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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schenectady_Blue_Jays | Schenectady Blue Jays | The Schenectady Blue Jays were an American minor league baseball franchise based in Schenectady, New York, for 12 consecutive seasons, 1946–57. They played as a member of the Class C Can–Am League through 1950, and the Class A Eastern League thereafter. The Blue Jays were affiliated with Major League Baseball's Philadelphia Phillies and played at McNearney Stadium from the middle of 1946 through their final season.
== Franchise history ==
The Blue Jays were founded at the beginning of the post-World War II boom in minor league baseball. Schenectady had previously been represented by a team in the Negro leagues, the Mohawk Giants (1913–1914), and by the Schenectady Dorpians, Schenectady Electricians and Schenectady Frog Alleys teams of the New York State League (1895–1904) and the Eastern Association (1909).
The Phillies, purchased during the war by the R. R. M. Carpenter family, began to build out their farm system in 1946 and added Schenectady to their roster of affiliates. The nickname Blue Jays became the Phillies' secondary moniker before the start of the 1944 season and was common to at least two other Philadelphia farm teams, the Class C Salina Blue Jays and Class D Green Bay Blue Jays. The 1946 Schenectady Jays finished seventh in the eight-team Can-Am League. But the 1947 edition, managed by Leon Riley, father of future National Basketball Association player, coach and executive Pat Riley, won the league pennant by 13 games and the playoff championship; it drew over 146,000 fans, almost 60,000 more than the second-most-popular Can-Am League team.
After the 1950 season, the Phillies replaced their Eastern League affiliate, the Utica Blue Sox, with the Schenectady Blue Jays, who moved up two levels to Class A, which was then almost equivalent to today's Double-A ranking. Schenectady won the Eastern League championship in 1956 and finished a strong second in 1957, but attendance had fallen to below 60,000 and the Phillies transferred their affiliation to the Williamsport Grays for 1958, thus ending the Blue Jays' 12-year lifespan.
== Year-by-year record ==
== Notable alumni == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Potter_and_the_Deathly_Hallows | Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows | Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is a fantasy novel by British author J. K. Rowling. It is the seventh and final novel in the Harry Potter series. It was released on 21 July 2007 in the United Kingdom by Bloomsbury Publishing, in the United States by Scholastic, and in Canada by Raincoast Books. The novel chronicles the events directly following Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2005) and the final confrontation between the two wizards Harry Potter and Lord Voldemort.
Deathly Hallows shattered sales records upon release, surpassing marks set by previous titles of the Harry Potter series. It holds the Guinness World Record for most novels sold within 24 hours of release, with 8.3 million sold in the US and 2.65 million in the UK. Reception to the book was generally positive, and the American Library Association named it a "Best Book for Young Adults". A film adaptation of the novel was released in two parts: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 in November 2010 and Part 2 in July 2011.
== Plot ==
The young wizard Harry Potter is about to turn seventeen. While being escorted to The Burrow by members of the Order of the Phoenix, the group is attacked by Death Eaters, who kill "Mad-Eye" Moody and injure George Weasley. Lord Voldemort attempts to kill Harry but fails.
Harry and his friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger begin searching for Voldemort's four remaining Horcruxes. They learn that the locket Horcrux is in the possession of Dolores Umbridge at the Ministry of Magic. Harry and his friends infiltrate the Ministry and steal the locket from Umbridge, but are unable to destroy it. The locket's Dark magic affects Ron, who abandons Harry and Hermione. In Godric's Hollow, Harry and Hermione are attacked by Voldemort's snake Nagini, but manage to escape. One night, a Patronus guides Harry to a pond containing the Sword of Gryffindor. When he tries to recover it, the locket tightens around his neck, nearly drowning him. Ron returns and saves Harry, then destroys the Horcrux with the sword.
The three friends visit Xenophilius Lovegood, who tells them of the mythical objects known as the Deathly Hallows: the Elder Wand, the Resurrection Stone, and the Cloak of Invisibility. Xenophilius then alerts the Ministry of Magic to the presence of the trio in his home, and Harry and his friends flee. Soon after, they are captured by bounty hunters known as Snatchers, and are imprisoned in Malfoy Manor. Harry and Ron are thrown into the cellar with Dean Thomas, Luna Lovegood, Mr Ollivander, and Griphook the goblin, while the Death Eater Bellatrix Lestrange tortures Hermione. The house-elf Dobby helps the prisoners escape, but is killed in the process.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione break into Gringotts Bank and retrieve a Horcrux. Harry has visions which inform him that another Horcrux is hidden at Hogwarts. After the trio enters the school with the help of Aberforth Dumbledore, Voldemort prepares to assault the castle. As the Death Eaters enter the school and fight the professors and students, Ron and Hermione destroy the Horcrux from Gringotts. They then accompany Harry to the Room of Requirement, where they discover the next Horcrux, which is the Diadem of Ravenclaw. Draco Malfoy and his friends Crabbe and Goyle ambush them, and Crabbe casts a fire spell which grows out of control, killing him and destroying the Horcrux.
After stealing the Elder Wand from Albus Dumbledore's tomb, Voldemort is unable to make it obey him. Believing that Severus Snape is the master of the wand, Voldemort uses Nagini to mortally wound him. Before dying, Snape passes his memories to Harry, who views them in the Pensieve. The memories reveal that Snape loved Harry's mother, and acted as a double agent against Voldemort in an attempt to protect her. The memories also reveal that Dumbledore planned his own death at the hands of Snape so that Snape could gain Voldemort's trust, and that Harry himself became a Horcrux when Voldemort first tried to kill him. Now, Harry realizes he must die to render Voldemort mortal. On his way to surrender himself to Voldemort, Harry instructs Neville Longbottom to destroy Nagini.
Voldemort casts the Killing Curse on Harry, who then awakens in a dreamlike place. He is greeted by Dumbledore, who explains that the curse destroyed the fragment of Voldemort's soul inside Harry, and that Harry can now return to life. Harry subsequently regains consciousness and pretends to be dead. Voldemort orders Hagrid to carry Harry's body back to Hogwarts, and demands that the professors and students surrender; however, Neville pulls the Sword of Gryffindor from the Sorting Hat and kills Nagini. The battle resumes, during which Molly Weasley kills Bellatrix. Harry reveals himself to be alive and duels with Voldemort, who casts another Killing Curse. However, The Elder Wand refuses to kill Harry because he is its true master. Voldemort's spell rebounds and kills him.
In the novel's epilogue, set nineteen years later, Harry and his friends see their children off to Hogwarts. Harry and Ginny, now married, have three children: James Sirius, Albus Severus, and Lily Luna. Ron and Hermione have a daughter named Rose and a son named Hugo.
== Background ==
=== Series ===
The first novel in the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, was published by Bloomsbury Publishing in 1997. It was followed by Chamber of Secrets (1998), Prisoner of Azkaban (1999), Goblet of Fire (2000), Order of the Phoenix (2003) and Half-Blood Prince (2005).
=== Title ===
The title of the novel refers to three mythical objects featured in the story, which are collectively known as the "Deathly Hallows". Rowling announced the title in December 2006 through a Christmas-themed hangman puzzle on her website. Other titles that Rowling considered were Harry Potter and the Elder Wand and Harry Potter and the Peverell Quest.
=== Writing ===
J. K. Rowling completed the novel in January 2007 while staying at the Balmoral Hotel in Edinburgh. In a statement on her website, she said, "I've never felt such a mixture of extreme emotions in my life, never dreamed I could feel simultaneously heartbroken and euphoric." She compared her mixed feelings to those expressed by Charles Dickens in the preface of the 1850 edition of David Copperfield, "a two-years' imaginative task". "To which," she added, "I can only sigh, try seventeen years, Charles". She ended her message by saying "Deathly Hallows is my favourite, and that is the most wonderful way to finish the series".
When asked before publication about the forthcoming book, Rowling stated that she could not change the ending even if she wanted. "These books have been plotted for such a long time, and for six books now, that they're all leading a certain direction. So, I really can't". She also commented that the final volume related closely to the previous book in the series, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, "almost as though they are two-halves of the same novel". She said the last chapter of Deathly Hallows was written around 1990 as part of her earliest work on the series. She also revealed that the last sentence was originally something akin to "Only those who he loved could see his lightning scar". She changed the sentence to "All was well" because she wanted it to be clear that Harry Potter had triumphed over Lord Voldemort and that he would not have to face him again.
== Release ==
=== Marketing and promotion ===
The launch of Deathly Hallows was celebrated by an all-night book signing and reading by Rowling at the Natural History Museum in London. The 1,700 guests in attendance were chosen by ballot. Rowling toured the United States in October 2007, where another event was held at Carnegie Hall in New York City with tickets allocated by sweepstake. Scholastic, the American publisher of the Harry Potter series, launched a multimillion-dollar "There will soon be 7" marketing campaign with a Knight Bus travelling to 40 libraries across the United States, online fan discussions and competitions, collectible bookmarks, tattoos, and the staged release of seven Deathly Hallows questions most debated by fans.
Rowling arranged with her publishers for a poster bearing the face of the missing British child Madeleine McCann to be made available to book sellers when Deathly Hallows was launched on 21 July 2007, and said that she hoped that the posters would be displayed prominently in shops all over the world. After it was announced that the novel would be released on 21 July 2007, Warner Bros. stated that the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix would be released on 13 July. In response, fans proclaimed July 2007 as the month of Harry Potter.
=== Spoiler embargo ===
Bloomsbury invested £10 million in an attempt to keep the book's contents secure until 21 July, the release date. Arthur Levine, US editor of the Harry Potter series, denied distributing any copies of Deathly Hallows in advance for press review, but two US papers published early reviews anyway. There was speculation that some shops would break the embargo and distribute copies of the book early, as the penalty imposed for previous instalments—that the distributor would not be supplied with any further copies of the series—would no longer be a deterrent.
=== Online leaks and early delivery ===
In the week before its release, a number of texts purporting to be genuine leaks appeared in various forms. On 16 July, a set of photographs representing all 759 pages of the US edition was leaked and was fully transcribed prior to the official release date. The photographs later appeared on websites and peer-to-peer networks, leading Scholastic to seek a subpoena in order to identify one source. This represented the most serious security breach in the Harry Potter series' history. Rowling and her lawyer confirmed that there were genuine online leaks. Reviews published in both The Baltimore Sun and The New York Times on 18 July 2007, corroborated many of the plot elements from this leak, and about one day prior to release, The New York Times confirmed that the main circulating leak was real.
Scholastic announced that approximately one-ten-thousandth (0.0001) of the US supply had been shipped early — interpreted to mean about 1,200 copies. One reader in Maryland received a copy of the book in the mail from DeepDiscount.com four days before it was launched, which evoked incredulous responses from both Scholastic and DeepDiscount. Scholastic initially reported that they were satisfied it had been a "human error" and would not discuss possible penalties; however, the following day Scholastic announced that it would be launching legal action against DeepDiscount.com and its distributor, Levy Home Entertainment. Scholastic filed for damages in Chicago's Circuit Court of Cook County, claiming that DeepDiscount engaged in a "complete and flagrant violation of the agreements that they knew were part of the carefully constructed release of this eagerly awaited book." Some of the early-release books soon appeared on eBay, in one case being sold to Publishers Weekly for US$250 from an initial price of US$18.
=== Price wars and other controversies ===
Asda, along with several other UK supermarkets, having already taken pre-orders for the book at a heavily discounted price, sparked a price war two days before the book's launch by announcing they would sell it for just £5 a copy. Other retail chains then also offered the book at discounted prices. At these prices the book became a loss leader. This caused uproar from traditional UK booksellers who argued they had no hope of competing in those conditions. Independent shops protested loudest, but even Waterstone's, the UK's largest dedicated chain bookstore, could not compete with the supermarket price. Some small bookstores hit back by buying their stock from the supermarkets rather than their wholesalers. Asda attempted to counter this by imposing a limit of two copies per customer to prevent bulk purchases. Philip Wicks, a spokesman for the UK Booksellers Association, said, "It is a war we can't even participate in. We think it's a crying shame that the supermarkets have decided to treat it as a loss-leader, like a can of baked beans." Michael Norris, an analyst at Simba Information, said: "You are not only lowering the price of the book. At this point, you are lowering the value of reading."
In Malaysia, a similar price war caused controversy regarding sales of the book. Four of the biggest bookstore chains in Malaysia, MPH Bookstores, Popular Bookstores, Times and Harris, decided to pull Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows off their shelves as a protest against Tesco and Carrefour hypermarkets. The retail price of the book in Malaysia was MYR 109.90, while the hypermarkets Tesco and Carrefour sold the book at MYR 69.90. The move by the bookstores was seen as an attempt to pressure the distributor Penguin Books to remove the books from the hypermarkets. However, as of 24 July 2007, the price war had ended, with the four bookstores involved resuming selling the books in their stores with discount. Penguin Books has also confirmed that Tesco and Carrefour were selling the book at a loss, urging them to practise good business sense and fair trade. The book's early Saturday morning release in Israel was criticised for violating Shabbat. Trade and Industry Minister Eli Yishai commented "It is forbidden, according to Jewish values and Jewish culture, that a thing like this should take place at 2 am on Saturday. Let them do it on another day." Yishai indicated that he would issue indictments and fines based on the Hours of Work and Rest Law.
=== Editions ===
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was released in hardcover on 21 July 2007 and in paperback in the United Kingdom on 10 July 2008 and the United States on 7 July 2009. In SoHo, New York, there was a release party for the American paperback edition, with many games and activities. An "Adult Edition" with a different cover illustration was released by Bloomsbury on 21 July 2007. To be released simultaneously with the original US hardcover on 21 July with only 100,000 copies was a Scholastic deluxe edition, highlighting a new cover illustration by Mary GrandPré. In October 2010, Bloomsbury released a "Celebratory" paperback edition, which featured a foiled and starred cover. Lastly, on 1 November 2010, a "Signature" edition of the novel was released in paperback by Bloomsbury.
=== Translations ===
As with previous books in the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows has been translated into many languages. The first translation to be released was the Ukrainian translation, on 25 September 2007 (as Гаррі Поттер і смертельні реліквії – Harry Potter i smertel'ni relikviji). The Swedish title of the book was revealed by Rowling as Harry Potter and the Relics of Death (Harry Potter och Dödsrelikerna), following a pre-release question from the Swedish publisher about the difficulty of translating the two words "Deathly Hallows" without having read the book. This is also the title used for the French translation (Harry Potter et les reliques de la mort), the Spanish translation (Harry Potter y las Reliquias de la Muerte), the Dutch translation (Harry Potter en de Relieken van de Dood), the Serbian translation (Хари Потер и реликвије смрти – Hari Poter i relikvije smrti) and the Brazilian Portuguese translation (Harry Potter e as Relíquias da Morte). The first Polish translation was released with a new title: Harry Potter i Insygnia Śmierci – Harry Potter and the Insignia of Death. The Hindi translation Harry Potter aur Maut ke Tohfe (हैरी पॉटर और मौत के तोहफे), which means "Harry Potter and the Gifts of Death", was released by Manjul Publication in India on 27 June 2008. The Romanian version was released on 1 December 2007 using the title (Harry Potter și Talismanele Morții).
== Reception ==
=== Critical response ===
The Baltimore Sun's critic, Mary Carole McCauley, noted that the book was more serious than the previous novels in the series and had more straightforward prose. Furthermore, reviewer Alice Fordham from The Times wrote that "Rowling's genius is not just her total realisation of a fantasy world, but the quieter skill of creating characters that bounce off the page, real and flawed and brave and lovable". Fordham concluded, "We have been a long way together, and neither Rowling nor Harry let us down in the end". The New York Times writer Michiko Kakutani agreed, praising Rowling's ability to make Harry both a hero and a character that can be related to.
Time magazine's Lev Grossman named it one of the Top 10 Fiction Books of 2007, ranking it at No. 8, and praised Rowling for proving that books can still be a global mass medium. Novelist Elizabeth Hand criticised that "... the spectacularly complex interplay of narrative and character often reads as though an entire trilogy's worth of summing-up has been crammed into one volume." In a starred review from Kirkus Reviews, the reviewer said, "Rowling has shown uncommon skill in playing them with and against each other, and also woven them into a darn good bildungsroman, populated by memorable characters and infused with a saving, irrepressible sense of fun". They also praised the second half of the novel, but criticised the epilogue, calling it "provocatively sketchy". In another review from The Times, reviewer Amanda Craig said that while Rowling was "not an original, high-concept author", she was "right up there with other greats of children's fiction". Craig went on to say that the novel was "beautifully judged, and a triumphant return to form", and that Rowling's imagination changed the perception of an entire generation, which "is more than all but a handful of living authors, in any genre, have achieved in the past half-century".
In contrast, Jenny Sawyer of The Christian Science Monitor said: "There is much to love about the Harry Potter series, from its brilliantly realised magical world to its multilayered narrative ... A story is about someone who changes. And, puberty aside, Harry doesn't change much. As envisioned by Rowling, he walks the path of good so unwaveringly that his final victory over Voldemort feels, not just inevitable, but hollow." In The New York Times, Christopher Hitchens compared the series to World War Two-era English boarding school stories, and while he wrote that "Rowling has won imperishable renown" for the series as a whole, he also stated that he disliked Rowling's use of deus ex machina, that the mid-book camping chapters are "abysmally long", and Voldemort "becomes more tiresome than an Ian Fleming villain". Catherine Bennett of The Guardian praised Rowling for putting small details from the previous books and making them large in Deathly Hallows, such as Grindelwald being mentioned on a Chocolate Frog Card in the first book. While she points out "as her critics say, Rowling is no Dickens", she says that Rowling "has willed into a fictional being, in every book, legions of new characters, places, spells, rules and scores of unimagined twists and subplots".
Stephen King criticised the reactions of some reviewers to the books, including McCauley, for jumping too quickly to surface conclusions of the work. He felt this was inevitable, because of the extreme secrecy before launch which did not allow reviewers time to read and consider the book, but meant that many early reviews lacked depth. Rather than finding the writing style disappointing, he felt it had matured and improved. He acknowledged that the subject matter of the books had become more adult, and that Rowling had clearly been writing with the adult audience firmly in mind since the middle of the series. He compared the works in this respect to Huckleberry Finn and Alice in Wonderland which achieved success and have become established classics, in part by appealing to the adult audience as well as children.
=== Sales ===
Sales for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows were record-setting. The initial US print run for Deathly Hallows was 12 million copies, and more than a million were pre-ordered through Amazon and Barnes & Noble, 500 per cent higher than pre-sales had been for Half-Blood Prince. On 12 April 2007, Barnes & Noble declared that Deathly Hallows had broken its pre-order record, with more than 500,000 copies pre-ordered through its site. On opening day, a record 8.3 million copies were sold in the United States (over 96 per second), and 2.65 million copies in the United Kingdom. It holds the Guinness World record for fastest selling book of fiction in 24 hours for US sales. At WH Smith, sales reportedly reached a rate of 15 books sold per second. By June 2008, nearly a year after it was published, worldwide sales were reportedly around 44 million.
=== Awards and honours ===
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows has won several awards. In 2007, the book was named one of The New York Times 100 Notable Books, and one of its Notable Children's Books. The novel was named the best book of 2007, by Newsweek's critic Malcolm Jones. Publishers Weekly also listed Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows among their Best Books of 2007. Also in 2007 the book received the Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy at the Nebula Awards. In 2008, the American Library Association named the novel one of its Best Books for Young Adults, and also listed it as a Notable Children's Book. Furthermore, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows received the 2008 Colorado Blue Spruce Book Award.
== Themes ==
=== Death ===
In a 2006 interview, Rowling said that the main theme of the series is Harry dealing with death, which was influenced by her mother's death in 1990. Lev Grossman of Time asserted that the main theme of the series is the importance of continuing to love in the face of death.
=== Living in a corrupted society ===
Academics and journalists have developed many other interpretations of themes in the books, some more complex than others, and some including political subtexts. Themes such as normality, oppression, survival, and overcoming imposing odds have all been considered as prevalent throughout the series. Similarly, the theme of making one's way through adolescence and "going over one's most harrowing ordeals—and thus coming to terms with them" has also been considered. Rowling has stated that the books comprise "a prolonged argument for tolerance, a prolonged plea for an end to bigotry" and that also pass on a message to "question authority and ... not assume that the establishment or the press tells you all of the truth". Timothy Snyder in his 2017 book On Tyranny mentioned the novel as a recent example illustrating resistance to totalitarianism.
=== Christian allegories ===
The Harry Potter series has been criticised for supposedly supporting witchcraft and the occult. Before publication of Deathly Hallows, Rowling refused to speak out about her religion, stating, "If I talk too freely, every reader, whether 10 or 60, will be able to guess what's coming in the books". However, many have commented on Christian allegories that appear in Deathly Hallows. For example, Harry dies and then comes back to life to save mankind, like Christ. The location where this occurs is King's Cross. Rowling also stated that "my belief and my struggling with religious belief ... I think is quite apparent in this book", which is shown as Harry struggles with his faith in Dumbledore.
Deathly Hallows begins with a pair of epigraphs, one by Quaker leader William Penn and one from Aeschylus' The Libation Bearers. Of this, Rowling said "I really enjoyed choosing those two quotations because one is pagan, of course, and one is from a Christian tradition. I'd known it was going to be those two passages since Chamber was published. I always knew [that] if I could use them at the beginning of book seven then I'd cued up the ending perfectly. If they were relevant, then I went where I needed to go. They just say it all to me, they really do".
When Harry visits his parents' grave, the biblical reference "The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death" (1 Corinthians 15:26) is inscribed on the grave. The Dumbledores' family tomb also holds a biblical quote: "Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also", which is from Matthew 6:21. Rowling states, "They're very British books, so on a very practical note Harry was going to find biblical quotations on tombstones ... [but] I think those two particular quotations he finds on the tombstones at Godric's Hollow, they sum up – they almost epitomise the whole series".
Harry Potter pundit John Granger additionally noted that one of the reasons the Harry Potter books were so popular is their use of literary alchemy (similar to Romeo and Juliet, C. S. Lewis's Perelandra and Charles Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities) and vision symbolism. In this model, authors weave allegorical tales along the alchemical magnum opus. Since the medieval period, alchemical allegory has mirrored the passion, death and resurrection of Christ. While the entire series utilises symbols common in alchemy, the Deathly Hallows completes this cycle, tying themes of death, rebirth, and the Resurrection Stone to the principal motif of alchemical allegory, and topics presented in the first book of the series.
== Adaptations ==
=== Films ===
The two-part film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was directed by David Yates, written by Steve Kloves and produced by David Heyman, David Barron, and Rowling. Part 1 was released on 19 November 2010, with Part 2 following on 15 July 2011. Filming began in February 2009 and wrapped on 12 June 2010, with reshoots for Part 2's epilogue scene taking place in December 2010. Part 1 ended at Chapter 24 of the book, in which Voldemort acquires the Elder Wand. There were a few omissions, such as the appearances of Dean Thomas and Viktor Krum, and Peter Pettigrew's death. James Bernadelli of Reelviews said that the script stuck closest to the text since Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, yet this was met with negativity from some audiences as the film inherited "the book's own problems".
=== Audiobooks ===
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was released simultaneously on 21 July 2007, in both the UK and the United States. The UK edition features the voice of Stephen Fry and runs about 24 hours while the US edition features the voice of Jim Dale and runs about 21 hours. Both Fry and Dale recorded 146 different and distinguishable character voices, and was the most recorded by an individual on an audiobook at the time. For his work on Deathly Hallows, Dale won the 2008 Grammy Award for the Best Spoken Word Album for Children. He also was awarded an Earphone Award by AudioFile, who claimed, "Dale has raised the bar on audiobook interpretation so high it's hard to imagine any narrator vaulting over it."
=== Video games ===
Two action-adventure video games were produced by Electronic Arts (EA) to coincide with the release of the film adaptations, as with each of the previous Harry Potter films. Part 1 was released on 16 November 2010, and Part 2 on 12 July 2011. Both games received a mixed to negative reaction from critics.
== Subsequent works ==
=== The Tales of Beedle the Bard ===
On 4 December 2008, Rowling released The Tales of Beedle the Bard both in the UK and US. The Tales of Beedle the Bard is a spin-off of Deathly Hallows and contains fairy tales that are told to children in the "Wizarding World". The book includes five short stories, including "The Tale of the Three Brothers", which is the story of the Deathly Hallows. Amazon released an exclusive collector's edition of the book which is a replica of the book that Amazon purchased at auction in December 2007. Seven copies were auctioned off in London by Sotheby's. Each was illustrated and handwritten by Rowling and is 157 pages. It was bound in brown Moroccan leather and embellished with five hand-chased hallmarked sterling silver ornaments and mounted moonstones.
=== Harry Potter and the Cursed Child ===
In 2016, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child was released, a two-part play written by Jack Thorne based on an original story by Rowling, Thorne, and John Tiffany. Billed as the eighth story in the Harry Potter series, it picks up where the epilogue of Deathly Hallows left off, following an adult Harry Potter and his son, Albus Severus Potter. Previews of the play began at the Palace Theatre, London, on 7 June 2016, and it premiered on 30 July 2016. The play opened on Broadway on 21 April 2018 at the Lyric Theatre, with previews starting on 16 March 2018. Both parts of the stage play's script have been released in print and digital formats as Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Parts I & II. The first edition, the Special Rehearsal Edition, corresponded to the script used in the preview shows and was published on 31 July 2016, the date of Harry's birthday in the series and Rowling's birthday, as well. Since revisions to the script continued after the book was printed, an edited version was released on 25 July 2017, as the "Definitive Collector's Edition". According to CNN, this was the most preordered book of 2016. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carli_Lloyd | Carli Lloyd | Carli Anne Hollins (née Lloyd; born July 16, 1982) is an American former professional soccer player. She is a two-time Olympic gold medalist (2008 and 2012), two-time FIFA Women's World Cup champion (2015 and 2019), two-time FIFA Player of the Year (2015 and 2016), and a four-time Olympian (2008, 2012, 2016 and 2021). Lloyd scored the gold medal-winning goals in the finals of the 2008 Summer Olympics and the 2012 Summer Olympics. Lloyd also helped the United States win their titles at the 2015 and 2019 FIFA Women's World Cups, the bronze medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics, and she played for the team at the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup where the U.S. finished in second place. After the 2020 Summer Olympics, Lloyd announced she would be retiring from the national team following four final friendly matches in 2021. Lloyd has made 316 appearances for the U.S. national team, placing her second in caps, and has the third-most goals and fifth-most assists for the team. In March 2021, she was named as the highest paid female soccer player in the world. She played her last international match with the USWNT on October 26, 2021, shortly before retiring from professional soccer at the completion of the 2021 NJ/NY Gotham FC season.
During the United States' 5–2 win over Japan in the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup Final, Lloyd became the first player ever to score three goals in a FIFA Women's World Cup final and the second soccer player ever to score a hat-trick in any senior FIFA World Cup Final, after Geoff Hurst. Lloyd scored three goals in the first 16 minutes of the final, with the first two occurring in the first five minutes of the game and within three minutes of each other. She received the Golden Ball Trophy as the best player of the tournament and earned the Silver Boot for her six goals and one assist during the tournament.
She previously played for the Chicago Red Stars, Sky Blue FC (now known as Gotham FC), and Atlanta Beat in Women's Professional Soccer (WPS). In 2013, she was allocated to the Western New York Flash for the inaugural season of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) and helped her team win the regular season championship. After two seasons with the Flash, she was traded to Houston Dash prior to the 2015 season and then to Sky Blue before the 2018 season. Her memoir, When Nobody Was Watching, was published in September 2016.
== Early life ==
Born to Stephen and Pamela Lloyd, Carli was raised in Delran Township, a suburban community located in South Jersey about 20 minutes northeast of Philadelphia. Lloyd began playing soccer at age five. Of her exposure to soccer at a young age, Lloyd's mother, Pamela said, "At that age, it was coed, and Carli was hanging with the boys. She always loved it and showed a lot of ability from an early age, but she also has always worked hard." Lloyd has a brother, Stephen, and a sister, Ashley. Lloyd attended the opening U.S. match of the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup, which inspired her to play for the national team.
Lloyd attended Delran High School from 1997 to 2000 where she played soccer under the tutelage of the late Rudy "The Red Baron" Klobach. As a high school athlete, she was known for her exceptional ball control and skill at distributing the ball from the midfield. During her senior year, she scored 26 goals and served eight assists while captaining her team to an 18–3 record. The Philadelphia Inquirer twice-named her Girls' High School Player of the Year in 1999 and 2000. She was named to the Star-Ledger All-State First Team twice and received 1999 and 2000 Parade All-American honors. In 2000, she was named the Courier-Post Player of the Year and the South Jersey Soccer Coaches Association (SJSCA) Midfielder of the Year.
=== Rutgers Scarlet Knights, 2001–2004 ===
Lloyd attended Rutgers University from 2001 to 2004 and played for the Scarlet Knights women's soccer team under head coach Glenn Crooks. She was named First-Team All-Big East for four straight years – the first athlete at Rutgers to do so. She ended her collegiate career as the school's all-time leader in points (117), goals (50), and shots.
During her freshman season, Lloyd started every match and was the team's leading scorer with 15 goals for a total of 37 points. She was named to Soccer America's All-Freshman Team and was the first Rutgers player to earn Big East Rookie of the Year honors. As a sophomore, she was the team's leading scorer for the second consecutive season with 12 goals and seven assists for 31 points. The same year Lloyd was a finalist for the Hermann Trophy, widely considered the highest accolade for collegiate soccer players. During her third season with the Scarlet Knights, she scored 13 goals and served 2 assists for a total of 28 points and was named a Big East Academic All-Star. As a senior, she was a starter for 18 of the 20 games she played, scored 10 goals and served one assist. Lloyd was named the 2004 Big East Midfielder of the Year. She earned a bachelor's degree from Rutgers University in Exercise Science and Sport Studies.
In 2013, Lloyd was inducted into the Rutgers Hall of Distinguished Alumni.
Her presence is still widely felt in the Rutgers community. Her posters hang high all throughout the Rodkin facility.
== Club career ==
=== W-League Experience (1999–2004) ===
While still in high school, Lloyd played for W-League teams Central Jersey Splash in 1999, New Brunswick Power in 2000, and South Jersey Banshees in 2001. In the summer prior to her senior year at Rutgers, Lloyd played for the New Jersey Wildcats in 2004 with teammates Kelly Smith, Manya Makoski, Tobin Heath, and Heather O'Reilly. She made only one appearance for the club.
=== The WPS Years (2009–2011) ===
With the return of a top-flight women's professional soccer league to the United States via Women's Professional Soccer, Lloyd's playing rights were allocated to the Chicago Red Stars in 2008. During the league's inaugural season, she started in 14 of her 16 appearances for Chicago playing a total of 1,313 minutes on the pitch. She scored two goals: one in the 23rd minute of her team's 4–0 win over the Boston Breakers on April 25; and the other during the 24th minute of a 3–1 defeat of the Los Angeles Sol on August 2. The Red Stars finished sixth on the season with a 5–10–5 record.
Following the conclusion of the season, Lloyd was declared a free agent and subsequently signed with her home state club and 2009 WPS champions, Sky Blue FC, for the 2010 season. In April 2010, during a match against her former team, Chicago Red Stars, Lloyd slipped and broke her ankle. The injury kept her off the pitch for most of the season although she did return for two games in September.
In December 2010, Lloyd signed with expansion team Atlanta Beat for the 2011 season. Of her signing, Beat head coach James Galanis said, "She is a fantastic midfielder and someone who is fully focused on the game. I have known her from her college days, and I have had the opportunity to train her and improve her game individually. She has made a lot of sacrifices off the field to reach her dreams, and she is going to bring a lot of professionalism to the team." Lloyd scored two goals in her ten appearances for the Beat. She scored the team's lone goal in a 4–1 defeat by the Boston Breakers on April 9. Her second goal on the season was an equalizer during the 70th minute of a 2–2 draw against the Western New York Flash. The Beat finished their first season in last place with a 1–13–4 record.
=== Western New York Flash (2013–2014) ===
On January 11, 2013, Lloyd joined the Western New York Flash in the new National Women's Soccer League as part of the NWSL Player Allocation. After recovering from a shoulder injury suffered earlier in the year, Lloyd made her debut for the Flash on May 12, 2013, during the team's 2–1 defeat of FC Kansas City. She scored her first goal in a match against her former club, Sky Blue FC, helping the Flash win 3–0. During a match against the Washington Spirit on June 28, Lloyd scored a hat trick leading the Flash to a 4–0 win. She was subsequently named NWSL Player of the Week for her performance.
Lloyd finished the 2013 season with 10 goals, the third most goals scored on the season. The Flash finished first during the regular season with a 10–4–8 record and advanced to the playoffs. During the Flash's semi-final match against Sky Blue FC, Lloyd scored both of the Flash's game-winning goals: one in the 33rd minute and the second coming during stoppage time. Her two goals resulted in a 2–0 win that advanced the Flash to the championship final against the Portland Thorns FC. The Flash were defeated 2–0 during the final.
=== Houston Dash (2015–2017) ===
On October 16, 2014, Lloyd was traded to the Houston Dash in exchange for Becky Edwards, Whitney Engen and a third-round pick in the 2016 NWSL College Draft.
==== Manchester City (2017 loan) ====
In February 2017, Lloyd joined Manchester City on loan, for the FA WSL Spring Series. While Lloyd was at Manchester City, they finished second in the WSL Spring Series, and won the 2016–17 FA Women's Cup, with her scoring in the final. Lloyd's final appearance for City came on May 21, when she was sent off for elbowing Yeovil Town's Annie Heatherson in the face. The three match ban she received for violent conduct ran for the remainder of her loan stay.
=== Sky Blue / NJ/NY Gotham (2018–2021) ===
On January 18, 2018, Lloyd was traded to Sky Blue FC (later known as NJ/NY Gotham FC) along with Janine Beckie by the Dash in a three-team trade with the Chicago Red Stars and Sky Blue FC. Lloyd scored 4 goals in 18 appearances for Sky Blue in 2018. She scored the only goal in a 1–0 win over the Orlando Pride on the last day of the 2018 NWSL season. It was Sky Blue's first and only win of the season. She was named to the 2018 NWSL Second XI.
== International career ==
=== Youth national team ===
Lloyd represented the United States at the under-21 level before making the jump to the senior team at the age of 23. As a member of the under-21 team, she played at the Nordic Cup four times winning consecutive titles from 2002 to 2005 in Finland, Denmark, Iceland, and Sweden respectively. During the first round of the 2003 Nordic Cup, she served the assist in the U.S.' 1–0 win against Denmark. At the 2004 Nordic Cup, she scored two goals and served one assist while starting in every match. The following year at the 2005 Nordic Cup, she scored three times including one goal during the championship match against Norway.
=== Senior national team ===
Lloyd made her first appearance for the United States women's national soccer team on July 10, 2005, against Ukraine. She scored her first international goal on October 1, 2006, against Taiwan. At the 2006 Four Nations Tournament, Lloyd won a third cap. Her first two starts of her international career came at the 2006 Algarve Cup, starting the group game against Denmark and in the final against Germany. She played in 19 games, starting 13, and scored one goal.
==== 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup ====
After scoring once in her first 24 matches with the national team, Lloyd scored four goals at the 2007 Algarve Cup. As the tournament's top scorer, she was awarded Most Valuable Player tournament honors. Lloyd logged her first brace for the national team during a 6–1 win against New Zealand.
The same year, Lloyd played in her first FIFA Women's World Cup tournament. Heading into the tournament, the national team had not lost a game in regulation time in nearly three years and was considered a favorite to win the tournament in China. During their first match of the tournament, the U.S. tied North Korea 2–2. The team faced Sweden in their next match on September 14 and won 2–0 with two goals from Abby Wambach. The U.S. finished group play with a 1–0 win over Nigeria women's national football team on September 18.
During the quarterfinal match against England on September 22, the U.S. won 3–0. All three goals were scored within 12 minutes. The U.S. faced Brazil in the semi-final in what would become a controversial and game-changing match for the team. Coach Greg Ryan decided to bench starting goalkeeper, Hope Solo, and instead started Brianna Scurry, a veteran goalkeeper who had started in three World Cups and two Olympics, but who had started very few matches since the 2004 Olympics. The U.S. was defeated 4–0 by Brazil. The loss relegated them to a final match against Norway, which they won 4–1, to secure third place standing at the tournament. Lloyd started three of the five games in which she played at the tournament.
Throughout 2007, Lloyd started 13 of the 23 matches in which she played. She ranked third on the team in scoring with nine goals and three assists.
==== 2008 Beijing Olympics ====
During the championship match of the CONCACAF Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament, Lloyd scored the U.S.' only goal during stoppage time on a free-kick. The U.S. eventually defeated Canada 6–5 in penalty kicks. She scored two goals during the 2008 Olympics: the game-winning goal in the team's 1–0 defeat of Japan during the tournament's group stage and another game-winning goal in extra time against Brazil during the final helping the U.S. win gold.
Lloyd was named the 2008 U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year along with Tim Howard. She was on the starting lineup in all 35 games in which she played in 2008, tying for the team lead in matches started during the year. Her 2,781 minutes on the pitch for the U.S. ranked third on the team in minutes played. Her nine goals and nine assists resulted in her best scoring year yet on the national team.
==== Injury recovery, 100th cap and World Cup qualifying, 2009–2010 ====
In 2009, the U.S. national team competed in eight games, of which Lloyd was on the starting lineup in five. At the 2010 Algarve Cup, Lloyd scored the game-opening goal in the final helping the U.S. clinch the championship title after defeating Germany 3–2.
Although she suffered a broken ankle in the fourth game of the 2010 WPS Season while playing for Sky Blue FC, she played in 15 matches for the United States in 2010, starting 14. Lloyd started all five games at the 2010 CONCACAF Women's World Cup Qualifying Tournament, scoring two goals, including the United States' lone goal during the championship match. She ended the tournament with five assists and was named the Player of the Match three times during the tournament. After the U.S. finished third at the tournament, they traveled to Italy to vie for a place at the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup in the UEFA-CONCACAF play-off against Italy. Playing every minute of the series, Lloyd scored three goals with five assists during the series. She earned her 100th career cap during the second leg of the series.
==== 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup ====
2011 saw the U.S. team making preparations for the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup and training starting with the Four Nations Tournament. Lloyd scored the lone goal for the U.S. in the opening match loss to Sweden. In the championship match, the U.S. defeated Canada 2–0 with Lloyd scoring the first goal and being named Player of the Match.
At the 2011 Algarve Cup, Lloyd scored three goals including the first goal in the championship match; subsequently named best goal for the tournament. She was named player of the match for the 2nd time in the tournament. The team won the cup, making it their eighth title win.
At the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup, Lloyd scored the final goal in a 3–0 win against Colombia for her first World Cup goal. Throughout the tournament, she tallied an assist, a goal, and one successful penalty kick in the shootout against Brazil to send the U.S. to the semi-finals vs. France. In the World Cup final, after finishing the game tied 2–2 the U.S. went on to penalty kicks with Japan. Along with two teammates who failed to convert their penalty kicks, Lloyd mishit the ball over the crossbar. The U.S. won the silver medal at the tournament.
==== 2012 London Olympics ====
The national team opened 2012 with the Olympic Qualifiers in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The U.S. was placed in Group B with the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, and Mexico. In the first match, the United States routed the Dominican Republic by a score of 14–0 with Lloyd tallying one goal and one assist. In the second match, the U.S. again defeated Guatemala 13–0 with Lloyd again finding the back of the net and providing an assist.
The game to win the group and thus play the second place team from Group A occurred between the U.S. and Mexico. The U.S. was previously defeated 2–1 by Mexico during the 2010 CONCACAF Women's Gold Cup. This time, the U.S. beat Mexico 4–0 with Lloyd netting her first career hat trick. She was subsequently named player of the match.
In the semi-final, the U.S. faced Costa Rica. During the second half, the U.S. scored two goals, the second coming from Lloyd. The U.S. beat Costa Rica 3–0 with Lloyd named player of the match for the second game in a row. During the final match against Canada, the U.S. defeated Canada at home 4–0 to move on to the Olympics as the CONCACAF champions. Lloyd finished the tournament with six goals and three assists and tied for the team lead in goals scored.
At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Lloyd scored the go-ahead goal in the 56th minute of the team's opening match against France, to boost the U.S. to a 3–2 lead; the match ended with a final score of 4–2. She scored her second goal of the tournament against Colombia during the group stage.
During the Olympic gold medal match against Japan, played at London's Wembley Stadium, Lloyd scored both American goals in the team's 2–1 victory. Her four goals in the tournament tied for the second highest on the U.S. squad. She is the only player (of either gender) in history to score the game-winning goal in two separate Olympic gold medal matches; her first occurred during the Beijing 2008 final against Brazil.
After scoring her 46th international goal in the 13th minute of a friendly against New Zealand in October 2013, Lloyd became the highest-scoring midfielder in the team's history, passing Julie Foudy, who finished her career with 45 goals.
==== 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup ====
In April 2015, Lloyd was named by head coach Jill Ellis to the 23-player roster for the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup in Canada. Lloyd captained the team during four of the team's matches, including the quarterfinal against China, in which she scored the winning goal on her 200th cap, semi-final against Germany and final against Japan, and scored six goals during the tournament, finishing the tournament on a four-game goalscoring streak that spanned the knockout stage and that culminated in a hat-trick in the game's opening 16 minutes during the final against Japan. The last goal was hailed by Reuters as "one of the most remarkable goals ever witnessed in a Women's World Cup", and featured Lloyd catching Japanese goalkeeper Ayumi Kaihori off her line and chipping her virtually from the halfway line.
For her efforts in leading the United States to a record third World Cup title, and first since 1999, she won the Golden Ball as the best player of the tournament. While Lloyd's six goals were enough to match Célia Šašić as the tournament's top scorer, Šašić won the Golden Boot for playing fewer minutes and Lloyd was awarded the Silver Boot. Lloyd also became the first woman to score a hat-trick in a World Cup final and the first player, male or female, to do so since Geoff Hurst did so for England against West Germany at Wembley in 1966. Only one player has since replicated the feat – Kylian Mbappé for France against Argentina in Lusail, Qatar in 2022. Furthermore, her third goal earned her a nomination for the FIFA Puskás Award, FIFA's annual award for Goal of the Year. Finally, Lloyd is the only player to have scored a hat-trick in normal time of a World Cup final; Hurst scored two goals in extra time and Mbappé one.
==== 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup ====
Lloyd scored in her first two games of the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup; one against Thailand and two against Chile. Hence, she became the first player to score in six straight Women's World Cup matches.
==== Reaching her 300th cap, 2019–2021 ====
On April 10, 2021, Lloyd earned her 300th cap in a friendly match against Sweden to become the third player to achieve that feat after Kristine Lilly and Christie Pearce. On June 14, 2021, she became the oldest player at 38 years and 332 days to score for the United States in a 4–0 win over Jamaica at the BBVA Stadium, and thereby beating the record previously held by Kristine Lilly (38 years, 264 days).
==== 2020 Tokyo Olympics and retirement ====
On August 5, 2021, she scored twice in a 4–3 win over Australia in the bronze medal match of the 2020 Summer Olympics, to set the U.S. women's record for most Olympic goals, 10 goals in total, surpassing Abby Wambach. Following the Olympics, Lloyd announced she would be retiring from the national team in 2021.
In early 2022, she partnered with Teqball USA and one of her retirement plans is to make Teqball an Olympic sport by 2028. She also developed CL10 Soccer Clinic, a program to help people improve their soccer skills. In October 2022, she co-conducted the draw for the 2023 Women's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand held at the Aotea Centre in Auckland. She also co-conducted the draw for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, held at the Doha Exhibition and Convention Center, in April 2022.
==== Criticism of USWNT post-retirement ====
Since retiring, Lloyd has made numerous critical comments regarding the national team, saying she "hated" playing for the team in the final years of her career. Lloyd has said that the culture became "toxic" after the 2015 World Cup victory, alleging that players became more focused on building their brands than winning as a team. During the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup, Lloyd criticized the team for celebrating after finishing runners-up in their group, avoiding elimination after being close to losing to Portugal in their last group match, saying, "Players are smiling. They're laughing. It's not good enough." Lloyd's comments created controversy and drew pushback from both current players and former teammates.
Later in 2023, she said U.S. Soccer never wanted her to be the star of the team. “That’s just the way the world works as far as showcasing players," Lloyd said. "They’re not always highlighting the best players. They’re oftentimes highlighting the most marketable players.”
== Style of play ==
Although she was criticised for being inconsistent at the beginning of career, and for losing possession too easily, Lloyd later developed into one of the best players in the world, and is highly regarded for her outstanding determination, mental strength, and work-ethic. A tenacious, energetic, and hard-working player, she also is known for her control, technique, and passing accuracy, and is capable of aiding her team both defensively and offensively, due to her stamina, strength, and tackling, as well as her ability to get into good attacking positions, and either score goals or create chances for teammates. These abilities, coupled with her tactical versatility, enabled her to be deployed in several midfield positions; although she began her career in the centre, as a defensive midfielder, she was most comfortable when moved to a more advanced role, as an attacking midfielder behind the forwards. Lloyd earned a reputation as a "clutch player", due to her tendency to score decisive goals. A powerful striker of the ball, she was capable of scoring from any position on the pitch, and could finish well both with her head and with her feet inside the area.
== Personal life ==
Lloyd lives with her husband, golfer Brian Hollins, in Medford, New Jersey. They married on November 4, 2016, in Puerto Morelos, Mexico. On May 1, 2024, the couple announced that they were expecting their first child in October 2024. On October 18, 2024, she gave birth to a girl.
== In popular culture ==
=== Endorsements ===
Lloyd has had an endorsement deal with Nike for several years. In 2011, she was the focus of a promotional feature for the sports company entitled, Pressure Makes Us: Carli Lloyd. Following the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup, Lloyd starred in a commercial for Xfinity and signed an endorsement deal with Visa. In August 2015, she co-starred in a Nike commercial called Snow Day also featuring Rob Gronkowski and teammate Sydney Leroux. In April 2016, she was named brand ambassador for Lifeway Foods and appeared in a television commercial for Heineken the same year. She has a partnership with Whole Foods Market and appeared in a television commercial for United Airlines. In June 2016, she joined Michael Phelps in partnership deals with Krave Jerky. She also has endorsement deals with Beats by Dre, Kind, and NJM Insurance.
=== Magazines, television, and video games ===
Lloyd has been featured in Glamour, Shape, and Sports Illustrated magazines. She was on the covers of Howler Magazine and Sports Illustrated.
In 2012, Lloyd appeared in an ESPN feature called Title IX is Mine: USWNT. She has been interviewed on numerous television shows including: Good Morning America, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Live with Kelly and Michael, The Today Show, Late Night with Seth Meyers, Fox & Friends, Late Late Show with James Corden. Lloyd also participated in the 2023 reality show Special Forces: World's Toughest Test. She joined Soccer on Fox Sports as a studio analyst in 2022.
Lloyd was featured along with her national teammates in the EA Sports' FIFA video game series in FIFA 16, the first time women players were included in the game. In September 2015, she was ranked by EA Sports as the No. 1 women's player in the game.
=== Ticker tape parade and White House honor ===
Following the United States' win at the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup, Lloyd and her teammates became the first women's sports team to be honored with a ticker tape parade in New York City. Each player received a key to the city from Mayor Bill de Blasio. In October of the same year, the team was honored by President Barack Obama at the White House.
== Career statistics ==
=== International goals ===
=== Goals by opponent ===
== Honors ==
Western New York Flash
NWSL Shield: 2013
Manchester City
FA Women's Cup: 2016–17
United States
Algarve Cup: 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2015
CONCACAF Women's Championship: 2014, 2018
CONCACAF Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament: 2008, 2012, 2016; 2020
Olympic Gold Medal: 2008, 2012
Olympic Bronze Medal: 2021
FIFA Women's World Cup: 2015, 2019Runner-up: 2011
SheBelieves Cup: 2016; 2018; 2020; 2021
Tournament of Nations: 2018
Individual
National Soccer Hall of Fame: 2025
Algarve Cup Most Valuable Player: 2007
U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year: 2008
FIFA World Player of the Year Shortlist: 2012, 2015, 2016
FIFA Puskás Award Nominee: 2015
NWSL Player of the Week: July 2013, July 2014
NWSL Player of the Month: July 2015
NWSL Second XI: 2014, 2015, 2018
CONCACAF Women's Player of the Year: 2015
CONCACAF Goal of the Year: 2015
FIFA Women's World Cup Golden Ball: 2015
FIFA Women's World Cup Silver Boot: 2015
FIFA Women's World Cup All-Star Team: 2015
FIFA Women's World Cup Dream Team: 2015
FIFA Women's World Cup Goal of the Tournament: 2015
Women's Sports Foundation Sportswoman of the Year Team Sport Award: 2015
IFFHS World's Best Woman Playmaker: 2015
FIFA World Player of the Year: 2015
FIFPro: FIFA FIFPro World XI 2015, 2016, 2021
The Best FIFA Women's Player: 2016
New Jersey Hall of Fame: 2017
IFFHS CONCACAF Best Woman Player of the Decade 2011–2020
IFFHS World's Woman Team of the Decade 2011–2020
IFFHS CONCACAF Woman Team of the Decade 2011–2020 |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabaret_(musical) | Cabaret (musical) | Cabaret is an American musical with music by John Kander, lyrics by Fred Ebb, and a book by Joe Masteroff. It is based on the play I Am a Camera by John Van Druten, premiered in 1951, which in turn was based on the 1939 novel Goodbye to Berlin by Christopher Isherwood.
Set in 1929–1930 Berlin during the twilight of the Jazz Age as the Nazis rise to power, the musical focuses on the hedonistic nightlife at the seedy Kit Kat Klub and revolves around American writer Clifford Bradshaw's relations with English cabaret performer Sally Bowles. A subplot involves the doomed romance between German boarding house owner Fräulein Schneider and her elderly suitor Herr Schultz, a Jewish fruit vendor. Overseeing the action is the Master of Ceremonies at the Kit Kat Klub, and the club itself serves as a metaphor for ominous political developments in late Weimar Germany.
The original Broadway production opened on November 20, 1966, at the Broadhurst Theatre in New York City and became a box office hit that ran for 1,166 performances. The production won eight Tony Awards and inspired numerous subsequent productions around the world as well as the 1972 film of the same name.
== Background ==
=== Historical basis ===
The events depicted in the 1966 musical are derived from Anglo-American writer Christopher Isherwood's autobiographical tales of his colorful escapades in the Weimar Republic. In 1929, Isherwood visited Weimar-era Berlin during the final months of the Golden Twenties. He relocated to Berlin to avail himself of boy prostitutes and to enjoy the city's orgiastic Jazz Age cabarets. He socialized with a coterie of gay writers that included Stephen Spender, Paul Bowles, and W.H. Auden. At the time, Isherwood viewed the rise of Nazism in Germany with political indifference and instead focused on writing a novel.
In Berlin, Isherwood shared modest lodgings with 19-year-old British flapper Jean Ross, an aspiring film actress who earned her living as a chanteuse in lesbian bars and second-rate cabarets. While room-mates at Nollendorfstrasse 17 in Schöneberg, a 27-year-old Isherwood settled into a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old German boy, and Ross became pregnant after engaging in a series of sexual liaisons. She believed the father of the child to be jazz pianist and later film actor Peter van Eyck.
As a favor to Ross, Isherwood pretended to be her heterosexual impregnator in order to facilitate an abortion. Ross nearly died from the procedure due to the doctor's incompetence. Visiting Ross during her recovery in a Berlin hospital, Isherwood perceived hostility from the hospital staff who believed that he had forced her to undergo the abortion. These events inspired Isherwood to write his 1937 novella Sally Bowles, in which the abortion serves as the narrative climax.
While Ross recovered from the botched abortion, the political situation rapidly deteriorated in Weimar Germany as the incipient Nazi Party grew stronger day by day. "There was a sensation of doom to be felt in the Berlin streets", Stephen Spender recalled. As Berlin's daily scenes increasingly featured "poverty, unemployment, political demonstrations and street fighting between the forces of the extreme left and the extreme right", Isherwood, Ross, Spender, and other British nationals realized that they must leave the politically volatile country as soon as possible.
Two weeks after the Enabling Act cemented Adolf Hitler's dictatorship, Isherwood fled Germany on May 13, 1933. Afterwards, the Nazis shuttered most of Berlin's seedy cabarets, and many of Isherwood's cabaret acquaintances fled abroad or perished in concentration camps. These events served as the genesis for Isherwood's Berlin stories. In 1951, playwright John Van Druten adapted Isherwood's 1939 novel Goodbye to Berlin into the Broadway play I Am a Camera which in turn became a 1955 film starring Laurence Harvey and Julie Harris.
=== Musical development ===
In early 1963, producer David Black commissioned English composer and lyricist Sandy Wilson to undertake a musical adaptation of Van Druten's 1951 play I Am a Camera. Black hoped that singer Julie Andrews would agree to star in the adaptation, but Andrews' manager refused to allow her to accept the role of Sally Bowles due to the character's immorality. By the time Wilson completed his work, however, Black's option on both the 1951 Van Druten play and its source material by Isherwood had lapsed and been acquired by rival Broadway producer Harold Prince. Prince wished to create a gritty adaptation of Isherwood's stories that drew parallels between the spiritual bankruptcy of Germany in the 1920s and contemporary social problems in the United States at a time "when the struggle for civil rights for black Americans was heating up as a result of nonviolent but bold demonstrations being held in the Deep South."
Prince hired playwright Joe Masteroff to work on the adaptation. Both men believed that Wilson's score failed to capture the carefree hedonism of the Jazz Age in late 1920s Berlin. They wanted a score that "evoked the Berlin of Kurt Weill and Lotte Lenya." Consequently, Prince invited the songwriting team of John Kander and Fred Ebb to join the project. Kander and Ebb envisioned the work as a dramatic play preceded by a prologue of songs describing the Berlin atmosphere from various points of view. As the composers distributed the songs between scenes, they realized the story could be told in the structure of a more traditional book musical, and they replaced several songs with tunes more relevant to the plot.
For the musical adaptation, playwright Joe Masteroff significantly altered Isherwood's original characters. He transformed the English protagonist into an American writer named Clifford Bradshaw; the antisemitic landlady became a tolerant woman with a Jewish beau who owned a fruit store; they cut various supporting characters and added new characters such as the Nazi smuggler Ernst Ludwig for dramatic purposes. The musical ultimately expressed two stories in one: the first, a revue centered on the decadence of the Kit Kat Klub, for which Hal Prince created the Master of Ceremonies (Emcee) character played by Joel Grey; the second, a story set in the society outside the club, thus juxtaposing the lives of the characters based on Isherwood's real-life associates and acquaintances with the seedy club.
In fall 1966, the musical entered rehearsals. After viewing one of the last rehearsals before the company headed to Boston for the pre-Broadway run, Prince's friend Jerome Robbins suggested cutting the songs outside the cabaret, but Prince ignored his advice. In Boston, lead actress Jill Haworth struggled with her characterization of Sally Bowles. Critics thought Sally's blonde hair and white dress suggested a debutante at a senior prom instead of a cabaret singer, so Sally became a brunette before the show opened on Broadway.
Prince staged the show in an unusual way for the time. As the audience entered the theater, they saw the curtain raised, exposing a stage with only a large mirror that reflected the auditorium. Instead of an overture, a drum roll and cymbal crash introduced the opening number. The show mixed dialogue scenes with expository songs and standalone cabaret numbers that provided social commentary. This innovative concept initially surprised audiences. Over time, they discerned the distinction between the two and appreciated the rationale behind them.
== Synopsis ==
=== Act I ===
At the twilight of the Jazz Age in Berlin, the incipient Nazi Party is growing stronger. The Kit Kat Klub is a seedy cabaret – a place of decadent celebration. The club's Master of Ceremonies (Emcee) together with the cabaret girls and waiters, warm up the audience ("Willkommen"). Meanwhile, a young American writer named Clifford Bradshaw arrives via a railway train in Berlin. He has journeyed to the city to work on a new novel. Cliff encounters Ernst Ludwig, a German smuggler who offers him black market work and recommends a boarding house. At the boarding house, the proprietress Fräulein Schneider offers Cliff a room for one hundred reichsmarks, but he can only pay fifty. After a brief debate, she relents and allows Cliff to live there for fifty marks. Fräulein Schneider observes that she has learned to take whatever life offers ("So What?").
When Cliff visits the Kit Kat Klub, the Emcee introduces an English chanteuse, Sally Bowles, who performs a flirtatious number ("Don't Tell Mama"). Afterward, she asks Cliff to recite poetry for her, and he recites Ernest Thayer's mock-heroic poem "Casey at the Bat". Cliff offers to escort Sally home, but she says that her boyfriend Max, the club's owner, is too jealous. Sally performs her final number at the Kit Kat Klub aided by a female ensemble of jazz babies ("Mein Herr"). The cabaret ensemble performs a song and dance, calling each other on inter-table phones and inviting each other for dances and drinks ("The Telephone Song").
The next day at the boarding house, Cliff has just finished giving an English lesson to Ernst when Sally arrives. Max has fired her and thrown her out, and now she has no place to live. Sally asks Cliff if she can live in his room. At first he resists, but she persuades him to take her in ("Perfectly Marvelous"). The Emcee and two female companions sing a song ("Two Ladies") that comments on Cliff and Sally's new living arrangement. Herr Schultz, an elderly Jewish fruit-shop owner who lives in the boarding house, gives a pineapple to Fräulein Schneider as a romantic gesture ("It Couldn't Please Me More"). In the Kit Kat Klub, a young waiter starts to sing a song – a patriotic anthem to the Fatherland that slowly descends into a darker, Nazi-inspired marching song ("Tomorrow Belongs to Me"). He initially sings a cappella, before the customers and the band join in.
Months later, Cliff and Sally are still living together and have grown intimate. Cliff knows that he is in a "dream", but he enjoys living with Sally too much to come to his senses ("Why Should I Wake Up?"). Sally reveals that she is pregnant, but she does not know who the father is and decides to have an abortion. Cliff reminds her that it could be his child and tries to persuade her to have the baby ("Maybe This Time"). Ernst enters and offers Cliff a chance to earn easy money – picking up a suitcase in Paris and delivering it to a client in Berlin. The Emcee comments on this with the song "Sitting Pretty" (or, in later versions, "Money").
Meanwhile, Fräulein Schneider has caught one of her boarders, the prostitute Fräulein Kost, bringing sailors into her room. Fräulein Schneider forbids her from doing so again, but Kost threatens to leave. Kost reveals that she has seen Fräulein Schneider with Herr Schultz in her room. Herr Schultz saves Fräulein Schneider's reputation by telling Fräulein Kost that he and Fräulein Schneider are to be married in three weeks. After Fräulein Kost departs, Fräulein Schneider thanks Herr Schultz for lying to Fräulein Kost. Herr Schultz says that he still wishes to marry Fräulein Schneider ("Married").
At Fräulein Schneider and Herr Schultz's engagement party, Cliff arrives and delivers the suitcase of contraband to Ernst. Sally and Cliff gift the couple a crystal fruit bowl. A tipsy Schultz sings "Meeskite" (meeskite, he explains, is Yiddish for ugly or funny-looking), a song with a moral ("Anyone responsible for loveliness, large or small/Is not a meeskite at all"). Afterward, seeking revenge on Fräulein Schneider, Kost tells Ernst, who now sports a Nazi armband, that Schultz is a Jew. Ernst warns Schneider that marrying a Jew is unwise. Kost and company reprise "Tomorrow Belongs to Me", with more overtly Nazi overtones, as Cliff, Sally, Schneider, Schultz, and the Emcee look on.
=== Act II ===
The cabaret girls – along with the Emcee in drag – perform a kickline routine which eventually becomes a goose step. Fräulein Schneider expresses her concerns about her impending nuptials to Herr Schultz, who assures her that everything will be all right ("Married" (reprise)). They are interrupted by the crash of a brick being thrown through the glass window of Herr Schultz's fruit shop. Schultz tries to reassure her that it is merely rowdy children making trouble, but Fräulein Schneider is now afraid.
Back at the Kit Kat Klub, the Emcee performs a song-and-dance routine with a woman in a gorilla suit, singing that their love has been met with universal disapproval ("If You Could See Her"). Encouraging the audience to be more open-minded, he defends his ape-woman, concluding with, "if you could see her through my eyes... she wouldn't look Jewish at all." Fräulein Schneider goes to Cliff and Sally's room and returns their engagement present, explaining that her marriage has been called off. When Cliff protests and states that she can't just give up this way, she asks him what other choice she has ("What Would You Do?").
Cliff begs Sally to leave Germany with him so that they can raise their child together in America. Sally protests and claims that their life in Berlin is wonderful. Cliff urges her to "wake up" and to notice the growing social upheaval around them. Sally retorts that politics have nothing to do with them and returns to the Kit Kat Klub ("I Don't Care Much"). At the club, after another heated argument with Sally, Cliff is accosted by Ernst, who has another delivery job for him. Cliff tries to brush him off. When Ernst inquires if Cliff's attitude towards him is because of "that Jew at the party", Cliff attacks him – only to be beaten by Ernst's bodyguards and ejected from the club. On stage, the Emcee introduces Sally, who enters to perform again, singing that "life is a cabaret, old chum," cementing her decision to live in carefree ignorance ("Cabaret").
The next morning, a bruised Cliff is packing his clothes in his room when Herr Schultz visits. He informs Cliff that he is moving to another boarding house, but he is confident that these difficult times will soon pass. He understands the German people, he declares, because he is a German too. When Sally returns, she announces that she has had an abortion, and Cliff slaps her. She chides him for his previous insistence on keeping the baby, pointing out it would be a "terrible burden" for a child knowing it was the only reason the parents were together. Cliff still hopes that she will join him in France, but Sally retorts that she has "always hated Paris." She hopes that, when Cliff finally writes his novel, he will dedicate the work to her. Cliff leaves, heartbroken.
On the railway train to Paris, Cliff begins to compose his novel, reflecting on his experiences: "There was a cabaret, and there was a master of ceremonies ... and there was a city called Berlin, in a country called Germany – and it was the end of the world and I was dancing with Sally Bowles – and we were both fast asleep" ("Willkommen" (reprise)). In the Kit Kat Klub, the Emcee welcomes the audience once again as the ensemble reprises "Willkommen" but the song is now harsh and discordant. The Emcee sings, "Auf Wiedersehen... à bientôt..." followed by a drum roll crescendo and a cymbal crash.
== Musical numbers ==
Every production of Cabaret has modified the original score, with songs being changed, cut, or added from the film version. This is a collective list featuring all songs from every major production.
=== Song modifications ===
Many songs planned for the 1966 production were cut. Three excised songs – "Good Time Charlie", "It'll All Blow Over", and "Roommates" – were recorded by Kander and Ebb, and the sheet music published in a collector's book. Sally sang "Good Time Charlie" to Cliff as they walked to Fräulein Schneider and Herr Schultz's engagement party, mocking Cliff for his gloominess. At the end of the first act, Fräulein Schneider sang "It'll All Blow Over," expressing her concerns about marrying a Jew, while Cliff voiced his worries about Germany's emerging Nazism. In the song, Sally declares that all will turn out well in the end. "Perfectly Marvelous" replaced "Roommates" and serves the same plot function of Sally convincing Cliff to let her move in with him.
The 1972 film added several songs, notably "Mein Herr" and "Maybe This Time" which were included in later productions. The latter song had been written by Kander and Ebb for the unproduced musical Golden Gate. The later 1987 and 1998 Broadway revivals also added new songs such as "I Don't Care Much". In the 1987 revival, Kander and Ebb wrote a new song for Cliff titled "Don't Go". In the 1998 revival, "Mein Herr" replaced "The Telephone Song", and "Maybe This Time" replaced "Why Should I Wake Up?".
Originally, the Emcee sang "Sitting Pretty" accompanied by the cabaret girls in international costumes with their units of currency representing Russian rubles, Japanese yen, French francs, American dollars, and German reichsmarks. In the 1972 film, the Emcee and Sally Bowles sang "Money, Money" instead of "Sitting Pretty." The film soundtrack briefly played "Sitting Pretty" as orchestral background music. In the 1987 revival, they presented a special version that combined a medley of both money songs, and they incorporated motifs from the later song into the "international" dance that featured "Sitting Pretty." In the 1998 revival, they used only the later song written for the film. This version included the cabaret girls and carried a darker undertone.
== Productions ==
=== Original Broadway production ===
The musical opened on Broadway on November 20, 1966, at the Broadhurst Theatre, transferred to the Imperial Theatre and then the Broadway Theatre before closing on September 6, 1969, after 1,166 performances and 21 previews. Directed by Harold Prince and choreographed by Ron Field, the cast featured Jill Haworth as Sally, Bert Convy as Cliff, Lotte Lenya as Fräulein Schneider, Jack Gilford as Herr Schultz, Joel Grey as the Emcee, Edward Winter as Ernst, and Peg Murray as Fräulein Kost. Replacements later in the run included Anita Gillette and Melissa Hart as Sally, Ken Kercheval and Larry Kert as Cliff, and Martin Ross as the Emcee. In addition, John Serry Sr. performed as the orchestral accordionist.
The original Broadway production was not an instant success according to playwright Joe Masteroff due to its perceived immoral content. "When the show opened in Boston," Masteroff recalled, "there were a lot of walkouts. Once the reviews came out, the public came back." At the time, actor Joel Grey was merely fifth-billed in the show. Nevertheless, audiences were hypnotized by Grey's sinister performance as the Emcee.
In contrast, Jill Haworth's performance as Sally was less well-received and was criticized for its blandness. Emory Lewis, the reviewer for The Morning Call, wrote that "Jill Haworth, the lovely English actress who played Sally Bowles on opening night, was personable, but she was not sufficiently trained for so pivotal a role. And her voice was small and undramatic. Her performance threw 'Cabaret' out of kilter."
The 1967–68 US national tour featured Melissa Hart as Sally, Signe Hasso as Fräulein Schneider, and Leo Fuchs as Herr Schultz. The tour included the Shubert Theatre in New Haven, Connecticut in December 1967, the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles in May 1968, the Curran Theatre in San Francisco in September 1968, and many others.
=== Original West End production ===
The musical premiered in the West End on February 28, 1968, at the Palace Theatre with Judi Dench as Sally, Kevin Colson as Cliff, Barry Dennen as the Emcee, Lila Kedrova as Fräulein Schneider and Peter Sallis as Herr Schultz. It ran for 336 performances. Critics such as Ken Mandelbaum have asserted that "Judi Dench was the finest of all the Sallys that appeared in Hal Prince's original staging, and if she's obviously not much of a singer, her Sally is a perfect example of how one can give a thrilling musical theatre performance without a great singing voice."
=== 1986 West End revival ===
In 1986, the show was revived in London at the Strand Theatre starring Kelly Hunter as Sally, Peter Land as Cliff and Wayne Sleep as the Emcee, directed and choreographed by Gillian Lynne.
=== 1987 Broadway revival ===
The first Broadway revival opened on October 22, 1987, with direction and choreography by Prince and Field. The revival opened at the Imperial Theatre, and then transferred to the Minskoff Theatre to complete its 261-performance run. Joel Grey received star billing as the Emcee, with Alyson Reed as Sally, Gregg Edelman as Cliff, Regina Resnik as Fräulein Schneider, Werner Klemperer as Herr Schultz, and David Staller as Ernst Ludwig. The song "Don't Go" was added for Cliff's character.
=== 1993 London revival ===
In 1993, Sam Mendes directed a new production for the Donmar Warehouse in London. The revival starred Jane Horrocks as Sally, Adam Godley as Cliff, Alan Cumming as the Emcee and Sara Kestelman as Fräulein Schneider. Kestelman won the Olivier Award for Best Supporting Performance in a Musical, and Cumming was nominated for an Olivier. Mendes' concept was different from either the original production or the conventional first revival, particularly with respect to the character of the Emcee. The role, as played by Joel Grey in both prior productions, was a sexually aloof, edgy character with rouged cheeks dressed in a tuxedo. Alan Cumming's portrayal was highly sexualized, as he wore suspenders around his crotch and red paint on his nipples. Staging details differed as well. Instead of "Tomorrow Belongs to Me" being performed by a male choir of waiting staff, the Emcee plays a recording of a boy soprano singing it. In the final scene, the Emcee removes his outer clothes to reveal a striped uniform of the type worn by the internees in concentration camps; on it are pinned a yellow badge (identifying Jews), a red star (marking Communists and socialists), and a pink triangle (denoting homosexuals). Other changes included added references to Cliff's bisexuality, including a brief scene where he kisses one of the Cabaret boys. "I Don't Care Much," which was added for the 1987 Broadway revival, was maintained for this production, and "Mein Herr" was added from the film.
This production was filmed by Channel Four Film for airing on UK television.
=== 1998 Broadway revival ===
The second Broadway revival, by the Roundabout Theatre Company, was based on the 1993 Mendes-Donmar Warehouse production. For the Broadway transfer, Rob Marshall was co-director and choreographer. The production opened after 37 previews on March 19, 1998, at the Kit Kat Klub, housed in what previously had been known as Henry Miller's Theatre. Later that year it transferred to Studio 54, where it remained for the rest of its 2,377-performance run, becoming the third longest-running revival in Broadway musical history, third only to Oh! Calcutta! and Chicago. Cumming reprised his role as the Emcee, opposite newcomers Natasha Richardson as Sally, John Benjamin Hickey as Cliff, Ron Rifkin as Herr Schultz, Denis O'Hare as Ernst Ludwig, Michele Pawk as Fräulein Kost, and Mary Louise Wilson as Fräulein Schneider.
The Broadway production was nominated for ten Tony Awards, winning four for Cumming, Richardson and Rifkin, as well as the Tony for Best Revival of a Musical. This production featured a number of notable replacements later in the run: Susan Egan, Joely Fisher, Gina Gershon, Debbie Gibson, Milena Govich, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Melina Kanakaredes, Jane Leeves, Molly Ringwald, Brooke Shields, and Lea Thompson as Sally; Michael C. Hall, Raúl Esparza, Neil Patrick Harris, Adam Pascal, Jon Secada, and John Stamos as the Emcee; Boyd Gaines, Michael Hayden, and Rick Holmes as Cliff; Tom Bosley, Dick Latessa, Hal Linden, Laurence Luckinbill, and Tony Roberts as Herr Schultz; and Blair Brown, Carole Shelley, Polly Bergen, Alma Cuervo, Mariette Hartley as Fräulein Schneider, and Martin Moran as Ernst Ludwig.
There were a number of changes made between the 1993 and 1998 revivals, despite the similarities in creative team. The cabaret number "Two Ladies" was staged with the Emcee, a cabaret girl, and a cabaret boy in drag and included a shadow play simulating various sexual positions. The score was re-orchestrated using synthesizer effects and expanding the stage band, with all the instruments now being played by the cabaret girls and boys. The satiric "Sitting Pretty", with its mocking references to deprivation, despair and hunger, was eliminated, as it had been in the film version, and where in the 1993 revival it had been combined with "Money" (as it had been in 1987 London production), "Money" was now performed on its own. "Maybe This Time", from the film adaptation, was added to the score.
=== 2006 West End revival ===
In September 2006, a new production presented by Bill Kenwright opened at the Lyric Theatre, directed by Rufus Norris, and starring Anna Maxwell Martin as Sally, James Dreyfus as the Emcee, Harriet Thorpe as Fräulein Kost, Michael Hayden as Cliff, and Sheila Hancock as Fräulein Schneider. Hancock won the Olivier Award for Best Supporting Performance in a Musical. Replacements later in the run included Kim Medcalf and Amy Nuttall as Sally, Honor Blackman and Angela Richards as Fräulein Schneider, and Julian Clary and Alistair McGowan as the Emcee. This production closed in June 2008 and toured the UK for two years opening at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre with a cast that included Wayne Sleep as the Emcee and Samantha Barks as Sally, before Siobhan Dillon took over the role.
=== 2012 West End revival ===
A revival opened in the West End at the Savoy Theatre on October 3, 2012, following a four-week tour of the UK, including Bromley, Southampton, Nottingham, Norwich and Salford, with Will Young as the Emcee and Michelle Ryan as Sally Bowles. Siân Phillips, Harriet Thorpe and Matt Rawle also joined the cast. The production was made by the creative team behind the 2006 London revival, but with new sets, lighting, costumes, choreography and direction.
In August 2013 the show went on tour in the UK, again with Young as the Emcee, Siobhan Dillon reprising her role of Sally and Lyn Paul joining the cast as Fräulein Schneider. The same production toured the UK again in autumn 2017 with Young as the Emcee and Louise Redknapp as Sally. Another UK tour began in autumn 2019 starring John Partridge as the Emcee, Kara Lily Hayworth as Sally Bowles and Anita Harris as Fräulein Schneider.
=== 2014 Broadway revival ===
In September 2013 Roundabout Theatre Company announced plans to return the company's acclaimed 1998 production to Studio 54 in New York. For this, the show's third Broadway revival, Sam Mendes and Rob Marshall reprised their respective roles as director and co-director/choreographer to recreate their work from the earlier production. Alan Cumming starred again as the Emcee while Academy Award-nominee Michelle Williams made her Broadway debut as Sally Bowles. On October 7, 2013, Tony Award nominees Danny Burstein and Linda Emond joined the cast as Herr Schultz and Fräulein Schneider. The production began a 24-week limited engagement with previews from March 21, 2014, with opening night on April 24, 2014, but the engagement was extended. Emma Stone replaced Michelle Williams as Sally from November 2014 to February 2015. Critics praised Stone's performance for her interpretation of the hard-drinking sybarite Sally Bowles "as a flaming flapper, the kind hymned by F. Scott Fitzgerald and embodied by the young Joan Crawford in silent movies." Sienna Miller took over the role on March 29, 2015, remaining through to the show's closing. Alan Cumming continued in the role of the Emcee until the show's final curtain.
The production toured the US from January 2016 with Randy Harrison as the Emcee and Andrea Goss (who played Frenchie in the Broadway production). They were later replaced by Jon Peterson and Leigh Ann Larkin.
=== 2021 West End revival ===
Eddie Redmayne and Jessie Buckley starred as the Emcee and Sally Bowles in a West End production directed by Rebecca Frecknall, designed by Tom Scutt, choreographed by Julia Cheng, with lighting design by Isabella Byrd and sound design by Nick Lidster. The production also featured Omari Douglas as Cliff, Liza Sadovy as Fräulein Schneider, Elliot Levey as Herr Schultz, Stewart Clarke as Ernst and Anna-Jane Casey as Fräulein Kost. Produced by Underbelly and Ambassador Theatre Group, and billed as Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club, the production began previews November 15, 2021 at Playhouse Theatre, which was reduced to a 550-seat capacity with an intimate in-the-round stage and table seating for some audience members, in effect transforming the theater into a Weimar-era nightclub. The production led the 2022 Olivier Award nominations with 11 nods, including Best Musical Revival, Best Actor in a Musical for Redmayne and Best Actress in a Musical for Buckley. The production won seven awards and set a record as the most award-winning revival in Olivier history and the first production to receive awards in all four eligible acting categories.
Following the departure of Redmayne and Buckley, notable players as the Emcee and Sally Bowles have been Fra Fee and Amy Lennox; Callum Scott Howells and Madeline Brewer; John McCrea and Aimee Lou Wood; Mason Alexander Park and Maude Apatow; Jake Shears and Rebecca Lucy Taylor (aka Self Esteem); Luke Treadaway and Cara Delevingne; Layton Williams and Rhea Norwood; Adam Gillen and Katherine Langford; Billy Porter and Marisha Wallace; Rob Madge and Hannah Dodd; Reeve Carney and Eva Noblezada; and Matt Willis and Katie Hall.
=== 2024 Broadway revival ===
The 2021 West End production transferred to the August Wilson Theatre on Broadway, with previews from April 1, 2024, and the opening on April 21. As in the West End production, the August Wilson Theatre was refurbished as the "Kit Kat Club" with an intimate in-the-round staging. Redmayne reprised his role as the Emcee with Gayle Rankin and Ato Blankson-Wood co-starring as Sally and Cliff. Bebe Neuwirth, Steven Skybell, Natascia Diaz, and Henry Gottfried played Fräulein Schneider, Herr Schultz, Fräulein Kost, and Ernst Ludwig, respectively. The production was nominated for 9 Tony Awards, winning one for scenic design. Replacements in this revival included Adam Lambert, Orville Peck, and Billy Porter as the Emcee and Auliʻi Cravalho, Eva Noblezada, and Marisha Wallace as Sally Bowles. The production closed on September 21, 2025, having played 18 previews and 592 performances.
=== Other productions ===
A BBC Radio 2 radio broadcast in 1996 from the Golders Green Hippodrome starred Clare Burt as Sally Bowles, Steven Berkoff as the Emcee, Alexander Hanson as Clifford Bradshaw, Keith Michell as Herr Schultz, and Rosemary Leach as Fräulein Schneider.
Since 2003, international stagings of the show, many influenced by Mendes' concept, have included productions in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, France, Portugal, Greece, Israel, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, Puerto Rico, Serbia, South Africa, Spain and Venezuela. A 2008 production at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival's Avon Theatre in Canada, designed by Douglas Paraschuk and directed by Amanda Dehnert, featured Bruce Dow as the Emcee, Trish Lindström as Sally, Sean Arbuckle as Cliff, Nora McClellan as Fräulein Schneider and Frank Moore as Herr Schultz. The Shaw Festival at Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, included Cabaret in its 2014 season. The production, which ran from April 10 – October 26, 2014 at the Festival Theatre, was directed by Peter Hinton-Davis with choreography by Denise Clarke. It featured Juan Chioran as the Emcee, Deborah Hay as Sally, Gray Powell as Cliff, Benedict Campbell as Herr Schultz, and Corrine Koslo as Fräulein Schneider.
A 2017 revival played in Sydney and Melbourne, Australia, starred Paul Capsis as the Emcee and Chelsea Gibb as Sally. The production mixed elements of the Mendes production, such as its version of "Two Ladies" and its portrayal of a gay Cliff, with the colorful art design of the original (the Emcee is in full makeup and clothed) and most of the additional songs from the 1972 film (with the exception of "Mein Herr").
== Cast and characters ==
== Recordings ==
The first recording of Cabaret was the original Broadway cast album with a number of the songs either truncated (e.g., "Sitting Pretty"/"The Money Song") or outright cut to conserve disk space. When this album was released on compact disc, Kander and Ebb's voice-and-piano recordings of songs cut from the musical were added as bonus material. According to Mandelbaum, the 1968 London cast recording features "a more accurate rendering of the score" and includes the Act One finale "Tomorrow Belongs to Me" reprise, the second-act finale as performed in the theatre, and a number of other previously unrecorded bits and pieces." It was released in the UK and reissued on the CBS Embassy label in 1973.
The 1972 movie soundtrack with Liza Minnelli is much re-written and eliminates all but six of the original songs from the stage production.
Both the 1986 London and 1998 Broadway revival casts were recorded. A 1993 two-CD studio recording contains nearly the entire score, including songs written for the movie and for later productions and much of the incidental music. This recording features Jonathan Pryce as the Emcee, Maria Friedman as Sally, Gregg Edelman as Cliff, Judi Dench as Fräulein Schneider, and Fred Ebb as Herr Schultz. The cast recording of the 2006 London revival at the Lyric Theatre includes James Dreyfus as the Emcee and Anna Maxwell Martin as Sally.
The 2021 London cast recording featuring Eddie Redmayne and Jessie Buckley was recorded live at the Playhouse Theatre, London, and released in January 2023. Cabaret: The Maida Vale Session is an EP that was released in March 2024 with four songs from the revival at the Playhouse Theatre, including "Willkommen", "Don't Tell Mama", "I Don't Care Much" and the title song. It was recorded for a BBC Radio 2 show with Jo Whiley at the BBC's Maida Vale Studios with Jake Shears as Emcee, Rebecca Lucy Taylor as Sally and the 2023 London cast and orchestra.
In addition to these recordings, cast albums for French, Spanish, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Austrian, Dutch, Mexican, and German productions have been released.
== Awards and nominations ==
=== Original Broadway production ===
=== 1987 Broadway revival ===
=== 1993 London revival ===
=== 1998 Broadway revival ===
=== 2006 West End revival ===
=== 2012 West End revival ===
=== 2014 Broadway revival ===
=== 2021 West End revival ===
=== 2024 Broadway revival === |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_Avon,_Bristol#Hydrology_and_water_quality | River Avon, Bristol#Hydrology and water quality | The River Avon ( AY-vən) is a river in the southwest of England. To distinguish it from a number of other rivers of the same name, it is often called the Bristol Avon. The name 'Avon' is loaned from an ancestor of the Welsh word afon, meaning 'river'.
The Avon rises just north of the village of Acton Turville in South Gloucestershire, before flowing through Wiltshire into Somerset. In its lower reaches from Bath (where it meets the Kennet and Avon Canal) to the Severn Estuary at Avonmouth near Bristol, the river is navigable and is known as the Avon Navigation.
The Avon is the 19th longest river in the United Kingdom, at 83 miles (134 km), although there are just 19 miles (31 km) as the crow flies between the source and its mouth in the Severn Estuary. The catchment area is 2,220 square kilometres (860 sq mi).
== Etymology ==
The name "Avon" is loaned from the Common Brittonic abona, "river", which survives in the Welsh word afon [ˈavɔn]. "River Avon", therefore, literally means "river river"; several other English and Scottish rivers share the name. The County of Avon that existed from 1974 to 1996 was named after the river, and covered Bristol, Bath, and the lower Avon valley.
== Course ==
The Avon rises on the southern edge of the Cotswold hills, at Didmarton in Gloucestershire; at Joyce's Pool a plaque marks the source. It flows south-east into Wiltshire to Sherston, where it is joined by the Luckington Brook which drains an area west of Luckington that includes the Badminton House estate.
From Sherston the river flows east to Malmesbury, where it is joined by its first major tributary, the Tetbury Avon, which rises just east of Tetbury in Gloucestershire. This is known locally as the Ingleburn, which in Old English means 'English river'. The two rivers flow north and south of a rocky outcrop, almost creating an island for the ancient hilltop town of Malmesbury to sit on. Upstream of this confluence the river is sometimes referred to as the 'River Avon (Sherston branch)' to distinguish it from the Tetbury branch.
At the point where the two rivers merge, the Avon turns southeast away from the Cotswolds and then quickly south into the clay Dauntsey Vale, where it is joined by the River Marden, until it reaches the biggest town so far, Chippenham. The wide vale is now known as the Avon Vale, and the river flows on via Lacock to Melksham, then turns north-west through Bradford-on-Avon, where the centre of the town grew up around a ford, hence the origin of the town's name ("Broad-Ford"). This was supplemented in Norman times by the Grade I listed bridge that still stands today; originally a packhorse bridge, it was widened in the 17th century by rebuilding the downstream side.
The Avon Valley between Bradford-on-Avon and Bath is an example of a valley where four forms of ground transport are found: road, rail, river, canal. The river passes under the Avoncliff and Dundas Aqueducts which carry the Kennet and Avon Canal, and at Freshford is joined by the Somerset River Frome. Avoncliff Aqueduct was built by John Rennie and chief engineer John Thomas, between 1797 and 1801.
The aqueduct has three arches and is 110 yards (100 m) long with a central elliptical arch of 60 ft (18 m) span with two side arches each semicircular and 34 ft (10 m) across, all with V-jointed arch stones. The spandrel and wing walls are built in alternate courses of ashlar masonry, and rock-faced blocks. The central span sagged soon after it was built and has been repaired many times.
The Dundas Aqueduct was built by the same team between 1797 and 1801 and completed in 1805. James McIlquham was appointed contractor. The aqueduct is 150 yards (137.2 m) long with three arches built of Bath Stone, with Doric pilasters, and balustrades at each end. The central semicircular arch spans 64 feet (19.5 m); the two oval side arches span 20 feet (6.1 m). It is a Grade I listed structure, and was the first canal structure to be designated as a Scheduled Ancient Monument in 1951. The stretch of river below and above the aqueduct, where it is joined by Midford Brook, has been used by rowing crews from Monkton Combe School since at least the beginning of the 1900s.
It then flows past Claverton Pumping Station, which pumped water from the River Avon by Warleigh Weir into the canal, using power from the flow of the river. The pumping station is located in a pump house built of Bath Stone, located at river level. Water is diverted from the river by Warleigh Weir, about 200 yd (180 m) upstream. The water flows down a leat to the pumping station, where it powers a water wheel, 24 ft (7.3 m) wide and 17 ft (5.2 m) in diameter, with 48 wooden slats. At full power the wheel uses 2 tons (2 tonnes) of water per second and rotates five times a minute.
The water wheel drives gearing which increases the speed to 16 rpm. From here, cranks drive vertical connecting rods which transfer the energy to two 18 ft (5.5 m) long cast iron rocking beams. Each rocking beam in turn drives an 18 in (0.5 m) diameter lift pump, which also take their supply from the mill leat. Each pump stroke raises 50 imperial gallons (230 L; 60 US gal) of water to the canal. In 1981, British Waterways installed two 75 horsepower (56 kW) electric pumps just upstream from the station.
The Avon then flows through Bathford, where it is joined by the Bybrook River, and Bathampton where it passes under the Bathampton Toll Bridge. It is joined by the Lam Brook at Lambridge in Bath and then passes under Cleveland and Pulteney Bridges and over the weir.
Cleveland Bridge was built in 1826 by William Hazledine, owner of the Coalbrookdale Ironworks, with Henry Goodridge as the architect, on the site of a Roman ferry crossing. Named after the 3rd Duke of Cleveland, it spans the River Avon at Bathwick, and enabled further development of Georgian Bath to take place on the south side of the river. It was designed by architect Henry Goodridge to take the traffic of his day, horse-drawn vehicles and pedestrians, and was constructed using Bath Stone and a cast iron arched span.
Pulteney Bridge was completed in 1773 and is designated by English Heritage as a Grade I listed structure. The bridge was designed by Robert Adam, and is one of only four bridges in the world with shops across the full span on both sides. It is named after Frances Pulteney, heiress in 1767 of the Bathwick estate across the river from Bath.
Floods in 1799 and 1800 wrecked the north side of the bridge, which had been constructed with inadequate support. It was rebuilt by John Pinch the Elder, surveyor to the Pulteney estate, in a less ambitious version of Adam's design. Bath and North East Somerset council have discussed plans to ban vehicles from the bridge and turn it into a pedestrianised zone, but it remains open to buses and taxis.
Some 700 metres below Pulteney weir, the river is joined by the Kennet and Avon Canal which connects through Bath Locks. Together with the Kennet Navigation which joins the River Thames at Reading, this provides a through route for canal boats from Bristol to London. From this point downstream the river is known as the Avon Navigation.
=== Navigation ===
The Avon above Bath remains navigable as far as Bathampton where there is the remains of a flash lock. The lock past the weir below Pulteney Bridge was demolished when the weir was reconstructed, so passage between the sections is only possible for dinghies and canoes using the roller slipway on the side of the weir.
Beyond its junction with the Kennet and Avon Canal, the Avon flows through Keynsham towards Bristol. For much of its course after leaving Wiltshire, it marks the traditional boundary between Somerset and Gloucestershire. For most of this distance the navigation makes use of the natural riverbed, with six locks overcoming a rise of 30 feet (9 m). From Bath to Netham Lock where it divides into the New Cut and the Floating Harbour is 12 miles (19 km). The stretch is made navigable by the use of locks and weirs.
In the centre of Bath it passes under bridges, including the Midland Bridge which was built by the Midland Railway Company to allow the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway access to and from its Green Park terminus station. In November 2011, the navigation between Bath and Bristol was closed because of safety concerns about Victoria Bridge.
Weston Lock on the outskirts of Bath is in the Newbridge area. Weston Cut is a man made channel, opened in 1727, for boats to approach and pass through Weston Lock; the island created between the cut and the river weir became known as Dutch Island after the owner of the brass mill established on the riverside in the early 18th century.
Kelston Lock and weir have permanent moorings above and below them. The Riverside Inn and Saltford Marina are also close by. Saltford Lock and weir are overlooked by the remains of the Kelston Brass Mill, which was working until 1925. It is a Grade II listed building. Alongside the lock is a pub, whose garden extends over the lock to the small island between the lock and weir. The lock was opened in 1727 and destroyed in 1738 by rival coal dealers to stop the use of the river for transportation.
In its heyday, between 1709 and 1859, Swineford had an active brass and copper industry around Swineford Lock, served by the river which also provided water power for the cloth industry, as did the River Boyd, a tributary which flows into the Avon near Bitton. Keynsham Lock opened in 1727. Just above the lock are visitor moorings and a pub, on an island between the lock and the weir. The weir side of the island is also the mouth of the River Chew.
The river is joined by the Siston Brook at Londonderry Wharf, terminus of the dramway which brought coal from Coalpit Heath. The final river lock, Hanham Lock, is on the edge of the Bristol built-up area; below here the river is affected by high tides which overtop Netham Weir. Above the weir, in the St Anne's area of Bristol, the river is joined by Brislington Brook.
Netham Lock is the point at Netham in Bristol at which boats from the Avon gain access to Bristol's floating harbour. Construction started in 1804 to build the tidal New Cut, where it is joined by the River Malago, and divert the Avon along the Feeder Canal to the harbour; a system designed and built by William Jessop and later improved by Isambard Kingdom Brunel. A weir carries the river into the New Cut and boats use the adjacent lock. Access to the harbour is only possible during the day, when the lock keeper will open the gates unless the water level in the river between Netham and Hanham is above or below the level of the harbour. Netham Lock and the weir form part of Bristol's flood defence mechanisms.
In central Bristol, where the river is tidal, it is diverted from its original course into the New Cut, a channel dug between 1804 and 1809 at a cost of £600,000. The original course is held at a constant level by lock gates, designed by Jessop, and is known as the floating harbour, since it enables ships to stay afloat rather than grounding when the tide ebbs. The harbour is protected by an 1870s replacement for Jessop's locks.
This unusual dock has a tentacled plan resulting from its origins as the natural river course of the Avon and its tributary, the River Frome, and is intimately entwined with Bristol's city centre as few docks are. As a result of this, the floating harbour is one of the more successful pieces of dockland regeneration, with much of the dockside now occupied by residential, office and cultural premises, and the water heavily used by leisure craft.
Downstream of central Bristol, the river passes through the deep Avon Gorge, spanned by Brunel's Clifton Suspension Bridge: the river is tidal and is navigable by seagoing vessels at high tide but dries to a steep-sided muddy channel at low tide. It was largely the challenge of navigating this section that sealed the fate of the floating harbour as commercial docks, and saw them replaced by docks at Avonmouth where the Avon joins the Severn Estuary.
Before reaching its mouth, the Avon is joined by the River Trym at Sea Mills which was the site of Portus Abonae, a Roman port. Shortly after, it passes the village of Pill on the south bank where the Pill Hobblers were based in order to tow ships up the river to Bristol and where yachts and other boats still have moorings in Chapel Pill and Crockerne Pill. It then passes under the Avonmouth Bridge which carries the M5 motorway. The main span is 538 ft (164 m) long, and the bridge is 4,554 ft (1,388 m) long, with an air draught above mean high water level of 98.4 ft (30 m).
The river then serves two major dock areas. The Royal Portbury Dock is on the southern side of the mouth of the river. The deepwater dock was constructed between 1972 and 1977, and is now a major port for the import of motor vehicles. The Royal Portbury Dock has the largest entrance lock into any UK port, accommodating vessels up to 41 m (135 ft) beam, 290 m (951 ft) length and 14.5 m (48 ft) draft.
The Avonmouth Docks are on the north side of the river and are one of the UK's major ports for chilled foods, especially fruit and vegetables. The first dock at Avonmouth, Avonmouth Old Dock, was opened in 1877 and acquired by Bristol Corporation in 1884. In 1907, a much larger dock, the Royal Edward Dock, was opened.
The docks form part of the Port of Bristol and were operated by the Port of Bristol Authority, part of Bristol City Council, until 1991 when the council granted a 150-year lease to the Bristol Port Company. Pilotage is provided by Bristol Pilots LLP who supply authorised pilots for the River Avon and Bristol City docks, as well as the Severn estuary and the Bristol channel; they are based at Avonmouth Docks.
== Hydrology and water quality ==
At Great Somerford the Avon has a mean flow rate of 3.355 cubic metres per second (118.5 cu ft/s), and a typical river level range between 0.16 metres (6.3 in) and 0.74 metres (2 ft 5 in) with a highest level of 2.43 metres (8 ft 0 in). At Melksham the Avon has a mean flow rate of 6.703 cubic metres per second (236.7 cu ft/s).
December 2013 was the highest level recorded at Bradford on Avon when the level reached 3.42 metres (11.2 ft) with a normal range at the monitoring station being 1.01 metres (3 ft 4 in) to 1.40 metres (4 ft 7 in). At Bathford the highest river level was also in December 2013 when it reached 4.41 metres (14.5 ft) while the normal range is 0.75 metres (2 ft 6 in) and 1.60 metres (5 ft 3 in), with a flow rate of 18.274 cubic metres per second (645.3 cu ft/s).
In Bath at St James, which is 180 metres (590 ft) upstream of Pultney Weir the mean flow is 20.466 cubic metres per second (722.7 cu ft/s), with a similar flow (20.984 cubic metres per second (741.0 cu ft/s)) downstream of the weir. At the Destructor Bridge in Bath the typical height range is 0.40 metres (1 ft 4 in) to 0.81 metres (2 ft 8 in) with a high of 1.64 metres (5 ft 5 in) also in December 2013.
At Saltford, the range is 0.46 metres (1 ft 6 in) to 1.41 metres (4 ft 8 in), with a highest recording of 2.31 metres (7 ft 7 in) on 24 December 2013. At Keynsham, the typical range is between 0.23 metres (9.1 in) and 2.09 metres (6 ft 10 in); the highest was on 25 December 2013 when it reached 5.36 metres (17.6 ft). At Netham Weir, where the New Cut carries the flow away from Bristol Harbour, the typical range for the depth of the river is 0.15 metres (5.9 in) to 0.84 metres (2 ft 9 in), with the highest ever recorded being 3.22 metres (10.6 ft).
For the purpose of water quality monitoring and improvement, the river is divided into several catchment management areas; South of Malmesbury, Bristol Avon Rural and Bristol Avon Urban. In the rural area, 22 water bodies are classified as good, 46 as moderate and 8 as poor. The main reasons for not achieving good scores are pollution from waste water, agriculture and rural land management. In the urban area, one water body is rated good, while 12 are rated moderate and one is poor. The pollution from upstream is added to by the effects of industry, manufacturing and other businesses and is significantly affected by physical modifications to the water course. Within the catchment area there are 137 river water bodies and 6 lakes; of these 22 per cent of rivers are rated as good ecological status, 40 per cent good for chemical status and 31 per cent good for biological status.
== Conservation areas ==
The river is important for its dragonfly communities, with a strong population of scarce chaser (found in only six other areas in England), together with a strong population of white-legged damselfly. red-eyed damselfly is also found. The river is also important for aquatic plants, including Loddon pondweed.
The Kellaways – West Tytherton Site of Special Scientific Interest, 3 miles (4.8 km) north east of Chippenham, is of geological interest as the river bank exposes Callovian highly-fossiliferous sandstone which contains well-preserved bivalves, gastropods, brachiopods, belemnites and ammonites. Further downstream at Newton St Loe the Newton St Loe SSSI is another Geological Conservation Review SSSI. It represents the only remaining known exposure of fossiliferous Pleistocene gravels along the River Avon. In conjunction with other sites within the wider area, it has aided the development of a scientific understanding of the history of early glaciation within South West England. The bodies of mammoths (Mammuthus) and horses (Equus) have been found at the site.
The Avon Gorge has been designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest because it supports some rare fauna and flora, including species unique to the gorge. There are a total of 24 rare plant species and two unique trees: the Bristol and Wilmotts's whitebeams. Other notable plants include Bristol rock-cress, Bristol onion, spiked speedwell, autumn squill and honewort.
Other areas along the river which have this designation include Bickley Wood, Cleeve Wood, Hanham for its large population of Bath asparagus (Ornithogalum pyrenaicum). Stidham Farm near Keynsham contains at least At least 2 metres (7 ft) of Pleistocene terrace-gravels, consisting of limestone clasts mainly, but also with Millstone Grit, Pennant Sandstone, flint and chert clasts. The site is of considerable importance for studies relating to the possible glaciation of the area, and of the terrace stratigraphy, particularly as it is one of only two accessible terrace deposits in this part of the Avon valley.
Newton St Loe SSSI is also listed for geological reasons as it represents the only remaining known exposure of fossiliferous Pleistocene gravels along the River Avon. In conjunction with other sites within the wider area, they have aided the development of a scientific understanding of the history of early glaciation within South West England.
At Horseshoe Bend, Shirehampton the wooded cliff and a narrow salt marsh are supported by rocks of Devonian age Old Red Sandstone and Carboniferous Limestone, overlain by with Triassic dolomitic conglomerate. The site's principal interest and the reason for its designation as an SSSI is the presence of a population of the true service-tree (Sorbus domestica) growing on the cliffs. This tree is nationally rare in Britain, and this site hosts the largest known population in England. Other notable species of Sorbus here are the whitebeams Sorbus eminens and Sorbus anglica, both of which are also nationally rare in Britain.
The nationally scarce large-leaved lime (Tilia platyphyllos) also occurs, and herbs include field garlic (Allium oleraceum) and pale St. John's-wort (Hypericum montanum). The saltmarsh vegetation, which lies at the base of the cliff, is predominantly made up of sea aster (Aster tripolium) and English scurvygrass (Cochlearia anglica). There are two nationally scarce vascular plant species here as well – slender hare's-ear (Bupleurum tenuissimum) and long-stalked orache (Atriplex longipes).
The tidal reaches of the River Avon provide habitat for waterbirds, with 64 species having been recorded up to 2004, including 21 species of shorebird, and 13 species of gull.
== Authorities ==
A catchment board for the Avon was created by the Land Drainage Act 1930 and became the Bristol Avon River Board under the River Boards Act 1948. The board was replaced by the Bristol Avon River Authority under the Water Resources Act 1963. Twenty-five minor watercourses were added to the Authority's jurisdiction in 1973.
Reorganisation in 1974, under the Water Act 1973 brought the Avon catchment into a new regional body, the Wessex Water Authority. Privatisation saw responsibility for the catchment pass to the National Rivers Authority upon its formation in September 1989. In 1996, the authority became part of the Environment Agency.
Navigation conservancy in the lower river from Avonmouth to the lock at Hotwells is the responsibility of The Bristol Port Company as both statutory and competent harbour authority. Navigation within Bristol's floating harbour is retained by Bristol City Council as statutory and competent harbour authority.
In July 2012, responsibility for maintenance of the river navigation above Bristol passed from British Waterways to the Canal & River Trust.
== History ==
The distribution of archaeological finds suggests that the western end of the river between Bath and Avonmouth formed a border between the Dobunni and Durotriges during the late Iron Age, prior to the Roman conquest of Britain. Further east, between Bath and what is now Wiltshire, it may also have formed a border of the territory ruled by the Belgae. After the Roman occupation, the river formed a boundary between the lands of the Hwicce, which became Mercia, and the kingdom of Wessex.
The river Avon had been navigable from Bristol to Bath during the early years of the 13th century but construction of mills on the river forced its closure. The floodplain of the Avon, on which the city centre of Bath is built, has an altitude of about 59 ft (18 m) above sea level. The river, once an unnavigable series of braided streams broken up by swamps and ponds, has been managed by weirs into a single channel. Periodic flooding, which shortened the life of many buildings in the lowest part of the city, was normal until major flood control works were completed in the 1970s.
The Bristol Avon Navigation, which runs the 15 miles (24 km) from the Kennet and Avon Canal at Hanham Lock to the Bristol Channel at Avonmouth, was constructed between 1724 and 1727, following legislation passed by Queen Anne, by a company of proprietors and the engineer John Hore of Newbury. The first cargo of 'Deal boards, Pig-Lead and Meal' arrived in Bath in December 1727. It is now administered by the Canal & River Trust.
Throughout Bristol's history the Avon Gorge has been an important transport route, carrying the River Avon, major roads and two railways. The Bristol Channel has a very high tidal range of 15 metres (49 ft), second only to Bay of Fundy in Eastern Canada; and the gorge is relatively narrow and meandering, making it notoriously difficult to navigate. Several vessels have grounded in the gorge including the SS Demerara soon after her launch in 1851, the schooner Gipsy in 1878, the steam tug Black Eagle in 1861 and the Llandaff City.
In 1877, Halfpenny Bridge, a pedestrian toll bridge crossing the river from Bath Spa railway station to Widcombe, collapsed with the loss of about 10 lives amongst a large crowd going to the Bath and West Agricultural show.
The Avon has flooded several times in its recorded history. These floods include the one in 1799/1800 damaging Pulteney Bridge. Various points along the river including the valley around Freshford are at risk of fluvial flooding, as a result of sediment entering the river and narrowing the channel. To help cope with this some areas on the banks of the river are designated as a functional floodplain to cope with increased flow volumes.
Potential changes to weather patterns from climate change suggest that further measures are likely to be needed to protect the population from flooding risk. A tidal surge, combined with high water levels from the flooding of the surrounding area caused flooding in the city of Bristol.
== Route and points of interest == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Stilwell | Joseph Stilwell | Joseph Warren "Vinegar Joe" Stilwell (19 March 1883 – 12 October 1946) was a United States Army general who served in the China Burma India theater during World War II. Stilwell served as commander of the US forces in the theater, and also as deputy for both Lord Louis Mountbatten, and Chiang Kai-shek, the Chinese Nationalist leader.
After being defeated by the Japanese in 1942, Stilwell became an early American popular hero of the war for leading a column walking out of Burma on foot. Stilwell's command was marred by disputes with Chiang Kai-shek, Air Force commander Claire Chennault, and British commanders. Stilwell saw Chinese Nationalist forces as corrupt and believed that Chiang was keeping Lend-Lease supplies to fight the Chinese Communist Party, while Chiang regarded Stilwell as reckless, insubordinate, and responsible for heavy Chinese losses under his command. Following the Chinese defeat to a major Japanese offensive in 1944, Stilwell appealed directly to President Roosevelt for support, and delivered to Chiang Roosevelt's message, which threatened that Lend-Lease aid to China would be cut off if Stilwell was not appointed in full command of all Chinese forces. Chiang rejected the ultimatum, seeing it as an affront to China's independence, and with backing of ambassador Patrick J. Hurley demanded Stilwell's replacement, which happened in October 1944.
Stilwell's implacable demands for units debilitated by disease to be sent into heavy combat resulted in Merrill's Marauders, the only American ground unit present in his theater, becoming disenchanted with him. Marauders were disbanded after suffering extremely heavy casualties in Siege of Myitkyina.
Influential voices such as the journalist Brooks Atkinson viewed the Communists as an effective military force and Stilwell as a victim of a corrupt regime. Stilwell's admirers saw him as having been given inadequate resources and incompatible objectives. Critics viewed him as a hard-charging officer whose temperament and conduct towards Chiang contributed to the loss of China.
== Early life and education ==
Stilwell was born on 19 March 1883, in Palatka, Florida. His parents were Doctor Benjamin Stilwell and Mary A. Peene. Stilwell was an eighth-generation descendant of an English colonist who had arrived in America in 1638 and whose descendants remained in New York until the birth of Stilwell's father.
Named for a family friend and the doctor who delivered him, Stilwell, known as Warren by his family, grew up in Yonkers, New York, under a strict regimen from his father that included an emphasis on religion. Stilwell later admitted to his daughter that he picked up criminal instincts by "being forced to go to Church and Sunday School, and seeing how little real good religion does anybody, I advise passing them all up and using common sense instead."
Stilwell's rebellious attitude led him to a record of unruly behavior once he reached a postgraduate level at Yonkers High School. Prior to his last year, Stilwell had performed meticulously in his classes and had participated in football (as quarterback) and track. Under the discretion of his father, Stilwell was then placed into a postgraduate course and immediately formed a group of friends whose activities ranged from card playing to stealing the desserts from the senior dance in 1900. The last event in which an administrator was punched led to the expulsions and suspensions for Stilwell's friends. Meanwhile, since he had already graduated, Stilwell was once again by his father's guidance sent to attend the US Military Academy at West Point, rather than Yale University, as had been originally planned.
Despite missing the deadline to apply for congressional appointment to the military academy, Stilwell gained entry through the use of family connections, via which US President William McKinley was approached. In his first year, Stilwell underwent hazing as a plebe which he referred to as "hell." At West Point, Stilwell showed an aptitude for languages such as French in which he ranked first in his class during his second year. In sports, Stilwell is credited with introducing basketball to the academy, participating in cross-country running as captain, and playing on the varsity football team. At West Point, he had two demerits for laughing during drill. Ultimately, Stilwell graduated with the class of 1904 and ranked 32nd out 124 cadets.
In 1910, he married Winifred Alison Smith (1889–1972). They were the parents of five children, including Brigadier General Joseph Stilwell Jr. (West Point 1933), who served in World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War.
== Early military career ==
Stilwell later taught at West Point and attended the Infantry Advanced Course and the Command and General Staff College. During World War I, he was the Fourth Corps intelligence officer and helped plan the St. Mihiel Offensive. He was awarded the Army Distinguished Service Medal for his service in France, the medal's citation reading as follows:
The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, 9 July 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Army Distinguished Service Medal to Lieutenant Colonel (Infantry) Joseph Warren Stilwell (ASN: 0-1912), United States Army, for exceptionally meritorious and distinguished services to the Government of the United States, in a duty of great responsibility during World War I. As Assistant Chief of Staff, G-2, 4th Army Corps, during the St. Mihiel offensive, and later during the operations in the Woevre, Lieutenant Colonel Stilwell displayed military attainments of a high order. With great energy and zeal he pursued the developments of the enemy activities on the corps front, securing invaluable information which assisted in a marked degree to the planning of the operations. He contributed by the excellent performance of his task to the success of the operations.
Stilwell is often remembered by his sobriquet, "Vinegar Joe," which he acquired as a commander at Fort Benning, Georgia. Stilwell often gave harsh critiques of performance in field exercises, and a subordinate, stung by the caustic remarks, drew a caricature of Stilwell rising out of a vinegar bottle. After discovering the caricature, Stilwell pinned it to a board and had the drawing photographed and distributed to friends. Yet another indication of his view of life was the motto he kept on his desk: Illegitimi non carborundum, a form of fractured Latin that translates as "Don't let the bastards grind you down."
== World War II ==
Between the wars, Stilwell served three tours in China, where he mastered spoken and written Chinese and was the military attaché at the US legation in Beijing from 1935 to 1939. In 1939 and 1940 he was assistant commander of the 2nd Infantry Division and from 1940 to 1941 organized and trained the 7th Infantry Division at Fort Ord, California. It was there that his leadership style which emphasized concern for the average soldier and minimized ceremonies and officious discipline, earned him the nickname of "Uncle Joe."
Just prior to the United States entering World War II, following the Imperial Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Stilwell had been recognized as the Army's top corps commander, and he was initially selected to plan and command the Allied invasion of North Africa. However, he and the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff were skeptical about the operation and believed military planners underestimated the risk of submarine attacks interfering with the amphibious landings. He also believed that Allied military planners were too lenient towards Francoist Spain and underestimated the risk of it joining the Axis powers, writing "The Boches own the country. Franco must pay the bill for his war." After Stilwell prepared a scathingly anti-British final report on the Arcadia Conference, his superiors decided to reassign him. When it became necessary to send a senior officer to China to keep it in the war, Stilwell was selected, over his own personal objections, by US President Franklin Roosevelt and his old friend, Army Chief of Staff George Marshall.
Stilwell became the chief of staff to Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, served as US commander in the China Burma India Theater, was responsible for all Lend-Lease supplies going to China, and later became deputy commander of South East Asia Command. Despite his status and position in China, he became involved in conflicts with other senior Allied officers over the distribution of lend-lease materiel, Chinese political sectarianism and proposals to incorporate Chinese and US forces in the 11th Army Group under British command.
=== Burma retreat and offensive ===
In February 1942 Stilwell was promoted to lieutenant general and was assigned to the China-Burma-India Theater (CBI), where Stilwell had three major roles: commander of all US forces in China, Burma, and India; deputy commander of the Burma-India Theater under Admiral Louis Mountbatten; and military advisor to Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, the commander of all Nationalist Chinese forces as well as commander of the Chinese Theater.
The CBI was a geographical administrative command on the same level as the commands of Dwight Eisenhower and Douglas MacArthur, but unlike other combat theaters like the European Theater of Operations, the CBI was never formally designated a "theater of operations" and did not report to an overall American commander. The China Theater came under the operational command of Chiang, the commander of the National Revolutionary Army, and the Burma India Theater came under the operational command of the British (first GHQ India and later the Allied South East Asia Command whose supreme commander was Mountbatten). During his tenure, there were hardly any American combat forces in the theater, and Stilwell commanded Chinese troops almost exclusively.
The British and the Chinese were ill-equipped and the targets of Japanese offensives. Chiang was interested in conserving his troops and Allied lend-lease supplies to be used against any sudden Japanese offensive and against Communist forces in a later civil war. His wariness increased after he had observed the disastrous Allied performance during the Japanese invasion of Burma. After fighting and resisting the Japanese for five years, many in the Nationalist government felt that it was time for the Allies to assume a greater burden in fighting the war.
The Chinese and American commands were beset by a difference in strategies. Chiang, having fought against Japan since 1937, favored "defense in depth", an approach partially adopted by the British later in 1944. During the early stages of the conflict both the British and the Americans underestimated the Japanese. Captain Evans Carlson, after observing the Battle of Shanghai in 1937, called the Imperial Japanese Army "third rate", while Stilwell wanted to go on the offensive to save Burma. The Japanese divisions there were proficient in both jungle and offroad warfare. They successfully outmaneuvred the road-bound British, coordinated with air support, and exploited local anticolonial sentiments.
The situation was not helped by miscommunication and insubordination. In February 1942, while retreating across the Sittaung River, the main British force left two brigades on the wrong side after prematurely blowing up the bridge. During an ambush against incoming Japanese at Pyinmana, only the Chinese 5th Army stayed in position. The British pulled back, fearing encirclement, while the Chinese 200th Division refused to rush in.
The first step for Stilwell was the reformation of the Chinese Army. The reforms clashed with the delicate balance of political and military alliances in China, which kept Chiang in power. Reforming the army meant removing men who maintained Chiang's position as commander-in-chief. Chiang gave Stilwell technical overall command of some Chinese troops but worried that the new US-led forces would become yet another independent force outside of his control. Since 1942, members of his staff had continually objected to Chinese troops being used in Burma for what they viewed as returning the country to British colonial control.
Chiang therefore sided with Major General Claire Lee Chennault's proposals for the war against the Japanese to be continued largely using existing Chinese forces supported by air forces, which Chennault assured Chiang to be feasible. The dilemma forced Chennault and Stilwell into competition for the valuable lend-lease supplies arriving over the Himalayas from British-controlled India, an obstacle referred to as "The Hump."
George Marshall's biennial report covering 1 July 1943 to 30 June 1945, acknowledged that he had given Stilwell "one of the most difficult" assignments of any theater commander.
After the collapse of the Allied defenses in Burma cut China off from the remaining supply route, Stilwell declined an airlift offer from General Chennault and led his staff of 117 out of Burma into Assam, India, on foot. They marched at what his men called the "Stilwell stride" of 105 paces per minute. Two of the men accompanying him, his aide Frank Dorn and the war correspondent Jack Belden, wrote about their experiences in Walkout with Stilwell in Burma (1971) and Retreat with Stilwell (1943) respectively. The Assam route was used by other retreating Allied and Chinese forces.
Stilwell's walkout separated him from the approximately 100,000 Chinese troops still there. 25 thousand of them would later perish during their retreat due to the harsh jungle conditions, poor logistics, and Japanese military operations.
In India, Stilwell soon became well known for his no-nonsense demeanor and his disregard for military pomp and ceremony. His trademarks were a battered Army campaign hat, GI shoes, and a plain service uniform with no insignia of rank. He frequently carried a Model 1903, .30–06 Caliber, Springfield rifle in preference to a sidearm. His hazardous march out of Burma and his bluntly honest assessment of the disaster captured the imagination of the American public: "I claim we got a hell of a beating. We got run out of Burma and it is humiliating as hell. I think we ought to find out what caused it, go back and retake it." Stilwell's derogatory remarks on Limey forces, however, did not sit well with British and Commonwealth commanders.
After the Japanese occupied Burma, China was almost completely cut off from Allied aid and materiel except through the hazardous air route over the Hump. Early on, Roosevelt and the US War Department had given priority to other theaters for US combat forces, equipment, and logistical support. The closure of the Burma Road and the fall of Burma made it extremely difficult to replace Chinese war losses. This jeopardized the Allies' initial strategy, which was to maintain the Chinese resistance to the Japanese by providing logistical and air support.
In August 1942, Stilwell opened a training center in Ramgarh, India, 200 miles (320 km) west of Calcutta, to train Chinese troops which had retreated to Assam from Burma. Stilwell's decision to establish the center at Ramgarh met with opposition from several senior British commanders, including Wavell, primarily due to logistical reasons. Chinese soldiers at the center received medical care along with new weapons and uniforms and were trained how to operate artillery, Universal Carriers, and M3 Stuart tanks. By the end of December 1942, 32,000 Chinese troops were being trained at the center to create the 22nd and 38th Divisions along with three artillery regiments and a tank battalion. From the outset, Stilwell's primary goals were the opening of a land route to China from northern Burma and India by means of a ground offensive in northern Burma to allow more supplies to be transported to China and to organize, equip, and train a reorganized and competent Chinese army that would fight the Japanese in the China-Burma-India theater (CBI). Stilwell argued that the CBI was the only area with the possibility for the Allies to engage large numbers of troops against their common enemy, Japan. Unfortunately, the huge airborne logistical train of support from the US to British India was still being organized, and supplies being flown over the Hump were barely sufficient to maintain Chennault's air operations and replace some of the Chinese war losses, let alone equip and supply an entire army.
Additionally, critical supplies intended for the CBI were being diverted to other combat theaters. Some Chinese and American soldiers diverted the supplies that made it over the Hump to the black market for their personal enrichment. As a result, most Allied commanders in India, with the exception of General Orde Wingate and his Chindit operations, focused on defensive measures.
=== Disagreements with Chiang and British ===
Stilwell left the defeated Chinese troops, and escaped Burma in 1942. Chiang had given him nominal command of these troops, though Chinese generals later admitted that they had considered Stilwell as an "adviser" and sometimes took orders directly from Chiang. Chiang was outraged by what he saw as Stilwell's blatant abandonment of the 200th Division, his best army, without orders and began to question Stilwell's capability and judgment as a military commander.
Chiang was also infuriated at Stilwell's strict control of US lend lease supplies to China. Instead of confronting Stilwell or communicating his concerns to Marshall and Roosevelt when they asked Chiang to assess Stilwell's leadership after the Allied disaster in Burma, Chiang reiterated his "full confidence and trust" in Stilwell but countermanded some of the orders to Chinese units issued by Stilwell in his capacity as Chief of Staff.
An outraged Stilwell began to call Chiang "the little dummy" or "Peanut" in his reports to Washington, "Peanut" being originally intended as a code word for Chiang in official radio messages. On the contrary, the term "Peanut" was first mentioned during Stilwell's flight to the CBI Theater in March 1942. Col. Willard Wyman, a member of Stilwell's staff on that flight mentioned Chiang "...is like a peanut perched on top of a dung heap...". Chiang repeatedly expressed his pent-up grievances against Stilwell for his "recklessness, insubordination, contempt, and arrogance" to U.S. envoys to China and was angry at his obsession with going on the offensive in Burma when East China was falling into Japan's hands.
Stilwell was infuriated by the rampant corruption of Chiang's regime. Stilwell faithfully kept a diary in which he began to note the corruption and the amount of money ($380,584,000 in 1944 dollars) being wasted on the procrastinating Chiang and his government. The Cambridge History of China, for instance, estimates that 60%–70% of Chiang's Nationalist conscripts did not make it through their basic training, with 40% deserting and the remaining 20% dying of starvation before their full induction into the military. Eventually, Stilwell's belief that Chiang's and his generals were incompetent and corrupt reached such proportions that Stilwell sought to cut off lend-lease aid to China. Stilwell, while attending the Cairo Conference, received a perceived and verbal order to plan an assassination of Chiang. Stilwell discussed this with his Aide, Col. Frank Dorn. Both were baffled, nevertheless, Stilwell delegated that task to Dorn. It was planned but was never carried out.
Stilwell pressed Chiang and the British to take immediate actions to retake Burma, but Chiang demanded impossibly large amounts of supplies before he would agree to take offensive action, and the British refused to meet their previous pledges to provide naval and ground troops because of Churchill's "Europe first" strategy.
Eventually, Stilwell began to complain openly to Roosevelt that Chiang was hoarding U.S. Lend-Lease supplies because he wanted to keep the Nationalist forces ready to fight Mao Zedong's Communists after the end of the war against the Japanese. From 1942 to 1944, however, 98% of US military aid over the Hump had gone directly to the 14th Air Force and US military personnel in China.
Stilwell also continually clashed with Field Marshal Archibald Wavell and apparently came to believe that the British in India were more concerned with protecting their colonial possessions than helping the Chinese fight the Japanese. In August 1943, as a result of constant feuding and conflicting objectives of British, American, and Chinese commands, along with the lack of a coherent strategic vision for the China Burma India (CBI) theater, the Combined Chiefs of Staff split the CBI command into separate Chinese and Southeast Asia Theaters.
Stilwell countered Mountbatten's January 1944 attempt to once again change the plans to favor an amphibious assault in the Bay of Bengal and Sumatra. "The limeys are welshing," he wrote in his diary and of the plan that seemed to him as nothing more than "fancy charts, false figures and dirty intentions". He sent Brigadier General Boatner to brief the Joint Staffs and Roosevelt.
=== Command of Chindits ===
During his time in India, Stilwell became increasingly disenchanted with British forces and did not hesitate to voice criticisms of what he viewed as hesitant or cowardly behavior. Of the Chindit casualties, 90% were incurred in the last phase of the campaign from 17 May, while they were under Stilwell's direct command. The British viewed the situation quite differently and pointed out that from 6 to 27 June, Michael Calvert's 77th Brigade, which lacked heavy weapons, had taken Mogaung and suffered 800 casualties (50%) among those of the brigade involved in the operation.
Stilwell infuriated Calvert and the British by announcing via the BBC that Chinese troops had captured Mogaung but not referring to the British. The Chindits were outraged, and Calvert famously signaled to Stilwell's headquarters, "Chinese reported taking Mogaung. My Brigade now taking umbrage." Stilwell's son was an intelligence officer and said that Umbrage was so small that he could not find it on the map.
Stilwell expected the 77th Brigade to join the siege of Myitkyina, but Calvert was so sickened by demands on his troops that he considered abusive that switched off his radios and withdrew to Stilwell's base. A court-martial was likely until Stilwell and Calvert met in person, the latter being ready to trade punches. Stilwell finally appreciated the conditions under which the Chindits had been operating, apologized by blaming his staff officers for not receiving correct information, and allowed him and his men to withdraw. He finally said to Calvert, "You and your boys have done a great job. I congratulate you". Stilwell also awarded number of medals including a Silver Star.
The 111th Brigade, after it rested, had orders to capture a hill known as Point 2171. That occurred, but the men were now utterly exhausted. Most of them were suffering from malaria, dysentery, and malnutrition. On 8 July, at the insistence of Mountbatten, doctors examined the brigade. Of the 2200 men present from four-and-a-half battalions, only 119 were declared fit. The brigade was evacuated. John Masters kept the fit men, sarcastically named "111 Company," in the field until 1 August.
The portion of 111 Brigade east of the Irrawaddy River was known as Morris Force, after its commander, Lieutenant-Colonel "Jumbo" Morris. It had spent several months harassing Japanese traffic from Bhamo to Myitkyina. It had then attempted to complete the encirclement of Myitkyina. Stilwell was angered that it was unable to do so, but Slim pointed out that Stilwell's Chinese 5,500 troops had also failed in that task. By 14 July, Morris Force was down to three platoons. A week later, it had only 25 men fit for duty. Morris Force was evacuated about the same time as 77th Brigade.
Captain Charlton Ogburn, Jr., a US Army Marauder officer, and Chindit Brigade Commanders John Masters and Michael Calvert, later recalled Stilwell's appointment of a staff officer specially detailed by him to visit subordinate commands to chastise their officers and men as being "yellow." In October 1943, after the Joint Planning Staff at GHQ India had rejected a plan by Stilwell to fly his Chinese troops to northern Burma, Field Marshal Archibald Wavell, asked whether Stilwell was satisfied on purely military grounds that the plan could not work. Stilwell replied that he was. Wavell then asked what Stilwell would say to Chiang, and Stilwell replied, "I shall tell him the bloody British wouldn't fight."
=== Myitkyina Offensive and aftermath ===
With the establishment of the new South East Asia Command in August 1943, Stilwell was appointed deputy supreme allied commander under Vice Admiral Mountbatten. Taking command of various Chinese and Allied forces, including a new US Army special operations formation, the 5307th Composite Unit (Provisional), later known as Merrill's Marauders, Stilwell built up his Chinese forces for an eventual offensive in northern Burma. On 21 December 1943, Stilwell assumed direct control of planning for the invasion of northern Burma that culminated with the capture of the Japanese-held town of Myitkyina. In the meantime, Stilwell ordered General Frank Merrill and the Marauders to start long-range jungle penetration missions behind Japanese lines after the pattern of the British Chindits. In February 1944, three Marauder battalions marched into Burma. Stilwell was at the Ledo Road front when the Marauders arrived at their jump-off point, but the general did not walk out to the road to bid them farewell.
In April 1944, Stilwell launched his final offensive to capture the Burmese city of Myitkyina. In support of that objective, the Marauders were ordered to undertake a long flanking maneuver towards the town that involved a grueling 65-mile jungle march. Having been deployed since February in combat operations in the jungles of Burma, the Marauders were seriously depleted, suffered from both combat losses and disease, and lost additional men en route to the objective. A particularly devastating scourge was a severe outbreak of amoebic dysentery, which erupted shortly after the Marauders linked up with the Chinese Army in India, called X Force.
By then, the men of the Marauders had openly begun to suspect Stilwell's commitment to their welfare and made no effort to hide their displeasure with their hard-driving commander. Despite their sacrifices, Stilwell appeared unconcerned about their losses and had rejected repeated requests for medals for individual acts of heroism. Initial promises of a rest and rotation were ignored, and the Marauders were not even air-dropped replacement uniforms or mail until late April.
On 17 May, the 1,310 remaining Marauders attacked Myitkyina airfield in concert with elements of two Chinese infantry regiments and a small artillery contingent. The airfield was quickly taken, but the town, which Stilwell's intelligence staff had believed to be lightly defended, was garrisoned by significant numbers of well-equipped Japanese troops, who were steadily being reinforced. A preliminary attack on the town by two Chinese regiments was thrown back with heavy losses. The Marauders did not have the manpower to overwhelm Myitkyina and its defenses immediately. When additional Chinese forces had arrived in a position to attack, the Japanese forces totaled some 4,600 fanatical Japanese defenders.
During the siege, which took place during the height of the monsoon season, the Marauders' second-in-command, Colonel Hunter, and the unit's regimental and battalion level surgeons, had urgently recommended for the entire 5307th to be relieved of duty and returned to rear areas for rest and recovery. By then, most of the men had fevers and continual dysentery, forcing the men to cut the seats out of their uniform trousers to fire their weapons and relieve themselves simultaneously. Stilwell rejected the evacuation recommendation but made a front line inspection of the Myitkyina lines. He then ordered all medical staff to stop returning combat troops suffering from disease or illness but to return them to combat status by using medications to keep down fevers. The feelings of many Marauders towards Stilwell were summed up by one soldier, who stated, "I had him [Stilwell] in my sights. I coulda' squeezed one off and no one woulda' known it wasn't a Jap who got that son of a bitch."
Stilwell also ordered that all Marauders evacuated from combat from wounds or fever first submit to a special medical "examination" by doctors appointed by his headquarters staff. These examinations passed many ailing soldiers as fit for duty; Stilwell's staff roamed hospital hallways in search of any Marauder with a temperature lower than 103 degrees Fahrenheit. Some of the men who were passed and sent back into combat were immediately re-evacuated as unfit at the insistence of forward medical personnel. Later, Stilwell's staff placed blame on Army medical personnel for over-zealously interpreting his return-to-duty order.
During the siege, Japanese soldiers resisted fiercely and generally fought to the last man. As a result, Myitkyina did not fall until 4 August 1944, after Stilwell was forced to send in thousands of Chinese reinforcements, but Stilwell was pleased that the objective had at last been taken (his notes from his personal diary contained "Boy, will this burn up the Limeys!"). Later, Stilwell blamed the length of the siege partly on British and Gurkha Chindit forces for not promptly responding to his demands to move north in an attempt to pressure Japanese troops, but the Chindits themselves had suffered grievous casualties in several fierce pitched battles against Japanese troops in the Burmese jungles, along with losses from illness and combat exhaustion. Stilwell also had not kept his British allies clearly informed of his force movements or coordinated his offensive plans with those of General Slim.
Bereft of further combat replacements for his hard-pressed Marauder battalions, Stilwell felt that he had no choice but to continue offensive operations with his existing forces by using the Marauders as "the point of the spear" until they had achieved all their objectives or been wiped out. He was also concerned that pulling out the Marauders, the only US ground unit in the campaign, would result in charges of favoritism and force him to evacuate the exhausted Chinese and British Chindit forces as well. When General William Slim, the commander of the British Commonwealth Fourteenth Army in Burma, informed Stilwell that his men were exhausted and should be withdrawn, Stilwell rejected the idea by insisting that his subordinate commanders simply did not understand enlisted men and their tendency to magnify physical challenges. Having made his own "long march" out of Burma under his own power by using jungle trails, Stilwell found it difficult to sympathize with those who had been in combat in the jungle for months on end without relief. In retrospect, his statements then revealed a lack of understanding of the limitations of lightly equipped unconventional forces that were used in conventional roles.
Myitkyina and the dispute over evacuation policy precipitated a hurried Army Inspector General investigation, followed by US congressional committee hearings, but no disciplinary measure was taken against Stilwell for his decisions as overall commander.
Only a week after the fall of Myitkyina in Burma, the 5307th Marauder force, down to only 130 combat-effective men of the original 2,997, was disbanded.
=== Conflict with Chennault ===
One of the most significant conflicts to emerge during the war was between General Stilwell and General Claire Chennault, the commander of the famed "Flying Tigers" and later air force commander. As adviser to the Republic of China Air Force, Chennault proposed a limited air offensive against the Japanese in China in 1943 by using a series of forward air bases. Stilwell insisted that the idea was untenable and that any air campaign should not begin until fully fortified air bases, supported by large ground forces, had been established. Stilwell then argued for all air resources to be diverted to his forces in India for an early conquest of northern Burma.
In following Chennault's advice, Chiang rejected the proposal, and British commanders sided with Chennault since they were aware that they could not launch a co-ordinated Allied offensive into Burma in 1943 with the resources that were available. During the summer of 1943, Stilwell's headquarters concentrated on plans to rebuild the Chinese Army for an offensive in northern Burma despite Chiang's insistence on support to Chennault's air operations.
Stilwell believed that after forcing a supply route through northern Burma by a ground offensive against the Japanese, he could train and equip 30 Chinese divisions with modern combat equipment. A smaller number of Chinese forces would transfer to India, where two or three new Chinese divisions would also be raised. That plan then remained only theoretical since the limited available airlift capacity for deliveries of supplies to China over the Hump was being used to sustain Chennault's air operations, instead of equipping Chinese ground units.
In 1944, the Japanese launched the counteroffensive, Operation Ichi-Go, designed to knock China out of the war once and for all. It saw half a million men and 800 tanks, supplied by 70,000 to 100,000 horses dragging wagons and 12,000 to 15,000 vehicles. The operation quickly overran Chennault's forward air bases and proved Stilwell to be correct. By then, Allied supply efforts via the Hump airlift were steadily improving in tonnage supplied per month. With the replacement of Chinese war losses, Chennault now saw little need for a ground offensive in northern Burma to reopen a ground supply route to China. Augmented with increased military equipment and additional troops and concerned about defense of the approaches to India, British authorities now sided with Stilwell.
In co-ordination with a southern offensive by Nationalist Chinese forces under General Wei Lihuang, Allied troops under Stilwell's command launched the long-awaited invasion of northern Burma. After heavy fighting and casualties, both forces linked up in January 1945. Stilwell's strategy remained unchanged: opening a new ground supply route from India to China would allow the Allies to equip and train new Chinese army divisions to be used against the Japanese. The new road network, later called the Ledo Road, would link the northern end of the Burma Road as the primary supply route to China. Stilwell's staff planners had estimated the route would supply 65,000 tons of supplies per month.
Using those figures, Stilwell argued that the Ledo Road network would greatly surpass the tonnage being airlifted over the Hump. Chennault doubted that such an extended network of trails through difficult jungle could ever match the tonnage that could be delivered with modern cargo transport aircraft that were then being deployed in the theater. Progress on the Ledo Road was slow and could not be completed until the linkup of forces in January 1945.
In the end, Stilwell's plans to train and to modernize 30 Chinese divisions in China and two or three divisions from forces that were already in India was never fully realized. As Chennault predicted, the supplies carried over the Ledo Road never approached in tonnage the levels of supplies airlifted monthly into China by the Hump. In July 1945, 71,000 tons of supplies were flown over the Hump, compared to 6,000 tons using the Ledo Road, and the airlift operation continued in operation until the end of the war.
When supplies were flowing over the Ledo Road in large quantities, operations in other theaters had shaped the course of the war against Japan. Stilwell's drive into northern Burma, however, allowed Air Transport Command to fly supplies into China more quickly and safely by allowing American planes to fly a more southerly route without fear of Japanese fighters. American airplanes no longer had to make the dangerous venture over the Hump, which raised the delivery of supplies from 18,000 tons in June 1944 to 39,000 tons in November 1944. On 1 August 1945, planes crossed the Hump a minute and twelve seconds apart from one another.
In acknowledgment of Stilwell's efforts, the Ledo Road was later renamed the Stilwell Road by Chiang.
=== Recall from China ===
Efforts to counter Operation Ichi-Go were hampered in part by disagreements between Chennault and Stilwell. Stilwell also clashed with Chiang over the question of Guilin, a city that was besieged by the Japanese. Chiang wanted Guilin defended to the last man, but Stilwell claimed that Guilin was a lost cause.
In his diary, Stilwell wrote: "What they ought to do is to shoot the G-mo [Chiang] and Ho [General He Yingqin] and the rest of the gang." He ordered the American troops to pull out of Guilin and managed to persuade a reluctant Chiang to accept the loss of the city. The clash over Guilin was only a prelude to another clash in which Chiang demanded the return of the Y Force from Burma to defend Kunming, the capital of Yunnan Province, which was also being threatened by the Japanese advance. After meeting with Chiang, Stilwell wrote in his diary that Chiang was a "crazy little bastard with that hickory nut he uses for a head.... Usual cockeyed reasons and idiotic tactical and strategic conceptions. He is impossible!"
Stilwell appealed directly to Roosevelt for help with his dispute with Chiang and so Roosevelt sent Chiang a message: "I have urged time and again in recent months that you take drastic action to resist the disaster which has been moving closer to China and to you. Now, when you have not yet placed General Stilwell in command of all forces in China, we are faced with the loss of a critical area... with possible catastrophic consequences." Roosevelt ended his ultimatum to Chiang by the threat to end all American aid unless Chiang "at once" placed Stilwell "in unrestricted command of all your forces."
Chennault later claimed that Stilwell had deliberately ordered Sino-American forces out of Guilin as a way of creating a crisis that would force Chiang to give up command of his armies to Stilwell. Stilwell's diary supported Chennault's claim, as Stilwell wrote that if a crisis emerged that was "just sufficient to get rid of the Peanut without entirely wrecking the ship, it would be worth it." Stilwell went on to write that the entire Nationalist system had to be "torn to bits" and that Chiang would have to go.
An exultant Stilwell immediately delivered the letter to Chiang despite pleas from Patrick J. Hurley, Roosevelt's special envoy in China, to delay in delivering the message and to work on a deal that would achieve Stilwell's aim in a way that was more acceptable to Chiang. Stilwell wrote in his diary about handing over Roosevelt's message: "I handed this bundle of paprika to the Peanut and than [sic] sank back with a sigh. The harpoon hit the little bugger right in the solar plexus and went right through him. It was a clean hit, but beyond turning green and losing his powers of speech, he did not bat an eye." The British journalist Jonathan Fenby wrote about Roosevelt's letter, "Unless the President was ready for America to take over effective control of China, or halt Lend-Lease supplies and abandon the KMT to its fate, his stern words merely amounted to bluff."
Seeing that act as a move toward the complete subjugation of China, Chiang gave a formal reply in which he said that Stilwell must be replaced immediately and that Chiang would welcome any other qualified US general to fill Stilwell's position.
Chiang called Roosevelt's letter the "greatest humiliation I have been subjected to in my life" and stated that it was "all too obvious that the United States intends to intervene in China's internal affairs." Chiang told Hurley that the Chinese people were "tired of the insults which Stilwell has seen fit to heap upon them." Chiang delivered a speech before the Central Executive Committee of the Nationalist Party that was leaked to the press and called Roosevelt's letter a form of imperialism and stated that accepting Roosevelt's demands would make him no different from the Japanese collaborator Wang Jingwei in Nanjing.
On 12 October 1944, Hurley reported to Washington that Stilwell was a "fine man, but was incapable of understanding or co-operating with Chiang Kai-shek" and went on to say that if Stilwell remained in command, all of China might be lost to the Japanese. Before sending his cable, Hurley showed it to Stilwell, who accused Hurley to his face of "cutting my throat with a dull knife."
On 19 October 1944, Stilwell, who had been promoted to four-star general on 1 August 1944, was recalled from his command by Roosevelt. Partly as a result of controversy concerning the casualties suffered by US forces in Burma and partly because of the continuing difficulties with the British and Chinese commanders, Stilwell's return to the US was not accompanied by the usual ceremony. Upon arrival, he was met by two army generals at the airport, who told him not to answer any of the media questions about China.
Stilwell was replaced by General Albert C. Wedemeyer, who received a telegram from Marshall on 27 October 1944, that directed him to proceed to China to assume command of the China Theatre and replace Stilwell. Wedemeyer later recalled his initial dread over the assignment, as service in the China Theater was considered to be a graveyard for American officials, both military and diplomatic.
When Wedemeyer actually arrived at Stilwell's headquarters after the latter's dismissal, Wedemeyer was dismayed to discover that Stilwell had intentionally departed without seeing him and had not left a single briefing paper for his guidance. Most other departing US military commanders greeted their replacement to have them thoroughly briefed on the strengths and the weaknesses of headquarters staff, the issues confronting the command, and the planned operations.
Searching the offices, Wedemeyer could find no documentary record of Stilwell's plans or records of his former or future operations. General Wedemeyer then spoke with Stilwell's staff officers but learned little from them because Stilwell, according to the staff, kept everything in his "hip pocket".
== Reassignment ==
After a three-month furlough, Stilwell, on 24 January 1945, assumed command of the Army Ground Forces with its headquarters at the Pentagon and oversaw all mobilization and training of army ground units in the United States.
On 23 June 1945, after the death of Lieutenant General Simon B. Buckner, Jr. on 18 June, Stilwell was appointed as commander of the Tenth United States Army shortly after the end of Japanese resistance in the Battle of Okinawa. The Tenth Army was slated to participate in Operation Olympic, the planned invasion of the island of Honshu, the largest Japanese home island. The Tenth Army was disbanded on 15 October 1945, after the surrender of Japan.
== Postwar career ==
In November, Stilwell was appointed to lead a "War Department Equipment Board" in an investigation of the Army's modernization in light of its recent experience. Among his recommendations was the establishment of a combined arms force to conduct extended service tests of new weapons and equipment and then formulate doctrine for its use, and the abolition of specialized anti-tank units. His most notable recommendation was for a vast improvement of the army's defenses against all airborne threats, including ballistic missiles. In particular, he called for "guided interceptor missiles, dispatched in accordance with electronically computed data obtained from radar detection stations."
On 1 March 1946, Stilwell assumed command of the Sixth US Army, with its headquarters at the Presidio of San Francisco. It had been reorganized as an administrative command in charge of army units in the Western United States. In May 1946, Stilwell and his former subordinate Frank Merrill led two US Marine platoons in suppressing a prison uprising, the Battle of Alcatraz.
== Death ==
Stilwell died after surgery for stomach cancer on 12 October 1946, at the Presidio of San Francisco. He was still on active duty and five months short of reaching the army's mandatory retirement age of 64. He was cremated, his ashes were scattered on the Pacific Ocean, and a cenotaph was placed at the West Point Cemetery. Among his military decorations are the Distinguished Service Cross, Distinguished Service Medal with one Oak Leaf Cluster, the Legion of Merit degree of Commander, the Bronze Star, and the Combat Infantryman Badge; the last award was given to him as he was dying.
== Political and personal views ==
Barbara W. Tuchman recorded that Stilwell was a lifelong Republican: "he retained the family Republicanism and joined naturally in the exhilarating exercise of Roosevelt-hating." Later, on the occasion that Stilwell met the president, she noted: "At home, Stilwell was a conventional Republican who shared the sentiments and adopted the tone of the Roosevelt-haters, in which he was influenced by his brother John, an extremist of the species." Elsewhere she notes that in the view of an unnamed, close friend, "Stilwell was liberal and sympathetic by instinct. But he was conservative in thought and politics."
Tuchman also noted Stilwell's use in letters and diaries of a catalogue of now-insulting words: "he used [them] easily and seemingly without pejorative content." These terms included "limeys for the English, frogs for the French ('met a frog and his wife on shipboard'), huns and squareheads for Germans, wops for Italians, chinks or chinos for Chinese, googs for Filipinos, niggers or coons for Negroes." At the end of the war, Tuchman stated that he took "a harsh pleasure in touring the gutted and burned-out districts of Yokohama and staring at the once arrogant [Japanese] now living in shanties of scrap lumber and tin and scratching in the dirt to plant onions."
His diary entry for 1 September 1945 (in Yokohama) stated in part, "What a kick to stare at the arrogant, ugly, moon-faced, buck-toothed, bowlegged bastards, and realize where this puts them. Many newly demobilized soldiers around. Most police salute. People generally just apathetic. We gloated over the destruction & came in at 3:00 am feeling fine."
During World War II, he praised the Soviet military and said that "the Russian troops appeared to advantage, and those who believe the Red Army is rotten would do well to reconsider their views."
The content in Stilwell's diaries is contradicted by his speaking out for Japanese-American servicemen threatened with racist incidents postwar. Because of his statements, Stilwell was recruited by the War Department to support Japanese-American servicemen. He attended rallies against racism and personally presented the family of 442nd Regimental Combat Team staff sergeant Kazuo Masuda, killed in action in Italy in 1944, with the Distinguished Service Cross. In an event at Santa Ana, California where actors Ronald Reagan and Robert Young also spoke, Stilwell praised Nisei soldiers. He remarked: "Who after all is the real American? The real American is the man who calls it a fair exchange to lay down his life in order that American ideals may go on living. And judging by such a test, Sgt. Masuda was a better American than any of us today." Also in attendance at the event were actress Louise Allbritton, journalist Harry Flannery, former Congressman Will Rogers Jr., and actor Richard Loo.
== Legacy ==
Stilwell was initiated to the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry.
In her book Stilwell and the American Experience in China, 1911-45, Tuchman wrote that Stilwell was sacrificed as a political expedient because of his inability to get along with his allies in the theater. Some historians, such as David Halberstam in his final book, The Coldest Winter: America and the Korean War, have theorized that Roosevelt was concerned that Chiang would sign a separate peace with Japan, which would free many Japanese divisions to fight elsewhere, and that Roosevelt wanted to placate Chiang. The power struggle over the China Theater that emerged among Stilwell, Chennault, and Chiang reflected US political divisions of the time.
A very different interpretation of events suggests that Stilwell, pressing for his full command of all Chinese forces, had made diplomatic inroads with the People's Liberation Army commanded by Mao Zedong. Stilwell bypassed Chiang, his theater commander, and had gotten Mao to agree to follow an American commander. Stilwell's confrontational approach in the power struggle with Chiang ultimately led to Chiang's determination to have Stilwell recalled to the US.
According to Guan Zhong, the president of the Examination Yuan, Stilwell had once expressed his regret of never having the opportunity to fight alongside the Chinese Communists, especially with General Zhu De, before his death.
Stilwell did not appreciate the developments in warfare brought about by World War II, including strategic air power and the use of highly trained infantrymen as jungle guerrilla fighters. One of the disagreements was with the equally acerbic General Chennault, who Stilwell felt to overvalue the effectiveness of air power against massed ground troops, as was demonstrated by the fall of the 14th Air Force bases in eastern China (Hengyang, Guilin, etc.) during the Japanese offensive in eastern China in 1944.
Stilwell also clashed with other officers, including Orde Wingate, who led the Chindits, and Colonel Charles Hunter, who was in charge of Merrill's Marauders. Stilwell could not appreciate the toll that constant jungle warfare took on even the most highly trained troops or the incapacity of lightly armed fast-moving jungle guerrilla forces to dislodge heavily armed regular infantry that was supported by artillery. Accordingly, Stilwell abused both Chindits and Marauders and earned the contempt of both units and their commanders.
In other respects, however, Stilwell was a skilled tactician in the US Army's land warfare tradition, with a deep appreciation of the logistics required of campaigning in rough terrain, which caused his dedication to (perhaps even obsession with) the Ledo Road project for which he received several awards, including the Distinguished Service Cross and the US Army Distinguished Service Medal. The trust that Stilwell placed in men of real insight and character in understanding China, particularly the China Hands, John Stewart Service and John Paton Davies, Jr., confirms that assessment.
Arguably, if Stilwell had been given the number of American regular infantry divisions that he had continually requested, the US experience in China and Burma could have been very different. Certainly, his Army peers, General Douglas MacArthur and General George Marshall had the highest respect for his abilities, and both ensured that he replaced General Simon Bolivar Buckner, Jr. as commander of Tenth US Army at Okinawa after the latter's death. During the last year of the war, however, the US was strained to meet all its military obligations. The cargo aircraft diverted to supply Stilwell, the 14th Air Force for the Chinese in the East made airdrop-dependent campaigns in the West, such as Operation Market Garden, woefully short of aircraft, although bad weather during the Arnhem Campaign may have been a more important factor.
Although Chiang succeeded in removing Stilwell, the public relations damage suffered by the Nationalist regime was irreparable. Right before Stilwell's departure, The New York Times drama critic-turned-war correspondent Brooks Atkinson interviewed him in Chongqing and wrote:
The decision to relieve General Stilwell represents the political triumph of a moribund, anti-democratic regime that is more concerned with maintaining its political supremacy than in driving the Japanese out of China. The Chinese Communists... have good armies that are now fighting guerrilla warfare against the Japanese in North China... The Generalissimo regards these armies as the chief threat to his supremacy... has made no sincere attempt to arrange at least a truce with them for the duration of the war... No diplomatic genius could have overcome the Generalissimo's basic unwillingness to risk his armies in battle with the Japanese.
Atkinson, who had visited Mao in Yan'an, saw the Communist forces as a democratic movement. After Atkinson visited Mao, his article on his visit was Yenan: A Chinese Wonderland City. The Nationalists were in turn viewed as hopelessly reactionary and corrupt, a view that was then shared by many of the US press corps in China. The negative image of the Nationalists in the US played a significant factor in President Harry Truman's decision to end all aid to Chiang at the height of the Chinese Civil War.
The British historian Andrew Roberts quoted Stilwell's disparaging remarks about the British war effort in Asia to illustrate his strong Anglophobia, which became a stumbling block to smooth co-operation between American and British forces in Asia. The British historian Rana Mitter argued that Stilwell never appreciated that his position as Chiang's chief of staff to Chiang did not give him as much authority as Marshall had in his position as army chief of staff. Chiang, not Stilwell, was the Chinese forces' commander-in chief, and Chiang resisted Stilwell's initiatives if they involved committing Chinese forces to do-or-die engagements or if Chinese troops were removed from his immediate control to bases in India. Mitter viewed Chiang as correct in attempting to husband China's resources after the serious losses in 1937 to 1941. Mitter also supported the view that Chennault could have accomplished much more if Stilwell had not diverted a large proportion of lend-lease equipment to the Chinese troops in India. Mitter factored in the impact of the collaborationist Wang Jingwei as yet another major force in China. Stilwell's mastery of written and spoken Chinese made him the default American choice for the China command. Mitter projected that his talents could have been far better employed in North Africa, as Marshall had originally planned.
The General Joseph Stilwell House was built between 1933 and 1934, located at 26218 Inspiration Avenue, in Carmel Point, at the southern city limits of Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. The large, two-story Spanish Eclectic-style house remains a private residence. A commemorative stone plaque has been placed on the left-hand side of the house.
A number of streets, buildings, and areas across the country have been named for Stilwell over the years, including Joseph Stilwell Middle School in Jacksonville, Florida. The Soldiers' Club that he envisioned in 1940, when there was no such thing as a soldiers' club in the army, was completed in 1943 at Fort Ord on the bluffs overlooking Monterey Bay. Many years later, the building was renamed to Stilwell Hall in his honor, but because of the erosion of the bluffs over the decades, the building was taken down in 2003. Stilwell's former residence in Chongqing, a city along the Yangtze River to which Chiang's government retreated after it had been forced from Nanjing by Japanese troops, has been converted to the General Joseph W. Stilwell Museum in his honor.
== In popular culture ==
Stilwell is portrayed on film by Erville Alderson in Objective, Burma! (1945), by John Hoyt in Samuel Fuller's Merrill's Marauders (1962), by Robert Stack in Steven Spielberg's 1941 (1979), and by Yachun Dong in Chinese Expeditionary Force (TV series) (2011).
On 24 August 2000, the US Postal Service issued the first 10¢ Distinguished Americans series postage stamp honoring Stilwell.
The award for the Outstanding Overall Cadet, Senior Division, in the California Cadet Corps is the General Joseph W. Stilwell Award.
Streets in Marina, California, Kendall Park, New Jersey Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Albuquerque, New Mexico, and the Presidio of San Francisco are named for him.
== Awards and decorations ==
His awards include:
General Stilwell is one of five general officers who have been awarded the honorary Combat Infantryman Badge (CIB) for service while a general officer, along with General Matthew Ridgway, Major General William F. Dean, General of the Army Omar Bradley, and General of the Army Douglas MacArthur. Generals are not allowed to be awarded the CIB. The CIB is only available to colonels and below.
=== Distinguished Service Cross citation ===
Stilwell's official Distinguished Service Cross citation reads:
The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, 9 July 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Distinguished Service Cross to Lieutenant General Joseph Warren Stilwell, United States Army, for extraordinary heroism and conspicuous bravery in action while in command of the Chinese Forces in Burma during the Spring of 1942. General Stilwell's presence and personal example in an exposed position in the front lines of a Chinese division on 23 April 1942, inspired the unit to a renewed effort which resulted in the capture of Taunggyi. While at this position, General Stilwell was exposed to concentrated rifle, machine gun and mortar fire which inflicted heavy casualties on the Chinese troops in the immediate vicinity. On 28 April, while visiting the entire front of two Chinese divisions, he spent considerable time with one of them and, while on the ground, directed the readjustment of the forces. During the entire campaign he personally directed operations in positions which were subjected to continuous enemy aerial strafing and frequent air bombardment, with utter disregard for his own personal safety. General Stilwell's outstanding example of courage and leadership in direct contact with the enemy prolonged, at a critical time and place, the resistance of the forces of the United Nations against a better armed and determined enemy, who still maintained the powerful impetus of initial assault against the Allied forces.
== Dates of rank == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Quartararo#Warner_Bros._Records | Phil Quartararo#Warner Bros. Records | Philip Michael Quartararo (January 7, 1956 – November 22, 2023) was an American music industry executive. He was the president and chairman of The Hello Group, and held positions as CEO at Virgin Records, Warner Bros. Records, and EMI, and was involved in the careers of recording artists such as Linkin Park, Josh Groban, Spice Girls, U2, and Yoshiki. Quartararo was known as a defender of artist rights. He spoke out on the fight against music piracy and restoring the value of music. Quartararo was regarded as one of the most promotion-minded executives in the music business and was regarded as a thought leader on the subject of partnership between brands and artists.
== Biography ==
=== Early life ===
Philip Michael Quartararo was born in Brooklyn, New York, on January 7, 1956. His work in the music business began at an early age, booking music acts out of his bedroom while he was still in high school. He attended Chaminade High School in Mineola, New York, where he booked the sockhop bands. He attended Syracuse University where his college roommates were John Sykes and Rob Light. Sykes went on to become co-founder of MTV and VH1 cable networks, as well as hold senior positions at record labels and radio broadcast networks. Light went on to become managing partner and head of music for CAA. Quartararo graduated from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications in 1977.
Quartararo began his career in the record industry as a local radio promotion manager for A&M Records from 1977 to 1981. He moved on to become a regional promotion manager for RCA Records from 1981 to 1983. His executive breakthrough came when he was hired as senior vice-president of promotion and marketing for Island Records from 1982 to 1986, where he was instrumental in introducing U2 in America.
=== Virgin Records America ===
In 1986, Quartararo was recruited by Richard Branson as part of the team to launch Virgin Records America, along with executives Jordan Harris and Jeff Ayeroff. In 1992, he became president and CEO of Virgin Records America. At Virgin he was influential in the recording careers of Smashing Pumpkins, Lenny Kravitz, Paula Abdul, After 7, Rolling Stones, Janet Jackson, and Ben Harper. He is credited with the marketing blitz that launched the Spice Girls in the U.S., the success of which brought him the attention of Warner Bros. Records.
=== Warner Bros. Records ===
In 1997, Quartararo was recruited as president of Warner Bros. Records, which was ranked #1 out of world's largest record companies. At Warner Bros., he worked with artists including Linkin Park, Josh Groban, Madonna, Stevie Nicks, Cher, Wilco, Eric Clapton, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Faith Hill, Goo Goo Dolls, and Green Day.
=== EMI Music ===
In 2002, Quartararo was hired to become executive vice-president of EMI Music and president of EMI marketing. Quartararo reorganized EMI, shifting its focus from sales and distribution to marketing. He directed the marketing and launch of recordings of Coldplay, Norah Jones, Keith Urban, Blake Shelton, Trace Adkins, RBD, and Beach Boys, as well as marketing the estate catalogs of Frank Sinatra, Beatles, Les Paul, and Dean Martin.
=== Other endeavors ===
In late 2007, Quartararo left EMI to work with start-up companies focused on digital music distribution. In 2009, he started his own firm, Tripod Partners, which has worked with various music industry companies such as Beta Records TV, global online talent search Avon Voices, the Shazam music discovery app, and the Guvera music streaming service. He was associated with the talent management firm The Collective, and was a principal at the consultancy QP2 Group. Quartararo also managed Yoshiki, singer-songwriter Brandon Howard, and heavy metal group XJapan. Quartararo was executive producer of the eight-hour PBS miniseries The Soundtrack of Our Lives. He also served as executive producer of the double Grammy Award-winning album, Les Paul And Friends: A Tribute To A Legend. At the 2013 Midem conference, Quartararo was referenced by industry media for his observation, "The old record business didn't get killed. It committed suicide. The industry didn't listen to its consumers."
== Philanthropy ==
Quartararo sat on the boards of the Grammy Foundation, City of Hope, Cedar Sinai, Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), T J Martell Foundation, Pacific Science Center, State of California Board for Engineers and Surveyors, and Syracuse University's S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications.
Quartararo was recognized for his philanthropic contributions with awards that included City of Hope's "Spirit of Life" Award, Russell Simmons Award for Diversity and Equality, the Vincent Testaverde Award for Spinal Injury, Sons of Italy Award, and Syracuse University's 40 at 40 Award.
== Illness and death ==
Phil Quartararo died from pancreatic cancer in Los Angeles on November 22, 2023, at the age of 67.
== Music industry honors ==
Quartararo was named by Billboard magazine as Music Executive of the Year (2001), and received the NARAS Governors Award. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masta_Killa | Masta Killa | Jamel Irief (born Elgin Evander Turner; August 18, 1969), better known by his stage name Masta Killa, is an American rapper and member of the Wu-Tang Clan. He was only featured on one track on their 1993 debut album Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), but has been prolific on Clan group albums and solo projects since the mid-1990s. He released his debut album No Said Date in 2004 to positive reviews, and has since released four additional albums.
== Career ==
I never performed until we launched Wu-Tang. That was my first time as an MC. I have history since elementary school doing talent shows. Breaking and shit like that. I was that kind of dude. I loved to pop. That was me. Always doing shit around music. As far as with a mic in my hand, Wu-Tang was the first time. There never was next level for me. It was Wu-Tang and that was it. I never tried to get on. Never looked for any of this, because it was never my vision. I'm kinda like hanging out with GZA, and just stumbled across some shit. "Oh word?" And I was like, "Maybe I can do this." When I was young going to clubs, I was just hanging out. I never went in there like I was trying to be an MC. I never tried to get a record deal, or pass out tapes. It's just been Wu-Tang and I'm here.
Born in Brooklyn, New York City, Masta Killa was the last member to join the Wu-Tang Clan; consequently he did not appear on the group's debut single "Protect Ya Neck". He was also the only member who was not a rapper at the time of the group's formation. He was extensively mentored by the GZA during his early days with the group, evident in the similar flow they both employ. He derived his rap name from the 1978 kung fu film Shaolin Master Killer, (Shao Lin san shi liu fang). Masta Killa only appeared on one track on the Wu-Tang Clan's first album, Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), in the closing verse to "Da Mystery of Chessboxin'". Masta only narrowly made the track, and was almost left off in favor of Killah Priest. On the No Said Date DVD, Killah Priest claims that he and Masta Killa were in competition for the spot on "Da Mystery of Chessboxin'", and while Killah Priest fell asleep, Masta Killa stayed up all night writing and Killah Priest woke up the next morning to Masta Killa's verse. During the time period that Enter the Wu-Tang was being written, Masta Killa was still developing his skills as a rapper. Since the other members of Wu-Tang were far more experienced, his verse from "Da Mystery of Chessboxin", was the only thing Masta Killa had written, that was fine tuned to the point that it fit with the verses from the rest of the members.
During the first round of solo projects, he made several appearances on Wu-Tang tracks, such as "Winter Warz", "Duel of the Iron Mic", and "Glaciers of Ice". His flow at the time attracted attention for being very slow and laid-back, in contrast to the more manic, forceful styles of members like Inspectah Deck and Ghostface Killah. Masta Killa is also Wu-Tang's member fondest of Chinese martial arts imagery. In 1997, the Wu-Tang Clan's second album Wu-Tang Forever saw Masta become a mainstay in the group's line-up with regular appearances throughout the double album.
Masta Killa was the last member to release a solo project, after it was delayed for several years and finally released in June 2004 with the title No Said Date; critically acclaimed, it became independent label Nature Sounds' best-selling album, and was the first Wu-Tang solo album since GZA's Liquid Swords to feature guest appearances from all 9 original Clan members. His second album, Made in Brooklyn, was released on August 8, 2006, and includes production from Pete Rock and MF Doom. "Ringing Bells", the Bronze Nazareth-produced lead single from the album, was released in March 2006.
In December 2012 he released his third album titled Selling My Soul, an LP with heavy soul grooves and guests including Kurupt and the late Ol' Dirty Bastard. The album was intended as a precursor to his long-awaited album Loyalty is Royalty, first announced in 2010 and eventually released in 2017.
== Personal life ==
On the Wu-Tang Corp. website, Masta Killa stated, "I know I seem serious and quiet to a lot of the fans. That's because I take my work seriously. It's not a game. The Clan and I work hard to give you the best." He is a fan of Princess Diana, Patti LaBelle, Barry White, Parliament-Funkadelic and Ohio Players.
He is a vegan.
He is a cousin of the late Marvin Gaye.
== Moniker and aliases ==
Masta Killa gets his name from the 1978 kung fu movie Shaolin Master Killer, also known as the 36th Chamber of Shaolin. He is often referred to as Jamel Irief.
== Discography ==
=== Studio albums ===
No Said Date (2004)
Made in Brooklyn (2006)
Selling My Soul (2012)
Loyalty is Royalty (2017)
Balance (2025) |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Reagan | Ronald Reagan | Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. A member of the Republican Party, he became an important figure in the American conservative movement. The period encompassing his presidency is known as the Reagan era.
Born in Tampico, Illinois, Reagan graduated from Eureka College in 1932 and was hired the next year as a sports broadcaster in Iowa. In 1937, he moved to California where he became a well-known film actor. During his acting career, Reagan was president of the Screen Actors Guild twice from 1947 to 1952 and from 1959 to 1960. In the 1950s, he hosted General Electric Theater and worked as a motivational speaker for General Electric. During the 1964 presidential election, Reagan's "A Time for Choosing" speech launched his rise as a leading conservative figure. After being elected governor of California in 1966, he raised state taxes, turned the state budget deficit into a surplus and implemented crackdowns on university protests. Following his loss to Gerald Ford in the 1976 Republican Party presidential primaries, Reagan won the Republican Party's nomination and then obtained a landslide victory over President Jimmy Carter in the 1980 presidential election.
In his first term as president, Reagan began implementing "Reaganomics", a policy involving economic deregulation and cuts in both taxes and government spending during a period of stagflation. On the world stage, he escalated the arms race, increased military spending, transitioned Cold War policy away from détente, and ordered the 1983 invasion of Grenada. Reagan's first term was also notable for his survival of an assassination attempt, a well-publicized fight with public-sector labor unions, an expansion of the war on drugs, and his slow response to the AIDS epidemic. In the 1984 presidential election, Reagan was elected to a second term upon defeating former vice president Walter Mondale in one of the largest landslide victories in American history. Foreign affairs dominated Reagan's second term, including the 1986 bombing of Libya, the secret and illegal sale of arms to Iran to fund the Contras, and engaging in negotiations with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, which culminated in the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.
Reagan left the presidency in 1989 with the American economy having seen a significant reduction of inflation, a fall in the unemployment rate, and the longest peacetime economic expansion in U.S. history at that time; the national debt had nearly tripled since 1981 as a result of his tax cuts and increased military spending outweighing his cuts to domestic discretionary spending. Reagan's foreign policies also contributed to the end of the Cold War. Though he planned an active post-presidency, it was hindered after he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 1994, and his physical and mental capacities gradually deteriorated, leading to his death in 2004. His tenure constituted a realignment toward conservative policies in the United States, and he is often considered an icon of American conservatism. Historical rankings of U.S. presidents have typically placed Reagan in the middle to upper tier, and his post-presidential approval ratings by the general public are usually high.
== Early life ==
Ronald Wilson Reagan was born on February 6, 1911, in an apartment in Tampico, Illinois, as the younger son of Nelle Clyde Wilson and Jack Reagan. Nelle was committed to the Disciples of Christ, which believed in the Social Gospel. She led prayer meetings and ran mid-week prayers at her church when the pastor was out of town. Reagan credited her spiritual influence and he became a Christian. According to American political figure Stephen Vaughn, Reagan's values came from his pastor, and the First Christian Church's religious, economic and social positions "coincided with the words, if not the beliefs of the latter-day Reagan". Jack focused on making money to take care of the family, but this was complicated by his alcoholism. Reagan had an older brother, Neil. The family lived in Chicago, Galesburg, and Monmouth before returning to Tampico. In 1920, they settled in Dixon, Illinois, living in a house near the H. C. Pitney Variety Store Building.
Reagan attended Dixon High School, where he developed interests in drama and football. His first job was as a lifeguard at the Rock River in Lowell Park.
In 1928, Reagan began attending Eureka College, which Nelle approved because of its affiliation with the Disciples of Christ. He was a mediocre student who participated in cheerleading, sports, drama, and campus politics. He became student body president and joined a student strike that resulted in the college president's resignation. Reagan was initiated as a member of Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity and served as president of the local chapter. Reagan played at the guard position for the 1930 and 1931 Eureka Red Devils football teams and recalled a time when two Black teammates were refused service at a segregated hotel; he invited them to his parents' home nearby in Dixon and his parents welcomed them. At the time, his parents' stance on racial questions was unusually progressive in Dixon. Reagan himself had grown up with very few Black Americans and felt oblivious to racial discrimination.
== Entertainment career ==
=== Radio and film ===
After obtaining a Bachelor of Arts in economics and sociology from Eureka College in 1932, Reagan took a job in Davenport, Iowa, as a sports broadcaster for four football games in the Big Ten Conference. He then worked for WHO radio in Des Moines as a broadcaster for the Chicago Cubs. His specialty was creating play-by-play accounts of games using only basic descriptions that the station received by wire as the games were in progress. Simultaneously, he often expressed his opposition to racism. In 1936, while traveling with the Cubs to their spring training in California, Reagan took a screen test that led to a seven-year contract with Warner Bros. Pictures.
Reagan arrived at Hollywood in 1937, debuting in Love Is on the Air (1937). Using a simple and direct approach to acting and following his directors' instructions, he made thirty films, mostly B films, before beginning military service in April 1942. He broke out of these types of films by portraying George Gipp in Knute Rockne, All American (1940), which would be rejuvenated when reporters called Reagan "the Gipper" while he campaigned for president. Reagan starred in Kings Row (1942) as a leg amputee; this performance was considered his best by many critics. Reagan became a star, with Gallup polls placing him "in the top 100 stars" from 1941 to 1942.
World War II interrupted the movie stardom that Reagan would never be able to achieve again as Warner Bros. became uncertain about his ability to generate ticket sales. Reagan, who had a limited acting range, was dissatisfied with the roles he received. Lew Wasserman renegotiated his contract with his studio, allowing him to also make films with Universal Pictures, Paramount Pictures, and RKO Pictures as a freelancer. Reagan appeared in multiple western films, something that had been denied to him while working at Warner Bros. In 1952, he ended his relationship with Warner Bros., but went on to appear in a total of 53 films, his last being The Killers (1964).
=== Military service ===
In April 1937, Reagan enlisted in the United States Army Reserve. He was assigned as a private in Des Moines' 322nd Cavalry Regiment and reassigned to second lieutenant in the Officers Reserve Corps. He later became a part of the 323rd Cavalry Regiment in California. As relations between the United States and Japan worsened, Reagan was ordered for active duty while he was filming Kings Row. Wasserman and Warner Bros. lawyers successfully sent draft deferments to complete the film in October 1941. However, to avoid accusations of Reagan being a draft dodger, the studio let him go in April 1942.
Reagan reported for duty with severe near-sightedness. His first assignment was at Fort Mason as a liaison officer, a role that allowed him to transfer to the United States Army Air Forces (AAF). Reagan became an AAF public relations officer and was assigned to the 18th AAF Base Unit in Culver City where he felt that it was "impossible to remove an incompetent or lazy worker" due to what he felt was "the incompetence, the delays, and inefficiencies" of the federal bureaucracy. Despite this, Reagan participated in the Provisional Task Force Show Unit in Burbank and continued to make theatrical films. He was also ordered to temporary duty in New York City to participate in the sixth War Loan Drive before being reassigned to Fort MacArthur until his discharge on December 9, 1945, as a captain. Throughout his military service, Reagan produced over 400 training films.
=== Screen Actors Guild presidency ===
When Robert Montgomery resigned as president of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) on March 10, 1947, Reagan was elected to that position in a special election. Reagan's first tenure saw various labor–management disputes, the Hollywood blacklist, and the Taft–Hartley Act's implementation. Reagan aligned the union with the studios against the Conference of Studio Unions in the aftermath of the Hollywood Black Friday strike. In The Invisible Bridge, Rick Perlstein wrote that Reagan's actions lent legitimacy to the studio's efforts to crush the more radical union by giving liberals in SAG who did not want to strike "a story that turned them into moral innocents instead of scabs". On April 10, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) interviewed Reagan and he provided the names of actors whom he believed to be communist sympathizers. During a House Un-American Activities Committee hearing, Reagan testified that some guild members were associated with the Communist Party and that he was well-informed about a "jurisdictional strike". When asked if he was aware of communist efforts within the Screen Writers Guild, he called information about the efforts "hearsay". Reagan resigned as SAG president November 10, 1952, but remained on the board.
The SAG fought with film producers for the right to receive residual payments, and on November 16, 1959, the board elected Reagan SAG president for the second time. Reagan managed to secure payments for actors whose theatrical films had been released between 1948 and 1959 and subsequently televised. The producers were initially required to pay the actors fees, but they ultimately settled instead for providing pensions and paying residuals for films made after 1959. Reagan resigned from the SAG presidency on June 7, 1960, and also left the board.
=== Marriages and children ===
In January 1940, Reagan married Jane Wyman, his co-star in the 1938 film Brother Rat. Together, they had two biological daughters: Maureen in 1941, and Christine in 1947 (born prematurely and died the following day). They adopted one son, Michael, in 1945. Wyman filed for divorce in June 1948. She was uninterested in politics, and occasionally recriminated, reconciled and separated with him. Although Reagan was unprepared, the divorce was finalized in July 1949. Later that year, Reagan met Nancy Davis after she contacted him in his capacity as the SAG president about her name appearing on a communist blacklist in Hollywood; she had been mistaken for another Nancy Davis. They married in March 1952, and had two children, Patti in October 1952, and Ron in May 1958.
=== Television ===
Reagan became the host of MCA Inc. television production General Electric Theater at Wasserman's recommendation. It featured multiple guest stars, and Ronald and Nancy Reagan, continuing to use her stage name Nancy Davis, acted together in three episodes. When asked how Reagan was able to recruit such stars to appear on the show during television's infancy, he replied, "Good stories, top direction, production quality". However, the viewership declined in the 1960s and the show was canceled in 1962. In 1965, Reagan became the host of another MCA production, Death Valley Days.
== Early political activities ==
Reagan began his political career as a Democrat, viewing Franklin D. Roosevelt as "a true hero". He joined the American Veterans Committee and Hollywood Independent Citizens Committee of the Arts, Sciences and Professions (HICCASP), worked with the AFL–CIO to fight right-to-work laws, and continued to speak out against racism when he was in Hollywood. In 1945, Reagan planned to lead an HICCASP anti-nuclear rally, but Warner Bros. prevented him from going. In 1946, he appeared in a radio program called Operation Terror to speak out against rising Ku Klux Klan activity, calling it a "capably organized systematic campaign of fascist violence and intimidation and horror". Reagan supported Harry S. Truman in the 1948 presidential election, and Helen Gahagan Douglas for the U.S. Senate in 1950. It was Reagan's belief that communism was a powerful backstage influence in Hollywood that led him to rally his friends against them.
Reagan began shifting to the right when he supported the presidential campaigns of Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1952 and Richard Nixon in 1960. When Reagan was contracted by General Electric (GE), he gave speeches to their employees. His speeches had a positive take on free markets. In 1961, Reagan adapted his speeches into another speech to criticize Medicare. In his view, its legislation would have meant "the end of individual freedom in the United States". In 1962, Reagan was dropped by GE, and he formally registered as a Republican.
In the 1964 U.S. presidential election, Reagan gave a speech for presidential contender Barry Goldwater that was eventually referred to as "A Time for Choosing". Reagan argued that the Founding Fathers "knew that governments don't control things. And they knew when a government sets out to do that, it must use force and coercion to achieve its purpose" and that "We've been told increasingly that we must choose between left or right". Even though the speech was not enough to turn around the faltering Goldwater campaign, it increased Reagan's profile among conservatives. David S. Broder and Stephen H. Hess called it "the most successful national political debut since William Jennings Bryan electrified the 1896 Democratic convention with his famous 'Cross of Gold' address".
=== 1966 California gubernatorial election ===
In January 1966, Reagan announced his candidacy for the California governorship, repeating his stances on individual freedom and big government. When he met with black Republicans in March, he was criticized for opposing the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Reagan responded that bigotry was not in his nature and later argued that certain provisions of the act infringed upon the rights of property owners. After the Supreme Court of California ruled that the initiative that repealed the Rumford Act was unconstitutional in May, he voiced his support for the act's repeal, but later preferred amending it. In the Republican primary, Reagan defeated George Christopher, a moderate Republican who William F. Buckley Jr. thought had painted Reagan as extreme.
Reagan's general election opponent, incumbent governor Pat Brown, attempted to label Reagan as an extremist. Reagan portrayed himself as a political outsider, and charged Brown as responsible for the Watts riots and lenient on crime. In numerous speeches, Reagan "hit the Brown administration about high taxes, uncontrolled spending, the radicals at the University of California, Berkeley, and the need for accountability in government". Meanwhile, many in the press perceived Reagan as "monumentally ignorant of state issues", though Lou Cannon said that Reagan benefited from an appearance he and Brown made on Meet the Press in September. Reagan won the governorship with 58% of the vote compared to Brown's 42%.
== California governorship (1967–1975) ==
Brown had spent much of California's funds on new programs, prompting them to use accrual accounting to avoid raising taxes. Consequently, it generated a larger deficit, and Reagan called for reduced government spending and tax hikes to balance the budget. He worked with Jesse M. Unruh on securing tax increases and promising future property tax cuts. This caused some conservatives to accuse Reagan of betraying his principles. As a result, taxes on sales, banks, corporate profits, inheritances, liquor, and cigarettes jumped. Kevin Starr states Reagan "gave Californians the biggest tax hike in their history—and got away with it". In the 1970 gubernatorial election, Unruh used Reagan's tax policy against him, saying it disproportionally favored the wealthy. Reagan countered that he was still committed to reducing property taxes. By 1973, the budget had a surplus, which Reagan preferred "to give back to the people".
In 1967, Reagan reacted to the Black Panther Party's strategy of copwatching by signing the Mulford Act to prohibit the public carrying of firearms. The act was California's most restrictive piece of gun control legislation, with critics saying that it was "overreacting to the political activism of organizations such as the Black Panthers". The act marked the beginning of both modern legislation and public attitude studies on gun control. Reagan also signed the 1967 Therapeutic Abortion Act that allowed abortions in the cases of rape and incest when a doctor determined the birth would impair the physical or mental health of the mother. He later expressed regret over signing it, saying that he was unaware of the mental health provision. He believed that doctors were interpreting the provision loosely, resulting in more abortions.
After Reagan won the 1966 election, he and his advisors planned a run in the 1968 Republican presidential primaries. He ran as an unofficial candidate to cut into Nixon's southern support and be a compromise candidate if there were to be a brokered convention. He won California's delegates, but Nixon secured enough delegates for the nomination.
Reagan had previously been critical of former governor Brown and university administrators for tolerating student demonstrations in the city of Berkeley, making it a major theme in his campaigning. On February 5, 1969, Reagan declared a state of emergency in response to ongoing protests and violence at the University of California, Berkeley, and sent in the California Highway Patrol. In May 1969, these officers, along with local officers from Berkeley and Alameda county, clashed with protestors over a site known as the People's Park. One student was shot and killed while many police officers and two reporters were injured. Reagan then commanded the state National Guard troops to occupy Berkeley for seventeen days to subdue the protesters, allowing other students to attend class safely. In February 1970, violent protests broke out near the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he once again deployed the National Guard. On April 7, Reagan defended his policies regarding campus protests, saying, "If it takes a bloodbath, let's get it over with. No more appeasement".
During his victorious reelection campaign in 1970, Reagan, remaining critical of government, promised to prioritize welfare reform. He was concerned that the programs were disincentivizing work and that the growing welfare rolls would lead to both an unbalanced budget and another big tax hike in 1972. At the same time, the Federal Reserve increased interest rates to combat inflation, putting the American economy in a mild recession. Reagan worked with Bob Moretti to tighten up the eligibility requirements so that the financially needy could continue receiving payments. This was only accomplished after Reagan softened his criticism of Nixon's Family Assistance Plan. Nixon then lifted regulations to shepherd California's experiment. In 1976, the Employment Development Department published a report suggesting that the experiment that ran from 1971 to 1974 was unsuccessful.
Reagan declined to run for the governorship in 1974 and it was won by Pat Brown's son, Jerry. Reagan's governorship, as professor Gary K. Clabaugh writes, saw public schools deteriorate due to his opposition to additional basic education funding. As for higher education, journalist William Trombley believed that the budget cuts Reagan enacted damaged Berkeley's student-faculty ratio and research. The homicide rate doubled and armed robbery rates rose by even more during Reagan's eight years, even with the many laws Reagan signed to try toughening criminal sentencing and reforming the criminal justice system. Reagan strongly supported capital punishment, but his efforts to enforce it were thwarted by People v. Anderson in 1972. According to his son, Michael, Reagan said that he regretted signing the Family Law Act that granted no-fault divorces.
== Seeking the presidency (1975–1981) ==
=== 1976 Republican primaries ===
Insufficiently conservative to Reagan and many other Republicans, President Gerald Ford suffered from multiple political and economic woes. Ford, running for president, was disappointed to hear him also run. Reagan was strongly critical of détente and Ford's policy of détente with the Soviet Union. He repeated "A Time for Choosing" around the country before announcing his campaign on November 20, 1975, when he discussed economic and social problems, and to a lesser extent, foreign affairs. Both candidates were determined to knock each other out early in the primaries, but Reagan would devastatingly lose the first five primaries beginning with New Hampshire, where he popularized the welfare queen narrative about Linda Taylor, exaggerating her misuse of welfare benefits and igniting voter resentment for welfare reform, but never overtly mentioning her name or race.
In Florida, Reagan used racially coded rhetoric to undermine Food Stamps, referring to recipients as "strapping young buck[s]", and attacked Ford for handing the Panama Canal to Panama's government, while Ford implied that Reagan would end Social Security. Then, in Illinois, Reagan again criticized Ford's policy and his secretary of state, Henry Kissinger. Losing the first five primaries prompted Reagan to desperately win North Carolina's by running a grassroots campaign and uniting with the Jesse Helms political machine that viciously attacked Ford. Reagan won an upset victory, convincing party delegates that Ford's nomination was no longer guaranteed. Reagan won subsequent victories in Texas, Alabama, Georgia, and Indiana with his attacks on social programs, opposition to forced busing to achieve school desegregation, and repeated criticisms of Ford and Kissinger's policies, including détente.
The result was a seesaw battle for the 1,130 delegates required for their party's nomination that neither would reach before the Kansas City convention in August and Ford replacing mentions of détente with Reagan's preferred phrase, "peace through strength". Reagan took John Sears' advice of choosing liberal Richard Schweiker as his running mate, hoping to pry loose of delegates from Pennsylvania and other states, and distract Ford. Instead, conservatives were left alienated, and Ford picked up the remaining uncommitted delegates, earning 1,187 to Reagan's 1,070.
After giving his acceptance speech, Ford invited Reagan to address the convention. Reagan gave an eloquent and stirring speech that overshadowed Ford's own acceptance address, despite being little more than five minutes long. Some delegates later stated that they left the convention wondering if they had voted for the wrong candidate. A contemporary media account stated that if a motion to reconsider the nomination had been in order, it might have passed.
In 1977, Ford told Cannon that Reagan's primary challenge contributed to his own narrow loss to Democrat Jimmy Carter in the 1976 presidential election.
=== 1980 election ===
Reagan emerged as a vocal critic of President Carter in 1977. The Panama Canal Treaty's signing, the 1979 oil crisis, and rise in the interest, inflation and unemployment rates helped set up his 1980 presidential campaign, which he announced on November 13, 1979 with an indictment of the federal government. His announcement stressed his fundamental principles of tax cuts to stimulate the economy and having both a small government and a strong national defense, since he believed the United States was behind the Soviet Union militarily. Heading into 1980, his age became an issue among the press, and the United States was in a severe recession.
In the primaries, Reagan unexpectedly lost the Iowa caucus to George H. W. Bush. Three days before the New Hampshire primary, the Reagan and Bush campaigns agreed to a one-on-one debate sponsored by The Telegraph at Nashua, New Hampshire, but hours before the debate, the Reagan campaign invited other candidates including Bob Dole, John B. Anderson, Howard Baker and Phil Crane. Debate moderator Jon Breen denied seats to the other candidates, asserting that The Telegraph would violate federal campaign contribution laws if it sponsored the debate and changed the ground rules hours before the debate. As a result, the Reagan campaign agreed to pay for the debate. Reagan said that as he was funding the debate, he could decide who would debate. During the debate, when Breen was laying out the ground rules and attempting to ask the first question, Reagan interrupted in protest to make an introductory statement and wanted other candidates to be included before the debate began. The moderator asked Bob Malloy, the volume operator, to mute Reagan's microphone. After Breen repeated his demand to Malloy, Reagan furiously replied, "I am paying for this microphone, Mr. Green! [sic]". This turned out to be the turning point of the debate and the primary race. Ultimately, the four additional candidates left, and the debate continued between Reagan and Bush. Reagan's polling numbers improved, and he won the New Hampshire primary by more than 39,000 votes. Soon thereafter, Reagan's opponents began dropping out of the primaries, including Anderson, who left the party to become an independent candidate. Reagan easily captured the presidential nomination and chose Bush as his running mate at the Detroit convention in July.
The general election pitted Reagan against Carter amid the multitude of domestic concerns and ongoing Iran hostage crisis that began on November 4, 1979. Reagan's campaign worried that Carter would be able to secure the release of the American hostages in Iran as part of the October surprise, Carter "suggested that Reagan would wreck Social Security" and portrayed him as a warmonger, and Anderson carried support from liberal Republicans dissatisfied with Reagan's conservatism. One of Reagan's key strengths was his appeal to the rising conservative movement. Though most conservative leaders espoused cutting taxes and budget deficits, many conservatives focused more closely on social issues like abortion and gay rights. Evangelical Protestants became an increasingly important voting bloc, and they generally supported Reagan. Reagan also won the backing of Reagan Democrats. Though he advocated socially conservative viewpoints, Reagan focused much of his campaign on attacks against Carter's foreign policy.
In August, Reagan gave a speech at the Neshoba County Fair, stating his belief in states' rights. Historians like Joseph Crespino argue that the visit was designed to incite racial animus in white Southern voters, and some also saw these actions as an extension of the Southern strategy to garner white support for Republican candidates. Allies and supporters of Reagan have said that this was his typical anti-big government rhetoric, without racial context or intent. In the October 28 debate, Carter chided Reagan for being against national health insurance. Reagan replied, "There you go again", though the audience laughed and viewers found him more appealing. Reagan later asked the audience if they were better off than they were four years ago, slightly paraphrasing Roosevelt's words in 1934. In 1983, Reagan's campaign managers were revealed to having obtained Carter's debate briefing book before the debates. On November 4, 1980, Reagan won in a decisive victory in the Electoral College over Carter, carrying 44 states and receiving 489 electoral votes to Carter's 49 in six states and the District of Columbia. He won the popular vote by a narrower margin, receiving nearly 51 percent to Carter's 41 percent and Anderson's 7 percent. Republicans won a majority of seats in the Senate for the first time since 1952 while Democrats retained the House of Representatives.
