracle that he would be killed by his grandchild. Because of that he put his daughter Danaë in a tower where no one was allowed to enter, so she could not have a child. But the god Zeus could enter in the form of a golden rain, and with him her child was Perseus.
Akrisios then put Danaë and her baby Perseus in a box and threw it into the sea. But Zeus tells the sea-god Poseidon to help them, and so Danaë and her son come to the island Seriphos. There they are found by Diktys, who lets them live with him.
A long time after that, the grown up Perseus takes part in some funeral games. During the games Perseus throws a discus, which accidentally hits Akrisios. Akrisios is killed by it: he was killed by his grandchild, like the oracle's prophecy said.