== Presidency (1981–1989) ==
=== First inauguration ===
Reagan was inaugurated as the 40th president of the United States on January 20, 1981. Chief Justice Warren E. Burger administered the presidential oath of office. In his inaugural address, Reagan commented on the country's economic malaise, arguing, "In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem, government is the problem". As a final insult to President Carter, Iran waited until Reagan had been sworn in before announcing the release of their American hostages.
=== "Reaganomics" and the economy ===
Reagan advocated a laissez-faire philosophy, and promoted a set of neoliberal reforms dubbed "Reaganomics", which included monetarism and supply-side economics.
==== Taxation ====
Reagan worked with the boll weevil Democrats to pass tax and budget legislation in a Congress led by Tip O'Neill, a liberal who strongly criticized Reaganomics. He lifted federal oil and gasoline price controls on January 28, 1981, and in August, he signed the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981 to dramatically lower federal income tax rates and require exemptions and brackets to be indexed for inflation starting in 1985. Amid growing concerns about the mounting federal debt, Reagan signed the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982, one of the eleven times Reagan raised taxes. The bill doubled the federal cigarette tax, rescinded a portion of the corporate tax cuts from the 1981 tax bill, and according to Paul Krugman, "a third of the 1981 cut" overall. Many of his supporters condemned the bill, but Reagan defended his preservation of cuts on individual income tax rates. By 1983, the amount of federal tax had fallen for all or most taxpayers, with taxes for higher-income people decreasing the most.
The Tax Reform Act of 1986 reduced the number of tax brackets and top tax rate, and almost doubled personal exemptions.
Reagan believed the tax cuts would not have increased the deficit as long as there was enough economic growth and spending cuts. His policies proposed that economic growth would occur when the tax cuts spurred investments. This theoretical relationship has been illustrated by some with the controversial Laffer curve. Critics labeled this "trickle-down economics", the belief that tax policies that benefit the wealthy will spread to the poor. Milton Friedman and Robert Mundell argued that these policies invigorated America's economy and contributed to the economic boom of the 1990s.
==== Inflation and unemployment ====
Reagan took office in the midst of stagflation. The economy briefly experienced growth before plunging into a recession in July 1981. As Federal Reserve chairman, Paul Volcker fought inflation by pursuing a tight money policy of high interest rates, which restricted lending and investment, raised unemployment, and temporarily reduced economic growth. In December 1982, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) measured the unemployment rate at 10.8 percent. Around the same time, economic activity began to rise until its end in 1990, setting the record for the (then) longest peacetime expansion. In 1983, the recession ended and Reagan nominated Volcker to a second term in fear of damaging confidence in the economic recovery.
Reagan appointed Alan Greenspan to succeed Volcker in 1987. Greenspan raised interest rates in another attempt to curb inflation, setting off the Black Monday stock market crash, although the markets eventually recovered. By 1989, the BLS measured unemployment at 5.3 percent. The inflation rate dropped from 12 percent during the 1980 election to under 5 percent in 1989. Likewise, the interest rate dropped from 15 percent to under 10 percent. Yet, not all shared equally in the economic recovery, and both economic inequality and the number of homeless individuals increased during the 1980s. Critics have contended that a majority of the jobs created during this decade paid the minimum wage.
==== Government spending ====
In 1981, in an effort to keep it solvent, Reagan approved a plan for cuts to Social Security. He later backed off due to public backlash. He then created the Greenspan Commission to keep Social Security financially secure, and in 1983 he signed amendments to raise both the program's payroll taxes and retirement age for benefits. He had signed the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1981 to cut funding for federal assistance such as food stamps, unemployment benefits, subsidized housing and the Aid to Families with Dependent Children, and would discontinue the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act. On the other side, defense spending doubled between 1981 and 1985. During Reagan's presidency, Project Socrates operated within the Defense Intelligence Agency to discover why the United States was unable to maintain its economic competitiveness. According to program director Michael Sekora, their findings helped the country surpass the Soviets in terms of missile defense technology.
==== Deregulation ====
Reagan sought to loosen federal regulation of economic activities, and he appointed key officials who shared this agenda. William Leuchtenburg writes that by 1986, the Reagan administration eliminated almost half of the federal regulations that had existed in 1981. The 1982 Garn–St. Germain Depository Institutions Act deregulated savings and loan associations by letting them make a variety of loans and investments outside of real estate. After the bill's passage, savings and loans associations engaged in riskier activities, and the leaders of some institutions embezzled funds. The administration's inattentiveness toward the industry contributed to the savings and loan crisis and costly bailouts.
==== Deficits ====
The deficits were exacerbated by the early 1980s recession, which cut into federal revenue. The national debt tripled between the fiscal years of 1980 and 1989, and the national debt as a percentage of the gross domestic product rose from 33 percent in 1981 to 53 percent by 1989. During his time in office, Reagan never fulfilled his 1980 campaign promise of submitting a balanced budget. The United States borrowed heavily to cover newly spawned federal budget deficits. Reagan described the tripled debt the "greatest disappointment of his presidency". Jeffrey Frankel opined that the deficits were a major reason why Reagan's successor, Bush, reneged on his campaign promise by raising taxes through the Budget Enforcement Act of 1990.
=== Assassination attempt ===
On March 30, 1981, Reagan was shot by John Hinckley Jr. outside the Washington Hilton. Although "right on the margin of death" upon arrival at George Washington University Hospital, Reagan underwent surgery and recovered quickly from a broken rib, punctured lung, and internal bleeding. Later, Reagan came to believe that God had spared his life "for a chosen mission".
=== Supreme Court appointments ===
Reagan appointed three Associate Justices to the Supreme Court of the United States: Sandra Day O'Connor in 1981, which fulfilled a campaign promise to name the first female justice to the Court, Antonin Scalia in 1986, and Anthony Kennedy in 1988. He also elevated William Rehnquist from Associate Justice to Chief Justice in 1986. The direction of the Supreme Court's reshaping has been described as conservative.
=== Public sector labor union fights ===
Early in August 1981, the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO) went on strike, violating a federal law prohibiting government unions from striking. On August 3, Reagan said that he would fire air traffic controllers if they did not return to work within 48 hours; according to him, 38 percent did not return. On August 13, Reagan fired roughly 12,000 striking air traffic controllers who ignored his order. He used military controllers and supervisors to handle the nation's commercial air traffic until new controllers could be hired and trained. The breaking of the PATCO strike demoralized organized labor, and the number of strikes fell greatly in the 1980s. With the assent of Reagan's sympathetic National Labor Relations Board appointees, many companies also won wage and benefit cutbacks from unions, especially in the manufacturing sector. During Reagan's presidency, the share of employees who were part of a labor union dropped from approximately one-fourth of the total workforce to approximately one-sixth of the total workforce.
=== Civil rights ===
Despite Reagan having opposed the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which he long-deemed "humiliating to the South", the bill was extended for 25 years in 1982. He initially opposed the establishment of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, believing that the momentum for establishing the holiday was "based on an image, not reality," but signed a bill to create the holiday in 1983 after it passed both houses of Congress with veto-proof margins. In 1984, he signed legislation intended to impose fines for fair housing discrimination offenses. In March 1988, Reagan vetoed the Civil Rights Restoration Act of 1987, but Congress overrode his veto. He had argued that the bill unreasonably increased the federal government's power and undermined the rights of churches and business owners. In doing so, Reagan was the first U.S. president to veto civil rights legislation since Andrew Johnson vetoed the Civil Rights Act of 1866, which was also overridden by Congress. Later in September, legislation was passed to correct loopholes in the Fair Housing Act of 1968.
Early in his presidency, Reagan appointed Clarence M. Pendleton Jr., known for his opposition to affirmative action and equal pay for men and women, as chair of the United States Commission on Civil Rights. Pendleton and Reagan's subsequent appointees greatly eroded the enforcement of civil rights law, arousing the ire of civil rights advocates. In 1987, Reagan unsuccessfully nominated Robert Bork to the Supreme Court as a way to achieve his civil rights policy that could not be fulfilled during his presidency; his administration had opposed affirmative action, particularly in education, federal assistance programs, housing and employment, but Reagan reluctantly continued these policies. In housing, Reagan's administration saw considerably fewer fair housing cases filed than the three previous administrations.
=== War on drugs ===
In response to concerns about the increasing crack epidemic, Reagan intensified the war on drugs in 1982. While the American public did not see drugs as an important issue then, the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration and the United States Department of Defense all increased their anti-drug funding immensely. Reagan's administration publicized the campaign to gain support after crack became widespread in 1985. Reagan signed the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986 and 1988 to specify penalties for drug offenses. Both bills have been criticized in the years since for promoting racial disparities. Nancy Reagan founded the "Just Say No" campaign to discourage others from engaging in recreational drug use and raise awareness about the dangers of drugs. A 1988 study showed 39 percent of high school seniors using illegal drugs compared to 53 percent in 1980, but Scott Lilienfeld and Hal Arkowitz say that the success of these types of campaigns has not been affirmatively proven.
=== Escalation of the Cold War ===
Reagan ordered a massive defense buildup; he revived the B-1 Lancer program that had been rejected by the Carter administration, and deployed the MX missile. In response to Soviet deployment of the SS-20, he oversaw NATO's deployment of the Pershing missile in Western Europe. In 1982, Reagan tried to cut off the Soviet Union's access to hard currency by impeding its proposed gas line to Western Europe. This hurt the Soviet economy, but also caused ill will among American allies in Europe who counted on the resulting revenue; he later retreated on this issue. In March 1983, Reagan introduced the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) to protect the United States from space intercontinental ballistic missiles. He believed that this defense shield could protect the country from nuclear destruction in a hypothetical nuclear war with the Soviet Union. There was much disbelief among the scientific community surrounding the program's scientific feasibility, leading opponents to dub the SDI "Star Wars", although Soviet leader Yuri Andropov said it would lead to "an extremely dangerous path".
In a 1982 address to the British Parliament, Reagan said, "the march of freedom and democracy... will leave Marxism–Leninism on the ash heap of history". Dismissed by the American press as "wishful thinking", Margaret Thatcher called the address a "triumph". David Cannadine says of Thatcher that "Reagan had been grateful for her interest in him at a time when the British establishment refused to take him seriously", with the two agreeing on "building up stronger defenses against Soviet Russia" and both believing in outfacing "what Reagan would later call 'the evil empire'", in reference to the Soviet Union, during a speech to the National Association of Evangelicals in March 1983. After Soviet fighters downed Korean Air Lines Flight 007 in September, which included Congressman Larry McDonald and 61 other Americans, Reagan expressed outrage towards the Soviet Union. The next day, reports suggested that the Soviets had fired on the plane by mistake. In spite of the harsh, discordant rhetoric, Reagan's administration continued discussions with the Soviet Union on START I.
Although the Reagan administration agreed with the communist government in China to reduce the sale of arms to Taiwan in 1982, Reagan was the first U.S. president to explicitly reject containment and détente, instead advancing the idea that the Soviet Union could be defeated rather than managed through negotiation. His covert aid to Afghan mujahideen forces through Pakistan against the Soviets has been given credit for assisting in ending the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. However, the United States was subjected to blowback in the form of the Taliban that opposed them in the war in Afghanistan. In his 1985 State of the Union Address, Reagan proclaimed, "Support for freedom fighters is self-defense." Through the Reagan Doctrine, his administration supported anti-communist movements that fought against groups backed by the Soviet Union in an effort to rollback Soviet-backed communist governments and reduce Soviet influence across the world. The Reagan administration ignored human rights violations in the countries they backed and held a narrow definition of human rights. Other human rights concerns include the genocide in Guatemala, as well as mass killings in Chad.
=== Invasion of Grenada ===
On October 19, 1983, Maurice Bishop was overthrown and murdered by one of his colleagues. Several days later, Reagan ordered American forces to invade Grenada. Reagan cited a regional threat posed by a Soviet-Cuban military build-up and concern for the safety of hundreds of American medical students at St. George's University. Two days of fighting commenced, resulting in an American victory. While the invasion enjoyed public support in the United States, it was criticized internationally, with the United Nations General Assembly voting to censure the American government. Cannon later noted that throughout Reagan's 1984 presidential campaign, the invasion overshadowed the 1983 Beirut barracks bombings, which killed 241 Americans taking part in an international peacekeeping operation during the Lebanese Civil War.
=== 1984 election ===
Reagan announced his reelection campaign on January 29, 1984, declaring, "America is back and standing tall". In February, his administration reversed the unpopular decision to send the United States Marine Corps to Lebanon, thus eliminating a political liability for him. Reagan faced minimal opposition in the Republican primaries, and he and Bush accepted the nomination at the Dallas convention in August. In the general election, his campaign ran the commercial, "Morning in America". At a time when the American economy was already recovering, former vice president Walter Mondale was attacked by Reagan's campaign as a "tax-and-spend Democrat", while Mondale criticized the deficit, the SDI, and Reagan's civil rights policy. However, Reagan's age induced his campaign managers to minimize his public appearances. Mondale's campaign believed that Reagan's age and mental health were issues before the October presidential debates.
Following Reagan's performance in the first debate where he struggled to recall statistics, his age was brought up by the media in negative fashion. Reagan's campaign changed his tactics for the second debate where he quipped, "I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent's youth and inexperience". This remark generated applause and laughter, even from Mondale. At that point, Broder suggested that age was no longer a liability for Reagan, and Mondale's campaign felt that "the election was over". In November, Reagan won a landslide reelection victory with 59 percent of the popular vote and 525 electoral votes from 49 states. Mondale won 41 percent of the popular vote and 13 electoral votes from the District of Columbia and his home state of Minnesota.
=== Response to the AIDS epidemic ===
The AIDS epidemic began to unfold in 1981, and AIDS was initially difficult to understand for physicians and the public. As the epidemic advanced, according to White House physician and later physician to the president, brigadier general John Hutton, Reagan thought of AIDS as though "it was the measles and would go away". The October 1985 death of the President's friend Rock Hudson affected Reagan's view; Reagan approached Hutton for more information on the disease. Still, between September 18, 1985, and February 4, 1986, Reagan did not mention AIDS in public.
In 1986, Reagan asked C. Everett Koop to develop a report on AIDS. Koop angered many evangelical conservatives, both in and out of the Reagan administration, by stressing the importance of sex education including condom usage in schools. A year later, Reagan, who reportedly had not read the report, gave his first speech on the epidemic when 36,058 Americans had been diagnosed with AIDS, and 20,849 had died of it. Reagan called for increased testing (including routine testing for marriage applicants) and mandatory testing of select groups (including federal prisoners). Even after this speech, however, Reagan remained reluctant to publicly address AIDS.
Scholars and AIDS activists have argued that the Reagan administration largely ignored the AIDS crisis. Randy Shilts and Michael Bronski said that AIDS research was chronically underfunded during Reagan's administration, and Bronski added that requests for more funding by doctors at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were routinely denied. In a September 1985 press conference (soon after Hollywood celebrity Rock Hudson had announced his AIDS diagnosis) Reagan called a government AIDS research program a "top priority", but also cited budgetary constraints. Between the fiscal years of 1984 and 1989, federal spending on AIDS totaled $5.6 billion. The Reagan administration proposed $2.8 billion during this time period, but pressure from congressional Democrats resulted in the larger amount.
=== Addressing apartheid ===
Popular opposition to apartheid increased during Reagan's first term in office and the disinvestment from South Africa movement achieved critical mass after decades of growing momentum. Criticism of apartheid was particularly strong on college campuses and among mainline Protestant denominations. President Reagan was opposed to divestiture because he personally thought, as he wrote in a letter to Sammy Davis Jr., it "would hurt the very people we are trying to help and would leave us no contact within South Africa to try and bring influence to bear on the government". He also noted the fact that the "American-owned industries there employ more than 80,000 blacks" and that their employment practices were "very different from the normal South African customs".
The Reagan administration developed constructive engagement with the South African government as a means of encouraging it to gradually move away from apartheid and to give up its nuclear weapons program. It was part of a larger initiative designed to foster peaceful economic development and political change throughout southern Africa. This policy, however, engendered much public criticism, and renewed calls for the imposition of stringent sanctions. Desmond Tutu described Reagan administration as "an unmitigated disaster for us blacks", and Reagan himself as "a racist pure and simple".
In response, Reagan announced the imposition of new sanctions on the South African government, including an arms embargo in late 1985. These sanctions were seen as weak by anti-apartheid activists and as insufficient by the president's opponents in Congress. In 1986, Congress approved the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act, which included tougher sanctions; Reagan's veto was overridden by Congress. Afterward, he remained opposed to apartheid and unsure of "how best to oppose it". Several European countries, as well as Japan, also imposed their sanctions on South Africa soon after.
=== Libya bombing ===
Contentious relations between Libya and the United States under President Reagan were revived in the West Berlin discotheque bombing that killed an American soldier and injured dozens of others on April 5, 1986. Stating that there was irrefutable evidence that Libya had a direct role in the bombing, Reagan authorized the use of force against the country. On April 14, the United States launched a series of airstrikes on ground targets in Libya. Thatcher allowed the United States Air Force to use Britain's air bases to launch the attack, on the justification that the United Kingdom was supporting America's right to self-defense under Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations. The attack was, according to Reagan, designed to halt Muammar Gaddafi's "ability to export terrorism", offering him "incentives and reasons to alter his criminal behavior". The attack was condemned by many countries; by an overwhelming vote, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution to condemn the attack and deem it a violation of the Charter and international law.
=== Iran–Contra affair ===
Reagan authorized William J. Casey to arm the Contras, fearing that Communists would take over Nicaragua if it remained under the leadership of the Sandinistas. Congress passed the 1982 Boland Amendment, prohibiting the CIA and Department of Defense from using their budgets to provide aid to the Contras. Still, the Reagan administration raised funds for the Contras from private donors and foreign governments. When Congress learned that the CIA had secretly placed naval mines in Nicaraguan harbors, Congress passed a second Boland Amendment that barred granting any assistance to the Contras. By mid-1985, Hezbollah began to take American hostages in Lebanon, holding seven of them in reaction to the United States' support of Israel.
Reagan procured the release of seven American hostages held by Hezbollah by selling American arms to Iran, then engaged in the Iran–Iraq War, in hopes that Iran would pressure Hezbollah to release the hostages. The Reagan administration sold over 2,000 missiles to Iran without informing Congress; Hezbollah released four hostages but captured an additional six Americans. On Oliver North's initiative, the administration redirected the proceeds from the missile sales to the Contras. The transactions were exposed by Ash-Shiraa in early November 1986. Reagan initially denied any wrongdoing, but on November 25, he announced that John Poindexter and North had left the administration and that he would form the Tower Commission to investigate the transactions. A few weeks later, Reagan asked a panel of federal judges to appoint a special prosecutor who would conduct a separate investigation.
The Tower Commission released a report in February 1987 confirming that the administration had traded arms for hostages and sent the proceeds of the weapons sales to the Contras. The report laid most of the blame on North, Poindexter, and Robert McFarlane, but it was also critical of Donald Regan and other White House staffers. Investigators did not find conclusive proof that Reagan had known about the aid provided to the Contras, but the report noted that Reagan had "created the conditions which made possible the crimes committed by others" and had "knowingly participated or acquiesced in covering up the scandal". The affair damaged the administration and raised questions about Reagan's competency and the wisdom of conservative policies. The administration's credibility was also badly damaged on the international stage as it had violated its own arms embargo on Iran.
=== The USS Stark incident ===
In the context of the Tanker War on May 17, 1987, an Iraqi fighter jet hit the USS Stark with two Exocet missiles, killing 37 sailors. Three days later, President Reagan declared a "policy of self-defense" would now be ordered, as he accepted Iraq's official apology: "Our ships are deployed in the Persian Gulf in order to protect U.S. interests and maintain free access and maintain freedom of navigation and access to the area's oil supplies. It is a vital mission, but our ships need to protect themselves and they will. [From now on] if aircraft approach any of our ships in a way that appears hostile, there is one order of battle. Defend yourselves. Defend American lives.. We're going to do what has to be done to keep the Persian Gulf open. It's international waters. No country there has a right to try and close it off and take it for itself. And the villain in the piece really is Iran. And so they're delighted with what has just happened."
=== Soviet decline and thaw in relations ===
Although the Soviets did not accelerate military spending in response to Reagan's military buildup, their enormous military expenses, in combination with collectivized agriculture and inefficient planned manufacturing, were a heavy burden for the Soviet economy. At the same time, the prices of oil, the primary source of Soviet export revenues, fell to one third of the previous level in 1985. These factors contributed to a stagnant economy during the tenure of Mikhail Gorbachev as Soviet leader.
Reagan's foreign policy towards the Soviets wavered between brinkmanship and cooperation. Reagan appreciated Gorbachev's revolutionary change in the direction of the Soviet policy and shifted to diplomacy, intending to encourage him to pursue substantial arms agreements. They held four summit conferences between 1985 and 1988. Reagan believed that if he could persuade the Soviets to allow for more democracy and free speech, this would lead to reform and the end of communism. The critical summit was in Reykjavík in 1986, where they agreed to abolish all nuclear weapons. However, Gorbachev added the condition that SDI research must be confined to laboratories during the ten-year period when disarmament would take place. Reagan refused, stating that it was defensive only and that he would share the secrets with the Soviets, thus failing to reach a deal.
In June 1987, Reagan addressed Gorbachev during a speech at the Berlin Wall, demanding that he "tear down this wall". The remark was ignored at the time, but after the wall fell in November 1989, it was retroactively recast as a soaring achievement. In December, Reagan and Gorbachev met again at the Washington Summit to sign the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, committing to the total abolition of their respective short-range and medium-range missile stockpiles. The treaty established an inspections regime designed to ensure that both parties honored the agreement. In May 1988, the U.S. Senate overwhelmingly voted in favor of ratifying the treaty, providing a major boost to Reagan's popularity in the aftermath of the Iran–Contra affair. A new era of trade and openness between the two powers commenced, and the United States and Soviet Union cooperated on international issues such as the Iran–Iraq War.
== Post-presidency (1989–2004) ==
Upon leaving the presidency on January 20, 1989, at the age of 77, Reagan became the oldest president at the end of his tenure. This distinction eventually passed to president Joe Biden, who was 82 years old when he left office in 2025.
In retirement, Ronald and Nancy Reagan lived at 668 St. Cloud Road in Bel Air, in addition to Rancho del Cielo in Santa Barbara. He received multiple awards and honors in addition to generous payments for speaking engagements. In 1989 he supported repealing the Twenty-second Amendment's presidential term limits. In 1991, the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library opened. Reagan also addressed the 1992 Republican National Convention "to inspire allegiance to the party regulars", and favored a constitutional amendment requiring a balanced budget.
=== Support for Brady Bill ===
Reagan publicly favored the Brady Bill, drawing criticism from gun control opponents. In 1989, in his first public appearance after leaving office and shortly after the Stockton schoolyard shooting, he stated: "I do not believe in taking away the right of the citizen to own guns for sporting, for hunting, and so forth, or for home defense. But I do believe that an AK-47, a machine gun, is not a sporting weapon or needed for the defense of the home".
In March 1991, Reagan wrote an op-ed in the New York Times, titled "Why I'm for the Brady Bill". In May 1994, Reagan, Gerald Ford, and Jimmy Carter sent a letter to House members, urging them to support the controversial Federal Assault Weapons Ban.
=== Alzheimer's disease ===
Reagan's final public speech occurred on February 3, 1994, during a tribute to him in Washington, D.C.; his last major public appearance was at the funeral of Richard Nixon on April 27, 1994. In August 1994, Reagan was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, which he announced through a handwritten letter in November. There was speculation over how long he had demonstrated symptoms of mental degeneration, but lay observations that he suffered from Alzheimer's while still in office have been disputed by medical experts. His doctors said that he first began exhibiting overt symptoms of the illness in late 1992 or 1993. Over time, the disease destroyed Reagan's mental capacity. By 1997, he was reported to recognize few people other than his wife, though he continued to walk through parks and on beaches, play golf, and visit his office in nearby Century City. Eventually, his family decided that he would live in quiet semi-isolation with his wife. By the end of 2003, Reagan had lost his ability to speak and was mostly confined to his bed, no longer able to recognize family members.
== Death and funeral ==
Reagan died of pneumonia, complicated by Alzheimer's, at his home in Los Angeles, on June 5, 2004. President George W. Bush called Reagan's death "a sad hour in the life of America". His public funeral was held in the Washington National Cathedral, where eulogies were given by Margaret Thatcher, Brian Mulroney, George H. W. Bush, and George W. Bush. Other world leaders attended including Mikhail Gorbachev and Lech Wałęsa. Reagan was interred at his presidential library.
== Legacy ==
=== Approval ratings ===
Similar to previous presidents, Reagan began his presidency with approval ratings greater than 50 percent, peaking above 70 percent shortly after his attempted assassination, before declining by the end of his first year. Afterwards, his ratings fluctuated in the mid-30s and mid-40s in his second and third years, which has been attributed to the 1981–1982 recession. His approval ratings rebounded after the invasion of Grenada and by mid-1984 his approval rating neared 60 percent. In the first two years of his second term, his approval ratings were consistently above 60 percent but declined during the Iran–Contra scandal, before beginning to recover in mid-1987. In the Gallup poll, Reagan finished his presidency with an approval rating of 63 percent, the third highest for a departing president in history, behind only Franklin D. Roosevelt and Bill Clinton, both of whom finished at 66 percent.
In 1990, a year after he left office, a Gallup survey found that 54 percent of Americans said they approved of the overall job Reagan did as president. The number of Americans who approved of the Reagan administration declined to 48 percent in 1992 but rebounded two years later to 52 percent. In recent years, favorability of Reagan's presidency reached its highest ever: 71 percent approval in 2006; 74 percent in 2010; 72 percent in 2018; and 69 percent in 2023. He is often found to be second-most popular president since World War II, with only John F. Kennedy having higher ratings.
=== Historical reputation ===
In 2008, British historian M. J. Heale summarized that scholars had reached a broad consensus in which "Reagan rehabilitated conservatism, turned the country to the right, practiced a 'pragmatic conservatism' that balanced ideology with the constraints of government, revived faith in the presidency and American self-respect, and contributed to critically ending the Cold War", which ended with the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Many conservative and liberal scholars have agreed that Reagan has been the most influential president since Roosevelt, leaving his imprint on American politics, diplomacy, culture, and economics through his effective communication of his conservative agenda and pragmatic compromising. During the initial years of Reagan's post-presidency, historical rankings placed his presidency in the twenties. Throughout the 2000s and 2010s, his presidency was often placed in the top ten.
Many proponents, including his Cold War contemporaries, believe that his defense policies, economic policies, military policies, and hard-line rhetoric against the Soviet Union and communism, together with his summits with Gorbachev, played a significant part in ending the Cold War. Jeffrey Knopf argues that while Reagan's practice of referring to the Soviet Union as "evil" probably made no difference to the Soviet leaders, it possibly gave encouragement to Eastern European citizens who opposed their communist regimes. President Truman's policy of containment is also regarded as a force behind the fall of the Soviet Union, and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan undermined the Soviet system itself. Nevertheless, Melvyn P. Leffler called Reagan "Gorbachev's minor, yet indispensable partner, setting the framework for the dramatic changes that neither anticipated happening anytime soon".
Critics, for example Paul Krugman, note Reagan's tenure as having begun a period of increased income inequality, sometimes called the "Great Divergence". Krugman also views Reagan as having initiated the ideology of the current-day Republican Party, which he feels is led by "radicals" who seek to "undo the twentieth century" gains in income equality and unionization. Others, such as Nixon's Secretary of Commerce Peter G. Peterson, also criticize what they feel was not just Reagan's fiscal irresponsibility, but also the ushering in of an era where tax cutting "became the GOP's core platform", with resulting deficits and GOP leaders (speciously in Peterson's opinion) arguing supply-side gains would enable the country to "grow" its way out of deficits.
Reagan was known for storytelling and humor, which involved puns and self-deprecation. Reagan also often emphasized family values, despite being the first president to have been divorced. He showed the ability to comfort Americans during the aftermath of the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. Reagan's ability to talk about substantive issues with understandable terms and to focus on mainstream American concerns earned him the laudatory moniker the "Great Communicator". He also earned the nickname "Teflon President" in that public perceptions of him were not substantially tarnished by the controversies that arose during his administration.
=== Political influence ===
Reagan led a new conservative movement, altering the political dynamic of the United States. Conservatism became the dominant ideology for Republicans, displacing the party's faction of liberals and moderates. Men began voting more Republican, and women began voting more Democrat – a gender distinction that has persisted. He was supported by young voters, an allegiance that shifted many of them to the party. He attempted to appeal to Black voters in 1980, but would receive the lowest Black vote for a Republican presidential candidate at the time. Throughout Reagan's presidency, Republicans were unable to gain complete control of Congress.
The period of American history most dominated by Reagan and his policies (particularly on taxes, welfare, defense, the federal judiciary, and the Cold War) is known as the Reagan era, which suggests that the "Reagan Revolution" had a lasting impact on the United States in domestic and foreign policy. The presidencies of George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush are often treated as an extension of the era. Since 1988, Republican presidential candidates have invoked Reagan's policies and beliefs. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revive_%26_Restore | Revive & Restore | Revive & Restore is a non-profit wildlife conservation organization focused on use of biotechnology in conservation. Headquartered in Sausalito, California, the organization's mission is to enhance biodiversity through the genetic rescue of endangered and extinct species. The organization was founded by Stewart Brand and his wife, Ryan Phelan.
Revive & Restore has created a "Genetic Rescue Toolkit" for wildlife conservation – a suite of biotechnology tools adapted from human medicine and commercial agriculture that can improve wildlife conservation outcomes. The toolkit includes biobanking and cell culturing, genetic sequencing, and advanced reproductive technologies, such as cloning. The toolkit complements traditional conservation practices, such as captive breeding and habitat restoration.
Revive & Restore has caused controversy. In particular, Brand's work in de-extinction has been characterized as "playing god" and criticized for taking time and money away from traditional conservation efforts. In addition, many are concerned by the concept of cloning, even in the context of conservation.
== History ==
Revive & Restore was co-founded in 2012 by Stewart Brand and Ryan Phelan with the idea of bringing biotechnology solutions to conservation. The group was incubated by the Long Now Foundation until 2017, when it became an independent 501(c)(3) organization.
In 2013 Revive & Restore organized the first public meeting on de-extinction. Their founding projects include the de-extinction of the passenger pigeon and heath hen. Another one of their founding projects was to revive the woolly mammoth, but the project was given to George Church in 2021 and is now managed by Colossal Biosciences. Since then, Revive & Restore has established partnerships with research institutions, governmental agencies, and conservation organizations on a broad range of genetic rescue programs.
Revive & Restore is a member of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and has long-standing partnerships with the US Fish & Wildlife Service, The San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, Morris Animal Foundation, and ViaGen Pets & Equine, among others.
== Programs ==
=== Advanced Coral Toolkit ===
The Advanced Coral Toolkit supports research teams in the development and field testing of biotechnologies that benefit coral reef management and restoration efforts. Projects include coral cryopreservation methods for large scale biobanking and fieldable devices for measuring genetic information or molecular signals associated with coral stress. Launched in 2019, the program has funded 10 research teams.
=== Wild Genomes ===
Wild Genomes is a funding program to provide genomic tools to field scientists, wildlife managers, and citizens working to protect their local biodiversity. As of 2023, Wild Genomes has funded 30 individual projects. Program categories include Terrestrial Species, Marine Species, Amphibians, and Kelp Ecosystems.
=== Cloning for conservation ===
To help mitigate inbreeding depression for two endangered species, the black-footed ferret (Mustela nigripes) and Przewalski's horse (Equus ferus przewalskii), Revive & Restore facilitates on-going efforts to clone individuals from historic cell lines stored at the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance Frozen Zoo.
On December 10, 2020, the world's first cloned black-footed ferret was born. This ferret, named Elizabeth Ann, marked the first time a U.S. endangered species was successfully cloned.
On August 6, 2020, the world's first cloned Przewalski’s horse was born. Since the oocyte used was from a domestic horse, this was an example of interspecies somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT). In 2022, the horse, named Kurt, was paired with a female Przewalski's horse at the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Safari Park to learn the behaviors of his species. On February 17, 2023, a second cloned Przewalski's horse was born from the same historic cell line. Kurt and the new foal are genetic twins that may become the first cloned animals to restore lost genetic variation to their species.
=== Intended Consequences Initiative ===
In 2020, Revive & Restore developed a campaign around the concept of "Intended Consequences" – focusing on the benefits of conservation interventions, as opposed to focusing on the fears of unintended consequences. That year, Revive & Restore hosted a virtual workshop that resulted in the publication of a special issue in the journal Conservation Science and Practice.
=== The Great Passenger Pigeon Comeback ===
Since 2012, Revive & Restore has been working to de-extinct the passenger pigeon (Ectopistes migratorius), a wild North American pigeon that was the most abundant bird in the world prior to the death of its final member in 1914. The goals behind this project are to insert the key genes of the passenger pigeon into its closest living relative, the band-tailed pigeon, to create a functional reconstruction of the species that can fulfil the original's ecological niche in the Eastern United States. Revive & Restore plans to hatch the first generation of these passenger pigeons by 2029 for captive breeding and research purposes, but it will take decades for the species to be reintroduced into the wild. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchester_United_F.C. | Manchester United F.C. | Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional football club based in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England. They compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Nicknamed the Red Devils, they were founded as Newton Heath LYR Football Club in 1878, but changed their name to Manchester United in 1902. After a spell playing in Clayton, Manchester, the club moved to their current stadium, Old Trafford, in 1910. Domestically, Manchester United have won a joint-record twenty top-flight league titles, thirteen FA Cups, six League Cups and a record twenty-one FA Community Shields. Additionally, in international football, they have won the European Cup/UEFA Champions League three times, and the UEFA Europa League, the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, the UEFA Super Cup, the Intercontinental Cup and the FIFA Club World Cup once each.
Appointed as manager in 1945, Matt Busby built a team with an average age of just 22 nicknamed the Busby Babes that won successive league titles in the 1950s and became the first English club to compete in the European Cup. Eight players were killed in the Munich air disaster, but Busby rebuilt the team around star players George Best, Denis Law and Bobby Charlton – known as the United Trinity. They won two more league titles before becoming the first English club to win the European Cup in 1968.
After Busby's retirement, Manchester United were unable to produce sustained success until the arrival of Alex Ferguson, who became the club's longest-serving and most successful manager, winning 38 trophies including 13 league titles, five FA Cups and two Champions League titles between 1986 and 2013. In the 1998–99 season, under Ferguson, the club became the first in the history of English football to achieve the continental treble of the Premier League, FA Cup and UEFA Champions League. In winning the UEFA Europa League under José Mourinho in 2016–17, they became one of five clubs to have won the original three main UEFA club competitions (the Champions League, Europa League and Cup Winners' Cup).
Manchester United is one of the most widely supported football clubs in the world and have rivalries with Liverpool, Manchester City, Leeds United and Arsenal. Manchester United was the highest-earning football club in the world for 2016–17, with an annual revenue of €676.3 million, and the world's second-most-valuable football club in 2024, valued at £6.55 billion ($5.22 billion). After being floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1991, the club was taken private in 2005 after a purchase by American businessman Malcolm Glazer valued at almost £800 million, of which over £500 million of borrowed money became the club's debt. From 2012, some shares of the club were listed on the New York Stock Exchange, although the Glazer family retains overall ownership and control of the club.
== History ==
=== Early years (1878–1945) ===
Manchester United were formed in 1878 as Newton Heath LYR Football Club by the Carriage and Wagon department of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway (LYR) depot at Newton Heath. The team initially played games against other departments and railway companies, but on 20 November 1880, they competed in their first recorded match; wearing the colours of the railway company – green and gold – they were defeated 6–0 by Bolton Wanderers' reserve team. By 1888, the club had become a founding member of The Combination, a regional football league. Following the league's dissolution after only one season, Newton Heath joined the newly formed Football Alliance, which ran for three seasons before being merged with The Football League. This resulted in the club starting the 1892–93 season in the First Division, by which time it had become independent of the railway company and dropped the "LYR" from its name. After two seasons, the club was relegated to the Second Division.
In January 1902, with debts of £2,670 – equivalent to £270,000 in 2023 – the club was served with a winding-up order. Captain Harry Stafford found four local businessmen, including John Henry Davies (who became club president), each willing to invest £500 in return for a direct interest in running the club and who subsequently changed the name; on 24 April 1902, Manchester United was officially born. Under Ernest Mangnall, who assumed managerial duties in 1903, Manchester United finished as Second Division runners-up in 1906 and secured promotion to the First Division, which they won in 1908 – the club's first league title. The following season began with victory in the first ever Charity Shield and ended with the club's first FA Cup title. Mangnall was considered a significant influence behind the team's move to Old Trafford in 1910, and Manchester United won the First Division for the second time in 1911. At the end of the following season, however, Mangnall left the club to join Manchester City.
In 1922, three years after the resumption of football following the First World War, the club was relegated to the Second Division, where it remained until regaining promotion in 1925. Relegated again in 1931, Manchester United became a yo-yo club, achieving its all-time lowest position of 20th place in the Second Division in 1934, under secretary-manager Scott Duncan, narrowly avoiding relegation to the Third Division. Two years later, Duncan led the club to promotion before another relegation followed in 1937, which led to his resignation in November of that year. Following the death of principal benefactor John Henry Davies in October 1927, the club's finances deteriorated to the extent that Manchester United would likely have gone bankrupt had it not been for James W. Gibson, who, in December 1931, invested £2,000 and assumed control of the club. In the 1938–39 season, the last year of football before the Second World War, the club finished 14th in the First Division.
=== Busby years (1945–1969) ===
In October 1945, the impending resumption of football after the war led to the managerial appointment of Matt Busby, who demanded an unprecedented level of control over team selection, player transfers. and training sessions. Busby led the team to second-place league finishes in 1947, 1948, and 1949, and to FA Cup victory in 1948. In 1952, the club won the First Division, its first league title for 41 years. They then won back-to-back league titles in 1956 and 1957; the squad, which had an average age of 22, was nicknamed "the Busby Babes" by the media, a testament to Busby's faith in his youth players. In 1957, Manchester United became the first English team to compete in the European Cup, despite objections from The Football League, who had denied Chelsea the same opportunity the previous season. En route to the semi-final, which they lost to Real Madrid, the team recorded a 10–0 victory over Belgian champions Anderlecht, which remains the club's biggest victory on record.
The following season, on the way home from a European Cup quarter-final victory against Red Star Belgrade, the aircraft carrying the Manchester United players, officials, and journalists crashed while attempting to take off after refuelling in Munich, Germany. The Munich air disaster of 6 February 1958 claimed 23 lives, including those of eight players – Geoff Bent, Roger Byrne, Eddie Colman, Duncan Edwards, Mark Jones, David Pegg, Tommy Taylor and Billy Whelan – and injured several more.
Assistant manager Jimmy Murphy took over as manager while Busby recovered from his injuries and the club's makeshift side reached the FA Cup final, which they lost to Bolton Wanderers. In recognition of the team's tragedy, UEFA invited the club to compete in the 1958–59 European Cup alongside eventual League champions Wolverhampton Wanderers. Despite approval from The Football Association, The Football League determined that the club should not enter the competition, since it had not qualified. Busby rebuilt the team through the 1960s by signing players such as Denis Law and Paddy Crerand, who combined with the next generation of youth players – including George Best – to win the FA Cup in 1963. Busby rested several key players for the League game before the Cup Final, which gave Dennis Walker the chance to make his debut against Nottingham Forest on 20 May. Walker thus became the first Black player to represent United. The following season, they finished second in the league, then won the title in 1965 and 1967. In 1968, Manchester United became the first English club to win the European Cup, beating Benfica 4–1 in the final with a team that contained three European Footballers of the Year: Bobby Charlton, Denis Law and George Best. They then represented Europe in the 1968 Intercontinental Cup against Estudiantes of Argentina, but defeat in the first leg in Buenos Aires meant a 1–1 draw at Old Trafford three weeks later was not enough to claim the title. Busby resigned as manager in 1969 before being replaced by the reserve team coach, former Manchester United player Wilf McGuinness.
=== 1969–1986 ===
Following an eighth-place finish in the 1969–70 season and a poor start to the 1970–71 season, Busby was persuaded to temporarily resume managerial duties, and McGuinness returned to his position as reserve team coach. In June 1971, Frank O'Farrell was appointed as manager, but lasted less than 18 months before being replaced by Tommy Docherty in December 1972. Docherty saved Manchester United from relegation that season, only to see them relegated in 1974; by that time, the trio of Best, Law, and Charlton had left the club. The team won promotion at the first attempt and reached the FA Cup final in 1976, but were beaten by Southampton. They reached the final again in 1977, beating Liverpool 2–1. Docherty was dismissed shortly afterwards, following the revelation of his affair with the club physiotherapist's wife.
Dave Sexton replaced Docherty as manager in the summer of 1977. Despite major signings, including Joe Jordan, Gordon McQueen, Gary Bailey, and Ray Wilkins, the team failed to win any trophies; they finished second in 1979–80 and lost to Arsenal in the 1979 FA Cup final. Sexton was dismissed in 1981, even though the team won the last seven games under his direction. He was replaced by Ron Atkinson, who immediately broke the British record transfer fee to sign Bryan Robson from his former club West Bromwich Albion. Under Atkinson, Manchester United won the FA Cup in 1983 and 1985 and beat rivals Liverpool to win the 1983 Charity Shield. In 1985–86, after 13 wins and two draws in its first 15 matches, the club was favourite to win the league but finished in fourth place. The following season, with the club in danger of relegation by November, Atkinson was dismissed.
=== Ferguson years (1986–2013) ===
Alex Ferguson and his assistant Archie Knox arrived from Aberdeen on 6 November 1986, and guided the club to an 11th-place finish in the league. Despite a second-place finish in 1987–88, the club was back in 11th place the following season. Reportedly on the verge of being dismissed, Ferguson's job was saved by victory over Crystal Palace in the 1990 FA Cup final. The following season, Manchester United claimed their first UEFA Cup Winners' Cup title. That triumph allowed the club to compete in the European Super Cup for the first time, where United beat European Cup holders Red Star Belgrade 1–0 at Old Trafford. The club appeared in two consecutive League Cup finals in 1991 and 1992, beating Nottingham Forest 1–0 in the second to win that competition for the first time as well. In 1993, in the first season of the newly founded Premier League, the club won their first league title since 1967, and a year later, for the first time since 1957, they won a second consecutive title – alongside the FA Cup – to complete the first "Double" in the club's history. United then became the first English club to do the Double twice when they won both competitions again in 1995–96, before retaining the league title once more in 1996–97 with a game to spare.
In the 1998–99 season, Manchester United became the first team to win the Premier League, FA Cup, and UEFA Champions League – "The Treble" – in the same season. Trailing 1–0 going into injury time in the 1999 UEFA Champions League final, Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjær scored late goals to claim a dramatic victory over Bayern Munich, in what is considered one of the greatest comebacks of all time. That summer, Ferguson received a knighthood for his services to football.
In November 1999, the club became the only British team to ever win the Intercontinental Cup with a 1–0 victory over the strong 1999 Copa Libertadores winners Palmeiras in Tokyo. The Red Devils counted on an unexpected goalkeeper fail by future 2002 FIFA World Cup winner Marcos and a disallowed goal scored by Alex to win the game.
Manchester United won the league again in the 1999–2000 and 2000–01 seasons, becoming only the fourth club to win the English title three times in a row. The team finished third in 2001–02, before regaining the title in 2002–03. They won the 2003–04 FA Cup, beating Millwall 3–0 in the final at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff to lift the trophy for a record 11th time. In the 2005–06 season, Manchester United failed to qualify for the knockout phase of the UEFA Champions League for the first time in over a decade, but recovered to secure a second-place league finish and victory over Wigan Athletic in the 2006 Football League Cup final. The club regained the Premier League title in the 2006–07 season, before completing the European double in 2007–08 with a 6–5 penalty shoot-out victory over Chelsea in the 2008 UEFA Champions League final in Moscow to go with their 17th English league title. Ryan Giggs made a record 759th appearance for the club in that game, overtaking previous record holder Bobby Charlton. In December 2008, the club became the first British team to win the FIFA Club World Cup after beating LDU Quito 1–0 in the final. Manchester United followed this with the 2008–09 Football League Cup, and its third successive Premier League title. That summer, forward Cristiano Ronaldo was sold to Real Madrid for a world record £80 million. In 2010, Manchester United defeated Aston Villa 2–1 at Wembley to retain the League Cup, its first successful defence of a knockout cup competition.
After finishing as runners-up to Chelsea in the 2009–10 season, United achieved a record 19th league title in 2010–11, securing the championship with a 1–1 away draw against Blackburn Rovers on 14 May 2011. This was extended to 20 league titles in 2012–13, securing the championship with a 3–0 home win against Aston Villa on 22 April 2013.
=== Post-Ferguson decline and occasional surge (2013–present) ===
On 8 May 2013, Ferguson announced that he was to retire as manager at the end of the football season, but would remain at the club as a director and club ambassador. He retired as the most decorated manager in football history. The club announced the next day that Everton manager David Moyes would replace him from 1 July, having signed a six-year contract. Ryan Giggs took over as interim player-manager 10 months later, on 22 April 2014, when Moyes was sacked after a poor season in which the club failed to defend their Premier League title and failed to qualify for the UEFA Champions League for the first time since 1995–96. They also failed to qualify for the UEFA Europa League, the first time Manchester United had not qualified for a European competition since 1990. On 19 May 2014, it was confirmed that Louis van Gaal would replace Moyes as Manchester United manager on a three-year deal, with Giggs as his assistant. Malcolm Glazer, the patriarch of the family that owns the club, died on 28 May 2014.
Under Van Gaal, United won a 12th FA Cup, but a disappointing slump in the middle of his second season led to rumours of the board sounding out potential replacements. Van Gaal was ultimately sacked just two days after the cup final victory, with United having finished fifth in the league. Former Porto, Chelsea, Inter Milan and Real Madrid manager José Mourinho was appointed in his place on 27 May 2016. Mourinho signed a three-year contract, and in his first season won the FA Community Shield, EFL Cup and UEFA Europa League. Wayne Rooney scored his 250th goal for United, a stoppage-time equaliser in a league game against Stoke City in January 2017, surpassing Sir Bobby Charlton as the club's all-time top scorer. The following season, United finished second in the league – their highest league placing since 2013 – but were still 19 points behind rivals Manchester City. Mourinho also guided the club to a 19th FA Cup final, but they lost 1–0 to Chelsea. On 18 December 2018, with United in sixth place in the Premier League table, 19 points behind leaders Liverpool and 11 points outside the Champions League places, Mourinho was sacked after 144 games in charge. The following day, former United striker Ole Gunnar Solskjær was appointed as caretaker manager until the end of the season. On 28 March 2019, after winning 14 of his first 19 matches in charge, Solskjær was appointed permanent manager on a three-year deal.
On 18 April 2021, Manchester United announced they were joining 11 other European clubs as founding members of the European Super League, a proposed 20-team competition intended to rival the UEFA Champions League. The announcement drew a significant backlash from supporters, other clubs, media partners, sponsors, players and the UK Government, forcing the club to withdraw just two days later. The failure of the project led to the resignation of executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward, while resultant protests against Woodward and the Glazer family led to a pitch invasion ahead of a league match against Liverpool on 2 May 2021, which saw the first postponement of a Premier League game due to supporter protests in the competition's history.
On the pitch, United equalled their own record for the biggest win in Premier League history with a 9–0 win over Southampton on 2 February 2021, but ended the season with defeat on penalties in the UEFA Europa League final against Villarreal, going four straight seasons without a trophy. On 20 November 2021, Solskjær left his role as manager. Former midfielder Michael Carrick took charge for the following three games, before the appointment of Ralf Rangnick as interim manager until the end of the season.
On 21 April 2022, Erik ten Hag was appointed as the manager from the end of the 2021–22 season, signing a contract until June 2025 with the option of extending for a further year. Under Ten Hag, Manchester United won the 2022–23 EFL Cup, defeating Newcastle United in the final to end their longest period without a trophy since a six-year span between 1977 and 1983. On 5 March 2023, the club suffered their joint-heaviest defeat, losing 7–0 to rivals Liverpool at Anfield. At the end of the following season, the club finished eighth in the Premier League, their lowest league finish since the 1989–90 season, but went on to beat cross-city rivals Manchester City 2–1 in the FA Cup final, to win their 13th FA Cup title. On 28 October 2024, Manchester United sacked Erik ten Hag with the club 14th in the Premier League and having recorded just four wins all season.
On 1 November 2024, Manchester United announced that they would be appointing Sporting CP boss Ruben Amorim as head coach from 11 November 2024. They finished the season 15th in the Premier League, their worst league campaign since their relegation in 1973–74. The club reached the UEFA Europa League final, but lost 1–0 to Tottenham Hotspur. On 5 January 2026, United announced that Amorim would be relieved of his duties after nearly 14 months. Under-18s manager and former United midfielder Darren Fletcher then took over on an interim basis, before Carrick was appointed as head coach until the end of the 2025–26 Premier League season.
== Crest and colours ==
The club crest is derived from the Manchester City Council coat of arms, although all that remains of it on the current crest is the ship in full sail. The devil stems from the club's nickname "The Red Devils" inspired from Salford Rugby Club; it was included on club programmes and scarves in the 1960s, and incorporated into the club crest in 1970, although the crest was not included on the chest of the shirt until 1971. In 1975, the red devil ("A devil facing the sinister guardant supporting with both hands a trident gules") was granted as a heraldic badge by the College of Arms to the English Football League for use by Manchester United. In 2023, the Red Devil motif alone, which had been used in promotional items and merchandise previously, was used as the sole badge on the Manchester United third kit. The existing crest remains on the home and away kits.
Newton Heath's uniform in 1879, four years before the club played its first competitive match, has been documented as "white with blue cord". A photograph of the Newton Heath team, taken in 1892, is believed to show the players wearing red-and-white quartered jerseys and navy blue knickerbockers. Between 1894 and 1896, the players wore green and gold jerseys which were replaced in 1896 by white shirts, which were worn with navy blue shorts.
After the name change in 1902, the club colours were changed to red shirts, white shorts, and black socks, which has become the standard Manchester United home kit. Very few changes were made to the kit until 1922 when the club adopted white shirts bearing a deep red "V" around the neck, similar to the shirt worn in the 1909 FA Cup final. They remained part of their home kits until 1927. For a period in 1934, the cherry and white hooped change shirt became the home colours, but the following season the red shirt was recalled after the club's lowest ever league placing of 20th in the Second Division and the hooped shirt dropped back to being the change.
The black socks were changed to white from 1959 to 1965, where they were replaced with red socks up until 1971 with white used on occasion, when the club reverted to black. Black shorts and white socks are sometimes worn with the home strip, most often in away games, if there is a clash with the opponent's kit. For 2018–19, black shorts and red socks became the primary choice for the home kit. Since 1997–98, white socks have been the preferred choice for European games, which are typically played on weeknights, to aid with player visibility. The current home kit is a red shirt with Adidas' trademark three stripes in red on the shoulders, white shorts, and black socks.
The Manchester United away strip has often been a white shirt, black shorts and white socks, but there have been several exceptions. These include an all-black strip with blue and gold trimmings between 1993 and 1995, the navy blue shirt with silver horizontal pinstripes worn during the 1999–2000 season, and the 2011–12 away kit, which had a royal blue body and sleeves with hoops made of small midnight navy blue and black stripes, with black shorts and blue socks. An all-grey away kit worn during the 1995–96 season was dropped after just five games; in its final outing against Southampton, Alex Ferguson instructed the team to change into the third kit during half-time. The reason for dropping it being that the players claimed to have trouble finding their teammates against the crowd, United failed to win a competitive game in the kit in five attempts. In 2001, to celebrate 100 years as "Manchester United", a reversible white and gold away kit was released, although the actual match day shirts were not reversible. Since 2016, the team has experimented with various colors and designs, going away from the traditional white.
The club's third kit was traditionally all-blue; this was most recently the case during the 2014–15 season. Exceptions include a green-and-gold halved shirt worn between 1992 and 1994, a blue-and-white striped shirt worn during the 1994–95 and 1995–96 seasons and once in 1996–97, an all-black kit worn during the Treble-winning 1998–99 season, and a white shirt with black-and-red horizontal pinstripes worn between 2003–04 and 2005–06. From 2006–07 to 2013–14, the third kit was the previous season's away kit, albeit updated with the new club sponsor in 2006–07 and 2010–11, apart from the 2008–09 season, when an all-blue kit was launched to mark the 40th anniversary of the 1967–68 European Cup success.
== Grounds ==
=== 1878–1893: North Road ===
Newton Heath initially played on a field on North Road, close to the railway yard; the original capacity was about 12,000, but club officials deemed the facilities inadequate for a club hoping to join The Football League. Some expansion took place in 1887, and in 1891, Newton Heath used its minimal financial reserves to purchase two grandstands, each able to hold 1,000 spectators. Although attendances were not recorded for many of the earliest matches at North Road, the highest documented attendance was approximately 15,000 for a First Division match against Sunderland on 4 March 1893. A similar attendance was also recorded for a friendly match against Gorton Villa on 5 September 1889.
=== 1893–1910: Bank Street ===
In June 1893, after the club was evicted from North Road by its owners, Manchester Deans and Canons, who felt it was inappropriate for the club to charge an entry fee to the ground, secretary A. H. Albut procured the use of the Bank Street ground in Clayton. It initially had no stands, by the start of the 1893–94 season, two had been built; one spanning the full length of the pitch on one side and the other behind the goal at the "Bradford end". At the opposite end, the "Clayton end", the ground had been "built up, thousands thus being provided for". Newton Heath's first league match at Bank Street was played against Burnley on 1 September 1893, when 10,000 people saw Alf Farman score a hat-trick, Newton Heath's only goals in a 3–2 win. The remaining stands were completed for the following league game against Nottingham Forest three weeks later. In October 1895, before the visit of Manchester City, the club purchased a 2,000-capacity stand from the Broughton Rangers rugby league club, and put up another stand on the "reserved side" (as distinct from the "popular side"); however, weather restricted the attendance for the Manchester City match to just 12,000.
When the Bank Street ground was temporarily closed by bailiffs in 1902, club captain Harry Stafford raised enough money to pay for the club's next away game at Bristol City and found a temporary ground at Harpurhey for the next reserves game against Padiham. Following financial investment, new club president John Henry Davies paid £500 for the erection of a new 1,000-seat stand at Bank Street. Within four years, the stadium had cover on all four sides, as well as the ability to hold approximately 50,000 spectators, some of whom could watch from the viewing gallery atop the Main Stand.
=== 1910–present: Old Trafford ===
Following Manchester United's first league title in 1908 and the FA Cup a year later, it was decided that Bank Street was too restrictive for Davies' ambition; in February 1909, six weeks before the club's first FA Cup title, Old Trafford was named as the home of Manchester United, following the purchase of land for around £60,000. Architect Archibald Leitch was given a budget of £30,000 for construction; original plans called for seating capacity of 100,000, though budget constraints forced a revision to 77,000. The building was constructed by Messrs Brameld and Smith of Manchester. The stadium's record attendance was registered on 25 March 1939, when an FA Cup semi-final between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Grimsby Town drew 76,962 spectators.
Bombing in the Second World War destroyed much of the stadium; the central tunnel in the South Stand was all that remained of that quarter. After the war, the club received compensation from the War Damage Commission in the amount of £22,278. While reconstruction took place, the team played its "home" games at Manchester City's Maine Road ground; Manchester United was charged £5,000 per year, plus a nominal percentage of gate receipts. Later improvements included the addition of roofs, first to the Stretford End and then to the North and East Stands. The roofs were supported by pillars that obstructed many fans' views, and they were eventually replaced with a cantilevered structure. The Stretford End was the last stand to receive a cantilevered roof, completed in time for the 1993–94 season. First used on 25 March 1957 and costing £40,000, four 180-foot (55 m) pylons were erected, each housing 54 individual floodlights. These were dismantled in 1987 and replaced by a lighting system embedded in the roof of each stand, which remains in use today.
The Taylor Report's requirement for an all-seater stadium lowered capacity at Old Trafford to around 44,000 by 1993. In 1995, the North Stand was redeveloped into three tiers, restoring capacity to approximately 55,000. At the end of the 1998–99 season, second tiers were added to the East and West Stands, raising capacity to around 67,000, and between July 2005 and May 2006, 8,000 more seats were added via second tiers in the north-west and north-east quadrants. Part of the new seating was used for the first time on 26 March 2006, when an attendance of 69,070 became a new Premier League record. The record was pushed steadily upwards before reaching its peak on 31 March 2007, when 76,098 spectators saw Manchester United beat Blackburn Rovers 4–1, with just 114 seats (0.15 per cent of the total capacity of 76,212) unoccupied. In 2009, reorganisation of the seating resulted in a reduction of capacity by 255 to 75,957. Manchester United has the second highest average attendance among European football clubs, behind only Borussia Dortmund.
=== Proposed new ground ===
In 2021, United co-chairman Joel Glazer said that "early-stage planning work" for the redevelopment of Old Trafford was underway. This followed "increasing criticism" over the lack of development of the ground since 2006. After the club's takeover by Sir Jim Ratcliffe in 2024, it emerged that plans were being made for the construction of a new, 100,000-capacity stadium near Old Trafford and that the current stadium would be downsized to serve as the home for the women's team and the club's academy. In November 2024, it was revealed that the majority of fans surveyed are in favour of a new-build rather than redevelopment.
On 11 March 2025, the club announced that it had retained Foster and Partners to construct a new, 100,000-capacity stadium adjacent to Old Trafford. The club claims they are consulting with fans on key aspects of the build.
The new stadium is under consideration as a host venue for the 2035 FIFA Women's World Cup.
== Support ==
Manchester United is one of the most popular football clubs in the world, with one of the highest average home attendances in Europe. The club states that its worldwide fan base includes more than 200 officially recognised branches of the Manchester United Supporters Club (MUSC), in at least 24 countries. The club takes advantage of this support through its worldwide summer tours. Accountancy firm and sports industry consultants Deloitte estimate that Manchester United has 75 million fans worldwide. The club has the third highest social media following in the world among sports teams (after Barcelona and Real Madrid), with over 82 million Facebook followers as of July 2023. A 2014 study showed that Manchester United had the loudest fans in the Premier League.
Supporters are represented by two independent bodies; the Independent Manchester United Supporters' Association (IMUSA), which maintains close links to the club through the MUFC Fans Forum, and the Manchester United Supporters' Trust (MUST). After the Glazer family's takeover in 2005, a group of fans formed a splinter club, F.C. United of Manchester. The West Stand of Old Trafford – the "Stretford End" – is the home end and the traditional source of the club's most vocal support.
In March 2025, Manchester United officially launched their first Jewish supporters’ club. During the same year, the club also welcomed the "Stretford Sikhs", a non-geographic official supporters' club for Sikhs.
=== Rivalries ===
Manchester United has high-profile rivalries with Liverpool and local neighbours Manchester City. The club has also had rivalries throughout its history with the likes of Arsenal, Leeds United and Chelsea.
The matches against Manchester City are known as the Manchester derby, as they are the two most important teams in the city of Manchester. It is considered one of the biggest local derbies in British football, particularly after City's rise to prominence in the 2010s and the two clubs fighting for trophies, such as the league title in 2012 and 2013, as well as two consecutive FA Cup finals in 2023 and 2024.
The rivalry with Liverpool is rooted in competition between the cities during the Industrial Revolution, when Manchester was famous for its textile industry while Liverpool was a major port. The two clubs are the most successful in the history of English football; between them they have won 40 league titles, 9 European Cups, 21 FA Cups, 16 League Cups, 4 UEFA Cup/Europa Leagues, 2 FIFA Club World Cups, 1 Intercontinental Cup, 37 FA Community Shields and 5 UEFA Super Cups. Ranked the two biggest clubs in England by France Football magazine based on metrics such as fanbase and historical importance, matches between Manchester United and Liverpool are considered to be the most famous fixture in English football and one of the biggest rivalries in the football world. No player has been transferred between the clubs since 1964. Former Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson said in 2002, "My greatest challenge was knocking Liverpool right off their fucking perch". As of April 2025, Liverpool lead in terms of number of trophies won with 69 to United’s 68, while United lead in the head-to-head record between the two teams with 83 wins to Liverpool's 72; the remaining 61 matches have finished as draws.
The "Roses Rivalry" with Leeds stems from the Wars of the Roses, fought between the House of Lancaster and the House of York, with Manchester United representing Lancashire and Leeds representing Yorkshire.
The rivalry with Arsenal arose from the numerous times the two teams battled for the Premier League title, especially under managers Alex Ferguson and Arsène Wenger, who also had a heated personal rivalry. With 33 titles between them (20 for Manchester United, 13 for Arsenal), the fixture has been described as a "blockbuster" and the "greatest" rivalry in the history of the Premier League.
== Global brand ==
Manchester United has been described as a global brand; a 2011 report by Brand Finance, valued the club's trademarks and associated intellectual property at £412 million – an increase of £39 million on the previous year, valuing it at £11 million more than the second best brand, Real Madrid – and gave the brand a strength rating of AAA (Extremely Strong). In July 2012, Manchester United was ranked first by Forbes magazine in its list of the ten most valuable sports team brands, valuing the Manchester United brand at $2.23 billion. The club is ranked third in the Deloitte Football Money League (behind Real Madrid and Barcelona). In January 2013, the club became the first sports team in the world to be valued at $3 billion. Forbes magazine valued the club at $3.3 billion – $1.2 billion higher than the next most valuable sports team. They were overtaken by Real Madrid for the next four years, but Manchester United returned to the top of the Forbes list in June 2017, with a valuation of $3.689 billion.
The core strength of Manchester United's global brand is often attributed to Matt Busby's rebuilding of the team and subsequent success following the Munich air disaster, which drew worldwide acclaim. The "iconic" team included Bobby Charlton and Nobby Stiles (members of England's World Cup-winning team), Denis Law and George Best. The attacking style of play adopted by this team (in contrast to the defensive-minded "catenaccio" approach favoured by the leading Italian teams of the era) "captured the imagination of the English footballing public". Busby's team also became associated with the liberalisation of Western society during the 1960s; George Best, known as the "Fifth Beatle" for his iconic haircut, was the first footballer to significantly develop an off-the-field media profile.
As the second English football club to float on the London Stock Exchange in 1991, the club raised significant capital, with which it further developed its commercial strategy. The club's focus on commercial and sporting success brought significant profits in an industry often characterised by chronic losses. The strength of the Manchester United brand was bolstered by intense off-the-field media attention to individual players, most notably David Beckham (who quickly developed his own global brand). This attention often generates greater interest in on-the-field activities, and hence generates sponsorship opportunities – the value of which is driven by television exposure. During his time with the club, Beckham's popularity across Asia was integral to the club's commercial success in that part of the world.
Because higher league placement results in a greater share of television rights, success on the field generates greater income for the club. Since the inception of the Premier League, Manchester United has received the largest share of the revenue generated from the BSkyB broadcasting deal. Manchester United has also consistently enjoyed the highest commercial income of any English club; in 2005–06, the club's commercial arm generated £51 million, compared to £42.5 million at Chelsea, £39.3 million at Liverpool, £34 million at Arsenal and £27.9 million at Newcastle United. A key sponsorship relationship was with sportswear company Nike, who managed the club's merchandising operation as part of a £303 million 13-year partnership between 2002 and 2015. Through Manchester United Finance and the club's membership scheme, One United, those with an affinity for the club can purchase a range of branded goods and services. Additionally, Manchester United-branded media services – such as the club's dedicated television channel, MUTV – have allowed the club to expand its fan base to those beyond the reach of its Old Trafford stadium.
=== Sponsorship ===
In an initial five-year deal worth £500,000, Sharp Electronics became the club's first shirt sponsor at the beginning of the 1982–83 season, a relationship that lasted until the end of the 1999–2000 season, when Vodafone agreed a four-year, £30 million deal. Vodafone agreed to pay £36 million to extend the deal by four years, but after two seasons triggered a break clause in order to concentrate on its sponsorship of the Champions League.
To commence at the start of the 2006–07 season, American insurance corporation AIG agreed a four-year £56.5 million deal which in September 2006 became the most valuable in the world. At the beginning of the 2010–11 season, American reinsurance company Aon became the club's principal sponsor in a four-year deal reputed to be worth approximately £80 million, making it the most lucrative shirt sponsorship deal in football history. Manchester United announced their first training kit sponsor in August 2011, agreeing a four-year deal with DHL reported to be worth £40 million; it is believed to be the first instance of training kit sponsorship in English football. The DHL contract lasted for over a year before the club bought back the contract in October 2012, although they remained the club's official logistics partner. The contract for the training kit sponsorship was then sold to Aon in April 2013 for a deal worth £180 million over eight years, which also included purchasing the naming rights for the Trafford Training Centre.
The club's first kit manufacturer was Umbro, until a five-year deal was agreed with Admiral Sportswear in 1975. Adidas won the contract in 1980, before Umbro started a second spell in 1992. That sponsorship lasted for ten years, followed by Nike's record-breaking £302.9 million deal, which lasted until 2015; 3.8 million replica shirts were sold in the first 22 months with the company. In addition to Nike and Chevrolet, the club also has several lower-level "platinum" sponsors, including Aon and Budweiser.
On 30 July 2012, United signed a seven-year deal with American automotive corporation General Motors, which replaced Aon as the shirt sponsor from the 2014–15 season. The new $80m-a-year shirt deal is worth $559m over seven years and features the logo of General Motors brand Chevrolet. Nike announced that they would not renew their kit supply deal with Manchester United after the 2014–15 season, citing rising costs. Since the start of the 2015–16 season, Adidas has manufactured Manchester United's kit as part of a world-record 10-year deal worth a minimum of £750 million. Plumbing products manufacturer Kohler became the club's first sleeve sponsor ahead of the 2018–19 season. Manchester United and General Motors did not renew their sponsorship deal, and the club subsequently signed a five-year, £235 million sponsorship deal with TeamViewer ahead of the 2021–22 season. At the end of the 2023–24 season, TeamViewer were replaced by Snapdragon, who agreed a deal worth more than £60 million a year to take over as the club's main sponsor. In August 2024, Snapdragon's parent company Qualcomm triggered an option to extend the deal by two years, taking it through to 2029.
== Ownership and finances ==
Originally funded by the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company, the club became a limited company in 1892 and sold shares to local supporters for £1 via an application form. In 1902, majority ownership passed to the four local businessmen who invested £500 to save the club from bankruptcy, including future club president John Henry Davies. After his death in 1927, the club faced bankruptcy yet again, but was saved in December 1931 by James W. Gibson, who assumed control of the club after an investment of £2,000. Gibson promoted his son, Alan, to the board in 1948, but died three years later; the Gibson family retained ownership of the club through James' wife, Lillian, but the position of chairman passed to former player Harold Hardman.
Promoted to the board a few days after the Munich air disaster, Louis Edwards, a friend of Matt Busby, began acquiring shares in the club; for an investment of approximately £40,000, he accumulated a 54 per cent shareholding and took control in January 1964. When Lillian Gibson died in January 1971, her shares passed to Alan Gibson who sold a percentage of his shares to Louis Edwards' son, Martin, in 1978; Martin Edwards went on to become chairman upon his father's death in 1980. Media tycoon Robert Maxwell attempted to buy the club in 1984, but did not meet Edwards' asking price. In 1989, chairman Martin Edwards attempted to sell the club to Michael Knighton for £20 million, but the sale fell through and Knighton joined the board of directors instead.
Manchester United was floated on the stock market in June 1991 (raising £6.7 million), and received yet another takeover bid in 1998, this time from Rupert Murdoch's British Sky Broadcasting Corporation. This resulted in the formation of Shareholders United Against Murdoch – now the Manchester United Supporters' Trust – who encouraged supporters to buy shares in the club in an attempt to block any hostile takeover. The Manchester United board accepted a £623 million offer, but the takeover was blocked by the Monopolies and Mergers Commission at the final hurdle in April 1999. A few years later, a power struggle emerged between the club's manager, Alex Ferguson, and his horse-racing partners, John Magnier and J. P. McManus, who had gradually become the majority shareholders. In a dispute that stemmed from contested ownership of the horse Rock of Gibraltar, Magnier and McManus attempted to have Ferguson removed from his position as manager, and the board responded by approaching investors to attempt to reduce the Irishmen's majority.
=== Glazer ownership ===
In May 2005, Malcolm Glazer purchased the 28.7 per cent stake held by McManus and Magnier, thus acquiring a controlling interest through his investment vehicle Red Football Ltd in a highly leveraged takeover valuing the club at approximately £800 million (then approx. $1.5 billion). Once the purchase was complete, the club was taken off the stock exchange. Much of the takeover money was borrowed by the Glazers; the debts were transferred to the club. As a result, the club went from being debt-free to being saddled with debts of £540 million, at interest rates of between 7% and 20%.
In July 2006, the club announced a £660 million debt refinancing package, resulting in a 30 per cent reduction in annual interest payments to £62 million a year. In January 2010, with debts of £716.5 million ($1.17 billion), Manchester United further refinanced through a bond issue worth £504 million, enabling them to pay off most of the £509 million owed to international banks. The annual interest payable on the bonds – which were to mature on 1 February 2017 – is approximately £45 million per annum. Despite restructuring, the club's debt prompted protests from fans on 23 January 2010, at Old Trafford and the club's Trafford Training Centre. Supporter groups encouraged match-going fans to wear green and gold, the colours of Newton Heath. On 30 January, reports emerged that the Manchester United Supporters' Trust had held meetings with a group of wealthy fans, dubbed the "Red Knights", with plans to buying out the Glazers' controlling interest. The club's debts reached a high of £777 million in June 2007.
In August 2011, the Glazers were believed to have approached Credit Suisse in preparation for a $1 billion (approx. £600 million) initial public offering (IPO) on the Singapore stock exchange that would value the club at more than £2 billion; however, in July 2012, the club announced plans to list its IPO on the New York Stock Exchange instead. Shares were originally set to go on sale for between $16 and $20 each, but the price was cut to $14 by the launch of the IPO on 10 August, following negative comments from Wall Street analysts and Facebook's disappointing stock market debut in May. Even after the cut, Manchester United was valued at $2.3 billion, making it the most valuable football club in the world.
The New York Stock Exchange allows for different shareholders to enjoy different voting rights over the club. Shares offered to the public ("Class A") had 10 times lesser voting rights than shares retained by the Glazers ("Class B"). Initially in 2012, only 10% of shares were offered to the public. As of 2019, the Glazers retain ultimate control over the club, with over 70% of shares, and even higher voting power.
In 2012, The Guardian estimated that the club had paid a total of over £500 million in debt interest and other fees on behalf of the Glazers, and in 2019, reported that the total sum paid by the club for such fees had risen to £1 billion. At the end of 2019, the club had a net debt of nearly £400 million.
In 2023, the Glazers began soliciting bids for the sale of the club, and several bids were received. Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who owns Ineos, and Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani, a Qatari sheikh, were the only bidders who had publicly declared their interest in a controlling share of the club. In March 2023, Finnish entrepreneur Thomas Zilliacus also made his interest in Manchester United public.
On 24 December 2023, it was announced that Ratcliffe had purchased 25 per cent of Manchester United, and that his Ineos Sport company was taking control of football operations. Ratcliffe's shareholdings increased to 28.94% in December 2024. The Glazers remain as majority shareholders.
Manchester United reported record revenues of £666.5 million in the year to June 2025 (up 0.7% from previous), but still a net loss of £33 million.
== Players ==
=== First-team squad ===
As of 2 September 2025
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
=== Out on loan ===
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
=== Under-21s and Academy ===
=== Player of the Year awards ===
== First-team coaching staff ==
=== Managerial history ===
== Management ==
=== Ownership ===
=== Manchester United plc ===
=== Manchester United Football Club ===
== Honours ==
Manchester United is one of the most successful clubs in Europe in terms of trophies won. The club's first trophy was the Manchester Cup, which they won as Newton Heath LYR in 1886. In 1908, the club won their first league title, and won the FA Cup for the first time the following year. Since then, they have gone on to win a joint-record 20 top-division titles – including a record 13 Premier League titles – and their total of 13 FA Cups is second only to Arsenal (14). Those titles have meant the club has appeared a record 30 times in the FA Community Shield (formerly the FA Charity Shield), which is played at the start of each season between the winners of the league and FA Cup from the previous season; of those 30 appearances, Manchester United have won a record 21, including four times when the match was drawn and the trophy shared by the two clubs.
The club had a successful period under the management of Matt Busby, starting with the FA Cup in 1948 and culminating with becoming the first English club to win the European Cup in 1968, winning five league titles and two FA Cups in the intervening years. The club's most successful decade, however, came in the 1990s under Alex Ferguson; five league titles, four FA Cups, one League Cup, five Charity Shields (one shared), one UEFA Champions League, one UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, one UEFA Super Cup and one Intercontinental Cup. The club has won the Double (winning the Premier League and FA Cup in the same season) three times; the second in 1995–96 saw them become the first club to do so twice, and it became referred to as the "Double Double". United became the sole British club to win the Intercontinental Cup in 1999 and are one of only three British clubs to have won the FIFA Club World Cup, in 2008. In 1999, United became the first English club to win the Treble. In 2017, United won the 2016–17 UEFA Europa League, beating Ajax in the final. In winning that title, United became the fifth club to have won the "European Treble" of European Cup/UEFA Champions League, Cup Winners' Cup, and UEFA Cup/Europa League after Juventus, Ajax, Bayern Munich and Chelsea.
The club's most recent trophy is the 2023–24 FA Cup.
s shared record
=== Doubles and Trebles ===
Doubles
League and FA Cup (3): 1993–94, 1995–96, 1998–99
League and UEFA Champions League (2): 1998–99, 2007–08
League and EFL Cup (1): 2008–09
EFL Cup and UEFA Europa League (1): 2016–17
Trebles
League, FA Cup and UEFA Champions League (1): 1998–99
Short competitions, comprising a single or two games – such as the FA Charity/Community Shield, Intercontinental Cup (now defunct), FIFA Club World Cup or UEFA Super Cup – are not generally considered to contribute towards a Double or Treble.
== Manchester United Women ==
Manchester United Supporters Club Ladies began operations in the late 1970s and was unofficially recognised as the club's senior women's team. They became founding members of the North West Women's Regional Football League in 1989. The team made an official partnership with Manchester United in 2001, becoming the club's official women's team; however, in 2005, following Malcolm Glazer's takeover, the club was disbanded as it was seen to be "unprofitable". In 2018, Manchester United formed a new women's football team, which entered the second division of women's football in England for their debut season. The women's football team won their first trophy on 12 May 2024 as they lifted the Women's FA Cup as they defeated Tottenham Hotspur 4–0. |
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/36th_Annual_Grammy_Awards | 36th Annual Grammy Awards | The 36th Annual Grammy Awards were held on March 1, 1994. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the previous year. Whitney Houston was the Big Winner winning 3 awards including Record of the Year and Album of the Year while opening the show with "I Will Always Love You".
Audrey Hepburn's win made her the fifth person to become an EGOT, and the first person to complete the status posthumously.
Paul Simon was the first performer of the evening.
== Performers ==
== Presenters ==
Bono – Grammy Legend Award to Frank Sinatra
Danny Glover – Lifetime Achievement Award to Aretha Franklin
SWV & Salt-N-Pepa – Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group
Dolly Parton & David Foster – Best Female Pop Vocal Performance
Kenny G & Toni Braxton – Best Male Pop Vocal Performance
Shawn Colvin, Trisha Yearwood & Mary Chapin Carpenter – Best Male Country Vocal Performance
Meat Loaf & Vanessa Williams – Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals
k.d. lang & Tony Bennett – Best Alternative Music Album
Tevin Campbell, Jon Secada & Celine Dion – Best Tropical Latin Album
Lee Ritenour & Oleta Adams – Best Jazz Vocal Performance
Billy Joel – Producer of the Year
Alan Jackson, Don Was & Jody Watley – Best New Artist
Spin Doctors & Melissa Etheridge – Song of the Year
B.B. King & Steve Winwood – Record of the Year
Bonnie Raitt & Lena Horne – Album of the Year
== Award winners ==
Record of the Year
"I Will Always Love You" – Whitney Houston
David Foster, producer; Tom Elmhirst & Mark Rankin, engineers/mixers
Walter Afanasieff (producer) for "A Whole New World" - Peabo Bryson & Regina Belle
Joe Nicolo & Danny Kortchmar (producer) for "The River of Dreams" - Billy Joel
Sting & Hugh Padgham (producer) for "If I Ever Lose My Faith in You" - Sting
Neil Young (producer) for "Harvest Moon" - Neil Young
Album of the Year
The Bodyguard: Original Soundtrack Album – Whitney Houston
Houston, Babyface, BeBe Winans, David Cole, David Foster, L.A. Reid, Narada Michael Walden, Robert Clivilles, Clive Davis, producer
R.E.M & Scott Litt (producers) for Automatic for the People
Walter Becker (producer) & Donald Fagen (artist) for Kamakiriad
Billy Joel & Danny Kortchmar, Joe Nicolo (producers) for River of Dreams
Sting and Hugh Padgham (producers) for Ten Summoner's Tales
Song of the Year
Alan Menken & Tim Rice (songwriters) for "A Whole New World" performed by Peabo Bryson & Regina Belle
Billy Joel for "The River of Dreams" performed by Billy Joel
Jim Steinman for "I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)" performed by Meat Loaf
Sting for "If I Ever Lose My Faith in You" performed by Sting
Neil Young for "Harvest Moon" performed by Neil Young
Best New Artist
Toni Braxton
Belly
Blind Melon
Digable Planets
SWV
=== Pop ===
Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female
Whitney Houston for "I Will Always Love You"
Mariah Carey — "Dreamlover"
Shawn Colvin — "I Don't Know Why"
k.d. lang — "Miss Chatelaine"
Tina Turner — "I Don't Wanna Fight"
Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male
Sting for "If I Ever Lose My Faith in You"
"The Crying Game" – Boy George
"The River of Dreams" – Billy Joel
"Don't Take Away My Heaven" – Aaron Neville
"Have I Told You Lately" – Rod Stewart
Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal
Peabo Bryson & Regina Belle for "A Whole New World"
"When I Fall in Love" — Celine Dion & Clive Griffin
"Man on the Moon" — R.E.M.
"The Music of the Night" — Barbra Streisand & Michael Crawford
"Love Is" — Vanessa Williams & Brian McKnight
Best Pop Instrumental Performance
Branford Marsalis & Bruce Hornsby for "Barcelona Mona"
=== Alternative ===
Best Alternative Music Performance
U2 for Zooropa
Belly – Star
Nirvana – In Utero
R.E.M. – Automatic for the People
The Smashing Pumpkins – Siamese Dream
=== Blues ===
Best Traditional Blues Album
B.B. King for Blues Summit
Best Contemporary Blues Album
Buddy Guy for Feels Like Rain
=== Children's ===
Best Musical Album for Children
Alan Menken, Tim Rice (producers) & various artists for Aladdin - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Best Spoken Word Album for Children
Deborah Raffin, Michael Viner (producers) & Audrey Hepburn for Audrey Hepburn's Enchanted Tales
=== Comedy ===
From 1994 through 2003, see "Best Spoken Comedy Album" under the "Spoken" field, below.
=== Classical ===
Best Orchestral Performance
Pierre Boulez (conductor)& the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for Bartók: The Wooden Prince
Best Classical Vocal Performance
Arleen Auger for The Art of Arleen Auger (Works of Larsen, Purcell, Schumann, Mozart)
Best Opera Recording
Steven Paul (producer), John Nelson (conductor), John Aler, Kathleen Battle, Michael Chance, Mark S. Doss, Marilyn Horne, Neil Mackie, Sylvia McNair, Samuel Ramey, the Ambrosian Opera Chorus & the English Chamber Orchestra for Handel: Semele
Best Performance of a Choral Work
Pierre Boulez (conductor), Margaret Hillis (choir director) & the Chicago Symphony Orchestra & Chorus for Bartók: Cantata Profana
Best Classical Performance-Instrumental Soloist(s) (with orchestra)
James Levine (conductor), Anne-Sophie Mutter & the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for Berg: Violin Concerto/Rihm: Time Chant
Best Classical Performance-Instrumental Soloist (without orchestra)
John Browning for Barber: The Complete Solo Piano Music
Best Chamber Music Performance
The Emerson String Quartet for Ives: String Quartets Nos. 1, 2/ Barber: String Quartet Op.11 (American Originals)
Best Contemporary Composition
Elliott Carter (composer), Oliver Knussen (conductor) & the London Symphony Orchestra for Violin Concerto
Best Classical Album
Karl-August Naegler (producer), Pierre Boulez (conductor), John Aler, John Tomlinson & the Chicago Symphony Orchestra & Chorus for Bartók: The Wooden Prince & Cantata Profana
=== Composing and arranging ===
Best Instrumental Composition
Kenny G (composer) for "Forever in Love"
Best Song Written Specifically for a Motion Picture or for Television
Alan Menken & Tim Rice (songwriters) for "A Whole New World (Aladdin's Theme)" performed by Regina Belle & Peabo Bryson
Best Instrumental Composition Written for a Motion Picture or for Television
Alan Menken (composer) for Aladdin performed by various artists
Best Arrangement on an Instrumental
Dave Grusin (arranger) for "Mood Indigo"
Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocal(s)
David Foster & Jeremy Lubbock (arrangers) for "When I Fall in Love" performed by Céline Dion & Clive Griffin
=== Country ===
Best Country Vocal Performance, Female
Mary Chapin Carpenter for "Passionate Kisses"
Best Country Vocal Performance, Male
Dwight Yoakam for "Ain't That Lonely Yet"
Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal
Brooks & Dunn for "Hard Workin' Man"
Best Country Vocal Collaboration
Linda Davis & Reba McEntire for "Does He Love You"
Best Country Instrumental Performance
Asleep at the Wheel, Chet Atkins, Eldon Shamblin, Johnny Gimble, Marty Stuart, Reuben "Lucky Oceans" Gosfield & Vince Gill for "Red Wing"
Best Country Song
Lucinda Williams (songwriter) for "Passionate Kisses" performed by Mary Chapin Carpenter
Best Bluegrass Album
The Nashville Bluegrass Band for Waitin' for the Hard Times to Go
=== Folk ===
Best Traditional Folk Album
The Chieftains for The Celtic Harp: A Tribute To Edward Bunting
Best Contemporary Folk Album
Nanci Griffith for Other Voices/Other Rooms
=== Gospel ===
Best Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album
Steven Curtis Chapman for The Live Adventure
Best Rock Gospel Album
dc Talk for Free at Last
Best Traditional Soul Gospel Album
Shirley Caesar for Stand Still
Best Contemporary Soul Gospel Album
The Winans for All Out
Best Southern Gospel, Country Gospel or Bluegrass Gospel Album
Kathy Mattea for Good News
Best Gospel Album by a Choir or Chorus
Carol Cymbala (choir director) for Live...We Come Rejoicing performed by the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir
=== Historical ===
Best Historical Album
Michael Lang & Phil Schaap (producers) for The Complete Billie Holiday on Verve 1945-1959
=== Jazz ===
Best Jazz Instrumental Solo
Joe Henderson for "Miles Ahead"
Best Jazz Instrumental Performance, Individual or Group
Joe Henderson for So Near, So Far (Musings for Miles)
Best Large Jazz Ensemble Performance
Miles Davis & Quincy Jones for Miles & Quincy Live at Montreux
Best Jazz Vocal Performance
Natalie Cole for Take a Look
Best Contemporary Jazz Performance (Instrumental)
Pat Metheny Group for The Road to You
=== Latin ===
Best Latin Pop Album
Luis Miguel for Aries
Best Tropical Latin Album
Gloria Estefan for Mi Tierra
Best Mexican-American Album
Selena for Live!
=== Musical show ===
Best Musical Show Album
George Martin (producer), Pete Townshend (composer & lyricist) & the original cast for The Who's Tommy
=== Music video ===
Best Music Video, Short Form
Prudence Fenton (video producer), Stephen Johnson (video director) & Peter Gabriel for "Steam"
Best Music Video, Long Form
Julie Fong (video producer), Doug Nichol (video director) & Sting for Ten Summoner's Tales
=== New Age ===
Best New Age Album
Paul Winter Consort for Spanish Angel
=== Packaging and notes ===
Best Recording Package
David Lau (art director of The PolyGram) for The Complete Billie Holiday on Verve 1945-1959 performed by Billie Holiday
Best Album Notes
Buck Clayton, Joel E. Siegel & Phil Schaap (notes writers) for The Complete Billie Holiday on Verve 1945-1959 performed by Billie Holiday
=== Polka ===
Best Polka Album
Walter Ostanek for Accordionally Yours performed by Walter Ostanek & His Band
=== Production and engineering ===
Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical
Hugh Padgham (engineer) for Ten Summoner's Tales performed by Sting
Best Engineered Album, Classical
Rainer Maillard (engineer), Pierre Boulez (conductor) & the Chicago Symphony Orchestra & Chorus for Bartók: The Wooden Prince & Cantata Profana
Producer of the Year
David Foster
Classical Producer of the Year
Judith Sherman
=== R&B ===
Best R&B Vocal Performance, Female
Toni Braxton for "Another Sad Love Song"
Aretha Franklin – "Someday We'll All Be Free"
Whitney Houston – "I'm Every Woman"
Janet Jackson – "That's The Way Love Goes"
Patti LaBelle – "All Right Now"
Best R&B Vocal Performance, Male
Ray Charles for "A Song for You"
"Can We Talk" – Tevin Campbell
"For the Cool in You" – Babyface
"How Deep Is Your Love" – Luther Vandross
"Voodoo" – Teddy Pendergrass
Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal
Sade for "No Ordinary Love"
Boyz II Men "Let It Snow"
Earth, Wind & Fire "Sunday Morning"
En Vogue "Give It Up, Turn It Loose"
Tony! Toni! Toné! "Anniversary"
Best Rhythm & Blues Song
Janet Jackson, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis (songwriters) for "That's the Way Love Goes" performed by Janet Jackson
Babyface & Daryl Simmons (songwriters) for "Can We Talk" (Tevin Campbell)
Luther Vandross & Marcus Miller (songwriters) for "Little Miracles (Happen Every Day)" (Luther Vandross)
Luther Vandross & Reed Vertelney (songwriters) for "Heaven Knows" (Luther Vandross)
Raphael Wiggins & Carl Wheeler (songwriters) for "Anniversary" (Tony! Toni! Toné!)
=== Rap ===
Best Rap Solo Performance
Dr. Dre for "Let Me Ride"
Paperboy – "Ditty"
Sir Mix-a-Lot – "Just Da Pimpin' In Me"
MC Lyte – "Ruffneck"
LL Cool J – "Stand by Your Man"
Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group
Digable Planets for "Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat)"
Arrested Development — "Revolution"
Cypress Hill — "Insane in the Brain"
Dr. Dre & Snoop Dogg — "Nuthin' but a 'G' Thang"
Naughty by Nature — "Hip Hop Hooray"
=== Reggae ===
Best Reggae Album
Inner Circle for Bad Boys
=== Rock ===
Best Rock Vocal Performance, Solo
Meat Loaf for "I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)"
Neil Young – "All Along the Watchtower"
Lenny Kravitz – "Are You Gonna Go My Way"
Sting – "Demolition Man"
Peter Gabriel – "Steam"
Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal
Aerosmith for "Livin' on the Edge"
Blind Melon – "No Rain"
Bob Dylan, Roger McGuinn, Tom Petty, Neil Young, Eric Clapton and George Harrison– "My Back Pages"
Soul Asylum – "Runaway Train"
Spin Doctors – "Two Princes"
Best Rock Instrumental Performance
Steve Vai for "Sofa"
Aerosmith – "Boogie Man"
Jeff Beck and Jed Leiber – "Hi-Heel Sneakers"
Joe Satriani – "Speed of Light"
Tangerine Dream – "Purple Haze
Best Hard Rock Performance with Vocal
Stone Temple Pilots for "Plush"
AC/DC – "Highway to Hell" (live)
Living Colour – "Leave It Alone"
Robert Plant – "Calling to You"
The Smashing Pumpkins – "Cherub Rock"
Best Metal Performance with Vocal
Ozzy Osbourne for "I Don't Want to Change the World"
Iron Maiden – "Fear of the Dark" (live)
Megadeth – "Angry Again"
Suicidal Tendencies – "Institutionalized"
White Zombie – "Thunder Kiss '65"
Best Rock Song
David Pirner (songwriter) for "Runaway Train" performed by Soul Asylum
=== Spoken ===
Best Spoken Word or Non-musical Album
Maya Angelou for On the Pulse of Morning
Best Spoken Comedy Album
George Carlin for Jammin' in New York
=== Traditional pop ===
Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance
Tony Bennett for Steppin' Out
=== World ===
Best World Music Album
V. M. Bhatt & Ry Cooder for A Meeting by the River
== Special merit awards ==
=== Grammy Legend Award ===
Curtis Mayfield
Frank Sinatra
=== MusiCares Person of the Year ===
Gloria Estefan |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics_of_California | Politics of California | The politics of the U.S. state of California form part of the politics of the United States. The politics are defined by the Constitution of California.
== Government ==
California's government consists of three branches: the executive, legislative, and judicial branches. The California State Legislature is bicameral. The lower house, the California State Assembly, has 80 members, and the upper house, the California State Senate, has 40 members. The executive branch is led by the Governor of California. The judicial branch consists of the Supreme Court of California, the California Courts of Appeal, and the California superior courts.
== Electoral system ==
California currently uses the nonpartisan blanket primary in its elections, where candidates regardless of party, including multiple nominees from a single party, contest the ballot and the candidates with the two highest numbers of votes are entered into a general election. Some municipalities, such as San Francisco and Berkeley, have opted to use instant-runoff voting for local elections.
== Political parties ==
As of 2023, the two major political parties in California that currently have representation in the State Legislature and U.S. Congress are the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. There are four other parties that qualify for official ballot status: the American Independent Party, Green Party, Libertarian Party, and Peace and Freedom Party. There are also other minor parties in California that are not ballot qualified including the American Solidarity Party and the Forward Party.
== History ==
The first presidential election the state participated in was 1852. For the next few decades after the Civil War, California was a Republican-leaning but a very competitive state in presidential elections, as it voted for the nationwide winner all but thrice between statehood and 1912, with the exceptions of 1880, 1884, and 1912. Beginning with the 1916 election, the state shifted into a bellwether. Between 1916 and 1948, it voted for the nationwide winner every time, and was critical to Democratic victories in 1916 and 1948, as well.
Franklin Roosevelt carried all but one county in the state in 1932, and in 1936 all counties. Roosevelt's third and fourth presidential elections saw him win by smaller margins. In 1948, the state narrowly voted for Truman. Beginning with the 1952 presidential election, California became a Republican-leaning battleground state. The Republican candidate won California in every presidential election in the next 36 years except the election of 1964, often by a margin similar to the national one. In these years, the GOP nominated two Californians as presidential candidates during five presidential elections: Richard Nixon in 1960, 1968 and 1972, and Ronald Reagan in 1980 and 1984.
Beginning with the 1992 presidential election, California has become increasingly Democratic. The state has voted Democratic in every presidential election since then, usually by lopsided margins, and starting in 2008 to 2020, Democrats have consistently gotten over 60% of the vote. Voting patterns since 1992 have remained consistent by and large, with Democratic presidential candidates carrying the coastal counties and Republicans the inland counties, though Democrats have gained in many Southern counties as well.
At the state level, California has had more mixed voting tendencies until more recently. Six of the state's first seven governors were Democrats; during subsequent decades, control of the governorship frequently shifted between the two parties. In the 20th century, 13 of the state's 20 governors were Republicans, but Democrats have held the governorship since 2011. The 2018 election marked the first time Democrats won more than two consecutive gubernatorial elections in the state's history.
Northern California's inland areas and the Central Valley are mostly Republican areas. Historically, parts of Southern California, such as Orange County and Riverside County were Republican bastions, however, they have continued to trend Democratic in recent decades, with all five congressional districts flipping Democrat in 2018. Coastal California, including the Bay Area, Los Angeles, San Diego and Sacramento, is mostly Democratic-leaning. In the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections, Democrats won all of California's coastal counties except for Del Norte. As most of the population is in Southern California and the San Francisco Bay Area, California as a whole tends to be liberal.
In 2024, The New York Times wrote that California was undergoing a "wave of corruption", as multiple local politicians had been embroiled on corruption scandals where they accepted bribes and favors from political connected businesses and organizations. In a decade, 576 public officials in California were convicted on federal corruption charges.
== Political issues ==
Many of California's governmental agencies, institutions, and programs have been established in the Constitution of California. Additionally, the state constitution establishes mandatory funding levels for some agencies, programs and institutions. This issue came to the forefront when Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and the California Legislature attempted to cut spending to close the state's multibillion-dollar budget deficits during the 2000s. Consequently, affected agencies with support from special interest groups, successfully pressed the California Supreme Court to order the restoration of funding to a number of agencies and programs which had been cut.
There have been several events, many dubbed "constitutional crises" by their opponents, over the last thirty-two years including:
the passage of term limits for the California legislature and elected constitutional officers, which was hotly argued statewide, and debated in the Supreme Court of California;
a test of the ratification process for the Supreme Court, in which a liberal chief justice, Rose Bird, and two liberal associate Justices, Joseph Grodin and Cruz Reynoso, were ousted;
a full-fledged tax revolt, "Proposition 13", which resulted in the freezing of real estate tax rates at 1% of the property's last sale price (plus a modest 2% maximum annual inflator);
a test of the state recall provision, in which Governor Gray Davis was recalled in a 2003 special election.
a failure to pass a budget until almost three months after the constitutional deadline (2008).
Water and water rights have been notable issues due to California's limited water supply. Various parts of the state have vied for water rights. In the California Water Wars, the city of Los Angeles conflicted with farmers from Eastern California over water rights. Most water is in the north of the State, while agriculture, the largest user of stored water in California, is most prevalent in the central and southern areas. There have been various proposals to transport additional water to the south, such as the Peripheral Canal, but these proposals have failed.
Land use is also divisive, with the California housing shortage being a significant issue.
Gun control is another divisive issue, with California having some of the most restrictive gun laws in the United States.
== Federal representation ==
Since it is the most populous state, California has the largest congressional delegation of any state, with 52 representatives and two senators. In the 199th Congress, 43 of California's seats are held by Democrats and 9 are held by Republicans:
California's 1st congressional district represented by Doug LaMalfa (R)
California's 2nd congressional district represented by Jared Huffman (D)
California's 3rd congressional district represented by Kevin Kiley (R)
California's 4th congressional district represented by Mike Thompson (D)
California's 5th congressional district represented by Tom McClintock (R)
California's 6th congressional district represented by Ami Bera (D)
California's 7th congressional district represented by Doris Matsui (D)
California's 8th congressional district represented by John Garamendi (D)
California's 9th congressional district represented by Josh Harder (D)
California's 10th congressional district represented by Mark DeSaulnier (D)
California's 11th congressional district represented by Nancy Pelosi (D)
California's 12th congressional district represented by Lateefah Simon (D)
California's 13th congressional district represented by Adam Gray (D)
California's 14th congressional district represented by Eric Swalwell (D)
California's 15th congressional district represented by Kevin Mullin (D)
California's 16th congressional district represented by Sam Liccardo (D)
California's 17th congressional district represented by Ro Khanna (D)
California's 18th congressional district represented by Zoe Lofgren (D)
California's 19th congressional district represented by Jimmy Panetta (D)
California's 20th congressional district represented by Kevin McCarthy (R)
California's 21st congressional district represented by Jim Costa (D)
California's 22nd congressional district represented by David Valadao (R)
California's 23rd congressional district represented by Jay Obernolte (R)
California's 24th congressional district represented by Salud Carbajal (D)
California's 25th congressional district represented by Raul Ruiz (D)
California's 26th congressional district represented by Julia Brownley (D)
California's 27th congressional district represented by George Whitesides (D)
California's 28th congressional district represented by Judy Chu (D)
California's 29th congressional district represented by Luz Rivas (D)
California's 30th congressional district represented by Laura Friedman (D)
California's 31st congressional district represented by Gil Cisneros (D)
California's 32nd congressional district represented by Brad Sherman (D)
California's 33rd congressional district represented by Pete Aguilar (D)
California's 34th congressional district represented by Jimmy Gomez (D)
California's 35th congressional district represented by Norma Torres (D)
California's 36th congressional district represented by Ted Lieu (D)
California's 37th congressional district represented by Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D)
California's 38th congressional district represented by Linda Sánchez (D)
California's 39th congressional district represented by Mark Takano (D)
California's 40th congressional district represented by Young Kim (R)
California's 41st congressional district represented by Ken Calvert (R)
California's 42nd congressional district represented by Robert Garcia (D)
California's 43rd congressional district represented by Maxine Waters (D)
California's 44th congressional district represented by Nanette Barragán (D)
California's 45th congressional district represented by Derek Tran (D)
California's 46th congressional district represented by Lou Correa (D)
California's 47th congressional district represented by Dave Min (D)
California's 48th congressional district represented by Darrell Issa (R)
California's 49th congressional district represented by Mike Levin (D)
California's 50th congressional district represented by Scott Peters (D)
California's 51st congressional district represented by Sara Jacobs (D)
California's 52nd congressional district represented by Juan Vargas (D)
California is currently represented in the U.S. Senate by Democrats Alex Padilla, serving since 2021, and Adam Schiff, serving since 2024.
California is part of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, the United States District Court for the Central District of California, the United States District Court for the Southern District of California, and the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California in the federal judiciary. The district's cases are appealed to the San Francisco-based United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
== Notable California political figures ==
Hiram Johnson, 23rd governor of California (1911–1917), U.S. senator from California (1917–1945)
Earl Warren, 30th governor of California (1943–1953), 14th chief justice of the United States (1953–1969)
Richard Nixon, U.S. senator from California (1950–1953), 36th vice president of the United States (1953–1961), 37th president of the United States (1969–1974)
Ronald Reagan, 33rd governor of California (1967–1975), 40th president of the United States (1981–1989)
Jerry Brown, 34th and 39th governor of California (1975–1983 & 2011–2019)
Arnold Schwarzenegger, 38th governor of California (2003–2011)
Kamala Harris, U.S. senator from California (2017–2021), 49th vice president of the United States (2021–2025)
Gavin Newsom, 40th governor of California (2019–present) |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_national_capitals_by_latitude | List of national capitals by latitude | This is a list of official national capitals by latitude, including territories and dependencies, non-sovereign states including associated states and entities whose sovereignty is disputed. Sovereign states are shown in bold text. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pok%C3%A9mon_World_Championships | Pokémon World Championships | The Pokémon World Championships is an invite-only esports event organized by Play! Pokémon. It is held annually in August and features games from the Pokémon series such as the Pokémon video games, Pokémon Trading Card Game, Pokémon Go, Pokémon Unite and Pokkén Tournament (until its 2022 edition). Players earn invitations to the World Championships based on their performance in qualifiers and other tournaments held throughout the season and compete for scholarship money, prizes and the title of World Champion. With the exception of Asia, invitations to the World Championships are administered by the Play! Pokémon program.
== History ==
The Pokémon World Championships first began with the Pokémon Trading Card Game (TCG) in 2004, which was around the time that the franchise was regaining its popularity. In 2008, Play! Pokémon began to organize competitive tournaments for the Pokémon video game series alongside the TCG, which is collectively known as the Video Game Championships (VGC). Like the TCG Championships, players compete with other players in their own age divisions (i.e. Junior, Senior and Masters) in different Premier Tournaments, and the season culminates with the best players earning an invitation to play the Pokémon World Championships in August. The tournaments in VGC were played with a different game each year, mainly the latest Pokémon game from its main series, up until 2025. From 2026, all VGC tournaments will be played on Pokémon Champions.
In 2016, Play! Pokémon announced that Pokkén Tournament would have its own championship series and would be played at the Pokémon World Championships. From 2018 onward, Pokkén Tournament DX was used to support its qualifiers and competitions.
In 2019, it was announced that the 2020 Pokémon World Championships would take place in London, United Kingdom, the first time in which the World Championships would be held in a location outside of North America. This is likely due to the setting of Pokémon Sword and Shield, which takes place in a region inspired by the United Kingdom known as the Galar region, and that is the set of games that would be played by the video game division of the World Championships.
On March 31, 2020, Play! Pokémon cancelled the 2020 Pokémon World Championships and suspended its 2020 season due to health concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic. This came after earlier announcements in March which saw the cancellation of the 2020 European International Championships and part of its season between March and June 2020. On February 9, 2021, it was announced that the 2021 Pokémon World Championships would postponed till 2022 for the same reasons.
In early January 2022, it was confirmed that Pokémon Unite would be played at the World Championships, making it the newest MOBA game to have an official esports tournament, after League of Legends.
In May 2022, after six seasons of competitions, Play! Pokémon announced the end of the Pokkén Tournament Championship Series after the 2022 season.
At the 2022 edition of the event, it was announced that the 2023 World Championships will take place in Yokohama, Japan (the basis of Vermilion City in the Kanto region). When the 2023 event took place, it was the first World Championships to visit the franchise's country of origin and take place in Asia.
At the end of the 2023 event, The Pokémon Company announced that the Pokémon World Championships would return to Hawaii for the first time since the previous World Championships in the state was held back in 2012. The 2025 event was held in Anaheim, California and was the first edition of the tournament to have Championship Sunday held at an arena.
== World Championship locations ==
Despite Pokémon being a Japanese product, only one World Championship (2023) was held in Japan. 17 of the 19 remaining events were held in the United States.
== Qualification ==
The qualifying process for the Pokémon World Championships varies each year and is dependent on a player's age division and the country in which they are located in. Players may also qualify to play on different days of the World Championships based on their performance in their respective qualifying programs; the best performing players will immediately advance to the second day of the World Championships playoffs (i.e. "Day 2") instead of playing through the first day (i.e. "Day 1").
=== Play! Pokémon program ===
Players located in a country with a Play! Pokémon program (i.e. in North America, Europe, Latin America and Oceania) compete in a regular schedule of tournaments for Championship Points and receive invitations when they meet a predetermined threshold of points at the end of the season.
In 2015, the Play! Pokémon program expanded to include countries from the continents of Latin America and Asia (except Japan and South Korea). However, on June 10, 2020, it was announced that Asia would no longer be part of the Play! Pokémon program and will have its own qualifying system towards the Pokémon World Championships.
As of January 17, 2025, the list of countries in each rating zone are as follows.
=== Pokémon GO Championship Series ===
Pokémon announced in October 2021 that Pokémon GO would be added during the 2022 World Championships, along with it a qualification system through the Pokémon GO Championship Series, where the top two head to the World Championships. Any trainer who reached Legend rank during Season 9 of the Pokémon GO Battle League would qualify for the GO Championship Series.
==== 2022 Championship Series ====
The 2022 Pokémon GO Championship Series is a series with a purpose of acting as a qualification system to the 2022 Pokémon World Championship. The series consists of events spread throughout the globe. The series is divided into the Senior's and Master's divisions. The series' format revolves around the Great League. Players can enter the championship either by attaining Legend rank during either Season 9 or Season 10 of the GO Battle League, or by registering via Play! Pokémon after the Legend-rank registration closes. Every event is divided between a regional or international event. The top Pokémon players at these events would be given an invitation to the 2022 World Championship. The earliest event began on 26 March, in Liverpool, with the latest being on 24 June, in Columbus, Ohio.
A list of events featured in the series is listed below:
=== Pokémon Unite Championship Series ===
In January 2022, Pokémon Unite producer Masaaki Hoshino confirmed that the game would be part of the roster of games to be played at the World Championships in London. For the first season of the Pokémon Unite Championship Series, there will be eleven supported Regional Zones: North America, Central America, South America-East, South America-West, Europe, Oceania, Japan, South Korea, India, and the Asia-Pacific region. These events will only be open to players aged 16 or 18, depending on the region or country they are from.
In each month, a series of tournaments in each Regional Zone will be held. Like other games in the World Championships, players will earn Championship Points based on their finishing position in that month's tournament. The CP can be retained by players to allow for team changes as the season carries on. The team with the most points qualifies for the Regional Championships, and the top teams from the Regional Championships qualify for a chance to compete at the Pokémon World Championships.
In January 2023, there were changes to the competitive structure and Regional Zones. Pokémon World Championships nearly doubled available spots from 16, to 31 teams. Regional Zones controlled by TPCi were also changed, with Central America, South America-East and South America West being changed to LATAM North, LATAM South, and Brazil. TPC had also taken control of the India and Asia-Pacific Regional Zones, and split Asia-Pacific into 2 regions; Asia-Pacific East and Asia-Pacific West. For TPCi controlled regions, the previous month's top 4 did not auto qualify for the next month's tournament finals. Additionally, an extra monthly tournament was added, the April Cup. Championship Points were also changed to include top CP earners an invite to Pokémon World Championships, ranging from top 1 to 3 in top CP earners depending on how many invites were given for a region. For TPC controlled regions, their tournament circuit began in April, with 3 monthly qualifiers. The winners of these qualifiers then participated in Regionals to earn a spot for Pokémon World Championships.
Among those changes, both North America and Europe were also given their first regional LAN event. Europe had a LAN event for their Aeos Cup series at European International Championships. North America were given a regional LAN event at the North America International Championships.
In 2023, competing countries were divided into eight groups of four teams (groups A to H). Teams in each group play each another in a best-of-three series round-robin, with the top team advancing to the Top 8 knockout stage. The final draw took place virtually on the Pokémon Unite YouTube channel on July 28, 2023. The prize pool is $500,000 in USD will be distributed among the Top 16 finishers in the championship.
=== Japan & South Korea ===
Tournaments in Japan and South Korea are organised independently from Play! Pokémon, and as such, players from these countries have a different system of qualification.
In Japan, players compete for an invite to the Japan National Championships by playing in major qualifier or online tournaments held throughout the season. The best performing players of the Japan National Championships will then be selected to represent Japan in the Pokémon World Championships.
In South Korea, the style of qualification for the World Championships changes frequently. For example, in 2015, players would compete in the Korean National Championships and earn a World Championships invitation based on their standing in the tournament. However, in 2019, players would compete in tournaments organized by the Korean League and earn an invite based on the number of points they had accumulated by the end of the season.
=== Other ===
There are other less common methods of qualifying for the World Championships which include finishing at least top 4 or better in the prior year's World Championships or by participating in a single-elimination tournament known as the Last Chance Qualifier at the location of the World Championships itself.
== List of World Champions ==
=== Trading Card Game (TCG) ===
=== Video Game Championships (VGC) ===
=== Pokémon Go ===
The under-17 age division was discontinued after the 2022 season. All participants of any age now compete in the same tournament.
All tournament battles use the Great League battle format (all Pokémon must be below 1,500 Combat Power.)
=== Pokémon Unite ===
=== Retired games ===
==== Pokkén Tournament & Pokkén Tournament DX ====
== 2014 World Championships ==
The 2014 Pokémon World Championships was the sixth annual edition of the championships. The event took place in the Walter E. Washington Convention Center on Washington, D.C., alongside the 2014 Pokémon Trading Card Game World Championship who were in their eleventh edition.
The tournament was streamed via Twitch for the first time in the tournament history and reached a viewership of more than 800,000.
The defending Video Game champions were Arash Ommati from Italy (Masters Division), Hayden McTavish from the United States (Senior Division), and Brendan Zheng from the United States (Junior Division). The opening ceremony of the event was attended by Junichi Masuda, the video game designer for the Pokémon franchise and a member of the board of directors of Game Freak.
The finals match of the Masters division is best known and remembered within the Pokémon community for Se Jun Park's victory with the inclusion and use of a Pachirisu on his team.
=== 2014 qualification ===
The qualification process for the 2014 Pokémon World Championships was primarily based on Championship Points accumulated by players from official Play! Pokémon tournaments such as Premier Challenges, Regional Championships and National Championships. In addition, the top 4 players of the 2013 Pokémon World Championships in each division, and the top 4 players of a tournament known as the 'Last Chance Qualifier' will also receive an invitation to play in the World Championships.
The invitations for the Masters Division of the tournament were distributed in the following manner:
Top 4 players from the 2013 Pokémon World Championships,
Top 32 players from Europe with the most Championship Points,
Top 16 players from North America with the most Championship Points,
Top 4 players from Australia with the most Championship Points,
Top 2 players from South Africa with the most Championship Points,
Top 8 players from the Japan National Championships,
Top 2 players from the South Korea National Championships, and
Top 4 players from the Last Chance Qualifier, a tournament held the day before the World Championships in the same venue.
Most of the invitations did not include a fully paid trip to the tournament, and as a result several players could not attend the tournament.
=== 2014 tournament structure ===
==== Players per country ====
Masters Division
==== Results ====
Six rounds of Swiss was played by 60 players in the tournament, and each round was played with a set of best-of-three matches. The top 8 players after the Swiss rounds advances to the best-of-three Single Elimination matches.
The defending World Champion Arash Ommati and former three-time World Champion Ray Rizzo did not advance to the single elimination rounds.
Masters Division
=== Final standings ===
== 2015 World Championships ==
The 2015 Pokémon World Championships was the seventh annual edition of the championships. The event was held alongside the Pokémon Trading Card Game World Championships at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston, Massachusetts.
The tournament was transmitted with live streaming from the official Pokémon Twitch channel. The defending Video Game champions for the year were Se Jun Park from South Korea (Masters Division), Nikolai Zielinsky from the United States (Senior Division) and Kota Yamamoto from Japan (Junior Division).
=== 2015 qualification ===
Players could only gain an invitation to play in the Video Game World Championships by either being the 2014 Pokémon World Champions, or by obtaining enough Championship Points in their respective geographic zone designated by Play! Pokémon. However, the only exception to this rule are for players from Japan and South Korea, as their tournaments are not overseen by Play! Pokémon and their invites are governed through a different system of qualification.
Since 2014, players were able to earn Championship Points from various tournaments within their geographical region. The tournaments vary in scale, ranging from local Premier Challenges to state-level Regional Championships and finally the large-scale National Championships. The number of points awarded varies with scale, and players who earn these points are ranked and divided into zones such as North America, Europe and South Africa. This year, two new zones (Latin America and Asia-Pacific) were introduced.
The 2015 Pokémon Video Game World Championship was intended to be played under two Swiss tournaments and one single-elimination tournament which would then determine the 2015 World Champions. As such, there are two types of invites:
a regular 'Day One' invite, and
a 'Day Two' invite, which allows players to receive a bye for the Swiss tournament on the first day.
As an example, the invitations for the Masters Division were distributed as follows:
'Day One' invitation (by Championship Points):
Top 40 players from North America
Top 60 players from Europe
Top 18 players from Latin America
Top 18 players from Asia-Pacific
Top 2 players from South Africa
'Day Two' invitation (i.e. 'Day One' bye)
2014 World Champion
Top 8 players from North America by Championship Points.
Top 16 players from Europe by Championship Points.
Top 2 players from Latin America by Championship Points.
Top 2 players from Asia-Pacific by Championship Points.
Top 2 players from South Africa by Championship Points.
Top 4 players of the South Korea Video Game National Championships.
Top 8 players of the Japan Video Game National Championships.
=== 2015 tournament structure ===
The Video Game Championships consisted of two Swiss tournaments and one single elimination tournament played across three days.
On Friday (Day 1), all players who earned an invitation without a Day 1 bye were entered into a Swiss tournament, where players with two or fewer losses would advance onto the next round. The second Swiss tournament was then played on Saturday (Day 2), where players who advanced from Day 1 were joined by players who received an invitation with a Day 1 bye.
At the end of the Day 2 Swiss tournament, the top eight players played in single elimination rounds until the last two remain. The finals took place on Sunday (Day 3).
=== Final standings (Video Game Championships) ===
=== Weapons controversy ===
During the 2015 World Championships, two Trading Card Game competitors from Iowa (Kevin Norton, 18, and James Stumbo, 27) brought weapons in their vehicle, which were recovered by the police. The two posted status updates and images of their weaponry on social media, which were noticed by various Pokémon fans who treated them as supposed threats against the tournament. The updates were reported to the Boston Regional Intelligence Center (BRIC), who promptly seized their automobile and then stopped them at the door and barred them from entering the Hynes Convention Center on Thursday evening. Police executed a search warrant on Friday and Norton and Stumbo were arrested at their Red Roof Inn room in Saugus just after midnight on Saturday, August 22, 2015. The two were arrested on charges of unlicensed possession of firearms and ammunition, and were initially held without bail. The weapons recovered were a recently purchased Remington shotgun, an AR-15, a hunting knife and several hundred rounds of ammunition. They pleaded not guilty at their arraignment on November 10, 2015, and their bail was set at $150,000. On December 2, 2015, their trial was set for May 9, 2016, however, in early April 2016, their trial was postponed to November 2016. Following the release of Pokémon Go in July 2016, Stumbo's attorney indicated that the case would be resolved soon. Norton and Stumbo were later sentenced to two years in prison with an additional two years probation once their prison term ends.
== 2016 World Championships ==
The 2016 Pokémon World Championships was the eighth annual edition of the championships. The event was held at the San Francisco Marriott Marquis in San Francisco, California, from August 19 to August 21.
For the first time in the tournament history, the Pokkén Tournament invitational was featured alongside the Video Game Championships (VGC) and Trading Card Game (TCG) tournaments. Side events and an official store with event merchandise occurred alongside the event.
The defending Video Game champions were Shoma Honami from Japan (Masters Division), Mark McQuillan from the United Kingdom (Senior Division) and Kotone Yasue from Japan (Junior Division). The defending Trading Card Game champions were Jacob Van Wagner from the United States (Masters Division), Patrick Martinez from the United States (Senior Division), and Rowan Stavenow from Canada.
=== Age divisions and qualifications ===
Both the Pokémon VGC and TCG were divided into three age divisions: the Junior Division (born 2005 or later), the Senior Division (born between 2001 and 2004), and the Masters Division (born 2000 or earlier). For the Pokkén Tournament invitational, players were grouped into either the Senior Division (born 2001 or later) or Masters Division (born 2000 or earlier).
The process of obtaining an invitation is primarily based on Championship Points. Players could earn Championship Points by performing in select online and live tournaments held throughout the 2016 season (between September 2015 and July 2016). Players from Japan and South Korea were excluded from this rule as these countries had their own method of qualification not based on Championship Points.
Play! Pokémon divided players into five different rating zones: US and Canada, Europe, Latin America, Asia-Pacific and South Africa. Different zones had different Championship Points requirements due to the distribution of events around the world.
There are two possible invitations players could obtain:
a regular 'Day One' invite, and
a 'Day Two' invite, which allowed players to acquire a 'Day One' bye and automatically enter the second Swiss tournament.
'Day Two' invites were usually accompanied by travel awards and stipends paid by Play! Pokémon.
==== Trading Card Game Championship qualifications ====
The following table shows the Championship Points requirement for an invitation to the 2016 World Championships:
Players in Japan and South Korea were awarded invitations based on each country's organized play system.
==== Video Game Championship qualifications ====
For the Masters Division, the following table lists the Championship Points requirement for an invitation to the 2016 World Championships:
=== 2016 tournament structure ===
The Video Game Championships consisted of two Swiss tournaments and one single elimination tournament played across three days.
On Friday (Day 1), all players who earned an invitation without a Day 1 bye were entered into a Swiss tournament, where players with two or fewer losses would advance onto the next round. The second Swiss tournament was then played on Saturday (Day 2), where players who advanced from Day 1 were joined by players who received an invitation with a Day 1 bye.
At the end of the Day 2 Swiss tournament, players with two or fewer losses advanced to play in single elimination rounds until the last two remain. The finals took place on Sunday (Day 3).
==== Final standings (Video Game Championships) ====
==== Final standings (Trading Card Game) ==== |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1977_NBA_Finals | 1977 NBA Finals | The 1977 NBA World Championship Series was the championship round of the National Basketball Association's (NBA) 1976–77 season, and the culmination of the season's playoffs. The Western Conference champion Portland Trail Blazers played against the Eastern Conference champion Philadelphia 76ers, with the 76ers holding home-court advantage. Their four regular season meetings had been split evenly, 2–2, with neither side winning away from home. The series was played under a best-of-seven format. The Trail Blazers overcame a two-games-to-none series deficit to defeat the 76ers in six games, winning their first (and still only) championship in franchise history.
The 1976–77 NBA season started with the ABA–NBA merger. Portland had benefited from the resulting ABA dispersal draft as they acquired Spirits of St. Louis power forward Maurice Lucas to partner with Bill Walton, and Philadelphia had signed ABA All-Star and 3-time ABA MVP Julius "Dr. J" Erving, who had taken the New York Nets to the ABA title the previous year. In the 1977 NBA Finals, five of the ten starting players were former ABA players (Julius Erving, Caldwell Jones, George McGinnis, Dave Twardzik, and Maurice Lucas).
While it was no surprise that Philadelphia had made it to the championship series, having posted the best record in the Eastern Conference (50–32), Portland's appearance in the finals was a mild surprise. Portland had joined the league in 1970 and it was making its playoff debut in its seventh season as the third best team in the Western Conference (49–33). It was also making its Finals debut after sweeping the Los Angeles Lakers in four close games in the Western Conference finals to make this the second straight NBA Finals with at least one team making their first Finals appearance.
The series started 2–0 in favor of Philadelphia, but Portland rebounded in the next four games to become the second team to overcome a 2–0 deficit to win the Finals since the Boston Celtics in 1969 and the first to do so with four straight wins. The 1976-77 Trail Blazers were the last team to accomplish this feat until the Miami Heat did so in 2006.
== Background ==
The Portland Trail Blazers franchise entered the NBA as an expansion team in 1970, along with the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Buffalo Braves. Like most expansion teams, the Trail Blazers struggled, but in 1974, hope was on the way.
Superstar center Bill Walton, who led UCLA to an 86–4 record and two national titles in three years, was drafted first overall by the Trail Blazers in the 1974 NBA draft. The Trail Blazers missed the playoffs the next two seasons as Walton struggled with injuries, but continued to add key pieces, such as Dave Twardzik, Lloyd Neal, Lionel Hollins, and Maurice Lucas. In 1976, Jack Ramsay was hired as head coach, and with a fully healthy Walton, Portland made the playoffs for the first time in the 1976–77 season, winning 49 games. The 3rd seeded Blazers would defeat the Chicago Bulls in three games, the Denver Nuggets in six games, and then shockingly swept league MVP Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and the top-seeded Los Angeles Lakers in the conference finals.
The Philadelphia 76ers made it back to the playoffs in 1976, after missing the previous four years, which included a league-worst nine wins in the 1972–73 season. They acquired former ABA All-Star Julius Erving, late of the New York Nets, in the offseason. The 76ers won 50 games for the first time since 1969, defeated the defending champion Boston Celtics in a tough seven-game series, then advanced to the finals for the first time since 1967 by ousting the Houston Rockets in six games.
=== Road to the Finals ===
=== Regular season series ===
Both teams split the four-game series, each won by the home team.
== Team rosters ==
=== Portland Trail Blazers ===
=== Philadelphia 76ers ===
== Series summary ==
Trail Blazers win series 4–2
== Game summaries ==
=== Game 1 ===
Game 1 started with a Dr. J windmill slam dunk off the opening tip, and never got much better for the Blazers, who committed 34 turnovers. Erving scored 33 points and Doug Collins had 30, as the 76ers won 107–101. Walton finished with 28 points and 20 rebounds.
=== Game 2 ===
Game 2 was an easy 107–89 win for the 76ers, who at one point scored 14 points in under 3 minutes. In the final 5 minutes, however, Philadelphia's Darryl Dawkins and Portland's Bob Gross both went up for a rebound and wrestled each other to the floor. Dawkins and Gross squared off and both benches cleared, including the coaches. In the middle of the fray, Maurice Lucas, in an act of team unity and in support of Gross, slapped Dawkins from behind and challenged him. Dawkins and Lucas were ejected, and Doug Collins needed four stitches after he caught a punch from Dawkins that had missed its target. Dawkins and Lucas were each fined $2,500. This brawl is commonly looked upon as the turning point in this series, as the Blazers unified and showed the Sixers that they wouldn't be humiliated.
=== Game 3 ===
The series moved to Portland for the next two games, and game 3 got underway following a few tense moments as Lucas approached the Philadelphia bench before the game and offered his hand in friendship to Dawkins and the 76ers. The Blazers offense took charge of the game, and posted a 42-point fourth quarter to win 129–107. The turning point came early in the fourth with the score 91–87, when Walton tipped in an alley-oop pass from Bob Gross over Darryl Dawkins, who knocked him to the floor. Dave Twardzik then stole the Sixers' ensuing inbounds pass and found Walton, who was back on his feet, for another alley-oop dunk. Lucas had 27 points and 12 rebounds, and Walton contributed 20 points, 18 rebounds, and 9 assists.
=== Game 4 ===
Philadelphia attempted to use George McGinnis and Caldwell Jones on the inside for Game 4, but Walton had other ideas, going on a shot-blocking frenzy. Portland quickly led the game by 17 points and never looked back, scoring 41 points in the third quarter (despite Walton committing his fifth foul midway through the third and being on the bench for most of the second half) and winning 130–98, the largest margin of victory in a game 4 in NBA history.
=== Game 5 ===
Game 5 returned to Philadelphia with the series tied 2–2. Philadelphia spent much of the first half fouling the Blazers, racking up 22 personal fouls and sending the half-time score into the 40s. The Blazers added another 40 points to their total in the third quarter, and with a little over 8 minutes left in the game, Portland led 91–69. Erving rallied his team late in the fourth, scoring 37 points himself, but the Sixers ultimately lost 110–104. Portland set numerous rebounding records for its team, 59 (48 defensive, team record) in all which stood until 1985, 24 (20 defensive, another team record) of which belonged to Walton alone; his team record still stands.
=== Game 6 ===
Portland, now leading the series 3–2, arrived back home for Game 6 in the middle of the night to a crowd of 5,000 fans waiting at the airport. With just 48 minutes separating the Blazers from their first championship, "Blazermania" had gripped the city. Philadelphia kept the game close throughout the first quarter, but were down by 15 at halftime after the Blazers netted 40 points in the second quarter. Erving tried in vain to force a Game 7 for his team, scoring 40 points, but Bill Walton's 20 points, 23 rebounds, 7 assists and 8 blocks kept the game in Portland's favor.
The last play of the game took place with Philadelphia inbounding the ball with five seconds left, down just two points. Philadelphia's George McGinnis missed the game-tying jump shot, but all other nine players swarmed to position themselves to get the rebound. Portland's Bill Walton reached over all of them and slapped the ball up the court with two seconds left, and the clock expired for a heart-stopping 109–107 Portland win. The crowd stormed onto the court in a celebratory frenzy.
Walton was named finals MVP and was called "an inspiration" by the defeated Julius Erving. Maurice Lucas later said of Walton's post-game thrown jersey that was sent into the rushing crowd of fans, "if I had caught the shirt, I would have eaten it. Bill's my hero."
Portland was awarded two trophies for winning the NBA Championship: The Walter A. Brown Trophy, which was kept by the winning team for only a year until the next NBA Finals; and a newly designed trophy later to be known as the Larry O'Brien Trophy which was now to be kept by the winning team with a new one produced at every NBA Finals since. The Walter A. Brown Trophy was retired shortly after this game. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1988_Winter_Olympics | 1988 Winter Olympics | The 1988 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XV Olympic Winter Games (French: XVes Jeux olympiques d'hiver) and commonly known as Calgary 1988 were a multi-sport event held from February 13 to 28, 1988, with Calgary, Alberta as the main host city. This marks the most recent time that two consecutive Olympic Games were hosted in North America (with the 1984 Summer Olympic Games hosted in Los Angeles, California, United States). It was the first Winter Olympic Games to be held for 15 days, like the counterpart Summer Olympic Games. The majority of the events took place in Calgary itself. However, the snow events were shared by Nakiska ski resort in Kananaskis Country at the west of the city and the Canmore Nordic Centre Provincial Park in the town of Canmore.
In 1988, a record 57 National Olympic Committees (NOC) sent a total of 1,424 athletes to these Games. These Winter Olympics would be the last attended for both the Soviet Union and East Germany NOCs. Just like the 1976 Summer Olympics, host country Canada failed again to win a gold medal on their home soil (they won three gold medals in demonstration events, but these are not included in the official medal table). The Finnish ski jumper, Matti Nykänen, and the Dutch speed skater, Yvonne van Gennip, won three individual gold medals each. The 1988 Winter Olympics were also remembered for the "heroic failure" of both the British ski jumper, Michael Edwards, and the debut of the Jamaica national bobsleigh team. Both of them became subjects of major feature films about their participation in these Games: Cool Runnings by Walt Disney Pictures in 1993 and Eddie the Eagle by 20th Century Fox in 2016.
At approximately C$829 million, the Calgary Games were the most expensive Olympics ever held at the time, as all the necessary infrastructure was built from scratch. The facilities that were built for these Winter Olympics helped the host region to turn into the heart of Canada's elite winter sports program, under the tutelage of WinSport. After the Games, their legacy still standing and in constant use, as the five purpose-built venues for those Games are now used for training and hosting various winter sporting events every year. These policies helped Canada develop into one of the top nations in Winter Olympics competition. The climax of this effort was the overall first-place finish at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada.
== Host city selection ==
Calgary made its fourth attempt at hosting the Winter Games when it bid for the 1988 Winter Olympic Games, which also marked Canada's seventh bid for the Winter Olympic Games. Montreal made the first Canadian bid for the Winter Games in 1956 and won the rights to host the 1976 Summer Olympics, and Vancouver made attempts to host the 1976 and 1980 Games. Calgary, alongside neighbouring Banff, under the leadership of the Calgary Olympic Development Association (CODA), submitted bids for the Winter Games in 1964, 1968, and 1972. However, CODA went dormant in 1966 after losing three consecutive bids. In 1978, Frank King and Bob Niven of Calgary's Booster Club took over the organization's leadership and revived CODA. King and Niven consulted former Olympic Sprinter and CODA founder, Ernie McCullough, and politician Arthur Ryan Smith, who had worked on previous bids, for guidance on the project.
In October 1979, CODA secured the Canadian Olympic Association's (COA) support for Canada's official bid to host the 1988 Winter Olympics, winning over a competing bid by Vancouver with a vote of 27–9. Calgary's bid was at the time the most ambitious for the Winter Olympics ever, as the city lacked winter sports facilities and almost everything would have to be built from scratch. CODA proposed constructing all new venues, arguing that if Calgary was awarded the Games, Canada's inventory of training facilities would increase significantly. The Vancouver bidding committee argued that Calgary's bid represented a "Big-ticket Games" idea, and estimated to cost nearly three times what Vancouver was expected to pay to host the Winter Olympics. Vancouver's bid was based on already developed infrastructure, including the Expo 86 precinct, the Pacific Coliseum and Whistler Blackcomb, which later served as the basis for the successful 2010 Winter Olympics bid and the later unsuccessful 2030 Winter Olympics bid.
CODA then spent two years building local support for the megaproject, selling CA$5 memberships to approximately 80,000 of Calgary's 600,000 residents. Calgary also secured CA$270 million in funding from the federal (CA$200 million) and provincial governments. Some civic leaders, including then-mayor Ralph Klein, travelled around the world to lobby IOC delegates. The arrival of the National Hockey League's (NHL) newly relocated Calgary Flames from Atlanta in 1980 drove the city to construct a new multi-use arena that would later be named the Olympic Saddledome, demonstrating to the IOC Calgary's determination to host the Winter Olympics.
The Olympic bid itself emphasized the unique cultural and natural characteristics who mark the Calgary Metropolitan Region and the Alberta Province and also canadian prairies landscapes, as a perfect places for hosting the Winter Olympics. At the bidding documents, the city was marketed with a capitalist, oil-driven and vibrant economy that also had mountain playgrounds, extensive wilderness, and a rodeo culture. When the two images of Calgary and Alberta were brought together, they seemed to be contrasting; however, they complemented each other as part of extensive and intense bidding lobby process.
Calgary was one of three finalists during the 1988 Winter Olympics bid process. The other two were Falun, Sweden, and Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy. The Italian town (comune) had before hosted the 1956 Winter Olympics and was seen by many as the favorite. The vote was held on September 30, 1981, in Baden-Baden, West Germany, during the 84th IOC Session and 11th Olympic Congress. After Cortina d'Ampezzo was eliminated in the first round of balloting, Calgary won in the second and final round of balloting over Falun, by a margin of 17 votes. The announcement of CODA's victory sent the delegates in Baden-Baden and Calgary residents into singing and dancing. It also made then Alberta premier, Peter Lougheed, burst openly into tears in front of the cameras. Later, Ralph Klein sang a rendition of Mac Davis' It's Hard to Be Humble. It was the first Winter Olympics awarded to Canada and the second Olympic Games overall, following the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal. Cortina d'Ampezzo, along with Milan, would get to host the 2026 Winter Olympics. The town will be the fourth to host the Winter Olympics twice, along with St. Moritz (1928 and 1948), Lake Placid (1932 and 1980), and Innsbruck (1964 and 1976).
Olympic historians, John E. Findling and Kimberly D. Pelle noted that once the Games were awarded to Calgary, the cultural and community aspects of the bid were pushed aside by the newly formed Calgary Olympic organizing committee called the Olympiques Calgary Olympics '88 (OCO'88). It then proceeded to take on a "vigorous, resilient, and impersonal corporate business strategy" based in the work made by Los Angeles 1984 Organizing Committee (LAOCOG) toward the planning and operation of the Games.
== Venues ==
Bill Pratt was a former general contractor who took over as OCO'88 president in 1983. He was the main manager that oversaw the construction of the Olympic megaproject. Donald Jacques, a former general manager of the Calgary Exhibition and Stampede, once said, "Because of him, everything was built on time and on budget." However, Bill Pratt was controversial by rubbing many of his colleagues the wrong way. One former co-worker once predicted back in 1983: "He will get everything built. There may not be many (of us) left around to enjoy it, but he'll get it done." His relations with the news media were also strained at times. He had barely settled into his new position when the Calgary press media began criticizing OCO'88 for excessive secrecy and for awarding Olympic contracts to Calgary's PR firm Francis Williams and Johnson Ltd. Pratt was a director of that firm, before accepting the organizing committee job. OCO'88 had insisted that there was no conflict of interest involved in the whole process. Therefore, Pratt declared: "I have been nailed for a lot, but that does not bother me. The record stands". After the 1988 Winter Olympics bid was won in 1981, OCO'88 made a new technical assessment and had to re-plan all the originally proposed competition venues except for the few that already existed and were within the campus of the University of Calgary.
McMahon Stadium, the primary outdoor facility used mainly by the Canadian Football League's (CFL) Calgary Stampeders and inside of the University of Calgary and had originally been chosen to host only the opening ceremonies and the Saddledome was chosen to be the place of the closing ceremonies. But with the constant revisions of the project, the later addition of 4 more days in competition and mainly the gigantic demands for tickets, the Organizing Committee decided to move the closing ceremony to the Stadium which held twice the capacity of the Saddledome. The last time that the two Winter Olympic ceremonies were held at the same venue was at the 1960 Winter Olympics in Squaw Valley, California.
The 1988 Winter Olympics' five main all-purpose venues were created at a significant cost at that time. Three of them are located within Calgary and the other two are located west of the city. First, the Olympic Saddledome was planned to be the main venue of the games, hosting ice hockey and figure skating finals.This arena is also part of Stampede Park and was expected to cost C$83 million, but a cost overrun pushed it to nearly C$100 million and caused a nine-month delay. Second, the Olympic Oval was built on the campus of the University of Calgary for C$40 million. Contrary to what was proposed in the bid in which this infrastructure would be outdoors, throughout the process it was realized that it would have to be 100% covered and is the first fully enclosed 400-metre long track speed skating in the world, to protect the athletes and public from bitterly cold weather and the Chinook winds. Third, Canada Olympic Park (formerly called the Paskapoo Ski Hill) was renovated for C$200 million and is located on the western outskirts of Calgary. This most expensive venue of these Winter Olympics hosted the men's bobsleigh, luge, and men's ski jumping and its portion of the Nordic combined events. Also, it hosted some events of the demonstration sport of freestyle skiing.
From the west of Calgary, the other two main all-purpose venues were built at the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. First, the Canmore Nordic Centre was 90% funded by the province of Alberta, for C$17.3 million. It is located beside the town of Canmore and it hosted cross-country skiing, plus its men's portion of the Nordic combined, and the men's biathlon events. It was projected that the area could become a year-round destination for Albertans, by facilitating and accelerate Canmore's economic transition away from coal mining to tourist attraction. However, the Nakiska (Cree meaning "to meet") ski resort was the most controversial and polemic complex built for these Winter Olympics. It is located on Mount Allan (inside Kananaskis Country) and it hosted the alpine skiing events.It cost around C$25 million to Alberta government funds. This venue drew a lot of criticisms because of the various environmental concerns, the rejection by International Ski Federation (FIS) of slopes for each of the 10 events in the program and the use of artificial snow due the lack of natural snow on that season. After the first inspections, the International Ski Federation (FIS) officials noted the venue's lack of technical difficulties needed for the Olympic competition. Therefore, these FIS delegates proposed some major changes in the slopes in an action to cause bigger difficulties. These modifications were met with praise from Olympic alpine skiing competitors. Like at Canada Olympic Park, this venue also hosted some freestyle skiing events as a demonstration sport.
Three other existing facilities served as secondary competition venues for the Games. The first one, was the Max Bell Centre hosted the demonstration sports of curling and short track speed skating. The Father David Bauer Olympic Arena and the Stampede Corral shared the functions of secondary venues for the ice hockey tournament and the figure skating preliminaries. Though the Stampede Corral did not support the International Ice Hockey Federation's (IIHF) standard-sized Olympic ice surface, OCO'88 was able to convince the IIHF to sanction the ice rink for Olympic competition, in exchange for a C$1.2 million payment.
== Participating National Olympic Committees ==
A record 57 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) entered athletes at the 1988 Winter Olympics, with eight more NOCs than any other previous Olympic Winter Games. 1,109 men and 315 women, for a total of 1,424 athletes, participated in these Games. Fiji, Guam, Guatemala, Jamaica, the Netherlands Antilles and the Virgin Islands had their Winter Olympics debut in 1988.
=== Number of athletes by National Olympic Committees ===
== Sports ==
There were 46 events contested in 6 sports (10 disciplines). In addition, there were 22 events in 4 demonstration sports and disciplines that have no official status in the overall medal tally.
== Calendar ==
All dates are in Mountain Time Zone (UTC-7)
=== Weather conditions ===
The weather conditions were a problem facing OCO'88 during the Games, with temperatures ranging from −28 to 22 °C (−18 to 72 °F). After an unexpectedly freezing opening ceremony, the outdoor competitions scheduled to start the next day had to be postponed. This ended up affecting the men's downhill skiing event at Nakiska which was postponed for one day, due to Chinook winds blowing up to 160 km/h. The women's downhill event also experienced the same scenario. With the ski jumping venue facing north at Canada Olympic Park (COP), the same winds also disrupted those events, with the large hill event being postponed four times. It also disrupted the Nordic combined events, in which the ski jumping part had to be postponed as well. This situation ended up causing something unprecedented in the history of the Winter Olympics, as for the first time both the ski jumping and Nordic combined cross-country skiing events were contested in a single day. Despite using artificial cooling, the bobsleigh and luge events did not need to be rescheduled; however, several races had to be postponed because of the high temperatures recorded and also because of the dirt that was carried away by these winds.
== Preparations ==
=== Olympic organizing committee (OCO'88) ===
The Calgary Olympic Development Association (CODA) Board of Directors had originally 25 members. It was chaired by Frank King, followed by former Mayors Ralph Klein and Ross Alger, and other prominent Calgarians. The executive committee president was Robert Niven. The Olympic Organizing Committee (OOC) was formed by utilizing many of the original board of directors members. It was initially started with 11 members and was grown to 25 members by October 1983. It grew further to 29 members by 1985, when former Alberta premier, Peter Lougheed, was added to the list. An Olympic biographer, Kevin Wamsley, noted that the CEO Frank King, President Bill Pratt, Ralph Klein, and former COA President Roger Jackson had collectively the most influence on all aspects of these Winter Olympics. This organizing committee took a hierarchical form for planning these Olympics, which caused consternation from some staff, volunteers, and people in executive roles. The original staff, who were at odds with the current management structure, were either fired or willingly resigned. Also, there were claims that some of the volunteers were verbally abused. As a result, David Leighton resigned as OOC President in 1982, after only five months on the job. Therefore, Bill Pratt, a former general manager of the Calgary Stampede, became the new OCOG's president shortly afterwards. The City of Calgary and the Canadian Olympic Association (COA) delegated officially all Olympic responsibilities, including staging the Winter Olympics under the Olympic Charter, to the newly formed OCO'88 in February and September 1983 respectively.
However, conflicts within OCO'88 grew in the public eye and a review of the entire management structure was conducted after Ralph Klein threatened it with a public inquiry in 1986. Thus, Frank King remained as CEO, but with the addition of more full-time staff. Also, more than 9,000 volunteers were registered who were allocated to the most diverse areas. Despite these changes, there was still some animosity within OCO'88. Kevin Walmsley noted that Bill Pratt and Frank King continued to have a very tense relationship and that any movement caused sparks with each other. Some members of the media commented that the changes made further alienated the general public, with a host broadcaster producer, Ralph Mellanby, describing it as "an oilman's and cattleman's Calgary thing." Long-time IOC member Dick Pound, on behalf of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), went on record to say that the IOC grew increasingly frustrated, as it saw the actions of OCO'88 as a refusal to collaborate with them.
=== Television ===
The 1988 Winter Olympic Games coincided with a shift in television policy by the International Olympic Committee and growing enthusiasm by broadcasters in the United States. Amendments to the Olympic Charter in 1977 established a policy mandating joint television rights involving the IOC and the local organizing committee and was enshrined in the 1981 bid agreement for the Calgary games.
The joint negotiating committee convened in 1984 late-January, some weeks before the Sarajevo 1984 Winter Games at the IOC's president residency at the Lausanne Palace were held to negotiate the Calgary television contracts with American broadcasters. The negotiating committee was represented by Dick Pound for the IOC, Bill Wardle for OCO'88 and consultant Barry Frank. The co-negotiating committee designed a new tender process for the television rights bid with an emphasis on creating a level playing field for all broadcasters. For the first time, the negotiations were based on a series of sealed bids and representatives from ABC, CBS and NBC vied for the opportunity to broadcast the Games.
After six rounds of sealed bids, the ABC delegation led by producer Roone Arledge was successful with an agreement paying a record US$309 million (CA$386 million Canadian at the time) in exchange for exclusive rights for the games. CBS exited the bidding process after the second round with a final offer of $257 million, while ABC and NBC both reached the fifth round with an offer of $300 million. In the sixth and final stage, the IOC and OCO'88 decided a coin flip would determine which of ABC or NBC had the right to submit the first bid or defer, a decision neither network supported. NBC's president of sports Arthur A. Watson elected to call the coin-flip, although he remained silent on the first flip, so a second coinflip was required, and NBC won with a choice of "heads", and after 30 minutes of deliberation submitted a $304 million bid. ABC's representative Arledge made a quick phone call to executive Fred Pierce, and ABC submitted a $309 million bid, exceeding NBC's bid by $5 million. ABC's record-setting bid was immediately controversial, first Arledge had exceeded the maximum allowable bid set by ABC's executives by $34 million, and in the coming weeks ABC's coverage of the 1984 Winter Olympics which cost $91.5 million returned poor Nielsen ratings. Early estimates speculated the network would lose $50-$60 million televising the games. The Wall Street Journal described the NBC agreement as the "biggest prize of the Winter Olympics". The deal which was at the time the highest amount ever paid for a sporting event, allowed OCO'88 to announce the Games would be debt-free.
The negotiations with American television broadcasters were in sharp contrast to negotiations for Western European rights with the European Broadcasting Union quickly closing an exclusive deal with the IOC for US$5.7 million led by Juan Antonio Samaranch and Marc Hodler on behalf of the IOC. The Calgary Herald headline after the announcement negatively reflected on the "bargain" the European network received, and OCO'88 chairman Frank King publicly expressed his disappointment with the IOC. Samaranch's argument for providing for a privileged negotiation with EBU was ensuring European viewers had equal access and coverage of the games, something he did not believe would occur if private networks from each nation were provided with the opportunity to bid. Dick Pound was also critical of the decision and argued more revenue could be brought in from BBC and RAI alone and the privileged status suppressed the willingness of the EBU to make a market-value bid on the games.
The CTV Television Network won the bid to broadcast the Games in Canada in December 1983, paying CA$4.5 million for the exclusive rights. CTV also won the $23.5 million contract to serve as the host broadcaster, responsible for the manpower and equipment to televise the games. In 1978, while the bid was strengthened, CBC and CTV signed an agreement that if Calgary were the eventual winner, the two broadcasters would create a consortium in which the purchase of television rights would take place jointly. The previous arrangement had CBC provide full coverage for Summer Games with CTV broadcasting a nightly summary, while CTV had the rights to Winter Games with CBC broadcasting a nightly summary. The nightly summary of the Games was also televised on CBC.
Japan's broadcast rights were awarded to NHK in July 1986 for US$3.9 million.
OCO'88 made several alterations to the Olympic program as part of efforts to ensure value for its broadcast partners. Now, the premier and main events, including ice hockey and figure skating, were scheduled for prime time and the Games were lengthened to 15 days from the previous 12 to ensure three weekends of coverage. However, a significant downturn in advertising revenue for sporting events resulted in ABC forecasting significant financial losses on the Games. Calgary organizers appreciated their fortunate timing in signing the deal. King described the timing of the contract with ABC as "the passing of the sun and the moon at the right time for Calgary". The revenue growth from broadcasting was significant for the Calgary Games, OCO'88 generated $324.9 million in broadcast rights, which was a significant growth over an eight-period (the 1980 Lake Placid Games generated US$20.7 million). ABC had net losses of more than $60 million, and broadcast rights to the 1992 Winter Olympics were later sold to the CBS network for $243 million, a 20 per cent reduction compared to Calgary.
=== Ticketing controversies ===
A series of ticket-related scandals plagued the organizing committee as the Games approached, resulting in widespread public anger. Demand for tickets was high, particularly for the main events which had sold out a year in advance. Residents had been promised that only 10 per cent of tickets would go to "Olympic insiders", IOC officials and sponsors, but OCO'88 was later forced to admit that up to 50 percent of seats to top events had gone to insiders. The organizing committee, which was subsequently chastised by mayor Klein for running a "closed shop", admitted that it had failed to properly communicate the obligations it had to supply IOC officials and sponsors with priority tickets.
These events were preceded by the ticketing manager for OCO'88 being charged with theft and fraud after he sent modified ticket request forms to Americans that asked them to pay in United States funds rather than Canadian and to return them to his company's post office box rather than the office of the organizing committee. At that time, the American dollar was trading 40 cents higher than the Canadian dollar, resulting in significantly higher than anticipated revenue through currency conversion. The ticket manager maintained his innocence claiming he was used as a scapegoat and sponsor credit card Visa was responsible for the error, despite his claims, the ticketing manager was convicted of fraud, theft, and forgery, and sentenced to 5 years in prison.
Organizers attempted to respond to public concern by asking sponsors to consider reducing their orders and by paying $1.5 million to add 2,600 seats to the Saddledome, as well as increase capacity for ski jumping, alpine skiing and the opening ceremonies. This led to a change of the venue of the closing ceremonies from Saddledome to McMahon Stadium, as the stadium capacity was about two times bigger than the indoor venue. King also noted that the Calgary Games offered a then-record 1.9 million tickets for sale, three times the amount available at Sarajevo or Lake Placid and that 79 percent of them were to be allocated to Calgarians. By the start of the 1988 Winter Games, a record of over 1.4 million tickets had been sold, a figure that eclipsed the previous three Winter Games combined. In the OCO'88's final report, the Committee admits the culmination of fraud charges, a large portion of premier tickets requested by Olympic insiders, and poor communications led to a negative public reaction to the ticketing process.
For the first time in the history of the Olympics, both summer and winter, the Organizing Committee worked with a refund policy for returned or unused tickets. When an event was postponed by at least 24 hours, the ticketholder was eligible for a refund. Due to weather issues, the 8 events that were scheduled for the first 24 hours had to be rescheduled, resulting in 130,000 ticket refunds totalling CA$2.9 million, with transactions handled by the Royal Bank of Canada.
=== Community ===
The city of Calgary is world-renowned for the enthusiasm of its population for volunteer work which is reflected in the annual Calgary Stampede, which also relied heavily on volunteers to run the Olympics. Over 22,000 people signed up for more than 9,400 positions, no matter how inglorious: doctors, lawyers and executives even offered to collect the waste generated during the opening ceremony. Also, for the first time, a "Homestay" program was created and several local families opened their homes to visitors from around the world, and others were renting their rooms or houses to those who could not stay in pay a reserve in a hotel.
Klein was among those who felt it necessary that the event be community driven, a decision which allowed the city's welcoming spirit to manifest. The Games' mascots, Hidy and Howdy, were designed to evoke images of "western hospitality". The smiling, cowboy-themed polar bears were popular across Canada. Played by a team of 150 students from Bishop Carroll High School, the sister-brother pair made up to 300 appearances per month in the lead-up to the Games. From their introduction at the closing ceremonies of the Sarajevo Games in 1984 until their retirement at the conclusion of the Calgary Games, the pair made about 50,000 appearances. The iconic mascots graced signs welcoming travellers to Calgary for nearly two decades until they were replaced in 2007. The mascot's names "Hidy" and "Howdy" were chosen by a public contest.
=== Finances ===
The 1988 Winter Olympic Games were the most expensive Games, summer or winter, to be held at that time, with total expenses exceeding CA$879.6 million. The high cost was anticipated, as organizers were aware at the outset of their bid that most facilities would have to be constructed. The venues, constructed primarily with public money, were designed to have lasting use beyond the Games and were planned to become the home of several of Canada's national winter sports teams. The record-breaking cost of the Calgary Olympics came in stark contrast to the original projections during the 1981 bid, which estimated a total cost of CA$218 million, split between CA$126 million in capital costs and CA$92 million in operating costs. The significant growth in capital expenditures came despite the three levels of government taking over projects which constituted nearly half of the original budgeted capital projects.
The primary source of revenue for OCO'88 was the lucrative television contracts, bringing in CA$325.9 million (58.3 per cent of revenue), the absolute majority coming from American broadcasters, followed by corporate sponsorships at CA$88 million (15.8 per cent of revenue), and ticket sales of CA$41.9 million (7.5 per cent of revenue). Of the total expenses for the Games (CA$879.6 million), the Government of Canada contributed CA$200 million (22.7 per cent), the Government of Alberta contributed CA$130 million (14.8 per cent), and the City of Calgary contributed CA$43 million (4.9 per cent). The CA$320.8 million of government capital contributions not directly included in OCO'88's revenue statements included the Government of Canada constructing the CA$72.2 million Canada Olympic Park, and CA$40 million for the Olympic Oval. Provincial expenses included CA$14.4 million to build the Canmore Nordic Centre, and CA$25.3 million to build Nakiska. All three governments contributed to the CA$97.7 million Olympic Saddledome. Of OCO'88's reported revenue of CA$526.8 million, CA$110 million was paid to the IOC as a share of television and market rights, and an additional CA$7 million was paid to the United States Olympic Committee for rights to broadcast the Games in the United States, and CA$3 million was reimbursed to NOC's for accommodation fees at the Games.
The Games were a major economic boom for the city, which had fallen into its worst recession in 40 years following the collapse of both oil and grain prices three years before the games. A report prepared for the city in January 1985 estimated the games would create 11,100 man-years of employment and generate CA$450 million in salaries and wages. In its post-Games report, OCO'88 estimated the Olympics created CA$1.4 billion in economic benefits across Canada during the 1980s, 70 percent within Alberta, as a result of capital spending, increased tourism and new sporting opportunities created by the facilities.
== Torch relay ==
The 1988 Olympic torch relay began on November 15, 1987, when the torch was lit at Olympia and Greek runner Stelios Bisbas began what was called "the longest torch run in history". The flame arrived in St. John's, Newfoundland on the Atlantic Ocean two days later and over 88 days, travelled west across the then 10 Canadian provinces and two territories. It passed through most major cities, north to the Arctic Ocean at Inuvik, Northwest Territories, then west to the Pacific Ocean at Victoria, British Columbia before returning east to Alberta, and finally Calgary. The torch covered a distance of 18,000 kilometres (11,000 mi), the greatest distance for a torch relay in Olympic history until the 2000 Sydney Games, and a sharp contrast to the 1976 Montreal Games when the relay covered only 775 kilometres (482 mi).
The identity of the final torchbearer who would light the Olympic cauldron was one of the Organizing Committee's most closely guarded secrets. The relay began at St. John's with Barbara Ann Scott and Ferd Hayward representing Canada's past Olympians and ended with Ken Read and Cathy Priestner carrying the torch into McMahon Stadium representing the nation's current Olympians. They then stopped to acknowledge the contribution of parathlete Rick Hansen and his "Man in Motion" tour before handing the torch to 12-year-old Robyn Perry, an aspiring figure skater who was selected to represent the future of the Olympic Movement three years before the IOC changed the year of the Winter Games, to light the cauldron.
=== Olympic Torch ===
The design of the Olympic Torch for the Calgary games was a reproduction of the main landmark building of the Calgary skyline, the Calgary Tower. The National Research Council Canada developed the design for the Torch, the base of the torch is made of maple wood, the national tree of Canada, aluminum, and hardened steel, all 100% collected in Canadian territory. The torch was designed to remain lit despite the extreme conditions of Canadian winters. The Torch had to be light enough for relay runners to carry comfortably, and the final design came in at 60 centimetres in length and 1.7 kilograms in weight. The maple handle portion included laser-incised pictograms of the 10 official Olympic Winter sports, and lettering was engraved on the steel caldron portion. The torch used a mixed type of three fuels (gasoline, kerosene and alcohol) to allow a continuous burn during the unpredictable Canadian winter. Approximately 100 torches were manufactured for the Games.
== Event highlights ==
The 1988 Winter Games began on the afternoon of February 13 with a $10 million opening ceremony in front of 60,000 spectators at McMahon Stadium that featured 5,500 performers, an aerial flyover by the Royal Canadian Air Force's Snowbirds, the parade of nations and the release of 1,000 homing pigeons. Canadian composer David Foster performed the instrumental theme song ("Winter Games") and its vocal version ("Can't You Feel It?"), while internationally recognized Canadian folk/country musicians Gordon Lightfoot singing Alberta Bound and Ian Tyson performing Four Strong Winds were among the featured performers. Governor General Jeanne Sauvé opened the Games on behalf of Queen Elizabeth II as an estimated 1.5 billion people watched the ceremony.
The weather was a dominant story throughout much of the Games, as strong chinook winds that brought daily temperatures as high as 17 °C (63 °F) wreaked havoc on the schedules for outdoor events. Events were delayed when winds were deemed unsafe for competitors and organizers used artificial snow making equipment to ensure skiing venues were properly prepared. It was the first time in Olympic history that alpine events were held on artificial snow. The Games were also marred by the death of the Austrian ski team's doctor, Joerg Oberhammer, on February 25 after a collision with another skier threw him underneath a working snow grooming machine at Nakiska, crushing and killing him instantly. The incident was ruled an accident.
The top individual competitors at the Olympics were Finnish ski jumper Matti Nykänen and Dutch speed skater Yvonne van Gennip as they each won three gold medals. Italy's Alberto Tomba won gold in two skiing events, his first of five career Olympic medals en route to becoming the first alpine skier to win medals at three Winter Games. East Germany's Katarina Witt defended her 1984 gold medal in women's figure skating, capturing a second gold in Calgary. Her compatriot Christa Rothenburger won the gold medal in the 1000 metre race in speed skating, then went on to win a silver medal in the team sprint cycling event at the 1988 Summer Games to become the only person in Olympic history to win medals at both Olympic Games in the same year. The Soviet Union won gold in ice hockey as Nordic neighbours Finland and Sweden took silver and bronze, respectively.
As it had in 1976, Canada again failed to win an official gold medal as the host of an Olympic Games. Canadians won two gold medals in demonstration events, including by Sylvie Daigle as one of her five medals in short-track speed skating. Canada's top official performances came in figure skating where Brian Orser and Elizabeth Manley each won silver medals. Promoted by the media as the "Battle of the Brians"—the competition between Orser and American rival Brian Boitano—and the "Battle of the Carmens"—between Witt and American rival Debi Thomas, who had both elected to skate to Bizet's Carmen in their long programs—were the marquee events of the Games. Boitano won the gold medal over Orser by one-tenth of a point. Witt won the gold while Thomas won the bronze medal. Manley was not viewed as a medal contender, but skated the greatest performance of her career to come within a fraction of Witt's gold medal-winning score.
American speed skater Dan Jansen's personal tragedy was one of the more poignant events of the Games as he skated the 500 metre race mere hours after his sister Jane died of leukemia. A gold medal favourite, Jansen chose to compete as he felt it is what his sister would have wanted. Viewers around the world witnessed his heartbreak as he fell and crashed into the outer wall in the first quarter of his heat. In the 1000 metre race four days later, Jansen was on a world record pace when he again fell. After failing again in Albertville, Jansen finally won a gold medal at the 1994 Lillehamer Games.
One of the most popular athletes from the games was British ski jumper Michael Edwards, who gained infamy by placing last in both the 70 and 90 metre events finishing 70 and 53 points behind his next closest competitor, respectively. Edwards' "heroic failure" made him an instant celebrity; he went from earning £6,000 per year as a plasterer before the Games to making £10,000 per hour per appearance afterward. Left embarrassed by the spectacle he created, the IOC altered the rules following Calgary to eliminate each nation's right to send at least one athlete and set minimum competition standards for future events. Regardless, the President of the Organizing Committee, Frank King, playfully saluted Edwards' unorthodox sporting legacy, which would also be commemorated with a 2016 feature film, Eddie the Eagle.
The Jamaican bobsleigh team, making their nation's Winter Olympic debut, was also popular in Calgary. The team was the brainchild of a pair of Americans who recruited individuals with strong sprinting ability from the Jamaican military to form the team. Dudley Stokes and Michael White finished the two-man event in 30th place out of 41 competitors and launched the Jamaican team into worldwide fame. The pair, along with Devon Harris and Chris Stokes, crashed in the four-man event, but were met with cheers from the crowd as they pushed their sled across the finish line. Their odyssey was made into the 1993 movie Cool Runnings, a largely fictionalized comedy by Walt Disney Pictures.
== Medal table ==
* Host nation (Canada)
=== Podium sweeps ===
=== Records in speed skating ===
All of the long track world (WR) and Olympic records (OR) that occurred during these Games were later broken at succeeding Winter Olympics and other world events.
== Legacy ==
Prior to 1988, the Winter Olympics were viewed as a second-rate event, in comparison to the Summer Olympics. The IOC had, at one point, considered eliminating it altogether. First, there are only a few mountainous areas in the world that would be able to host the Winter Olympics. Second, there were major challenges in generating revenues for the host city and the IOC from such Games. However, CODA convinced the IOC that it could not only generate enough revenues to make a profit but have enough money left over to ensure a lasting legacy of winter sports development. OCO'88 followed mainly the example of LAOOC which organized the 1984 Summer Olympics. Under LAOOC's president, Peter Ueberroth, he was able to attract a large United States television contract and Los Angeles became the first Olympic host city to make a profit. For the 1988 Winter Olympics, OCO'88 attracted financial support from over two dozen major Canadian and multinational corporations, in order to generate millions of dollars in revenues.
For OCO'88, it foresaw some winter sports, like the debut of the Super-G and other new winter sports events, as a way to increase the audience's appeal of the Winter Olympics. Thus, for the sponsors, the Games' length of time to 15 days provided an extra weekend of Olympic media coverage to the world. This additional programming time was filled mainly by TV-friendly demonstration events that are popular in Canada. The 1988 Winter Olympics' exposure to curling, freestyle skiing, and short track speed skating events in Calgary influenced the worldwide popularity of all of them. So much so that all these events became the new and official Olympic finals in the period between the 1992 Winter Olympics to the 2002 Winter Olympics.
=== Impact on Calgary ===
Hosting the Winter Olympics helped fuel a significant increase in Calgary's reputation on the world stage. Crosbie Cotton, a reporter for the Calgary Herald who covered the city's Olympic odyssey from its 1979 initiative to the closing ceremonies, noted an increased positive outlook of the city's population over time. He believed that the populace began to outgrow its "giant inferiority complex" that is "typically Canadian", by replacing it with a new level of confidence as the Games approached. This outcome helped the city grow from a regional oil and gas centre, best known for the Calgary Stampede, to a destination for international political, economic, and sporting events. A study prepared for the organizing committee of the 2010 Winter Olympics, (VANOC), claimed that Calgary hosted over 200 national and international sporting competitions between 1987 and 2007, due to the facilities it had constructed for these Olympic Games.
The Games' enduring popularity within Calgary has been attributed to efforts in making them "everybody's Games." Aside from the sense of community fostered by the high level of volunteer support, OCO'88 included the general public in other ways. For example, the citizens were given an opportunity to purchase a brick with their names engraved on it. Those bricks were used to build the Olympic Plaza, where the medal ceremonies were held in 1988. It remains a popular public park and event site in the city's downtown core today.
After the success of these Olympic Games, Calgary was wanting to bring back the Olympic experience again. It offered, to the IOC, in becoming a possible alternate host city of the 2002 Winter Olympics, after a bidding scandal resulted in speculation that Salt Lake City would not be able to remain the host city. Next, the city was attempting to be Canada's bid for the 2010 Winter Olympics, but the COC decided to give it to Vancouver and Whistler. Later, a 2013 Calgary Sun online poll found that 81% of respondents said they would support the idea of hosting another Winter Olympics. On November 13, 2018, Calgary held a public non-binding plebiscite on whether it should bid to host the 2026 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. On November 19, 2018, the results of the plebiscite showed that 56.4% (171,750) of eligible voters said "No", while 43.6% (132,832) of them said "Yes." Therefore, the city council concluded that the bid would be withdrawn.
=== Canada's development as a winter sport nation ===
In light of the 1976 Summer Olympics' disastrous financial legacy, the Calgary Olympic organizing committee, OCO'88, parlayed its ability to generate television and sponsorship revenues, along with the three levels of government support, into what was ultimately a C$170 million surplus. While OCO'88 reported officially a surplus after the Games were over, the accounting practices of the final report did not include federal, provincial, and municipal capital and operations funding infrastructures.
The overall surplus was turned into endowment funds that were split between Canada Olympic Park (C$110 million) and CODA. They were subsequently reformed later, in order to manage the Olympic facilities with a trust fund that had grown steadily to be worth over C$200 million by 2013. Consequently, all five primary facilities built for the 1988 Winter Olympics remained operational for their intended purposes, 25 years after the Games concluded. Calgary and Canmore became the heart of winter sports in Canada, as CODA (now known as WinSport) established itself as the nation's leader in developing elite winter athletes. For the 2006 Winter Olympics, a quarter of Canada's Olympic winter athletes were from the Calgary region and three-quarters of its medalists were from or trained in Alberta.
Before 1988, Canada was not a winter sports power. The nation's five overall medals won in Calgary was its second-best total at a Winter Olympics, behind the seven overall medals it won at the 1932 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York. After 1988, Canada won an increasing number of gold and overall medals at each successive Winter Olympics. It culminated in an overall performance of 26 medals won at the 2010 Winter Olympics, which included the previous Olympic record of 14 gold medals. Until 2010, Norway won the most Olympic gold medals on home soil at the 1952 Winter Olympics. However, Norway recaptured the record of winning the most Olympic gold medals at a single Winter Olympics in 2022, claiming 16. At the 2018 Winter Olympics, Canada earned its highest overall medal count in the Winter Olympics to date, with a total of 29 medals. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steele_Retchless | Steele Retchless | Steele Retchless (born 16 June 1971) is a former United States international rugby league footballer who played as a second-row and prop forward in the 1990s, and 2000s. He played for the Brisbane Broncos and the South Queensland Crushers in the ARL Premiership and the London Broncos in the European Super League. He also played for the Ipswich Jets and Easts Tigers in the Queensland Cup.
== Background ==
Steele Retchless is the son of former Brisbane Rugby League player Mick Retchless.
== Playing career ==
=== Early years ===
He played his junior football for Fortitude Valley Diehards and made his senior début for the club in 1991. In 1993, Retchless switched to Wests Panthers contesting successive finals and winning the Brisbane Rugby League premiership in his first year at the club.
Retchless joined first grade Australian Rugby League premiership side the Brisbane Broncos in 1995. During a two-year contract he made 11 appearances. In 1997, Retchless moved to the South Queensland Crushers and participated in 22 matches. The Crushers picked up a second successive wooden spoon and folded at the end of the season.
=== London Broncos ===
The collapse of the Crushers presented an opportunity to play in Britain's Super League for the London Broncos. During seven seasons at the club, Retchless set a club record number of appearances. In 1998 against Bradford Bulls, he made a Super League record of 66 tackles in a game. That season he was named in 1998's Super League III Dream Team.
In 1999, Retchless scored a memorable last minute try in the Challenge Cup semi-final to earn the London Broncos a place in their first ever final. In his final season at the club, 2004, Retchless was awarded Player of the Year.
=== Post-Broncos career and retirement ===
After his time in London, Retchless returned to Australia to play in the Queensland Wizard Cup for Ipswich Jets in 2005. After finishing that season as a leading contender for the Qantas Player of the Year, Retchless played a season for Easts Tigers in 2006. Easts made the finals but were subsequently beaten by Redcliffe in the major Semi-Final, with Redcliffe going on to win the premiership. Retchless won the Player of the Year award for Easts Tigers and also Best Forward in his final season.
Retchless played his last game for Easts Tigers in a Queensland Wizard Cup preliminary final defeat by the Redcliffe Dolphins in 2006.
Retchless is currently on the coaching staff at Easts Tigers alongside former International Darren Smith.
== Personal life ==
He is the father to 2 boys and 1 girl.
== Career highlights ==
Junior Clubs: Fortitude Valley Diehards
Senior Clubs: Fortitude Valley Diehards, Western Suburbs Panthers, Brisbane Broncos, South Queensland Crushers, London Broncos, Ipswich Jets, Eastern Suburbs Tigers
First Grade Stats: 143 career games in QLD Comp (Approx.) 235 career games in ARL & English Super League scoring 21 tries, including a club record 202 games for London Broncos.
Most tackles made in any Super League Match: 66 by Steele Retchless (against Bradford in 1998. This was all-time Super League record). – since beaten by Morgan Smithies
== Representative games ==
Retchless qualified to play for the USA Tomahawks through his grandfather, Stuart Beck, who was raised in Iowa, and his mother, who was born in Washington, D.C. Beck arrived in Australia from the United States, captaining his adopted homeland in the sport of baseball. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joel_Dyck | Joel Dyck | Joel Oshiro Dyck (born July 28, 1971) is a retired Japanese-Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman. He played 15 seasons in the Japan Ice Hockey League and the Asia League Ice Hockey with the Nippon Paper Cranes, and competed at the 2002, 2003, and 2004 IIHF World Championships as a member of the Japan men's national ice hockey team.
== Career statistics == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_S._Truman | Harry S. Truman | Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884 – December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. As the 34th vice president in 1945, he assumed the presidency upon the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt that year. Subsequently, Truman implemented the Marshall Plan in the aftermath of World War II to rebuild the economy of Western Europe, and established both the Truman Doctrine and NATO to contain the expansion of Soviet communism. A member of the Democratic Party, he proposed numerous New Deal coalition liberal domestic reforms, but few were enacted by the conservative coalition that dominated the United States Congress.
Born in Lamar, Missouri, Truman was raised in Independence, Missouri, and during World War I, he fought in France as a captain in the Field Artillery. Returning home, he opened a haberdashery in Kansas City, Missouri, and was elected as a judge of Jackson County in 1922. Truman was elected to the U.S. Senate for Missouri in 1934. Between 1940 and 1944, he gained national prominence as the chairman of the Truman Committee, which aimed to reduce waste and inefficiency in wartime contracts. Truman was elected vice president in the 1944 presidential election and became president upon Roosevelt's death in April 1945. Only then was he told about the ongoing Manhattan Project and the atomic bomb. Truman authorized the first and only use of nuclear weapons in war against the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Truman's administration engaged in an internationalist foreign policy by working closely with Britain. Truman staunchly denounced isolationism. He energized the New Deal coalition during the 1948 presidential election, despite a divided Democratic Party, and won a surprise victory against the Republican Party's nominee, Thomas E. Dewey. Truman presided over the onset of the Cold War in 1947. He oversaw the Berlin Airlift and the Marshall Plan in 1948. With America's involvement in the Korean War (1950–1953), South Korea repelled the invasion by North Korea. Domestically, the postwar economic challenges such as strikes and inflation created a mixed reaction over the effectiveness of his administration. In 1948, he proposed that Congress should pass comprehensive civil rights legislation. Congress refused, so Truman issued Executive Order 9980 and Executive Order 9981, which prohibited discrimination in agencies of the federal government and desegregated the United States Armed Forces.
Investigations revealed corruption in parts of the Truman administration, and this became a major campaign issue in the 1952 presidential election, although they did not implicate Truman himself. He was eligible for reelection in 1952 but he chose not to run due to poor polling. Subsequently, Truman went into a retirement marked by the founding of his presidential library and the publication of his memoirs. It was long believed that Truman's retirement years were financially difficult, resulting in Congress establishing a pension for former presidents. However, evidence eventually emerged that he amassed considerable wealth, some of it during his presidency. When Truman left office, his administration was heavily criticized. Despite this controversy, scholars rank Truman in the first quartile of U.S. presidents. In addition, critical reassessments of his presidency have improved his reputation among historians and the general population.
== Early life, family, and education ==
Harry S. Truman was born in Lamar, Missouri, on May 8, 1884, the oldest child of John Anderson Truman and Martha Ellen Young Truman. He was named for his maternal uncle, Harrison "Harry" Young. His middle initial, "S", is not an abbreviation of one particular name. Rather, it honors both his grandfathers, Anderson Shipp Truman and Solomon Young, a somewhat common practice in the American South at the time. A brother, John Vivian, was born soon after Harry, followed by sister Mary Jane. While Truman's ancestry was primarily English, he also had some Scots-Irish, German, and French ancestry.
John Truman was a farmer and livestock dealer. The family lived in Lamar until Harry was ten months old, when they moved to a farm near Harrisonville, Missouri. They next moved to Belton and in 1887 to his grandparents' 600-acre (240 ha) farm in Grandview. When Truman was six, his parents moved to Independence, Missouri, so he could attend the Presbyterian Church Sunday School. He did not attend a conventional school until he was eight years old. While living in Independence, he served as a Shabbos goy for Jewish neighbors, doing tasks for them on Shabbat that their religion prevented them from doing on that day.
Truman was interested in music, reading, history, and math, all encouraged by his mother, with whom he was very close. As president, he solicited political as well as personal advice from her. Truman learned to play the piano at age seven and took lessons from Mrs. E.C. White, a well-respected teacher in Kansas City. He got up at five o'clock every morning to practice the piano, which he studied more than twice a week until he was fifteen, becoming quite a skilled player. Truman worked as a page at the 1900 Democratic National Convention in Kansas City; his father had many friends active in the Democratic Party who helped young Harry to gain his first political position.
After graduating from Independence High School in 1901, Truman took classes at Spalding's Commercial College, a Kansas City business school. He studied bookkeeping, shorthand, and typing but stopped after a year.
Segregation was practiced and largely accepted where Truman grew up. While he later came to support civil rights, early letters of the young Truman reflected his upbringing and prejudices against African and Asian Americans.
== Working career ==
Truman was employed briefly in the mailroom of The Kansas City Star before making use of his business college experience to obtain a job as a timekeeper for construction crews on the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, which required him to sleep in workmen's camps along the rail lines. Truman and his brother Vivian later worked as clerks at the National Bank of Commerce in Kansas City.
In 1906, Truman returned to the Grandview farm, where he lived until entering the army in 1917. During this period, he courted Bess Wallace. He proposed in 1911, but she turned him down. Believing Wallace turned him down because he did not have much money, Truman later said he intended to propose again, but he wanted to have a better income than that earned by a farmer. In fact, Wallace later told Truman she did not intend to marry, but if she did, it would be to him. Still determined to improve his finances, during his years on the farm and immediately after World War I, Truman became active in several business ventures. These included a lead and zinc mine near Commerce, Oklahoma, a company that bought land and leased the oil drilling rights to prospectors, and speculation in Kansas City real estate. Truman occasionally derived some income from these enterprises, but none proved successful in the long term.
Truman is the only president since William McKinley (elected in 1896) who did not earn a college degree. In addition to having briefly attended business college, from 1923 to 1925 he took night courses toward an LL.B. at the Kansas City Law School (now the University of Missouri–Kansas City School of Law) but dropped out after losing reelection as county judge. He was informed by attorneys in the Kansas City area that his education and experience were probably sufficient to receive a license to practice law but did not pursue it because he won election as presiding judge.
While serving as president in 1947, Truman applied for a law license. A friend who was an attorney began working out the arrangements, and informed Truman that his application had to be notarized. By the time Truman received this information he had changed his mind, so he never followed up. After the discovery of Truman's application in 1996 the Missouri Supreme Court issued him a posthumous honorary law license.
== Military service ==
=== National Guard ===
Due to the lack of funds for college, Truman considered attending the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, which had no tuition, but he was refused an appointment because of poor eyesight. He enlisted in the Missouri National Guard in 1905 and served until 1911 in the Kansas City-based Battery B, 2nd Missouri Field Artillery Regiment, in which he attained the rank of corporal. At his induction, his eyesight without glasses was unacceptable: 20/50 in the right eye and 20/400 in the left (past the standard for legal blindness). The second time he took the test, he passed by secretly memorizing the eye chart. He was described as 5 feet 10 inches tall, gray eyed, dark haired and of light complexion.
=== World War I ===
When the United States entered World War I on April 6, 1917, Truman rejoined Battery B, successfully recruiting new soldiers for the expanding unit, for which he was elected as their first lieutenant. Before deployment to France, Truman was sent for training to Camp Doniphan, Fort Sill, near Lawton, Oklahoma, when his regiment was federalized as the 129th Field Artillery. The regimental commander during its training was Robert M. Danford, who later served as the Army's Chief of Field Artillery. Truman recalled that he learned more practical, useful information from Danford in six weeks than from six months of formal Army instruction, and when Truman served as an artillery instructor, he consciously patterned his approach on Danford's.
Truman also ran the camp canteen with Edward Jacobson, a clothing store clerk he knew from Kansas City. Unlike most canteens funded by unit members, which usually lost money, the canteen operated by Truman and Jacobson turned a profit, returning each soldier's initial $2 investment and $10,000 in dividends in six months. At Fort Sill, Truman met Lieutenant James M. Pendergast, nephew of Tom Pendergast, a Kansas City political boss, a connection that had a profound influence on Truman's later life.
In mid-1918, about one million soldiers of the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) were in France. Truman was promoted to captain effective April 23, and in July became commander of the newly arrived Battery D, 129th Field Artillery, 35th Division. Battery D was known for its discipline problems, and Truman was initially unpopular because of his efforts to restore order. Despite attempts by the men to intimidate him into quitting, Truman succeeded by making his corporals and sergeants accountable for discipline. He promised to back them up if they performed capably and reduce them to private if they did not. In an event memorialized in battery lore as "The Battle of Who Run", his soldiers began to flee during a sudden night attack by the Germans in the Vosges Mountains; Truman succeeded at ordering his men to stay and fight, using profanity from his railroad days. The men were so surprised to hear Truman use such language that they immediately obeyed.
Truman's unit joined in a massive prearranged assault barrage on September 26, 1918, at the opening of the Meuse–Argonne offensive. They advanced with difficulty over pitted terrain to follow the infantry, and set up an observation post west of Cheppy. On September 27, Truman saw through his binoculars an enemy artillery battery deploying across a river in a position which would allow them to fire upon the neighboring 28th Division. Truman's orders limited him to targets facing the 35th Division, but he ignored this and patiently waited until the Germans had walked their horses well away from their guns, ensuring they could not relocate out of range of Truman's battery. He then ordered his men to open fire, and their attack destroyed the enemy battery. His actions were credited with saving the lives of 28th Division soldiers who otherwise would have come under fire from the Germans. Truman was given a dressing down by his regimental commander, Colonel Karl D. Klemm, who threatened to convene a court-martial, but Klemm never followed through, and Truman was not punished.
In other action during the Meuse–Argonne offensive, Truman's battery provided support for George S. Patton's tank brigade, and fired some of the last shots of the war on November 11, 1918. Battery D did not lose any men while under Truman's command in France. To show their appreciation for his leadership, his men presented him with a large loving cup upon their return to the United States after the war.
The war was a transformative experience in which Truman manifested his leadership qualities. He had entered the service in 1917 as a family farmer who had worked in clerical jobs that did not require the ability to motivate and direct others, but during the war, he gained leadership experience and a record of success that greatly enhanced and supported his post-war political career in Missouri.
Truman was brought up in the Presbyterian and Baptist churches, but avoided revivals and sometimes ridiculed revivalist preachers. He rarely spoke about religion, which to him, primarily meant ethical behavior along traditional Protestant lines. Truman once wrote in a letter to his future wife, Bess: "You know that I know nothing about Lent and such things..." Most of the soldiers he commanded in the war were Catholics, and one of his close friends was the 129th Field Artillery's chaplain, Monsignor L. Curtis Tiernan. The two remained friends until Tiernan's death in 1960. Developing leadership and interpersonal skills that later made him a successful politician helped Truman get along with his Catholic soldiers, as he did with soldiers of other Christian denominations and the unit's Jewish members.
=== Officers' Reserve Corps ===
Truman was honorably discharged from the Army as a captain on May 6, 1919. In 1920, he was appointed a major in the Officers Reserve Corps. He became a lieutenant colonel in 1925 and a colonel in 1932. In the 1920s and 1930s he commanded 1st Battalion, 379th Field Artillery Regiment, 102nd Infantry Division. After promotion to colonel, Truman advanced to command of the regiment.
After his election to the U.S. Senate, Truman was transferred to the General Assignments Group, a holding unit for less active officers, although he had not been consulted in advance. Truman protested his reassignment, which led to his resumption of regimental command. He remained an active reservist until the early 1940s. Truman volunteered for active military service during World War II, but was not accepted, partly because of age, and partly because President Franklin D. Roosevelt desired that senators and congressmen who belonged to the military reserves support the war effort by remaining in Congress, or by ending their active duty service and resuming their congressional seats. He was an inactive reservist from the early 1940s until retiring as a colonel in the then redesignated U.S. Army Reserve on January 20, 1953.
=== Military awards and decorations ===
Truman was awarded a World War I Victory Medal with two battle clasps (for St. Mihiel and Meuse-Argonne) and a Defensive Sector Clasp. He was also the recipient of two Armed Forces Reserve Medals. After the war, Truman almost always wore a bronze World War I victory lapel pin as a memento of his overseas service.
== After the War ==
=== Marriage ===
After his wartime service, Truman returned to Independence, where he married Bess Wallace on June 28, 1919. The couple had one child, Mary Margaret Truman.
Shortly before the wedding, Truman and Jacobson opened a haberdashery together at 104 West 12th Street in downtown Kansas City. After brief initial success, the store went bankrupt during the recession of 1921. Truman did not pay off the last of the debts from that venture until 1935, when he did so with the aid of banker William T. Kemper, who worked behind the scenes to enable Truman's brother Vivian to buy Truman's $5,600 promissory note during the asset sale of a bank that had failed in the Great Depression. The note had risen and fallen in value as it was bought and sold, interest accumulated and Truman made payments, so by the time the last bank to hold it failed, it was worth nearly $9,000. Thanks to Kemper's efforts, Vivian Truman was able to buy it for $1,000. Jacobson and Truman remained close friends even after their store failed, and Jacobson's advice to Truman on Zionism later played a role in the U.S. Government's decision to recognize Israel.
=== Jackson County judge ===
With the help of the Kansas City Democratic machine led by Tom Pendergast, Truman was elected in 1922 as County Court judge of Jackson County's eastern district—Jackson County's three-judge court included judges from the western district (Kansas City), the eastern district (the county outside Kansas City), and a presiding judge elected countywide. This was an administrative rather than a judicial court, similar to county commissions in many other jurisdictions. Truman succeeded James E. Gilday and served from January 1, 1923, to January 1, 1925. He lost his 1924 reelection campaign to Henry Rummel in a Republican wave led by President Calvin Coolidge's landslide election to a full term. Two years selling automobile club memberships convinced him that a public service career was safer for a family man approaching middle age, and he planned a run for presiding judge in 1926.
Truman won the job in 1926 with the support of the Pendergast machine, and succeeded Elihu W. Hayes. Truman was re-elected in 1930; he served from January 1, 1927, to January 1, 1935, and was succeeded by Eugene I. Purcell. As presiding judge, Truman helped coordinate the Ten Year Plan, which transformed Jackson County and the Kansas City skyline with new public works projects, including an extensive series of roads and construction of a new Wight and Wight-designed County Court building. Also in 1926, he became president of the National Old Trails Road Association, and during his term he oversaw dedication of 12 Madonna of the Trail monuments to honor pioneer women.
In 1933, Truman was named Missouri's director for the Federal Re-Employment program (part of the Civil Works Administration) at the request of Postmaster General James Farley. This was payback to Pendergast for delivering the Kansas City vote to Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1932 presidential election. The appointment confirmed Pendergast's control over federal patronage jobs in Missouri and marked the zenith of his power. It also created a relationship between Truman and Roosevelt's aide Harry Hopkins and assured Truman's avid support for the New Deal.
=== U.S. Senator from Missouri ===
After serving as a county judge, Truman wanted to run for governor of Missouri or Congress, but Pendergast rejected these ideas. Truman then thought he might serve out his career in some well-paying county sinecure; circumstances changed when Pendergast reluctantly backed him as the machine's choice in the 1934 Democratic primary election for the U.S. Senate from Missouri, after Pendergast's first four choices had declined to run. In the primary, Truman defeated Congressmen John J. Cochran and Jacob L. Milligan with the solid support of Jackson County, which was crucial to his candidacy. Also critical were the contacts he had made statewide in his capacity as a county official, member of the Freemasons, military reservist, and member of the American Legion. In the general election, Truman defeated incumbent Republican Roscoe C. Patterson by nearly 20 percentage points in a continuing wave of pro-New Deal Democrats elected during the Great Depression.
Truman assumed office with a reputation as "the Senator from Pendergast". He referred patronage decisions to Pendergast but maintained that he voted with his own conscience. He later defended the patronage decisions by saying that "by offering a little to the machine, [he] saved a lot". In his first term, Truman spoke out against corporate greed and the dangers of Wall Street speculators and other moneyed special interests attaining too much influence in national affairs. Though he served on the high-profile Appropriations and Interstate Commerce Committees, he was largely ignored by President Roosevelt and had trouble getting calls returned from the White House.
During the U.S. Senate election in 1940, U.S. Attorney Maurice Milligan (former opponent Jacob Milligan's brother) and former governor Lloyd Stark both challenged Truman in the Democratic primary. Truman was politically weakened by Pendergast's imprisonment for income tax evasion the previous year; the senator had remained loyal, having claimed that Republican judges (not the Roosevelt administration) were responsible for the boss's downfall. St. Louis party leader Robert E. Hannegan's support of Truman proved crucial; he later brokered the deal that put Truman on the national ticket. In the end, Stark and Milligan split the anti-Pendergast vote in the Senate Democratic primary and Truman won by a total of 8,000 votes. In the November election, Truman defeated Republican Manvel H. Davis by 51–49 percent. As senator, Truman opposed both Nazi Germany and Communist Russia. Two days after Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941, Truman said:
If we see that Germany is winning we ought to help Russia, and if Russia is winning we ought to help Germany, and that way let them kill as many as possible although I don't want to see Hitler victorious under any circumstances.
This quote without its last part later became a staple in Soviet and later Russian propaganda as "evidence" of an American conspiracy to destroy the country.
==== Truman Committee ====
In late 1940, Truman traveled to various military bases. The waste and profiteering he saw led him to use his chairmanship of the Committee on Military Affairs Subcommittee on War Mobilization to start investigations into abuses while the nation prepared for war. A new special committee was set up under Truman to conduct a formal investigation; the White House supported this plan rather than weather a more hostile probe by the House of Representatives. The main mission of the committee was to expose and fight waste and corruption in the gigantic government wartime contracts.
Truman's initiative convinced Senate leaders of the necessity for the committee, which reflected his demands for honest and efficient administration and his distrust of big business and Wall Street. Truman managed the committee "with extraordinary skill" and usually achieved consensus, generating heavy media publicity that gave him a national reputation. Activities of the Truman Committee ranged from criticizing the "dollar-a-year men" hired by the government, many of whom proved ineffective, to investigating a shoddily built New Jersey housing project for war workers. In March 1944, Truman attempted to probe the expensive Manhattan Project but was persuaded by Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson to discontinue with the investigation.
The committee reportedly saved as much as $15 billion (equivalent to $260 billion in 2025), and its activities put Truman on the cover of Time magazine. According to the Senate's historical minutes, in leading the committee, "Truman erased his earlier public image as an errand-runner for Kansas City politicos", and "no senator ever gained greater political benefits from chairing a special investigating committee than did Missouri's Harry S. Truman."
== Vice presidency (1945) ==
Roosevelt's advisors knew that Roosevelt might not live out a fourth term and that his vice president would very likely become the next president. Henry A. Wallace had served as Roosevelt's vice president for four years and was popular on the left, but he was viewed as too far to the left and too friendly to labor for some of Roosevelt's advisers. The President and several of his confidantes wanted to replace Wallace with someone more acceptable to Democratic Party leaders. Outgoing Democratic National Committee chairman Frank C. Walker, incoming chairman Hannegan, party treasurer Edwin W. Pauley, Bronx party boss Ed Flynn, Chicago Mayor Edward Joseph Kelly, and lobbyist George E. Allen all wanted to keep Wallace off the ticket. Roosevelt told party leaders that he would accept either Truman or Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas.
State and city party leaders strongly preferred Truman, and Roosevelt agreed. Truman had repeatedly said that he was not in the race and that he did not want the vice presidency, and he remained reluctant. One reason was that his wife and sister Mary Jane were both on his Senate staff payroll, and he feared negative publicity. Truman did not campaign for the vice-presidential spot, though he welcomed the attention as evidence that he had become more than the "Senator from Pendergast". Truman's nomination was dubbed the "Second Missouri Compromise" and was well received. The Roosevelt–Truman ticket achieved a 432–99 electoral-vote victory in the election, defeating the Republican ticket of Governor Thomas E. Dewey of New York and running mate Governor John Bricker of Ohio. Truman was sworn in as vice president on January 20, 1945. After the inauguration, Truman called his mother, who instructed him, "Now you behave yourself."
Truman's brief vice-presidency was relatively uneventful. Truman mostly presided over the Senate and attended parties and receptions. He kept the same offices from his Senate years, mostly using the Vice President's official office in the Capitol only to greet visitors. Truman was the first vice president to have a Secret Service agent assigned to him. Truman envisioned the office as a liaison between the Senate and the president. On April 10, 1945, Truman cast his only tie-breaking vote as president of the Senate, against a Robert A. Taft amendment that would have blocked the postwar delivery of Lend-Lease Act items contracted for during the war. Roosevelt rarely contacted him, even to inform him of major decisions; the president and vice president met alone together only twice during their time in office.
In one of his first acts as vice president, Truman created some controversy when he attended the disgraced Pendergast's funeral. He brushed aside the criticism, saying simply, "He was always my friend and I have always been his." He had rarely discussed world affairs or domestic politics with Roosevelt; he was uninformed about major initiatives relating to the war and the top-secret Manhattan Project, which was about to test the world's first atomic bomb. In an event that generated negative publicity for Truman, he was photographed with actress Lauren Bacall sitting atop the piano at the National Press Club as he played for soldiers.
Truman had been vice president for 82 days when President Roosevelt died on April 12, 1945. Truman, presiding over the Senate, as usual, had just adjourned the session for the day and was preparing to have a drink in House Speaker Sam Rayburn's office when he received an urgent message to go immediately to the White House, where Eleanor Roosevelt told him that her husband had died after a massive cerebral hemorrhage. Truman asked her if there was anything he could do for her; she replied, "Is there anything we can do for you? For you are the one in trouble now!" He was sworn in as president at 7:09 p.m. in the West Wing of the White House, by Chief Justice Harlan F. Stone.
== Presidency (1945–1953) ==
At the White House, Truman replaced Roosevelt holdovers with old confidants. The White House was badly understaffed with no more than a dozen aides; they could barely keep up with the heavy workflow of a greatly expanded executive department. Truman acted as his own chief of staff on a daily basis, as well as his own liaison with Congress—a body he already knew very well. He was not well prepared to deal with the press, and never achieved the jovial familiarity of FDR. Filled with latent anger about all the setbacks in his career, he bitterly mistrusted journalists. He saw them as enemies lying in wait for his next careless miscue. Truman was a very hard worker, often to the point of exhaustion, which left him testy, easily annoyed, and on the verge of appearing unpresidential or petty. In terms of major issues, he discussed them in depth with top advisors. He mastered the details of the federal budget as well as anyone. Truman was a poor speaker reading a text. However, his visible anger made him an effective stump speaker, denouncing his enemies as his supporters hollered back at him "Give Em Hell, Harry!"
Truman surrounded himself with friends and appointed several to high positions that seemed beyond their competence, including his two secretaries of the treasury, Fred Vinson and John Snyder. His closest friend in the White House was his military aide Harry H. Vaughan, who knew little of military or foreign affairs and was criticized for trading access to the White House for expensive gifts. Truman loved to spend as much time as possible playing poker, telling stories and sipping bourbon. Alonzo Hamby notes that:
... to many in the general public, gambling and bourbon swilling, however low-key, were not quite presidential. Neither was the intemperant "give 'em hell" campaign style nor the occasional profane phrase uttered in public. Poker exemplified a larger problem: the tension between his attempts at an image of leadership necessarily a cut above the ordinary and an informality that at times appeared to verge on crudeness.
=== First term (1945–1949) ===
==== Assuming office ====
On his first full day, Truman told reporters: "Boys, if you ever pray, pray for me now. I don't know if you fellas ever had a load of hay fall on you, but when they told me what happened yesterday, I felt like the moon, the stars, and all the planets had fallen on me."
Truman asked all the members of Roosevelt's cabinet to remain in place, but he soon replaced almost all of them, especially with friends from his Senate days.
==== Dropping atomic bombs on Japan ====
Truman benefited from a honeymoon period from the success in defeating Nazi Germany in Europe and the nation celebrated V-E Day on May 8, 1945, his 61st birthday.
Although Truman was told briefly on the afternoon of April 12 that the United States had a new, highly destructive weapon, it was not until April 25 that Secretary of War Henry Stimson told him the details:
We have discovered the most terrible bomb in the history of the world. It may be the fire destruction prophesied in the Euphrates Valley Era, after Noah and his fabulous Ark.
Truman journeyed to Berlin for the Potsdam Conference with Joseph Stalin and British prime minister Winston Churchill. He was there when he learned the Trinity test—the first atomic bomb—on July 16 had been successful. He hinted to Stalin that he was about to use a new kind of weapon against the Japanese. Though this was the first time the Soviets had been officially given information about the atomic bomb, Stalin was already aware of the bomb project—having learned about it through atomic espionage long before Truman did.
In August, the Japanese government refused surrender demands as specifically outlined in the Potsdam Declaration. With the invasion of Japan imminent, Truman approved the schedule for dropping the two available bombs. Truman maintained the position that attacking Japan with atomic bombs saved many lives on both sides; a military estimate for the invasion of Japan submitted to Truman by Herbert Hoover indicated that an invasion could take at least a year and result in 500,000 to 1,000,000 Allied casualties. A study done for the staff of Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson by William Shockley estimated that invading Japan would cost 1.7–4 million American casualties, including 400,000–800,000 fatalities, and five to ten million Japanese fatalities if Japanese civilians participated in the defense of Japan. The U.S. Army Service Forces estimated in their document "Redeployment of the United States Army after the Defeat of Germany" that between June 1945 and December 1946 the Army would be required to furnish replacements for 43,000 dead and evacuated wounded every month during this period. From analysis of the replacement schedule and projected strengths in overseas theaters, it suggested that Army losses alone in those categories, excluding the Navy and Marine Corps, would be approximately 863,000 through the first part of 1947, of whom 267,000 would be killed or missing.
The Soviet Union declared war on Japan on August 9 and invaded Manchuria. Japan agreed to surrender the following day.
Supporters of Truman's decision argue that, given the tenacious Japanese defense of the outlying islands, the bombings saved hundreds of thousands of lives of Allied prisoners, Japanese civilians, and combatants on both sides that would have been lost in an invasion of Japan. Some modern criticism has argued that the use of nuclear weapons was unnecessary, given that conventional attacks or a demonstrative bombing of an uninhabited area might have forced Japan's surrender, and therefore assert that the attack constituted a crime of war. In 1948 Truman defended his decision to use atomic bombs:
As President of the United States, I had the fateful responsibility of deciding whether or not to use this weapon for the first time. It was the hardest decision I ever had to make. But the President cannot duck hard problems—he cannot pass the buck. I made the decision after discussions with the ablest men in our Government, and after long and prayerful consideration. I decided that the bomb should be used to end the war quickly and save countless lives—Japanese as well as American.
Truman continued to strongly defend himself in his memoirs in 1955–1956, stating many lives could have been lost had the United States invaded mainland Japan without the atomic bombs. In 1963, he stood by his decision, telling a journalist "it was done to save 125,000 youngsters on the U.S. side and 125,000 on the Japanese side from getting killed and that is what it did. It probably also saved a half million youngsters on both sides from being maimed for life."
==== Labor unions, strikes and economic issues ====
The end of World War II was followed by an uneasy transition from war to a peacetime economy. The costs of the war effort had been enormous, and Truman was intent on diminishing military services as quickly as possible to curtail the government's military expenditures. The effect of demobilization on the economy was unknown, proposals were met with skepticism and resistance, and fears existed that the nation would slide back into depression. In Roosevelt's final years, Congress began to reassert legislative power and Truman faced a congressional body where Republicans and conservative southern Democrats formed a powerful "conservative coalition" voting bloc. The New Deal had greatly strengthened labor unions and they formed a major base of support for Truman's Democratic Party. The Republicans, working with big business, made it their highest priority to weaken those unions. The unions had been promoted by the government during the war and tried to make their gains permanent through large-scale strikes in major industries. Meanwhile, price controls were slowly ending, and inflation was soaring. Truman's response to the widespread dissatisfaction was generally seen as ineffective.
When a national rail strike threatened in May 1946, Truman seized the railroads in an attempt to contain the issue, but two key railway unions struck anyway. The entire national railroad system was shut down, immobilizing 24,000 freight trains and 175,000 passenger trains a day. For two days, public anger mounted. His staff prepared a speech that Truman read to Congress calling for a new law, whereby railroad strikers would be drafted into the army. As he concluded his address, he was handed a note that the strike had been settled on presidential terms; nevertheless, a few hours later, the House voted to draft the strikers. The bill died in the Senate.
==== Approval rating falls; Republicans win Congress in 1946 ====
The president's approval rating dropped from 82 percent in the polls in January 1946 to 52 percent by June. This dissatisfaction led to large Democratic losses in the 1946 midterm elections, and Republicans took control of Congress for the first time since 1930. When Truman dropped to 32 percent in the polls, Democratic Arkansas Senator William Fulbright suggested that Truman resign; the president said he did not care what Senator "Halfbright" said.
Truman cooperated closely with the Republican leaders on foreign policy but fought them bitterly on domestic issues. The power of the labor unions was significantly curtailed by the Taft–Hartley Act which was enacted over Truman's veto. Truman twice vetoed bills to lower income tax rates in 1947. Although the initial vetoes were sustained, Congress overrode his veto of a tax cut bill in 1948. In one notable instance of bipartisanship, Congress passed the Presidential Succession Act of 1947, which replaced the secretary of state with the Speaker of the House and the president pro tempore of the Senate as successor to the president after the vice president.
==== Proposes "Fair Deal" liberalism ====
As he readied for the 1948 election, Truman made clear his identity as a Democrat in the New Deal tradition, advocating for national health insurance, and repeal of the Taft–Hartley Act. He broke with the New Deal by initiating an aggressive civil rights program which he termed a moral priority. His economic and social vision constituted a broad legislative agenda that came to be called the "Fair Deal". Truman's proposals were not well received by Congress, even with renewed Democratic majorities in Congress after 1948. The Solid South rejected civil rights as those states still enforced segregation. Only one of the major Fair Deal bills, the Housing Act of 1949, was ever enacted. Many of the New Deal programs that persisted during Truman's presidency have since received minor improvements and extensions.
==== Marshall Plan, Cold War, and China ====
As a Wilsonian internationalist, Truman supported Roosevelt's policy in favor of the creation of the United Nations and included Eleanor Roosevelt on the delegation to the first UN General Assembly. With the Soviet Union expanding its sphere of influence through Eastern Europe, Truman and his foreign policy advisors took a hard line against the USSR. In this, he matched U.S. public opinion which quickly came to believe the Soviets were intent upon world domination.
Although he had little personal expertise on foreign matters, Truman listened closely to his top advisors, especially George Marshall and Dean Acheson. The Republicans controlled Congress in 1947–1948, so he worked with their leaders, especially Senator Arthur H. Vandenburg, chairman of the powerful Foreign Relations Committee. He won bipartisan support for both the Truman Doctrine, which formalized a policy of Soviet containment, and the Marshall Plan, which aimed to help rebuild postwar Europe.
To get Congress to spend the vast sums necessary to restart the moribund European economy, Truman used an ideological argument, arguing that communism flourishes in economically deprived areas. As part of the U.S. Cold War strategy, Truman signed the National Security Act of 1947 and reorganized military forces by merging the Department of War and the Department of the Navy into the National Military Establishment (later the Department of Defense) and creating the U.S. Air Force. The act also created the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the National Security Council. On November 4, 1952, Truman authorized the official, though at the time, confidential creation of the National Security Agency (NSA).
Truman did not know what to do about China, where the Nationalists and Communists were fighting a large-scale civil war. The Nationalists had been major wartime allies and had large-scale popular support in the United States, along with a powerful lobby. General George Marshall spent most of 1946 in China trying to negotiate a compromise but failed. He convinced Truman the Nationalists would never win on their own and a very large-scale U.S. intervention to stop the Communists would significantly weaken U.S. opposition to the Soviets in Europe. By 1949, the Communists under Mao Zedong had won the civil war, the United States had a new enemy in Asia, and Truman came under fire from conservatives for "losing" China.
==== Berlin airlift ====
On June 24, 1948, the Soviet Union blocked access to the three Western-held sectors of Berlin. The Allies had not negotiated a deal to guarantee supply of the sectors deep within the Soviet-occupied zone. The commander of the U.S. occupation zone in Germany, General Lucius D. Clay, proposed sending a large armored column across the Soviet zone to West Berlin with instructions to defend itself if it were stopped or attacked. Truman believed this would entail an unacceptable risk of war. He approved Ernest Bevin's plan to supply the blockaded city by air.
On June 25, the Allies initiated the Berlin Airlift, a campaign to deliver food, coal and other supplies using military aircraft on a massive scale. Nothing like it had ever been attempted before, and no single nation had the capability, either logistically or materially, to accomplish it. The airlift worked; ground access was again granted on May 11, 1949. Nevertheless, the airlift continued for several months after that. The Berlin Airlift was one of Truman's great foreign policy successes; it significantly aided his election campaign in 1948.
==== Recognition of Israel ====
Truman had long taken an interest in the history of the Middle East and was sympathetic to Jews who sought to re-establish their ancient homeland in Mandatory Palestine. As a senator, he announced support for Zionism; in 1943 he called for a homeland for those Jews who survived the Nazi regime. However, State Department officials were reluctant to offend the Arabs, who were opposed to the establishment of a Jewish state in the large region long populated and dominated culturally by Arabs. Secretary of Defense James Forrestal warned Truman of the importance of Saudi Arabian oil in another war; Truman replied he would decide his policy on the basis of justice, not oil. U.S. diplomats with experience in the region were opposed, but Truman told them he had few Arabs among his constituents.
Palestine was secondary to the goal of protecting the "Northern Tier" of Greece, Turkey, and Iran from communism, as promised by the Truman Doctrine. Weary of both the convoluted politics of the Middle East and pressure by Jewish leaders, Truman was undecided on his policy and skeptical about how the Jewish "underdogs" would handle power. He later cited as decisive in his recognition of the Jewish state the advice of his former business partner, Eddie Jacobson, a non-religious Jew whom Truman absolutely trusted.
Truman decided to recognize Israel over the objections of Secretary of State George Marshall, who feared it would hurt relations with the populous Arab states. Marshall believed the paramount threat to the United States was the Soviet Union and feared Arab oil would be lost to the United States in the event of war; he warned Truman the United States was "playing with fire with nothing to put it out". Truman recognized the State of Israel on May 14, 1948, eleven minutes after it declared itself a nation. Of his decision to recognize the Israeli state, Truman said in an interview years later: "Hitler had been murdering Jews right and left. I saw it, and I dream about it even to this day. The Jews needed some place where they could go. It is my attitude that the American government couldn't stand idly by while the victims [of] Hitler's madness are not allowed to build new lives."
==== Calls for civil rights ====
Under his predecessor, Franklin D. Roosevelt, the Fair Employment Practices Committee was created to address racial discrimination in war-related work. Truman wanted to keep the committee in place after the war was over, though his attempts at doing so were unsuccessful. In 1946, Truman created the President's Committee on Civil Rights. On June 29, 1947, Truman became the first president to address the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). The speech took place at the Lincoln Memorial during the NAACP convention and was carried nationally on radio. In that speech, Truman laid out the need to end discrimination, which would be advanced by the first comprehensive, presidentially proposed civil rights legislation. Truman on "civil rights and human freedom", declared:
It is my deep conviction that we have reached a turning point in the long history of our country's efforts to guarantee freedom and equality to all our citizens … it is more important today than ever before to ensure that all Americans enjoy these rights. … When I say all Americans, I mean all Americans … Our immediate task is to remove the last remnants of the barriers which stand between millions of our citizens and their birthright. There is no justifiable reason for discrimination because of ancestry, or religion, or race, or color. We must not tolerate such limitations on the freedom of any of our people and on their enjoyment of basic rights which every citizen in a truly democratic society must possess. Every man should have the right to a decent home, the right to an education, the right to adequate medical care, the right to a worthwhile job, the right to an equal share in making the public decisions through the ballot, and the right to a fair trial in a fair court. We must ensure that these rights – on equal terms – are enjoyed by every citizen. To these principles I pledge my full and continued support. Many of our people still suffer the indignity of insult, the harrowing fear of intimidation, and, I regret to say, the threat of physical injury and mob violence. Prejudice and intolerance in which these evils are rooted still exist. The conscience of our nation, and the legal machinery which enforces it, have not yet secured to each citizen full freedom from fear.
In February 1948, Truman delivered a formal message to Congress requesting adoption of his 10-point program to secure civil rights, including anti-lynching, voter rights, and elimination of segregation. "No political act since the Compromise of 1877," argued biographer Taylor Branch, "so profoundly influenced race relations; in a sense it was a repeal of 1877."
=== 1948 election ===
The 1948 presidential election is remembered for Truman's stunning come-from-behind victory. In the spring of 1948, Truman's public approval rating stood at 36 percent, and the president was nearly universally regarded as incapable of winning the general election. At the 1948 Democratic National Convention, Truman attempted to unify the party with a vague civil rights plank in the party platform. His intention was to assuage the internal conflicts between the northern and southern wings of his party. Events overtook his efforts. A sharp address given by Mayor Hubert Humphrey of Minneapolis—as well as the local political interests of a number of urban bosses—convinced the convention to adopt a stronger civil rights plank, which Truman approved wholeheartedly. Truman delivered an aggressive acceptance speech attacking the 80th Congress, which Truman called the "Do Nothing Congress", and promising to win the election and "make these Republicans like it".
Republicans approve of the American farmer, but they are willing to help him go broke. They stand four-square for the American home—but not for housing. They are strong for labor—but they are stronger for restricting labor's rights. They favor minimum wage—the smaller the minimum wage the better. They endorse educational opportunity for all—but they won't spend money for teachers or for schools. They think modern medical care and hospitals are fine—for people who can afford them ... They think American standard of living is a fine thing—so long as it doesn't spread to all the people. And they admire the Government of the United States so much that they would like to buy it.
Within two weeks of the 1948 convention Truman issued Executive Order 9981, ending racial discrimination in the Armed Services, and Executive Order 9980 to end discrimination in federal agencies. Truman took a considerable political risk in backing civil rights, and many seasoned Democrats were concerned the loss of Dixiecrat support might seriously weaken the party. South Carolina Governor Strom Thurmond, a segregationist, declared his candidacy for the presidency on a Dixiecrat ticket and led a full-scale revolt of Southern "states' rights" proponents. This rebellion on the right was matched by one on the left, led by Wallace on the Progressive Party ticket. The Democratic Party was splitting three ways and victory in November seemed unlikely. For his running mate, Truman accepted Kentucky Senator Alben W. Barkley, though he really wanted Justice William O. Douglas, who turned down the nomination.
Truman's political advisors described the political scene as "one unholy, confusing cacophony." They told Truman to speak directly to the people, in a personal way. Campaign manager William J. Bray said Truman took this advice, and spoke personally and passionately, sometimes even setting aside his notes to talk to Americans "of everything that is in my heart and soul."
The campaign was a 21,928-mile (35,290 km) presidential odyssey. In a personal appeal to the nation, Truman crisscrossed the United States by train; his "whistle stop" speeches from the rear platform of the presidential car, Ferdinand Magellan, came to represent his campaign. His combative appearances captured the popular imagination and drew huge crowds. Six stops in Michigan drew a combined half-million people; a full million turned out for a New York City ticker-tape parade.
The large crowds at Truman's whistle-stop events were an important sign of a change in momentum in the campaign, but this shift went virtually unnoticed by the national press corps. It continued reporting Republican Thomas Dewey's apparent impending victory as a certainty. The three major polling organizations stopped polling well before the November 2 election date—Roper in September, and Crossley and Gallup in October—thus failing to measure the period when Truman appears to have surged past Dewey.
In the end, Truman held his progressive Midwestern base, won most of the Southern states despite the civil rights plank, and squeaked through with narrow victories in a few critical states, notably Ohio, California, and Illinois. The final tally showed the president had secured 303 electoral votes, Dewey 189, and Thurmond only 39. Henry Wallace got none. The defining image of the campaign came after Election Day, when an ecstatic Truman held aloft the erroneous front page of the Chicago Tribune with a huge headline proclaiming "Dewey Defeats Truman."
=== Second term (1949–1953) ===
Truman's second inauguration on January 20, 1949, was the first ever televised nationally.
==== Hydrogen bomb decision ====
The Soviet Union's atomic bomb project progressed much faster than had been expected, and they detonated their first bomb on August 29, 1949. Over the next several months there was an intense debate that split the U.S. government, military, and scientific communities regarding whether to proceed with the development of the far more powerful hydrogen bomb. The debate touched on matters from technical feasibility to strategic value to the morality of creating a massively destructive weapon. On January 31, 1950, Truman made the decision to go forward on the grounds that if the Soviets could make an H-bomb, the United States must do so as well and stay ahead in the nuclear arms race. The development achieved fruition with the first U.S. H-bomb test on October 31, 1952, which was officially announced by Truman on January 7, 1953.
==== Korean War ====
On June 25, 1950, the North Korean army under Kim Il-sung invaded South Korea, starting the Korean War. In the early weeks of the war, the North Koreans easily pushed back their southern counterparts. Truman called for a naval blockade of Korea, only to learn that due to budget cutbacks, the U.S. Navy could not enforce such a measure.
Truman promptly urged the United Nations to intervene; it did, authorizing troops under the UN flag led by U.S. General Douglas MacArthur. Truman decided he did not need formal authorization from Congress, believing that most legislators supported his position; this would come back to haunt him later when the stalemated conflict was dubbed "Mr. Truman's War" by legislators. Rockoff writes that "President Truman responded quickly to the June invasion by authorizing the use of U.S. troops and ordering air strikes and a naval blockade. He did not, however, seek a declaration of war, or call for full mobilization, in part because such actions might have been misinterpreted by Russia and China. Instead, on July 19 he called for partial mobilization and asked Congress for an appropriation of $10 billion for the war." Cohen writes that: "All of Truman's advisers saw the events in Korea as a test of American will to resist Soviet attempts to expand their power, and their system. The United States ordered warships to the Taiwan Strait to prevent Mao's forces from invading Taiwan and mopping up the remnants of Chiang Kai-shek's army there."
However, on July 3, 1950, Truman did give Senate Majority Leader Scott W. Lucas a draft resolution titled "Joint Resolution Expressing Approval of the Action Taken in Korea". Lucas stated Congress supported the use of force, the formal resolution would pass but was unnecessary, and the consensus in Congress was to acquiesce. Truman responded he did not want "to appear to be trying to get around Congress and use extra-Constitutional powers", and added that it was "up to Congress whether such a resolution should be introduced".
By August 1950, U.S. troops pouring into South Korea under UN auspices were able to stabilize the situation. Responding to criticism over readiness, Truman fired his secretary of defense, Louis A. Johnson, replacing him with the retired General Marshall. With UN approval, Truman decided on a "rollback" policy—liberation of North Korea. UN forces led by General Douglas MacArthur led the counterattack, scoring a stunning surprise victory with an amphibious landing at the Battle of Inchon that nearly trapped the invaders. UN forces marched north, toward the Yalu River boundary with China, with the goal of reuniting Korea under UN auspices.
China surprised the UN forces with a large-scale invasion in November. The UN forces were forced back to below the 38th parallel, then recovered. By early 1951 the war became a fierce stalemate at about the 38th parallel where it had begun. Truman rejected MacArthur's request to attack Chinese supply bases north of Yalu, but MacArthur promoted his plan to Republican House leader Joseph Martin, who leaked it to the press. Truman was gravely concerned further escalation of the war might lead to open conflict with the Soviet Union, which was already supplying weapons and providing warplanes (with Korean markings and Soviet aircrew). Therefore, on April 11, 1951, Truman fired MacArthur from his commands.
The dismissal of General Douglas MacArthur was among the least politically popular decisions in presidential history. Truman's approval ratings plummeted, and he faced calls for his impeachment from, among others, Senator Robert A. Taft. Fierce criticism from virtually all quarters accused Truman of refusing to shoulder the blame for a war gone sour and blaming his generals instead. Others, including Eleanor Roosevelt and all of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, publicly supported Truman's decision. MacArthur meanwhile returned to the United States to a hero's welcome, and addressed a joint session of Congress, a speech the president called "a bunch of damn bullshit."
Truman and his generals considered the use of nuclear weapons against the Chinese army, but ultimately chose not to escalate the war to a nuclear level. The war remained a frustrating stalemate for two years, with over 30,000 Americans killed, until an armistice ended the fighting in 1953. In February 1952, Truman's approval mark stood at 22 percent according to Gallup polls, which is the all-time lowest approval mark for a sitting U.S. president, though it was matched by Richard Nixon in 1974.
==== Worldwide defense ====
The escalation of the Cold War was highlighted by Truman's approval of NSC 68, a secret statement of foreign policy. It called for tripling the defense budget, and the globalization and militarization of containment policy whereby the United States and its NATO allies would respond militarily to actual Soviet expansion. The document was drafted by Paul Nitze, who consulted State and Defense officials and was formally approved by President Truman as the official national strategy after the war began in Korea. It called for partial mobilization of the U.S. economy to build armaments faster than the Soviets. The plan called for strengthening Europe, weakening the Soviet Union, and building up the United States both militarily and economically.
Truman was a strong supporter of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which established a formal peacetime military alliance with Canada and democratic European nations of the Western Bloc following World War II. The treaty establishing it was widely popular and easily passed the Senate in 1949; Truman appointed General Dwight D. Eisenhower as commander. NATO's goals were to contain Soviet expansion in Europe and to send a clear message to communist leaders that the world's democracies were willing and able to build new security structures in support of democratic ideals. The United States, Britain, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Norway, Denmark, Portugal, Iceland, and Canada were the original treaty signatories. The alliance resulted in the Soviets establishing a similar alliance, called the Warsaw Pact.
General Marshall was Truman's principal adviser on foreign policy matters, influencing such decisions as the U.S. choice against offering direct military aid to Chiang Kai-shek and his nationalist Chinese forces in the Chinese Civil War against their communist opponents. Marshall's opinion was contrary to the counsel of almost all of Truman's other advisers; Marshall thought propping up Chiang's forces would drain U.S. resources necessary for Europe to deter the Soviets. When the communists took control of the mainland, establishing the People's Republic of China and driving the nationalists to Taiwan, Truman would have been willing to maintain some relationship between the United States and the new government, but Mao was unwilling. Truman announced on January 5, 1950, that the United States would not engage in any dispute involving the Taiwan Strait, and that he would not intervene in the event of an attack by the PRC.
On June 27, 1950, after the outbreak of fighting in Korea, Truman ordered the U.S. Navy's Seventh Fleet into the Taiwan Strait to prevent further conflict between the communist government on the China mainland and the Republic of China (ROC) in Taiwan.
Truman usually worked well with his top staff – the exceptions were Israel in 1948 and Spain in 1945–1950. Truman was a very strong opponent of Francisco Franco, the right-wing dictator of Spain. He withdrew the American ambassador (but diplomatic relations were not formally broken), kept Spain out of the UN, and rejected any Marshall Plan financial aid to Spain. However, as the Cold War escalated, support for Spain was strong in Congress, the Pentagon, the business community and other influential elements especially Catholics and cotton growers.
Liberal opposition to Spain had faded after the Wallace element broke with the Democratic Party in 1948; the CIO became passive on the issue. As Secretary of State Acheson increased his pressure on Truman, the president stood alone in his administration as his own top appointees wanted to normalize relations. When China entered the Korean War and pushed American forces back, the argument for allies became irresistible. Admitting he was "overruled and worn down", Truman relented and sent an ambassador and made loans available.
==== Soviet espionage and McCarthyism ====
In August 1948, Whittaker Chambers, a former spy for the Soviets and a senior editor at Time magazine, testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). He said an underground communist network had worked inside the U.S. government during the 1930s, of which Chambers had been a member, along with Alger Hiss, until recently a senior State Department official. Chambers did not allege any spying during the Truman presidency. Although Hiss denied the allegations, he was convicted in January 1950 for perjury for denials under oath.
The Soviet Union's success in exploding an atomic weapon in 1949 and the fall of the nationalist Chinese the same year led many Americans to conclude subversion by Soviet spies was responsible and to demand that communists be rooted out from the government and other places of influence. Hoping to contain these fears, Truman began a "loyalty program" with Executive Order 9835 in 1947. However, Truman got himself into deeper trouble when he called the Hiss trial a "red herring". Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy accused the State Department of harboring communists and rode the controversy to political fame, leading to the Second Red Scare, also known as McCarthyism. McCarthy's stifling accusations made it difficult to speak out against him. This led Truman to call McCarthy "the greatest asset the Kremlin has" by "torpedo[ing] the bipartisan foreign policy of the United States."
Charges that Soviet agents had infiltrated the government were believed by 78 percent of the people in 1946 and became a major campaign issue for Eisenhower in 1952. Truman was reluctant to take a more radical stance, because he felt it could threaten civil liberties and add to a potential hysteria. At the same time, he felt political pressure to indicate a strong national security. It is unclear to what extent President Truman was briefed of the Venona intercepts, which discovered widespread evidence of Soviet espionage on the atom bomb project and afterward. Truman continued his own loyalty program for some time while believing the issue of communist espionage was overstated. In 1949, Truman described American communist leaders, whom his administration was prosecuting, as "traitors". Truman would later state in private conversations with friends that his creation of a loyalty program had been a "terrible" mistake.
In 1950, Truman vetoed the McCarran Internal Security Act, which was passed by Congress just after the start of the Korean War and was aimed at controlling communists in America. Truman called the Act "the greatest danger to freedom of speech, press, and assembly since the Alien and Sedition Laws of 1798", a "mockery of the Bill of Rights" and a "long step toward totalitarianism". His veto was immediately overridden by Congress and the Act became law. In the mid-1960s, parts of the Act were found to be unconstitutional by the United States Supreme Court.
==== Blair House and assassination attempt ====
In 1948, Truman ordered an addition to the exterior of the White House: a second-floor balcony in the south portico, which came to be known as the Truman Balcony. The addition was unpopular. Some said it spoiled the appearance of the south facade, but it gave the First Family more living space. Meanwhile, structural deterioration and a near-imminent collapse of the White House led to a comprehensive dismantling and rebuilding of the building's interior from 1949 to 1952. Architectural and engineering investigations during 1948 deemed it unsafe for occupancy. Truman, his family, and the entire residence staff were relocated across the street into Blair House during the renovations. As the newer West Wing, including the Oval Office, remained open, Truman walked to and from his work across the street each morning and afternoon.
On November 1, 1950, Puerto Rican nationalists Griselio Torresola and Oscar Collazo attempted to assassinate Truman at Blair House. On the street outside the residence, Torresola mortally wounded a White House policeman, Leslie Coffelt. Before he died, the officer shot and killed Torresola. Collazo was wounded and stopped before he entered the house. He was found guilty of murder and sentenced to death in 1952. Truman commuted his sentence to life in prison. To try to settle the question of Puerto Rican independence, Truman allowed a plebiscite in Puerto Rico in 1952 to determine the status of its relationship to the United States. Nearly 82 percent of the people voted in favor of a new constitution for the Estado Libre Asociado, a continued 'associated free state.'
==== Steel and coal strikes ====
In response to a labor/management impasse arising from bitter disagreements over wage and price controls, Truman instructed his Secretary of Commerce, Charles W. Sawyer, to take control of a number of the nation's steel mills in April 1952. Truman cited his authority as commander in chief and the need to maintain an uninterrupted supply of steel for munitions for the war in Korea. The Supreme Court found Truman's actions unconstitutional, however, and reversed the order in a major separation-of-powers decision, Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer (1952). The 6–3 decision, which held that Truman's assertion of authority was too vague and was not rooted in any legislative action by Congress, was delivered by a court composed entirely of justices appointed by either Truman or Roosevelt. The high court's reversal of Truman's order was one of the notable defeats of his presidency.
==== Scandals and controversies ====
In 1950, the Senate, led by Estes Kefauver, investigated numerous charges of corruption among senior administration officials, some of whom had received fur coats and deep freezers in exchange for favors. A large number of employees of the Internal Revenue Bureau (today the IRS) were accepting bribes; 166 employees either resigned or were fired in 1950, with many soon facing indictment. When Attorney General J. Howard McGrath fired the special prosecutor in early 1952 for being too zealous, Truman fired McGrath. Truman submitted a reorganization plan to reform the IRB; Congress passed it, but corruption was a major issue in the 1952 presidential election.
On December 6, 1950, Washington Post music critic Paul Hume wrote a critical review of a concert by the president's daughter Margaret Truman:
Miss Truman is a unique American phenomenon with a pleasant voice of little size and fair quality ... [she] cannot sing very well ... is flat a good deal of the time—more last night than at any time we have heard her in past years ... has not improved in the years we have heard her ... [and] still cannot sing with anything approaching professional finish.
Truman wrote a scathing response:
I've just read your lousy review of Margaret's concert. I've come to the conclusion that you are an 'eight ulcer man on four ulcer pay.' It seems to me that you are a frustrated old man who wishes he could have been successful. When you write such poppy-cock as was in the back section of the paper you work for it shows conclusively that you're off the beam and at least four of your ulcers are at work. Some day I hope to meet you. When that happens you'll need a new nose, a lot of beefsteak for black eyes, and perhaps a supporter below! Pegler, a gutter snipe, is a gentleman alongside you. I hope you'll accept that statement as a worse insult than a reflection on your ancestry.
Truman was criticized by many for the letter. However, he pointed out that he wrote it as a loving father and not as the president.
In 1951, William M. Boyle, Truman's longtime friend and chairman of the Democratic National Committee, was forced to resign after being charged with financial corruption.
=== Civil rights ===
A 1947 report by the Truman administration titled To Secure These Rights presented a detailed ten-point agenda of civil rights reforms. Speaking about this report, international developments have to be taken into account, for with the UN Charter being passed in 1945, the question of whether international human rights law could be applicable also on an inner-land basis became crucial in the United States. Though the report acknowledged such a path was not free from controversy in the 1940s United States, it nevertheless raised the possibility for the UN-Charter to be used as a legal tool to combat racial discrimination in the United States.
In February 1948, the president submitted a civil rights agenda to Congress that proposed creating several federal offices devoted to issues such as voting rights and fair employment practices. This provoked a storm of criticism from southern Democrats in the runup to the national nominating convention, but Truman refused to compromise, saying: "My forebears were Confederates ... but my very stomach turned over when I had learned that Negro soldiers, just back from overseas, were being dumped out of Army trucks in Mississippi and beaten."
Tales of the abuse, violence, and persecution suffered by many African American veterans upon their return from World War II infuriated Truman and were major factors in his decision to issue Executive Order 9981, in July 1948, requiring equal opportunity in the armed forces. In the early 1950s after several years of planning, recommendations and revisions between Truman, the Committee on Equality of Treatment and Opportunity and the various branches of the military, the services became racially integrated. Truman later appointed people who aligned with his civil rights agenda. He appointed fellow colonel and civil rights icon Blake R. Van Leer to the board of the United States Naval Academy and UNESCO who had a focus to work against racism through influential statements on race. Truman made a historic move in 1949, when he gave a recess appointment to William H. Hastie for the Court of Appeals, the first African-American federal judge in the United States.
Executive Order 9980, also in 1948, made it illegal to discriminate against persons applying for civil service positions based on race. A third, in 1951, established the Committee on Government Contract Compliance, which ensured defense contractors did not discriminate because of race.
=== Administration and cabinet ===
=== Foreign policy ===
From 1947 until 1989, world affairs were dominated by the Cold War, in which the U.S. and its allies faced the Soviet Union and its allies. There was no large-scale fighting but instead several local civil wars as well as the ever-present threat of a catastrophic nuclear war.
Unlike Roosevelt, Truman distrusted Stalin and the Soviet Union, and did not have FDR's faith in the UN to soften major tensions. Nevertheless, he cooperated in terms of dividing control over Germany. Soviet efforts to use its army to control politics in Eastern Europe and Iran angered Washington. The final break came in 1947 when the Labour government in London could no longer afford to help Greece fight communism and asked Washington to assume responsibility for suppressing the Communist uprising there. The result was the Truman Doctrine of 1947–48 which made it national policy to contain Communist expansion.
Truman was supported by the great majority of Democrats, after he forced out the Henry Wallace faction that wanted good terms with Moscow. Truman's policy had the strong support of most Republicans, who led by Senator Arthur Vandenberg overcame the isolationist Republicans led by Senator Robert A. Taft.
In 1948, Truman signed the Marshall Plan, which supplied Western Europe—including Germany—with US$13 billion in reconstruction aid. Stalin vetoed any participation by East European nations. A similar program was operated by the United States to restore the Japanese economy. The U.S. actively sought allies, which it subsidized with military and economic "foreign aid", as well as diplomatic support. The main diplomatic initiative was the establishment of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 1949, committing the United States to nuclear defense of Western Europe. The result was a peace in Europe, coupled with the fear of Soviet invasion and a reliance on American protection. The United States operated a worldwide network of bases for its Army, Navy and Air Force, with large contingents stationed in Germany, Japan and South Korea. Washington had a weak intelligence community before 1942, and the Soviets had a very effective network of spies. The solution was to create the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in 1947. Economic and propaganda warfare against the communist world became part of the American toolbox.
The containment policy was developed by State Department official George Kennan in 1947. Kennan characterized the Soviet Union as an aggressive, anti-Western power that necessitated containment, a characterization which would shape US foreign policy for decades to come. The idea of containment was to match Soviet aggression with force wherever it occurred while not using nuclear weapons. The policy of containment created a bipolar, zero-sum world where the ideological conflicts between the Soviet Union and the United States dominated geopolitics. Due to the antagonism on both sides and each countries' search for security, a tense worldwide contest developed between the two states as the two nations' governments vied for global supremacy militarily, culturally, and politically.
The Cold War was characterized by a lack of global hot wars. Instead there were proxy wars, fought by client states and proxies of the United States and Soviet Union. The most important was Korean War (1950–1953), a stalemate that drained away Truman's base of support. Truman made five international trips during his presidency.
=== 1952 election ===
In 1951, the United States ratified the 22nd Amendment, making a president ineligible for election to a third term or for election to a second full term after serving more than two remaining years of a term of a previously elected president. The latter clause did not apply to Truman's situation in 1952 because of a grandfather clause exempting the incumbent president.
Therefore, he seriously considered running for another term in 1952 and left his name on the ballot in the New Hampshire primary. However, all his close advisors, pointing to his age, his failing abilities, and his poor showing in the polls, talked him out of it. At the time of the 1952 New Hampshire primary (March 11, 1952), no candidate had won Truman's backing. His first choice, Chief Justice Fred M. Vinson, had declined to run. Illinois Governor Adlai Stevenson had also turned Truman down, Vice President Barkley was considered too old, and Truman distrusted and disliked Senator Kefauver, who had made a name for himself by his investigations of the Truman administration scandals.
Truman let his name be entered in the New Hampshire primary by supporters. The highly unpopular Truman was handily defeated by Kefauver; 18 days later the president formally announced he would not seek a second full term. Truman was eventually able to persuade Stevenson to run, and the governor gained the nomination at the 1952 Democratic National Convention.
Eisenhower gained the Republican nomination, with Senator Nixon as his running mate, and campaigned against what he denounced as Truman's failures: "Korea, communism and corruption". He pledged to clean up the "mess in Washington", and promised to "go to Korea". Eisenhower defeated Stevenson decisively in the general election, ending 20 years of Democratic presidents. While Truman and Eisenhower had previously been on good terms, Truman felt annoyed that Eisenhower did not denounce Joseph McCarthy during the campaign. Similarly, Eisenhower was outraged when Truman accused the former general of disregarding "sinister forces ... Anti-Semitism, anti-Catholicism, and anti-foreignism" within the Republican Party.
== Post-presidency (1953–1972) ==
=== Financial situation ===
Before being elected as Jackson County judge, Truman had earned little money, and was in debt from the failure of his haberdashery. His election as senator in 1934 carried with it a salary of $10,000 (equivalent to $241,000 in 2025), high for the time, but the need to maintain two homes, with one in expensive Washington, Margaret Truman's college expenses, and contributions to the support of needy relatives, left the Trumans little extra money. He likely had around $7,500 (equivalent to $134,000 in 2025) in cash and government bonds when nominated for vice president.
His finances were transformed by his accession to the presidency, which carried with it a salary of $75,000 (equivalent to $1,341,000 in 2025), which was increased to $100,000 (equivalent to $1,353,000 in 2025) in 1949. This was a higher salary than any Major League Baseball star, except Joe DiMaggio, who also earned $100,000 in his final two seasons (1950 and 1951). Beginning in 1949, the president was also granted a $50,000 (equivalent to $677,000 in 2025) expense allowance, which was initially tax-free, and did not have to be accounted for. Although the allowance became taxable later in his presidency, Truman never reported it on his tax return, and converted some of the funds to cash he kept in the White House safe and later in a safe deposit box in Kansas City.
Upon leaving the presidency, Truman returned to Independence, Missouri, to live at the Wallace home, which he and Bess had shared for years with her mother. In a biography that contributed greatly to the myth that Truman was near penury after departing the White House, David McCullough stated that the Trumans had little alternative than to return to Independence, for his only income was his army pension of $112.56 per month (equivalent to $1,354 in 2025), and he had only been able to save a modest amount from his salary as president. In February 1953, Truman signed a book deal for his memoirs, and in a draft will dated December of that year listed land worth $250,000 (equivalent to $3,008,000 in 2025), savings bonds of the same amount, and cash of $150,000 (equivalent to $1,805,000 in 2025). He wrote, "Bonds, land, and cash all come from savings of presidential salary and free expense account. It should keep you and Margaret comfortably."
The writing of the memoirs was a struggle for Truman, and he went through a dozen collaborators during the project, not all of whom served him well, but he remained heavily involved in the result. For the memoirs, Truman received a payment of $670,000 (equivalent to $8,052,484 in 2025). The memoirs were a commercial and critical success. They were published in two volumes: Memoirs by Harry S. Truman: Year of Decisions (1955) and Memoirs by Harry S. Truman: Years of Trial and Hope (1956).
Former members of Congress and the federal courts received a federal retirement package; President Truman himself ensured that former servants of the executive branch of government received similar support. In 1953, however, there was no such benefit package for former presidents, and Congressional pensions were not approved until 1946, after Truman had left the Senate, so he received no pension for his Senate service. Truman, behind the scenes, lobbied for a pension, writing to congressional leaders that he had been near penury but for the sale of family farmlands. In February 1958, in the first televised interview of a former US president that aired on CBS, Truman claimed that "If I hadn't inherited some property that finally paid things through, I'd be on relief right now." That year, Congress passed the Former Presidents Act, offering a $25,000 (equivalent to $278,979 in 2025) yearly pension to each former president, and it is likely that Truman's claim to be in difficult financial straits played a role in the law's enactment. The only other living former president at the time, Herbert Hoover, also took the pension, even though he did not need the money; reportedly, he did so to avoid embarrassing Truman.
Truman's net worth improved further in 1958 when he and his siblings sold most of the family farm to a Kansas City real estate developer. When he was serving as a county judge, Truman borrowed $31,000 (equivalent to $373,041 in 2025) by mortgaging the farm to the county school fund, which was legal at the time. When Republicans controlled the court in 1940, they foreclosed in an effort to embarrass Truman politically, and his mother and sister Mary Jane had to vacate the home. In 1945, Truman organized a syndicate of supporters who purchased the farm with the understanding that they would sell it back to the Trumans. Harry and Vivian Truman purchased 87 acres in 1945, and Truman purchased another portion in 1946. In January 1959, Truman calculated his net worth as $1,046,788.86 (equivalent to $11,561,000 in 2025), including a share in the Los Angeles Rams football team. Nevertheless, the Trumans always lived modestly in Independence, and when Bess Truman died in 1982, almost a decade after her husband, the house was found to be in poor condition due to deferred maintenance.
Bess Truman's personal papers were made public in 2009, including financial records and tax returns. The myth that Truman had been in straitened circumstances after his presidency was slow to dissipate; Paul Campos wrote in 2021, "The current, 20,000-plus-word Wikipedia biography of Truman goes so far as to assert that, because his earlier business ventures had failed, Truman left the White House with 'no personal savings.' Every aspect of this narrative is false."
=== Truman Library and academic positions ===
Truman's predecessor, Franklin D. Roosevelt, had organized his own presidential library, but legislation to enable future presidents to do something similar had not been enacted. Truman worked to garner private donations to build a presidential library, which he donated to the federal government to maintain and operate—a practice adopted by his successors.
He testified before Congress to have money appropriated to have presidential papers copied and organized. He was proud of the bill's passage in 1957. Max Skidmore, in his book on the life of former presidents, wrote that Truman was a well-read man, especially in history. Skidmore added that the presidential papers legislation and the founding of his library "was the culmination of his interest in history. Together they constitute an enormous contribution to the United States—one of the greatest of any former president."
Truman taught occasional courses at universities, including Yale, where he was a Chubb Fellow visiting lecturer in 1958. In 1962, Truman was a visiting lecturer at Canisius College.
=== Politics ===
Truman supported Adlai Stevenson's second bid for the White House in 1956, although he had initially favored Democratic governor W. Averell Harriman of New York. He continued to campaign for Democratic senatorial candidates for many years.
In 1960 Truman gave a public statement announcing he would not attend the Democratic Convention that year, citing concerns about the way that the supporters of John F. Kennedy had gained control of the nominating process, and called on Kennedy to forgo the nomination for that year. Kennedy responded with a press conference where he bluntly rebuffed Truman's advice.
Despite his supportive stance on civil rights during his presidency, Truman expressed criticism of the civil rights movement during the 1960s. In 1960, he stated that he believed the sit-in movement to be part of a Soviet plot. Truman's statement garnered a response from Martin Luther King Jr., who wrote a letter to the former president stating that he was "baffled" by the accusation, and demanded a public apology. Truman would later criticize King following the Selma march in 1965, believing the protest to be "silly" and claiming that it "can't accomplish a darn thing except to attract attention." In 1963, Truman voiced his opposition to interracial marriage, believing that daughters of white people would never love someone of an opposite color.
On December 22, 1963, Truman published an article in The Washington Post entitled 'Limit CIA Role to Intelligence' where he said that "for some time I have been disturbed by the way CIA has been diverted from its original assignment. It has become an operational and at times a policy-making arm of the Government" and that he "never had any thought that when I set up the CIA that it would be injected into peacetime cloak and dagger operations". He concluded that "there is something about the way the CIA has been functioning that is casting a shadow over our historic position and I feel that we need to correct it".
Upon turning 80 in 1964, Truman was feted in Washington, and addressed the Senate, availing himself of a new rule that allowed former presidents to be granted privilege of the floor.
=== Medicare ===
After a fall in his home in late 1964, Truman's physical condition declined. In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Medicare bill at the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum and gave the first two Medicare cards to Truman and his wife Bess to honor the former president's fight for government health care while in office.
== Death ==
On December 5, 1972, Truman was admitted to Kansas City's Research Hospital and Medical Center with pneumonia. He developed multiple organ failure, fell into a coma, and died at 7:50 a.m. on December 26, at the age of 88. At the time of his death, Truman had been the oldest living president, a distinction he held from the time of Hoover's death in 1964.
Bess Truman opted for a simple private service at the library rather than a state funeral in Washington. A week after the funeral, foreign dignitaries and Washington officials attended a memorial service at Washington National Cathedral.
Bess Truman died in 1982 and was buried next to her husband at the Harry S. Truman Library and Museum in Independence, Missouri.
== Tributes and legacy ==
=== Legacy ===
When he left office in 1953, Truman was one of the most unpopular chief executives in history. His job approval rating of 22% in the Gallup Poll of February 1952 was lower than Richard Nixon's 24% in August 1974, the month that Nixon resigned. American public feeling towards Truman grew steadily warmer with the passing years; as early as 1962, a poll of 75 historians conducted by Arthur M. Schlesinger, Sr. ranked Truman among the "near great" presidents. The period following his death consolidated a partial rehabilitation of his legacy among both historians and members of the public. Truman died when the nation was consumed with crises in Vietnam and Watergate, and his death brought a new wave of attention to his political career. In the early and mid-1970s, Truman captured the popular imagination much as he had in 1948, this time emerging as a kind of political folk hero, a president who was thought to exemplify an integrity and accountability many observers felt was lacking in the Nixon White House. This public reassessment of Truman was aided by the popularity of a book of reminiscences which Truman had told to journalist Merle Miller beginning in 1961, with the agreement that they would not be published until after Truman's death.
Truman had his latter-day critics as well. After a review of information available to Truman about the presence of espionage activities in the U.S. government, Democratic Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan concluded that Truman was "almost willfully obtuse" concerning the danger of American communism. In 2010, historian Alonzo Hamby concluded that "Harry Truman remains a controversial president." However, Truman has fared well in polls ranking the presidents, consistently being listed in the top ten; this includes a 2022 poll by the Siena College Research Institute, which placed him in seventh.
The fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 caused Truman advocates to claim vindication for Truman's decisions in the postwar period. According to Truman biographer Robert Dallek, "His contribution to victory in the cold war without a devastating nuclear conflict elevated him to the stature of a great or near-great president." The 1992 publication of David McCullough's favorable biography of Truman further cemented the view of Truman as a highly regarded chief executive. According to historian Daniel R. McCoy in his book on the Truman presidency:
Harry Truman himself gave a strong and far-from-incorrect impression of being a tough, concerned and direct leader. He was occasionally vulgar, often partisan, and usually nationalistic ... On his own terms, Truman can be seen as having prevented the coming of a third world war and having preserved from Communist oppression much of what he called the free world. Yet clearly he largely failed to achieve his Wilsonian aim of securing perpetual peace, making the world safe for democracy, and advancing opportunities for individual development internationally.
=== Sites and honors ===
In 1956, Truman traveled to Europe with his wife. In Britain, he received an honorary degree in Civic Law from Oxford University and met with Winston Churchill. In 1959, he was given a 50-year award by the Masons, recognizing his longstanding involvement: he was initiated on February 9, 1909, into the Belton Freemasonry Lodge in Missouri. In 1911, he helped establish the Grandview Lodge, and he served as its first Worshipful Master. In September 1940, during his Senate re-election campaign, Truman was elected Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Missouri; Truman said later that the Masonic election assured his victory in the general election. In 1945, he was made a 33° Sovereign Grand Inspector General and an Honorary Member of the supreme council at the Supreme Council A.A.S.R. Southern Jurisdiction Headquarters in Washington D.C. Truman was also a member of Sons of the American Revolution (SAR) and a card-carrying member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. Two of his relatives were Confederate soldiers.
In 1975, the Truman Scholarship was created as a federal program to honor U.S. college students who exemplified dedication to public service and leadership in public policy.
In 1983 the Harry S. Truman State Office Building in Jefferson City was completed.
In 2004, the President Harry S. Truman Fellowship in National Security Science and Engineering was created as a distinguished postdoctoral three-year appointment at Sandia National Laboratories. In 2001, the University of Missouri established the Harry S. Truman School of Public Affairs to advance the study and practice of governance. The University of Missouri's Missouri Tigers athletic programs have an official mascot named Truman the Tiger. On July 1, 1996, Northeast Missouri State University became Truman State University—to mark its transformation from a teachers' college to a highly selective liberal arts university and to honor the only Missourian to become president. A member institution of the City Colleges of Chicago, Harry S. Truman College in Chicago, Illinois, is named in his honor for his dedication to public colleges and universities. In 2000, the headquarters for the State Department, built in the 1930s but never officially named, was dedicated as the Harry S. Truman Building.
Despite Truman's attempt to curtail the naval carrier arm, which led to the 1949 Revolt of the Admirals, an aircraft carrier is named after him. The USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75) was christened on September 7, 1996. The 129th Field Artillery Regiment is designated "Truman's Own" in recognition of Truman's service as commander of its D Battery during World War I.
In 1991, Truman was inducted into the Hall of Famous Missourians, and a bronze bust depicting him is on permanent display in the rotunda of the Missouri State Capitol. In 2006, Thomas Daniel, grandson of the Trumans, accepted a star on the Missouri Walk of Fame to honor his late grandfather. In 2007, John Truman, a nephew, accepted a star for Bess Truman. The Walk of Fame is in Marshfield, Missouri, a city Truman visited in 1948.
In 2004, international relations scholars Rachel Kleinfeld and Matthew Spence founded the Truman National Security Project. In 2013, they launched the Truman Center for National Policy. Both organizations were named after Truman.
A statue of Harry S. Truman was installed in the U.S. Capitol, in Washington, D.C., on September 29, 2022, as part of the National Statuary Hall Collection.
On the 70th anniversary of the Korean War armistice in 2023, South Korea erected a statue of Truman in Dabu-dong, Gyeongsangbuk-do to commemorate him sending US troops to defend the country.
Other sites associated with Truman include:
Harry S. Truman National Historic Site includes the Wallace House at 219 N. Delaware in Independence and the family farmhouse at Grandview, Missouri (Truman sold most of the farm for Kansas City suburban development including the Truman Corners Shopping Center).
Harry S Truman Birthplace State Historic Site is the house where Truman was born and spent 11 months in Lamar, Missouri.
Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum – The Presidential library in Independence
Harry S. Truman Little White House – Truman's winter getaway at Key West, Florida |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stefan_Kozlov | Stefan Kozlov | Stefan Kozlov (Russian: Стефан Козлов, STEF-ahn KOZ-lov; born February 1, 1998) is an American professional tennis player of Russian descent. He has a career-high ATP ranking of world No. 103 achieved on 18 July 2022 and doubles ranking of world No. 180 on 19 June 2017.
Kozlov made his ATP World Tour debut as a wildcard in 2013 Hall of Fame Tennis Championships at the age of 15. He reached two junior Grand Slam finals in 2014 and finished the year at World No. 3 in the ITF Junior Combined rankings.
== Personal life ==
He is the son of Russian parents and his father Andrei is a tennis coach.
He has a brother, Boris, who is also a tennis player.
== Junior career ==
In 2014, Kozlov reached two junior Grand Slam finals, where he lost to Alexander Zverev at the Australian Open and Noah Rubin at Wimbledon. This success led him to a career high junior ranking of No. 2. Kozlov also competed at the U18 National Championships, finishing in third place in the singles tournament and winning the doubles tournament with Noah Rubin. With this victory, they earned a wildcard into the main draw of the 2014 US Open. He ended the year by winning the Orange Bowl junior tournament.
In 2015, Kozlov reached the final of the U18 National Championships, where he lost to Frances Tiafoe in five sets.
== Professional career ==
=== Early years ===
In 2013, Kozlov made his ATP World Tour debut as a wildcard at the Newport tournament and lost in the first round. At the age of 16, he defeated his first Top 100 player in Tim Smyczek to reach his first ATP Challenger final in 2014 in Sacramento, where he lost to Sam Querrey. He also reached seven career ITF Futures finals and won four of these finals.
=== 2016-17: First ATP win and quarterfinal, Two Challenger titles ===
In April, Kozlov reached the final at the Open de Guadeloupe. In June, he won his first career ATP level match as a wildcard at the 2016 Ricoh Open in Den Bosch. He reached his first career quarterfinal by defeating Steve Johnson in the second round. Toward the end of the season, Kozlov reached a second Challenger final on the year at Suzhou. He won his first career Challenger event in Columbus. He won his second title at the 2017 Las Vegas Challenger.
=== 2021: First three Challenger titles since 2017, return to top 200 since 2018 ===
In September, at the 2021 Columbus Challenger, Kozlov won his first title in four years, defeating Max Purcell in the final in three sets. At the same tournament he won also in doubles partnering Canadian Peter Polansky. He followed this by a final at the 2021 Las Vegas Challenger and a second Challenger title for the season at the 2021 Charlottesville Men's Pro Challenger, defeating another Australian Aleksandar Vukic. As a result, he returned to the top 200 in more than three years at No. 188 on 8 November 2021. He ended the year with winning his third Challenger in Champaign, US. As a result he finished the year ranked No. 159 on 22 November 2021 and secured a main draw wildcard into the 2022 Australian Open.
=== 2022: Major debut & first win, ATP quarterfinal & career-high ranking ===
At the 2022 Australian Open Kozlov made his debut as a wildcard and won his first Grand Slam match against Jiří Veselý. He lost in the second round to 7th seed Matteo Berrettini.
As a qualifier at the 2022 Delray Beach Open, he reached his second career quarterfinal after defeating Emilio Gómez and Steve Johnson.
Ranked No. 130 at the 2022 Abierto Mexicano Telcel in Acapulco, he reached the main draw as lucky loser and defeated Grigor Dimitrov in a stunning upset in three sets after fighting cramps, in the longest match in Acapulco history. It was the biggest win in his career.
At the 2022 Wimbledon Championships, he made his debut at this Major when he entered the main draw as a lucky loser after the late withdrawal of Borna Ćorić. Kozlov lost in straight sets to 12th seed Diego Schwartzman. He reached a new career high ranking of No. 103 on 18 July 2022.
=== 2025: First Challenger title in four years ===
Kozlov won his sixth Challenger title at the 2025 Champaign Challenger and first since 2021 when he won the title at the same event.
== ATP Challenger and ITF Futures finals ==
=== Singles: 20 (11–9) ===
=== Doubles: 13 (6–7) ===
== Junior Grand Slam finals ==
=== Singles: 2 (2 runner-ups) ===
=== Doubles: 1 (1 runner-up) === |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corinne_Bailey_Rae_(album) | Corinne Bailey Rae (album) | Corinne Bailey Rae is the debut studio album by English singer-songwriter Corinne Bailey Rae, released on 24 February 2006 by EMI. The album debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart and has been certified triple platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI). Four singles were released from the album: "Like a Star", "Put Your Records On", "Trouble Sleeping" and "I'd Like To". Corinne Bailey Rae has sold over four million copies worldwide.
== Release and promotion ==
"Like a Star" was released as the album's lead single in a limited-edition format in 2005, peaking at number 34 on the UK Singles Chart. When re-released in October 2006, "Like a Star" reached a new peak position of number 32 on the UK chart. The second single, "Put Your Records On", peaked at number two in February 2006. "Trouble Sleeping" was released as the album's third single in May 2006, peaking at number 40 in the UK.
"I'd Like To" was released on 12 February 2007 as the fourth and final single. On the same day, the album was re-released with a bonus disc containing some of the B-sides and remixes included on previous singles, as well as three new tracks—one of which, a cover of Björk's 1993 song "Venus as a Boy", only previously appeared on a covermount for Q magazine. Several songs from the album appear in the 2006 comedy-drama film Venus starring Peter O'Toole. In the United States, "Breathless" was released as a promotional single in 2007.
== Critical reception ==
Corinne Bailey Rae received generally positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 69, based on 13 reviews. While some critics perceived filler as a weakness of the album, Bailey Rae earned positive comparisons to female recording artists such as Billie Holiday, Norah Jones, Erykah Badu, Minnie Riperton, and Macy Gray. David Jeffries of AllMusic called it "pleasingly homegrown, warm, and poignant in parts". Los Angeles Times writer Natalie Nichols compared Bailey Rae's music to that of Sade and Stevie Wonder. Michael Endelman of Entertainment Weekly called it "extremely agreeable, a bit predictable, and occasionally irresistible". MusicOMH writer Michael Hubbard called the debut "exceptional in every way" and "a breath of fresh air" Preston Jones of Slant Magazine was more lukewarm, saying "Rae’s amiable competence marks her as a talent worth keeping tabs on, but the strength of Corinne Bailey Rae is fleeting, a triumph of mood over tangible substance."
In contrast, Neil Spencer of The Observer gave the album a scathing review, saying "Beyond her calling card single, 'Like a Star', however, she shows a lack of ambition. The arrangements are generic (Al Green's leftovers, mostly), the cooing backing singers bland, and the lyrics pedestrian."
Paste listed the album as the 41st best of 2006.
=== Accolades ===
Bailey Rae received a nomination for Best UK & Ireland Act at the 2006 MTV Europe Music Awards. That same year, she won two MOBO Awards for Best UK Newcomer and Best UK Female, as well as a Mojo Award for Best New Act. Bailey Rae won Outstanding New Artist at the 2007 NAACP Image Awards, and was nominated for Outstanding Female Artist and Outstanding Album. At the 2007 Grammy Awards, Bailey Rae received a nomination for Best New Artist, while "Put Your Records On" was nominated for Record of the Year and Song of the Year. The following year, Bailey Rae was nominated for another Grammy Award for Song of the Year for "Like a Star", and "Put Your Records On" won an ASCAP Award for Song of the Year.
== Commercial performance ==
Corinne Bailey Rae debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart, selling 108,181 copies in its first week. The album had sold 968,341 copies in the United Kingdom by May 2016, earning a triple platinum certification from the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) on 22 July 2013.
The album debuted at number 17 on the Billboard 200 in the United States, selling 40,000 copies in its first week. On the issue dated 3 March 2007, it peaked at number four with 120,000 copies sold. The album was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on 5 December 2006, and had sold 1.9 million copies in the US by January 2010. As of October 2009, Corinne Bailey Rae had sold over four million copies worldwide.
== Track listing ==
=== Notes ===
^[a] signifies an additional producer
^[b] signifies a remixer
^[c] signifies a main and additional producer
== Personnel ==
Credits adapted from the liner notes of Corinne Bailey Rae.
=== Musicians ===
=== Technical ===
=== Artwork ===
Irene Rukerebuka – design, photography
Darren Lewis – artwork
Emma Hardy – additional photography inside booklet
== Charts ==
== Certifications ==
== Release history == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Sunday_Afternoon_on_the_Island_of_La_Grande_Jatte | A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte | A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte (French: Un dimanche après-midi à l'Île de la Grande Jatte) was painted from 1884 to 1886 and is Georges Seurat's most famous work. It is recognised as a leading example of pointillist technique, executed on a large canvas, it is a founding work of the neo-impressionist movement.
Seurat's composition includes a number of Parisians at a park on the banks of the River Seine. It is held in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago.
== Background ==
Georges Seurat painted A Sunday Afternoon between May 1884 and March 1885, and from October 1885 to May 1886, focusing meticulously on the landscape of the park and concentrating on issues of colour, light, and form. The painting is approximately 2 by 3 metres (6.6 ft × 9.8 ft) in size. Seurat completed numerous preliminary drawings and oil sketches before completing his masterpiece. One complete painting, the study featured to the right, measures 27 3/4 x 41 in. (70.5 x 104.1 cm) and is on display in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Inspired by optical effects and perception inherent in the color theories of Michel Eugène Chevreul, Ogden Rood and others, Seurat adapted this scientific research to his painting. Seurat contrasted miniature dots or small brushstrokes of colors that when unified optically in the human eye were perceived as a single shade or hue. He believed that this form of painting, called Divisionism at the time (a term he preferred) but now known as Pointillism, would make the colors more brilliant and powerful than standard brushstrokes. The use of dots of almost uniform size came in the second year of his work on the painting, 1885–86.
The Island of la Grande Jatte is located at the very gates of Paris, lying in the Seine between Neuilly and Levallois-Perret, a short distance from where La Défense business district currently stands. Although for many years it was an industrial site, it has become the site of a public garden and a housing development. When Seurat began the painting in 1884, the island was a bucolic retreat far from the urban center.
The painting was first exhibited at the eighth (and last) Impressionist exhibition in May 1886, then in August 1886, dominating the second Salon of the Société des Artistes Indépendants, of which Seurat had been a founder in 1884. Seurat was extremely disciplined, always serious, and private to the point of secretiveness—for the most part, steering his own steady course. As a painter, he wanted to make a difference in the history of art. With La Grande Jatte, Seurat was immediately acknowledged as the leader of a new and rebellious form of Impressionism called Neo-Impressionism.
La Grande Jatte was originally exhibited with a white frame, an unusual choice that reflected Seurat's embodying of new approaches. To make the experience of the painting even more vivid, in 1889 Seurat stretched the canvas, and at the painting's edge, surrounded it with a border of painted dots. In this way, the viewer would see a transition between the painting proper and the frame. The original exhibition frame at this point was likely abandoned, and Seurat died before a new outer frame could be constructed.
== Interpretation ==
Seurat's painting was a mirror impression of his own painting, Bathers at Asnières, completed shortly before, in 1884. Whereas the bathers in that earlier painting are doused in light, almost every figure on La Grande Jatte appears to be cast in the shadow, either under trees or an umbrella, or from another person. For Parisians, Sunday was the day to escape the heat of the city and head for the shade of the trees and the cool breezes that came off the river. And at first glance, the viewer sees many different people relaxing in a park by the river. On the right, a fashionable couple, the woman with the sunshade and the man in his top hat, are on a stroll. On the left, another woman who is also well dressed extends her fishing pole over the water. There is a small man with the black hat and thin cane looking at the river, and a white dog with a brown head, a woman knitting, a man playing a trumpet, two soldiers standing at attention as the musician plays, and a woman hunched under an orange umbrella. Seurat also painted a man with a pipe, a woman under a parasol in a boat filled with rowers, and a couple admiring their infant child.
Some of the characters are doing curious things. The lady on the right side has a pet monkey on a leash. A lady on the left near the river bank is fishing. The area was known at the time as being a place to procure prostitutes among the bourgeoisie, a likely allusion of the otherwise odd "fishing" rod. In the painting's center stands a little girl dressed in white (who is not in a shadow), who stares directly at the viewer of the painting. This may be interpreted as someone who is silently questioning the audience.
In the 1950s, historian and Marxist philosopher Ernst Bloch drew social and political significance from Seurat's La Grande Jatte. The historian's focal point was what he saw as Seurat's mechanical use of the figures and what their static nature said about French society at the time. Afterward, critique of the work often centered on the artist's presumed mathematical and robotic interpretation of the meaning of modernity in Paris.
According to historian of Modernism William Everdell: Seurat himself told a sympathetic critic, Gustave Kahn, that his model was the Panathenaic procession in the Parthenon frieze. But Seurat didn't want to paint ancient Athenians. He wanted 'to make the moderns file past ... in their essential form.' By 'moderns' he meant nothing very complicated. He wanted ordinary people as his subject, and ordinary life. He was a bit of a democrat—a "Communard", as one of his friends remarked, referring to the left-wing revolutionaries of 1871; and he was fascinated by the way things distinct and different encountered each other: the city and the country, the farm and the factory, the bourgeois and the proletarian meeting at their edges in a sort of harmony of opposites.
The border of the painting is, unusually, in inverted color, as if the world around them is also slowly inverting from the way of life they have known. Seen in this context, the boy who bathes on the other side of the river bank at Asnières appears to be calling out to them, as if to say, "We are the future. Come and join us".
== Painting materials ==
Seurat painted the La Grande Jatte in three distinct stages. In the first stage, which was started in 1884, he mixed his paints from several individual pigments and was still using dull earth pigments such as ochre or burnt sienna. In the second stage, during 1885 and 1886, Seurat dispensed with the earth pigments and also limited the number of individual pigments in his paints. This change in his palette was due to his application of the advanced color theories of his time. His intention was to paint small dots or strokes of pure color that would then mix on the retina of the beholder to achieve the desired color impression instead of the usual practice of mixing individual pigments.
Seurat's palette consisted of the usual pigments of his time such as cobalt blue, emerald green and vermilion. Additionally, he used the then new pigment zinc yellow (zinc chromate), predominantly for yellow highlights in the sunlit grass in the middle of the painting but also in mixtures with orange and blue pigments. In the century and more since the painting's completion, the zinc yellow has darkened to brown—a color degeneration that was already showing in the painting in Seurat's lifetime. The discoloration of the originally bright yellow zinc yellow (zinc chromate) to a brownish color is due to the chemical reaction of the chromate ions to orange-colored dichromate ions. In the third stage during 1888–89 Seurat added the colored borders to his composition.
The results of investigation into the discoloration of this painting have been combined with further research into natural aging of paints to digitally rejuvenate the painting.
== Acquisition by the Art Institute of Chicago ==
In 1923, Frederic Bartlett was appointed trustee of the Art Institute of Chicago. He and his second wife, Helen Birch Bartlett, loaned their collection of French Post-Impressionist and Modernist art to the museum. It was Mrs. Bartlett who had an interest in French and avant-garde artists and influenced her husband's collecting tastes. Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte was purchased on the advice of the Art Institute of Chicago's curatorial staff in 1924.
In conceptual artist Don Celender's 1974–75 book Observation and Scholarship Examination for Art Historians, Museum Directors, Artists, Dealers and Collectors, it is claimed that the institute paid $24,000 for the work (over $354,000 in 2018 dollars).
In 1958, the painting was loaned for the only time, to the Museum of Modern Art in New York. On 15 April 1958, a fire there, which killed one person on the second floor of the museum, forced the emergency evacuation of the painting, which had been on a floor above the fire, to the Whitney Museum, which adjoined MoMA at the time.
Once at the institute, the painting was shown in a variety of framing styles and colors over the years. Then in 2022, a new frame was built that attempted to match as closely as possible what conservators felt was Seurat's most likely intent.
La Grande Jatte is one of the three or so most popular pieces at the Art Institute, and considered by the institute to be one of its "most iconic and beloved works".
== In popular culture ==
The painting is the basis for the 1984 Broadway musical Sunday in the Park with George by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine, which tells a fictionalized story of the painting's creation. Subsequently, the painting is sometimes referred to by the misnomer "Sunday in the Park".
In Topiary Park (formerly Old Deaf School Park) in Columbus, Ohio, sculptor James T. Mason re-created the painting in topiary form; the installation was completed in 1989.
The 1986 John Hughes film Ferris Bueller's Day Off featured the painting during a scene at the Art Institute of Chicago.
This work was featured on 100 Great Paintings.
== Related works by Seurat == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pterostichinae | Pterostichinae | Pterostichinae is a subfamily of ground beetles (family Carabidae). It belongs to the advanced harpaline assemblage, and if these are circumscribed sensu lato as a single subfamily, Pterostichinae are downranked to a tribe Pterostichini. However, as the former Pterostichitae supertribe of the Harpalinae as loosely circumscribed does seem to constitute a lineage rather distinct from Harpalus, its core group is here considered to be the present subfamily and the Harpalinae are defined more narrowly.
They are usually mid-sized and rather stout ground beetles. Coloration is typically dark and without conspicuous patterns, but often with a strong sheen like polished metal. They are widely distributed and inhabit a wide range of terrestrial habitats. Unlike the more basal ground beetles which only eat small animals, the Pterostichinae include a large proportion of omnivorous or even herbivorous taxa.
== Systematics ==
This group includes the following tribes and genera:
Tribe Chaetodactylini Tschitscherine, 1903
Chaetodactyla Tschitscherine, 1897
Tribe Cnemalobini Germain, 1911
Cnemalobus Guerin-Meneville, 1838
Tribe Cratocerini Lacordaire, 1854
Tribe Microcheilini Jeannel, 1948
Microcheila Brulle, 1834
Tribe Morionini Brulle, 1835
Tribe Pterostichini Bonelli, 1810
(See Pterostichini for ~180 genera)
Tribe Zabrini Bonelli, 1810
(See Zabrini for 3 genera) |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Katahdin | Mount Katahdin | |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018%E2%80%9319_Brisbane_Roar_FC_season | 2018–19 Brisbane Roar FC season | The 2018–19 Brisbane Roar FC season was the club's 14th season participating in the A-League and in the FFA Cup for the fifth time.
== Players ==
=== Squad information ===
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
== Transfers ==
=== Transfers in ===
=== Transfers out ===
=== From youth squad ===
=== Contract extensions ===
== Technical staff ==
== Squad statistics ==
=== Appearances and goals ===
† = Scholarship or NPL/NYL-listed player
== Pre-season and friendlies ==
Win
Draw
Loss
=== Friendlies ===
== Competitions ==
=== Overall ===
=== A-League ===
==== League table ====
==== Results summary ====
==== Results by round ====
==== Matches ====
Win
Draw
Loss
=== FFA Cup === |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Football_League | National Football League | The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada and the highest professional level of American football in the world. Each NFL season begins annually with a three-week preseason in August, followed by an 18-week regular season, which runs from early September to early January, with each team playing 17 games and having one bye week. Seven teams from each conference, including the four division winners and three wild card teams, then advance to the playoffs, a single-elimination tournament, which culminates in the Super Bowl, played in early February between the winners of the AFC and NFC championship games. The NFL is headquartered in New York City.
The NFL was formed in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association (APFA) before renaming itself the National Football League for the 1922 season. After initially determining champions through end-of-season standings, a playoff system was implemented in 1933 that culminated with the NFL Championship Game until 1966. Following an agreement to merge the NFL with the rival American Football League (AFL), the Super Bowl was first held in 1967 to determine a champion between the best teams from the two leagues and has remained as the final game of each NFL season since the merger was completed in 1970. The NFL is the wealthiest professional sports league in the world by revenue, and the sports league with the most valuable teams. The NFL also has the highest average attendance (67,591) of any professional sports league in the world and is the most popular sports league in the United States. The Super Bowl is also among the most-watched sporting events in the world, with the individual games accounting for many of the most watched television programs in American history and occupying the top five of Nielsen's all-time most-watched U.S. television broadcasts by 2015.
The Green Bay Packers hold the most overall NFL championships with thirteen, winning nine titles before the Super Bowl era and four Super Bowls afterwards. Since the creation of the Super Bowl, the New England Patriots and Pittsburgh Steelers are tied for the most victories with six each. The reigning Super Bowl champions are the Seattle Seahawks.
== History ==
=== Founding and history ===
On August 20, 1920, a meeting was held by representatives of the Akron Pros, Canton Bulldogs, Cleveland Indians, and Dayton Triangles at the Jordan and Hupmobile auto showroom in Canton, Ohio. This meeting resulted in the formation of the American Professional Football Conference (APFC), a group who, according to the Canton Evening Repository, intended to "raise the standard of professional football in every way possible, to eliminate bidding for players between rival clubs and to secure cooperation in the formation of schedules".
A second meeting was held on September 17, 1920, with representatives from teams within four states: Akron, Canton, Cleveland, and Dayton from Ohio; the Hammond Pros and Muncie Flyers from Indiana; the Rochester Jeffersons from New York; and the Rock Island Independents, Decatur Staleys, and Racine (Chicago) Cardinals from Illinois. The league was renamed to the American Professional Football Association (APFA). The league elected Jim Thorpe as its first president, and consisted of 14 teams (the Buffalo All-Americans, Chicago Tigers, Columbus Panhandles and Detroit Heralds joined the league during the year). The Massillon Tigers from Massillon, Ohio was also at the September 17 meeting, but did not field a team in 1920. Only two of these teams, the Decatur Staleys (now the Chicago Bears) and the Chicago Cardinals (now the Arizona Cardinals), remain in the NFL.
Although the league did not maintain official standings for its 1920 inaugural season and teams played schedules that included non-league opponents, the APFA awarded the Akron Pros the championship by virtue of their 8–0–3 record. The first event occurred on September 26, 1920, when the Rock Island Independents defeated the non-league St. Paul Ideals 48–0 at Douglas Park. On October 3, 1920, the first full week of league play occurred.
The following season resulted in the Chicago Staleys controversially winning the title over the Buffalo All-Americans. On June 24, 1922, the APFA changed its name to the National Football League (NFL).
In 1932, the season ended with the Chicago Bears (6–1–6) and the Portsmouth Spartans (6–1–4) tied for first in the league standings. At the time, teams were ranked on a single table and the team with the highest winning percentage (not including ties, which were not counted towards the standings) at the end of the season was declared the champion; the only tiebreaker was that in the event of a tie if two teams played twice in a season, the result of the second game determined the title (the source of the 1921 controversy). This method had been used since the league's creation in 1920, but no situation had been encountered where two teams were tied for first. The league quickly determined that a playoff game between Chicago and Portsmouth was needed to decide the league's champion. The teams were originally scheduled to play the playoff game, officially a regular-season game that would count towards the regular season standings, at Wrigley Field in Chicago, but a combination of heavy snow and extreme cold forced the game to be moved indoors to Chicago Stadium, which did not have a regulation-size football field. Playing with altered rules to accommodate the smaller playing field, the Bears won the game 9–0 and thus won the championship. Fan interest in the de facto championship game led the NFL, beginning in 1933, to split into two divisions with a championship game to be played between the division champions. The 1934 season also marked the first of twelve seasons in which African Americans were absent from the league. The de facto ban was rescinded in 1946, following public pressure and coinciding with the removal of a similar ban in Major League Baseball.
Although the NFL was always the largest professional football league in the United States, it faced numerous rival professional leagues during the 1930s and 1940s. Rival leagues included at least three separate American Football Leagues and the All-America Football Conference (AAFC), on top of various regional leagues of varying caliber. Three NFL teams trace their histories to these rival leagues; the Los Angeles Rams who came from a 1936 iteration of the American Football League, and the Cleveland Browns and San Francisco 49ers, both from the AAFC. By the 1950s, the NFL had an effective monopoly on professional football in the United States; its only competition in North America was the professional Canadian football circuit, which formally became the Canadian Football League (CFL) in 1958. With Canadian football being a different football code than the American game, the CFL established a niche market in Canada and still survives as an independent league.
A new professional league, the fourth American Football League (AFL), began to play in 1960. The upstart AFL began to challenge the established NFL in popularity, gaining lucrative television contracts and engaging in a bidding war with the NFL for free agents and draft picks. The two leagues announced a merger on June 8, 1966, to take full effect in 1970. In the meantime, the leagues would hold a common draft and championship game. The game, the Super Bowl, was held four times before the merger, with the NFL winning Super Bowl I and Super Bowl II, and the AFL winning Super Bowl III and Super Bowl IV. After the league merged, it was reorganized into two conferences: the National Football Conference (NFC), consisting of most of the pre-merger NFL teams, and the American Football Conference (AFC), consisting of all of the AFL teams as well as three pre-merger NFL teams.
Today, the NFL is the most popular sports league in North America – with much of the league's growth and popularity attributable to former commissioner Pete Rozelle, who led the league from 1960 to 1989. Overall annual attendance increased from 3 million at the beginning of his tenure to 17 million by the end of his tenure, and 400 million global viewers watched 1989's Super Bowl XXIII. The NFL established NFL Properties in 1963. The league's licensing wing, NFL Properties, earns the league billions of dollars annually; Rozelle's tenure also marked the creation of NFL Charities and a national partnership with United Way. Paul Tagliabue was elected as commissioner to succeed Rozelle; his 17-year tenure, which ended in 2006, was marked by large increases in television contracts and the addition of four expansion teams, as well as the introduction of league initiatives to increase the number of minorities in league and team management roles.
The league's current commissioner, Roger Goodell, has focused on reducing the number of illegal hits and making the sport safer, mainly through fining or suspending players who break rules. These actions are among many the NFL is taking to reduce concussions and improve player safety. Prior to 2021, the NFL had utilized race-based adjustments of dementia claims in the $1 billion settlement of concussion claims, which had been criticized by critics before the NFL decided to end what was called "race-norming". On May 21, 2024, the NFL announced the NFL Source initiative, aimed at increasing the number of minority- and women-owned businesses that work with the league throughout the year. NFL Source will be mandatory for teams that host major events, such as the Super Bowl and the NFL draft, and their organizing committees, but will be optional for other contracts at the team level. The NFL will partner with the U.S. Black Chambers, Inc to help local businesses across the country obtain the certifications necessary to do business with the league in furtherance of its efforts to increase partnerships with certified and underrepresented businesses that are 51% owned and operated or led by a veteran, woman, minority, person with disabilities, or LGBTQ+ individual.
In 2015, a class-action lawsuit was filed on behalf of NFL Sunday Ticket subscribers, alleging that the NFL, its member teams, its broadcast partners, and DirecTV engaged in a conspiracy to violate antitrust law, by granting DirecTV exclusive rights to sell the Sunday Ticket product, thereby restricting competition and forcing viewers to pay supercompetitive prices to view out-of-market games. On June 27, 2024, a jury in Los Angeles found that the NFL had violated antitrust law in setting the price of the Sunday ticket package and ordered a penalty totaling more than $4.7 billion. With triple damages allowed under federal antitrust laws, the NFL could ultimately be liable for $14.39 billion. The league said it would ask the judge to set the verdict aside then appeal the verdict if needed.
=== Season and playoff development ===
From 1920 to 1934, the NFL did not have a set number of games for teams to play, instead setting a minimum. The league mandated a twelve-game regular season for each team beginning in 1935, later shortening this to eleven games in 1937 and ten games in 1943, mainly due to World War II. After the war ended, the number of games returned to eleven games in 1946, and later back to twelve in 1947. The NFL went to a 14-game schedule in 1961, which it retained until switching to a 16-game schedule in 1978. In March 2021, the NFL officially adopted a 17-game schedule after gaining the agreement of the National Football League Players Association (NFLPA).
Having an odd number of games in the schedule will give half the teams nine games as the home team, while half the teams have only eight home games. To minimize the perceived benefit on competition of having more home games, the extra home game will be rotated between the two conferences each year. This is because playoff berths are allocated at the conference level, so all teams within the conference will have played the same number of home games.
The NFL operated in a two-conference system from 1933 to 1966, where the champions of each conference would meet in the NFL Championship Game. If two teams tied for the conference lead, they would meet in a one-game playoff to determine the conference champion. In 1967, the NFL expanded from 15 teams to 16 teams. Instead of just evening out the conferences by adding the expansion New Orleans Saints to the seven-member Western Conference, the NFL realigned the conferences and split each into two four-team divisions. The four division champions would meet in the NFL playoffs, a two-round playoff. The NFL also operated the Playoff Bowl (officially the Bert Bell Benefit Bowl) from 1960 to 1969. Effectively, a third-place game, pitting the two conference runners-up against each other, the league considers Playoff Bowls to have been exhibitions rather than playoff games. The league discontinued the Playoff Bowl in 1970 due to its perception as a game for losers.
Following the addition of the former AFL teams into the NFL in 1970, the NFL split into two conferences with three divisions each. The expanded league, now with twenty-six teams, would also feature an expanded eight-team playoff, the participants being the three division champions from each conference as well as one 'wild card' team (the team with the best win percentage that did not win its division) from each conference. In 1978, the league added a second wild card team from each conference, bringing the total number of playoff teams to ten, and a further two wild card teams were added in 1990 to bring the total to twelve. When the NFL expanded to 32 teams in 2002, the league realigned, changing the division structure from three divisions in each conference to four divisions in each conference. As each division champion gets a playoff bid, the number of wild card teams from each conference dropped from three to two. The playoffs expanded again in 2020, adding two more wild card teams to bring the total to 14 playoff teams.
== Teams ==
The NFL consists of 32 teams divided into two conferences of 16 teams each. Each conference is divided into four divisions of four teams each. During the regular season, each team is allowed a maximum of 55 players on its roster; only 48 of these may be active (eligible to play) on game days. Each team can also have a sixteen-player practice squad separate from its main roster.
Each NFL club is granted a franchise, the league's authorization for the team to operate in its home city. This franchise covers "Home Territory" (the 75 miles surrounding the city limits, or, if the team is within 100 miles of another league city, half the distance between the two cities) and "Home Marketing Area" (Home Territory plus the rest of the state the club operates in, as well as the area the team operates its training camp in for the duration of the camp). Each NFL member has the exclusive right to host professional football games inside its Home Territory and the exclusive right to advertise, promote, and host events in its Home Marketing Area. There are a couple of exceptions to this rule, mostly relating to teams with close proximity to each other: teams that operate in the same city (e.g. New York City and Los Angeles) or the same state (e.g. California, Florida, and Texas) share the rights to the city's Home Territory and the state's Home Marketing Area, respectively.
The Dallas Cowboys, valued at $12.8 billion, are the most valuable sport franchise in the world as of 2025 according to Sportico. The average NFL team is worth $7.13 billion and collectively worth $228 billion.
== Organizational structure ==
At the corporate level, the NFL considers itself a trade association made up of and financed by its 32 member teams. Up until 2015, the league was an unincorporated nonprofit 501(c)(6) association. Section 501(c)(6) of the Internal Revenue Code provides an exemption from federal income taxation for "Business leagues, chambers of commerce, real-estate boards, boards of trade, or professional football leagues (whether or not administering a pension fund for football players), not organized for profit and no part of the net earnings of which inures to the benefit of any private shareholder or individual." In contrast, each individual team, with the exception of the non-profit Green Bay Packers, is subject to tax because they make a profit.
In 2015, the NFL gave up its tax-exempt status following public criticism; in a letter to the club owners, Commissioner Roger Goodell labeled it a "distraction", saying "the effects of the tax-exempt status of the league office have been mischaracterized repeatedly in recent years… Every dollar of income generated through television rights fees, licensing agreements, sponsorships, ticket sales, and other means is earned by the 32 clubs and is taxable there. This will remain the case even when the league office and Management Council file returns as taxable entities, and the change in filing status will make no material difference to our business." As a result, the league office might owe around US$10 million in income taxes, but it is no longer required to disclose the salaries of its executive officers.
The league has three defined officers: the commissioner, secretary, and treasurer. Each conference has one defined officer, the president, which is essentially an honorary position with few powers and mostly ceremonial duties, including awarding the conference championship trophy.
The commissioner is elected by the affirmative vote of two-thirds or 18, whichever is greater, of the members of the league, while the president of each conference is elected by an affirmative vote of three-fourths or 10, whichever is greater, of the conference members. The commissioner appoints the secretary and treasurer and has broad authority in disputes between clubs, players, coaches, and employees. He is the "principal executive officer" of the NFL and also has authority in hiring league employees, negotiating television contracts, disciplining individuals that own part or all of an NFL team, clubs, or employed individuals of an NFL club if they have violated league by-laws or committed "conduct detrimental to the welfare of the League or professional football". The commissioner can, in the event of misconduct by a party associated with the league, suspend individuals, hand down a fine of up to US$500,000, cancel contracts with the league, and award or strip teams of draft picks.
In extreme cases, the commissioner can offer recommendations to the NFL's executive committee, up to and including the "cancellation or forfeiture" of a club's franchise or any other action, he deems necessary. The commissioner can also issue sanctions up to and including a lifetime ban from the league if an individual connected to the NFL has bet on games or failed to notify the league of conspiracies or plans to bet on or fix games. The current commissioner is Roger Goodell, who was elected in 2006 after Paul Tagliabue, the previous commissioner, retired.
=== Finances ===
The NFL's revenue is from three primary sources: NFL Ventures (merchandising), NFL Enterprises (NFL Network and NFL Sunday Ticket, which the league controls), and the television contracts. The league distributes such revenue equally among the teams, regardless of their performance. As of February 2019, each team received $255 million annually from the league's television contract, up 150% from $99.9 million in 2010.
Most NFL teams' financial statements are secret. The Kansas City Star obtained the Kansas City Chiefs' tax returns for 2008–2010. According to the Star, the team's revenue rose from $231 million in 2008 to $302 million in 2010. In 2010, two thirds of revenue came from the league: $99.8 million from NFL Ventures ($55.3 million) and NFL Enterprises ($44.6 million), and the $99.9 million share of the television contract. The remaining one third was from tickets ($42.4 million), corporate sponsorships ($6.6 million), food sales ($5 million), parking passes ($4.7 million), in-stadium advertising ($3.7 million), radio contract ($2.7 million), and miscellaneous sources. The largest Chiefs expense in 2010 was $148 million for players, coaches, and other employees. Of the $38 million in operating income, Clark Hunt, Lamar Hunt Jr., two other children, and the widow of former team owner Lamar Hunt divided $17.6 million, and reinvested the remaining $20 million into the team.
According to economist Richard D. Wolff, the NFL's revenue model is in contravention of the typical corporate structure. By redistributing profits to all teams the NFL is ensuring that one team will not dominate the league through excessive earnings. Roger Noll described the revenue sharing as the league's "most important structural weakness", as there is no disincentive against a team playing badly and the largest cost item, player salaries, is capped.
== Season format ==
The NFL season format consists of a three-week preseason, an 18-week regular season (each team plays 17 games), and a 14-team single-elimination playoff culminating in the Super Bowl, the league's championship game.
=== Preseason ===
The NFL preseason begins with the Pro Football Hall of Fame Game, played at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton, Ohio. Each NFL team is required to schedule three preseason games. NFC teams must play at least two of these at home in odd numbered years and AFC teams must play at least two at home in even numbered years. However, the teams involved in the Hall of Fame game, as well as any team that played in an American Bowl game, play four preseason games. Preseason games are exhibition matches and do not count towards regular-season totals. Because the preseason does not count towards standings, teams generally do not focus on winning games; instead, they are used by coaches to evaluate their teams and by players to show their performance, both to their current team and to other teams if they get cut. The quality of preseason games has been criticized by some fans, who dislike having to pay full price for exhibition games, as well as by some players and coaches, who dislike the risk of injury the games have, while others have felt the preseason is a necessary part of the NFL schedule.
=== Regular season ===
Currently, the 14 opponents each team faces over the 17-game regular season schedule are set using a predetermined formula: The league runs an 18-week, 272-game regular season. Since 2021, the season has begun the week after Labor Day (the first Monday in September) and concluded the week after New Year. The opening game of the season is normally a home game on a Thursday for the league's defending champion.
Most NFL games are played on Sundays, with at least one Monday night game and a Thursday night game occurring throughout the season, except for the final weekend. NFL games are not normally played on Fridays or Saturdays until late in the regular season, as federal law prohibits professional football leagues from competing directly with college or high school football. Because high school and college teams typically play games on Friday and Saturday, respectively, the NFL avoided holding games on those days until the Friday before the third Saturday in December. While Saturday games late in the season have been common, the league rarely held Friday games. Beginning in 2023, the NFL has held games on Black Friday, with the games being broadcast on Amazon Prime. NFL games are rarely scheduled for Tuesday or Wednesday, and those days have only been used three times since 1948: in 2010, when a Sunday game was rescheduled to Tuesday due to a blizzard; in 2012, when the Kickoff game was moved from Thursday to Wednesday to avoid conflict with the Democratic National Convention; and in 2020, when a game was postponed from Sunday to Tuesday due to players testing positive for COVID-19.
NFL regular season match-ups are determined according to a scheduling formula. Teams play six games against the other three teams in their division (one home and one away each), eight games against common opponents in both another division of the same conference (rotating every three years) and one division of the other conference (rotating every four years), two extra games against the remaining two divisions of the same conference with match-ups determined by the previous season's standings (for example, if a team finishes first in its division, it will play the two remaining first-place teams in its conference), and one interconference game determined by the previous season's standings against a team in the division it last played two years prior. In total, each team plays 17 games and has one bye week, when it does not play a game.
Although a team's home and away opponents are known by the end of the previous year's regular season, the exact dates and times for NFL games are not determined until much later because the league has to account for, among other things, the Major League Baseball postseason and local events that could pose a scheduling conflict with NFL games. During the 2010 season, over 500,000 potential schedules were created by computers, 5,000 of which were considered "playable schedules" and were reviewed by the NFL's scheduling team. After arriving at what they felt was the best schedule out of the group, nearly 50 more potential schedules were developed to try to ensure that the chosen schedule would be the best possible one.
=== Postseason ===
After the regular season, the NFL Playoffs, a 14-team single-elimination tournament, is then held. Seven teams qualify from each conference: the winners of each of the four divisions as well as three wild card teams (the three remaining teams with the best overall record, with tiebreakers in the event of two or more teams having the same record). These teams are seeded according to overall record and tiebreakers, with the division champions always ranking higher than the wild card teams. The top team (seeded one) from each conference are awarded a bye week, while the remaining six teams (seeded 2–7) from each conference compete in the first round of the playoffs, the Wild Card round, with the 2-seed competing against the 7-seed, the 3-seed competing against the 6-seed and the 4-seed competing against the 5-seed. The winners of the Wild Card round advance to the Divisional Round, which matches the lower seeded team against the 1-seed and the two remaining teams against each other. The winners of those games then compete in the Conference Championships, with the higher remaining seed hosting the lower remaining seed. The AFC and NFC champions then compete in the Super Bowl to determine the league champion.
The only other postseason event hosted by the NFL is the Pro Bowl, the league's all-star game. Since 2009, the Pro Bowl has been held the week before the Super Bowl; in previous years, the game was held the week following the Super Bowl, but in an effort to boost ratings, the game was moved to the week before. Because of this, players from the teams participating in the Super Bowl are exempt from participating in the game. The Pro Bowl is not considered as competitive as a regular-season game because the biggest concern of teams is to avoid injuries to the players.
== Trophies and awards ==
=== Team trophies ===
The NFL has used three different trophies to honor its champion over its existence. The first trophy, the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Cup, was donated to the NFL (then APFA) in 1920 by the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Corporation. The trophy, the appearance of which is only known by its description as a "silver loving cup", was intended to be a traveling trophy and not to become permanent until a team had won at least three titles. The league awarded it to the Akron Pros, champions of the inaugural 1920 season. The trophy was discontinued and its current whereabouts are unknown.
A second trophy, the Ed Thorp Memorial Trophy, was issued by the NFL from 1934 to 1967. The trophy's namesake, Ed Thorp, was a referee in the league and a friend to many early league owners; upon his death in 1934, the league created the trophy to honor him. In addition to the main trophy, which would be in the possession of the current league champion, the league issued a smaller replica trophy to each champion, who would keep it. The current location of the Ed Thorp Memorial Trophy, long thought to be lost, is believed to be possessed by the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame.
The current trophy of the NFL is the Vince Lombardi Trophy. The Super Bowl trophy was officially renamed in 1970 after Vince Lombardi, who as head coach led the Green Bay Packers to victories in the first two Super Bowls. Unlike the previous trophies, a new Vince Lombardi Trophy is given to each year's champion. Lombardi Trophies are made by Tiffany & Co. out of sterling silver. Additionally, players, coaches and personnel of the winning team are awarded Super Bowl rings to commemorate their victory. The winning team chooses the company that makes the rings; each ring design varies, with the NFL mandating certain ring specifications, including requiring the Super Bowl logo be on at least one side of the ring. The losing team are also awarded rings, which must be no more than half as valuable as the winners' rings, but those are almost never worn.
The conference champions receive trophies for their achievement. The champions of the NFC receive the George Halas Trophy, named after Chicago Bears founder George Halas, who is also considered one of the co-founders of the NFL. The AFC champions receive the Lamar Hunt Trophy, named after Lamar Hunt, the founder of the Kansas City Chiefs and the principal founder of the American Football League. Players on the winning team also receive a conference championship ring.
=== Player and coach awards ===
The NFL recognizes a number of awards for its players and coaches at its annual NFL Honors presentation. The most prestigious award is the AP Most Valuable Player (MVP) award. Other major awards include the AP Offensive Player of the Year, AP Defensive Player of the Year, AP Comeback Player of the Year, and the AP Offensive and Defensive Rookie of the Year awards. Another prestigious award is the Walter Payton Man of the Year award, which recognizes a player's off-field work in addition to his on-field performance. The NFL Coach of the Year award is the highest coaching award. The NFL also gives out weekly awards such as the FedEx Air & Ground NFL Players of the Week and the Pepsi Zero Sugar NFL Rookie of the Week awards.
== Media coverage ==
In the United States, the NFL is televised on eight networks across seven media partners: ESPN/ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, Prime Video, Netflix, and NFL Network. The league offers its media rights in packages of games to prospective media partners. The packages can vary depending on conference, broadcast time slot, or both. CBS televises afternoon games from the AFC package, and Fox carries afternoon games from the NFC package. These afternoon games are not carried on all affiliates, as multiple games are being played at once; each network affiliate is assigned one game per time slot, according to a complicated set of rules. Since 2011, the league has reserved the right to give Sunday games that, under the contract, would normally air on one network to the other network (known as "flexible scheduling"). NFL Sunday Ticket, the league's out-of-market sports package, is available through YouTube TV starting with the 2023 season. NFL Network also provides NFL RedZone, an omnibus telecast that cuts to live coverage of the most relevant plays in each game.
In addition to the regional games, the league also has packages of telecasts, mostly in prime time, that are carried nationwide. NBC broadcasts the primetime Sunday Night Football package, which includes the Thursday NFL Kickoff game that starts the regular season and a primetime Thanksgiving Day game. ESPN is the main broadcaster of the Monday Night Football package with ABC airing select games either exclusively or as a simulcast with ESPN. Amazon, through their Prime Video streaming service, is the exclusive carrier of the Thursday Night Football package. NFL Network, a U.S. pay cable channel owned by the league, broadcasts select games under the NFL Network Exclusive Game Series banner. These games usually consist of NFL International Series games and select Saturday games. In 2023, the NFL occupied the top three rates for a 30-second advertisement: $882,079 for Sunday Night Football, $562,524 for Monday Night Football, and $440,523 for Thursday Night Football.
The league has expanded their televised broadcasts to over-the-top streaming services. Since 2022, Amazon has held the exclusive rights to broadcast the Thursday Night Football package. Before 2022, Amazon streamed games from the same package as part of a tri-cast model that saw games aired on broadcast television (initially through CBS and NBC, then later with Fox), cable television (through NFL Network), and digital streaming (through Prime Video). Amazon has also streamed games for free on Twitch since 2018. CBS streams its AFC package games on Paramount+ as a simulcast with its CBS broadcasts. NBC streams Sunday Night Football and select exclusive games on Peacock. ESPN streams its games on ESPN+ in simulcast with the broadcasts on ESPN or ABC. ESPN also holds exclusive rights to stream one Sunday morning international game on ESPN+. Beginning in 2024, Netflix holds the global streaming rights for at least one Christmas Day game every season as part of a three-year deal.
The Super Bowl television rights are rotated on a four-year basis between CBS, Fox, NBC, and ESPN/ABC. The NFL's most recent contract negotiation for the media rights deal was announced on March 18, 2021, taking effect from the 2023 season. The deal renewed previous rights agreements made by the NFL and each of its network partners to air their respective game packages, while awarding Amazon the Thursday Night Football package. ESPN/ABC is set to return to the Super Bowl broadcast rotation and will broadcast the Super Bowl on U.S. television in 2027, 21 years after airing its last Super Bowl, Super Bowl XL. Digital and streaming distribution was expanded to allow CBS, NBC, and ESPN/ABC to stream games on their over-the-top streaming services. For each of the packages the network partners currently hold, ESPN/ABC is paying US$2.7 billion a year; CBS, Fox, and NBC are each paying more than US$2 billion a year; and Amazon is paying US$1 billion a year. The current deal runs through the 2033 season.
The league also has deals with Spanish-language broadcasters NBC Universo, Fox Deportes, and ESPN Deportes, which each air Spanish language dubs of their English-language sister networks' games. The league's contracts do not cover preseason games, which individual teams are free to sell to local stations directly; a minority of preseason games are distributed among the league's national television partners.
Through the 2014 season, the NFL had a blackout policy in which games were 'blacked out' on local television in the home team's area if the home stadium was not sold out. Clubs could elect to set this requirement at only 85%, but they would have to give more ticket revenue to the visiting team; teams could also request a specific exemption from the NFL for the game. The vast majority of NFL games were not blacked out; only 6% of games were blacked out during the 2011 season, and only two games were blacked out in 2013 and none in 2014. The NFL announced in March 2015 that it would suspend its blackout policy for at least the 2015 season. According to Nielsen, the NFL regular season since 2012 was watched by at least 200 million individuals, accounting for 80% of all television households in the United States and 69% of all potential viewers in the United States. NFL regular season games accounted for 31 out of the top 32 most-watched programs in the fall season and an NFL game ranked as the most-watched television show in all 17 weeks of the regular season. At the local level, NFL games were the highest-ranked shows in NFL markets 92% of the time. Super Bowls account for the 22 most-watched programs (based on total audience) in US history, including a record 167 million people that watched Super Bowl XLVIII, the conclusion to the 2013 season.
In addition to radio networks run by each NFL team, select NFL games are broadcast nationally by Westwood One (known as Dial Global for the 2012 season). These games are broadcast on over 500 networks, giving all NFL markets access to each primetime game. The NFL's deal with Westwood One was extended in 2012 and continued through 2017. Other NFL games are nationally distributed by Compass Media Networks and Sports USA Radio Network under contracts with individual teams.
Some broadcasting innovations have either been introduced or popularized during NFL telecasts. Among them, the Skycam camera system was used for the first time in a live telecast, at a 1984 preseason NFL game in San Diego between the Chargers and 49ers, and televised by CBS. Commentator John Madden famously used a telestrator during games between the early 1980s to the mid-2000s, boosting the device's popularity.
The NFL has licensing agreements with X, Reddit and Meta Platforms to serve as authorized social media outlets for the league and its teams. The New England Patriots' attempt to launch a Bluesky account was met with a cease and desist order from the NFL headquarters.
In 2025, the NFL began to take equity stakes in some of its media partners as part of business transactions. In August 2025, the NFL gained an equity stake in CBS parent company Paramount Skydance Corporation following the acquisition of Paramount Global by Skydance Media, by virtue of its existing investments and content partnerships with Skydance. The same month, the NFL announced that it would sell NFL Network, the NFL RedZone channel, and its fantasy football services to ESPN Inc. for an undisclosed amount, pending regulatory approval; as part of the agreement, the NFL will take a 10% stake in ESPN.
== Draft ==
Each April (excluding 2014 when it took place in May), the NFL holds a draft of college players. The draft consists of seven rounds, with each of the 32 clubs getting one pick in each round. The draft order for non-playoff teams is determined by regular-season record; among playoff teams, teams are first ranked by the furthest round of the playoffs they reached, and then are ranked by regular-season record. For example, any team that reached the divisional round will be given a higher pick than any team that reached the conference championships, but will be given a lower pick than any team that did not make the divisional round. The Super Bowl champion always drafts last, and the losing team from the Super Bowl always drafts next-to-last. All potential draftees must be at least three years removed from high school to be eligible for the draft. Underclassmen that have met that criterion to be eligible for the draft must write an application to the NFL by January 15 renouncing their remaining college eligibility. Clubs can trade away picks for future draft picks, but cannot trade the rights to players they have selected in previous drafts.
Aside from the seven picks each club gets, compensatory draft picks are given to teams that have lost more compensatory free agents than they have gained. These are spread out from rounds 3 to 7, and a total of 32 are given. Clubs are required to make their selection within a certain period, the exact time depending on which round the pick is made in. If they fail to do so on time, the clubs behind them can begin to select their players in order, but they do not lose the pick outright. This happened in the 2003 draft, when the Minnesota Vikings failed to make their selection on time. The Jacksonville Jaguars and Carolina Panthers were able to make their picks before the Vikings were able to use theirs. Selected players are only allowed to negotiate contracts with the team that picked them, but if they choose not to sign they become eligible for the next year's draft. Under the current collective bargaining contract, all contracts to drafted players must be four-year deals with a club option for a fifth. Contracts themselves are limited to a certain amount of money, depending on the exact draft pick the player was selected with. Players who were draft eligible but not picked in the draft are free to sign with any club.
In addition to the NFL draft, the league holds a supplemental draft annually. Clubs submit emails to the league stating the player they wish to select and the round they will do so, and the team with the highest bid wins the rights to that player. The exact order is determined by a lottery held before the draft, and a successful bid for a player will result in the team forfeiting the rights to its pick in the equivalent round of the next NFL draft. Players are only eligible for the supplemental draft after being granted a petition for special eligibility.
The league has also held expansion drafts, the most recent in 2002 when the Houston Texans began to play as an expansion team. Other drafts held by the league include an allocation draft in 1950 to allocate players from several teams that played in the dissolved All-America Football Conference and a supplemental draft in 1984 to give NFL teams the rights to players who had been eligible for the main draft but had not been drafted because they had signed contracts with the United States Football League or Canadian Football League.
Like the other major sports leagues in the United States, the NFL maintains protocol for a disaster draft. In the event of a 'near disaster' (less than 15 players killed or disabled) that caused the club to lose a quarterback, they could draft one from a team with at least three quarterbacks. In the event of a 'disaster' (15 or more players killed or disabled) that results in a club's season being canceled, a restocking draft would be held. Neither of these protocols has ever had to be implemented.
== Free agency ==
Free agents in the NFL are divided into restricted free agents, who have three accrued seasons and whose current contract has expired, and unrestricted free agents, who have four or more accrued seasons and whose contract has expired. An accrued season is defined as "six or more regular-season games on a club's active/inactive, reserved/injured or reserve/physically unable to perform lists". Restricted free agents are allowed to negotiate with other clubs besides their former club, but the former club has the right to match any offer. If the club chooses not to match the offer, they are compensated with draft picks. Unrestricted free agents are free to sign with any club, and no compensation is owed if they sign with a different club.
Clubs are given one franchise tag, with which they can designate any of their unrestricted free agents. The franchise tag is a one-year deal that pays the player 120% of his previous contract or no less than the average of the five highest-paid players at his position, whichever is greater. There are two types of franchise tags: exclusive tags, which do not allow the player to negotiate with other clubs, and non-exclusive tags, which allow the player to negotiate with other clubs but gives his former club the right to match any offer and two first-round draft picks if they decline to match it.
Clubs also have the option to use a transition tag, which is similar to the non-exclusive franchise tag but offers no compensation if the former club refuses to match the offer. Due to that stipulation, the transition tag is rarely used, even with the removal of the "poison pill" strategy (offering a contract with stipulations that the former club would be unable to match) that essentially ended the usage of the tag league-wide. Each club is subject to a salary cap, which is set at US$188.2 million for the 2019 season, US$11 million more than that of 2018.
Members of clubs' practice squads, despite being paid by and working for their clubs, are also simultaneously a kind of free agent and are able to sign to any other club's active roster (provided their new club is not their previous club's next opponent within a set number of days) without compensation to their previous club. Practice squad players cannot be signed to another club's practice squad, unless released by their original club first. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klyuchevskaya_Sopka | Klyuchevskaya Sopka | Klyuchevskaya Sopka (Russian: Ключевская сопка; also known as Klyuchevskoi, Russian: Ключевской) is an active stratovolcano, the highest mountain of Siberia and the highest active volcano of Eurasia. Its steep, symmetrical cone rises roughly 100 kilometres (60 mi) inland from the Bering Sea. The volcano is part of the Volcanoes of Kamchatka UNESCO World Heritage Site. Klyuchevskaya Sopka is ranked 15th in the world by topographic isolation.
Klyuchevskaya appeared 7,000 years ago. Its first recorded eruption occurred in 1697, and it has been almost continuously active ever since, as have many of its neighboring volcanoes. It was first climbed in 1788 by Daniel Gauss and two other members of the Billings Expedition. No other ascents were recorded until 1931, when several climbers were killed by flying lava on the descent. As similar dangers still exist today, few ascents are made.
== Eruptions ==
Klyuchevskaya Sopka has erupted 110 times during the Holocene Epoch.
=== Eruptions in the 2000s ===
2007: Beginning in early January, Klyuchevskaya Sopka began another eruption cycle. Students from the University of Alaska Fairbanks and scientists of the Alaska Volcano Observatory traveled to Kamchatka in the spring to monitor the eruption. On 28 June, the volcano began to experience the largest explosions so far recorded in this eruption cycle. An ash plume from the eruption reached a height of 10 km (33,000 ft) before drifting eastward, disrupting air traffic between the United States and Asia and causing ashfalls on Alaska's Unimak Island.
=== Eruptions in the 2010s ===
2010: As early as 27 February, gas plumes had erupted from Klyuchevskaya Sopka, reaching elevations of 7,000 m (22,966 ft). During the first week of March, both explosive ash eruptions and effusive lava eruptions occurred until 9 March; the ash cloud was reported to have reached an elevation of 6,000 m (19,685 ft). As well, significant thermal anomalies have been reported, and gas-steam plumes extended roughly 50 km (31 mi) to the north-east from the volcano beginning on 3 March.
2012: On 15 October, the volcano had a weak eruption that stopped the following day. A weak thermal eruption occurred on 29 November, then stopped again which can be attributable to the larger eruption occurring at neighbouring volcano Tolbachik due to their shared magma chamber.
All of its neighboring volcanoes Bezymianny, Karymsky, Kizimen, Shiveluch, and in particular Tolbachik erupted more actively and continuously, taking a major magma supply load off of Klyuchevskaya Sopka.
January 2013: On 25 January, the volcano had a weak Strombolian eruption that stopped the following day. During January, all volcanoes in the eastern part of Kamchatka—Bezymianny, Karymsky, Kizimen, Klyuchevskaya Sopka, Shiveluch, and Tolbachik—erupted, with the exception of Kamen.
August 2013: On 15 August, the volcano had another weak Strombolian eruption with some slight lava flow that put on an excellent fireworks display before stopping on 21 August 2013, when Gorely Volcano woke up and started erupting again in relief of Klyuchevskaya Sopka.
October 2013: On 12 October, Klyuchevskaya Sopka had another three days of on-and-off eruptions with anomalies and a short ash plume, possibly indicating Strombolian and weak Vulcanian activity. An explosion from a new cinder cone low on Kliuchevskoi's southwest flank occurred on 12 October. An ash plume rose to altitudes of 6–7 km (20,000–23,000 ft), and drifted eastward. The eruptions weakened and paused by 16 October 2013.
November/December 2013: On 19 November, a strong explosion occurred, and observers reported that ash plumes rose to altitudes of 10–12 km (33,000–39,000 ft) and drifted southeast. The Aviation Color Code was raised to Red. Later that day, the altitudes of the ash plumes were lower and the eruptions weakened and stopped again. On 7 December, activity at Kliuchevskoi significantly increased, having continued during 29 November – 7 December, prompting KVERT to raise the Alert Level to Red. Ash plumes rose to altitudes of 5.5–6 km (18,000–20,000 ft) above sea level and drifted more than 212 km (132 mi) northeast and over 1,000 km (621 mi) east. According to a news article, a warning to aircraft was issued for the area around the volcanoes. Video showed gas-and-steam activity, and satellite images detected a daily weak thermal anomaly. On 9 December, the Alert Level was lowered to Green when the eruptions abruptly stopped.
2015: On 2 January, after a one-year period of inactivity, the volcano had a Strombolian eruption which stopped on 16 January. Minor eruptions resumed on 10 March and stopped on 24 March. On 27 August, the volcano had another Strombolian eruption which ended 16 hours later.
2019: Kluchevskaya Sopka saw renewed eruptive activity beginning in 2019. On 25 October, the volcano had another weak Strombolian eruption which ended some 30 hours later.
=== Eruptions in the 2020s ===
2020: The volcano erupted on 9 December.
2022: An eruption started on 20 November.
2023: An eruption started on 22 June. The June eruption follows nearby eruptions on 11 April in other volcanoes in the area. A significant eruptive event occurred as part of ongoing activity on 1 November, sending ash as high as 13 km (8.1 mi) above sea level and causing flight delays as far away as Vancouver, Canada, on 4–5 November.
2025: An eruption occurred on 30 July, shortly after a large earthquake in Kamchatka. The eruption was not directly caused by the earthquake; activity at the volcano had been observed over the preceding days.
== 2022 climbing accidents ==
In September 2022, nine people died while climbing Kluchevskaya Sopka. They were part of a 12-strong group of Russian nationals, which included two guides. Five climbers were killed after a fall at about 4,000 meters. Another four, including a guide, died on the mountainside afterwards. A rescue helicopter managed to land at 1,663 meters at the fourth attempt, bringing rescuers who faced a two-day climb to reach a volcanologists' hut at 3,300 meters where the three survivors were sheltering.
== Images == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Brisbane | Thomas Brisbane | Major-General Sir Thomas Makdougall Brisbane, 1st Baronet (23 July 1773 – 27 January 1860) was a British Army officer, colonial administrator and astronomer. He served in many important wars of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, including front-line action during the Peninsular War. Upon the recommendation of the Duke of Wellington, with whom Brisbane had served, he was appointed as Governor of New South Wales from 1821 to 1825.
In the colony, he implemented expansionist land policies that benefited wealthy colonists, while also augmenting the system of convict punishment. A keen astronomer, he built the colony's second observatory and encouraged scientific and agricultural training. Brisbane also declared martial law against the Indigenous Wiradjuri people to quash their resistance to colonisation. The convict settlement of Brisbane established during his tenure was named in his honour and is now the third largest city in Australia.
== Early life ==
Brisbane was born in 1773 at Brisbane House in Noddsdale, near Largs in Ayrshire, Scotland, the son of Sir Thomas Brisbane and his wife Eleanora (née Bruce). He was born into an aristocratic military family and as a child was home educated by prestigious tutors. As a teenager, he was educated at the University of Edinburgh, and later boarded at an English academy in Kensington, London, where he learnt mathematics and astronomy.
== Military career ==
In 1789, Brisbane joined the 38th Regiment of the British Army as a junior officer and was posted to Ireland.
=== French Revolutionary Wars ===
On the outbreak of war with France, he transferred to the 53rd Regiment and fought in Holland under the command of the Duke of York. He participated in the Siege of Valenciennes in June 1793 and the Siege of Dunkirk in August 1793. He also took part in the Siege of Nieuwpoort in October 1793, the Siege of Landrecies in April 1794, the Battle of Tournay in May 1794 and finally the Siege of Nijmegen before the British army in the Low Countries was evacuated and returned to England in spring 1795.
=== West Indies ===
In November 1795, the 53rd Regiment were embarked for the West Indies, where it fought against French forces for control of the region. Brisbane took part in the capture of Saint Lucia from the French in May 1796, participating in the capture and sacking of the colonial capital of Morne Fortune.
Later in 1796, he participated in the suppression of an uprising by Kalinago and Garifuna people under Joseph Chatoyer in Saint Vincent. During the uprising, Brisbane personally killed Kalinago chief Taquin and participated in the deportation of 5,000 Garifuna to the small island of Baliceaux in the Grenadines.
He later partook in expeditions to Trinidad and Puerto Rico in February 1797 and April 1797 respectively. Brisbane then transferred to the 69th Regiment which returned to England in 1802 after being stationed in Jamaica.
=== Peninsula War ===
After a brief period of being retired on half-pay, Brisbane was appointed as an army assistant in the Adjutant-General's office, serving under the Duke of Wellington. In 1813 he was promoted to major general in the 74th Regiment and saw much action during the Peninsular War, including leading a brigade in the 3rd Division that broke through at the Battle of Vitoria.
For his services in the Peninsula War, Brisbane received the Army Gold Cross with one clasp for the battles of Vitoria, the Pyrenees, Nivelle, Orthez, and Toulouse; and the silver war medal with one clasp for the Nive.
=== North America ===
With the forces of Napoleon all but defeated, Brisbane was appointed as a brigade commander to lead troops in the concurrent British war with the United States. In 1814 he led his brigade at the Battle of Plattsburgh, which Brisbane claimed they could have won if they had been allowed to launch a full infantry attack. During the battle, he used the Charles C. Platt Homestead as his headquarters.
=== Paris occupying force ===
With the United States defeating the British at Plattsburgh and the Napoleonic forces finally being vanquished at the Battle of Waterloo, Brisbane was returned to Europe and given command of twelve regiments to occupy Paris in accordance with the Treaty of Paris. From 1815 to 1818, Brisbane remained in Paris before the occupation forces were recalled to England.
In November 1819 he married Anna Maria Hay Makdougall of Makerstoun, Roxburghshire, Scotland. On his father-in-law's death, Brisbane assumed the additional surname, becoming Makdougall Brisbane.
== Governor of New South Wales ==
=== Land grants to the rich and increased convict punishment ===
In 1821, on the recommendation of the Duke of Wellington, Brisbane was appointed as Governor of New South Wales, a post he held until 1825. Brisbane took over the government on 1 December 1821.
A report by John Bigge disparaged the policies of the previous governor, Lachlan Macquarie, which the conservative Tory British government at the time regarded as wasteful, expensive, and too lenient on the convicts.
Guided by the Bigge report and instructions from the High Tory British Secretary of State, Earl Bathurst, Brisbane re-established the Norfolk Island convict settlement and oversaw the formation of new penal colonies at Port Macquarie and also at Sarah Island on the remote west coast of Van Diemen's Land. These establishments were to serve as dreaded places of isolation and punishment for the convicts. In 1823, Brisbane also sent Lieutenant John Oxley to find another new site for convicts who were repeat offenders. Oxley surveyed a large river flowing into Moreton Bay and a year later, the first convicts arrived at the Moreton Bay Penal Settlement. Brisbane visited the settlement in December 1824 and Oxley suggested that the river be named the Brisbane River. The settlement was also renamed as Brisbane after him, which was later opened to free settlers in 1839.
Brisbane also introduced a new land grant system which stipulated that for every acre granted the grantee would be assigned, free of expense to the crown, one convict labourer. Large land grants given to rich and well-connected colonists were favoured through this system, including a contract of a million acres to a consortium of entrepreneurs led by John Macarthur known as the Australian Agricultural Company. This policy enabled the colonial government to drastically reduce the maintenance costs of convicts while providing rich colonists with accessible cheap labour.
These decisions firmly halted the socially progressive policies of Lachlan Macquarie and reaffirmed strong class distinctions within the colonial society. The exclusive 'Pure Merino' class of colonists (named after the type of sheep they bred) were able obtain large areas of land and significant political influence. This class of colonist evolved to dominate much of colonial society for many years, becoming known as the squattocracy.
=== Free press and representative government ===
Although Brisbane introduced many of the recommendations of Bigge's report, he did not limit his attention just to this.
He also implemented the beginnings of representative government by the establishment in 1823 of the first New South Wales Legislative Council. Although there were only a handful of members in this council, all of which were appointed by Brisbane and had no real power except to advise the governor, it gradually evolved over decades into a modern elective representative body.
=== Colonial expansion ===
In contrast to the previous governorship of Lachlan Macquarie, who was very cautious in the process of British expansion into the continent, Brisbane's rapid granting of large areas of land to venture capitalists and colonists resulted in a significant expansion of British land appropriation. This was particularly the case in the areas around Bathurst and in the Hunter Valley. Brisbane gave away around 100,000 acres of land in the Bathurst region, while 500,000 acres was granted in the Hunter Valley. An additional 1,000,000 acres was granted to the Australian Agricultural Company in the Port Stephens area.
The expansion of British influence into more remote areas was also achieved by the establishment of the new convict colonies at Port Macquarie, Sarah Island and Moreton Bay. Brisbane also set up a convict agricultural training facility on the colonial frontier at Wellington, and a military outpost on the northern coast of Australia at Fort Dundas.
=== The Bathurst War ===
The rapid rate of land appropriation in the Bathurst region during Brisbane's time as governor caused the displacement of the resident Wiradjuri people. Their resistance to colonisation led to conflict between the British settlers and these local Indigenous Australians. The Bathurst War, as it became known, resulted in the killing of dozens of Wiradjuri men, women and children, together with the deaths of around 13 stockmen.
By August 1824, this conflict was causing major disruptions to British interests in the region and, with a view of ending the war by force, Brisbane declared martial law over the Bathurst area. Soldiers under Major James Thomas Morisset scoured the region for Wiradjuri, while groups of armed colonists massacred them with impunity. When Brisbane declared an end to the war in December 1824, the Wiradjuri had been defeated with their main leader, Windradyne, suing for peace.
=== "Exclusives" disgruntled with Brisbane ===
Despite receiving large tracts of land for free and a virtually unlimited supply of cheap convict labour, many of the colonial elite in New South Wales were displeased with Brisbane. These so-called "exclusives", led by people such as John Macarthur and the ultra-conservative clergyman Samuel Marsden, were critical that Brisbane's policies, such as a free press, did not go far enough toward establishing New South Wales as an aristocratically led plantation economy.
== Astronomer ==
Brisbane was a keen astronomer throughout his career. He had an observatory built at his ancestral home in 1808. From this observatory he was able to contribute to the advances in navigation which took place over the next hundred years. He took telescopes, books and two astronomical assistants, Carl Ludwig Christian Rümker and James Dunlop to New South Wales with him. On arrival he had the first properly-equipped Australian observatory built at Parramatta while waiting for his predecessor, Governor Macquarie to complete his final arrangements.
The Parramatta observatory recorded stars of the southern hemisphere, the first detailed observations from the continent. Its major contribution was Rümker's rediscovery of Encke's comet in 1822. Brisbane left his equipment and books in the colony when he returned to Scotland. Remnants of this collection survive in the Sydney Observatory.
Brisbane's keen interest in science led him to accept the invitation to become the first President of the Philosophical Society of Australasia that later became the Royal Society of New South Wales. He was the first patron of the New South Wales Agricultural Society. He arranged experiments in growing tobacco, cotton, coffee and New Zealand flax in the colony.
== Later life ==
He was created Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath in 1814 and Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath in 1837. He published The Brisbane Catalogue of 7,385 stars of the Southern Hemisphere in 1835. The Observatory in Parramatta was used until 1855.
When Brisbane returned to Scotland he continued his studies and built a further observatory on his wife's estate, Makerstoun, near Kelso in the Borders. While a member of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and received its Keith Medal in 1848. In 1833 he acted as president of the British Association for the Advancement of Science. He founded a gold medal for the encouragement of scientific research to be awarded by the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
== Death ==
Brisbane died on 27 January 1860 in Largs, Scotland. His four children predeceased him. He is buried in the Brisbane Aisle Vault, which is in the small kirkyard next to the remains of Largs Old Kirk (known as Skelmorlie Aisle).
== Legacy ==
The following features are named after Thomas Brisbane:
Brisbane, the Australian state of Queensland's largest city and capital.
Brisbane River in Queensland, Australia.
Brisbane, a crater on the Moon.
Brisbane Street, Greenock
Brisbane Street, Hobart, Tasmania
Brisbane Street, Perth, Western Australia
Brisbane Water, an estuary on the Central Coast of New South Wales.
Sir Thomas Brisbane Planetarium, located in Brisbane, Queensland.
Noddsdale, the glen near Largs where his birthplace Brisbane House was situated, was renamed Brisbane Glen in his honour.
Isabella Plains, a suburb in Canberra, named in honour of Isabella Brisbane, a daughter of Sir Thomas.
Brisbane House Hotel in Largs, a town located by the sea in North Ayrshire, Scotland.
Thomas Makdougall Brisbane bridge in Largs
Makdougall Brisbane prize of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
Many other uses of Brisbane derive from the Australian city and hence are indirectly named after Thomas Brisbane. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joshua_Lyon | Joshua Lyon | Joshua Kennedy Lyon is an American journalist and author. He is the author of Pill Head: The Secret Life of a Painkiller Addict, published by Hyperion on July 7, 2009. Pill Head is part memoir, part investigative journalism and chronicles prescription painkiller abuse in America. He currently resides in Kingston, New York.
== Biography ==
Joshua Lyon was born in Nashville, TN. He attended high school at Hamilton Central in Hamilton, New York and majored in Literature at Purchase College.
== Books ==
Pill Head: The Secret Life of a Painkiller Addict is part memoir and part investigative journalism. The book weaves together the stories and views of addicts, doctors, experts and governmental agents—demonstrating how the lives and decisions of each are intertwined in America's drug epidemic.
In the summer of 2003, Lyon noticed a large amount of email spam promoting easy procurement of drugs like Valium, Xanax, and Vicodin, without a prescription. In the name of "journalistic curiosity,", Lyon convinced his editor to let him try to buy the pills online for a story, to see if the emails were legitimate.
Lyon acquired the online drug delivery with a budget of $600 provided by Fairchild Publications. Lyon wrote the article and later that night his curiosity led him to sample from the stash. Lyon recounted in his book that his editor called him in a panic, and asked what he had done with the pills. She was nervous that he had taken them. He assured her that he would flush the pills down the toilet, then promptly went and took three Vicodin. "That was all it took to seal the deal — I'd discovered my perfect drug," he said in the book.
== Reception ==
Pill Head received a starred Kirkus review, and Mother Jones named it one of the top books of 2009.
== Ghostwriting ==
Lyon is also a professional ghostwriter and co-author. His co-authored book with YouTube personality Joey Graceffa was a New York Times bestseller. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lars_Ulrich | Lars Ulrich | Lars Ulrich ( ; Danish: [ˈlɑːs ˈulˀʁek]; born 26 December 1963) is a Danish musician who is the drummer and a founding member of American heavy metal band Metallica. Along with James Hetfield, Ulrich has songwriting credits on almost all of the band's songs, and the two of them are the only remaining original members of the band.
The son and grandson respectively of tennis players Torben and Einer Ulrich, he played tennis in his youth and moved to Los Angeles at age 16 to train professionally. However, rather than playing tennis, Ulrich began playing drums. After publishing an advertisement in The Recycler, Ulrich met Hetfield and formed Metallica.
== Early life ==
Ulrich was born on 26 December 1963 into an upper-middle-class family in Gentofte, Denmark; the son of Lone (née Sylvester-Hvid) and tennis player Torben Ulrich. The family lived at Lundevangsvej 12 in Hellerup. His paternal grandfather was tennis player Einer Ulrich. His paternal grandmother, Ulla Meyer, was from a Jewish family; as a result, Ulrich's grandfather was persecuted by the Nazis during World War II. Saxophonist Dexter Gordon was Ulrich's godfather, and he is a childhood friend of musician Neneh Cherry.
In February 1973, Ulrich's father obtained passes for five of his friends to a Deep Purple concert held in the same Copenhagen stadium as one of his tennis tournaments. When one of the friends could not go, they gave their ticket to the nine-year-old Lars, who was mesmerized by the performance and bought the band's album Fireball the next day. The concert and album had a considerable impact on Ulrich, inspiring the start of his music career.
As a result of his newfound interest in music, he received his first drum kit, a Ludwig, from his grandmother around the age of 12 or 13. Ulrich originally intended to follow in his father's footsteps and play tennis, and he moved to Newport Beach, California, in the summer of 1980. Despite being ranked in the top ten tennis players of his age group in Denmark, Ulrich failed to make it into the seven man Corona del Mar High School tennis team, contributing to his decision to focus on music.
In the documentary Anvil! The Story of Anvil, Ulrich said that attending a Y&T show was his defining moment in wanting to become a musician. In 1981, he discovered British heavy metal band Diamond Head. He was excited about the band's style of music after purchasing their album Lightning to the Nations, and traveled from San Francisco to London to see the band perform at the Woolwich Odeon. Ulrich remains a fan of Diamond Head and would later mix their album The Best of Diamond Head. Upon returning to the U.S., Ulrich placed an advert in a local newspaper looking for musicians to start a band with him. James Hetfield responded, and Metallica was formed.
== Career ==
=== Metallica ===
Later in 1981, Ulrich met James Hetfield in Downey, California, and they formed the heavy metal band Metallica upon Ulrich securing a spot in a compilation album of local metal bands named Metal Massacre. He got the band name from a friend, Ron Quintana, who was brainstorming names for a heavy metal fanzine he was creating, with Metallica and Metal Mania being among the options; Ulrich encouraged him to choose Metal Mania, and used the name Metallica for himself.
He became known as a pioneer of fast thrash drum beats, featured on many of Metallica's early songs, such as "Metal Militia" from Kill 'Em All, "Fight Fire with Fire" from Ride the Lightning, "Battery" and "Damage Inc." from Master of Puppets and "Dyers Eve" from ...And Justice for All. He has since been considerably influential due to both the popularity of his band, as well as his drum techniques, such as the double bass drum in the song "One" (...And Justice for All) and "Dyers Eve". Since the release of Metallica, Ulrich adopted a less focused and simplified style of drumming, and reduced his kit from a 9-piece to a 7-piece.
Between 1998 and 2002, Ulrich tried running a record label, the Music Company, which was a joint venture with Metallica accountant Tim Duffy. It failed to catch on and folded in 2002. His voice can be heard at the beginning of "Leper Messiah" and he also counts to four in his native Danish in the "St. Anger" music video.
=== Napster lawsuit ===
In April 2000, Ulrich became a vocal opponent of Napster and file sharing as Metallica filed a lawsuit against the company for copyright infringement and racketeering. In July 2000, he testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee after Metallica's entire catalogue, including the then-unfinished track "I Disappear" was found to be freely available for download on the service. The case was settled out-of-court, resulting in more than 300,000 Napster users being banned from the service.
== Other activities ==
Ulrich has been an activist in support of expanding access to health care for U.S. citizens, with his family working with the Haight Ashbury Free Clinic of San Francisco, California. He raised $32,000 for the group during a celebrity edition of the game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?.
Ulrich made his acting debut in the HBO original film Hemingway & Gellhorn, which began filming in March 2011 and was released on 28 May 2012. He made a brief cameo appearance as himself in the film Get Him to the Greek, as the partner of the character Jackie Q. In 2012, Ulrich was the focus of the documentary film Mission to Lars. The film by Kate and Will Spicer concerns their journey with their brother Tom, who lives in a care home in Devon, England and who has Fragile X syndrome, to try to meet Ulrich at one of Metallica's 2009 gigs in California.
Having led a campaign for several years to get his longtime favorite band, Deep Purple, inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Ulrich delivered the induction speech when the band went into the Hall in 2016. In 2017, Ulrich began hosting a show on Apple Music called It's Electric, which has featured conversations with Joan Jett, Noel Gallagher, Dave Grohl and Jerry Cantrell.
== Artistry ==
=== Playing style ===
Ulrich's drumming style has changed throughout his career. During the 1980s, he was known for his fast, aggressive thrash beats. Unlike most drummers, Ulrich does not have a ride cymbal in his kit and instead favors the China cymbal. He said that he does not like the "ding" sound of the former and prefers the loudness of the latter. Although, during some live performances on the M72 World Tour (particularly for "Until It Sleeps"), his drum tech places a ride cymbal next to his China cymbal, and removes it before the next song.
Ulrich consciously simplified his style in the 1990s to support the hard rock-oriented songwriting of Metallica's albums during that period. He restored some of his earlier thrash metal "signature" techniques for the band's 2008 album Death Magnetic, as well as their 2016 album Hardwired... to Self-Destruct, which both albums saw a more aggressive and experimental drumming style from Ulrich.
=== Equipment ===
Ulrich endorses Tama drums and hardware. He plays a Starclassic Maple series drum kit, with 10" and 12" rack toms, two 16" floor toms and two 22" bass drums. From 2008 to 2016 he used the kit in orange, and the WorldWired Tour featured the similar kit with a Deeper Purple finish. During the M72 World Tour, the kit is bright yellow with black hardware. With Tama, Ulrich has designed his signature 14×6.5" steel snare drum, model LU1465. Ulrich also endorses Zildjian cymbals, Remo drumheads, and Ahead drumsticks.
== Personal life ==
Ulrich's first marriage was in 1988 to Debbie Jones, a British woman he met on tour, but they divorced in 1990 during the recordings of the Black album. His second marriage was to Skylar Satenstein, an emergency medicine physician, from 1997 to 2004. They had two sons before divorcing. Following his divorce from Satenstein, Ulrich dated Danish actress Connie Nielsen from 2004 to 2012. They had one child together. He married American fashion model Jessica Miller in 2015. Ulrich's sons Myles and Layne play in a band named Taipei Houston, which released its debut album in 2022.
Ulrich resides in San Francisco, California, but only has Danish citizenship. Ulrich is a friend of Noel Gallagher and his band Oasis and claimed Gallagher was his inspiration to give up cocaine in the 2000s. He also has a passion for fine art. In 2002, he sold a painting from his own collection, Self Portrait by Jean-Michel Basquiat, 1982. With a pre-sale price estimate of $5 million, it ultimately sold for triple that at Christie's Auction House. In 2009, Ulrich revealed he suffered from tinnitus due to many years of touring without the use of any auditory protection. To unwind after some gigs, Ulrich listens to jazz.
== Awards and honors ==
When Ulrich and other current and former Metallica members were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2009, Ulrich was the first Dane to receive the honor.
Ulrich was knighted in his native country of Denmark. He was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Order of the Dannebrog on 26 May 2017 by Margrethe II.
== Discography ==
=== Metallica ===
Kill 'Em All (1983)
Ride the Lightning (1984)
Master of Puppets (1986)
...And Justice for All (1988)
Metallica (1991)
Load (1996)
Reload (1997)
St. Anger (2003)
Death Magnetic (2008)
Hardwired... to Self-Destruct (2016)
72 Seasons (2023)
=== Guest appearances ===
Mercyful Fate – In the Shadows (guest on the bonus track "Return of the Vampire ... 1993")
Ludwig Görannson - Sinners (Original Motion Picture Score) (guest on the song “Bury That Guitar”)
== Filmography == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Hawaiian_Bank | First Hawaiian Bank | First Hawaiian, Inc. is a bank holding company headquartered in Honolulu, Hawaiʻi. Its principal subsidiary, First Hawaiian Bank, founded in 1858, is Hawaiʻi’s oldest and largest financial institution headquartered in Honolulu at the First Hawaiian Center. The bank has 57 branches throughout Hawaiʻi, three in Guam and one in Saipan. It offers banking services to consumer and commercial customers, including deposit products, lending services and wealth management, insurance, private banking and trust services. First Hawaiian was listed on the NASDAQ on August 4, 2016, and made its debut at number 12 in the January 2017 publication of Forbes' America's 100 Largest Banks with $20 billion in total assets. In 2019, BNP Paribas sold its stake in First Hawaiian Bank.
== History ==
In 1858, local businessmen, Charles Reed Bishop and William A. Aldrich, opened Bishop & Co. This was the first successful banking partnership under the laws of the independent Kingdom of Hawaiʻi. It operated from a basement room in "Makee & Anthon's Building" on Kaʻahumanu Street. On the day Bishop & Co. opened, it took in $4,784.25 in deposits. In 1895, Samuel M. Damon bought Bishop & Co. from Charles Bishop.
In 1910, Bishop & Co. bank opened its first branch in Hilo. It then opened its first Kauaʻi branch in Waimea in 1911. In 1919 Bishop & Co. incorporated as the Bank of Bishop & Co.
During the 1920s the bank steadily grew, acquiring the Bank of Honolulu in 1922, opening a branch in Kona in 1923, and opening yet another branch on Lānaʻi in 1924. The bank's growth slowed after it merged with First National Bank of Hawaii, First American Savings Bank, Army National Bank of Schofield Barracks, and Baldwin Bank (Maui) in 1929. The bank then changed its name to Bishop First National Bank of Honolulu.
In 1933, the bank's name became Bishop National Bank of Hawaii at Honolulu. The bank's name changed yet again in 1956, this time to Bishop National Bank of Hawaii.
In 1966, Cooke Trust Company acquired the bank. It was then changed to First Hawaiian Bank in 1969. The next year, in 1970, the bank opened its first branch on Guam in Dededo.
In 1975, First Hawaiian acquired Hawaii Thrift & Loan, which had been in financial difficulty, and turned it into First Hawaiian Creditcorp.
First Hawaiian Bank acquired many other banks during the 1990s. In 1991, First Hawaiian acquired First Interstate Bank of Hawaii. Then in 1992, it acquired the East West Bank, which had one branch in Honolulu and one on Maui.
In 1993, the bank acquired Pioneer Federal Savings Bank, which continued to operate as a separate institution.
In 1996, First Hawaiian acquired 31 branches in Oregon, Washington, and Idaho from U.S. Bancorp. It then created a new subsidiary - Pacific One Bank - to hold the branches, with a charter in Oregon. During the same year, First Hawaiian also acquired ANB Financial Corporation, which was the owner of American National Bank in central Washington state. American National's branches eventually became part of Pacific One Bank. At the same time as all of these mergers, First Hawaiian built its new headquarters, the First Hawaiian Center. At 429 ft (131 m), it is the tallest building in Hawaiʻi.
In 1997, First Hawaiian merged in Pioneer Federal and the next year merged in First Hawaiian Creditcorp. In the following year, 1998, First Hawaiian merged with San-Francisco-based Bank of the West. The surviving company, First Hawaiian, Inc., was renamed BancWest Corporation. Former First Hawaiian, Inc. shareholders owned 55% of BancWest; Banque Nationale de Paris (BNP), former owner of Bank of the West, owned 45%.
In 2001, First Hawaiian Bank acquired Union Bank of California's branch network in Guam and Saipan. In December, BNP Paribas completed its acquisition of 100% of First Hawaiian Bank and its parent company BancWest. Bank of the West and First Hawaiian Bank, however, continued to operate as separate institutions.
On December 23, 2015, First Hawaiian Bank announced that parent company BNP Paribas was considering strategic options for the subsidiary, including an initial public offering. On August 4, 2016, shares of the company started being sold on the NASDAQ.
In 2018, Banque Nationale de Paris (BNP) reduced their stake in First Hawaiian to 33.3%, and by January 2019, it had sold its remaining stake. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wellington_Convention | Wellington Convention | The Wellington Convention (formally, the Convention for the Prohibition of Fishing with Long Driftnets in the South Pacific) is a 1989 multilateral treaty whereby states agreed to prohibit the use of fishing driftnets longer than 2.5 kilometres in the South Pacific. The Wellington Convention played a role in the 1991 United Nations General Assembly's resolution calling for a global moratorium of driftnet fishing on the high seas.
== Creation, signatures, and ratifications ==
The Convention was concluded at Wellington on 24 November 1989. It was opened for signature to states which have territory within the South Pacific. The Convention was signed by Australia, Cook Islands, Fiji, France, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, New Zealand, Niue, Palau, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, United States, and Vanuatu.
Of the states that signed the Convention, it has not been ratified by France, Marshall Islands, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu. Samoa, which did not sign the Convention, has acceded to it. Additionally, Papua New Guinea has notified New Zealand—the depositary state—that the prohibitions of the Convention had been taken into account when Papua New Guinea enacted its Fisheries Act 1994.
== Global moratorium of driftnet fishing ==
On 20 December 1991, the UN General Assembly passed the Resolution on Large-scale Pelagic Driftnet Fishing and its Impact on the Living Marine Resources of the World's Oceans and Seas. The resolution called for a worldwide moratorium on driftnet fishing and cited the entry into force of the Wellington Convention as contributing support to such a moratorium.
== Protocols ==
The Convention has two Protocols that supplement it. Both were concluded at Noumea, New Caledonia on 20 October 2000
Ratification of Protocol I allows states that do not have territory in the Convention Area to nevertheless agree that they will prohibit their nationals and their fishing vessels from using driftnets while fishing in the Convention Area. Protocol I has been ratified only by the United States; it entered into force for the U.S. on 28 February 1992.
Ratification of Protocol II allows states that do not have territory in the Convention Area but have territory in the waters that are contiguous to the Convention Area to nevertheless agree that they will prohibit their nationals and their fishing vessels from using driftnets while fishing in the Convention Area. Protocol II has been ratified by Chile (5 October 1993) and Canada (28 August 1998). |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_XVI | Louis XVI | Louis XVI (Louis-Auguste; French: [lwi sɛːz]; 23 August 1754 – 21 January 1793) was the last king of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. The son of Louis, Dauphin of France (son and heir apparent of King Louis XV), and Maria Josepha of Saxony, Louis became the new Dauphin when his father died in 1765. In 1770, he married Marie Antoinette. He became King of France and Navarre on his paternal grandfather's death on 10 May 1774, and reigned until the abolition of the monarchy on 21 September 1792. From 1791 onwards, he used the style of king of the French.
The first part of Louis XVI's reign was marked by attempts to reform the French government in accordance with Enlightenment ideas. These included efforts to increase tolerance toward non-Catholics as well as abolishing the death penalty for deserters. The French nobility reacted to the proposed reforms with hostility, and successfully opposed their implementation. Louis implemented deregulation of the grain market, advocated by his economic liberal minister Turgot, but it resulted in an increase in bread prices. In periods of bad harvests, it led to food scarcity which, during a particularly bad harvest in 1775, prompted the masses to revolt. From 1776, Louis XVI actively supported the North American colonists, who were seeking their independence from Great Britain, which was realised in the Treaty of Paris (1783). The ensuing debt and financial crisis contributed to the unpopularity of the ancien régime.
This led to the convening of the Estates General of 1789. Discontent among France's middle and lower classes intensified opposition to the French aristocracy and the absolute monarchy led by Louis XVI and his wife, Marie Antoinette. Tensions progressively rose, punctuated by violent riots such as the storming of the Bastille, which forced Louis to recognize the legislative authority of the National Assembly.
Louis's indecisiveness and conservatism toward the demands of the Estates led many to despise him as the embodiment of ancien régime tyranny, and his popularity deteriorated progressively. His unsuccessful flight to Varennes in June 1791 seemed to confirm suspicions that the king hoped for foreign intervention to restore his power, deeply undermining his legitimacy. Four months later, the constitutional monarchy was declared, and the replacement of the monarchy with a republic became an ever-increasing possibility. The growth of anti-clericalism among revolutionaries resulted in the abolition of the dîme (religious land tax) and several government policies aimed at the dechristianization of France.
With the outbreak of civil and international war, Louis XVI was arrested during the Insurrection of 10 August 1792. One month later, the monarchy was abolished and the French First Republic was proclaimed on 21 September 1792. The former king became a desacralized French citizen, addressed as Citoyen (Citizen) Louis Capet in reference to his ancestor Hugh Capet. Louis was tried by the National Convention (self-instituted as a tribunal for the occasion), found guilty of high treason, and executed by guillotine on 21 January 1793. Louis XVI's death brought an end to more than a thousand years of continuous French monarchy. Both of his sons died in childhood, before the Bourbon Restoration; his only child to reach adulthood, Marie Thérèse, was released to her Austrian relatives in exchange for French prisoners of war, eventually dying childless in 1851.
== Childhood ==
Louis-Auguste de France, who was given the title Duke of Berry at birth, was born in the Palace of Versailles on 23 August 1754. One of seven children, he was the second surviving son of Louis, the Dauphin of France and the grandson of Louis XV and of his consort, Maria Leszczyńska. His mother was Marie-Josèphe of Saxony, the daughter of Augustus III, Prince-elector of Saxony and King of Poland and Archduchess Maria Josepha of Austria.
Louis-Auguste was overlooked by his parents who favored his older brother, Louis, Duke of Burgundy, who was regarded as bright and handsome but died at the age of nine in 1761. Louis-Auguste, a strong and healthy boy but very shy, excelled in his studies and had a strong taste for Latin, history, geography, and astronomy and became fluent in Italian and English. His tutors in mathematics and physics had high praises for his work. Le Blonde, his mathematics instructor, wrote that the prince's studies were "proofs of [his] intelligence and the excellence of [his] judgement," though flattery was to be expected when addressing a prince. Louis-Auguste's apparent mathematical skills are corroborated by his enjoyment of cartography, which would have required an understanding of scale and projections. He also enjoyed physical activities such as hunting with his grandfather and rough play with his younger brothers, Louis-Stanislas, Count of Provence, and Charles-Philipe, Count of Artois. From an early age, Louis-Auguste was encouraged in another of his interests, locksmithing, which was seen as a useful pursuit for a child.
When his father died of tuberculosis on 20 December 1765, the eleven-year-old Louis-Auguste became the new Dauphin. His mother never recovered from the loss of her husband and died on 13 March 1767, also from tuberculosis. The strict and conservative education he received from Paul François de Quelen de la Vauguyon, "gouverneur des Enfants de France" (governor of the Children of France), from 1760 until his marriage in 1770, did not prepare him for the throne that he was to inherit in 1774 after the death of his grandfather, Louis XV. Throughout his education, Louis-Auguste received a mixture of studies particular to religion, morality, and humanities. His instructors may have also had a good hand in shaping Louis-Auguste into the indecisive king that he became. Abbé Berthier, his instructor, taught him that timidity was a value in strong monarchs, and Abbé Soldini, his confessor, instructed him not to let people read his mind.
== Marriage and family life ==
On 19 April 1770, at the age of fifteen, Louis XVI married the fourteen-year-old Archduchess Maria Antonia of Austria, his second cousin once removed and the youngest daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Francis I and Empress Maria Theresa.
This marriage was met with hostility from the French public. France's alliance with its traditional enemy Austria had pulled the country into the disastrous Seven Years' War, in which it was defeated by the British and the Prussians, both in Europe and in North America. By the time that Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were married, the French people generally disliked the Austrian alliance, and Marie Antoinette was seen as an unwelcome foreigner. For the young couple, the marriage was initially amiable but distant. Louis XVI's shyness and, among other factors, the young age and inexperience of the newlyweds (who were near total strangers to each other: they had met only two days before their wedding) meant that the fifteen-year-old bridegroom failed to consummate the union with his fourteen-year-old bride. His fear of being manipulated by her for Austrian purposes caused him to behave coldly towards her in public. Correspondence between Marie Antoinette's mother and Austria's French ambassador Florimond Claude, Comte de Mercy-Argenteau express a desire for Marie Antoinette to exercise authority in the French court and to encourage Louis XVI to dedicate more attention to his role as prince. To their disappointment, however, the princess did not seem overly interested in "serious affairs". Over time, the couple became closer, though while their marriage was reportedly consummated in July 1773, it did not actually happen until 1777.
The couple's failure to produce children for several years placed a strain upon their marriage, exacerbated by the publication of obscene pamphlets (libelles) mocking their infertility. One such pamphlet questioned, "Can the King do it? Can't the King do it?".
The couple's initial failure to have children aroused contemporary debate that has continued among historians. One suggestion is that Louis XVI suffered from a physical dysfunction, most often thought to be phimosis, a suggestion first made in late 1772 by the royal doctors. Adherents of this view suggest that he was circumcised (a common treatment for phimosis) to relieve the condition seven years after their marriage. Louis XVI's doctors were not in favour of the surgery – the operation was delicate and traumatic, and capable of doing "as much harm as good" to an adult man. The argument for phimosis and a resulting operation is mostly seen to originate from Stefan Zweig's 1932 biography of Marie Antoinette.
Most modern historians doubt that Louis XVI had surgery. As 1777, the Prussian envoy, Baron Goltz, reported that Louis XVI had definitely declined the operation. Louis XVI was frequently declared to be perfectly capable of sexual intercourse, as confirmed by Marie Antoinette's brother Joseph II; and during the time he was supposed to have had the operation, his journal records him hunting almost every day, which would not have been possible for weeks after circumcision. The couple's sexual problems are now attributed to other factors. Antonia Fraser's biography of Marie Antoinette discusses Joseph II's letter on the matter to one of his brothers after he visited Versailles in 1777. Joseph describes in frank detail Louis XVI's sexual inadequacy and Marie Antoinette's lack of interest. Joseph described the couple as "complete fumblers"; however, with Joseph's advice, Louis XVI began to apply himself more effectively, and in the third week of March 1778 Marie Antoinette became pregnant.
Eventually, the royal couple had four children. According to Jeanne-Louise-Henriette Campan, Marie Antoinette's lady-in-waiting, the queen also suffered two miscarriages. The first, in 1779, a few months after the birth of her first child, is mentioned by Empress Maria Theresa in a July letter to her daughter. Madame Campan states that Louis XVI spent an entire morning consoling his wife at her bedside, and swore everyone to secrecy. Marie Antoinette suffered a second miscarriage on the night of 2–3 November 1783.
Their live-born children were:
Marie-Thérèse-Charlotte (19 December 1778 – 19 October 1851)
Louis-Joseph, Dauphin of France (22 October 1781 – 4 June 1789)
Louis-Charles, Dauphin after the death of his elder brother, future titular King Louis XVII of France (27 March 1785 – 8 June 1795)
Sophie-Hélène-Béatrix, died in infancy (9 July 1786 – 19 June 1787)
In addition to his biological children, Louis XVI also adopted six children: "Armand" Francois-Michel Gagné (c. 1771–1792), a poor orphan adopted in 1776; Jean Amilcar (c. 1781–1796), a Senegalese slave boy given to the queen by Stanislas de Boufflers in 1787, freed, baptized, adopted and placed in a pension; Ernestine Lambriquet (1778–1813), daughter of two servants at the palace, who was raised as the playmate of his daughter and whom he adopted after the death of her mother in 1788; and finally "Zoe" Jeanne Louise Victoire (born in 1787), who was adopted in 1790 along with her two older sisters after the death of her parents, an usher and his wife in service of the king.
Of these adoptees, only Armand, Ernestine and Zoe actually lived with the royal family: Jean Amilcar, along with the elder siblings of Zoe and Armand who were also formally foster children of the royal couple, lived at the queen's expense until her imprisonment, which proved fatal for at least Amilcar, who was evicted from his boarding school, and reportedly starved to death on the street. Armand and Zoe had a position which was more similar to that of Ernestine: Armand lived at court with the king and queen until the outbreak of the revolution, when he left them because of his republican sympathies, and Zoe was chosen to be the playmate of the Dauphin, just as Ernestine had once been selected as the playmate of Marie Thérèse, and sent away to her sisters in a convent boarding school before the Flight to Varennes in 1791.
== Absolute monarch of France (1774–1789) ==
When Louis XVI ascended to the throne in 1774, he was nineteen years old. He had an enormous responsibility, as the government was deeply in debt, and resentment of despotic monarchy was on the rise. His predecessor, his grandfather Louis XV, had been widely hated by the time of his death. The public remembered him as an irresponsible man who spent his time womanizing rather than managing his kingdom. Furthermore, the monarchy had poured money into a series of unsuccessful foreign military campaigns, leaving France in financial difficulty. The young Louis XVI felt woefully unqualified to resolve the situation.
As king, Louis XVI focused primarily on religious freedom and foreign policy. Although raised as the Dauphin since 1765, he lacked firmness and decisiveness. His desire to be loved by his people is evident in the prefaces of many of his edicts that would often explain the nature and good intention of his actions as benefiting the people, such as reinstating the parlements. When questioned about his decision, he said, "It may be considered politically unwise, but it seems to me to be the general wish and I want to be loved." In spite of his indecisiveness, Louis XVI was determined to be a good king, stating that he "must always consult public opinion; it is never wrong." He, therefore, appointed an experienced advisor, Jean-Frédéric Phélypeaux, Count of Maurepas who, until his death in 1781, would take charge of many important ministerial functions.
Among the major events of Louis XVI's reign was his signing of the Edict of Versailles, also known as the Edict of Tolerance, on 7 November 1787, which was registered in the Parlement of Paris on 29 January 1788. Granting non-Roman Catholics – Huguenots and Lutherans, as well as Jews – civil and legal status in France and the legal right to practice their faiths, this edict effectively nullified the Edict of Fontainebleau that had been law for 102 years. The Edict of Versailles did not legally proclaim freedom of religion in France – this took two more years, with the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen of 1789 – however, it was an important step in eliminating religious tensions and it officially ended religious persecution within his realm.
=== Economic policies ===
Radical financial reforms by Anne Robert Jacques Turgot and Guillaume-Chrétien de Lamoignon de Malesherbes angered the nobles and were blocked by the parlements who insisted that the King did not have the legal right to levy new taxes. So, in 1776, Turgot was dismissed and Malesherbes resigned, to be replaced by Jacques Necker. Necker supported the American Revolution, and he carried out a policy of taking out large international loans instead of raising taxes. He attempted to gain public favor in 1781 by publishing the first ever accounting of the French Crown's expenses and accounts, the Compte-rendu au Roi. This misleading publication led the people of France to believe the kingdom ran a modest surplus. When this policy of hiding and ignoring the kingdom's financial woes failed miserably, Louis dismissed and replaced him in 1783 with Charles Alexandre de Calonne, who increased public spending to "buy" the country's way out of debt. Again this failed, so Louis convoked the Assembly of Notables in 1787 to discuss a revolutionary new fiscal reform proposed by Calonne. When the nobles were informed of the true extent of the debt, they were shocked and rejected the plan.
After this, Louis XVI and his new Controller-General of Finances, Étienne-Charles de Loménie de Brienne, tried to simply force the Parlement of Paris to register the new laws and fiscal reforms. Upon the refusal of the members of the Parlement, Louis XVI tried to use his absolute power to subjugate them by every means: enforcing in many occasions the registration of his reforms via Lit de justice (6 August 1787, 19 November 1787, and 8 May 1788), exiling all Parlement magistrates to Troyes as a punishment on 15 August 1787, prohibiting six members from attending parliamentary sessions on 19 November, arresting two very important members of the Parlement, who opposed his reforms, on 6 May 1788, and even dissolving and depriving of all power the "Parlement", replacing it with a plenary court, on 8 May 1788. The failure of these measures and displays of royal power is attributable to three decisive factors. First, the majority of the population stood in favor of the Parlement against the King, and thus continuously rebelled against him. Second, the royal treasury was financially destitute to a crippling degree, leaving it incapable of sustaining its own imposed reforms. Third, although the King enjoyed as much absolute power as his predecessors, he lacked the personal authority crucial for absolutism to function properly. Now unpopular with both the commoners and the aristocracy, Louis XVI was therefore only very briefly able to impose his decisions and reforms, for periods ranging from 2 to 4 months, before having to revoke them.
As authority dissipated from him and reforms were clearly becoming unavoidable, there were increasingly loud calls for him to convoke the Estates General, which had not met since 1614 (at the beginning of the reign of Louis XIII). As a last-ditch attempt to get new monetary reforms approved, Louis XVI convoked the Estates General on 8 August 1788, setting the date of their opening on 1 May 1789. With the convocation of the Estates General, as in many other instances during his reign, Louis XVI placed his reputation and public image in the hands of those who were perhaps not as sensitive to the desires of the French population as he was. Because it had been so long since the Estates General had been convened, there was some debate as to which procedures should be followed. Ultimately, the Parlement of Paris agreed that "all traditional observances should be carefully maintained to avoid the impression that the Estates General could make things up as it went along." Under this decision, the King agreed to retain many of the traditions which had been the norm in 1614 and prior convocations of the Estates General, but which were intolerable to a Third Estate (the bourgeoisie) buoyed by recent proclamations of equality. For example, the First and Second Estates (the clergy and nobility respectively) proceeded into the assembly wearing their finest garments, while the Third Estate was required to wear plain, oppressively somber black, an act of alienation that Louis XVI would likely have not condoned. He seemed to regard the deputies of the Estates General with respect: in a wave of self-important patriotism, members of the Estates refused to remove their hats in the King's presence, so Louis removed his to them.
This convocation was one of the events that transformed the general economic and political malaise of the country into the French Revolution. In June 1789, the Third Estate unilaterally declared itself the National Assembly. Louis XVI's attempts to control it resulted in the Tennis Court Oath (serment du jeu de paume), on 20 June, the declaration of the National Constituent Assembly on 9 July, and eventually to the storming of the Bastille on 14 July, which started the French Revolution. Within three short months, the majority of the King's executive authority had been transferred to the elected representatives of the Nation.
==== Royal spending ====
The Menus-Plaisirs du Roi was under the direction of Papillon de la Ferté and he gave details in his journal about the costs of the performances over the years 1756–1780 in three different palaces. The wedding in 1771 was especially costly. The performance of Castor et Pollux in 1779 when he was visited by his brother-in-law, Joseph II, involved more than 500 people.
Royal household spending in 1788 was 13% of total state expenses (excluding interest on debts).
== Foreign policy ==
French involvement in the Seven Years' War had left Louis XVI a disastrous inheritance. Britain's victories had seen them capture most of France's colonial territories. While some were returned to France at the Treaty of Paris (1763), almost all of New France was ceded to the British, or to France's Spanish allies to compensate them for losses to the British.
This had led to a strategy amongst the French leadership of seeking to rebuild the French military in order to fight a war of revenge against Britain, in which it was hoped the lost colonies could be recovered. France still maintained a strong influence in the West Indies, and in India maintained five trading posts, leaving opportunities for disputes and power-play with Great Britain.
=== Concerning the American Revolution and Europe ===
In the spring of 1776, Charles Gravier, comte de Vergennes, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, saw an opportunity to humiliate France's long-standing enemy, Great Britain, and to recover territory lost during the Seven Years' War, by supporting the American Revolution. In the same year Louis was persuaded by Pierre Beaumarchais to send supplies, ammunition, and guns to the rebels secretly. Early in 1778 he signed a formal Treaty of Alliance, and later that year France went to war with Britain. In deciding in favor of war, despite France's large financial problems, the King was materially influenced by alarmist reports after the Battle of Saratoga, which suggested that Britain was preparing to make huge concessions to the Thirteen Colonies and then, allied with them, to strike at French and Spanish possessions in the West Indies. Spain and the Netherlands soon joined the French in an anti-British coalition. After 1778, Great Britain switched its focus to the West Indies, as defending the sugar islands was considered more important than trying to recover the Thirteen Colonies. France and Spain planned to invade the British Isles themselves with the Armada of 1779, but the operation never went ahead.
France's initial military assistance to the American rebels was a disappointment, with defeats at Rhode Island and Savannah. In 1780, France sent Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau and François Joseph Paul de Grasse to help the Americans, along with large land and naval forces. The French expeditionary force arrived in North America in July 1780. The appearance of French fleets in the Caribbean was followed by the capture of a number of the sugar islands, including Tobago and Grenada. In October 1781, the French naval blockade was instrumental in forcing a British army under Cornwallis to surrender at the Siege of Yorktown. When news of this reached London in March 1782, the North ministry fell and Great Britain immediately sued for peace terms; however, France delayed the end of the war until September 1783 in the hope of overrunning more British colonies in India and the West Indies.Great Britain recognized the independence of the Thirteen Colonies as the United States of America, and the French war ministry rebuilt its army. However, the British defeated the main French fleet in 1782 at the Battle of the Saintes and successfully defended Jamaica and Gibraltar. France gained little from the Treaty of Paris (1783) that ended the war, except the colonies of Tobago and Senegal. Louis XVI was wholly disappointed in his aims of recovering Canada, India, and other islands in the West Indies from Britain, as they were too well defended and the Royal Navy made any attempted invasion of mainland Britain impossible. The war cost 1,066 million livres, financed by new loans at high interest (with no new taxes). Necker concealed the crisis from the public by explaining only that ordinary revenues exceeded ordinary expenses, and not mentioning the loans. After he was forced from office in 1781, new taxes were levied.
This intervention in America was not possible without France adopting a neutral position in European affairs to avoid being drawn into a continental war which would be simply a repetition of the French policy mistakes in the Seven Years' War. Vergennes, supported by King Louis, refused to go to war to support Austria in the War of the Bavarian Succession in 1778, when the Queen's brother Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor tried to partition Bavaria over a disputed inheritance. Vergennes and Maurepas refused to support the Austrian position, but the intervention of Marie Antoinette in favor of Austria obliged France to adopt a position more favorable to Austria, which in the Treaty of Teschen was able to get in compensation the Innviertel, a territory whose population numbered around 100,000 persons. However, this intervention was a disaster for the image of the Queen, who was named "l'Autrichienne" (a pun in French meaning "Austrian", but the "chienne" suffix can mean "bitch") on account of it.
=== Concerning Asia ===
Louis XVI hoped to use the American Revolutionary War as an opportunity to expel the British from India. In 1782, he sealed an alliance with the Peshwa Madhavrao II. As a consequence, the Marquis de Bussy-Castelnau moved his troops to the Isle de France (now Mauritius) and later contributed to the French effort in India in 1783. Pierre André de Suffren became the ally of Hyder Ali in the Second Anglo-Mysore War against the British East India Company from 1782 to 1783, engaging the Royal Navy along the coasts of India and Ceylon.
France also intervened in Cochinchina following Pierre Pigneau de Behaine's intervention to obtain military aid. A France-Cochinchina alliance was signed through the Treaty of Versailles of 1787, between Louis XVI and Prince Nguyễn Ánh.
Louis XVI also encouraged major voyages of exploration. In 1785, he appointed Jean-François de Galaup, comte de Lapérouse to lead a sailing expedition around the world (La Pérouse and his fleet disappeared after leaving Botany Bay in March 1788. Louis is recorded as having asked, on the morning of his execution, "Any news of La Pérouse?".).
== Revolutionary constitutional reign (1789–1792) ==
There is a lack of scholarship on the subject of Louis XVI's time as a constitutional monarch, though it was a significant length of time. The reason as to why many biographers have not elaborated extensively on this time in the king's life is due to the uncertainty surrounding his actions during this period, as Louis XVI's declaration that was left behind in the Tuileries stated that he regarded his actions during his constitutional reign as provisional; he reflected that his "palace was a prison". This time period was exemplary in its demonstration of an institution's deliberation while in their last standing moments.
Louis XVI's time in his previous palace came to an end on 5 October 1789, when an angry mob of Parisian working men and women was incited by revolutionaries and marched on the Palace of Versailles, where the royal family lived. At dawn, they infiltrated the palace and attempted to kill the queen, who was associated with a frivolous lifestyle that symbolized much that was despised about the ancien régime. After the situation had been defused by La Fayette, head of the National Guard, the king and his family were brought by the crowd to the Tuileries Palace in Paris, the reasoning being that the King would be more accountable to the people if he lived among them in Paris.
The Revolution's principles of popular sovereignty, though central to democratic principles of later eras, marked a decisive break from the centuries-old principle of divine right that was at the heart of the French monarchy. As a result, the Revolution was opposed by many of the rural people of France and by all the governments of France's neighbors. Still, within the city of Paris and amongst the philosophers of the time, many of which were members of the National Assembly, the monarchy had next to no support. As the Revolution became more radical and the masses more uncontrollable, several of the Revolution's leading figures began to doubt its benefits. Some, like Honoré Mirabeau, secretly plotted with the Crown to restore its power in a new constitutional form.
Beginning in 1791, Armand Marc, comte de Montmorin, Minister of Foreign Affairs, started to organize covert resistance to the revolutionary forces. Thus, the funds of the Liste Civile, voted annually by the National Assembly, were partially assigned to secret expenses in order to preserve the monarchy. Arnault Laporte, who was in charge of the civil list, collaborated with both Montmorin and Mirabeau. After the sudden death of Mirabeau, Maximilien Radix de Sainte-Foix, a noted financier, took his place. In effect, he headed a secret council of advisers to Louis XVI, which tried to preserve the monarchy; these schemes proved unsuccessful, and were exposed later when the armoire de fer was discovered. Regarding the financial difficulties facing France, the Assembly created the Comité des Finances, and while Louis XVI attempted to declare his concern and interest in remedying the economic situations, inclusively offering to melt crown silver as a dramatic measure, it appeared to the public that the King did not understand that such statements no longer held the same meaning as they did before and that doing such a thing could not restore the economy of a country.
Mirabeau's death on 7 April, and Louis XVI's indecision, fatally weakened negotiations between the Crown and moderate politicians. The Third Estate leaders also had no desire in turning back or remaining moderate after their hard efforts to change the politics of the time, and so the plans for a constitutional monarchy did not last long. On one hand, Louis was nowhere near as reactionary as his brothers, the Count of Provence and the Count of Artois, and he repeatedly sent messages to them requesting a halt to their attempts to launch counter-coups. This was often done through his secretly nominated regent, Cardinal Étienne Charles de Loménie de Brienne. On the other hand, Louis was alienated from the new democratic government both by its negative reaction to the traditional role of the monarch and in its treatment of him and his family. He was particularly irked by being kept essentially as a prisoner in the Tuileries, and by the refusal of the new regime to allow him to have confessors and priests of his choice rather than 'constitutional priests' pledged to the state and not the Roman Catholic Church.
=== Flight to Varennes (1791) ===
On 21 June 1791, Louis XVI attempted to flee secretly with his family from Paris to the royalist fortress town of Montmédy on the northeastern border of France, where he would join the émigrés and be protected by Austria. The voyage was planned by the Swedish nobleman, and often assumed secret lover of Queen Marie Antoinette, Axel von Fersen.
While the National Assembly worked painstakingly towards a constitution, Louis and Marie-Antoinette were involved in plans of their own. Louis had appointed Louis Auguste Le Tonnelier de Breteuil to act as plenipotentiary, dealing with other foreign heads of state in an attempt to bring about a counter-revolution. Louis himself held reservations against depending on foreign assistance. Like his mother and father, he thought that the Austrians were treacherous and the Prussians were overly ambitious. As tensions in Paris rose and he was pressured to accept measures from the Assembly against his will, Louis XVI and the Queen plotted to secretly escape from Paris. Beyond escape, they hoped to raise an "armed congress" with the help of the émigrés, as well as assistance from other nations with which they could return and, in essence, recapture France. This degree of planning reveals Louis's political determination, but it was for this determined plot that he was eventually convicted of high treason. He left behind (on his bed) a 16-page written manifesto, Déclaration du roi, adressée à tous les François, à sa sortie de Paris (rediscovered in the US in 2009), traditionally known as the Testament politique de Louis XVI ("Political Testament of Louis XVI"), commenting on his feelings about the Revolution, criticizing some of its consequences, without rejecting its major reforms, such as the abolition of the orders and civil equality.
The National Assembly was quick to decide to publish the theory that the King had been kidnapped, thus avoiding any challenge to the Constitution, which was then nearing completion, while at the same time ordering that the carriage be placed under arrest. It was a deliberately deceptive choice, since Louis XVI had left a manifesto in plain view, assuming and justifying the escape. La Fayette decided to censor the text. Letters were sent throughout the country to stop the royal carriage.
Louis's indecision, many delays, and misunderstanding of France were responsible for the failure of the escape. Within 24 hours, the royal family was arrested at Varennes-en-Argonne shortly after Jean-Baptiste Drouet, who recognised the king from his profile on a 50 livres assignat (paper money), had given the alert. Louis XVI and his family were taken back to Paris where they arrived on 25 June. Viewed suspiciously as traitors, they were placed under tight house arrest upon their return to the Tuileries.
At the individual level, the failure of the escape plans was due to a series of misadventures, delays, misinterpretations, and poor judgments. In a wider perspective, the failure was attributable to the king's indecision—he repeatedly postponed the schedule, allowing for smaller problems to become severe. Furthermore, he totally misunderstood the political situation. He thought only a small number of radicals in Paris were promoting a revolution that the people as a whole rejected. He thought, mistakenly, that he was beloved by his subjects. The King's flight in the short term was traumatic for France, inciting a wave of emotions that ranged from anxiety to violence to panic. The realization that the King had repudiated the Revolution was a shock for people who until then had seen him as a good king who governed as a manifestation of God's will. Many suspected the King of collaborating with the Austrians, due to Marie Antoinette's family ties and the fact that the monarchs had clearly been heading for the Austrian border. War now seemed imminent, and the King seemed to have been politically involved with France's traditional enemies, who were still widely hated despite recent cooperation. Many citizens felt betrayed, and as a result, Republicanism now burst out of the coffee houses and became a dominating philosophy of the rapidly radicalized French Revolution.
=== Intervention by foreign powers ===
The other monarchies of Europe looked with concern upon the developments in France, and considered whether they should intervene, either in support of Louis or to take advantage of the chaos in France. The key figure was Marie Antoinette's brother, Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor. Initially, he had looked on the Revolution with equanimity. However, he became more and more disturbed as it became more and more radical. Despite this, he still hoped to avoid war.
On 27 August, Leopold and Frederick William II of Prussia, in consultation with émigrés French nobles, issued the Declaration of Pillnitz, which declared the interest of the monarchs of Europe in the well-being of Louis and his family, and threatened vague but severe consequences if anything should befall them. Although Leopold saw the Pillnitz Declaration as an easy way to appear concerned about the developments in France without committing any soldiers or finances to change them, the revolutionary leaders in Paris viewed it fearfully as a dangerous foreign attempt to undermine France's sovereignty.
In addition to the ideological differences between France and the monarchical powers of Europe, there were continuing disputes over the status of Austrian estates in Alsace, and the concern of members of the National Constituent Assembly about the agitation of émigrés nobles abroad, especially in the Austrian Netherlands and the minor states of the Holy Roman Empire.
In the end, the Legislative Assembly, supported by Louis XVI, declared war on Austria ("the King of Bohemia and Hungary") first, voting for war on 20 April 1792, after a long list of grievances was presented to it by the foreign minister, Charles François Dumouriez. Dumouriez prepared an immediate invasion of the Austrian Netherlands, where he expected the local population to rise against Austrian rule. However, the Revolution had thoroughly disorganised the army, and the forces raised were insufficient for the invasion. The soldiers fled at the first sign of battle and, in one case, on 28 April 1792, murdered their general, Irish-born Théobald Dillon, whom they accused of treason.
While the revolutionary government frantically raised fresh troops and reorganised its armies, a Prussian-Austrian army under Charles William Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick assembled at Koblenz on the Rhine. In July, the invasion began, with Brunswick's army easily taking the fortresses of Longwy and Verdun. The duke then issued on 25 July a proclamation called the Brunswick Manifesto, written by Louis's émigré cousin, Louis Joseph, Prince of Condé, declaring the intent of the Austrians and Prussians to restore the King to his full powers and to treat any person or town who opposed them as rebels to be condemned to death by martial law.
Contrary to its intended purpose of strengthening Louis XVI's position against the revolutionaries, the Brunswick Manifesto greatly undermined his already highly tenuous position. It was taken by many to be the final proof of collusion between the King and foreign powers in a conspiracy against his own country. The anger of the populace boiled over on 10 August when an armed mob – with the backing of a new municipal government of Paris that came to be known as the Insurrectional Paris Commune – marched upon and invaded the Tuileries Palace. The royal family took shelter with the Legislative Assembly.
== Imprisonment, execution and burial (1792–1793) ==
Louis was officially arrested on 13 August 1792 and sent to the Temple, an ancient fortress in Paris that was used as a prison. On 21 September, the National Assembly declared France to be a republic, and abolished the monarchy. Louis was stripped of all of his titles and honors, and from this date was known as Citoyen Louis Capet.
The Girondins were partial to keeping the deposed king under arrest, both as a hostage and a guarantee for the future. Members of the Commune and the most radical deputies, who would soon form the group known as the Mountain, argued for Louis's immediate execution. The legal background of many of the deputies made it difficult for a great number of them to accept an execution without the due process of law, and it was voted that the deposed monarch be tried before the National Convention, the organ that housed the representatives of the sovereign people. In many ways, the former king's trial represented the trial of the monarchy by the Revolution. It was seen as if with the death of one came the life of the other. The historian Jules Michelet later argued that the death of the former king led to the acceptance of violence as a tool for happiness. He said, "If we accept the proposition that one person can be sacrificed for the happiness of the many, it will soon be demonstrated that two or three or more could also be sacrificed for the happiness of the many. Little by little, we will find reasons for sacrificing the many for the happiness of the many, and we will think it was a bargain."
Two events led up to the trial for Louis XVI. First, after the Battle of Valmy on 22 September 1792, General Dumouriez negotiated with the Prussians who evacuated France. Louis could no longer be considered a hostage or as leverage in negotiations with the invading forces. Second, in November 1792, the armoire de fer (iron chest) incident took place at the Tuileries Palace, when the existence of the hidden safe in the king's bedroom containing compromising documents and correspondence, was revealed by François Gamain, the Versailles locksmith who had installed it. Gamain went to Paris on 20 November and told Jean-Marie Roland, Girondin Minister of the Interior, who ordered it opened. The resulting scandal served to discredit the King. Following these two events the Girondins could no longer keep the King from trial.
On 11 December, among crowded and silent streets, the deposed king was brought from the Temple to stand before the National Convention and hear his indictment, an accusation of high treason and crimes against the State. On 26 December, his counsel, Raymond Desèze, delivered Louis's response to the charges, with the assistance of François Tronchet and Guillaume-Chrétien de Lamoignon de Malesherbes. Before the trial started and Louis mounted his defense to the convention, he told his lawyers that he knew he would be found guilty and be killed, but to prepare and act as though they could win. He was resigned to and accepted his fate before the verdict was determined, but he was willing to fight to be remembered as a good king for his people.
The convention would be voting on three questions: first, is Louis guilty; second, whatever the decision, should there be an appeal to the people; and third, if found guilty, what punishment should Louis suffer? The order of the voting on each question was a compromise within the Jacobin movement between the Girondins and the Mountain; neither were satisfied but both accepted.
On 15 January 1793, the convention, composed of 721 deputies, voted on the verdict. Given the overwhelming evidence of Louis's collusion with the invaders, the verdict was a foregone conclusion – with 693 deputies voting guilty, none for acquittal, with 23 abstaining. The next day, a roll-call vote was carried out to decide upon the fate of the former king, and the result was uncomfortably close for such a dramatic decision. 288 of the deputies voted against death and for some other alternative, mainly some means of imprisonment or exile. 72 of the deputies voted for the death penalty, but subject to several delaying conditions and reservations. The voting took a total of 36 hours. 361 of the deputies voted for Louis's immediate execution. Louis was condemned to death by a majority of one vote. Philippe Égalité, formerly the Duke of Orléans and Louis's cousin, voted for Louis's execution, a cause of much future bitterness among French monarchists; he would himself be guillotined on the same scaffold, Place de la Révolution, before the end of the same year, on 6 November 1793.
The next day, a motion to grant Louis XVI reprieve from the death sentence was voted down: 310 of the deputies requested mercy, but 380 voted for the immediate execution of the death penalty. This decision would be final. Malesherbes wanted to break the news to Louis and bitterly lamented the verdict, but Louis told him he would see him again in a happier life and he would regret leaving a friend like Malesherbes behind. The last thing Louis said to him was that he needed to control his tears because all eyes would be upon him.
On 21 January 1793, Louis XVI, at age 38, was beheaded by guillotine on the Place de la Révolution. As Louis XVI mounted the scaffold, he appeared dignified and resigned. He delivered a short speech in which he pardoned "...those who are the cause of my death.... ". He then declared himself innocent of the crimes of which he was accused, praying that his blood would not fall back on France. Many accounts suggest Louis XVI's desire to say more, but Antoine Joseph Santerre, a general in the National Guard, halted the speech by ordering a drum roll. The former king was then quickly beheaded. Some accounts of Louis's beheading indicate that the blade did not sever his neck entirely the first time. There are also accounts of a blood-curdling scream issuing from Louis after the blade fell but this is unlikely, since the blade severed Louis's spine. The executioner, Charles-Henri Sanson, testified that the former king had bravely met his fate.
Immediately after his execution, Louis XVI's corpse was transported in a cart to the nearby Madeleine cemetery, located rue d'Anjou, where those guillotined at the Place de la Révolution were buried in mass graves. Before his burial, a short religious service was held in the Madeleine church (destroyed in 1799) by two priests who had sworn allegiance to the Civil Constitution of the Clergy. Afterward, Louis XVI, his severed head placed between his feet, was buried in an unmarked grave, with quicklime spread over his body. The Madeleine cemetery was closed in 1794. In 1815, Louis XVIII had the remains of his brother Louis XVI and of his sister-in-law Marie Antoinette transferred and buried in the Basilica of St Denis, the Royal necropolis of the Kings and Queens of France. Between 1816 and 1826, a commemorative monument, the Chapelle expiatoire, was erected at the location of the former cemetery and church.
As Louis's blood dripped onto the ground, several onlookers ran forward to dip their handkerchiefs in it. This account was proven true in 2012 after a DNA comparison linked blood thought to be from Louis XVI's beheading to DNA taken from tissue samples originating from what was long thought to be the mummified head of his ancestor, Henry IV of France. The blood sample was taken from a squash gourd carved to commemorate the heroes of the French Revolution that had, according to legend, been used to house one of the handkerchiefs dipped in Louis's blood.
== Legacy ==
=== Reputation ===
The 19th-century historian Jules Michelet attributed the restoration of the French monarchy to the sympathy that had been engendered by the execution of Louis XVI. Michelet's Histoire de la Révolution Française and Alphonse de Lamartine's Histoire des Girondins, in particular, showed the marks of the feelings aroused by the revolution's regicide. The two writers did not share the same sociopolitical vision, but they agreed that, even though the monarchy was rightly ended in 1792, the lives of the royal family should have been spared. Lack of compassion at that moment contributed to a radicalization of revolutionary violence and to greater divisiveness among Frenchmen. For the 20th century novelist Albert Camus the execution signaled the end of the role of God in history, for which he mourned. For the 20th century philosopher Jean-François Lyotard the regicide was the starting point of all French thought, the memory of which acts as a reminder that French modernity began under the sign of a crime.
Louis's daughter, Marie-Thérèse-Charlotte, the future Duchess of Angoulême, survived the French Revolution, and she lobbied in Rome energetically for the canonization of her father as a saint of the Catholic Church. Despite his signing of the Civil Constitution of the Clergy, Louis had been described as a martyr by Pope Pius VI in 1793. In 1820, however, a memorandum of the Sacred Congregation of Rites in Rome, declaring the impossibility of proving that Louis had been executed for religious rather than political reasons, put an end to hopes of canonization.
Other commemorations of Louis XVI include:
The Requiem in C minor for mixed chorus by Luigi Cherubini was written in 1816, in memory of Louis XVI.
The Requiem for Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette by Jean-Paul-Égide Martini was written for, and performed at the burial ceremony in St. Denis in 1815.
Talleyrand commissioned a Requiem for the memory of Louis XVI from Sigismund von Neukomm, a pupil and protégé of Joseph Haydn, which was performed in 1815 in Vienna.
Paul Wranitzky's Symphony Op. 31 (1797), which is themed on the events of the French Revolution, includes a section titled "The Funeral March for the Death of the King Louis XVI".
The city of Louisville, Kentucky, is named for Louis XVI. In 1780, the Virginia General Assembly bestowed this name in honor of the French king, whose soldiers were aiding the American side in the Revolutionary War. At that time, Kentucky was a part of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Kentucky became the 15th State of the United States in 1792.
=== In film and television ===
King Louis XVI has been portrayed in numerous films. In Captain of the Guard (1930), he is played by Stuart Holmes. In Marie Antoinette (1938), he was played by Robert Morley. Jean-François Balmer portrayed him in the 1989 two-part miniseries La Révolution française. More recently, he was depicted in the 2006 film Marie Antoinette by Jason Schwartzman. In Sacha Guitry's Si Versailles m'était conté, Louis was portrayed by one of the film's producers, Gilbert Bokanowski, using the alias Gilbert Boka. Several portrayals have upheld the image of a bumbling, almost foolish king, such as that by Jacques Morel in the 1956 French film Marie-Antoinette reine de France and that by Terence Budd in the Lady Oscar live action film. In the 1989 series La Révolution française, Jean-François Balmer played Louis as an intelligent, but ultimately ineffective ruler overwhelmed by events. In Start the Revolution Without Me, Louis XVI is portrayed by Hugh Griffith as a laughable cuckold. Mel Brooks played a comic version of Louis XVI in The History of the World Part 1, portraying him as a libertine who has such distaste for the peasantry he uses them as targets in skeet shooting. In the 1996 film Ridicule, Urbain Cancelier plays Louis.
In the 2024 6 part Apple TV+ series Franklin Tom Pezier performs the role. In the ongoing PBS series Marie Antoinette (2022-) Louis XVI is portrayed by Louis Cunningham.
=== In literature ===
Louis XVI has been the subject of novels as well, including two of the alternate histories anthologized in If It Had Happened Otherwise (1931): "If Drouet's Cart Had Stuck" by Hilaire Belloc and "If Louis XVI Had Had an Atom of Firmness" by André Maurois, which tell very different stories but both imagine Louis surviving and still reigning in the early 19th century. Louis appears in the children's book Ben and Me by Robert Lawson but does not appear in the 1953 animated short film based on the same book.
== Genealogical tests ==
Maarten Larmuseau et al. (2013) tested the Y-DNA of three living members of the House of Bourbon, one descending from Louis XIII of France via King Louis Philippe I, and two from Louis XIV via Philip V of Spain, and concluded that all three men share the same STR haplotype and belonged to haplogroup R1b (R-M343). The three individuals were further assigned to sub-haplogroup R1b1b2a1a1b* (R-Z381*). These results contradicted an earlier DNA analysis of a handkerchief dipped in the presumptive blood of Louis XVI after his execution performed by Laluez-Fo et al. (2010).
== Arms == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miami_Dolphins | Miami Dolphins | The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. The Dolphins compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team plays its home games at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida, a northern suburb of Miami. The team is owned by Stephen M. Ross. The Dolphins are the oldest professional sports team in Florida. Of the four AFC East teams, the Dolphins are the only team in the division that was not a charter member of the American Football League (AFL). The Dolphins were also one of the first professional football teams in the southeast, along with the Atlanta Falcons.
The Dolphins were founded by Joe Robbie, an attorney and politician, and Danny Thomas, an actor and comedian. They began play in the AFL in 1966. The region had not had a professional football team since the days of the Miami Seahawks, who played in the All-America Football Conference in 1946, before becoming the first incarnation of the Baltimore Colts. For the first few years, the Dolphins' full-time training camp and practice facilities were at Saint Andrew's School, a private, boys boarding prep school in Boca Raton. Miami joined the NFL as a result of the 1970 AFL–NFL merger.
The team played in its first Super Bowl in Super Bowl VI, losing to the Dallas Cowboys, 24–3. The following year, the Dolphins completed a perfect season, culminating in a win in Super Bowl VII. The Dolphins then repeated as champions by winning Super Bowl VIII, becoming the first team to appear in three consecutive Super Bowls, and the second team (the first AFL/AFC team) to win back-to-back championships. Miami later appeared in Super Bowl XVII and Super Bowl XIX, losing both games.
For most of their early history, the Dolphins were coached by Don Shula, the most successful head coach in professional football history in terms of total games won. Under Shula, the Dolphins posted losing records in only two of his 26 seasons as the head coach. During the period spanning 1983 to the end of 1999, quarterback Dan Marino became one of the most prolific passers in NFL history, breaking numerous league passing records. Marino led the Dolphins to five division titles, 10 playoff appearances, and an appearance in Super Bowl XIX before retiring following the 1999 season.
Since Marino's retirement, they have experienced mediocre levels of success and have just six playoff appearances (2000, 2001, 2008, 2016, 2022, and 2023) and two division titles (2000 and 2008) with one playoff win. They currently have the longest postseason win drought in the NFL.
In December 2024, the Dolphins, led by owner Stephen M. Ross, became one of the first teams in NFL history to sell part of their team to outside private equity investors. 13% of the Dolphins franchise was sold at a valuation of $8.1 billion, including 10% to the American investment group Ares Management.
== History ==
The Miami Dolphins joined the American Football League (AFL) when an expansion franchise was awarded to lawyer Joseph Robbie and actor Danny Thomas in 1965 for $7.5 million, although Thomas would eventually sell his stake in the team to Robbie. During the summer of 1966, the Dolphins' training camp was in St. Pete Beach with practices in August at Boca Ciega High School in Gulfport.
=== Don Shula years (1970–1995) ===
The Dolphins were the worst team with a 15–39–2 record in their first four seasons under head coach George Wilson, before Don Shula was hired as head coach. Shula was a Paul Brown disciple who had been lured from the Baltimore Colts, after losing Super Bowl III two seasons earlier to the AFL's New York Jets, and finishing 8–5–1 the following season. Shula got his first NFL coaching job from then-Detroit head coach George Wilson, who hired him as the defensive coordinator. The AFL merged with the NFL in 1970, and the Dolphins were assigned to the AFC East division in the NFL's new American Football Conference.
For the rest of the 20th century, the Shula-led Dolphins emerged as one of the most dominant teams in the NFL, with only two losing seasons between 1970 and 1999. They were extremely successful in the 1970s, completing the first complete perfect season in NFL history by finishing with a 14–0 regular-season record in 1972 and winning the Super Bowl that year. It was the first of two consecutive Super Bowl wins and one of three appearances in a row. The 1980s and 1990s were also moderately successful. The early 80s teams made two Super Bowls despite losing both times and saw the emergence of future Hall of Fame quarterback Dan Marino, who went on to break numerous NFL passing records, holding many of them until the late 2000s. After winning every game against the division rival Buffalo Bills in the 1970s, the two teams gradually developed a competitive rivalry in the 80s and 90s, often competing for AFC supremacy when Jim Kelly emerged as the quarterback for the Bills. The Dolphins have also maintained a strong rivalry with the New York Jets throughout much of their history.
After Marino and Shula retired and with the rise of Tom Brady and the New England Patriots, the Dolphins suffered a decline in the 2000s and 2010s. During that time, the team's level of play was largely described as mediocre. They have only made the playoffs four times since Marino's retirement and have usually not been able to find a quarterback to replace him.
=== Jimmy Johnson years (1996–1999) ===
Jimmy Johnson was hired to replace Shula prior to the 1996 season. In his first season at the helm, he led the team to an 8–8 record and missed the postseason. In the 1997, the team improved to a 9–7 mark and made the postseason. The team saw their season end in the Wild Card Round with a 17–3 loss to the New England Patriots. In the 1998 season, the team went 10–6 and made the postseason. The Dolphins defeated the Bills 24–17 in the Wild Card Round before falling to the Denver Broncos 38–3 in the Divisional Round. In the 1999 season, the Dolphins went 9–7 and made the postseason. The team defeated the Seattle Seahawks 20–17 in the Wild Card Round before falling 62–7 to the Jacksonville Jaguars in what would be quarterback Dan Marino's final game. Johnson resigned following the season.
=== Dave Wannstedt years (2000–2004) ===
Going into the 2000 season, the Dolphins named Dave Wannstedt as head coach. In his first season with the Dolphins, he led the team to an 11–5 record and an AFC East title. The team defeated the Indianapolis Colts 23–17 in the Wild Card Round before losing 27–0 to the Oakland Raiders in the Divisional Round. In the 2001 season, the team made the postseason with an 11–5 record and runner-up placement in the AFC East. The team lost to the Baltimore Ravens 20–3 in the Wild Card Round. In the 2002 season, the team failed to make the postseason despite a 9–7 record. In the 2003 season, the team went 10–6 but missed the postseason. Following a 1–8 start in the 2004 season, Wannstedt resigned. Jim Bates finished out the year with a 3–4 mark.
=== Nick Saban years (2005–2006) ===
Nick Saban coached the Dolphins in the 2005 and 2006 seasons. He went 9–7 and 6–10 in those two seasons, missing the playoffs in both. Saban resigned following the 2006 season to leave for the University of Alabama.
=== Cam Cameron (2007) ===
Prior to the 2007 season, the Dolphins hired Cam Cameron has head coach. The team suffered a franchise-worst 1–15 season in 2007. After the 2007 season, the team fired Cameron.
=== Tony Sparano years (2008–2011) ===
Tony Sparano was named head coach of the Dolphins prior to the 2008 season. In his first season, he led the team to an 11–5 result and an AFC East title. During the season, they became the second team to make a 10-game improvement over the previous season. That same season, the Dolphins upset the New England Patriots on the road during Week 3 thanks to the use of the gimmick Wildcat offense, which handed the Patriots their first regular-season loss since December 10, 2006, in which coincidentally, they were also beaten by the Dolphins. However, this success in 2008 proved to be an outlier during this period in the franchise's history; to date, it is the last season the Dolphins won the AFC East. The team's season ended with a 27–9 loss to the Baltimore Ravens in the Wild Card Round. The 2009 and 2010 seasons saw regression with a 7–9 record in both years. After a 4–9 start to the 2011 season, Sparano was fired. Todd Bowles finished the 6–10 season as interim coach.
=== Joe Philbin years (2012–2015) ===
Prior to the 2012 season, the team hired Joe Philbin as head coach. In his first season at the helm, Philbin led the team to a 7–9 record. In the 2013, the team improved to an 8–8 record but still missed the postseason. In the 2014 season, the team added Bill Lazor as offensive coordinator. The Dolphins once again finished 8–8. After a 1–3 start to the 2015 season, Philbin was fired. Dan Campbell was named as interim coach and finished the year with a 5–7 mark.
=== Adam Gase years (2016–2018) ===
Prior to the 2016 season, the team hired Adam Gase as head coach. He led the team to a 10–6 record and a postseason berth in the 2016 season. The team's season ended with a 30–12 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers in the Wild Card Round. In the 2017 season, the Dolphins regressed to a 6–10 record. In the 2018 season, the Dolphins finished with a 7–9 record. After a cumulative 23–25 record, Gase was fired by the Dolphins.
=== Brian Flores years (2019–2021) ===
Prior to the 2019 season, the Dolphins hired Brian Flores as head coach. He led the team to a 5–11 record in the 2019 season. The team drafted Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa in the first round of the 2020 NFL draft. In the 2020 season, the team improved to a 10–6 mark but still missed the postseason. In the 2021 season, the team went 9–8 but missed the postseason. Following the end of the 2021 season, Flores was fired as head coach.
=== Mike McDaniel years (2022–2025) ===
Prior to the 2022 season, Mike McDaniel was hired as head coach. In his first season, he led the Dolphins to a 9–8 record and a 34–31 loss to the Bills in the Wild Card Round. In the 2023 season, the team improved to an 11–6 mark but the season again ended in the Wild Card Round with a 26–7 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. The Dolphins finished with an 8–9 record in 2024, missing the playoffs for the first time in McDaniel's head coaching tenure.
=== Jeff Hafley years (2026–present) ===
Prior to the 2026 season, Jeff Hafley was hired as head coach.
== Championships ==
=== Super Bowl championships ===
=== AFC championships ===
== Rivalries ==
=== Divisional ===
==== New England Patriots ====
The Dolphins dominated the New England Patriots during the 1970s and the 1990s, but there were some notable moments as well, including a 1982 game now known as the Snowplow Game. Fortunes changed when Tom Brady became the franchise quarterback for the Patriots, and during his tenure with the Patriots, New England dominated the AFC, especially the AFC East, winning 16 of 17 division titles between 2003 and 2019, with the Dolphins winning the only non-Patriots division title in that time frame when Brady was out due to injury. Miami posed the biggest divisional challenge to the Brady-led Patriots, however, winning more games against them than the Bills or Jets did during that era.
Notable wins over New England by the Dolphins include the Miracle in Miami, which involved a dramatic last-minute game-winning touchdown that paralleled "The Night that Courage Wore Orange", where in 2004, the Dolphins, at 2–11, upset the defending Super Bowl champion Patriots 28–29, and handed them the second of their 2 losses that season. The rivalry briefly intensified in 2005 when Nick Saban, Bill Belichick's former Browns defensive coordinator was hired as their new head coach and when Saban nearly signed quarterback Drew Brees, as well as in 2008, when the two teams battled for the AFC East division title. Miami and New England are also the only two franchises to have posted undefeated regular-season records since the NFL-AFL merger, with Miami going 14–0 in 1972 and New England going 16–0 in 2007. Only the 1972 Dolphins were able to win the Super Bowl. As of the 2024 season, the Dolphins lead the all-time series 64–55.
==== Buffalo Bills ====
The Dolphins and the Buffalo Bills have a long-standing rivalry, as there are stark characteristic differences between the cities of Miami and Buffalo, especially in climate and culture. The rivalry was extremely lopsided in favor of Miami during the 1970s, as the Dolphins won all 20 games against the Bills during that decade. Fortunes changed in the 1980s and 1990s when Jim Kelly became the Bills' starting quarterback. Though both teams were extremely dominant during that period, the Bills ultimately held the edge and dominated the Dolphins during their four playoff matchups in the 1990s, with the Dolphins' only playoff win coming after Kelly's retirement. With the rise of Tom Brady and the Patriots during the 2000s and the retirements of Kelly and Dolphins quarterback Dan Marino, the Bills-Dolphins rivalry faded in relevance, but remains somewhat intense to this day. Some former Dolphins have gone to play for the Bills as well, most notably Dan Carpenter, Chris Hogan, and Charles Clay.
In the 2020s, the rivalry intensified again, with Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, drafted in 2020, leading a resurgent Dolphins team against the Josh Allen-led Bills, who had gained a streak of success after Brady's departure from the Patriots and the division. Though Allen's career record against Miami currently stands at 13–2, Tagovailoa led the Dolphins to their first win over Bills in 8 games in 2022, and the Dolphins played the Bills tightly in the teams' two other meetings that year despite losing both, including the playoffs. As of the 2024 season, the Dolphins lead the all-time series 62–60–1.
==== New York Jets ====
The New York Jets are perhaps Miami's most bitter rivals. Dolphins fans despise the Jets due to the sheer amount of New York City transplants who have moved to South Florida and the Jets' misplaced cocky demeanor. Just as the Bills-Dolphins rivalry is motivated by differences, the Dolphins-Jets series is also notable for the differences between New York and Miami. Unlike the former, this rivalry has been more consistent over the years. Some of the more memorable moments in this rivalry include Dan Marino's fake spike, Vinny Testaverde leading the Jets to a notable comeback on Monday Night Football, and former Jets quarterback Chad Pennington signing with the Dolphins and leading them to a divisional title. The two teams have also played in the 1982 AFC Championship, with Miami winning to face the Washington Redskins in Super Bowl XVII. As of the 2024 season, the Dolphins lead the all-time series 61–57–1.
=== Conference ===
==== Jacksonville Jaguars ====
The Dolphins have taken part in a minor rivalry with the Jacksonville Jaguars as both teams are the only two AFC franchises located in Florida. The two teams first met during the 1998 NFL season on a Monday Night Football matchup. Both teams later met in the 1999 AFC Divisional Round in what would ultimately be the final career game for Dolphins' hall-of-fame quarterback Dan Marino. The Dolphins entered the game as heavy underdogs as they had finished the 1999 season 9–7, securing the lowest wild card berth. Meanwhile, the Jaguars had boasted an impressive 14–2 campaign under pro-bowl quarterback Mark Brunell, culminating in the Jaguars destroying Miami in a 62–7 blowout loss. The Jaguars managed an improbable upset victory during the 2021 Season as the team had declined severely under controversial head coach Urban Meyer. Despite this, the Jaguars managed a comeback victory against the Dolphins in London during week 6. Miami leads the series 6–5 all time, though the Jaguars lead 1–0 in the postseason.
==== Indianapolis Colts ====
When the then-Baltimore Colts were inserted into the AFC East following the AFL/NFL merger, they sparked a heated rivalry with the Dolphins, as a controversy involving the hiring of former Colts coach Don Shula forced Miami to forfeit a first-round draft pick. The Dolphins and Colts faced off several times in the AFC playoffs during the 1970s, including the AFC championship game leading up to Super Bowl VI, which the Dolphins lost to the Dallas Cowboys. The rivalry cooled down in the 1980s after the Colts struggled and moved to Indianapolis, but heated up once again in the late 90s until the Colts were reassigned into the AFC South as a result of the 2002 realignment of the NFL's divisions. As of 2024, the Dolphins lead the all-time series 48–29.
=== Interconference ===
==== Tampa Bay Buccaneers ====
Since the founding of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 1976, the Dolphins and Buccaneers have shared a mellow in-state rivalry and were the only two teams in Florida until the Jacksonville Jaguars joined the NFL in 1995. As of the 2023 season, the Buccaneers lead the all-time series 7–5.
=== Historic ===
==== Kansas City Chiefs ====
The Dolphins won a notable pair of games against the Kansas City Chiefs, defeating them in "The Longest Game", the final game in Municipal Stadium, and then the first regular season game at Arrowhead Stadium in 1972. As of the 2023 season, the Chiefs lead the all-time series 17–16.
==== Oakland Raiders, San Diego Chargers, Pittsburgh Steelers ====
The Dolphins also share historic rivalries with other AFC teams such as the Las Vegas Raiders, Los Angeles Chargers, and Pittsburgh Steelers, stemming from often competing against these teams in the playoffs during the Don Shula era. As of the 2023 season, the Raiders lead the all-time series 21–20–1.
== Facilities ==
=== Stadiums ===
The Dolphins originally played all home games in the Orange Bowl in Miami. They moved to the new Joe Robbie Stadium after the 1986 season. From 1993 to 2011, the Dolphins shared the stadium with Major League Baseball's Florida Marlins (now known as the Miami Marlins). The venue has had multiple naming rights deals since 1996, carrying the names Pro Player Stadium, Dolphins Stadium, Dolphin Stadium, LandShark Stadium, Sun Life Stadium, New Miami Stadium and, as of August 2016, Hard Rock Stadium. The facility is located in Miami Gardens, a suburb of Miami located approximately 15 miles (24 km) north of downtown Miami. The Miami Dolphins share Hard Rock Stadium with the NCAA Miami Hurricanes. The 2015–2016 season was the first season in the newly renovated Hard Rock Stadium. The Dolphins spent more than two years and over $400 million on a major overhaul to Hard Rock Stadium. Every seat was replaced and the lower-level seats were moved closer to the field. There are roughly 10,000 fewer seats.
=== Training ===
St. Petersburg Beach hosted the Dolphins' first training camp in 1966. St. Andrew's School in Boca Raton hosted training camp in the late 1960s. The Dolphins subsequently trained in Miami Gardens at Biscayne College, later renamed St. Thomas University, from 1970 until 1993. In 1993, the Dolphins opened the Miami Dolphins Training Facility at Nova Southeastern University in Davie. In 2006, the facility added a domed field that allows the team to practice during thunderstorms which are common in the area during the summer.
In 2021, the Dolphins opened a new, 135 million training facility, dubbed the Baptist Health Training Complex, the Dolphins will practice in. The complex is located next to Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens.
== Franchise information ==
=== Logos and uniforms ===
==== Leaping dolphin (1966–2012) ====
The Dolphins logo and uniforms remained fairly consistent from the team's founding through 2012. The team's colors were originally aqua and coral, with the coral color paying tribute to the Miami Seahawks and to the many natural coral reefs in Biscayne Bay. The team's original logo consisted of a sunburst with a leaping dolphin wearing a football helmet bearing the letter M. At their debut in 1966, a lighter & brighter orange was used instead of the deep coral color. The dolphin's head was near the center of the sunburst. In the 1967 season, the dolphin was centered on the sunburst, but it reverted to the original placement between 1968 and 1973. By 1974, the dolphin's body was centered on the sunburst in a slightly smaller logo than the 1967 version. The uniforms featured white pants with aqua and orange stripes, paired with either a white or aqua jersey. On the white jersey, aqua block numbers and names were outlined in orange, with aqua and orange sleeve stripes. Starting with the 1972 perfect season, these uniforms were used as the primary uniforms for road games and daytime home games, due to the extreme heat of South Florida. The team also had an aqua jersey used mainly for night home games or road games in which the opponent chose to wear white. The aqua jersey featured white block numbers and names with an orange outline, and orange and white sleeve stripes.
An update was given to the logo in 1997 – the sunburst was simplified and the dolphin was darkened and given a more serious game-face expression. The uniforms remained the same; however, a different block number font was used and navy drop shadows were added.
On very rare occasions, an orange jersey was used for primetime games. The uniforms essentially swapped the location of orange and aqua from the aqua jersey. The orange jersey was first used on a Sunday night in 2003 against Washington, a Dolphin win. In 2004, the orange jersey was brought back for a Monday Night Football match pitting the 2–11 Dolphins against the 12–1 defending champion New England Patriots. The Dolphins scored a huge upset win after trailing by 11 points with less than 5 minutes remaining. Due to the unusual orange jerseys, the game has become known within some Dolphin circles as "The Night That Courage Wore Orange". The orange jerseys were used for a 2009 Monday night win against the New York Jets. However, the Dolphins would lose a 2010 Sunday night matchup with the Jets, their first loss in orange, and the orange jerseys in the original style would not be worn again.
In 2009, the Dolphins switched to black shoes for the first time since the early 1970s glory days, following a recent trend among NFL teams. However, by 2011, they returned to wearing white shoes.
The Dolphins' final game in the original style uniforms with block numbers and the iconic leaping dolphin logo was the final game of the 2012 season, a 28–0 shutout loss to the New England Patriots in Foxboro. The white jerseys were worn for the game, and as rumors of a new look had been swirling, many fans watching knew that it would likely be the last time their team would wear the leaping dolphin logo.
==== Stylized swimming dolphin (2013–present) ====
A new logo and new uniforms were unveiled shortly before the 2013 NFL draft. The new logo features a stylized aqua dolphin swimming in front of a heavily modified version of the orange sunburst. The dolphin in the logo is more vague and artistic, and is not wearing a helmet as it is merely a silhouette of a dolphin cast in aqua and navy.
Navy was incorporated as featured color for the first time, with orange becoming greatly de-emphasized. The uniforms feature both white pants and aqua pants, with a white or aqua jersey. The Dolphins continue to wear white at home, just as they had with the previous uniforms, with aqua being used for primetime home games. The white jersey features aqua numbers and names in a unique custom font, with orange and navy outlines on the numbers; however, the names only use navy as an outline color. The aqua jerseys use white numbers with an orange and aqua outline, and white names with a navy outline. The helmets are white with a white facemask, just like the final years of the previous look; however, navy is a prominent color on the helmet stripe, joining aqua and a de-emphasized orange. Both jerseys have large "Dolphins" text above the numbers, written in the team's new script. The pants are either aqua or white, and contain no markings other than a small team wordmark.
In 2018, the team made some slight modifications to the logo and uniform set: The shades of orange and aqua were tweaked, and navy blue was removed from the color scheme, only remaining on the logo.
==== Throwback uniforms ====
In 2015, the Dolphins brought back their 1970s aqua uniforms for a few select games. Four years later, they brought back a white version from the same era as a second alternate uniform. The aqua throwbacks were worn during the now-famous 2018 Miracle in Miami play against the Patriots.
==== Color Rush uniform ====
On September 29, 2016, the Dolphins debuted their new Color Rush uniform in a Thursday Night Football game against the Cincinnati Bengals. The all-orange uniform marked the first time since 2010 that the Dolphins wore an orange uniform. However, the set was only used for that game as the Dolphins immediately retired the uniform soon after.
In later years, the Dolphins wore similar all-aqua or all-white uniforms in select games as the NFL gradually relaxed its rules regarding hosiery.
==== Rivalries uniform ====
On August 28, 2025, the Dolphins released a new "Rivalries" uniform that would be worn at home against each of their AFC East opponents over a three-year span. The design featured a dark blue base with aqua numbers and orange trim, along with a "MIAMI" wordmark in orange with aqua drop shadows. The helmet is dark blue with aqua and orange striping, and featured a modified "swimming dolphin" logo without white elements.
=== Fight song ===
The song was written and composed by Lee Ofman, and has similar instrumentation and lyrics to the fight song of the Houston Oilers. Ofman approached the Dolphins with it before the 1972 season because he wanted music to inspire his favorite team. The fight song would soon serve as a good luck charm for the Dolphins that season. The Dolphins became the first team in NFL history to record an undefeated season, going 17–0 en route to victory over the Washington Redskins in Super Bowl VII. The following season, Miami posted an equally impressive 15–2 record and capped the season with another title, defeating the Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowl VIII. The back-to-back championship runs, coupled with the popularity of the fight song amongst Dolphins fans, have ensured the song's longevity. The Dolphins revealed a new fight song by T-Pain and Jimmy Buffett featuring Pitbull on August 7, 2009, which was introduced for the 2009 NFL season. The fight song was played during the preseason home opener against the Jacksonville Jaguars on August 17, 2009, but was not played during the second preseason game against the Carolina Panthers on August 22, 2009, after being booed heavily in the first game. Furthermore, the team has preferred to play Buffett's song "Fins" after scores during the 2009 regular season instead of the traditional fight song.
=== Cheerleaders ===
The team's cheerleaders are known collectively as the Miami Dolphins Cheerleaders. The company had its debut in 1978 as the Dolphins Starbrites. (The name referred to the co-sponsor, Starbrite Car Polish.) The cheerleaders' founding choreographer was June Taylor, famed colleague of Jackie Gleason, who led the squad until her retirement in 1990.
=== Special Teams/Volunteer Program ===
In April 2010, the Dolphins started the first Volunteer Program in the NFL. Special Teams is a unique volunteer organization created to enlist and mobilize the ongoing services of the community with the Dolphins staff, players and alumni. The mission of the Special Teams is to offer hands-on services to communities and families in need, to partner with existing organizations on worthwhile social, civic and charitable programs, to provide assistance at Miami Dolphins Foundation events, and to support community efforts in times of emergency. This program is headed by Leslie Nixon and Sergio Xiques. Since its inception, Special Teams has given over 250,000 community services hours to the South Florida and Mexico community.
=== Mascots ===
==== T.D. ====
("The Dolphin")
On Friday, April 18, 1997, the first "official" mascot of the Miami Dolphins was introduced. The 7-foot mascot made his public debut on April 19 at Pro Player Stadium during the team's draft-day party. The team then made a "Name the Mascot" contest that drew over 13,000 entries covering all 50 states and 22 countries. 529 names were suggested. The winning entry was announced at the annual Dolphins Awards Banquet on June 4, 1997.
==== Dolfan Denny ====
Denny Sym cheered on the Miami Dolphins for 33 years as a one-man sideline show, leading Miami crowds in cheers and chants in his glittering coral (orange) and aqua hat from the Dolphins' first game in 1966 until 2000. Sym died on March 18, 2007. He was 72.
==== Flipper ====
From 1966 to 1968, and in the 1970s a live dolphin was situated in a water tank in the open (east) end of the Orange Bowl. He would jump in the tank to celebrate touchdowns and field goals. The tank that was set up in the 1970s was manufactured by Evan Bush and maintained during the games by Evan Bush and Dene Whitaker. Flipper was removed from the Orange Bowl after 1968 to save costs, and in the 1970s due to stress.
== Radio and television ==
In August 2010, the team launched its own regional TV network to carry preseason games and in-season content such as coach and player shows. The Dolphins Television Network comprises 10 South Florida TV stations that agreed to carry the team-produced coverage. Preseason games are broadcast on television through CBS-owned WFOR-TV in Miami-Dade and Broward counties, WTVX in West Palm Beach, WBBH-TV in Fort Myers, and WRDQ in Orlando. Longtime TV and radio personality Dick Stockton provides play-by-play commentary, with Dolphins Hall-of-Fame QB Bob Griese and former Dolphins WR Nat Moore providing color commentary. The radio broadcast team features Jimmy Cefalo providing play-by-play commentary and Joe Rose providing color commentary during preseason games, along with Griese for regular-season games. Griese replaced longtime color commentator Jim Mandich after his death in 2011, who played for the Dolphins under Don Shula. Radio coverage as of the 2023 season is carried WINZ (940 AM) and WBGG-FM (105.9 FM). Additionally, games can also be heard in Spanish on WNMA (1210 AM), with Raúl Striker Jr. and Joaquin Duro providing play-by-play and color commentary, respectively.
CBS-owned WFOR, in addition to preseason telecasts, airs most of the Dolphins' regular season games and Thursday Night Football, with rare home games moved or delayed by hurricanes carried by sister station WBFS-TV due to network conflicts, and some games carried by WSVN when flexed to Fox. When playing on Sunday night, the team's matches will be broadcast on NBC's WTVJ.
The Dolphins' radio affiliates:
=== English ===
=== Spanish ===
== Season-by-season records ==
== Players ==
=== Current roster ===
=== Miami Dolphins in the Pro Football Hall of Fame ===
The Dolphins currently have ten players, and one coach enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, that have spent the majority (or entirety) of their careers, or made significant contributions with the Miami Dolphins. Three other players and four coaches/contributors that have spent only a "minor portion" of their careers with the Dolphins, have also been enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, but have been enshrined primarily with other teams.
=== Retired numbers ===
The Miami Dolphins have three retired jersey numbers.
Bob Griese's number 12 was retired at a Miami Dolphin Awards Banquet on May 6, 1982.
Dan Marino's number 13 was retired immediately after his retirement on September 17, 2000, during halftime of the Ravens at Dolphins game on Sunday Night Football.
Larry Csonka's number 39, was retired on December 9, 2002, during halftime of the Bears at Dolphins game on Monday Night Football, which celebrated the 30th anniversary of Miami's 1972 undefeated team.
The Dolphins also have two numbers that have not been reissued to any player, or that are in reduced circulation but not yet officially retired.
54 for Zach Thomas
99 for Jason Taylor
As of 2025, neither Taylor nor Thomas have had their numbers retired despite being inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2017 and 2023, respectively.
=== Individual award winners ===
Listed below are the individuals who have won the following NFL, Super Bowl, and Pro Bowl MVP awards, the Offensive and Defensive Rookie and Player of the Year awards, the Comeback Player of the Year winners, the winners of the prestigious NFL Walter Payton Man of the Year Award, and the winner of the Coach of the Year Award for the Miami Dolphins. Bold indicates those elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
=== NFL All-Decade Team and 100th Anniversary All-Time Team selections ===
The following are Miami Dolphins (players and/or coaches) who have been selected to an "All-Decade Team", or the NFL 100th Anniversary All-Time Team by the Pro Football Hall of Fame selection committee. Bold indicates those elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
=== Pro Bowl selections ===
Many former and current Miami Dolphins players have represented the franchise in the Pro Bowl (or the AFL All-Star Game). Below is a list of current or former players that play or have played for the Miami Dolphins that have been selected to at least three Pro Bowls.
=== 50 greatest players ===
In 2015, to commemorate the Miami Dolphins' 50th NFL season, the Dolphins organization announced through voting from the South Florida Media and Miami Dolphin fans the results of the 50 greatest players in Miami Dolphins franchise history. The results were announced during halftime on Monday Night Football between the Dolphins and the Giants. Here are the 50 greatest Dolphins broken down by position. Bold indicates those elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Offense:
QB: Bob Griese, Dan Marino, Earl Morrall
HB: Jim Kiick, Mercury Morris, Tony Nathan, Ricky Williams
FB: Larry Csonka
WR: Mark Clayton, Mark Duper, O.J. McDuffie, Nat Moore, Paul Warfield
TE: Bruce Hardy, Keith Jackson, Jim Mandich
C: Jim Langer, Mike Pouncey, Dwight Stephenson
G: Bob Kuechenberg, Larry Little, Ed Newman, Keith Sims
OT: Norm Evans, Richmond Webb
Defense:
DT: Bob Baumhower, Tim Bowens, Manny Fernandez
DE: Doug Betters, Vern Den Herder, Bill Stanfill, Jason Taylor, Cameron Wake
LB: Kim Bokamper, Bob Brudzinski, Nick Buoniconti, Bryan Cox, A. J. Duhe, John Offerdahl, Zach Thomas
CB: Brent Grimes, Sam Madison, Patrick Surtain
S: Dick Anderson, Glenn Blackwood, Louis Oliver, Jake Scott
Special teams:
K: Garo Yepremian
P: Reggie Roby
ST: Jim Jensen
=== Miami Dolphins Ring of Honor/Honor Roll ===
The Miami Dolphins Ring of Honor, formerly known as the Honor Roll, is a ring around the second tier of Hard Rock Stadium that honors former players, coaches, owners and contributors who have made significant contributions to the franchise throughout their history. Each of these players is honored with a placard on the facing of the upper level around Hard Rock Stadium including team founder-owner Joe Robbie. In place of a jersey number, Don Shula has the number 347, representing his record number of NFL coaching victories, 274 of them as Dolphins head coach. Dan Marino's name includes his career passing statistics of attempts (8,358), completions (4,967), passing yards (61,361), and touchdown passes (420). Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees are additionally denoted by a hall of fame logo next to their names.
In 1992, at the 20-year anniversary, Miami's "1972 Undefeated Team" was enshrined into the Honor Roll. At the 40 year anniversary, which enshrined former defensive coordinator Bill Arnsparger into the Honor Roll, his name went on the Honor Roll where the "1972 Undefeated Team" inductee previously and originally was enshrined, and an updated "1972 Perfect Season Team 17–0" inductee was put into one corner of Hard Rock Stadium with special placards of Super Bowl VII and Super Bowl VIII included next to it on each side.
The inductees as of 2024 include:
=== Joe Robbie Alumni Plaza Walk of Fame ===
The Joe Robbie Alumni Plaza Walk of Fame was first established in 2011, designed to be all-encompassing and recognize the best of the Miami Dolphins alumni, including those in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the Honor Roll, and as well as the many other players who were among the unsung heroes and community leaders that the organization has produced. The "Walk of Fame" is located at the north end of Hard Rock Stadium, with a life-size bronze statue of Joe Robbie, the original founder and owner of the Miami Dolphins from 1966 to 1989. Bold indicates those elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
The inductees as of 2018 (by yearly class) are:
Class of 2011: Nick Buoniconti, Larry Csonka, Bob Griese, Jim Langer, Larry Little, Joe Robbie, Dan Marino, Don Shula, Dwight Stephenson, Paul Warfield
Class of 2012: Tim Bowens, A. J. Duhe, Manny Fernandez, Nat Moore, Earl Morrall, Don Strock
Class of 2013: Kim Bokamper, Mercury Morris, O. J. McDuffie, Keith Sims
Class of 2014: Jeff Cross, Sam Madison, Tony Nathan, Ed Newman
No classes from 2015 to 2017, due to modernization and reconstruction at Hard Rock Stadium
Class of 2018: Dick Anderson, Mark Clayton, Mark Duper, Jon Giesler, John Offerdahl, Jason Taylor
=== All-time first round draft picks ===
== Staff ==
=== Head coaches ===
The Dolphins have had 15 head coaches in franchise history. The current head coach of the Dolphins is Jeff Hafley, since his hiring on January 19, 2026.
=== Current staff === |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022_Argentine_Primera_División | 2022 Argentine Primera División | |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_I_Met_Your_Mother | How I Met Your Mother | How I Met Your Mother (often abbreviated HIMYM) is an American sitcom created by Craig Thomas and Carter Bays for CBS. The series, which aired from September 19, 2005, to March 31, 2014, follows main character Ted Mosby and his group of friends in New York City's Manhattan. As a frame story, Ted (in 2030) recounts to his children Penny and Luke the events from September 2005 to May 2013 that led to him meeting their mother.
The series was loosely inspired by Thomas and Bays' friendship when they both lived in New York. The vast majority of the episodes (196 out of 208) were directed by Pamela Fryman. The other directors were Rob Greenberg (7 episodes), Michael Shea (4 episodes), and Neil Patrick Harris (1 episode).
Known for its non-contemporary structure, humor, and incorporation of dramatic elements, How I Met Your Mother was popular throughout its run. It received positive reviews initially, but reception became more mixed as the seasons went on. The show was nominated for 91 awards and received 21.
== Premise ==
The series follows the adventures of Ted Mosby (played by Josh Radnor) and his love life as a single man. His stories are narrated by Bob Saget as Ted Mosby 25 years later, as he tells them to his adolescent children, Luke (named after Luke Skywalker) and Penny (named after Ted's love for coins).
The narrative leads to a flashback, and the story proper starts in 2005 with 27-year-old Ted Mosby living in New York City and working as an architect. The story deals primarily with his best friends. These include the long-standing couple Marshall Eriksen (Jason Segel), a law student, and Lily Aldrin (Alyson Hannigan), a kindergarten teacher, who have been dating for almost nine years when Marshall proposes; and the playboy Barney Stinson (Neil Patrick Harris) and the Canadian news reporter Robin Scherbatsky (Cobie Smulders). All of the characters' lives are intertwined. The series explores many story lines, including "will they or won't they" relationships between Robin and each of the two single male friends, Marshall and Lily's relationship, and the ups and downs of the characters' careers.
The show's frame story depicts Ted (voice of Bob Saget, uncredited) telling the story to his son Luke (David Henrie) and daughter Penny (Lyndsy Fonseca) as they sit on the couch in the year 2030. This frame is the show's putative narrative present, and How I Met Your Mother exploits this narrative structure in numerous ways: to depict and re-depict events from multiple points of view; to set up jokes using quick and sometimes multiple flashbacks nested within the oral retelling; to substitute visual, verbal, or aural euphemisms for activities Ted does not want to talk about with his children (sexual practices, use of illicit substances, vulgar language, etc.).
Although the traditional love story structure begins when the lead characters first meet, How I Met Your Mother does not introduce Ted's wife (Cristin Milioti) until the eighth-season finale and only announces her full name, Tracy McConnell, during the series finale. Her first name, Tracy, is mentioned in the first season at the end of episode nine.
== Production ==
How I Met Your Mother was inspired by Carter Bays and Craig Thomas' idea to "write about our friends and the stupid stuff we did in New York", where they previously worked as writers for Late Show with David Letterman, among others. The two drew from their friendship in creating the characters. Ted is based loosely on Bays, and Marshall and Lily are based loosely on Thomas and his wife. Thomas' wife Rebecca was initially reluctant to have a character based on her but agreed if they could get Alyson Hannigan to play her. Hannigan was looking to do more comedy work and was available. Josh Radnor and Jason Segel, who were cast as Ted and Marshall, respectively, were not well known, although Segel had been a cast member on the short-lived Freaks and Geeks and a recurring guest star on Judd Apatow's follow-up show, Undeclared. The role of Barney was initially envisioned as a "John Belushi-type character" before Neil Patrick Harris won the role after being invited to an audition by the show's casting director Megan Branman. Pamela Fryman invited Bob Saget to be the voice-over narrator, Future Ted, explaining to him that the show would be like The Wonder Years but "kind of into the future". Saget either went to the television studio and recorded the narration while watching the episode, or did so separately and rerecorded with the episode if necessary. He normally did not attend table readings but did so for the last episode.
In multiple interviews Bays and Thomas have stated that "a pretty famous actress" turned down the role of Robin, who they revealed in February 2014 was Jennifer Love Hewitt. They then cast the unknown Cobie Smulders; Bays and Thomas later said, "Thank God we did for a million reasons... when Ted's seeing her for the first time, America's seeing her for the first time—the intrigue of that propelled the show going forward and kept the show alive". Although Ted is initially smitten by Robin in the pilot, it is quickly established at the end of the episode that she is not the mother, which Thomas said was done so they would not repeat the "will they or won't they" Ross and Rachel storyline from Friends.
According to an Entertainment Weekly article, the writers adopted facets of each main actor's personality and incorporated them into their characters. This includes Neil Patrick Harris' skills with magic, Jason Segel's passion for songwriting, Alyson Hannigan's absent-mindedness while pregnant, and Josh Radnor's intellectualism.
MacLaren's, an Irish bar in the middle of New York City, in which a lot of the show is set, is loosely based on four of Bays and Thomas's favorite bars: McGee's, a Midtown tavern near the Ed Sullivan Theater where the Late Show is taped; McHale's, a legendary Hell's Kitchen bar which closed in 2006; Chumley's, a since-closed historic Greenwich Village pub; and Fez, another closed bar on the Upper West Side. McGee's had a mural that Bays and Thomas both liked and wanted to incorporate into the show. The name for the bar is from Carter Bays' assistant, Carl MacLaren; the bartender in the show is also named Carl.
Episodes were generally shot over a three-day period in the Los Angeles-based Soundstage Studio 22 and featured upwards of 50 scenes with quick transitions and flashbacks. However, the pilot episode was filmed at CBS Radford. The laugh track was later created by recording an audience being shown the final edited episode. Thomas claimed that shooting before a live audience would have been impossible because of the structure of the show and the numerous flashforwards in each episode and because doing so "would blur the line between 'audience' and 'hostage situation'". Later seasons started filming in front of an audience on occasion, when smaller sets were used.
The theme song is a portion of "Hey Beautiful" by The Solids, of which Bays and Thomas are members. Episodes from season 1 generally started with the opening credits. A cold opening was used from season 2 onwards. Viewers then occasionally see Ted's children on a couch and hear him talking to them, telling the story of how he met their mother. Alternatively, scenes from previous episodes or shots of New York City are shown with Ted narrating over them. Thomas has stated that Future Ted is an unreliable narrator, since he is trying to tell a story that happened over 20 years earlier; this has been a plot point in several episodes including "The Goat", "Oh Honey", "How I Met Everyone Else", and "The Mermaid Theory". Nevertheless, Thomas has also emphasized maintaining a coherent and consistent universe and trying to avoid continuity errors, a problem he noticed in other shows.
A scene relating to the identity of the mother, involving Ted's future children, was filmed in 2006 for the show's eventual series finale. This was done because the teenage actors portraying them would be adults by the time the final season was shot.
During the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike, How I Met Your Mother shut down production; when the strike ended, the show returned on March 17, 2008, with nine new episodes. The network announced a change in the timeslot to 8:30 pm ET/7:30 pm CT, flip-flopping from the summer schedule with The Big Bang Theory. CBS renewed the show for a fourth season on May 14, 2008, which premiered on September 22, 2008.
In September 2008, Lifetime Television announced it had purchased the cable rerun rights to How I Met Your Mother at a rate of about $725,000 per episode. The four-year syndication contract stipulated that the studio deliver at least 110 half-hour episodes by 2010 and allowed for up to eight seasons of the show. At the end of the fourth season only 88 episodes had been produced, and a further 22 episodes were required, ensuring that there would be a fifth season. There also was a complication with the writing of the show because of Alyson Hannigan's absence due to her pregnancy; in response, the writers had to create episodes that did not include one of the five main characters. On May 19, 2009, the fifth-season renewal was announced. May 20, 2009, CBS announced that How I Met Your Mother would again be aired at 8 pm, leading into the new comedy Accidentally on Purpose. On January 12, 2010, the show aired its 100th episode, and CBS announced that the series would return for a sixth season. Upon learning that the series would be syndicated, Thomas said, "We're thrilled that it will live on in other forms," and they were proud of the show and it was great to see the strong demand.
Reruns of the series began airing on local American broadcast television stations and on Chicago-based cable superstation WGN America on September 14, 2010. Featured in these airings are vanity cards previously unseen in the CBS and Lifetime airings due to marginalized credit sequences used by the two networks. Shown in between the closing credits and the production company credits, these vanity cards show portions of "The Bro Code", a list of rules frequently referenced by Harris' character, Barney Stinson, on how men should interact with each other, with an emphasis on activities involving pursuing members of the opposite sex. The opening theme song for the syndicated reruns is also slightly edited, running shorter and not using all the pictures seen in the opening montage that runs on DVD and the original CBS broadcasts. The episodes are also slightly shorter, to allow for more commercials during a timeslot in syndication.
One of the series' traditions involved giving guest roles to actors from various Joss Whedon productions, many of whom co-starred with Hannigan on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Bays attributed this to their being "huge fans" and to those casts representing "a big talent pool".
On March 4, 2011, CBS announced that the show had been renewed for two more seasons, with the seventh season premiering with back-to-back episodes on September 19, 2011.
On July 27, 2011, the FX channel announced it had picked up the series for syndication. On September 5, 2011, FX began airing the series.
Cast members had said the show would not run longer than eight seasons, but a ninth season was secured in December 2012 amid tense negotiations with the studios and the actors—especially Segel, who had wanted to move on to other ventures after the eighth season. During these negotiations, Bays and Thomas originally approached the eighth season as if it were the show's last, but had a "Plan B" in case the show were renewed. After producers secured a ninth season, they implemented plans to secretly cast the titular future mother, with Cristin Milioti eventually winning the role, having bested at least two other contenders. Milioti first appeared in the last scene in the season eight finale "Something New" and was a regular cast member in the show's final season. This was the first time the show had expanded its core roster.
In January 2013, How I Met Your Mother was renewed for a ninth season. Carter Bays told Entertainment Weekly that season 9 would "feature some of the most non-linear episodes we've ever done".
The season 9 premiere episode aired on September 23, 2013, and the one-hour series finale aired on March 31, 2014.
== Syndication ==
How I Met Your Mother aired on Nick at Nite from September 8, 2014, to December 27, 2015, and TV Land from June 29, 2015, to 2018.
It also aired on FX from September 5, 2011, to 2019, and Lifetime from 2009 to 2018.
== Cast and characters ==
Josh Radnor as Ted Mosby, an architect, college professor and the central character of the series. He tells the story of his adult years from his late twenties to his mid thirties, and all the obstacles he overcomes before he meets "The One" (the Mother). This story is told by the Older Ted Mosby, and narrator of the series, Bob Saget. Ted moved to New York City with his friends Marshall and Lily after graduating from Wesleyan University. In New York, he met Barney (at the urinal of MacLaren's) and Robin, to whom he was immediately attracted. Ted is on a quest for happiness and "The One", the woman he will marry. He has many relationships, one with Robin, that reveal the qualities he wants in his future wife. At the end of each relationship, with levity, he reflects on what went wrong. Although hope to find "the one" diminishes with each failed relationship, Ted does not give up. He has more elegant and higher-class interests than his friends. He goes to great lengths to profess his love to the women in his life, but they all falter eventually. Despite these qualities, Ted often acts immaturely, such as in wild activities with Barney. In the show's finale, he says that, in Tracy, he had met the love of his life (the titular Mother), but only after he is finished telling the story does he accept that he is ready to move on and admit he is still in love with Robin.
Jason Segel as Marshall Eriksen, Ted Mosby's best friend. Marshall and Ted were roommates at Wesleyan, and remained living together when they moved to New York. In season 2 Marshall marries Lily, with whom he has been in love since his freshman year of college; they have a child during season 7. Marshall was born in St. Cloud, Minnesota, where his family and culture are the foundation of major conflicts he faces in the series. He has an interest in the paranormal and mythical creatures, particularly Sasquatch. His dream to be an environmental lawyer conflicts with his immediate need for money, such as for his wedding and to raise his children. He however, eventually switches from his corporate job, to his dream, environmental lawyer job, taking the pay cut willingly to help protect the environment. By the end of the sitcom, he has become a New York supreme court justice.
Cobie Smulders as Robin Scherbatsky, a news anchor trying to make it as a journalist who dates both Ted and Barney. Robin emigrated from Canada to take a job at a news station and met Ted at MacLaren's; her Canadian background is a source of many jokes from her friends, for instance, 'Robin Sparkles' which was her stage name as a Canadian teenage pop-star. She is very career-centric and rejects traditional roles, such as getting married and having kids. Robin often drinks scotch and smokes cigars, and is an avid gun fan. She and Barney get engaged and marry in the penultimate episode of the series, but divorce in the first part of the series finale, three years later. Smulders's husband Taran Killam appeared in six episodes as Gary Blauman.
Neil Patrick Harris as Barney Stinson, a serial playboy, using his relative wealth and an array of outrageous strategies to seduce women with no intention of engaging in a relationship. His catchphrases include 'Suit Up' and 'Legen-wait-for-it-Dary'. He is Ted's other best friend. Abandoned by his father at a young age, Barney has abandonment issues and clings to his friends. He tells extravagant lies about events in his life as a defense mechanism for his substandard childhood. He marries Robin in the penultimate episode of the series but they divorce after three years in the two-part series finale. In 2020, a failed one-night stand gives him a daughter, Ellie. Harris' husband David Burtka appeared in seven episodes as Scooter.
Alyson Hannigan as Lily Aldrin, a kindergarten teacher, aspiring artist, and Marshall's wife. She is terrible at keeping secrets and can be manipulative at times. She marries Marshall in season 2 and gives birth to Marvin in season 7. Though appearing sweet and cute, Lily can be quite unexpectedly fierce. Her best girl friend is Robin, whom she met through Ted as he dated Robin. Hannigan's husband Alexis Denisof appeared in ten episodes as Sandy Rivers.
Cristin Milioti as Tracy McConnell, the titular character who is Ted's future wife. She makes her first official appearance in Season 8, and gradually meets all the characters throughout Season 9 leading up to her meeting Ted.
== Season synopses ==
=== Season 1 ===
In 2030, Ted Mosby (voiced by Bob Saget) sits his children down to tell them the story of how he met their mother.
The series begins in September 2005 with Ted (Josh Radnor) as a single, 27-year-old architect living with his two best friends from his college years: Marshall Eriksen (Jason Segel), a law student, and Lily Aldrin (Alyson Hannigan), a kindergarten teacher and an aspiring artist. Lily and Marshall have been dating for almost nine years when Marshall finally proposes. Their engagement causes Ted to think about marriage and finding his soul mate, much to the disgust of his self-appointed best friend Barney Stinson (Neil Patrick Harris), whom he met in the restroom at a bar four years earlier. Barney is a serial womanizer who concocts elaborate con games, usually involving costumes and fake identities, designed to bed women, only to lose interest in them immediately afterward.
Ted begins his search for his perfect soul mate and meets an ambitious young reporter from Canada, Robin Scherbatsky (Cobie Smulders), with whom he quickly falls in love. Robin, however, does not want to rush into a relationship and the two decide to be friends. Future Ted reveals that Robin is not the mother after referring to her as "Aunt Robin".
Ted begins dating a baker, Victoria (Ashley Williams), whom he meets at Stuart and Claudia's wedding, causing Robin to become jealous, and realize she does have feelings for Ted. Victoria is offered a fellowship in pastry-making, moves to Germany and she and Ted try a long-distance relationship. Once Ted learns Robin has feelings for him, he tells her he broke up with Victoria, even though he has not. They almost have sex when Victoria calls and Robin answers, mistaking Ted's phone for her own. Ted and Victoria then break up and an angry Robin distances herself from Ted, but they eventually reconcile and decide to date.
Meanwhile, Lily begins to wonder if she has missed any opportunities because of her relationship with Marshall, and decides to pursue an art fellowship in San Francisco, breaking up with Marshall in the process. The season ends with Ted returning to the apartment, the morning after spending the night with Robin for the first time, to find Marshall sitting in the rain with Lily's engagement ring, devastated by their sudden break-up after nine years. Marshall must then call off their wedding.
The phrase olive theory is most known for its appearance in the "pilot" episode. In the scene, Ted tells the story of his first date with Robin to Lily and Marshall. Ted states that since he does not like olives but his date does, they are compatible. Lily and Marshall add on that the olive theory works in their relationship, as Marshall always gives Lily his olives. However, it is later said that Marshall only pretended not to like them to make Lily happy.
=== Season 2 ===
Ted and Robin are now a couple; meanwhile, a heartbroken Marshall tries to continue his life without Lily. After enduring numerous emotional breakdowns, Marshall's friends step in, and Barney, using sly catchphrases and pick-up lines, tries to get Marshall back in the dating game. Marshall becomes Barney's new 'wingman' as Ted is now in a relationship with Robin. Barney mentors Marshall in the art of flirting with women. Marshall fails at impressing women, but he finally obtains a barista's number. Later, Lily, after finally realizing she is not meant to be an artist, returns to New York. They remain separated as Marshall begins to date another girl, the barista whose number he earned, described by the gang as having 'crazy eyes'. The date with the girl does not end well and eventually leads to Lily and Marshall becoming reunited, and their engagement eventually resumes. When Robin refuses to go to the mall or explain why, Marshall suspects she is married, and Barney suspects she has performed in adult films. They make a slap bet on it, appointing Lily as "Slap Bet Commissioner." Lily oversees the search for the truth, as they discover that Robin was a teenage pop star named "Robin Sparkles", and Marshall eventually earns the right to slap Barney five times whenever he wishes. He uses one slap immediately and another later in the season. It is revealed that Barney has a gay African American half-brother named James (Wayne Brady) and, unaware that his mother lied to him, believes that Bob Barker is his father. As a result of this he takes a trip to California to be a contestant on The Price Is Right to meet his "father". While on the show, Barney wins all the prizes and gives them to Lily and Marshall as a 'happy early wedding' present.
In the season finale, Ted reveals to Barney that he and Robin have been broken up for some time due to their conflicting views on marriage and children. They did not tell anyone, in order to avoid taking attention away from Lily and Marshall's wedding. The season ends with Barney's excitement by the prospect of being an unfettered single man with Ted again. Barney's final words are "this is going to be legen- wait for it...".
=== Season 3 ===
Barney begins the season with the word, "-dary!" Robin returns from a trip to Argentina with her new boyfriend, Gael (Enrique Iglesias), and Ted must adjust to life as just her friend, while watching Robin and Gael fawning over each other. Marshall and Lily decide to move out on their own, falling in love with a place they cannot afford. Marshall is fighting his temptation to take a corporate job with high pay and focusing instead to follow his dream of becoming an environmental lawyer to protect the world from pollution. Robin learns of Lily's bad credit rating due to her compulsive shopping for designer brands, and forces Lily to tell Marshall. Despite this, they are able to finally secure their dream apartment, in Dowisetrepla, only to discover it is in a bad location (DOwn WInd of the SEwage TREatment PLAnt) and more poorly constructed than they thought (the floor is tilted and the apartment is haunted by ghosts). Barney is slapped for the third time on Thanksgiving, which Marshall dubs "Slapsgiving."
Ted tells his children he met their mother through a story concerning her yellow umbrella. He finds the umbrella at a club and takes it home after attending a St. Patrick's Day party where his future wife was, although they did not meet. Ted attempts to woo Stella (Sarah Chalke), a dermatologist he sees to remove an embarrassing butterfly tattoo (his tramp-stamp). This culminates in a "two-minute date", which incorporates small talk, dinner, a movie (Manos, Hands of Fate), coffee, two cab rides, and a goodnight kiss. Robin sleeps with Barney after he comforts her following a break-up with a past Canadian love; Ted is infuriated, and decides to stop being friends with Barney. Meanwhile, an unknown woman begins to sabotage Barney's attempts to hook up. His saboteur is revealed to be Abby (Britney Spears), Stella's receptionist, with a vendetta against him for not calling her after they had sex.
In the season finale, Ted gets into a car accident and ends up in hospital after breaking up with Stella. Subsequently, Barney is hit by a bus while he is on his way to visit Ted and receives treatment in the same hospital. Ted realizes Barney cares about him and they renew their friendship. Barney's true feelings for Robin are revealed while Ted proposes to Stella in an arcade with a toy kangaroo.
=== Season 4 ===
Stella says yes to Ted's proposal. Robin takes a new job in Japan, but quickly resigns and returns to New York to attend Ted's wedding, after realizing how much she misses her friends. Stella leaves Ted at the altar to get back together with Tony (Jason Jones), the father of her daughter. Barney struggles with his feelings for Robin as his company shifts him to the management team of a new acquisition, Goliath National Bank (GNB), where Marshall has accepted a position as a lawyer.
Marshall and Lily move to their new apartment and debate over whether or not they are ready to have kids. Robin is threatened to be deported for not having a job in her field, which opens an opportunity for Barney to spend time with Robin. Robin gets a job as an anchor for a 4 AM news show after Barney submits her video resume, and becomes roommates with Ted. Ted and Robin decide to sleep together constantly so they will not fight over each other's bad co-living habits. Barney attempts to make them stop fighting to prevent this, revealing to Ted his love for Robin.
Ted finds out Lily has sabotaged all of his relationships with anyone she does not approve of and indirectly may have inspired his breakup with Robin. Robin and Ted end up talking about it, causing their friendship to begin moving toward a positive note. After Barney finally sleeps with his 200th woman (and rubs it in the face of the childhood bully who taunted him into pursuing it), he begins to question the purpose of the remainder of his life, leaving him more certain of his feelings for Robin. Barney secures Ted a job to design the new Goliath National Bank headquarters. When the company later suspends the project, Marshall and Barney try to hide this fact from Ted. Ted starts his own architectural design company, Mosbius Designs, after getting laid off; however, he is too afraid of failing and refuses to call clients.
Ted, while carrying the yellow umbrella, bumps into Stella and Tony. Tony later decides to visit him, sympathizing with Ted over his loss of Stella. Tony offers Ted a job as a professor of architecture at Columbia University, which Ted initially turns down.
In the season finale Robin finds out that Barney loves her, and initially refuses to commit to anything but a sex-only relationship; they seemingly end up together anyway. Ted decides that being an architect is leading nowhere, and finally decides instead to become a college professor. The finale ends with Ted preparing to teach his first class and Future Ted revealing to his children that one of the women in the class is their mother.
=== Season 5 ===
Ted begins his job as a professor of architecture, standing in the middle of a classroom – although the mother was present, it turns out to be an economics class as he's in the wrong lecture hall. Barney and Robin have had a sexual relationship throughout the summer and Lily locks them in a room, forcing them to come to terms with their relationship. After a rough patch they decide to break up. Robin describes it instead as "two friends getting back together." Barney immediately goes back to his old ways, using the playbook to score with women. Throughout the season Barney and Robin show feelings of regret over their break-up.
Ted dates a graduate student named Cindy (Rachel Bilson) and it is revealed her roommate is his future wife. Robin meets Don Frank (Benjamin Koldyke), her new co-anchor on her 4 AM TV show. Though she initially dislikes him (as seen in the rabbit or duck episode), the two start dating and eventually she moves in with him. At the end of the season they break up when Don takes a job in Chicago — a job which Robin had previously turned down to stay in New York with Don. Robin moves back into Ted's apartment. Lily's father, Mickey (Chris Elliott), who was absent during her childhood, makes an appearance at Thanksgiving. Mickey and Lily are able to mend their relationship at the end of the meal, where Marshall uses his fourth slap on Barney. Ted discovered that Tony, who stole Stella away from Ted at the altar, wrote a movie on Ted and Stella's relationship. The movie, "The Wedding Bride," portrays Tony as the hero and Ted as the villain. The movie becomes popular and Ted unexpectedly sees it while on a date with another girl. He is infuriated by how he is portrayed in the movie, and views the actual story as the complete opposite. Ted buys a house, which needs to be fixed up badly, but is later revealed to be the future home for him and his children.
Lily and Marshall are still unsure about having children. After watching four doppelgangers of their group (Lesbian Robin, Moustache Marshall, Stripper Lily and Mexican Wrestler Ted) they decide to leave the big decision to the universe's "infinite wisdom" and start trying when they have seen Barney's doppelganger.
In the season finale, Barney disguises himself to have sex with a girl from every country in the world, and Lily and Marshall mistake him for the final doppelganger. When Marshall finds out, he decides not to tell Lily, fearing she will want to wait even longer to have children. Lily eventually finds out and decides to wait. Lily thinks she sees Barney's doppelganger as a hot dog vendor, which causes the group to realize she is seeing what she wants to see, and play along. Eventually Barney agrees having babies is not a stupid idea and Lily and Marshall should go forth. The season ends with Lily asking Marshall to "put a baby in my belly".
=== Season 6 ===
In the season opening, Ted sees Cindy again with a girl who he thinks to be her roommate, but she turns out to be Cindy's girlfriend whom she later marries. After prodding by Barney, Ted is eventually hired by GNB once more as the architect of the bank's new headquarters, which was originally scrapped in Season 4. However, he encounters opposition when he meets Zoey Pierson (Jennifer Morrison), a woman who is protesting against GNB for selecting a decrepit hotel, the Arcadian, to be torn down for the headquarters. Over the season, Ted's encounters with Zoey eventually blossom into a relationship after she divorces her rich husband, the Captain (Kyle MacLachlan). However, when their relationship is challenging and turbulent, they break up, leading to Ted supporting the Arcadian's demolition.
Having agreed to conceive a baby at the end of the previous season, Lily and Marshall keep having sex, hoping she will get pregnant. Around Christmas, they have a false alarm and later seek fertility testing. The fertility specialist, Dr. Stangel, turns out to be Barney's doppelganger, fulfilling their promise with the universe in regard to their decision to have a child. However, tragedy strikes when Marshall's father passes away, leaving him devastated and the gang comforting him. Marshall tries to get over his father's death and live again. Despite a pledge to Lily to work harder for their future, Marshall resigns from GNB and follows his dream of being an environmental lawyer. Zoey also hires him as her lawyer in what became a futile battle to save the Arcadian.
Barney finally admits to the gang that Bob Barker is not his real father, especially when his mother decides to sell the house he grew up in and his brother, James, meets his own father. Loretta offers the identity of Barney's father on a sheet of paper, but Barney tears this up after realizing her efforts as a single mother. At the funeral of Marshall's father, Barney tells Loretta that he wants to see his father at last. The man, Jerry Whittaker (John Lithgow), is eventually revealed to be someone whom Barney thought was his uncle. Barney, who remembers Jerry as a fun-loving man, is disappointed after learning how Jerry has grown out of his free-wheeling ways. Although he tries to bring back Jerry's old behaviors, Barney admits that he wants to settle down someday. He is also introduced to Nora (Nazanin Boniadi), a co-worker of Robin, for whom he develops feelings. After an initial falling out, the two reconcile at the end of the season after Barney asks her for coffee.
Robin continues to work at her talk show, Come On, Get Up, New York!, but the presence of a new hyperactive co-host forces her to leave. She is accepted as a researcher in another network, World Wide News. The gang also discovers more of her past as the Canadian pop star Robin Sparkles. Robin also encounters a man (Michael Trucco) she has had a secret crush on since first seeing him when she and Ted were dating, and Future Ted hints that they will see more of him later.
In the season finale, Ted makes the decision that he wants to get back with Zoey. Robin and Barney try to stop them from getting back together. Marshall's interview goes wrong as food poisoning hits him during the meeting; Lily's similar sickness was thought to be food poisoning as well, but is revealed to be morning sickness, as she has become pregnant. Barney and Robin get closure by helping Ted not get back together with Zoey. Short scenes during the season premiere and finale feature a wedding set sometime in the future, where Ted will meet his future wife. In the final scene of the season, the groom is revealed to be Barney.
=== Season 7 ===
Season seven opens with another flash forward, in which Ted is helping Barney get ready for his wedding to a still-unknown bride. In the present, Marshall gets a job in environmental law while Lily's pregnancy progresses. Barney proves to Nora that he can be a good boyfriend to her, while Robin is revealed to still have feelings for Barney. After a court case for assault, Robin receives mandated therapy. Robin meets a therapist, Kevin (Kal Penn), and they start to date. Meanwhile, after a period of unemployment since leaving GNB, Marshall finally manages to land his dream job at a top environmental law firm. After losing a bet, Barney is forced to wear a tie with a duck pattern on it (nicknamed the 'Ducky Tie') which he hates. Marshall allows him to take it off when meeting Nora's parents on the condition that Barney has three slaps added to the one still remaining from the Slap Bet. Marshall uses two slaps immediately, leaving two left.
While reminiscing about Hurricane Irene, Lily and Marshall reveal that they conceived their baby in Barney's apartment, and Barney and Robin end up sleeping together. Barney and Robin decide to break up with their partners, but Robin cannot bring herself to break up with Kevin, leaving Barney alone and heartbroken. Robin has a pregnancy scare at Thanksgiving and tells Barney the child is his, since she and Kevin have not yet slept together. However, Robin's doctor informs her that she cannot have children at all. Kevin, who wants children, proposes to Robin, who warns him that she will never want children, and he breaks up with her. Ted comforts Robin and reveals he still loves her, but the gesture is unrequited. Eventually, she moves out to give him some space.
Marshall and Lily decide they want to move to Long Island, after Lily's paternal grandparents offer them their house there. Eventually, they move back to the old apartment in New York City after realizing suburban life is not for them. Ted gives them his apartment because he believes he cannot move on from Robin while living there, while he and Robin become estranged and do not speak for several weeks. Robin is eventually offered a news anchor job and subsequently achieves recognition after preventing a helicopter she is flying in from crashing.
Barney starts dating a stripper named Quinn (Becki Newton), to the group's initial apprehension. The gang begins to meddle in their relationship, but Barney and Quinn outsmart their attempts and win their approval. Quinn moves in with Barney, while Ted rents Quinn's old apartment. Lily goes into labor and frantically calls Barney and Marshall, who are out at a casino in Atlantic City and heavily intoxicated. Barney helps Marshall arrive in time for Lily's delivery and chooses the middle name for the baby, Marvin Waitforit Eriksen. Ted and Robin's friendship also recovers as a result of Marvin's birth. As the season concludes, Marshall and Lily begin a new family with their baby, Marvin. Barney proposes to Quinn performing an extravagant magic trick in airport security. Ted contacts his old girlfriend Victoria; unhappy with her own impending wedding, she leaves her fiancé for Ted and the pair drive off into the sunset. A final flash forward shows the day of Barney's wedding, where Robin is revealed as the bride.
=== Season 8 ===
Ted visits Robin on the day of her wedding to Barney, causing him to remember how he and Victoria ran away from her wedding to be together. The summer is spent with Ted, Barney, and Robin enjoying their current relationships; however, all subsequently break up with their partners. Barney and Quinn break up due to their inability to trust each other, Victoria splits up with Ted over his friendship with Robin, and Robin breaks up with Nick realizing his immaturity. Robin and Barney kiss but decide not to get together, despite Barney's wishes. Barney then begins dating Robin's hated co-worker Patrice (Ellen D. Williams), a relationship later exposed as a ruse to make Robin realize her true feelings for him. In a culminating scene, Barney proposes to Robin, who says yes.
Marshall and Lily attempt to get used to being parents, which causes a brief estrangement from the gang as baby Marvin takes up the majority of their time. Lily's father Mickey becomes Marvin's nanny, freeing the two up to spend more time with their friends. The Captain, ex-husband of Ted's old girlfriend Zoey, offers Lily a job as an art consultant after she identifies a painting that made a huge profit for him. Lily accepts, happy to finally achieve her dream of having a job in the art industry, while Marshall decides to apply to become a judge. The Captain offers Lily a year's work in Rome, which she accepts with Marshall's blessing. However, just before Barney and Robin's wedding, Marshall is informed that his application to become a judge has been granted, a development that would require them to stay in the US.
Ted briefly dates Jeanette (Abby Elliott), a girl who stalked him after he appeared on the cover of New York Magazine for designing GNB's headquarters. He quickly realizes he has made a mistake but decides to stay with her because he is slightly unstable, too. After they break up, Ted's feelings of loneliness grow, especially as he is now the only single member of the group, and he decides he is truly ready to settle down. He argues with Lily over hiring a DJ or a band for Barney and Robin's wedding, but is forced to provide a band at short notice when Lily concedes the argument. During a chance meeting on the subway, Cindy offers the services of her roommate's wedding band. This roommate is Ted's future wife.
As the week of the wedding approaches, Robin has doubts about marrying Barney and shares an emotional moment with Ted. Feeling guilty, Ted realizes he cannot be around Barney and Robin after they are married and decides to move to Chicago the day after the wedding. The season concludes with everyone traveling to Barney and Robin's wedding, including the mother of Ted's children (revealed on screen for the first time and portrayed by Cristin Milioti), who is seen buying a train ticket to the venue and holding her yellow umbrella.
=== Season 9 ===
With the exceptions of the series' 200th episode and the last episode, the entirety of season nine takes place in the 56 hours leading up to Barney and Robin's wedding.
Marshall, who is stuck in Minnesota, desperately tries to find a way to get to the wedding in time. Meanwhile, in Farhampton, the time is slowly counting down to the wedding, with a new problem arising in almost every episode. It is revealed that Lily is pregnant and that she and Marshall will have a daughter. It is also revealed that Ted's children are named Penny and Luke. In the 200th episode, the Mother's eight years before meeting Ted are revealed, while later episodes give viewers a glimpse of Ted and the Mother together in flash forward scenes. Also, Marshall uses his final two slaps from the slap bet: the first being used as an apology present for missing the rehearsal dinner, and the second when Barney begins to panic just before the beginning of the wedding ceremony.
In the series finale, it is revealed that after three years of marriage, Barney and Robin decided to divorce. Barney ends up later fathering a child during a one-night stand. Marshall eventually becomes a judge, and he and Lily have three children. Ted's wife, whose name is revealed to be Tracy McConnell, dies of an unknown illness in 2024, six years prior to the time of Ted telling his children the full story of how they met. Upon finishing the story, at the urging of his kids, Ted decides to ask Robin out. Alluding to the first episode, the finale ends with Robin, as she looks out of her apartment window to see Ted holding the blue French horn, smiling with tears in her eyes.
Following backlash from fans over the ending of the series, an alternative ending was cut together and released on the Season 9 DVD, in which future Ted narrates over the scene in which Ted and Tracy meet at the train station, recapping all major events from the series. He delivers the final line "and that kids is how I met your mother", and the episode ends, completely cutting the final scene with Penny and Luke.
== Critical reception ==
The first season was met with generally favorable reviews from critics, although some compared the series unfavorably to Friends. On Metacritic, a review aggregation site that collected 25 reviews for the series, it scored a 69 out of 100. Michael Abernethy of PopMatters gave the season a negative review, writing that "The comedy that does occur in How I Met Your Mother isn't enough to compensate for its inconsistencies." Tom Shales of The Washington Post gave the season a lukewarm review, saying it's "a little better than most other sitcoms, past and present -- especially those featuring wacky urban friends in their twenties experiencing the bittersweet mysteries of life." Melanie Macfarlane of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer gave the season a positive review, saying the show "may not break any comedic ground, but it's the sort of comfortable, reliable hitter CBS needs on Monday nights."
The second season received critical acclaim. Staci Krause of IGN gave the season a positive review, calling it "great".
The third season was met with mostly positive reviews. Michelle Zoromski of IGN gave the season a positive review, saying that "the season was fun and clever, a good, consistent flow from the first two seasons".
The fourth season received critical acclaim. Michelle Zoromski of IGN gave Season 4 an overall rating of 8.5 out of 10, stating that "This fourth season seemed to settle down the chase for the titular mother. While Ted was busy dating Stella, the gang settled into many stand alone episodes which were every bit as entertaining as episodes devoted to Ted's love life". Zoromski went on to say: "A stellar Robin-Marshall episode, titled 'Little Minnesota', makes it clear that these two do not get enough screen time together. With Robin homesick and unemployed (and at risk of being deported), this pairing brought out the best Robin Sparkles reference of the season, when Marshall leads a rousing karaoke version of 'Let's Go to the Mall!'"
The fifth season received mixed reviews. Cindy McLennan of Television Without Pity gave the season a mixed review, and at the end of the season wrote: "I'm okay with any given season not being primarily focused on mother-meeting, but this season, the characters seemed to regress -- particularly Barney and Ted. Usually, when a season ends, I have to deal with a week or two weeks' worth of letdown. Right now, all I'm feeling is relief."
The sixth season received generally positive reviews. Justin Fowler of Late Reviews gave the season a positive review, saying that the season was "a pretty good season of television" and better than the "poor" fifth season. He also said that "Seventeen out of the 24 episodes are what I would consider good".
The seventh season received mixed reviews. Alan Sepinwall gave the season a mixed review and criticized the flash-forwards throughout the season, saying that "the show is just much, much stronger when its stories dwell on matters of the present or the past, and where the writers don't have to act like magicians trying to keep the audience from figuring out how the trick works. And the finale affirmed that belief for me. The parts that had little or nothing to do with things to come were quite good; the parts that were all about the future made me roll my eyes and ask, for the umpteenth time, 'Really? This is where you're going with this?'"
The eighth season received mixed reviews and is often considered the worst season of the series. Rotten Tomatoes reported that 54% of critics gave the show a positive review. The consensus reads: "How I Met Your Mother wears out its welcome this season, with an anticlimactic reveal and rote, less-than-fruitful humor."
The ninth season received mixed-to-positive reviews from critics, though fans found it worse than prior seasons. Rotten Tomatoes reported that 80% of critics gave the show a positive review, with an average rating of 7.3 out of 10. Gareth Mitchell at "House of Geekery" responded negatively, mostly criticizing the structure of the season, stating that they are "struggling to come up with stories that last out the 22 minutes".
The finale of the show received a largely negative reaction from critics and fans. Some complained that the last few seasons (particularly the final season before the finale which took place over one weekend) had built towards an end game that was discarded during the final hour-long episode, while others defended it as true to both the initial concept of the show and to life itself. In the years succeeding its airing, it continued to be singled out as one of the worst television series finales, e.g., topping USA Today's list of "Worst Series Finales of All Time".
== Subplots ==
=== The Slap Bet ===
It is in Season 2, episode 9, named "Slap Bet" when viewers are introduced to what is a slap bet, as explained by Marshall to Lily. The first slap bet of the series is made in this episode when Ted is adamant on discovering why Robin refuses to go to malls. In response Barney is positive that Robin is hiding pornography that she has starred in, while Marshall believes Robin is married. This is when Barney suggests a slap bet instead of betting money, Marshall explains that "whoever is right gets to slap the other person in the face as hard as they can -- but no rings". Lily initially believes it is immature until Marshall states she can be slap bet commissioner. Ted continues to badger Robin about why she refuses to go to malls, and when trying to figure out if she was married, Robin lies and says she was married. When Ted tells the group that Robin is married, Marshall preemptively slaps Barney. Marshall then tries to look up Robin's marital records at his law school library, and it is revealed that Robin lied. Eventually Marshall tells Lily, so Lily as slap bet commissioner imparts a slap penalty allowing Barney to slap Marshall three times, one for lying about finding out the truth and two for the premature slap. Barney then discovers someone that has the tape with proof of Robin's secret, a man in Malaysia, and he has posted the video onto MySpace. When Barney plays the video, he stops the video at a seemingly suggestive part and believing he has won the bet he slaps Marshall. Robin, to show that her secret was not pornography, then plays the entire video, revealing to the group that she was Robin Sparkles, a teenage pop star in Canada. Viewers and the group are introduced to Robin's song "Let's Go to the Mall". Lily allows Barney to choose between two punishments, ten slaps at that moment or five slaps that be doled out any time from then to eternity. Although Ted states that Barney should just take the ten slaps, Barney chooses the five slaps. When Ted apologizes for forcing the secret out of her, Robin tells Ted that she is glad he knows her better and they kiss, Marshall then slaps Barney, using his first slap stating "That's one". The slaps won by Marshall are an ongoing trope within the series and last through to the twenty second episode of season 9 "The End of the Aisle", the last episode before the two-episode series finale "Last Forever".
=== The Pineapple Incident ===
Introduced in The Pineapple Incident (Season 1, Episode 10), this mystery begins when Ted wakes up after a drunken night with a woman in his bed, a sprained ankle, and a pineapple on his nightstand. The gang tries to piece together the events of the night, but the origin of the pineapple remains unknown as they eat the pineapple in the end of the episode. It is later revealed in a deleted scene from Daisy (Season 9, Episode 20) that the pineapple came from the Captain’s home, as part of a naval tradition.
=== Robin Sparkles ===
First revealed in Slap Bet (Season 2, Episode 9), Robin’s secret past as a Canadian teen pop star emerges when Barney and Ted try to uncover her biggest secret. Over multiple episodes, more details surface, including her second song, "Sandcastles in the Sand" in Sandcastles in the Sand (Season 3, Episode 16) which sets off Barney and Robin's relationship, and her dark post-pop phase with "P.S. I Love You" in P.S. I Love You (Season 8, Episode 15) when Barney is in search for it and seems to become "obsessed" over it. In a deleted scene from The End of the Aisle (Season 9, Episode 22), Robin sings "Let's Go to the Mall" for the gang at her wedding reception, with Ted, Marshall, Lily, and Barney joining in.
=== The Doppelgängers ===
First introduced in Double Date (Season 5, Episode 2), the gang begins spotting doppelgängers of themselves:
Lesbian Robin is the first to be found.
Moustache Marshall is spotted in Double Date (Season 5, Episode 2), and seen again when Ted goes on a date with Jen after seven years in Double Date (Season 5, Episode 2)
Stripper Lily appears in Double Date (Season 5, Episode 2).
Mexican Wrestler Ted is seen in Robots Versus Wrestlers (Season 5, Episode 22).
Doctor Stangel is (not) discovered in Doppelgangers (Season 5, Episode 24), but it leads Marshall and Lily to believe it's a sign to start a family. However, it turns out to actually be Barney in disguise. The real doppelgänger is finally spotted in Big Days (Season 6, Episode 1).
=== The Playbook ===
Introduced in The Playbook (Season 5, Episode 8), Barney reveals a book containing elaborate pick-up schemes. The book becomes a recurring element in the series, with Barney frequently using its strategies. It plays a major role in The Final Page – Part 2 (Season 8, Episode 12), where Barney burns it as part of an elaborate final play to propose to Robin.
=== Marshall vs. Machines ===
First heard in Subway Wars (Season 6, Episode 4), Marshall develops a fear of technology because he thought he could not get Lily pregnant and it was his fault. The theme motif is teased in Bedtime Stories (Season 9, Episode 12) at the end of the episode, and a second rendition of the song is heard in Bass Player Wanted (Season 9, Episode 13).
== Tie-ins ==
=== Books ===
The Bro Code, cited by Barney many times throughout the series, is a set of written rules for bros to follow, and has been published as a tie-in novel, an audiobook, an iPhone Application and an Android Application. Barney alleges it was written by Barnabus Stinson, a contemporary of George Washington and Benjamin Franklin. Many of the rules listed in this book also appear in the show's closing vanity cards in syndication.
Bro on the Go, a companion to The Bro Code, released in 2009.
Bro Code for Parents: What to Expect When You're Awesome, released in 2012.
The Playbook, based on the fifth season episode of the same name, by Barney Stinson and Matt Kuhn.
How I Met Your Mother and Philosophy, released in 2013.
=== Podcast ===
In addition to the television series, How I Met Your Mother has inspired various discussions and analyses through podcasts. Several fan-driven and one official podcast called "How We Made Your Mother" delve into the show's themes, characters, and cultural impact. Some explore the intricate storytelling and the long-running mystery of the mother’s identity, while others focus on the humor and life lessons embedded in the series. Notable podcast episodes have featured interviews with cast members, writers, and creators, offering behind-the-scenes insights into how the show was made.
=== Music volume ===
The music of How I Met Your Mother played a crucial role in setting the tone for the series. From original songs performed by the characters to carefully curated indie and pop tracks, the show's soundtrack helped define key moments.
The series featured memorable original songs such as Let's Go to the Mall by Robin Sparkles and Nothing Suits Me Like a Suit performed by Barney Stinson. Additionally, licensed music selections, including Downtown Train by Everything But The Girl, Simple Song by The Shins and The Funeral by Band of Horses, played during pivotal emotional moments. During the teaser scenes from the Series 5 Finale involving the Barney wedding, George Harrison’s Ballad of Sir Frankie Crisp (Let It Roll) was used, and during the scene where Barney teaches the Playbook to two wayward college kids in Series 9, The Bangles’ "Eternal Flame" plays.
Two official soundtrack albums, How I Met Your Music and How I Met Your Music: Volume 2, were released, featuring some of the most iconic songs from the show.
The show's creators, Carter Bays and Craig Thomas, were heavily involved in selecting music as stated in many interviews. This attention to detail helped cement the show's status as a series with a strong musical identity.
A 12-second clip from the song "Hey, Beautiful" by The Solids is the theme song for the show, which was created by band members Bays and Thomas.
=== Soundtracks ===
A soundtrack album entitled How I Met Your Music: Original Songs from the Hit Series was released digitally to iTunes on September 24, 2012, featuring songs from the first seven seasons
A second soundtrack album entitled How I Met Your Music: Deluxe was released digitally to iTunes on September 23, 2014, featuring songs from the final two seasons.
=== Pineapple Incident explained ===
After the end of the series, the officials released a short video, explaining the running mystery of the pineapple in "The Pineapple Incident", the tenth episode of the first season. The extra footage revealed that a character featured in the 6th season, the Captain (Kyle MacLachlan), had put a pineapple in front of his door as a tradition and Ted took the pineapple while he was drunk.
=== Websites ===
Websites were consistently mentioned throughout the How I Met Your Mother series. Many of the websites directly tie in to running gags on the show. CBS turned nearly every website mentioned in the series into a real functioning website. Since the show's ending in 2014, a majority of the websites remain active.
The first Instance of a website tie-in on How I Met Your Mother was on Season 3, Episode 14 'The Bracket' with one of Barney's one-night-stands creating both http://tedmosbyisajerk.com Archived August 12, 2019, at the Wayback Machine and http://tedmosbyisnotajerk.com.
In Season 3, Episode 19, 'Everything Must Go', Lily is forced to sell her clothes on the internet because she is in serious credit card debt. She jokes they should call the website http://www.guyforceshiswifetodressinagarbagebagforthenextthreeyears.com Archived March 6, 2010, at the Wayback Machine.
Goliath National Bank (GNB) is first introduced in Season 4, Episode 2 'The Best Burger in New York' and is consistently mentioned throughout the show's run. Barney Stinson, Marshall Eriksen, and Ted Mosby have all worked for GNB. Goliath National Bank - Your Financial Wingman.
In Season 4, Episode 7 'Not a Father's Day' as a form of celebration, Barney Stinson creates a fake holiday called "Not a Father's Day" as well as a subsequent website to promote it: http://www.notafathersday.com.
In Season 4, Episode 14 'The Possimpible', Ted Mosby's alter-ego Doctor X was introduced. The episode explained Doctor X's origins and shared his website: http://mysteriousdrx.com.
In Season 4, Episode 14 'The Possimpible', Robin Sherbatsky is facing deportation due to unemployment, and so Barney attempts to help her by sharing his video resume website: http://www.barneysvideoresume.com.
In Season 4, Episode 18 'Old King Clancy', the gang is attempting to guess facts about Robin's sexual history with the help of http://canadiansexacts.org. This website is now inactive.
In Season 5, Episode 4 'The Sexless Innkeeper', Marshall Eriksen creates http://www.itwasthebestnightever.com Archived February 9, 2010, at the Wayback Machine to celebrate "the best night ever".
In Season 5, Episode 8 'The Playbook', Barney Stinson creates http://www.extremitiesquarterly.com, http://balloonexplorersclub.com, http://www.lorenzovonmatterhorn.com, and http://bigbusinessjournal.com to solidify his fake identity as Lorenzo von Matterhorn as a part of a play in "The Playbook".
In Season 5, Episode 23 'The Wedding Bride', Ted Mosby's ex-finance Stella's new husband releases a successful movie about Ted and Stella's relationship. The website http://www.weddingbridemovie.com was created to promote the fictional movie.
In Season 6, Episode 4 'Subway Wars', Ted uses http://grademyteacher.net to see what his college students are writing about him as a professor.
In Season 7, Episode 4 'Stinson Missile Crisis', Barney creates two websites: http://www.stinsonbreastreduction.com and http://www.linsonbreastlawsuit.com as part of a play in "The Playbook".
In Season 7, Episode 9 'Disaster Averted', Marshall creates the countdown website: http://www.theslapbetcountdown.com to warn Barney of his next slap as a part of their "Slap Bet", which was created five seasons earlier.
In Season 7, Episode 13 'Tailgate', Barney and Ted start a bar titled Puzzles and use http://www.puzzlesthebar.com to promote the bar.
In Season 7, Episode 23 'The Magician's Code (Part 1)' Ted creates http://www.lilysinlabor.com to announce that Lily is in labor.
In Season 8, Episode 3 'Nannies' Marshall and Lily use http://www.heynannynanny.com to find a nanny.
In Season 8, Episode 9 'Lobster Crawl' Barney starts a new business called "Bro Bibs" and uses the website http://www.brobibs.com to sell his product. Barney's company is challenged by the competing brand http://www.dudeaprons.com.
=== Spin-offs ===
==== How I Met Your Dad ====
On November 15, 2013, it was announced that CBS and the series' producer 20th Television would launch How I Met Your Dad, a woman-centric variation executive-produced by Bays, Thomas, and Emily Spivey. The new series would possibly have featured a new bar and would not have tied into the original series. The primary cast of the series was revealed on March 14, 2014, to be Greta Gerwig, Drew Tarver, Nicholas D'Agosto, Krysta Rodriguez and Andrew Santino. Tiya Sircar was cast not long after on March 26, 2014, replacing Krysta Rodriguez's role in the series. On April 23, 2014, Meg Ryan was announced to voice future Sally.
On May 14, 2014, CBS passed on picking up How I Met Your Dad since show creators Craig Thomas and Carter Bays did not want to reshoot the pilot. Nina Tassler, the entertainment president at CBS, stated that "there were elements of the pilot that didn't work out". Talks of the series being "shopped" to other networks emerged. Netflix, FOX and NBC were named as possible candidates for picking up the show.
Ultimately, nothing came of those talks. It was reported that the options on the cast contracts had expired and they had been released from their contracts and co-creator Carter Bays denied any rumors that the spin-off pilot will be reshot. On July 11, 2014, Bays confirmed that the spin-off project was officially dead. Six days later, Nina Tassler said that CBS would "love the opportunity to take another shot" at the pilot and that she would continue to "hound" Carter Bays and Craig Thomas, even though they shot down the idea of a new version of the project stating that they had both moved on.
In 2016, two years after the project was announced "dead", a full script of the pilot episode was leaked online. In 2020, the full pilot episode was also leaked by a Reddit user on the How I Met Your Mother subreddit, which included a modified ending compared to the leaked script from 2016.
==== How I Met Your Father ====
On December 14, 2016, it was reported that Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger were set to write a new version of the previous spin-off's pilot, re-titled How I Met Your Father, with Bays and Thomas serving as executive producers. On March 6, 2017, it was announced that following signing new contracts with 20th Television that would see both Aptaker and Berger being promoted to executive producers and co-showrunners on This Is Us alongside Dan Fogelman, their completed spec script for How I Met Your Father would be placed on the back burner in light of their new duties.
On August 8, 2017, Fox chairman Dana Walden told Deadline that the studio was set to try a third attempt at a spin-off with different writers due to the unavailability of Aptaker and Berger. It was also stated that all ideas from the previous two attempts are not carried over and the new attempt are created from scratch. On August 11, 2017, Deadline reported that Alison Bennett had been selected to write the spin-off. It was also confirmed that this incarnation would be developed under the title used for the Aptaker and Berger project, and that Bays and Thomas are once again attached as executive producers.
On April 21, 2021, it was announced that the spin-off series was ordered by Hulu, with Hilary Duff attached to play lead character Sophie. Aptaker and Berger would helm the project as creators, writers, and executive producers. On June 16, 2021, Chris Lowell was announced to have joined the cast in a starring role. On August 10, 2021, Francia Raisa, Tom Ainsley, Tien Tran and Suraj Sharma joined the cast in starring roles. On August 30, 2021, Daniel Augustin joined the cast in a recurring role, replacing Brandon Micheal Hall, who exited the project due to scheduling conflicts.
On January 18, 2022, How I Met Your Father began streaming on Hulu in the US, Disney+ internationally and Star+ in Latin America.
In September 2023, the show was cancelled after 2 seasons.
== Nielsen ratings ==
The show's highest viewed episode was the series finale, "Last Forever", watched by 13.13 million viewers. Previously, the most viewed episode was the season 1 episode "The Pineapple Incident", watched by 12.3 million viewers. The lowest-viewed episode was the season 6 episode "Landmarks", watched by 6.4 million viewers, approximately 52% of the show's previous series high, and approximately 49% of the show's finale viewership.
Season nine was the highest watched season overall and among the 18–49 adults, scoring a 4.5 rating in that sector up from the second-highest rating of 4.1 in season seven.
== Awards and nominations ==
The show has been nominated for 72 awards, winning 18. The show has been nominated for 28 Emmy Awards, including a nomination for Outstanding Comedy Series. Stars Alyson Hannigan and Neil Patrick Harris have each received acting accolades, with both winning People's Choice Awards, and Harris receiving Emmy and Golden Globe nominations. In 2012, seven years after its premiere, the series won the People's Choice for Favorite Network TV Comedy. The show's art direction, editing and cinematography have also been awarded.
== Home media ==
Seasons 1 through 9 were available to stream on Netflix in Austria, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latin America, Lebanon, Turkey, Spain, Sweden, the Philippines, Romania, Russia, and the UK; season 9 was released on September 26, 2014. But they were ultimately pulled and relocated to Disney+. Seasons 1–9 were removed from Netflix in the United States as of November 13, 2017 and are now available on Hulu. As of March 2020, Seasons 1 through 9 are available on Amazon Prime Video in Brazil. Seasons 1 through 9 are available to stream on Hotstar in India. As of December 31, 2020, seasons 1–9 are removed from Netflix in The Netherlands. Seasons 1 to 9 were Previously available on Netflix, Stan and Star on Disney+ in Australia. However, Disney has pulled the show from both Stan and Netflix making Disney+ the only streaming service in Australia for the show. All nine seasons are available to stream on Hulu and Amazon Prime Video in the US. Repeats in Australia are often shown on 7flix and on 7plus and are shown on Fox Comedy.
Note: The whole story DVD had a different package in Region 1 as opposed to Region 2 + 4. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1964_Nobel_Prize_in_Literature | 1964 Nobel Prize in Literature | The 1964 Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to the French writer Jean-Paul Sartre (1905–1980) "for his work which, rich in ideas and filled with the spirit of freedom and the quest for truth, has exerted a far-reaching influence on our age".
Sartre declined the prize, saying that he never accepted any official honours and that he did not want the writer to become an institution. Furthermore, regarding the political grounds for his action, Sartre declared about the Nobel prize that it is one that goes only to Westerners "or to rebels of the East". "It is regrettable that the only Soviet work honored was one that was published abroad and forbidden in its own country." The Swedish Academy said in announcement: It will be recalled that the laureate has made it known that he did not wish to accept the prize. The fact that he has declined this distinction does not in the least modify the validity of the award. Under the circumstances, however, the Academy can only state that the presentation of the prize cannot take place.
It is the only known occasion where a Laureate has voluntarily declined to accept the Nobel Prize in Literature after the Swedish Academy's permanent secretary Erik Axel Karlfeldt declined to accept the cancelled prize in 1919, and the first of only two occasions where any Nobel Prize has been voluntarily declined.
== Laureate ==
Sartre was a philosopher – formulated and popularized the philosophy existentialism largely formed in his Being and Nothingness ("L'Être et le néant", 1943) – and playwright but also wrote novels and short stories. Through the protagonist Antoine Roquentin, his first novel La Nausée ("Nausea", 1938) articulates the existentialist themes of alienation, devotion and loneliness. His play Huis Clos ("No Exit", 1944) depicts hell as a perpetual co-existence with other people, while Les Mouches ("The Flies", 1943) is an adaptation of the ancient Electra myth. His autobiography Les Mots ("The Words", 1964), in which the author tries to distance himself from his writing and reconstruct his childhood, was received with great acclaim when it came out.
== Deliberations ==
=== Nominations ===
Sartre had received 16 nominations since 1957. In 1964, the Swedish Academy received two nominations for him with which he was eventually awarded. He was nominated by the Swedish PEN-Club and a professor of German language from the University of Strasbourg. Sartre was included in the shortlisted nominees together with Russian novelist Mikhail Sholokhov (awarded in 1965) and British writer W. H. Auden.
There were 76 authors nominated in 1964. Nineteen of them were nominated first-time, among them Eugène Ionesco, Paul Celan, José María Pemán, Hossein Ghods-Nakhai, James T. Farrell, Camilo José Cela (awarded in 1989), Harry Martinson (awarded in 1974), Hugh MacDiarmid, and Miguel Ángel Asturias (awarded in 1967). The highest number of nominations – 3 nominations each – were for Väinö Linna, Friedrich Dürrenmatt, André Malraux, and Mikhail Sholokhov (awarded in 1965). Four of the nominees were women: Judith Wright, Ina Seidel, Nelly Sachs (awarded in 1966), and Katherine Anne Porter.
The authors Halide Edib Adıvar, Abbas Mahmoud al-Aqqad, Brendan Behan, Angel Cruchaga Santa María, J. Frank Dobie, Wenceslao Fernández Flórez, Ian Fleming, Réginald Garrigou-Lagrange, Vassily Grossman, Ben Hecht, Thakin Kodaw Hmaing, Samuil Marshak, Moa Martinson, Flannery O'Connor, Karl Polanyi, Davíð Stefánsson, Păstorel Teodoreanu, Ion Vinea, Felix Weltsch, T. H. White, María Wiesse Romero, Helen Wodehouse, and Madeleva Wolff all died in 1964 without having been nominated for the prize.
=== Prize Decision ===
On 17 September 1964 the Nobel committee proposed that the prize should be awarded to Jean-Paul Sartre. The second name on the list was Mikhail Sholokov (who was awarded the prize in 1965) and the third name was W.H. Auden. There was some ambivalence within the Swedish Academy to award Sartre. He had been nominated the first time in 1957, but his candidacy was postponed for the future as the Academy was not sure if Sartre's work would have any historical importance. His candidacy was considered and postponed again in 1962 for similar reasons. The publication of Les Mots in 1963 is believed to have strengthened Sartre's candidacy and in October 1964 the Academy decided to award Sartre, their decision was sealed with a final vote on 22 October 1964. A week earlier Sartre, knowing that he was a candidate for the prize, had sent a letter to the Swedish Academy saying he would not accept the award, but as the Academy had already made their decision before the formal final vote they disregarded the letter. The Academy's permanent secretary Karl Ragnar Gierow replied to Sartre's letter saying that the decision had already been made and urged Sartre to reconsider and accept the prize.
== Reactions ==
In a text published in Le Figaro on 23 October 1964, Sartre wrote that he regretted that his refusal to accept the prize had caused a scandal. He explained that he never accepted any prizes or membership of institutions as he believed an author who accepted such things became forever associated with the prize or institution, and that the author should not allow himself to become an institution.
== Aftermath ==
In his memoirs Lars Gyllensten claimed that someone, either Sartre himself or someone related to him, in 1975 had contacted the Swedish Academy and asked if the prize money was available. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menemen_(food) | Menemen (food) | Menemen is a popular traditional Turkish dish that includes eggs, tomato, green peppers, and spices such as ground black and red pepper cooked in olive oil. Menemen is commonly eaten for breakfast and served with bread. Its name originates from a small town in İzmir Province. Menemen may be made with onions, but the addition of onions is often debated and is more common when the dish is eaten as a main dish, rather than at breakfast.
Menemen is similar to the Maghrebi dish shakshouka, widely spread and popular across North Africa and the Levant, and to the Hungarian lecsó and Serbo-Croat sataraš which likely have descended from Menemen during the Ottoman imperial period. Turkish şakşuka, although it shares the same etymology as shakshouka (from a North African Arabic dialect meaning "mixed"), is a completely different dish which does not include eggs. Menemen is also different from çılbır, a classic Turkish dish made of poached eggs mixed with yoghurt instead of tomatoes.
== Preparation ==
The tomatoes are typically finely diced or may be grated. Grated and diced tomatoes can also be mixed together, depending on the cook's preferred texture. If onions are being used, they may be added to the pan with the green chili peppers and sautéed with heated butter or oil. Aleppo pepper may be added. The addition of onions is often debated and is more common when menemen is not eaten at breakfast but as a main dish. Some Turkish cooks like Saniye Anne insist that a proper menemen cannot be made without onions. In 2018, Turkish food critic Vedat Milor launched a Twitter poll to resolve the discussion about onion within menemen. The poll became widely popular, with 437,657 people voting. The vote proved inconclusive, as the onion faction only had a narrow victory, with 50.6% of the vote.
Sucuk, a dried salami-like sausage, can be added to the pan after the peppers have softened. This adds some flavor to the oil; the sucuk can be removed from the pan before the tomatoes are added to avoid overcooking, but this is not necessary. The tomatoes become very soft and the mix not be too watery when the eggs are added. The eggs may be beaten together with salt, pepper and any desired fresh herbs or added directly to the pan. If pastırma is being used, it is added to the pan with the eggs. Kaşar cheese or white cheese may optionally be added on top of the eggs just before they finish cooking, along with a garnish of fresh herbs or scallions. It is usually served in the pan in which it is cooked, a double-handled cooking pan known as sahan, together with fresh bread.
Some variations may include mushrooms or minced lamb. Different spices may be added according to taste including cumin, paprika, mint, and thyme. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masahiro_Sakurai | Masahiro Sakurai | Masahiro Sakurai (桜井 政博, Sakurai Masahiro; born August 3, 1970) is a Japanese video game director and game designer best known as the creator of the Kirby and Super Smash Bros. series. Apart from his work on those series, he also led the design of Meteos in 2005 and directed Kid Icarus: Uprising in 2012.
Formerly an employee of HAL Laboratory, Sakurai left the company in 2003 and in 2005 with his wife Michiko Sakurai (also ex-HAL Laboratory) founded their company Sora Ltd., under which they work on a freelance basis. He was also an author of a weekly column for Famitsu magazine from 2003 to 2021, and has done voice acting work in some of his games, most notably providing the voice of King Dedede in Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards and the Super Smash Bros. series. From 2022 to 2024, Sakurai ran an educational YouTube channel, Masahiro Sakurai on Creating Games, which discussed various topics in game design and his career.
== Career ==
Masahiro Sakurai was born on August 3, 1970, in Musashimurayama, Tokyo, Japan. One of Sakurai's earliest experiences in the video game industry began when he worked for HAL Laboratory, where he created the character Kirby at age 19 and directed his first title, Kirby's Dream Land.
Sakurai left HAL on August 5, 2003. He explained in an interview with Nintendo Dream that he felt it would be difficult to create new projects while staying at HAL due to the direction of the gaming industry, where the risk of failure was high. While he was not being pressured by HAL to create Kirby sequels, he noted increasing tension within the industry as a whole: "It was tough for me to see that every time I made a new game, people automatically assumed that a sequel was coming. Even if it's a sequel, lots of people have to give their all to make a game, but some people think the sequel process happens naturally."
Soon after, Sakurai began working on a project with Q Entertainment, along with Tetsuya Mizuguchi. This collaboration resulted in Meteos in 2005, a puzzle game for the Nintendo DS. On September 30, 2005, Sakurai announced that he had formed his own company, Sora Ltd. Two games were announced to be in development but no information on the titles had been divulged. As for the future of the Super Smash Bros. series, Nintendo and HAL Laboratory president Satoru Iwata, during Nintendo's E3 2005 press conference, promised an online iteration of the game would come to the Wii.
In issue #885 of Famitsu magazine, Sakurai revealed that he would be serving as a director and game designer on Super Smash Bros. Brawl for the Wii. Super Smash Bros. Brawl was released in 2008, after personnel borrowed from 19 different developer studios assisted in development. Sakurai had been updating daily the Super Smash Bros Brawl website called the Smash Bros. Dojo. Starting a year previous the release, he revealed Brawl secrets and gameplay content through the site. The Smash Bros. Dojo had regular updates from May 22, 2007, to April 14, 2008.
On the final day of updates, it was revealed that Sakurai provided the voice for King Dedede in Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards as well as Dedede in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. He and his company, Sora Ltd. alongside Nintendo, started a first-party studio, Project Sora, which was 72% owned by Nintendo and 28% owned by Sora Ltd. It was revealed at E3 2010 that Sakurai and Project Sora were working on Kid Icarus: Uprising for the Nintendo 3DS. Project Sora was closed and ended development on June 30, 2012. At E3 2011, Nintendo announced that Sakurai was working on Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U. Sakurai began development of the title upon the release of Kid Icarus: Uprising in March 2012.
In February 2013, Sakurai was diagnosed with calcific tendinitis near his right shoulder, which caused him substantial pain whenever he moved his arm. He mentioned that this could effectively slow down his work, as he does some of his game testing himself.
Sakurai's wife, Michiko, has worked on the graphical user interface for many of his games, including Kirby Air Ride, Meteos, and the Super Smash Bros. series.
In a January 2015 column in Weekly Famitsu, Sakurai alluded to the possibility of retirement, expressing doubt that he would be able to continue making games if his career continued to be as stressful as it was. In December 2015, Sakurai once again stated that he was not sure if there would be another game in the Smash Bros. series, prior to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate being released in 2018 with Sakurai once again as director.
On March 14, 2022, Sakurai was awarded Best Creator by Weekly Famitsu. Sakurai also announced that he was working on a new project not related to game production. In March 2025, Sakurai announced that he had been awarded the AMD Award for Lifetime Achievement.
=== Masahiro Sakurai on Creating Games ===
Sakurai launched Masahiro Sakurai on Creating Games, a YouTube channel in both English and Japanese in August 2022. The channel's videos are focused on game development and design as well as his career. He stated that the channel was founded because he wanted to reach more people with his lessons after being asked to lecture at schools. Sakurai additionally noted that other venues for lessons from game developers, such as the Game Developers Conference, focused on more advanced, technical details, rather than more basic principles.
Work on the channel began immediately after the release of Sora in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate in 2021. Sakurai wrote and pre-recorded all videos before starting work on Kirby Air Riders in April 2022, and contracted Hike Inc. for editing and 8-4 for English localization. The opening and ending jingles for the channel were composed by Yuzo Koshiro. Sakurai estimates that the total production cost was ¥90,000,000.
Less than a day after its launch, the English edition of his channel gained over 200,000 subscribers. In 2023, the Computer Entertainment Supplier's Association announced that Sakurai had won the Game Design and Visual Arts awards for his channel. The association cited his efforts to share his knowledge in an easily understood manner. In March 2025, Sakurai announced that he had been listed as a recipient of the Agency for Cultural Affairs' annual Art Encouragement Prize for New Artists for his work on his channel.
== Works ==
== Personal life ==
In July 2009, Sakurai adopted a female Scottish Fold cat named Fukurashi, who he often featured in his Famitsu column. She died in February 2026. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_African-American_United_States_presidential_and_vice_presidential_candidates#:~:text=In%201848%2C%20Frederick%20Douglass%20became,major%20party%2C%20namely%20the%20Democrats. | List of African-American United States presidential and vice presidential candidates#:~:text=In 1848, Frederick Douglass became,major party, namely the Democrats. | The following is a list of African-American United States presidential and vice presidential nominees and candidates for nomination. Nominees are candidates nominated or otherwise selected by political parties for particular offices. Listed are those African-Americans who achieved ballot access for the national election in at least one state. They may have won the nomination of one of the US political parties (either one of the major parties, or one of the third parties), or made the ballot as an independent, and in either case must have votes in the election to qualify for this list. Exception is made for candidates whose parties lost ballot status for additional runs.
Not included in the first and second sections are African-Americans who ran unsuccessful campaigns in nominating conventions or primary elections for their party's nomination (or who have not yet completed that process), write-in candidates, potential candidates (suggested by media, objects of draft movements, etc.), or fictional candidates. The third section includes African-Americans who ran for their party's presidential nomination but who were not nominated, as well as those who are currently pursuing their party's presidential nomination (when applicable).
There have been two African Americans on major party tickets in U.S. history: Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012 and Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris in 2020 and presidential nominee in 2024.
Barack Obama was the first African American and first biracial president of the United States, being elected in the 2008 election and re-elected in the 2012 election.
Kamala Harris became the first African-American vice president of the United States of America, being elected in the 2020 election alongside President Joe Biden. She is also the first female vice president. She is the second biracial vice president, the first being Republican Charles Curtis.
== U.S. presidential candidates: party nominees ==
† Denotes winning candidate.
=== Candidates receiving electoral votes ===
=== Candidates receiving popular votes ===
== U.S. vice presidential candidates: party nominees ==
† Denotes winning candidate.
=== Candidates receiving electoral votes ===
Until the 2020 presidential election, no African-American candidates had received electoral votes for vice president.
=== Candidates receiving popular votes ===
== U.S. president: other candidates for party nomination ==
Candidates who failed to receive their party's nomination (or who are currently campaigning for their party's nomination). Candidates who won the nomination belong in the above tables only.
== U.S. vice president: other candidates for party nomination == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archibald_Robertson_(bishop) | Archibald Robertson (bishop) | Archibald Robertson (29 June 1853 – 29 January 1931) was the seventh Principal of King's College London who later served as Bishop of Exeter.
== Early life and education ==
He was born at Sywell rectory, Northamptonshire, the eldest son of George Samuel Robertson, curate of Sywell, (1825–1874) and his wife, Helen née Kerr, and grandson of Archibald Robertson and William Charles Kerr junior, both physicians of Northampton. He was educated at Bradfield College and Trinity College, Oxford, where he graduated in 1876 with a first class degree in Classics (Lit. Hum.). He became a Fellow of Trinity in 1876 (until 1886), Dean of the same (1879–1883), and a Doctor of Divinity (DD). He was ordained (both times by John Mackarness, Bishop of Oxford): a deacon on Trinity Sunday (16 June) 1878 in Cuddesdon Parish Church; and a priest on St Thomas's day (21 December) 1882 in Christ Church.
== Career ==
From 1883 to 1897 he was Principal of Bishop Hatfield's Hall in Durham. He went on to serve as Principal of King's College London from 1897 to 1903, during which he was elected to serve as Vice-Chancellor of the University of London for the year 1902–1903. He also served as an examining chaplain for Forrest Browne, Bishop of Bristol, in 1897, and became a Fellow of King's College in 1899. He received an honorary doctorate (Doctor of Divinity, DD) from Durham University in 1893 and a further one (Legum Doctor, LLD) from the University of Glasgow in June 1901. He was Boyle Lecturer in 1900 and Bampton Lecturer in 1901, became an honorary fellow of Trinity in 1903 and was a Vice-President of the Clan-Donnachaid Society. He was also briefly Governor of Rugby School in 1903.
In his academic career, Robertson was a specialist in patristics and church history, in which field he was widely published and respected. He was elected Bishop of Exeter on Easter Monday (13 April) 1903, consecrated (ordained) as a bishop on 1 May (by Randall Davidson, Archbishop of Canterbury, at St Paul's Cathedral) and enthroned and installed at Exeter Cathedral on 5 May; he legally took up the See upon the confirmation of his election, which took place between his election and consecration (i.e. during April 1903). In 1912 Lollards Tower on the Exeter City Wall was rebuilt and several sculpted stone tablets displaying the arms of Bishop Robertson were set into the walls, including one over the arched entrance known as Bishop Carey's Postern. He served as diocesan bishop until 1916, when he resigned due to ill health, retiring to Oxford, where he died at home in 1931.
Robertson was strongly in favour of Great Britain's declaration of War against Germany in August, 1914. He believed that Germany's ultimate aim was to destroy Great Britain. "Whether it pleases God to give us victory or not, we believe we are fighting for the fraternity and equal right of nations, against the claim that might is right! We are, furthermore, fighting in self-defence." Although frequently absent from his post because of ill-health, Robertson prepared a Briefing Note for clergy to teach parishioners about the reasons justifying the War, encouraged prayers for animals such as horses used by cavalry and artillery and praised clergy whose families were active participants. An especial mention was made of the Rector of Dartington, 5 of whose 7 sons were in the army, the sixth had been in the Royal Navy and the youngest was still at school but in the Officers Training Corps.
== Family ==
Robertson married in 1885, shortly after his arrival in Durham. His wife was Julia Mann, daughter of Charles, Rector of Mawgan-in-Meneage and St Issey, Cornwall. They had three sons. The eldest of these, of the same name, was the communist and atheist Archibald Robertson (atheist) (1886–1961).
== Works ==
Robertson, Archibald, ed. (1882). St Athanasius on the Incarnation: Edited for the Use of Students with a Brief Introduction And Notes (first ed.). London: David Nutt.
Robertson, Archibald, ed. (1891). St Athanasius on the Incarnation (second ed.). London: David Nutt.
Robertson, Archibald, ed. (1892). A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, Second Series, Volume IV: St. Athanasius Select Work and Letters.
Robertson, Archibald (1896). Roman Claims to Supremacy. London: S.P.C.K.
Robertson, Archibald (1901). Regnum Dei: Eight Lectures on the Kingdom of God in the History of Christian Thought. Bampton Lectures. London: Methuen.
Robertson, Archibald; Plummer, Alfred (1911). A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the First Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians (first ed.). Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark\.
Robertson, Archibald; Plummer, Alfred (1914). A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the First Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians (second ed.). Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark\. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WrestleMania_X-Seven#Results, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WrestleMania_X8#Results, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WrestleMania_XIX#Results, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WrestleMania_XX#Results, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WrestleMania_21#Results, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WrestleMania_22#Results, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WrestleMania_23#Results, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WrestleMania_XXIV#Results, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WrestleMania_25#Results, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WrestleMania_XXVI#Results, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WrestleMania_XXVII#Results, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WrestleMania_XXVIII#Results, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WrestleMania_29#Results | WrestleMania X-Seven#Results, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WrestleMania X8#Results, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WrestleMania XIX#Results, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WrestleMania XX#Results, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WrestleMania 21#Results, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WrestleMania 22#Results, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WrestleMania 23#Results, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WrestleMania XXIV#Results, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WrestleMania 25#Results, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WrestleMania XXVI#Results, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WrestleMania XXVII#Results, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WrestleMania XXVIII#Results, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WrestleMania 29#Results | WrestleMania X-Seven, also known as WrestleMania 17, was a 2001 professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). It was the 17th annual WrestleMania and took place on April 1, 2001, at the Reliant Astrodome in Houston, Texas, marking the first WrestleMania held in the U.S. state of Texas. Twelve matches were contested at the event, including one broadcast exclusively on the Sunday Night Heat pre-show.
The card comprised a total of 11 matches. In the main event was a No Disqualification match between The Rock and "Stone Cold" Steve Austin for the WWF Championship. The undercard included Triple H versus The Undertaker, the second Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match for the WWF Tag Team Championship and a Street Fight between Vince McMahon and Shane McMahon with Mick Foley as special guest referee. This was the WrestleMania debut of Paul Heyman, in which it was the only time on commentary.
A record-breaking attendance for the Reliant Astrodome of 67,925 grossed US$3.5 million. Many in professional wrestling considered WrestleMania X-Seven to be the pinnacle of the company's famous Attitude Era, similar to how WrestleMania III was the pinnacle of the 1980s professional wrestling boom. The WWF bought out rival competition World Championship Wrestling (WCW) the week prior. In addition to its commercial success, the event has received acclaim from critics and fans, and is often regarded as the greatest WrestleMania of all time, and the greatest professional wrestling pay-per-view event ever produced.
== Production ==
=== Background ===
WrestleMania is considered the World Wrestling Federation's (WWF, now WWE) flagship professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event, having first been held in 1985. It has become the longest-running professional wrestling event in history and is held annually between mid-March to mid-April. It was the first of the WWF's original four pay-per-views, which includes Royal Rumble, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series, which were dubbed the "Big Four", and was considered one of the "Big Five" PPVs, along with King of the Ring.
On April 3, 2000, the WWF announced that WrestleMania 17, stylized as WrestleMania X-Seven, was scheduled to be held on April 1, 2001, at the Reliant Astrodome in Houston, Texas, the first WrestleMania held in the U.S. state of Texas. Tickets went on sale to the general public on November 11, 2000, with 50,000 tickets sold on the first day.
=== Other WrestleMania Week events ===
In addition to the event, WrestleMania Fan Axxess was held at the Reliant Hall which expanded upon the event by adding numerous activities including areas where attendees could buy special merchandise, see a production truck, and numerous WWF vehicles were on display. WWF taped SmackDown! at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, Michigan on March 27, 2001, as the final event before WrestleMania X-Seven and the following night after WrestleMania, Raw is War took place at the Fort Worth Convention Center in Fort Worth, Texas on April 2, 2001.
=== Storylines ===
The event included eleven matches that each resulted from scripted storylines. Results were predetermined by writers of the World Wrestling Federation, while storylines were produced on WWF's weekly television shows, Raw is War and SmackDown! along with its supplementary programs, Sunday Night Heat and Jakked/Metal.
==== Major matches ====
The main feud leading into WrestleMania X-Seven involved Stone Cold Steve Austin challenging The Rock for the WWF Championship. The Rock and Austin had fought for the WWF Championship at WrestleMania XV and Backlash in 1999. Austin earned his opportunity to compete for the WWF Championship at WrestleMania X-Seven by winning the 2001 Royal Rumble match when he last eliminated Kane, while The Rock became the first ever six-time WWF Champion when he defeated Kurt Angle at No Way Out. During their feud, Austin's wife Debra, who was trying to get back into managing, was ordered by WWF chairman, Vince McMahon, to be The Rock's manager against her wishes as well as both The Rock and Austin's. As a result, Austin stated that he would hold both The Rock and McMahon responsible if any harm came to her. On the March 12 episode of Raw is War, The Rock was placed in an excruciating Ankle Lock submission hold during his rematch with Kurt Angle. When Debra went to check on The Rock, Angle also placed her into an Ankle Lock. Austin soon ran in to save her and knocked Angle out of the ring. Keeping to his word, he immediately gave The Rock a Stone Cold Stunner as punishment. The following week on Raw is War, during a handicap tag team match involving The Rock, Chris Jericho, Kurt Angle, Chris Benoit, and William Regal, Austin made his way down to the ring and ended up getting a Rock Bottom from The Rock in response to the Stunner from the previous week. On the March 29 episode of SmackDown!, Debra was relieved from her managerial role by Mr. McMahon after failing to prevent a brawl between The Rock and Austin.
Another major feud that was built up in the lead to WrestleMania was the one involving Vince McMahon and his son Shane McMahon. The feud started with Vince's disapproval of Mick Foley's job as then-WWF commissioner, as well as Foley's decision of holding a six-man Hell in a Cell match at Armageddon 2000, taking into consideration about the well-being of the wrestlers involved in the match. Despite McMahon's attempts to overrule Foley's authority, Foley was given full support by Linda McMahon, Vince's wife and the WWF's CEO. Not pleased with this result, Vince immediately demanded a divorce from Linda. Shortly after Armageddon, secretly to Vince's delight, it was revealed that Linda was rushed to a hospital suffering with a nervous breakdown brought on by the impending divorce. With Linda hospitalized, the Board of Directors appointed Vince as the new interim CEO of the WWF, allowing him to officially fire Foley as commissioner. With Linda in a coma-like state, Vince started to have a public affair with Trish Stratus. Vince's daughter, Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley, was (at first) far from pleased about the turn of events. At No Way Out, Stephanie and Trish squared off, with Stephanie scoring the victory after a run-in by William Regal. On the February 26 episode of Raw is War, however, during a match that placed Vince and Trish against Stephanie and William Regal, Stratus was turned on by the other three participants in the match and had sewage dumped over her. In the following weeks, Vince continued to demean Trish by having her do such actions as bark like a dog around the ring and stripping down to her lingerie. Despite this, Trish remained loyal to Vince and even begged for his forgiveness. On the March 12 episode of Raw is War, Shane McMahon made his return to the WWF. Angry with his father's actions, Shane started to throw punches at Vince only to be stopped by William Regal. Shane explained his actions on the following episode of SmackDown!, stating that anger was a result of frustrations over the manipulation of his sister, his mother's state and Vince's heinous treatment of Trish. On March 23, the WWF purchased the assets of their longtime rival promotion, World Championship Wrestling (WCW) from AOL Time Warner. With it, the purchase brought in an extra twist to the storyline. On the March 26 episode of Raw is War (which was held at Gund Arena in Cleveland, Ohio), Vince McMahon made a live speech that was also simulcast on the final episode of WCW Monday Nitro (which was held in Panama City Beach, Florida). In the speech, Vince announced that the signing was not final and that he wanted Ted Turner to come to WrestleMania and hand-deliver the contract for signing. Vince then promised that with the purchase he was going to bury his rival forever, as well as any wrestler associated with WCW. However, Shane, who was at the venue for Nitro, interrupted the speech and said:
Because, dad, the deal is finalized with WCW. And the name on the contract does say "McMahon"....however, the contract reads "Shane McMahon". That's right! I now own WCW! And, dad, just like WCW did in the past, how it kicked your ass in the past and it will again, that's exactly what's going to happen to you this Sunday at WrestleMania!
To make matters worse for Vince, Mick Foley appeared shortly afterward that same night and revealed that prior to his firing, Linda had made multiple contracts for him to sign. One of those contracts was for Foley to referee a match of his choice at WrestleMania. Foley then chose the match between Vince and Shane, which was designated a street fight.
==== Undercard matches ====
The secondary feud leading into the event pitted The Brothers of Destruction (The Undertaker and Kane) against Triple H and Big Show. After defeating Stone Cold Steve Austin in a Three Stages of Hell match at No Way Out, Triple H felt that he deserved to be in the WrestleMania main event having defeated everyone in the WWF, including The Rock and Austin. The Undertaker took exception to that and told Triple H that he had never defeated him. Before WrestleMania X-Seven, the two had never faced each other in a one-on-one match on a pay-per-view event. During his entrance for a Hardcore Championship match against Big Show, Triple H ambushed The Undertaker. Kane ran in and saved The Undertaker from a further attack, but was met with his own ambush by Big Show. On the following episode of SmackDown!, The Undertaker tried to break into the limousine of Triple H and his wife, Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley, upon arrival but ended up being arrested by the police. As a result, Kane requested a match against Triple H later that night, but lost when Big Show interfered on behalf of Triple H. In retaliation, Kane interfered in Big Show's Hardcore Championship match against Raven on Raw is War, helping Raven pin Big Show to become the new Hardcore Champion. The Undertaker's arrest led to a restraining order from Stephanie. To circumvent this, the Brothers of Destruction interfered in Triple H's match against Test, with Kane ordered to chase after Stephanie. With Stephanie held hostage by Kane on a balcony in the arena, WWF commissioner William Regal gave The Undertaker and Kane matches at WrestleMania against Triple H and Big Show respectively, and The Undertaker told Kane to set Stephanie free. After being attacked during a Hardcore Championship title defense, Regal would later include Raven into Kane and Big Show's match, making it a Triple Threat Hardcore match for the Hardcore Championship.
At the Royal Rumble, Chyna (kayfabe) injured her neck during a match with Ivory, causing her to lose the match and fail to capture the Women's Championship. In order for Chyna to again challenge for the title, Ivory required the match contract to include a "hold harmless" clause, meaning that if Ivory injured Chyna's neck again, there could be no legal recourse against Ivory. In doing so, the contract also included a provision to ban Ivory's Right To Censor (RTC) stablemates from ringside.
== Event ==
=== Pre-show match ===
Before the event aired live on pay-per-view, a Sunday Night Heat match was aired with Steve Blackman and Grand Master Sexay squaring off against X-Factor members X-Pac and Justin Credible. Near the end of the match, fellow X-Factor member Albert interfered by pulling Sexay out of the ring, allowing X-Pac and Credible to hit their X Marks the Spot finisher on Blackman for the win.
=== Preliminary matches ===
The first match of the event was the WWF Intercontinental Championship match between Chris Jericho and WWF commissioner William Regal. During the match, Regal exposed one of the top turnbuckles to throw Jericho's shoulder into it before giving him a double underhook superplex. Jericho attempted the Walls of Jericho submission hold, but had it reversed into a Regal Stretch. After Jericho managed to grab a ring rope to break the hold, he retaliated with numerous chops before throwing Regal into the exposed turnbuckle and finishing him off with a Lionsault to retain the Intercontinental Championship.
Tazz and The APA (Bradshaw and Faarooq) took on Right to Censor (The Goodfather, Val Venis, and Bull Buchanan) next in a short match that ended with Bradshaw pinning The Goodfather after a Clothesline from Hell.
The third match was the triple threat hardcore match between Raven, Kane and The Big Show for the WWF Hardcore Championship. Raven came out with a shopping cart full of weapons. Kane and Raven began fighting before Big Show made his entrance. During the match, the three wrestlers fought their way out of the ring and through the crowd into the backstage area. Big Show tried to lock himself, Raven and the referee in a security cage but Kane broke the padlock and afterward threw Raven through a glass window. Big Show and Kane continued to brawl ending with the two throwing each other through a wall. Raven tried to escape by driving off in a golf cart, but Big Show stopped him and caused him to crash. The golf cart also ran over some cords that allegedly almost knocked the power out to the entire building. Kane shortly followed with another golf cart, accompanied by the referee, and ran into Raven. The fight headed back into the stadium with Big Show attempting to press slam Raven off the entrance stage but both were kicked off it by Kane. Kane followed this with a diving leg drop off the stage onto Big Show, pinning him to become the new Hardcore Champion.
The fourth match was the WWF European Championship match between Test and Eddie Guerrero. During the match, Test went over the top rope, but got his foot caught between the top two ropes, forcing the referee and Guerrero to have to untangle him. With the help of his fellow Radicalz members Dean Malenko and Perry Saturn, Guerrero hit Test in the face with the European Championship belt while the referee was distracted and pinned him to become the new champion.
The fifth match pitted Kurt Angle against Chris Benoit. The match started with mat wrestling between the two, but Angle soon punched Benoit out of frustration and threw him out of the ring, so he could throw him into the broadcast table and the steel steps. Back in the ring, both men tried to submit their opponent using the other's signature hold with Benoit using the ankle lock on Angle, and Angle using the Crippler Crossface on Benoit. Benoit eventually succeeded in forcing Angle to tap out to the Crippler Crossface, but the referee was knocked down and did not see it. Near the end of the match, Benoit tried to pin Angle after a diving headbutt but was met with a two-count. Angle then quickly rolled-up Benoit, using the tights for leverage to win the match.
The following match saw Chyna challenge the WWF Women's Champion Ivory. After an early bit of offense from Ivory, Chyna performed a Chynabomb and looked to have the pinfall, but picked Ivory up after the 2-count. Chyna then performed a gorilla press drop and nonchalantly pinned Ivory to win the Women's Championship.
The seventh match was the street fight between Shane McMahon and Vince McMahon with Mick Foley as the special guest referee. Shane dominated his father during the earlier part of the match by attacking him with various weapons such as a kendo stick and monitors from the Spanish broadcast table. Shane laid Vince on said table and performed a diving elbow drop off the top rope but his sister, Stephanie, pulled Vince out of the way, causing Shane to crash through it. Trish Stratus then came towards the ring, pushing a seemingly comatose Linda McMahon out in a wheelchair. Trish then slapped Vince, officially turning face in the process, causing her and Stephanie to get into a fight that led them out of the stadium. As referee Foley tried to wheel Linda out to safety, Vince hit him with a steel chair, and then pulled Linda into the ring to make her watch as he beat down Shane with a garbage can. However, Linda stood up and low-blowed Vince, allowing Foley to recover and attack him. With Vince prone in the corner, Shane placed a garbage can in front of Vince's face and hit a Coast-to-Coast dropkick, pinning his father to win the match.
The eighth match, dubbed "TLC II", was the Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match for the WWF Tag Team Championship between the Hardy Boyz, Edge and Christian and the Dudley Boyz, the defending champions. Respective associates of each tag team, Spike Dudley for the Dudley Boyz, Rhyno for Edge and Christian, and Lita for the Hardy Boyz, interfered during the match. With Spike (who had just taken a chair shot to the head from Lita) and Rhyno (who had already been dispatched by Jeff Hardy) both laying on two tables outside the ring, Jeff Hardy set up a huge ladder beside them and performed a Swanton Bomb onto them through the tables with most of his body landing on Spike, taking him out of the match. Lita was taken out of the match when Bubba Ray and D-Von Dudley performed a 3-D on her. Jeff tried to unhook the belts but had the ladder beneath him pulled away by Bubba Ray, leaving him hanging in the air, and allowing Edge to jump off another ladder and spear Jeff to the ground at a height of 12 feet. Bubba Ray and Matt Hardy climbed the same ladder but Rhyno tipped the ladder over, sending Bubba Ray and Matt through four stacked tables at ringside and taking them out of the match. D-Von then set the ladder up again and attempted to grab the titles, but was held back by Edge. With Edge holding onto D-Von's legs, Christian sat on Rhyno's shoulders as he climbed up the ladder and unhooked the belts, making him and Edge the new Tag Team Champions. A total of 9 tables were destroyed in this match, and every performer involved except D-Von and Lita went through at least one table.
The ninth match was a gimmick battle royal, involving nineteen WWF alumni famous for their outlandish gimmicks. To further increase the nostalgia, former announcers "Mean Gene" Okerlund and Bobby "The Brain" Heenan handled commentary for the match. The Iron Sheik won the match by throwing Hillbilly Jim out of the ring. As revenge for being eliminated, Sgt. Slaughter reentered the ring and put him in the Cobra Clutch.
The penultimate match was between The Undertaker and Triple H. For his entrance, Triple H had heavy metal band Motörhead perform his theme song, "The Game", live. The match started with the two fighting outside of the ring, with Triple H quickly being put through the replacement Spanish announcers' table. Later on, referee Mike Chioda accidentally had Triple H catapulted into him, and was then attacked by The Undertaker due to his dissatisfaction over a two-count. With Chioda knocked out, the two brawled outside the ring, through the crowd, and into the technical area. On top of scaffolding, Triple H used a steel chair to attack The Undertaker's legs, but The Undertaker retaliated with a chokeslam off the scaffolding, followed by a diving elbow drop. Back in the ring, The Undertaker hit Triple H with a Tombstone piledriver and went for the pin, but Chioda was still unconscious. Later in the match, Triple H tried to pin The Undertaker after hitting him in the head with a sledgehammer while in the Last Ride position, but only gained a two-count. Triple H sent The Undertaker into the corner and stood on the second rope to hit him with more punches, but The Undertaker countered with a Last Ride, allowing him to pin Triple H and increase his WrestleMania winning streak to 9–0.
=== Main event ===
The final contest of the night was the WWF Championship match between The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin, which had a surprise no disqualification stipulation added just before the superstars were introduced. During the match, the two brawled inside and outside of the ring, with both men bleeding after hitting each other with the ring bell. The Rock attempted to place Austin in a Sharpshooter hold, but Austin reversed it into a Sharpshooter of his own. After The Rock reached the ropes to force a break, Austin applied the Million Dollar Dream, a submission hold best known from his former gimmick, The Ringmaster. Shortly after, The Rock used Austin's own finishing maneuver on Austin by executing a Stunner. Vince McMahon then came to ringside to observe the match. When The Rock tried to pin Austin after the People's Elbow, McMahon seized The Rock's leg and pulled him off Austin, breaking the pin attempt. After chasing McMahon around the ring, Austin responded by using The Rock's signature move, the Rock Bottom. Later, The Rock executed a Rock Bottom for a near fall. After The Rock attacked McMahon, he was given a Stunner by Austin for a close near fall. After The Rock kicked out of the Stunner, McMahon handed Austin a steel chair to hit The Rock with at Austin's request, revealing to everyone that Austin had sided with McMahon, a man he once considered his nemesis. With this, Austin turned heel. Austin attacked The Rock with the steel chair, hitting him sixteen times, before pinning him and becoming the new WWF Champion, marking only the second time a heel has won in the main event of WrestleMania. The show ended with Austin and McMahon shaking hands and sharing beers.
== Reception and legacy ==
The event was met with universal acclaim from fans and critics alike. John Powell of Canadian Online Explorer's professional wrestling section rated the event a perfect 10 out of 10 stars, with the main event between The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin in a No Disqualification Match for the WWF Championship rated 10 out of 10 stars. The Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match for the WWF Tag Team Championship between The Hardy Boyz, Edge and Christian, and The Dudley Boyz also received a perfect 10 out of 10 stars, the Street Fight between Mr. McMahon and Shane McMahon rated 7 out of 10 stars, the match between Triple H and The Undertaker rated 6 out of 10 stars and the match between Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit rated 8 out of 10 stars.
X-Seven was also awarded Best Major Show for 2001 by Dave Meltzer's Wrestling Observer Newsletter. The Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match for the WWF Tag Team Championship between The Hardy Boyz, Edge and Christian and The Dudley Boyz was also placed #5 on IGN's list of Top 20 Matches in WrestleMania History and noted that the match included "some of the most memorable bumps wrestling fans have ever witnessed." D-Von Dudley expressed his belief that the match should be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, stating: "In my opinion, I think that we should — you know, the n.W.o got inducted into the Hall of Fame and those guys were already in it. How about a TLC induction? How about recognizing how special that match was? Because think about it, not only was the match special, but they actually named a pay-per-view after it. So, you know, it has some relevance to it to be special, so why not put that match in the Hall of Fame?" Matt Hardy said it was his favorite career TLC match.
In 2013, WWE released a list of their "15 best pay-per-views ever", with WrestleMania X-Seven ranked at number one. In 2019, Troy L. Smith of cleveland.com released a list of the "50 greatest wrestling pay-per-views of all time" from every professional wrestling promotion in the world, with WrestleMania X-Seven again ranked at number one.
The promotional match preview video package for the main event, set to Limp Bizkit's "My Way", is widely considered one of the greatest wrestling video packages of all time.
== Aftermath ==
The following night on Raw, Austin and The Rock faced each other in a rematch held inside a steel cage. Late in the match, Triple H entered the cage and teased a fight with his long-time rival Austin before turning on The Rock. For several minutes, Austin, Triple H, and Vince McMahon triple-teamed the outnumbered Rock, officially forging an alliance with Triple H and Austin called The Two-Man Power Trip. The Rock was subsequently written out of the WWF's storylines with McMahon giving him a suspension. This allowed The Rock time off to begin filming The Scorpion King. The Rock returned on the July 30 edition of Raw and chose to fight for Team WWF over Team WCW/ECW. Three weeks later at SummerSlam, The Rock won his first WCW Championship by defeating Booker T. The Rock and Austin would face each other again at WrestleMania XIX in a rematch with The Rock winning.
Following The Rock's suspension, Triple H's feud with the Brothers of Destruction continued with Austin now by his side. On the April 5, 2001 edition of SmackDown!, Triple H challenged Intercontinental Champion Chris Jericho for his title. After interference from WWF Commissioner William Regal and his wife Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley, Triple H defeated Jericho to win his third Intercontinental Championship. The feud with Undertaker and Kane was temporarily put on hold after Triple H and Austin entered a brief rivalry with the Hardy Boyz, which resulted in Jeff Hardy beating Triple H for the Intercontinental Championship the following week on SmackDown!. Triple H promptly regained the title the next Monday on Raw.
Meanwhile, the Brothers of Destruction defeated Edge and Christian to become the new WWF Tag Team Champions on the April 19, 2001 episode of SmackDown! in a no-disqualification match. Austin and Triple H decided to challenge Undertaker and Kane for their newly won titles, but due to some wrangling by Linda McMahon, the match between the teams signed for Backlash forced Austin and Triple H to put up their WWF and Intercontinental titles respectively against the tag team titles in a "winner-take-all" match. At Backlash, Triple H scored the pin after attacking Kane with his sledgehammer and the Two-Man Power Trip became the second team in WWF history to hold both major singles titles and the tag team titles at the same time. The feud ultimately came to a climax at Judgment Day when Austin defeated Undertaker to retain the WWF Championship, while Kane defeated Triple H for the Intercontinental Championship. The next night on Raw, Austin and Triple H lost the tag team titles to Chris Jericho and Chris Benoit; during the course of the match, Triple H tore his quadriceps tendon and would miss the remainder of the year, leaving Austin to feud with the tag team champions alone. The feud culminated in a Triple Threat Match at King of the Ring, where Austin pinned Benoit to retain the WWF Championship. Ten years later in 2011, Undertaker and Triple H would once again renew their rivalry, going on to face each other in a rematch at WrestleMania XXVII with The Undertaker defeating HHH via submission, to extend his WrestleMania winning streak to 19–0. A year later, they faced each other a third time at WrestleMania XXVIII in a Hell in a Cell match with Shawn Michaels as the special guest referee. The Undertaker once again won the match to extend his WrestleMania winning streak to 20–0.
Due to the acquisition of WCW, Vince's feud with Shane would later spiral into The Invasion storyline that dominated the WWF in the latter half of the year. It consisted of WCW wrestlers "invading" the WWF's televised shows in an attempt to "take over" the WWF. Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) would also be involved, with Stephanie as its new owner, merging WCW and ECW into The Alliance. Despite giving her own demands for a divorce shortly after WrestleMania, Linda would eventually reconcile with Vince in the wake of the Alliance's greater threat to the WWF.
Shane McMahon's next feud would involve Kurt Angle, as he would crash Angle's Olympic Gold Medal Ceremony reenactment on the May 21 edition of Raw. Angle was celebrating the return of his gold medal from Chris Benoit, which he won back the previous night at Judgment Day. Shane interrupted the ceremony and mocked Angle, while declaring the return of WCW. This led an enraged Angle to deliver an Angle Slam to Shane. Shane would return the favor on the June 11 edition of Raw with an assist from The Undertaker. The two would eventually meet in a streetfight at King of the Ring, which was the third of three matches for Kurt Angle on the night.
The other two matches were the Semifinals and Final of the King of the Ring tournament, in which Angle was the defending champion. He would lose to Edge in the finals of the tournament, thanks to interference from Shane. Following Edge's King of the Ring win, this led to Christian becoming increasingly jealous of Edge's success. The two would break up on the September 3, 2001 edition of Raw following Christian's loss to The Rock in a WCW title match. After a brief feud for the WWF Intercontinental Championship, both men would go on to become successful singles wrestlers in their own right with Edge being best known as the "Rated R Superstar."
This would be the only WrestleMania for Paul Heyman as a commentator.
== Results == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orlando_Magic | Orlando Magic | The Orlando Magic are an American professional basketball team based in Orlando, Florida. The Magic compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference. The franchise was established in 1989 as an expansion franchise. Notable NBA stars as Shaquille O'Neal, Penny Hardaway, Grant Hill, Tracy McGrady, and Dwight Howard, have played for the club throughout its history. As of 2024, the franchise has played in the NBA playoffs 17 times in 35 seasons, and twice went to the NBA Finals, in 1995 and 2009, losing to the Houston Rockets and the Los Angeles Lakers, respectively.
== History ==
=== 1985–1986: Team creation ===
In September 1985, Orlando businessman Jim L. Hewitt approached Philadelphia 76ers general manager Pat Williams as they met in Texas on his idea of bringing an NBA team to Orlando. Intrigued by the potential of an Orlando-based NBA team, Williams became the front man of the investment group one year later, after he left the 76ers. On June 19, 1986, the two held a news conference to announce their intention of seeking an NBA franchise.
At the same time, Hewitt and Williams decided to hold a contest in the Orlando Sentinel newspaper to get names for their new franchise. Out of a total of 4,296 submitted entries, the names were subsequently narrowed to four, "Heat", "Tropics", "Juice", and "Magic". The last one, which had been submitted by 11 people, was picked after Williams brought his seven-year-old daughter Karyn to visit in Orlando. On July 27, 1986, it was announced that the committee chose the Magic to be the new name of the Orlando franchise in the NBA. The name "Magic" alludes to the area's biggest tourist attraction and economic engine Walt Disney World, along with its Magic Kingdom, highlighting its corporate theme of magic. Hewitt added that "You look at all the aspects of Central Florida, and you find it really is an exciting place, a magical place."
Many, including Williams himself at first, thought that Miami or Tampa were better locations in Florida for a franchise. At the time, Orlando was a small city without a major airport or a suitable arena. Hewitt brought investors such as real estate developer William duPont, Orlando Renegades owner Don Dizney, and Southern Fruit Citrus owners Jim and Steve Caruso, and talked the Orlando city officials into approving an arena project. Meanwhile, Williams gave presentations to NBA commissioner David Stern and the owners of the other teams of the league that the town was viable.
In April, the franchise committee recommended expanding by three teams, with two of the slots going to Charlotte and Minneapolis-St. Paul. The recommendation put the Orlando bid in doubt, since it advised that the state of Florida should only be allocated one team as part of the three-team expansion. This feedback put the planned Orlando franchise up against the Miami-based team, originally known as the Florida Heat and eventually named the Miami Heat. When both Miami and Orlando ownership groups made successful pitches, the expansion committee decided to expand by four teams, allowing both to have a franchise.
The Magic became the first-ever major-league professional sports franchise in the Orlando area, following an expansion fee of reportedly $32.5 million. They were one of the four new expansion franchises awarded by the NBA in 1987 along with the Charlotte Hornets, Miami Heat and Minnesota Timberwolves. The Magic hired Matt Guokas as the team's first coach, who helped the Magic select 12 players in the NBA expansion draft on June 15, 1989.
=== 1989–1992: Early years ===
The Magic, in their debut year, selected Nick Anderson from Illinois in the first round of the 1989 NBA draft. As the 11th pick, he was the team's first franchise player and leading scorer for a decade.
The Magic's very first game played was an exhibition game on October 13, 1989, against the then-reigning champion Detroit Pistons, which the Magic won. Anderson was quoted as saying the atmosphere and the people watching the game was "like Game 7 of the NBA Finals".
On November 4, 1989, the Magic played their first season game at the Orlando Arena (O-Rena) against the visiting New Jersey Nets, who won 111–106 in a hard-fought game. The Magic's first victory came two days later, as the Magic defeated the New York Knicks 118–110. The inaugural team compiled a record of 18–64 with players including the franchise star player Nick Anderson, Reggie Theus, Scott Skiles, Terry Catledge, Sam Vincent, Otis Smith, and Jerry Reynolds.
In the 1990 NBA draft, the Orlando Magic selected Dennis Scott with the fourth overall pick. On December 30, 1990, Scott Skiles racked up 30 assists in the 155–116 victory over the Denver Nuggets, breaking Kevin Porter's NBA single-game assists record (29). Skiles was named the NBA's Most Improved Player at the end of the season, as the Magic heralded the NBA's most improved record that season. Forward Dennis Scott set a team mark with 125 three-point field goals for the season, the best long-distance production by a rookie in NBA history. He was named to the NBA All-Rookie First Team.
On September 19, 1991, the DeVos family, founders of Amway, purchased the franchise for $85 million. Family patriarch Richard DeVos became the owner of the franchise. The 1991–92 season was disappointing for the Magic as various players missed games with injuries. Dennis Scott played only 18 games, Nick Anderson missed 22 games, Stanley Roberts, Jerry Reynolds, Brian Williams, Sam Vincent and Otis Smith all missed at least 27 games each. With a shortage of healthy players, the team struggled through a 17-game losing streak and finished with a 21–61 record. The Magic still managed to have all 41 home games sold out.
=== 1992–1996: The Shaquille O'Neal and Penny Hardaway era ===
The Magic’s history was changed on May 17, 1992, when the franchise won the first pick in the 1992 NBA draft Lottery. The Magic selected big-man Shaquille O'Neal from Louisiana State University, the biggest prize in the draft since the Knicks won Patrick Ewing. O'Neal, a 7 ft 1 in (2.16 m) center, made an immediate impact on the Magic, leading the team to a 41–41 record. The Magic again became the NBA's most improved franchise, as they improved by 20 games. O'Neal was the first rookie to be voted an All-Star starter since Michael Jordan in 1985. He also became the 1992–93 NBA Rookie of the Year. Despite O'Neal's presence, the Magic missed the 1993 NBA playoffs because they were tied with the Indiana Pacers for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference with the Pacers holding the tiebreaker.
Despite barely missing the playoffs and receiving the least chance of gaining the top draft pick with only one ball in the lottery, the Magic again won the first pick in the 1993 NBA draft Lottery. Prior to the draft, Guokas stepped down as head coach, and Brian Hill was promoted to become the Magic's second head coach. In the draft, the Magic selected Chris Webber, but traded him to the Golden State Warriors for the number three pick, guard Penny Hardaway and three future first-round draft picks. With the combination of O'Neal and Hardaway, the Magic became a dominant team in the NBA, compiling the first 50 win season in franchise history with a 50–32 record. The Magic were in the playoffs for the first time, ranked the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference; however, the Pacers swept the Magic 3–0 in the first round, thus ending the Magic's season.
In the 1994–95 season, the Magic's sixth season, All-Star forward Horace Grant was acquired as a free agent from the Chicago Bulls. The Orlando Magic compiled a 57–25 record, best in the East and winning the Atlantic Division title, becoming the second-fastest team (behind the Milwaukee Bucks in 1971, who were in their third season) to advance to the NBA Finals in league history. In the playoffs, the Magic defeated the Boston Celtics, Bulls, and the Pacers, advancing to the NBA Finals where O'Neal, Hardaway and the young Magic bowed to a more playoff-experienced Hakeem Olajuwon and the Houston Rockets, winning their second consecutive championship in a 4–0 sweep of Orlando.
In the 1995–96 season, the Magic again were near the top of the Eastern Conference and the Atlantic Division with a 60–22 record, led by O'Neal and Hardaway; however, the Magic were seeded number two, behind the NBA's second-best all-time 72–10 record of the Chicago Bulls. In the meantime, general manager Pat Williams was promoted to senior executive vice president and replaced by the vice president of Basketball Operations John Gabriel on April 29, 1996. In the playoffs, after the Magic defeated the Detroit Pistons and the Atlanta Hawks, Orlando met the Bulls in the Eastern Conference Finals. The combination of Jordan, Scottie Pippen and rebounder Dennis Rodman was too much for the Magic, and Orlando was swept 4–0.
=== 1996–1999: The post-Shaq/Penny Hardaway era ===
In the off-season, O'Neal left as a free agent to the Los Angeles Lakers, dealing a huge blow to the Magic franchise. In the middle of the season, urged by player discontent, management fired coach Brian Hill and named Richie Adubato as interim coach for the rest of the season. Under Adubato, the Magic went 21–12 to compile a 45–37 record, led by Penny Hardaway. In the playoffs, the Magic quickly fell 0–2 to the heavily favored Miami Heat in the first round, but Hardaway battled back with consecutive 40-point games to assure a game five (the first player to do so), which the Magic ultimately lost.
The Magic then hired Chuck Daly to be head coach for the 1997–98 season. In addition, Hall of Famer Julius Erving joined the Magic's front office, giving Orlando hope for a successful season. The season was hampered by an injury to Hardaway who sat out the majority of the season. Anderson, combined with newly acquired free agent Bo Outlaw, led the team to a 41–41 record, just out of reach of the NBA playoffs. In addition, Rony Seikaly was traded during the season to the New Jersey Nets for three role players and a future draft pick.
In 1998–99, with the drafting of Michael Doleac and Matt Harpring with the 12th and 15th picks in the 1998 draft, and a healthy Penny Hardaway and Nick Anderson, the Magic tied for the Eastern Conference's best record with the Miami Heat in the lockout-shortened season, 33–17. At the heart of the team was veteran and future Orlando Magic Hall of Famer Darrell Armstrong, leading from the vanguard (a constant that Orlando fans would enjoy for a decade) and picking up the NBA's Sixth-Man and Most Improved Player awards along the way. Orlando also acquired NBA great Dominique Wilkins, along with brother Gerald, who were past their primes but were both still serviceable NBA players. In the playoffs the Penny Hardaway-led Magic were seeded number 3 because of tiebreakers and faced the Philadelphia 76ers. The 76ers, led by Allen Iverson, upset the Magic 3–1 in the first round. The team also changed their uniforms for the first time ever, changing from pinstripes to stars.
=== 1999–2000: "Heart and Hustle" season ===
In 1999, the Magic, under general manager John Gabriel, who was later named Executive of the Year, hired rookie-coach Doc Rivers. Gabriel dismantled the previous team trading their only remaining superstar Penny Hardaway to the Phoenix Suns for Danny Manning (who never donned a Magic uniform), Pat Garrity, and two future draft picks. The Magic were then a team composed of virtually all no name players and little experience, which included team captain Armstrong, Bo Outlaw and a young Ben Wallace, along with Coach Rivers, who led the Magic to a 41–41 record, barely missing out on the playoffs. At the end of the season Rivers was named Coach of the Year. That year was characterized by the slogan "Heart and Hustle", as the team was known for its hard-working style.
=== 2000–2004: The Tracy McGrady era ===
The following off-season, Gabriel, with millions of cleared salary cap space, attempted to lure three of the NBA's most prized free agents: Tim Duncan, Grant Hill, and Tracy McGrady. While Duncan opted to remain with the San Antonio Spurs, the Magic acquired Hill, a perennial All-Star, and McGrady. With McGrady and Hill together, the Magic were expected to be a force in the East. However, Hill was limited to 4 games because of an ankle injury. McGrady blossomed into a star during the season, becoming one of the NBA's top scorers. With the addition of Mike Miller from the draft, the Magic compiled a 43–39 record, which included a nine-game winning streak, and once again made the playoffs. McGrady made the All-Star Team and All-NBA Second Team. Miller won the Rookie of the Year. In the playoffs, they faced the Milwaukee Bucks in the first round. The Bucks won the series 3–1.
In 2001–02, McGrady led the Magic to a winning record of 44–38. Hill was still severely limited by his ankle injury, and did not play for the vast majority of the season. McGrady, combined with Armstrong, Miller, and 3-point sharpshooter Pat Garrity, formed the core of the team. McGrady made the All-NBA for the first time and made his second consecutive All-Star Team. However, the Magic were defeated 3–1 in the first round of the playoffs by the Charlotte Hornets led by Baron Davis.
In 2002–03, with the acquisitions of Gordan Giricek and Drew Gooden from the Memphis Grizzlies in exchange for Mike Miller, McGrady once again led the Magic to a 42–40 record. McGrady led the league in scoring with 32.1 points per game, made his second All-NBA First Team, and Third All-Star Team. Despite still not having Hill due to injury, the Magic entered the playoffs for the third straight year. However, after taking a 3–1 lead in the best-of-seven first-round series, the Magic fell to the Detroit Pistons 4–3. McGrady was quoted as saying, "It feels good to get in the second round" after still needing one more win to advance.
The Magic's 15th season in 2003–04 proved to be one of its toughest ever. Even with the acquisition of veteran free agents Tyronn Lue and Juwan Howard, the Magic struggled early. After winning its first game, the Magic lost 19 consecutive games, setting a franchise record. They never recovered, and finished an NBA worst 21–61. Despite this, McGrady led the league in scoring with 28.0 points per game, made the All-NBA Second Team and his fourth consecutive All-Star Team. In the middle of the 19-game losing streak, coach Doc Rivers was fired, and assistant Johnny Davis was promoted to head coach. General manager Gabriel was replaced by John Weisbrod.
=== 2004–2012: The Dwight Howard era ===
In the off-season, Weisbrod completely dismantled the team. Though he kept Davis as coach, he shook up the player roster, only keeping a few players from last season. The most significant trade was Tracy McGrady. McGrady, discontent with the Magic, wished to move on; Weisbrod accused McGrady of "slacking off" and not attending practices (McGrady later admitted that he did not give 100 percent during the 2003–04 season and wanted the team to bring him some help, but never wanted to leave Orlando). The Magic traded McGrady along with Reece Gaines, Tyronn Lue, and Juwan Howard to the Houston Rockets for Steve Francis, Kelvin Cato, and Cuttino Mobley. In addition, the Magic acquired center Tony Battie and two second-round draft picks from the Cleveland Cavaliers in exchange for Drew Gooden, Steven Hunter, and the draft rights to Anderson Varejão. The Magic then signed free agent Hedo Türkoğlu. With the number one draft pick, the Magic selected high-school phenomenon and future All-Star and franchise cornerstone Dwight Howard, and a draft-day trade with the Denver Nuggets got them point guard Jameer Nelson.
After a promising 13–6 start, the Magic began to fall apart. First, Weisbrod traded Mobley for Doug Christie from the Sacramento Kings. Christie, because of his emotional ties to the Kings, at first refused to play for the Magic. Later on, Christie claimed he had bone spurs and was placed on the injured list after playing only a few games for the Magic. Near the end of the season, with a playoff-push faltering, Weisbrod fired Davis after leading Davis to believe he was going to be the team's head coach for the entire 2004–05 NBA season. He then promoted Chris Jent to interim head coach. Throughout the season, bolstered by Hill's return, the Magic played spectacularly, defeating top NBA teams. However, led by the erratic play of Francis, the Magic also lost to league teams with losing records. Howard showed great promise, becoming one of the few players to average a double-double. Howard was a consistent rebounder and scorer, becoming the first rookie to start and play all 82 games in a season. In addition, Nelson, after a slow start, developed into a talented player, taking over the starting point guard position. Hill also returned and averaged 19.7 points a game. Hill was chosen an All-Star starter by NBA fans for the 2005 All-Star Game, and Dwight Howard and Jameer Nelson were named to the All-Rookie first and second teams, respectively. Howard was a unanimous selection.
The Magic finished the season 36–46. Their playoff push was hampered by injuries in the last quarter of the season: a season-ending broken wrist for sixth man Hedo Türkoğlu, a shin injury to Grant Hill, a rib cage injury to Nelson, and a three-game suspension to Francis for kicking a photographer. The Magic ended a few games out of the playoffs. On May 23, 2005, the Magic's plans were disrupted by the abrupt resignation of general manager and Chief Operating Officer John Weisbrod. In addition, the Magic announced the following day that Brian Hill, the coach who led the Magic to the NBA Finals under O'Neal and Hardaway, would return as head coach.
The Magic drafted Fran Vázquez with the 11th pick in the 2005 NBA draft. On July 28, 2005, Vazquez stunned the team after announcing that he would remain in Spain to play for Akasvayu Girona, getting ridiculed by media after he was quoted that the decision to stay was made by his girlfriend. Owner Rich DeVos announced on October 21 that he was transferring ownership to his children, with the official owner role moving to son-in-law and team president Bob Vander Weide. The transfer was supposed to be complete by the end of the year.
The 2005–06 season opened with high hopes for the Magic despite not being able to add first-round draft pick Vasquez. Grant Hill was supposedly finally healed from his multiple ankle surgeries. Dwight Howard and Jameer Nelson showed excellent progress during summer-league play. Second-round draft pick Travis Diener showed excellent shooting and decision-making during the summer. And the free-agent signing of Keyon Dooling showed that the club was going to continue making progress. Then trouble began. Hill, despite his ankle apparently being healed, suffered a painful sports hernia injury that would hamper his play throughout the entire season. After playing in three preseason games, he underwent surgery to correct the hernia and would not appear during the regular season until mid-December, to which he lasted a month before attempting to make another comeback in February and early March, however, he only played sporadically. Then a foot injury to Nelson forced him to sit out for over a month.
On February 15, 2006, the Magic announced that they had acquired Darko Miličić and Carlos Arroyo from the Detroit Pistons in exchange for Kelvin Cato and a 2007 top-five protected first-round draft pick. One week later, on February 22, the Magic announced that they had traded Steve Francis to the New York Knicks in exchange for Penny Hardaway (whom they waived two days later) and Trevor Ariza. With a set starting rotation of Battie, Howard, Türkoğlu, DeShawn Stevenson, and Nelson, the Magic mounted a surprising run at the eighth playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, including an 8-game winning streak and 12 consecutive home wins. The streak included wins against NBA powerhouses Detroit, San Antonio, Dallas and Miami, as well as a game against the Philadelphia 76ers in which Howard recorded 28 points and a career-high 26 rebounds. Despite their efforts they did not make the playoffs.
==== 2006–2010: Return to the NBA Finals ====
With the 11th overall pick in the 2006 NBA draft, the Magic took former Duke star JJ Redick. Even with the fan support to get him playing time he averaged just over 11 minutes a game. After beginning the season strong with a 13–4 record, the Orlando Magic began to suffer in the standings as the result of multiple losses, due in large part to the injuries of Tony Battie, Keyon Dooling, and Grant Hill. The Magic were also hampered with the sporadic play of many of their young stars, who on multiple occasions showed their propensity for streaky shooting and the team's lack of a solid scoring two-guard. Despite the team's poor play, Dwight Howard continued to develop and blossom in his third year in the league, culminating in his first selection to the Eastern Conference All-Star team. The final few weeks of the season saw the Magic build momentum and confidence with an impressive late push towards the Playoffs. On April 15, 2007, with an 88–86 victory over the Boston Celtics, the Magic secured its first berth in the NBA playoffs since 2003 by locking up the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference. This marked the first time that the team had made the playoffs while posting a losing record. Nevertheless, their Playoff run ended on April 28, 2007, after they were swept in the first round by first seeded Detroit Pistons whose experience, veteran leadership and ability to consistently make the clutch basket proved far too much for the undermanned and overwhelmed Magic to overcome. It was announced on May 23, 2007, that Brian Hill had been fired as head coach of the Magic.
On June 1, 2007, the Magic signed Billy Donovan to be their head coach for five years. The next day, Donovan wished to be released from the contract and the Magic agreed several days later. On June 6, 2007, the Magic signed a 4-year contract with Stan Van Gundy. In the free agent market, the Magic signed Rashard Lewis of the Seattle SuperSonics to a six-year league-maximum contract believed to be worth over $110 million. At the NBA China Games, the Magic swept the three games in China, twice against the Cleveland Cavaliers and once against the Chinese national team in games held in Shanghai and in Macau.
On November 15, 2007, Bob Vander Weide, the son-in-law of Richard DeVos, officially took over as owner of the team, although ownership is still split evenly amongst Richard DeVos' other children as well.
The Magic started the 2007–08 NBA season with an impressive 16–4 record in their first 20 games, which included wins over the Boston Celtics and Cleveland Cavaliers. Through the next few months, the Magic were not so successful, splitting their next 36 games with 18 wins and 18 losses. At the start of March, the Magic seemed to pick up speed again, finishing the month with 10 wins, the first time since November that they won 10 or more in a month. The Magic clinched the Southeast Division title when the Washington Wizards were routed at Utah 129–87 on March 31, 2008. It was the Magic's third division title, but only their first since 1995–96 season, as well as their first since the Southeast Division was formed. They also earned their 50th win of the season against the Chicago Bulls on April 13, which had not happened since the 1995–96 season. The Magic finished the regular season 52–30, their best season since 1995–96. With the third seed in the Eastern Conference, they were matched up in their first-round playoff series against the Toronto Raptors. The Magic had home-court advantage for the first time since the 1998–99 season.
On April 28, 2008, at Amway Arena, the Magic eliminated the Raptors with a 4–1 series victory in the first round. It was the first playoff series victory for the Magic in 12 years after 6 straight first-round exits. The run of success did not last long as they fell 4–1 to the experienced Detroit Pistons in the second round. With the Magic already down in the series, controversy erupted after the Pistons' Game 2 victory. At the conclusion of the third quarter, Chauncey Billups of the Pistons made a three-point shot giving the Pistons a three-point lead. However, the clock had stopped just as the play began. NBA rules prohibit officials from using instant replay or any timing device to determine how much time has elapsed when a clock malfunctions, nor is a replay allowed to be viewed from the time of the malfunction to when the play ends, when the game clock has not expired. Because of the rule, the officials then estimated that the play took 4.6 seconds, and because there were 5.1 seconds remaining when play began, the field goal was allowed to be counted. The NBA later admitted that the play actually took 5.7 seconds and the basket in question should not have counted. The Pistons went on to win Game 2. The Magic were able to win Game 3, with the Pistons' Chauncey Billups out for most of the game with an injury but were unable to take advantage of his absence and defeat the Pistons in Games 4 and 5, which ended the Magic's playoff run in 2008. Another highlight of the season was Hedo Turkoglu winning Most Improved Player.
The first half of the 2008–09 season went very well for the Magic. After 41 games, the Magic were 33–8, leading the Southeast Division, as well as having one of the top four records in the league. At the start of February, Jameer Nelson, their all-star starting point guard, went down with a shoulder injury. He was expected to miss the remainder of the season. After trading for Rafer Alston, the Magic finished the regular season with a 59–23 record, it was the most games the team had won in a season since the 1995–96 season in which they had 60 wins. In the playoffs, the Magic beat the Philadelphia 76ers in the first round of the playoffs and then the defending champions, the Boston Celtics, in the Eastern Conference semifinals, behind assistant coach Patrick Ewing's guarantee that they would win Game 7 of that series. In their first conference finals since 1996, the Magic beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, which were led by the season's MVP, LeBron James. After dropping the first two games in the Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers, the Magic finally won their first-ever game in the Finals in Game 3. Despite Nelson's return to the team for the Finals, the Lakers won the series and the championship by beating the Magic in five games.
In the 2009 off-season, Orlando traded Rafer Alston, Tony Battie, and Courtney Lee to the New Jersey Nets in exchange for eight-time All-Star Vince Carter and Ryan Anderson. Hedo Türkoğlu, as part of a sign-and-trade, was sent to the Toronto Raptors. They then made several free agent signings. On July 10, former Dallas Mavericks power forward Brandon Bass was given a 4-year deal. On July 21, the Magic signed former Phoenix Suns forward Matt Barnes. On August 19, they signed former Miami Heat point guard Jason Williams, who decided to come back after a year in retirement.
On September 28, 2009, Orlando extended the contract of head coach Stan Van Gundy by exercising his option for the 2010–11 season. They did the same for general manager Otis Smith, which would keep him in that position through the 2011–12 season.
The Magic were without Rashard Lewis for the first 10 games of the 2009–10 season. Lewis tested positive for an elevated testosterone level that was caused by an over-the-counter supplement containing a substance banned by the league. To make matters worse, Vince Carter suffered a left ankle injury in just the second game of the season. Carter's injury turned out to be not too serious, but caused him to miss the next five games. Another setback came in mid-November, when Jameer Nelson injured his left knee, which required arthroscopic surgery to repair. Nelson would be out for five weeks. Despite all of this, the Magic had a 23–8 record at the end of December.
Orlando lost seven of their first ten games in January but recovered well enough to post a winning record for the month by winning six of their next seven. Following the All-Star break, the Magic went on a roll, winning 23 of their 28 remaining games, clinching their fourth consecutive playoff berth and winning their third consecutive division championship in the process. The Magic finished the regular season with a 59–23 record, matching their record from the 2008–09 season, and finishing with not only the second-best record in the Eastern Conference, but the second-best record in the entire league. The team became one of the only teams in NBA history to beat all of the other 29 teams at least once during the regular season. The Magic swept the Charlotte Bobcats and the Atlanta Hawks in the first two rounds of the playoffs, respectively. They then faced the Boston Celtics in the conference finals. After losing the first three games of the series, Orlando managed to win the next two games, but lost on the road in Game 6, ending their season.
==== 2010–2012: "Dwightmare" saga ====
In anticipation of the team's move to Amway Center, the Magic updated its logo. They retained the streaking ball logo, but changed the wordmark taken from their current uniforms. The Magic hosted the NBA All-Star Game in 2012. The Magic also unveiled black alternate uniforms.
In the summer of 2010, the Orlando Magic signed Chris Duhon, formerly of the New York Knicks, and Quentin Richardson, formerly of the Miami Heat.
On December 18, 2010, having lost five of their last six games, the Magic made a blockbuster trade deal with the Phoenix Suns and the Washington Wizards. They traded Vince Carter, Marcin Gortat and Mickaël Piétrus to Phoenix for Hedo Türkoğlu (who led them into the 2009 NBA Finals when they lost 4–1 against the Los Angeles Lakers), Jason Richardson and Earl Clark. Rashard Lewis was traded to Washington for 3-time All-Star Gilbert Arenas.
The Magic finished the season with 52 victories, good for second in the Southeast Division. But they were ousted in six games by the Atlanta Hawks in the first round of the 2011 NBA playoffs, the first time head coach Stan Van Gundy was eliminated early in the playoffs.
In a lockout-shortened 2011–12 season, the Magic started the off-season on a rocky note, with their All-Star center, Dwight Howard, requesting a trade to either the New Jersey Nets, Los Angeles Lakers, or Dallas Mavericks. Overlooking the trade request the Magic did a sign and trade with the Boston Celtics for Glen Davis and Von Wafer in exchange for Brandon Bass. The Magic also amnestied Gilbert Arenas and signed Larry Hughes, Justin Harper, and DeAndre Liggins. The Magic started the season on Christmas Day in Oklahoma City against the Thunder. They lost the season opener 97–89. During the month of February, the Magic waived Hughes and signed Ish Smith. On February 26, Orlando hosted the 2012 All-Star Game. The Magic struggled to win games consistently, with concerns about the uncertainty of Dwight Howard's future with the franchise. However, after Dwight rescinded his trade demand and signed a one-year deal in March, the Magic seemed to find their footing again. But then in early April, shortly after it became public that Howard requested coach Van Gundy to be replaced, the center was diagnosed with a herniated disk and forced to have back surgery, thus ending his season. The Magic clinched the sixth seed in the east with a 37–29 record. The Magic were faced with the third-seeded Pacers in the first round. Despite winning the first game of the series the Magic were defeated 4–1.
On May 21, 2012, it was reported that general manager Otis Smith and head coach Stan Van Gundy would part ways with the organization. Stan Van Gundy finished with a 259–135 regular season record with the team which included making the playoffs in those five years and a conference championship.
CEO Alex Martins announced former Oklahoma City assistant general manager Rob Hennigan as the new general manager for the Orlando Magic on June 20, 2012. Once hired, he became the youngest general manager in the league.
In the 2012 NBA draft, the Magic selected Andrew Nicholson and Kyle O'Quinn.
On June 25, 2012, Dwight Howard had face-to-face meetings with general manager Rob Hennigan in Los Angeles and demanded a trade to the Brooklyn Nets.
On July 9, 2012, the Magic completed a sign-and-trade deal with the New Orleans Hornets, that sent forward Ryan Anderson to the Hornets. In return the Magic received center Gustavo Ayon.
On July 28, 2012, Jacque Vaughn was named the new head coach. He had been the assistant coach for the San Antonio Spurs for the last two seasons.
On August 9, 2012, ESPN reported that a four-team trade would send Dwight Howard to the Los Angeles Lakers. Marc Stein of ESPN.com was told the Lakers were to acquire Howard, Chris Duhon and Earl Clark, the Denver Nuggets were to acquire Andre Iguodala, the Philadelphia 76ers were to acquire Andrew Bynum and Jason Richardson, and the Magic were to acquire Arron Afflalo, Al Harrington, Nikola Vučević, Maurice Harkless, Josh McRoberts, Christian Eyenga, and five total protected future (three first-round, two second-round) picks from each of the other three teams. The deal was officially confirmed and completed on August 10.
Howard left the Magic as their all-time leading scorer, shot blocker, and rebounder.
=== 2012–2021: Struggles with Nikola Vucevic ===
==== 2012–2017: Rob Hennigan era ====
Following the trade of Dwight Howard, the Magic entered into a state of rebuilding with Maurice Harkless and Nikola Vučević. On August 29, the Magic signed free agent guard E'Twaun Moore. On December 2, 2012, Howard's first game against his former team, the Magic defeated the Lakers 113–103.
On February 21, 2013, the Magic traded JJ Redick, Ish Smith and Gustavo Ayón to the Milwaukee Bucks. In return, the Magic received Beno Udrih, Tobias Harris and rookie Doron Lamb. The Magic also traded Josh McRoberts to the Charlotte Bobcats for Hakim Warrick who was waived 2 days later. The Magic finish the 2012–13 season 20–62 as the worst record in the NBA, missing the playoffs for the first time since 2006.
On June 27, 2013, the Orlando Magic had the second pick in the first round of the 2013 NBA draft. The Magic used their lottery pick to draft Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year, shooting guard Victor Oladipo from Indiana University. The Magic also had the 51st pick in the second round of the NBA draft. They used this pick to draft forward Romero Osby from the University of Oklahoma. Osby averaged 16 points, seven rebounds, and 1.3 assists during his senior NCAA season at Oklahoma but was cut by the Magic before the season opener.
The Magic finished the 2013–14 season with a 23–59 record, third worst in the NBA. The draft lottery gave them the fourth pick in the 2014 NBA draft. In the draft, they selected Aaron Gordon with the fourth pick and Dario Šarić with the 12th pick. Saric was then swapped for the 10th pick, Elfrid Payton in exchange for a 2017 first round pick and a future second round pick. Roy Devyn Marble was selected with the 56th pick in the second round. On February 5, 2015, Jacque Vaughn was relieved of his head coaching duties after coaching 2+1⁄2 seasons for the Magic. His overall record was 58–158. He was replaced by interim head coach James Borrego.
On May 29, 2015, the Magic hired their former point guard Scott Skiles as the franchise's 12th head coach.
On June 25, 2015, in the 2015 NBA draft, Orlando selected Mario Hezonja with the fifth overall pick and Tyler Harvey
with the 51st overall pick. On February 16, 2016, the Magic traded Tobias Harris to the Detroit Pistons in exchange for Ersan İlyasova and Brandon Jennings.
On May 12, 2016, Skiles stepped down as head coach of the Orlando Magic. On May 19, the Orlando Magic agreed to a deal with former Indiana Pacers coach Frank Vogel to become the next head coach of the team.
With Vogel as their new coach, the Magic made many changes to their roster during the off-season. On June 23, 2016, in the 2016 NBA draft the Magic selected Domantas Sabonis 11th overall, but then traded Sabonis and shooting guard Victor Oladipo for defensive power forward Serge Ibaka of the Oklahoma City Thunder. During free agency the Magic re-signed Evan Fournier to a five-year, $85 million contract and also signed Bismack Biyombo, Jeff Green, and D. J. Augustin. On July 15, C. J. Wilcox was acquired, along with cash considerations, from the Clippers in exchange for Devyn Marble and a future second round draft pick.
On February 14, 2017, Ibaka was traded to the Toronto Raptors in exchange for Terrence Ross and a future first-round draft pick. The Magic finished the 2016–17 season with the third worst record in their conference, finishing 29–53.
==== 2017–2022: Jeff Weltman era ====
In the summer of 2017, the Magic made various changes, the first being the firing of general manager Rob Hennigan on April 13. On May 23, the Magic named Jeff Weltman, the former general manager of the Toronto Raptors, as president of basketball operations and named John Hammond, the former general manager for the Milwaukee Bucks, as the new general manager. With the sixth overall pick in the 2017 NBA draft, Orlando drafted Florida State forward, Jonathan Isaac. During free agency the Magic signed Jonathon Simmons, Arron Afflalo, Shelvin Mack, Marreese Speights, Khem Birch and Adreian Payne.
On October 6, 2017, the Magic announced that former superstar Tracy McGrady, had rejoined the team as assistant to the CEO.
On February 8, 2018, the Magic traded starting point guard Elfrid Payton to the Phoenix Suns in exchange for a 2018 second-round pick.
On April 12, 2018, head coach Frank Vogel was fired by the Magic after the conclusion of the 2017–18 regular season. On May 30, the Magic named Steve Clifford as their new head coach.
On June 21, 2018, the Magic drafted center Mohamed Bamba with the sixth overall pick. and Melvin Frazier in the second round. Other player acquisitions included trading for Timofey Mozgov and Jerian Grant in a three-team trade for Bismack Biyombo, Jarell Martin in a trade from the Memphis Grizzlies, and free agent Isaiah Briscoe.
On September 6, 2018, team owner Richard DeVos died aged 92 from complications from an infection.
During the 2018–19 season, the Magic won their sixth division title and finished in seventh place in the Eastern Conference to clinch a playoff berth for the first time since the 2011–12 season. Mohamed Bamba was diagnosed with stress fracture on February 5, 2019, and eventually missed the remainder of the season. At the NBA trade deadline, the Magic traded Jonathon Simmons and two draft picks to the Philadelphia 76ers for Markelle Fultz. Nikola Vučević was selected as a reserve for the 2019 Eastern Conference All Star Team, being the first Orlando Magic All Star player since Dwight Howard in 2012. In March 2019, the Magic signed former NBA Rookie of the Year Michael Carter-Williams to two ten-day contracts before signing him to a one-year deal. The Magic were matched up against the Toronto Raptors in the first round of the 2019 NBA playoffs. While the Magic won their first playoff game in seven years, the Raptors won the series in five games.
In the 2019 NBA draft the Magic selected Chuma Okeke with the 16th overall pick, and traded its second-round pick to the Los Angeles Lakers in exchange for $2.2 million and a future draft pick. With the prospect of limited playing time due to injury, the Magic and Okeke agree to sign a one-year deal with the Magic's G League affiliate in Lakeland and sign Okeke's rookie contract in the summer of 2020. During the 2019 free agency, the Magic re-signed with Vučević, Terrence Ross, Michael Carter-Williams, and Birch, signed free agent Al-Farouq Aminu, and waived Mozgov. The Magic compiled a 30–35 record before the league suspended its season on March 11, 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Following the suspension of the season, the Magic were one of the 22 teams invited to the NBA Bubble to participate in the final eight seeding games of the regular season. Season ending injuries to Jonathan Isaac and Mo Bamba, along with significant injuries to Terrence Ross and Evan Fournier hampered their performance and they went 3–5 in the seeding games, but the team earned the eighth playoff spot in the Eastern Conference to face the Milwaukee Bucks. While the Magic won the opening game, Milwaukee won the next four ending the Magic's season in round one for the second year in a row.
In the 2020 NBA draft the Magic selected Cole Anthony with the 15th overall pick. The shortened free agency period followed where the Magic signed their 2019 draft pick Chuma Okeke, re-signed James Ennis, Michael Carter-Williams, and Gary Clark, while adding Dwayne Bacon. The injury Jonathan Isaac suffered during the previous season was significant enough that he was ruled out for the entire 2020–21 season. In the eighth game of the 2020–21 season, starting point guard, Markelle Fultz went down with an ACL tear in a game against the Cleveland Cavaliers. After the season-ending injury, rookie point guard, Cole Anthony would fill the starting point guard role. On January 20, 2021, Fultz underwent surgery. At the 2021 NBA trade deadline the Magic traded away Nikola Vučević, Aaron Gordon, and Evan Fournier, each to different teams, in what has been viewed as the beginning of another rebuilding period. At the end of the season, the team and Clifford mutually agreed to part ways.
On July 11, 2021, Jamahl Mosley was named head coach after spending the previous season as an assistant coach with the Dallas Mavericks.
On July 29, 2021, the Magic selected Jalen Suggs with the fifth pick and Franz Wagner with the eighth pick (Acquired via the Chicago Bulls in the Nikola Vučević trade) in the 2021 NBA draft. The Magic also selected Orlando native Jason Preston in the second round and promptly traded him on draft night to the Los Angeles Clippers.
=== 2022–present: The Paolo Banchero Era ===
==== 2022–2023: First year of Banchero ====
On June 23, 2022, the Magic selected Paolo Banchero from Duke University with the first pick and Caleb Houstan from the University of Michigan with the 32nd pick in the 2022 NBA draft. Banchero helped the Magic improve their record from 22 wins to 34, averaging 20 points per game and ultimately being chosen as Rookie of the Year.
In May 2023, the Magic donated $50,000 to a super PAC supporting Florida governor Ron DeSantis's 2024 presidential campaign, in what the New York Times called "the first known instance in which an NBA team directly donated to a group allied with a presidential candidate."
On June 22, 2023, the Magic selected Anthony Black from the University of Arkansas with the sixth overall pick and Jett Howard from the University of Michigan with the 11th pick.
On July 5, 2023, the Magic promoted Anthony Parker to general manager (GM) and Pete D'Alessandro to executive vice president (EVP), while Jeff Weltman was promoted to President of Basketball Operations.
On July 17, 2023, the Magic traded picks with the Phoenix Suns. The Suns received a 2023 second-round pick via the Denver Nuggets, a 2026 second-round pick via the Los Angeles Clippers, and a 2028 second-round pick via the Orlando Magic (protected No. 31-45). In this deal, the Orlando Magic receive unprotected swap rights to the 2026 first-round pick of the Phoenix Suns or Washington Wizards (the Phoenix Suns owe the top of these two picks or theirs already, therefore allowing the Orlando Magic to receive the best of the left-over pick selection spots or keep their own).
==== 2023–present: Playoff rise ====
The 2023–24 season saw the young Orlando Magic rise as a playoff team. Banchero made his first All-Star team as a reserve for the Eastern Conference, becoming the first Magic All-Star since Nikola Vučević in 2021. Jalen Suggs made all defensive-second team. The Magic finished 47–35 as the fifth seed in the Eastern Conference and forced the Cleveland Cavaliers led by Donovan Mitchell to seven games in the first round of the playoffs but lost the series.
The next off-season, the Magic did not re-sign former number one overall pick Markelle Fultz. They drafted Tristan da Silva and traded for the 47th pick which they used to select Antonio Reeves. They also signed Kentavious Caldwell-Pope in free agency, and signed Franz Wagner to a contract extension.
On October 31, 2024, Banchero, suffered a torn right oblique Later, Franz Wagner tore his right oblique and was ruled out indefinitely. The Magic lost both their star forwards to torn obliques. After missing more than two months, Banchero made his return to the Orlando lineup in a 109–106 loss against the Bucks, recording 34 points and seven rebounds.
== Home arenas ==
=== Amway Arena ===
Amway Arena opened in 1989 and served as home to the Orlando Magic since their inception until the 2009–10 season. It was originally known as the Orlando Arena, or the "O-Rena", during its first 10 years. In 1999, TD Waterhouse purchased the naming rights and named the venue the TD Waterhouse Centre. In December 2006, the naming rights were purchased by Amway for four years. It is also home of the Arena Football League's Orlando Predators, the Orlando Sharks of the Major Indoor Soccer League, and various sporting and entertainment events. Amway Arena was one of "The Orlando Venues" owned and operated by the City of Orlando. The other facilities include the Bob Carr Performing Arts Centre, Tinker Field, Camping World Stadium, Harry P. Leu Gardens, and Mennello Museum.
=== Kia Center ===
The team's current home arena, Kia Center (formerly Amway Center), officially opened on October 1, 2010. The Orlando Magic hosted their first preseason game at Amway Center on October 10 against the New Orleans Hornets. The 2010–11 regular season home opener was on October 28 against the Washington Wizards, and the Magic won both games. In 2012, the Amway Center hosted the All-Star Weekend.
At the time it opened, the new Amway Center was home to the largest Jumbotron in the NBA. The arena also features approximately 2,100 feet (640 m) of digital ribbon boards, and outside the building a 46 feet (14 m) by 53 feet (16 m) video display is visible to motorists traveling on Interstate 4.
On December 20, 2023, Amway Center was formally renamed Kia Center in partnership with Kia America.
Kia Center is also the home of the minor league hockey team, Orlando Solar Bears and the Orlando Predators of the National Arena League (NAL).
== Team identity ==
=== Logos and uniforms ===
==== Original pinstripes (1989–1998) ====
Orlando advertising agency The Advertising Works, led by its president Doug Minear was responsible for the original Magic uniforms. The logo, featuring a basketball crowded by stars and the wordmark "Magic" with a star replacing the A, was created following meetings with Walt Disney World artists and over 5000 suggestions sent from around the country. Stars would remain a primary feature of the logo once it was redesigned in 2000 to feature a comet-like basketball. Pat Williams first suggested the colors black and gold of his alma mater Wake Forest, but this was eschewed for various factors, including the local college UCF using the same scheme. Black would still be the primary color in the scheme used by Minear, a trait shared by 16 other NBA teams. Other colors were an electric blue specially made by sporting goods manufacturer MacGregor, and silver. The home uniforms were white with black pinstripes, featuring black numbers with blue trim, and the road jerseys reversed the scheme while featuring "Orlando" instead of the Magic wordmark. Given the standard mesh nylon worn across the NBA did not allow for pinstripes, the jerseys were made out of durene, a material with cotton on the underside and polyester bonded on the outside. The road uniform was changed to blue with white pinstripes in 1994–95, although the black uniforms remained in use as alternates.
==== Sublimated stars (1998–2003) ====
For the Magic's 10th anniversary in 1998–99, a new look designed by fashion designer Jhane Barnes was unveiled. The pinstripes were relegated to the sides and the uniforms now featured stars as the background. Both jerseys, made out of the dazzle that was used in the Women's National Basketball Association uniforms, had the Magic wordmark, with the home jersey in white and the away in blue. For its first two seasons, the original "streaking ball with stars" logo was placed on the waistline, but after the Magic changed its logo in the 2000–01 season, the new "shooting ball with stars" logo was placed on the left leg.
==== Back to basics (2003–2008) ====
The Magic's 15th anniversary in 2003–04 inspired another uniform revamp, opting for a cleaner look without stripes or stars. The home jerseys were white and featured "Magic" in blue block letters with silver and black trim. The away jersey reverted to the city name in white block letters with silver and black trim and was blue. The logo was placed on either side with thin white and black stripes, and a silver star was placed beneath the collar. During this time, the team's original pinstriped jerseys were worn several times per year as alternates: black in 2003–04 and 2006–07, blue in 2004–05, and white in 2005–06.
==== Pinstripes return (2008–2017) ====
For the 2008–09 season, the Magic have once again introduced new uniforms. The Magic returned to the pinstriped uniforms to commemorate the team's 20th anniversary. The current design combines the elements of the previous three uniform designs the Magic used in its 20-year history. The home jerseys are white with silver pinstripes, while the away jerseys are blue with white pinstripes. The font used for the number and player/team name has also been updated to a more modern look. Magic alternate logos are on the shorts and the back of the jersey. This is the fourth model in franchise history.
As the Magic moved to the Amway Center in 2010, they unveiled a new logo that for the first time fully spelled "Magic", without the star instead of the A. They also unveiled a black alternate uniform, with silver pinstripes, mirroring the regular blue road uniform. A variation of the uniform is also used for Noche Latina every March, with 'Orlando' substituted for 'El Magic', with 'El' in black and silver trim and 'Magic' in blue and silver trim. This was unveiled in the 2011–12 season.
==== Silver sleeves and "Stars" jersey ====
In 2014, Magic unveiled a silver uniform for the first time in their history. It was sleeved, and featuring white pinstripes along with blue, black and white trim for the letters and numbers. Unlike the three other uniforms, a different striping pattern will be used on the sides. In 2016, The Magic unveiled a third alternate uniform, featuring carbon as the primary color and without pinstripes. Named “Stars”, it featured the team's secondary logo and a blue, white and blue tricolor stripe in front, along with white lettering.
==== Nike takes over (2017–2025) ====
The Magic made only a few slight tweaks to their uniforms when Nike became the league's uniform provider in 2017. From 2017 to 2019, the Magic wore white "Association" uniforms, blue "Icon" uniforms and black "Statement" uniforms. With the exception of the black uniforms eliminating the blue side stripes and changing pinstripe colors from silver to blue, the set remained almost identical to the previous Adidas set. Beginning with the 2019–20 season, the black uniform became the "Icon" uniform while a new blue uniform served as the "Statement" uniform. The uniform was inspired from the different sets the Magic wore through the years, such as the silver star and black stripes with white pinstripes from the 1989–98 set, and the cleaner look of the 2003–08 set. This uniform was then tweaked prior to the 2022–23 season, adding black pinstripes (a nod to the 1989–98 uniforms) and black stripes with subtle star patterns (a nod to the 1998–2003 uniforms). Starting in 2020–21, the "Statement" uniforms would feature Jordan Brand's jumpman logo. Their jersey's sponsor is Disney.
==== Homage to the classics (2025–present) ====
Ahead of the 2025–26 season, the Magic unveiled a new logo and uniform set, introducing a modernized version of the "streaking ball with stars" logo that they originally used from 1989 to 2000. The uniforms were also a modern take on the original pinstripe look from 1989 to 1998, bringing back the silver star as a substitute to the "A" on the wordmark. Blue was brought back as the "Icon" uniform base color, while the black "Statement" uniform pays homage to the road warmup gear the Magic wore from 1991 to 1997.
==== City edition: "Stars" ====
An annual "City" edition is also utilized by Nike to honor either local culture or team tradition. The Magic's 2017–18 "City" uniform featured a printed pattern of stars in the sky along with the team's alternate logo in front. For the 2018–19 season, the Magic only made slight changes to their "City" uniform, with the printed pattern of stars relegated to the sides and a predominantly black base.
==== City edition: "Orange" ====
The 2019–20 City uniforms featured an "anthracite" (grey) base with orange lettering. The orange color pays homage to Florida's orange-growing industry. The Magic kept the orange theme for their 2020–21 "City" uniform, this time with a white base and orange letters and numerals with anthracite trim. The uniform also paid homage to the original uniforms worn from 1989 to 1998, featuring "Orl" beside an anthracite star in its original typeface along with orange pinstripes. When the jersey's colors are inverted it shows the exact color scheme used in Orlando's original uniforms. In the 2021–22 season, the Magic again reprised the orange theme for its "City" uniform, this time featuring a few elements from previous uniforms. This uniform would return in the 2025–26 season, but recolored to the current Magic blue and silver scheme.
==== City edition: "Kingdom" ====
For their 2022–23 "City" uniform, the Magic went with a black base, dark gray pinstripes, and gothic-inspired white letters with blue trim to represent the team and the city as a kingdom on the rise. Orlando's "City" uniform for the 2023–24 season featured a Gothic-themed design, attributing to Orlando's pride and resiliency and the Magic's determination to protect its kingdom. The midnight-based jersey incorporated silver stripes meant to evoke a steel cage, along with Gothic script lettering. The Magic's "Kingdom" series was again used for the 2024–25 "City" uniform, with the design similar to last season's "City" uniform but in a platinum base with midnight blue letters.
==== Earned uniforms ====
Having qualified for the 2020 NBA playoffs the previous year, the Magic were also given an "Earned" uniform. The design, which has a white base, featured the alternate logo in front (an homage to the 2016–17 "Stars" alternate and 2017–19 "City" uniform) and blue numbers with black and silver trim. Side panels featured the stars pattern as an homage to the 1998–2003 blue uniforms.
==== Classic uniforms ====
The Magic are one of seven teams to wear "Classic" uniforms for the 2018–19 season. As part of their 30th anniversary, the team unveiled the blue pinstriped uniform similar to those worn from 1994 to 1998. To commemorate not only its 35th anniversary season, but also the 25th anniversary of the 1999–2000 "Heart and Hustle" team in 2023–24, the Magic donned the blue "sublimated stars" uniform worn from 1999 to 2003.
=== Mascot ===
Stuff the Magic Dragon has been the Magic's mascot since 1989. A dragon designed by Wade Harrison and Bonnie Erickson of Acme Mascots, Inc, his name is a pun on Puff the Magic Dragon, and how a slam dunk is also known as "stuffing".
== Personnel ==
=== Current roster ===
=== Retained draft rights ===
The Magic hold the draft rights to the following unsigned draft picks who have been playing outside the NBA. A drafted player, either an international draftee or a college draftee who is not signed by the team that drafted him, is allowed to sign with any non-NBA teams. In this case, the team retains the player's draft rights in the NBA until one year after the player's contract with the non-NBA team ends. This list includes draft rights that were acquired from trades with other teams.
=== Retired numbers ===
Notes:
1 The number was unretired in the 2001–02 season for Patrick Ewing.
The NBA retired Bill Russell's No. 6 for all its member teams on August 11, 2022.
=== Basketball Hall of Famers ===
Notes:
1 In total, Ewing was inducted into the Hall of Fame twice – as player and as a member of the 1992 Olympic team. Also served as assistant coach in 2007–2012.
2 In total, Daly was inducted into the Hall of Fame twice – as coach and as a member of the 1992 Olympic team
=== FIBA Hall of Famers ===
Notes:
1 In total, Daly was inducted into the FIBA Hall of Fame twice – as coach and as a member of the 1992 Olympic team.
=== Orlando Magic Hall of Fame ===
In 2014, the Orlando Magic launched the team's Hall of Fame, which honors players, coaches and executives who have had a major impact for the team and in the community.
== Head coaches ==
== Season-by-season record ==
List of the last five seasons completed by the Magic. For the full season-by-season history, see List of Orlando Magic seasons.
Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, W–L% = Winning percentage
== Rivalries ==
=== Miami Heat ===
The Orlando Magic and the Miami Heat had a rivalry because both teams are located in Florida, thus the rivalry was known as the Sunshine State rivalry. Another ingredient to the rivalry was the high-caliber players on both teams such as Orlando's Shaquille O'Neal and Penny Hardaway to Miami's Alonzo Mourning and Tim Hardaway. The two had met each other in the NBA playoffs for the first time in 1997, with Miami beating Orlando 3–2, they have not met in the playoffs since.
The rivalry intensified during the 2000s and early 2010s with the rising stardom of Miami's and Orlando's Dwyane Wade and Dwight Howard, respectively, along with Miami's acquiring high caliber stars such LeBron James from the Cleveland Cavaliers and Chris Bosh from the Toronto Raptors and in 2010, resulting in fierce competition between the two.
When Dwight Howard departed from the Magic to the Los Angeles Lakers in August 2012, the rivalry softened. The Orlando Magic have been going through a process of rebuilding ever since then.
=== Atlanta Hawks ===
The Atlanta Hawks and the Orlando Magic had an intense rivalry, mostly stemming from playoff competitions and the rising stardom of Dwight Howard and Josh Smith, both from the 2004 NBA draft and who were both raised in Georgia.
The two teams faced each other three times in the 1996, 2010, and 2011 NBA playoffs. The Magic defeated the Hawks in the second round of the 1996 playoffs 4–1, and swept the second-round series 4–0 in the 2010 playoffs, while the Hawks eliminated the Magic 4–2 in the first round of the corresponding 2011 playoffs.
== Media ==
=== Television ===
The current television announcing team for the Orlando Magic is play-by-play announcer David Steele and color analyst Jeff Turner. Turner played for the Magic from its inaugural 1989 season to 1996. Kendra Douglas reports as well. Paul Kennedy and Dante Marchetelli serve as courtside reporters, while Marchetelli, former coach Brian Hill, and former Magic player Nick Anderson host the pre-game, halftime and post-game shows. Television broadcasts were split in 2007–08 between Fox Sports Florida and Sun Sports (later Fox Sports Sun, currently FanDuel Sports Sun). In the 18 years before then, broadcasts were split between Sun Sports (formerly known as the Sunshine Network) and local television stations, originally WKCF and, later, WRBW.
There was a controversy with moving broadcasts to Fox Sports Florida since Orlando's largest cable TV provider, Bright House Networks, did not carry the network. Pressure increased for the cable provider to pick up FS Florida in time for the 2007–08 NBA season but this did not happen. The Magic persisted with airing games on FS Florida into the 2008–09 season despite Bright House's refusal to pick up the channel in all of its affiliates. Bright House and FS Florida came to an agreement on January 1, 2009, and began airing the channel as part of its standard cable package. However, Bright House airs the channel using a digital signal that only allows customers who own the Digital cable box to receive the channel. The customers do not have to pay any additional costs to get the channel with their Digital cable box.
As of the 2024–25 season, all Magic games are now on FanDuel Sports Florida.
=== Radio ===
After the end of the 2019–20 season, the Orlando Magic decided not to renew its contract with play-by-play announcer Dennis Neumann and color analyst Richie Adubato, another former Magic head coach. Games are produced by Magic Radio Network flagship AM 580 WDBO in Orlando, and also broadcast on AM 1380 WELE in Daytona Beach, 99.5 FM WGMW "The Star" in Gainesville and Ocala, AM 1290 WPCF in Panama City, AM 1590 WPSL in Port St. Lucie and AM 1450 WSTU in Stuart. The affiliate in Tallahassee is AM 1270 "My 94.3" WTLY. The immediate Tampa Bay area has no affiliate although AM 1340 in Clearwater WTAN is listed on the team's website. The Magic will continue to have a radio presence using the audio from its television broadcasts.
The flagship broadcast was simulcast on WDBO-FM during the 2011–12 NBA season while that station moved from AM to FM. When WDBO re-formatted from talk radio to sports radio, it retained the flagship status. However, WOEX (the former WDBO-FM) still simulcasts Magic games in Central Florida.
=== Podcasts ===
The official Orlando Magic website features a collection of podcasts available on iTunes, including "Magic Overtime with Dante and Galante".
== Leaders ==
=== Franchise leaders ===
Bold denotes still active with team.
Italic denotes still active but not with team.
Points scored (regular season) (as of the 2024–25 NBA season)
Other statistics (regular season) (as of the 2024–25 NBA season)
=== Individual records ===
Most points in one game with 62 (Tracy McGrady on March 10, 2004, vs. Washington Wizards)
Most points in one half with 37 in the first half (Tracy McGrady on March 9, 2003, vs. Denver Nuggets)
Most points in one quarter with 25 in the second quarter (Tracy McGrady on March 9, 2003, vs. Denver Nuggets)
Most free throws made in one game with 21 (Dwight Howard on January 12, 2012, vs. Golden State Warriors
Most free throws attempted in one game with 39 (Dwight Howard on January 12, 2012, vs. Golden State Warriors) ***NBA Record
Most points in a playoff game with 46 (Dwight Howard in Game 1 of 2011 Eastern Conference playoffs, First round vs. Atlanta Hawks and Tracy McGrady in Game 2 of the 2003 Eastern Conference playoffs, First round vs. Detroit Pistons)
Most assists made in one game with 30 (Scott Skiles on December 30, 1990, vs. Denver Nuggets) ***NBA Record
Most rebounds in one game with 29 (Nikola Vučević on December 31, 2012, vs. Miami Heat)
== Franchise accomplishments and awards ==
=== Individual awards ===
=== NBA All-Star Weekend ===
NBA All-Star Team
Shaquille O'Neal – 1993–1996
Penny Hardaway – 1995–1998
Tracy McGrady – 2001–2004
Grant Hill – 2001, 2005
Dwight Howard – 2007–2012
Rashard Lewis – 2009
Jameer Nelson – 2009
Nikola Vučević – 2019, 2021
Paolo Banchero – 2024
NBA All-Star head coaches
Brian Hill – 1995
Stan Van Gundy – 2010 |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minamidait%C5%8Djima | Minamidaitōjima | Minamidaitōjima (南大東島), also spelt as Minami Daitō or Minami-Daitō, is the largest island in the Daitō Islands group southeast of Okinawa, Japan. It is administered as part of the village of Minamidaitō, Okinawa. Shimajiri District, Okinawa and has a population of 2,107. The island is principally cultivated for agriculture. The island has no beaches but has a fishing boat harbor and three cargo and ferry ports; as well as an airport Minami Daito Airport (airport code "MMD").
== Geography ==
Minamidaitōjima is a relatively isolated coralline island, located approximately 9 kilometres (4.9 nmi) south of Kitadaitōjima, the second largest island of the archipelago, and 360 kilometres (190 nmi) from Naha, Okinawa. As with the other islands in the archipelago, Minamidaitōjima is an uplifted coral atoll with a steep coastal cliff of limestone (the former fringing coral reef of the island), and a depressed center (the former lagoon of the island). The island is roughly oval in shape, with a circumference of about 13.52 kilometres (8.40 mi), length of 4.85 kilometres (3.01 mi) and an area of 11.94 square kilometres (4.61 sq mi). The highest point is 74 metres (243 ft) above sea level. The island contains several ponds in the interior, such as the Ōike-pond.
== Climate ==
Minamidaitōjima has a tropical rainforest climate (Köppen climate classification Af) with hot summers and warm winters. Precipitation is significant throughout the year; the wettest month is June and the driest month is February. The island is subject to frequent typhoons.
== History ==
It is uncertain when Minamidaitōjima was discovered. It is the most likely that their first sighting was by the Spanish navigator Bernardo de la Torre in 1543, in between 25 September and 2 October, during his abortive attempt to reach New Spain from the Philippines with the San Juan de Letrán. It was then charted, together with Kitadaitōjima, as "The Two Sisters" (Las Dos Hermanas). Minamidaitōjima and Kitadaitōjima were possibly again sighted by the Spanish on 28 July 1587, by Pedro de Unamuno who named them the "Useless Islands" (Islas sin Provecho). In 1788 the British captain John Meares named an island in the vicinity “Grampus Island”, but the recorded coordinates are not correct and it is not certain which of the Daitō island he sighted . The French also reported sighting an island in 1807. However, on 2 July 1820 the Russian vessel Borodino surveyed the two Daitō islands, and named the south as "South Borodino Island".
The island remained uninhabited until claimed by the Empire of Japan in 1885. In 1900, a team of pioneers from Hachijōjima, one of the Izu Islands located 287 kilometres (178 mi) south of Tokyo led by Tamaoki Han'emon (1838 – 1910), became the first human inhabitants of the island, and started the cultivation of sugar cane. The population reached 4000 in 1919. During this period until World War II, Minamidaitōjima was owned in its entirety by Dai Nippon Sugar (now Dai Nippon Meiji Sugar), which provided community services and subsidized pricing for its employees, and of whom were seasonal workers from Okinawa and Taiwan.
The island was garrisoned by the Japanese military in 1942. As the war situation worsened for Japan, many of the civilian inhabitants were evacuated to Okinawa, Kyushu or Hachijojima in 1944. The island was repeatedly bombed and shelled by the United States Navy from February to June 1945.
After World War II, the island was occupied by the United States, at which time its civilian population was 1426. The island was returned to Japan in 1972.
== In popular culture ==
The island is the main setting of the film Leaving on the 15th Spring, released in 2013 and starring Ayaka Miyoshi and Kaoru Kobayashi. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_US_Open_(tennis) | 2003 US Open (tennis) | The 2003 US Open was held between August 25 – September 7, 2003.
Both Pete Sampras and Serena Williams did not defend their titles from 2002; Sampras unofficially retired after winning his final Grand Slam title the previous year, and Serena Williams was forced to miss the tournament after withdrawing through injury. This was the first time since 1971 in which neither champion was able to defend their title.
Andy Roddick, who previously won the 2000 US Open as a junior, won his only Grand Slam title, defeating Juan Carlos Ferrero (who inherited the World No.1 ranking after the tournament) in the final. Justine Henin-Hardenne won her first US Open title and second Grand Slam title, defeating her compatriot, rival and future 3-time US Open champion Kim Clijsters in the final, dropping only one set through her run.
== Seniors ==
=== Men's singles ===
Andy Roddick defeated Juan Carlos Ferrero, 6–3, 7–6(7–2), 6–3
• It was Roddick's 1st and only career Grand Slam singles title. It was Roddick's 6th title of the year, and his 11th overall.
=== Women's singles ===
Justine Henin-Hardenne defeated Kim Clijsters, 7–5, 6–1
• It was Henin-Hardenne's 2nd career Grand Slam singles title and her 1st title at the US Open. It was Henin-Hardenne's 7th title of the year, and her 13th overall. She became the first Belgian tennis player to win the US Open singles crown.
=== Men's doubles ===
Jonas Björkman / Todd Woodbridge defeated Mike Bryan / Bob Bryan, 5–7, 6–0, 7–5
• It was Björkman's 6th career Grand Slam doubles title and his 1st and only title at the US Open.
• It was Woodbridge's 15th career Grand Slam doubles title and his 3rd and last title at the US Open.
=== Women's doubles ===
Virginia Ruano Pascual / Paola Suárez defeated Svetlana Kuznetsova / Martina Navratilova, 6–2, 6–3
• It was Ruano Pascual's 4th career Grand Slam doubles title and her 2nd title at the US Open.
• It was Suárez' 4th career Grand Slam doubles title and her 2nd title at the US Open.
=== Mixed doubles ===
Katarina Srebotnik / Bob Bryan defeated Lina Krasnoroutskaya / Daniel Nestor, 5–7, 7–5, 7–6(7–5)
• It was Srebotnik's 2nd career Grand Slam mixed doubles title and her 1st and only title at the US Open.
• It was Bryan's 1st career Grand Slam mixed doubles title.
== Juniors ==
=== Boys' singles ===
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga defeated Marcos Baghdatis, 7–6, 6–3
=== Girls' singles ===
Kirsten Flipkens defeated Michaëlla Krajicek, 6–3, 7–5
=== Boys' doubles ===
Not played due to inclement weather.
=== Girls' doubles ===
Not played due to inclement weather. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1988_NBA_Finals | 1988 NBA Finals | The 1988 NBA Finals was the championship series of the National Basketball Association's (NBA) 1987–88 season, and the culmination of the season's playoffs. The defending NBA champion and Western Conference champion Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Eastern Conference champion Detroit Pistons in seven games to win their eleventh title.
One of Lakers head coach Pat Riley's most famous moments came when he promised the crowd a repeat championship during the Lakers' 1987 championship parade in downtown Los Angeles. With every team in the league now gunning for them, the Lakers still found a way to win, taking their seventh consecutive Pacific Division title. While the 1988 Lakers did not produce as many wins in the regular season as the 1987 Lakers, they were just as successful in the playoffs, becoming the first team since the Boston Celtics in 1969 to repeat as champions.
One of Pistons guard Isiah Thomas's career-defining performances came in Game 6. Despite badly twisting his ankle midway through the period, Thomas scored an NBA Finals record 25 third-quarter points, but Detroit fell valiantly, 103–102, after a controversial foul on Bill Laimbeer in the final seconds of the game.
Thomas still managed to score 10 first-half points in Game 7, as Detroit built a 5-point lead. In the 3rd quarter, the Lakers, inspired by Finals MVP James Worthy and Byron Scott (14 3rd-quarter points), exploded as they built a 10-point lead entering the final period. The lead swelled to 15 before Detroit mounted a furious 4th-quarter rally, trimming the lead to two points on several occasions. The Lakers ultimately prevailed and captured their fifth championship in the last nine seasons and eleventh overall.
This was the first NBA Finals since 1983 not to feature the Boston Celtics. It would also be the last to feature teams scoring 100 points or more in Game 7 until the Oklahoma City Thunder did so in 2025.
== Background ==
=== Los Angeles Lakers ===
During the 1987 championship parade in Los Angeles, Lakers coach Pat Riley guaranteed a repeat championship, a feat that had not been achieved since the Boston Celtics won the 1969 NBA Finals. Motivated by their coach's boast, the Lakers once again earned the league's best record in the 1987–88 season (62–20), despite winning three games less than the previous year. They also had a 15-game winning streak from December 11, 1987, until the Lakers were beaten by the LA Clippers (109–110) on January 13, 1988. They also had another double-digit winning streak (10-game winning streak) from February 11 until February 28.
The playoffs proved to be a difficult climb for the Lakers, however. They swept the San Antonio Spurs in the first round. They came back from a 2–1 deficit against the Utah Jazz in the semifinals round before beating them in Game 7. They then defeated the Dallas Mavericks in 7 games in the Conference finals round. The Lakers eventually prevailed in both series thanks to their championship experience.
=== Detroit Pistons ===
The Pistons of head coach Chuck Daly were an up-and-coming team that gradually moved up the Eastern Conference ranks. Known as the "Bad Boys" for their physical and defensive-minded style of play, the Pistons' core featured guards Isiah Thomas and Joe Dumars, forwards Adrian Dantley and Rick Mahorn, center Bill Laimbeer, and bench players Vinnie Johnson, Dennis Rodman and John Salley. Midway through the season, Detroit gained a valuable backup to Laimbeer and Mahorn when they acquired James Edwards.
The 1987–88 season marked a further ascension for the franchise, as Detroit won the Central Division title with a 54–28 record. The second-seeded Pistons beat the Washington Bullets and the Chicago Bulls in five games each, before facing the Boston Celtics once again in the conference finals. This time, the Pistons were the better team, eliminating the Celtics in six games for their first NBA Finals appearance since 1956 and the franchise's first since moving to Detroit.
=== Road to the Finals ===
=== Regular season series ===
The Los Angeles Lakers won both games in the regular season series:
== Series summary ==
=== Game 1 ===
The Pistons had just dispatched the Celtics in six games, while the Lakers were coming off back-to-back seven-game wins over the Utah Jazz and Dallas Mavericks. The Lakers were tired, and it showed. Adrian Dantley scored 34 points, hitting 14 of 16 shots from the field. The Pistons took control of the game with four seconds left in the first half when Bill Laimbeer hit a three-point shot to put the Pistons up 54–40. Isiah Thomas then stole Kareem's inbound pass at half court and let fly with another three-pointer which hit nothing but net at the halftime buzzer. The Pistons had a 57–40 halftime lead and never looked back, stealing Game 1 with a 105–93 win.
=== Game 2 ===
Facing the possibility of going down 2–0 with three games to play in Detroit, the veteran Lakers found resolve with a 108–96 win. James Worthy led the Lakers with 26 points, Byron Scott had 24, and Magic Johnson 23 despite battling the flu.
=== Game 3 ===
With Magic still battling the flu, the Lakers got a key win in Detroit, 99–86, to go up 2–1 in games. The Lakers took control of the game in the third period, outscoring the Pistons 31–18. Despite his illness, Magic had 18 points, 14 assists, and six rebounds.
=== Game 4 ===
In front of their home fans, the Pistons tied the series at 2–2 with a 111–86 win. The Pistons decided to attack the basket and make Magic Johnson defend. Johnson wound up on the bench early in the second half with foul trouble.
With Magic out of the game, the Pistons built a substantial lead. During timeouts, Bill Laimbeer was almost frantic. He kept saying, "No letup! We don't let up!" They didn't, and blew out the defending NBA champions by 25 points.
Left open by the trapping Lakers defense, Dantley led the team with 27 points. Vinnie Johnson came off the bench to add 16 while James Edwards had 14 points and five rebounds off the bench.
=== Game 5 ===
The Pistons' 104–94 victory was a perfect farewell to the Pontiac Silverdome. Bill Laimbeer told Joe Dumars with a minute left in the game to "look around and enjoy this because you'll never see anything like it again". He went on to say, "Forty-one thousand people waving towels and standing. It was awesome."
The Lakers opened Game 5 with a fury of physical intimidation, scoring the game's first 12 points. But that approach soon backfired, as the Laker big men got into foul trouble.
Dantley played a major role in the turnaround, scoring 25 points, 19 of them in the first half, to rally the Pistons to a 59–50 halftime lead. Vinnie Johnson added 12 of his 16 points in the first half to keep Detroit moving.
Joe Dumars added 19 points on 9-of-13 shooting to send the Pistons back to Los Angeles, one win away from their first NBA title.
Games 3, 4, and 5 were the last NBA Finals games to be contested in a domed stadium built primarily for football until the 1999 NBA Finals in which Games 1 and 2 were played at the Alamodome in San Antonio. The Pistons left the Pontiac Silverdome after the 1987–88 season and moved into The Palace of Auburn Hills for the 1988-89 NBA season.
=== Game 6 ===
The Lakers led 56–48 in the third quarter when Isiah Thomas suddenly began a classic performance. He scored his team's next 14 points, hitting two free throws, a driving layup, four jump shots, and a running bank shot.
With a little less than 5 minutes left in the period and the score 70–64, Lakers, Thomas rolled his right ankle while passing off to Joe Dumars for a basket. Thomas tried to run upcourt, but collapsed while the Lakers scored again. Despite a severe sprain, Thomas returned to the game with 3:44 left and the Lakers up 74–66. Thomas, with his bad ankle, scored 11 of the Pistons' last 15 points of the quarter to finish with 25, an NBA Finals record for one quarter, on 11-of-13 shooting. During this time, the Pistons outscored the Lakers 15–5 to take an 81–79 lead.
The fourth quarter was nip-and-tuck; with 1:30 left, Thomas, sore ankle and all, hit a baseline jumper for his 42nd and 43rd points to give the Pistons a 100–99 lead. The Lakers came down and Magic Johnson got the ball inside to James Worthy, but his layup attempt was blocked by Dennis Rodman. Joe Dumars penetrated inside on the ensuing possession, was fouled, and hit the two free throws for a three-point lead at 102–99 with a minute left.
The Lakers called timeout, and on the next possession, Byron Scott drove by Thomas from the top of the key and hit a 14-footer from the right elbow to cut the lead to one with 45 seconds left. Thomas then missed another baseline jumper and Worthy rebounded with 27 seconds remaining. The Lakers then set up and Scott got it to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who drew a foul on Bill Laimbeer (his sixth) as he wheeled for a skyhook on the right baseline with 14 seconds left. This foul has remained controversial to the Pistons and their fans, who claim that Laimbeer never made contact with Jabbar on his shot attempt, often referred to as a "phantom foul". Abdul–Jabbar then proceeded to sink two high-pressure free throws providing the Lakers with a one-point lead.
After a time out, the Pistons set up for a final shot. Thomas collided with Dantley after inbounding the ball, but Dumars penetrated in the paint and put up a shot that missed after he was forced to by A.C. Green to alter it. After a scramble, Scott came up with the ball for the Lakers and was shoved out of bounds by Rodman, inciting a near-fight, with 5 seconds left on the clock. Scott missed both free throw attempts, but the Pistons, who had no timeouts remaining, lost precious seconds trying to secure the loose rebound and could not get a shot off before time expired.
Thomas had 43 points and eight assists despite his ankle injury. To date, Thomas’ 25 points in the third quarter is still the record for most points in a quarter of the NBA Finals.
=== Game 7 ===
This was the first Game 7 since 1984, and the first to be played under the 2–3–2 format, adopted in 1985. It also was the very last playoff game manned by two officials, as the league added one more next season.
In the final game, Thomas' ankle was still sore, as evidenced by his limping badly in warm-ups. He did manage to play the first half, scoring 10 points and leading the Pistons to a 52–47 halftime lead, but the delay between halves caused the ankle to stiffen and Thomas played little in the second half. With Isiah on the bench, the Lakers turned the halftime deficit into a 90–75 lead early in the 4th quarter. A key factor was Laker guard Michael Cooper; he had been mired in a terrible shooting slump all series, but suddenly caught fire, hitting three 3-point baskets.
Chuck Daly then went to a faster lineup with Dennis Rodman, John Salley, Joe Dumars, and Vinnie Johnson that created matchup problems for the Lakers and enabled the Pistons to score at a torrid pace. With 3:54 left, Salley canned two free throws to cut the Laker lead to 98–92, making the Forum fans nervous.
With 1:17 left, Dumars hit a jump shot to cut the lead to 102–100. Magic Johnson then hit a free throw after a Rodman foul to put the Lakers up by three. After the two teams exchanged turnovers, Rodman took an ill-advised jumper with 40 seconds left. Byron Scott rebounded and was fouled. His two free throws pushed the lead to 105–100. After another Pistons' turnover, Michael Cooper had a chance to essentially clinch the victory after being fouled, but he missed both free throws, and the Lakers' lead remained at five.
After Dumars made a layup, James Worthy hit a free throw and Bill Laimbeer canned a 28-foot three-pointer, pushing the score to 106–105 with six seconds showing. A.C. Green completed the scoring with a layup off a length-of-the court pass from Magic, making it 108–105. Laimbeer made a long desperate pass to Thomas who caught the ball trying to shoot a three to send the game to overtime, but Thomas fell to the floor in a collision with Johnson, losing the ball as time ran out. Fans were already beginning to storm onto the floor even though time had not expired, but the officials ignored this. Pat Riley and the Laker players hurried back to their dressing room as the players and coaches on both teams were pummeled by the storming fans.
Worthy racked up a triple-double: 36 points, 16 rebounds and 10 assists. It would prove to be the only triple-double in Worthy's Hall of Fame career. For that and his earlier efforts in the series, he was named the Finals MVP, cementing his nickname "Big Game James".
Michael Cooper, Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar are the only members of all 5 Lakers championship teams from the 1980s. Pat Riley is the only coach that was on all 5 Lakers championship teams from the 1980s, he was an assistant coach on the 1980 championship team, and head coach on the other four championship teams.
This was the Lakers' first Game 7 Finals victory since 1954; however, it was their first ever Game 7 win in the Finals since moving to Los Angeles in 1960; they were 0–5 in previous Game 7's since moving (1962, 1966, 1969, 1970, 1984). This would end up being the Lakers' last home win in the Finals until 2000.
== Team rosters ==
=== Los Angeles Lakers ===
=== Detroit Pistons ===
== Player statistics ==
Los Angeles Lakers
Detroit Pistons
== Television coverage ==
The Detroit Pistons season documentary "Bad Boys", narrated by George Blaha recaps Detroit's run to the Finals and how they garnered the "Bad Boys" moniker while the Los Angeles Lakers documentary "Back To Back", narrated by Chick Hearn recaps the Lakers quest to become the first team since the Bill Russell-led Celtics to achieve NBA championships in consecutive years.
That year, CBS Sports used three sideline reporters which were Pat O'Brien (the Pistons' sideline), Lesley Visser (the Lakers' sideline) and James Brown (both teams). Dick Stockton and Billy Cunningham served as the play-by-play announcer and color analyst respectively. After the season, Cunningham left CBS to join the Miami Heat ownership group, and Hubie Brown was promoted the following season.
== Aftermath ==
Both teams would meet again in the Finals the next year, in which the Pistons returned the favor and swept the Lakers to win their first championship. The Lakers came into the series exhausted after Pat Riley held a torturous mini-camp in Santa Barbara to keep the Lakers fresh after sweeping through the Western Conference playoffs. During the mini-camp, Byron Scott picked up a hamstring injury and did not appear in the Finals and Magic Johnson suffered the same injury in Game 2 and could not finish the series. Game 4 of the Finals would also be Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s last NBA game.
Despite their famous "kiss" on the cheek before the 1988 NBA Finals, Isiah Thomas and Magic Johnson friendship would become strained thereafter. Their friendship deteriorated around the 1989 Finals, worsened by allegations that Thomas spread rumors about Johnson's sexuality after his 1991 HIV announcement. Then Thomas blamed Johnson as he felt he had something to do with Thomas being left off the 1992 Olympic Dream Team. This was confirmed in Johnson's book, When the Game Was Ours, when he admitted to being instrumental in keeping Thomas off the team. In 2017, they appeared on NBA TV for a 1-on-1 interview, where they tearfully reconciled and apologized.
Although the Lakers did not win their third consecutive title, head coach Pat Riley filed for the trademark "three-peat" in 1988 for use on apparel and other merchandise, allowing him to collect royalties when teams in the future like the Chicago Bulls (1991-1993 and 1996-1998), New York Yankees (1998-2000), or Lakers (2000-2002) achieved three consecutive championships, with most proceeds going to charity. It was later revealed that Byron Scott was actually the one who coined the term three-peat first.
This was the last championship the Lakers won during the Showtime era. They returned to the Finals the next year, but were swept by the Pistons. They also made one more trip to the Finals in 1991, but lost to Michael Jordan and his Chicago Bulls in five games, becoming the first victim of the Bulls’ first three-peat from 1991 to 1993. The Lakers’ next title would come in 2000 over the Reggie Miller-led Indiana Pacers in six games. The Lakers and Pistons met in the Finals again in 2004, which the Pistons also won.
Four months later, the Los Angeles Dodgers would win the World Series, making Los Angeles the first city ever to win NBA and MLB championships within the same season. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Schuback | Ian Schuback | Ian David "Shooey" Schuback (born 4 September 1952) is an Australian former lawn and indoor bowler, and the only player from outside the United Kingdom to ever win the World Indoor Bowls Championship.
== Biography ==
Schuback bowled for the Coolangatta club in Queensland and was also a former professional tennis coach.
He started bowling in 1980 after watching the Melbourne World Outdoor Championships. Schuback claimed a Men's Singles silver medal at the 1986 Commonwealth Games and then won the 1988 World Indoor Bowls Championship and the 1990 Commonwealth Games Pairs titles.
He won the 1992 World Indoor Bowls Championships Singles, the 1994 World Indoor Bowls Championship Pairs and the 1996 World Indoor Bowls Championship Pairs.
He won two silver medals at the 1991 Asia Pacific Bowls Championships, in Kowloon, Hong Kong.
In the 2009 Australia Day Honours he was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for "service to lawn bowls as a coach, competitor and commentator". He was also awarded the Australian Sports Medal on 23 August 2000. |
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Stanley_Cup_Finals | 2014 Stanley Cup Finals | |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Haise | Fred Haise | Fred Wallace Haise Jr. ( HAYZ; born November 14, 1933) is an American former NASA astronaut, engineer, fighter pilot with the U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Air Force, and a test pilot. He is one of 24 people to have flown to the Moon, having served as Lunar Module pilot on Apollo 13. He was to have been the sixth person to walk on the Moon, but the Apollo 13 landing was aborted en route. Haise flew five Space Shuttle Approach and Landing Tests in 1977. He retired from NASA in 1979. He is the last surviving crew member of Apollo 13 and the last surviving Apollo astronaut that flew to the moon without landing.
== Early life ==
Fred Wallace Haise Jr. was born on November 14, 1933, and raised in Biloxi, Mississippi, to Fred Wallace Haise Sr. and Lucille (née Blacksher) Haise. He has a younger sister who was born in 1941. After the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, his father enlisted in the U.S. Navy at the age of 36, and the Haise family moved to Chicago. The family then moved to Key West, Florida, until his father's ship, YMS-84, deployed to the South Pacific, when the family moved back to Biloxi. He graduated from Biloxi High School in 1950. He attended Perkinston Junior College with a scholarship for journalism, and played on the baseball team. He graduated in 1952, and joined the Naval Aviation Cadet Program. He went to ground school at NAS Pensacola, and then moved to NAS Whiting Field in 1952. He trained in the SNJ and F6F Hellcat, and completed his flight training in 1954. He served as a fighter pilot in the U.S. Marine Corps, with VMF-533, then VMF-114 on the F2H-4 Banshee and F9F-8 Cougar at MCAS Cherry Point, North Carolina, from March 1954 to September 1956. Haise also served as a tactics and all-weather flight instructor in the U.S. Navy Advanced Training Command at NAS Kingsville, Texas.
Haise has accumulated 9,300 hours flying time, including 6,200 hours in jets.
After his military service, Haise returned to school and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree with honors in aeronautical engineering from the University of Oklahoma in 1959, concurrently serving for two years in the Oklahoma Air National Guard, as a fighter interceptor pilot with the 185th Fighter Interceptor Squadron, flying the F-86D. He then worked for the newly created National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), first as a research pilot at the Lewis Research Center near Cleveland. His Air National Guard unit was called up during the Berlin Crisis of 1961 and he served ten months as a fighter pilot in the United States Air Force. He was a tactical fighter pilot and chief of the 164th Standardization-Evaluation Flight of the 164th Tactical Fighter Squadron at Mansfield Lahm Air National Guard Base, Ohio, flying the F-84F.
Haise completed post-graduate courses at the U.S. Air Force Aerospace Research Pilot School (Class 64A) at Edwards Air Force Base, California, in 1964, and attended the six-week Harvard Business School's Advanced Management Program in 1972.
== NASA career ==
In 1966, Haise was one of 19 astronauts selected for NASA Astronaut Group 5. He had already worked with NASA for several years as a civilian research pilot. He was the first astronaut in his group to be assigned to a mission, serving as backup Lunar Module Pilot for both Apollo 8 and Apollo 11.
=== Apollo 13 ===
According to the rotation of crews during Apollo, Haise was originally assigned as Lunar Module Pilot for Apollo 14, but his crew was switched to Apollo 13 so that Alan Shepard could have more training time. He flew as Lunar Module Pilot on the aborted Apollo 13 lunar mission in 1970. Due to the distance between the Earth and Moon during the mission, Haise, Jim Lovell, and Jack Swigert hold the record for the farthest distance from the Earth ever traveled by human beings. Haise and Jack Swigert were the first people from Group 5 to fly in space. During this flight, Haise developed a urinary tract infection and later kidney infections. These caused him to be in pain for most of the trip.
Haise was slated to become the 6th human to walk on the Moon during Apollo 13 behind Lovell, who was to be 5th. Alan Shepard and Edgar Mitchell eventually became the fifth and sixth respectively on Apollo 14, which completed Apollo 13's mission to the Fra Mauro formation.
Haise served as backup commander for Apollo 16. Though there was no formal selection, Haise was prospectively slated to command Apollo 19 with William R. Pogue as Command Module Pilot and Gerald P. Carr as Lunar Module Pilot. However, the mission was canceled in 1970 due to budget cuts.
=== Space Shuttle approach and landing tests ===
After completing his backup assignment on Apollo 16, Haise moved to the Space Shuttle program. In 1977, he participated in the program's Approach and Landing Tests (ALT) at Edwards Air Force Base. Along with C. Gordon Fullerton as pilot, Haise as commander piloted the Space Shuttle Enterprise in free flight to three landings after being released from the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft. The tests verified the shuttle's flight characteristics, an important step toward the success of the program.
Haise was assigned to command STS-2A, with Jack R. Lousma as pilot, the second Space Shuttle mission, which would have delivered the Teleoperator Retrieval System that would have boosted Skylab to a higher orbit, preserving it for future use. Delays in the Shuttle program development as well as an unexpected increase in Skylab's orbital decay led to the mission being canceled. Skylab was destroyed upon entering the Earth's atmosphere in July 1979, while the Space Shuttle did not launch until April 1981.
In June 1979, Haise left NASA to become a test pilot and executive with Grumman Aerospace Corporation, where he remained until retiring in 1996. He was the only one of the four astronauts who conducted the Enterprise landing tests not to fly in space on the Shuttle.
== Personal life ==
Haise has four children with his first wife Mary Griffin Grant, whom he married on June 4, 1954, and divorced on July 21, 1978. He married Frances Patt Price, on January 9, 1979. On February 7, 2022, Frances died.
On August 22, 1973, Haise was piloting a Convair BT-13 belonging to the Commemorative Air Force that had been converted to look like an Aichi D3A "Val" torpedo bomber for the 1970 film Tora! Tora! Tora!. While attempting a landing go around at Scholes Field in Galveston, Texas, an undetermined power plant failure led to a crash landing. Haise suffered second‐degree burns over 50 percent of his body in the post crash fire.
In 2022, Haise published his autobiography, Never Panic Early, about his life and experiences in the Apollo program.
== Organizations ==
Haise is a fellow of the American Astronautical Society (AAS) and the Society of Experimental Test Pilots (SETP); member, Tau Beta Pi, Sigma Gamma Tau, and Phi Theta Kappa; and honorary member, National WWII Glider Pilots Association.
== Awards and honors ==
Haise's other awards include the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Haley Astronautics Award for 1971; the American Astronautical Society Flight Achievement Awards for 1970 and 1977; the City of New York Gold Medal in 1970; the City of Houston Medal for Valor in 1970; the Jeff Davis Award (1970); the Mississippi Distinguished Civilian Service Medal (1970); the American Defense Ribbon; the SETP's Ray E. Tenhoff Award for 1966; the A. B. Honts Trophy as the outstanding graduate of Class 64A from the Aerospace Research Pilot School in 1964; an honorary doctor of science degree from Western Michigan University (1970); the JSC Special Achievement Award (1978); the Soaring Society of America's Certificate of Achievement Award (1978); the General Thomas D. White USAF Space Trophy for 1977; the SETP's Iven C. Kincheloe Award (1978); and the Air Force Association's David C. Schilling Award (1978).
Haise received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, NASA Distinguished Service Medal, and NASA Exceptional Service Medal.
He was inducted into the International Space Hall of Fame in 1983 and the Aerospace Walk of Honor in 1995. He was also one of 24 Apollo astronauts inducted into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame on October 4, 1997.
On February 13, 2022, the City of Biloxi unveiled a statue of Haise in the parking lot of the historic Biloxi Lighthouse. Haise was present at the ceremony and had his handprints set in concrete at the statue's base prior to its unveiling. The statue was created by Mississippi artist Mary Ott Tremel Davidson.
In September 2023, Haise was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in Dayton, Ohio.
== In popular culture ==
In the 1995 motion picture Apollo 13, Haise was played by Bill Paxton.
In the 1998 HBO miniseries From the Earth to the Moon, Haise was played by Adam Baldwin. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wisconsin_Highway_34 | Wisconsin Highway 34 | State Trunk Highway 34 (often called Highway 34, STH-34 or WIS 34) is a state highway in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It runs north–south as a shortcut route in central Wisconsin connecting Wausau and Wisconsin Rapids. In 2012, WIS 13 was added as a concurrency between US Highway 10 (US 10) west of Junction City and WIS 34's southern terminus in Wisconsin Rapids. The highway ends at Interstate 39 (I-39) in Knowlton on the north end, and at WIS 13 in Wisconsin Rapids on the south end.
== Route description ==
Starting at WIS 13/WIS 73 in Wisconsin Rapids, WIS 34 begins as a brief five-lane divided highway (three lanes northbound; two lanes southbound). Also, WIS 13 follows WIS 34 before reaching US 10. In the meantime, after crossing High Street at a four-way intersection, the road becomes a four-lane divided highway (two lanes in both directions). As both routes reach the city limit, the road downgrades into a two-lane undivided highway. Then, both reach WIS 66 at a three-way intersection. Just west of Junction City, they meet US 10 at a diamond interchange. WIS 34 turns east while WIS 13 turns west on the US 10 expressway. At the next exit, WIS 34 turns back north at another diamond interchange. Continuing north, it crosses the Wisconsin River. After crossing the Wisconsin River, it curves east to meet I-39/US 51 at a diamond interchange. At that diamond interchange, WIS 34 ends there.
== History ==
Initially, WIS 34 traveled from WIS 45 in Ellsworth to WIS 37 in Mondovi roughly on present-day US 10. In 1920, WIS 34 extended west to Prescott. In 1924, WIS 34 moved to a new route (Berlin to Butte des Morts) as WIS 18 acquired the entirety of old WIS 34. In 1927, the WIS 116 designation moved to use the Berlin to Butte des Morts route. As a result, WIS 34 moved back onto its old route. This time, it used its old route and then traveled eastward to US 10/US 12 in Fairchild (the extension is also now part of US 10). In 1935, WIS 34 moved onto its current route except for the US 10 expressway. This relocation happened in favor of replacing WIS 45 (which duplicated US 45 since 1935) and relocating US 10 southward (which superseded what used to be WIS 34).
Between July 2010 and October 2011, the US 10 expressway was being built. After its opening, WIS 34 moved onto part of the expressway.
== Major intersections == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoover_Dam | Hoover Dam | The Hoover Dam is a concrete arch-gravity dam in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River, on the boundary between the U.S. states of Nevada and Arizona. Constructed between 1931 and 1936, during the Great Depression, it was dedicated on September 30, 1935, by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Its construction was the result of a massive effort involving thousands of workers, and cost over 100 lives. Bills passed by Congress during its construction referred to it as Hoover Dam (after President Herbert Hoover), but the Roosevelt administration named it Boulder Dam. In 1947, Congress restored the name Hoover Dam.
Since about 1900, the Black Canyon and nearby Boulder Canyon had been investigated for their potential to support a dam that would control floods, provide irrigation water, and produce hydroelectric power. In 1928, Congress authorized the project. The winning bid to build the dam was submitted by a consortium named Six Companies, Inc., which began construction in early 1931. Such a large concrete structure had never been built before, and some of the techniques used were unproven. The torrid summer weather and lack of facilities near the site also presented difficulties. Nevertheless, Six Companies turned the dam over to the federal government on March 1, 1936, more than two years ahead of schedule.
Hoover Dam impounds Lake Mead and is located near Boulder City, Nevada, a municipality originally constructed for workers on the construction project, about 30 mi (48 km) southeast of Las Vegas, Nevada. The dam's generators provide power for public and private utilities in Nevada, Arizona, and California. Hoover Dam is a major tourist attraction, with 7 million tourists a year. The heavily traveled U.S. Route 93 (US 93) ran along the dam's crest until October 2010, when the Hoover Dam Bypass opened.
== Background ==
=== Search for resources ===
As the United States developed the Southwest, the Colorado River was seen as a potential source of irrigation water. An initial attempt at diverting the river for irrigation purposes occurred in the late 1890s, when land speculator William Beatty built the Alamo Canal just north of the Mexican border; the canal dipped into Mexico before running to a desolate area Beatty named the Imperial Valley. Though water from the Alamo Canal allowed for the widespread settlement of the valley, the canal proved expensive to operate. After a catastrophic breach that caused the Colorado River to fill the Salton Sea, the Southern Pacific Railroad spent $3 million in 1906–07 to stabilize the waterway, an amount it hoped in vain that it would be reimbursed for by the federal government. Even after the waterway was stabilized, it proved unsatisfactory because of constant disputes with landowners on the Mexican side of the border.
As the technology of electric power transmission improved, the Lower Colorado was considered for its hydroelectric-power potential. In 1902, the Edison Electric Company of Los Angeles surveyed the river in the hope of building a 40-foot (12 m) rock dam which could generate 10,000 horsepower (7,500 kW). However, at the time, the limit of transmission of electric power was 80 miles (130 km), and there were few customers (mostly mines) within that limit. Edison allowed land options it held on the river to lapse—including an option for what became the site of Hoover Dam.
In the following years, the Bureau of Reclamation (BOR), known as the Reclamation Service at the time, also considered the Lower Colorado as the site for a dam. Service chief Arthur Powell Davis proposed using dynamite to collapse the walls of Boulder Canyon, 20 miles (32 km) north of the eventual dam site, into the river. The river would carry off the smaller pieces of debris, and a dam would be built incorporating the remaining rubble. In 1922, after considering it for several years, the Reclamation Service finally rejected the proposal, citing doubts about the unproven technique and questions as to whether it would, in fact, save money.
=== Planning and agreements ===
In 1922, the Reclamation Service presented a report calling for the development of a dam on the Colorado River for flood control and electric power generation. The report was principally authored by Davis and was called the Fall-Davis report after Interior Secretary Albert Fall. The Fall-Davis report cited use of the Colorado River as a federal concern because the river's basin covered several states, and the river eventually entered Mexico. Though the Fall-Davis report called for a dam "at or near Boulder Canyon", the Reclamation Service (which was renamed the Bureau of Reclamation the following year) found that canyon unsuitable. One potential site at Boulder Canyon was bisected by a geologic fault; two others were so narrow there was no space for a construction camp at the bottom of the canyon or for a spillway. The Service investigated Black Canyon and found it ideal; a railway could be laid from the railhead in Las Vegas to the top of the dam site. Despite the site change, the dam project was referred to as the "Boulder Canyon Project".
With little guidance on water allocation from the Supreme Court, proponents of the dam feared endless litigation. Delph Carpenter, a Colorado attorney, proposed that the seven states which fell within the river's basin (California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, Colorado and Wyoming) form an interstate compact, with the approval of Congress. Such compacts were authorized by Article I of the United States Constitution but had never been concluded among more than two states. In 1922, representatives of seven states met with then-Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover. Initial talks produced no result, but when the Supreme Court handed down the Wyoming v. Colorado decision undermining the claims of the upstream states, they became anxious to reach an agreement. The resulting Colorado River Compact was signed on November 24, 1922.
Legislation to authorize the dam was introduced repeatedly by two California Republicans, Representative Phil Swing and Senator Hiram Johnson, but representatives from other parts of the country considered the project as hugely expensive and one that would mostly benefit California. The 1927 Mississippi flood made Midwestern and Southern congressmen and senators more sympathetic toward the dam project. On March 12, 1928, the failure of the St. Francis Dam, constructed by the city of Los Angeles, caused a disastrous flood that killed up to 600 people. As that dam was a curved-gravity type, similar in design to the arch-gravity as was proposed for the Black Canyon dam, opponents claimed that the Black Canyon dam's safety could not be guaranteed. Congress authorized a board of engineers to review plans for the proposed dam. The Colorado River Board found the project feasible, but warned that should the dam fail, every downstream Colorado River community would be destroyed, and that the river might change course and empty into the Salton Sea. The Board cautioned: "To avoid such possibilities, the proposed dam should be constructed on conservative if not ultra-conservative lines."
On December 21, 1928, President Coolidge signed the bill authorizing the dam. The Boulder Canyon Project Act appropriated $165 million for the project along with the downstream Imperial Dam and All-American Canal, a replacement for Beatty's canal entirely on the U.S. side of the border. It also permitted the compact to go into effect when at least six of the seven states approved it. This occurred on March 6, 1929, with Utah's ratification; Arizona did not approve it until 1944.
=== Design, preparation and contracting ===
Even before Congress approved the Boulder Canyon Project, the Bureau of Reclamation was considering what kind of dam should be used. Officials eventually decided on a massive concrete arch-gravity dam, the design of which was overseen by the Bureau's chief design engineer John L. Savage. The monolithic dam would be thick at the bottom and thin near the top and would present a convex face towards the water above the dam. The curving arch of the dam would transmit the water's force into the abutments, in this case the rock walls of the canyon. The wedge-shaped dam would be 660 ft (200 m) thick at the bottom, narrowing to 45 ft (14 m) at the top, leaving room for a highway connecting Nevada and Arizona.
On January 10, 1931, the Bureau made the bid documents available to interested parties, at five dollars a copy. The government was to provide the materials, and the contractor was to prepare the site and build the dam. The dam was described in minute detail, covering 100 pages of text and 76 drawings. A $2 million bid bond was to accompany each bid; the winner would have to post a $5 million performance bond. The contractor had seven years to build the dam, or penalties would ensue.
The Wattis Brothers, heads of the Utah Construction Company, were interested in bidding on the project, but lacked the money for the performance bond. They lacked sufficient resources even in combination with their longtime partners, Morrison-Knudsen, which employed the nation's leading dam builder, Frank Crowe. They formed a joint venture to bid for the project with Pacific Bridge Company of Portland, Oregon; Henry J. Kaiser & W. A. Bechtel Company of San Francisco; MacDonald & Kahn Ltd. of Los Angeles; and the J.F. Shea Company of Portland, Oregon. The joint venture was called Six Companies, Inc. as Bechtel and Kaiser were considered one company for purposes of Six in the name. The name was descriptive and was an inside joke among the San Franciscans in the bid, where "Six Companies" was also a Chinese benevolent association in the city. There were three valid bids, and Six Companies' bid of $48,890,955 was the lowest, within $24,000 of the confidential government estimate of what the dam would cost to build, and five million dollars less than the next-lowest bid.
The city of Las Vegas had lobbied hard to be the headquarters for the dam construction, closing its many speakeasies when the decision maker, Secretary of the Interior Ray Wilbur, came to town. Instead, Wilbur announced in early 1930 that a model city was to be built in the desert near the dam site. This town became known as Boulder City, Nevada. Construction of a rail line joining Las Vegas and the dam site began in September 1930.
== Construction ==
=== Labor force ===
Soon after the dam was authorized, increasing numbers of unemployed people converged on southern Nevada. Las Vegas, then a small city of some 5,000, saw between 10,000 and 20,000 unemployed descend on it. A government camp was established for surveyors and other personnel near the dam site; this soon became surrounded by a squatters' camp. Known as McKeeversville, the camp was home to men hoping for work on the project, together with their families. Another camp, on the flats along the Colorado River, was officially called Williamsville, but was known to its inhabitants as "Ragtown". When construction began, Six Companies hired large numbers of workers, with more than 3,000 on the payroll by 1932 and with employment peaking at 5,251 in July 1934. "Mongolian" (Chinese) labor was prevented by the construction contract, while the number of black people employed by Six Companies never exceeded thirty, mostly lowest-pay-scale laborers in a segregated crew, who were issued separate water buckets.
As part of the contract, Six Companies, Inc. was to build Boulder City to house the workers. The original timetable called for Boulder City to be built before the dam project began, but President Hoover ordered work on the dam to begin in March 1931 rather than in October. The company built bunkhouses, attached to the canyon wall, to house 480 single men at what became known as River Camp. Workers with families were left to provide their own accommodations until Boulder City could be completed, and many lived in Ragtown. The site of Hoover Dam endures extremely hot weather, and the summer of 1931 was especially torrid, with the daytime high averaging 119.9 °F (48.8 °C). Sixteen workers and other riverbank residents died of heat prostration between June 25 and July 26, 1931.
Mabel Macferran Rockwell was the only woman involved in the design and installation of the power generating machinery for Hoover Dam. She worked on the economic design of the company's transmission for the dam, which was the basis for her prize-winning paper "Power Limits of 220 Kv Transmission Lines" (co-authored with A. A. Kroneberg).
The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW or "Wobblies"), though much-reduced from their heyday as militant labor organizers in the early years of the century, hoped to unionize the Six Companies workers by capitalizing on their discontent. They sent eleven organizers, several of whom were arrested by Las Vegas police. On August 7, 1931, the company cut wages for all tunnel workers. Although the workers sent the organizers away, not wanting to be associated with the "Wobblies", they formed a committee to represent them with the company. The committee drew up a list of demands that evening and presented them to Crowe the following morning. He was noncommittal. The workers hoped that Crowe, the general superintendent of the job, would be sympathetic; instead, he gave a scathing interview to a newspaper, describing the workers as "malcontents".
On the morning of the 9th, Crowe met with the committee and told them that management refused their demands, was stopping all work, and was laying off the entire work force, except for a few office workers and carpenters. The workers were given until 5 p.m. to vacate the premises. Concerned that a violent confrontation was imminent, most workers took their paychecks and left for Las Vegas to await developments. Two days later, the remainder were talked into leaving by law enforcement. On August 13, the company began hiring workers again, and two days later, the strike was called off. While the workers received none of their demands, the company guaranteed there would be no further reductions in wages. Living conditions began to improve as the first residents moved into Boulder City in late 1931.
A second labor action took place in July 1935, as construction on the dam wound down. When a Six Companies manager altered working times to force workers to take lunch on their own time, workers responded with a strike. Emboldened by Crowe's reversal of the lunch decree, workers raised their demands to include a $1-per-day raise. The company agreed to ask the Federal government to supplement the pay, but no money was forthcoming from Washington. The strike ended.
=== River diversion ===
Before the dam could be built, the Colorado River needed to be diverted away from the construction site. To accomplish this, four diversion tunnels were driven through the canyon walls, two on the Nevada side and two on the Arizona side. These tunnels were 56 ft (17 m) in diameter. Their combined length was nearly 16,000 ft, or more than 3 miles (5 km). The contract required these tunnels to be completed by October 1, 1933, with a $3,000-per-day fine to be assessed for any delay. To meet the deadline, Six Companies had to complete work by early 1933, since only in late fall and winter was the water level in the river low enough to safely divert.
Tunneling began at the lower portals of the Nevada tunnels in May 1931. Shortly afterward, work began on two similar tunnels in the Arizona canyon wall. In March 1932, work began on lining the tunnels with concrete. First the base, or invert, was poured. Gantry cranes, running on rails through the entire length of each tunnel were used to place the concrete. The sidewalls were poured next. Movable sections of steel forms were used for the sidewalls. Finally, using pneumatic guns, the overheads were filled in. The concrete lining is 3 feet (1 m) thick, reducing the finished tunnel diameter to 50 ft (15 m). The river was diverted into the two Arizona tunnels on November 13, 1932; the Nevada tunnels were kept in reserve for high water. This was done by exploding a temporary cofferdam protecting the Arizona tunnels while at the same time dumping rubble into the river until its natural course was blocked.
Following the completion of the dam, the entrances to the two outer diversion tunnels were sealed at the opening and halfway through the tunnels with large concrete plugs. The downstream halves of the tunnels following the inner plugs are now the main bodies of the spillway tunnels. The inner diversion tunnels were plugged at approximately one-third of their length, beyond which they now carry steel pipes connecting the intake towers to the power plant and outlet works. The inner tunnels' outlets are equipped with gates that can be closed to drain the tunnels for maintenance.
=== Groundworks, rock clearance and grout curtain ===
To protect the construction site from the Colorado River and to facilitate the river's diversion, two cofferdams were constructed. Work on the upper cofferdam began in September 1932, even though the river had not yet been diverted. The cofferdams were designed to protect against the possibility of the river's flooding a site at which two thousand men might be at work, and their specifications were covered in the bid documents in nearly as much detail as the dam itself. The upper cofferdam was 96 ft (29 m) high, and 750 feet (230 m) thick at its base, thicker than the dam itself. It contained 650,000 cubic yards (500,000 m3) of material.
When the cofferdams were in place and the construction site was drained of water, excavation for the dam foundation began. For the dam to rest on solid rock, it was necessary to remove accumulated erosion soils and other loose materials in the riverbed until sound bedrock was reached. Work on the foundation excavations was completed in June 1933. During this excavation, approximately 1,500,000 cu yd (1,100,000 m3) of material was removed. Since the dam was an arch-gravity type, the side-walls of the canyon would bear the force of the impounded lake. Therefore, the side-walls were also excavated to reach virgin rock, as weathered rock might provide pathways for water seepage. Shovels for the excavation came from the Marion Power Shovel Company.
The men who removed this rock were called "high scalers". While suspended from the top of the canyon with ropes, the high-scalers climbed down the canyon walls and removed the loose rock with jackhammers and dynamite. Falling objects were the most common cause of death on the dam site; the high scalers' work thus helped ensure worker safety. One high scaler was able to save a life in a more direct manner: when a government inspector lost his grip on a safety line and began tumbling down a slope towards almost certain death, a high scaler was able to intercept him and pull him into the air. The construction site had become a magnet for tourists. The high scalers were prime attractions and showed off for the watchers. The high scalers received considerable media attention, with one worker dubbed the "Human Pendulum" for swinging co-workers (and, at other times, cases of dynamite) across the canyon. To protect themselves against falling objects, some high scalers dipped cloth hats in tar and allowed them to harden. When workers wearing such headgear were struck hard enough to inflict broken jaws, they sustained no skull damage. Six Companies ordered thousands of what initially were called "hard boiled hats" (later "hard hats") and strongly encouraged their use.
The cleared, underlying rock foundation of the dam site was reinforced with grout, forming a grout curtain. Holes were driven into the walls and base of the canyon, as deep as 150 feet (46 m) into the rock, and any cavities encountered were to be filled with grout. This was done to stabilize the rock, to prevent water from seeping past the dam through the canyon rock, and to limit "uplift"—upward pressure from water seeping under the dam. The workers were under severe time constraints due to the beginning of the concrete pour. When they encountered hot springs or cavities too large to readily fill, they moved on without resolving the problem. A total of 58 of the 393 holes were incompletely filled. After the dam was completed and the lake began to fill, large numbers of significant leaks caused the Bureau of Reclamation to examine the situation. It found that the work had been incompletely done, and was based on less than a full understanding of the canyon's geology. New holes were drilled from inspection galleries inside the dam into the surrounding bedrock. It took nine years (1938–47) under relative secrecy to complete the supplemental grout curtain.
=== Concrete ===
The first concrete was poured into the dam on June 6, 1933, 18 months ahead of schedule. Since concrete heats and contracts as it cures, the potential for uneven cooling and contraction of the concrete posed a serious problem. Bureau of Reclamation engineers calculated that if the dam were to be built in a single continuous pour, the concrete would take 125 years to cool, and the resulting stresses would cause the dam to crack and crumble. Instead, the ground where the dam would rise was marked with rectangles, and concrete blocks in columns were poured, some as large as 50 ft square (15 m) and 5 feet (1.5 m) high. Each five-foot form contained a set of 1-inch (25 mm) steel pipes; cool river water would be poured through the pipes, followed by ice-cold water from a refrigeration plant. When an individual block had cured and had stopped contracting, the pipes were filled with grout. Grout was also used to fill the hairline spaces between columns, which were grooved to increase the strength of the joints.
The concrete was delivered in huge steel buckets 7 feet high (2.1 m) and almost 7 feet in diameter; Crowe was awarded two patents for their design. These buckets, which weighed 20 short tons (18.1 t; 17.9 long tons) when full, were filled at two massive concrete plants on the Nevada side, and were delivered to the site in special railcars. The buckets were then suspended from aerial cableways which were used to deliver the bucket to a specific column. As the required grade of aggregate in the concrete differed depending on placement in the dam (from pea-sized gravel to 9 inches [230 mm] stones), it was vital that the bucket be maneuvered to the proper column. When the bottom of the bucket opened up, disgorging 8 cu yd (6.1 m3) of concrete, a team of men worked it throughout the form. Although there are myths that men were caught in the pour and are entombed in the dam to this day, each bucket deepened the concrete in a form by only 1 inch (25 mm), and Six Companies engineers would not have permitted a flaw caused by the presence of a human body.
A total of 3,250,000 cubic yards (2,480,000 cubic meters) of concrete was used in the dam before concrete pouring ceased on May 29, 1935. In addition, 1,110,000 cu yd (850,000 m3) were used in the power plant and other works. More than 582 miles (937 km) of cooling pipes were placed within the concrete. Overall, there is enough concrete in the dam to pave a two-lane highway from San Francisco to New York. Concrete cores were removed from the dam for testing in 1995; they showed that "Hoover Dam's concrete has continued to slowly gain strength" and the dam is composed of a "durable concrete having a compressive strength exceeding the range typically found in normal mass concrete". Hoover Dam concrete is not subject to alkali–silica reaction (ASR), as the Hoover Dam builders happened to use nonreactive aggregate, unlike that at downstream Parker Dam, where ASR has caused measurable deterioration.
=== Dedication and completion ===
With most work finished on the dam itself (the powerhouse remained uncompleted), a formal dedication ceremony was arranged for September 30, 1935, to coincide with a western tour being made by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The morning of the dedication, it was moved forward three hours from 2 p.m. Pacific time to 11 a.m.; this was done because Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes had reserved a radio slot for the President for 2 p.m. but officials did not realize until the day of the ceremony that the slot was for 2 p.m. Eastern Time. Despite the change in the ceremony time, and temperatures of 102 °F (39 °C), 10,000 people were present for the President's speech, in which he avoided mentioning the name of former President Hoover, who was not invited to the ceremony. To mark the occasion, a three-cent stamp was issued by the United States Post Office Department—bearing the name "Boulder Dam", the official name of the dam between 1933 and 1947. After the ceremony, Roosevelt made the first visit by any American president to Las Vegas.
Most work had been completed by the dedication, and Six Companies negotiated with the government through late 1935 and early 1936 to settle all claims and arrange for the formal transfer of the dam to the Federal Government. The parties came to an agreement and on March 1, 1936, Secretary Ickes formally accepted the dam on behalf of the government. Six Companies was not required to complete work on one item, a concrete plug for one of the bypass tunnels, as the tunnel had to be used to take in irrigation water until the powerhouse went into operation.
=== Construction deaths ===
There were 112 deaths reported as associated with the construction of the dam. The first was Bureau of Reclamation employee Harold Connelly who died on May 15, 1921, after falling from a barge while surveying the Colorado River for an ideal spot for the dam. Surveyor John Gregory ("J.G.") Tierney, who drowned on December 20, 1922, in a flash flood while looking for an ideal spot for the dam was the second person. The official list's final death occurred on December 20, 1935, when Patrick Tierney, electrician's helper and the son of J.G. Tierney, fell from one of the two Arizona-side intake towers. Included in the fatality list are three workers who took their own lives on site, one in 1932 and two in 1933. Of the 112 fatalities, 91 were Six Companies employees, three were Bureau of Reclamation employees, and one was a visitor to the site; the remainder were employees of various contractors not part of Six Companies.
Ninety-six of the deaths occurred during construction at the site. Not included in the official number of fatalities were deaths that were recorded as pneumonia. Workers alleged that this diagnosis was a cover for death from carbon monoxide poisoning (brought on by the use of gasoline-fueled vehicles in the diversion tunnels), and a classification used by Six Companies to avoid paying compensation claims. The site's diversion tunnels frequently reached 140 °F (60 °C), enveloped in thick plumes of vehicle exhaust gases. A total of 42 workers were recorded as having died from pneumonia and were not included in the above total; none were listed as having died from carbon monoxide poisoning. No deaths of non-workers from pneumonia were recorded in Boulder City during the construction period.
=== Architectural style ===
The initial plans for the facade of the dam, the power plant, the outlet tunnels and ornaments clashed with the modern look of an arch dam. The Bureau of Reclamation, more concerned with the dam's functionality, adorned it with a Gothic-inspired balustrade and eagle statues. This initial design was criticized by many as being too plain and unremarkable for a project of such immense scale, so Los Angeles-based architect Gordon B. Kaufmann, then the supervising architect to the Bureau of Reclamation, was brought in to redesign the exteriors. Kaufmann greatly streamlined the design and applied an elegant Art Deco style to the entire project. He designed sculpted turrets rising seamlessly from the dam face and clock faces on the intake towers set for the time in Nevada and Arizona—both states are in different time zones, but since Arizona does not observe daylight saving time, the clocks display the same time for more than half the year.
At Kaufmann's request, Denver artist Allen Tupper True was hired to handle the design and decoration of the walls and floors of the new dam. True's design scheme incorporated motifs of the Navajo and Pueblo tribes of the region. Although some were initially opposed to these designs, True was given the go-ahead and was officially appointed consulting artist. With the assistance of the National Laboratory of Anthropology, True researched authentic decorative motifs from Indian sand paintings, textiles, baskets and ceramics. The images and colors are based on Native American visions of rain, lightning, water, clouds, and local animals—lizards, serpents, birds—and on the Southwestern landscape of stepped mesas. In these works, which are integrated into the walkways and interior halls of the dam, True also reflected on the machinery of the operation, making the symbolic patterns appear both ancient and modern.
With the agreement of Kaufmann and the engineers, True also devised for the pipes and machinery an innovative color-coding which was implemented throughout all BOR projects. True's consulting artist job lasted through 1942; it was extended so he could complete design work for the Parker, Shasta and Grand Coulee dams and power plants. True's work on the Hoover Dam was humorously referred to in a poem published in The New Yorker, part of which read, "lose the spark, and justify the dream; but also worthy of remark will be the color scheme".
Complementing Kaufmann and True's work, sculptor Oskar J. W. Hansen designed many of the sculptures on and around the dam. His works include the monument of dedication plaza, a plaque to memorialize the workers killed and the bas-reliefs on the elevator towers. In his words, Hansen wanted his work to express "the immutable calm of intellectual resolution, and the enormous power of trained physical strength, equally enthroned in placid triumph of scientific accomplishment", because "[t]he building of Hoover Dam belongs to the sagas of the daring." Hansen's dedication plaza, on the Nevada abutment, contains a sculpture of two winged figures flanking a flagpole.
Surrounding the base of the monument is a terrazzo floor embedded with a "star map". The map depicts the Northern Hemisphere sky at the moment of President Roosevelt's dedication of the dam. This is intended to help future astronomers, if necessary, calculate the exact date of dedication. The 30-foot-high (9.1 m) bronze figures, dubbed Winged Figures of the Republic, were both formed in a continuous pour. To put such large bronzes into place without marring the highly polished bronze surface, they were placed on ice and guided into position as the ice melted. Hansen's bas-relief on the Nevada elevator tower depicts the benefits of the dam: flood control, navigation, irrigation, water storage, and power. The bas-relief on the Arizona elevator depicts, in his words, "the visages of those Indian tribes who have inhabited mountains and plains from ages distant."
== Operation ==
=== Power plant and water demands ===
Excavation for the powerhouse was carried out simultaneously with the excavation for the dam foundation and abutments. The excavation of this U-shaped structure located at the downstream toe of the dam was completed in late 1933 with the first concrete placed in November 1933. Filling of Lake Mead began February 1, 1935, even before the last of the concrete was poured that May. The powerhouse was one of the projects uncompleted at the time of the formal dedication on September 30, 1935; a crew of 500 men remained to finish it and other structures. To make the powerhouse roof bombproof, it was constructed of layers of concrete, rock, and steel with a total thickness of about 3.5 feet (1.1 m), topped with layers of sand and tar.
In the latter half of 1936, water levels in Lake Mead were high enough to permit power generation, and the first three Allis-Chalmers built Francis turbine-generators, all on the Nevada side, began operating. In March 1937, one more Nevada generator went online and the first Arizona generator by August. By September 1939, four more generators were operating, and the dam's power plant became the largest hydroelectricity facility in the world. The final generator was not placed in service until 1961, bringing the maximum generating capacity to 1,345 megawatts at the time. Original plans called for 16 large generators, eight on each side of the river, but two smaller generators were installed instead of one large one on the Arizona side for a total of 17. The smaller generators were used to serve smaller communities at a time when the output of each generator was dedicated to a single municipality, before the dam's total power output was placed on the grid and made arbitrarily distributable.
Before water from Lake Mead reaches the turbines, it enters the intake towers and then four gradually narrowing penstocks which funnel the water down towards the powerhouse. The intakes provide a maximum hydraulic head (water pressure) of 590 ft (180 m) as the water reaches a speed of about 85 mph (140 km/h). The entire flow of the Colorado River usually passes through the turbines. The spillways and outlet works (jet-flow gates) are rarely used. The jet-flow gates, located in concrete structures 180 feet (55 m) above the river and also at the outlets of the inner diversion tunnels at river level, may be used to divert water around the dam in emergency or flood conditions, but have never done so, and in practice are used only to drain water from the penstocks for maintenance. Following an uprating project from 1986 to 1993, the total gross power rating for the plant, including two 2.4-megawatt Pelton turbine-generators that power Hoover Dam's own operations, is a maximum capacity of 2080 megawatts. The annual generation of Hoover Dam varies. The maximum net generation was 10.348 TWh in 1984, and the minimum since 1940 was 2.648 TWh in 1956. The average power generated was 4.2 TWh/year for 1947–2008. In 2015, the dam generated 3.6 TWh.
The amount of electricity generated by Hoover Dam has been decreasing along with the falling water level in Lake Mead due to the prolonged drought since year 2000 and high demand for the Colorado River's water. By 2014 its generating capacity was downrated by 23% to 1592 MW and was providing power only during periods of peak demand. Lake Mead fell to a new record low elevation of 1,071.61 feet (326.63 m) on July 1, 2016, before beginning to rebound slowly. Under its original design, the dam would no longer be able to generate power once the water level fell below 1,050 feet (320 m), which might have occurred in 2017 had water restrictions not been enforced. To lower the minimum power pool elevation from 1,050 to 950 feet (320 to 290 m), five wide-head turbines, designed to work efficiently with less flow, were installed. Water levels were maintained at over 1,075 feet (328 m) in 2018 and 2019, but fell to a new record low of 1,071.55 feet (326.61 m) on June 10, 2021 and were projected to fall below 1,066 feet (325 m) by the end of 2021.
Control of water was the primary concern in the building of the dam. Power generation has allowed the dam project to be self-sustaining: proceeds from the sale of power repaid the 50-year construction loan, and those revenues also finance the multimillion-dollar yearly maintenance budget. Power is generated in step with and only with the release of water in response to downstream water demands.
Lake Mead and downstream releases from the dam also provide water for both municipal and irrigation uses. Water released from the Hoover Dam eventually reaches several canals. The Colorado River Aqueduct and Central Arizona Project branch off Lake Havasu while the All-American Canal is supplied by the Imperial Dam. In total, water from Lake Mead serves 18 million people in Arizona, Nevada, and California and supplies the irrigation of over 1,000,000 acres (400,000 ha) of land.
In 2018, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) proposed a $3 billion pumped-storage hydroelectricity project—a "battery" of sorts—that would use wind and solar power to recirculate water back up to Lake Mead from a pumping station 20 miles (32 km) downriver.
==== Power distribution ====
Electricity from the dam's powerhouse was originally sold pursuant to a fifty-year contract, authorized by Congress in 1934, which ran from 1937 to 1987. In 1984, Congress passed a new statute which set power allocations to southern California, Arizona, and Nevada from the dam from 1987 to 2017. The powerhouse was run under the original authorization by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and Southern California Edison; in 1987, the Bureau of Reclamation assumed control. In 2011, Congress enacted legislation extending the current contracts until 2067, after setting aside 5% of Hoover Dam's power for sale to Native American tribes, electric cooperatives, and other entities. The new arrangement began on October 1, 2017.
The Bureau of Reclamation reports that the energy generated under the contracts ending in 2017 was allocated as follows:
=== Spillways ===
The dam is protected against over-topping by two spillways. The spillway entrances are located behind each dam abutment, running roughly parallel to the canyon walls. The spillway entrance arrangement forms a classic side-flow weir with each spillway containing four 100-foot-long (30 m) and 16-foot-wide (4.9 m) steel-drum gates. Each gate weighs 5,000,000 pounds (2,300 metric tons) and can be operated manually or automatically. Gates are raised and lowered depending on water levels in the reservoir and flood conditions. The gates cannot entirely prevent water from entering the spillways but can maintain an extra 16 ft (4.9 m) of lake level.
Water flowing over the spillways falls dramatically into 600-foot-long (180 m), 50-foot-wide (15 m) spillway tunnels before connecting to the outer diversion tunnels and reentering the main river channel below the dam. This complex spillway entrance arrangement combined with the approximate 700-foot (210 m) elevation drop from the top of the reservoir to the river below was a difficult engineering problem and posed numerous design challenges. Each spillway's capacity of 200,000 cu ft/s (5,700 m3/s) was empirically verified in post-construction tests in 1941.
The large spillway tunnels have only been used twice, for testing in 1941 and because of flooding in 1983. Both times, when inspecting the tunnels after the spillways were used, engineers found major damage to the concrete linings and underlying rock. The 1941 damage was attributed to a slight misalignment of the tunnel invert (or base), which caused cavitation, a phenomenon in fast-flowing liquids in which vapor bubbles collapse with explosive force. In response to this finding, the tunnels were patched with special heavy-duty concrete and the surface of the concrete was polished mirror-smooth. The spillways were modified in 1947 by adding flip buckets, which both slow the water and decrease the spillway's effective capacity, in an attempt to eliminate conditions thought to have contributed to the 1941 damage. The 1983 damage, also due to cavitation, led to the installation of aerators in the spillways. Tests at Grand Coulee Dam showed that the technique worked, in principle.
=== Roadway and tourism ===
There are two lanes for automobile traffic across the top of the dam, which formerly served as the Colorado River crossing for U.S. Route 93. In the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks, authorities expressed security concerns and the Hoover Dam Bypass project was expedited. Pending the completion of the bypass, restricted traffic was permitted over Hoover Dam. Some types of vehicles were inspected prior to crossing the dam while semi-trailer trucks, buses carrying luggage, and enclosed-box trucks over 40 ft (12 m) long were not allowed on the dam at all, and were diverted to U.S. Route 95 or Nevada State Routes 163/68. The four-lane Hoover Dam Bypass opened on October 19, 2010. It includes a composite steel and concrete arch bridge, the Mike O'Callaghan–Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge, 1,500 ft (460 m) downstream from the dam.
With the opening of the bypass, through traffic is no longer allowed across Hoover Dam; dam visitors are allowed to use the existing roadway to approach from the Nevada side and cross to parking lots and other facilities on the Arizona side.
Hoover Dam opened for tours in 1937 after its completion but following Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, it was closed to the public when the United States entered World War II, during which only authorized traffic, in convoys, was permitted. After the war, it reopened September 2, 1945, and by 1953, annual attendance had risen to 448,081. The dam closed on November 25, 1963, and March 31, 1969, days of mourning in remembrance of Presidents Kennedy and Eisenhower. In 1995, a new visitors' center was built, and the following year, visits exceeded one million for the first time. The dam closed again to the public on September 11, 2001; modified tours were resumed in December and a new "Discovery Tour" was added the following year. Today, nearly a million people per year take the tours of the dam offered by the Bureau of Reclamation. The government's increased security concerns have led to the exclusion of visitors from most of the interior structures. As a result, few of True's decorations can now be seen by visitors. Visitors can only purchase tickets on-site and have the options of a guided tour of the whole facility or only the power plant area. The only self-guided tour option is for the visitor center itself, where visitors can view various exhibits and enjoy a 360-degree view of the dam.
== Environmental impact ==
The changes in water flow and use caused by Hoover Dam's construction and operation have had a large impact on the Colorado River Delta. The construction of the dam has been implicated in causing the decline of this estuarine ecosystem. For six years after the construction of the dam, while Lake Mead filled, virtually no water reached the mouth of the river. The delta's estuary, which once had a freshwater-saltwater mixing zone stretching 40 miles (64 km) south of the river's mouth, was turned into an inverse estuary where the level of salinity was higher close to the river's mouth.
The Colorado River had experienced natural flooding before the construction of the Hoover Dam. The dam eliminated the natural flooding, threatening many species adapted to the flooding, including both plants and animals. The construction of the dam devastated the populations of native fish in the river downstream from the dam. Four species of fish native to the Colorado River, the Bonytail chub, Colorado pikeminnow, Humpback chub, and Razorback sucker, are listed as endangered.
== Naming controversy ==
During the years of lobbying leading up to the passage of legislation authorizing the dam in 1928, the press generally referred to the dam as "Boulder Dam" or as "Boulder Canyon Dam", even though the proposed site had shifted to Black Canyon. The Boulder Canyon Project Act of 1928 (BCPA) never mentioned a proposed name or title for the dam. The BCPA merely allows the government to "construct, operate, and maintain a dam and incidental works in the main stream of the Colorado River at Black Canyon or Boulder Canyon".
When Secretary of the Interior Ray Wilbur spoke at the ceremony starting the building of the railway between Las Vegas and the dam site on September 17, 1930, he named the dam "Hoover Dam", citing a tradition of naming dams after Presidents, though none had been so honored during their terms of office. Wilbur justified his choice on the ground that Hoover was "the great engineer whose vision and persistence ... has done so much to make [the dam] possible". One writer complained in response that "the Great Engineer had quickly drained, ditched, and dammed the country."
After Hoover's election defeat in 1932 and the accession of the Roosevelt administration, Secretary Ickes ordered on May 13, 1933, that the dam be referred to as Boulder Dam. Ickes stated that Wilbur had been imprudent in naming the dam after a sitting president, that Congress had never ratified his choice, and that it had long been referred to as Boulder Dam. Unknown to the general public, Attorney General Homer Cummings informed Ickes that Congress had indeed used the name "Hoover Dam" in five different bills appropriating money for construction of the dam. The official status this conferred to the name "Hoover Dam" had been noted on the floor of the House of Representatives by Congressman Edward T. Taylor of Colorado on December 12, 1930, but was likewise ignored by Ickes.
When Ickes spoke at the dedication ceremony on September 30, 1935, he was determined, as he recorded in his diary, "to try to nail down for good and all the name Boulder Dam." At one point in the speech, he spoke the words "Boulder Dam" five times within thirty seconds. Further, he suggested that if the dam were to be named after any one person, it should be for California Senator Hiram Johnson, a lead sponsor of the authorizing legislation. Roosevelt also referred to the dam as Boulder Dam, and the Republican-leaning Los Angeles Times, which at the time of Ickes' name change had run an editorial cartoon showing Ickes ineffectively chipping away at an enormous sign "HOOVER DAM", reran it showing Roosevelt reinforcing Ickes, but having no greater success.
In the following years, the name "Boulder Dam" failed to fully take hold, with many Americans using both names interchangeably and mapmakers divided as to which name should be printed. Memories of the Great Depression faded, and Hoover to some extent rehabilitated himself through good works during and after World War II. In 1947, a bill passed both Houses of Congress unanimously restoring the name "Hoover Dam." Ickes, who was by then a private citizen, opposed the change, stating, "I didn't know Hoover was that small a man to take credit for something he had nothing to do with."
== Recognition ==
Hoover Dam was recognized as a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark in 1984. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1981 and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1985, cited for its engineering innovations. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Wright | Joe Wright | Joseph Wright (born 25 August 1972) is an English filmmaker. He began his career directing music videos and television series, before making his feature directorial debut with Pride & Prejudice (2005), based on the Jane Austen novel. His subsequent works include the period drama adaptations Atonement (2007), Anna Karenina (2012), and Cyrano (2021), the action thriller Hanna (2011), the Peter Pan origin story Pan (2015), and the Winston Churchill biopic Darkest Hour (2017). He also directed the historical drama television series Mussolini: Son of the Century (2025).
Wright has been nominated for six BAFTA Film Awards and won Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer for Pride & Prejudice. He also won a BAFTA TV Award for Best Drama Series for the BBC Television serial Charles II: The Power and the Passion (2003), and was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Director for Atonement.
== Early life and career ==
Wright always had an interest in the arts, especially painting. He also made films on his Super 8 camera and spent time in the evenings acting in a drama club. Wright is dyslexic. He went to Islington Green Secondary School, but left without any GCSEs.
He began his career working at his parents' puppet theatre, the Little Angel Theatre in Islington. He also took classes at the Anna Scher Theatre School and acted professionally on stage and camera. He spent an art foundation year at Camberwell College of Arts, before taking a degree in fine art and film at Central St Martins where he was tutored by Malcolm Le Grice and Vera Neubauer. In his last year of studies he received a scholarship to make a short film for the BBC that won several awards.
== Career ==
=== Music videos ===
During the 1990s, he worked at Oil Factory, a music video production company based in Caledonian Road, Kings Cross. He worked on a variety of productions in numerous roles, including casting director. Here, he was able to get the opportunity to direct some music videos. Alongside this, particularly on the strength of his short film work, he was also developing The End, his second short film. During this decade, he also worked part-time as a roadie for Vegetable Vision, who created visuals for electronic music bands such as Chemical Brothers, Darren Emerson, Underworld and Andrew Weatherall.
Wright attributes some of the aesthetic and emotion of the UK rave scene as an influence on his work.
=== Television ===
On the success of his first short film, Wright was offered the script for the serial Nature Boy (2000).
He followed this up with the serials Bodily Harm (2002) with Timothy Spall and the highly acclaimed Charles II: The Power and the Passion (2003) with Rufus Sewell, which won the BAFTA Award for Best Drama Serial.
In 2022, Wright began directing an eight-part adaptation of the bestselling novel M: Son of the Century, a historical novel by Antonio Scurati recounting the rise of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. Mussolini: Son of the Century premiered at the 81st Venice International Film Festival on 5 September 2024 and began airing on Sky Atlantic on 10 January 2025.
In 2023, Wright was developing an adaptation for HBO of the bestselling non-fiction book Empty Mansions: The Mysterious Life of Huguette Clark and the Spending of a Great American Fortune about heiress Huguette Clark, daughter of copper baron and United States Senator William A. Clark.
=== Feature films ===
In 2005, Wright made the transition to feature films with his critically acclaimed adaptation of Pride & Prejudice starring Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen. It received numerous accolades, nominations and awards, including four Academy Award nominations (including Best Actress) and six BAFTA nominations (Wright won for Most Promising Newcomer).
Wright's next feature was an adaptation of Ian McEwan's Booker Prize-shortlisted novel Atonement (2007), which reunited Wright with Keira Knightley, and also stars James McAvoy and Saoirse Ronan. It was nominated for seven Golden Globe Awards, more than any other film that year. Though Wright was not nominated for director, the film received seven Academy Award nominations, winning only for Best Original Score. At the BAFTA Awards, it received 14 nominations and won Best Film and Best Production Design.
Wright's next film was The Soloist, starring Jamie Foxx and Robert Downey, Jr. It is about the "true story of musical prodigy Nathaniel Ayers, who developed schizophrenia in his second year at Juilliard and ended up homeless on the streets of downtown L.A. where he performs the violin and cello." It was to be released on 21 November 2008, but was pushed back to 24 April 2009.
Wright reunited with Atonement star Saoirse Ronan for the 2011 action thriller Hanna. The title character is a 15-year-old girl trained since birth to be an assassin by her father (Eric Bana), a rogue CIA asset. It received mostly positive reviews, with Roger Ebert calling it a "first-rate thriller". It received an aggregate score of 65 from Metacritic ("generally positive" reviews).
Wright directed the 2012 screen adaptation by Sir Tom Stoppard of Leo Tolstoy's classic novel Anna Karenina. The cast included Keira Knightley as Anna, Jude Law as her husband, Aaron Taylor-Johnson as her young love, Irish actor Domhnall Gleeson as Konstantin Levin, as well as Kelly Macdonald, Olivia Williams, Matthew Macfadyen and Michelle Dockery. Saoirse Ronan and Andrea Riseborough were initially cast, but dropped out and were replaced by Alicia Vikander and Ruth Wilson, respectively.
Wright then directed the 2015 prequel to Peter Pan for Warner Bros. The film starred Hugh Jackman, Garrett Hedlund, Rooney Mara, Amanda Seyfried and Levi Miller as Peter. The screenplay by actor-turned-screenwriter Jason Fuchs was from the 2013 Hollywood Black List, a selection of popular unproduced scripts. The film was negatively received by critics and was considered a commercial flop, failing to recoup its budget at the box office. Rooney Mara's casting as Tiger Lily caused a controversy, due to her being of European ancestry, while Tiger Lily is traditionally portrayed as Native American.
Wright's 2017 film Darkest Hour covers a pivotal month in the life of former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. It stars Gary Oldman as Churchill, along with Ben Mendelsohn, Ronald Pickup, David Schofield, Kristin Scott Thomas, Samuel West and Lily James. Wright said the film was a rebuke to Donald Trump.
In 2021, Wright directed The Woman in the Window, a psychological thriller starring Amy Adams, which received negative reviews. The same year, he also directed Cyrano, a musical based on the Cyrano de Bergerac. The film was well-received and earned multiple Golden Globe and BAFTA nominations.
Wright is also set to direct AI thriller Alignment, written by Nathan Dotan and distributed by Fifth Season.
== Directorial trademarks ==
Wright won a BAFTA Award for best newcomer for Pride & Prejudice and was the youngest director to have a film open the Venice Film Festival with Atonement. According to the director's commentary on Pride & Prejudice, Wright is influenced by the work of British film director David Lean, and possessing a certain knowledge of art history, tries sometimes to compose his shots after classical paintings.
Charles II: The Power and The Passion, Pride & Prejudice, Atonement and Hanna all have long tracking shots in them. Atonement has a continuous five-minute and five second shot of the Dunkirk evacuation. "Basically, I just like showing off", Wright told the audience at the Hay Festival.
== Personal life ==
After meeting on the set of Pride & Prejudice, Wright began a relationship with actress Rosamund Pike. They were engaged from 2007 to 2008.
Wright was married to British-American sitarist Anoushka Shankar from 2010 until 2019. They have two sons, Zubin and Mohan, born in 2011 and 2015. They separated in December 2017 and their divorce was finalized in September 2019 as a judge concluded that Wright had committed adultery and that his wife found living with him "intolerable".
Since 2017, Wright has been in a relationship with American actress Haley Bennett. Their daughter was born in 2018 in Brooklyn Heights. As of 2019, the family resides in the UK in Somerset.
== Filmography ==
=== Short films ===
Crocodile Snap (1997)
The End (1998)
Princess & Peppernose (2021)
=== Feature films ===
Director
Executive producer only
Lost Angels: Skid Row Is My Home (2010)
Hummingbird (2013)
Locke (2013)
Swallow (2019)
Radioactive (2019)
=== Television ===
=== Commercial work ===
"Chanel No. 5: Wherever I Go" (2012)
"Chanel No. 5: There You Are" (2012)
"Coco Mademoiselle: Chanel" (2014)
== Awards and nominations ==
Directed Academy Award performances |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Sheane_Duncan | Patrick Sheane Duncan | Patrick Sheane Duncan (born 1947) is an American writer, film producer and director.
A graduate of Grand Valley State University in Allendale Charter Township, Michigan, Duncan's career has been influenced by his Vietnam War experiences, which inspired the television miniseries Vietnam War Story (1987) and its sequel Vietnam War Story: The Last Days (1989) and the films 84C MoPic (1989) and Courage Under Fire (1996). Additional writing credits include A Home of Our Own (1993), The Pornographer (1994), Nick of Time (1995), Mr. Holland's Opus (1995), and the television movies A Painted House (2003), Elvis (2005), and the Little Red Wagon (2012).
Duncan is a winner of the CableACE Award for Writing for a Dramatic Series for Vietnam War Story: The Last Days and a Christopher Award for Mr. Holland's Opus, which also garnered him a Golden Globe nomination. He was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival for 84C MoPic and The Pornographer and the Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature and Best Screenplay for 84C MoPic. He received the Vietnam Veterans of America Excellence in the Arts Award at the organization's 1989 National Convention in Chicago.
Duncan's play, Souls on Fire, was produced by Danny Glover's theatre company, Robey Theatre Company in Los Angeles.
In 2016, Duncan published the historical horror novel Dracula vs. Hitler. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Bartholom%C3%A9#Main_works_(continued) | Albert Bartholomé#Main works (continued) | Paul-Albert Bartholomé was a French painter and sculptor.
He was born on 29 August 1848 in Thiverval-Grignon, Yvelines, France, and died in 1928 in Paris. He won the Grand Prize for sculpture at the Exposition Universelle in 1900. He exhibited paintings at the Salon from 1879 to 1886, but thereafter devoted his work to sculpture.
== Biography ==
He studied law and fought in the Franco-Prussian War in General Bourbaki's army and became a prisoner in Switzerland. In due course he attended the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris where he studied painting under Barthélemy Menn and Jean-Léon Gérôme. He then set himself up in a studio in Paris and became a close friend of Edgar Degas. He married the daughter of a marquis, Prospérie de Fleury, but she died at a young age in 1887.
Much encouraged by Degas he decided to try his hand at sculpture and executed the moving sculpture which marked his wife's grave in Crépy-en-Valois. He now concentrated exclusively on sculpture and from 1891 onwards he exhibited each year at the yearly Salon of the Société nationale des Beaux-arts. Funerary sculpture was very much in vogue in France at that time and much of Bartholomé's is death related and his masterpiece is the monument in Père Lachaise Cemetery dedicated to all the dead.
He was to work on this for ten years and the inauguration took place in 1899. The "Monument the Dead" is disturbing and involves twenty-one larger-than-life-size figures all showing different emotions and reactions to death. There is little sentiment in this composition which is uncompromising, secular and human, although there is an inference that a "light" will defeat the darkness, with the inscription: "Upon those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned". As a painter he was said to be influenced by Jules Bastien-Lepage.
== Main works ==
== Images of the Père-Lachaise – Monument aux morts ==
== Main works (continued) ==
== Note ==
In 1924 Bartholome executed a monument to Victorien Sardou which was erected by a public fountain in the Place de la Madeleine. In bronze the sculpture depicted a seated Sardou and behind him were allegories of comedy and drama. In 1941 the Germans had the monument dismantled so that the bronze could be melted down and reused.
== Gallery of images == |
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_awards_and_nominations_received_by_Tom_Hanks | List of awards and nominations received by Tom Hanks | Actor, director, producer, and screenwriter Tom Hanks has been honored with numerous awards and nominations, including two consecutive Academy Awards for Best Actor for playing a lawyer suffering with AIDS in Philadelphia (1993) and the title role in Forrest Gump (1994). He is one of two actors to receive them consecutively, the other being Spencer Tracy. Tom Hanks has won a total of 50 awards on this list. He has received the AFI Life Achievement Award in 2002. He received the Stanley Kubrick Britannia Award for Excellence in Film from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts in 2004. In 2014, he received a Kennedy Center Honor, and in 2016, he received a Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama, as well as the French Legion of Honor. In 2020, he received the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award.
Hanks made his starring film debut in Ron Howard's romantic comedy Splash (1984). During the eighties he starred in various comedies including Bachelor Party (1984), The Money Pit (1986), Nothing in Common (1986), Dragnet (1987), The 'Burbs (1989), and Turner & Hooch (1989). He made his breakthrough with in Penny Marshall's Big (1988) for which he earned an Academy Award for Best Actor nomination. Hanks' soon became known as a romantic leading man with his films with Meg Ryan, Joe Versus the Volcano (1990), Sleepless in Seattle (1993), and You've Got Mail (1999). In 1996, he directed the comedy That Thing You Do! (1996). He also is known for voicing Woody the Cowboy in the Toy Story franchise.
During the 1990s he excelled in critically acclaimed dramas such as Penny Marshall's A League of Their Own (1992), Jonathan Demme's Philadelphia (1993), Robert Zemeckis' Forrest Gump (1994), Ron Howard's Apollo 13 (1995), Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan (1998), and Frank Darabont's The Green Mile (1999). Since the turn of the 21st century, Hanks' continued working in dramatic films, including Cast Away (2000), Road to Perdition (2002), Catch Me if You Can (2002), The Terminal (2004), Charlie Wilson's War (2007), Cloud Atlas (2012), Captain Philips (2013), Saving Mr. Banks (2013), Bridge of Spies (2015), Sully (2016), The Post (2017), A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (2019), Greyhound (2020), and News of the World (2020). He also starred in The Da Vinci Code (2005), Angels & Demons (2009), and Inferno (2015).
He is also known for his work as a producer and director on various television series including From the Earth to the Moon (1998), Band of Brothers (2005), John Adams (2008), and The Pacific (2009). For his work in television he has earned seven Primetime Emmy Award wins. He is also known for his work on stage having trained as a Shakespearean Actor acting in productions at the Lakewood Civic Auditorium from 1977 to 1979. In 2013, he made his Broadway debut in Nora Ephron's Lucky Guy earning a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play nomination.
== Major associations ==
=== Academy Awards ===
=== BAFTA Awards ===
=== Critics' Choice Awards ===
=== Emmy Awards ===
=== Golden Globe Awards ===
=== Screen Actors Guild Awards ===
=== Tony Awards ===
== Critics awards ==
== Miscellaneous awards ==
== Honorary awards == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlemagne | Charlemagne | Charlemagne ( SHAR-lə-mayn; 2 April 748 – 28 January 814) was King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774, and Emperor of what is now known as the Carolingian Empire from 800. He united most of Western and Central Europe and was the first recognised emperor to rule from the west after the fall of the Western Roman Empire approximately three centuries earlier. Charlemagne's reign was marked by political and social changes that had lasting influence on Europe throughout the Middle Ages.
A member of the Frankish Carolingian dynasty, Charlemagne was the eldest son of Pepin the Short and Bertrada of Laon. With his brother Carloman I, he became king of the Franks in 768 following Pepin's death and became the sole ruler three years later. Charlemagne continued his father's policy of protecting the papacy and became its chief defender, removing the Lombards from power in northern Italy in 774. His reign saw a period of expansion that led to the conquests of Bavaria, Saxony, and northern Spain, as well as other campaigns that led Charlemagne to extend his rule over a large part of Europe. Charlemagne spread Christianity to his new conquests, as seen at the Massacre of Verden against the Saxons. He also sent envoys and initiated diplomatic contact with Harun al-Rashid, the Abbasid caliph in the 790s, due to their mutual interest in Iberian affairs.
In 800 Charlemagne was crowned emperor in Rome by Pope Leo III. Although historians debate the coronation's significance, the title represented the height of his prestige and authority. Charlemagne's position as the first emperor in the West in over 300 years brought him into conflict with the Eastern Roman Empire in Constantinople. Through his assumption of the imperial title, he is considered the forerunner to the line of Holy Roman Emperors, which persisted into the 19th century. As king and emperor, Charlemagne engaged in numerous reforms in administration, law, education, military organisation, and religion, which shaped Europe for centuries. The stability of his reign began a period of cultural activity known as the Carolingian Renaissance.
Charlemagne died in 814 and was buried at the Palatine Chapel (now part of Aachen Cathedral) in Aachen, his imperial capital city. Charlemagne's influence on the Middle Ages and on the territory he ruled has led him to be called the "Father of Europe" by many historians. He is seen as a founding figure by multiple European states, and several historical royal houses of Europe trace their lineage back to him. Charlemagne has been the subject of artworks, monuments and literature during and after the medieval period.
== Name ==
Several languages were spoken in Charlemagne's world. He was known as Karlo to Early Old French (or Proto-Romance) speakers and as Carolus (or Karolus) in Medieval Latin, the formal language of writing and diplomacy. Charles is the modern English form of these names. The name Charlemagne, as the emperor is normally known in English, comes from the French Charles-le-magne ('Charles the Great'). In modern German and Dutch, he is known as Karl der Große and Karel de Grote respectively. The Latin epithet magnus ('great') may have been associated with him during his lifetime, but this is not certain. The contemporary Royal Frankish Annals routinely call him Carolus magnus rex ("Charles the great king"). That epithet is attested in the works of the Poeta Saxo around 900, and it had become commonly applied to him by 1000.
Charlemagne was named after his grandfather, Charles Martel. That name and its derivatives are unattested before their use by Charles Martel and Charlemagne. Karolus was adapted by Slavic languages as their word for "king" (Russian: korol', Polish: król and Slovak: král) through Charlemagne's influence or that of his great-grandson, Charles the Fat.
== Early life and rise to power ==
=== Political background and ancestry ===
By the 6th century, the western Germanic tribe of the Franks had been Christianised; this was largely instigated by the conversion of King Clovis I to Catholicism. The Franks established a kingdom in Gaul following the Fall of the Western Roman Empire. This kingdom, Francia, grew to encompass nearly all of present-day France and Switzerland, along with parts of modern Germany and the Low Countries under the rule of the Merovingian dynasty. Francia was often divided under different Merovingian kings, due to the partible inheritance practised by the Franks. The late 7th century saw a period of war and instability following the murder of King Childeric II, which led to factional struggles among the Frankish aristocrats.
Pepin of Herstal, mayor of the palace of Austrasia, ended the strife between various kings and their mayors with his 687 victory at the Battle of Tertry. Pepin was the grandson of two important figures of Austrasia: Arnulf of Metz and Pepin of Landen. The mayors of the palace had gained influence as the Merovingian kings' power waned following divisions of the kingdom and several succession crises. Pepin was eventually succeeded by his son Charles, later known as Charles Martel. Charles did not support a Merovingian successor upon the death of King Theuderic IV in 737, leaving the throne vacant. He made plans to divide the kingdom between his sons Carloman and Pepin the Short, who succeeded him after his death in 741. The brothers placed the Merovingian Childeric III on the throne in 743. In 744 Pepin married Bertrada, a member of an influential noble family. In 747 Carloman abdicated and entered a monastery in Rome. He had at least two sons; the elder, Drogo, took his place.
=== Birth ===
Charlemagne's year of birth is uncertain, although it was most likely in 748. An older tradition based on three sources, however, gives a birth year of 742. The 9th-century biographer Einhard reports Charlemagne as being 72 years old at the time of his death; the Royal Frankish Annals imprecisely gives his age at death as about 71, and his original epitaph called him a septuagenarian. Einhard said he did not know much about Charlemagne's early life; some modern scholars believe that, not knowing the emperor's true age, he still sought to present a date in keeping with the Roman imperial biographies of Suetonius, which he used as a model. All three sources may have been influenced by Psalm 90: "The days of our years are threescore years and ten".
Historian Karl Ferdinand Werner challenged the acceptance of 742 as the Frankish king's birth year, citing an addition to the Annales Petaviani which records Charlemagne's birth in 747. Lorsch Abbey commemorated Charlemagne's date of birth as 2 April from the mid-9th century, and this date is likely to be genuine. Matthias Becher built on Werner's work and showed that 2 April in the year recorded would have actually been in 748, since the annalists recorded the start of the year from Easter rather than 1 January. Presently, most scholars accept April 748 for Charlemagne's birth. Charlemagne's place of birth is unknown: the Frankish palaces in Vaires-sur-Marne, Quierzy and Herstal are among the places suggested by scholars; Pepin the Short held an assembly in Düren in 748, but it cannot be proved that it took place in April or if Bertrada was with him.
=== Language and education ===
The patrius sermo ("native tongue") that Einhard refers to with regard to Charlemagne, was a Germanic language. Due to the prevalence in Francia of "rustic Roman", he was probably functionally bilingual in Germanic and Romance dialects at an early age. Charlemagne also spoke Latin, and according to Einhard, could understand and (perhaps) speak some Greek. Some 19th-century historians tried to use the Oaths of Strasbourg to determine Charlemagne's native language. They assumed the text's copyist Nithard, being a grandson of Charlemagne, would have spoken the same dialect as his grandfather, giving rise to the assumption that Charlemagne would have spoken language closely related to the one used in the oath, which is a form of Old High German ancestral to the modern Rhenish Franconian dialects. Other authors have instead taken the place of Charlemagne's education and main residence of Aachen to postulate that Charlemagne most likely spoke a form of Moselle- or Ripuarian Franconian. In any case, all three dialects would have been closely related, mutually intelligible and, while classified as Old High German, none of the dialects involved can be considered typical of Old High German, showing varying degrees of participation in the High German consonant shift, as well as certain similarities with Old Dutch, the presumed language of the previous Merovingian dynasty, mirroring the linguistic diversity still typical of the region today.
Charlemagne's father Pepin had been educated at the abbey of Saint-Denis, although the extent of Charlemagne's formal education is unknown. He almost certainly was trained in military matters as a youth in Pepin's itinerant court. Charlemagne also asserted his own education in the liberal arts in encouraging their study by his children and others, although it is unknown whether his study was as a child or at court during his later life. The question of Charlemagne's literacy is debated, with little direct evidence from contemporary sources. He normally had texts read aloud to him and dictated responses and decrees, but this was not unusual even for a literate ruler at the time. Historian Johannes Fried considers it likely that Charlemagne would have been able to read, but the medievalist Paul Dutton writes "the evidence for his ability to read is circumstantial and inferential at best" and concludes that it is likely that he never properly mastered the skill. Einhard makes no direct mention of Charlemagne reading and records that he only attempted to learn to write later in life.
=== Accession and reign with Carloman ===
There are only occasional references to Charlemagne in the Frankish annals during his father's lifetime. By 751 or 752, Pepin had deposed Childeric and replaced him as king. Early Carolingian-influenced sources claim that Pepin's seizure of the throne was sanctioned beforehand by Pope Stephen II, but modern historians dispute this. It is possible that papal approval came only when Stephen travelled to Francia in 754 (apparently to request Pepin's aid against the Lombards), and on this trip anointed Pepin as king; this legitimised his rule. Charlemagne was sent to greet and escort Stephen; he and his younger brother Carloman were anointed with their father. Pepin sidelined Drogo around the same time, sending him and his half-brother Grifo to a monastery.
Charlemagne began issuing charters in his own name in 760. The following year, he joined his father's campaign against Aquitaine. Aquitaine, led by Dukes Hunald and Waiofar, was constantly in rebellion during Pepin's reign. Pepin fell ill on his campaign there and died on 24 September 768; Charlemagne and Carloman succeeded their father. They had separate coronations, Charlemagne at Noyon and Carloman at Soissons, on 9 October. The brothers maintained separate palaces and spheres of influence, although they were considered joint rulers of a single Frankish kingdom. The Royal Frankish Annals report that Charlemagne ruled Austrasia and Carloman ruled Burgundy, Provence, Aquitaine, and Alamannia, with no mention of which brother received Neustria. The immediate concern of the brothers was the ongoing uprising in Aquitaine. They marched into Aquitaine together, but Carloman returned to Francia for unknown reasons and Charlemagne completed the campaign on his own. Charlemagne's capture of Duke Hunald marked the end of ten years of war that had been waged in the attempt to bring Aquitaine into line.
Carloman's refusal to participate in the war against Aquitaine led to a rift between the kings. It is uncertain why Carloman abandoned the campaign; the brothers may have disagreed about control of the territory, or Carloman was focused on securing his rule in the north of Francia. Regardless of the strife between the kings, they maintained a joint rule for practical reasons. Charlemagne and Carloman worked to obtain the support of the clergy and local elites to solidify their positions.
Pope Stephen III was elected in 768 but was briefly deposed by Antipope Constantine II before being restored to Rome. Stephen's papacy experienced continuing factional struggles, so he sought support from the Frankish kings. Both brothers sent troops to Rome, each hoping to exert their own influence. The Lombard King Desiderius also had interests in Roman affairs, and Charlemagne attempted to enlist him as an ally. Desiderius already had alliances with Bavaria and Benevento through the marriages of his daughters to their dukes, and an alliance with Charlemagne would add to his influence. Charlemagne's mother Bertrada went on his behalf to Lombardy in 770 and brokered a marriage alliance before returning to Francia with his new bride. Desiderius's daughter is traditionally known as Desiderata, although she may have been named Gerperga. Anxious about the prospect of a Frankish–Lombard alliance, Pope Stephen sent a letter to both Frankish kings decrying the marriage and separately sought closer ties with Carloman.
Charlemagne had already had a relationship with the Frankish noblewoman Himiltrude, and they had a son in 769 named Pepin. Paul the Deacon wrote in his 784 Gesta Episcoporum Mettensium that Pepin was born "before legal marriage" but does not say whether Charles and Himiltrude ever married, were joined in a non-canonical marriage (friedelehe), or married after Pepin was born. Pope Stephen's letter described the relationship as a legitimate marriage, but he had a vested interest in preventing Charlemagne from marrying Desiderius's daughter.
Carloman died suddenly on 4 December 771, leaving Charlemagne sole king of the Franks. He moved immediately to secure his hold on his brother's territory, forcing Carloman's widow Gerberga to flee to Desiderius's court in Lombardy with their children. Charlemagne ended his marriage to Desiderius's daughter and married Hildegard, daughter of Count Gerold, a powerful magnate in Carloman's kingdom. This was a reaction to Desiderius's sheltering of Carloman's family and a move to secure Gerold's support.
== King of the Franks and the Lombards ==
=== Annexation of the Lombard Kingdom ===
Charlemagne's first campaigning season as sole king of the Franks was spent on the eastern frontier in his first war against the Saxons, who had been engaging in border raids on the Frankish kingdom when Charlemagne responded by destroying the pagan Irminsul at Eresburg and seizing their gold and silver. The success of the war helped secure Charlemagne's reputation among his brother's former supporters and funded further military action. The campaign was the beginning of over 30 years of nearly-continuous warfare against the Saxons by Charlemagne.
Pope Adrian I succeeded Stephen III in 772 and sought the return of papal control of cities that had been captured by Desiderius. Unsuccessful in dealing with Desiderius directly, Adrian sent emissaries to Charlemagne to gain his support for recovering papal territory. Charlemagne, in response to this appeal and the dynastic threat of Carloman's sons in the Lombard court, gathered his forces to intervene. He first sought a diplomatic solution, offering gold to Desiderius in exchange for the return of the papal territories and his nephews. This overture was rejected, and Charlemagne's army (commanded by himself and his uncle, Bernard) crossed the Alps to besiege the Lombard capital of Pavia in late 773.
Charlemagne's second son (also named Charles) was born in 772, and Charlemagne brought the child and his wife to the camp at Pavia. Hildegard was pregnant and gave birth to a daughter named Adelhaid. The baby was sent back to Francia but died on the way. Charlemagne left Bernard to maintain the siege at Pavia while he took a force to capture Verona, where Desiderius's son Adalgis had taken Carloman's sons. Charlemagne captured the city; no further record exists of his nephews or of Carloman's wife, and their fate is unknown. British historian Janet Nelson compares them to the Princes in the Tower in the Wars of the Roses. Fried suggests that the boys were forced into a monastery (a common solution of dynastic issues), or "an act of murder smooth[ed] Charlemagne's ascent to power." Adalgis was not captured by Charlemagne and fled to Constantinople.
Charlemagne left the siege in April 774 to celebrate Easter in Rome. Pope Adrian arranged a formal welcome for the Frankish king, and they swore oaths to each other over the relics of St. Peter. Adrian presented a copy of the agreement between Pepin and Stephen III outlining the papal lands and rights Pepin had agreed to protect and restore. It is unclear which lands and rights the agreement involved, which remained a point of dispute for centuries. Charlemagne placed a copy of the agreement in the chapel above St. Peter's tomb as a symbol of his commitment, and he left Rome to continue the siege.
Disease struck the Lombards shortly after his return to Pavia, and they surrendered the city by June 774. Charlemagne deposed Desiderius and took the title of King of the Lombards. The takeover of one kingdom by another was "extraordinary", and the authors of The Carolingian World call it "without parallel". Charlemagne secured the support of the Lombard nobles and Italian urban elites to seize power in a mainly-peaceful annexation. Historian Rosamond McKitterick suggests that the elective nature of the Lombard monarchy eased Charlemagne's takeover, and Roger Collins attributes the easy conquest to the Lombard elite's "presupposition that rightful authority was in the hands of the one powerful enough to seize it". Charlemagne soon returned to Francia with the Lombard royal treasury and with Desiderius and his family, who would be confined to a monastery for the rest of their lives.
=== Frontier wars in Saxony and Spain ===
The Saxons took advantage of Charlemagne's absence in Italy to raid the Frankish borderlands, leading to a Frankish counter-raid in the autumn of 774 and a reprisal campaign the following year. Charlemagne was drawn back to Italy as Duke Hrodgaud of Friuli rebelled against him. He quickly crushed the rebellion, distributing Hrodgaud's lands to the Franks to consolidate his rule in Lombardy. Charlemagne wintered in Italy, consolidating his power by issuing charters and legislation, as well as by taking Lombard hostages. Amid the 775 Saxon and Friulian campaigns, his daughter Rotrude was born in Francia.
Returning north, Charlemagne waged another brief, destructive campaign against the Saxons in 776. This led to the submission of many Saxons, who turned over captives and lands and submitted to baptism. In 777, Charlemagne held an assembly at Paderborn with Frankish and Saxon men; many more Saxons came under his rule, but the Saxon magnate Widukind fled to Denmark to prepare for a new rebellion.
Also at the Paderborn assembly were representatives of dissident factions from al-Andalus (Muslim Spain). They included the son and son-in-law of Yusuf ibn Abd al-Rahman al-Fihri, the former governor of Córdoba ousted by Caliph Abd al-Rahman in 756, who sought Charlemagne's support for al-Fihri's restoration. Also present was Sulayman al-Arabi, governor of Barcelona and Girona, who wanted to become part of the Frankish kingdom and receive Charlemagne's protection rather than remain under the rule of Córdoba. Charlemagne, seeing an opportunity to strengthen the security of the kingdom's southern frontier and extend his influence, agreed to intervene. Crossing the Pyrenees, his army found little resistance until an ambush by Basque forces in 778 at the Battle of Roncevaux Pass. The Franks, defeated in the battle, withdrew with most of their army intact.
=== Building the dynasty ===
Charlemagne returned to Francia to greet his newborn twin sons, Louis and Lothair, who were born while he was in Spain; Lothair died in infancy. Again, Saxons had seized on the king's absence to raid. Charlemagne sent an army to Saxony in 779 while he held assemblies, legislated, and addressed a famine in Francia. Hildegard gave birth to another daughter, Bertha. Charlemagne returned to Saxony in 780, holding assemblies at which he received hostages from Saxon nobles and oversaw their baptisms.
He and Hildegard travelled with their four younger children to Rome in the spring of 781, leaving Pepin and Charles at Worms, to make a journey first requested by Adrian in 775. Adrian baptised Carloman and renamed him Pepin, a name he shared with his half-brother. Louis and the newly renamed Pepin were then anointed and crowned. Pepin was appointed king of the Lombards, and Louis king of Aquitaine. This act was not nominal, since the young kings were sent to live in their kingdoms under the care of regents and advisers. A delegation from the Byzantine Empire, the remnant of the Roman Empire in the East, met Charlemagne during his stay in Rome; Charlemagne agreed to betroth his daughter Rotrude to Empress Irene's son, Emperor Constantine VI.
Hildegard gave birth to her eighth child, Gisela, during this trip to Italy. After the royal family's return to Francia, she had her final pregnancy and died from its complications on 30 April 783. The child, named after her, died shortly thereafter. Charlemagne commissioned epitaphs for his wife and daughter and arranged for a Mass to be said daily at Hildegard's tomb. Charlemagne's mother Bertrada died shortly after Hildegard, on 12 July 783. Charlemagne was remarried to Fastrada, daughter of East Frankish Count Radolf, by the end of the year.
=== Saxon resistance and reprisal ===
In summer 782, Widukind returned from Denmark to attack the Frankish positions in Saxony. He defeated a Frankish army, possibly due to rivalry among the Frankish counts leading it. Charlemagne came to Verden after learning of the defeat, but Widukind fled before his arrival. Charlemagne summoned the Saxon magnates to an assembly and compelled them to turn prisoners over to him, since he regarded their previous acts as treachery. The annals record that Charlemagne had 4,500 Saxon prisoners beheaded in the massacre of Verden. Fried writes, "Although this figure may be exaggerated, the basic truth of the event is not in doubt", and Alessandro Barbero calls it "perhaps the greatest stain on his reputation." Charlemagne issued the Capitulatio de partibus Saxoniae, probably in the immediate aftermath of (or as a precursor of) the massacre. With a harsh set of laws which included the death penalty for pagan practices, the Capitulatio "constituted a program for the forced conversion of the Saxons" and was "aimed ... at suppressing Saxon identity".
Charlemagne's focus for the next several years would be on his attempt to complete the subjugation of the Saxons. Concentrating first in Westphalia in 783, he pushed into Thuringia in 784 as his son Charles the Younger continued operations in the west. At each stage of the campaigns, the Frankish armies seized wealth and carried Saxon captives into slavery. Unusually, Charlemagne campaigned through the winter instead of resting his army. By 785 he had suppressed the Saxon resistance and completely commanded Westphalia. That summer, he met Widukind and persuaded him to end his resistance. Widukind agreed to be baptised with Charlemagne as his godfather, ending this phase of the Saxon Wars.
=== Benevento, Bavaria, and Pepin's revolt ===
Charlemagne travelled to Italy in 786, arriving by Christmas. Aiming to extend his influence further into southern Italy, he marched into the Duchy of Benevento. Duke Arechis fled to a fortified position at Salerno before offering Charlemagne his fealty. Charlemagne accepted his submission and hostages, who included Arechis's son Grimoald. In Italy, Charlemagne also met with envoys from Constantinople. Empress Irene had called the 787 Second Council of Nicaea but did not inform Charlemagne or invite any Frankish bishops. Charlemagne, probably in reaction to the perceived slight of the exclusion, broke the betrothal of Rotrude and Constantine VI.
After Charlemagne left Italy, Arechis sent envoys to Irene to offer an alliance; he suggested that she send a Byzantine army with Adalgis, the exiled son of Desiderus, to remove the Franks from power in Lombardy. Before his plans could be finalised, Aldechis and his elder son Romuald died of illness within weeks of each other. Charlemagne sent Grimoald back to Benevento to serve as duke and return it to Frankish suzerainty. The Byzantine army invaded but were repulsed by the Frankish and Lombard forces.
As affairs were being settled in Italy, Charlemagne turned his attention to Bavaria, which was ruled by Duke Tassilo, Charlemagne's first cousin, who had been installed by Pepin the Short in 748. Tassilo's sons were also grandsons of Desiderius and thus were a potential threat to Charlemagne's rule in Lombardy. The neighbouring rulers had a growing rivalry throughout their reigns, but they had sworn an oath of peace in 781. In 784 Rotpert (Charlemagne's viceroy in Italy) accused Tassilo of conspiring with Widukind and unsuccessfully attacked the Bavarian city of Bolzano. Charlemagne gathered his forces to prepare for an invasion of Bavaria in 787. Dividing the army, the Franks launched a three-pronged attack. Quickly realizing his poor position, Tassilo agreed to surrender and recognise Charlemagne as his overlord. The following year, Tassilo was accused of plotting with the Avars to attack Charlemagne. He was deposed and sent to a monastery, and Charlemagne absorbed Bavaria into his kingdom. Charlemagne spent the next few years based in Regensburg, largely focused on consolidating his rule of Bavaria and warring against the Avars. Successful campaigns against them were launched from Bavaria and Italy in 788, and Charlemagne led campaigns in 791 and 792.
Charlemagne gave Charles the Younger rule of Maine in Neustria in 789, leaving Pepin the Hunchback his only son without lands. His relationship with Himiltrude was now apparently seen as illegitimate at his court, and Pepin was sidelined from the succession. In 792, as his father and brothers were gathered in Regensburg, Pepin conspired with Bavarian nobles to assassinate them and install himself as king. The plot was discovered and revealed to Charlemagne before it could proceed; Pepin was sent to a monastery, and many of his co-conspirators were executed.
The early 790s saw a marked focus on ecclesiastical affairs by Charlemagne. He summoned a council in Regensburg in 792 to address the theological controversy over the adoptionism doctrine in the Spanish church and to formulate a response to the Second Council of Nicea. The council condemned adoptionism as heresy and led to the production of the Libri Carolini, a detailed argument against Nicea's canons. In 794 Charlemagne called another council in Frankfurt. The council confirmed Regensburg's positions on adoptionism and Nicea, recognised the deposition of Tassilo, set grain prices, reformed Frankish coinage, forbade abbesses from blessing men, and endorsed prayer in vernacular languages. Soon after the council, Fastrada fell ill and died; Charlemagne married the Alamannian noblewoman Luitgard shortly afterwards.
=== Continued wars with the Saxons and Avars ===
Charlemagne gathered an army after the council of Frankfurt as Saxon resistance continued, beginning a series of annual campaigns which lasted through 799. The campaigns of the 790s were even more destructive than those of earlier decades, with the annal writers frequently noting Charlemagne "burning", "ravaging", "devastating", and "laying waste" the Saxon lands. Charlemagne forcibly removed a large number of Saxons to Francia, installing Frankish elites and soldiers in their place. His extended wars in Saxony led to his establishing his court in Aachen, which had easy access to the frontier. He built a large palace there, including a chapel which is now part of the Aachen Cathedral. Einhard joined the court at that time. Pepin of Italy (Carloman) engaged in further wars against the Avars in the south, which led to the collapse of their kingdom and the eastward expansion of Frankish rule.
Charlemagne also worked to expand his influence through diplomatic means during the 790s wars, focusing on the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of Britain. Charles the Younger proposed a marriage pact with the daughter of King Offa of Mercia, but Offa insisted that Charlemagne's daughter Bertha also be given as a bride for his son. Charlemagne refused the arrangement, and the marriage did not take place. Charlemagne and Offa entered into a formal peace in 796, protecting trade and securing the rights of English pilgrims to pass through Francia on their way to Rome. Charlemagne was also the host and protector of several deposed English rulers who were later restored: Eadbehrt of Kent, Ecgberht, King of Wessex, and Eardwulf of Northumbria. Nelson writes that Charlemagne treated the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms "like satellite states," establishing direct relations with English bishops. Charlemagne also forged an alliance with Alfonso II of Asturias, although Einhard calls Alfonso his "dependent". Following his sack of Lisbon in 798, Alfonso sent Charlemagne trophies of his victory, including armour, mules and prisoners.
== Reign as emperor ==
=== Coronation ===
After Leo III became pope in 795, he faced political opposition. His enemies accused him of a number of crimes and physically attacked him in April 799, attempting to remove his eyes and tongue. Leo escaped and fled north to seek Charlemagne's help. Charlemagne continued his campaign against the Saxons before breaking off to meet Leo at Paderborn in September. Hearing evidence from the pope and his enemies, he sent Leo back to Rome with royal legates who were instructed to reinstate the pope and conduct a further investigation. In August 799 Charlemagne made plans to go to Rome after an extensive tour of his lands in Neustria. Charlemagne met Leo in November near Mentana at the 12th milestone outside Rome, the traditional location where Roman emperors began their formal entry into the city. Charlemagne presided over an assembly to hear the charges but believed that no one could sit in judgment of the pope. Leo swore an oath on 23 December, declaring his innocence of all charges. At mass in St. Peter's Basilica on Christmas Day 800, Leo proclaimed Charlemagne "emperor of the Romans" (Imperator Romanorum) and crowned him. Charlemagne was the first reigning emperor in the west since the deposition of Romulus Augustulus in 476. Charles the Younger was anointed king by Leo at the same time.
Historians differ about the intentions of the imperial coronation, the extent to which Charlemagne was aware of it or participated in its planning, and the significance of the events for those present and for Charlemagne's reign. Contemporary Frankish and papal sources differ in their emphasis on, and representation of, events. Einhard writes that Charlemagne would not have entered the church if he knew about the pope's plan; modern historians have regarded his report as truthful or rejected it as a literary device demonstrating Charlemagne's humility. Collins says that the actions surrounding the coronation indicate that it was planned by Charlemagne as early as his meeting with Leo in 799, and Fried writes that Charlemagne planned to adopt the title of emperor by 798 "at the latest." During the years before the coronation, Charlemagne's courtier Alcuin referred to his realm as an Imperium Christianum ("Christian Empire") in which "just as the inhabitants of the Roman Empire had been united by a common Roman citizenship", the new empire would be united by a common Christian faith. This is the view of Henri Pirenne, who says that "Charles was the Emperor of the ecclesia as the Pope conceived it, of the Roman Church, regarded as the universal Church".
The Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire remained a significant contemporary power in European politics for Leo and Charlemagne, especially in Italy. The Byzantines continued to hold a substantial portion of Italy, with their borders not far south of Rome. Empress Irene had seized the throne from her son Constantine VI in 797, deposing and blinding him. Irene, the first Byzantine empress, faced opposition in Constantinople because of her gender and her means of accession. One of the earliest narrative sources for the coronation, the Annals of Lorsch, present a female ruler in Constantinople as a vacancy in the imperial title which justified Leo's coronation of Charlemagne. Pirenne disagrees, saying the coronation "was not in any sense explained by the fact that at this moment a woman was reigning in Constantinople." Leo's main motivations may have been the desire to increase his standing after his political difficulties, placing himself as a power broker and securing Charlemagne as a powerful ally and protector. The Byzantine Empire's lack of ability to influence events in Italy and support the papacy were also important to Leo's position. According to the Royal Frankish Annals, Leo prostrated himself before Charlemagne after crowning him (an act of submission standard in Roman coronation rituals from the time of Diocletian). This account presents Leo not as Charlemagne's superior, but as the agent of the Roman people who acclaimed Charlemagne as emperor.
Historian Henry Mayr-Harting claims that the assumption of the imperial title by Charlemagne was an effort to incorporate the Saxons into the Frankish realm, since they did not have a native tradition of kingship. However, Costambeys et al. note in The Carolingian World "since Saxony had not been in the Roman empire it is hard to see on what basis an emperor would have been any more welcomed." These authors write that the decision to take the title of emperor was aimed at furthering Charlemagne's influence in Italy, as an appeal to traditional authority recognised by Italian elites within and (especially) outside his control.
Collins writes that becoming emperor gave Charlemagne "the right to try to impose his rule over the whole of [Italy]", considering this a motivation for the coronation. He notes the "element of political and military risk" inherent in the affair due to the opposition of the Byzantine Empire and potential opposition from the Frankish elite, as the imperial title could draw him further into Mediterranean politics. Collins sees several of Charlemagne's actions as attempts to ensure that his new title had a distinctly-Frankish context.
Charlemagne's coronation led to a centuries-long ideological conflict between his successors and Constantinople known as the problem of two emperors, which could be seen as a rejection or usurpation of the Byzantine emperors' claim to be the universal, preeminent rulers of Christendom. Historian James Muldoon writes that Charlemagne may have had a more limited view of his role, seeing the title as representing dominion over lands he already ruled. However, the title of emperor gave Charlemagne enhanced prestige and ideological authority. He immediately incorporated his new title into documents he issued, adopting the formula "Charles, most serene augustus, crowned by God, great peaceful emperor governing the Roman empire, and who is by the mercy of God king of the Franks and the Lombards" instead of the earlier form "Charles, by the grace of God king of the Franks and Lombards and patrician of the Romans." Leo acclaimed Charlemagne as "emperor of the Romans" during the coronation, but Charlemagne never used this title. The avoidance of the specific claim of being a "Roman emperor", as opposed to the more neutral "emperor governing the Roman empire", may have been to improve relations with the Byzantines. This formulation (with the continuation of his earlier royal titles) may also represent a view of his role as emperor as being the ruler of the people of the city of Rome, as he was of the Franks and the Lombards.
=== Governing the empire ===
Charlemagne left Italy in the summer of 801 after adjudicating several ecclesiastical disputes in Rome and experiencing an earthquake in Spoleto. He never returned to the city. Continuing trends and a ruling style established in the 790s, Charlemagne's reign from 801 onward is a "distinct phase" characterised by more sedentary rule from Aachen. Although conflict continued until the end of his reign, the relative peace of the imperial period allowed for attention on internal governance. The Franks continued to wage war, though these wars were defending and securing the empire's frontiers, and Charlemagne rarely led armies personally. A significant expansion of the Spanish March was achieved with a series of campaigns by Louis against the Emirate of Cordoba, culminating in the 801 capture of Barcelona.
The 802 Capitulare missorum generale was an expansive piece of legislation, with provisions governing the conduct of royal officials and requiring that all free men take an oath of loyalty to Charlemagne. The capitulary reformed the institution of the missi dominici, officials who would now be assigned in pairs (a cleric and a lay aristocrat) to administer justice and oversee governance in defined territories. The emperor also ordered the revision of the Lombard and Frankish legal codes.
In addition to the missi, Charlemagne also ruled parts of the empire with his sons as sub-kings. Although Pepin and Louis had some authority as kings in Italy and Aquitaine, Charlemagne had the ultimate authority and directly intervened. Charles, their elder brother, had been given lands in Neustria in 789 or 790 and made a king in 800.
The 806 charter Divisio Regnorum (Division of the Realm) set the terms of Charlemagne's succession. Charles, as his eldest son in good favour, was given the largest share of the inheritance: rule of Francia, Saxony, Nordgau, and parts of Alemannia. The two younger sons were confirmed in their kingdoms and gained additional territories; most of Bavaria and Alemmannia was given to Pepin, and Provence, Septimania, and parts of Burgundy were given to Louis. Charlemagne did not address the inheritance of the imperial title. The Divisio also provided that if any of the brothers predeceased Charlemagne, their sons would inherit their share; peace was urged among his descendants.
=== Conflict and diplomacy with the east ===
After his coronation, Charlemagne sought recognition of his imperial title from Constantinople. Several delegations were exchanged between Charlemagne and Irene in 802 and 803. According to the contemporary Byzantine chronicler Thophanes, Charlemagne made an offer of marriage to Irene which she was close to accepting. Irene was deposed and replaced by Nikephoros I, who was unwilling to recognise Charlemagne as emperor. The two empires conflicted over control of the Adriatic Sea (especially Istria and Veneto) several times during Nikephoros' reign. Charlemagne sent envoys to Constantinople in 810 to make peace, giving up his claims to Veneto. Nikephoros died in battle before the envoys could leave Constantinople, but his successor Michael I confirmed the peace, sending his own envoys to Aachen to recognise Charlemagne as emperor. Charlemagne soon issued the first Frankish coins bearing his imperial title, although papal coins minted in Rome had used the title as early as 800.
He sent envoys and initiated diplomatic contact with the Abbasid caliph Harun al-Rashid during the 790s, due to their mutual interest in Spanish affairs. As an early sign of friendship, Charlemagne requested an elephant as a gift from Harun. Harun later provided an elephant named Abul-Abbas, which arrived at Aachen in 802. Harun also sought to undermine Charlemagne's relations with the Byzantines, with whom he was at war. As part of his outreach, Harun gave Charlemagne nominal rule of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem and other gifts. According to Einhard, Charlemagne "zealously strove to make friendships with kings beyond the seas" in order "that he might get some help and relief to the Christians living under their rule." A surviving administrative document, the Basel roll, shows the work done by his agents in Palestine in furtherance of this goal.
Harun's death lead to a succession crisis, and under his successors churches and synagogues were destroyed in the caliphate. Unable to intervene directly, Charlemagne sent specially-minted coins and arms to the eastern Christians to defend and restore their churches and monasteries. The coins with their inscriptions were also an important tool of imperial propaganda. Fried writes that deteriorating relations with Baghdad after Harun's death may have been the impetus for renewed negotiations with Constantinople which led to Charlemagne's peace with Michael in 811.
As emperor, Charlemagne became involved in a religious dispute between Eastern and Western Christians over the recitation of the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed, the fundamental statement of orthodox Christian belief. The original text of the creed, adopted at the Council of Constantinople, professed that the Holy Spirit proceeded from the Father. A tradition developed in Western Europe that the Holy Spirit proceeded from the Father "and the Son", inserting the Latin term filioque into the creed. The difference did not cause significant conflict until 807, when Frankish monks in Bethlehem were denounced as heretics by a Greek monk for using the filioque form. The Frankish monks appealed the dispute to Rome, where Pope Leo affirmed the text of the creed omitting the phrase and passed the report on to Charlemagne. Charlemagne summoned a council at Aachen in 809 which defended the use of filioque and sent the decision to Rome. Leo said the Franks could maintain their tradition but asserted that the canonical creed did not include filioque. Leo commissioned two silver shields with the creed in Latin and Greek (omitting the filioque), which he hung in St. Peter's Basilica. Another product of the 809 Aachen council was the Handbook of 809, an illustrated calendrical and astronomical compendium.
=== Wars with the Danes ===
Scandinavia had been brought into contact with the Frankish world through Charlemagne's wars with the Saxons. Raids on Charlemagne's lands by the Danes began around 800. Charlemagne engaged in his final campaign in Saxony in 804, seizing Saxon territory east of the Elbe, removing its Saxon population, and giving the land to his Obotrite allies. Danish King Gudfred, uneasy at the extension of Frankish power, offered to meet with Charlemagne to arrange peace and (possibly) hand over Saxons who had fled to him; the talks were unsuccessful.
The northern frontier was quiet until 808, when Gudfred and some allied Slavic tribes led an incursion into the Obotrite lands and extracted tribute from over half the territory. Charles the Younger led an army across the Elbe in response, but he only attacked some of Gudfred's Slavic allies. Gudfred again attempted diplomatic overtures in 809, but no peace was apparently made. Danish pirates raided Frisia in 810, although it is uncertain if they were connected to Gudfred. Charlemagne sent an army to secure Frisia while he led a force against Gudfred, who had reportedly challenged the emperor to face him in battle. Gudfred was murdered by two of his own men before Charlemagne's arrival. Gudfred's successor Hemming immediately sued for peace, and a commission led by Charlemagne's cousin Wala reached a settlement with the Danes in 811. The Danes did not pose a threat for the remainder of Charlemagne's reign, but the effects of this war and their earlier expansion in Saxony helped set the stage for the intense Viking raids across Europe later in the 9th century.
=== Final years and death ===
The Carolingian dynasty experienced several losses in 810 and 811, when Charlemagne's sister Gisela, his daughter Rotrude, and his sons Pepin the Hunchback, Pepin of Italy, and Charles the Younger died. The deaths of Charles and Pepin of Italy left Charlemagne's earlier plans for succession in disarray. He declared Pepin of Italy's son Bernard ruler of Italy and made his own only surviving son, Louis, heir to the rest of the empire. Charlemagne also made his will detailing the disposal of his property at his death, with bequests to the church, his children, and his grandchildren. Einhard (possibly relying on tropes from Suetonius's The Twelve Caesars) says that Charlemagne viewed the deaths of his family members, his fall from a horse, astronomical phenomena, and the collapse of part of the palace in his last years as signs of his impending death. Charlemagne continued to govern with energy during his final year, ordering bishops to assemble in five ecclesiastical councils. These culminated in a large assembly at Aachen, where Charlemagne crowned Louis as his co-emperor and Bernard as king in a ceremony on 11 September 813.
Charlemagne became ill in the autumn of 813 and spent his last months praying, fasting, and studying the gospels. He developed pleurisy and was bedridden for seven days before dying on the morning of 28 January 814. Thegan, a biographer of Louis, records the emperor's last words as "Into your hands, Lord, I commend my spirit". Charlemagne's body was prepared and buried in the chapel at Aachen by his daughters and palace officials that day. Louis arrived at Aachen 30 days after his father's death, taking charge of the palace and the empire. Charlemagne's remains were exhumed by Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa in 1165 and reinterred by Frederick II in 1215.
== Legacy ==
=== Political legacy ===
The stability and peace of Charlemagne's reign did not outlive him for a long time. Louis' reign was marked by strife, including a number of rebellions by his sons. After Louis' death, the empire was divided among his sons into West, East, and Middle Francia by the Treaty of Verdun. Middle Francia was divided several more times over the course of subsequent generations. Carolingians would rule – with some interruptions – in East Francia (later the Kingdom of Germany) until 911 and in West Francia (which would become France) until 987. After 887 the imperial title was held sporadically by a series of non-dynastic Italian rulers before it lapsed in 924. East Frankish King Otto the Great conquered Italy and was crowned emperor in 962. By this time, the eastern and western parts of Charlemagne's former empire had already developed distinct languages and cultures. Otto founded (or re-established) the Holy Roman Empire, which would last until its dissolution in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars.
According to historian Jennifer Davis, Charlemagne "invented medieval rulership," and his influence can be seen at least into the 19th century. Charlemagne is often known as "the father of Europe" because of the influence of his reign and the legacy he left across the large area of the continent. The political structures he established remained in place through his Carolingian successors and continued to exert influence into the 11th century.
Charlemagne was an ancestor of several European ruling houses, including the Capetian dynasty, the Ottonian dynasty, the House of Luxembourg, and the House of Ivrea. The Ottonians and Capetians, direct successors of the Carolingans, drew on the legacy of Charlemagne to bolster their legitimacy and prestige; the Ottonians and their successors held their German coronations in Aachen through the Middle Ages. The marriage of Philip II of France to Isabella of Hainault (a direct descendant of Charlemagne) was seen as a sign of increased legitimacy for their son Louis VIII, and the French kings' association with Charlemagne's legacy was stressed until the monarchy's end. German and French rulers such as Frederick Barbarossa and Napoleon cited the influence of Charlemagne and associated themselves with him. Both German and French monarchs considered themselves successors of Charlemagne, enumerating him as "Charles I" in their regnal lists.
During the Second World War, Aachen's historical association with Charlemagne gave it symbolic importance for both Germans and Americans alike. For Germans, the city represented the heart of the Carolingian legacy—Charlemagne made Aachen the political centre of his realm—and it later served as the customary coronation city of the German kings of the Holy Roman Empire. For Americans, its capture carried weight as it marked both the first major German city taken by Allied forces and a symbolic challenge to Hitler's emphasis on defending a city so closely tied to Charlemagne. As a result, Hitler insisted on a staunch defense of Aachen, which led to a protracted and destructive battle in October 1944.
Since 1949 Aachen has awarded an international prize (the Karlspreis der Stadt Aachen) in honour of Charlemagne. It is awarded annually to those who promote European unity. Recipients of the prize include Richard von Coudenhove-Kalergi (founder of the pan-European movement), Alcide De Gasperi, and Winston Churchill.
=== Carolingian Renaissance ===
Contacts with the wider Mediterranean world through Spain and Italy, the influx of foreign scholars at court, and the relative stability and length of Charlemagne's reign led to a cultural revival known as the Carolingian Renaissance. Although the beginnings of this revival can be seen under his predecessors Charles Martel and Pepin, Charlemagne took an active and direct role in shaping intellectual life which led to the revival's zenith. Charlemagne promoted learning as a matter of policy and direct patronage, with the aim of creating a more effective clergy. The Admonitio generalis and Epistola de litteris colendis outline his policies and aims for education.
Intellectual life at court was dominated by Irish, Anglo-Saxon, Visigothic and Italian scholars, including Dungal of Bobbio, Alcuin of York, Theodulf of Orléans, and Peter of Pisa; Franks such as Einhard and Angelbert also made substantial contributions. Aside from the intellectual activity at the palace, Charlemagne promoted ecclesiastical schools and publicly funded schools for the children of the elite and future clergy. Students learned basic Latin literacy and grammar, arithmetic, and other subjects of the medieval liberal arts. From their education, it was expected that even rural priests could provide their parishioners with basic instruction in religious matters and (possibly) the literacy required for worship. Latin was standardised and its use brought into territories well beyond the former Roman Empire, forming a second language community of speakers and writers and sustaining Latin creativity in the Middle Ages.
Carolingian authors produced extensive works, including legal treatises, histories, poetry, and religious texts. Scriptoria in monasteries and cathedrals focused on copying new and old works, producing an estimated 90,000 manuscripts during the 9th century. The Carolingian minuscule script was developed and popularised in medieval copying, influencing Renaissance and modern typefaces. Scholar John J. Contreni considers the educational and learning revival under Charlemagne and his successors "one of the most durable and resilient elements of the Carolingian legacy".
=== Memory and historiography ===
Charlemagne is a frequent subject and inspiration for medieval writers after his death. Einhard's Vita Karoli Magni, according to Fried, "can be said to have revived the defunct literary genre of the secular biography." Einhard drew on classical sources such as Suetonius' The Twelve Caesars, the orations of Cicero, and Tacitus' Agricola to frame his work's structure and style. The Carolingian period also saw a revival of the mirrors for princes genre. The author of the Latin poem Visio Karoli Magni, written c. 865, uses facts (apparently from Einhard) and his own observations on the decline of Charlemagne's family after their civil wars later in the 9th century as the bases of a visionary tale about Charles meeting a prophetic spectre in a dream. Notker's Gesta Karoli Magni, written for Charlemagne's great-grandson Charles the Fat, presents moral anecdotes (exempla) to highlight the emperor's qualities as a ruler.
Charlemagne grew over the centuries as a figure of myth and emulation; Matthias Becher writes that over 1,000 legends are recorded about him, far outstripping subsequent emperors and kings. Later medieval writers depict Charlemagne as a crusader and Christian warrior. Charlemagne is the main figure of the medieval literary cycle known as the Matter of France. Works in this cycle, which originated during the Crusades, centre on characterisations of the emperor as a leader of Christian knights in wars against Muslims. The cycle includes chansons de geste (epic poems) such as the Song of Roland and chronicles such as the Historia Caroli Magni, also known as the (Pseudo-)Turpin Chronicle. Charlemagne is depicted as one of the Nine Worthies, a fixture in medieval literature and art as an exemplar of a Christian king. Despite his central role in these legends, author Thomas Bulfinch notes "romancers represent him as often weak and passionate, the victim of treacherous counsellors, and at the mercy of turbulent barons, on whose prowess he depends for the maintenance of his throne."
Attention to Charlemagne became more scholarly in the early modern period as Eindhard's Vita and other sources began to be published. Political philosophers debated his legacy; Montesquieu viewed him as the first constitutional monarch and protector of freemen, but Voltaire saw him as a despotic ruler and representative of the medieval period as a Dark Age. As early as the 16th century, debate between German and French writers began about Charlemagne's "nationality". These contrasting portraits—a French Charlemagne versus a German Karl der Große—became especially pronounced during the 19th century with Napoleon's use of Charlemagne's legacy and the rise of German nationalism. German historiography and popular perception focused on the Massacre of Verden, emphasised with Charlemagne as the "butcher" of the Germanic Saxons or downplayed as an unfortunate part of the legacy of a great German ruler. In Nazi Germany some commentators criticized Charlemagne for his subjugation of the Saxons. This quickly stopped as Hitler endorsed a portrait of Charlemagne as a great unifier of disparate German tribes into a common nation, allowing Hitler to co-opt Charlemagne's legacy as an ideological model for his expansionist policies.
Historiography after World War II focused on Charlemagne as "the father of Europe" rather than a nationalistic figure, a view first advanced during the 19th century by Friedrich Schlegel, a German romantic philosopher. This view has led to Charlemagne's adoption as a political symbol of European integration. Modern historians increasingly place Charlemagne in the context of the wider Mediterranean world, following the work of Henri Pirenne.
=== Religious influence and veneration ===
Charlemagne gave much attention to religious and ecclesiastical affairs, holding 23 synods during his reign. His synods were called to address specific issues at particular times but generally dealt with church administration and organisation, education of the clergy, and the proper forms of liturgy and worship. Charlemagne used the Christian faith as a unifying factor in the realm and, in turn, worked to impose unity on the church. He implemented an edited version of the Dionysio-Hadriana book of canon law acquired from Pope Adrian, required use of the Rule of St. Benedict in monasteries throughout the empire, and promoted a standardised liturgy adapted from the rites of the Roman Church to conform with Frankish practices. Carolingian policies promoting unity did not eliminate the diverse practices throughout the empire, but created a shared ecclesiastical identity—according to Rosamond McKitterick, "unison, not unity."
The condition of all his subjects as a "Christian people" was an important concern. Charlemagne's policies encouraged preaching to the laity, particularly in vernacular languages they would understand. He believed it essential to be able to recite the Lord's Prayer and the Apostles' Creed, and he made efforts to ensure that the clergy taught them and other basics of Christian morality.
Thomas F. X. Noble writes that the efforts of Charlemagne and his successors to standardise Christian doctrine and practices and harmonise Frankish practices were essential steps in the development of Christianity in Europe, and the Roman Catholic or Latin Church "as a historical phenomenon, not as a theological or ecclesiological one, is a Carolingian construction." He says that the medieval European concept of Christendom as an overarching community of Western Christians, rather than a collection of local traditions, is the result of Carolingian policies and ideology. Charlemagne's doctrinal policies promoting the use of filioque and opposing the Second Council of Nicea were key steps in the growing divide between Western and Eastern Christianity.
Emperor Otto III attempted to have Charlemagne canonised in 1000. In 1165 Barbarossa persuaded Antipope Paschal III to elevate Charlemagne to sainthood. Since Paschal's acts were not considered valid, Charlemagne was not recognised as a saint by the Holy See. Despite this lack of official recognition, his cult was observed in Aachen, Reims, Frankfurt, Zurich and Regensburg, and he has been venerated in France since the reign of Charles V.
Charlemagne also drew attention from figures of the Protestant Reformation, with Martin Luther criticising his apparent subjugation to the papacy by accepting his coronation from Leo. John Calvin and other Protestant thinkers viewed him as a forerunner of the Reformation, noting the Libri Carolini's condemnation of the worship of images and relics and conflicts by Charlemagne and his successors with the temporal power of the popes.
== Wives, concubines, and children ==
Charlemagne had at least 20 children with his wives and other partners. After the death of Luitgard in 800, he did not remarry but had children with unmarried partners. He was determined that all his children, including his daughters, should receive an education in the liberal arts. His children were taught in accordance with their aristocratic status, which included training in riding and weaponry for his sons, and embroidery, spinning and weaving for his daughters.
McKitterick writes that Charlemagne exercised "a remarkable degree of patriarchal control ... over his progeny," noting that only a handful of his children and grandchildren were raised outside his court. Pepin of Italy and Louis reigned as kings from childhood and lived at their courts. Careers in the church were arranged for his illegitimate sons. His daughters were residents at court or at Chelles Abbey (where Charlemagne's sister was abbess), and those at court may have fulfilled the duties of queen after 800.
Louis and Pepin of Italy married and had children during their father's lifetime, and Charlemagne brought Pepin's daughters into his household after Pepin's death. None of Charlemagne's daughters married, although several had children with unmarried partners. Bertha had two sons, Nithard and Hartnid, with Charlemagne's courtier Angilbert; Rotrude had a son named Louis, possibly with Count Rorgon; and Hiltrude had a son named Richbod, possibly with a count named Richwin. The Divisio Regnorum issued by Charlemagne in 806 provided that his legitimate daughters be allowed to marry or become nuns after his death. Theodrada entered a convent, but the decisions of his other daughters are unknown.
== Appearance and iconography ==
Einhard gives a first-hand description of Charlemagne's appearance later in life:
He was heavily built, sturdy, and of considerable stature, although not exceptionally so, since his height was seven times the length of his own foot. He had a round head, large and lively eyes, a slightly larger nose than usual, white but still attractive hair, a bright and cheerful expression, a short and fat neck, and he enjoyed good health, except for the fevers that affected him in the last few years of his life.
Charlemagne's tomb was opened in 1861 by scientists who reconstructed his skeleton and measured it at 1.92 metres (6 ft 4 in) in length, roughly equivalent to Einhard's measurement. A 2010 estimate of his height from an X-ray and CT scan of his tibia was 1.84 metres (6 ft 0 in); this puts him in the 99th percentile of height for his period, given that average male height of his time was 1.69 metres (5 ft 7 in). The width of the bone suggested that he was slim.
Charlemagne wore his hair short, abandoning the Merovingian tradition of long-haired monarchs. He had a moustache (possibly imitating King Theodoric the Great), in contrast with the bearded Merovingian kings; future Carolingian monarchs adopted this style. Paul Dutton notes the ubiquitous crown in portraits of Charlemagne and other Carolingian rulers, replacing the earlier Merovingian long hair. A 9th-century statuette depicts Charlemagne or his grandson Charles the Bald and shows the subject as moustachioed with short hair; this also appears on contemporary coinage.
By the 12th century, Charlemagne is described as bearded rather than moustachioed in literary sources such as the Song of Roland, the Pseudo-Turpin Chronicle, and other works in Latin, French, and German. The Pseudo-Turpin uniquely says that his hair was brown. Later art and iconography of Charlemagne generally depicts him in a later medieval style as bearded with longer hair. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smile_(band) | Smile (band) | Smile were an English rock band formed in London in 1968. They were the predecessors of the band Queen. Smile were formed by Tim Staffell and Brian May, and later joined by drummer Roger Taylor. They recorded six songs and disbanded in 1970. These songs were titled "April Lady", "Step on Me", "Polar Bear", "Earth", "Blag", and "Doin' Alright" (later re-recorded by Queen for their self-titled debut album in 1973). These songs exist on the CD Ghost of a Smile.
== History ==
Hampton School mates and guitarists Tim Staffell and Brian May joined other friends to form a musical group in 1965 called "1984", named after the book of the same name. They played many gigs in West London, opening for more famous bands, and they recorded four cover songs at Thames Television on 31 March 1967, as well as "Step on Me", written by May and Staffell. In early 1968, first May then Staffell left the group. May was an astrophysics student at London's Imperial College, and Staffell was enrolled at Ealing Art College. They placed an advertisement on the college notice board for a "Ginger Baker type" drummer, and a young dental student named Roger Taylor auditioned on bongos (his drum kit was elsewhere) and got the job. The band debuted by opening for either Pink Floyd or the Troggs (stories differ) at Imperial College on 26 October 1968. Now a trio, the band had their biggest public performance on 27 February 1969 at a concert in aid of the National Council for the Unmarried Mother and Her Child, held at the Royal Albert Hall. As of March 2026, this gig has the only documented footage from the band’s original run. May, Taylor and Staffell performed on guitar, drums and bass respectively.
Smile gigged quite a bit on the London scene, according to Time Out's listings. On 19 April, they played at the Speakeasy, and on 31 May, they appeared at the Whisky-A-Go-Go.
From March 1969 onwards to April 1970, the band played at a venue known as PJ's Club in Truro, using claims—probably false—to have previously been played on BBC Radio 1 to secure an audience. In May, the band signed a one-off recording deal with Mercury Records to record three tracks, "Earth" (Staffell), "Step on Me" (May), and "Doin' All Right" (May/Staffell). These were recorded in June 1969 at Trident Studios in Soho.
Ultimately, this U.S. promotional recording was never published commercially, however, in September of the same year, Mercury Records commissioned them to record three more songs: "April Lady" (Stanley Lucas), "Blag", and "Polar Bear", a "gentle song about a polar bear" written and led by May, at De Lane Lea Studios. Again, the record was not released at the time.
When Staffell left in 1970 to join another band, Humpy Bong, Smile effectively disbanded. Ealing graduate Farrokh Bulsara persuaded May and Taylor to continue, and at about the same time, he changed his name to Freddie Mercury, and joined them as lead vocalist, thus forming a new group, Queen. Queen tried several bass players during this period – Mike Grose, Barry Mitchell and Doug Bogie – none of whom fitted in with the band's chemistry. Not until February 1971 did John Deacon join and complete the lineup, whereupon they began rehearsing for their first album. This definitive lineup lasted until Mercury's death in 1991, their last album being Made in Heaven, released posthumously in 1995.
For their debut album, Queen recorded "Doing All Right". According to the book Queen: The Early Years, Staffell has been well compensated through royalties from the sale of the album, given his co-songwriting credit for the song with May. Queen also recorded the song for their first BBC recording session with John Peel. That session, along with their third session, have been released in the UK as At the Beeb (Band of Joy Records) in 1989, and in the U.S. as Queen at the BBC (Hollywood Records) in 1995. Also in 1995, Queen issued their "Let Me Live" single, of which one CD format features three of the first session BBC recordings, including "Doing Alright".
Smile reunited for several songs on 22 December 1992. Taylor's band the Cross were headlining a gig, and he brought May and Staffell on to play "Earth" and "If I Were a Carpenter". May also performed several other songs that night.
In 2018, Smile reunited once more, at Abbey Road Studios to re-record "Doing All Right". This release was used in Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody film, with May and Taylor taking lead vocals and using Staffell's vocals from the original recording on the middle section.
== Discography ==
Two legitimate releases of the six Smile tracks have been issued:
Gettin' Smile (LP) from Japan, released 23 September 1982, on Mercury Records. The sleeve contains notoriously inaccurate lyrics and songwriting credits for the songs. This release was used for all subsequent bootlegs which contain the songs.
Ghost of a Smile (CD) from the Netherlands, released in 1997, on Pseudonym Records. The CD booklet is comprehensive and features new liner notes by Staffell. All the tracks were newly remastered. The album also features two versions of the Eddie Howell/Freddie Mercury collaboration "The Man from Manhattan" (no relation to Smile, except that May plays guitar on it).
There is a bootleg album of their early tracks circa the Smile-era titled Pre-Ordained. Most of them also appeared on the 1995 Italian bootleg In Nuce. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1992_Formula_One_World_Championship | 1992 Formula One World Championship | The 1992 Formula One World Championship was the 46th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 1992 Formula One World Championship for Drivers and the 1992 Formula One World Championship for Constructors, which were contested concurrently over a sixteen-race series that commenced on 1 March and ended on 8 November. Nigel Mansell, in what would prove to be his final full season in Formula One, won the Drivers' Championship and Williams-Renault won the Constructors' Championship.
Mansell won the first five races of the season and went on to become the first driver in Formula One history to win nine World Championship races in a single season. He sealed the championship at the Hungarian Grand Prix in mid-August, with five races still to run, becoming the first British driver to win the championship since James Hunt in 1976. Reigning champion Ayrton Senna won three races for McLaren-Honda but could only manage fourth in the championship, with Mansell's Williams teammate Riccardo Patrese finishing second and young Michael Schumacher third for Benetton-Ford.
This was the first season in which all teams had two regular drivers, a trend that has remained the same ever since. Although champion Mansell would start a combined six more Formula One Grands Prix across 1994 (with Williams) and 1995 (with McLaren), he would never contest a full F1 season again.
== Drivers and constructors ==
The following teams and drivers competed in the 1992 FIA Formula One World Championship. All teams competed with tyres supplied by Goodyear. This was the first season in which all teams ran two cars.
=== Team changes ===
March completed a take-over of Leyton House Racing.
Modena designed a car for 1992, but had to cease operations before the season started, due to insurmountable financial challenges.
After a one-year spell with Lamborghini, Ligier signed a three-year full-works engine deal with Renault. They received the same treatment as Williams, by utilizing the same engine specifications.
Lamborghini moved on to supply Minardi and Larrousse, who collaborated with Venturi Automobiles.
Judd supplied Team Lotus and BMS Scuderia Italia in 1991, but moved on to Brabham and Andrea Moda in 1992. Lotus was supplied by Ford, BMS received a 1991-spec Ferrari engine.
Brabham's former supplier, Yamaha, moved to Jordan.
After preparing the Honda engines for Tyrrell in 1991, Mugen Motorsports made their public debut as supplier to Footwork. Tyrrell moved on to engine supplier Ilmor.
==== Mid-season changes ====
After being in Formula 1 since 1962, Brabham went into administration 11 races into the 1992 season.
Andrea Moda was expelled from the championship after 12 races, on the regulatory grounds of "[failure to operate a] team in a manner compatible with the standards of the championship or in any way brings the championship into disrepute."
The Fondmetal team ran out of money after 13 races.
==== Post-season ====
March left the sport after more than twenty years in F1.
=== Driver changes ===
After Alain Prost was released from his contract with Ferrari before the 1991 season ended, the team attracted Ivan Capelli.
Three-time world champion Nelson Piquet retired and Benetton attracted Martin Brundle, coming from Brabham.
Brabham signed Eric van de Poele and Giovanna Amati, the first female F1 driver since Desiré Wilson in 1980. Ex-driver Mark Blundell could not find a seat for 1992.
Stefano Modena and Andrea de Cesaris switched employers, Modena going to Jordan and De Cesaris to Tyrrell. Jordan also signed Maurício Gugelmin from Leyton House, while Tyrrell replaced the retired Satoru Nakajima with Olivier Grouillard.
Pierluigi Martini moved from Minardi to Scuderia Italia, replacing Emanuele Pirro making place at Minardi for debutant Christian Fittipaldi.
Aguri Suzuki moved from Larrousse to Footwork, freeing a seat for newcomer and fellow Japanese Ukyo Katayama. Ex-Footwork driver Alex Caffi moved to Andrea Moda, besides Enrico Bertaggia.
Andrea Chiesa debuted with Fondmetal, the team fielding a second car for the first time.
==== Mid-season changes ====
After three races, Giovanna Amati was replaced by Williams test driver Damon Hill, while he was still competing in the F3000.
Before the Hungarian Grand Prix, Andrea Chiesa was replaced at Fondmetal by Eric van de Poele, coming from the defunct Brabham team. Unfortunately, Fondmetal folded just three races later.
At March, Emanuele Naspetti left the F3000 championship while he was leading, to replace Paul Belmondo, and Jan Lammers made a surprise comeback when he replaced Karl Wendlinger for the final two races of the season. Lammers set a record by returning a full ten years after his initial final race.
Christian Fittipaldi was replaced at Minardi by Alessandro Zanardi when he crashed during qualifying of the French Grand Prix. After three races, the Brazilian returned.
Ivan Capelli was dropped by Ferrari after the Portuguese Grand Prix, and the team promoted their test driver and ITCC champion Nicola Larini to a race seat. He had helped develop their active suspension system and when it was time to launch the car with that upgrade, Larini was awarded the drive.
After just two races, Andrea Moda separated with both drivers and hired Roberto Moreno and Perry McCarthy.
== Calendar ==
=== Calendar changes ===
The United States Grand Prix was originally scheduled for 15 March at the Phoenix street circuit, which was to be the second round as a result of the return of South Africa but was cancelled due to the inability to install more seats in order to attract spectators.
This made way for the return of the South African Grand Prix. After a seven-year absence, the FIA lifted its ban on events in South Africa due to the end of Apartheid. The race was held again at Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit, but there was a new layout compared to the last time they raced in 1985.
The Mexican Grand Prix was moved from its mid-June date to March and the Spanish Grand Prix was moved from September to May.
The Austrian Grand Prix, originally scheduled for 16 August, was cancelled due to financial problems. The Hungarian Grand Prix moved up from 23 August to take its slot.
The European Grand Prix, originally scheduled for 4 October at the Jerez circuit, was cancelled.
== Regulation changes ==
=== Technical regulations ===
Unleaded gasoline fuel became mandatory for all Formula One cars from the 1992 season onwards, as leaded gasoline fuel was deemed too hazardous for health. Previously, unleaded gasoline fuel was optional for top teams only. From the Hungarian Grand Prix, FISA mandated pump fuel only with lower octane, further reducing engine power.
Stricter crash tests were introduced.
=== Sporting and event regulations ===
The use of the Safety Car was formalised.
Circuits were demanded to lower the kerbs, to widen the pit lane to at least 12 meters and to add a chicane in the pit lane entry.
== Race-by-race ==
=== Race 1: South Africa ===
The season started off in South Africa at the newly rebuilt Kyalami circuit near the high altitude city of Johannesburg where Mansell took pole ahead of Senna, Berger, Patrese, Alesi and Schumacher. At the start, Patrese overtook both McLarens and Berger lost out to both Alesi and Schumacher as well. The order was: Mansell, Patrese, Senna, Alesi, Schumacher and Berger.
Mansell quickly pulled away from Patrese who was under no pressure at all from Senna. Brundle spun off on the first lap in the Benetton and then retired with a broken clutch. Alesi was well behind Senna and had a comfortable gap to Schumacher, whom Berger could do nothing about. The pit stops left the order unchanged, and it held until Alesi's engine failed on lap 41. Andrea de Cesaris was sixth and in the points for one lap until his engine failed as well.
Mansell won the race easily with Patrese making it a Williams 1–2 ahead of Senna, Schumacher, Berger and Johnny Herbert. Mansell had also won the previous South African Grand Prix, held in 1985, in a Williams-Honda.
=== Race 2: Mexico ===
The cancellation of the United States Grand Prix on a street circuit in Phoenix, Arizona, originally scheduled for 15 March left a 3-week gap between the first two races, and there was some controversy surrounding the next race in Mexico: the venue for this race, the Hermanos Rodríguez Autodrome in Mexico City (an even higher altitude city) had an appallingly bumpy track surface, thanks to the circuit being located on a geologically active area. It also had a dauntingly fast final corner called the Peraltada which was 180 degrees and banked. Although the banking had been eased from the previous year, making the corner slightly slower, the bumps were still disastrous as Ayrton Senna hit a nasty bump in the Esses and crashed into a concrete wall, receiving severe bruising. He was cleared fit enough to race.
The Williams cars were 1–2 in qualifying in Mexico ahead of the Benettons and the McLarens with Mansell on pole ahead of Patrese, Schumacher, Brundle, Berger and Senna. At the start, Senna blasted past his teammate and the Benettons with Brundle getting ahead of Schumacher. The order was: Mansell, Patrese, Senna, Brundle, Schumacher and Berger.
Schumacher quickly passed Brundle on lap 2 and soon afterwards there was a big queue behind Senna, who was apparently having some sort of trouble. Schumacher got past on lap 7 and the rest were relieved of being stuck up when Senna retired with transmission troubles on lap 11.
After the stops, Berger got ahead of Brundle only to be passed two laps later. Berger repassed Brundle on lap 36. Brundle got back ahead on lap 39 only for Berger to repass him two laps later. Brundle was back in fourth on lap 44 but retired with engine trouble three laps later, ending the battle for fourth. At the front, Mansell won with Patrese making it a Williams 1–2 again ahead of Schumacher, Berger, de Cesaris and Mika Häkkinen.
=== Race 3: Brazil ===
For the Brazilian Grand Prix at the Interlagos circuit in São Paulo, the Williamses were ahead of the McLarens with Mansell on pole ahead of Patrese with Senna third in front of his home crowd ahead of Berger, Schumacher and Alesi. On the parade lap, Berger stalled and had to start at the back. At the start, Mansell was poor and Patrese blasted ahead of him with Brundle getting ahead of Alesi. The order was: Patrese, Mansell, Senna, Schumacher, Brundle and Alesi.
Berger had to retire after only 4 laps in the pits with electrical failure. The Williamses pulled away while Senna was holding the rest at bay; Schumacher was 30 seconds behind by the time he had passed Senna for third on lap 13. Brundle and Alesi passed him soon afterwards and Senna retired with engine troubles on lap 17.
The stops brought Alesi closer to Brundle and Alesi made his move on lap 31. The two collided, with Brundle spinning out. This promoted Karl Wendlinger to fifth and he was there until his clutch failed on lap 56. As Thierry Boutsen collided with Érik Comas and forced Johnny Herbert off into the gravel at the Senna S as it forced both drivers to retire but Comas managed to continue, just 6 laps after Brundle's retirement. Meanwhile, Mansell pitted while passing back markers and took advantage of subsequent clear laps, taking over first place when Patrese pitted after slower laps passing more of the back markers. Mansell then built a lead and won with a 29-second lead over Patrese in second, making it yet another Williams 1–2 ahead of Schumacher, Alesi, Capelli and Michele Alboreto.
=== Race 4: Spain ===
Mansell was on pole once again in Spain at the Catalunya circuit in Montmeló ahead of Schumacher, Senna, Patrese, Capelli and Brundle. At the start, in torrential wet conditions, Patrese got by Senna and Schumacher while Alesi sensationally climbed up from eighth to third. The order was: Mansell, Patrese, Alesi, Schumacher, Senna and Capelli.
Brundle retired yet again after spinning off on the main straight with a clutch problem by lap 5, meaning it was his fourth consecutive retirement. Schumacher attacked and passed Alesi on lap 7. Senna tried to do the same but tipped Alesi into a spin, putting the Frenchman behind Berger and Capelli as well. By now the rain intensified, and Patrese spun off on lap 20 while trying to lap a backmarker. This put Mansell ahead of Schumacher, Senna, Berger, Capelli and Alesi. Maurício Gugelmin as the only Jordan in the race, and lapped by the McLarens, had spun into the pit wall at lap 25.
During the pit-stops, Alesi got past Capelli and began to charge up through the field. He cruised past Berger for fourth and began to attack Senna for third. He wanted to attack Schumacher as well and was in a hurry. The pressure was so intense that Senna spun off with two laps to go. At the same time, Capelli spun off as well. Mansell won again from Schumacher, Alesi, Berger, Alboreto and Pierluigi Martini.
=== Race 5: San Marino ===
At the San Marino Grand Prix at the Imola circuit in Italy, the Williamses were still well ahead of the McLarens and the Benettons, Mansell taking another pole ahead of Patrese, Senna, Berger, Schumacher and Brundle. At the start, Patrese attacked Mansell but Mansell kept the lead and Schumacher got ahead of Berger to take fourth. The order at the end of the first lap was: Mansell, Patrese, Senna, Schumacher, Berger and Brundle.
As usual, Mansell was pulling away from Patrese as the two of them began to pull away from the field. Capelli in the second Ferrari spun off into the gravel trap on lap 12. Schumacher was pressurizing Senna but it was he who made the mistake first, spinning out into retirement on lap 21 with the result of rear suspension damage after clipping the tyre wall. Alesi was planning to go without a stop and so after the others stopped, he had climbed up to third. However, he was soon under pressure from the McLarens of Senna and Berger. Senna went ahead at Tosa on lap 40, but Berger tried to follow him through and Alesi lost momentum and spun towards Berger, taking both out.
Mansell made it five wins out of five with Patrese making it one more Williams 1–2 ahead of Senna, Brundle, Alboreto and Martini.
=== Race 6: Monaco ===
In Monaco, the Williamses were again dominant, with Mansell taking six poles in six with Patrese beside him, Senna third, Alesi fourth, Berger fifth and Schumacher sixth. At the start, Senna got ahead of Patrese while Schumacher took Alesi and Berger into the first corner. However, Alesi took fourth back at Mirabeau and then the race settled down. The order was: Mansell, Senna, Patrese, Alesi, Schumacher and Berger.
Patrese began to attack Senna but then began to drop back with gearbox troubles. On lap 12, Schumacher tried to pass Alesi and the two collided, and an electronic box was damaged in Alesi's car, with Schumacher getting ahead. Alesi continued to stay fifth for another 16 laps before the damage forced him to retire on lap 28. This promoted Berger to fifth, a place which he held for just under 5 laps before he had to retire from gearbox troubles.
On lap 60, Alboreto, just about to be lapped by Senna, spun in front of him and Senna lost another 10 seconds. Then, there was a loose wheelnut in Mansell's car and Mansell had to pit and rejoined behind Senna. He closed the gap quickly but with overtaking being extremely hard, Senna was able to legally block every move that Mansell made. Senna won from Mansell, Patrese, Schumacher, Brundle and Bertrand Gachot.
=== Race 7: Canada ===
There was a change in Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, Canada with Senna taking his 61st career pole position ahead of Patrese, Mansell, Berger, Schumacher and Herbert. At the start, Mansell got ahead of Patrese and behind them Brundle was able to get by Herbert. The order was: Senna, Mansell, Patrese, Berger, Schumacher and Brundle.
The race settled down for the first 14 laps but then on lap 15, Mansell attacked Senna at the final chicane and hit a kerb, pushing his car into the air. It landed nose-first into the gravel and spun back onto the track. Mansell claimed that Senna had pushed him off the track. He was out and this forced Patrese to slow down and suddenly Berger went through to second. Senna then began to pull away from the field and the stops changed nothing. Senna still led Berger, Patrese, Schumacher, Brundle and Herbert. Herbert went out on lap 34 with clutch troubles.
Senna lost a certain victory when electrical failure put him out on lap 38. Behind them, Brundle passed Schumacher for third and this became second when Patrese's gearbox failed on lap 44. However, Brundle only lasted for two more laps before he retired with transmission trouble. Berger won from Schumacher, Alesi, Wendlinger, de Cesaris and Érik Comas.
=== Race 8: France ===
The Williamses took the front row at the Magny-Cours circuit in France ahead of the McLarens, with Mansell on pole ahead of Patrese, Senna, Berger, Schumacher and Alesi. At the start, Patrese got by Mansell while Berger got ahead of Senna and Brundle was able to pass Alesi. At the Adelaide hairpin, Schumacher tried to pass Senna but instead hit him, taking Senna out and forcing himself to pit. Meanwhile, Patrese and Mansell were side by side but Patrese kept the lead. Patrese led Mansell, Berger, Brundle, Alesi and Häkkinen and then Patrese waved Mansell through.
Nothing changed until lap 11 when Berger's engine failed. Soon afterwards it began to rain so heavily that the race was stopped. After some time the rain decreased and the grid formed up again. Patrese took the lead again with Alesi getting ahead of Häkkinen as well. Mansell tried to get past but Patrese defended and once again kept the lead. Patrese led Mansell, Brundle, Alesi, Häkkinen and Comas on aggregate. Patrese then waved Mansell through on track and soon Mansell got ahead on aggregate.
It began to rain again and everyone pitted for wets with Alesi going too late and dropping down to sixth. His engine failed on lap 61. Mansell won with Patrese making it a Williams 1–2 ahead of Brundle, Häkkinen, Comas and Herbert.
Thus, at the halfway stage of the season, Mansell was comfortably leading the championship with 66 points compared to Patrese's 34. Schumacher was third with 26, Senna was fourth with 18, Berger was fifth with 18, Alesi was sixth with 11, Brundle was seventh with 9 and Alboreto was eighth with 5. The 66 points that Mansell had after the French Grand Prix would have been enough for him to have been crowned world champion even if he had scored no further points in the season; Patrese was the eventual runner-up with 56 points. In the Constructors' Championship, Williams were dominant, with 100 points and well ahead of the field. McLaren were second with 36, Benetton were third with 35, and Ferrari were fourth with 13.
This Grand Prix saw, for the first time in the sport, the trialing of a safety car, in this case a Ford Escort RS Cosworth.
=== Race 9: Great Britain ===
Mansell took pole position at Silverstone in Britain with Patrese making another Williams 1–2 ahead of Senna, Schumacher, Berger and Brundle. At the start, Patrese got ahead of Mansell while Brundle had a superb start, blasting by the three in front of him, and Schumacher also got ahead of Senna. Patrese waved Mansell through on the Hangar straight with action behind as both Senna and Berger got ahead of Schumacher. Schumacher quickly recovered and passed Berger at Priory before the first lap was over. Mansell led Patrese, Brundle, Senna, Schumacher and Berger.
Herbert became the first of the leaders to retire from sixth position in the leading Lotus with transmission problems on lap 32. Alesi in the leading Ferrari eventually went off the track with mechanical problems by lap 44. Senna put Brundle under pressure but Brundle kept the place. The round of stops changed nothing, with Mansell leading from Patrese, Brundle, Senna, Schumacher and Berger. Schumacher then went wide at a corner giving fifth to Berger. Senna only lasted until lap 53 when his transmission failed. On the next lap, Schumacher passed Berger who was suffering from engine trouble, but still managed to cross the line just before it let go and finished fifth.
Mansell took the win with Patrese making it one more Williams 1–2 ahead of Brundle, Schumacher, Berger and Häkkinen. Spectators began to invade the track to celebrate his win even before the final lap had finished, and thousands entered the track following the chequered flag. The win saw Mansell overtake Jackie Stewart as the most successful British driver, with 28 wins to Stewart's 27. Mansell's record was subsequently overtaken by Lewis Hamilton.
This Grand Prix also saw repeated trials for a safety car, first run at the preceding French Grand Prix.
=== Race 10: Germany ===
At Hockenheim in Germany, the Williamses were again ahead of the McLarens, with Mansell on pole ahead of Patrese, Senna, Berger, Alesi and home hero Schumacher. At the start, Mansell defended from Patrese while Alesi lost out to both Schumacher and a fast-starting Brundle. Mansell was leading Patrese, Senna, Berger, Schumacher and Brundle at the end of the first lap.
Mansell then pulled away from Patrese who was doing the same to the McLarens. Soon the stops came and everyone in the top pitted except Senna and the Benettons were planning to go without a stop. Berger had a slow stop and retired with a misfire soon after. The order after the stops was: Senna, Mansell, Schumacher, Patrese, Brundle and Alesi.
Mansell did not want to stay second and passed Senna to lead with Patrese taking third from Schumacher soon after. Patrese was on a charge and smashed the lap record in his chase of Senna. He was right with Senna on the penultimate lap and tried to attack on the last lap. But Patrese in his attempt spun off into the gravel trap and was out. Mansell took his eighth win of the season ahead of Senna, Schumacher, Brundle, Alesi and Comas.
=== Race 11: Hungary ===
By the time the Hungarian Grand Prix in Mogyoród came around, Mansell was 46 points ahead of Patrese and the Williams team were 77 points ahead of Benetton with 6 races to go. This was the chance for Williams to seal both titles and they were dominant, but it was Patrese who took pole ahead of Mansell, Senna, Schumacher, Berger and Brundle. At the start, Berger got by Schumacher and then Mansell lost momentum and Senna passed him with Berger following his teammate through. The order was: Patrese, Senna, Berger, Mansell, Schumacher and Brundle.
There was a collision on the first lap between Comas, Herbert, Boutsen and Tarquini who all retired on the first lap (meaning both Ligiers of Comas and Boutsen retired on the first lap), before Van de Poole spun into retirement at the first corner on lap 3 as both Fondmetals retired after only 2 laps. Mansell passed Berger on lap 8 and set off after Senna. However, as hard as he tried, the combination of the small circuit and Senna's skills in defending meant that he could not pass. Alesi in the leading Ferrari behind the leading pack spun out with the rear wheels in the gravel trap by lap 15. On lap 31, Patrese made a mistake and went wide and rejoined behind Berger. Two laps later, Mansell passed Berger to get back third. Then, a pivotal movement came on lap 39 when Patrese spun off. He rejoined in seventh, outside the points which meant that Mansell would be the world champion if results stayed the same. However, on lap 51, Mansell had to go to the pits with tyre troubles and rejoined in sixth, just ahead of Patrese. Mansell quickly passed Häkkinen but before Patrese, who was right behind, could take sixth, Patrese's engine blew. He was out and would get no points.
Mansell quickly caught and passed Brundle on lap 60 and four laps later, he was up to third when Schumacher's rear wing broke, spinning him out and retired on lap 64. Senna, a minute ahead, made a precautionary stop just as Häkkinen passed Brundle for fourth. Mansell passed Berger for second and now had a toehold on the championship. Soon afterwards, Häkkinen tried to pass Berger and spun into Brundle's path. Brundle was forced to spin to avoid a collision and both rejoined without losing places, with Häkkinen staying ahead. Senna won ahead of new world champion Mansell, Berger, Häkkinen, Brundle and Capelli.
=== Race 12: Belgium ===
Now to Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium and champion-elect Mansell took pole ahead of Senna, Schumacher, Patrese, Alesi and Berger. At the start, it was damp and Senna outdragged Mansell with Patrese getting ahead of Schumacher while Berger did not move. Senna was leading Mansell, Patrese, Schumacher, Alesi and Thierry Boutsen.
At the start before La Source, Berger failed to get away and retired after an immediate transmission problem & put him out straight away. Mansell attacked and passed Senna at the end of the second lap with Patrese following suit. Then it began to rain and almost everybody pitted for wets. Senna stayed out in the hope that the rain would stop but it did not. He pitted late and rejoined down in 12th as Alesi went out with a puncture after colliding with Mansell at La Source. The order was: Mansell, Patrese, Schumacher, Brundle, Häkkinen and Boutsen. Capelli suffered a dramatic engine failure on lap 26 as he went straight off into the gravel trap at Blanchimont whilst battling Herbert for sixth position. The track was beginning to dry and Boutsen spun off on lap 28. Schumacher lost two seconds after going off the track and stopped for dries at the end of the lap. However, Mansell and Patrese stayed out far too long and when both pitted late, they rejoined behind Schumacher. Herbert eventually retired yet again with engine problems on lap 43, the Englishman would be classified 13th.
Mansell tried to close in but cracked an exhaust and dropped back. Patrese suffered the same fate and had to hold back Brundle. Behind, the recovering Senna took fifth from Häkkinen. Schumacher took his maiden win ahead of Mansell, Patrese, Brundle, Senna and Häkkinen. The Constructors' Championship went to Williams after their 2–3 finish. This was also the only race to have 18 classified finishers, the highest number of finishers that year.
Thus, with three-quarters of the season over, Mansell was the World Champion with 98 points, with Patrese second with 44, Schumacher third with 43, Senna fourth with 36, Berger fifth with 24, Brundle sixth with 21, Alesi seventh with 13, and Häkkinen eighth with 9. Williams were the World Champion in the Constructors' Championship with 142 points, with Benetton second with 64, McLaren third with 60, and Ferrari fourth with 16.
=== Race 13: Italy ===
At Monza in Italy, Mansell was on pole ahead of Senna, Alesi, Berger, Patrese and Schumacher. At the start, Mansell took off while Patrese got ahead of Alesi and Berger lost out to Schumacher, Capelli and Brundle. Mansell led Senna, Patrese, Alesi, Schumacher and Capelli.
Mansell pulled away fast with Senna holding up Patrese. On lap 13, both Ferraris went out: Alesi with trouble in his fuel system and Capelli with electrical problems. Patrese then passed Senna but Mansell was already 10 seconds up the road. Then, everybody stopped during which Brundle got ahead of Schumacher. The order was: Mansell, Patrese, Senna, Brundle, Schumacher and Berger. Then Mansell suddenly slowed down and allowed Patrese to pass him.
Then, on lap 36, he began to drop back with hydraulic troubles. Senna, Brundle, Schumacher and Berger all passed him. He trolled round and retired in the pits on lap 41. Patrese led but then Senna began to close in. Patrese also began to suffer from hydraulic troubles and Senna passed him on lap 49. On the next lap, both Brundle and Schumacher found a way through. Patrese held fourth until the last lap when Berger passed him. Senna won from Brundle, Schumacher, Berger, the hobbling Patrese and de Cesaris.
=== Race 14: Portugal ===
The Williamses were again ahead of the McLarens and the Benettons in Estoril just outside Lisbon with Mansell on pole ahead of Patrese, Senna, Berger, Schumacher and Brundle. At the start, Schumacher was late firing up and started at the back of the grid. At the start, Berger got ahead of Senna. Mansell led from Patrese, Berger, Senna, Brundle and Häkkinen.
Herbert in the second Lotus collided with Alesi on the first lap, Herbert eventually crashed out on lap 3 as Alesi in the leading Ferrari had spun off by lap 13, making it his 4th retirement in a row. Then it was the usual sight of Mansell pulling away from Patrese and the two getting away from the rest. The Williamses pitted early unlike the McLarens. Mansell had a quick stop and rejoined in the lead but Patrese had a problem with his right rear jack and joined behind the McLarens. He passed Senna quickly and set off after Berger. On lap 35, the recovering Schumacher took sixth from Alboreto. Soon after, Patrese was right with Berger, looking for a way through.
Berger realised that he had blistered his tyres and slowed down as he was about to go to the pits. Patrese was caught unawares, hit the back of Berger and had a massive crash. Luckily, Patrese was unhurt. Schumacher hit the debris and had to pit again, dropping back to eighth. Mansell took his 30th career win ahead of Berger, Senna, Brundle, Häkkinen and Alboreto.
With two more races to go, Mansell was already World Champion with 108 points but there was a big battle for second. Senna was second with 50, Schumacher was third with 47, Patrese was fourth with 46, Berger was fifth with 33, Brundle was sixth with 30, Alesi was seventh with 13, and Häkkinen was eighth with 11. In the Constructors' Championship, Williams was the World Champion with 154 points. McLaren was second with 83, Benetton was third with 77, and Ferrari was fourth with 16.
=== Race 15: Japan ===
Before the race at Suzuka in Japan, Ferrari had dropped Capelli who had a poor season and replaced him with Nicola Larini. In qualifying, the Williamses showed their class with Mansell taking pole ahead of Patrese, Senna, Berger, Schumacher and Herbert. At the start, there were no changes at the front and Mansell still led Patrese, Senna, Berger, Schumacher and Herbert.
Senna did not last long, going out with engine troubles on lap 3. Gouillard had crashed out in the second Tyrrell by lap 6. Berger decided to make an early stop and dropped back down to sixth. Schumacher had gearbox troubles and retired at the end of lap 13. Herbert now inherited third only to go out with the same problems two laps later. Berger and Brundle who stopped earlier did not stop when the others did and so the order after the stops was: Mansell, Patrese, Berger, Häkkinen, Brundle and Comas.
On lap 36, Mansell slowed down and let Patrese through before again speeding up and hanging on Patrese's tail. However, on lap 45, an engine failure ended Mansell's race. At the same time, Häkkinen went out with the same problem. Patrese won from Berger, Brundle, de Cesaris, Alesi and Christian Fittipaldi.
=== Race 16: Australia ===
For the season's final race on the streets of Adelaide, Australia, Mansell took pole ahead of Senna, Patrese, Berger, Schumacher and Alesi. At the start, Alesi had to hold off Brundle and there were no changes ahead of him. The order was: Mansell, Senna, Patrese, Berger, Schumacher and Alesi.
There was a collision at the start behind the leaders as Grouillard's Tyrrell collided with the Dallara of Martini on the first lap (eliminating both drivers on the same lap). However, Mansell did not pull away as usual. Senna was right with him and tried to pass him on lap 8. Gugelmin had once again spun out and crashed in the second Jordan by lap 9. He went wide and Mansell retained the lead. The top two were pulling away from Patrese and the rest but Senna could not attack Mansell. The gap stayed at less than a second. Then, on lap 19, entering the final corner, Senna crashed into the back of Mansell resulting in both drivers retiring. Some claimed that Mansell 'brake tested' Senna.
Patrese was now leading under immense pressure from Berger. Berger tried to pass around the outside but he too went wide. While Patrese did not pit, Berger pitted, followed 5 laps later by Schumacher. Berger rejoined 4 seconds ahead. Behind them, Brundle had got ahead of Alesi in the stops. On lap 51, Patrese, nearly 20 seconds ahead, coasted to a halt with an engine failure. So, Berger won with Schumacher close behind ahead of Brundle, Alesi, Boutsen (the last time the Belgian would score points) and Stefano Modena, this race was remembered for being Modena's last Grand Prix and the only point for the Jordan team that season.
=== Season result ===
At the end of the season, Mansell was named world champion with 108 points with Patrese edging out the battle for second with 56, Schumacher third with 53, Senna fourth with 50, Berger fifth with 49, Brundle sixth with 38, Alesi seventh with 18 and Häkkinen eighth with 11. In the Constructors' Championship, Williams was dominant champion with 164 points, McLaren just edging out second with 99, Benetton a close third with 91, and Ferrari fourth with 21.
== Results and standings ==
=== Grands Prix ===
=== Scoring system ===
Points were awarded to the top six classified finishers in the following system:
=== World Drivers' Championship standings ===
Notes:
† – Driver did not finish the Grand Prix but was classified, as they completed more than 90% of the race distance.
=== World Constructors' Championship standings ===
Notes:
† – Driver did not finish the Grand Prix but was classified, as they completed more than 90% of the race distance.
== Non-championship event results ==
The 1992 season also included a single event which did not count towards the World Championship, the Formula One Indoor Trophy at the Bologna Motor Show. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iga_%C5%9Awi%C4%85tek | Iga Świątek | Iga Natalia Świątek (born 31 May 2001) is a Polish professional tennis player. Currently ranked No. 3 in women's singles by the WTA, she has held the world No. 1 ranking for a total of 125 weeks (seventh-most of all-time). Świątek has won 25
WTA Tour–level singles titles, including six major titles: four at the French Open, one at Wimbledon, and one at the US Open. She has also won the 2023 WTA Finals and eleven WTA 1000 titles. Świątek is the first Pole to win a major singles title.
As a junior, Świątek was the 2018 French Open girls' doubles champion alongside Caty McNally and the 2018 Wimbledon girls' singles champion. She began playing regularly on the WTA Tour in 2019, and entered the top 50 at 18 years old after her first Tour final and a fourth-round appearance at the 2019 French Open. In 2020, Świątek won her first major at the French Open in dominant fashion, losing no more than five games in any singles match. She entered the top ten of the WTA rankings for the first time in May 2021.
In early 2022, Świątek surged into dominant form with a 37-match winning streak, the longest on the WTA Tour in the 21st century, becoming world No. 1 in the process. With major titles at the French and US Opens, she finished 2022 as the world's best player. She repeated the year-end No. 1 feat in 2023 by defending her French Open title and claiming the WTA Finals, and won the French Open for a third straight edition in 2024. Following a year of form struggles, Świątek won her first grass court title at the 2025 Wimbledon Championships. She has claimed the French Open title at four of her seven appearances at the tournament, having never lost a match before the fourth round.
Świątek has an all-court playing style. She won the WTA Fan Favorite Shot of the Year in 2019 with a drop shot from the baseline, and was voted WTA Fan Favorite Singles Player of the Year in 2020. In 2023, she was named L'Équipe Champion of Champions and Polish Sports Personality of the Year and included on Time's annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world.
== Early life and background ==
Świątek was born on 31 May 2001 in Warsaw to Dorota and Tomasz Świątek. Her father is a former rower who competed in the men's quadruple sculls event at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, while her mother is an orthodontist. She has a sister, Agata, who is about three years older and is a dentist.
Their father wanted his daughters to become competitive athletes and preferred they take up an individual sport rather than a team sport to have better control of their chances of success. Agata started out as a swimmer but switched to tennis. Agata briefly competed on the ITF Junior Circuit in 2013 at about 15 years old, but stopped playing due to injury troubles. Świątek followed her sister into tennis because she wanted to beat her and also because she wanted to be more like her. Świątek trained at Mera Warsaw as a 14-year-old before later moving to Legia Warsaw.
== Junior years ==
Świątek reached a career-high ranking of No. 5 as a junior player. She began competing in ITF Junior Circuit events in 2015 and won back-to-back low-level Grade 4 titles in April and May at age 13. Before the end of the year, she moved up to Grade 2 events and finished runner-up in both singles and doubles at the Czech Junior Open. Świątek made her junior Grand Slam tournament debut in 2016 at the French Open, reaching the quarterfinals in both singles and doubles. She followed this up with her best junior title to date at the Grade 1 Canadian Open Junior Championships, defeating Olga Danilović in the final.
Świątek had a strong first half of 2017. She won both the singles and doubles titles at the Grade 1 Traralgon Junior International. Although she lost her opening round match at the Australian Open, she partnered with compatriot Maja Chwalińska to make her first final in a major tournament, finishing runner-up in doubles to the North American team of Bianca Andreescu and Carson Branstine. She then reached her first Grade A singles final at the Trofeo Bonfiglio, losing to Elena Rybakina. Her season came to an end after another quarterfinal at the French Open, after which she had right ankle surgery that kept her out for seven months.
Despite competing in only two Grand Slam tournaments in 2018 and three singles events in total, Świątek finished her junior career with her best season. She returned to the junior tour at the French Open after a one-year absence and reached the semi-finals in singles, losing to Caty McNally. She fared better in doubles, partnering with McNally to win her first junior major title. They defeated the Japanese team of Yuki Naito and Naho Sato in the final.
Świątek played only singles at Wimbledon. As an unseeded player due to her absence, she was drawn against top seed Whitney Osuigwe in the first round. After winning that match in three sets, she did not drop another set during the rest of the tournament and won the championship for her only junior major singles title. She defeated Leonie Küng in the final.
Świątek then teamed up with the Slovenian Kaja Juvan to compete in the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics. They reached the final and defeated the Japanese team of Yuki Naito and Naho Sato. She then finished her junior career.
== Professional ==
=== 2016–2018: Seven ITF Circuit championships ===
Świątek began competing on the ITF Women's Circuit in 2016 and played on the circuit through the end of 2018. She won all seven ITF singles finals she reached, ranging from the first four at the $10k to $15k level to one at the $25k level followed up by two at the $60k level. Her first three titles came at 15 years old. The fourth was in February 2018 in her first tournament back from a seven-month layoff due to injury. After a $25k title in April, Świątek moved up to higher-level ITF events later that month. Following her junior Wimbledon title in July, she skipped the junior US Open to stay in Europe. During the two weeks of the US Open, she won back-to-back $60k titles at the NEK Ladies Open in Hungary and the Montreux Ladies Open in Switzerland. During the second event, she defeated top seed and world No. 120, Mariana Duque-Mariño. These were Świątek's last two ITF tournaments of the year. With these two titles, she entered the top 200 for the first time at the age of 17, rising from No. 298 to No. 180 in those two weeks.
=== 2019: First WTA Tour final, top 50 ===
Despite never playing on the WTA Tour before 2019, Świątek was able to compete in only tour-level events throughout the year. After failing to qualify at the Auckland Open, she qualified for her first major main draw at the Australian Open. She then defeated No. 82 Ana Bogdan, in three sets, in her debut match to reach the second round. At her next three tournaments, she also qualified at the Hungarian Ladies Open, but not at either of the Premier Mandatory events in March.
Świątek made her first WTA breakthrough at the Ladies Open Lugano in April. With her first direct acceptance into a main draw, she made her first WTA final. During the event, she upset No. 3 seed Viktória Kužmová in the second round for her first top-50 victory. She ultimately finished runner-up to Polona Hercog in three sets. Moreover, a precise cross-court forehand drop shot she hit against Kristýna Plíšková in the semi-final was voted the 2019 WTA Shot of the Year. With the runner-up, she also made her debut in the top 100 while still 17 years old. Świątek closed out her clay court season with a fourth-round appearance at the French Open in her second major. She upset No. 16 Wang Qiang in the second round for her first top-20 victory before losing to defending champion Simona Halep.
Świątek could not repeat her French Open success at the remaining major tournaments of the year, losing her opening match at Wimbledon and in the second round at the US Open. Her best result in the second half of the season was a third-round appearance at the Canadian Open. During the event, she upset No. 18, Caroline Wozniacki, before losing to No. 2, Naomi Osaka. With this result, she entered the top 50 for the first time a week later. She missed the rest of the season after the US Open to undergo foot surgery and finished the year at No. 61 in the world.
Świątek finished 2019 as runner-up to Simona Halep in the voting for the WTA Fan Favorite Singles Player of the Year award.
=== 2020: French Open champion, top 20 ===
Świątek made her return to the WTA Tour at the Australian Open. She matched her best result at a major with another fourth-round appearance, this time highlighted by a victory over No. 20, Donna Vekić. She defeated Vekić again at the Qatar Open, her last match win before the WTA Tour was shut down for six months due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Świątek continued her major tournament success once the tour resumed. She reached the third round at the US Open, losing to eventual runner-up Victoria Azarenka.
Entering the rescheduled French Open in September, Świątek was ranked No. 54 in the world. Nonetheless, she won the singles event for her maiden WTA title. During the tournament, she defeated 2019 runner-up and world No. 19, Markéta Vondroušová, in the opening round. Her biggest upset was a victory in the fourth round over top seed and world No. 2, Simona Halep, who was on a 17-match win streak and was also the heavy favourite to win the title. She only lost three games against Halep after winning just one game against her in the same round of the French Open the previous year. Świątek defeated world No. 6, Sofia Kenin, in the final to become the first Polish player to win a major singles title and the lowest-ranked French Open champion in the history of the WTA rankings. She also became the youngest singles champion at the tournament since Rafael Nadal in 2005 and the youngest women's singles winner since Monica Seles in 1992. She won the title without dropping a set or more than five games to any opponent, and the 28 games she lost in total were tied for the second-fewest among French Open singles champions in the Open Era behind only the 20 games Steffi Graf lost in 1988. With the title, Świątek rose to No. 17 in the world. She also played the doubles event, partnering with Nicole Melichar for the first time. The pair reached the semi-finals, and also did not drop a set until their last match.
In 2020, Świątek was voted the WTA Fan Favorite Singles Player of the Year.
=== 2021: Italian Open champion, top 10 ===
At the Australian Open, Świątek was seeded 15th and recorded wins over Arantxa Rus, Camila Giorgi and Fiona Ferro. She reached the fourth round where she lost to Simona Halep, in three sets. At Adelaide, she won her first WTA Tour title without dropping a set in the whole tournament. She defeated Belinda Bencic in the final, in straight sets. As a result, she entered the top 15 for the first time in her career, in March 2021.
Seeded 15th, Świątek won her first career WTA 1000-title at the Italian Open, defeating former champion Karolína Plíšková in just 46 minutes without the loss of a single game. She advanced to the final after defeating two-time champion and world No. 5, Elina Svitolina, and the second best-ranked teenager Coco Gauff on the same day, as well as saving match points in her third-round match against Barbora Krejčíková. Świątek became the third player to win a title after saving match point en route in 2021, alongside Naomi Osaka at the Australian Open and Ashleigh Barty in Miami. She also became the fourth teenager to win a WTA 1000 event. This successful run to her third career title moved her into the top 10 in the singles rankings on 17 May 2021, as world No. 9.
At the French Open, Świątek was seeded at No. 8. She opened her title defense winning against Kaja Juvan in the first round, and then defeated Rebecca Peterson, Anett Kontaveit and Marta Kostyuk. She won 22 straight sets at the French Open but then lost in the quarterfinals to Maria Sakkari. In doubles, seeded 14th with Bethanie Mattek-Sands as a pair, playing just their third event together, they reached the final where they were defeated by Barbora Krejčíková and Kateřina Siniaková in straight sets. As a result, Świątek reached the top 50 at a career-high ranking of No. 42 in doubles for the first time in her career.
She started her grass-court season at the Eastbourne International where she was seeded at No. 4. After defeating Heather Watson, she lost to Daria Kasatkina in the second round. As the seventh seed at Wimbledon, Świątek defeated Hsieh Su-wei, Vera Zvonareva, and Irina-Camelia Begu, all in straight sets. In the fourth round, she lost to Ons Jabeur, in three sets. With her win over Anett Kontaveit in the third round of the US Open, she became the only player to have reached the second week of all four major championships in the 2021 season. She qualified for the WTA Finals for the first time in her career.
=== 2022: Two Major titles, 37-match win streak, world No. 1 ===
Świątek started her season by reaching the semifinals at the Adelaide International. She then reached another semifinal at the Australian Open. Following a second-round match loss against Jeļena Ostapenko, Świątek won the next six tournaments she entered — Qatar Ladies Open, Indian Wells Open, Miami Open, Stuttgart Open, Italian Open and, for her second major title, French Open — before losing to Alizé Cornet at Wimbledon in the third round. Świątek reached the world No. 1 singles ranking, and became the fourth as well as the youngest woman (11th player overall) to complete the Sunshine Double in the process. She also accumulated a 37-match win streak, the longest in the 21st century. Świątek had a lacklustre performance throughout the summer. She lost to Caroline Garcia in the quarterfinals in Warsaw, Beatriz Haddad Maia in the third round in Toronto and Madison Keys in the third round in Cincinnati. However, she returned on form at the US Open, winning her third major by defeating Ons Jabeur in the final. She became the first woman to win both the French Open and US Open in the same season since Serena Williams in 2013.
Świątek reached the final at the Ostrava Open, but she lost to Barbora Krejčíková in a three-set match that lasted 3 hours and 16 minutes, the longest match of her career so far. She subsequently played at the San Diego Open, winning her eighth title by defeating Donna Vekić, in three sets. At the 2022 WTA Finals held in Fort Worth, Texas, Świątek won the group stage without dropping a set, defeating Daria Kasatkina, Caroline Garcia and Coco Gauff, respectively. However, she was upset by Aryna Sabalenka in the semi-finals in three sets. Nevertheless, she finished the season as year-end No. 1 and posted a record win-loss 67–9 in 2022, the most wins in a single season since Serena Williams in 2013. She also became the first player since Serena Williams in 2013 to collect over 11,000 ranking points in a single season. She accumulated the second highest ranking points total in WTA history, second only to Serena Williams in 2013.
=== 2023: French Open and WTA Finals champion ===
Świątek's 2023 campaign was statistically less dominant than her 2022 season, but she still managed to win six titles in the year. She started 2023 as only the fourth woman in WTA history to be ranked world No. 1 for 40 or more consecutive weeks in their first stint as the top-ranked player. In her first tournament of the year representing Poland at the United Cup, she partnered with her compatriots including Hubert Hurkacz and reached the semi-finals. At the Australian Open, she lost in the fourth round in straight sets against Elena Rybakina, who would upset Świątek two more times later in the year, respectively in the semi-finals at the Indian Wells Open and in the quarterfinals at the Italian Open.
She did not win any tournament until the Qatar Ladies Open, where she did not drop a set throughout the tournament and lost only five games. The clay season saw her successfully defend her Stuttgart Open title, as well as win her fourth major at the French Open by defeating Karolína Muchová in the final. After improvement on the grass court with a quarterfinal performance at Wimbledon, which ended her 14-match win streak, she won her home tournament at the Poland Open.
At the US Open, Świątek lost in the fourth round to Jelena Ostapenko, which ended her reign at world No. 1. Her 75-week reign at No. 1 is the third-longest streak in the Open Era among players in their first stint as the top player, behind only Steffi Graf and Martina Hingis. Nevertheless, she went on to win the China Open. At the WTA Finals, she won the title without dropping a set, becoming the first player to do so since Serena Williams in 2012. She also dropped just 20 games throughout the entire tournament, the fewest since the reintroduction of the round-robin format in 2003 and beat Serena Williams's record of 32 overall games dropped. By conceding only one game to Jessica Pegula, Świątek also broke the record for fewest games lost in a final, previously held by Martina Navratilova in 1983 and Kim Clijsters in 2003 (two each). Winning the title saw her reclaiming the top ranking and clinching year-end No. 1 for the second season in a row.
=== 2024: French Open three-peat, Olympic bronze ===
Świątek entered the United Cup in an international team competition representing Team Poland. She reached the final winning all of her singles matches and received the MVP award of the event. In the third round of the Australian Open, she was upset by Linda Nosková in three sets and as a result of this loss her 18-match winning streak, which started in September 2023, came to an end. Despite this earlier loss she kept her world No. 1 ranking.
In February, Świątek entered the Qatar Ladies Open as a two-time defending champion. She reached the final, after having defeated Sorana Cîrstea, 14th seed Ekaterina Alexandrova and Viktoria Azarenka. In the final, she faced Elena Rybakina winning in straight sets and claiming her seventh WTA 1000 title. Świątek did not drop a set en route to the title for the second consecutive year. She also became the first person to win three consecutive titles in Doha and the first player to win three consecutive titles at the same hardcourt tournament since Serena Williams in 2015. At the next WTA 1000 tournament in Dubai, she reached back-to-back quarterfinals defeating 15th seed Elina Svitolina in the round of 16. She was the fourth player since the WTA-1000 format's introduction in 2009 the make the quarterfinals in 9+ consecutive appearances (between Dubai 2023 – Dubai 2024) after Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova and Agnieszka Radwańska. She then advanced to the semifinals where she lost to Anna Kalinskaya in straight sets.
In March, Świątek won the Indian Wells Open for a second time, defeating Maria Sakkari in the final. This was her second title of the season and 19th overall.
In Miami, she recorded her 100th WTA 1000 career match win defeating Camila Giorgi in one hour, in straight sets.
In April, Świątek entered the Stuttgart Open as a two-time defending champion and reached the semifinal where she lost to Elena Rybakina in three sets, which ended her 10-match winning streak in the tournament. In the same month, she entered her 100th week as the reigning world No. 1 surpassing Lindsay Davenport and moving to the ninth place in the all-time table. At the Madrid Open, she reached the final where she faced the defending champion and second seed, Aryna Sabalenka. Świątek played the longest match against Sabalenka in her career thus far, which lasted over three hours. Świątek saved three championship points in the third set and won her 20th career title. The match has been praised as a classic and the best of their rivalry, with Świątek stating that it was "the most intense and crazy final" she has played.
In May, at the next WTA 1000, the Italian Open, she reached a second consecutive final with a win over world No. 3, Coco Gauff, in straight sets. In the final, she beat again Aryna Sabalenka, this time in straight sets, becoming the most successful Polish tennis player in terms of the number of titles won surpassing Agnieszka Radwańska with 21. It was also her tenth WTA 1000 title and fourth on clay, and the third in Rome. She became the third female player after Serena Williams and Dinara Safina who completed the Madrid-Rome sweep, and the first player, female or male, to achieve it since 2013 when both Williams and Rafael Nadal won Madrid and Rome.
Świątek won the 2024 French Open, which was her third French Open title in a row and fourth overall. Świątek lost only one set during the tournament, which was to Naomi Osaka in the second round, where Osaka held match point in the third set. After defeating Osaka, Świątek lost only 17 games, defeating Marie Bouzková in the third round, Anastasia Potapova in the fourth round, Markéta Vondroušová in the quarterfinal, Coco Gauff in the semi-final, and Jasmine Paolini in the final. Świątek became the third player in history to win three consecutive French Open titles, after Monica Seles and Justine Henin had done so, and the second woman to win Madrid, Rome, and the French Open in the same season, after Serena Williams in 2013.
Having not played since her French Open triumph, Świątek lost in round three at the 2024 Wimbledon Championships to Yulia Putintseva, thus ending her 21-match winning streak.
At the 2024 Summer Olympics, Świątek defeated Irina-Camelia Begu, Diane Parry, Wang Xiyu and Danielle Collins. In the semifinal, she lost to the eventual gold medalist Zheng Qinwen in straight sets. This marked Świątek's first loss in Paris after 1,149 days of staying undefeated. In the bronze-medal match, she beat Anna Karolína Schmiedlová in straight sets becoming the first player from Poland to win an Olympic medal in tennis.
At the Cincinnati Open, Świątek reached the semifinals where she lost to the eventual champion Aryna Sabalenka. At the 2024 US Open, Świątek lost in the quarterfinals to fifth seed Jessica Pegula. She played at the WTA Finals as the No. 2 seed and defending champion, but lost to Coco Gauff in two sets. Her defeat meant Sabalenka would finish the year as WTA No. 1, however the ITF proclaimed Świątek its year-end world champion for 2024.
Świątek received a one-month suspension in November 2024 following a positive test for a banned substance trimetazidine. The drug was found to be a contaminant in a sleep medication melatonin she was taking, so she was handed a penalty that was at the lowest end of the range for "No Significant Fault or Negligence". Nevertheless, she had to miss three tournaments while her case was being considered and forfeit her prize money from the Cincinnati Open.
=== 2025: Wimbledon champion, Career Surface Slam ===
Świątek entered the United Cup representing Team Poland for the third time in her career. With her team, Świątek advanced to the final that was won by Team United States. In this edition, Świątek played five singles matches and lost only one of them, against Coco Gauff in the final tie. She also played two mixed doubles matches: one alongside Hubert Hurkacz and the other alongside Jan Zieliński. She and her partners won both those matches.
At the Australian Open, Świątek made it to her first semifinal since 2022, but lost to eventual champion Madison Keys in three sets despite winning the first set and holding a match point in the deciding set. At the Qatar Ladies Open, Świątek reached the semifinals, before losing to Jeļena Ostapenko extending their head-to-head to 0–5. She was then defeated in the quarter-finals of the Dubai Championships by the eventual champion, Mirra Andreeva. In the semifinals of the Indian Wells Open, Świątek again lost to Andreeva, this time in three sets.
During the clay-court season, Świątek failed to defend both her Madrid and Italian Open titles, winning only one game in both sets against Coco Gauff in the Madrid semifinal (her lowest number of game wins on clay since the 2019 French Open), and suffered a third-round loss to Danielle Collins in Rome. As a result, Świątek fell to world No. 5, her lowest ranking since March 2022.
At the French Open, Świątek was seeded fifth, beating former major champions Emma Raducanu and Elena Rybakina, the latter of which lasted three sets despite Świątek's being a set and a break behind. After beating Elina Svitolina in the quarterfinals, Świątek lost her semifinal match to Sabalenka in three sets. This marked the first time Świątek did not reach the final since 2021, and snapped her 26-match-winning streak at the French Open. As a result, she dropped further in the rankings to No. 7.
During the grass-court season, Świątek reached the final of the Bad Homburg Open by defeating Jasmine Paolini in the semifinals. This marked her first tour-level final on grass, with her previous best result being reaching the semifinal at the same tournament. In the final, she lost to Jessica Pegula.
At Wimbledon, Świątek continued her career-best grass-court form to reach the semifinal for the first time, in which she defeated Belinda Bencic to the loss of only two games to make her first Wimbledon final. She defeated Amanda Anisimova 6–0, 6–0 in their first professional matchup to win her first Wimbledon title. It was the first double bagel women's singles Wimbledon final since 1911.
Świątek claimed a maiden victory at the Cincinnati Open in August. After defeating Elena Rybakina in the semi-finals, she then triumphed over Jasmine Paolini to seal the title. Świątek did not drop a set during the tournament.
She then entered the mixed doubles at the 2025 US Open, which were held the week prior to the singles draw. She and doubles partner Casper Ruud were defeated in the final by Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori. In the singles draw, she exited the tournament in the quarter-finals after being overcome by Amanda Anisimova in straight sets.
At the WTA Finals, Świątek won her opening round-robin group game against Madison Keys, but then suffered successive defeats to Elena Rybakina and Amanda Anisimova to exit the tournament.
=== 2026: United Cup champion ===
In January, Świątek was part of the Polish team that defeated Switzerland in the final of the United Cup. She lost her opening singles match of the final to Belinda Bencic, but Poland went on to win the next two matches to win the tournament for the first time. Her attempt to complete a Career Grand Slam at the 2026 Australian Open ended at the quarterfinal stage. She was defeated in straight sets by eventual champion Elena Rybakina. Świątek reached the quarterfinals of the Qatar Open, losing to Maria Sakkari, and then withdrew from the Dubai Tennis Championship. She then progressed to the quarterfinals of the BNP Paribas Open where she was defeated by Elina Svitolina. Świątek also dropped to No. 3 again after Rybakina reached the final.
Świątek then lost her opening match in Miami to compatriot Magda Linette, ending a streak of 73 opening match wins.
== National representation ==
=== Junior competitions ===
Świątek represented Poland at the ITF World Junior Tennis Finals for 14-and-under girls twice in 2014 and 2015. She won all of her matches in 2014 to lead Poland to a ninth-place finish out of 16 teams. The following year, she helped Poland go undefeated in the round-robin stage to reach the semi-finals. Świątek moved up to the 16-and-under Junior Fed Cup in 2016, where she played alongside Maja Chwalińska and Stefania Rogozińska-Dzik. Poland won the title, defeating the United States 2–1 in the final. Świątek won both of her rubbers in the final tie, defeating Amanda Anisimova in singles before partnering with Chwalińska to defeat Caty McNally and Claire Liu in the decisive doubles rubber. The last event of Świątek's junior career was the 2018 Summer Youth Olympic Games. Although she lost in the quarterfinals in singles to Clara Burel, she partnered with Slovenian Kaja Juvan to win the gold medal in doubles. In the final they defeated Naito and Sato, who were also Świątek's opponents in the French Open doubles final earlier in the year.
=== Billie Jean King Cup ===
Świątek made her senior Billie Jean King Cup debut in 2018 when Poland was in Europe/Africa Zone Group I. To advance out of this group, Poland needed to win their round-robin group, a play-off tie against one of the other round-robin group winners, and then another play-off tie as part of the separate World Group II Play-off round. They did not win their round-robin group in 2018 or 2019. Świątek won her only singles match in 2018. While she won only one of her three singles matches in 2019, she won both of her doubles rubbers while partnering with Alicja Rosolska. The following year, the format was changed so that Poland needed to finish in only the top two out of three teams in their round-robin group to reach the promotional play-off. Nonetheless, they won their group and defeated Sweden 2–0 in the play-off to advance to the separate Play-off round. Świątek won all three of her singles matches in the 2020 Europe/Africa Zone Group I round, before skipping the Play-offs themselves. The following edition in 2022 had Poland facing Romania in the qualifying round, with Świątek winning her two games to help the team move on to the Finals. However, she did not attend the finals because the decisive round started very soon after the 2022 WTA Finals. The rib injury Świątek encountered shortly after exiting the 2023 Indian Wells Open also caused her to miss Poland's 2023 Billie Jean King cup qualifier against Kazakhstan in Astana. Overall, Świątek has a 9–3 record at the Fed Cup, comprising 7–2 in singles and 2–1 in doubles. In 2024, Świątek participated in a match against Switzerland winning two matches in singles and contributing to Poland's 4–0 win, which secured the country's place in November's Finals in Seville for a third consecutive year.
Świątek helped Poland reach the semifinals of the 2024 BJK Cup with wins in singles and in doubles partnering compatriot Katarzyna Kawa over Czechia. It was the first semifinals in the BJK Cup Finals in their nation's history.
== Rivalries ==
=== Aryna Sabalenka ===
Świątek and Aryna Sabalenka have met 13 times since 2021, with Świątek leading the head-to-head at 8–5 in official competitions. Their rivalry is seen as having a potential to be counted among those that shape the history of tennis. Their most lauded match is the 2024 Madrid Open final in which Świątek defeated defending champion Sabalenka in three sets after 3 hours and 11 minutes, also saving three championship points in the process. Sabalenka would end Świątek's 26-match winning streak at the French Open by defeating her in the 2025 French Open semifinal 7–6(1), 4–6, 6–0.
=== Coco Gauff ===
Świątek and Coco Gauff have met 16 times since 2021, with Świątek leading the head-to-head at 11–5 in official competitions. Their last four matches, three of which being the 2024 WTA Finals, 2025 United Cup final, and again at the 2026 United Cup semifinal were won by Gauff. They have played each other three times at majors, with all of these matches won by Świątek in straight sets: 2022 French Open final, 2023 French Open quarterfinal, and 2024 French Open semifinal.
=== Elena Rybakina ===
Świątek has developed a prominent rivalry with Elena Rybakina. The two have met 12 times since 2021, and their head-to-head is tied at 6–6. Rybakina had led earlier in their careers before Świątek began to pull ahead. Swiatek defeated Rybakina to win her seventh WTA 1000 title at the 2024 Qatar TotalEnergies Open. Rybakina came back from a set down to snap a 4-match losing streak in 2025 WTA Finals in Riyadh. Rybakina would defeat her again at the 2026 Australian Open quarterfinals in straight sets.
=== Jeļena Ostapenko ===
As of June 2025, Jeļena Ostapenko leads Iga Świątek 6–0 in their head-to-head, making her the only active player to have an undefeated record against Świątek across multiple matches. Their encounters span all surfaces, with Ostapenko claiming key wins at the 2023 US Open and the 2025 Stuttgart Open. Her aggressive, high-risk style has consistently unsettled Świątek.
== Playing style ==
Świątek has an aggressive, all-court style of play and incorporates a lot of variety into her game. Because her game style is focused on offence, she typically generates high amounts of both winners and unforced errors. She has described her style of play on clay as "a big serve, topspin, and backhand down the line". Despite her aggressive style of play, she plays with margin, and constructs points carefully until she creates an opportunity to hit a winner, and in all seven of her matches played at the 2020 French Open, she hit more winners than unforced errors. In total at the French Open that year, she hit 175 winners to 127 unforced errors. The basis of Świątek's game was described by tennis journalist Christopher Clarey for The New York Times as: her sliding ability, allowing her to defend from the corners à la Kim Clijsters and Novak Djokovic, a "sprinter's speed" when moving forward to the net, power and topspin akin to her idol Rafael Nadal, and mental strength forged through sports psychology.
Her forehand and backhand are fast and powerful, with her forehand being hit with significant topspin due to her employing an extreme western grip; on her run to the title at the French Open in 2020, Świątek's average forehand speed was 73 mph (117 km/h), only 4 km/h below that of the average male forehand speed. She even hit some forehands up to 79 mph (127 km/h), the fastest of any female player in the draw and exceeded only by Jannik Sinner on the men's side. Her forehand topspin reached 3,453 rpm at the French Open, comparable with her idol Rafael Nadal. Świątek's backhand speed peaked at 76 mph (122 km/h) at the French Open, the fastest of any female player in the draw, and equal to Dominic Thiem's backhand speed, the fastest of any male player at the French Open. Considering her dominance on clay, Świątek is often called the "Queen of Clay".
Świątek aims to come to the net, and has good volleying skills due to her doubles experience. Świątek possesses an accurate first serve, peaking at 123 mph (198 km/h), and averaging at 108 mph (174 km/h), allowing her to serve aces, dictate play from the first stroke, and win a majority of first-serve points. She possesses an effective kick serve, and an effective slice serve, which are deployed as second serves, preventing opponents from scoring free points. In earlier years of her career, she regularly used the drop shot, and won the 2019 WTA Shot of the Year with a cross-court drop shot from the baseline that landed on the sideline well inside the service box. Since the beginning of her collaboration with Tomasz Wiktorowski, she simplified her game and currently very rarely employs this shot. Świątek aims to gain the advantage in a point by hitting the ball early on the rise. Further strengths include her exceptional speed, movement, and court coverage, detailed and intricate footwork, and intelligent point construction. Her favourite surface is clay, having grown up playing on that surface, although she has had success on all surfaces. Her clay court success is enhanced by her ability to slide on the surface; as her career has progressed, she has also developed the ability to slide on hard and grass courts, too.
=== Bagels and Breadsticks ===
Over Świątek's WTA career up until May 2024 an average of 40.6 percent of her matches have included either a 6–0 (bagel) set or a 6–1 (breadstick) set. As a result, many have started to use the term "Iga's Bakery" to describe this. During the 2023 season she won a bagel set in 29 percent of her matches compared with an average of 11.4 per cent of matches for matches in which she wasn't playing. Her closest bagel rivals are Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula, both of whom scored eight in 2023.
As of July 2025, she has dispensed the rarer double bagel nine times in her WTA career, three of which have come during major tournaments (which were against Xinyu Wang in the 2023 French Open, against Anastasia Potapova in the 2024 French Open, and against Amanda Anisimova in the 2025 Wimbledon final).
== Coaching team ==
Świątek's primary coach in her early junior years was Michał Kaznowski, who she worked with up to the 2016 French Open. Jolanta Rusin-Krzepota was her physical preparation trainer for almost four years through the end of the 2019 US Open.
Świątek was coached by Piotr Sierzputowski beginning in 2016. While Sierzputowski was her coach, British former professional tennis player and former Polish Davis Cup coach Nick Brown also served as a main consultant on occasion. Świątek also works with sports psychologist Daria Abramowicz and fitness trainer/physiologist Maciej Ryszczuk.
In December 2021, Świątek announced that she was splitting from Sierzputowski after nearly six years working together. She wrote, "This change is really challenging for me, and this decision wasn't easy, either". Świątek had hired Sierzputowski when she was 15 and still playing in junior tournaments. From the end of 2021 until October 2024, she was coached by Tomasz Wiktorowski, who also previously worked with Agnieszka Radwańska. In October 2024 it was announced that she had parted ways with Wiktorowski, appointing Wim Fissette as his replacement later that month. In an Instagram post on 23rd March 2026, days after her streak of 73 consecutive opening round wins ended at the Miami Open, Swiatek announced she and Fissette have parted ways.
== Endorsements ==
Świątek is now sponsored by the Roger Federer-backed Swiss company On for clothing and shoes, as of 20 March 2023, and became the first female tennis player to be sponsored by On. She had been sponsored by Asics for clothing and shoes since the start of 2020. She was previously sponsored by Nike. Świątek was also previously endorsed by the Red Bull energy drink company, the Chinese tech giant Xiaomi and the Lexus division of the Toyota automaker company, the latter of which have also sponsored fellow Polish tennis player Agnieszka Radwańska. From February 2021 till January 2024 her main partner was Poland's biggest insurance company PZU. In 2021, Świątek signed an endorsement deal with Tecnifibre for racquets; she previously used a Prince Textreme 100 Tour racquet, although she was not under contract with the company. To celebrate the victory at the 2022 French Open with a Tecnifibre racquet and to recognise the female athlete, the company changed its marketing name to Swiateknifibre and its trademark to the colours white and red for seven days. It was the first women's major title for this manufacturer. Świątek's father also confirmed that she had also signed a contract with Rolex in 2021.
After winning her third major title at the 2022 US Open, Świątek parted ways with her long-term manager, and began to be represented by IMG with agent Max Eisenbud. In 2023, Świątek announced that she has become a global ambassador for the Polish sports drink Oshee. She will also release a collaboration line with the brand, including her own drink flavour and bottle design.
On 26 June 2023, Swiatek announced her partnership with Porsche. In August 2023, Swiatek became a global ambassador of VISA. On 25 August 2023, Infosys announced Swiatek as their global brand ambassador alongside Rafael Nadal. In April 2024, Świątek became the brand ambassador of Lancôme.
== Charity work and philanthropy ==
Since 2021, Świątek has been involved with The Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity. She has put up her winning racket from the final of her first French Open, the racket ended up getting sold with the price of 131,300 zł, which outpriced the signed Champions League winning kit of Robert Lewandowski, money helped to fund new equipment for pediatric ENT, otolaryngology and head diagnostics. In 2022, while playing at the Australian Open, she put up another racket, this time from final of Italian Open, but this time the offer also included training with the buyer. Besides the racket Świątek also put her signed Tokyo Olympics 2020 kit, her signature cap and multiple tennis balls with autographs up for auction. The offer was yet again met with a lot of interest and in the end was sold for 189,100 zł, which was the second best seller. The money would help to fund equipment for pediatric ophthalmology. In 2023, Świątek put up her winning racket with which she won both US Open and French Open in 2022. Besides the racket, she also included a double invitation to her first-round match at the 2023 French Open and an opportunity to meet her in person behind the scenes after the match. The pass would also allow the winners of the auction to watch all matches on the said day for free. All proceeds would go to funding medication for sepsis. Świątek's offer was auctioned for 300,300 zł, making it the most expensive auction.
Świątek and her team have also been taking part in the Noble Gift project since 2020. It helps to provide families, which have found themselves in difficult financial circumstances for reasons beyond their control during the Christmas period.
Świątek also took part in auction for SOS Children's Villages- Poland, putting up her autographed cap from Miami Open. In one of interviews the teacher from Świątek's elementary school in Raszyn revealed that after winning her second French Open title, she pledged to help upgrade the school's sports facilities, among which was a single tennis court. She also donated the shirt she wore in the final, tennis balls and her cap to the school, all signed for auction to raise money for one of the students who needed urgent and expensive medical treatment.
In November 2021, Świątek was announced in line-up for Africa Cares Tennis Challenge tennis exhibition in Johannesburg, which was aimed to not only promote tennis in South Africa but was to be used as a vehicle in the fight against Gender-Based Violence through campaigns and activations leading up to the main event. Other players in the line-up included Simona Halep, Venus Williams, Sloane Stephens and Martina Hingis. On 30 November it was announced event was cancelled due to concerns regarding growing amount of cases of COVID-19 infections.
=== Advocating mental health awareness ===
On 10 October 2021, Świątek donated $50,000 of her prize money in support of World Mental Health Day, after progressing to the last 16 of the Indian Wells Open. "I would say in sports, for me, it was always important to use that kind of help because I always thought that in my mental toughness there is some strength that I can use on court and I can also develop in that manner," she said. After winning in at the French Open in 2020, Świątek revealed that using her sports psychologist, Daria Abramowicz, had helped her get over the line. "It's just good to stay open-minded. If you need that kind of help, then go for it. If you're up to it and if you're open-minded, I think it helps a lot," Świątek added.
In her runner-up speech after losing the final to Barbora Krejčíková on the Ostrava Open on 9 October 2022, Świątek announced she will donate all of her prize money (€58,032) won in the tournament to Polish non-profit organizations and foundations to celebrate World Mental Health Day. "This is the most difficult moment of this tournament for me. I do not know what to say. Thank you so much. Whether I win or not, I am fulfilling my dreams, and you with me. I wish I won cause I would be able to donate more but I would like to announce that I will donate my prize money to non-profit organisations in Poland on Monday, which is World Mental Health Day. I hope this money can help a lot of people and make some change".
On 12 October 2023, Świątek announced that she would donate 300,000 PLN ($70,000) to UNICEF Poland to "help in the field of mental health in Poland and all over the world", as part of celebration of World Mental Health Day. Along with the major announcement, she shared her thoughts and motivated other people as well. "I would like to encourage you to have a look around and see if there's someone there who could use your help. You can make a donation of your choice to organizations like UNICEF that professionally help people (if you're able to)."
=== Support of Ukraine ===
Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Świątek has often worn ribbons or other accessories in Ukrainian colors, and on several occasions has publicly declared her support for Ukraine in her winner speeches.
On 23 July 2022, Świątek hosted a charity tennis event in Kraków, Poland to raise funds for children and teenagers impacted by the war in Ukraine. The one-day event featured a mixed doubles exhibition match and a set of singles between Świątek and Agnieszka Radwańska. Ukraine football great Andriy Shevchenko was a special guest. Elina Svitolina of Ukraine served as umpire for the event. Świątek stated, "I hope that we can see each other in large numbers in TAURON Arena Krakow and in front of the television to show the strength of sport when it unites us in helping and gives us at least a little joy." Świątek later announced on Twitter that the event has raised over 2,5 mln złoty (over €500,000), which would be spread between United 24, Elina Svitolina Foundation and UNICEF Poland.
On 10 August, Świątek has been announced as the part of line up for "Tennis Plays for Peace" exhibition, which took place on 24 August with other numerous current and former tennis stars like Rafael Nadal, Carlos Alcaraz, Coco Gauff, John McEnroe, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Matteo Berrettini, Maria Sakkari and many others, 100% of the proceeds going to GlobalGiving, the international non-profit identified by Tennis Plays for Peace.
On 9 January 2023, Świątek took to Twitter and Instagram to announce that her 'Iga & Friends' and '1ga' T-shirts will be available for sale at Allegro Charity, where she and UNICEF Poland have once again joined forces to raise funds for children in war-torn Ukraine. On 11 January, Świątek announced on her social media platforms that she will be auctioning off her US Open winning gear and French Open shoes, among others all proceeds would also be going straight to UNICEF.
== Personal life ==
Świątek lives in Raszyn, Poland. She is a keen reader of books and in an interview has explained it helps her relax between tennis matches. One of her favourite dishes is a Polish speciality, Makaron z truskawkami (pasta with strawberries). Świątek has expressed her love for rock music, citing bands such as Guns N' Roses, AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, Pearl Jam and Red Hot Chili Peppers as some of her favourites. She is a fan of LEGO and has stated that building LEGO while on tour aids her mentally and calms her down.
Świątek is an avid fan of the American musician Taylor Swift and has been to some of her concerts.
== Career statistics ==
=== Grand Slam tournament performance timelines ===
==== Singles ====
==== Doubles ====
=== Grand Slam tournament finals ===
==== Singles: 6 (6 titles) ====
==== Doubles: 1 (runner-up) ====
==== Mixed Doubles: 1 (runner-up) ====
=== Year-end championship finals ===
==== Singles: 1 (title) ====
=== Olympic Games medal matches ===
==== Singles: 1 (bronze medal) ====
=== Records ===
==== Open Era records ====
These records were attained in the Open Era of tennis.
Records in bold indicate peer-less achievements.
== Awards ==
2019
WTA Fan Favorite Shot of the Year
2020
WTA Most Improved Player
WTA Fan Favorite Singles Player
Gold Cross of Merit
European Sportswoman of the Year – Evgen Bergant Trophy
2022
Chris Evert WTA World No. 1 Trophy
WTA Player of the Year
ITF World Champion
WTA Fan Favourite Shot of the Year
European Sportsperson of the Year
Polish Sports Personality of the Year
2023
L'Équipe Champion of Champions
WTA Player of the Year
Polish Sports Personality of the Year
2024
ITF World Champion
=== Mentions === |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poland | Poland | Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south. Poland borders Kaliningrad Oblast and Lithuania to the north; Belarus and Ukraine to the east; Slovakia and the Czech Republic to the south; and Germany to the west. The territory has a varied landscape, diverse ecosystems, and a temperate climate. Poland is composed of sixteen voivodeships and is the fifth most populous member state of the European Union (EU), with over 38 million people, and the fifth largest EU country by land area, covering 312,696 km2 (120,733 sq mi). The capital and largest city is Warsaw; other major cities include Kraków, Wrocław, Łódź, Poznań, and Gdańsk.
Prehistoric human activity on Polish soil dates to the Lower Paleolithic, with continuous settlement since the end of the Last Glacial Period. Culturally diverse throughout late antiquity, in the early medieval period the region became inhabited by the West Slavic tribal Polans, who gave Poland its name. The process of establishing statehood coincided with the conversion of a pagan ruler of the Polans to Christianity in 966 under the auspices of the Roman Catholic Church. The Kingdom of Poland emerged in 1025, and in 1569 cemented its long-standing association with Lithuania, thus forming the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. At the time, the Commonwealth was one of the great powers of Europe, with an elective monarchy and a uniquely liberal political system, which adopted Europe's first modern constitution in 1791. It was also a military power, with extremely effective cavalry called Hussars.
With the passing of the prosperous Polish Golden Age, the country was partitioned by neighbouring states at the end of the 18th century. At the end of World War I in 1918, Poland regained its independence with the founding of the Second Polish Republic, which emerged victorious in various conflicts of the interbellum period. In September 1939, the invasion of Poland by Germany and the Soviet Union marked the beginning of World War II, which resulted in the Holocaust and millions of Polish casualties. Forced into the Eastern Bloc in the global Cold War, the Polish People's Republic was a signatory of the Warsaw Pact. Through the 1980 emergence and contributions of the Solidarity movement, which initiated the fall of the Iron Curtain, the communist government was dissolved and Poland as the first of the communist countries re-established itself as a liberal democracy in 1989, and held free elections.
Poland is a parliamentary republic with its bicameral legislature comprising the Sejm and the Senate. Considered a middle power and regional power, it is a developed market and high-income economy. In terms of nominal GDP, it is the 20th largest economy in the world and the sixth in the European Union, and fifth largest by PPP-adjusted GDP in the EU. Poland enjoys a very high standard of living, safety, and economic freedom, as well as free university education and universal health care. It has 17 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, over 100 Historic Monuments and 23 national parks. Poland is a founding member state of the United Nations, and a member of the Council of Europe, World Trade Organisation, OECD, NATO, and the European Union (including the Schengen Area).
== Etymology ==
The native Polish name for Poland, is Polska. It is believed that the name derives from the Polans, a West Slavic tribe who inhabited the Warta River basin of present-day Greater Poland region (6th–8th century CE). The tribe's name stems from the Proto-Slavic noun pole, meaning field, which itself originates from the Proto-Indo-European word *pleh₂- indicating flatland. The etymology alludes to the topography of the region and the flat landscape of Greater Poland. During the Middle Ages, the Latin form Polonia was widely used throughout Europe.
The country's alternative archaic name is Lechia and its root syllable remains in official use in several languages, notably Hungarian, Lithuanian, and Persian. The exonym possibly derives from either Lech, a legendary ruler of the Lechites, or from the Lendians, a West Slavic tribe that dwelt on the south-easternmost edge of Lesser Poland. The origin of the tribe's name lies in the Old Polish word lęda (plain). Initially, both names Lechia and Polonia were used interchangeably when referring to Poland by chroniclers during the Middle Ages.
== History ==
=== Prehistory and protohistory ===
The first Stone Age archaic humans and Homo erectus species settled what was to become Poland approximately 500,000 years ago, though the ensuing hostile climate prevented early humans from founding more permanent encampments. The arrival of Homo sapiens and anatomically modern humans coincided with the climatic discontinuity at the end of the Last Glacial Period (Northern Polish glaciation 10,000 BC), when Poland became habitable. Neolithic excavations indicated broad-ranging development in that era; the earliest evidence of European cheesemaking (5500 BC) was discovered in Polish Kuyavia, and the Bronocice pot is incised with the earliest known depiction of what may be a wheeled vehicle (3400 BC).
The period spanning the Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age (1300 BC–500 BC) was marked by an increase in population density, establishment of palisaded settlements (gords) and the expansion of Lusatian culture. A significant archaeological find from the protohistory of Poland is a fortified settlement at Biskupin, attributed to the Lusatian culture of the Late Bronze Age (mid-8th century BC).
Throughout antiquity (400 BC–500 AD), many distinct ancient populations inhabited the territory of present-day Poland, notably Celtic, Scythian, Germanic, Sarmatian, Baltic and Slavic tribes. Furthermore, archaeological findings confirmed the presence of Roman Legions sent to protect the amber trade. The Polish tribes emerged following the second wave of the Migration Period around the 6th century AD; they were Slavic and may have included assimilated remnants of peoples that earlier dwelled in the area. Beginning in the early 10th century, the Polans would come to dominate other Lechitic tribes in the region, initially forming a tribal federation and later a centralised monarchical state.
=== Kingdom of Poland ===
Poland began to form into a recognisable unitary and territorial entity around the middle of the 10th century under the Piast dynasty. In 966, the ruler of the Polans, Mieszko I, accepted Western Christianity under the auspices of the Roman Catholic Church which was tantamount to the adoption of Christianity by Poland. In 968, a missionary bishopric was established in Poznań. An incipit titled Dagome iudex first defined Poland's geographical boundaries with its capital in Gniezno and affirmed that its monarchy was under the protection of the Apostolic See. The country's early origins were described by Gallus Anonymus in Gesta principum Polonorum, the oldest Polish chronicle. An important national event of the period was the martyrdom of Saint Adalbert, who was killed by Prussian pagans in 997 and whose remains were reputedly bought back for their weight in gold by Mieszko's successor, Bolesław I the Brave.
In 1000, at the Congress of Gniezno, Bolesław I the Brave obtained the right of investiture from Otto III, Holy Roman Emperor, who assented to the creation archdioceses in Gniezno and three new dioceses on Polish lands in Kraków, Kołobrzeg, and Wrocław. Also, Otto bestowed upon Bolesław royal regalia and a replica of the Holy Lance, which were later used at his coronation as the first King of Poland c. 1025, when Bolesław received permission for his coronation from Pope John XIX. Bolesław also expanded the realm considerably by seizing parts of German Lusatia, Czech Moravia, Upper Hungary, and southwestern regions of the Kievan Rus'.
The transition from paganism in Poland was not instantaneous and resulted in the pagan reaction of the 1030s. In 1031, Mieszko II Lambert lost the title of king and fled amidst the violence. The unrest led to the transfer of the capital to Kraków in 1038 by Casimir I the Restorer. In 1076, Bolesław II re-instituted the office of king, but was banished in 1079 for murdering his opponent, Bishop Stanislaus. In 1138, the country fragmented into five principalities when Bolesław III Wrymouth divided his lands among his sons. These were Lesser Poland, Greater Poland, Silesia, Masovia, and Sandomierz, with intermittent hold over Pomerania. In 1226, Konrad I of Masovia invited the Teutonic Knights to aid in combating the Baltic Prussians; a decision that later led to centuries of warfare with the Knights.
In the first half of the 13th century, Henry I the Bearded and Henry II the Pious aimed to unite the fragmented dukedoms, but the Mongol invasion and the death of Henry II in battle hindered the unification. As a result of the devastation which followed, depopulation and the demand for craft labour spurred a migration of German and Flemish settlers into Poland, which was encouraged by the Polish dukes. In 1264, the Statute of Kalisz introduced unprecedented autonomy for the Polish Jews, who came to Poland fleeing persecution elsewhere in Europe.
In 1320, Władysław I the Short became the first king of a reunified Poland since Przemysł II in 1296, and the first to be crowned at Wawel Cathedral in Kraków. Beginning in 1333, the reign of Casimir III the Great was marked by developments in castle infrastructure, army, judiciary and diplomacy. Under his authority, Poland transformed into a major European power; he instituted Polish rule over Ruthenia in 1340 and imposed quarantine that prevented the spread of Black Death. In 1364, Casimir inaugurated the University of Kraków, one of the oldest institutions of higher learning in Europe. Upon his death in 1370, the Piast dynasty came to an end. He was succeeded by his closest male relative, Louis of Anjou, who ruled Poland, Hungary, and Croatia in a personal union. Louis' younger daughter Jadwiga became Poland's first female monarch in 1384.
=== The Golden Age ===
In 1386, Jadwiga of Poland entered a marriage of convenience with Władysław II Jagiełło, the Grand Duke of Lithuania, thus forming the Jagiellonian dynasty and the Polish–Lithuanian union which spanned the late Middle Ages and early Modern Era. The partnership between Poles and Lithuanians brought the vast multi-ethnic Lithuanian territories into Poland's sphere of influence and proved beneficial for its inhabitants, who coexisted in one of the largest European political entities of the time.
In the Baltic Sea region, the struggle of Poland and Lithuania with the Teutonic Knights continued and culminated at the Battle of Grunwald in 1410, where a combined Polish–Lithuanian army inflicted a decisive victory against them. In 1466, after the Thirteen Years' War, king Casimir IV Jagiellon gave royal consent to the Peace of Thorn, which created the future Duchy of Prussia under Polish suzerainty and forced the Prussian rulers to pay tributes. The Jagiellonian dynasty also established dynastic control over the kingdoms of Bohemia (1471 onwards) and Hungary. In the south, Poland confronted the Ottoman Empire (at the Varna Crusade) and the Crimean Tatars, and in the east helped Lithuania to combat Russia.
Poland was developing as a feudal state, with a predominantly agricultural economy and an increasingly powerful landed nobility that confined the population to private manorial farmstead known as folwarks. In 1493, John I Albert sanctioned the creation of a bicameral parliament (the Sejm) composed of a lower house, the chamber of deputies, and an upper house, the chamber of senators. The Nihil novi act adopted by the Polish General Sejm in 1505, transferred most of the legislative power from the monarch to the parliament, an event which marked the beginning of the period known as Golden Liberty, when the state was ruled by the seemingly free and equal Polish nobles.
The 16th century saw Protestant Reformation movements making deep inroads into Polish Christianity, which resulted in the establishment of policies promoting religious tolerance, unique in Europe at that time. This tolerance allowed the country to avoid the religious turmoil and wars of religion that beset Europe. In Poland, Nontrinitarian Christianity became the doctrine of the so-called Polish Brethren, who separated from their Calvinist denomination and became the co-founders of global Unitarianism.
The European Renaissance evoked under Sigismund I the Old and Sigismund II Augustus a sense of urgency in the need to promote a cultural awakening. During the Polish Golden Age, the nation's economy and culture flourished. The Italian-born Bona Sforza, daughter of the Duke of Milan and queen consort to Sigismund I, made considerable contributions to architecture, cuisine, language and court customs at Wawel Castle.
=== Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth ===
The Union of Lublin of 1569 established the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, a unified federal state with an elective monarchy that was largely governed by the nobility. The latter coincided with a period of prosperity. The Polish-dominated union thereafter became a leading power and a major cultural entity, exercising political control over parts of Central, Eastern, Southeastern and Northern Europe. The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth occupied approximately 1 million km2 (390,000 sq mi) at its peak and was the largest state in Europe. Simultaneously, Poland imposed Polonisation policies in newly acquired territories which were met with resistance from ethnic and religious minorities.
In 1573, Henry de Valois of France, the first elected king, approbated the Henrician Articles which obliged future monarchs to respect the rights of nobles. When he left Poland to become King of France, his successor, Stephen Báthory, led a successful campaign in the Livonian War, granting Poland more lands across the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea. State affairs were then headed by Jan Zamoyski, the Crown Chancellor. Stephen's successor, Sigismund III, defeated a rival Habsburg electoral candidate, Archduke Maximilian III, in the War of the Polish Succession (1587–1588). In 1592, Sigismund succeeded his father John Vasa, in Sweden. The Polish-Swedish union endured until 1599, when he was deposed by the Swedes.
In 1609, Sigismund invaded Russia which was engulfed in a civil war, and a year later the Polish winged hussar units under Stanisław Żółkiewski occupied Moscow for two years after defeating the Russians at Klushino. Sigismund also countered the Ottoman Empire in the southeast; at Khotyn in 1621 Jan Karol Chodkiewicz achieved a decisive victory against the Turks, which ushered the downfall of Sultan Osman II. Sigismund's long reign in Poland coincided with the Silver Age. The liberal Władysław IV effectively defended Poland's territorial possessions but after his death the vast Commonwealth began declining from internal disorder and constant warfare.
In 1648, the Polish hegemony over Ukraine sparked the Khmelnytsky Uprising, followed by the decimating Swedish Deluge during the Second Northern War, and Prussia's independence in 1657. In 1683, John III Sobieski re-established military prowess when he halted the advance of an Ottoman Army into Europe at the Battle of Vienna. The Saxon era, under Augustus II and Augustus III, saw neighboring powers grow in strength at the expense of Poland. Both Saxon kings faced opposition from Stanisław Leszczyński during the Great Northern War (1700) and the War of the Polish Succession (1733).
=== Partitions ===
The royal election of 1764 resulted in the elevation of Stanisław II Augustus Poniatowski to the monarchy. His candidacy was extensively funded by his sponsor and former lover, Empress Catherine II of Russia. The new king maneuvered between his desire to implement necessary modernising reforms, and the necessity to remain at peace with surrounding states. His ideals led to the formation of the 1768 Bar Confederation, a rebellion directed against the Poniatowski and all external influence, which ineptly aimed to preserve Poland's sovereignty and privileges held by the nobility. The failed attempts at government restructuring as well as the domestic turmoil provoked its neighbours to invade.
In 1772, the First Partition of the Commonwealth by Prussia, Russia, and Austria took place, an act which the Partition Sejm, under considerable duress, eventually ratified as a fait accompli. Disregarding the territorial losses, in 1773 a plan of critical reforms was established, in which the Commission of National Education, the first government education authority in Europe, was inaugurated. Corporal punishment of schoolchildren was officially prohibited in 1783. Poniatowski was the head figure of the Enlightenment, encouraged the development of industries, and embraced republican neoclassicism. For his contributions to the arts and sciences, he was awarded a Fellowship of the Royal Society.
In 1791, the Great Sejm parliament adopted the 3 May Constitution, the first set of supreme national laws, and introduced a constitutional monarchy. The Targowica Confederation, an organisation of nobles and deputies opposing the act, appealed to Catherine and caused the 1792 Polish–Russian War. Fearing the reemergence of Polish hegemony, Russia and Prussia arranged and, in 1793, executed the Second Partition, which left the country deprived of territory and incapable of independent existence. On 24 October 1795, the Commonwealth was partitioned for the third time and ceased to exist as a territorial entity. Stanisław Augustus, the last King of Poland, abdicated the throne on 25 November 1795.
=== Era of insurrections ===
The Polish people rose several times against the partitioners and occupying armies. An unsuccessful attempt at defending Poland's sovereignty took place in the 1794 Kościuszko Uprising, where a popular and distinguished general Tadeusz Kościuszko, who had several years earlier served under George Washington in the American Revolutionary War, led Polish insurgents. Despite the victory at the Battle of Racławice, his ultimate defeat ended Poland's independent existence for 123 years.
In 1806, an insurrection organised by Jan Henryk Dąbrowski liberated western Poland ahead of Napoleon's advance into Prussia during the War of the Fourth Coalition. In accordance with the 1807 Treaty of Tilsit, Napoleon proclaimed the Duchy of Warsaw, a client state ruled by his ally Frederick Augustus I of Saxony. The Poles actively aided French troops in the Napoleonic Wars, particularly those under Józef Poniatowski who became Marshal of France shortly before his death at Leipzig in 1813. In the aftermath of Napoleon's exile, the Duchy of Warsaw was abolished at the Congress of Vienna in 1815 and its territory was divided into Russian Congress Kingdom of Poland, the Prussian Grand Duchy of Posen, and Austrian Galicia with the Free City of Kraków.
In 1830, non-commissioned officers at Warsaw's Officer Cadet School rebelled in what was the November Uprising. After its collapse, Congress Poland lost its constitutional autonomy, army and legislative assembly. During the European Spring of Nations, Poles took up arms in the Greater Poland Uprising of 1848 to resist Germanisation, but its failure saw duchy's status reduced to a mere province; and subsequent integration into the German Empire in 1871. In Russia, the fall of the January Uprising (1863–1864) prompted severe political, social and cultural reprisals, followed by deportations and pogroms of the Polish-Jewish population. Towards the end of the 19th century, Congress Poland became heavily industrialised; its primary exports being coal, zinc, iron and textiles.
=== Second Polish Republic ===
In the aftermath of World War I, the Allies agreed on the reconstitution of Poland, confirmed through the Treaty of Versailles of June 1919. A total of 2 million Polish troops fought with the armies of the three occupying powers, and over 450,000 died. Following the armistice with Germany in November 1918, Poland regained its independence as the Second Polish Republic.
The Second Polish Republic reaffirmed its sovereignty after a series of military conflicts, most notably the Polish–Soviet War, when Poland inflicted a crushing defeat on the Red Army at the Battle of Warsaw.
The inter-war period heralded a new era of Polish politics. Whilst Polish political activists had faced heavy censorship in the decades up until World War I, a new political tradition was established in the country. Many exiled Polish activists, such as Ignacy Jan Paderewski, who would later become prime minister, returned home. A significant number of them then went on to take key positions in the newly formed political and governmental structures. Tragedy struck in 1922 when Gabriel Narutowicz, inaugural holder of the presidency, was assassinated at the Zachęta Gallery in Warsaw by a painter and right-wing nationalist Eligiusz Niewiadomski.
In 1926, the May Coup, led by the hero of the Polish independence campaign Marshal Józef Piłsudski, turned rule of the Second Polish Republic over to the nonpartisan Sanacja (Healing) movement to prevent radical political organisations on both the left and the right from destabilising the country. By the late 1930s, due to increased threats posed by political extremism inside the country, the Polish government became increasingly heavy-handed, banning a number of radical organisations, including communist and ultra-nationalist political parties, which threatened the stability of the country.
=== World War II ===
World War II began with the Nazi German invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939, followed by the Soviet invasion of Poland on 17 September. As agreed in the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, Poland was split into two zones, one occupied by Nazi Germany, the other by the Soviet Union. The wartime resistance movement, and the Armia Krajowa (Home Army), fought against the occupation. It was one of the three largest resistance movements of the entire war, and encompassed a range of clandestine activities, which functioned as an underground state complete with degree-awarding universities and a court system. The resistance was loyal to the Polish Government in Exile and generally resented the idea of a post-war communist Poland; for this reason, in the summer of 1944 it initiated Operation Tempest, of which the Warsaw Uprising that began on 1 August 1944 is the best-known operation.
Poland made the fourth-largest troop contribution in Europe, and its troops served both the exiled government in the west and Soviet leadership in the east. Polish troops played an important role in the Normandy, Italian, North African Campaigns and Netherlands and are particularly remembered for the Battle of Britain and Battle of Monte Cassino. Polish intelligence operatives proved extremely valuable to the Allies, providing much of the intelligence from Europe and beyond, Polish code breakers were responsible for cracking the Enigma cipher and Polish scientists participating in the Manhattan Project were co-creators of the American atomic bomb. In the east, the Soviet-backed Polish 1st Army distinguished itself in the battles for Warsaw and Berlin.
The actions undertaken by both occupiers within Polish territory were genocidal. In 1939–1941, the Soviets deported hundreds of thousands of Poles and the Soviet NKVD executed thousands of Polish prisoners of war ahead of Operation Barbarossa, notably in the Katyn massacre. Around 150,000 Polish civilians were killed by Soviets during the Soviet Union's occupation of eastern Poland (Kresy). Similarly, German planners had in November 1939 called for "the complete destruction of all Poles" and their fate as outlined in the Generalplan Ost; six German extermination camps were established in occupied Poland, including Treblinka, Majdanek and Auschwitz. The Germans transported millions of Jews from across occupied Europe to be murdered in those camps. Altogether, 3 million Polish Jews – approximately 90% of Poland's pre-war Jewry – and between 1.8 and 2.8 million ethnic Poles were killed, including up to 100,000 members of the Polish intelligentsia. The Romani people were also exterminated. During the Warsaw Uprising alone, over 150,000 Polish civilians were killed, most were murdered by the Germans during the Wola and Ochota massacres. At least 100,000 Poles were also murdered by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) between 1943 and 1944 in what became known as the Wołyń Massacres.
Of all the countries in the war, Poland lost the highest percentage of its citizens: around 6 million perished – more than one-sixth of Poland's pre-war population – half of them Polish Jews. About 90% of deaths were non-military in nature. In 1945, Poland's borders were shifted westwards. Over two million Polish inhabitants of Kresy were expelled along the Curzon Line by Stalin. The western border became the Oder-Neisse line. As a result, Poland's territory was reduced by 20%, or 77,500 square kilometres (29,900 sq mi). The shift forced the migration of millions of other people, most of whom were Poles, Germans, Ukrainians, and Jews.
=== Post-war communism ===
At the insistence of Joseph Stalin, the Yalta Conference sanctioned the formation of a new provisional pro-Communist coalition government in Moscow, which ignored the Polish government-in-exile based in London. This action angered many Poles who considered it a betrayal by the Allies. In 1944, Stalin had made guarantees to Churchill and Roosevelt that he would maintain Poland's sovereignty and allow democratic elections to take place. However, upon achieving victory in 1945, the elections organised by the occupying Soviet authorities were falsified and were used to provide a veneer of legitimacy for Soviet hegemony over Polish affairs. The Soviet Union instituted a new communist government in Poland, analogous to much of the rest of the Eastern Bloc. As elsewhere in Communist Europe, the Soviet influence over Poland was met with armed resistance from the outset which continued into the 1950s.
Despite widespread objections, the new Polish government accepted the Soviet annexation of the pre-war eastern regions of Poland (in particular the cities of Wilno and Lwów) and agreed to the permanent garrisoning of Red Army units on Poland's territory. Military alignment within the Warsaw Pact throughout the Cold War came about as a direct result of this change in Poland's political culture. In the European scene, it came to characterise the full-fledged integration of Poland into the brotherhood of communist nations.
The new communist government took control with the adoption of the Small Constitution on 19 February 1947. The Polish People's Republic (Polska Rzeczpospolita Ludowa) was officially proclaimed in 1952. In 1956, after the death of Bolesław Bierut, the régime of Władysław Gomułka became temporarily more liberal, freeing many people from prison and expanding some personal freedoms. Collectivisation in the Polish People's Republic failed. A similar situation repeated itself in the 1970s under Edward Gierek, but most of the time persecution of anti-communist opposition groups persisted. Despite this, Poland was at the time considered to be one of the least oppressive states of the Eastern Bloc.
Labour turmoil in 1980 led to the formation of the independent trade union "Solidarity" ("Solidarność"), which over time became a political force. Despite persecution and imposition of martial law in 1981 by General Wojciech Jaruzelski, it eroded the dominance of the Polish United Workers' Party and by 1989 had triumphed in Poland's first partially free and democratic parliamentary elections since the end of the Second World War. Lech Wałęsa, a Solidarity candidate, eventually won the presidency in 1990. The Solidarity movement heralded the collapse of communist regimes and parties across Europe.
=== Third Polish Republic ===
A shock therapy programme, initiated by Leszek Balcerowicz in the early 1990s, enabled the country to transform its Soviet-style planned economy into a market economy. As with other post-communist countries, Poland suffered temporary declines in social, economic, and living standards, but it became the first post-communist country to reach its pre-1989 GDP levels as early as 1995, although the unemployment rate increased. Poland became a member of the Visegrád Group in 1991, and joined NATO in 1999. Poles then voted to join the European Union in a referendum in June 2003, with Poland becoming a full member on 1 May 2004, following the consequent enlargement of the union.
Poland joined the Schengen Area in 2007, as a result of which, the country's borders with other member states of the European Union were dismantled, allowing for full freedom of movement within most of the European Union. On 10 April 2010, the President of Poland Lech Kaczyński, along with 89 other high-ranking Polish officials died in a plane crash near Smolensk, Russia.
In 2011, the ruling Civic Platform won parliamentary elections. In 2014, the Prime Minister of Poland, Donald Tusk, was chosen to be President of the European Council, and resigned as prime minister. The 2015 and 2019 elections were won by the national-conservative Law and Justice Party (PiS) led by Jarosław Kaczyński, resulting in increased Euroscepticism and increased friction with the European Union. In December 2017, Mateusz Morawiecki was sworn in as the Prime Minister, succeeding Beata Szydlo, in office since 2015. President Andrzej Duda, supported by Law and Justice party, was re-elected in the 2020 presidential election.
As of November 2023, the Russian invasion of Ukraine had led to 17 million Ukrainian refugees crossing the border to Poland. As of November 2023, 0.9 million of those had stayed in Poland. In October 2023, the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party won the largest share of the vote in the election, but lost its majority in parliament. In December 2023, Donald Tusk became the new Prime Minister leading a coalition made up of Civic Coalition, Third Way, and The Left. Law and Justice became the leading opposition party.
== Geography ==
Poland covers an administrative area of 312,722 km2 (120,743 sq mi), and is the ninth-largest country in Europe. Approximately 311,895 km2 (120,423 sq mi) of the country's territory consists of land, 2,041 km2 (788 sq mi) is internal waters and 8,783 km2 (3,391 sq mi) is territorial sea. Topographically, the landscape of Poland is characterised by diverse landforms, water bodies and ecosystems. The central and northern region bordering the Baltic Sea lie within the flat Central European Plain, but its south is hilly and mountainous. The average elevation above the sea level is estimated at 173 metres.
The country has a coastline spanning 770 km (480 mi); extending from the shores of the Baltic Sea, along the Bay of Pomerania in the west to the Gulf of Gdańsk in the east. The beach coastline is abundant in sand dune fields or coastal ridges and is indented by spits and lagoons, notably the Hel Peninsula and the Vistula Lagoon, which is shared with Russia. The largest Polish island on the Baltic Sea is Wolin, located within Wolin National Park. Poland also shares the Szczecin Lagoon and the Usedom island with Germany.
The mountainous belt in the extreme south of Poland is divided into two major mountain ranges; the Sudetes in the west and the Carpathians in the east. The highest part of the Carpathian massif are the Tatra Mountains, extending along Poland's southern border. Poland's highest point is the northwestern summit of Rysy at 2,500 metres (8,202 ft) in elevation, located in the Tatras. The highest summit of the Sudetes massif is Mount Śnieżka at 1,603.3 metres (5,260 ft), shared with the Czech Republic. The lowest point in Poland situated at Marzęcino on the Vistula Fens, which is 2.2 metres (7.2 ft) below sea level.
In Poland, Trójmorski Wierch is one of the six tripoints of the European watershed.
Poland's longest rivers are the Vistula, the Oder, the Warta, and the Bug. The country also possesses one of the highest densities of lakes in the world, numbering around ten thousand and mostly concentrated in the north-eastern region of Masuria, within the Masurian Lake District. The largest lakes, covering more than 100 square kilometres (39 sq mi), are Śniardwy and Mamry, and the deepest is Lake Hańcza at 108.5 metres (356 ft) in depth.
=== Climate ===
The climate of Poland is temperate transitional, and varies from oceanic in the north-west to continental in the south-east. The mountainous southern fringes are situated within an alpine climate. Poland is characterised by warm summers, with a mean temperature of around 20 °C (68.0 °F) in July, and moderately cold winters averaging −1 °C (30.2 °F) in December. In summer, maximum temperatures can reach 40 °C (104.0 °F), while in winter in the Tatra Mountains and Bieszczady Mountains they can even drop below −30 °C (−22.0 °F).
The warmest and sunniest part of Poland is Lower Silesia in the southwest and the coldest region is the northeast corner, around Suwałki and Olecko where the climate is affected by cold fronts from Scandinavia and Siberia. Precipitation is more frequent during the summer months, with highest rainfall recorded from June to September.
There is a considerable fluctuation in day-to-day weather and the arrival of a particular season can differ each year. Climate change and other factors have further contributed to interannual thermal anomalies and increased temperatures; the average annual air temperature between 2011 and 2020 was 9.33 °C (48.8 °F), around 1.11 °C higher than in the 2001–2010 period. Winters are also becoming increasingly drier, with less snowfall.
=== Biodiversity ===
Phytogeographically, Poland belongs to the Central European province of the Circumboreal Region within the Boreal Kingdom. The country has four Palearctic ecoregions – Central, Northern, Western European temperate broadleaf and mixed forest, and the Carpathian montane conifer. Forests occupy 31% of Poland's land area, the largest of which is the Lower Silesian Wilderness. The most common deciduous trees found across the country are oak, maple, and beech; the most common conifers are pine, spruce, and fir. An estimated 69% of all forests are coniferous.
The flora and fauna in Poland is that of Continental Europe, with the wisent, white stork and white-tailed eagle designated as national animals, and the red common poppy being the unofficial floral emblem. Among the most protected species is the European bison, Europe's heaviest land animal, as well as the Eurasian beaver, the lynx, the gray wolf and the Tatra chamois. The region was also home to the extinct aurochs, the last individual dying in Poland in 1627. Game animals such as red deer, roe deer, and wild boar are found in most woodlands. Poland is also a significant breeding ground for migratory birds and hosts around one quarter of the global population of white storks.
Around 315,100 hectares (1,217 sq mi), equivalent to 1% of Poland's territory, is protected within 23 Polish national parks, two of which – Białowieża and Bieszczady – are UNESCO World Heritage Sites. There are 123 areas designated as landscape parks, along with numerous nature reserves and other protected areas under the Natura 2000 network.
== Government and politics ==
Poland is a unitary parliamentary republic and a representative democracy, with a president as the head of state. The executive power is exercised further by the Council of Ministers and the prime minister who acts as the head of government. The council's individual members are selected by the prime minister, approved by parliament and sworn in by the president. The head of state is elected by popular vote for a five-year term. The current president is Karol Nawrocki and the prime minister is Donald Tusk.
Poland's legislative assembly is a bicameral parliament consisting of a 460-member lower house (Sejm) and a 100-member upper house (Senate). The Sejm is elected under proportional representation according to the d'Hondt method for vote-seat conversion. The Senate is elected under the first-past-the-post electoral system, with one senator being returned from each of the one hundred constituencies. The Senate has the right to amend or reject a statute passed by the Sejm, but the Sejm may override the Senate's decision with a majority vote.
With the exception of ethnic minority parties, only candidates of political parties receiving at least 5% of the total national vote can enter the Sejm. Both the lower and upper houses of parliament in Poland are elected for a four-year term and each member of the Polish parliament is guaranteed parliamentary immunity. Under current legislation, a person must be 21 years of age or over to assume the position of deputy, 30 or over to become senator and 35 to run in a presidential election.
Members of the Sejm and Senate jointly form the National Assembly of the Republic of Poland. The National Assembly, headed by the marshal of the Sejm, or marshal of the Senate in their absence, is formed on three occasions – when a new president takes the oath of office; when an indictment against the president is brought to the State Tribunal; and in case a president's permanent incapacity to exercise his duties due to the state of his health is declared.
According to International IDEA's Global State of Democracy (GSoD) Indices and Democracy Tracker, Poland performs in the mid-range on overall democratic measures, with particular weaknesses in civic engagement and judicial independence.
=== Administrative divisions ===
Poland is divided into 16 provinces or states known as voivodeships. As of 2022, the voivodeships are subdivided into 380 counties (powiats), which are further fragmented into 2,477 municipalities (gminas). Major cities normally have the status of both gmina and powiat. The provinces are largely founded on the borders of historic regions, or named for individual cities. Administrative authority at the voivodeship level is shared between a government-appointed governor (voivode), an elected regional assembly (sejmik) and a voivodeship marshal, an executive elected by the assembly.
=== Law ===
The Constitution of Poland is the enacted supreme law, and Polish judicature is based on the principle of civil rights, governed by the code of civil law. The current democratic constitution was adopted by the National Assembly of Poland on 2 April 1997; it guarantees a multi-party state with freedoms of religion, speech and gatherings, prohibits the practices of forced medical experimentation, torture or corporal punishment, and acknowledges the inviolability of the home, the right to form trade unions, and the right to strike.
The judiciary in Poland is composed of the Supreme Court as the country's highest judicial organ, the Supreme Administrative Court for the judicial control of public administration, Common Courts (District, Regional, Appellate) and the Military Court. The Constitutional and State Tribunals are separate judicial bodies, which rule the constitutional liability of people holding the highest offices of state and supervise the compliance of statutory law, thus protecting the Constitution. Judges are nominated by the National Council of the Judiciary and are appointed for life by the president. With the approval of the Senate, the Sejm appoints an ombudsman for a five-year term to guard the observance of social justice.
Poland has a low homicide rate at 0.7 murders per 100,000 people, as of 2018. Rape, assault and violent crime remain at a very low level. The country has imposed strict regulations on abortion, which is permitted only in cases of rape, incest or when the woman's life is in danger; congenital disorder is not covered by the law, prompting some women to seek abortion abroad.
Historically, the most significant Polish legal act is the Constitution of 3 May 1791. Instituted to redress long-standing political defects of the federative Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and its Golden Liberty, it was the first modern constitution in Europe and influenced many later democratic movements across the globe. In 1918, the Second Polish Republic became one of the first countries to introduce universal women's suffrage.
=== Foreign relations ===
Poland is a middle power and a regional power in Europe. It has a total of 53 representatives in the European Parliament as of 2024. Warsaw serves as the headquarters for Frontex, the European Union's agency for external border security as well as ODIHR, one of the principal institutions of the OSCE. Apart from the European Union, Poland has been a member of NATO, the United Nations, and the WTO.
In recent years, Poland significantly strengthened its relations with the United States, becoming one of its closest allies and strategic partners in Europe. Historically, Poland maintained strong cultural and political ties with Hungary.
=== Military ===
The Polish Armed Forces are composed of five branches – the Land Forces, the Navy, the Air Force, the Special Forces and the Territorial Defence Force. The military is subordinate to the Ministry of National Defence of the Republic of Poland. However, its commander-in-chief in peacetime is the president, who nominates officers, the Minister for National Defence and the chief of staff. Polish military tradition is generally commemorated by the Armed Forces Day, celebrated annually on 15 August. In July 2024, the Polish Armed Forces had a combined strength of 216,100 active soldiers, making it the largest standing army in the European Union and the third largest in NATO.
Poland ranks 14th in the world in terms of military expenditures; the country allocated 4.12% of its total GDP on military spending, equivalent to approximately US$35 billion in 2024. From 2022, Poland initiated a programme of mass modernisation of its armed forces, in close cooperation with American, South Korean and local Polish defence manufacturers concentrated in the Polish Armaments Group. Also, the Polish military is set to increase its size to 250,000 enlisted and officers, and 50,000 Territorial Defence Force. According to SIPRI, the country exported €487 million worth of arms and armaments to foreign countries in 2020.
Compulsory military service for men, was discontinued in 2008. Polish military doctrine reflects the same defensive nature as that of its NATO partners and the country actively hosts NATO's military exercises. The Polish Special Forces, consisting of six units (Grom, Formoza, Agat, Nil, Commandos Military Unit, Airborne Special Operations Unit), have the authority to command full-scale as well as joint NATO operations, with special forces from all NATO member states. Since 1953, the country has been a large contributor to various United Nations peacekeeping missions, and currently maintains military presence in the Middle East, Africa, the Baltic states and southeastern Europe. Moreover, there are approximately 10,000 troops from the United States Armed Forces stationed across Poland. From 2024, Poland also provides mandatory firearms training for pupils in primary and secondary schools.
=== Security, law enforcement and emergency services ===
Law enforcement in Poland is performed by several agencies which are subordinate to the Ministry of Interior and Administration – the State Police (Policja), assigned to investigate crimes or transgression; the Municipal City Guard, which maintains public order; and several specialised agencies, such as the Polish Border Guard. Municipal guards are primarily headed by provincial, regional or city councils; individual guards are not permitted to carry firearms unless instructed by the superior commanding officer. Security service personnel conduct regular patrols in both large urban areas or smaller suburban localities.
Emergency services in Poland consist of the emergency medical services, search and rescue units of the Polish Armed Forces and State Fire Service. Emergency medical services in Poland are operated by local and regional governments, but are a part of the centralised national agency – the National Medical Emergency Service (Państwowe Ratownictwo Medyczne). Thanks to its location, Poland is a country essentially free from the threat of natural disasters such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tornadoes and tropical cyclones. However, floods have occurred in low-lying areas from time to time during periods of extreme rainfall, for example during the 2010 Central European floods.
The Internal Security Agency (ABW, or ISA in English) is the chief counterintelligence instrument safeguarding Poland's internal security, along with Agencja Wywiadu (AW) which identifies threats and collects secret information abroad. The Central Investigation Bureau of Police (CBŚP) and the Central Anticorruption Bureau (CBA) are responsible for countering organised crime and corruption in state and private institutions.
== Economy ==
Poland has a social market economy and is a regional economic power in East-Central Europe. As of 2025, the country's gross domestic product (GDP) is the sixth largest in the European Union by nominal standards, the fifth largest by purchasing power parity, and ranks 20th globally. It is one of the fastest growing within the Union and reached a developed market status in 2018. The unemployment rate published by Eurostat in 2023 amounted to 2.8%, which was the second-lowest in the EU. As of 2023, around 62% of the employed population works in the service sector, 29% in manufacturing, and 8% in the agricultural sector, thus manifesting a highly diversified economy. Although Poland is a member of the European single market, the country has not adopted the Euro as legal tender and maintains its own currency – the Polish złoty (zł, PLN).
Poland is a regional European leader in terms of foreign direct investment and possesses around 40 percent of the 500 biggest companies in the region by revenues whilst maintaining a high globalisation rate and relatively high economic competitiveness. The country's largest firms compose the WIG20 and WIG30 stock market indexes, which are traded on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. The Central Statistical Office estimated that in 2014 there were 1,437 Polish corporations with interests in 3,194 foreign entities. Poland also has the largest banking sector in Central Europe, with 32.3 branches per 100,000 adults. The monetary policy is determined by the National Bank of Poland (NBP), which controls the issuing of the national currency. It was the only European economy to have avoided the recession of 2008. Since 2019, workers under the age of 26 are exempt from paying the income tax.
The country is the 19th largest exporter of goods and services in the world. Exports of goods and services are valued at approximately 58% of GDP, as of 2023. Poland's largest trade partners are Germany, the United Kingdom, the Czech Republic, France, Italy, the Netherlands, and the United States. Among its lead exports are motor cars, buses, and vehicle-related accessories, machinery, electronics, electric batteries, home appliances, furniture, cosmetics, military equipment, and tobacco as well as materials such as silver, copper, steel, coal, zinc, tar, and coke. In 2023, the country produced 1300 tonnes of silver and was the 5th largest silver producer globally. As of 2025, Poland holds the world's 12th largest gold reserve, estimated at 509 tonnes.
=== Tourism ===
In 2020, the total value of the tourism industry in Poland was 104.3 billion PLN, then equivalent to 4.5% of the Polish GDP. Tourism contributes considerably to the overall economy and makes up a relatively large proportion of the country's service market. Nearly 200,000 people were employed in the accommodation and catering (hospitality) sector in 2020. In 2021, Poland ranked 12th most visited country in the world by international arrivals.
Tourist attractions in Poland vary, from the mountains in the south to the wide sandy beaches Baltic Sea in the north. Many trail of rich architectural and cultural heritage. Among the most recognisable landmarks are Old Towns in Kraków, Warsaw, Wrocław (dwarf statues), Gdańsk, Poznań, Lublin, Toruń and Zamość as well as museums, zoological gardens, theme parks and the Wieliczka Salt Mine, with its labyrinthine tunnels, underground lake and chapels carved by miners out of rock salt beneath the ground. There are over 100 castles in the country, largely within the Lower Silesian Voivodeship (including the Piast Castles Trail), and also on the Trail of the Eagles' Nests; the largest castle in the world by land area is situated in Malbork. The German Auschwitz concentration camp in Oświęcim, and the Skull Chapel in Kudowa-Zdrój constitute dark tourism. Regarding nature based travel, notable sites include the Masurian Lake District and Białowieża Forest in the east; on the south Karkonosze, the Table Mountains and the Tatra Mountains, where Rysy and the Eagle's Path trail are located. The Pieniny and Bieszczady Mountains lie in the extreme south-east.
=== Transport ===
Transport in Poland is provided by means of rail, road, marine shipping and air travel. The country is part of EU's Schengen Area and is an important transport hub due to its strategic geographical position in Central Europe. Some of the longest European routes, including the E30 and E40, run through Poland. The country has a good network of highways consisting of express roads and motorways. As of August 2023, Poland has the world's 21st-largest road network, maintaining over 5,000 km (3,100 mi) of highways in use. In larger cities, public transport is heavily utilised; some of Poland's tram and light rail transit systems are among the world's largest, with Europe's biggest rolling stock.
In 2022, the nation had 19,393 kilometres (12,050 mi) of railway track, the third longest in the European Union after Germany and France. The Polish State Railways (PKP) is the dominant railway operator, with certain major voivodeships or urban areas possessing their own commuter and regional rail. Poland has a number of international airports, the largest of which is Warsaw Chopin Airport. It is the primary global hub for LOT Polish Airlines, the country's flag carrier.
Seaports exist all along Poland's Baltic coast, with most freight operations using Świnoujście, Police, Szczecin, Kołobrzeg, Gdynia, Gdańsk and Elbląg as their base. The Port of Gdańsk is the only port in the Baltic Sea adapted to receive oceanic vessels. Polferries and Unity Line are the largest Polish ferry operators, with the latter providing roll-on/roll-off and train ferry services to Scandinavia.
=== Energy ===
The electricity generation sector in Poland is largely fossil-fuel–based. Coal production in Poland is a major source of employment and the largest source of the nation's greenhouse gas emissions. Many power plants nationwide use Poland's position as a major European exporter of coal to their advantage by continuing to use coal as the primary raw material in the production of their energy. The three largest Polish coal mining firms (Węglokoks, Kompania Węglowa and JSW) extract around 100 million tonnes of coal annually. After coal, Polish energy supply relies significantly on oil—the nation is the third-largest buyer of Russian oil exports to the EU.
The new Energy Policy of Poland until 2040 (EPP2040) would reduce the share of coal and lignite in electricity generation by 25% from 2017 to 2030. The plan involves deploying new nuclear plants, increasing energy efficiency, and decarbonising the Polish transport system in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and prioritise long-term energy security.
=== Science and technology ===
Over the course of history, the Polish people have made considerable contributions in the fields of science, technology and mathematics. Perhaps the most renowned Pole to support this theory was Nicolaus Copernicus, who triggered the Copernican Revolution by placing the Sun rather than the Earth at the centre of the universe. He also derived a quantity theory of money, which made him a pioneer of economics. Copernicus' achievements and discoveries are considered the basis of Polish culture and cultural identity. Poland was ranked 39th in the Global Innovation Index in 2025.
Poland's tertiary education institutions; traditional universities, as well as technical, medical, and economic institutions, employ around tens of thousands of researchers and staff members. There are hundreds of research and development institutes. However, in the 19th and 20th centuries many Polish scientists worked abroad; one of the most important of these exiles was Maria Skłodowska-Curie, a physicist and chemist who lived much of her life in France. In 1925, she established Poland's Radium Institute.
In the first half of the 20th century, Poland was a flourishing centre of mathematics. Outstanding Polish mathematicians formed the Lwów School of Mathematics (with Stefan Banach, Stanisław Mazur, Hugo Steinhaus, Stanisław Ulam) and Warsaw School of Mathematics (with Alfred Tarski, Kazimierz Kuratowski, Wacław Sierpiński and Antoni Zygmund). Numerous mathematicians, scientists, chemists or economists emigrated due to historic vicissitudes, among them Benoit Mandelbrot, Leonid Hurwicz, Alfred Tarski, Joseph Rotblat and Nobel Prize laureates Roald Hoffmann, Georges Charpak and Tadeusz Reichstein.
== Demographics ==
Poland has a population of approximately 38.2 million as of 2021, and is the ninth-most populous country in Europe, as well as the fifth-most populous member state of the European Union. It has a population density of 122 inhabitants per square kilometre (320 inhabitants/mi2). The total fertility rate was estimated at 1.2 children born to a woman in 2023, which is among the world's lowest. Furthermore, Poland's population is aging significantly, and the country has a median age of 42.2.
Around 60% of the country's population lives in urban areas or major cities and 40% in rural zones. In 2020, 50.2% of Poles resided in detached dwellings and 44.3% in apartments. The most populous administrative province or state is the Masovian Voivodeship and the most populous city is the capital, Warsaw, at 1.8 million inhabitants with a further 2–3 million people living in its metropolitan area. The metropolitan area of Katowice is the largest urban conurbation with a population between 2.7 million and 5.3 million residents. Population density is higher in the south of Poland and mostly concentrated in Upper Silesia, between the cities of Wrocław and Kraków.
In the 2011 Polish census, 37,310,341 people reported Polish identity, 846,719 Silesian, 232,547 Kashubian and 147,814 German. Other identities were reported by 163,363 people (0.41%) and 521,470 people (1.35%) did not specify any nationality. Official population statistics do not include migrant workers who do not possess a permanent residency permit or Karta Polaka. More than 1.7 million Ukrainian citizens worked legally in Poland in 2017. The number of migrants is rising steadily; the country approved 504,172 work permits for foreigners in 2021 alone.
According to the 2021 census, ethnic Poles comprise 98.84% of the population, including people who declared Polish heritage alone (96.28%) or both Polish and another ethnicity (2.56%) as responders were allowed to select up to two ethnicities. People who declared only non-Polish ethnicities made up 1.13% of the population and people who did not report their ethnicity numbered 0.03%. The province with the highest percentage of ethnic Poles was the Holy Cross Voivodeship (99.70%), and the region with the lowest share of ethnic Poles was the Silesian Voivodeship (95.49%).
=== Languages ===
Polish is the official and predominant spoken language in Poland, and is one of the official languages of the European Union. It is also a second language in parts of neighbouring Lithuania, where it is taught in Polish-minority schools. Contemporary Poland is a linguistically homogeneous nation, with 97% of respondents declaring Polish as their mother tongue. There are currently 15 minority languages in Poland, including one recognised regional language, Kashubian, which is spoken by approximately 100,000 people on a daily basis in the northern regions of Kashubia and Pomerania. Poland also recognises secondary administrative languages or auxiliary languages in bilingual municipalities, where bilingual signs and placenames are commonplace. According to the Centre for Public Opinion Research, around 32% of Polish citizens declared knowledge of the English language in 2015.
=== Religion ===
According to the 2021 census, 71.3% of all Polish citizens adhere to the Catholic Church, with 6.9% identifying as having no religion and 20.6% refusing to answer.
Poland is one of the most religious countries in Europe, where Catholicism remains a part of national identity and Polish-born Pope John Paul II is widely revered. In 2015, 61.6% of respondents outlined that religion is of high or very high importance. However, church attendance has greatly decreased in recent years; only 28% of Catholics attended mass weekly in 2021, down from around half in 2000. According to The Wall Street Journal, "Of [the] more than 100 countries studied by the Pew Research Center in 2018, Poland was secularising the fastest, as measured by the disparity between the religiosity of young people and their elders."
Freedom of religion in Poland is guaranteed by the Constitution, and Poland's concordat with the Holy See enables the teaching of religion in public schools. Historically, the Polish state maintained a high degree of religious tolerance and provided asylum for refugees fleeing religious persecution in other parts of Europe. Poland hosted Europe's largest Jewish diaspora, and the country was a centre of Ashkenazi Jewish culture and traditional learning until the Holocaust.
Contemporary religious minorities include Eastern Orthodox Church, Protestants, including Lutherans of the Evangelical-Augsburg Church, Pentecostals in the Pentecostal Church in Poland, Adventists in the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Other smaller Christian denominations include Eastern Catholics, Mariavites, Evangelicalism denominations. Other religions include Jehovah's Witnesses, Jews, Muslims (Tatars), and neopagans, some of whom are members of the Native Polish Church.
=== Health ===
Medical service providers and hospitals in Poland are subordinate to the Ministry of Health; it provides administrative oversight and scrutiny of general medical practice and is obliged to maintain a high standard of hygiene and patient care. Poland has a universal healthcare system based on an all-inclusive insurance system; state subsidised healthcare is available to all citizens covered by the general health insurance programme of the National Health Fund (NFZ). Private medical complexes exist nationwide; over 50% of the population uses both public and private sectors.
According to the Human Development Report from 2020, the average life expectancy at birth is 79 years (around 75 years for an infant male and 83 years for an infant female); the country has a low infant mortality rate (4 per 1,000 births). In 2019, the principal cause of death was ischemic heart disease; diseases of the circulatory system accounted for 45% of all deaths. In the same year, Poland was also the 15th-largest importer of medications and pharmaceutical products.
=== Education ===
The Jagiellonian University founded in 1364 by Casimir III in Kraków was the first institution of higher learning established in Poland, and is one of the oldest universities still in continuous operation. Poland's Commission of National Education (Komisja Edukacji Narodowej), established in 1773, was the world's first state ministry of education. In 2018, the Programme for International Student Assessment, coordinated by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, placed Poland's educational output as one of the highest in the OECD, ranking 5th by student attainment and 6th by student performance in 2022.
The framework for primary, secondary and higher tertiary education are established by the Ministry of Education and Science. One year of kindergarten is compulsory for six-year-olds. Primary education traditionally begins at the age of seven, although children aged six can attend at the request of their parents or guardians. Elementary school spans eight grades and secondary schooling is dependent on student preference – a four-year high school (liceum), a five-year technical school (technikum) or various vocational studies (szkoła branżowa) can be pursued by individual pupils. A liceum or technikum is concluded with a maturity exit exam (matura), which must be passed in order to apply for a university or other institutions of higher learning.
In Poland, there are over 500 university-level institutions, with numerous faculties. The University of Warsaw and Warsaw Polytechnic, the University of Wrocław, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań and the University of Technology in Gdańsk are among the most prominent. There are three conventional academic degrees in Poland – licencjat or inżynier (first cycle), magister (second cycle) and doktor (third cycle qualification).
== Culture ==
The culture of Poland is closely connected with its intricate 1,000-year history, and forms an important constituent in the Western civilisation. The Poles take great pride in their national identity which is often associated with the colours white and red, and exuded by the expression biało-czerwoni ("whitereds"). National symbols, chiefly the crowned white-tailed eagle, are often visible on clothing, insignia and emblems. The architectural monuments of great importance are protected by the National Heritage Board of Poland. Over 100 of the country's most significant tangible wonders were enlisted onto the Historic Monuments Register, with further 17 being recognised by UNESCO as World Heritage Sites.
=== Holidays and traditions ===
There are 13 government-approved annual public holidays – New Year on 1 January, Three Kings' Day on 6 January, Easter Sunday and Easter Monday, Labour Day on 1 May, Constitution Day on 3 May, Pentecost, Corpus Christi, Feast of the Assumption on 15 August, All Saints' Day on 1 November, Independence Day on 11 November and Christmastide on 25 and 26 December.
Particular traditions and superstitious customs observed in Poland are not found elsewhere in Europe. Though Christmas Eve (Wigilia) is not a public holiday, it remains the most memorable day of the entire year. Trees are decorated on 24 December, hay is placed under the tablecloth to resemble Jesus' manger, Christmas wafers (opłatek) are shared between gathered guests and a twelve-dish meatless supper is served that same evening when the first star appears. An empty plate and seat are symbolically left at the table for an unexpected guest. On occasion, carolers journey around smaller towns with a folk Turoń creature until the Lent period.
A widely popular doughnut and sweet pastry feast occurs on Fat Thursday, usually 52 days prior to Easter. Eggs for Holy Sunday are painted and placed in decorated baskets that are previously blessed by clergymen in churches on Easter Saturday. Easter Monday is celebrated with pagan dyngus festivities, where the youth is engaged in water fights. Cemeteries and graves of the deceased are annually visited by family members on All Saints' Day; tombstones are cleaned as a sign of respect and candles are lit to honour the dead on an unprecedented scale.
=== Music ===
Artists from Poland, including famous musicians such as Frédéric Chopin, Artur Rubinstein, Ignacy Jan Paderewski, Krzysztof Penderecki, Henryk Wieniawski, Karol Szymanowski, Witold Lutosławski, Stanisław Moniuszko and traditional, regionalised folk composers create a lively and diverse music scene, which even recognises its own music genres, such as sung poetry and disco polo.
The origins of Polish music can be traced to the 13th century; manuscripts have been found in Stary Sącz containing polyphonic compositions related to the Parisian Notre Dame School. Other early compositions, such as the melody of Bogurodzica and God Is Born (a coronation polonaise tune for Polish kings by an unknown composer), may also date back to this period, however, the first known notable composer, Nicholas of Radom, lived in the 15th century. Diomedes Cato, a native-born Italian who lived in Kraków, became a renowned lutenist at the court of Sigismund III; he not only imported some of the musical styles from southern Europe but blended them with native folk music.
In the 17th and 18th centuries, Polish baroque composers wrote liturgical music and secular compositions such as concertos and sonatas for voices or instruments. At the end of the 18th century, Polish classical music evolved into national forms like the polonaise. Wojciech Bogusławski is accredited with composing the first Polish national opera, titled Krakowiacy i Górale, which premiered in 1794.
Poland today has an active music scene, with the jazz and metal genres being particularly popular among the contemporary populace. Polish jazz musicians such as Krzysztof Komeda created a unique style, which was most famous in the 1960s and 1970s and continues to be popular to this day. Poland has also become a major venue for large-scale music festivals, chief among which are the Pol'and'Rock Festival, Open'er Festival, Opole Festival and Sopot Festival.
=== Art ===
Art in Poland has invariably reflected European trends, with Polish painting pivoted on folklore, Catholic themes, historicism and realism, but also on Impressionism and romanticism. An important art movement was Young Poland, developed in the late 19th century for promoting decadence, symbolism and Art Nouveau. Since the 20th century Polish documentary art and photography has enjoyed worldwide fame, especially the Polish School of Posters. One of the most distinguished paintings in Poland is Lady with an Ermine (1490) by Leonardo da Vinci.
Internationally renowned Polish artists include Jan Matejko (historicism), Jacek Malczewski (symbolism), Stanisław Wyspiański (art nouveau), Henryk Siemiradzki (Roman academic art), Tamara de Lempicka (art deco), and Zdzisław Beksiński (dystopian surrealism). Several Polish artists and sculptors were also acclaimed representatives of avant-garde, constructivist, minimalist and contemporary art movements, including Katarzyna Kobro, Władysław Strzemiński, Magdalena Abakanowicz, Alina Szapocznikow, Igor Mitoraj and Wilhelm Sasnal.
Notable art academies in Poland include the Kraków Academy of Fine Arts, Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, Art Academy of Szczecin, University of Fine Arts in Poznań and the Geppert Academy of Fine Arts in Wrocław. Contemporary works are exhibited at Zachęta, Ujazdów, and MOCAK art galleries.
=== Architecture ===
The architecture of Poland reflects European architectural styles, with strong historical influences derived from Italy, Germany, and the Low Countries. Settlements founded on Magdeburg Law evolved around central marketplaces (plac, rynek), encircled by a grid or concentric network of streets forming an old town (stare miasto). Poland's traditional landscape is characterised by ornate churches, city tenements and town halls. Cloth hall markets (sukiennice) were once an abundant feature of Polish urban architecture. The mountainous south is known for its Zakopane chalet style, which originated in Poland.
The earliest architectonic trend was Romanesque (c. 11th century), but its traces in the form of circular rotundas are scarce. The arrival of brick Gothic (c. 13th century) defined Poland's most distinguishable medieval style, exuded by the castles of Malbork, Lidzbark, Gniew and Kwidzyn as well as the cathedrals of Gniezno, Gdańsk, Wrocław, Frombork and Kraków. The Renaissance (16th century) gave rise to Italianate courtyards, defensive palazzos and mausoleums. Decorative attics with pinnacles and arcade loggias are elements of Polish Mannerism, found in Poznań, Lublin and Zamość. Foreign artisans often came at the expense of kings or nobles, whose palaces were built thereafter in the Baroque, Neoclassical and Revivalist styles (17th–19th century).
Primary building materials timber and red brick were used extensively in Polish folk architecture, and the concept of a fortified church was commonplace. Secular structures such as dworek manor houses, farmsteads, granaries, mills and country inns are still present in some regions or in open air museums (skansen). However, traditional construction methods faded in the early-mid 20th century due to urbanisation and the construction of functionalist housing estates and residential areas.
=== Literature ===
The literary works of Poland have traditionally concentrated around the themes of patriotism, spirituality, social allegories and moral narratives. The earliest examples of Polish literature, written in Latin, date to the 12th century. The first Polish phrase Day ut ia pobrusa, a ti poziwai (officially translated as "Let me, I shall grind, and you take a rest") was documented in the Book of Henryków and reflected the use of a quern-stone. It has been since included in UNESCO's Memory of World Register. The oldest extant manuscripts of fine prose in Old Polish are the Holy Cross Sermons and the Bible of Queen Sophia, and Calendarium cracoviense (1474) is Poland's oldest surviving print.
The poets Jan Kochanowski and Nicholas Rey became the first Renaissance authors to write in Polish. Prime literarians of the period included Dantiscus, Modrevius, Goslicius, Sarbievius and theologian John Laski. In the Baroque era, Jesuit philosophy and local culture greatly influenced the literary techniques of Jan Andrzej Morsztyn (Marinism) and Jan Chryzostom Pasek (sarmatian memoirs). During the Enlightenment, playwright Ignacy Krasicki composed the first Polish-language novel. Poland's leading 19th-century romantic poets were the Three Bards – Juliusz Słowacki, Zygmunt Krasiński and Adam Mickiewicz, whose epic poem Pan Tadeusz (1834) is a national classic. In the 20th century, the English impressionist and early modernist writings of Joseph Conrad made him one of the most eminent novelists of all time.
Contemporary Polish literature is versatile, with its fantasy genre having been particularly praised. The philosophical sci-fi novel Solaris by Stanisław Lem and The Witcher series by Andrzej Sapkowski are celebrated works of world fiction. Poland has six Nobel-Prize winning authors – Henryk Sienkiewicz (Quo Vadis; 1905), Władysław Reymont (The Peasants; 1924), Isaac Bashevis Singer (1978), Czesław Miłosz (1980), Wisława Szymborska (1996), and Olga Tokarczuk (2018).
=== Cuisine ===
The cuisine of Poland is eclectic, with many regional varieties, sharing some similarity with other neighbouring cuisines. Among the staple or regional dishes are pierogi (filled dumplings), kielbasa (sausage), bigos (hunter's stew), kotlet schabowy (breaded cutlet), gołąbki (cabbage rolls), barszcz (borscht), żurek (soured rye soup), oscypek (smoked cheese), and tomato soup. Bagels, a type of bread roll, also originated in Poland.
Traditional dishes are hearty and abundant in pork, potatoes, eggs, cream, mushrooms, regional herbs, and sauce. Polish food is characteristic for its various kinds of kluski (soft dumplings), soups, cereals and a variety of breads and open sandwiches. Salads, including mizeria (cucumber salad), coleslaw, sauerkraut, carrot and seared beets, are common. Meals conclude with a dessert such as sernik (cheesecake), makowiec (poppy seed roll), or napoleonka (mille-feuille) cream pie.
Traditional alcoholic beverages include honey mead, widespread since the 13th century, beer, wine and vodka. The world's first written mention of vodka originates from Poland. The most popular alcoholic drinks at present are beer and wine which took over from vodka more popular in the years 1980–1998. Grodziskie, sometimes referred to as "Polish Champagne", is an example of a historical beer style from Poland. Tea remains common in Polish society since the 19th century, whilst coffee is drunk widely since the 18th century.
=== Fashion and design ===
Several Polish designers and stylists left a legacy of beauty inventions and cosmetics; including Helena Rubinstein and Maksymilian Faktorowicz, who created a line of cosmetics company in California known as Max Factor and formulated the term "make-up" which is now widely used as an alternative for describing cosmetics. Faktorowicz is also credited with inventing modern eyelash extensions. As of 2020, Poland possesses the sixth-largest cosmetic market in Europe. Inglot Cosmetics is the country's largest beauty products manufacturer, and the retail store Reserved is the country's most successful clothing store chain.
Historically, fashion has been an important aspect of Poland's national consciousness or cultural manifestation, beginning with the poulaine pointed footwear in the 14th century, to developing an endemic style known as Sarmatism at the turn of the 17th century. The national dress and etiquette of Poland reached the court at Versailles, where French dresses inspired by Polish garments included robe à la polonaise and the witzchoura. The scope of influence also entailed furniture; rococo Polish beds with canopies became fashionable in châteaus. Sarmatism eventually faded in the wake of the 18th century.
=== Cinema ===
The cinema of Poland traces its origins to 1894, when inventor Kazimierz Prószyński patented the Pleograph and subsequently the Aeroscope, the first successful hand-held operated film camera. In 1897, Jan Szczepanik constructed the Telectroscope, a prototype of television transmitting images and sounds. They are both recognised as pioneers of cinematography. Poland has also produced influential directors, film producers and actors, many of whom were active in Hollywood, chiefly Roman Polański, Andrzej Wajda, Pola Negri, Samuel Goldwyn, the Warner brothers, Max Fleischer, Agnieszka Holland, Krzysztof Zanussi and Krzysztof Kieślowski.
The themes commonly explored in Polish cinema include history, drama, war, culture and black realism (film noir). In the 21st-century, two Polish productions won the Academy Awards – The Pianist (2002) by Roman Polański and Ida (2013) by Paweł Pawlikowski. Polish cinematography also created many well-received comedies. The most known of them were made by Stanisław Bareja and Juliusz Machulski.
=== Media ===
According to the Eurobarometer Report (2015), 78 percent of Poles watch the television daily. In 2020, 79 percent of the population read the news more than once a day, placing it second behind Sweden. Poland has a number of major domestic media outlets, chiefly the public broadcasting corporation TVP, free-to-air channels TVN and Polsat as well as 24-hour news channels TVP Info, TVN 24 and Polsat News. Public television extends its operations to genre-specific programmes such as TVP Sport, TVP Historia, TVP Kultura, TVP Rozrywka, TVP Seriale and TVP Polonia, the latter a state-run channel dedicated to the transmission of Polish-language telecasts for the Polish diaspora. In 2020, the most popular types of newspapers were tabloids and socio-political news dailies.
Poland is a major European hub for video game developers and among the most successful companies are CD Projekt, Techland, The Farm 51, CI Games and People Can Fly. Some of the popular video games developed in Poland include The Witcher trilogy and Cyberpunk 2077. The Polish city of Katowice also hosts Intel Extreme Masters, one of the biggest esports events in the world.
=== Sports ===
Motorcycle speedway, volleyball and association football are among the country's most popular sports, with a rich history of international competitions. Track and field, basketball, handball, boxing, MMA, ski jumping, cross-country skiing, ice hockey, tennis, fencing, swimming, and weightlifting are other popular sports.
The golden era of football in Poland occurred throughout the 1970s and went on until the early 1980s when the Polish national football team achieved their best results in any FIFA World Cup competitions finishing third place in the 1974 and the 1982 tournaments. The team won a gold medal in football at the 1972 Summer Olympics and two silver medals, in 1976 and in 1992. In 2012, Poland co-hosted the UEFA European Football Championship.
As of September 2024, the Polish men's national volleyball team is ranked as first in the world. The team won a gold medal at the 1976 Summer Olympics and the gold medal at the FIVB World Championship 1974, 2014 and 2018.
Mariusz Pudzianowski is a highly successful strongman competitor and has won more World's Strongest Man titles than any other competitor in the world, winning the event in 2008 for the fifth time.
Poland has made a distinctive mark in motorcycle speedway racing. The top Ekstraliga division has one of the highest average attendances for any sport in Poland. The national speedway team of Poland is one of the major teams in international speedway. Individually, Poland has three Speedway Grand Prix World Champions, with the most successful being five-time World Champion Bartosz Zmarzlik who won back-to-back championships in 2019 and 2020 as well as 2022, 2023 and 2024. In 2021, Poland finished runners-up in the Speedway of Nations world championship final, held in Manchester, England in 2021.
In the 21st century, the country has seen a growth of popularity of tennis and produced a number of successful tennis players including World No. 1 Iga Świątek, winner of five Grand Slam singles titles; former World No. 2 Agnieszka Radwanska, winner of 20 WTA career singles titles including 2015 WTA Finals; Top 10 ATP player Hubert Hurkacz; former World No. 1 doubles player Łukasz Kubot, winner of two Grand Slam doubles titles and Jan Zieliński, winner of two Grand Slam mixed doubles titles. Poland also won the 2015 Hopman Cup with Agnieszka Radwańska and Jerzy Janowicz representing the country.
Poles made significant achievements in mountaineering, in particular, in the Himalayas and the winter ascending of the eight-thousanders (e.g. Jerzy Kukuczka, Krzysztof Wielicki, Wanda Rutkiewicz). Polish mountains are one of the tourist attractions of the country. Hiking, climbing, skiing and mountain biking and attract numerous tourists every year from all over the world. Water sports are the most popular summer recreation activities, with ample locations for fishing, canoeing, kayaking, sailing and windsurfing especially in the northern regions of the country. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marion_Couthouy_Smith | Marion Couthouy Smith | Marion Couthouy Smith (1853–1931) was a poet from the United States. She published three books of poetry between 1906 and 1918 and individual poems through the Harper's Magazine, Century Magazine, Atlantic Monthly, and The New England Magazine.
== Biography ==
Marion Couthouy Smith was born in Philadelphia on October 22, 1853 the daughter of Henry Pratt and Maria Couthouy Williams. She graduated 1871 from Miss A. M. Anable's school in Philadelphia.
She died in New York City on November 19, 1931.
== Books ==
Chorister No. 13, a poem, cover by Lee Baker, James Pott & Company, Publishers, c. 1891.
A Working Woman published in serial in The Living Church
Dr. Marks, Socialist, 1897
The Electric Spirit and Other Poems, 1906
The Road of Life and Other Poems, 1909
The Final Star, poems, 1918 |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPhone_X#:~:text=The%20iPhone%20X%20(Roman%20numeral,released%20on%20November%203%2C%202017. | IPhone X#:~:text=The iPhone X (Roman numeral,released on November 3, 2017. | The iPhone X (Roman numeral "X" pronounced "ten") is a smartphone that was developed and marketed by Apple. It is part of the 11th generation of the iPhone. Available for pre-order from September 26, 2017, it was released on November 3, 2017. The naming of the iPhone X (skipping the iPhone 9 and iPhone 9 Plus) marked the 10th anniversary of the iPhone.
The iPhone X used a glass and stainless-steel form factor and "bezel-less" design, shrinking the bezels while not having a "chin". It was the first iPhone designed without a home button, a change that became standard on all future models bar two (excluding iPhone SE 2nd and 3rd generations). It was also the first iPhone to use an OLED screen, branded as a Super Retina HD display, one of the best and most advanced displays for its time. The previous Touch ID authentication, incorporated into the former home button design, was replaced with a new type of authentication called Face ID, which uses sensors to scan the user's face to unlock the device. These facial recognition capabilities also enabled emojis to be animated following the user's expression (Animoji). With a bezel-less design, iPhone user interaction changed significantly, using gestures instead of the traditional home button to navigate the operating system. At the time of its November 2017 launch, its price tag of US$999 in the United States also made it the most expensive iPhone ever, with even higher prices internationally.
Along with the iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus and iPhone SE (1st generation), the iPhone X was discontinued on September 12, 2018, following the announcement of the iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max and iPhone XR devices.
== History ==
The technology behind the iPhone X was in development for five years, starting as far back as 2012. Rumors of a drastic iPhone redesign began circulating around the time of iPhone 7 announcement in the third quarter of 2016, and intensified when a HomePod firmware leak in July 2017 suggested that Apple would shortly release a phone with a nearly bezel-less design, lack of a physical home button, facial recognition, and other new features. A near-final development version of the iOS 11 operating system was also leaked in September 2017, confirming the new design and features.
On August 31, 2017, Apple invited journalists to a September 12 press event, the first public event held at the Steve Jobs Theater on the company's new Apple Park campus in Cupertino, California. The iPhone X was unveiled during that keynote. Its US $999 starting price was the most expensive iPhone launch price ever at the time. The price is even higher in international markets due to currency fluctuations, import fees and sales taxes. An instrumental version of the song Keep On Lovin’ by Magnus The Magnus was used in the reveal of the device, and the song "Best Friend" by Sofi Tukker was featured in the introductory film and ads.
An unlocked version of the phone was made available for purchase in the United States on December 5, 2017.
In April 2018, the Federal Communications Commission divulged images of an unreleased gold-colored iPhone X model. As opposed to the space gray and silver color options that the iPhone X ships with, it was divulged that there were initial plans to release a gold option for the device. However, it was put on hold due to production issues. The successor of the iPhone X, the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max, included a Gold color option, in addition to the Silver and Space Gray featured on the iPhone X.
Apple released a revised B model for the iPhone X that fixed NFC issues for users in Japan, China, and the United States.
=== Design ===
== Hardware and display ==
The iPhone X has a 5.85 inch (marketed as 5.8 inch) OLED color-accurate screen that supports DCI-P3 wide color gamut, sRGB, and high dynamic range, and has a contrast ratio of 1,000,000:1. The idea for an all-display smartphone was famously presented by Apple's hardware design team in a meeting, where Tim Cook said "Can we do this?" He also proposed the name "Super Retina Display" instead of the previous "Retina Display".
The Super Retina display has the True Tone technology found on the iPad Pro, which uses ambient light sensors to adapt the display's white balance to the surrounding ambient light.
The iPhone X doubles the touch sampling rate of previous models, from 60 Hz to 120 Hz. However, it does not feature the variable 10–120 Hz ProMotion technology used in the displays of the second-generation iPad Pro released the same year. OLED screen technology has a known negative trend of "burn-in" effects, in which particular elements consistently on the screen for long periods of time leave a faint trace even after new images appear. Apple acknowledged that its OLED screens were not excluded from this issue, writing in a support document that "This is also expected behavior".
Greg Joswiak, Apple's vice president of product marketing, told Tom's Guide that the OLED panels Apple used in the iPhone X had been engineered to avoid the over-saturation of colors that using OLED panels typically results in, having made color adjustments and subpixel-level refinements for crisp lines and round corners. For out-of-warranty servicing for damages not relating to manufacturing defects, screen repairs of iPhone X cost US$279, while other damage repairs cost US$549.
=== Color options ===
The iPhone X has two color options; silver and space gray. The sides of the phone are composed of surgical-grade stainless steel to improve durability, and the front and back are made of glass. The design is intended to be IP67 water and dust resistant.
=== Chipsets ===
The iPhone X contains Apple's A11 Bionic SoC, (system-on-chip) also used in the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus, produced by TSMC, and is a six-core processor with two cores optimized for performance (25% faster than the A10 Fusion processor), along with four cores optimized for efficiency (70% faster than the previous generation). It also features the first Apple-designed graphics processing unit and a Neural Engine, which powers an artificial intelligence accelerator.
=== Biometric authentication ===
Face ID replaces the Touch ID authentication system. The facial recognition sensor consists of two parts: a dot project module that projects more than 30,000 infrared dots onto the user's face, and an infrared camera module that reads the pattern. The pattern is sent to the Secure Enclave in the A11 Bionic chip to confirm a match with the phone owner's face. By default, the system will not work with eyes closed, in an effort to prevent unauthorized access but this requirement can be disabled in settings.
=== Cameras ===
The iPhone X has two cameras on the rear. One is a 12-megapixel wide-angle camera with f/1.8 aperture, with support for face detection, high dynamic range and optical image stabilization. It is capable of capturing 4K video at 24, 30 or 60 frames per second, or 1080p video at 30, 60, 120 or 240 frames per second. A secondary, telephoto lens features 2× optical zoom and 10× digital zoom with an aperture of f/2.4 and optical image stabilization. A Portrait Mode is capable of producing photos with specific depth-of-field and lighting effects. It also has a quad-LED True Tone flash with 2× better light uniformity. Still photos with 6.5 megapixels (3412×1920) can be captured during video recording. iOS 12/13 for the iPhone X did not include Smart HDR or Night Mode, which were kept exclusive to the new iPhone XS/iPhone 11. However, third-party apps brought similar features.
Front camera
On the front of the phone, a 7-megapixel True Depth camera has an f/2.2 aperture, and features face detection and HDR. It can capture 1080p video at 30 frames per second, 720p video at 240 frames per second, and exclusively allows for the use of Animoji; animated emojis placed on top of the user's face that intelligently react to the user's facial expressions.
Mono audio
Criticism has been aimed at video footage being recorded with monaural audio (only one audio channel), and at a low bit rate of 96 kbit/s, while earlier mobile phones by competing vendors have been recording with stereo audio (two audio channels for spatiality) and higher bit rates, such as the Samsung Galaxy S3 and Sony Xperia S, both unveiled in 2012.
=== Others ===
The iPhone X is the first iPhone to feature Tap to Wake.
=== Wireless charging ===
iPhone X also supports Qi-standard wireless charging. In tests conducted by MacRumors, the iPhone X's charging speeds varies significantly depending on what types of cables, powerbanks, adapters, or wireless chargers are used.
=== Software ===
Due to its different screen layout, iOS developers are required to update their apps to make full use of the additional screen real estate. Such changes include rounded corners, the sensor "notch" at the top of the screen, and an indicator area at the bottom for accessing the home screen. Apple published a "Human Interface Guidelines" document to explain areas of focus, and discouraged developers from attempting to mask or call special attention to any of the new changes. Additionally, text within the app needs to be configured to properly reference Face ID rather than Touch ID where the authentication technology is used on iPhone X. In anticipation of the release of the phone, most major apps were quickly updated to support the new changes brought by iPhone X, though the required changes did cause delayed app updates for some major apps.
The traditional home button, found on all previous devices in the iPhone lineup, has been removed entirely, replaced by touch-based gestures. To wake up the device, users can tap the display or use the side button; to access the home screen, users must swipe up from the bottom of the display; and to access the multitasking window, users must swipe up similarly to the method of accessing the home screen, but stop while the finger is in the middle of the screen, causing an app carousel to appear.
The iPhone X shipped with iOS 11, and supports iOS 12, iOS 13, iOS 14, iOS 15, and iOS 16. The iPhone X does not support iOS 17 and higher, purportedly due to hardware limitations.
== Reception ==
=== General reviews ===
The iPhone X received positive reviews. Its display and build quality were strongly praised, and the camera also scored positively on tests. However, the sensor housing "notch" at the top of the screen and the introduction of an all-new authentication method were polarizing for critics and consumers. The notch was heavily mocked by users on social media, although app developers responded either neutrally or positively to the changes it brought to the user experience in their apps and games. Face ID facial recognition was praised for its simple setup, but criticized for requiring direct eyes on the screen, though that option can be disabled within the system preferences.
iPhone X's rear camera received an overall rating of 97 from DxOMark, a camera testing company, short of the highest score of 99, awarded to Samsung's Galaxy S9+ smartphone. Google's Pixel 2 received a rating of 98. Consumer Reports, a non-profit, independent organization aiming to write impartial reviews of consumer products, ranked iPhone X below iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus, as well as below Samsung's Galaxy S8, S8+ and Note 8, due to less durability and shorter battery life, although it praised the X's camera as "the highest-rated smartphone camera" it had ever tested.
Chris Velazco of Engadget praised the display, writing that, in his experience, the sensor "notch" goes from being "weird at first" to not being noticeable due to action in videos usually happening in the center. The build quality was given particular acclaim, being called "a beautifully made device" with the construction that "seamlessly" connects the front and back glass with the stainless-steel frame. Velazco noted that the new gesture-based interaction takes time to get used to, particularly the Control Center being moved from the bottom to the top right of the display. The camera, processor performance, and battery life were also given positive thoughts.
Nilay Patel of The Verge also praised the display, calling it "polished and tight" and "bright and colorful". He criticized the repeated lack of a headphone jack, the device's fragility despite Apple's claims of durability, and the sensor notch, calling it "ugly". Patel highlighted the fact that apps required updates to fit the new screen, writing that not all popular apps had received updates by the time of the review, resulting in some apps with "huge black borders" resembling iPhone 8. He especially criticized the positioning of the sensor notch while holding the phone in landscape mode, causing the notch to go "from being a somewhat forgettable element in the top status bar to a giant interruption on the side of the screen". The cameras were given positive feedback for maintaining detail in low-light. Patel particularly praised Animoji, calling it "probably the single best feature on the iPhone X", writing that "they just work, and they work incredibly well". Finally, he wrote that Face ID was the whole foundation of iPhone X, and stated that it "generally works great", though acknowledging the occasional misstep, in which users must "actively move the phone closer to your face to compensate". He specifically criticized the limited range of Face ID, with authentication only working when holding the phone 25–50 centimeters away from the face.
The cost of repairing an iPhone is also very large compared to its predecessors. If the iPhone X is damaged by user damage (not a manufacturing defect), screen repairs cost US$279, and other repairs like replacing iPhone X batteries are more expensive.
In a heavily negative review, Dennis Green of Business Insider significantly criticized the impossible one-handed use of iPhone X, writing that the new gestures to use the phone, such as swiping from the top down to access notifications and the Control Center, did not work when using the phone with only one hand due to not being able to reach the top. His review sparked outrage among Twitter users, many of whom used condescending tones, which Green reasoned as "I don't know whether the anger was directed toward me out of loyalty to Apple or to justify their own choice to spend $1,000 on a phone. It was obvious that much of the criticism came from people who had never used the phone".
Macworld's Roman Loyola praised the Face ID authentication system, writing that the setup process was "easy" and that its system integration was "more seamless" than the Touch ID fingerprint authentication of the past. That said, Loyola did note the "half-second" slower unlocking time than Touch ID as well as needing to look directly at the screen, making it impossible to unlock with the phone next to the user on a desk.
=== Face ID security and privacy concerns ===
Face ID has raised concerns regarding the possibility of law enforcement accessing an individual's phone by pointing the device at the user's face. United States Senator Al Franken asked Apple to provide more information on the security and privacy of Face ID a day after the announcement, with Apple responding by highlighting the recent publication of a security white paper and knowledge base detailing answers.
Inconsistent results have been shown when testing Face ID on identical twins, with some tests showing the system managing to separate the two, while other tests have failed.
Despite Apple's promise of increased security of Face ID compared to the Touch ID fingerprint authentication system, there have been multiple media reports indicating otherwise. The Verge noted that courts in the United States have granted different Fifth Amendment rights in the United States Constitution to biometric unlocking systems as opposed to keycodes. Keycodes are considered "testimonial" evidence based on the contents of users' thoughts, whereas fingerprints are considered physical evidence, with some suspects having been ordered to unlock their phones via fingerprint. Many attempts to break through Face ID with sophisticated masks have been attempted, though all have failed. A week after iPhone X was released, Vietnamese security firm Bkav announced in a blog post that it had successfully created a $150 mask that tricked Face ID, though WIRED noted that Bkav's technique was more of a "proof-of-concept" rather than active exploitation risk, with the technique requiring a detailed measurement or digital scan of the iPhone owner's face, putting the real risk of danger only to targets of espionage and world leaders.
Additionally, Reuters reported in early November 2017 that Apple would share certain facial data on users with third-party app developers for more precise selfie filters and for fictional game characters to mirror real-world user facial expressions. Although developers are required to seek customer permission, and are forbidden to sell the data to others, create profiles on users, or use the data for advertising, alongside being limited to a more "rough map" rather than full capabilities, they still get access to over 50 kinds of facial expressions. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Center for Democracy and Technology raised privacy questions about Apple's enforcement of the privacy restrictions connected to third-party access, with Apple maintaining that its App Store review processes were effective safeguards. The "rough map" of facial data third-parties can access is also not enough to unlock the device, according to Reuters. However, the overall idea of letting developers access sensitive facial information was still not satisfactorily handled, according to Jay Stanley, a senior policy analyst with the ACLU, with Stanley telling Reuters that "the privacy issues around of the use of very sophisticated facial recognition technology for unlocking the phone have been overblown. ... The real privacy issues have to do with the access by third-party developers".
=== Notch controversy ===
Much of the debate about the iPhone X has revolved around the design of the Face ID sensor housing, dubbed "notch" by the media, at the top of the display. The Outline described it as "a visually disgusting element", and The Verge posted a report focusing on public criticism and people mocking Apple's "odd design choice", but not every reviewer was equally negative in their opinions. Third-party iOS developers interviewed by Ars Technica said that, despite the work of restructuring design elements in their apps, the notch did not cause any problems, with some even arguing that the notch was a good push to simplify their designs. Two weeks after the iPhone X's release, Apple approved a "notch remover" app through the App Store, that adds a black bar at the top of images, which can then be used as a wallpaper to make the notch visually disappear. The approval was done despite the company's user interface guidelines discouraging developers from specifically masking the design. The iPhone X was not the first device with a notch; both the Essential Phone and Sharp Aquos S2 were announced before it and had a display notch, albeit much smaller, but the iPhone X arguably popularized it.
== Issues ==
=== Early activation issues ===
In November 2017, early adopters of the new phone reported that they were experiencing activation issues on certain cellular carriers, most notably AT&T. AT&T announced within hours that the issue had been fixed on their end, and a spokesperson for the Verizon carrier told the media none of its customers were affected despite some reports of problems.
=== Cold weather issues ===
In November 2017, iPhone X users reported on Reddit that the device's screen would become unresponsive after experiencing rapid temperature drops. Apple released the iOS 11.1.2 update on November 16, 2017, fixing the issue.
Forbes contributor Gordon Kelly reported in March 2018 that over 1,000 users had experienced problems using camera flash in cold weather, with this problem being fixed in a later software update.
=== Cellular modem differences ===
Apple has been engaged in a legal battle with Qualcomm over allegedly anti-competitive practices and has been dual-sourcing cellular modem chips to reduce reliance on the semiconductor manufacturer. Starting with iPhone 7 in 2016, Apple has used about half Qualcomm modem chips and half Intel. Professional measurement tests performed by wireless signal testing firm Cellular Insights indicated that, as in the previous-gen iPhone 7, Qualcomm's chips outperform Intel's in LTE download speeds, up to 67% faster in very weak signal conditions, resulting in some sources recommending the purchase of an unlocked iPhone X or one bought through cellular carrier Verizon, in order to get the models featuring the faster Qualcomm modem. Additionally, CNET reported in September 2017 that the new iPhone models, including X, 8 and 8 Plus, do not have the ability to connect to the next-generation of wireless LTE data connection, despite 10 new Android devices, including flagships from main smartphone competitor Samsung, all having the capability to do so. While Apple's new smartphones have support for "LTE Advanced", with a theoretical peak speed of 500 megabits per second, the Android models have the ability to connect to "Gigabit LTE", allowing theoretical speeds up to 1 gigabit per second, doubling Apple's speed.
=== NFC problems ===
After releasing the iPhone X in Japan and China, customers experienced issues related to the phone's NFC while trying to access public transit smart card readers. In April 2018, Apple released a revision to the iPhone X, that included a vastly improved NFC chip. This solved the problem of NFC reader errors in most cases. Previously, around 1 out of 3 NFC attempts would fail after initial reports. This issue also affected users in America.
=== Display Module Replacement Program ===
Apple has determined an issue with certain iPhone X devices where the display wouldn't respond to the user's touch, due to a component that might fail on the display module. Apple stated that they will repair the affected devices free of charge, so long as the device is under 3 years old. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosaceae | Rosaceae | Rosaceae (), the rose family, is a family of flowering plants that includes 4,828 known species in 91 genera.
The name is derived from the type genus Rosa. The family includes herbs, shrubs, and trees. Most species are deciduous, but some are evergreen. They have a worldwide range but are most diverse in the Northern Hemisphere.
Many economically important products come from the Rosaceae, including various edible fruits, such as apples, pears, quinces, apricots, plums, cherries, peaches, raspberries, blackberries, loquats, strawberries, rose hips, hawthorns, and almonds. The family also includes popular ornamental trees and shrubs, such as roses, meadowsweets, rowans, firethorns, and photinias.
Among the most species-rich genera in the family are Alchemilla (270), Sorbus (260), Crataegus (260), Cotoneaster (260), Rubus (250), and Prunus (340), which contains the plums, cherries, peaches, apricots, and almonds. However, all of these numbers should be seen as estimates—much taxonomic work remains.
== Description ==
Rosaceae can be woody trees, shrubs, climbers or herbaceous plants. The herbs are mostly perennials, but some annuals also exist, such as Aphanes arvensis.
=== Leaves ===
The leaves are generally arranged spirally, but have an opposite arrangement in some species. They can be simple or pinnately compound (either odd- or even-pinnate). Compound leaves appear in around 30 genera. The leaf margin is most often serrate. Paired stipules are generally present and are considered a primitive feature within the family, though they have been independently lost in many groups of Amygdaloideae (previously called Spiraeoideae). The stipules are sometimes adnate (attached surface to surface) to the petiole. Glands or extrafloral nectaries may be present on leaf margins or petioles. Spines may be present on the midrib of leaflets and the rachis of compound leaves.
=== Flowers ===
Flowers of plants in the rose family are generally described as "showy". They are radially symmetrical, and almost always hermaphroditic. Rosaceae generally have five sepals, five petals, and many spirally arranged stamens. The bases of the sepals, petals, and stamens are fused together to form a characteristic cup-like structure called a hypanthium. They can be arranged in spikes, or heads. Solitary flowers are rare. Rosaceae have a variety of color petals, but blue is almost completely absent.
=== Fruits and seeds ===
The fruits occur in many varieties and were once considered the main characters for the definition of subfamilies amongst Rosaceae, giving rise to a fundamentally artificial subdivision. They can be follicles, capsules, nuts, achenes, drupes (Prunus), and accessory fruits, like the pome of an apple, the hip of a rose, or the receptacle-derived aggregate accessory fruit of a strawberry. Many fruits of the family are edible, but their seeds often contain amygdalin, which can release cyanide during digestion if the seed is damaged.
== Taxonomy ==
=== Taxonomic history ===
The family was traditionally divided into six subfamilies: Rosoideae, Spiraeoideae, Maloideae (Pomoideae), Amygdaloideae (Prunoideae), Neuradoideae, and Chrysobalanoideae, and most of these were treated as families by various authors. Later (1971), Chrysobalanoideae was placed in Malpighiales and Neuradoideae has been assigned to Malvales. Schulze-Menz, in Engler's Syllabus edited by Melchior (1964), recognized Rosoideae, Dryadoideae, Lyonothamnoideae, Spireoideae, Amygdaloideae, and Maloideae. They were primarily diagnosed by the structure of the fruits. More recent work has identified that not all of these groups were monophyletic. Hutchinson (1964) and Kalkman (2004) recognized only tribes (17 and 21, respectively). Takhtajan (1997) delimited 21 tribes in 10 subfamilies: Filipenduloideae, Rosoideae, Ruboideae, Potentilloideae, Coleogynoideae, Kerroideae, Amygdaloideae (Prunoideae), Spireoideae, Maloideae (Pyroideae), Dichotomanthoideae. A more modern model comprises three subfamilies, one of which (Rosoideae) has largely remained the same.
While the boundaries of the Rosaceae are not disputed, there is no general agreement as to how many genera it contains. Areas of divergent opinion include the treatment of Potentilla s.l. and Sorbus s.l.. Compounding the problem is that apomixis is common in several genera. This results in an uncertainty in the number of species contained in each of these genera, due to the difficulty of dividing apomictic complexes into species. For example, Cotoneaster contains between 70 and 300 species, Rosa around 100 (including the taxonomically complex dog roses), Sorbus 100 to 200 species, Crataegus between 200 and 1,000, Alchemilla around 300 species, Potentilla roughly 500, and Rubus hundreds, or possibly even thousands of species.
=== Genera ===
Identified clades include:
Subfamily Rosoideae: Traditionally composed of those genera bearing aggregate fruits that are made up of small achenes or drupelets, and often the fleshy part of the fruit (e.g. strawberry) is the receptacle or the stalk bearing the carpels. The circumscription is now narrowed (excluding, for example, the Dryadoideae), but it still remains a diverse group containing five or six tribes and 20 or more genera, including rose, Rubus (blackberry, raspberry), Fragaria (strawberry), Potentilla, and Geum.
Subfamily Amygdaloideae: Within this group remains an identified clade with a pome fruit, traditionally known as subfamily Maloideae (or Pyroideae) which included genera such as Malus (apple), Cotoneaster, and Crataegus (hawthorn). To separate it at the subfamily level would leave the remaining genera as a paraphyletic group, so it has been expanded to include the former Spiraeoideae and Amygdaloideae. The subfamily has sometimes been referred to by the name "Spiraeoideae", but this is not permitted by the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants.
Subfamily Dryadoideae: Fruits are achenes with hairy styles, and includes five genera (Dryas, Cercocarpus, Chamaebatia, Cowania, and Purshia), most species of which form root nodules which host nitrogen-fixing bacteria from the genus Frankia.
=== Phylogeny ===
The phylogenetic relationships between the three subfamilies within Rosaceae are unresolved. There are three competing hypotheses:
==== Amygdaloideae basal ====
Amygdaloideae has been identified as the earliest branching subfamily by Chin et al. (2014), Li et al. (2015), Li et al. (2016), and Sun et al. (2016). Most recently Zhang et al. (2017) recovered these relationships using whole plastid genomes:
The sister relationship between Dryadoideae and Rosoideae is supported by the following shared morphological characters not found in Amygdaloideae: presence of stipules, separation of the hypanthium from the ovary, and the fruits are usually achenes.
==== Dryadoideae basal ====
Dryadoideae has been identified as the earliest branching subfamily by Evans et al. (2002) and Potter (2003). Most recently Xiang et al. (2017) recovered these relationships using nuclear transcriptomes:
==== Rosoideae basal ====
Rosoideae has been identified as the earliest branching subfamily by Morgan et al. (1994), Evans (1999), Potter et al. (2002), Potter et al. (2007), Töpel et al. (2012), and Chen et al. (2016). The following is taken from Potter et al. (2007):
The sister relationship between Amygdaloideae and Dryadoideae is supported by the following shared biochemical characters not found in Rosoideae: production of cyanogenic glycosides and production of sorbitol.
== Distribution and habitat ==
The Rosaceae have a cosmopolitan distribution, being found nearly everywhere except for Antarctica. They are primarily concentrated in the Northern Hemisphere in regions that are not desert or tropical rainforest.
== Uses ==
The rose family is considered one of the six most economically important crop plant families, and includes apples, pears, quinces, medlars, loquats, almonds, peaches, apricots, plums, cherries, strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, sloes, and roses.
Many genera are also highly valued ornamental plants. These include trees and shrubs (Cotoneaster, Chaenomeles, Crataegus, Dasiphora, Exochorda, Kerria, Photinia, Physocarpus, Prunus, Pyracantha, Rhodotypos, Rosa, Sorbus, Spiraea), herbaceous perennials (Alchemilla, Aruncus, Filipendula, Geum, Potentilla, Sanguisorba), alpine plants (Dryas, Geum, Potentilla) and climbers (Rosa).
However, several genera are also introduced noxious weeds in some parts of the world, costing money to be controlled. These invasive plants can have negative impacts on the diversity of local ecosystems once established. Such naturalised pests include Acaena, Cotoneaster, Crataegus, and Pyracantha.
In Bulgaria and parts of western Asia, the production of rose oil from fresh flowers such as Rosa damascena, Rosa gallica, and other species is an important economic industry.
== Gallery ==
The family Rosaceae covers a wide range of trees, bushes and plants. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturday_Night_Live_season_11 | Saturday Night Live season 11 | The eleventh season of Saturday Night Live, an American sketch comedy series, originally aired in the United States on NBC between November 9, 1985, and May 24, 1986.
The season marked Lorne Michaels' return to SNL as showrunner after a five-year hiatus. Michaels hired new cast members, but instead of his usual approach of recruiting from comedy clubs and improv groups, he cast established names such as Randy Quaid, Anthony Michael Hall, Robert Downey Jr., and Joan Cusack. Due to their relative inexperience in comedy, the new cast failed to connect with audiences.
The show also featured a frustrated writing crew (including future Simpsons writers Jon Vitti, George Meyer and John Swartzwelder), who did not know how to write sketches for such an eclectic cast. The season was plagued by harsh criticism, low ratings, and rumors of a possible cancellation. NBC president Brandon Tartikoff planned to cancel SNL after its season finale in May 1986; Michaels, however, pleaded with Tartikoff to let the show go on. Most of the cast was let go for the following season, with only Nora Dunn, Jon Lovitz and Dennis Miller along with featured player A. Whitney Brown returning, making it one of the more notable cast overhauls alongside season 6 and season 20.
The season was the subject of the fourth episode of the Peacock docuseries SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night entitled "Season 11: The Weird Year".
== Cast ==
With Dick Ebersol's cast and writers gone, Michaels hired Academy Award nominee Quaid, best known for his work in The Last Detail and National Lampoon's Vacation; as well as Cusack and Downey Jr. Part of the reasoning that Michaels chose younger performers was due to SNL's original audience, which comprised baby boomers, now nearing middle age, meaning that producers and NBC executives needed to appeal to a younger audience.
Chicago-based performance artist Danitra Vance was added along with stand-up comedians Miller and Damon Wayans, and improv comedians Dunn and Lovitz. Terry Sweeney, a comedic performer who had made a name for himself playing Nancy Reagan in Off-Broadway revues and who had been a writer on season 6 of SNL, was added to the cast, making him the first openly gay actor on network television. Don Novello returned as a featured player sporadically throughout the season, often reprising his popular Father Guido Sarducci character. A. Whitney Brown was also added to the cast midway through the season, performing his "The Big Picture" segment on Weekend Update, and Al Franken returned in the finale. Miller became the new anchor for Weekend Update. Despite the season's negative reception, Lovitz would gain popularity with characters like the Pathological Liar and Master Thespian.
Chris Elliott, then a performer and writer on Late Night with David Letterman, auditioned for the cast this season and was offered the job. He turned it down in order to remain at Letterman, though he would later join the SNL cast for one season in 1994. According to a 2020 interview with short-term cast member Dan Vitale, actress Anjelica Huston was nearly hired as a cast member this season. Huston, a friend of Lorne's, was begged to join the show as a cast member; instead she co-hosted the season finale with Billy Martin. Jim Carrey auditioned to be in the cast this season but was declined.
=== Controversy ===
When Chevy Chase hosted the show, there were reports of tension amongst the cast and crew. According to the book Live from New York: The Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live, Chase pitched an idea for a sketch that featured openly gay cast member Sweeney as a person with AIDS who is weighed by a doctor to see how much weight he lost.
=== Cast roster ===
bold denotes Weekend Update anchor
Wayans is credited as a featured player for all of the first twelve episodes, except for episode 10. He exits the show after episode 12 but returns as a guest to do standup for the season finale. The rest of the featured players are not credited in many episodes: Novello is only credited for five, Brown only appears in six (though uncredited for three appearances, mostly due to him not having been made a featured player yet), Vitale is only credited for two, and Franken is only credited for the season finale.
== Writers ==
This season's writers were A. Whitney Brown, Tom Davis, Jim Downey, Al Franken, Jack Handey, Lanier Laney, Carol Leifer, George Meyer, Lorne Michaels, Don Novello, Michael O'Donoghue, R. D. Rosen, Herb Sargent, Suzy Schneider, Robert Smigel, John Swartzwelder, Terry Sweeney, Mark McKinney and Bruce McCulloch. The head writer was Downey. Downey and Sargent were the only writers from the previous season to return to the show. Franken and Davis were also this season's co-producers.
== Special guests ==
Penn & Teller and Sam Kinison are featured in the opening credits as special guests for many episodes this season, performing a segment of their own acts each time they appear. Penn & Teller did six episodes, while Kinison did four. Each act appears as a special guest once more in the 1986–87 season before this type of variety show performance is discontinued and the focus of the show becomes the cast. Steven Wright, who had been a special guest to do standup on four episodes of the previous season, returns for one episode of this season.
== Episodes == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dallas | Dallas | Dallas is a city in the U.S. state of Texas. Located in the state's northern region, it is the ninth-most populous city in the United States and third-most populous city in Texas, with a population of 1.3 million at the 2020 census. Along with the city of Fort Worth, Dallas anchors the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-most populous metropolitan area in the U.S. and the most populous metropolitan area in Texas, at 8.5 million people. Dallas is a core city of the largest metropolitan area in the Southern U.S. and the largest inland metropolitan area in the U.S. that lacks any navigable link to the sea. It is the seat of Dallas County, covering nearly 386 square miles (1,000 km2) and extending into Collin, Denton, Kaufman, and Rockwall counties.
Both Dallas and nearby Fort Worth were initially developed as a product of the construction of major railroad lines through the area allowing access to cotton, cattle, and later oil in North and East Texas. The construction of the Interstate Highway System reinforced Dallas's prominence as a transportation hub, with four major interstate highways converging in the city and a fifth interstate loop around it. Dallas then developed as a strong industrial and financial center and a major inland port, due to the convergence of major railroad lines, interstate highways, and the construction of Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, one of the largest and busiest airports in the world. In addition, Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) operates rail and bus transit services throughout the city and its surrounding suburbs.
Dominant sectors of its diverse economy include defense, financial services (such as traditional banking, investment banking, private equity, and venture capital), information technology, telecommunications, and transportation. The Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex hosts 23 Fortune 500 companies, the second-most in Texas and fourth-most in the United States, and 11 of those companies are located within Dallas city limits. Over 41 colleges and universities are located within its metropolitan area, which is the most of any metropolitan area in Texas. The city has a population from a myriad of ethnic and religious backgrounds.
== History ==
Indigenous tribes in North Texas included the Caddo, Tawakoni, Wichita, Kickapoo and Comanche. Spanish colonists claimed the territory of Texas in the 18th century as a part of the Viceroyalty of New Spain. Later, France also claimed the area but never established much settlement. In all, six flags have flown over the area preceding and during the city's history: those of France, Spain, and Mexico, the flag of the Republic of Texas, the Confederate flag, and the flag of the United States of America.
In 1819, the Adams–Onís Treaty between the United States and Spain defined the Red River as the northern boundary of New Spain, officially placing the future location of Dallas well within Spanish territory. The area remained under Spanish rule until 1821, when Mexico declared independence from Spain, and the area was considered part of the Mexican state of Coahuila y Tejas. In 1836, Texians, with a majority of Anglo-American settlers, gained independence from Mexico and formed the Republic of Texas.
Three years after Texas achieved independence, John Neely Bryan surveyed the area around present-day Dallas. In 1839, accompanied by his dog and a Cherokee he called Ned, he planted a stake in the ground on a bluff located near three forks of the Trinity River and left. Two years later, in 1841, he returned to establish a permanent settlement named Dallas. The origin of the name is uncertain. The official historical marker states it was named after Vice President George M. Dallas of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. However, this is disputed. Other potential theories for the origin include his brother, Commodore Alexander James Dallas, as well as brothers Walter R. Dallas and James R. Dallas. A further theory gives the ultimate origin as the village of Dallas, Moray, Scotland, similar to the way Houston, Texas, was named after Sam Houston, whose ancestors came from the Scottish village of Houston, Renfrewshire.
The Republic of Texas was annexed by the United States in 1845 and Dallas County was established the following year. Dallas was formally incorporated as a city on February 2, 1856. In the mid-1800s, a group of French Socialists established La Réunion, a short-lived community, along the Trinity River in what is now West Dallas.
With the construction of railroads, Dallas became a business and trading center and was booming by the end of the 19th century. It became an industrial city, attracting workers from Texas, the South, and the Midwest. The Praetorian Building in Dallas of 15 stories, built in 1909, was among the first skyscrapers west of the Mississippi and the tallest building in Texas for some time. It marked the prominence of Dallas as a city. A racetrack for thoroughbreds was built and their owners established the Dallas Jockey Club. Trotters raced at a track in Fort Worth, where a similar drivers club was based. The rapid expansion of population increased competition for jobs and housing.
In 1910, a white mob of hundreds of people lynched a black man, Allen Brooks, accused of raping a little girl. The mob tortured Brooks, then killed him at the downtown intersection of Main and Akard by hanging him from a decorative archway inscribed with the words "Welcome Visitors". Thousands of Dallasites came to gawk at the torture scene, collecting keepsakes and posing for photographs.
In 1921, the Mexican president Álvaro Obregón along with the former revolutionary general visited Downtown Dallas's Mexican Park in Little Mexico; the small park was on the corner of Akard and Caruth Street, site of the current Fairmont Hotel. The small neighborhood of Little Mexico was home to a Latin American population that had been drawn to Dallas by factors including the American Dream, better living conditions, and the Mexican Revolution.
Despite the onset of the Great Depression, business in construction was flourishing in 1930. That year, Columbus Marion "Dad" Joiner struck oil 100 miles (160 km) east of Dallas in Kilgore, spawning the East Texas oil boom. Dallas quickly became the financial center for the oil industry in Texas and Oklahoma.
During World War II, Dallas was a major manufacturing center for military automobiles and aircraft for the United States and Allied forces. Over 94,000 jeeps and over 6,000 military trucks were produced at the Ford plant in East Dallas. North American Aviation manufactured over 18,000 aircraft at their plant in Dallas, including the T-6 Texan trainer, P-51 Mustang fighter, and B-24 Liberator bomber.
On November 22, 1963, United States President John F. Kennedy was assassinated on Elm Street while his motorcade passed through Dealey Plaza in Downtown Dallas. The upper two floors of the building from which the Warren Commission reported assassin Lee Harvey Oswald shot Kennedy have been converted into a historical museum covering the former president's life and accomplishments. Kennedy was pronounced dead at Dallas Parkland Memorial Hospital just over 30 minutes after the shooting.
On July 7, 2016, multiple shots were fired at a Black Lives Matter protest in Downtown Dallas, held against the police killings of two black men from other states. The gunman, later identified as Micah Xavier Johnson, began firing at police officers at 8:58 p.m., killing five officers and injuring nine. Two bystanders were also injured. This marked the deadliest day for U.S. law enforcement since the September 11 attacks. Johnson told police during a standoff that he was upset about recent police shootings of black men and wanted to kill whites, especially white officers. After hours of negotiation failed, police resorted to a robot-delivered bomb, killing Johnson inside Dallas College El Centro Campus. The shooting occurred in an area of hotels, restaurants, businesses, and residential apartments only a few blocks away from Dealey Plaza.
== Geography ==
Dallas is situated in the Southern United States, in North Texas. It is the county seat of Dallas County and portions of the city extend into neighboring Collin, Denton, Kaufman, and Rockwall counties. Many suburbs surround Dallas; three enclaves are within the city boundaries—Cockrell Hill, Highland Park, and University Park. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 385.8 square miles (999.3 km2); 340.5 square miles (881.9 km2) of Dallas is land and 45.3 square miles (117.4 km2) of it (11.75%) is water. Dallas makes up one-fifth of the much larger urbanized area known as the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, in which one quarter of all Texans live.
=== Architecture ===
Dallas's skyline has twenty buildings classified as skyscrapers, over 490 feet (150 m) in height. Despite its tallest building not reaching 980 feet (300 m), Dallas does have a signature building in Bank of America Plaza which is lit up in neon but falls outside the top two hundred tallest buildings in the world. Although some of Dallas's architecture dates from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, most of the notable architecture in the city is from the modernist and postmodernist eras. Iconic examples of modernist architecture include Reunion Tower, the John Fitzgerald Kennedy Memorial, I. M. Pei's Dallas City Hall and the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center. Good examples of postmodernist skyscrapers are Fountain Place, Bank of America Plaza, Renaissance Tower, JPMorgan Chase Tower, and Comerica Bank Tower. Downtown Dallas also has residential offerings in downtown, some of which are signature skyline buildings.
Several smaller structures are fashioned in the Gothic Revival style, such as the Kirby Building, and the neoclassical style, as seen in the Davis and Wilson Buildings. One architectural "hotbed" in the city is a stretch of historic houses along Swiss Avenue, which has all shades and variants of architecture from Victorian to neoclassical. The Dallas Downtown Historic District protects a cross-section of Dallas commercial architecture from the 1880s to the 1940s.
=== Neighborhoods ===
The city of Dallas is home to many areas, neighborhoods, and communities. Dallas can be divided into several geographical areas which include larger geographical sections of territory including many subdivisions or neighborhoods, forming macroneighborhoods.
==== Central Dallas ====
Central Dallas is anchored by Downtown Dallas, the center of the city, along with Oak Lawn and Uptown, areas characterized by dense retail, restaurants, and nightlife. Downtown Dallas has a variety of named districts, including the West End Historic District, the Arts District, the Main Street District, Farmers Market District, the City Center Business District, the Convention Center District, and the Reunion District. This area includes Uptown, Victory Park, Harwood, Oak Lawn, Dallas Design District, Trinity Groves, Turtle Creek, Cityplace, Knox/Henderson, Greenville, and West Village.
==== East Dallas ====
East Dallas is the location of Deep Ellum, an arts area close to Downtown, the Lakewood neighborhood (and adjacent areas, including Lakewood Heights, Wilshire Heights, Lower Greenville, Junius Heights, and Hollywood Heights/Santa Monica), Vickery Place and Bryan Place, and the architecturally significant neighborhoods of Swiss Avenue and Munger Place. Its historic district has one of the largest collections of Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired prairie-style homes in the United States. In the northeast quadrant of the city is Lake Highlands, one of Dallas's most unified middle-class neighborhoods.
==== Oak Cliff ====
Southwest of Downtown lies Oak Cliff. Once a separate city founded in the mid-1800s, Oak Cliff was annexed in 1903 by Dallas. As one of the oldest areas in Dallas, the hilly North Oak Cliff is home to 5 of the 13 conservation districts in Dallas including the architecturally significant Kessler Park neighborhood and trendy Bishop Arts District.
==== South Dallas ====
South Dallas is the location of Cedars, and Fair Park, where the annual State Fair of Texas is held from late September through mid-October. Also located here is Exposition Park, Dallas, noted for having artists, art galleries, and bars along tree-lined Exposition Avenue.
South Side Dallas is a popular location for nightly entertainment. The neighborhood has undergone extensive development and community integration. What was once an area characterized by high rates of poverty and crime is now one of the city's most attractive social and living destinations.
Further east, in the southeast quadrant of the city, is the large neighborhood of Pleasant Grove. Once an independent city, it is a collection of mostly lower-income residential areas stretching to Seagoville in the southeast. Though a city neighborhood, Pleasant Grove is surrounded by undeveloped land on all sides. Swampland and wetlands separating it from South Dallas are part of the Great Trinity Forest, a subsection of the city's Trinity River Project, newly appreciated for habitat and flood control.
=== Districts ===
=== Topography ===
Dallas and its surrounding area are mostly flat. The city lies at elevations ranging from 450 to 550 feet (137 to 168 m) above sea level. The western edge of the Austin Chalk Formation, a limestone escarpment (also known as the "White Rock Escarpment"), rises 230 feet (70 m) and runs roughly north–south through Dallas County. South of the Trinity River, the uplift is particularly noticeable in the neighborhoods of Oak Cliff and the adjacent cities of Cockrell Hill, Cedar Hill, Grand Prairie, and Irving. Marked variations in terrain are also found in cities immediately to the west in Tarrant County surrounding Fort Worth, as well as along Turtle Creek north of Downtown.
Dallas, like many other cities, was founded along a river. The city was founded at the location of a "white rock crossing" of the Trinity River, where it was easier for wagons to cross the river in the days before ferries or bridges. The Trinity River, though not usefully navigable, is the major waterway through the city. I-35E parallels its path through Dallas along the Stemmons Corridor, then south alongside the western portion of Downtown and past South Dallas and Pleasant Grove, where the river is paralleled by Interstate 45 until it exits the city and heads southeast towards Houston. The river is flanked on both sides by 50 feet (15 m) tall earthen levees to protect the city from frequent floods.
Since it was rerouted in the late 1920s, the river has been little more than a drainage ditch within a floodplain for several miles above and below Downtown, with a more normal course further upstream and downstream, but as Dallas began shifting towards postindustrial society, public outcry about the lack of aesthetic and recreational use of the river ultimately gave way to the Trinity River Project, which was begun in the early 2000s.
The project area reaches for over 20 miles (32 km) in length within the city, while the overall geographical land area addressed by the Land Use Plan is approximately 44,000 acres (180 km2) in size—about 20% of the land area in Dallas. Green space along the river encompasses approximately 10,000 acres (40 km2), making it one of the largest and diverse urban parks in the world.
White Rock Lake and Joe Pool Lake are reservoirs that comprise Dallas's other significant water features. Built at the beginning of the 20th century, White Rock Lake Park is a popular destination for boaters, rowers, joggers, and bikers, as well as visitors seeking peaceful respite from the city at the 66-acre (267,000 m2) Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden, on the lake's eastern shore. White Rock Creek feeds into White Rock Lake and then exits into the Trinity River southeast of Downtown Dallas. Trails along White Rock Creek are part of the extensive Dallas County Trails System.
Bachman Lake, just northwest of Love Field Airport, is a smaller lake also popularly used for recreation. Northeast of the city is Lake Ray Hubbard, a vast 22,745-acre (92 km2) reservoir in an extension of Dallas surrounded by the suburbs of Garland, Rowlett, Rockwall, and Sunnyvale. To the west of the city is Mountain Creek Lake, once home to the Naval Air Station Dallas (Hensley Field) and a number of defense aircraft manufacturers.
North Lake, a small body of water in an extension of the city limits surrounded by Irving and Coppell, initially served as a water source for a nearby power plant but is now being targeted for redevelopment as a recreational lake due to its proximity to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, a plan the lake's neighboring cities oppose.
=== Climate ===
Dallas has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen climate classification: Cfa, Trewartha: Cfhk) characteristic of the Southern Plains of the United States. It also has both continental and tropical characteristics, characterized by a relatively wide annual temperature range for the latitude. Located at the lower end of Tornado Alley, it is prone to extreme weather, tornadoes, and hailstorms.
Summers in Dallas are very hot with high humidity, although extended periods of dry weather often occur. July and August are typically the hottest months, with an average high of 96.0 °F (36 °C) and an average low of 76.7 °F (25 °C). Heat indices regularly surpass 105 °F (41 °C) due to elevated humidity during the summer months, making the summer heat almost unbearable. The all-time record high is 113 °F (45 °C), set on June 26 and 27, 1980 during the Heat Wave of 1980 at nearby Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport.
Winters in Dallas are usually mild, with occasional cold spells. The average date of first frost is November 12, and the average date of last frost is March 12. January is typically the coldest month, with an average daytime high of 56.8 °F (14 °C) and an average nighttime low of 37.3 °F (3 °C). The normal daily average temperature in January is 47.0 °F (8 °C) but sharp swings in temperature can occur, as strong cold fronts known as "Blue Northers" pass through the Dallas region, forcing temperatures below the 40 °F (4 °C) mark for several days at a time and often between days with high temperatures above 80 °F (27 °C). Snow accumulation is seen in the city in about 70% of winter seasons, and snowfall generally occurs 1–2 days out of the year for a seasonal average of 1.5 inches (4 cm). Some areas in the region, however, receive more than that, while other areas receive negligible snowfall or none at all. The all-time record low temperature within the city is −10 °F (−23 °C), set on February 12, 1899, during the Great Blizzard of 1899. The temperature at nearby Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport reached −2 °F (−19 °C) on February 16, 2021, during the February 2021 North American winter storm.
Spring and autumn are transitional seasons with moderate and pleasant weather. Vibrant wildflowers (such as the bluebonnet, Indian paintbrush and other flora) bloom in spring and are planted around the highways throughout Texas. Springtime weather can be quite volatile, but temperatures themselves are mild. Late spring to early summer also tends to be the most humid, with humidity levels frequently exceeding 75%. The weather in Dallas is also generally pleasant from late September to early December and on many winter days. Autumn often brings more storms and tornado threats, but they are usually fewer and less severe than in spring.
Each spring, cold fronts moving south from the North collide with warm, humid air streaming in from the Gulf Coast, leading to severe thunderstorms with lightning, torrents of rain, hail, and occasionally, tornadoes. Over time, tornadoes have probably been the most significant natural threat to the city, as it is near the heart of Tornado Alley.
A few times each winter in Dallas, warm and humid air from the south will override cold, dry air, resulting in freezing rain or ice and causing disruptions in the city if the roads and highways become slick. Temperatures reaching 70 °F (21 °C) on average occur on at least four days each winter month. Dallas averages 26 annual nights at or below freezing, with the winter of 1999–2000 holding the record for the fewest freezing nights with 14. During this same span of 15 years, the temperature in the region has only twice dropped below 15 °F (−9 °C), though it will generally fall below 20 °F (−7 °C) in most (67%) years.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture places Dallas in Plant Hardiness Zone 8b. However, mild winter temperatures in the past 15 to 20 years had encouraged the horticulture of more cold-sensitive plants such as Washingtonia filifera and Washingtonia filifera var. robusta palms, nearly all of which died off during the February 2021 North American winter storm. According to the American Lung Association, Dallas has the 12th highest air pollution among U.S. cities, ranking it behind Los Angeles and Houston. Much of the air pollution in Dallas and the surrounding area comes from a hazardous materials incineration plant in the small town of Midlothian and from cement plants in neighboring Ellis County.
The average daily low in Dallas is 57.4 °F (14 °C), and the average daily high is 76.9 °F (25 °C). Dallas receives approximately 39.1 inches (993 mm) of rain per year. The record snowfall for Dallas was 11.2 inches (28 cm) on February 11, 2010.
== Demographics ==
Dallas is the ninth-most-populous city in the United States and third in Texas after the cities of Houston and San Antonio. Its metropolitan area encompasses one-quarter of the population of Texas, and is the largest in the Southern U.S. and Texas followed by the Greater Houston metropolitan area. At the 2020 United States census the city of Dallas had 1,304,379 residents, an increase of 106,563 since the 2010 United States census. However, as of July 1, 2022, the U.S. Census Bureau estimates that Dallas, in the first years since the 2020 census, lost 4,835 people, leaving the city with a population of 1,299,544.
There were 524,498 households at the 2020 estimates, up from 2010's 458,057 households, out of which 137,523 had children under the age of 18 living with them. Approximately 36.2% of households were headed by married couples living together, 57.2% had a single householder male or female with no spouse present, and 35.6% were classified as non-family households with the householder living alone. In 2010, 33.7% of all households had one or more people under 18 years of age, and 17.6% had one or more people who were 65 years of age or older. The average household size in 2020 was 2.52 and the average family size was 3.41. In 2018, the owner-occupied housing rate was 40.2% and the renter-occupied housing rate was 59.8%. At the 2010 census, the city's age distribution of the population showed 26.5% under the age of 18 and 8.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 31.8 years. In 2010, 50.0% of the population was male and 50.0% was female. In 2020, the median age 32.9 years; for every 100 females, there were 98.4 males.
According to the 2020 American Community Survey, the median income for a household in the city was $54,747; families had a median household income of $60,895; married-couple families $81,761; and non-families $45,658. In 2003–2007's survey, male full-time workers had a median income of $32,265 versus $32,402 for female full-time workers. The per capita income for the city was $25,904. About 18.7% of families and 21.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 33.6% of those under age 18 and 13.4% of those aged 65 or over. Per 2007's survey, the median price for a house was $129,600; by 2020, the median price for a house was valued at $252,300, with 54.4% of owner-occupied units from $50,000 to $299,999.
The 2022 Point-In-Time Homeless Count found there were 4,410 homeless people in Dallas. According to the Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance Continuum of Care 2022 Homeless Count & Survey Independent Analysis, "approximately 1 of 3 (31%) those experiencing homelessness were found on the streets or in other places not meant for human habitation."
The region surrounding Dallas is a habitat for mosquitoes, creating a pest problem for humans. Dallas and the surrounding area is sprayed regularly to control mosquito-borne diseases such as West Nile virus.
=== Race and ethnicity ===
Dallas's population was historically predominantly White (non-Hispanic Whites made up 82.8% of the population in 1930), but its population has diversified due to immigration and white flight over the 20th century. Since then, the non-Hispanic White population has declined to less than one-third of the city's population. According to the 2010 U.S. census, 50.7% of the population was White (28.8% non-Hispanic White), 24.8% was Black or African American, 0.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 2.9% Asian, and 2.6% from two or more races; 42.4% of the total population was of Hispanic or Latino American origin (they may be of any race).
At the U.S. Census Bureau's 2019 estimates, 29.1% were non-Hispanic White 24.3% Black and African American, 0.3% American Indian or Alaska Native, 3.7% Asian, and 1.4% from two or more races. Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islanders made up a total of 312 residents according to 2019's census estimates, down from 606 in 2017. Hispanic or Latino Americans of any race made up 41.2% of the estimated population in 2019. Among the Hispanic or Latino American population in 2019, 34.6% of Dallas was Mexican, 0.4% Puerto Rican, 0.2% Cuban and 6.0% other Hispanic or Latino American. In 2017's American Community Survey estimates among the demographic 35.5% were Mexican, 0.6% Puerto Rican, 0.4% Cuban, and 5.4% other Hispanic or Latino. By 2020, Hispanic or Latino Americans of any race continued to constitute the largest ethnic group in the city proper, reflecting nationwide demographic trends.
The Dallas area is a major living destination for Mexican Americans and other Hispanic and Latino American immigrants. The southwestern portion of the city, particularly Oak Cliff is chiefly inhabited by Hispanic and Latino American residents. The southeastern portion of the city Pleasant Grove is chiefly inhabited by African American and Hispanic or Latino American residents, while the southern portion of the city is predominantly black. The west and east sides of the city are predominantly Hispanic or Latino American; Garland also has a large Spanish-speaking population. North Dallas has many enclaves of predominantly white, black and especially Hispanic or Latino American residents.
The Dallas area is also a major living destination for Black and African Americans primarily due to its strong and diverse economy. Between 2010 and 2020, the Dallas area had the second-most new Black and African American residents only behind the Atlanta area and slightly above the Houston area. The notable influx of African Americans is partly due to the New Great Migration. There is a significant number of people from the Horn of Africa, immigrants from Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia.
The Dallas–Fort-Worth metroplex had an estimated 70,000 Russian-speakers (as of November 6, 2012) mostly immigrants from the former Soviet Bloc. Included in this population are Russians, Russian Jews, Ukrainians, Armenians, Belarusians, Moldavians Uzbek, Kirghiz, and others. The Russian-speaking population of Dallas has continued to grow in the sector of "American husbands-Russian wives". Russian DFW has its own newspaper, The Dallas Telegraph.
In addition, Dallas and its suburbs are home to a large number of Asian Americans including those of Indian, Vietnamese, Chinese, Korean, Filipino, Japanese, and other heritage. Among large-sized cities in the United States, Plano, the northern suburb of Dallas, has the 6th largest Chinese American population as of 2016. The Plano-Richardson area in particular had an estimated 30,000 Iranian Americans in 2012. With so many immigrant groups, there are often multilingual signs in the linguistic landscape. According to U.S. Census Bureau data released in December 2013, 23 percent of Dallas County residents were foreign-born, while 16 percent of Tarrant County residents were foreign-born. The 2018 census estimates determined that the city of Dallas's foreign-born population consisted of 25.4% naturalized citizens and 74.6% non-citizens.
=== Sexual orientation and gender identity ===
Dallas and the Metroplex have one of the largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) populations in the country. Throughout the year there are LGBT events held in the area, including the annual Alan Ross Texas Freedom (Pride) Parade and Festival in June, which draws approximately 50,000 attendees. For decades, the Oak Lawn and Bishop Arts districts have been known as the epicenters of LGBT culture in Dallas.
=== Religion ===
Christianity is the most prevalently practiced religion in Dallas and the wider metropolitan area according to a 2014 study by the Pew Research Center (78%), and the Public Religion Research Institute's 2020 study (77%). There is a large Protestant Christian influence in the Dallas community, though the city of Dallas and Dallas County have more Catholic than Protestant residents, while the reverse is usually true for the suburban areas of Dallas and the city of Fort Worth.
Dallas has been called the "Prison Ministry Capital of the World" by the prison ministry community. It is a home for the International Network of Prison Ministries, the Coalition of Prison Evangelists, Bill Glass Champions for Life, Chaplain Ray's International Prison Ministry, and 60 other prison ministries.
Methodist, Baptist, and Presbyterian churches are prominent in many neighborhoods and anchor two of the city's major private universities (Southern Methodist University and Dallas Baptist University). Dallas is also home to two evangelical seminaries: the Dallas Theological Seminary and Criswell College. Many Bible schools including Christ For The Nations Institute are also headquartered in the city. The Christian creationist apologetics group Institute for Creation Research is headquartered in Dallas. According to the Pew Research Center, evangelical Protestantism constituted the largest form of Protestantism in the area as of 2014. The largest single evangelical Protestant group were Baptists. The largest Baptist denomination was the Southern Baptist Convention, followed by the historically black National Baptist Convention USA. African-initiated Protestant churches including Ethiopian Evangelical churches can be found throughout the metropolitan area.
The Catholic Church is also a significant religious organization in the Dallas area and operates the University of Dallas, a liberal-arts university in the Dallas suburb of Irving. The Cathedral Santuario de la Virgen de Guadalupe in the Arts District is home to the second-largest Catholic church membership in the United States and overseas, consisting over 70 parishes in the Dallas Diocese. The Society of Jesus operates the Jesuit College Preparatory School of Dallas. Dallas is also home to numerous Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox churches including Saint Seraphim Cathedral, see of the Orthodox Church in America's Southern Diocese. The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America (Ecumenical Patriarchate) has one parish in the city of Dallas. There is also the St. Sarkis Armenian Church (serving as part of the Armenian Apostolic Church facility).
Jehovah's Witnesses has a large number of members throughout the Dallas metropolitan division. In addition, there are several Unitarian Universalist congregations, including First Unitarian Church of Dallas, founded in 1899. A large community of the United Church of Christ exists in the city. The most prominent UCC-affiliated church is the Cathedral of Hope, a predominantly LGBT-affirming church.
Since the establishment of the city's first Jewish cemetery in 1854 and its first congregation (which would eventually be known as Temple Emanu-El) in 1873, Dallasite Jews have been well represented among leaders in commerce, politics, and various professional fields in Dallas and elsewhere. Furthermore, a large Muslim community exists in the north and northeastern portions of Dallas, as well as in the northern Dallas suburbs. The oldest mosque in Dallas is Masjid Al-Islam just south of Downtown.
Dallas has a large Buddhist community. Immigrants from East Asia, Southeast Asia, Nepal, and Sri Lanka have all contributed to the Buddhist population, which is concentrated in the northern suburbs of Garland, Plano and Richardson. Numerous Buddhist temples dot the Metroplex including The Buddhist Center of Dallas, Lien Hoa Vietnamese Temple of Irving, and Kadampa Meditation Center Texas and Wat Buddhamahamunee of Arlington. A large and growing Hindu Community lives in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. Most live in Collin County and the northern portions of Dallas County. Over 28 Hindu Temples exist in the area. Some notable ones include the DFW Hindu Temple, the North Texas Hindu Mandir, Radha Krishna Temple, Dallas and Karya Siddhi Hanuman Temple. There are also at least three Sikh Gurudwaras in this metropolitan area. For irreligious people, the Winter Solstice Celebration is held in the Metroplex although some of its participants are also neo-pagans and New Agers.
=== Crime ===
According to the FBI, a city to city comparison of crime rates can be misleading, because recording practices vary from city to city, citizens report different percentages of crimes from one city to the next, and the actual number of people physically present in a city is unknown. With that in mind, Dallas has one of the top 10 crime rates in Texas and its crime rate is higher than the national average.
Since 2020, Dallas's murder rate has seen a notable increase. In 2020, Dallas recorded 251 murders which was a 20-year high. By 2022 it decreased to 214 but then increased to 246 in 2023. As of 2020, the gang presence in Dallas has grown significantly and is heavily responsible for the spike in crime. Dallas leaders have made crime reduction a major priority.
== Economy ==
In its beginnings, Dallas relied on farming, neighboring Fort Worth's Stockyards, and its prime location on Native American trade routes to sustain itself. Dallas's key to growth came in 1873 with the construction of multiple rail lines through the city. As Dallas grew and technology developed, cotton became its boon and by 1900, Dallas was the largest inland cotton market in the world, becoming a leader in cotton gin machinery manufacturing.
By the early 1900s, Dallas was a hub for economic activity all over the Southern United States and was selected in 1914 as the seat of the Eleventh Federal Reserve District. By 1925, Texas churned out more than 1⁄3 of the nation's cotton crop, with 31% of Texas cotton produced within a 100-mile (160 km) radius of Dallas. In the 1930s, petroleum was discovered east of Dallas, near Kilgore. Dallas's proximity to the discovery put it immediately at the center of the nation's petroleum market. Petroleum discoveries in the Permian Basin, the Panhandle, the Gulf Coast, and Oklahoma in the following years further solidified Dallas's position as the hub of the market.
The end of World War II left Dallas seeded with a nexus of communications, engineering, and production talent by companies such as Collins Radio Corporation. Decades later, the telecommunications and information revolutions still drive a large portion of the local economy. The city is sometimes referred to as the heart of "Silicon Prairie" because of a high concentration of telecommunications companies in the region, the epicenter of which lies along the Telecom Corridor in Richardson, a northern suburb of Dallas. The Telecom Corridor is home to more than 5,700 companies including Texas Instruments (headquartered in Dallas), Nortel Networks, Alcatel Lucent, AT&T, Ericsson, Fujitsu, Nokia, Rockwell Collins, Cisco Systems, T-Mobile, Verizon Communications, and CompUSA (which is now headquartered in Miami, Florida). Texas Instruments, a major manufacturer, employs 10,400 people at its corporate headquarters and chip plants in Dallas.
In the 1980s Dallas was a real estate hotbed, with the increasing metropolitan population bringing with it a demand for new housing and office space. Several of Downtown Dallas's largest buildings are the fruit of this boom, but over-speculation, the savings and loan crisis and an oil bust brought the 1980s building boom to an end for Dallas as well as its sister city Houston. Between the late 1980s and the early 2000s, central Dallas went through a slow period of growth. However, since the early 2000s the central core of Dallas has been enjoying steady and significant growth encompassing both repurposing of older commercial buildings in Downtown Dallas into residential and hotel uses, as well as the construction of new office and residential towers. The opening of Klyde Warren Park, built across Woodall Rodgers Freeway seamlessly connecting the central Dallas CBD to Uptown/Victory Park, has acted synergistically with the highly successful Dallas Arts District, so both have become catalysts for significant new development in central Dallas.
The residential real estate market in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex has not only been resilient but has once again returned to a boom status. Dallas and the greater metro area have been leading the nation in apartment construction and net leasing, with rents reaching all-time highs. Single family home sales, whether pre-owned or new construction, along with home price appreciation, were leading the nation since 2015.
A sudden drop in the price of oil, starting in mid-2014 and accelerating throughout 2015, has not significantly affected Dallas and its greater metro area due to the highly diversified nature of its economy. Dallas and the metropolitan region continue to see strong demand for housing, apartment and office leasing, shopping center space, warehouse and industrial space with overall job growth remaining very robust. Oil-dependent cities and regions have felt significant effects from the downturn, but Dallas's growth has continued unabated, strengthening in 2015. Significant national headquarters relocations to the area (as exemplified by Toyota's decision to leave California and establish its new North American headquarters in the Dallas area) coupled with significant expansions of regional offices for a variety of corporations and along with company relocations to Downtown Dallas helped drive the boom in the Dallas economy.
=== Major businesses ===
The Dallas–Fort Worth area has one of the largest concentrations of corporate headquarters for publicly traded companies in the United States. Fortune Magazine's 2022 annual list of the Fortune 500 in America indicates the city of Dallas had 11 Fortune 500 companies,. and the DFW region as a whole had 23. As of 2022, Dallas–Fort Worth represents the second-largest concentration of Fortune 500 headquarters in Texas and fourth-largest in the United States, behind the metropolitan areas of Houston (24), Chicago (35) and New York (62).
In 2008, AT&T relocated their headquarters to Downtown Dallas; AT&T is the largest telecommunications company in the world and was the ninth largest company in the nation by revenue for 2017. Additional Fortune 500 companies headquartered in Dallas in order of ranking include Energy Transfer Equity, CBRE (which moved its headquarters from Los Angeles to Dallas in 2020), Tenet Healthcare, Southwest Airlines, Texas Instruments, Jacobs Engineering, HollyFrontier, Dean Foods, and Builders FirstSource. In October 2016, Jacobs Engineering, one of the world's largest engineering companies, relocated from Pasadena, California to Downtown Dallas.
Nearby Irving is home to six Fortune 500 companies of its own, including McKesson, the country's largest pharmaceutical distributor and listed at number seven overall on the 2021 Fortune 500 list, Fluor (engineering), Kimberly-Clark, Celanese, Michaels Companies, and Vistra Energy. Plano is home to an additional four Fortune 500 companies, including J.C. Penney, Alliance Data Systems, Yum China, and Dr. Pepper Snapple. Fort Worth is home to two Fortune 500 companies, including American Airlines, the largest airline in the world by revenue, fleet size, profit, passengers carried and revenue passenger mile and D.R. Horton, the largest homebuilder in America. Westlake, TX, north of Fort Worth, now has two Fortune 500 companies: Financial services giant, Charles Schwab, and convenience store distributor, Core-Mark. One Fortune 500 company, GameStop, is based in Grapevine.
Additional major companies headquartered in Dallas and its metro area include Comerica, which relocated its national headquarters to Downtown Dallas from Detroit in 2007, NTT DATA Services, Regency Energy Partners, Atmos Energy, Neiman Marcus, AECOM, Think Finance, 7-Eleven, Brinker International, Primoris Services, AMS Pictures, id Software, Mary Kay Cosmetics, Chuck E. Cheese's, Zale Corporation, and Fossil, Inc. Many of these companies—and others throughout the DFW metroplex—comprise the Dallas Regional Chamber. Susan G. Komen for the Cure, the world's largest breast cancer organization, was founded and is headquartered in Dallas.
In addition to its large number of businesses, Dallas has more shopping centers per capita than any other city in the United States and is also home to the second shopping center ever built in the United States, Highland Park Village, which opened in 1931. Dallas is home of the two other major malls in North Texas, the Dallas Galleria and NorthPark Center, which is the second largest mall in Texas. Both malls feature high-end stores and are major tourist draws for the region.
=== Travel ===
Dallas is the third most popular destination for business travel in the United States, and the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center is one of the largest and busiest convention centers in the country, at over 1,000,000 square feet (93,000 m2), and the world's single-largest column-free exhibit hall.
Tourism is an important sector of Dallas's economy and is its tenth largest employer, providing 56,000 jobs. Dallas receives on average 25 million visitors annually.
== Arts and culture ==
=== Arts and museums ===
The Arts District in the northern section of Downtown is home to several arts venues and is the largest contiguous arts district in the United States. Notable venues in the district include the Dallas Museum of Art; the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center, home to the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and Dallas Wind Symphony; the Nasher Sculpture Center; and the Trammell & Margaret Crow Collection of Asian Art.
The Perot Museum of Nature and Science, also in Downtown Dallas, is a natural history and science museum. Designed by 2005 Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate Thom Mayne and his firm Morphosis Architects, the 180,000-square-foot (17,000 m2) facility has six floors and stands about 14 stories high.
Venues that are part of the AT&T Dallas Center for the Performing Arts include Moody Performance Hall, home to the Dallas Chamber Symphony; the Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre, home to the Dallas Theater Center and the Dallas Black Dance Theatre; and the Winspear Opera House, home to the Dallas Opera and Texas Ballet Theater.
Not far north of the area is the Meadows Museum at Southern Methodist University. In 2009, it joined up with Madrid's Prado Museum for a three-year partnership. The Prado focuses on Spanish visual art and has a collection of Spanish art in North America, with works by de Juanes, El Greco, Fortuny, Goya, Murillo, Picasso, Pkensa, Ribera, Rico, Velasquez, Zurbaran, and other Spaniards.
These works, as well as non-Spanish highlights like sculptures by Rodin and Moore, have been so successful of a collaboration that the Prado and Meadows have agreed upon an extension of the partnership.
The Institute for Creation Research operates the ICR Discovery Center for Science & Earth History, a creationism museum, in Dallas. The former Texas School Book Depository, from which, according to the Warren Commission Report, Lee Harvey Oswald shot and killed President John F. Kennedy in 1963, has served since the 1980s as a county government office building, except for its sixth and seventh floors, which house the Sixth Floor Museum.
The American Museum of the Miniature Arts is at the Hall of State in Fair Park. The Arts District is also home to DISD's Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, a magnet school that was recently expanded. City Center District, next to the Arts District, is home to the Dallas Contemporary.
Deep Ellum, immediately east of Downtown, originally became popular during the 1920s and 1930s as the prime jazz and blues hot spot in the South. Artists such as Blind Lemon Jefferson, Robert Johnson, Huddie "Lead Belly" Ledbetter, and Bessie Smith played in original Deep Ellum clubs such as the Harlem and the Palace. Today, Deep Ellum is home to hundreds of artists who live in lofts or operate in studios throughout the district alongside bars, pubs, and concert venues.
A major art infusion in the area results from the city's lax stance on graffiti, and a number of public spaces, including tunnels, sides of buildings, sidewalks, and streets, are covered in murals. One major example, the Good-Latimer tunnel, was torn down in late 2006 to accommodate the construction of a light rail line through the site.
Like Deep Ellum before it, the Cedars neighborhood to the south of Downtown has also seen a growing population of studio artists and an expanding roster of entertainment venues. The area's art scene began to grow in the early 2000s with the opening of Southside on Lamar, an old Sears Roebuck and Company warehouse converted into lofts, studios, and retail.
Current attractions include Gilley's Dallas and Poor David's Pub. Dallas Mavericks owner and local entrepreneur Mark Cuban purchased land along Lamar Street near Cedars Station in September 2005, and locals speculate he is planning an entertainment complex for the site.
South of the Trinity River, the Bishop Arts District in Oak Cliff is home to a number of studio artists living in converted warehouses. Walls of buildings along alleyways and streets are painted with murals, and the surrounding streets contain many eclectic restaurants and shops.
Dallas has an Office of Cultural Affairs as a department of the city government. The office is responsible for six cultural centers throughout the city, funding for local artists and theaters, initiating public art projects, and running the city-owned classical radio station WRR. The Los Angeles-class submarine USS Dallas was planned to become a museum ship near the Trinity River after her decommissioning in September 2014, but this has since been delayed. It will be taken apart into massive sections in Houston and be transported by trucks to the museum site and will be put back together.
=== Libraries ===
The city is served by the Dallas Public Library system. The system was created by the Dallas Federation of Women's Clubs with efforts spearheaded by then president May Dickson Exall. Her fundraising efforts led to a grant from philanthropist and steel baron Andrew Carnegie, which allowed the library system to build its first branch in 1901.
Today, the library operates 30 branch locations throughout the city, including the 8-story J. Erik Jonsson Central Library in the Government District of Downtown.
=== Places of interest ===
=== Cuisine ===
Dallas is known for its barbecue, authentic Mexican, and Tex-Mex cuisine. Famous products of the Dallas culinary scene include the Frozen margarita machine by restaurateur Mariano Martinez in 1971.
=== Events ===
The State Fair of Texas has been held annually at Fair Park since 1886, and generates an estimated $50 million to the city's economy annually. The Red River Shootout, a football game that pits the University of Texas at Austin against the University of Oklahoma at the Cotton Bowl, also brings significant crowds to the city. The city also hosts the State Fair Classic and Heart of Dallas Bowl at the Cotton Bowl.
Other festivals include several Cinco de Mayo celebrations hosted by the city's large Mexican American population and a Saint Patrick's Day parade along Lower Greenville Avenue, Juneteenth festivities, Taste of Dallas, the Deep Ellum Arts Festival, the Greek Food Festival of Dallas, the annual Halloween event "The Wake", and two annual events on Halloween, including a Halloween parade on Cedar Springs Road and a "Zombie Walk" held in Downtown Dallas in the Arts District.
With the opening of Victory Park, WFAA began hosting an annual New Year's Eve celebration in AT&T Plaza that the television station hoped would be reminiscent of celebrations in New York's Times Square; New Year's Eve 2011 set a new record of 32,000 people in attendance.
After the discontinuance of the "Big D NYE" festivities a few years later, a new end-of-year event was started downtown, with a big fireworks show put on at Reunion Tower, which has since aired on KXAS and other TV stations around the state and region. Also, several Omni hotels in the Dallas area host large events to welcome in the new year, including murder mystery parties, rave-inspired events, and other events.
=== Sports ===
Downtown Dallas is home to two major league sports teams that play at the American Airlines Center: the Dallas Mavericks (NBA), who won the NBA Championship in 2011, and the Dallas Stars (NHL), who won the Stanley Cup in 1999. Nearby Arlington is home to the Dallas Cowboys (NFL), who play at the AT&T Stadium and have won five Super Bowls, the Texas Rangers (MLB), who play at Globe Life Field and won the World Series in 2023, and the Dallas Wings (WNBA), who play at College Park Center. MLS team FC Dallas plays at Toyota Stadium in Frisco and won the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup in 1997 and 2016. The newest team in Dallas is Dallas Trinity FC, the first professional women's soccer team that plays at the historic Cotton Bowl (stadium). The city is home to several minor league and college sports programs in the area.
Since joining the league as an expansion team in 1960, the Cowboys have enjoyed substantial success, advancing to eight Super Bowls and winning five. The Cowboys are financially the most valuable sports franchise in the world, worth approximately $4 billion. In 2009, they relocated to their new 80,000-seat stadium in Arlington, which was the site of Super Bowl XLV and is set to host the most matches during the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The Cowboys are currently part of the East Division of the National Football Conference (NFC).
The Texas Rangers won the American League pennant in 2010, 2011 and 2023, and won the World Series in 2023. The franchise relocated from Washington D.C. in 1972. They play in the West Division of the American League.
The Dallas Mavericks joined the league as an expansion team in 1980. They won their first National Basketball Association championship in 2011 led by Dirk Nowitzki. They play in the Southwest Division of the Western Conference.
The Dallas Stars moved to North Texas in 1993 as a relocation from the former team, the Minnesota North Stars. The Stars have won eight division titles in Dallas, two Presidents' Trophies as the top regular season team in the NHL, the Western Conference championship three times, and in 1998–99, the Stanley Cup. The team plays in the Central Division of the Western Conference.
FC Dallas play at Toyota Stadium (formerly FC Dallas Stadium and Pizza Hut Park), a stadium that opened in 2005. They currently play in MLS's Western Conference. The team was originally called the Dallas Burn and used to play in the Cotton Bowl. Although FC Dallas has not yet won a MLS Cup, they won the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup in 1997 and 2016 and the Supporters' Shield in 2016. Previously, the Dallas Tornado played in the North American Soccer League from 1968 to 1981.
The Dallas Wings came to The Metroplex in 2016 after relocating from Tulsa.
There are many notable minor league teams in the Dallas-Fort Worth. The Allen Americans are a professional ice hockey team headquartered at the Credit Union of Texas Event Center in Allen, Texas, which currently plays in the ECHL. They are the minor league affiliate of the NHL's Seattle Kraken. The team was founded in 2009 in the Central Hockey League(CHL). They have won 4 straight championships, 2 in the CHL (2012–13, 2013–14) and 2 in the ECHL(2014–15, 2015–16).
The Dallas Renegades are a professional football team in the UFL that plays their home games at Toyota Stadium.
The Dallas Sidekicks (2012) are an American professional indoor soccer team based in Allen, Texas, a suburb of Dallas. They play their home games in the Credit Union of Texas Event Center. The team is named after the original Dallas Sidekicks that operated from 1984 to 2004. The MLS-affiliated North Texas SC team is a member of MLS Next Pro and plays in Frisco at Toyota Stadium; it is the reserve team of FC Dallas. The Dallas Mavericks own an NBA G League team, the Texas Legends.
Rugby is a developing sport in Dallas and Texas in general. The multiple clubs, ranging from men's and women's clubs to collegiate and high school, are part of the Texas Rugby Football Union. Dallas was one of only 16 cities in the United States included in the Rugby Super League, represented by Dallas Harlequins. In 2020, Major League Rugby announced the Dallas Jackals as a new franchise. Australian rules football is also growing in Dallas. The Dallas Magpies, founded in 1998, compete in the United States Australian Football League.
The only Division I sports program within the Dallas political boundary is the Dallas Baptist University Patriots baseball team. Although outside the city limits, the Mustangs of Southern Methodist University are in the enclave of University Park. Neighboring cities Fort Worth, Arlington, and Denton are home to the Texas Christian University Horned Frogs, UT Arlington Mavericks, and University of North Texas Mean Green respectively. The Dallas area hosted the Final Four of the 2014 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament at AT&T Stadium. The college Cotton Bowl Classic football game was played at the Cotton Bowl through its 2009 game, but has moved to AT&T Stadium.
The Red River Showdown is an American college football rivalry game played annually at the Cotton Bowl Stadium during the second weekend of the State Fair of Texas in October. The game is played by the Oklahoma Sooners football team of the University of Oklahoma and the Texas Longhorns football team of the University of Texas at Austin. The 10,000-capacity Forester Stadium, which is used mainly for football and soccer, is also located in Dallas.
Dallas Trinity FC is the first professional women's soccer team in Dallas that plays at the historic Cotton Bowl (stadium) located in Downtown Dallas. Originally founded in May 2023 by the Neil family and managed by Chris Petrucelli, the club kicked off its inaugural season in August 2024 when they played Tampa Bay Sun FC, ending in a 1 v 1 tie. Following this match was two very significant matches for the club, the friendly match and home opener. The club played their friendly match vs FC Barcelona Femení where they lost 0-6 and the club's official home match was against DC Power FC where they tied 1-1.
The club finished the season 12–9–7, finishing third and getting eliminated by Tampa Bay Sun FC by the final score of 2–1 in the semi-finals of the USL Championship. Following its inaugural season, the teams parted ways with Pauline MacDonald and Gavin Beith.
Recently, the team announced its State Fair Clasico Match during the Texas State Fair at Fair Park on October 18 vs Club América Femenil.
== Parks and recreation ==
Dallas maintains and operates 406 parks on 21,000 acres (85 km2) of parkland.
The city's parks contain 17 separate lakes, including White Rock and Bachman lakes, spanning a total of 4,400 acres (17.81 km2). In addition, Dallas is traversed by 61.6 miles (99.1 km) of biking and jogging trails, including the Katy Trail, and is home to 47 community and neighborhood recreation centers, 276 sports fields, 60 swimming pools, 232 playgrounds, 173 basketball courts, 112 volleyball courts, 126 play slabs, 258 neighborhood tennis courts, 258 picnic areas, six 18-hole golf courses, two driving ranges, and 477 athletic fields as of 2013.
=== Fair Park ===
Dallas's flagship park is Fair Park. Built in 1936 for the Texas Centennial Exposition world's fair, Fair Park is the world's largest collection of Art Deco exhibit buildings, art, and sculptures; Fair Park is also home to the State Fair of Texas, the largest state fair in the United States with 2 million visitors. In November 2019, consultants presented to the public a master plan to revitalize the area.
=== Klyde Warren Park ===
Named after Klyde Warren, the young son of billionaire Kelcy Warren, the 5.2-acre Klyde Warren Park was built above Woodall Rodgers Freeway and connects Uptown and Downtown, specifically the Arts District. Klyde Warren Park is home to an amphitheater, jogging trails, a children's park, a dog park, a putting green, croquet, ping pong, chess, an outdoor library, and two restaurants. Food trucks give another option of dining and are lined along the park's Downtown side. There are also weekly planned events, including yoga, Zumba, skyline tours, tai chi, and meditation. Klyde Warren Park is home to a free trolley stop on Olive St., which riders can connect to Downtown, McKinney Avenue, and West Village.
=== Turtle Creek Parkway park ===
Built in 1913, Turtle Creek Parkway park is a 23.7-acre (9.6 ha) linear park in between Turtle Creek and Turtle Creek Boulevard in the aptly named Turtle Creek neighborhood. Archaeological surveys discovered dart points and flint chips dating 3,000 years to 1,000 BCE. This site was later discovered to be home to Native Americans who cherished the trees and natural spring water. The park is across Turtle Creek from Kalita Humphreys Theater, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.
=== Lake Cliff Park ===
Opened on July 4, 1906, Lake Cliff Park was called "the Southwest's Greatest Playground". The park was home to an amusement park, a large pool, waterslides, the world's largest skating rink, and three theaters, the largest being the 2,500-seat Casino Theater. After the streetcar bridge that brought most of the park visitors collapsed, Lake Cliff Park was sold. The Casino Theater moved and the pool was demolished after a polio scare in 1959. The pool was Dallas's first municipal pool.
=== Reverchon Park ===
In 1935, Dallas purchased 36 acres (15 ha) from John Cole's estate to develop Reverchon Park. Reverchon Park was named after botanist Julien Reverchon, who left France to live in the La Reunion colony, which was founded in the mid-1800s and was situated in present-day West Dallas. Reverchon Park was planned to be the crown jewel of the Dallas park system and was even referred to as the "Central Park" of Dallas. Improvements were made throughout the years, including the Iris Bowl, picnic settings, a baseball diamond, and tennis courts. The Iris Bowl celebrated many Greek pageants, dances, and other performances. The Gill Well was installed for nearby residents and drew people all across Texas who wanted to experience the water's healing powers. The baseball diamond was host to a 1953 exhibition game for the New York Giants and the Cleveland Indians.
=== Trinity River Project ===
As part of the ongoing Trinity River Project, the Great Trinity Forest, at 6,000 acres (24 km2), is the largest urban hardwood forest in the United States and is part of the largest urban park in the United States. The Trinity River Audubon Center is a new addition to the park. Opened in 2008, it serves as a gateway to many trails and other nature-viewing activities in the area. The Trinity River Audubon Center is the first LEED-certified building built by the City of Dallas Parks and Recreation Department.
=== Katy Trail ===
Named after its former railroad name, the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad (or "MKT" Railroad), the 3.5-mile (5.6 km) stretch of railroad was purchased by the city of Dallas and transformed into the city's premier trail. Stretching from Victory Park, the 30-acre (12 ha) Katy Trail passes through the Turtle Creek and Knox Park neighborhoods and runs along the east side of Highland Park. The trail ends at Central Expressway, but extensions are underway to extend the trail to the White Rock Lake Trail in Lakewood.
=== Preserves ===
Dallas hosts three of the twenty-one preserves of the extensive 3,200 acres (13 km2) Dallas County Preserve System. The Joppa Preserve, the McCommas Bluff Preserve, and the Cedar Ridge Preserve are within the Dallas city limits. The Cedar Ridge Preserve was known as the Dallas Nature Center, but the Audubon Dallas group now manages the 633-acre (2.56 km2) natural habitat park on behalf of the city of Dallas and Dallas County. The preserve sits at an elevation of 755 feet (230 m) above sea level and offers a variety of outdoor activities, including 10 miles (16 km) of hiking trails and picnic areas.
=== Dallas Zoo ===
The city is also home to Texas's first and largest zoo, the 106-acre (0.43 km2) Dallas Zoo, which opened at its current location in 1888.
== Government ==
=== Local representation ===
The city uses a council-manager government, with Eric Johnson serving as mayor, Kimberly Tolbert serving as city manager, and 14 council members serving as representatives to the 14 council districts in the city. This organizational structure was contested by some in favor of a strong-mayor city charter, only to be rejected by Dallas voters. In 1969, Anita N. Martínez become the first Latin American to sit as a councilwoman in Dallas's city council.
In the 2017–2018 fiscal year, the city's total budget (the sum of operating and capital budgets) was $3.3 billion. The city has seen a steady increase in its budget due to sustained growth: the budget was $1.7 billion in 2002–2003, $1.9 billion in 2003–2004, $2.0 billion in 2004–2005, and $2.2 billion in 2005–2006.
=== Federal and state representation ===
National and state legislators representing Dallas:
The United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas, which exercises original jurisdiction over 100 counties in North and West Texas, convenes in the Earle Cabell Federal Building and Courthouse in the Government District of Downtown. The same building additionally houses United States Bankruptcy and Magistrate Courts and a United States Attorney office. Dallas also is the seat of the Fifth Court of Appeals of Texas.
=== Politics ===
Since 2023, Dallas has been the largest city in the United States with a Republican mayor after Eric Johnson switched parties after winning re-election. He ran and was elected as a Democrat. However, the city is normally a Democratic stronghold, with over 60% of voters supporting Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election, 69% of voters supporting Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election and 67% of voters supporting Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election (excluding write-ins). Democratic voters dominate the majority of the city, especially the central urban core and southern sectors, with Republicans spreading a sliver of suburban neighborhoods in North Dallas. In the 2004 U.S. presidential election, 57% of voters in Dallas' city limits voted for John Kerry over George W. Bush. Dallas County was closely divided, with 50% of voters voting for Bush and 49% voting for Kerry. Results in the 2008 and 2012 elections favored Barack Obama, with the 44th President receiving 57% of Dallas County voters in both years, with greater margins in the city of Dallas. In the 2016 U.S. presidential election, approximately 66% of Dallas voters voted for Hillary Clinton, with 28% of city voters voting for Donald Trump. Dallas County as a whole saw 61% of voters voting for Clinton, with 35% support for Trump. In 2004, Lupe Valdez was elected Dallas County Sheriff. An open lesbian, Valdez was the only female sheriff in the state of Texas until her resignation. Despite controversies in her handling of county jails, she won re-election in 2008 with a 10-point victory over Republican challenger Lowell Cannaday. In the 2024 United States presidential election, Donald Trump, achieved 34.1% of the vote in the city of Dallas. This marked the highest level of support for a Republican candidate in the city since the 2012 election, when Mitt Romney received a comparable percentage. Trump's performance in Dallas has been attributed in part to a notable shift in Hispanic voter preferences within Texas. Trump garnered an estimated 55% of the Hispanic vote statewide, a significant improvement from his performance among Hispanic voters in 2016.
== Education ==
There are 337 public schools, 89 private schools, 38 colleges, and 32 libraries in Dallas. Dallas–Fort Worth is also home to six Nobel Laureates.
=== Colleges and universities ===
The Dallas area has a high number of colleges and universities. In addition to those in the city, the surrounding cities also have a number of universities, colleges, trade schools, and other educational institutions. The following describes the universities and their proximity to the city:
The Texas Legislature defines all areas in Dallas County and in the Carrollton-Farmers Branch Independent School District as being in the service area of Dallas College (formerly Dallas County Community College District or DCCCD). Areas in Collin County are assigned to Collin College.
==== Colleges and universities within Dallas city limits ====
UT Southwestern Medical Center ("UTSW") is a prominent academic medical center north of downtown Dallas in the Southwestern Medical District. Six Nobel laureates have been among its faculty. The main teaching hospital of the university. UTSW is part of the University of Texas System.
Texas Woman's University has operated a nursing school in Dallas at Parkland Memorial Hospital since 1966. The T. Boone Pickens Institute of Health Sciences-Dallas Center (IHSD) was opened in 2011 and is a purpose-built educational facility that replaced the building TWU had used since 1966. TWU also operated an occupational therapy school at Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas from 1977 through 2011 before consolidating those functions into the new IHSD building at Parkland.
Paul Quinn College is a private, historically black college in southeast Dallas. Originally located in Waco, Texas, it moved to Dallas in 1990 and is housed on the campus of the former Bishop College, another private, historically black college. Dallas billionaire and entrepreneur Comer Cottrell Jr., founder of ProLine Corporation, bought the campus of Bishop College and bequeathed it to Paul Quinn College in 1990 making it the only historically black college in Dallas.
The University of North Texas at Dallas is along Houston School Road. In 2009 UNT at Dallas became the first public university within Dallas city limits. The University of North Texas System requested approval from the Texas Legislature and Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board for the state's first new public law school in more than 40 years. The University of North Texas at Dallas College of Law was planned to be based at the Old Municipal Building in Downtown Dallas.
Dallas Baptist University is a private university in the Mountain Creek area of southwest Dallas. Originally in Decatur, Texas, the school moved to Dallas in 1965. The school enrolls over 5,600 students, and offers undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral degrees. Popular subjects include Biblical studies, business, and music degrees. DBU has been recognized by the National Council on Teacher Quality for their high-quality teacher preparatory degrees. The school also maintains an Intensive English Program for international students wishing to enhance their knowledge of the English language. The campus is a Tree Campus USA and is recognized as one of the most beautiful university campuses in the Southwest U.S. The school has also become nationally recognized for its baseball team which has made several playoff runs.
Dallas Theological Seminary, also within the city limits, is recognized as one of the leading seminaries in Evangelical Protestantism. Situated 3 miles (5 km) east of Downtown Dallas, it has over 2,000 graduate students and has graduated over 12,000 alumni.
Criswell College is within two blocks of Dallas Theological Seminary. Criswell was started by First Baptist Church of Dallas in the early 1970s.
Dallas College (formerly Dallas County Community College District), the 2-year educational institution of Dallas County, has seven campuses throughout the area with branches in Dallas as well as the surrounding suburbs.
==== Colleges and universities within Dallas County ====
Southern Methodist University is a private, coeducational university in University Park, an independent city that, together with the adjacent town of Highland Park, Dallas surrounds entirely. SMU was founded in 1911 by the Southern Methodist Church, and is now run by Jay Hartzell.
The University of Texas at Dallas is a part of the University of Texas System. It is in the city of Richardson, about 15 miles (24 km) north of Downtown Dallas. It is in the heart of the Telecom Corridor. UT Dallas is an R1 or Tier-1 University, classified by the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education as a doctoral-granting university with the highest research activity. The university has many collaborative research relationships with UT Southwestern Medical Center.
The University of Dallas, in the suburb of Irving, is an enclave of Roman Catholicism in the majority Protestant religious landscape of Dallas–Fort Worth. St. Albert the Great Dominican Priory and Holy Trinity Seminary are on campus, while the Cistercian Monastery and Cistercian Preparatory School are just north of the UD campus across Texas State Highway 114. The Highlands School, a PK–12 Legionary school, is just west of the UD campus and connects to campus by jogging trails. As a center for religious study, the Cistercian Monastery continues to be notable for scholastic developments in theology.
Located in Downtown Dallas, El Centro College is the flagship institution of the Dallas County Community College District. El Centro first opened its campus doors in 1966 and now enrolls over 10,000 students. El Centro was the first college of the DCCCD to offer a nursing program and has established relationships with several top-notch hospitals in the Dallas area. The college is also the only campus within DCCCD that offers a Food & Hospitality Program as well as renowned programs in fashion design and fashion marketing.
==== University Research Center ====
Texas A&M-Dallas Research and Extension Center
==== Other area colleges and universities ====
=== Primary and secondary schools ===
Most areas in the city of Dallas are within the Dallas Independent School District, the 12th-largest school district in the United States and second largest in Texas. The school district operates independently of the city and enrolls over 161,000 students. As of 2003 DISD has the majority of K–12 students in the city of Dallas, and a proportionately larger number of students who are not non-Hispanic white.
A few areas of Dallas also extend into other school districts in Dallas County, including Carrollton-Farmers Branch, Coppell, Duncanville, Garland, Highland Park, Irving, Mesquite, and Richardson. Portions of Dallas in Collin County are in Plano ISD, and portions of Dallas in Denton County are in the Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD. The Wilmer-Hutchins Independent School District once served portions of southern Dallas, but it was shut down for the 2005–2006 year. WHISD students started attending other Dallas ISD schools during that time. Following the close, the Texas Education Agency consolidated WHISD into Dallas ISD. In 2003 Royce Hanson, author of Civic Culture and Urban Change: Governing Dallas, stated that the Plano, Richardson, and Wilmer-Hutchins school districts were the "most significant" of the public school students with students in Dallas who were not in Dallas ISD.
Many school districts in Dallas County, including Dallas ISD, were formerly served by a governmental agency called Dallas County Schools. The system provided busing and other transportation services, access to a massive media library, technology services, strong ties to local organizations for education/community integration, and staff development programs.
==== Private schools ====
Students from Dallas attend many private schools in Dallas, and in nearby areas. These schools include:
== Media ==
Dallas has several local newspapers, magazines, television stations and radio stations that serve the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, which is the fifth-largest media market in the United States. Dallas has one major daily newspaper, The Dallas Morning News, which was founded in 1885 by A. H. Belo and is A. H. Belo's flagship newspaper.
The Dallas Times Herald, started in 1888, was the Morning News' major competitor until Belo purchased it on December 8, 1991, and closed the paper down the next day. Other daily newspapers are Al Día, a Spanish-language paper published by Belo, and a number of ethnic newspapers printed in languages such as Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese.
Other publications include the Dallas Weekly and the Elite News, all weekly news publications. The Dallas Observer and the North Texas Journal are also alternative weekly newspapers. The Dallas Morning News formerly had a weekly publication, Neighborsgo, which came out every Friday and focused on community news. Readers could post stories and contribute content to the website.
D Magazine is a notable monthly magazine about business, life, and entertainment in Dallas–Fort Worth. Local visitor magazines include "WHERE Magazine" and "Travelhost"–available at hotel desks or in guest rooms. In addition, the park cities and suburbs such as Plano also have their own community newspapers. Also, THE Magazine covers the contemporary arts scene.
In terms of the larger metro area, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram is another major daily newspaper, covering Fort Worth's metropolitan division. It also publishes a major Spanish-language newspaper for the entire metro area known as La Estrella. To the north of Dallas and Fort Worth, the Denton Record-Chronicle primarily covers news for the city of Denton and Denton County.
Area television stations affiliated with the major broadcasting networks (network O&O's highlighted in bold) include KDFW 4 (Fox), KXAS 5 (NBC), WFAA 8 (ABC) (which for many years was owned by Belo alongside the Morning News), KTVT 11 (CBS), KERA 13 (PBS), KUVN 23 (UNI), KDFI 27 (MNTV), KDAF 33 (The CW), and KXTX 39 (TMD). KTXA 21 and KFAA 29 are an independent stations; KTXA
was previously affiliated with the now-defunct UPN network.
Over 101 radio stations operate within range of Dallas. The city of Dallas operates WRR 101.1 FM, the area's main classical music station, from city offices in Fair Park. Its original sister station, licensed as WRR-AM in 1921, is the oldest commercially operated radio station in Texas and the second-oldest in the United States, after KDKA (AM) in Pittsburgh. KKDA-FM (K104), an urban contemporary station, and KRNB (Smooth R&B 105.7), an urban adult contemporary station, are owned independently by Service Broadcasting Corporation.
Because of the city's central geographical position and lack of nearby mountainous terrain, high-power class A medium-wave stations KRLD and WBAP can broadcast as far as southern Canada at night and can be used for emergency messages when broadcasting is down in other major metropolitan areas in the United States.
Slavic Voice of America media group serves Russian-speaking Americans out of Dallas. Hispanic Broadcasting Corporation (HBC), the largest company in the Spanish-language radio station business, is based in Dallas. In 2003, HBC was acquired by Univision and became Univision Radio Inc., but the radio company remains headquartered in the city.
The Real Housewives of Dallas, abbreviated RHOD, was an American reality television series that aired on Bravo from 2016 to 2021. It is the ninth installment of The Real Housewives franchise, lasting five seasons and focused on the personal and professional lives of several women living in the city Notable alumni was Brandi Redmond, cheerleader for the Dallas Cowboys, model and actress Tiffany Hendra, and seasoned reality television personality Leeanne Locken. Other stars included Cary Deuber, Stephanie Hollman, D'Andra Simmons, Kameron Westcott, Kary Brittingham and Tiffany Moon. The show highlighted Dallas culture, specifically the city's charity scene.
== Infrastructure ==
=== Public safety ===
The Dallas Police Department provides most policing in Dallas. The Dallas interim chief of police is Michael Igo. The police headquarters are in the Cedars neighborhood of southern Dallas.
Emergency medical services and fire protection in the city are provided by the Dallas Fire-Rescue Department. The Dallas Fire & Rescue chief is Dominique Artis. The department operates the Dallas Firefighter's Museum built in 1907 along Parry Avenue near Fair Park. Dallas's oldest remaining fire station building still stands at the corner of McKinney Ave. and Leonard and was built in 1892. It was the home of Engine Co. Number 1, and is now a picture framing shop.
=== Health care ===
Dallas has many hospitals and several medical research facilities within its city limits. One major research center is the Dallas Medical District with the UT Southwestern Medical Center in the Stemmons Corridor, along with the affiliated UT Southwestern Medical School. The health care complex includes within its bounds Parkland Memorial Hospital, Children's Medical Center, William P. Clements Jr. University Hospital (formerly St. Paul University Hospital), and the William P. Clements Jr. University Hospital.
Dallas also has a VA hospital in the southern portion of the city, the Dallas Veterans Affairs Medical Center. The center is home to a Consolidated Mail Outpatient Pharmacy (CMOP), part of an initiative by the Department of Veterans Affairs to provide mail-order prescriptions to veterans using computerization at strategic locations throughout the United States.
Other hospitals in the city include Baylor University Medical Center in East Dallas, Methodist Dallas Medical Center in Oak Cliff, Methodist Charlton Medical Center near Duncanville, Medical City Dallas Hospital and Presbyterian Hospital in North Dallas, and the Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children in Oak Lawn.
=== Utilities ===
Dallas is served by Dallas Water Utilities, which operates several waste treatment plants and pulls water from several area reservoirs. Several companies maintain the city's electric system, including Stream Energy, Cirro Energy and Oncor Electric Delivery, whose parent company, Energy Future Holdings Corporation, has headquarters in the city.
The city offers garbage pickup and recycling service weekly through its Sanitation Services department. Telephone networks, broadband internet, and cable television service are available from several companies, including AT&T, Spectrum, and Verizon FiOS.
== Transportation ==
Like many other major cities in the United States, the automobile is the primary mode of local transportation, though efforts have been made to increase the availability of alternative modes of transportation, including the construction of light rail lines, biking and walking paths, wide sidewalks, a trolley system, and buses.
In 2009, 78.5% of Dallas (city) commuters drive to work alone. The 2009 mode share for Dallas (city) commuters are 10.7% for carpooling, 3.9% for transit, 1.9% for walking, and .1% for cycling. In 2015, the American Community Survey estimated modal shares for Dallas (city) commuters of 75.4% for driving alone, 12.8% for carpooling, 3.5% for riding transit, 1.9% for walking, and .2% for cycling.
The city of Dallas has a higher than average percentage of households without a car. In 2015, 10.2 percent of Dallas households lacked a car, decreased to 9.1 percent in 2016 and to 8.7 percent in 2023. The national average was 8.7 percent in 2016. Dallas averaged 1.59 cars per household in 2016, compared to a national average of 1.8.
=== Highways ===
Dallas is at the confluence of four major interstate highways—Interstates 20, 30, 35E, and 45. The Dallas area freeway system is set up in the popular hub-and-spoke system, shaped much like a wagon wheel. Starting from the center of the city, a small freeway loop surrounds Downtown, followed by the I-635 loop about 10 miles (16 km) outside Downtown, and ultimately the tolled President George Bush Turnpike.
Inside these freeway loops are other boulevard- and parkway-style loops, including Loop 12 and Belt Line Road. Another beltway around the city upwards of 45 miles (72 km) from Downtown is under plan in Collin County.
Radiating out of Downtown Dallas's freeway loop are the spokes of the area's highway system—Interstates 30, 35E, and 45, US 75, US 77, US 175, SH Spur 366, the Dallas North Tollway, SH 114, US 80, and US 67. Other major highways around the city include SH 183 and Spur 408.
The recently completed interchange at the intersection of Lyndon B. Johnson Freeway (I-635) and the Central Expressway (US 75) has five stacks and is aptly called the High Five Interchange. It is one of the few five-level interchanges in Dallas and is one of the largest freeway interchanges in the United States.
The following is a list of the freeways and tollways in the Dallas-Fort Worth area:
=== Airports ===
Two commercial airports serve Dallas: Dallas Fort Worth International Airport and Dallas Love Field. In addition, Dallas Executive Airport (formerly Redbird Airport), serves as a general aviation airport for the city, and Addison Airport functions similarly just outside the city limits in the suburb of Addison. Two more general aviation airports are about 35 miles (56 km) north of Dallas in McKinney, and another two are in Fort Worth, on the west side of the metroplex. Alliance Airport, in far North Fort Worth, is a cargo reliever airport to DFW Airport and general aviation facility.
DFW Airport is in the suburbs slightly north of and equidistant to Downtown Fort Worth and Downtown Dallas. In terms of size, DFW International is the largest airport in the state, the second largest in the United States, and ninth largest in the world; DFW International Airport is larger than the island of Manhattan.
In terms of traffic, DFW Airport is the busiest airport in the state, fourth-busiest in the United States, and eleventh-busiest in the world. The headquarters of American Airlines, the largest air carrier in the world ahead of United Airlines and Delta Air Lines, is less than one mile (1.6 km) from DFW Airport within Fort Worth's city limits. Similarly, Love Field is within Dallas's city limits, about 6 miles (10 km) northwest of Downtown, and is headquarters to Southwest Airlines, the largest domestic airline in the United States.
=== Transit systems ===
Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) is the Dallas-area public transportation authority that provides rail, buses and HOV lanes to commuters. DART began operating the first light rail system in Texas in 1996, and it is now the largest operator of light rail in the US. Today, the system is the seventh-busiest light rail system in the country with approximately 55 stations on 72 miles (116 km) of light rail, and 10 stations on 35 miles (56 km) of commuter rail. It includes four light rail lines and a commuter line: the Red Line, the Blue Line, the Green Line, the Orange Line, and the Trinity Railway Express.
The Red Line travels through Oak Cliff, South Dallas, Downtown, Uptown, North Dallas, Richardson and Plano, while the Blue Line goes through Oak Cliff, Downtown, Uptown, East Dallas, Lake Highlands, and Garland. The Red and Blue lines are conjoined between 8th & Corinth Station in Oak Cliff through Mockingbird Station in North Dallas. The two lines service Cityplace Station. The Green Line serves Carrollton, Farmers Branch, Love Field Airport, Stemmons Corridor, Victory Park, Downtown, Deep Ellum, Fair Park, South Dallas, and Pleasant Grove.
The Orange Line initially operated as a peak-service line providing extra capacity on portions of the Green and Red Lines (Bachman Station on the Green Line, through the Downtown transit mall, to Parker Road Station on the Red Line making a "U"-shape). However, the first stage of the Orange Line opened on December 6, 2010, extending its west end from Bachman to Belt Line Station in Irving. The second and final phase opened in August 2014 and provided DFW Airport with rail service. DFW Airport Terminal A station is the terminus for the Orange Line and connects Skylink.
This provides passengers the convenience of disembarking the DART rail, proceeding to security check-in and immediately boarding Skylink to be quickly transported to their desired terminal. The Blue Line has also been extended by 4.5 miles (7.2 km) to serve Rowlett at the Rowlett Park & Ride facility.
In August 2009, the Regional Transportation Council agreed to seek $96 million in federal stimulus dollars for a trolley project in Dallas and Fort Worth. The Oak Cliff Transit Authority took the lead with leaders envisioning a streetcar line that would link Union Station and the Dallas Convention Center in Downtown to Oak Cliff, Methodist Medical Center, and the Bishop Arts District via the Houston Street Viaduct.
Dallas was awarded a $23 million TIGER grant towards the $58 million Dallas Streetcar Project in February 2010.
In addition to light rail, Amtrak's Texas Eagle also serves Union Station, providing daily service east to Chicago and west to San Antonio, and thrice-weekly service west to Los Angeles. The Trinity Rail Express terminates at Union Station and T&P Station.
== Notable people ==
== International relations ==
The city of Dallas has worked to build Sister & Friendship City relationships around the globe. These relationships help create and strengthen partnerships between Dallas and the international community. The program aims to build global cooperation at the municipal level by promoting cultural understanding and stimulating economic development between Dallas and its foreign counterparts.
=== Sister cities ===
Dallas's sister cities are:
=== Friendship cities ===
Dallas has friendly relations with: |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cocktails | List of cocktails | A cocktail is a mixed drink typically made with a distilled liquor (such as arrack, brandy, cachaça, gin, rum, tequila, vodka, or whiskey) as its base ingredient that is then mixed with other ingredients or garnishments. Sweetened liqueurs, wine, or beer may also serve as the base or be added. If beer is one of the ingredients, the drink is called a beer cocktail.
Cocktails often also contain various types of juice, fruit, honey, milk or cream, spices, or other flavorings. Cocktails may vary in their ingredients from bartender to bartender, and from region to region. Two creations may have the same name but taste very different because of differences in how the drinks are prepared.
This article is organized by the primary type of alcohol (by volume) contained in the beverage. Cocktails marked with "IBA" are designated as IBA official cocktails by the International Bartenders Association, and are some of the most popular cocktails worldwide.
== Absinthe ==
== Beer ==
Cocktails made with beer are classified as beer cocktails.
== Brandy ==
== Cachaça ==
== Gin ==
== Mezcal ==
Division bell
Illegal
Medicina Latina
Mezcal last word
Mezcal Negroni
Naked and famous
Oaxaca old fashioned
Tia mia
== Rum ==
== Sake ==
== Tequila ==
== Vodka ==
== Whisky ==
== Wines ==
=== Fortified wines ===
Port wine: Cheeky Vimto
Port wine: Portbuka
Sherry: Rebujito
Sherry: Up to date
Vermouth: Americano
Vermouth: Boulevardier
Vermouth: Hanky panky
Vermouth: Rose
Sherry and vermouth: Adonis
=== Wine ===
==== Wine variation ====
==== Sparkling wine ====
Agua de Sevilla
Spritz
Bellini
Hugo
Rossini
==== Champagne ====
Atomic
Black velvet
Chambord Royale
Champagne cocktail
French 75
Kir royal
Mimosa (a.k.a. Buck's fizz)
Ochsenblut
==== Red wine ====
Calimocho or Kalimotxo
Claret cup
Mulled wine (Glögg)
Tinto de verano
Zurracapote
==== White wine ====
Kir
Spritzer
== Flavored liqueurs ==
=== Anise-flavored liqueurs ===
Herbsaint
Herbsaint frappé
Pastis
Mauresque
Perroquet
Rourou
Tomate
=== Chocolate liqueur ===
Chocolate martini
=== Coffee liqueurs ===
Coffee-flavored drinks
=== Cream liqueur ===
A liqueur containing cream, imparting a milkshake-like flavor
=== Crème liqueur ===
Crème de menthe – green
An intensely green, mint-flavored liqueur
Grasshopper
Springbokkie
Crème de menthe – white
A colorless mint-flavored liqueur
Brandy Alexander
Revelation
Stinger
Crème de violette
Aviation
=== Fruit liqueurs ===
==== Apple-flavored ====
Apple-kneel
==== Orange-flavored ====
One of several orange-flavored liqueurs, like Grand Marnier, triple sec, or Curaçao
Golden doublet
Golden dream
Moonwalk
Skittle bomb
==== Other fruit flavors ====
Midori
A clear, bright-green, melon-flavored liqueur
Melon ball
Japanese slipper
Tequila sour
=== Nut-flavored liqueurs ===
Almond-flavored liqueurs
=== Swedish punsch-flavored cocktails ===
Boomerang (cocktail)
Diki-diki
Doctor (cocktail)
Malecon
=== Misc. liqueur-based cocktails ===
== Less common spirits ==
=== Bitters ===
=== Korn ===
=== Ouzo ===
=== Pisco ===
=== Schnapps ===
== Other ==
Cutty bang
Jello shot
Karsk
Nutcracker
Tamango
== Historical classes of cocktails ==
== By mixer ==
=== Strawberry ===
Strawberries can be muddled or puréed and added to many drinks, and they are liquor-friendly, being compatible with, e.g., bourbon whiskey, Cointreau, vodka, tequila, rum, and Champagne, among other spirits and liqueurs and so on.
Some recipes call for a strawberry syrup that can be made using strawberries, vanilla extract, sugar, and water. Some strawberry cocktail recipes do not call for a syrup, but rely on puréed strawberries to play that part.
Strawberries are often mixed with basil. Strawberry is popular in smashes since after the beverage has been drunk, the alcohol-infused strawberries can be consumed as well.
Champagne bowler (Cognac, white wine, sparkling wine, simple syrup, strawberries)
Cherub's cup (vodka, St. Germain elderflower liqueur, brut rosé sparkling wine, lemon juice, simple syrup, strawberry)
Christmas Jones (vodka, sugar, pineapple juice, lemon-lime soda, strawberries)
Fresh strawberry and lime Tom Collins (gin, lime juice, club soda, agave, strawberries)
Kentucky kiss (Maker's Mark bourbon, lemon juice, maple syrup, club soda, strawberries)
Strawberry beer margarita (tequila, Corona beer, limeade concentrate, lemon lime soda, strawberries)
Strawberry berryoska (Russian standard vodka, lemonade, strawberries)
Strawberry gin and tonic (gin, lime juice, orange bitters, tonic water, strawberry syrup)
Strawberry gin smash (gin, strawberries, sugar, lime juice, elderflower liquor, club soda, mint sprigs)
Strawberry mint sparkling limeade (Champagne, mint leaves, lime juice, honey)
Strawberry pom mojito (white rum, mint leaves, lime juice, pomegranate juice, club soda or lime soda, strawberries)
Strawberry rose gin fizz (gin, sugar, rose water, salt, club soda, strawberries)
Strawberry smash (vodka, basil leaves, lemon juice, honey, club soda, strawberries)
Strawberry whiskey lemonade (whiskey, lemon juice, strawberry syrup)
Strawberry Mango Bourbon Smash (bourbon, strawberries, mango juice, lime juice, sugar syrup, ginger beer)
=== Carrot juice ===
Carrot juice can be mixed with spirits such as agave spirits, whiskey, tequila, gin, or mezcal. Vodka is sometimes chosen because its neutral taste allows more of the carrot juice taste to shine through. Carrot juice can also be mixed with liqueurs such as amaro. ginger, orange, lemon and honey can be other ingredients in carrot juice cocktails. Turmeric infusions are also common. Examples of drinks made with carrot juice include:
24 Carrot Gold Punch (gin, carrot juice, pineapple juice, lemon juice, ginger beer, pineapple slices, edible flowers)
Jessica Rabbit (Big Gin, carrot juice, yellow Chartreuse, kümmel, lime juice, lime oleo saccharum, carrot top oil, arugula flower)
=== Pineapple juice ===
Chuck Yeager (named after American Air Force Pilot Chuck Yeager. Includes pineapple juice and Jägermeister)
Electric shark (rum, blue curaçao, pineapple juice, ginger beer)
Jungle Bird (dark rum, campari, simple syrup, pineapple juice, lime juice)
Piña colada (light rum, pineapple juice, cream of coconut)
Shark bite (coconut rum, pineapple juice, blue curaçao)
Torpedo Juice (ethyl alcohol and pineapple juice)
Wiki wiki (rum, mango brandy, lime juice, pineapple juice, cane syrup, kiwi)
Yaka hula hickey dula (dark rum, dry vermouth, pineapple juice)
=== Smashed fruit ===
A smash is a casual icy julep (spirits, sugar, and herb) cocktail filled with hunks of fresh fruit, so that after the liquid part of the drink has been consumed, one can also eat the alcohol-infused fruit (e.g. strawberries). The history of smashes goes back at least as far as the 1862 book How to Mix Drinks. The old-style whiskey smash was an example of an early smash.
The herb used in a smash is often mint, although basil is sometimes used in cocktails that go well with it, e.g. many strawberry cocktails. The name "smash" comes from the idea that on a hot day, one takes whatever fruit is on hand and smashes it all together to make a refreshing beverage. Generally a smash will have crushed ice.
Apple bourbon smash (bourbon, honeycrisp apple, honey, lemon, nutmeg, cardamom)
Blueberry smash (vodka, St. Germain elderflower liqueur, lemon rounds, lime rounds, blueberries, mint leaves)
Bourbon blackberry smash (bourbon, lime juice, mint leaves, blackberries, simple syrup, club soda)
Bourbon peach smash (bourbon, brown sugar simple syrup, peach, mint leaves, ginger beer or seltzer)
Bourbon strawberry smash (bourbon, strawberries, simple syrup, lemon juice, mint leaves, club soda)
Cranberry smash (vodka or bourbon, cranberries, mint leaves, lime, brown sugar, ginger ale)
Grapefruit smash (cachaça, ruby red grapefruit, simple syrup, mint)
Kiwi smash (gin, basil leaves, kiwifruit, honey syrup, lemon juice)
Pear bourbon smash (bourbon, maple syrup, water, pear, mint leaves, lemon juice)
Pineapple smash (spiced rum, pineapple rum, pineapple rings, lime juice, soda water)
Raspberry smash (Champagne, vodka, lime wedges, sugar, raspberries)
Watermelon smash (Vodka, watermelon juice, lemon juice, simple syrup, mint leaves)
=== Lemonade ===
A number of hard lemonades, such as Lynchburg lemonade (whose alcoholic ingredient is Jack Daniel's Tennessee whiskey) have been marketed. This section includes drinks that have the ingredients of lemonade (lemon juice and sugar).
Boozy frozen lemonade (limoncello, lemon vodka, or lemon liqueur; lemon; sugar; lemonade)
Boozy lemonade sorbet (vodka, lemon sorbet, lemonade)
Fireball lemonade (Fireball cinnamon whisky, grenadine, lemonade)
Fresh raspberry vodka lemonade (vodka, raspberries, sugar, lemonade)
Gin fizz (gin, lemon juice, simple syrup, soda water)
John Collins (gin, lemon juice, simple syrup, soda water)
John Daly (vodka, sweet iced tea, lemonade)
Lemonade margarita (tequila blanco, Cointreau, and either frozen lemonade from concentrate or a naturally sweetened lemonade made of lemon juice, maple syrup or agave, and water)
Lemonade rum punch (coconut rum, dark rum, pineapple juice, lemonade)
Long Island iced tea (vodka, tequila, gin, light rum, orange-flavored liqueur, simple syrup, lemon juice, cola carbonated beverage)
Moscato lemonade (vodka, pink moscato, strawberry lemonade)
Pink lemonade vodka punch (vodka, lemon-lime soda or club soda, raspberries, lemon, pink lemonade concentrate)
Sangria lemonade (light rum, white wine, raspberries, orange, Granny Smith apple, lemonade)
Sour apple smash (apple vodka, pineapple rum, apple pucker, lemonade)
Spiked pineapple lemonade (vodka, pineapple, lemons or limes, mint, pineapple juice, lemonade)
Strawberry lemonade margarita (tequila, triple sec, strawberries, limes, frozen lemonade)
Vodka lemonade slush (vodka, frozen lemonade concentrate, lemon zest)
Watermelon vodka slush (vodka or watermelon vodka, watermelon, honey or simple syrup, lemonade)
=== Lemon-lime soda ===
A lemon-lime soda cocktail is a cocktail made with lemon-lime soda such as Sprite.
7 and 7 (whisky and 7 Up)
Citrus splash (vodka, Sprite, and grapefruit juice)
Corbins Riptide crash (blueberry vodka, Gatorade Frost Riptide Rush, Sprite)
Mediterranean sunset (vodka, blood orange liqueur, Sprite, grenadine)
Mexican martini (tequila, Cointreau, orange juice, lime juice, green olive brine, Sprite)
Midori sour (melon liqueur, lime juice, lemon-lime soda)
Orange Crush (vodka, orange liqueur, navel orange, lemon-lime soda)
Pimm's cocktail (Pimm's No. 1, lemon, ginger ale, cucumber, ice cubes, lemonade)
Pink lemonade vodka punch (vodka, raspberries, lemon, pink lemonade concentrate, lemon-lime soda)
Pink lemonade vodka slush (vodka, frozen pink lemonade concentrate, soda water, lemon-lime soda)
Whiskey Sprite lime cocktail (Irish whiskey, Sprite, soda water, lime wedge)
=== Apple juice ===
Hard cider has been produced by a number of companies, e.g. Woodchuck Hard Cider. Apple-flavored malt beverage products have also been sold by companies like Redd's Apple Ale, but these do not actually contain fermented apple juice.
Apple chai gin and tonic (dry gin, apple chai syrup, tonic)
Appletini (vodka, Calvados, lemon juice, simple syrup, and Granny Smith apple juice)
Boozy apple cider slushie (bourbon, brown-sugar cinnamon simple syrup, lemon juice, dry hard cider, apple cider or juice)
Boozy cider slushie (bourbon, ginger beer, chai tea, lemon juice, apple cider)
Bourbon cider slushie (bourbon, cinnamon vanilla syrup, lemon juice, apple cider)
Hard apple cider slushie (Fireball whiskey, cinnamon or crushed Red Hots, hard apple cider)
=== Grape juice ===
Boozy Concord-grape ice pops (gin, juniper berries, sugar, lime juice, Concord grape juice)
Early morning piece (Jack Daniel's whiskey, orange juice, grape juice)
Enzoni cocktail (gin, campari, lemon juice, simple syrup, fresh grapes)
Episcopal punch (vodka, ginger ale, white sparkling grape juice)
Frosty grape fizz (gin or vodka, orange liqueur, soda water, purple grape juice)
Grape ape/bling bling (vodka, lemon-lime soda, grape juice)
Grape fizz (Seagram's grape twisted gin, ginger ale, white grape juice)
Grape quencher (vodka, triple sec, lime juice, grape juice)
Grape rocket (whiskey, vodka, grape juice)
Henry Joose (Bombay Sapphire gin, Seagram's Extra Dry gin, 7-up, cranapple juice, grape juice)
Jeweler's hammer (vodka, soda water, grape juice)
John Rocker (vodka, peach schnapps, white grape juice)
Mardi grape (grape vodka, grapefruit juice, club soda, grape juice)
Mardi Gras madness (vodka, pineapple juice, lemon-lime soda, grape juice)
Purple rain (Greenbar Tru Lemon Vodka, Licor, lemon juice, grape juice)
=== Orange juice ===
Blood and Sand
Bronx (gin, sweet red vermouth, dry vermouth, orange juice)
Fuzzy navel (peach schnapps, orange juice)
Harvey Wallbanger (vodka, galliano, orange juice)
Mimosa (champagne, orange juice)
Orange tundra (vodka, cream soda, coffee liqueur, orange juice)
Screwdriver (vodka, orange juice)
Sex on the beach (vodka, peach schnapps, orange juice, cranberry juice)
Ward 8 (rye whiskey, lemon juice, orange juice, grenadine)
=== Ginger soda ===
A ginger soda cocktail is a cocktail with ginger ale or ginger beer. Small Town Brewery produced the 5.90% ABV Not Your Father's Ginger Ale. Coney Island Brewing Co. Henry's Hard Soda produced the 4.2% ABV Henry's Hard Ginger Ale. Others have included Crabbie's Original Alcoholic Ginger Beer (4.8 percent) and Spiced Orange Alcoholic Ginger Beer (4.8 percent), Fentimen's Alcoholic Ginger Beer (4 percent), and New City Ginger Beer (8 percent).
Cider and stormy (apple cider, dark rum, ginger beer)
Dark 'n' stormy (rum and ginger beer)
Desert healer (orange juice, gin, cherry brandy and ginger beer)
Dirty Shirley (vodka, grenadine, and ginger ale)
Ginger apple cooler (apple whiskey, maple syrup, lemon juice, ginger beer)
Ginger fizz (gin, alcoholic ginger beer, muddled limes and cilantro)
Horse's neck (brandy and ginger ale)
Irish mule (Irish whiskey, ginger ale, lime juice)
Moscow mule (vodka, ginger beer, lime juice)
Presbyterian (scotch and ginger ale)
Screwdriver mule (Smirnoff Ice Screwdriver and ginger beer)
Stoli alibi (vodka, ginger simple syrup, lime juice)
White wine ginger spritz (dry white wine, ginger beer, lime juice)
=== Cola ===
Some cola cocktails are made by the brewer; for example, McAles sells a "hard cola" that is a malt beverage with kola and other natural flavors and caramel color added. Jack Daniel's and Miller Brewing also introduced a hard cola, "Black Jack Cola". Henry's Hard Soda introduced a hard cherry cola.
All American (bourbon, Southern Comfort, and Coke)
Batanga (tequila and Coke)
Cuba libre (rum and coke)
Dirty black Russian (vodka, coffee liqueur, and Coke)
Whiskey and Coke
Kalimotxo (red wine and Coke)
Long Island iced tea (tequila, vodka, light rum, triple sec, gin, and a dash of Coke)
=== Tonic ===
A tonic cocktail is a cocktail that contains tonic syrup or tonic water. Tonic water is usually combined with gin for a gin and tonic, or mixed with vodka. However, it can also be used in cocktails with cognac, cynar, Lillet Blanc or Lillet Rosé, rum, tequila, or white port.
Albra (vodka, cynar, mint syrup, lemon juice, tonic water)
Cucumber cooler (gin, cucumber juice, pineapple syrup, lime juice, tonic water)
Gin and tonic
Gunga din (gin, pineapple juice, lime juice, simple syrup, cardamom pods, tonic)
Lavender blanc (Lillet blanc, Dolin blanc, lavender bitters, tonic water)
Peach fever (tequila, Bénédictine, muddled peach, tonic syrup)
Tequila and tonic (tequila, tonic water, lime juice)
Vodka tonic (vodka, tonic water)
Yellowjacket jubilee (gin, lavender cordial, ginger syrup, lemon juice, soda water) |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_VI_of_Montpellier | William VI of Montpellier | William VI or Guillem VI (died 1161) was the eldest son of William V and his wife Ermessende, daughter of Count Peter I of Melgueil. William succeeded his father in the lordship of Montpellier in 1121, while still a minor, under his mother's guardianship. He suppressed a revolt of the bourgeoisie in 1143 and participated in several military campaigns of the Reconquista in Spain (1134, 1146–47). He also increased the public character of the lordship in Montpellier and supported the growth of its trade.
== Power sharing ==
At the beginning of William's reign, secular authority in Montpellier was shared between the Guillem dynasty, the hereditary viguiers of the town, and the Bishop of Montpellier. In 1139 William confirmed the vicarage to the heirs of the old viguier Bernard Guillem, and the surviving document shows that the viguier's power has increased since 1103 and was probably at its height. William did secure the reaffirmation of his seigneurial rights at Castelnau (1132, 1138) and Lattes (1140). In 1139 William possessed several censives in the suburb of Villa Nova. A cens (plural censives) was a right to tax land, although earlier it had probably been a right to tax persons. By the twelfth-century it could be applied to the lands owing taxes.
In 1140 a dispute arose between William VI and the bishop over jurisdiction in Montpellieret. The bishop alleged that William was extending the walls and fortifications of the town to encompass some of the episcopal section of Montpellieret and was forcing vassals of the church of Montpellier to contribute to the local defence fund: "William had built a fortification [vallam] to wall his city in the tenancy of the bishop [and had made] the men of Montpellier, and other men of [the cathedral of] the Blessed Peter, [contribute to] the collection of the commune [communitas] of Montpellier." This may show that control of the walls and fortifications was already in the hands of the bourgeoisie, as it certainly was by 1196. It is probable that William was the first lord of Montpellier to oversee the extension of the walls to include territory judicially under the control of all three leading figures in the town.
William's feudal rights included the fealty and homage of several castellanies in the region around Montpellier. He procured general oaths of loyalty from the castellans of these in 1130 and again in 1147. He purchased the castle of Pouget in 1129, and bestowed it on his brother, William of Aumelas, and purchased that of Santeragues in 1147–48. Among the castles which William controlled (some more than others) were Montferrier, Pignan, Coronsec, Frontignan, Valmale and Saint-Pons-de-Mauchiens.
== Town administration ==
William inherited the services of two scribes who had worked for his father since at least 1103. One named William, who described himself as a "scribe of Lord William of Montpellier" (scriba domini Guillelmi Montispessulani), operated as late as 1139. Another, Girbertus, officially became scribe in 1113 and continued to serve down to 1125. William VI also hired his own scribe, Petrus Angelus, between the years 1128 and 1136. Early in William's reign documents start to sharply distinguish knights and other noblemen from burgesses in the witness lists, either by surnames or by title of occupation. In 1139 William instituted an administrative change: he began using a notary (notarius) named Durantus instead of a mere scribe (scriba). He served for the remainder of William's reign.
In 1146, William, in preparation for his journey into Spain, handed the government of the town over to his mother, stipulating that should she die it would pass to three burgesses, Olricus Adalguerius, Guillelmus Letericus and Atbrandus, to govern "with the counsel of the other witnesses of this testament." These three burgesses reappear as witnesses to William's last will, indicating their closeness to the ruling clan. In 1149 William purchased the jus naufragii (the right to salvage shipwrecks) from the Count of Melgueil for 3,000 sous melgoriens. The sou minted at Melgueil was the standard currency of the region, and William was vigilant to insist that the counts of Melgueil not debase it, to detriment of Montpellier's commerce. In 1128, in concluding a war with his son-in-law, Count Bernard IV of Melgueil, William extorted a promise that the coinage would not be debased. William himself controlled the mint, however, and in 1130 he had to agree not issue any coinage on his own authority, but only with the approval of the count. These agreements were confirmed in 1132, 1135 and 1145–46.
== Revolt of 1141–43 ==
In 1141–42 the viguier Aimon, at the head of the bourgeoisie, led a revolt against William and expelled him from the town. Alfonso Jordan, the Count of Toulouse, "attempted to fish in troubled waters", receiving a strong rebuke from Pope Anacletus II, with whom William VI had a close relationship bordering on an outright alliance. Despite papal support for William, the bishop refused to intervene against the viguier, but with Genoese and Aragonese backing he succeeded in taking back the town after a lengthy siege in 1143, to which Genoa contributed four galleys. The Chronique Romane highlights the role of Raymond Berengar IV of Barcelona and the siege-induced famine in the surrender of the town:
In the year one thousand, one hundred and forty-one, the men of Montpellier ejected lord William of Montpellier from the city, and the lord went to Lattes, and the battle endured two years. The count of Barcelona returned to him [William] the city through a siege. And at that time ten beans were worth one denarius. (En lan de M et C et XLI, giteron los homes de Montpellier en Guillem de Montpellier de la vila, et anet sen a Latas, e duret la batalla II ans: el coms de Barsalona rendet li la villa per assetge: et adones valian X favas 1 d.)
Immediately William set about to destroy the power of the viguier. He razed their castle within the town walls and revoked their judicial privileges and their separate court. With Aragonese assistance he initiated new construction on his family's castle in the north of the town. This phase of improvement was not ended until 1152. These moves, and probable the conciliation of the disaffected bourgeoisie, were successful in removing the hereditary viguiers, the Aimons, from a place of influence.
In the aftermath, the process by which the lords of Montpellier "took on a public character, become something more than mere feudal lords," was accelerated. A letter to his Genoese allies dated 1143 begins "William of Montpellier and his burgesses". The coinciding interests of the merchant class and their feudal lords, whose revenues increasingly depended on taxes on commerce, sped up the process by which the lords became representative of the town.
== Reconquista ==
In 1134 William VI was with King Alfonso VII of León and Castile when he besieged and took Zaragoza. There he paid homage to and became a vassal of Alfonso. The submission of García Ramírez, the king of Navarre, as well as "many other nobles from Gascony and France had become his vassals" was the justification for Alfonso's coronation as Emperor of Spain in 1135. Among the vassals from Languedoc only William of Montpellier is singled out by name in the Chronica Adefonsi imperatoris, the contemporary account of Alfonso's reign:
All of the nobles from Gascony and from the area up to the Rhone River, including William of Montpellier, came to Alfonso in a spirit of mutual accord. They received silver, gold, horses and many different precious gifts from him. They all became his vassals, and they were obedient to him in all things. . . He presented them with arms and other items. Hence the boundaries of the kingdom of Alfonso, ruler of León, extended from the shores of the Atlantic Ocean, near where the city of our holy patron Santiago is located, all the way to the Rhone River.
In 1146 Alfonso sent Arnaldo, the bishop of Astorga, as his envoy to the courts of Barcelona and Montpellier, requesting them to come in August 1147 for the siege of Almería "for the redemption of their souls". According to the Chronica, "they received his invitation with joy [and] promised to be present alongside of the Genoese [who were providing the fleet]." After participating in the capture of Almería, William also took part in another joint military venture: the reconquest of Tortosa. William and the count of Barcelona were among the soldiers awaiting the arrival of the Genoese fleet at the mouth of the Ebro on 12 July 1148. According to the Genoese account, the Ystoria captionis Almarie et Turtuose of Cafarus, the lords of Barcelona and Montpellier camped atop "Mount Magnara", one of two hills overlooking Tortosa, while the other foreign troops, mostly English, French and Flemish knights who had participated in the siege of Lisbon the year before, camped on the hill called "Romelinus". After the conquest of Tortosa, one of William's younger sons was made co-lord of the city.
== Marriage and alliance with Aragon ==
William VI's wife was named Sibylla, of Catalan origin. (According to documents adduced at the annulment of the marriage of Marie of Montpellier, her great-granddaughter, she was the daughter of Boniface del Vasto and therefore the sister of Manfred I of Saluzzo, but this cannot be confirmed.) The marriage was less an alliance between William and a minor aristocratic family from Catalonia than a tightening of ties with the House of Barcelona, soon to rule a complex of territories north and south of the Pyrenees. The support the count of Toulouse gave to the rebels of 1141–43 was part of the larger rivalry between Toulouse and Aragon (Barcelona) for power in Occitania, a conflict in which the lords of Montpellier gradually built up an alliance with the Aragonese, even though their overlords, the counts of Melgueil, with whom they were related, were Toulousain partisans.
William VI and Sibylla had five sons and all except Bernard William, who died before 1172, played a prominent role in Occitan politics. The eldest, William VII, succeeded his father; Raymond William became a monk and later a bishop; another William, who became co-lord of Tortosa after its conquest, married Ermessende of Castries, joined the Templars in 1157, vowed to go on crusade to the Holy Land for a year, and there died; and Gui Guerrejat later served regent for his nephews, the sons of William VII. William VI and Sibylla also had three daughters: Guillelme (or Guillemette), who married first Bernard IV of Melgueil and later Viscount Bernard Ato V; Alais (or Azalais), who married Eble III of Ventadorn; and Ermessende, who married Raymond Stephen of Servian. Guillemette's first marriage was part of an agreement (convenientia) of 1120 between her father and husband by which the former gained control of the Melgorian mint when Bernard mortgaged it to him for 7,000 sous. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Challenge_(TV_series) | The Challenge (TV series) | The Challenge (originally known as Road Rules: All Stars, followed by Real World/Road Rules Challenge) is a reality competition show on MTV that is a spin-off of two of the network's reality shows, The Real World and Road Rules and originally featured alumni from these two shows. Casting for The Challenge has expanded over the years to include contestants who debuted on The Challenge itself, and other MTV franchises. Starting in 2018, new contestants were chosen outside of the MTV network programming. The contestants compete against one another in various extreme challenges to avoid elimination. The winners of the final challenge win the competition and typically share a large cash prize. The Challenge is currently hosted by T. J. Lavin.
The series premiered on April 20, 1998. The show was originally titled Road Rules: All Stars, and had notable Real World alumni participated in a Road Rules style road-trip. It was renamed Real World/Road Rules Challenge for the 2nd season, then later abridged to simply The Challenge by the show's 19th season. Since the fourth season, each season has supplied the show with a unique subtitle, such as Rivals. Each season consists of a format and theme from which the subtitle is derived.
The show's forty-first season, titled Vets & New Threats, premiered on July 30, 2025.
== Overview ==
The Challenge casts are season-specific as the cast varies from season to season. The casts are made up of contestants originating from one of The Challenge's related TV programs and, in a few seasons, previously unknown contestants. The cast usually contains both "veterans" (or vets) and "rookies". Veterans are thought of as players that have won at least one Challenge season or have appeared on several seasons of the show; Rookies refer to newer players. Many recent alumni come from various reality shows including Survivor, The Amazing Race, Are You the One?, Big Brother, Ex on the Beach, Vanderpump Rules and Love Island as well as non-reality entertainment and sports programs.
A season's typical multitude of cast members are usually divided up into separate teams or pairs according to a certain criterion, which varies from season to season. The criteria that teams have been arranged by over the show's history have ranged from: gender, the contestants' original show, heroic or villainous status, rivals, countries, family members and ex-romantic partners. Contestants compete in numerous missions in order to win prizes and advance in the overall game. The format of the competition varies by season. In elimination rounds, contestants or teams compete against each other to determine who is eliminated from the season. Each season has its own, distinctive elimination round, distinguished from those of other seasons. Sporadically throughout the course of each episode, various contestants are seen privately expressing themselves through reality TV confessionals about the events taking place on the show.
Some seasons, however, have used entirely different formats from the typical ones: The Island is one Challenge in particular that adopted many features atypical to Real World/Road Rules Challenge, instead taking concepts like that of another reality television game show Survivor; as another example, the first season (Road Rules: All Stars) ironically, only included contestants from The Real World and consisted of a much smaller cast before the show was completely restructured in its second season. Except for season one, a monetary prize has always been the award for winning the final mission.
== Hosts ==
The series initially used no hosts but instead a former cast member who had been kicked off his or her season, providing assignments as "Mr." or "Ms. Big" (David "Puck" Rainey, David Edwards, and Gladys Sanabria served this role). After one season without anyone in this role, the series began using hosts: Eric Nies and Mark Long co-hosted a season, and Jonny Moseley and Dave Mirra hosted various seasons before T. J. Lavin became the show's regular host by the 11th season.
== History ==
Over time, a playful rivalry developed between the cast of Road Rules and The Real World, with the former occasionally attempting to prank the latter while it was in production. During the filming of The Real World: Boston and Road Rules: Islands, the two casts met while the Real World cast was vacationing in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Producers set up a face-off where both teams would compete for a cash prize. The episode brought in high ratings and this set ideas in motion to produce the spin-off series. The series started airing in April 1998 as Road Rules: All Stars, and featured cast members from five seasons of The Real World. Another face-off called AquaGames, hosted by Kit Hoover and Mark Long, was between The Real World: Seattle and Road Rules: Down Under and aired as part of those shows later in 1998.
After Road Rules: All Stars, producers decided to include former cast members of Road Rules in the series as well. In the next season, two six-member teams were sent around the world in a competition to see which show could best the other in head-to-head competition. The series followed the format for three years. Following the successful boom of reality television in the new millennium, from shows like Survivor, producers decided to add new elements to the series. 2002's Battle of the Seasons was the first season to depart from the previous six-member structure and brought in a large group of former cast members to compete in one location. The show added in eliminations, with earlier season incorporated voting off by majority, that eventually changed to elimination competitions between cast members.
== Cast members ==
Contestants are various reality television cast members from different television shows. Originally the cast consisted of The Real World and Road Rules alumni, and cast who debuted directly on The Challenge, but eventually MTV expanded it to other alumni from other reality shows and networks.
== Seasons ==
== Spin-offs ==
=== The Challenge: Champs vs. Stars ===
The Challenge: Champs vs. Stars (originally known as The Challenge: Champs vs. Pros) is a special recurring mini-series of The Challenge. In each multi-week event, alumni from The Challenge compete against celebrities to win money for charity.
=== The Challenge: All Stars ===
In 2020, Road Rules: USA – The First Adventure alumnus Mark Long started asking his social media followers if they'd be interested in seeing former cast members of The Challenge coming together for a new version of the series. The movement was titled "We Want OGs." After his idea went viral, he announced a partnership with Bunim/Murray Productions to further develop his project and began gauging interest from potential former cast members. On February 24, 2021, the show was officially announced as The Challenge: All Stars.
=== The Challenge: World Championship & International versions ===
In February 2022, different series of The Challenge were announced, this included three international adaptations for Australia, Argentina, the UK, as well as The Challenge: USA, another American series which aired on CBS with CBS reality show alumni. All editions of the series aired locally on a Paramount-affiliated network and were available globally to stream on Paramount+. These four series were followed by The Challenge: World Championship, which features winners and notable players from the international adaptations and the main series of The Challenge competing for a grand prize. On May 22, 2023, following the conclusion of World Championship, CBS announced that a second season of The Challenge: USA would premiere on August 10, 2023. On June 27, 2024, it was announced that a Swedish version of The Challenge would be airing on TV4 starting on August 12, 2024, marking the first series in the franchise to be produced outside of Bunim/Murray Productions.
Versions
== Specials ==
=== Spring Break Challenge ===
In March 2010, prior to the airing of the 19th season, MTV aired a special spring break spin-off of The Challenge filmed at the Playa Suites Hotel in Acapulco, Mexico. The five-episode spin-off was titled Spring Break Challenge and aired from March 22–26, 2010. The season featured seven Challenge alum who coached teams of college-aged friends through various challenges and elimination rounds in an attempt to win $50,000 in cash and prizes. Fresh Meat alumnus Evan Starkman and The Real World: Key West alumna Paula Meronek served as broadcasters, with T. J. Lavin as the host. Camila Nakagawa, a contestant of the winning team, went on to appear on future challenges, with her debut season being Cutthroat. Nakagawa is the only player to appear on the main series.
=== The Challenge: CT's Getting Married ===
The Challenge: CT's Getting Married is a two-part special revolving around the wedding of Challenge star Chris "CT" Tamburello and Lilianet Solares. MTV released the trailer and premiere date on November 20, 2018. The two-week special premiered on December 11, 2018, and concluded on December 18, 2018.
=== The Challenge: Untold History ===
The Challenge: Untold History is a six-part documentary about The Challenge. It featured over 30 former competitors and several celebrity fans, discussing the show and telling behind the scenes stories. It premiered on September 21, 2022, on MTV. A sneak preview was shown during the Unscripted portion of the 2022 MTV Movie & TV Awards.
=== The Challenge: Home Turf ===
The Challenge: Home Turf is a YouTube docuseries which premiered on January 29, 2024. The docuseries focuses on eight cast members visiting their hometown and sharing stories about their career and upbringing. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Australia | Western Australia | Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Australia is Australia's largest state, with a land area of 2,527,013 square kilometres (975,685 sq mi), and is also the second-largest subdivision of any country on Earth.
Western Australia has a diverse range of climates, including tropical conditions in the Kimberley, deserts in the interior (including the Great Sandy Desert, Little Sandy Desert, Gibson Desert, and Great Victoria Desert) and a Mediterranean climate on the south-west and southern coastal areas. As of June 2024, the state has 2.965 million inhabitants—10.9 percent of the national total. Over 90 percent of the state's population live in the south-west corner and around 80 percent live in the state capital Perth, leaving the remainder of the state sparsely populated. The Trans-Australian Railway and the Eyre Highway traverse the Nullarbor Plain in the state's south-east, providing the principal connection between Western Australia and the population centres in the eastern states.
Western Australia's Indigenous peoples have been present for tens of thousands of years. Dutch explorers visited Western Australia from the 17th century, with Dirk Hartog's 1616 expedition the first Europeans to make landfall. The British claimed Western Australia in 1827 and established the Swan River Colony with Perth as its capital in 1829. The Western Australian gold rushes of the late 19th century resulted in a significant population influx. The colony was granted responsible government in 1890, the last of the Australian colonies to become self-governing, and federated with the other colonies in 1901.
Western Australia's mining sector is a key driver of the state economy. The late 20th century saw the development of the state's significant iron ore mining industry – the world's largest – as well as primarily offshore petroleum and natural gas resources. Gold mining retains a significant presence and many other mineral commodities are mined, with Perth being a major centre for associated services. Outside of mining, primary industry is the other significant contributor to the state's economy, including agriculture in the Wheatbelt and temperate southern coastal regions, pastoralism in marginal grassland areas, forestry in the south-west and fishing (including pearling and, historically, whaling).
== History ==
Western Australia has a geological history dating back to 4.4 billion years ago when Hadean zircons were formed. The earliest direct known life on land, known as stromatolites, started to be created by microbes at around 3.48 billion years ago.
The first human inhabitants of Australia arrived from the north "over 50,000 years ago and possibly as much as 70,000 years ago". Over thousands of years they eventually spread across the whole landmass. These Indigenous Australians were long established throughout Western Australia by the time European explorers began to arrive in the early 17th century.
The first Europeans to visit Western Australia were those of the Dutch Dirk Hartog expedition, who on 25 October 1616 landed at what is now known as Cape Inscription, Dirk Hartog Island. For the rest of the 17th century, other Dutch and British navigators encountered the coast of what Abel Tasman named New Holland in 1644, usually unintentionally as demonstrated by the many shipwrecks along the coast of ships that deviated from the Brouwer Route (because of poor navigation and storms). By the late 18th century, British and French sailors had begun to explore the Western Australian coast. The Baudin expedition of 1800–03 included the coast of Western Australia and resulted in the Freycinet Map of 1811, the first published map featuring the full outline of Australia. The name New Holland remained in popular and semi-official use until at least the mid-1850s; that is, it was in use for about 206 years in comparison to the name Australia which to date has been in use for about 197 years.
The origins of the present state began with the establishment by Edmund Lockyer of a convict-supported settlement from New South Wales at King George III Sound. The settlement was formally annexed on 21 January 1827 by Lockyer when he commanded the Union Jack be raised and a feu de joie fired by the troops. The settlement was founded in response to British concerns about the possibility of a French colony being established on the coast of Western Australia. On 7 March 1831 it was transferred to the control of the Swan River Colony, and named Albany in 1832.
In 1829 the Swan River Colony was established on the Swan River by Captain James Stirling. By 1832, the British settler population of the colony had reached around 1,500, and the official name of the colony was changed to Western Australia on 6 February that year. The two separate townsites of the colony developed slowly into the port city of Fremantle and the state's capital, Perth. York was the first inland settlement in Western Australia, situated 97 kilometres (60 mi) east of Perth and settled on 16 September 1831. York was the staging point for early explorers who discovered the rich gold reserves of Kalgoorlie.
Population growth was very slow until significant discoveries of gold were made in the 1890s around Kalgoorlie.
In 1887, a new constitution was drafted, providing for the right of self-governance of European Australians, and in 1890, the act granting self-government to the colony was passed by the British Parliament. John Forrest became the first Premier of Western Australia.
In 1896, after discoveries of gold at Coolgardie and Kalgoorlie, the Western Australian Parliament authorised the raising of a loan to construct a pipeline to transport 23 megalitres (5 million imperial gallons) of water per day to the burgeoning population on the goldfields. The pipeline, known as the Goldfields Water Supply Scheme, was completed in 1903. C. Y. O'Connor, Western Australia's first engineer-in-chief, designed and oversaw the construction of the pipeline. It carries water 530 km (330 mi) from Perth to Kalgoorlie, and is attributed by historians as an important factor driving the state's population and economic growth.
Following a campaign led by Forrest, electors of the colony of Western Australia voted in favour of federation with the five other Australian colonies, resulting in Western Australia officially becoming a state on 1 January 1901.
=== "West Australia" ===
"West Australia" and its related demonym "West Australian" are occasionally used, including in the names of the main daily newspaper, The West Australian, and the state-based West Australian Football League, but are rarely used in an official sense. The terms "Westralia" and "Westralian" were regularly used in the 19th and 20th century. The terms are still found in the names of certain companies and buildings, e.g. Westralia House in Perth, the skyscraper Westralia Square on St Georges Terrace, and Westralia Airports Corporation, which operates Perth Airport, as well as in the names of several ships.
== Geography ==
Western Australia is bounded to the east nominally by longitude 129°E, the meridian 129 degrees east of Greenwich, although the actual border with South Australia and the Northern Territory (as surveyed and marked or otherwise indicated on the ground) deviates from 129° east and is not a single straight line, and bounded by the Indian Ocean to the west and north. The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) designates the body of water south of the continent as part of the Indian Ocean; in Australia it is officially gazetted as the Southern Ocean.
The total length of the state's eastern border is 1,862 km (1,157 mi). There are 20,781 km (12,913 mi) of coastline, including 7,892 km (4,904 mi) of island coastline. The total land area occupied by the state is 2.5 million km2 (970 thousand mi2).
=== Geology ===
The bulk of Western Australia consists of the extremely old Yilgarn craton and Pilbara craton which merged with the Deccan Plateau of India, Madagascar and the Kaapvaal and Zimbabwe cratons of Southern Africa, in the Archean Eon to form Ur, one of the oldest supercontinents on Earth (3–3.2 billion years ago). In May 2017, evidence of the earliest known life on land may have been found in 3.48-billion-year-old geyserite and other related mineral deposits (often found around hot springs and geysers) uncovered in the Pilbara craton.
Because the only mountain-building since then has been of the Stirling Range with the rifting from Antarctica, the land is extremely eroded and ancient, with no part of the state above 1,249 metres (4,098 ft) AHD (at Mount Meharry in the Hamersley Range of the Pilbara region). Most of the state is a low plateau with an average elevation of about 400 metres (1,200 ft), very low relief, and no surface runoff. This descends relatively sharply to the coastal plains, in some cases forming a sharp escarpment (as with the Darling Range/Darling Scarp near Perth).
The extreme age of the landscape has meant that the soils are remarkably infertile and frequently laterised. Even soils derived from granitic bedrock contain an order of magnitude less available phosphorus and only half as much nitrogen as soils in comparable climates in other continents. Soils derived from extensive sandplains or ironstone are even less fertile, nearly devoid of soluble phosphate and deficient in zinc, copper, molybdenum and sometimes potassium and calcium.
The infertility of most of the soils has required heavy application by farmers of fertilisers. These have resulted in damage to invertebrate and bacterial populations. The grazing and use of hoofed mammals and, later, heavy machinery through the years have resulted in compaction of soils and great damage to the fragile soils.
Large-scale land clearing for agriculture has damaged habitats for native flora and fauna. As a result, the South West region of the state has a higher concentration of rare, threatened or endangered flora and fauna than many areas of Australia, making it one of the world's biodiversity "hot spots". Large areas of the state's wheatbelt region have problems with dryland salinity and the loss of fresh water.
=== Climate ===
The southwest coastal area has a Mediterranean climate. It was originally heavily forested, including large stands of karri, one of the tallest trees in the world. This agricultural region is one of the nine most bio-diverse terrestrial habitats, with a higher proportion of endemic species than most other equivalent regions. Thanks to the offshore Leeuwin Current, the area is one of the top six regions for marine biodiversity and contains the most southerly coral reefs in the world.
Average annual rainfall varies from 300 millimetres (12 in) at the edge of the Wheatbelt region to 1,400 millimetres (55 in) in the wettest areas near Northcliffe, but from November to March, evaporation exceeds rainfall, and it is generally very dry. Plants are adapted to this as well as the extreme poverty of all soils.
The central two-thirds of the state is arid and sparsely inhabited. The only significant economic activity is mining. Annual rainfall averages less than 300 millimetres (8–10 in), most of which occurs in sporadic torrential falls related to cyclone events in summer.
An exception to this is the northern tropical regions. The Kimberley has an extremely hot monsoonal climate with average annual rainfall ranging from 500 to 1,500 millimetres (20–60 in), but there is a very long almost rainless season from April to November. Eighty-five percent of the state's runoff occurs in the Kimberley, but because it occurs in violent floods and because of the insurmountable poverty of the generally shallow soils, the only development has taken place along the Ord River.
Snow is rare in the state and typically occurs only in the Stirling Range near Albany, as it is the only mountain range far enough south and sufficiently elevated. More rarely, snow can fall on the nearby Porongurup Range. Snow outside these areas is a major event; it usually occurs in hilly areas of southwestern Australia. The most widespread low-level snow occurred on 26 June 1956 when snow was reported in the Perth Hills, as far north as Wongan Hills and as far east as Salmon Gums. However, even in the Stirling Range, snowfalls rarely exceed 5 cm (2 in) and rarely settle for more than one day.
The highest observed temperature of 50.7 °C (123.3 °F) was recorded in Onslow on 13 January 2022. The lowest temperature recorded was −7.2 °C (19.0 °F) at Eyre Bird Observatory on 17 August 2008.
The South Geomagnetic Pole is currently tilted 10 degrees away from the South Pole towards Western Australia, allowing for aurora australis displays as far north as Geraldton.
=== Flora and fauna ===
Western Australia is home to around 630 species of birds (depending on the taxonomy used). Of these around 15 are endemic to the state. The best areas for birds are the southwestern corner of the state and the area around Broome and the Kimberley.
The Flora of Western Australia comprises 10,162 published native vascular plant species, along with a further 1,196 species currently recognised but unpublished. They occur within 1,543 genera from 211 families; there are also 1,276 naturalised alien or invasive plant species, more commonly known as weeds. In the southwest region are some of the largest numbers of plant species for its area in the world.
Western Australia's ecoregions include the sandstone gorges of the Kimberley on the northern coast, and below that the drier Victoria Plains tropical savanna inland, and the semi-desert Pilbara shrublands, Carnarvon xeric shrublands, and Western Australian mulga shrublands to the southwest. Southwards along the coast are the Southwest Australia savanna and the Swan Coastal Plain around Perth, with the Jarrah-Karri forest and shrublands on the southwest corner of the coast around the Margaret River wine-growing area. Going east along the Southern Ocean coast is the Goldfields-Esperance region, including the Esperance mallee and the Coolgardie woodlands inland around town of Coolgardie. Deserts occupy the interior, including the Great Sandy-Tanami desert, Gibson Desert, Great Victoria Desert, and Nullarbor Plain.
In 1831, Scottish botanist Robert Brown produced a scientific paper, titled General view of the botany of the vicinity of Swan River. It discusses the vegetation of the Swan River Colony.
== Demographics ==
Europeans began to settle permanently in 1826 when Albany was claimed by Britain to forestall French claims to the western third of the continent. Perth was founded as the Swan River Colony in 1829 by British and Irish settlers, though the outpost languished. Its officials eventually requested convict labour to augment its population. By the time transportation ceased in 1868, convicts outnumbered free settlers 9,700 to 7,300. In the 1890s, interstate immigration, resulting from a mining boom in the Goldfields region, resulted in a sharp population increase.
Western Australia did not receive significant flows of immigrants from Britain, Ireland or elsewhere in the British Empire until the early 20th century. At that time, its local projects—such as the Group Settlement Scheme of the 1920s, which encouraged farmers to settle the southwest—increased awareness of Australia's western third as a destination for colonists.
Led by immigrants from the British Isles, Western Australia's population developed at a faster rate during the twentieth century than it had previously. After World War II, both the eastern states and Western Australia received large numbers of Italians, Croatians and Macedonians. Despite this, Britain has contributed the greatest number of immigrants to this day. Western Australia—particularly Perth—has the highest proportion of British-born of any state: 10.3% in 2011, compared to a national average of 5.1%. This group is heavily concentrated in certain parts, where they account for a quarter of the population.
Perth's metropolitan area (including Mandurah) had an estimated population of 2,043,138 in June 2017 (79% of the state). Other significant population centres include Bunbury (73,989), Geraldton (37,961), Kalgoorlie-Boulder (30,420), Albany (33,998), Karratha (16,446), Broome (14,501) and Port Hedland (14,285).
=== Ancestry and immigration ===
At the 2016 census, the most commonly nominated ancestries were:
3.1% of the population, or 75,978 people, identified as Indigenous Australians (Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islanders) in 2016.
=== Language ===
At the 2016 census, 75.2% of inhabitants spoke only English at home, with the next most common languages being Mandarin (1.9%), Italian (1.2%), Vietnamese (0.8%), Cantonese (0.8%) and Tagalog (0.6%).
=== Religion ===
According to the 2021 census, Christianity is the major religious affiliation in WA, followed by 41.1% of its population. In 1971, Christianity was followed by 85.5% of the population and it has been declining since, while the percentage of people who identified as having no religious affiliation has increased from 8.7% in 1971 to 42.9% in 2021.
A small minority of the population are Muslims (2.5%), Buddhists (2.2%) and Hindus (2.0%).
== Economy ==
Western Australia's economy is largely driven by extraction and processing of a diverse range of mineral and petroleum commodities. The structure of the economy is closely linked to these natural resources, providing a comparative advantage in resource extraction and processing. As a consequence:
Western Australia contributes an estimated 58% of Australia's Mineral and Energy Exports, potentially earning up to 4.64% of Australia's total GDP.
Gross state product per person ($97,940 in 2017–18) is higher than any other state and well above the national average ($73,267).
Diversification (i.e. a greater range of commodities) over the past 15 years has provided a more balanced production base and less reliance on just a few major export markets, insulating the economy from fluctuations in world prices to some extent.
Finance, insurance and property services and construction have grown steadily and have increased their share of economic output.
Recent growth in global demand for minerals and petroleum, especially in China (iron-ore) and Japan (for LNG), has ensured economic growth above the national average.
In 2019 Western Australia's overseas exports accounted for 46% of the nation's total. The state's major export commodities included iron-ore, petroleum, gold, alumina, nickel, wheat, copper, lithium, chemicals and mineral sands.
Western Australia is the world's largest iron-ore producer (34% of the world's total), and extracts 66% (6.9% of world production) of Australia's 306 tonnes (9.8 million troy ounces) of gold in 2022. It is a major world producer of bauxite, which is processed into alumina at four refineries providing 11% of total world production. Until 2020 diamonds were extracted from the world's largest diamond mine in the far north Kimberley region. Coal mined at Collie is the main fuel for baseload electricity generation in the state's south-west.
Agricultural production in WA is a major contributor to the state and national economy. In the period 2010–2019 wheat production in WA has averaged nearly 10 million tonnes (22 billion pounds), valued at $2.816 billion in 2019, accounting for half the nation's total and providing $2–3 billion in export income.
Other significant farm output includes wool, beef, lamb, barley, canola, lupins, oats and pulses. There is a high level of overseas demand for live animals from WA, driven mainly by southeast Asia's feedlots and Middle Eastern countries, where Islamic dietary laws and a lack of storage and refrigeration facilities favour live animals over imports of processed meat. About half of Australia's live cattle exports come from Western Australia.
Resource sector growth in recent years has resulted in significant labour and skills shortages, leading to recent efforts by the state government to encourage interstate and overseas immigration. According to the 2006 census, the median individual income was A$500 per week in Western Australia (compared to A$466 in Australia as a whole). The median family income was A$1246 per week (compared to A$1171 for Australia). Recent growth has also contributed to significant rises in average property values in 2006, although values plateaued in 2007.
Located south of Perth, the heavy industrial area of Kwinana had the nation's largest oil refinery with a capacity of 23,200 cubic metres per day (146,000 barrels per day) until its closure in 2021, producing most of the state's petrol and diesel. Kwinana also hosts alumina and nickel processing plants, port facilities for grain and other bulk exports, and support industries for mining and petroleum such as heavy and light engineering, and metal fabrication. Shipbuilding (e.g. Austal) and associated support industries are found at nearby Henderson, just north of Kwinana. Significant secondary industries include cement and building product manufacturing, flour milling, food processing, animal feed production, automotive body building and printing.
Western Australia has a significant fishing industry. Products for local consumption and export include western rock lobsters, prawns, crabs, shark and tuna, as well as pearl fishing in the Kimberley region of the state. Processing is conducted along the west coast. Whaling was a key marine industry but ceased at Albany in 1978.
Western Australia has the world's biggest plantations of both Indian sandalwood (northern WA) and Australian sandalwood (semi-arid regions), which are used to produce sandalwood oil and incense. The WA sandalwood industry provides about 40% of the international sandalwood oil market.
=== Tourism ===
In the 2000s, tourism grew in importance, with significant numbers of visitors to the state in 2008 coming from the UK and Ireland (28%), other European countries (14%) Singapore (16%), Japan (10%) and Malaysia (8%). Revenue from tourism is a strong economic driver in many of the smaller population centres outside of Perth, especially in coastal locations.
Tourism forms a major part of the Western Australian economy with 833,100 international visitors making up 12.8% of the total international tourism to Australia in the year ending March 2015. The top three source markets include the United Kingdom (17%), Singapore (10%), and New Zealand (10%) with the majority of purpose for visitation being holiday/vacation reasons. The tourism industry contributes $9.3 billion to the Western Australian economy and supports 94,000 jobs within the state. Both directly and indirectly, the industry makes up 3.2% of the state's economy whilst comparatively, WA's largest revenue source, the mining sector, brings in 31%.
Tourism WA is the government agency responsible for promoting Western Australia as a holiday destination.
== Government ==
Western Australia was granted self-government in 1890 with a bicameral Parliament located in Perth, consisting of the Legislative Assembly (or lower house), which has 59 members; and the Legislative Council (or upper house), which has 36 members. Suffrage is universal and compulsory for citizens over 18 years of age.
With the federation of the Australian colonies in 1901, Western Australia became a state within Australia's federal structure; this involved ceding certain powers to the Commonwealth (or Federal) government in accordance with the Constitution; all powers not specifically granted to the Commonwealth remained solely with the State. However over time the Commonwealth has effectively expanded its powers through broad interpretation of its enumerated powers and increasing control of taxation and financial distribution (see Federalism in Australia).
Whilst the sovereign of Western Australia is the monarch of Australia (currently Charles III) and executive power is nominally vested in his or her state representative, the Governor (currently Chris Dawson), executive power rests with the premier and ministers drawn from the party or coalition of parties holding a majority of seats in the Legislative Assembly. Roger Cook is the premier, having succeeded Mark McGowan after his resignation in June 2023.
=== Secession ===
Secessionism has been a recurring feature of Western Australia's political landscape since shortly after European settlement in 1826. Western Australia was the most reluctant participant in the Commonwealth of Australia. Western Australia did not participate in the earliest federation conference. Longer-term residents of Western Australia were generally opposed to federation; however, the discovery of gold brought many immigrants from other parts of Australia. It was these residents, primarily in Kalgoorlie but also in Albany who voted to join the Commonwealth, and the proposal of these areas being admitted separately under the name Auralia was considered.
In a referendum in April 1933, 68% of voters voted for the state to leave the Commonwealth of Australia with the aim of returning to the British Empire as an autonomous territory. The State Government sent a delegation to Westminster, but the British Government ruled that after the Statute of Westminster 1931, it no longer had the authority to amend the constitution of Australia without the consent of its federal government; the British Government took no action.
=== Local government ===
Western Australia is divided into 139 Local Government Areas, including Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands. Their mandate and operations are governed by the Local Government Act 1995.
== Education ==
Education in Western Australia consists of one year of pre-school at age 4 or 5, followed by six years of primary education for all students as of 2015. At age 12 or 13, students begin six years of secondary education. Students are required to attend school up until they are 16 years old. 16- and 17-year-olds are required to be enrolled in school or a training organisation, be employed or be in a combination of school/training/employment. Students have the option to study at a TAFE college after Year 10, or continue through to Year 12 with vocational courses or university entrance courses.
There are five universities in Western Australia. They consist of four Perth-based public universities, being the University of Western Australia, Curtin University, Edith Cowan University and Murdoch University; and one Fremantle-based private Roman Catholic university, the University of Notre Dame Australia. The University of Notre Dame is also one of only two private universities in Australia, along with Bond University, a not-for-profit private education provider based in Gold Coast, Queensland.
== Media ==
=== Print ===
Western Australia has two daily newspapers: the Seven West Media-owned tabloid The West Australian and the Kalgoorlie Miner. Also published is one weekend paper, The Weekend West, and one Sunday tabloid newspaper, which is also owned by Seven West Media after purchase from News Corporation's The Sunday Times. There are also 17 weekly community newspapers with distribution from Yanchep in the north to Mandurah in the south. There are two major weekly rural papers in the state, Countryman and the Australian Community Media-owned Farm Weekly. The national broadsheet publication The Australian is also available, although with sales per capita lagging far behind those in other states. WAtoday is an online newspaper owned by Nine Entertainment, focusing its coverage on Perth and Western Australia.
=== Television ===
Metropolitan Perth has five broadcast television stations;
ABC TV WA. (Callsign: ABW – Channel 12 Digital)
SBS WA. (Callsign: SBS – was on Channel 29 Digital – now Channel 7 Digital since the 2013 retune)
Seven Network Perth. (Callsign: TVW – Channel 6 Digital)
Nine Network Perth. (Callsign: STW – Channel 8 Digital)
Network Ten Perth. (Callsign: NEW – Channel 11 Digital)
Perth formerly had West TV, a free-to-air community television channel that began broadcasting in April 2010 and ceased broadcasting in February 2020. It replaced Access 31, which ceased broadcasting in August 2008.
Regional WA has a similar availability of stations as Perth. Geographically, it is one of the largest television markets in the world, including almost one-third of the continent.
Golden West Network (GWN7). Owned by Seven West Media. (Callsigns: SSW South West, VEW Goldfields/Esperance, GTW Central West, WAW remote areas)
WIN Television WA. Affiliated with Nine (Callsign: WOW)
West Digital Television. Affiliated with Ten (Callsigns: SDW South West, VDW Goldfields/Esperance, GDW Central West, WDW remote areas)
Regional WA used to have Westlink. An open-narrowcast community-based television channel that was only on satellite until Westlink's discontinuation in 2018. (Satellite only)
In addition, broadcasters operate digital multichannels:
Pay TV services are provided by Foxtel, which acquired many of the assets and all the remaining subscribers of the insolvent Galaxy Television satellite service in 1998. Some metropolitan suburbs are serviced by Pay TV via cable; however, most of the metropolitan and rural areas can only access Pay TV via satellite.
=== Radio ===
Perth has many radio stations on both AM and FM frequencies. ABC stations include ABC NewsRadio (6PB 585 AM), ABC Radio Perth (6WF 720 AM), Radio National (6RN 810 AM), ABC Classic (6ABC 97.7FM) and Triple J (6JJJ 99.3FM). The six commercial stations are: Triple M (6PPM), Nova 93.7 (6PER), Mix 94.5 (6MIX), Gold 96FM (6NOW) and AM 882 (6PR), AM 1080 (6IX) and AM 1116 (6MM)
The leading community radio stations are Curtin FM 100.1, 6RTR FM 92.1, Sonshine FM 98.5 (6SON) and 91.3 SportFM (6WSM).
== Culture ==
=== Arts and entertainment ===
Western Australia is home to one of the country's leading performance training institutions, the acclaimed Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA), as well as a burgeoning theatrical and musical scene. Notable musicians and bands to have been born in or lived in Western Australia include Adam Brand, Ammonia, Karnivool, Birds of Tokyo, Bon Scott, Eskimo Joe, Johnny Young, Gyroscope, the John Butler Trio, Tame Impala, Kevin Mitchell, Tim Minchin, Troye Sivan, the Kill Devil Hills, Pendulum, the Pigram Brothers, Rolf Harris, Stella Donnelly and the Triffids. The West Australian Music Industry Awards (WAMis) have been awarded every year to the leading musicians and performers in WA since 2001.
Notable actors and television personalities from Western Australia include Heath Ledger, Sam Worthington, Ernie Dingo, Jessica Marais, Megan Gale, Rove McManus, Isla Fisher, and Melissa George. Films and television series filmed or partly filmed in Western Australia include Rabbit-Proof Fence, The Heights, Mystery Road, These Final Hours, Cloudstreet, Jasper Jones, Australia, Bran Nu Dae, Red Dog, ABBA: the Movie and Last Train to Freo.
Noted Western Australian Indigenous painters and artisans include Jack Dale Mengenen, Paddy Bedford, Queenie McKenzie, and siblings Nyuju Stumpy Brown and Rover Thomas.
The West Australian Symphony Orchestra (WASO) is based at the Perth Concert Hall. Other concert, performance and indoor sporting venues in Western Australia include His Majesty's Theatre, the State Theatre Centre of Western Australia, the Crown Theatre and Perth Arena, which opened in 2012. Performing arts companies based in Perth include the West Australian Ballet, the West Australian Opera, the Black Swan State Theatre Company and the Perth Theatre Company.
Western Australia has served as the setting for a number of works of Australian literature. Prominent authors include Katharine Susannah Prichard, Randolph Stow, Tim Winton, Kim Scott, Sally Morgan, Joan London, Mary Durack and Craig Silvey.
The public Art Gallery of Western Australia is part of the Perth Cultural Centre. Founded in 1895, it houses the State Art Collection, comprising works from local and international artists, dating back to the 1800s. The Perth Cultural Centre is also home to the Western Australian Museum, State Library of Western Australia, State Records Office, and Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts (PICA). Western Australia has a public library system, with libraries in every local government area (although some public libraries are shared school libraries).
=== Sport ===
A number of national or international sporting teams and events are based in the state, including:
Australian rules football: The West Coast Eagles and the Fremantle Dockers compete in the Australian Football League (AFL). They also have women's teams playing in the AFL Women's league. The West Australian Football League (WAFL) is the main local football competition, but other local and amateur football leagues exist across the state.
Baseball: The Perth Heat compete in the Australian Baseball League.
Basketball: The Perth Wildcats (men) and Perth Lynx (women) compete in the National Basketball League and Women's National Basketball League, respectively.
Cricket: Western Australia represent the state in first-class and List A domestic cricket, with the Perth Scorchers competing in the Twenty20 Big Bash League.
Field hockey: The Thundersticks (men) and Diamonds (women) compete in the Australian Hockey League.
Ice hockey: The Perth Thunder (men) and Perth Inferno (women) compete in Australian Ice Hockey League (AIHL).
Netball: The West Coast Fever compete in the ANZ Championship.
Rugby league: The West Coast Pirates compete in the S. G. Ball Cup.
Rugby union: The Western Force competes in Super Rugby Pacific.
Soccer: Perth Glory field men's and women's teams in the A-League Men and A-League Women, respectively.
Tennis: The ITF Hopman Cup, an annual international team indoor hardcourt tennis tournament.
Water polo: The UWA Torpedoes water polo club competes in the National Water Polo League (NWPL).
Formula 1: The Formula 1 driver Daniel Ricciardo is from Perth.
International sporting events hosted in the past in Western Australia include the Tom Hoad Cup (water polo), the Perth International (golf), the 2006 Gravity Games (extreme sports), the 2002 Women's Hockey World Cup, the 1991 FINA World Aquatics Championships, the World Rally Championships and the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games.
Western Australia's largest sports stadium is Perth Stadium, also known by naming rights sponsorship as Optus Stadium. It has a capacity of over 60,000 people and is primarily used for Australian rules football and cricket.
=== Wine ===
Winemaking regions are concentrated in the cooler climate of the south-western portion of the state. Western Australia produces less than 5% of the country's wine output, but in quality terms is considered to be very much near the top. Major wine producing regions include: Margaret River, The Great Southern, Swan Valley as well as smaller districts including Blackwood Valley, Manjimup, Pemberton, Peel, Chittering Valley, Perth Hills, and Geographe.
== Public holidays ==
The table below outlines all recognised public holidays in Western Australia.
Indicates a nation wide holiday
== Sister states ==
Western Australia has five sister states:
East Java, Indonesia
Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan
Andhra Pradesh State, India
Tuscany Region, Italy
Zhejiang Province, China
In 1981, a sister state agreement was drawn up between Western Australia and Hyōgo Prefecture in Japan that was aimed at improving cultural ties between the two states. To commemorate the 10th anniversary of this agreement, the Hyōgo Prefectural Government Cultural Centre was established in Perth in 1992. Prior to that, the Western Australian government opened an office in Kobe, the largest city in Hyōgo, to facilitate maintenance of the relationship in 1989.
Following the Great Hanshin earthquake that devastated southern Hyōgo in January 1995, Western Australian groups and businesses raised funds and provided materials, whilst individuals travelled to Hyōgo to help with emergency relief and the subsequent reconstruction process. The two governments signed a memorandum of understanding on the 20th anniversary in 2001 that aimed to improve the economic relationship between the two states.
Further to the sister state relationship, the City of Rockingham in Western Australia and the City of Akō in Hyōgo signed a sister city agreement in 1997. It is one of nine sister city relationships between Western Australian and Japanese cities. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_W._Bush | George W. Bush | George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician, businessman, and former U.S. Air Force officer who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party and the eldest son of the 41st president, George H. W. Bush, he served as the 46th governor of Texas from 1995 to 2000.
Born into the prominent Bush family in New Haven, Connecticut, Bush flew warplanes in the Texas Air National Guard in his twenties. After graduating from Harvard Business School in 1975, he worked in the oil industry. He later co-owned the Major League Baseball team Texas Rangers before being elected governor of Texas in 1994. As governor, Bush successfully sponsored legislation for tort reform, increased education funding, set higher standards for schools, and reformed the criminal justice system. He also helped make Texas the leading producer of wind-generated electricity in the United States. In the 2000 presidential election, he defeated Democratic incumbent vice president Al Gore while losing the popular vote after a narrow and contested United States Electoral College win, which involved the Supreme Court decision Bush v. Gore to stop a recount in Florida.
In his first term, Bush signed a major tax-cut program and an education-reform bill, the No Child Left Behind Act. He pushed for socially conservative efforts such as the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act, restrictions on same-sex marriage, and faith-based initiatives. He also initiated the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, in 2003, to address the global AIDS epidemic. The September 11 attacks during 2001 decisively reshaped his administration, resulting in the start of the war on terror and the creation of the Department of Homeland Security. Bush ordered the invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to overthrow the Taliban, destroy al-Qaeda, and capture Osama bin Laden. He signed the Patriot Act to authorize surveillance of suspected terrorists. He also ordered the 2003 invasion of Iraq to overthrow Saddam Hussein's regime, falsely claiming it possessed weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) and had ties with al-Qaeda. Bush later signed the Medicare Modernization Act, which created Medicare Part D. In 2004, Bush was re-elected president in a close race, beating Democratic opponent John Kerry and winning the popular vote.
During his second term, Bush made various free trade agreements, appointed John Roberts and Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court, and sought major changes to Social Security and immigration laws, with both efforts failing in Congress. He was widely criticized for his administration's handling of Hurricane Katrina and revelations of torture against detainees at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. Amid his unpopularity, the Democrats regained control of Congress in the 2006 elections. Meanwhile, the Afghanistan and Iraq wars continued. In January 2007, Bush launched a surge of troops in Iraq. By December, the U.S. entered the Great Recession, prompting his administration and Congress to push through economic programs intended to preserve the country's financial system, including the Troubled Asset Relief Program.
After his second term, he returned to Texas, and has maintained a low public profile there. At various points in his presidency, Bush was among both the most popular and the most unpopular presidents in U.S. history. He received the highest recorded approval ratings in the wake of the September 11 attacks, and one of the lowest ratings during the 2008 financial crisis. Bush left office as one of the most unpopular U.S. presidents; however, public opinion of him has improved in his post-presidency. Scholars and historians rank Bush as a below-average president.
== Early life and career ==
George Walker Bush was born on July 6, 1946, at Grace-New Haven Hospital in New Haven, Connecticut. He is the first child of George Herbert Walker Bush and Barbara Pierce, and was raised in Midland and Houston, Texas. His five siblings are Robin, Jeb, Neil, Marvin and Dorothy. Robin died from leukemia at the age of three in 1953. His paternal grandfather, Prescott Bush, was a U.S. senator from Connecticut. His father was Ronald Reagan's vice president from 1981 to 1989 and the 41st president of the United States from 1989 to 1993. Bush has English and German ancestry, along with more distant Dutch, Welsh, Irish, French, and Scottish roots.
=== Education ===
Bush attended public schools in Midland, Texas, until the family moved to Houston after he had completed seventh grade. He then spent two years at The Kinkaid School, a college-preparatory school in Piney Point Village, Texas.
Bush later attended Phillips Academy, a boarding school in Andover, Massachusetts, where he played baseball and was the head cheerleader during his senior year. He attended Yale University from 1964 to 1968, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in history. During this time, he was a cheerleader and a member of the Delta Kappa Epsilon, serving as the president of the fraternity during his senior year. Bush became a member of the Skull and Bones society as a senior. Bush was a rugby union player and was on Yale's 1st XV. He characterized himself as an average student. His grade point average during his first three years at Yale was 77, and he had a similar average under a nonnumerical rating system in his final year.
In the fall of 1973, Bush entered Harvard Business School. He graduated in 1975 with a M.B.A. degree, and is the only U.S. president to have earned the degree.
=== Family and personal life ===
Bush was engaged to Cathryn Lee Wolfman in 1967, but the engagement did not last. Bush and Wolfman remained on good terms after the end of the relationship. While Bush was at a backyard barbecue in 1977, friends introduced him to Laura Welch, a schoolteacher and librarian. After a three-month courtship, she accepted his marriage proposal and they wed on November 5 of that year. The couple settled in Midland, Texas. Bush left his family's Episcopal Church to join his wife's United Methodist Church. On November 25, 1981, Laura Bush gave birth to fraternal twin daughters, Barbara and Jenna. Bush describes being challenged by Billy Graham to consider faith in Jesus "Christ as the risen Lord", how he began reading the Bible daily, "surrendering" to "the Almighty", that "faith is a walk" and that he was "moved by God's love".
==== Alcohol abuse ====
Before his marriage, Bush repeatedly abused alcohol. On September 4, 1976, he was pulled over near his family's summer home in Kennebunkport, Maine, for driving under the influence of alcohol. He was arrested for DUI, was fined $150, and received a brief suspension of his Maine driver's license. Bush said that his wife has had a stabilizing effect on his life, and he attributes his decision to give up alcohol in 1986 to her influence. While governor of Texas, Bush said of his wife, "I saw an elegant, beautiful woman who turned out not only to be elegant and beautiful, but very smart and willing to put up with my rough edges, and I must confess has smoothed them off over time." Bush also says that his faith in God was critical in abstaining: "I believe that God helped open my eyes, which were closing because of booze".
==== Hobbies ====
Bush has been an avid reader throughout his adult life, preferring biographies and histories. During his presidency, Bush read the Bible daily, though at the end of his second term he said on television that he is "not a literalist" about Bible interpretation. Walt Harrington, a journalist, recalled seeing "books by John Fowles, F. Scott Fitzgerald, James Joyce, and Gore Vidal lying about, as well as biographies of Willa Cather and Queen Victoria" in his home when Bush was a Texas oilman. Other activities include cigar smoking and golf. Bush has also painted many paintings. One of his best-known projects is a collection of 43 paintings of immigrants, titled Out of Many, One. Another painting project was Portraits of Courage: A Commander in Chief's Tribute to America's Warrior.
=== Military career ===
In May 1968, Bush joined the United States Air Force and was commissioned into the Texas Air National Guard. After two years of training in active-duty service, he was assigned to Houston, flying Convair F-102s with the 147th Reconnaissance Wing out of Ellington Field Joint Reserve Base. Critics, including former Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe, have alleged that Bush was favorably treated due to his father's political standing as a member of the House of Representatives, citing his selection as a pilot despite his low pilot aptitude test scores and his irregular attendance. In June 2005, the Department of Defense released all the records of Bush's Texas Air National Guard service, which remain in its official archives.
In late 1972 and early 1973, he drilled with the 187th Fighter Wing of the Alabama Air National Guard. He had moved to Montgomery, Alabama, to work on the unsuccessful U.S. Senate campaign of Republican Winton M. Blount. In 1972, Bush was suspended from flying for failure to take a scheduled physical exam. He was honorably discharged from the Air Force Reserve on November 21, 1974.
Bush remains the most recent president to have served in the military.
=== Business career ===
In 1977, Bush established Arbusto Energy, a small oil exploration company, which began operations in 1978. He later changed the name to Bush Exploration. In 1984, his company merged with the larger Spectrum 7, and Bush became chairman. The company was hurt by decreased oil prices, and it folded into Harken Energy Corporation, with Bush becoming a member of Harken's board of directors. Questions of possible insider trading involving Harken arose, but a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation concluded that the information Bush had at the time of his stock sale was not sufficient to constitute insider trading.
In April 1989, Bush arranged for a group of investors to purchase a controlling interest of Major League Baseball's Texas Rangers for $89 million and invested $500,000 himself to start. He then was managing general partner for five years. He actively led the team's projects and regularly attended its games, often choosing to sit in the open stands with fans. Bush's sale of his shares in the Rangers in 1998 brought him over $15 million from his initial $800,000 investment.
In the early or mid 1990s, before his gubernatorial campaign, Bush briefly considered a candidacy to become the Commissioner of Baseball.
=== Early political involvement ===
In 1978, Bush ran for the U.S. House of Representatives from Texas's 19th congressional district. The retiring member, George H. Mahon, had held the district for the Democratic Party since 1935. Bush's opponent, Kent Hance, portrayed him as out of touch with rural Texans, and Bush lost the election, receiving 46.8 percent of the vote to Hance's 53.2 percent.
Bush and his family moved to Washington, D.C., in 1988 to work on his father's campaign for the U.S. presidency. He was a campaign advisor and liaison to the media, and assisted his father by campaigning across the country. In December 1991, Bush was one of seven people named by his father to run his father's 1992 presidential re-election campaign as a campaign advisor. The previous month, his father had asked him to tell White House chief of staff John H. Sununu to resign.
== Texas governorship (1995–2000) ==
Bush declared his candidacy for the 1994 Texas gubernatorial election at the same time his brother Jeb sought the governorship in Florida. His campaign focused on four themes: welfare reform, tort reform, crime reduction, and education improvement. Bush's campaign advisers were Karen Hughes, Joe Allbaugh, and Karl Rove.
After easily winning the Republican primary, Bush faced popular Democratic incumbent governor Ann Richards. In the course of the campaign, Bush pledged to sign a bill allowing Texans to obtain permits to carry concealed weapons. Richards had vetoed the bill, but Bush signed it into law after he became governor. According to The Atlantic, the race "featured a rumor that she was a lesbian, along with a rare instance of such a tactic's making it into the public record – when a regional chairman of the Bush campaign allowed himself, perhaps inadvertently, to be quoted criticizing Richards for 'appointing avowed homosexual activists' to state jobs". The Atlantic, and others, connected the lesbian rumor to Karl Rove, but Rove denied being involved. Bush won the general election with 53.5 percent of the vote against Richards' 45.9 percent.
Bush used a budget surplus to push through Texas's largest tax cut, $2 billion. He extended government funding for organizations providing education on the dangers of alcohol and drug use and abuse, and helping to reduce domestic violence. His administration lowered the age at which juveniles can be sent to adult court for serious crimes to 14. Bush presided over 152 executions, more than any previous governor in modern American history; critics such as Helen Prejean argue that he failed to give serious consideration to clemency requests. Critics also contended that during his tenure, Texas ranked near the bottom in environmental evaluations. Supporters pointed to his efforts to raise the salaries of teachers and improve educational test scores.
In 1999, Bush signed a law that required electric retailers to buy a certain amount of energy from renewable sources (RPS), which helped Texas eventually become the leading producer of wind powered electricity in the U.S.
In 1998, Bush won re-election with a record 68 percent of the vote. He became the first governor in Texas history to be elected to two consecutive four-year terms. During his second term, Bush promoted faith-based organizations and enjoyed high approval ratings, which ranged between 62 and 81 percent. He proclaimed June 10, 2000, to be Jesus Day in Texas, a day on which he urged all Texans to "answer the call to serve those in need".
Throughout Bush's first term, he was the focus of national attention as a potential future presidential candidate. Following his re-election, speculation soared, and within a year he decided to seek the 2000 Republican presidential nomination.
== Presidential campaigns ==
=== 2000 presidential candidacy ===
==== Primary ====
Bush portrayed himself as a compassionate conservative, implying he was more centrist than other Republicans. He campaigned on a platform which included bringing integrity and honor back to the White House, increasing the size of the military, cutting taxes, improving education, and aiding minorities. By early 2000, the race had centered on Bush and Arizona senator John McCain.
Bush won the Iowa caucuses and, although heavily favored to win the New Hampshire primary, trailed McCain by 19% and lost. Despite this, he regained momentum and effectively became the front runner after the South Carolina primary, which according to The Boston Globe made history for his campaign's negativity. The New York Times described it as a smear campaign.
==== General election ====
On July 25, 2000, Bush surprised some observers when he selected Dick Cheney – a former White House chief of staff, U.S. representative, and secretary of defense – to be his running mate. At the time, Cheney was serving as head of Bush's vice presidential search committee. Soon after at the 2000 Republican National Convention, Bush and Cheney were officially nominated by the Republican Party.
Bush continued to campaign across the country and touted his record as Governor of Texas. During his campaign, Bush criticized his Democratic opponent, incumbent vice president Al Gore, over gun control and taxation.
When the election returns were tallied on November 7, Bush had won 29 states, including Florida. The closeness of the Florida outcome led to a recount. The initial recount also went to Bush, but the outcome was tied up in lower courts for a month until eventually reaching the U.S. Supreme Court. On December 9, in the controversial Bush v. Gore ruling, the Court reversed a Florida Supreme Court decision that had ordered a third count, and stopped an ordered statewide hand recount based on the argument that the use of different standards among Florida's counties violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The machine recount showed that Bush had won the Florida vote by a margin of 537 votes out of six million casts. Although he had received 543,895 fewer individual nationwide votes than Gore, Bush won the election, receiving 271 electoral votes to Gore's 266 (Gore had actually been awarded 267 votes by the states pledged to him plus the District of Columbia, but one D.C. elector abstained). Bush was the first person to win a U.S. presidential election with fewer popular votes than another candidate since Benjamin Harrison in 1888.
=== 2004 presidential candidacy ===
In his 2004 bid for re-election, Bush commanded broad support in the Republican Party and did not encounter a primary challenge. He appointed Ken Mehlman as campaign manager, and Karl Rove devised a political strategy. Bush and the Republican platform emphasized a strong commitment to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, support for the USA PATRIOT Act, a renewed shift in policy for constitutional amendments banning abortion and same-sex marriage, reforming Social Security to create private investment accounts, creation of an ownership society, and opposing mandatory carbon emissions controls. Bush also called for the implementation of a guest worker program for immigrants, which was criticized by conservatives.
The Bush campaign advertised across the U.S. against Democratic candidates, including Bush's emerging opponent, Massachusetts senator John Kerry. Kerry and other Democrats attacked Bush on the Iraq War, and accused him of failing to stimulate the economy and job growth. The Bush campaign portrayed Kerry as a staunch liberal who would raise taxes and increase the size of government. The Bush campaign continuously criticized Kerry's seemingly contradictory statements on the war in Iraq, and argued that Kerry lacked the decisiveness and vision necessary for success in the war on terror.
Following the resignation of CIA director George Tenet in 2004, Bush nominated Porter Goss to head the agency. The White House ordered Goss to purge agency officers who were disloyal to the administration. After Goss' appointment, many of the CIA's senior agents were fired or quit. The CIA has been accused of deliberately leaking classified information to undermine the 2004 election.
In the election, Bush carried 31 of 50 states, receiving 286 electoral votes. He won an absolute majority of the popular vote (50.7% to Kerry's 48.3%).
== Presidency (2001–2009) ==
Bush had originally outlined an ambitious domestic agenda, but his priorities were significantly altered following the September 11 attacks. Wars were begun in Afghanistan and Iraq, and there were significant domestic debates regarding immigration, healthcare, Social Security, economic policy, and treatment of terrorist detainees. Over an eight-year period, Bush's once-high approval ratings steadily declined, while his disapproval numbers increased significantly. In 2007, the United States entered the longest post-World War II recession.
=== Domestic policy ===
==== Economic policy ====
Bush took office during a period of economic recession in the wake of the bursting of the dot-com bubble. The September 11 terrorist attacks also impacted the economy.
His administration increased federal government spending from $1.789 trillion to $2.983 trillion (66%), while revenues increased from $2.025 trillion to $2.524 trillion (from 2000 to 2008). Individual income tax revenues increased by 14%, corporate tax revenues by 50%, and customs and duties by 40%. Discretionary defense spending was increased by 107%, discretionary domestic spending by 62%, Medicare spending by 131%, social security by 51%, and income security spending by 130%. Cyclically adjusted, revenues rose by 35% and spending by 65%. The increase in spending was more than under any predecessor since Lyndon B. Johnson. The number of economic regulation governmental workers increased by 91,196.
The surplus in fiscal year 2000 was $237 billion – the third consecutive surplus and the largest surplus ever. In 2001, Bush's budget estimated that there would be a $5.6 trillion surplus over the next ten years. Facing congressional opposition, Bush held town hall-style meetings across the U.S. to increase public support for his plan for a $1.35 trillion tax cut program, one of the largest tax cuts in U.S. history. Bush argued that unspent government funds should be returned to taxpayers, saying "the surplus is not the government's money. The surplus is the people's money." Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan warned of a recession and Bush stated that a tax cut would stimulate the economy and create jobs. Treasury Secretary Paul H. O'Neill opposed some of the tax cuts on the basis they would contribute to budget deficits and undermine Social Security. O'Neill disputes the claim, made in Bush's book Decision Points, that he never openly disagreed with him on planned tax cuts. By 2003, the economy showed signs of improvement, though job growth remained stagnant. Another tax cut was passed that year.
Between 2001 and 2008, GDP grew at an average annual rate of 2.125%, less than for past business cycles. Bush entered office with the Dow Jones Industrial Average at 10,587, and the average peaked in October 2007 at over 14,000. When Bush left office, the average was at 7,949, one of the lowest levels of his presidency. Only four other U.S. presidents have left office with the stock market lower than when they began.
Unemployment originally rose from 4.2% in January 2001 to 6.3% in June 2003, but subsequently dropped to 4.5% in July 2007. Adjusted for inflation, median household income dropped by $1,175 between 2000 and 2007, while Professor Ken Homa of Georgetown University noted that "Median real after-tax household income went up two percent". The poverty rate increased from 11.3% in 2000 to 12.3% in 2006 after peaking at 12.7% in 2004. By October 2008, due to increases in spending, the U.S. national debt had risen to $11.3 trillion, more than doubling it since 2000. Most debt was accumulated as a result of what became known as the "Bush tax cuts" and increased national security spending. In March 2006, then-senator Barack Obama said when he voted against raising the debt ceiling: "The fact that we are here today to debate raising America's debt limit is a sign of leadership failure." By the end of Bush's presidency, unemployment climbed to 7.2%.
==== 2008 financial crisis ====
In December 2007, the United States entered the longest post–World War II recession, caused by a housing market correction, a subprime mortgage crisis, soaring oil prices, and other factors. In February 2008, 63,000 jobs were lost, a five-year record, and in November, over 500,000 jobs were lost, which marked the largest loss of jobs in the United States in 34 years. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that in the last four months of 2008, 1.9 million jobs were lost. By the end of 2008, the U.S. had lost 2.6 million jobs.
To aid with the situation, Bush signed a $170 billion economic stimulus package which was intended to improve the economic situation by sending tax rebate checks to many Americans and providing tax breaks for struggling businesses. The Bush administration pushed for significantly increased regulation of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in 2003, and after two years, the regulations passed the House but died in the Senate. Many Republican senators, as well as influential members of the Bush Administration, feared that the agency created by these regulations would merely be mimicking the private sector's risky practices. In September 2008, the 2008 financial crisis intensified, beginning with the Federal takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac followed by the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers and a federal bailout of American International Group for $85 billion.
Many economists and world governments determined that the situation had become the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. Additional regulation over the housing market would have been beneficial, according to former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan. Bush, meanwhile, proposed a financial rescue plan to buy back a large portion of the U.S. mortgage market. Vince Reinhardt, a former Federal Reserve economist now at the American Enterprise Institute, said "it would have helped for the Bush administration to empower the folks at Treasury and the Federal Reserve and the comptroller of the currency and the FDIC to look at these issues more closely", and additionally, that it would have helped "for Congress to have held hearings".
==== Education and public health ====
Bush undertook many educational agendas, such as increasing the funding for the National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health in his first years of office and creating education programs to strengthen the grounding in science and mathematics for American high school students. Funding for the NIH was cut in 2006, the first such cut in 36 years, due to rising inflation.
One of the administration's early major initiatives was the No Child Left Behind Act, which aimed to measure and close the gap between rich and poor student performance, provide options to parents with students in low-performing schools, and target more federal funding to low-income schools. This landmark education initiative passed with broad bipartisan support, including the support of Senator Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts. It was signed into law by Bush in early 2002. Many contend that the initiative has been successful, as cited by the fact that students in the U.S. have performed significantly better on state reading and math tests since Bush signed "No Child Left Behind" into law. Critics argue that it is underfunded and that NCLBA's focus on "high-stakes testing" and quantitative outcomes is counterproductive.
On November 1, 2005, Bush launched a National Strategy for Pandemic Influenza, which culminated in an implementation plan published by the Homeland Security Council in May 2006.
After being re-elected, Bush signed into law a Medicare drug benefit program which, according to Jan Crawford, resulted in "the greatest expansion in America's welfare state in forty years" – the bill's costs approached $7 trillion. In 2007, Bush opposed and vetoed State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) legislation, which was added by the Democrats onto a war funding bill and passed by Congress. The SCHIP legislation would have significantly expanded federally funded healthcare benefits and plans to children of some low-income families. It was to be funded by an increase in the cigarette tax. Bush viewed the legislation as a move toward socialized health care, and asserted that the program could benefit families making as much as $83,000 per year who did not need the help.
On May 21, 2008, Bush signed into law the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act, aimed to protect Americans against health insurance and employment discrimination based on a person's genetic information. The issue had been debated for 13 years before it finally became law. The measure is designed to protect citizens without hindering genetic research.
==== Social services and Social Security ====
Following Republican efforts to pass the Medicare Act of 2003, Bush signed the bill, which included major changes to the Medicare program by providing beneficiaries with some assistance in paying for prescription drugs, while relying on private insurance for the delivery of benefits. The retired persons lobby group AARP worked with the Bush Administration on the program and gave their endorsement. Bush said the law, estimated to cost $400 billion over the first ten years, would give the elderly "better choices and more control over their health care".
Bush began his second term by outlining a major initiative to reform Social Security, which was facing record deficit projections beginning in 2005. Bush made it the centerpiece of his domestic agenda despite opposition from some in the U.S. Congress. In his 2005 State of the Union Address, Bush discussed the potential impending bankruptcy of the program and outlined his new program, which included partial privatization of the system, personal Social Security accounts, and options to permit Americans to divert a portion of their Social Security tax (FICA) into secured investments. Democrats opposed the proposal to partially privatize the system.
Bush embarked on a 60-day national tour, campaigning for his initiative in media events known as "Conversations on Social Security" in an attempt to gain public support. Nevertheless, public support for the proposal declined, and the House Republican leadership decided not to put Social Security reform on the priority list for the remainder of their 2005 legislative agenda. The proposal's legislative prospects were further diminished by autumn 2005 due to political fallout from the response to Hurricane Katrina.
==== Environmental policies ====
Upon taking office in 2001, Bush stated his opposition to the Kyoto Protocol, an amendment to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change which seeks to impose mandatory targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, citing that the treaty exempted 80% of the world's population and would have cost tens of billions of dollars per year. He also cited that the Senate had voted 95–0 in 1997 on a resolution expressing its disapproval of the protocol.
In May 2001, Bush signed an executive order to create an interagency task force to streamline energy projects, and later signed two other executive orders to tackle environmental issues.
In 2002, Bush proposed the Clear Skies Act of 2003, which aimed at amending the Clean Air Act to reduce air pollution through the use of emissions trading programs. Many experts argued that this legislation would have weakened the original legislation by allowing higher emission rates of pollutants than were previously legal. The initiative was introduced to Congress, but failed to make it out of committee.
Later in 2006, Bush declared the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands a national monument, creating the largest marine reserve to date. The Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument comprises 84 million acres (340,000 km2) and is home to 7,000 species of fish, birds, and other marine animals, many of which are specific to only those islands. The move was hailed by conservationists for "its foresight and leadership in protecting this incredible area".
Bush has said he believes that global warming is real and has noted that it is a serious problem, but he asserted there is a "debate over whether it's man-made or naturally caused". The Bush Administration's stance on global warming remained controversial in the scientific and environmental communities. Critics have alleged that the administration misinformed the public and did not do enough to reduce carbon emissions and deter global warming.
==== Energy policies ====
In his 2006 State of the Union Address, Bush declared, "America is addicted to oil" and launched his Advanced Energy Initiative to increase energy development research.
In his 2007 State of the Union Address, Bush renewed his pledge to work toward diminished reliance on foreign oil by reducing fossil fuel consumption and increasing alternative fuel production. Amid high gasoline prices in 2008, Bush lifted a ban on offshore drilling. However, the move was largely symbolic because there was still a federal law banning offshore drilling. Bush said: "This means that the only thing standing between the American people and these vast oil reserves is action from the U.S. Congress." Bush had said in June 2008, "In the long run, the solution is to reduce demand for oil by promoting alternative energy technologies. My administration has worked with Congress to invest in gas-saving technologies like advanced batteries and hydrogen fuel cells ... In the short run, the American economy will continue to rely largely on oil. And that means we need to increase supply, especially here at home. So my administration has repeatedly called on Congress to expand domestic oil production."
In his 2008 State of the Union Address, Bush committed $2 billion over the next three years to a new international fund to promote clean energy technologies and fight climate change, saying, "Along with contributions from other countries, this fund will increase and accelerate the deployment of all forms of cleaner, more efficient technologies in developing nations like India and China, and help leverage substantial private-sector capital by making clean energy projects more financially attractive." He also presented plans to reaffirm the United States' commitment to work with major economies, and, through the UN, to complete an international agreement which will slow, stop, and eventually reverse the growth of greenhouse gases; he stated, "This agreement will be effective only if it includes commitments by every major economy and gives none a free ride."
==== Stem cell research and first veto ====
Federal funding for medical research involving the creation or destruction of human embryos through the Department of Health and Human Services and the National Institutes of Health has been forbidden by law since the passage of the Dickey–Wicker Amendment in 1995. Bush has said he supports adult stem cell research and has supported federal legislation that finances adult stem cell research. However, Bush did not support embryonic stem cell research. On August 9, 2001, Bush signed an executive order lifting the ban on federal funding for the 71 existing "lines" of stem cells, but the ability of these existing lines to provide an adequate medium for testing has been questioned. Testing can be done on only 12 of the original lines, and all approved lines have been cultured in contact with mouse cells, creating safety issues that complicate development and approval of therapies from these lines. On July 19, 2006, Bush used his veto power for the first time in his presidency to veto the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act. The bill would have repealed the Dickey–Wicker Amendment, thereby permitting federal money to be used for research where stem cells are derived from the destruction of an embryo.
==== Immigration ====
Nearly eight million immigrants came to the U.S. from 2000 to 2005, more than in any other five-year period in the nation's history. Almost half entered illegally. In 2006, Bush urged Congress to allow more than twelve million illegal immigrants to work in the United States with the creation of a "temporary guest-worker program". Bush also urged Congress to provide additional funds for border security and committed to deploying 6,000 National Guard troops to the Mexico–United States border. From May to June 2007, Bush strongly supported the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007, which was written by a bipartisan group of senators with the active participation of the Bush administration. The bill envisioned a legalization program for illegal immigrants, with an eventual path to citizenship; establishing a guest worker program; a series of border and worksite enforcement measures; a reform of the green card application process and the introduction of a point-based "merit" system for green cards; elimination of "chain migration" and of the Diversity Immigrant Visa; and other measures. Bush argued that the lack of legal status denies the protections of U.S. laws to millions of people who face dangers of poverty and exploitation, and penalizes employers despite a demand for immigrant labor. Bush contended that the proposed bill did not amount to amnesty.
A heated public debate followed, which resulted in a substantial rift within the Republican Party, most conservatives opposed it because of its legalization or amnesty provisions. The bill was eventually defeated in the Senate on June 28, 2007, when a cloture motion failed on a 46–53 vote. Bush expressed disappointment upon the defeat of one of his signature domestic initiatives. The Bush administration later proposed a series of immigration enforcement measures that do not require a change in law.
On September 19, 2010, former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said that Bush offered to accept 100,000 Palestinian refugees as American citizens if a permanent settlement had been reached between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
==== Hurricane Katrina ====
Hurricane Katrina struck early in Bush's second term and was one of the most damaging natural disasters in U.S. history. Katrina formed in late August during the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season and devastated much of the north-central Gulf Coast of the United States, particularly New Orleans.
Bush declared a state of emergency in Louisiana on August 27 and in Mississippi and Alabama the following day. The eye of the hurricane made landfall on August 29, and New Orleans began to flood due to levee breaches; later that day, Bush declared a major disaster in Louisiana, officially authorizing FEMA to start using federal funds to assist in the recovery effort.
On August 30, DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff declared it "an incident of national significance", triggering the first use of the newly created National Response Plan. Three days later, on September 2, National Guard troops first entered the city of New Orleans. The same day, Bush toured parts of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama and declared that the success of the recovery effort up to that point was "not enough".
As the disaster in New Orleans intensified, Bush received widespread criticism for downplaying his administration's role in the inadequate response. Leaders attacked Bush for having appointed incompetent leaders to positions of power at FEMA, notably Michael D. Brown; federal resources to respond were also limited as a result of being allocated to the Iraq War, and Bush himself did not act upon warnings of floods. Bush responded to mounting criticism by claiming to accept full responsibility for the federal government's failures in its handling of the emergency. It has been argued that with Katrina, Bush passed a political tipping point from which he would not recover.
==== Midterm dismissal of U.S. attorneys ====
During Bush's second term, a controversy arose over the Justice Department's midterm dismissal of seven United States Attorneys. The White House maintained that they were fired for poor performance. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales later resigned over the issue, along with other senior members of the Justice Department. The House Judiciary Committee issued subpoenas for advisers Harriet Miers and Josh Bolten to testify regarding this matter, but Bush directed Miers and Bolten not to comply with those subpoenas, invoking his right of executive privilege. Bush maintained that all his advisers were covered under a broad executive privilege protection to receive candid advice. The Justice Department determined that the President's order was legal.
Although congressional investigations focused on whether the Justice Department and the White House were using the U.S. Attorney positions for political advantage, no official findings have been released. On March 10, 2008, the Congress filed a federal lawsuit to enforce their issued subpoenas. On July 31, 2008, a United States district court judge ruled that Bush's top advisers were not immune from congressional subpoenas.
In all, twelve Justice Department officials resigned rather than testify under oath before Congress. They included Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and his chief of staff Kyle Sampson, Gonzales' liaison to the White House Monica Goodling, aide to the president Karl Rove and his senior aide Sara Taylor. In addition, legal counsel to the president Harriet Miers and deputy chief of staff to the president Joshua Bolten were both found in contempt of Congress.
In 2010, the Justice Department investigator concluded that though political considerations did play a part in as many as four of the attorney firings, the firings were "inappropriately political" but not criminal. According to the prosecutors, there was insufficient evidence to pursue prosecution for any criminal offense.
=== Foreign policy ===
During his presidential campaign, Bush's foreign policy platform included support for stronger economic and political relationships with Latin America, especially Mexico, and a reduction of involvement in "nation-building" and other small-scale military engagements. The administration pursued a national missile defense. Bush was an advocate of China's entry into the World Trade Organization.
Bush began his second term with an emphasis on improving strained relations with European nations. He appointed long-time adviser Karen Hughes to oversee a global public relations campaign. Bush lauded the pro-democracy struggles in Georgia and Ukraine.
In March 2006, Bush visited India in a trip focused particularly on areas of nuclear energy, counter-terrorism co-operation, and discussions that would eventually lead to the India–United States Civil Nuclear Agreement. This was in stark contrast to decades of U.S. policy, such as the stance taken by his predecessor, Bill Clinton, whose approach and response to India after the 1998 nuclear tests has been characterized as "sanctions and hectoring".
Midway through Bush's second term, questions arose whether Bush was retreating from his freedom and democracy agenda, which was highlighted in policy changes toward some oil-rich former Soviet republics in central Asia.
Bush signed the Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty with Russia. He withdrew U.S. support for several international agreements, including, in 2002, the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (ABM) with Russia. This marked the first time in post-World War II history that the United States had withdrawn from a major international arms treaty. Russian president Vladimir Putin stated that American withdrawal from the ABM Treaty was a mistake.
Bush emphasized a careful approach to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians; he denounced Palestine Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafat for his support of violence, but sponsored dialogues between Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian National Authority president Mahmoud Abbas. Bush supported Sharon's unilateral disengagement plan, and lauded the democratic elections held in Palestine after Arafat's death.
Bush also expressed U.S. support for the defense of Taiwan following the stand-off in April 2001 with China over the Hainan Island incident, when an EP-3E Aries II surveillance aircraft collided with a People's Liberation Army Air Force jet, leading to the detention of U.S. personnel. From 2003 to 2004, Bush authorized U.S. military intervention in Haiti and Liberia to protect U.S. interests. Bush condemned the militia attacks Darfur and denounced the killings in Sudan as genocide. Bush said an international peacekeeping presence was critical in Darfur, but he opposed referring the situation to the International Criminal Court.
On June 10, 2007, Bush met with Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha and became the first president to visit Albania. He later voiced his support for the independence of Kosovo.
In early 2008, Bush vowed full support for admitting Ukraine and Georgia into NATO despite Russia's opposition to the further enlargement of NATO. During the 2008 Russo-Georgian diplomatic crisis, Bush condemned Russia for recognizing the separatist government of South Ossetia. When Russian troops invaded Georgia later that summer, Bush said: "Bullying and intimidation are not acceptable ways to conduct foreign policy in the 21st century."
==== September 11, 2001 attacks ====
The September 11 terrorist attacks were a major turning point in Bush's presidency. That evening, he addressed the nation from the Oval Office, promising a strong response to the attacks. He also emphasized the need for the nation to come together and comfort the families of the victims. Three days after the attacks, Bush visited Ground Zero and met with then-New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, firefighters, police officers, and volunteers. Bush addressed the gathering via a megaphone while standing on rubble: "I can hear you. The rest of the world hears you. And the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon."
In a September 20 speech, Bush condemned Osama bin Laden and his organization al-Qaeda, and issued an ultimatum to the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, where bin Laden was operating, to "hand over the terrorists, or ... share in their fate". The Taliban's leader, Mullah Omar, refused to hand over bin Laden.
The continued presence of U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia after the 1991 Gulf War was one of the stated motivations behind the September 11 attacks. In 2003, the U.S. withdrew most of its troops from Saudi Arabia.
==== War on terror ====
In Bush's September 20 speech, he declared that "our war on terror begins with Al Qaeda, but it does not end there." In his January 29, 2002 State of the Union Address, he asserted that an "axis of evil" consisting of North Korea, Iran, and Ba'athist Iraq was "arming to threaten the peace of the world" and "pose[d] a grave and growing danger". The Bush Administration asserted both a right and the intention to wage preemptive war, or preventive war. This became the basis for the Bush Doctrine which weakened the unprecedented levels of international and domestic support for the United States which had followed the September 11 attacks.
Dissent and criticism of Bush's leadership in the war on terror increased as the war in Iraq continued. The Iraq war sparked many protests and riots in different parts of the world. In 2006, a National Intelligence Estimate concluded that the Iraq War had become the "cause célèbre for jihadists".
==== Afghanistan invasion ====
On October 7, 2001, U.S. and British forces initiated bombing campaigns that led to the arrival of Northern Alliance troops in Kabul on November 13. The main goals of the war were to defeat the Taliban, drive al-Qaeda out of Afghanistan, and capture key al-Qaeda leaders. In December 2001, the Pentagon reported that the Taliban had been defeated, but cautioned that the war would go on to continue weakening Taliban and al-Qaeda leaders. Later that month the UN had installed the Afghan Transitional Administration chaired by Hamid Karzai.
Efforts to kill or capture al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden failed as he escaped a battle in December 2001 in the mountainous region of Tora Bora, which the Bush Administration later acknowledged to have resulted from a failure to commit enough U.S. ground troops. It was not until May 2011, two years after Bush left office, that Bin Laden was killed by U.S. forces under the Obama administration.
Despite the initial success in driving the Taliban from power in Kabul, by early 2003 the Taliban was regrouping, amassing new funds and recruits. The 2005 failure of Operation Red Wings showed that the Taliban had returned. In 2006, the Taliban insurgency appeared larger, fiercer and better organized than expected, with large-scale allied offensives such as Operation Mountain Thrust attaining limited success. As a result, Bush commissioned 3,500 additional troops to the country in March 2007.
==== Iraq invasion ====
Beginning with his January 29, 2002 State of the Union address, Bush began publicly focusing attention on Iraq, which he labeled as part of an "axis of evil" allied with terrorists and posing "a grave and growing danger" to U.S. interests through possession of weapons of mass destruction.
In the latter half of 2002, CIA reports contained assertions of Saddam Hussein's intent of reconstituting nuclear weapons programs, not properly accounting for Iraqi biological and chemical weapons, and that some Iraqi missiles had a range greater than allowed by the UN sanctions. Contentions that the Bush Administration manipulated or exaggerated the threat and evidence of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction capabilities would eventually become a major point of criticism for the president.
In late 2002 and early 2003, Bush urged the United Nations to enforce Iraqi disarmament mandates, precipitating a diplomatic crisis. In November 2002, Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei led UN weapons inspectors in Iraq, but were advised by the U.S. to depart the country four days prior to the U.S. invasion, despite their requests for more time to complete their tasks. The U.S. initially sought a UN Security Council resolution authorizing the use of military force but dropped the bid for UN approval due to vigorous opposition from several countries. The Bush administration's claim that the Iraq War was part of the war on terror had been questioned and contested by political analysts.
More than 20 nations (most notably the United Kingdom) designated the "coalition of the willing" joined the United States in invading Iraq. They launched the invasion on March 20, 2003. The Iraqi military was quickly defeated. The capital, Baghdad, fell on April 9, 2003. On May 1, Bush declared the end of major combat operations in Iraq. The initial success of U.S. operations increased his popularity, but the U.S. and allied forces faced a growing insurgency led by sectarian groups; Bush's "Mission Accomplished" speech was later criticized as premature. From 2004 until 2007, the situation in Iraq deteriorated further, with some observers arguing that there was a full-scale civil war in Iraq. Bush's policies met with criticism, including demands domestically to set a timetable to withdraw troops from Iraq. The 2006 report of the bipartisan Iraq Study Group, led by James Baker, concluded that the situation in Iraq was "grave and deteriorating". While Bush admitted there were strategic mistakes made in regard to the stability of Iraq, he maintained he would not change the overall Iraq strategy. According to Iraq Body Count, some 251,000 Iraqis have been killed in the civil war following the U.S.-led invasion, including at least 163,841 civilians.
In January 2005, elections recognized by the West as free and fair were held in Iraq for the first time in 50 years. This led to the election of Jalal Talabani as president and Nouri al-Maliki as Prime Minister of Iraq. A referendum to approve a constitution in Iraq was held in October 2005, supported by most Shiites and many Kurds.
On January 10, 2007, Bush launched a surge of 21,500 more troops for Iraq, as well as a job program for Iraqis, more reconstruction proposals, and $1.2 billion (equivalent to $1.9 billion in 2025) for these programs. On May 1, 2007, Bush used his second-ever veto to reject a bill setting a deadline for the withdrawal of U.S. troops, saying the debate over the conflict was "understandable" but insisting that a continued U.S. presence there was crucial.
In March 2008, Bush praised the Iraqi government's "bold decision" to launch the Battle of Basra against the Mahdi Army, calling it "a defining moment in the history of a free Iraq". He said he would carefully weigh recommendations from his commanding General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker about how to proceed after the end of the military buildup in the summer of 2008. He also praised the Iraqis' legislative achievements, including a pension law, a revised de-Baathification law, a new budget, an amnesty law, and a provincial powers measure that, he said, set the stage for the Iraqi elections. By July 2008, American troop deaths had reached their lowest number since the war began, and due to increased stability in Iraq, Bush withdrew of additional American forces. During Bush's last visit to Iraq in December 2008, Iraqi journalist Muntadhar al-Zaidi threw both of his shoes at him during an official press conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. Al-Zaidi yelled that the shoes were a "farewell kiss" and "for the widows and orphans and all those killed in Iraq".
In March 2010, Center for Public Integrity released a report that President Bush's administration had made more than 900 false pretenses in a two-year period about the alleged threat of Iraq against the United States, as his rationale to engage in war in Iraq.
==== Surveillance ====
Following the terrorist attacks of September 11, Bush issued an executive order that authorized the President's Surveillance Program. The new directive allowed the National Security Agency to monitor communications between suspected terrorists outside the U.S. and parties within the U.S. without obtaining a warrant, which previously had been required by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. As of 2009, the other provisions of the program remained highly classified. Once the Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel questioned its original legal opinion that FISA did not apply in a time of war, the program was subsequently re-authorized by the President on the basis that the warrant requirements of FISA were implicitly superseded by the subsequent passage of the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Terrorists. The program proved to be controversial; critics of the administration and organizations such as the American Bar Association argued that it was illegal. In August 2006, a U.S. district court judge ruled that the NSA electronic surveillance program was unconstitutional, but on July 6, 2007, the ruling was vacated by the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit on the grounds that the plaintiffs lacked standing. On January 17, 2007, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales informed U.S. Senate leaders that the program would not be reauthorized by the President, but would be subjected to judicial oversight. Later in 2007, the NSA launched a replacement for the program, referred to as PRISM, which was subject to the oversight of the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. This program was not publicly revealed until reports by The Washington Post and The Guardian emerged in June 2013.
==== Interrogation policies ====
Bush authorized the CIA to use waterboarding and several other "enhanced interrogation techniques" that several critics, including Barack Obama, would label as torture. Between 2002 and 2003, the CIA considered certain enhanced interrogation techniques, such as waterboarding, to be legal based on secret Justice Department legal opinions arguing that terror detainees were not protected by the Geneva Conventions' ban on torture, which was described as "an unconstitutional infringement of the President's authority to conduct war". The CIA had exercised the technique on certain key terrorist suspects under authority given to it in the Bybee Memo from the Attorney General, though the memo was later withdrawn. While not permitted by the U.S. Army Field Manuals which assert "that harsh interrogation tactics elicit unreliable information", the Bush administration believed these enhanced interrogations "provided critical information" to preserve American lives. Critics, such as former CIA officer Bob Baer, have stated that information was suspect, "you can get anyone to confess to anything if the torture's bad enough."
On October 17, 2006, Bush signed the Military Commissions Act of 2006 into law. The new rule was enacted in the wake of the Supreme Court's decision in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, 548 U.S. 557 (2006), which allowed the U.S. government to prosecute unlawful enemy combatants by military commission rather than a standard trial. The law also denied the detainees access to habeas corpus and barred the torture of prisoners. The provision of the law allowed the president to determine what constitutes "torture".
On March 8, 2008, Bush vetoed H.R. 2082, a bill that would have expanded congressional oversight over the intelligence community and banned the use of waterboarding as well as other forms of interrogation not permitted under the United States Army Field Manual on Human Intelligence Collector Operations, saying that "the bill Congress sent me would take away one of the most valuable tools in the War on Terror". In April 2009, the ACLU sued and won release of the secret memos that had authorized the Bush administration's interrogation tactics. One memo detailed specific interrogation tactics including a footnote which described waterboarding as torture and stating that the form of waterboarding used by the CIA was far more intense than authorized by the Justice Department.
==== North Korea condemnation ====
Bush publicly condemned Kim Jong-il of North Korea and identified North Korea as one of three states in an "axis of evil". He said that "the United States of America will not permit the world's most dangerous regimes to threaten us with the world's most destructive weapons." Within months, "both countries had walked away from their respective commitments under the U.S.–DPRK Agreed Framework of October 1994." North Korea's October 9, 2006, detonation of a nuclear device further complicated Bush's foreign policy, which centered for both terms of his presidency on "[preventing] the terrorists and regimes who seek chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons from threatening the United States and the world". Bush condemned North Korea's position, reaffirmed his commitment to "a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula", and said that "transfer of nuclear weapons or material by North Korea to states or non-state entities would be considered a grave threat to the United States", for which North Korea would be held accountable. On May 7, 2007, North Korea agreed to shut down its nuclear reactors immediately pending the release of frozen funds held in a foreign bank account. This was a result of a series of three-way talks initiated by the United States and including China. On September 2, 2007, North Korea agreed to disclose and dismantle all its nuclear programs by the end of 2007. By May 2009, North Korea had restarted its nuclear program and threatened to attack South Korea.
On June 22, 2010, Bush said: "While South Korea prospers, the people of North Korea have suffered profoundly," adding that communism had resulted in dire poverty, mass starvation, and brutal suppression. "In recent years," he went on to say, "the suffering has been compounded by the leader who wasted North Korea's precious few resources on personal luxuries and nuclear weapons programs."
==== Syria sanctions ====
Bush expanded economic sanctions on Syria. In 2003, Bush signed the Syria Accountability Act, which expanded sanctions on Syria. In early 2007, the Treasury Department, acting on a June 2005 executive order, froze American bank accounts of Syria's Higher Institute of Applied Science and Technology, Electronics Institute, and National Standards and Calibration Laboratory. Bush's order prohibits Americans from doing business with these institutions suspected of helping spread weapons of mass destruction and being supportive of terrorism. Under separate executive orders signed by Bush in 2004 and later 2007, the Treasury Department froze the assets of two Lebanese and two Syrians, accusing them of activities to "undermine the legitimate political process in Lebanon" in November 2007. Those designated included: Assaad Halim Hardan, a member of Lebanon's parliament and former leader of the Syrian Socialist National Party; Wi'am Wahhab, a former member of Lebanon's government (Minister of the Environment) under Prime Minister Omar Karami (2004–2005); Hafiz Makhluf, a colonel and senior official in the Syrian General Intelligence Directorate and a cousin of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad; and Muhammad Nasif Khayrbik, identified as a close adviser to Assad.
==== AIDS Relief ====
In the State of the Union address in January 2003, Bush outlined a five-year strategy for global emergency AIDS relief, the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). Bush announced $15 billion for this effort, which directly supported life-saving antiretroviral treatment for more than 3.2 million men, women and children worldwide. The U.S. government had spent some $44 billion on the project since 2003 (a figure which includes $7 billion contributed to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, a multilateral organization), which saved an estimated five million lives by 2013. The New York Times correspondent Peter Baker wrote in 2013 that "Bush did more to stop AIDS and more to help Africa than any president before or since." By 2023, PEPFAR was estimated to have saved over 25 million lives, alleviating the severity of the HIV/AIDS epidemic especially in Sub-Saharan Africa, and was called "George W. Bush's greatest accomplishment" by Vox.
=== Security incidents ===
==== 2001 White House shooting ====
On February 7, 2001, while Bush was in the residence area of the White House, Robert W. Pickett, standing outside the perimeter fence, discharged a number of shots from a Taurus .38 Special revolver "in the general direction" of the White House. Pickett was shot in the knee by a U.S. Secret Service agent and arrested. Furthermore, he was initially charged with discharging a firearm during a crime, carrying a 10-year mandatory sentence, but following a plea agreement, Pickett instead entered a guilty plea to a firearms violation and an Alford plea to assaulting a federal officer. He was sentenced to three years at the Federal Medical Center, Rochester followed by three years of probation.
==== 2005 Tbilisi grenade attack ====
On May 10, 2005, while President Bush was giving a speech in Freedom Square, Vladimir Arutyunian, a native Georgian who was born to a family of ethnic Armenians, threw a live Soviet-made RGD-5 hand grenade toward the podium. It landed in the crowd about 61 feet (19 m) from the podium after hitting a girl, but it did not detonate because a red tartan handkerchief was wrapped tightly around it, preventing the safety lever from detaching. Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili was seated nearby. After escaping that day, Arutyunian was arrested in July 2005. During his arrest, he killed an Interior Ministry agent. He was convicted in January 2006 and given a life sentence.
==== 2008 Baghdad shoe-throwing incident ====
On December 14, 2008, Muntadhar al-Zaidi, an Iraqi journalist, threw both of his shoes at Bush during a press conference in Baghdad. Bush was not injured, having ducked the pair of shoes. However, White House press secretary Dana Perino received a bruise on her face after being hit by a microphone boom knocked over by security. Al-Zaidi received a three-year prison sentence which was reduced to one year. On September 15, 2009, he was released early for good behavior.
=== Judicial appointments ===
==== Supreme Court ====
On July 19, 2005, following the retirement of Associate Justice Sandra Day O'Connor on July 1, Bush nominated federal appellate judge John Roberts as her replacement; however, following the death of Chief Justice William Rehnquist on September 3, the still-pending nomination was withdrawn on September 5, with Bush instead nominating Roberts to be the next Chief Justice of the United States. He was confirmed by the Senate on September 29, 2005.
On October 3, 2005, Bush nominated White House Counsel Harriet Miers to succeed O'Connor; however, Miers withdrew her nomination on October 27 after encountering significant opposition from both parties, who found her to be ill-prepared and uninformed on the law. Finally, on October 31, Bush nominated federal appellate judge Samuel Alito, who was confirmed by the Senate to replace O'Connor on January 31, 2006.
==== Other courts ====
In addition to his two Supreme Court appointments, Bush appointed 62 judges to the United States courts of appeals and 261 judges to the United States district courts.
=== Cultural and political image ===
==== Image ====
Bush's upbringing in West Texas, his accent, his vacations to his Texas ranch, and his penchant for country metaphors contribute to his folksy, American cowboy image. "I think people look at him and think John Wayne", said Piers Morgan, editor of the British Daily Mirror.
Bush has been parodied by the media, comedians, and other politicians. Detractors tended to cite linguistic errors made by Bush during his public speeches, which are colloquially referred to as Bushisms.
In contrast to his father, who was perceived as having troubles with an overarching unifying theme, Bush embraced larger visions and was seen as a man of larger ideas and associated huge risks.
Tony Blair wrote in 2010 that the caricature of Bush as being dumb is "ludicrous" and that Bush is "very smart". In an interview with Playboy, The New York Times columnist David Brooks said Bush "was 60 IQ points smarter in private than he was in public. He doesn't want anybody to think he's smarter than they are, so he puts on a Texas act."
==== Job approval ====
Bush began his presidency with approval ratings near 60 percent. After the September 11 attacks, Bush gained an approval rating of 90 percent, maintaining 80–90 percent approval for four months after the attacks. It remained over 50 percent during most of his first term and then fell to as low as 19 percent in his second term.
In 2000 and again in 2004, Time magazine named George W. Bush as its Person of the Year, a title awarded to someone who the editors believe "has done the most to influence the events of the year". In May 2004, Gallup reported that 89 percent of the Republican electorate approved of Bush. However, the support waned due mostly to a minority of Republicans' frustration with him on issues of spending, illegal immigration, and Middle Eastern affairs.
Within the United States armed forces, according to an unscientific survey, the president was strongly supported in the 2004 presidential elections. While 73 percent of military personnel said they would vote for Bush, 18 percent preferred his Democratic rival, John Kerry. According to Peter Feaver, a Duke University political scientist who has studied the political leanings of the U.S. military, members of the armed services supported Bush because they found him more likely than Kerry to complete the War in Iraq.
Bush's approval rating surged to 74 percent at the beginning of the Iraq War, up 19 points from his pre-war rating of 55 percent. Bush's approval rating went below the 50 percent mark in AP-Ipsos polling in December 2004. Thereafter, his approval ratings and approval of his handling of domestic and foreign policy issues steadily dropped. After his re-election in 2004, Bush received increasingly heated criticism from across the political spectrum for his handling of the Iraq War, his response to Hurricane Katrina, and to the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse, NSA warrantless surveillance, the Plame affair, and Guantanamo Bay detention camp controversies.
Amid this criticism, the Democratic Party regained control of Congress in the 2006 midterm elections. Polls conducted in 2006 showed an average of 37 percent approval ratings for Bush, the lowest for any second-term president at that point in his term since Harry S. Truman in March 1951 (when Truman's approval rating was 28 percent), which contributed to what Bush called the "thumping" of the Republican Party in the 2006 elections. Throughout most of 2007, Bush's approval rating hovered in the mid-thirties; the average for his entire second term was 37 percent, according to Gallup.
By the beginning of 2008, his final year in office, Bush's approval rating had dropped to a low of just 19 percent, largely from the loss of support among Republicans. Commenting on his low poll numbers and accusations of being "the worst president", Bush would say, "I make decisions on what I think is right for the United States based upon principles. I frankly don't give a damn about the polls."
There were calls for Bush's impeachment, though most polls showed a plurality of Americans would not support such an action. The arguments offered for impeachment usually centered on the NSA warrantless surveillance controversy, the Bush administration's justification for the war in Iraq, and alleged violations of the Geneva Conventions. Representative Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), who had run against Bush during the 2004 presidential campaign, introduced 35 articles of impeachment on the floor of the House of Representatives against Bush on June 9, 2008, but Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) declared that impeachment was "off the table".
In April 2008, Bush's disapproval ratings reached the highest ever recorded for any president in the 70-year history of the Gallup poll, with 69 percent of those polled disapproving of the job Bush was doing as president and 28 percent approving – although the majority (66 percent) of Republicans still approved of his job performance.
In polls conducted in the fall, just before the 2008 election, his approval ratings remained at record lows of 19 to 20 percent, while his disapproval ratings ranged from 67 percent to as high as 75 percent. In polling conducted January 9–11, 2009, his final job approval rating by Gallup was 34 percent, which placed him on par with Jimmy Carter and Harry S. Truman, the other presidents whose final Gallup ratings measured in the low 30s (Richard Nixon's final Gallup approval rating was even lower, at 24 percent). According to a CBS News/New York Times poll conducted January 11–15, 2009, Bush's final approval rating in office was 22 percent, the lowest in American history.
==== Foreign perceptions ====
Bush was criticized internationally and targeted by the global anti-war and anti-globalization movements for his administration's foreign policy. Views of him within the international community – even in France, a close ally of the United States – were more negative than those of most previous American presidents.
Bush was described as having especially close personal relationships with Tony Blair of the United Kingdom and Vicente Fox of Mexico, although formal relations were sometimes strained. Other leaders, such as Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan, Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero of Spain, and Hugo Chávez of Venezuela, openly criticized the president. Later in Bush's presidency, tensions arose between him and Vladimir Putin, which led to a cooling of their relationship.
In 2006, most respondents in 18 of 21 countries surveyed around the world were found to hold an unfavorable opinion of Bush. Respondents indicated that they judged his administration as negative for world security. In 2007, the Pew Global Attitudes Project reported that during the Bush presidency, attitudes towards the United States, and towards Americans, became less favorable around the world. The Pew Research Center's 2007 Global Attitudes poll found that in only nine countries of 47 did most respondents express "a lot of confidence" or "some confidence" in Bush: Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Israel, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Mali, Nigeria, and Uganda. A March 2007 survey of public opinion in six Arab nations conducted by Zogby International and the University of Maryland found that Bush was the most disliked world leader.
During a June 2007 visit to the predominantly Muslim Albania, Bush was greeted enthusiastically. Albania has a population of 2.8 million, has troops in both Iraq and Afghanistan, and the country's government is highly supportive of American foreign policy. A huge image of the President was hung in the middle of the capital city of Tirana flanked by Albanian and American flags while a local street was named after him. A shirt-sleeved statue of Bush was unveiled in Fushë-Krujë, a few kilometers northwest of Tirana. The Bush administration's support for the unilateral declaration of independence of Albanian-majority Kosovo, while endearing him to the Albanians, troubled U.S. relations with Serbia, leading to the February 2008 torching of the U.S. embassy in Belgrade.
== Post-presidency (2009–present) ==
=== Residence ===
After the inauguration of Barack Obama, Bush and his family flew from Andrews Air Force Base to a homecoming celebration in Midland, Texas, and then returned to their ranch in Crawford, Texas. They bought a home in the Preston Hollow neighborhood of Dallas where they live.
Bush made regular appearances at various events throughout the Dallas–Fort Worth area, including the opening coin toss at the Dallas Cowboys' first game in the new Cowboys Stadium in Arlington and an April 2009 Texas Rangers game, where he thanked the people of Dallas for helping him settle in, which was met with a standing ovation. He also attended every home playoff game during the Rangers' 2010 season and, accompanied by his father, threw out the ceremonial first pitch at the Rangers Ballpark in Arlington for Game 4 of the 2010 World Series on October 31. He also threw the first pitch in Game 1 of the 2023 World Series.
On August 6, 2013, Bush was successfully treated for a coronary artery blockage with a stent. The blockage had been found during an annual medical examination.
In reaction to the 2016 shooting of Dallas police officers, Bush said: "Laura and I are heartbroken by the heinous acts of violence in our city last night. Murdering the innocent is always evil, never more so than when the lives taken belong to those who protect our families and communities."
=== Publications and appearances ===
Since leaving office, Bush has kept a relatively low profile. Bush has spoken in favor of increased global participation of women in politics and societal matters in foreign countries.
In March 2009, he delivered his first post-presidency speech in Calgary, Alberta, appeared via video on The Colbert Report during which he praised U.S. troops for earning a "special place in American history", and attended the funeral of Senator Ted Kennedy. Bush made his debut as a motivational speaker on October 26 at the "Get Motivated" seminar in Dallas. In the aftermath of the Fort Hood shooting on November 5, 2009, the Bushes paid an undisclosed visit to the survivors and the victims' families the day following the shooting, having contacted the base commander requesting that the visit be private and not involve press coverage.
Bush released his memoirs, Decision Points, on November 9, 2010. During a pre-release appearance promoting the book, Bush said he considered his biggest accomplishment to be keeping "the country safe amid a real danger", and his greatest failure to be his inability to secure the passage of Social Security reform. He also made news defending his administration's enhanced interrogation techniques, specifically the waterboarding of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, saying, "I'd do it again to save lives."
In 2012, he wrote the foreword of The 4% Solution: Unleashing the Economic Growth America Needs, an economics book published by the George W. Bush Presidential Center. He also presented the book at the Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas, Texas. Bush did not physically appear in that year's Republican National Convention (where Mitt Romney obtained the party's nomination for president), instead appearing in a videotape, in which he –alongside his father and immediate family– explains his motives to support Romney.
Bush appeared on NBC's The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on November 19, 2013, along with his wife Laura. When asked by Leno why he does not comment publicly about the Obama administration, Bush said: "I don't think it's good for the country to have a former president criticize his successor." Despite this statement, Bush vocally disagreed with Obama's withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq in 2011, calling it a "strategic blunder". In December, Bush travelled with President Obama to the memorial service of South African president and civil rights leader Nelson Mandela. There, they joined former presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter.
Alongside the 2014 United States–Africa Leaders Summit, Bush, Michelle Obama, the State Department, and the George W. Bush Institute hosted a daylong forum on education and health with the spouses of the African leaders attending the summit. Bush urged African leaders to avoid discriminatory laws that make the treatment of HIV/AIDS more difficult. On November 2, Bush spoke at an event to 200 business and civic leaders at the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum to raise awareness for the upcoming Museum of the Bible in Washington D.C. On November 11, Bush published a biography of his father titled 41: A Portrait of My Father.
In an interview published by Israel Hayom magazine on June 12, 2015, Bush said that "boots on the ground" would be needed to defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS). He added that people had said during his presidency that he should withdraw American troops from Iraq, but he chose the opposite, sending 30,000 more troops to defeat Al Qaeda in Iraq, and that they indeed were defeated. Bush was also asked about Iran but declined to answer, stating that any answer he gives would be interpreted as undermining Obama.
During the early stages of the 2016 Republican presidential primaries, Bush spoke and campaigned for his brother Jeb Bush at a South Carolina rally. However, the party's nomination eventually went to Donald Trump, whom Bush refused to endorse. Furthermore, he did not attend the party's convention. On the eve of Trump's nomination, it was reported that Bush had privately expressed concern about the current direction of the Republican Party, telling a group of his former aides and advisors that "I'm worried that I will be the last Republican president." According to a spokesperson for the Bush family, he did not vote for either Trump or Hillary Clinton in the general election, instead choosing to leave his presidential ballot blank.
After the 2016 elections, Bush, his father, and his brother Jeb called Trump on the phone to congratulate him on his victory. On January 20, 2017, Bush and his wife attended Trump's first inauguration. Images of Bush struggling to put on a rain poncho during the ceremony became an internet meme. While leaving the event, Bush allegedly described the ceremony, and Trump's inaugural address in particular, as "some weird shit".
In February 2017, Bush released a book of his own portraits of veterans called Portraits of Courage. In August, following the white nationalist Unite the Right rally, Bush and his father released a joint statement condemning the violence and ideologies present there. Subsequently, Bush gave a speech in New York where he noted of the current political climate, "Bigotry seems emboldened. Our politics seems more vulnerable to conspiracy theories and outright fabrication." He continued, "Bigotry in any form is blasphemy against the American creed and it means the very identity of our nation depends on the passing of civic ideals to the next generation", while urging citizens to oppose threats to American democracy and be positive role models for young people. The speech was widely interpreted as a denouncement of Donald Trump and his ideologies, despite Bush not mentioning Trump by name.
On September 1, 2018, Bush and his wife attended the funeral of John McCain at the Washington National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. where Bush delivered remarks at the service. On November 30, his father died at his home. Shortly before his death, Bush was able to talk with his father on the phone; his father responded with what would be his last words, "I love you too". Bush attended his father's funeral on December 5, delivering a eulogy. In May 2019 on the tenth anniversary of former South Korean president Roh Moo-hyun's death, Bush visited South Korea to pay respects to Roh, delivering a short eulogy.
On June 1, 2020, Bush released a statement addressing the murder of George Floyd and the subsequent nationwide reaction and protests. In the statement, Bush wrote that he and former first lady Laura Bush "are anguished by the brutal suffocation of George Floyd and disturbed by the injustice and fear that suffocate our country". He also elaborated on the racial injustices perpetrated by the police, saying that "it is time for America to examine our tragic failures" and adding "Many doubt the justice of our country, and with good reason. Black people see the repeated violation of their rights without an urgent and adequate response from American institutions". On July 30, Bush and his wife, along with former presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, attended and spoke at the funeral for civil rights leader and congressman John Lewis at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta.
Bush did not give any endorsements during the 2020 presidential election, but held a virtual fundraiser for U.S. senators Susan Collins (R-ME), Cory Gardner (R-CO), Martha McSally (R-AZ), and Thom Tillis (R-NC). All four were up for reelection and were struggling in the polls. He also did not attend the 2020 Republican National Convention where President Trump was re-nominated. In April 2021, Bush told People magazine that he did not vote for either Trump or Joe Biden in the general election. Instead, he wrote in Condoleezza Rice, who served as his national security advisor from 2001 to 2005 and as his secretary of state from 2005 to 2009. When the election was called for Biden, Bush congratulated him and his running mate Kamala Harris. He also congratulated Trump and his supporters "on a hard-fought campaign". Bush's outreach to Biden was notable since Republican candidate Donald Trump had not yet conceded. Bush then issued a statement saying that while Trump was within his rights to call for recounts, he believed the election was "fundamentally fair" and that "its outcome is clear", and said he would offer Biden "my prayers for his success, and my pledge to help in any way I can", as he had for Trump and Obama.
On January 6, 2021, following the U.S. Capitol attack, Bush denounced the violence and attack alongside the three other living former presidents, Obama, Clinton, and Carter, releasing a statement saying that "this is how election results are disputed in a banana republic, not our democratic republic", and that "it is a sickening and heartbreaking sight". He also echoed president-elect Biden's message saying that what occurred at the capitol was an "insurrection". On January 20, Bush and his wife attended Biden's inauguration.
Bush opposed President Biden's withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan, saying that the withdrawal made him "concerned" and that it had the potential to "create a vacuum, and into that vacuum is likely to come people who treat women as second class citizens". During an interview with Deutsche Welle on July 14, 2021, Bush reaffirmed his opposition to the troop withdrawal, calling the plan "a mistake".
On September 11, 2021, the 20th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, Bush gave a speech at the Flight 93 National Memorial, praising the heroism of the people on Flight 93 and the spirit of America. He also said that he "saw millions of people instinctively grab for a neighbor's hand and rally to the cause of one another. That is the America I know."
Bush condemned the assassination attempt on then-former president Trump, who was the presumptive Republican nominee, on July 13, 2024, calling it "cowardly" and applauded the Secret Service's response. However, Bush did not participate in that year's Republican National Convention, which took place two days after the attempt, and where Trump was nominated for a third time. He also chose not to endorse any candidate in the presidential election. After the election was called for Trump, Bush offered his congratulations to him and his running mate JD Vance. He stated that the large turnout for the election was a "sign of the health of our republic and the strength of our democratic institutions". He also congratulated Biden and Harris on their years of public office. On January 20, 2025, Bush and his wife attended Trump's second inauguration. On September 10, 2025, Bush released a statement condemning the assassination of Charlie Kirk. He wrote "Today, a young man was murdered in cold blood while expressing his political views. It happened on a college campus, where the open exchange of opposing ideas should be sacrosanct." He also elaborated on political violence in the United States: "Violence and vitriol must be purged from the public square. Members of other political parties are not our enemies; they are our fellow citizens. May God bless Charlie Kirk and his family, and may God guide America toward civility."
After Peyton Manning tried to get Bush to appear on Monday Night Football with Peyton and Eli for five years, Bush relented. On the show on November 17, 2025, Bush said that he grew up a Houston Astros and a Houston Oilers fan watching Earl Campbell and Dan Pastorini (he called Pastorini, Dante Pastorini) play for the Oilers. Bush also mentioned Billy "White Shoes" Johnson. Bush said that he and his group bought the Texas Rangers and he moved to Dallas the same year that Jerry Jones bought the Dallas Cowboys. At that time, Bush got to know Jones well and switched his allegiance to the Cowboys. Bush mentioned that his father liked the Houston Texans and the Astros, calling him a loyal Houston guy. He said George H. W. Bush was a friend of the Texans' owner. When Peyton Manning asked George W. Bush if he thought that he would have a job in public service, Bush answered no and that he would have behaved a lot better in college if he had known. "I admired my dad a lot... he never said, this is what you have to do with your life, he just said, here's this kind of way I'd like you to live, honesty and decency and compassion, but you be what you want to be... it took me a while to figure out what I wanted to be, by the way."
Bush talked about growing up in Midland, Texas. He said you either picked art or football. "I chose football." He has run marathons. Willie Mays has been a hero of his.
On November 20, 2025, Bush and his wife attended the funeral of his former vice president Cheney at the Washington National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., where Bush spoke.
=== Collaborations ===
In January 2010, at President Obama's request, Bush and Bill Clinton established the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund to raise contributions for relief and recovery efforts after the 2010 Haiti earthquake earlier that month. On May 2, 2011, President Obama called Bush, who was at a restaurant with his wife, to inform him that Osama bin Laden had been killed. The Bushes joined the Obamas in New York City to mark the tenth anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. At the Ground Zero memorial, Bush read a letter that President Abraham Lincoln wrote to a widow who had lost five sons during the Civil War.
On September 7, 2017, Bush partnered with former presidents Jimmy Carter, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama to work with One America Appeal to help the victims of Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Irma in the Gulf Coast and Texas communities. Over the years, President Bush has had a good-natured friendship with Michelle Obama. "President Bush and I, we are forever seatmates because of protocol, and that's how we sit at all the official functions," Obama told the Today Show. "He's my partner in crime at every major thing where all the 'formers' gather. So we're together all the time." Bush famously passed mints to Obama during the McCain funeral in September 2018 and gave them to her again during the funeral of his father in December 2018.
=== Art ===
After serving as president, Bush began painting as a hobby after reading Winston Churchill's essay "Painting as a Pastime". Subjects have included people, dogs, and still life. He has also painted self-portraits and portraits of world leaders, including Vladimir Putin and Tony Blair. In February 2017, Bush released a book of portraits of veterans, Portraits of Courage. The net proceeds from his book are donated to the George W. Bush Presidential Center. In May 2019, on the tenth anniversary of former South Korean president Roh Moo-hyun's death, George Bush drew a portrait of Roh to give to his family.
== Legacy ==
Some scholars have situated his presidency as the extension of the Reagan era into the 21st century and the consolidation of American neoconservatism. Likewise, scholars have argued that his decisions not only reflected neoconservative thinking but also institutionalized it, transforming those ideas into official strategic doctrine and giving neoconservatism unprecedented influence by turning ideas which had previously circulated mainly in think tanks and intellectual circles into official state policy.
Bush's legacy continues to develop, as time passing allows the development of a more nuanced historical perspective. Supporters credit his counterterrorism policies with preventing another major terrorist attack from occurring in the U.S. after the September 11 attacks and also praise individual policies such as the Medicare prescription drug benefit and the AIDS relief program known as PEPFAR. Critics often point to his handling of the Iraq War, specifically the failure to find weapons of mass destruction after claiming they were in Iraq, as well as Bush's handling of tax policy, Hurricane Katrina, climate change and the 2008 financial crisis, as proof that he was unfit to be president. Ben Ferencz, former chief prosecutor for the United States Army at the Nuremberg Trials, stated that Bush likely committed war crimes in relation to the Iraq War.
Several historians and commentators hold that Bush was one of the most consequential presidents in American history. Princeton University scholar Julian Zelizer described Bush's presidency as a "transformative" one, and said that "some people hate him, some people love him, but I do think he'll have a much more substantive perception as time goes on". Bryon Williams of The Huffington Post referred to Bush as "the most noteworthy president since FDR" and said the Patriot Act "increased authority of the executive branch at the expense of judicial opinions about when searches and seizures are reasonable" as evidence. Bush's administration presided over the largest tax cuts since the presidency of Ronald Reagan, and his homeland security reforms proved to be the most significant expansion of the federal government since the Great Society.
Bush has been widely portrayed in film and television, both during and after his presidency. He has had various nicknames including "Dubya", "GWB" and "Shrub".
=== Reception ===
The George W. Bush presidency has been ranked as below-average in surveys of presidential scholars published in the late 2000s and 2010s.
A 2010 Siena Research Institute survey of the opinions of historians, political scientists, and presidential scholars ranked him 39th out of 43 presidents. The survey respondents gave President Bush low ratings on his handling of the U.S. economy, communication, ability to compromise, foreign policy accomplishments, and intelligence. Bush said in 2013, "Ultimately history will judge the decisions I made, and I won't be around because it will take time for the objective historians to show up. So I am pretty comfortable with it. I did what I did." C-SPAN's 2021 survey of historians ranked Bush as the 29th-best president; Bush had initially been ranked the 36th in 2009.
Among the public, his reputation has improved in the United States since his presidency ended in 2009. In February 2012, Gallup reported that "Americans still rate George W. Bush among the worst presidents, though their views have become more positive in the three years since he left office." Gallup had earlier noted that Bush's favorability ratings in public opinion surveys had begun to rise a year after he had left office, from 40 percent in January 2009 and 35 percent in March 2009, to 45 percent in July 2010, a period during which he had remained largely out of the news. A poll conducted in June 2013 marked the first time recorded by Gallup where his ratings have been more positive than negative, with 49 percent viewing him favorably compared to 46 percent unfavorably. Other pollsters have noted similar trends of slight improvement in Bush's personal favorability since the end of his presidency. In April 2013, Bush's approval rating stood at 47 percent approval and 50 percent disapproval in a poll jointly conducted for The Washington Post and ABC, his highest approval rating since December 2005. Bush had achieved notable gains among seniors, non-college whites, and moderate and conservative Democrats since leaving office, although majorities disapproved of his handling of the economy (53 percent) and the Iraq War (57 percent). His 47 percent approval rating was equal to President Obama's in the same polling period. A CNN poll conducted that same month found that 55 percent of Americans said Bush's presidency had been a failure, with opinions divided along party lines, and 43 percent of independents calling it a success. Bush's public image saw greater improvement in 2017, with a YouGov survey showing 51 percent of favorability from Democrats. A 2018 CNN poll subsequently found that 61 percent of respondents held a favorable view of Bush, an increase of nine points from 2015. The improvement has been interpreted as Democrats viewing him more favorably in response to Donald Trump's first presidency, an assessment that has also been expressed by Bush himself.
=== Honors and awards ===
A street in Tirana, Albania, located directly outside the Albanian Parliament and formerly known as Rruga Punëtorët e Rilindjes, was renamed after Bush a few days before he made the first-ever visit by an American president to Albania in June 2007. In 2012, Estonian president Toomas Hendrik Ilves awarded Bush the Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana for his work in expanding NATO. Two elementary schools are named after him: one in Stockton Unified School District in Stockton, California, and one in Wylie Independent School District in St. Paul, Texas, in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mons_Hansteen | Mons Hansteen | Mons Hansteen is a mountain on the Moon, also known as Hansteen Alpha (α), named after Christopher Hansteen. It is roughly triangular in shape and occupies an area about 30 km across on the western margin of Oceanus Procellarum, southeast of the crater Hansteen and north of the dark-floored crater Billy. It is thought to be an extrusion of volcanic material that is younger than the crater Hansteen, with most of surface volcanic ash been deposited 3.5-3.74 billion years ago.
The Mons Hansteen belongs to rare class of non-mare moon volcanoes.
== Composition ==
The extruded material is significantly enriched in silica, and strongly depleted in iron and titanium oxides compared to surrounding mare terrain. Initially, it was believed its lavas are not as evolved as in Compton–Belkovich Thorium Anomaly, but by 2004 the low thorium enrichment signal was attributed to small size of volcanic complex, making it composition compatible with highly processed silicic lavas. By 2013, a patchy deposits of magnesium spinel were detected in the central and western parts of the volcanic dome. The spinel-rich areas are associated with boulder fields, and fringed by areas showing a sign of hydration, with 4-8% of mineral by weight been hydroxylated.
The average bulk density of material in Mons Hansteen is extremely low, been equal only to 1500–2000 kg/m3. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan | Japan | Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asian mainland, it is bordered to the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea in the south. The Japanese archipelago consists of four major islands alongside 14,121 smaller islands. Japan is divided into 47 administrative prefectures and eight traditional regions, and around 75% of its terrain is mountainous and heavily forested, concentrating its agriculture and highly urbanized population along its eastern coastal plains. With a population of almost 123 million as of 2026, it is the world's 11th most populous country. Tokyo is the country's capital and largest city.
The first known habitation of the archipelago dates to the Upper Paleolithic, with the beginning of the Japanese Paleolithic dating to c. 36,000 BC. Between the 4th and 6th centuries, its kingdoms were united under an emperor in Nara and later in Heian-kyō. From the 12th century, actual power was held by military aristocrats known as shōgun and feudal lords called daimyō, enforced by warrior nobility named samurai. After rule by the Kamakura and Ashikaga shogunates and a century of warring states, Japan was unified in 1600 by the Tokugawa shogunate, which implemented an isolationist foreign policy. In 1853, an American fleet forced Japan to open trade to the West, which led to the end of the shogunate and the restoration of imperial power in 1868.
The Meiji period saw Japan pursue rapid industrialization, modernization, militarism, and overseas colonization. The country annexed Korea in 1910, invaded China in 1937, and attacked the U.S. and European colonial powers in 1941, thus entering World War II as an Axis power. After being defeated in the Pacific War and suffering the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan surrendered in 1945 and came under Allied occupation. It underwent rapid economic growth in the following decades and became one of the first major non-NATO allies of the U.S. Since the collapse of the Japanese asset price bubble in the early 1990s, it has experienced a prolonged period of economic stagnation referred to as the Lost Decades.
Japan is a constitutional monarchy with a bicameral legislature known as the National Diet. Widely considered a great power and the only Asian member of the G7, it maintains one of the world's strongest militaries but has constitutionally renounced its right to declare war. A developed country with one of the world's largest economies by nominal GDP, it is a global leader in the automotive, electronics, and robotics industries, in addition to making significant contributions to science and technology. It has one of the world's highest life expectancies, but is undergoing a population decline. The culture of Japan is well known around the world, particularly its popular culture as expressed in animation, art, comics, cuisine, fashion, films, music, television, theatre and video games.
== Etymology ==
The name for Japan in Japanese is written using the kanji 日本 and is pronounced Nihon or Nippon. Before 日本 was adopted in the early 8th century, the country was known in China as Wa (倭, changed in Japan around 757 to 和) and in Japan by the endonym Yamato. Nippon, the original Sino-Japanese reading of the characters, is favored for official uses, including on Japanese banknotes and postage stamps. Nihon is typically used in everyday speech and reflects shifts in Japanese phonology during the Edo period. The characters 日本 mean 'sun origin', which is the source of the popular Western epithet "Land of the Rising Sun".
The name "Japan" is based on Min or Wu Chinese pronunciations of 日本 and was introduced to European languages through early trade. In the 13th century, Marco Polo recorded the Early Mandarin Chinese pronunciation of the characters 日本國 as Cipangu. The old Malay name for Japan, Japang or Japun, was borrowed from a southern coastal Chinese dialect and encountered by Portuguese traders in Southeast Asia, who brought the word to Europe in the early 16th century. The first version of the name in English appears in a book published in 1577, which spelled the name as Giapan in a translation of a 1565 Portuguese letter.
== History ==
=== Prehistoric to classical history ===
Modern humans arrived in Japan around 38,000 years ago (~36,000 BC), marking the beginning of the Japanese Paleolithic. Around 14,500 BC (the start of the Jōmon period), a Mesolithic to Neolithic semi-sedentary hunter-gatherer culture characterized by pit dwelling and rudimentary agriculture emerged. Clay vessels from the period are among the oldest surviving examples of pottery. The Japonic-speaking Yayoi people later entered the archipelago from the Korean Peninsula, intermingling with the Jōmon people. The Yayoi period saw the introduction of innovative practices including wet-rice farming, a new style of pottery, and metallurgy from China and Korea. According to legend, Emperor Jimmu (descendant of Amaterasu) founded a kingdom in central Japan in 660 BC, beginning a continuous imperial line.
Japan first appears in written history in the Chinese Book of Han, completed in 111 AD, where it is described as having a hundred small kingdoms. A century later, the Book of Wei records that the kingdom of Yamatai (which may refer to Yamato) unified most of these kingdoms. Buddhism was introduced to Japan from Baekje (a Korean kingdom) in 552, but the development of Japanese Buddhism was primarily influenced by China. Despite early resistance, Buddhism was promoted by the ruling class, including figures like Prince Shōtoku, and gained widespread acceptance beginning in the Asuka period (592–710).
In 645, the government led by Prince Naka no Ōe and Fujiwara no Kamatari devised and implemented the far-reaching Taika Reforms. The Reform began with land reform, based on Confucian ideas and philosophies from China. It nationalized all land in Japan, to be distributed equally among cultivators, and ordered the compilation of a household registry as the basis for a new system of taxation. The true aim of the reforms was to bring about greater centralization and to enhance the power of the imperial court, which was also based on the governmental structure of China. Envoys and students were dispatched to China to learn about Chinese writing, politics, art, and religion.
The Jinshin War of 672, a bloody conflict between Prince Ōama and his nephew Prince Ōtomo, became a major catalyst for further administrative reforms. These reforms culminated with the promulgation of the Taihō Code, which consolidated existing statutes and established the structure of the central and subordinate local governments. These legal reforms created the ritsuryō state, a system of Chinese-style centralized government that remained in place for half a millennium.
The Nara period (710–784) marked the emergence of a Japanese state centered on the Imperial Court in Heijō-kyō (modern Nara). The period is characterized by the appearance of a nascent literary culture with the completion of the Kojiki (712) and Nihon Shoki (720), as well as the development of Buddhist-inspired artwork and architecture. A smallpox epidemic in 735–737 is believed to have killed as much as one-third of Japan's population. In 784, Emperor Kanmu moved the capital, settling on Heian-kyō (modern-day Kyoto) in 794. This marked the beginning of the Heian period (794–1185), during which a distinctly indigenous Japanese culture emerged. Murasaki Shikibu's The Tale of Genji and the lyrics of Japan's national anthem "Kimigayo" were written during this time.
=== Feudal era ===
Japan's feudal era was characterized by the emergence and dominance of a ruling class of warriors, the samurai. In 1185, following the defeat of the Taira clan by the Minamoto clan in the Genpei War, samurai Minamoto no Yoritomo established a military government at Kamakura. After Yoritomo's death, the Hōjō clan came to power as regents for the shōgun. The Zen school of Buddhism was introduced from China in the Kamakura period (1185–1333) and became popular among the samurai class.
The Kamakura shogunate repelled Mongol invasions in 1274 and 1281 but was eventually overthrown by Emperor Go-Daigo. Go-Daigo was defeated by Ashikaga Takauji in 1336, beginning the Muromachi period (1336–1573). The succeeding Ashikaga shogunate failed to control the feudal warlords (daimyō) and a civil war began in 1467, opening the century-long Sengoku period ('Warring States').
During the 16th century, Portuguese traders and Jesuit missionaries reached Japan for the first time, initiating direct commercial and cultural exchange between Japan and the West (see Nanban trade and Nanban art). Oda Nobunaga used European technology and firearms to conquer many other daimyō; his consolidation of power began what was known as the Azuchi–Momoyama period. After the death of Nobunaga in 1582, his successor, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, unified the nation in the early 1590s and launched two unsuccessful invasions of Korea in 1592 and 1597.
Tokugawa Ieyasu served as regent for Hideyoshi's son Toyotomi Hideyori within the Council of Five Elders and used his position to gain political and military support. When open war broke out, Ieyasu defeated rival clans in the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600. He was appointed shōgun by Emperor Go-Yōzei in 1603 and established the Tokugawa shogunate at Edo (modern Tokyo). The shogunate enacted measures including Buke shohatto, as a code of conduct to control the autonomous daimyō, and in 1639 the isolationist sakoku ('closed country') policy that spanned the two and a half centuries of tenuous political unity known as the Edo period (1603–1868). Modern Japan's economic growth began in this period, resulting in roads (Kaidō) and water transportation routes, as well as financial instruments such as futures contracts, banking and insurance of the Osaka rice brokers. The study of Western sciences (rangaku) continued through contact with the Dutch enclave in Nagasaki. The Edo period gave rise to kokugaku ('national studies'), the study of Japan by the Japanese.
=== Modern era ===
The United States Navy sent Commodore Matthew C. Perry to force the opening of Japan to the outside world. Arriving at Uraga with four "Black Ships" in July 1853, the Perry Expedition resulted in the March 1854 Convention of Kanagawa. Subsequent similar treaties with other Western countries brought economic and political crises. The resignation of the shōgun led to the Boshin War and the establishment of a centralized state nominally unified under the emperor (the Meiji Restoration). Adopting Western political, judicial, and military institutions, the Cabinet organized the Privy Council, introduced the Meiji Constitution (November 29, 1890), and assembled the Imperial Diet.
During the Meiji period (1868–1912), the Empire of Japan emerged as the most developed state in Asia and as an industrialized world power that pursued military conflict to expand its sphere of influence. After victories in the First Sino-Japanese War (1894–1895) and the Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905), Japan gained control of Taiwan, Korea and the southern half of Sakhalin, and annexed Korea in 1910. The Japanese population doubled from 35 million in 1873 to 70 million by 1935, with a significant shift to urbanization.
The early 20th century saw a period of Taishō democracy (1912–1926) overshadowed by increasing expansionism and militarization. World War I allowed Japan, which joined the side of the victorious Allies, to capture German possessions in the Pacific and China in 1920. The 1920s saw a political shift towards statism, a period of lawlessness following the 1923 Great Tokyo Earthquake, the passing of laws against political dissent, and a series of attempted coups.
This process accelerated in the 1930s, spawning several radical nationalist groups that shared a hostility to liberal democracy and a dedication to expansion in Asia. In 1931, Japan invaded China and occupied Manchuria, which led to the establishment of puppet state of Manchukuo in 1932; following international condemnation of the occupation, it resigned from the League of Nations in 1933. In 1936, Japan signed the Anti-Comintern Pact with Nazi Germany; the 1940 Tripartite Pact made it one of the Axis powers.
The Empire of Japan invaded other parts of China in 1937, precipitating the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945). In 1940, the Empire invaded French Indochina, after which the United States placed an oil embargo on Japan. On December 7–8, 1941, Japanese forces carried out surprise attacks on Pearl Harbor, as well as on British forces in Malaya, Singapore, and Hong Kong, among others, beginning World War II in the Pacific. Throughout areas occupied by Japan during the war, numerous abuses were committed against local inhabitants. Many women were forced into sexual slavery.
After Allied victories during the next four years, which culminated in the Soviet invasion of Manchuria and the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, Japan agreed to an unconditional surrender. The war cost Japan millions of lives and many of its conquered territories, including de jure parts of Japan such as Korea, Taiwan, Karafuto, and the Kurils. The Allies, led by the United States, repatriated millions of Japanese settlers from their former colonies and military camps throughout Asia, largely eliminating the Empire of Japan and its influence over the territories it conquered. The Allies convened the International Military Tribunal for the Far East to prosecute Japanese leaders except the Emperor for Japanese war crimes.
In 1947, Japan adopted a new constitution emphasizing liberal democratic practices. The Allied occupation ended with the Treaty of San Francisco in 1952, and Japan was granted membership in the United Nations in 1956. A period of record growth propelled Japan to become the world's second-largest economy at that time; this ended in the mid-1990s after the popping of an asset price bubble, beginning the "Lost Decade" characterized by economic stagnation and low inflation. In 2011, Japan suffered one of the largest earthquakes in its recorded history—the Tōhoku earthquake—triggering the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. On May 1, 2019, after the historic abdication of Emperor Akihito, his son Naruhito became Emperor, beginning the Reiwa era.
== Geography ==
Japan comprises 14,125 islands extending along the Pacific coast of Asia. It stretches over 3000 km (1900 mi) northeast–southwest from the Sea of Okhotsk to the East China Sea. The country's five main islands, from north to south, are Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu and Okinawa. The Ryukyu Islands, which include Okinawa, are a chain to the south of Kyushu. The Nanpō Islands are south and east of the main islands of Japan. Together they are often known as the Japanese archipelago. As of 2019, Japan's territory is 377,975.24 km2 (145,937.06 sq mi). Japan has the sixth-longest coastline in the world at 29,751 km (18,486 mi). Because of its far-flung outlying islands, Japan's exclusive economic zone is the eighth-largest in the world, covering 4,470,000 km2 (1,730,000 sq mi).
The Japanese archipelago is 67% forests and 14% agricultural. The primarily rugged and mountainous terrain is restricted for habitation. Thus the habitable zones, mainly in the coastal areas, have very high population densities: Japan is the 40th most densely populated country even without considering that local concentration. Honshu has the highest population density at 450 persons/km2 (1200/sq mi) as of 2010, while Hokkaido has the lowest density of 64.5 persons/km2 as of 2016. As of 2014, approximately 0.5% of Japan's total area is reclaimed land (umetatechi). Lake Biwa is an ancient lake and the country's largest freshwater lake.
Japan is substantially prone to earthquakes, tsunami and volcanic eruptions because of its location along the Pacific Ring of Fire. It has the 17th highest natural disaster risk as measured in the 2016 World Risk Index. Japan has 111 active volcanoes. Destructive earthquakes, often resulting in tsunami, occur several times each century; the 1923 Tokyo earthquake killed over 140,000 people. More recent major quakes are the 1995 Great Hanshin earthquake and the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake, which triggered a large tsunami.
=== Climate ===
The climate of Japan is predominantly temperate but varies greatly from north to south. The northernmost region, Hokkaido, has a humid continental climate with long, cold winters and very warm to cool summers. Precipitation is not heavy, but the islands usually develop deep snowbanks in the winter.
In the Sea of Japan region on Honshu's west coast, northwest winter winds bring heavy snowfall during winter. In the summer, the region sometimes experiences extremely hot temperatures because of the Foehn. The Central Highland has a typical inland humid continental climate, with large temperature differences between summer and winter. The mountains of the Chūgoku and Shikoku regions shelter the Seto Inland Sea from seasonal winds, bringing mild weather year-round.
The Pacific coast features a humid subtropical climate that experiences milder winters with occasional snowfall and hot, humid summers because of the southeast seasonal wind. The Ryukyu and Nanpō Islands have a subtropical climate, with warm winters and hot summers. Precipitation is very heavy, especially during the rainy season. The main rainy season begins in early May in Okinawa, and the rain front gradually moves north. In late summer and early autumn, typhoons often bring heavy rain. According to the Environment Ministry, heavy rainfall and increasing temperatures have caused problems in the agricultural industry and elsewhere. The highest temperature ever measured in Japan, 41.8 °C (107.2 °F), was recorded on August 5, 2025.
=== Biodiversity ===
Japan has nine forest ecoregions which reflect the climate and geography of the islands. They range from subtropical moist broadleaf forests in the Ryūkyū and Bonin Islands, to temperate broadleaf and mixed forests in the mild climate regions of the main islands, to temperate coniferous forests in the cold, winter portions of the northern islands. Japan has over 90,000 species of wildlife as of 2019, including the brown bear, the Japanese macaque, the Japanese raccoon dog, the small Japanese field mouse, and the Japanese giant salamander. There are 53 Ramsar wetland sites in Japan. Five sites have been inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List for their outstanding natural value.
=== Environment ===
In the period of rapid economic growth after World War II, environmental policies were downplayed by the government and industrial corporations; as a result, environmental pollution was widespread in the 1950s and 1960s. Responding to rising concerns, the government introduced environmental protection laws in 1970. The oil crisis in 1973 also encouraged the efficient use of energy because of Japan's lack of natural resources.
Japan ranks 20th in the 2018 Environmental Performance Index, which measures a country's commitment to environmental sustainability. Japan is the world's fifth-largest emitter of carbon dioxide. As the host and signatory of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, Japan is under treaty obligation to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions and to take other steps to curb climate change. In 2020, the government of Japan announced a target of carbon-neutrality by 2050. Environmental issues include urban air pollution (NOx, suspended particulate matter, and toxics), waste management, water eutrophication, nature conservation, climate change, chemical management and international co-operation for conservation.
== Government and politics ==
Japan is a unitary state and constitutional monarchy in which the power of the emperor (Tennō) is limited to a ceremonial role. Executive power is instead wielded by the prime minister and the Cabinet, whose sovereignty is vested in the Japanese people. Naruhito is the Emperor of Japan, having succeeded his father Akihito upon his accession to the Chrysanthemum Throne in 2019.
Japan's legislative organ is the National Diet, a bicameral parliament. It consists of a lower House of Representatives with 465 seats, elected by popular vote every four years or when dissolved, and an upper House of Councillors with 248 seats, whose popularly elected members serve six-year terms. There is universal suffrage for adults over 18 years of age, with a secret ballot for all elected offices. The prime minister as the head of government has the power to appoint and dismiss Ministers of State, and is appointed by the emperor after being designated from among the members of the Diet. Sanae Takaichi is Japan's prime minister; she took office after winning the 2025 Liberal Democratic Party leadership election and securing a confidence and supply agreement with Ishin. The broadly conservative Liberal Democratic Party has been the dominant party in the country since the 1950s, often called the 1955 System.
Historically influenced by Chinese law, the Japanese legal system developed independently during the Edo period through texts such as Kujikata Osadamegaki. Since the late 19th century, the judicial system has been largely based on the civil law of Europe, notably Germany. In 1896, Japan established a civil code based on the German Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch, which remains in effect with post–World War II modifications. The Constitution of Japan, adopted in 1947, is the oldest unamended constitution in the world. Statutory law originates in the legislature, and the constitution requires that the emperor promulgate legislation passed by the Diet without giving him the power to oppose legislation. The main body of Japanese statutory law is called the Six Codes. Japan's court system is divided into four basic tiers: the Supreme Court and three levels of lower courts.
=== Administrative divisions ===
Japan is divided into 47 prefectures, each overseen by an elected governor and legislature. In the following table, the prefectures are grouped by region:
=== Foreign relations ===
A member state of the United Nations since 1956, Japan is one of the G4 countries seeking reform of the Security Council. Japan is a member of the G7, APEC, and "ASEAN Plus Three", and is a participant in the East Asia Summit. It is the world's fifth-largest donor of official development assistance, donating US$9.2 billion in 2014. In 2024, Japan had the fourth-largest diplomatic network in the world. Japan is widely considered to be a great power due to its economic power and political, cultural, and military influence.
Japan has close economic and military relations with the United States, with which it maintains a security alliance. The United States is a major market for Japanese exports and a major source of Japanese imports, and is committed to defending the country, with military bases in Japan. In 2016, Japan announced the Free and Open Indo-Pacific vision, which frames its regional policies. Japan is also a member of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue ("the Quad"), a multilateral security dialogue reformed in 2017 aiming to limit Chinese influence in the Indo-Pacific region, along with the United States, Australia, and India.
Japan is engaged in several territorial disputes with its neighbors. It contests Russia's control of the Southern Kuril Islands, which were occupied by the Soviet Union in 1945. South Korea's control of the Liancourt Rocks is acknowledged but not accepted as they are claimed by Japan. Japan's relations with China are marked by both deep economic ties as well as tensions over Taiwan, security, and the Senkaku Islands.
=== Military ===
Japan is the third highest-ranked Asian country in the 2024 Global Peace Index. It spent 1.4% of its total GDP on its defense budget and maintained the tenth-largest military budget in the world in 2024. The country's military, the Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF), is restricted by Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution, which renounces Japan's right to declare war or use military force in international disputes. The military is governed by the Ministry of Defense, and primarily consists of the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force, the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, and the Japan Air Self-Defense Force. The deployment of troops to Iraq and Afghanistan marked the first overseas use of Japan's military since World War II.
The Government of Japan has been making changes to its security policy which include the establishment of the National Security Council, the adoption of the National Security Strategy, and the development of the National Defense Program Guidelines. In 2015, the Japanese parliament passed the Legislation for Peace and Security, allowing the JSDF to participate in foreign conflicts in an "existential crisis situation". In December 2022, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida instructed the government to increase spending by 65% until 2027. Recent tensions, particularly with North Korea and China, have reignited the debate over the status of the JSDF and its relation to Japanese society.
=== Law enforcement ===
Domestic security in Japan is provided mainly by the prefectural police departments, under the oversight of the National Police Agency. As the central coordinating body for the Prefectural Police Departments, the National Police Agency is administered by the National Public Safety Commission. The Special Assault Team comprises national-level counter-terrorism tactical units that cooperate with territorial-level Anti-Firearms Squads and Counter-NBC Terrorism Squads. The Japan Coast Guard guards territorial waters surrounding Japan and uses surveillance and control countermeasures against smuggling, marine environmental crime, poaching, piracy, spy ships, unauthorized foreign fishing vessels, and illegal immigration.
The Firearm and Sword Possession Control Law strictly regulates the civilian ownership of guns, swords, and other weaponry. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, among the member states of the UN that report statistics as of 2018, the incidence rates of violent crimes such as murder, abduction, sexual violence, and robbery are very low in Japan.
=== Human rights ===
Japanese society traditionally places a strong emphasis on collective harmony and conformity, which has led to the suppression of individual rights. Japan's constitution prohibits racial and religious discrimination, and the country is a signatory to numerous international human rights treaties. However, it lacks any laws against discrimination based on race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, or gender identity and does not have a national human rights institution.
Japan has faced criticism for its gender inequality, not allowing same-sex marriages, use of racial profiling by police, and allowing capital punishment. Other human rights issues include the treatment of marginalized groups, such as ethnic minorities, refugees and asylum seekers.
== Economy ==
Japan has the world's fourth-largest economy by nominal GDP, after that of the United States, China and Germany; and the fifth-largest by PPP-adjusted GDP. As of 2023, Japan's labor force is the world's tenth-largest, consisting of over 69.2 million workers. As of 2024, Japan has a low unemployment rate of around 2.6%. Its poverty rate is the second highest among the G7 countries, and exceeds 15.7% of the population. Japan has the highest ratio of public debt to GDP among advanced economies, with a national debt estimated at 237% relative to GDP as of 2026. The Japanese yen is the world's third-largest reserve currency after the US dollar and the euro.
In 2024, Japan was the world's eight-largest exporter and sixth-largest importer. Its exports amounted to 22.8% of its total GDP in 2024. In 2025, Japan's main export markets were China (22.8%, including Hong Kong) and the United States (18.5%). Its main exports are motor vehicles, iron and steel products, semiconductors, and auto parts. Japan's main import markets in 2025 were China (23.8%) and the United States (11.4%). Japan's main imports are machinery and equipment, fossil fuels, foodstuffs, chemicals, and raw materials.
The Japanese variant of capitalism has many distinct features: keiretsu enterprises are influential, and lifetime employment and seniority-based career advancement are common in the Japanese work environment. Japan has a large cooperative sector, with three of the world's ten largest cooperatives, including the largest consumer cooperative and the largest agricultural cooperative as of 2018. It ranks highly for competitiveness and economic freedom. The country attracted 36.9 million international tourists in 2024, and was ranked eleventh in the world in 2019 for inbound tourism. The 2024 Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report ranked Japan third in the world. Its international tourism receipts in 2019 amounted to $46.1 billion.
=== Agriculture and fishery ===
The Japanese agricultural sector accounts for about 1.2% of the country's total GDP as of 2018. Only 11.2% of Japan's land is suitable for cultivation. Because of this lack of arable land, a system of terraces is used to farm in small areas. This results in one of the world's highest levels of crop yields per unit area, with an agricultural self-sufficiency rate of about 50% as of 2018. Japan's small agricultural sector is highly subsidized and protected. There has been a growing concern about farming as farmers are aging with a difficult time finding successors.
Japan ranked seventh in the world in tonnage of fish caught and captured 3,167,610 metric tons of fish in 2016, down from an annual average of 4,000,000 tons over the previous decade. Japan maintains one of the world's largest fishing fleets and accounts for nearly 15% of the global catch, prompting critiques that Japan's fishing is leading to depletion in fish stocks such as tuna. Japan has sparked controversy by supporting commercial whaling.
=== Industry and services ===
Japan has a large industrial capacity and is home to some of the "largest and most technologically advanced producers of motor vehicles, machine tools, steel and nonferrous metals, ships, chemical substances, textiles, and processed foods". Japan's industrial sector makes up approximately 27.5% of its GDP. The country's manufacturing output is the fourth highest in the world as of 2023.
Japan is in the top three globally for both automobile production and export, and is home to Toyota, the world's largest automobile company by production. The Japanese shipbuilding industry faces increasing competition from its East Asian neighbors, South Korea and China; a 2020 government initiative identified this sector as a target for increasing exports.
Once considered the strongest in the world, the Japanese consumer electronics industry is in a state of decline as regional competition arises in neighboring East Asian countries such as South Korea and China. However, Japan's video game sector remains a major industry; in 2014, Japan's consumer video game market grossed $9.6 billion, with $5.8 billion coming from mobile gaming. By 2015, Japan had become the world's fourth-largest PC game market by revenue, behind China, the United States, and South Korea.
Japan's service sector accounts for about 69.8% of its total economic output as of 2023. Banking, retail, transportation, and telecommunications are all major industries, with companies such as Toyota, Honda, Yamaha, Mitsubishi UFJ, NTT, Aeon, SoftBank, Hitachi, Mitsui, and Itochu listed as among the largest in the world.
=== Science and technology ===
Relative to gross domestic product, Japan's research and development budget is the sixth or seventh highest in the world, with 907,400 researchers sharing a 22-trillion-yen research and development budget as of 2023. Japan has the second highest number of researchers in science and technology per capita in the world with 14 per 1000 employees. The country has produced twenty-two Nobel laureates in either physics, chemistry or medicine, and three Fields medalists.
Japan is a leading robotics producer, supplying 38% of the world's 2024 total, down from 55% in 2017.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency is Japan's national space agency; it conducts space, planetary, and aviation research, and leads development of rockets and satellites. It is a participant in the International Space Station: the Japanese Experiment Module (Kibō) was added to the station during Space Shuttle assembly flights in 2008. The space probe Akatsuki was launched in 2010 and achieved orbit around Venus in 2015. Japan's plans in space exploration include building a Moon base and landing astronauts by 2030. In 2007, it launched lunar explorer SELENE (Selenological and Engineering Explorer) from Tanegashima Space Center. The largest lunar mission since the Apollo program, its purpose was to gather data on the Moon's origin and evolution. The explorer entered a lunar orbit on October 4, 2007, and was deliberately crashed into the Moon on June 11, 2009.
== Infrastructure ==
=== Transportation ===
Japan has invested heavily in transportation infrastructure since the 1990s. The country has approximately 1,200,000 kilometers (750,000 miles) of roads made up of 1,000,000 kilometers (620,000 miles) of city, town, and village roads, 130,000 kilometers (81,000 miles) of prefectural roads, 54,736 kilometers (34,011 miles) of general national highways, and 7641 kilometers (4748 miles) of national expressways as of 2017.
Since privatization in 1987, dozens of Japanese railway companies compete in regional and local passenger transportation markets; major companies include seven JR enterprises, Kintetsu, Seibu Railway and Keio Corporation. The high-speed Shinkansen (bullet trains) that connect major cities are known for their safety and punctuality.
There are 280 airports in Japan as of 2025. The largest domestic airport, Haneda Airport in Tokyo, was Asia's second-busiest airport in 2019. The Keihin and Hanshin superport hubs are among the largest in the world, at 7.98 and 5.22 million TEU respectively as of 2017.
=== Energy ===
As of 2019, 37.1% of energy in Japan is produced from petroleum, 25.1% from coal, 22.4% from natural gas, 3.5% from hydropower and 2.8% from nuclear power, among other sources. Nuclear power was down from 11.2% in 2010. By May 2012 all of the country's nuclear power plants had been taken offline because of ongoing public opposition following the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in March 2011, though government officials continued to try to sway public opinion in favor of returning at least some to service. The Sendai Nuclear Power Plant restarted in 2015, and since then several other nuclear power plants have been restarted. Japan lacks significant domestic reserves and has a heavy dependence on imported energy. The country has therefore aimed to diversify its sources and maintain high levels of energy efficiency.
== Demographics ==
Japan has a population of nearly 123 million, of whom almost 119 million are Japanese nationals; foreign residents make up the remainder, estimated at 3,743,000 as of September 2025. Japan is one of the world's fastest aging countries and has the highest proportion of elderly citizens of any country, comprising one-third of its total population; this is the result of a post–World War II baby boom, which was followed by an increase in life expectancy and a decrease in birth rates.
Japan has a total fertility rate of 1.2, which is below the replacement rate of 2.1, and is among the world's lowest: it has a median age of 48.4, the highest in the world. As of 2025, over 29.3% of the population is over 65, or more than one in four out of the Japanese population. As a growing number of younger Japanese are not marrying or remaining childless, Japan's population is expected to drop to around 88 million by 2065.
The changes in demographic structure have created several social issues, particularly a decline in the workforce population and an increase in the cost of social security benefits. The Government of Japan projects that there will be almost one elderly person for each person of working age by 2060. Immigration and birth incentives are sometimes suggested as a solution to provide younger workers to support the nation's aging population. On April 1, 2019, Japan's revised immigration law was enacted, protecting the rights of foreign workers to help reduce labor shortages in certain sectors.
In 2023, 92% of the Japanese population lived in cities. The capital city, Tokyo, has a population of 13.9 million (2022). It is part of the Greater Tokyo Area, the biggest metropolitan area in the world with 37.4 million people (2024). Japan is an ethnically and culturally homogeneous society, with the Japanese people forming 97.4% of the country's population. Minority ethnic groups in the country include the indigenous Ainu and Ryukyuan people. Zainichi Koreans, Chinese, Filipinos, Brazilians mostly of Japanese descent, and Peruvians mostly of Japanese descent are also among Japan's small minority groups. Burakumin make up a social minority group.
=== Languages ===
The Japanese language is Japan's de facto national language and the primary written and spoken language of most people in the country. Japanese writing uses kanji (Chinese characters) and two sets of kana (syllabaries based on cursive script and radicals used by kanji), as well as the Latin alphabet and Arabic numerals. English has taken a major role in Japan as a business and international link language, and is a compulsory subject at the junior and senior high school levels. Japanese Sign Language is the primary sign language used in Japan and has gained some official recognition, but its usage has been historically hindered by discriminatory policies and a lack of educational support.
Besides Japanese, the Ryukyuan languages (Amami, Kunigami, Okinawan, Miyako, Yaeyama, Yonaguni), part of the Japonic language family, are spoken in the Ryukyu Islands chain. Few children learn these languages, but local governments have sought to increase awareness of the traditional languages. The Ainu language, which is a language isolate, is moribund, with only a few native speakers remaining as of 2014. Additionally, a number of other languages are taught and used by ethnic minorities, immigrant communities, and a growing number of foreign-language students, such as Korean (including a distinct Zainichi Korean dialect), Chinese, and Portuguese.
=== Religion ===
Japan's constitution guarantees full religious freedom. Upper estimates suggest that 84–96% of the Japanese population subscribe to Shinto as its indigenous religion. However, these estimates are based on people affiliated with a temple, rather than the number of true believers. Many Japanese people practice both Shinto and Buddhism; they can identify with both religions or describe themselves as non-religious or spiritual. The level of participation in religious ceremonies as a cultural tradition remains high, especially during festivals and occasions such as the first shrine visit of the New Year. Taoism and Confucianism from China have also influenced Japanese beliefs and customs.
In 2018, 1% to 1.5% of the population were Christians. Throughout the latest century, Western customs originally related to Christianity, including Western style weddings, Valentine's Day and Christmas, have become popular as secular customs among many Japanese.
About 90% of those practicing Islam in Japan are foreign-born migrants as of 2016. In 2018, there were an estimated 105 mosques and 200,000 Muslims in Japan, 43,000 of which were Japanese nationals. Other minority religions include Hinduism, Judaism, and Baháʼí Faith, as well as the animist beliefs of the Ainu.
=== Education ===
Since the 1947 Fundamental Law of Education, compulsory education in Japan comprises elementary and junior high school, which together last for nine years. Almost all children continue their education at a three-year senior high school. The top-ranking university in Japan is the University of Tokyo. Starting in April 2016, various schools began the academic year with elementary school and junior high school integrated into one nine-year compulsory schooling program. MEXT plans for this approach to be adopted nationwide.
The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) coordinated by the OECD ranks the knowledge and skills of Japanese 15-year-olds as the third best in the world. Japan is one of the top-performing OECD countries in reading literacy, math, and sciences with the average student scoring 520 and has one of the world's highest-educated labor forces among OECD countries. It spent 7.4% of its total GDP on education in 2021.
In 2023, Japan ranked third for the percentage of 25- to 64-year-olds that have attained tertiary education, at 56%. Approximately 65.5% of Japanese aged 25 to 34 have some form of tertiary education qualification, with bachelor's degrees being held by 34.8% of Japanese aged 25 to 64, the second most in the OECD after South Korea. Japanese women are more highly educated than the men: 59% of women possess a university degree, compared to 52% of men.
=== Health ===
Health care in Japan is provided by national and local governments. Payment for personal medical services is offered through a universal health insurance system that provides relative equality of access, with fees set by a government committee. People without insurance through employers can participate in a national health insurance program administered by local governments. Since 1973, all elderly persons have been covered by government-sponsored insurance.
Japan spent 11.42% of its total GDP on healthcare in 2022. In 2020, the overall life expectancy in Japan at birth was 85 years (82 years for men and 88 years for women), the highest in the world; while it had a very low infant mortality rate (2 per 1,000 live births). Since 1981, the principal cause of death in Japan is cancer, which accounted for 27% of the total deaths in 2018—followed by cardiovascular diseases, which led to 15% of the deaths. Japan has one of the world's highest suicide rates, which is considered a major social issue. Another significant public health issue is smoking among Japanese men. Japan has the lowest rate of heart disease in the OECD, and the lowest level of dementia among developed countries.
== Culture ==
Contemporary Japanese culture combines influences from Asia, Europe, and North America. Traditional Japanese arts include crafts such as ceramics, textiles, lacquerware, swords, and dolls; performances of bunraku, kabuki, noh, dance, and rakugo; and other practices, the tea ceremony, ikebana, martial arts, calligraphy, origami, onsen, Geisha, and games. Japan has a developed system for the protection and promotion of both tangible and intangible Cultural Properties and National Treasures. Twenty-two sites have been inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, eighteen of which are of cultural significance. Japan is considered a cultural superpower.
=== Art and architecture ===
The history of Japanese painting exhibits synthesis and competition between native Japanese esthetics and imported ideas. The interaction between Japanese and European art has been significant: for example ukiyo-e prints, which began to be exported in the 19th century in the movement known as Japonism, had a significant influence on the development of modern art in the West, most notably on post-Impressionism.
Japanese architecture is a combination of local and other influences. It has traditionally been typified by wooden or mud plaster structures, elevated slightly off the ground, with tiled or thatched roofs. Traditional housing and many temple buildings see the use of tatami mats and sliding doors that break down the distinction between rooms and indoor and outdoor space. Since the 19th century, Japan has incorporated much of Western modern architecture into construction and design. It was not until after World War II that Japanese architects made an impression on the international scene, firstly with the work of architects like Kenzō Tange and then with movements like Metabolism.
=== Literature and philosophy ===
The earliest works of Japanese literature include the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki chronicles and the Man'yōshū poetry anthology, all from the 8th century and written in Chinese characters. In the early Heian period, the system of phonograms known as kana (hiragana and katakana) was developed. The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter is considered the oldest extant Japanese narrative. An account of court life is given in The Pillow Book by Sei Shōnagon, while The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu is often described as the world's first novel.
During the Edo period, the chōnin ('townspeople') overtook the samurai aristocracy as producers and consumers of literature. The popularity of the works of Saikaku, for example, reveals this change in readership and authorship, while Bashō revivified the poetic tradition of the Kokinshū with his haikai (haiku) and wrote the poetic travelogue Oku no Hosomichi. The Meiji era saw the decline of traditional literary forms as Japanese literature integrated Western influences. Natsume Sōseki and Mori Ōgai were significant novelists in the early 20th century, followed by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, Jun'ichirō Tanizaki, Kafū Nagai and, more recently, Haruki Murakami and Kenji Nakagami. Japan has two Nobel Prize–winning authors—Yasunari Kawabata (1968) and Kenzaburō Ōe (1994).
Japanese philosophy has historically been a fusion of both foreign, particularly Chinese and Western, and uniquely Japanese elements. In its literary forms, Japanese philosophy began about fourteen centuries ago. Confucian ideals remain evident in the Japanese concept of society and the self, and in the organization of the government and the structure of society. Buddhism has profoundly impacted Japanese psychology, metaphysics, and esthetics.
=== Performing arts ===
Japanese music is eclectic and diverse. Many instruments, such as the koto, were introduced in the 9th and 10th centuries. The popular folk music, with the guitar-like shamisen, dates from the 16th century. Western classical music, introduced in the late 19th century, forms an integral part of Japanese culture. Kumi-daiko (ensemble drumming) was developed in post-war Japan and became very popular in North America. Popular music in post-war Japan has been heavily influenced by American and European trends, which has led to the evolution of J-pop. Karaoke is a significant cultural activity.
The four traditional theaters from Japan are noh, kyōgen, kabuki, and bunraku. Noh is one of the oldest continuous theater traditions in the world.
=== Media ===
According to the 2015 NHK survey on television viewing in Japan, 79% of Japanese watch television daily. Japanese television dramas are viewed both within Japan and internationally. Many Japanese media franchises have gained considerable global popularity and are among the world's highest-grossing media franchises. Japanese newspapers are among the most circulated in the world as of 2016.
Japan has one of the oldest and largest film industries globally. Ishirō Honda's Godzilla became an international icon of Japan and spawned an entire subgenre of kaiju films, as well as the longest-running film franchise in history. Japanese comics, known as manga, developed in the mid-20th century and have become popular worldwide. A large number of manga series have become some of the best-selling comics series of all time, rivalling the American comics industry. Japanese animated films and television series, known as anime, were largely influenced by Japanese manga and have become highly popular globally.
=== Holidays ===
Officially, Japan has 16 national, government-recognized holidays. Public holidays in Japan are regulated by the Public Holiday Law (国民の祝日に関する法律, Kokumin no Shukujitsu ni Kansuru Hōritsu) of 1948. Beginning in 2000, Japan implemented the Happy Monday System, which moved a number of national holidays to Monday in order to obtain a long weekend. The national holidays in Japan are New Year's Day on January 1, Coming of Age Day on the second Monday of January, National Foundation Day on February 11, The Emperor's Birthday on February 23, Vernal Equinox Day on March 20 or 21, Shōwa Day on April 29, Constitution Memorial Day on May 3, Greenery Day on May 4, Children's Day on May 5, Marine Day on the third Monday of July, Mountain Day on August 11, Respect for the Aged Day on the third Monday of September, Autumnal Equinox on September 23 or 24, Health and Sports Day on the second Monday of October, Culture Day on November 3, and Labor Thanksgiving Day on November 23.
=== Cuisine ===
Japanese cuisine offers a vast array of regional specialties that use traditional recipes and local ingredients. Seafood and Japanese rice or noodles are traditional staples. Japanese curry, since its introduction to Japan from British India, is so widely consumed that it can be termed a national dish, alongside ramen and sushi. Traditional Japanese sweets are known as wagashi. Ingredients such as red bean paste and mochi are used. More modern-day tastes include green tea ice cream.
Popular Japanese beverages include sake, a brewed rice beverage that typically contains 14–17% alcohol and is made by multiple fermentation of rice. Beer has been brewed in Japan since the late 17th century. Green tea is produced in Japan and prepared in forms such as matcha, used in the Japanese tea ceremony.
=== Sports ===
Traditionally, sumo is considered Japan's national sport. Japanese martial arts such as judo and kendo are taught as part of the compulsory junior high school curriculum. Karate, which originated in the Ryukyu Kingdom, is popular across the world and has been included in the Olympic Games. Baseball is the most popular sport in the country. Japan's top professional league, Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB), was established in 1936. Since the establishment of the Japan Professional Football League (J.League) in 1992, association football gained a wide following. The country co-hosted the 2002 FIFA World Cup with South Korea. Japan has one of the most successful football teams in Asia, winning the Asian Cup four times, and the FIFA Women's World Cup in 2011. Golf is also popular in Japan.
In motorsport, Japanese automotive manufacturers have been successful in multiple different categories, with titles and victories in series such as Formula One, MotoGP, and the World Rally Championship. Drivers from Japan have victories at the Indianapolis 500 and the 24 Hours of Le Mans as well as podium finishes in Formula One, in addition to success in domestic championships. Super GT is the most popular national racing series in Japan, while Super Formula is the top-level domestic open-wheel series. The country hosts major races such as the Japanese Grand Prix.
Japan hosted the Summer Olympics in Tokyo in 1964 and the Winter Olympics in Sapporo in 1972 and Nagano in 1998. The country hosted the official 2006 Basketball World Championship and co-hosted the 2023 Basketball World Championship. Tokyo hosted the 2020 Summer Olympics in 2021, making Tokyo the first Asian city to host the Olympics twice. The country gained the hosting rights for the official Women's Volleyball World Championship on five occasions, more than any other country. Japan is the most successful Asian Rugby Union country and hosted the 2019 IRB Rugby World Cup. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1988_Summer_Olympics | 1988 Summer Olympics | The 1988 Summer Olympics (Korean: 1988년 하계 올림픽), officially the Games of the XXIV Olympiad (제24회 올림픽경기대회) and officially branded as Seoul 1988 (서울 1988), were an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October 1988 in Seoul, South Korea. 159 nations were represented at the games by a total of 8,391 athletes (6,197 men and 2,194 women). 237 events were held and 27,221 volunteers helped to prepare the Olympics.
The 1988 Seoul Olympics were the second summer Olympic Games held in Asia, after the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, and the first held in South Korea. As the host country, South Korea ranked fourth overall, winning 12 gold medals and 33 medals in the competition. 11,331 media (4,978 written press and 6,353 broadcasters) showed the Games all over the world. These were the last Olympic Games of the Cold War, as well as for the Soviet Union and East Germany, as both ceased to exist before the next Olympic Games in 1992. The Soviet Union dominated the medal count, winning 55 gold and 132 total medals. The results that got closest to that medal haul in the years since are China's and the United States's 48 gold medals in 2008 and 2012, respectively, and the United States's 126 total medals in 2024.
Compared to the 1980 Summer Olympics (Moscow) and the 1984 Summer Olympics (Los Angeles), which were divided into two camps by ideology, the 1988 Seoul Olympics was a competition in which the boycotts virtually disappeared, although they were not completely over. A boycott of the 1988 Seoul Olympics took place, with North Korea along with its allies Cuba, Ethiopia, Nicaragua, and Madagascar taking part. Albania and the Seychelles did not respond to invitations sent by the IOC. Nonetheless, the much larger boycotts seen in the three previous editions were avoided, resulting in the largest number of participating nations during the Cold War era.
For South Korea, the 1988 Olympics was a symbolic milestone that elevated its international standing while fostering national pride. Only thirty five years after the devastation of the Korean War, and following decades of authoritarian rule and social unrest which concluded with the June Democratic Struggle just a year earlier, the games were staged successfully. The event was regarded as the peak of the "Miracle on the Han River". In 1999, 11 years after the games, the IOC returned to Seoul for the 109th IOC Session, which saw Turin elected as the host city for the 2006 Winter Olympics.
== Host city selection ==
Seoul was chosen to host the Summer Games through a vote held on 30 September 1981, finishing ahead of Nagoya, Japan. The awarding to Seoul was internationally considered to be surprising, with Nagoya having been considered a favourite. Below was the vote count that occurred at the 84th IOC Session and 11th Olympic Congress in Baden-Baden, West Germany.
Seoul had previously hosted many international events, but the most noteworthy ones were the Miss Universe 1980 and the 1986 Asian Games, thus demonstrating that it had the appropriate capability.
== Highlights ==
Soviet Vladimir Artemov won four gold medals in gymnastics. Daniela Silivaş of Romania won three and equalled compatriot Nadia Comăneci's record of seven perfect 10s in one Olympic Games.
After having demolished the world record in the 100-metre dash at the US Olympic trials in Indianapolis, sprinter Florence Griffith Joyner set an Olympic record (10.62) in the 100-metre dash and a still-standing world record (21.34) in the 200-metre dash to capture gold medals in both events. To these medals, she added a gold in the 4×100 relay and a silver in the 4×400.
This was the first Olympic Games where women's sailing was its own event. It was won by Americans Allison Jolly and Lynne Jewell.
Canadian Ben Johnson won the 100-metre final with a world-record time of 9.79 seconds, but was disqualified after he tested positive for stanozolol. Johnson has since claimed that his positive test was the result of sabotage.
In the women's artistic gymnastics team all-around competition, the United States women's team was penalized five-tenths of a point from their team score by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG) after the compulsory round. East German judge Ellen Berger noticed that Rhonda Faehn, who was the American team alternate and not competing, had been standing on the uneven bars podium for the duration of Kelly Garrison-Steve's compulsory uneven bars routine. Although Faehn was not a coach, Berger assessed the penalty under a rule prohibiting coaches from remaining on the podium while an athlete competes. The deduction caused the United States to fall to fourth place with a combined score of 390.575, three-tenths of a point behind East Germany. This incident remains controversial in the sport of gymnastics, as the United States outperformed the East German team and would have taken the bronze medal in the team competition had they not been penalized.
Phoebe Mills won an individual bronze medal on the balance beam, shared with Romania's Gabriela Potorac, making history as the first medal (team or individual) ever won by a US woman in artistic gymnastics at a fully attended games.
The USSR won their final team gold medals in artistic gymnastics on both the men's and women's sides with scores of 593.350 and 395.475 respectively. The men's team was led by Vladimir Artemov, while Elena Shushunova led the women's team.
Lawrence Lemieux, a Canadian sailor in the Finn class, was in second place and poised to win a silver medal when he abandoned the race to save an injured competitor in mortal peril. He finished in 21st place, but was recognized by the International Fair Play Committee with the Pierre de Coubertin World Trophy honoring his bravery and sacrifice.
American diver Greg Louganis won back-to-back titles on both diving events despite striking his head on the springboard during his third-round dive and suffering a concussion.
Christa Luding-Rothenburger of East Germany won the silver medal in the women's sprint event in cycling. Combined with the two medals she won in speed skating in the Winter Games in Calgary, she became the first athlete to win medals in two Olympics held in the same year; this feat is no longer possible due to the current scheduling of the Olympic Games.
Anthony Nesty of Suriname won his country's first Olympic medal by winning the men's 100-metre butterfly, prevailing over American Matt Biondi by .01 of a second (thwarting Biondi's attempt to match Mark Spitz's record seven golds in one Olympics). Nesty was the first black person to win an individual swimming gold.
Swimmer Kristin Otto of East Germany won six gold medals. Other multi-gold medalists in the pool were Matt Biondi (five) and Janet Evans (three).
Swedish fencer Kerstin Palm became the first woman to take part in seven Olympics.
Mark Todd of New Zealand won his second consecutive individual gold medal in the three-day event in equestrian on Charisma, only the second time in eventing history that a gold medal has been won consecutively.
Baseball and Taekwondo were demonstration sports. The opening ceremony featured a mass demonstration of taekwondo with hundreds of adults and children performing moves in unison.
This was the last time the United States was represented by an all-amateur basketball team that did not feature NBA players; the team won the bronze medal after losing to the Soviet Union (that was represented by veteran professionals) which went on to win the gold medal.
For the first time in history, all the dressage events were won by women.
Women's judo was held for the first time, as a demonstration sport.
Bowling was held as a demonstration sport, with Kwon Jong Yul of South Korea and Arianne Cerdeña from the Philippines winning the men's and women's gold medals, respectively.
Table tennis was introduced at the Olympics, with China and South Korea both winning two titles.
Tennis returned to the Olympics after a 64-year absence. Steffi Graf of West Germany added to her four Grand Slam victories in the year by also winning the Olympic title in women's singles, beating Gabriela Sabatini of Argentina in the final. Graf became the first person to win all four Grand Slams and the Olympic gold in a calendar year, known as the golden slam.
Two Bulgarian weightlifters were stripped of their gold medals after failing doping tests, and the team withdrew after this event.
In boxing, Roy Jones Jr. of the United States dominated his opponents, never losing a single round en route to the final. In the final, he controversially lost a 3–2 decision to South Korean fighter Park Si-Hun despite pummeling Park for three rounds and landing 86 punches to Park's 32.
In another boxing controversy, Riddick Bowe of the United States lost a controversial match in the final to Canadian future world heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis. Bowe had a dominant first round, landing 33 of 94 punches thrown (34%) while Lewis landed 14 of 67 (21%). In the first round the referee from East Germany gave Bowe two cautions for headbutts and deducted a point for a third headbutt, although replay clearly showed there was none. Commentator Ferdie Pacheco disagreed with the deduction, saying they did not hit heads. In the second round, Lewis landed several hard punches. The referee gave Bowe two standing eight counts and waved the fight off after the second one, even though Bowe seemed able to continue. Pacheco disagreed with the stoppage, calling it "very strange".
Soviet weightlifter Yury Zakharevich won the men's heavyweight (up to 110 kg class) with a 210 kg (460 lb) snatch and 245 kg (540 lb) clean and jerk for a 455 kg (1,003 lb) total. Zakhareivich had dislocated his elbow in 1983 attempting a world record and had it rebuilt with synthetic tendons.
Indonesia gained its first medal in Olympic history when the women's team won a silver medal in archery.
== Ceremonies ==
Live doves were released during the opening ceremony as a symbol of world peace, but a number of the doves were burned alive or suffered major trauma by the lighting of the Olympic cauldron. As a result of protests following the incident, the last time live doves were released during the opening ceremony was in 1992 in Barcelona, at the start of the ceremony. Balloon doves were released in 1994 Winter Olympics and the 1998 Winter Olympics and paper doves were used at the Atlanta Ceremony in 1996.
These were also the last Summer Olympic Games to hold the opening ceremony during the daytime. The opening ceremony featured a skydiving team descending over the stadium and forming the five-colored Olympic Rings, as well as a mass demonstration of taekwondo. The skydiving team trained at SkyDance SkyDiving and had hoped the opening ceremony appearance would set the stage for skydiving becoming a medal event by 2000.
== Domestic historical significance ==
The idea for South Korea to place a bid for the 1988 Games emerged during the last days of the Park Chung Hee administration in the late 1970s, as hosting the Olympics was a big opportunity to bring international attention to South Korea. But before that, it was necessary to prove the country's capacity, as South Korea was seen as an exotic and risky destination for large events. The project continued to run even after President Park's assassination in 1979.
With the successful staging of Miss Universe 1980, and the subsequent decision to host the 1986 Asian Games in Seoul, Chun Doo-hwan, Park's successor, submitted Korea's bid to the IOC in September 1981, in hopes that the increased international exposure brought by the Olympics would legitimize his authoritarian regime amidst increasing political pressure for democratization and less rigidity in state policies. Further, he hoped it would provide protection from increasing threats from North Korea, and showcase the economic strength that the country was experiencing to the world. Seoul was awarded the bid on 30 September 1981, becoming the 16th nation in the Summer Olympics, as well as the second Asian nation (following Japan in the 1964 Summer Olympics) and the first mainland Asian nation to host the Olympics.
Influenced by the model of 1964 Summer Olympics held in Tokyo, which served as a rite of passage for the Japanese economy and re-integration of Japan in the international community in the post-war era, the South Korean government hoped to use the Olympics as a "coming-out party". The Olympics gave a powerful impetus to the development of South Korea's relations with Eastern Europe, the Soviet Union and with China. In January 1982, South Korea's curfew that had been in place since 1945 was lifted.
In utilizing media events theory, Larson and Park investigated the Seoul Olympics as a form of political communication. They revealed the significance of South Korea's military government throughout the period of the Olympic bid and preparation, followed by the many advantages of the hosting the Games: rapid economic modernization, social mobilization and the legitimization of the military dictatorship.
== Homeless camp expansion ==
Existing camps for "vagrants" (homeless persons) were ramped up before the 1988 Olympics. An Associated Press article states that homeless people and alcoholics, "but mostly children and the disabled" were arrested and sent to these camps to prepare for the Olympics. In addition, a prosecutor had his investigation into the Brothers Home camp limited at a number of levels of government "in part out of fear of an embarrassing international incident on the eve of the Olympics."
In 1975, the previous president of South Korea had begun a policy of rounding up vagrants. According to government documents obtained by the Associated Press, from 1981 to 1986 the number of people held increased from 8,600 to more than 16,000. Police officers often received promotions based on the number of vagrants they had arrested, and owners of facilities received a subsidy based on the number of people held. There were multiple reports of inmates raped or beaten, and sometimes beaten to death.
4,000 of these "vagrants" were held at the Brothers Home facility. Many of the guards were former inmates who had been "promoted" because of loyalty to the camp's owner. Various money-making operations were conducted such as manufacturing ball-point pens and fishing hooks, as well as clothing for Daewoo. Only a few inmates were paid belatedly for this work.
By accident while on a hunting trip, prosecutor Kim Yong-won heard about and visited a work detail of prisoners in ragged clothes overseen by guards with wooden bats and dogs. In his words, he knew immediately that "a very serious crime" was occurring, and in January 1987, he led a raid on the facility and found beaten and malnourished inmates. He was politically pressured at various levels to reduce the charges against the owner, managers, and guards. In the end, the owner only served 2+1⁄2 years in prison.
The Brothers Home was a religious facility based on the Christian faith. There were, in fact, inspections by both city officials and church officials. However, these were scheduled inspections in which healthier inmates were presented in carefully planned and orchestrated circumstances. There were no unannounced inspections.
In the 1990s, construction workers found about 100 human bones on a mountainside outside the location of the former Brothers Home. Victims of the Brothers Home are seeking a government investigation into the crimes committed and accountability.
== Boycott ==
The games were boycotted by North Korea and its allies Cuba, Nicaragua, Ethiopia, and Madagascar.
North Korea had insisted upon co-hosting the Games, something that had been encouraged by Cuban president Fidel Castro, who called for North Korea to be considered joint host of the Games. On 8 and 9 January 1986 in Lausanne, Switzerland, the IOC President chaired a meeting of the North and South Korean Olympic Committees. North Korea demanded that eleven of the 23 Olympic sports be carried out on its territory, special opening and closing ceremonies, and a joint organizing committee and a united team. The negotiations were continued into another meeting, but were not successful.
North Korea then announced its boycott on September 3, 1988. The North Korean Central News Agency stated "this will leave another stain on Olympic history", and that "the 24th Olympic Games will be inevitably another crippled Olympiad where not all Olympic member states will participate".
Nicaragua had previously announced its intention to boycott on May 20, 1987. Moises Hassan Morales, the Nicaraguan NOC president, stated "if the 1988 Olympics are not carried out in Pyongyang and Seoul, the two Korean capitals, Nicaragua will not attend this event".
Cuba made its boycott announcement on January 16, 1988, where it stated "Cuba deeply laments this decision, but our people and our athletes live by profound ethical norms and a great sense of honor".
Ethiopia announced on January 20, 1988, that it would boycott the 1988 Summer Olympics in solidarity with North Korea, Cuba, Nicaragua, and Madagascar, which had all criticized the decision disallowing North Korea to jointly organize the Games. The Ethiopian NOC said "at a time when the Korean people, who are divided against their will, are struggling for peaceful negotiations, Ethiopia strongly objects to the Olympic Games being conducted in South Korea which further strengthens disunity", adding that Ethiopia would participate "if the decision to keep the games in South Korea were reversed".
The Seoul Olympic Organizing Committee (SLOOC) closed the receipt of final entry applications for athletics on September 8, 1988. Among the 161 NOCs which officially notified their intention to participate in the Olympics, Madagascar failed to send in an entry form by the closing date, thus, its athletes did not compete at the Games. According to the SLOOC, Madagascar did this "in support of North Korea's co-hosting request".
Albania and the Seychelles did not respond to the invitations sent by the IOC.
== Official theme song ==
The Seoul Olympic Organizing Committee (SLOOC) also produced and distributed an official song of the Seoul Games to publicize the Games to all National Olympic Committees, encouraging their participation and consolidating the idea of harmony and friendship of the entire world through the song. "Hand in Hand" was commissioned for the Italian composer Giorgio Moroder and the American songwriter Tom Whitlock, and was performed by local group Koreana.
== Venues ==
Seoul Sports Complex venues
Seoul Olympic Stadium[E] – opening/closing ceremonies, athletics, equestrian (jumping individual final), football (final)
Jamsil Indoor Swimming Pool[E] – diving, modern pentathlon (swimming), synchronized swimming, swimming, water polo
Jamsil Gymnasium[E] – basketball, volleyball (final)
Jamsil Students' Gymnasium[E] – boxing
Jamsil Baseball Stadium[E] – baseball (demonstration)
Olympic Park venues
Olympic Velodrome[N] – cycling (track)
Olympic Weightlifting Gymnasium[N] – weightlifting
Olympic Fencing Gymnasium[N] – fencing, modern pentathlon (fencing)
Olympic Gymnastics Hall[N] – gymnastics
Olympic Tennis Center[N] – tennis
Mongchon Tosong[N] – modern pentathlon (running)
Other venues in metropolitan Seoul
Seoul Equestrian Park– equestrian (all but jumping individual final), modern pentathlon (riding)
Han River Regatta Course/Canoeing Site Course[N] – canoeing, rowing
Saemaul Sports Hall[N] – volleyball preliminaries
Hanyang University Gymnasium[N] – volleyball preliminaries
Changchung Gymnasium[E] – judo, taekwondo (demonstration)
Seoul National University Gymnasium – badminton (demonstration), table tennis
Royal Bowling Center[E] – bowling (demonstration)
Dongdaemun Stadium[E] – football preliminaries
Hwarang Archery Field[E], Nowon District – archery
Taenung International Shooting Range[E], Taenung – modern pentathlon (shooting), shooting
Streets of Seoul – athletics (20 km/ 50 km walk, marathon)
Jangchung Gymnasium – taekwondo (demonstration), judo
Venues outside Seoul
Sangmu Gymnasium[N], Seongnam – wrestling
Daejeon Stadium[E], Daejeon – football preliminaries
Daegu Stadium[E], Daegu – football preliminaries
Busan Stadium[E], Busan – football preliminaries
Gwangju Stadium[E], Gwangju – football preliminaries
Suwon Gymnasium[N], Suwon – handball
Seongnam Stadium[E], Seongnam – field hockey
Busan Yachting Center[N], Busan – sailing
Tongillo Road Course – cycling (individual road race, road team time trial)
E Existing facilities modified or refurbished in preparation for the Olympic Games.
N New facilities constructed in preparation for the Olympic Games.
== Cost ==
According to The Oxford Olympics Study data is not available to establish the cost of the Seoul 1988 Summer Olympics. The cost of the stadium was 491 billion won, approximately US$354 million.
== Sports ==
The 1988 Summer Olympics featured 23 different sports encompassing 31 disciplines, and medals were awarded in 237 events. In the list below, the number of events in each discipline is noted in parentheses.
=== Demonstration ===
Baseball ()
Women's Judo ()
Taekwondo ()
=== Exhibition ===
Badminton and bowling were held as exhibition sports, which did not require IOC approval and were not part of the official Olympic schedule.
Badminton ()
Bowling ()
== Calendar ==
All times are local KST (UTC+10)
Note: between May 8 and October 9, 1988, all the clocks in the country were advanced by one hour as a test of the possibility of adopting the daylight summer time in the country in the future. This advance also enabled the development of a sports calendar in which the main events were scheduled to be broadcast in major Western markets in television prime time.
== Participating National Olympic Committees ==
Athletes from 160 nations competed at the Seoul Games. Aruba, American Samoa, Brunei, Cook Islands, Maldives, Vanuatu, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and South Yemen made their first Olympic appearance at these Games. Guam made their first Summer Olympic appearance at these games having participated in the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary.
In the following list, the number in parentheses indicates the number of athletes from each nation that competed in Seoul:
When the team from the Dominican Republic marched in during the Parade of Nations, the superimposed map erroneously showed the location of Cuba, a nation that did not take part at the Games.
=== Number of athletes by National Olympic Committee ===
8,453 athletes from 159 NOCs
== Medal table ==
These are the top ten nations that won medals at the 1988 Games.
* Host nation (South Korea)
== Mascot ==
The official mascot for the 1988 Summer Olympic Games was Hodori. It was a stylized tiger designed by Kim Hyun as an amicable Amur tiger, portraying the friendly and hospitable traditions of the Korean people. Hodori's female version was called Hosuni.
The name 호돌이 Hodori was chosen from 2,295 suggestions sent in by the public. It is a compound of 호 ho, the Sino-Korean bound morpheme for "tiger" (appearing also in the usual word 호랑이 horangi for "tiger"), and 돌이 dori, a diminutive for "boys".
== Broadcasting ==
In the United States, NBC became the telecast provider hereafter for the Summer Games, after a five-Olympics run by the American Broadcasting Company from 1968 to 1984.
NBC's coverage was their first sporting event to feature the new Quantel Cypher to generate the on-screen graphics. However, the network would continue to use Chyron Corporation for the rest of the year with Quantel being used again for the 1988 World Series. The Cypher would be implemented permanently starting with Super Bowl XXIII in January 1989.
== Doping ==
In 2003, Wade Exum, the United States Olympic Committee's director of drug control administration from 1991 to 2000, released documents that showed Carl Lewis had tested positive three times at the 1988 United States Olympic trials for minimum amounts of pseudoephedrine, ephedrine, and phenylpropanolamine, which were banned stimulants. Bronchodilators are also found in cold medication. Due to the rules, his case could have led to disqualification from the Seoul Olympics and suspension from competition for six months. The levels of the combined stimulants registered in the separate tests were 2 ppm, 4 ppm and 6 ppm. Lewis defended himself, claiming that he had accidentally consumed the banned substances. After the supplements that he had taken were analyzed to prove his claims, the USOC accepted his claim of inadvertent use, since a dietary supplement he ingested was found to contain "Ma huang", the Chinese name for Ephedra (ephedrine is known to help weight loss). Fellow Santa Monica Track Club teammates Joe DeLoach and Floyd Heard were also found to have the same banned stimulants in their systems, and were cleared to compete for the same reason. The highest level of the stimulants Lewis recorded was 6 ppm, which was regarded as a positive test in 1988 but is now regarded as negative test. The acceptable level has been raised to ten parts per million for ephedrine and twenty-five parts per million for other substances. According to the IOC rules at the time, positive tests with levels lower than 10 ppm were cause of further investigation but not immediate ban. Neal Benowitz, a professor of medicine at UC San Francisco who is an expert on ephedrine and other stimulants, agreed that "These [levels] are what you'd see from someone taking cold or allergy medicines and are unlikely to have any effect on performance." Following Exum's revelations the IAAF acknowledged that at the 1988 Olympic Trials the USOC indeed followed the correct procedures in dealing with eight positive findings for ephedrine and ephedrine-related compounds in low concentration. Additionally, in 1988 the federation reviewed the relevant documents with the athletes' names undisclosed and stated that "the medical committee felt satisfied, however, on the basis of the information received that the cases had been properly concluded by the USOC as 'negative cases' in accordance with the rules and regulations in place at the time and no further action was taken". |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandwell | Sandwell | Sandwell is a metropolitan borough of the West Midlands county in England. The borough is named after the Sandwell Priory, and spans a densely populated part of the West Midlands conurbation. Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council defines the borough as the six amalgamated towns of Oldbury, Rowley Regis, Smethwick, Tipton, Wednesbury and West Bromwich. Rowley Regis includes the towns of Blackheath and Cradley Heath.
Sandwell's Strategic Town Centre is designated as West Bromwich, the largest town in the borough, while Sandwell Council House (the headquarters of the local authority) is situated in Oldbury. In 2019 Sandwell was ranked 12th most deprived of England's 317 boroughs.
Bordering Sandwell is the City of Birmingham to the east, the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley to the south and west, the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall to the north, and the City of Wolverhampton to the north-west. Spanning the borough are the parliamentary constituencies of West Bromwich, Smethwick, the majority of Tipton and Wednesbury and also part of Halesowen, which both cross into the Dudley borough.
The borough covers an area of 86 square kilometres (33 sq mi). At the 2011 census, it had a population of 309,000.
== History and culture ==
The Metropolitan Borough of Sandwell was formed on 1 April 1974 as an amalgamation of the county boroughs of Warley (ceremonially within Worcestershire) and West Bromwich (ceremonially within Staffordshire), under the Local Government Act 1972. Warley had been formed in 1966 by a merger of the county borough of Smethwick with the municipal boroughs of Rowley Regis and Oldbury; at the same time, West Bromwich had absorbed the boroughs of Tipton and Wednesbury.
For its first 12 years of existence, Sandwell had a two-tier system of local government; Sandwell Council shared power with the West Midlands County Council. In 1986 the county council was abolished, and Sandwell effectively became a unitary authority. The borough is divided into 24 wards and is represented by 72 ward councillors on the borough council.
The borough was named after Sandwell Priory, the ruins of which are located in Sandwell Valley. Gaining widespread acceptance for the identity of Sandwell and unifying the distinct communities within the borough has been a protracted affair. The local council has considered changing its name over confusion outside the West Midlands as to the whereabouts of the borough. A survey of borough residents in June 2002 found that 65 per cent of respondents favoured retaining the name.
Landmarks and attractions in Sandwell include Sandwell Aquatics Centre, Wednesbury Museum and Art Gallery, Bishop Asbury Cottage, West Bromwich Manor House, Oak House, West Bromwich, and Sandwell Valley Country Park. It is also the home of West Bromwich Albion F.C.
Sandwell used to be a popular hotspot for car cruising. In 2015 a High Court order was introduced to ban car cruising in the area. An extension has been secured to run until at least 2021.
== Politics ==
Since the council election in 2021, the political composition of the council has been as follows:
From the borough's creation in 1974 until 2010, all Members of Parliament (MPs) within its boundaries were Labour. However, in the 2010 general election, Conservative party candidate James Morris was elected to the Halesowen and Rowley Regis seat which incorporates the Sandwell communities of Rowley Regis, Blackheath and Cradley Heath, and the neighbouring area of Halesowen which is situated within Dudley's borders. This was the first time any part of Sandwell had elected a Conservative MP – or indeed an MP from any party other than Labour. In the December 2019 general election, however, Conservative candidates Nicola Richards and Shaun Bailey were elected to represent West Bromwich East and West Bromwich West respectively. This was the first time since the borough's creation that West Bromwich had returned any Conservative MPs to Parliament, and the first time that a constituency fully within the boundaries of Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council had been represented by a Conservative MP.
=== Wards ===
The Sandwell Borough is divided into 24 electoral wards, with each one represented by 3 councillors on the borough council:
== Education ==
Sandwell is home to nearly 100 primary schools, 25 secondary schools, 4 special schools and 1 college.
Sandwell College, the only further education college in the borough, was opened in September 1986 following the merger of Warley College and West Bromwich College. It was originally based in the old Warley College buildings on Pound Road, Oldbury, and the West Bromwich College buildings on West Bromwich High Street, as well as a building in Smethwick town centre, but moved into a new single site campus in West Bromwich town centre in September 2012. In 2004, a debt-ridden Sandwell College was subject to a police investigation.
== Demography ==
=== Ethnicity ===
== Media ==
=== Television ===
The area is served by BBC West Midlands and ITV Central. Television signals are received from the Sutton Coldfield TV transmitter.
=== Radio ===
Radio stations for the area are:
BBC Local Radio
BBC Radio WM
Independent Radio
Heart West Midlands
Smooth West Midlands
Greatest Hits Radio Birmingham & The West Midlands
Capital Midlands
Hits Radio Birmingham
Hits Radio Black Country & Shropshire
Community Radio
Black Country Radio
=== Newspapers ===
Local newspapers for the area are:
Express & Star
Oldbury Weekly News
Smethwick Telephone
Tipton Herald
Wednesbury Herald
West Bromwich Chronicle
== Notable people ==
See Category:People from Sandwell (district)
== Localities ==
The six towns that comprise Sandwell and localities within each include:
Oldbury
Brandhall
Langley Green
Oakham
Rood End
Rowley Regis
Blackheath
Cradley Heath
Old Hill
Tividale
Smethwick
Albion Estate
Black Patch & Soho
Bearwood
Cape Hill
Londonderry
North Smethwick
Uplands
West Smethwick
Tipton
Dudley Port
Great Bridge
Horseley Heath
Ocker Hill
Princes End
Summer Hill
West Bromwich
Charlemont and Grove Vale
Great Barr (although some areas are part of Birmingham and Walsall)
Guns Village
Hamstead
Hill Top
Newton
Stone Cross
Yew Tree
Tamebridge
Greets Green
Hateley Heath
Wednesbury
Friar Park
Woods Estate
Mesty Croft
Wood Green
Old Park
Church Hill
Brunswick
Myvod
== Local places of interest ==
The Public, West Bromwich
Sandwell Aquatics Centre
Sandwell Priory
Sandwell Valley
Sandwell Valley Country Park
RSPB Sandwell Valley
Sheepwash Urban Park
The Hawthorns
Sandwell General Hospital
Sandwell College
Holly Lodge High School
Warley Woods
== Twin towns and cities ==
Sandwell is twinned with:
Le Blanc Mesnil, France
Amritsar, India
Zalau, Romania |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Billboard_Hot_100_number_ones_of_1988 | List of Billboard Hot 100 number ones of 1988 | These are the Billboard magazine Hot 100 number one hits of 1988. The Billboard Hot 100 is a chart that ranks the best-performing singles of the United States. Published by Billboard magazine, the data are based collectively on each single's weekly physical sales, and airplay. R&B/pop megastar Whitney Houston's two singles released from her second studio album Whitney, "So Emotional" and "Where Do Broken Hearts Go", both peaked at number one, which gave her a total of seven consecutive number one hits, breaking the record of six previously shared by The Beatles and The Bee Gees. The longest running number-one single of 1988 was "Roll With It" by Steve Winwood, which obtained four weeks at the top of the chart. When "Dirty Diana" reached number-one on the chart, it became Michael Jackson's fifth single from the album Bad to reach number-one. Jackson became the first artist to have five singles from one album reach number-one on the Billboard Hot 100 and is the only male to do so. George Michael's "Faith" was the best selling single of 1988 in the United States, despite most of its weeks at number one occurring in December 1987. (It carried over into 1988 at number one as the result of a frozen chart.) 1988 is tied with 1989 for the second most #1 hits with 32 songs going to number one.
That year, 17 acts earned their first number one song, such as INXS, Exposé, Rick Astley, Terence Trent D'Arby, Gloria Estefan, Miami Sound Machine, Debbie Gibson, Cheap Trick, Richard Marx, Guns N' Roses, Bobby McFerrin, Def Leppard, UB40, The Escape Club, Will to Power, Chicago and Poison. George Michael, Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, and Rick Astley were the only acts to hit number one more than once, with George Michael having the most with four, Michael Jackson with three, and Whitney Houston and Rick Astley with two.
== Chart history ==
An asterisk (*) by a date indicates an unpublished, "frozen" week, due to the special double issues that Billboard published in print at the end of the year for their year-end charts.
== Number-one artists == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/78th_Academy_Awards | 78th Academy Awards | The 78th Academy Awards, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), took place on March 5, 2006, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles beginning at 5:00 p.m. PST / 8:00 p.m. EST. The ceremony was scheduled one week later than usual to avoid a clash with the 2006 Winter Olympics. During the ceremony, AMPAS presented Academy Awards (commonly referred to as Oscars) in 24 categories honoring films released in 2005. The ceremony, televised in the United States by ABC, was produced by Gil Cates and directed by Louis J. Horvitz. Comedian Jon Stewart hosted the show for the first time. Two weeks earlier in a ceremony at The Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, California held on February 18, the Academy Awards for Technical Achievement were presented by host Rachel McAdams.
Crash won three awards, including Best Picture. Other winners included Brokeback Mountain, King Kong, and Memoirs of a Geisha with three awards and Capote, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, The Constant Gardener, Hustle & Flow, March of the Penguins, The Moon and the Son: An Imagined Conversation, A Note of Triumph: The Golden Age of Norman Corwin, Six Shooter, Syriana, Tsotsi, Walk the Line, and Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit with one. The telecast garnered nearly 39 million viewers in the United States.
== Winners and nominees ==
The nominees for the 78th Academy Awards were announced on January 31, 2006, at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in the academy's Beverly Hills headquarters by Sid Ganis, president of the academy, and actress Mira Sorvino. Brokeback Mountain earned the most nominations with eight total; Crash, Good Night, and Good Luck, and Memoirs of a Geisha tied for second with six nominations each. All five Best Picture nominees received corresponding Best Director nominations (the fourth occurrence in Oscar history since the Best Picture nominees roster was limited to five films).
The winners were announced during the awards ceremony on March 5, 2006. Crash was the first Best Picture winner since 1976's Rocky to win only three Oscars and the first Best Picture winner since 1981's Chariots of Fire to not win Best Director or any of the acting categories. Best Director winner Ang Lee became the first non-Caucasian winner of that category. For this first time since the 34th ceremony in 1962, all four acting winners were first-time nominees. At age 20, Keira Knightley was the second-youngest Best Actress nominee for her performance as Elizabeth Bennet in Pride & Prejudice. Best Supporting Actor winner George Clooney was the fifth person to receive acting, directing, and screenwriting nominations in the same year and the first person to achieve this feat for two different films. By virtue of his nominations for both Memoirs of a Geisha and Munich, composer John Williams earned a total of 45 nominations tying him with Alfred Newman as the second most nominated individual in Oscar history.[a] "It's Hard out Here for a Pimp" became the second rap song to win Best Original Song and the first such song to be performed at an Oscars ceremony.
=== Awards ===
Winners are listed first and highlighted in boldface.
=== Honorary Award ===
To Robert Altman in recognition of a career that has repeatedly reinvented the art form and inspired filmmakers and audiences alike.
=== Films with multiple nominations and awards ===
== Presenters and performers ==
The following individuals presented awards or performed musical numbers.
=== Presenters ===
=== Performers ===
== Ceremony information ==
Despite the negative reception from the preceding year's ceremony, the academy rehired Gilbert Cates to oversee production of the awards gala. However, in an article published in The New York Times, it was stated that 2005 host Chris Rock would not return to host the show. According to a statement released by his publicist, "He didn't want to do it in perpetuity, He'd like to do it again down the road." Furthermore, many media outlets speculated that several AMPAS members felt uncomfortable with Rock's disparaging comments about Colin Farrell, Jude Law, and Tobey Maguire. Initially, Cates sought actor and veteran Oscar host Billy Crystal to host the ceremony again. However, Crystal declined the offer citing his commitment to his one-man comedy show 700 Sundays.
In January 2006, Cates announced that actor, comedian, and talk show host Jon Stewart, who had previously hosted two consecutive Grammy Awards ceremonies in 2001 and 2002, was chosen as host of the 2006 telecast. Cates explained the decision to hire him saying, "My wife and I watch him every night. Jon is the epitome of a perfect host — smart, engaging, irreverent and funny." In a statement, Stewart expressed that he was honored to be selected to emcee the program, jokingly adding, "Although, as an avid watcher of the Oscars, I can't help but be a little disappointed with the choice. It appears to be another sad attempt to smoke out Billy Crystal."
Several other people and companies participated in the production of the ceremony. Bill Conti served as musical supervisor for the telecast. Media firm The Ant Farm produced a thirty-second trailer promoting the broadcast featuring clips highlighting past Oscar winners to the tune of the song "Our Lives" by The Calling. Previous Oscar hosts such as Whoopi Goldberg and Steve Martin, and actors Mel Gibson, George Clooney, Halle Berry appeared in an opening comedic sketch. Actor Tom Hanks participated in a pre-taped comedic sketch lampooning Oscar speeches. Stephen Colbert (host of The Colbert Report, the sister program of Stewart's The Daily Show) narrated two different mock attack ads lampooning both the intense campaigning and lobbying during Oscar season put forth by film studios and political advertising during elections. Violinist Itzhak Perlman performed excerpts from the five nominees for Best Original Score.
=== Box office performance of nominated films ===
When the nominations were announced on January 31, the field of major nominees favored independent, low-budget films over blockbusters. The combined gross of the five Best Picture nominees when the Oscars were announced was $186 million with an average gross of $37.3 million per film. Crash was the highest earner among the Best Picture nominees with $53.4 million in domestic box office receipts. The film was followed by Brokeback Mountain ($51.7 million), Munich ($40.8 million), Good Night and Good Luck ($25.2 million), and finally Capote ($15.4 million).
Of the top 50 grossing movies of the year, 35 nominations went to 13 films on the list. Only Walk the Line (19th), Cinderella Man (41st), Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (45th), and Crash (48th) were nominated for Best Picture, Best Animated Feature, or any of the directing, acting, or screenwriting. The other top 50 box office hits that earned nominations were Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (1st), Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2nd), The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe (3rd), War of the Worlds (4th), King Kong (5th), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (7th), Batman Begins (8th), March of the Penguins, (26th), and Memoirs of a Geisha (47th).
=== Critical reviews ===
Some media outlets received the broadcast positively. St. Louis Post-Dispatch television critic Gail Pennington praised Stewart's performance as host writing that he "did the Oscars proud Sunday night, turning in a four-star hosting performance that unfortunately made the rest of the show seem sluggish by comparison." Film critic Roger Ebert said that Stewart was "on target, topical and funny," and added, "He was as relaxed, amusing and at home as Johnny Carson." Columnist Ray Richmond of The Hollywood Reporter commented, "He seemed at times nervous and self-conscious, but on the whole, Stewart delivered with just the right balance of reverence and smugness."
Others media publications were more critical of the show. Television critic Rob Owen of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette wrote that Stewart was more "amusing than funny". He added, "Many of his jokes fell flat with the stars in the Kodak Theatre, and his tendency to bow down before celebrities quickly grew tiresome." Tom Shales from The Washington Post commented, "It's hard to believe that professional entertainers could have put together a show less entertaining than this year's Oscars, hosted with a smug humorlessness by comic Jon Stewart, a sad and pale shadow of great hosts gone by." Moreover, he derided the "piles and piles and miles and miles of clips from films present and past" writing that it "squandered the visual luster" of the ceremony. Associated Press television critic Frazier Moore remarked, "Stewart, usually a very funny guy, displayed a lack of beginner's luck as first-time host...His usually impeccable blend of puckishness and self-effacement fell flat in the service of Oscar." He also criticized the decision to play music over the winner's acceptance speeches calling it "distracting and obnoxious."
In retrospective commentary, Crash's win for Best Picture over Brokeback Mountain has become "one of the most notorious [decisions] in modern Academy history" and a source of "earnest bafflement from critics". Rankings by several publications and critics have called Crash one of the worst or most controversial Best Picture winners.
=== Ratings and reception ===
The American telecast on ABC drew in an average of 38.94 million people over its length, which was an 8% decrease from the previous year's ceremony. Additionally, the show earned lower Nielsen ratings compared to the previous ceremony with 23.0% of households watching over a 35 share. Furthermore, it garnered a lower 18–49 demo rating with a 13.9 rating among viewers in that demographic.
In July 2006, the ceremony presentation received nine nominations at the 58th Primetime Emmys. The following month, the ceremony won four of those nominations for Outstanding Art Direction for a Variety, Music Program, or Special (Roy Christopher and Jeff Richman), Outstanding Directing for a Variety, Music, or Comedy Program (Louis J. Horvitz), Outstanding Main Title Design (Renato Grgic, Alen Petkovic, Kristijan Petrovic, and Jon Teschner), and Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Variety, Music, or Animation Series or Special (Patrick Baltzell, Robert Douglass, Edward J. Greene, Jamie Santos, and Tom Vicari).
== "In Memoriam" ==
The annual "In Memoriam": tribute was presented by actor George Clooney. The montage featured an excerpt of the theme from Now, Voyager composed by Max Steiner. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deltaherpeton | Deltaherpeton | Deltaherpeton is an extinct genus of colosteid from middle Mississippian (late Viséan age) deposits of Delta, Iowa, United States. It was first named by John R. Bolt and R. Eric Lombard in 2010 and the type species is Deltaherpeton hiemstrae.
Deltaherpeton can be differentiated from other colosteids due to possessing several unique bones along the midline of the skull, separating paired skull bones which typically contact each other along the midline. These include an internasal, an oval-shaped bone which lies at the intersection of the paired premaxillae and nasal bones at the top of the snout. Internasals are known from several of the earliest four-limbed vertebrates, such as Acanthostega, Ichthyostega, and baphetids. Further back, what seems to be a pair of lozenge-shape bones lie at the intersection of the nasal bones and frontal bones. These bones may be interfrontonasals, which have been found in some eryopoids and microsaurs.
In addition, Deltaherpeton has a single postparietal (rather than a pair), which separates the left and right supratemporal and tabular bones at the rear edge of the skull. Lone postparietals are rare among non-amniote tetrapods and tetrapod relatives; only Ichthyostega and diadectomorphs are known to possess them. The discovery of Deltaherpeton prompted a review and re-augmentation of the defining characteristics for the family Colosteidae, though it did not help to clarify the relationship between colosteids and other early tetrapods.
Though it is believed that Deltaherpeton is more derived, the species is thought to have shared its environment with other early four-limbed vertebrates such as Whatcheeria, approximately 339.4 to 336 million years ago. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_Olympic_Games | Winter Olympic Games | The Winter Olympic Games (French: Jeux olympiques d'hiver), also known as the Olympic Winter Games or simply the Winter Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The Winter Olympics are usually held in February, during the winter season of the Northern Hemisphere. The IOC is the governing body of the Olympic Movement, with the Olympic Charter defining its structure and authority. Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo of Italy hosted in 2026. The next games are scheduled to be held between 1 to 17 February 2030 at the French Alps.
The original five Winter Olympic Sports (consisting of nine disciplines) were bobsleigh, curling, ice hockey, Nordic skiing (consisting of the disciplines military patrol, cross-country skiing, Nordic combined, and ski jumping), and skating (consisting of the disciplines figure skating and speed skating). The Winter Olympic Games have evolved since their inception. Sports and disciplines have been added and some of them, such as alpine skiing, luge, short track speed skating, freestyle skiing, skeleton, and snowboarding, have earned a permanent spot on the Olympic program. Some others, including curling and bobsleigh, have been discontinued and later reintroduced; others have been permanently discontinued, such as military patrol, though the modern Winter Olympic sport of biathlon is descended from it. Still others, such as speed skiing, bandy and skijoring, were demonstration sports but never incorporated as Olympic sports.
The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were held in Chamonix, France. The modern Olympic Games were inspired by the ancient Olympic Games, which were held in Olympia, Greece, from 776 BCE to 394 CE. The Baron Pierre de Coubertin of France founded the International Olympic Committee (IOC) 1,500 years later in 1894, leading to the first modern Summer Olympic Games in Athens, Greece in 1896. The Games were held every four years from 1924 to 1936, interrupted in 1940 and 1944 by World War II, and resumed in 1948. Until 1992, the Summer Olympic Games and the Winter Olympic Games were held in the same year. A decision to change this was made in 1986, when during the 91st International Olympic Committee session, IOC members decided to alternate the Summer Olympic Games and the Winter Olympic Games on separate four-year cycles in even-numbered years. Also, at that same congress it was decided that 1992 Winter Olympics would be the last to be held in the same year as the Summer Games and that to change the rotation, the games that would be held in 1996 would be brought forward by two years, being scheduled to 1994, the same four-year cycle as the Commonwealth Games, and the men's FIFA World Cup. After those games, the next were to be held in 1998 when the four-year Olympic Cycle resumed.
The Winter Olympic Games have been hosted on three continents by thirteen countries, all of whom are located in the Northern Hemisphere. They have been held four times in the United States (1932, 1960, 1980, and 2002), three times each in France (1924, 1968, and 1992) and Italy (1956, 2006, and 2026), and twice each in Switzerland (1928 and 1948), Austria (1964 and 1976), Norway (1952 and 1994), Japan (1972 and 1998) and Canada (1988 and 2010). Also, the Winter Olympic Games have been held once each in Germany (1936), Yugoslavia (1984), Russia (2014), South Korea (2018), and China (2022).
As of 2026, twelve countries have participated in every Winter Olympic Games – Austria, Canada, Finland, France, Great Britain, Hungary, Italy, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States. Also, Czechoslovakia participated in all Winter Olympic Games before its dissolution and its successors, Czech Republic and Slovakia have participated in all Winter Games thereafter. Six of these countries have won medals at every Winter Olympic Games – Austria, Canada, Finland, Norway, Sweden, and the United States. The only country to have won a gold medal at every Winter Olympic Games is the United States.
Norway leads the all-time medal record for the Winter Olympic Games, followed by the United States and Germany. When including defunct states, Germany (including the former countries of West Germany and East Germany) leads, followed by Norway, Russia (including the former Soviet Union) and the United States. Norway holds the record for most gold medals in any one Winter Olympics, with 18 in 2026, and overall medals, with 41 in 2026.
== History ==
=== Early years ===
A predecessor, the Nordic Games, were organised by General Viktor Gustaf Balck in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1901 and were held again in 1903 and 1905 and then every fourth year thereafter until 1926. Balck was a charter member of the IOC and a close friend of Olympic Games founder Pierre de Coubertin. He attempted to have winter sports, specifically figure skating, added to the Olympic programme but was unsuccessful until the 1908 Summer Olympics in London. Four figure skating events were contested, at which Ulrich Salchow (10-time world champion) and Madge Syers won the individual titles.
Three years later, Italian count Eugenio Brunetta d'Usseaux proposed that the IOC stage a week of winter sports included as part of the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden. The organisers opposed this idea because they desired to protect the integrity of the Nordic Games and were concerned about a lack of facilities for winter sports.
The idea was resurrected for the 1916 Games, which were to be held in Berlin, Germany. A winter sports week with speed skating, figure skating, ice hockey and Nordic skiing were planned, but the 1916 Olympics was cancelled after the outbreak of World War I.
=== 1920 to 1936 ===
The first Olympics after the war, the 1920 Summer Olympics, were held in Antwerp, Belgium, and featured figure skating and an ice hockey tournament. Germany, Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria and Turkey were banned from competing in the games. At the IOC Congress held the following year it was decided that the host nation of the 1924 Summer Olympics, France, would host a separate "International Winter Sports Week" under the patronage of the IOC. Chamonix was chosen to host this week (actually 11 days) of events.
The 1924 games in Chamonix proved to be a success when more than 250 athletes from 16 nations competed in 16 events. Athletes from Finland and Norway won 28 medals, more than the rest of the participating nations combined. The first gold medal awarded was won by Charles Jewtraw of the United States in the 500-meter speed skate. Sonja Henie of Norway, at just 11 years old, competed in the ladies' figure skating and, although finishing last, became popular with fans. Gillis Grafström of Sweden defended his 1920 gold medal in men's figure skating, becoming the first Olympian to win gold medals in both Summer and Winter Olympics. Germany remained banned until 1925, and instead hosted a series of games called Deutsche Kampfspiele, starting with the winter edition of 1922 (which predated the first Winter Olympics). In 1925 the IOC decided to create a separate winter event and the 1924 games in Chamonix were retroactively designated as the first Winter Olympics.
St. Moritz, Switzerland, was appointed by the IOC to host the second Winter Games in 1928. Fluctuating weather conditions challenged the hosts. The opening ceremony was held in a blizzard while warm weather conditions plagued sporting events throughout the rest of the games. Because of the weather the 10,000 metre speed-skating event had to be abandoned and officially cancelled. The weather was not the only noteworthy aspect of the 1928 games: Sonja Henie of Norway returned to the Winter Olympics to make history when she won the ladies' figure skating at the age of 15. She became the youngest Olympic champion in history, a distinction she held for 70 years, and went on to defend her title at the next two Winter Olympics. Gillis Grafström won his third consecutive figure skating gold and went on to win silver in 1932, becoming the most decorated men's figure skater to date.
The next Winter Olympics, held in Lake Placid, New York, United States was the first to be hosted outside of Europe. Seventeen nations and 252 athletes participated. This was less than in 1928, as the journey to Lake Placid was too long and expensive for some European nations that encountered financial problems in the midst of the Great Depression. The athletes competed in fourteen events in four sports. Virtually no snow fell for two months before the Games, and there was not enough snow to hold all the events until mid-January. Sonja Henie defended her Olympic title, and Eddie Eagan of the United States, who had been an Olympic champion in boxing in 1920, won the gold medal in the men's bobsleigh event to join Gillis Grafström as the only athletes to have won gold medals in both the Summer and Winter Olympics. Eagan has the distinction as the only Olympian as of 2020 to accomplish this feat in different sports.
The German towns of Garmisch and Partenkirchen joined to organise the 1936 Winter Games, held from 6–16 February. This was the last time the Summer and Winter Olympics were held in the same country in the same year. Alpine skiing made its Olympic debut, but skiing teachers were barred from entering because they were considered to be professionals. Because of this decision the Swiss and Austrian skiers refused to compete at the games.
World War II interrupted the Winter Olympics. The 1940 games had been awarded to Sapporo, Japan, but the decision was rescinded in 1938 because of the Japanese invasion of China. The games were then to be held at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, but the 1940 games were cancelled following the German invasion of Poland in 1939. Due to the ongoing war, the 1944 games, originally scheduled for Cortina D'Ampezzo, Italy, were cancelled.
=== 1948 to 1962 ===
St. Moritz was selected to host the first post-war games, in 1948. Switzerland's neutrality had protected the town during World War II, and most venues from the 1928 games remained in place, which made St. Moritz a logical choice. It became the first city to host a Winter Olympics twice. Twenty-eight countries competed in Switzerland, but athletes from Germany and Japan were not invited because their Olympic committees were not yet recognized. They returned in 1952. Some controversy emerged when two hockey teams from the United States arrived, both claiming to be the legitimate U.S. Olympic hockey representative. The Olympic flag presented at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp was stolen, as was its replacement. There was unprecedented parity at these games, during which 10 countries won gold medals—more than any games to that point.
The Olympic Flame tradition was introduced at the 1952 games in Oslo: the flame was lit in the fireplace of the house of 19th-century Norwegian skiing pioneer Sondre Nordheim and the first Winter torch relay was conducted by 94 torchbearers entirely on their skis. Bandy, a popular sport in the Nordic countries, was featured as a demonstration sport, though only Norway, Sweden, and Finland fielded teams. Norwegian athletes won 17 medals, which outpaced all the other nations. They were led by Hjalmar Andersen who won three gold medals in four events in the speed skating competition.
After not being able to host the games in 1944, Cortina d'Ampezzo was selected to organise the 1956 Winter Olympics. At the opening ceremonies the final torchbearer, Guido Caroli, entered the Olympic Stadium on ice skates. As he skated around the stadium his skate caught on a cable and he fell and burned his arm, nearly extinguishing the flame. He was able to recover and light the cauldron. These were the first Winter Games to be televised, and the first Olympics ever broadcast to an international audience, though no television rights were sold until the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome. The Cortina games were used to test the feasibility of televising large sporting events.
The Soviet Union made its Olympic debut and had an immediate impact, winning more medals than any other nation. The Soviets' immediate success might be explained by the advent of the state-sponsored "full-time amateur athlete". The USSR entered teams of athletes who were all nominally students, soldiers, or working in a profession, but many of whom were in reality paid by the state to train full-time. Chiharu Igaya won the first Winter Olympics medal for Japan and the continent of Asia when he placed second in the slalom.
The IOC awarded the 1960 Olympics to Squaw Valley, United States. The announcement of its selection came as a shock as the resort near Lake Tahoe was undeveloped and unknown outside the United States. About US$80,000,000 was spent over four years to build cutting-edge infrastructure from scratch. The layout was designed to be intimate, allowing spectators and competitors to reach most of the venues on foot. The opening and closing ceremonies were the firsts produced by Walt Disney Company. The Squaw Valley Olympics was the first Winter Games to have a dedicated athletes' village, the first to use a computer (courtesy of IBM) to tabulate results, and the first to feature female speed skating events. This edition is the only one to date to not have bobsleigh competitions, as the number of countries registered in the event was insufficient and the costs of building the track were too high for the Organizing Committee. To replace the event, an extra edition from the FIBT World Championship was held.
=== 1964 to 1980 ===
The Austrian city of Innsbruck was the host in 1964. For the first time, the Olympic torch of the Winter Olympic Games was lit at the traditional ritual held in the temple of Olympia. Although Innsbruck was a traditional winter sports resort, unprojected warm weather caused a lack of snow and organisers were unable to save enough snow to be used during the Games, and the Austrian army was enlisted to transport snow and ice from other places to the sports venues. Soviet speed-skater Lidia Skoblikova made history by winning all four-speed skating events. Her career total of six gold medals set a record for Winter Olympics athletes. Also, for the first time Luge was added to the Olympic program, but the sport received bad publicity when a competitor was killed in a pre-Olympic training run.
Held in the French town of Grenoble, the 1968 Winter Olympics were the first Olympic Games to be broadcast in colour. There were 1,158 athletes from 37 nations competing in 35 events. French alpine ski racer Jean-Claude Killy became only the second person to win all the men's alpine skiing events. Due to the high interest around the world, the organising committee sold television rights for US$2 million, which was more than twice the cost of the broadcast rights for the Innsbruck Games. For the first time, the organizers chose to decentralize the Games to save costs and the events were spread across three long distances clusters, which led to the need to build three Olympic Villages. Along with the high costs, the organisers claimed that this was necessary to accommodate technological advances, however, critics disputed this, alleging that the layout would incorporate the best possible venues for television broadcasts at the athletes' expense.
The 1972 Winter Games, held in Sapporo, Japan, were the first to be hosted on a continent other than North America or Europe. The issue of professionalism was disputed during these Games when a number of alpine skiers were found to have participated in a ski camp at Mammoth Mountain in the United States; three days before the opening ceremony, IOC president Avery Brundage threatened to bar the skiers from competing in the Games as he insisted that they were no longer amateurs having benefited financially from their status as athletes. Eventually only Austrian Karl Schranz, who earned more than the other skiers, was excluded from the competition. Canada boycotted the 1972 and the 1976 ice hockey tournaments in protest at not being able to use players from professional leagues. Canadian authorities also accused the Soviet Union of using state-sponsored athletes, who were de facto professionals. Francisco Fernández Ochoa became the first and, as of 2022, the only Spaniard to win a Winter Olympic gold medal when he triumphed in the slalom.
The 1976 Winter Olympics had initially been awarded in 1970 to Denver, Colorado in the United States. These Games would have coincided with the year of Colorado's centennial and the United States Bicentennial. However, the increasing costs of the event and the oil crisis led to a local plebiscite held in November 1972, that resulted in the city withdrawing from hosting the Games, as the people of Colorado voted against public funding of the Games by a 3:2 margin. The IOC responded by offering the Games to Vancouver-Garibaldi, British Columbia in Canada, which had previously been a finalist bid for the 1976 Games. However, a change in the provincial government resulted in an administration that did not support the Olympic bid, so the IOC's offer was rejected.
Salt Lake City, previously a candidate for the 1972 Winter Olympics, then put itself forward, but a tense political situation led IOC to invite Innsbruck to host the 1976 Games, as all the infrastructure used during the 1964 Games had been maintained. Despite only having half the usual time to prepare for the Games, Innsbruck accepted the invitation to replace Denver in February 1973. During the opening ceremonies, two cauldrons were lit because it was the second time that the Austrian town had hosted the Winter Games. The 1976 Games featured the first combination bobsleigh-and-luge track, in neighbouring Igls. The Soviet Union won its fourth consecutive ice hockey gold medal.
In 1980 the Winter Olympics returned to Lake Placid, which had hosted the 1932 Games. Unlike previous editions, Lake Placid had no competitors in this bid process. Cyprus made their Olympic debut at the games. The People's Republic of China and Costa Rica, the first tropical nation, competed for the first time at the Winter Games. The Republic of China boycotted the Games, in protest of the IOC's recognition of the People's Republic of China as the only "China", and its request for the Republic of China to compete as "Chinese Taipei". The PRC, on the other hand, returned to the Olympics for the first time since 1952 and made its Winter Olympic debut.
American speed-skater Eric Heiden set either an Olympic or World record in every one of the five events in which he competed, winning a total of five individual gold medals and breaking the record for most individual golds in a single Olympics (both Summer and Winter). Hanni Wenzel won both the slalom and giant slalom and her country, Liechtenstein, became the smallest nation to produce an Olympic gold medallist. In the "Miracle on Ice", the American hockey team composed of college players beat the favoured seasoned professionals from the Soviet Union, and progressed to eventually win the gold medal.
=== 1984 to 1998 ===
Sapporo, Japan, and Gothenburg, Sweden, were front-runners to host the 1984 Winter Olympics. It was therefore a surprise when Sarajevo, Yugoslavia, was selected as host. The Games were well-organised and not affected by the run-up to the war that engulfed the country eight years later. A total of 49 nations and 1,272 athletes participated in 39 events. Host nation Yugoslavia won its first Olympic medal when alpine skier Jure Franko won silver in the giant slalom. Another sporting highlight was the free dance performance of British ice dancers Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean; their Boléro routine received unanimous perfect scores for artistic impression, earning them the gold medal.
In 1988, the Canadian city of Calgary hosted the first Winter Olympics to span three weekends, lasting for a total of 16 days. New events were added in ski-jumping and speed skating, while future Olympic sports curling, short track speed skating and freestyle skiing made their debut appearance as demonstration sports. The speed skating events were held indoors for the first time, on the Olympic Oval. Dutch skater Yvonne van Gennip won three gold medals and set two world records, beating skaters from the favoured East German team in every race.
Her medal total was equalled by Finnish ski jumper Matti Nykänen, who won all three events in his sport. Alberto Tomba, an Italian skier, made his Olympic debut by winning both the giant slalom and slalom. East German Christa Rothenburger won the women's 1,000 metre speed skating event. Seven months later she would earn a silver in track cycling at the Summer Games in Seoul, to become the only athlete to win medals in both a Summer and Winter Olympics in the same year. The 1988 games are well remembered in popular culture from two films based on its events: Cool Runnings about the Jamaican bobsled team; and Eddie the Eagle about British ski jumper Michael Edwards, who finished last but set a British record of 73.5 metres.
The 1992 Winter Games were the last to be held in the same year as the Summer Games. They were hosted in the French Savoie region, with 18 events held in the city of Albertville and the remaining events spread out over the Savoie. Political changes of the time were reflected in the composition of the Olympic teams competing in France: this was the first Games to be held after the fall of Communism and the fall of the Berlin Wall, and Germany competed as a single nation for the first time since the 1964 Games.
Former Yugoslavian republics Croatia and Slovenia made their debuts as independent nations; most of the former Soviet republics still competed as a single team known as the Unified Team, but the Baltic States made independent appearances for the first time since before World War II. At 16 years old, Finnish ski jumper Toni Nieminen made history by becoming the youngest male Winter Olympic champion. New Zealand skier Annelise Coberger became the first Winter Olympic medallist from the southern hemisphere when she won a silver medal in the women's slalom.
The 1994 Winter Olympics, held in Lillehammer, Norway, were the first Winter Games to be held in a different year from the Summer Games. This change resulted from the decision reached in the 91st IOC Session (1986) to separate the Summer and Winter Games and place them in alternating even-numbered years. This allowed the IOC to space out the logistical and financial costs of the two events from one another, and generate advertising revenue from the Games every two years instead of four. Lillehammer is the northernmost city to ever host the Winter Games. It was the second time the Games were held in Norway, after the 1952 Winter Olympics in Oslo, and the first time the Olympic Truce was observed. As a result, after the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in 1993, the Czech Republic and Slovakia made their Olympic debuts.
The women's figure skating competition drew media attention when American skater Nancy Kerrigan was injured on 6 January 1994, in an assault planned by the ex-husband of opponent Tonya Harding. Both skaters competed in the Games, but the gold medal was narrowly won by Oksana Baiul who became Ukraine's first Olympic champion, while Kerrigan won the silver medal. Johann Olav Koss of Norway won three gold medals, coming first in all of the distance speed skating events.
13-year-old Kim Yoon-Mi became the youngest-ever Olympic gold medallist when South Korea won the women's 3,000-metre speed skating relay. Bjørn Dæhli of Norway won a medal in four out of five cross-country events, becoming the most decorated Winter Olympian until then. Russia won the most events, with eleven gold medals, while Norway achieved 26 podium finishes, collecting the most medals overall on home ground. Juan Antonio Samaranch described Lillehammer as "the best Olympic Winter Games ever" in his closing ceremony speech.
The 1998 Winter Olympics were held in the Japanese city of Nagano and were the first Games to host more than 2,000 athletes. The National Hockey League allowed its players to participate in the men's ice hockey tournament for the first time, and the Czech Republic won the tournament. Women's ice hockey made its debut, and the United States won the gold medal. Bjørn Dæhlie of Norway won three gold medals in Nordic skiing, becoming the most decorated Winter Olympic athlete, with eight gold medals and twelve medals overall. Austrian Hermann Maier survived a crash during the downhill competition and returned to win gold in the super-G and the giant slalom. Tara Lipinski of the United States, aged just 15, became the youngest ever female gold medallist in an individual event when she won the Ladies' Singles, a record that had stood since Sonja Henie of Norway won the same event, also aged 15, in St. Moritz in 1928. New world records were set in speed skating largely due to the introduction of the clap skate.
=== 2002 to 2026 ===
After a tumultuous host city process, the 2002 Winter Olympics were held in Salt Lake City, United States. 2,399 athletes from 77 National Olympic Committees participated in 78 events in 7 sports. These Games were the first to take place since the September 11 attacks of 2001, which meant a higher degree of security to avoid a terrorist attack. The opening ceremony saw signs of the aftermath of the events of that day, including the flag that flew at Ground Zero, and honour guards of NYPD and FDNY members.
German Georg Hackl won a silver in the singles luge, becoming the first athlete in Olympic history to win medals in the same individual event in five consecutive Olympics. Canada achieved an unprecedented double by winning both the men's and women's ice hockey gold medals. Canada became embroiled with Russia in a controversy that involved the judging of the pairs figure skating competition. The Russian pair of Yelena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze competed against the Canadian pair of Jamie Salé and David Pelletier for the gold medal.
The Canadians appeared to have skated well enough to win the competition, yet the Russians were awarded the gold. The French judge, Marie-Reine Le Gougne, awarded the gold to the Russians. An investigation revealed that she had been pressured to give the gold to the Russian pair regardless of how they skated; in return, the Russian judge would look favourably on the French entrants in the ice dancing competition.
The IOC decided to award both pairs the gold medal in a second medal ceremony held later in the Games. Australian Steven Bradbury became the first gold medallist from the southern hemisphere when he won the 1,000 metre short-track speed skating event.
The Italian city of Turin hosted the 2006 Winter Olympics. It was the second time that Italy had hosted the Winter Olympic Games. South Korean athletes won 10 medals, including 6 gold in the short-track speed skating events. Sun-Yu Jin won three gold medals while her teammate Hyun-Soo Ahn won three gold medals and a bronze. In the women's Cross-Country team pursuit Canadian Sara Renner broke one of her poles and, when he saw her dilemma, Norwegian coach Bjørnar Håkensmoen decided to lend her a pole. In so doing she was able to help her team win a silver medal in the event at the expense of the Norwegian team, who finished fourth.
On winning the Super-G, Kjetil-Andre Aamodt of Norway became the most decorated ski racer of all time with 4 gold and 8 overall medals. He is also the only ski racer to have won the same event at three Olympics, winning the Super-G in 1992, 2002, and 2006. Claudia Pechstein of Germany became the first speed skater to earn nine career medals.
In February 2009, Pechstein tested positive for "blood manipulation" and received a two-year suspension, which she appealed. The Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld her suspension but a Swiss court ruled that she could compete for a spot on the 2010 German Olympic team. This ruling was brought to the Swiss Federal Tribunal, which overturned the lower court's ruling and precluded her from competing in Vancouver.
In 2003, the IOC awarded the 2010 Winter Olympics to Vancouver, thus allowing Canada to host its second Winter Olympics. With a population of more than 2.5 million people Vancouver is the largest metropolitan area to ever host a Winter Olympic Games. Over 2,500 athletes from 82 countries participated in 86 events. The death of Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili in a training run on the day of the opening ceremonies resulted in the Whistler Sliding Centre changing the track layout on safety grounds.
Norwegian cross-country skier Marit Bjørgen won five medals in the six cross-country events on the women's programme. She finished the Olympics with three golds, a silver and a bronze. For the first time, Canada won a gold medal at an Olympic Games it hosted, having failed to do so at both the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal and the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary. In contrast to the lack of gold medals at these previous Olympics, the Canadian team finished first overall in gold medal wins, and became the first host nation—since Norway in 1952—to lead the gold medal count, with 14 medals. In doing so, it also broke the record for the most gold medals won by a NOC at a single Winter Olympics (the previous was 13, set by the Soviet Union in 1976 and matched by Norway in 2002).
The Vancouver Games were notable for the poor performance of the Russian athletes. From their first Winter Olympics in 1956 to the 2006 Games, a Soviet or Russian delegation had never been outside the top five medal-winning nations, but in 2010 they finished sixth in total medals and eleventh in gold medals. President Dmitry Medvedev called for the resignation of top sports officials immediately after the Games. Russia's disappointing performance at Vancouver is cited as the reason behind the enhancement of an already existing doping scheme alleged to have been in operation at major events such as the 2014 Games at Sochi.
The success of Asian countries stood in stark contrast to the under-performing Russian team, with Vancouver marking a high point for medals won by Asian countries. At the Albertville Games in 1992 the Asian countries had won fifteen medals, three of which were gold. In Vancouver, the total number of medals won by athletes from Asia had increased to thirty-one, with eleven of them being gold. The rise of Asian nations in Winter Olympics sports is due in part to the growth of winter sports programmes and the interest in winter sports in nations such as Kazakhstan, South Korea, Japan and China. These results increased the chances of an Asian city hosting the 2018 Winter Olympics that would be held the following year.
Sochi, Russia, was selected as the host city for the 2014 Winter Olympics over Salzburg, Austria, and Pyeongchang, South Korea. This was the first time that Russia had hosted a Winter Olympics. The Games took place from 7 to 23 February 2014. A record 2,800 athletes from 88 countries competed in 98 events. The Olympic Village and Olympic Stadium were located on the Black Sea coast. All of the mountain venues were 50 kilometres (31 mi) away in the alpine region known as Krasnaya Polyana. The Games were the most expensive until the date, with a cost of £30 billion (US$51 billion).
On the snow, Norwegian biathlete Ole Einar Bjørndalen took two golds to bring his total tally of Olympic medals to 13, overtaking his compatriot Bjørn Dæhlie to become the most decorated Winter Olympian of all time. Another Norwegian, cross-country skier Marit Bjørgen took three golds; her total of ten Olympic medals tied her as the female Winter Olympian with most medals, alongside Raisa Smetanina and Stefania Belmondo. Snowboarder Ayumu Hirano became the youngest medallist on snow at the Winter Games when he took a silver in the halfpipe competition at the age of fifteen.
On the ice, the Netherlands team dominated the speed skating events, taking 23 medals, four clean sweeps of the podium places and at least one medal in each of the twelve medal events. Ireen Wüst was their most successful competitor, taking two golds and three silvers. In figure skating, Yuzuru Hanyu became the first skater to break the 100-point barrier in the short programme on the way to winning the gold medal. Among the sledding disciplines, luger Armin Zöggeler took a bronze, becoming the first Winter Olympian to secure a medal in six consecutive Games.
Following their disappointing performance at the 2010 Games, and an investment of £600 million in elite sport, Russia initially topped the medal table, taking 13 gold and 33 total medals. However, Grigory Rodchenkov, the former head of the Russian national anti-doping laboratory, subsequently claimed that he had been involved in doping dozens of Russian competitors for the Games, and that he had been assisted by the Russian Federal Security Service in opening and re-sealing bottles containing urine samples so that samples with banned substances could be replaced with "clean" urine.
A subsequent investigation commissioned by the World Anti-Doping Agency led by Richard McLaren concluded that a state-sponsored doping programme had operated in Russia from "at least late 2011 to 2015" across the "vast majority" of Summer and Winter Olympic sports. On 5 December 2017, the IOC announced that Russia would compete as the Olympic Athletes from Russia at the 2018 Winter Olympics and by the end of 2017 the IOC Disciplinary Commission had disqualified 43 Russian athletes, stripping thirteen medals and knocking Russia from the top of the medal table, thus putting Norway in the lead. However, nine medals were later returned, meaning that Russia reclaimed first place in the overall medal table, and joint first place with Norway in terms of gold medals.
On 6 July 2011, Pyeongchang, South Korea, was selected to host the 2018 Winter Olympics over Munich, Germany, and Annecy, France. This was the first time that South Korea had been selected to host a Winter Olympics and it was the second time the Olympics were held in the country overall, after the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul. The Games took place from 9 to 25 February 2018. More than 2,900 athletes from 92 countries participated in 102 events. The main venue cluster was the Alpensia Resort in Daegwallyeong-myeon, while the ice events are held at Gangneung Olympic Park in Pyeongchang's neighbouring sea-city of Gangneung.
The lead-up to the 2018 Winter Olympics was affected by the tensions between North and South Korea and the ongoing Russian doping scandal. Despite tense relations, North Korea agreed to participate in the Games, enter with South Korea during the opening ceremony as a unified Korea, and field a unified team in women's ice hockey. Russian athletes, who complied with the IOC's doping regulations, were given the option to compete in Pyeongchang as "Olympic Athletes from Russia" (OAR).
The Games saw the addition of big air snowboarding, mass start speed skating, mixed doubles curling, and mixed team alpine skiing to the programme. Like four years early, the Netherlands again dominated speed skating, winning gold medals in seven of the ten individual events. Dutch speed skater Sven Kramer won gold in the men's 5000m event, becoming the only male speed skater to win the same Olympic event three times. On the snow, Norway led the medal tally in cross-country skiing, with Marit Bjørgen winning bronze in the women's team sprint and gold in the 30-kilometre classical event, bringing her total Olympic medal haul to fifteen, the most won by any athlete (male or female) in Winter Olympics history.
Johannes Høsflot Klæbo of Norway became the youngest ever male to win an Olympic gold in cross-country skiing when he won the men's sprint at age 21. He was also part of the Norwegian cross-country team winning the men’s relay and team sprint events. Noriaki Kasai of Japan became the first athlete in history to participate in eight Winter Olympics when he took part in the ski jumping qualification the day before the opening of the Games. Ester Ledecká of the Czech Republic won gold in the skiing super-G event and another gold in the snowboarding parallel giant slalom, making her the first female athlete to win Olympic gold medals in two sports at a single Winter Games.
Norway led the total medal standings with 39, the highest number of medals by a nation in any Winter Olympics, followed by Germany's 31 and Canada's 29. Host nation South Korea won seventeen medals, five of them gold, its highest medal haul at a Winter Olympics.
Beijing, the capital of the People's Republic of China, was elected as the host city for the 2022 Winter Olympics on 31 July 2015 at the 128th IOC Session. Beijing became the first city ever to have hosted both the Summer and Winter Olympics. Like the Summer Olympics held six months earlier in Tokyo, the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the implementation of strict health and safety protocols, including restrictions on public attendance at the Games. The Games included a record 109 events over 15 disciplines in seven sports with seven new medal events, including mixed team competitions in freestyle skiing aerials, ski jumping, and snowboard cross. The Games were held between 4 and 20 February 2022 at venues in Beijing and Zhangjiakou which for the first time were run entirely on renewable energy. Several of the events were impacted by temperatures as low as minus 20 Celsius and strong wind.
The first gold medal of the Games was won by Therese Johaug of Norway in the women's skiathlon. Johaug had been excluded from the 2018 Winter Olympics in a controversial decision after having used a banned cream for sunburned lips. She went on to also win the women's 10 km and 30 km cross-country distances. Johannes Klæbo continued his dominance of the men’s cross-country sprint events by winning gold in the individual and team events. In the women's snowboard cross, Lindsey Jacobellis of the United States won the gold, having lost the gold 16 years earlier at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino due to a brutal fall. On the ice, the Netherlands dominated with a total of six gold medals and Irene Schouten winning the women's mass start, 3,000m and 5,000m distances. Nils van der Poel of Sweden won the men's 5,000m and 10,000m distances, setting new Olympic records in both distances. Kamila Valieva of Russia was allowed to compete in the women's figure skating despite a failed doping test in December 2021. She failed, however, to win an individual medal after falling in her final routine. Russia's team gold medal remained in limbo for two years, pending investigation into Valieva's positive drug test, before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) disqualified Valieva for four years retroactive to 25 December 2021, leading the ISU to re-allocate the medals, upgrading the United States to gold and Japan to silver while downgrading the ROC to bronze. Finland claimed its first ice hockey gold, having beaten the Russian Olympic Committee in the men's final on the last day of the Games.
Norway was first in the overall medal standings, claiming 37 medals in total and 16 gold medals, the highest number of gold medals of any country in a single Winter Olympics. This was the tenth time Norway claimed the highest number of gold medals at the Winter Games.
=== Future ===
The 2026 Winter Olympics was held in Milan-Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, and took place from 6 to 22 February 2026. At the 142nd IOC Session in July 2024, it was confirmed that the 2030 Winter Olympics will be hosted by France in the French Alps. The 2034 Winter Olympics was also awarded to be hosted by the United States in Utah; the state previously hosted the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City.
=== Controversy ===
The process for awarding host city honours came under intense scrutiny after Salt Lake City had been awarded the right to host the 2002 Games. Soon after the host city had been announced it was discovered that the organisers had engaged in an elaborate bribery scheme to curry favour with IOC officials. Gifts and other financial considerations were given to those who would evaluate and vote on Salt Lake City's bid. These gifts included medical treatment for relatives, a college scholarship for one member's son and a land deal in Utah. Even IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch received two rifles valued at $2,000. Samaranch defended the gift as inconsequential since, as president, he was a non-voting member.
The subsequent United States Department of Justice investigation uncovered inconsistencies in the bids for every Olympics (both Summer and Winter) since 1988. For example, the gifts received by IOC members from the Japanese Organising Committee for Nagano's bid for the 1998 Winter Olympics were described by the investigation committee as "astronomical". Although nothing strictly illegal had been done, the IOC feared that corporate sponsors would lose faith in the integrity of the process and that the Olympic brand would be tarnished to such an extent that advertisers would begin to pull their support.
The investigation resulted in the expulsion of 10 IOC members and the sanctioning of another 10. New terms and age limits were established for IOC membership, and 15 former Olympic athletes were added to the committee. Stricter rules for future bids were imposed, with ceilings imposed on the value of gifts IOC members could accept from bid cities.
=== Host city legacy ===
About eight years before the Winter Olympics, the IOC invites National Olympic Committees to submit bids to host the games. According to the IOC, the host city for the Winter Olympics is responsible for "...establishing functions and services for all aspects of the Games, such as sports planning, venues, finance, technology, accommodation, catering, media services, etc., as well as operations during the Games". Due to the cost of hosting the Games, most host cities never realise a profit on their investment. For example, the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, cost $3.6 billion to host. By comparison, the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan, cost $12.5 billion. The organisers of the Nagano Games claimed that the cost of extending the bullet train service from Tokyo to Nagano was responsible for the large price tag.
The organising committee had hoped that the exposure gained from hosting the Winter Olympics, and the improved access to Nagano from Tokyo, would benefit the local economy for years afterwards. In fact, Nagano's economy did experience a post-Olympic boom for a year or two, but the long-term effects have not materialised as anticipated. The likelihood of heavy debt is a deterrent to prospective host cities, as well as the prospect of unused sports venues and infrastructure saddling the local community with upkeep costs with no appreciable post-Olympic value.
The Winter Olympics has the added problem of the alpine events requiring a mountain location; the men's downhill needs an 800-metre altitude difference along a suitable course. As this is a focal event that is central to the Games, the IOC has previously not agreed to it taking place a long way from the main host city, in contrast to the Summer Games, where sailing and horse sports have taken place more than 1,000 kilometres (620 mi) away. The requirement for a mountain location also means that venues such as hockey arenas often have to be built in sparsely populated areas with little future need for a large arena and for the hotels and infrastructure needed for all Olympic visitors. Due to cost issues, fewer and fewer cities are willing to host. Both the Torino 2006 and Vancouver 2010 Games, which were hosted in countries where large cities are located close to suitable mountain regions, had lower costs since more venues, hotels and transport infrastructure already existed. In contrast, the Sochi 2014 games had large costs as most installations had to be built.
The IOC has tried to mitigate these concerns. Firstly, it has agreed to fund part of the host city's budget. Secondly, the qualifying host countries are limited to those that have the resources and infrastructure to successfully host an Olympic Games without negatively impacting their region or nation; this rules out a large portion of the developing world. Finally, any prospective host city is required to add a "legacy plan" to their proposal, with a view to the long-term economic and environmental impact that hosting the Olympics will have.
Beginning with the 2022 Winter Games, the IOC allowed greater distances between the alpine events and other events. The Oslo bid had 220 kilometres (140 mi) to the Kvitfjell downhill arena, while eventual host Beijing had venues 220 km away from the city as well. For the 2026 Winter Games, Stockholm's unsuccessful bid proposed to hold the alpine event in Åre, 620 kilometres (390 mi) away by road, while the successful bid of 2026 has 410 kilometres (250 mi) between Milan and Cortina.
=== Doping ===
In 1967 the IOC began enacting drug testing protocols. They started by randomly testing athletes at the 1968 Winter Olympics. The first Winter Games athlete to test positive for a banned substance was Alois Schloder, a West German hockey player, but his team was still allowed to compete. During the 1970s, testing outside of competition was escalated because it was found to deter athletes from using performance-enhancing drugs. The problem with testing during this time was a lack of standardisation of the test procedures, which undermined the credibility of the tests. It was not until the late 1980s that international sporting federations began to coordinate efforts to standardise the drug-testing protocols. The IOC took the lead in the fight against steroids when it established the independent World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in November 1999.
The 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin became notable for a scandal involving the emerging trend of blood doping, the use of blood transfusions or synthetic hormones such as Erythropoietin (EPO) to improve oxygen flow and thus reduce fatigue. The Italian police conducted a raid on the Austrian cross-country ski team's residence during the Games where they seized blood-doping specimens and equipment. This event followed the pre-Olympics suspension of 12 cross-country skiers who tested positive for unusually high levels of haemoglobin, which is evidence of blood doping.
The 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi's Russian Doping Scandal has resulted in the International Olympic Committee to begin disciplinary proceedings against 28 (later increased to 46) Russian athletes who competed at the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, acting on evidence that their urine samples were tampered with.
=== Cold War ===
The Winter Olympics were an ideological front in the Cold War since the Soviet Union first participated at the 1956 Winter Games. It did not take long for the Cold War combatants to discover what a powerful propaganda tool the Olympic Games could be. The advent of the state-sponsored "full-time amateur athlete" of the Eastern Bloc countries further eroded the ideology of the pure amateur, as it put the self-financed amateurs of the Western countries at a disadvantage. The Soviet Union entered teams of athletes who were all nominally students, soldiers, or working in a profession, but many of whom were in reality paid by the state to train on a full-time basis. Nevertheless, the IOC held to the traditional rules regarding amateurism until the '90s.
The Cold War created tensions amongst countries allied to the two superpowers. The strained relationship between East and West Germany created a difficult political situation for the IOC. Because of its role in World War II, Germany was not allowed to compete at the 1948 Winter Olympics. In 1950, the IOC recognised the West German Olympic Committee, and invited East and West Germany to compete as a unified team at the 1952 Winter Games. East Germany declined and instead sought international legitimacy separate from West Germany.
In 1955, the Soviet Union recognised East Germany as a sovereign state, thereby giving more credibility to East Germany's campaign to become an independent participant. The IOC agreed provisionally to accept the East German National Olympic Committee on condition that East and West Germans compete as one team. The situation became tense when the Berlin Wall was constructed by East Germany in 1961 to stop migration of its citizens and Western European nations began refusing visas to East German athletes. The uneasy compromise of a unified team held until the 1968 Grenoble Games when the IOC split the teams and threatened to reject host-city bids from any country that refused entry visas to East German athletes.
=== Boycott ===
The Winter Games have had only one national team boycott when Taiwan decided not to participate in the 1980 Winter Olympics held in Lake Placid. Prior to the Games, the IOC agreed to allow China to compete in the Olympics for the first time since 1952. China was given permission to compete as the "People's Republic of China" (PRC) and to use the PRC flag and anthem. Until 1980 the island of Taiwan had been competing under the name "Republic of China" (ROC) and had been using the ROC flag and anthem. The IOC attempted to have the countries compete together but when this proved to be unacceptable the IOC demanded that Taiwan cease to call itself the "Republic of China".
The IOC renamed the island "Chinese Taipei" and demanded that it adopt a different flag and national anthem, stipulations to which Taiwan would not agree. Despite numerous appeals and court hearings, the IOC's decision stood. When the Taiwanese athletes arrived at the Olympic village with their Republic of China identification cards they were not admitted. They subsequently left the Olympics in protest, just before the opening ceremonies. Taiwan returned to Olympic competition at the 1984 Winter Games in Sarajevo as Chinese Taipei. The country agreed to compete under a flag bearing the emblem of their National Olympic Committee and to play the anthem of their National Olympic Committee should one of their athletes win a gold medal. The agreement remains in place to this day.
== Sports ==
The Olympic Charter limits winter sports to "those sports which are practised on snow or ice". Since 1992 a number of new sports have been added to the Olympic programme, which include short-track speed skating, snowboarding, freestyle and moguls skiing. The addition of these events has broadened the appeal of the Winter Olympics beyond Europe and North America. While European powers such as Norway and Germany still dominate the traditional Winter Olympic sports, countries such as South Korea, Australia and Canada are finding success in these new sports. The results are more parity in the national medal tables, more interest in the Winter Olympics, and higher global television ratings.
=== Current sports ===
=== Demonstration events ===
Demonstration sports have historically provided a venue for host countries to attract publicity to locally popular sports by having a competition without granting medals. Demonstration sports were discontinued after 1992. Military patrol, a precursor to the biathlon, was a medal sport in 1924 and was demonstrated in 1928, 1936 and 1948, becoming an official sport in 1960. The special figures figure skating event was only contested at the 1908 Summer Olympics. Bandy (Russian hockey) is a sport popular in the Nordic countries and Russia. In the latter it is considered a national sport. It was demonstrated at the Oslo Games.
Ice stock sport, a German variant of curling, was demonstrated in 1936 in Germany and 1964 in Austria. The ski ballet event, later known as ski-acro, was demonstrated in 1988 and 1992. Skijöring, skiing behind dogs, was a demonstration sport in St. Moritz in 1928. A sled-dog race was held at Lake Placid in 1932. Speed skiing was demonstrated in Albertville at the 1992 Winter Olympics. Winter pentathlon, a variant of the modern pentathlon, was included as a demonstration event at the 1948 Games in Switzerland. It included cross-country skiing, shooting, downhill skiing, fencing, and horse riding.
== All-time medal table ==
The table below uses official data provided by the IOC (full list):
Accurate as of 2026 Winter Olympics
=== Medal leaders by year ===
Number of occurrences
== List of Winter Olympic Games == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giorgio_Rognoni | Giorgio Rognoni | Giorgio Rognoni (26 October 1946 in Modena, Italy – 20 March 1986 in Pistoia) was an Italian professional footballer who played as a midfielder.
== Career ==
Born in Modena, Rognoni began playing football with local side Modena. In 1967, he signed with Milan, where he would make his Serie A debut against Mantova on 11 February 1968. He played for 9 seasons (193 games, 13 goals) in the Serie A for A.C. Milan, U.S. Foggia, A.C. Cesena and A.C. Pistoiese.
== Honours ==
Milan
Serie A champion: 1967–68.
European Cup winner: 1968–69.
UEFA Cup Winners' Cup winner: 1967–68.
Intercontinental Cup winner: 1969. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikoleta_Kyriakopoulou | Nikoleta Kyriakopoulou | Nikoleta 'Nikol' Kyriakopoulou (Greek: Νικολέτα "Νικολ" Κυριακοπούλου, born 21 March 1986) is a Greek retired pole vaulter. Nikoleta was 8th at the Olympic Games in Tokyo 2021. She also won the bronze medal at the World Championships in Beijing in 2015 jumping 4.80m.
During the 2015 season, she set five Greek records (indoor and outdoor) raising the bar to 4,83 meters. The same year, she became the first Greek athlete to win the IAAF Diamond League. During her career she broke 11 times the Greek National record (indoor and outdoor).
Her first success in a major event was in 2012 when she won the bronze medal at the European Championships in Helsinki. One year earlier, in 2011, she finished 8th at the IAAF World Championships in Daegu. She also won the 2009 Mediterranean Games with a Games record of 4.50 meters, while as a junior athlete she was 6th at the World Championships in Grosseto in 2004.
Nikoleta did not compete in 2016 Rio Olympics due to injury.
In 2017 she became a mother of a baby girl and announced her return to competition for 2018. She won the silver medal at the 2018 European Championships and bronze medal at the European Championships in Glasgow in 2019.
She was named the Greek Female Athlete of the Year for 2015.
Nikoleta retired from competing in 2024 after 22 years of a successful career.
== International competitions ==
== Personal bests ==
== Personal life ==
Nikoleta is married and has a daughter. She partially hailed from Emmanouil Pappas, Serres. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Rainier | Mount Rainier | Mount Rainier ( ray-NEER), also known as Tahoma, is a large active stratovolcano in the Cascade Range of the Pacific Northwest in the United States. The mountain is located in Mount Rainier National Park about 59 miles (95 km) south-southeast of Seattle. At 14,410 feet (4,390 m) it is the highest mountain in the U.S. state of Washington, the most topographically prominent mountain in the contiguous United States, and the tallest in the Cascade Volcanic Arc.
Due to its high probability of an eruption in the near future and proximity to a major urban area, Mount Rainier is considered one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the world, and it is on the Decade Volcano list. The large amount of glacial ice means that Mount Rainier could produce massive lahars that could threaten the entire Puyallup River valley and other river valleys draining Mount Rainier, including the Carbon, White, Nisqually, and Cowlitz (above Riffe Lake). According to the United States Geological Survey's 2008 report, "about 80,000 people and their homes are at risk in Mount Rainier's lahar-hazard zones."
Between 1950 and 2018, 439,460 people climbed Mount Rainier. Approximately 84 people died in mountaineering accidents on Mount Rainier from 1947 to 2018.
== Name ==
The many Indigenous peoples who have lived near Mount Rainier for millennia have many names for the mountain in their various languages. A linguistic analysis published in 2025 identified 20 names in indigenous languages for the mountain.
Lushootseed speakers have several names for Mount Rainier, including xʷaq̓ʷ and təqʷubəʔ. xʷaq̓ʷ means "sky wiper" or "one who touches the sky" in English. The word təqʷubəʔ means "snow-covered mountain". təqʷubəʔ has been anglicized in many ways, including "Tacoma" and "Tacobet".
Cowlitz speakers call the mountain təx̣ʷúma or təqʷúmen. Sahaptin speakers call the mountain Tax̱úma, which is borrowed from Cowlitz.
Another anglicized name is Pooskaus.
George Vancouver named Mount Rainier in honor of his friend, Rear Admiral Peter Rainier. The map of the Lewis and Clark expedition of 1804–1806 refers to it as "Mt. Regniere". Although Rainier had been considered the official name of the mountain, Theodore Winthrop referred to the mountain as "Tacoma" in his posthumously published 1862 travel book The Canoe and the Saddle. For a time, both names were used interchangeably, although residents of the nearby city of Tacoma preferred Mount Tacoma.
In 1890, the United States Board on Geographic Names declared that the mountain would be known as Rainier. Following this in 1897, the Pacific Forest Reserve became the Mount Rainier Forest Reserve, and the national park was established three years later. Despite this, there was still a movement to change the mountain's name to Tacoma and Congress was still considering a resolution to change the name as late as 1924.
== Geographical setting ==
Mount Rainier is the tallest mountain in Washington and the Cascade Range. This peak is located southeast of Tacoma, approximately 60 miles (97 km) south-southeast of Seattle. Mount Rainier has a topographic prominence of 13,210 ft (4,026 m). On clear days it dominates the southeastern horizon in most of the Seattle-Tacoma metropolitan area to such an extent that locals sometimes refer to it simply as "the Mountain". On days of exceptional clarity, it can also be seen from as far away as Corvallis, Oregon (at Marys Peak), and the North Shore Mountains in British Columbia.
With 26 major glaciers and 36 sq mi (93 km2) of permanent snowfields and glaciers, Mount Rainier is the most heavily glaciated peak in the lower 48 states. The summit is topped by two volcanic craters, each more than 1,000 ft (300 m) in diameter, with the larger east crater overlapping the west crater. Geothermal heat from the volcano keeps areas of both crater rims free of snow and ice, and has formed the world's largest volcanic glacier cave network within the ice-filled craters, with nearly 2 mi (3.2 km) of passages.
A small crater lake about 130 by 30 ft (39.6 by 9.1 m) in size and 16 ft (5 m) deep, the highest in North America with a surface elevation of 14,203 ft (4,329 m), occupies the lowest portion of the west crater below more than 100 ft (30 m) of ice and is accessible only via the caves.
The Carbon, Cowlitz, Nisqually, Puyallup River, and North Mowich Rivers begin at eponymous glaciers of Mount Rainier. The sources of the White River are Winthrop, Emmons, and Fryingpan Glaciers. The White, Carbon, and Mowich join the Puyallup River, which discharges into Commencement Bay at Tacoma. The Nisqually empties into Puget Sound east of Lacey. The Cowlitz joins the Columbia River between Kelso and Longview.
=== Subsidiary peaks ===
The broad top of Mount Rainier contains three named summits. The highest of these named summits is known as the Columbia Crest. The second highest summit is Point Success, 14,158 ft (4,315 m), at the southern edge of the summit plateau, atop the ridge known as Success Cleaver. It has a topographic prominence of about 138 ft (42 m), so it is not considered a separate peak. The lowest of the three summits is Liberty Cap, 14,112 ft (4,301 m), at the northwestern edge, which overlooks Liberty Ridge, the Sunset Amphitheater, and the dramatic Willis Wall.
High on the eastern flank of Mount Rainier is a peak known as Little Tahoma Peak, 11,138 ft (3,395 m), an eroded remnant of the earlier, much higher, Mount Rainier. It has a prominence of 858 ft (262 m), and it is almost never climbed in direct conjunction with Columbia Crest, so it is usually considered a separate peak. If considered separately from Mount Rainier, Little Tahoma Peak would be the third highest mountain peak in Washington.
=== Height of the mountain ===
Mount Rainier was one of five historical icecap summits in the lower 48 states, meaning that its elevation has changed as a result of glacial melting due to climate change.
The National Park Service and United States Geological Survey cite Mount Rainier's summit as the Columbia Crest icecap at 14,410 ft (4,392 m); this value was determined in 1956, referenced to the National Geodetic Vertical Datum of 1929 (NGVD29).
In 1999, the mountain summit was surveyed at 14,411 ft (4,392 m), also in the NGVD29.
In the 2020s, Eric Gilbertson and other surveyors found that the Columbia Crest had melted down so that it was no longer the highest point on the mountain after around 2014. According to Gilbertson's research, the current summit of the mountain is a point of bare rock on the southwest crater rim at 14,399.6 feet (4,389.0 m) +/- 3 cm (1.2 in). This figure also uses the NGVD29 datum. Mount Rainier National Park geologists expressed concerns over the methods used in the study and requested the data for evaluation, though they recorded similar glacial thinning. An official measurement taken in 2010 saw little to no change from the official value.
== Geology ==
Mount Rainier is a stratovolcano in the Cascade Volcanic Arc that consists of lava flows, debris flows, and pyroclastic ejecta and flows. Its early volcanic deposits are estimated at more than 840,000 years old and are part of the Lily Formation (about 2.9 million to 840,000 years ago). The early deposits formed a "proto-Rainier" or an ancestral cone prior to the present-day cone. The present cone is more than 500,000 years old.
The volcano is highly eroded, with glaciers on its slopes, and appears to be made mostly of andesite. Rainier likely once stood even higher than today at about 16,000 ft (4,900 m) before a major debris avalanche and the resulting Osceola Mudflow approximately 5,000 years ago.
In the past, Rainier has had large debris avalanches, and has also produced enormous lahars (volcanic mudflows), due to the large amount of glacial ice present. Its lahars have reached all the way to Puget Sound, a distance of more than 30 mi (48 km). Around 5,000 years ago, a large chunk of the volcano slid away and that debris avalanche helped to produce the massive Osceola Mudflow, which went all the way to the site of present-day Tacoma and south Seattle. This massive avalanche of rock and ice removed the top 1,600 ft (500 m) of Rainier, bringing its height down to around 14,100 ft (4,300 m). About 530 to 550 years ago, the Electron Mudflow occurred, although this was not as large-scale as the Osceola Mudflow.
After the major collapse approximately 5,000 years ago, subsequent eruptions of lava and tephra built up the modern summit cone until about as recently as 1,000 years ago. As many as 11 Holocene tephra layers have been found.
Soils on Mount Rainier are mostly gravelly ashy sandy loams developed from colluvium or glacial till mixed with volcanic tephra. Under forest cover their profiles usually have the banded appearance of a classic podzol but the E horizon is darker than usual. Under meadows a thick dark A horizon usually forms the topsoil.
=== Modern activity and threat ===
The most recent recorded volcanic activity was between 1820 and 1854, but many eyewitnesses reported eruptive activity in 1858, 1870, 1879, 1882, and 1894 as well. Additionally, the Smithsonian Institution's volcanism project records the last volcanic eruption as 1450 CE.
Seismic monitors have been placed in Mount Rainier National Park and on the mountain itself to monitor activity. An eruption could be deadly for all living in areas within the immediate vicinity of the volcano and effects from an eruption could be noticed from Vancouver, British Columbia to San Francisco, California, because of the massive amounts of ash blasting out of the volcano into the atmosphere.
Mount Rainier is located in an area that itself is part of the eastern rim of the Pacific Ring of Fire. This includes mountains and calderas like Mount Shasta and Lassen Peak in California, Crater Lake, Three Sisters, and Mount Hood in Oregon, Mount St. Helens, Mount Adams, Glacier Peak, and Mount Baker in Washington, and Mount Cayley, Mount Garibaldi, Silverthrone Caldera, and Mount Meager in British Columbia. Many of the above are dormant, but could return to activity, and scientists on both sides of the border gather research of the past eruptions of each in order to predict how mountains in this arc will behave and what they are capable of in the future, including Mount Rainier. Of these, two have erupted since the beginning of the twentieth century: Lassen in 1915 and St. Helens in 1980 and 2004. However, past eruptions in this volcanic arc have multiple examples of sub-plinian eruptions or higher: Crater Lake's last eruption as Mount Mazama was large enough to cause its cone to collapse, and Mount Rainier's closest neighbor, Mount St. Helens, produced the largest recorded eruption in the continental United States when it erupted in 1980. Statistics place the likelihood of a major eruption in the Cascade Range at 2–3 per century.
Mount Rainier is listed as a Decade Volcano, or one of the 16 volcanoes on Earth with the greatest likelihood of causing loss of life and property if eruptive activity resumes. If Mount Rainier were to erupt as powerfully as Mount St. Helens did in its May 18, 1980 eruption, the effect would be cumulatively greater, because of the far more massive amounts of glacial ice locked on the volcano compared to Mount St. Helens, the vastly more heavily populated areas surrounding Rainier, and the fact that Mount Rainier is almost twice the size of St. Helens. Lahars from Rainier pose the most risk to life and property, as many communities lie atop older lahar deposits. According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), about 150,000 people live on top of old lahar deposits of Rainier. Not only is there much ice atop the volcano, the volcano is also slowly being weakened by hydrothermal activity. According to Geoff Clayton, a geologist with a Washington State Geology firm, RH2 Engineering, a repeat of the 5000-year-old Osceola Mudflow would destroy Enumclaw, Orting, Kent, Auburn, Puyallup, Sumner and all of Renton. Such a mudflow might also reach down the Duwamish estuary and destroy parts of downtown Seattle, and cause tsunamis in Puget Sound and Lake Washington. Rainier is also capable of producing pyroclastic flows and expelling lava. A 2012 Washington State Department of Natural Resources estimate showed that a significant lahar could cause up to $40 billion in damage downriver.
According to Kevin Scott, a scientist with the USGS:
A home built in any of the probabilistically defined inundation areas on the new maps is more likely to be damaged or destroyed by a lahar than by fire... For example, a home built in an area that would be inundated every 100 years, on the average, is 27 times more likely to be damaged or destroyed by a flow than by fire. People know the danger of fire, so they buy fire insurance and they have smoke alarms, but most people are not aware of the risks of lahars, and few have applicable flood insurance.
The volcanic risk is somewhat mitigated by lahar warning sirens and escape route signs in Pierce County, part of the Mount Rainier Volcano Lahar Warning System, which was implemented by the USGS in 1998, and has been maintained by Pierce County since. The more populous King County is also in the lahar area, but has no zoning restrictions due to volcanic hazard. More recently (since 2001) funding from the federal government for lahar protection in the area has dried up, leading local authorities in at-risk cities like Orting to fear a disaster similar to the Armero tragedy. To prevent against such tragedies, authorities downriver from Rainier have conducted annual large-scale evacuation exercises in cooperation with local school districts. The 2024 drill included 45,000 students and staff from the Puyallup, Sumner–Bonney Lake, Orting, White River, and Carbonado School Districts. During the exercise, emergency operations centers in the cities of Puyallup, Bonney Lake, and Buckley were activated to help the movement of school students and staff.
=== Seismic background ===
Typically, up to five earthquakes are recorded monthly near the summit. Swarms of five to ten shallow earthquakes over two or three days take place from time to time, predominantly in the region of 13,000 feet (4 km) below the summit. These earthquakes are thought to be caused by the circulation of hot fluids beneath Mount Rainier. Presumably, hot springs and steam vents within Mount Rainier National Park are generated by such fluids. Seismic swarms (not initiated with a mainshock) are common features at volcanoes, and are rarely associated with eruptive activity. Rainier has had several such swarms; there were days-long swarms in 2002, 2004, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2021, and 2025. The 2025 swarm produced the largest number of events, highest rate of events, and largest amount of energy released since the monitoring began in 1982.
=== Glaciers ===
Glaciers are among the most conspicuous and dynamic geologic features on Mount Rainier. They erode the volcanic cone and are important sources of streamflow for several rivers, including some that provide water for hydroelectric power and irrigation. Together with perennial snow patches, the 29 named glacial features cover about 30.41 square miles (78.8 km2) of the mountain's surface in 2015 and have an estimated volume of about 0.69 cubic miles (2.9 km3).
Glaciers flow under the influence of gravity by the combined action of sliding over the rock on which they lie and by deformation, the gradual displacement between and within individual ice crystals. Maximum speeds occur near the surface and along the centerline of the glacier. During May 1970, Nisqually Glacier was measured moving as fast as 29 inches (74 cm) per day. Flow rates are generally greater in summer than in winter, probably due to the presence of large quantities of meltwater at the glacier base.
The size of glaciers on Mount Rainier has fluctuated significantly in the past. For example, during the last ice age, from about 25,000 to about 15,000 years ago, glaciers covered most of the area now within the boundaries of Mount Rainier National Park and extended to the perimeter of the present Puget Sound Basin.
Between the 14th century and 1850, many of the glaciers on Mount Rainier advanced to their farthest extent downvalley since the last ice age. Many advances of this sort occurred worldwide during this time period known to geologists as the Little Ice Age. During the Little Ice Age, the Nisqually Glacier advanced to a position 650 to 800 ft (200 to 240 m) downvalley from the site of the Glacier Bridge, Tahoma and South Tahoma Glaciers merged at the base of Glacier Island, and the terminus of Emmons Glacier reached within 1.2 mi (1.9 km) of the White River Campground.
Retreat of the Little Ice Age glaciers was slow until about 1920 when retreat became more rapid. The Williwakas Glacier was noted as extinct during the 1930s. Between the height of the Little Ice Age and 1950, Mount Rainier's glaciers lost about one-quarter of their length. Beginning in 1950 and continuing through the early 1980s, however, many of the major glaciers advanced in response to relatively cooler temperatures of the mid-century. The glaciers and snowfields of Mount Rainier also lost volume during this time, except for the Frying Pan and Emmons glaciers on the east flank and the small near-peak snowfields; the greatest volume loss was concentrated from ~1750 m (north) to ~2250 m (south) elevation. The largest single volume loss is from the Carbon Glacier, although it is to the north, due to its huge area at <2000 m elevation. The Carbon, Cowlitz, Emmons, and Nisqually Glaciers advanced during the late 1970s and early 1980s as a result of high snowfalls during the 1960s and 1970s.
Since the early-1980s, however, many glaciers have been thinning and retreating and some advances have slowed. In a study using data from 2021, National Park Service scientists removed Stevens Glacier from its inventory of Mount Rainier glaciers due to its dwindling size and lack of evidence that it was moving. Using satellite data in 2022, researchers at Nichols College determined that both Pyramid and Van Trump glaciers had also ceased to exist with only fragments of ice remaining. A significant decline had been noted between 2015 and 2022.
The glaciers on Mount Rainier can generate mudflows through glacial outburst floods not associated with an eruption. The South Tahoma Glacier generated 30 floods in the 1980s and early 1990s, and again in August 2015.
== History ==
For thousands of years, the area surrounding Mount Rainier has been inhabited by several Indigenous peoples, who traditionally hunted and gathered animals and plants in Mount Rainier's forests and high elevation meadows. These peoples and their modern-day descendants are represented today by the members of the federally-recognized tribes which surround the mountain, including the Nisqually Indian Tribe, the Cowlitz Indian Tribe, the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, the Puyallup Tribe of Indians, and the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe, among others in the area.
The archaeological record of human use of the mountain dates to over 8,500 years before present (BP). Sites related to seasonal use of Mount Rainier and its landscapes are reflected in chipped stone tool remains and settings suggesting functionally varied uses including task-specific sites, rockshelters, travel stops, and long-term base camps. Their distribution on the mountain suggest primary use of subalpine meadows and low alpine habitats that provided relatively high resource abundance during the short summer season. Evidence suggests that there existed a tradition of Native Americans setting fire to areas of the region each year as a way to encourage meadow development.
The first Europeans to reach the Pacific Northwest were the Spanish who arrived by sea in 1774 led by Juan Perez. The next year, under the direction of Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra, a boat was sent ashore to Destruction island. Upon landing, the crew was attacked and killed by the local indigenous population. Although attempts were made in 1792 to create a permanent Spanish settlement at Neah Bay, the project was unsuccessful and by 1795, Spain had given up on the region. Although not documented anywhere, it is likely that Spanish sailors first observed Mount Rainier while sailing in the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
Upon reaching what would become California in 1579, Sir Francis Drake claimed the entire northwest coast of North America for England. This claim to the coast of the Pacific Northwest was not further explored until in 1778 Captain James Cook sailed the coastline of modern-day Washington and British Columbia, stimulating a subsequent increase in English ships coming to the area as part of the fur trade. On July 22, 1793, Sir Alexander Mackenzie of the British Northwest Fur Company reached the Pacific Ocean via overland route that crossed the Rocky Mountains.
The first American, John Ledyard, reached the region aboard Captain Cook's ship in 1778. By 1787, six Americans from Boston formed a company which began trading along the northwest coast. The Lewis and Clark overland expedition reached the northwest coast in 1805 and observed Mount Rainier for the first time in early 1806.
The first documented sighting of Mt. Rainier by a European was by the crew of Captain George Vancouver on May 7, 1792, during the Vancouver Expedition (1790–1795). On May 8, 1792, Vancouver gave the name of Mt. Rainier to the observed peak in homage to Vancouver's friend Rear Admiral Peter Rainier.
At the outset of the 19th century, the region where Mt. Rainier was located was claimed by Spain, the U.S., Russia, and Great Britain, with most claims being based on instances of early naval exploration of the region's coast. Spain relinquished all remaining claims to the Pacific Northwest that had not already been handed over with the Louisiana Purchase in 1819 with the purchase and cession of Florida by the United States. In 1824, Russia ceded all land claims south of parallel 54°40′ north to the United States as part of the Russo-American Treaty. In 1818, the United States and the United Kingdom signed a treaty, agreeing upon the joint settlement and occupation of the Oregon country which consisted of the territory north of 42°N latitude, south of 54°40′N latitude, and west of the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean. The 1846 Oregon Treaty between the United States and United Kingdom set new borders between British and American territory along today's approximate borders. In 1853, the land between the Columbia river and the border with British Canada was organized into the Washington Territory, which was the administrative status of the region at the time of the first successful ascent of Mount Rainier.
In 1833, William Fraser Tolmie explored the area looking for medicinal plants. Hazard Stevens and P. B. Van Trump received a hero's welcome in the streets of Olympia after their successful summit climb in 1870. The first female ascent was made in 1890 by Fay Fuller, accompanied by Van Trump and three other teammates.
Descending from the summit in 1883, James Longmire discovered a mineral spring; this ultimately led to his establishment of a spa and hotel, drawing other visitors to the area to seek the benefits of the spring. Later, the headquarters of the national park would be established at Longmire, until flooding caused them to be relocated to Ashford. The area also became the site of features like a museum, a post office, and a gas station, with additions like a library and a gift shop soon following; many of these buildings were ultimately nominated to the national historic register of historic places. Longmire remains the second most popular place in the park. In 1924, a publication from the park described the area:
"A feature at Longmire Springs of great interest to everyone is the group of mineral springs in the little flat to the west of National Park Inn. There are some forty distinct springs, a half dozen of which are easily reached from the road. An analysis of the waters show that they all contain about the smae [sic] mineral salts but in slightly differing proportions. All the water is highly carbonated and would be classed as extremely "hard". Certain springs contain larger amounts of soda, iron and sulphur, giving them a distinct taste and color."
John Muir climbed Mount Rainier in 1888, and although he enjoyed the view, he conceded that it was best appreciated from below. Muir was one of many who advocated protecting the mountain. In 1893, the area was set aside as part of the Pacific Forest Reserve in order to protect its physical and economic resources, primarily timber and watersheds.
Citing the need to also protect scenery and provide for public enjoyment, railroads and local businesses urged the creation of a national park in hopes of increased tourism. On March 2, 1899, President William McKinley established Mount Rainier National Park as America's fifth national park. Congress dedicated the new park "for the benefit and enjoyment of the people" and "... for the preservation from injury or spoliation of all timber, mineral deposits, natural curiosities, or wonders within said park, and their retention in their natural condition."
On June 24, 1947, Kenneth Arnold reported seeing a formation of nine unidentified flying objects over Mount Rainier. His description led to the term "flying saucers".
In 1998, the United States Geological Survey began putting together the Mount Rainier Volcano Lahar Warning System to assist in the emergency evacuation of the Puyallup River valley in the event of a catastrophic debris flow. It is now run by the Pierce County Department of Emergency Management. Tacoma, at the mouth of the Puyallup, is only 37 mi (60 km) west of Rainier, and moderately sized towns such as Puyallup and Orting are only 27 and 20 mi (43 and 32 km) away, respectively.
Mount Rainier appears on four distinct United States postage stamp issues. In 1934, it was the 3-cent issue in a series of National Park stamps, and was also shown on a souvenir sheet issued for a philatelic convention. The following year, in 1935, both of these were reprinted by Postmaster General James A. Farley as special issues given to officials and friends. Because of complaints by the public, "Farley's Follies" were reproduced in large numbers. The second stamp issue is easy to tell from the original because it is imperforate. Both stamps and souvenir sheets are widely available.
The Washington state quarter, which was released on April 11, 2007, features Mount Rainier and a salmon.
== Climbing ==
Mountain climbing on Mount Rainier is difficult, involving traversing the largest glaciers in the U.S. south of Alaska. Most climbers require two to three days to reach the summit, with a success rate of approximately 50%, with weather and physical conditioning of the climbers being the most common reasons for failure. About 10,000 to 11,000 people attempt the climb each year, making it one of the most popular in the world. Approximately 90 percent of summit attempts use routes from Camp Muir on the southeast flank, and most of the rest ascend Emmons Glacier via Camp Schurman on the northeast.
=== Climbing routes ===
All climbing routes on Mount Rainier require climbers to possess some level of technical climbing skill. This includes ascending and descending the mountain with the use of technical climbing equipment such as crampons, ice axes, harnesses, and ropes. Difficulty and technical challenge of climbing Mount Rainier can vary widely between climbing routes. Routes are graded in NCCS Alpine Climbing format.
The normal route to the summit of Mount Rainier is the Disappointment Cleaver Route, YDS grade II-III. As climbers on this route have access to the permanently established Camp Muir, it sees the significant majority of climbing traffic on the mountain. This route is also the most common commercially guided route. The term "cleaver" is used in the context of a rock ridge that separates two glaciers. The reason for naming this cleaver a "disappointment" is unrecorded, but it is thought to be due to climbers reaching it only to recognize their inability to reach the summit. An alternative route to the Disappointment Cleaver is the Ingraham Glacier Direct Route, grade II, and is often used when the Disappointment Cleaver route cannot be climbed due to poor route conditions.
The Emmons Glacier Route, grade II, is an alternative to the Disappointment Cleaver route and poses a lower technical challenge to climbers. The climbers on the route can make use of Camp Schurman (9,500 ft), a glacial camp site. Camp Schurman is equipped with a solar toilet and a ranger hut.
The Liberty Ridge Route, grade IV, is a considerably more challenging and objectively dangerous route than the normal route to the summit. It runs up the center of the north face of Mount Rainier and crosses the very active Carbon Glacier. First climbed by Ome Daiber, Arnie Campbell and Jim Burrow in 1935, it is listed as one of the Fifty Classic Climbs of North America by Steve Roper and Allen Steck. This route only accounts for approximately 2% of climbers on the mountain, but approximately 25% of its deaths.
=== Dangers and accidents ===
About two mountaineering deaths each year occur because of rock and ice fall, avalanche, falls, and hypothermia. These incidents are often associated with exposure to very high altitude, fatigue, dehydration, or poor weather. 89 deaths on Mount Rainier have been reported from 1897 to 2011. Approximately 7 percent of mountaineering deaths and 6 percent of mountaineering accidents in the United States are attributed to Mount Rainier.
The first known climbing death on Mount Rainier was Edgar McClure, a professor of chemistry at the University of Oregon, on July 27, 1897. During the descent in darkness, McClure stepped over the edge of the rock and slid to his death on a rocky outcrop. The spot is now known as McClure Rock.
The worst mountaineering accident on Mount Rainier occurred in 1981, when ten clients and a guide died in an avalanche/ice fall on the Ingraham Glacier.
This was the largest number of fatalities on Mount Rainier in a single incident since 32 people were killed in a 1946 plane crash on the South Tahoma Glacier.
In one of the worst disasters on the mountain in over thirty years, six climbers—two guides, and four clients—were killed on May 31, 2014, after the climbers fell 3,300 feet (1,000 m) while attempting the summit via the Liberty Ridge climbing route. Low-flying search helicopters pinged the signals from the avalanche beacons worn by the climbers, and officials concluded that there was no possible chance of survival. Searchers found tents and clothes along with rock and ice strewn across a debris field on the Carbon Glacier at 9,500 ft (2,900 m), possible evidence for a slide or avalanche in the vicinity where the team went missing, though the exact cause of the accident is unknown. The bodies of three of the client climbers were spotted on August 7, 2014, during a training flight and subsequently recovered on August 19. The bodies of the fourth client climber and two guides were never found.
== Outdoor recreation ==
In addition to climbing, hiking, backcountry skiing, photography, and camping are popular activities in the park. Hiking trails, including the Wonderland Trail—a 93-mile (150 km) circumnavigation of the peak, provide access to the backcountry. Popular for winter sports include snowshoeing and cross-country skiing.
== Climate ==
The summit of Mount Rainier has an ice cap climate (Köppen climate classification: EF)
== Ecology ==
Mount Rainier's protected status as a national park protects its primeval Cascade ecosystem, providing a stable habitat for many species in the region, including endemic flora and fauna that are unique to the area, such as the Cascade red fox and Mount Rainier lousewort. The ecosystem on the mountain is very diverse, owing to the climate found at different elevations. Scientists track the distinct species found in the forest zone, the subalpine zone, and the alpine zone. They have discovered more than one thousand species of plants and fungi. The mountain is also home to 65 species of mammals, 5 reptiles, 182 birds, 14 amphibians, and 14 species of native fish, in addition to an innumerable amount of invertebrates.
=== Flora ===
Mount Rainier has regularly been described as one of the best places in the world to view wildflowers. In the subalpine region of the mountain, the snow often stays on the ground until summer begins, limiting plants to a much shorter growing season. This produces dramatic blooms in areas like Paradise. In 1924, the flowers were described by naturalist Floyd W. Schmoe:
Mount Rainier National Park is perhaps better known the world over for these wonderful flowers than for any one feature. The mountains, the glaciers, the cascading streams and the forests may be equalled if one looks far away enough, but no park has been so favored in the way of wild flowers.
Forests on the mountain span from as young as 100 years old to sections of old growth forest that are calculated to be 1000 years or more in age. The lower elevation consists mainly of western red-cedar, Douglas fir, and western hemlock. Pacific silver fir, western white pine, Alaska yellow cedar, and noble fir are found further up the mountain. In the alpine level, Alaskan yellow cedar, subalpine fir, and mountain hemlock grow.
=== Fauna ===
The mountain supports a wide variety of animal life, including several species that are protected on the state or federal level, like the northern spotted owl. Efforts are also being made to reintroduce native species that had locally been hunted to extinction, like the Pacific fisher. There are sixty-five types of mammals living on the mountain, including cougars, mountain goats, marmots, and elk. Common reptiles and amphibians include garter snakes, frogs, and salamanders. There are many types of birds found throughout the different elevations on the mountain, but while some live there all year, many are migratory. Salmon and trout species use the rivers formed by the glaciers, and though the lakes stopped being stocked in 1972, thirty lakes still have reproducing populations. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Japan | Demographics of Japan | The demography of Japan is monitored by National Institute of Population and Social Security Research (IPSS) and Statistics Bureau. As of April 2025, Japan's population was roughly 123.4 million people, and peaked at 128.5 million people in 2010. It is the 6th-most populous country in Asia, and the 11th-most populous country in the world.
In 2024, the median age of Japanese people was projected to be 49.9 years, the highest level since 1950, compared to 29.8 for India, 38.9 for the United States and 40.2 for China. Japan has the second highest median age in the world, behind only Monaco. An improved quality of life and regular health checks are two reasons why Japan has one of the highest life expectancies in the world.
The life expectancy from birth in Japan improved significantly after World War II, rising 20 years between 1945 and 1955. As life expectancy rises further, Japan expects to experience difficulties caring for the older generations in the future. Shortages in the service sector are already a major concern, with demand for nurses and care workers increasing.
The fertility rate among Japanese women was around 1.4 children per woman from 2010 to 2018. From then until 2022, the fertility rate declined to 1.2. Apart from a small baby boom in the early 1970s, the crude birth rate in Japan has been declining since 1950. It reached its currently lowest point of 5.8 births per thousand people in 2023. With a falling birth rate and a large share of its inhabitants reaching old age, Japan's population is expected to continue declining, a trend that has been seen since 2010.
Japanese is a major language of the Japonic language family spoken by Japanese people, which is separated into several dialects, with the Tokyo dialect considered Standard Japanese. Japanese has around 128 million speakers, primarily in Japan, the only country where it is the national language, and within the Japanese diaspora across the globe.
The sex ratio in Japan in 2021 was 95.38 males per 100 females. There are 61.53 million males and 64.52 million females in Japan. The female percentage of the population was 51.18%, compared to 48.82% male population. Japan has 2.98 million more females than males.
== Historical overview ==
As of 2025, Japan was the world's twelfth-most populous country. Japan's population had declined by 0.8 percent from the time of the 2012 census, the first time it had declined since the 1945 census.
Since 2010, Japan has experienced net population loss due to falling birth rates and minimal immigration, despite having one of the highest life expectancies in the world, at 85.00 years in 2016. It stood at 81.25 in 2006. Using the annual estimate for October of each year, the population peaked in 2008 at 128,083,960 and had fallen by 2,983,352 by October 2021.
Based on 2012 data from the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research, Japan's population will keep declining by about one million people every year in the coming decades, which would leave it with a population of around 70 million by 2060 and 42 million by early 22nd century if the current projections do not change. More than 40% of the population is expected to be over the age of 65 in 2060. In 2021, the population declined by 644,000, the largest drop on record since 1945 and also reflecting a record low of 831,000 births. In 2013, more than 20 percent of the population of Japan were aged 65 and over. Many reasons are behind the decline, including the declining birthrates, as well as the ratio of men to women since the last measurements from the years of 2006 and 2010. According to the Japanese Health Ministry, the population is estimated to drop from its current state of 125.58 million to 86.74 million by the year 2060.
In July 2000, the population consisted of 47,062,743 households, with 78.7% in urban areas. Japan has a high population density of 329.5 people per square kilometer. There are 1,523 persons per square kilometer of habitable land.
Japan dropped steadily from the 5th most populous country in the world to the 12th over the period of 1964 to 2023. Between 2010 to 2015, Japan's population shrank by almost a million, and Japan lost a half-million in 2022 alone. The number of Japanese citizens decreased by 801,000 to 122,423,038 in 2022 from a year earlier, which was the most severe decrease and the first time all 47 prefectures have suffered a decline since the launch of the poll in 1968. In early 2010, Japan's population reached 128,057,352. In the 2010s, the long-lasting effects of Japanese economic crisis during the Great Recession strongly slowed down immigration rates in Japan.
In March 2011, Japan was hit by an earthquake and tsunami, which caused the meltdown of the Fukushima nuclear plant. These disasters resulted in 20,000 deaths, a reduction of about 1.39 years in the average life expectancy, a decrease in birth rates, and the steepest decrease in immigration rates since the Chernobyl disaster in 1986.
From January 2020 to the end of September 2021 and as a direct effect of COVID-19 pandemic, Japan registered at least 112,000 excess deaths, a reduction of about 2.6 years in the average life expectancy, a noticeable decrease in birth rates and a marked decrease in immigration rates. The overall effect was a record population decline of 798,214 persons in that year, although the excess mortality rate for all causes has been estimated at between 100,000 and 130,000 deaths. It is the largest population decline recorded since World War I (1914–1918), Spanish flu pandemic (1918–1920), Great Kanto earthquake (1923), Showa Recession and Depression of 1930s, and Asia-Pacific War in World War II (1937–1945).
According to a demographic study conducted by Japanese Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, the Japanese population, including foreign residents, declined from 128 million people in 2010 to 124.3 million people in 2023, with a decrease of almost 511,000 people in one year.
== Population ==
=== Census ===
Japan collects census information every five years, with censuses conducted by the Statistics Bureau of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The latest population census reflects the situation as of 2020.
=== Population density ===
In 2025, Japan's population density was 338 people per square kilometer (875 people per square mile). It ranks 41st in a list of countries by population density. Between 1955 and 1989, land prices in the six largest cities increased by 15,000%, +12% per year compounded. Urban land prices generally increased 40% from 1980 to 1987. In the six largest cities, the price of land doubled over that period. For many families, this trend put housing in central cities out of reach.
The result was lengthy commutes for many workers in the big cities, especially in Tokyo area/Kanto Region, where daily commutes of two hours each way are common. In 1991, as the bubble economy started to collapse, land prices began a steep decline, and within a few years fell 60% below their peak. After a decade of declining land prices, residents began moving back into central city areas, especially Tokyo's 23 wards, as evidenced by 2005 census figures. Despite nearly 70% of Japan being covered by forests, parks in many major cities—especially Tokyo and Osaka—are smaller and scarcer than in major West European or North American cities. As of 2014, parkland per inhabitant in Tokyo is 5.78 square meters, which is roughly half of the 11.5 square meters of Madrid.
National and regional governments devote resources to making regional cities and rural areas more attractive by developing transportation networks, social services, industry, and educational institutions to try to decentralize settlement and improve the quality of life. Nevertheless, major cities, especially Tokyo, Yokohama and Fukuoka, and to a lesser extent Kyoto, Osaka and Nagoya, remain attractive to young people seeking education and jobs.
=== Urban distribution ===
Japan has a high population concentration in urban areas on the plains since 75% of Japan's land area is made up of mountains, and also Japan has a forest cover rate of 68.5% (the only other developed countries with such a high forest cover percentage are Finland and Sweden).
The 2010 census shows 90.7% of the total Japanese population live in cities.
Japan is an urban society with about only 5% of the labor force working in agriculture. Many farmers supplement their income with part-time jobs in nearby towns and cities. About 80 million of the urban population is heavily concentrated on the Pacific shore of Honshu.
Metropolitan Tokyo–Yokohama, with its population of 35 million residents, is the world's most populous city. Japan faces the same problems that confront urban industrialized societies throughout the world: overcrowded cities and congested highways.
=== Age structure ===
The age structure of Japan is highly unique and is characterized by a "super-aged" society and it is the oldest population structure in the world. This demographic profile results from the combination of a high life expectancy and a persistently low total fertility rate (TFR). The age distribution is often described as a constrictive or inverted pyramid shape, with a narrow base (few young people) and a large bulge in the middle and upper ages.
Japan's population is aging faster than that of any other nation. The population of those 65 years or older roughly doubled in 24 years, from 7.1% of the population in 1970 to 14.1% in 1994. The same increase took 61 years in Italy, 85 years in Sweden, and 115 years in France. In 2014, 26% of Japan's population was estimated to be 65 years or older, and the Health and Welfare Ministry has estimated that over-65s will account for 40% of the population by 2060. The demographic shift in Japan's age profile has triggered concerns about the nation's economic future and the viability of its welfare state.
=== Population pyramids by prefecture ===
=== Sex ratio ===
== Vital statistics ==
=== Statistics since 1873 ===
Source: National Institute of Population and Social Security Research (IPSS) and Statistics Bureau of Japan Figures for 1947-1972 do not include Okinawa Prefecture.
Notable events in Japanese demographics:
1939–1945 – Second World War
1947–1949 – Post-World War II baby boom
1948 – Abortion act came into force
1966 – Year of the Fire Horse
=== Current vital statistics ===
To be revised. The preliminary figures represent the total number of submitted questionnaires and include events pertaining to Japanese nationals residing in Japan, foreign nationals residing in Japan, Japanese nationals residing overseas. A summary focusing solely on 'Japanese nationals residing in Japan,' with slight revisions added, constitutes the official vital statistics (final counts).
=== Total fertility rate by prefecture ===
The Total Fertility Rate (TFR) exhibits notable regional disparities across Japan's prefectures. Historically, Tohoku and Hokkaido regions have maintained the highest TFR, while Okinawa and Kyushu regions have generally recorded the lowest.
However in the 1970s, Akita Prefecture registered the nation's lowest rate (1.88, compared to Tokyo's 1.96). In recent years, this pattern has largely persisted. As of 2021, Okinawa Prefecture led the nation with a TFR of 1.80, followed by Kagoshima and Miyazaki Prefectures. Conversely, Tokyo Metropolis recorded the lowest TFR at 1.08, with Miyagi Prefecture and Hokkaido following.
The specific causes underlying these regional variations in birth rates are complex and not fully elucidated. For instance, the contrast between the high birth rates observed in the Kyushu and Okinawa regions and the low rates in Hokkaido and Tōhoku is often attributed to a combination of socio-economic and cultural factors. These include the prevalence of living with or near parents (multi-generational households), regional values concerning childbirth and child-rearing, and specific local traditions.
In large urban areas, including the Tokyo metropolitan area and other designated cities, the average age at first marriage and the average age at first birth are significantly higher than the respective prefectural and national averages. This delay in life milestones is considered a primary contributor to the lower birth rates observed in these regions.
Furthermore, the rate of college graduates, particularly for women, is typically higher in these urban centers. This leads to an observed negative correlation between TFR and college graduates rates, suggesting that higher educational attainment is associated with lower fertility rates at the regional level.
=== Total fertility rate ===
==== Total Fertility rate before 1873 ====
Source: Our world in data
The total fertility rate (TFR) in Japan before 1873 fluctuated, but several estimates for the period of the early to mid-19th century range from around 3.6 to 4.8 children per woman. During the 17th and 18th centuries, local studies suggest TFR was even lower in some areas, with completed family sizes often averaging 3 to 4 children.
In 2023, Japan's total fertility rate was 1.20, among the lowest in the world and far below the replacement rate of 2.1. In January 2023, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida pledged to take urgent steps to tackle the country's declining birth rate, calling it "now or never" for Japan's aging society; he had planned to double the budget for child-related policies by June 2023 and to set up a new government agency in April.
=== Life expectancy ===
Japan consistently ranks among the highest in the world for overall life expectancy, holding the top position for women and one of the highest for men. As of 2024 data, life expectancy is approximately 87.13 years for females and 81.09 years for males. Historically, life expectancy was much lower, with a significant increase after World War II.
Before World War II, Japan's life expectancy was significantly lower than its current, world-leading figures, but it was already steadily improving from the late 19th century onward. Throughout the first half of the 20th century, life expectancy remained under 50 years for both men and women. The progress during this period was primarily driven by initial reductions in mortality from infectious and parasitic diseases.
Following the End of World War II, Japan experienced a rapid and sustained increase in longevity, driven initially by a sharp decline in infectious disease mortality and later by advancements in chronic disease management. Universal Health Coverage and government-led campaigns targeting Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs), notably through salt-reduction efforts to combat stroke.
Data source: National Institute of Population and Social Security Research
==== Historical data ====
Sources: Our World In Data and the United Nations.
1865–1949
1950–2020
Source: UN World Population Prospects
=== Marriages and divorce ===
Many Japanese lead a sexless marriage. Japan has the lowest level of couples having sex at 45 times per year, well below the global average of 103 times. With reasons of "tired" and "bored with intercourse" usually given as an answer. Despite this, Japan ranks as number two globally on the amount spent on pornography, after South Korea.
== Ethnic groups ==
Naturalized Japanese citizens and native-born Japanese nationals with a multi-ethnic background are all considered to be Japanese in the population census of Japan.
=== Discrimination against ethnic minorities ===
Three native Japanese minority groups can be identified. The largest are the hisabetsu buraku or "discriminated communities", also known as the burakumin. These descendants of premodern outcast hereditary occupational groups, such as butchers, leatherworkers, funeral directors, and certain entertainers, may be considered a Japanese analog of India's Dalits. Historically, discrimination against these occupational groups was based on Buddhist prohibitions on killing and Shinto notions of pollution, and it was also a feature of governmental social control.
During the Edo period, such people were required to live in special buraku and, like the rest of the population, they were bound by sumptuary laws which were based on the inheritance of social class. The Meiji government abolished most of the derogatory names which were applied to these discriminated communities in 1871, but the new laws had little effect on the social discrimination which was faced by the former outcasts and their descendants. However, the laws eliminated the economic monopoly which they had on certain occupations. The buraku continued to be treated as social outcasts and some casual interactions with the majority caste were perceived taboo until the era after World War II.
Estimates of their number range from 2 to 4 million (about 4% of the national population in 2022). Although the members of these marginalized communities are physically indistinguishable from other Japanese, most of them live in urban ghettoes or they live in the traditional special hamlets which are located in rural areas, and as a result, membership in a marginalized group can be surmised from the location of a family's home, a family's occupation, the dialect which a family speaks, or the mannerisms which a family uses when it communicates with people. Checks on the backgrounds of families which were designed to ferret out buraku were commonly performed as a condition of marriage arrangements and employment applications, but in Osaka, they have been illegal since 1985.
Among the hisabetsu buraku, past and current discrimination against them has resulted in lower educational attainments and it has also resulted in a lower socioeconomic status, by contrast, the majority of Japanese have higher educational attainments and they also have a higher economic status. Movements with objectives which range from "liberation" to the encouragement of integration have attempted to change this situation, with some success. Nadamoto Masahisa of the Buraku History Institute estimates that as of 1998, between 60 and 80% of burakumin married a non-burakumin.
=== Ryukyuans ===
One of the largest minority groups among Japanese citizens is the Ryukyuan people. They are primarily distinguished by their use of several distinct Ryukyuan languages, though use of Ryukyuan is dying out. The Ryukyuan people and language originated in the Ryukyu Islands, which are in Okinawa prefecture and Kagoshima Prefecture.
=== Ainu ===
The third largest minority group among Japanese citizens is the Ainu, whose language is an isolate. Historically, the Ainu were an indigenous hunting and gathering population who occupied most of northern Honshū as late as the Nara period (A.D. 710–94). As Japanese settlement expanded, the Ainu were pushed northward, by the Tokugawa shogunate, the Ainu were pushed into the island of Hokkaido.
Characterized as remnants of a primitive circumpolar culture, the fewer than 20,000 Ainu in 1990 were considered racially distinct and thus not fully Japanese. Disease and a low birth rate had severely diminished their numbers over the past two centuries, and intermarriage had brought about an almost completely mixed population.
Although no longer in daily use, the Ainu language is preserved in epics, songs, and stories transmitted orally over succeeding generations. Distinctive rhythmic music and dances and some Ainu festivals and crafts are preserved, but mainly in order to take advantage of tourism.
=== Hāfu ===
Hāfu (a kana rendition of "half") is a term used for people who are biracial and ethnically half Japanese. Of the one million children born in Japan in 2013, 2.2% had one or two non-Japanese parents.[70] According to the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, in 2016 one in forty-nine babies born in Japan were born into families with one non-Japanese parent. Most intermarriages in Japan are between Japanese men and women from other Asian countries, including China, the Philippines and South Korea. Southeast Asia also has significant populations of people with half-Japanese ancestry, particularly in the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand.
In the 1940s, biracial Japanese children (Ainoko), specifically Amerasian children, encountered social problems such as poverty, perception of impurity and discrimination due to negative treatment in Japan. In the 21st century, discrimination against hāfu occurs based on how different their identity, behavior and appearance is from a typical Japanese person.
== Languages ==
The Japanese society of Yamato people is linguistically homogeneous with small populations of Koreans (0.9 million), Chinese/Taiwanese (0.65 million), Filipino (306,000 some being Japanese Filipino; children of Japanese and Filipino parentage). This can be also said for Brazilians (300,000, many of whom are ethnically Japanese) as well as Peruvians and Argentineans of both Latin American and Japanese descent. Japan has indigenous minority groups such as the Ainu and Ryukyuans, who generally speak Japanese.
== Citizenship ==
Japanese citizenship is conferred jure sanguinis, and monolingual Japanese-speaking minorities often reside in Japan for generations under permanent residency status without acquiring citizenship in their country of birth, although legally they are allowed to do so. This is because Japanese law does not recognize dual citizenship after the age of adulthood, and so people becoming naturalized Japanese citizens must relinquish their previous citizenship upon reaching the age of 22 years.
In addition, people taking Japanese citizenship must take a name using one or more of the Japanese character sets (hiragana, katakana, kanji). Names written in the Western alphabet, Korean alphabet, Arabic characters, etc., are not acceptable as legal names. Chinese characters are usually legally acceptable as nearly all Chinese characters are recognized as valid by the Japanese government. Transliterations of non-Japanese names using katakana (e.g. スミス "Sumisu" for "Smith") are also legally acceptable.
However, some naturalizing foreigners feel that becoming a Japanese citizen should mean that they have a Japanese name and that they should abandon their foreign name, and some foreign residents do not wish to do this—although most Special Permanent Resident Koreans and Chinese already use Japanese names. Nonetheless, some 10,000 Zainichi Koreans naturalize every year. Approximately 98.6% of the population are Japanese citizens, and 99% of the population speak Japanese as their first language. Non-ethnic Japanese in the past, and to an extent in the present, also live in small numbers in the Japanese archipelago.
== Religion ==
Shinto and Buddhism are Japan's two major religions. They have co-existed for more than a thousand years. Most Japanese people generally do not exclusively identify themselves as adherents of one religion, but rather incorporate various elements in a syncretic fashion. There are small Christian and other minorities as well, with the Christian population dating to as early as the 1500s, as a result of European missionary work before sakoku was implemented from 1635 to 1853.
== Migration ==
=== Internal migration ===
In the 1980s, between 6 million and 7 million people moved their residences each year. About 50% of these moves were within the same prefecture. The others were relocations from one prefecture to another. During Japan's economic development in the twentieth century, and especially during the 1950s and 1960s, migration was characterized by urbanization as people from rural areas in increasing numbers moved to the larger metropolitan areas in search of better jobs and education. Out-migration from rural prefectures continued in the late 1980s, but more slowly than in previous decades.
In the 1980s, government policy provided support for new urban development away from the large cities, particularly Tokyo, and assisted regional cities to attract young people to live and work there. Regional cities offered familiarity to those from nearby areas, lower costs of living, shorter commutes, and, in general, a more relaxed lifestyle than could be had in larger cities. Young people continued to move to large cities to attend universities and find work, but some returned to regional cities, a pattern known as U-turn, or to their prefecture of origin (referred to as "J-turn"), or even moved to a rural area for the first time ("I-turn").
In the 1980s, significant numbers of people left the largest central cities, Tokyo and Osaka, to move to suburbs within their metropolitan areas. In 1988, more than 500,000 people left Tokyo, which experienced a net loss through migration of nearly 73,000 for the year. Osaka had a net loss of nearly 36,000 in the same year.
With a decreasing total population, internal migration results in only eight prefectures showing an increase in population. These are Okinawa
(2.9%), Tokyo
(2.7%), Aichi
(1.0%), Saitama
(1.0%), Kanagawa
(0.9%), Fukuoka
(0.6%), Shiga
(0.2%), and Chiba
(0.1%).
=== Emigration ===
In 1975, about 663,300 Japanese were living abroad, approximately 75,000 of whom had permanent foreign residency, more than six times the number who had that status. In 1990, more than 200,000 Japanese went abroad for extended periods of study, research, or business assignments. As the government and private corporations have stressed internationalization, greater numbers of individuals have been directly affected, decreasing Japan's historical insularity. By the late 1980s, these problems, particularly the bullying of returnee children in schools, had become a major public issue both in Japan and in Japanese communities abroad.
Note: The above data shows the number of Japanese nationals living overseas. It was published by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan.
=== Immigration ===
According to the Japanese immigration centre, the number of foreign residents in Japan has steadily increased, and the number of foreign residents exceeded 3,768,977 people in December 2024.
In 2020, the number of foreigners in Japan was 2,887,116. This includes 325,000 Filipinos, many of whom are married to Japanese nationals and possessing some degree of Japanese ancestry, 208,538 Brazilians, the majority possessing some degree of Japanese ancestry, 778,112 Chinese, 448,053 Vietnamese and 426,908 South Koreans. Chinese, Vietnamese, Koreans, Filipinos and Brazilians account for about 77% of foreign residents in Japan.
The current issue of the shrinking workforce in Japan alongside its aging population has resulted in a recent need to attract foreign labour to the country. Reforms which took effect in 2015 relax visa requirements for "Highly Skilled Foreign Professionals" and create a new type of residence status with an unlimited period of stay.
The number of naturalized individuals peaked in 2003 at 17,633, before declining to 8,863 by 2024. Most of the decline is accounted for by a steep reduction in the number of Japan-born Koreans taking Japanese citizenship. Historically the bulk of those taking Japanese citizenship have not been foreign-born immigrants but rather Japanese-born descendants of Koreans and Taiwanese who lost their citizenship in the Japanese Empire in 1947 as part of the American Occupation policy for Japan.
Japanese statistical authorities do not collect information on ethnicity, only nationality. As a result, both native and naturalized Japanese citizens are counted in a single group. Although official statistics therefore show homogeneity, other analyses describe the population as "multi-ethnic".
=== Net Migration ===
==== Foreign residents ====
In December 2024, there were 3,768,977 foreign residents in Japan, representing 3.04% of the Japanese population. Foreign Army personnel, of which there were up to 430,000 from the SCAP (post-occupation, United States Forces Japan) and 40,000 BCOF in the immediate post-war years, have not been at any time included in Japanese foreign resident statistics. Most foreign residents in Japan come from Brazil or from other Asian countries, particularly from China, Vietnam, South Korea, the Philippines, and Nepal.
A number of long-term resident Koreans in Japan today retain familial links with the descendants of Koreans, that either immigrated voluntarily or were forcibly relocated during the Japanese occupation of Korea. Within this group, a number hold Special Permanent Resident status, granted under the terms of the Normalisation Treaty (22 June 1965) between South Korea and Japan. In many cases special residents, despite being born in Japan and speaking Japanese, have chosen not to take advantage of the mostly automatic granting of citizenship to special resident applicants.
Beginning in 1947, the Japanese government started to repatriate Korean nationals, who had nominally been granted Japanese citizenship during the years of military occupation. When the Treaty of San Francisco came into force many ethnic Koreans lost their Japanese citizenship from April 28, 1952, and with it the right to welfare grants, to hold a government job of any kind or to attend Japanese schools. In the following year the government contrived, with the help of the Red Cross, a scheme to "repatriate" Korean residents, who mainly were from the Southern Provinces, to their "home" of North Korea. Between 1959 and 1984 93,430 people used this route, of whom 6,737 were Japanese or Chinese dependents. Most of these departures – 78,276 – occurred before 1962.
All non-Japanese without special residential status (people whose residential roots go back to before WWII) are required by law to register with the government and carry alien registration cards. From the early 1980s, a civil disobedience movement encouraged refusal of the fingerprinting that accompanied registration every five years.
Opponents of fingerprinting argued that it was discriminatory because the only Japanese who were fingerprinted were criminals. The courts upheld fingerprinting, but the law was changed so that fingerprinting was done once rather than with each renewal of the registration, which until a law reform in 1989 was usually required every six months for anybody from the age of 16. Those refusing fingerprinting were denied re-entry permits, thus depriving them of freedom of movement.
Of these foreign residents below, the new wave which started in 2014, came to Japan as students or trainees. These foreigners are registered under student visa or trainee visa, which gives them the student residency status. Most of these new foreigners are under this visa. Almost all of these foreign students and trainees will return to their home country after three to four years (one valid period); few students extend their visa. Vietnamese make up the largest increase. Burmese, Cambodians, Filipinos and Chinese are also increasing.
Asian migrant wives of Japanese men have also contributed to the foreign-born population in the country. Many young single Japanese male farmers choose foreign wives, mainly from the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, China and South Korea, due to a lack of interest from Japanese women living a farming life. Migrant wives often travel as mail-order brides as a result of arranged marriages with Japanese men.
=== Table: numbers of foreign nationals in Japan ===
==== Foreign residents as of 2015 ====
There was an increase of 110,358 foreign residents from 2014 to 2015. Vietnamese made the largest proportion of these new foreign residents, whilst Nepalese, Filipino, Chinese and Taiwanese are also significant in numbers. Together these countries makes up 91,126 or 82.6% of all new residents from 2014 to 2015. The majority of these immigrants will only remain in Japan for a maximum of five years, as many of them have entered Japan in order to complete trainee programmes. Once they complete their programmes, they will be required to return to their home countries.
In December 2014, there were 2,121,831 foreigners residing in Japan, 677,019 of whom were long-term residents in Japan, according to national demographics figures. The majority of long-term residents were from Asia, totalling 478,953. Chinese made up the largest portion of them with 215,155, followed by Filipinos with 115,857, and Koreans with 65,711. Thai, Vietnamese, and Taiwanese long-term residents totaled 47,956, and those from other Asian countries totaled 34,274. The Korean figures do not include zainichi Koreans with tokubetsu eijusha ("special permanent resident") visas, of whom there were 354,503, of a total of 358,409 of all nationalities with such visas. The number of permanent residents had declined over the previous five years due to high cost of living.
==== Foreign residents as of 2021 ====
In 2019, the number of foreign residents of Japan reached a high of 2.93 million before falling to 2.76 million at the end of 2021. The number of foreign workers was 1.46 million in 2018. 29.7% were in the manufacturing sector. 389,000 are from Vietnam and 316,000 are from China.
On April 1, 2019, Japan's revised immigration law was enacted. The revision clarifies and better protects the rights of foreign workers. Japan formally accepts foreign blue-collar workers. This helps reduce labour shortage in certain sectors of the economy. The reform changes the status of foreign workers to regular employees and they can obtain permanent residence status.
The reform includes a new visa status called tokutei gino (特定技能, "designated skills"). In order to qualify, applicants must pass a language and skills test, level N4 or higher of the Japanese-Language Proficiency Test. In the old "Technical Trainee programme" a foreign employee was tied to their employer. This caused numerous cases of exploitation. The revision gives foreign workers more freedom to leave and change their employer. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWE_Hall_of_Fame_(2010) | WWE Hall of Fame (2010) | WWE Hall of Fame (2010) was the event which featured the introduction of the 11th class to the WWE Hall of Fame. The event was produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) on March 27, 2010, from the Dodge Theatre in Phoenix, Arizona. The event took place the same weekend as WrestleMania XXVI. The event was hosted by Jerry Lawler. A condensed one-hour version of the ceremony aired on the USA Network that same evening. In March 2015 the ceremony was added to the WWE Network.
== Inductees ==
=== Individual ===
Class headliners appear in boldface
=== Celebrity === |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labetalol | Labetalol | Labetalol is a medication used to treat high blood pressure and in long term management of angina. This includes essential hypertension, hypertensive emergencies, and hypertension of pregnancy. In essential hypertension it is generally less preferred than a number of other blood pressure medications. It can be given by mouth or by injection into a vein.
Common side effects include low blood pressure with standing, dizziness, feeling tired, and nausea. Serious side effects may include low blood pressure, liver problems, heart failure, and bronchospasm. Use appears safe in the latter part of pregnancy and it is not expected to cause problems during breastfeeding. It works by blocking the activation of β- and α-adrenergic receptors.
Labetalol was patented in 1966 and came into medical use in 1977. It is available as a generic medication. In 2023, it was the 232nd most commonly prescribed medication in the United States, with more than 1 million prescriptions.
== Medical uses ==
Labetalol is effective in the management of hypertensive emergencies, postoperative hypertension, pheochromocytoma-associated hypertension, and rebound hypertension from beta blocker withdrawal.
It has a particular indication in the treatment of pregnancy-induced hypertension which is commonly associated with pre-eclampsia.
It is also used as an alternative in the treatment of severe hypertension.
Labetalol is useful in the treatment of acute cardiovascular toxicity (e.g. in overdose) caused by sympathomimetics like amphetamine, methamphetamine, cocaine, ephedrine, and pseudoephedrine. Other beta blockers are also used. However, the controversial yet possible phenomenon of "unopposed α-stimulation" with administration of selective beta blockers to block non-selective sympathomimetics potentially makes dual alpha-1 and beta blockers like labetalol and carvedilol more favorable for such purposes. The rate of unopposed α-stimulation with selective beta blockers has been reported to be 0.4%, whereas no cases of unopposed α-stimulation have been reported with dual alpha and beta blockers like labetalol.
=== Special populations ===
Pregnancy: studies in lab animals showed no harm to the baby. However, a comparable well-controlled study has not been performed in pregnant women.
Nursing: breast milk has been shown to contain small amounts of labetalol (0.004% original dose). Prescribers should be cautious in the use of labetalol for nursing mothers.
Pediatric: no studies have established safety or usefulness in this population.
Geriatric: the elderly are more likely to experience dizziness when taking labetalol. Labetalol should be dosed with caution in the elderly and counseled on this side effect.
== Contraindications ==
Labetalol is contraindicated in people with overt cardiac failure, greater-than-first-degree heart block, severe bradycardia, cardiogenic shock, severe hypotension, anyone with a history of obstructive airway disease including asthma, and those with hypersensitivity to the drug.
== Side effects ==
=== Common ===
Neurologic: headache (2%), dizziness (11%)
Gastrointestinal: nausea (6%), dyspepsia (3%)
Cholinergic: nasal congestion (3%), ejaculation failure (2%)
Respiratory: dyspnea (2%)
Other: fatigue (5%), vertigo (2%), orthostatic hypotension
Low blood pressure with standing is more severe and more common with IV formulation (58% vs 1%) and is often the reason larger doses of the oral formulation cannot be used.
=== Rare ===
Fever
Muscle cramps
Dry eyes
Heart block
Hyperkalemia
Hepatotoxicity
Drug eruption similar to lichen planus
Hypersensitivity – which may result in a lethal respiratory distress
== Pharmacology ==
=== Mechanism of action ===
Labetalol is a beta blocker, or an antagonist of the β-adrenergic receptors. It is specifically a non-selective antagonist of the β1- and β2-adrenergic receptors. Labetalol has intrinsic sympathomimetic activity. It is also an antagonist of the α1-adrenergic receptor, and hence is additionally an alpha blocker. The antagonism of the adrenergic receptors by labetalol is competitive against other catecholamines and its actions on the receptors are potent and reversible. Labetalol acts by blocking α- and β-adrenergic receptors, resulting in decreased peripheral vascular resistance without significant alteration of heart rate or cardiac output.
Labetalol is about equipotent in blocking β1- and β2-adrenergic receptors. The amount of α to β blockade depends on whether labetalol is administered orally or intravenously (IV). Orally, the ratio of α to β blockade is 1:3. Intravenously, α to β blockade ratio is 1:7. Thus, labetalol can be thought to be a beta blocker with some α-blocking effects. By comparison, labetalol is a weaker β-adrenergic receptor blocker than propranolol, and has a weaker affinity for α-adrenergic receptors compared to phentolamine.
Labetalol's dual α- and β-adrenergic antagonism has different physiological effects in short- and long-term situations. In short-term, acute situations, labetalol decreases blood pressure by decreasing systemic vascular resistance with little effect on stroke volume, heart rate and cardiac output. During long-term use, labetalol can reduce heart rate during exercise while maintaining cardiac output by an increase in stroke volume.
Labetalol possesses significant intrinsic sympathomimetic activity (ISA). In particular, it is a partial agonist at β2-adrenergic receptors located in the vascular smooth muscle. Labetalol relaxes vascular smooth muscle by a combination of this partial β2-adrenergic receptor agonism and through α1-adrenergic receptor blockade. Overall, this vasodilatory effect can decrease blood pressure. It was originally reported to lack ISA, but a slight degree of activity was subsequently characterized.
Similar to local anesthetics and sodium channel blocking antiarrhythmics, labetalol also has membrane stabilizing activity. By decreasing sodium entry, labetalol decreases action potential firing and thus has local anesthetic activity.
==== Physiological action ====
The physiological effects of labetalol when administered acutely (intravenously) are not predictable solely by their receptor blocking effect, i.e. blocking β1-adrenergic receptors should decrease heart rate, but labetalol does not. When labetalol is given in acute situations, it decreases the peripheral vascular resistance and systemic blood pressure while having little effect on the heart rate, cardiac output and stroke volume, despite its α1-, β1- and β2-adrenergic receptor blocking mechanism. These effects are mainly seen when the person is in the upright position.
Long term labetalol use also has different effects from other beta blockers. Other beta blockers, such as propranolol, persistently reduce cardiac output during exercise. The peripheral vascular resistance decreases when labetalol is first administered. Continuous labetalol use further decreases peripheral vascular resistance. However, during exercise, cardiac output remains the same due to a compensatory mechanism that increases stroke volume. Thus, labetalol is able to reduce heart rate during exercise while maintaining cardiac output by the increase in stroke volume.
=== Pharmacokinetics ===
==== Distribution ====
Labetalol is often classified as a beta blocker with low lipophilicity and hence lower potential for crossing the blood–brain barrier and blood–placenta barrier. This in turn may result in fewer effects in the central nervous system as well as a lower risk of neuropsychiatric side effects. Paradoxically however, labetalol actually shows high lipophilicity. In any case, labetalol, in animals including rats, rabbits, and dogs, was found to cross into the brain in negligible amounts, probably for reasons other than low lipophilicity. On the other hand, the drug has been shown to cross the blood–placenta barrier in humans.
== Chemistry ==
The minimum requirement for adrenergic agents is a primary or secondary amine separated from a substituted benzene ring by one or two carbons. This configuration results in strong agonist activity. As the size of the substituent attached to the amine becomes greater, particularly with respect to a t-butyl group, then the molecule typically is found to have receptor affinity without intrinsic activity, and is, therefore, an antagonist. Labetalol, with its 1-methyl-3-phenylpropyl substituted amine, is greater in size relative to a t-butyl group and therefore acts predominantly as an antagonist. The overall structure of labetalol is very polar. This was created by substituting the isopropyl group in the standard beta blocker structure with an aralkyl group, including a carboxamide group on the meta position, and by adding a hydroxyl group on the para position.
Labetalol has two chiral carbons and consequently exists as four stereoisomers. Two of these isomers, the (S,S)- and (R,S)- forms are inactive. The third, the (S,R)-isomer, is a powerful α1-adrenergic receptor blocker. The fourth isomer, the (R,R)-isomer which is also known as dilevalol, is a mixed non-selective β-adrenergic receptor blocker and selective α1 blocker. Labetalol is typically given as a racemic mixture to achieve both α- and β-adrenergic receptor blocking activity.
It is chemically designated in International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) nomenclature as 2-hydroxy-5-[1-hydroxy-2-[(1-methyl-3-phenylpropyl)amino]ethyl]benzamide monohydrochloride.
The experimental log P of labetalol is 2.7 to 3.1 and its predicted log P ranges from 1.73 to 3.1. Hence, it has relatively high lipophilicity.
== History ==
Labetalol was the first drug created that combined both α- and β-adrenergic receptor blocking properties. It was created to potentially fix the compensatory reflex issue that occurred when blocking a single receptor subtype, i.e. vasoconstriction after blocking β-adrenergic receptors or tachycardia after blocking α-adrenergic receptors. Because the reflex from blocking the single receptor subtypes acted to prevent the lowering of blood pressure, it was postulated that weak blocking of both α- and β-adrenergic receptors could work together to decrease blood pressure. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wyandotte,_Oklahoma | Wyandotte, Oklahoma | Wyandotte is a town in Ottawa County, Oklahoma, United States. As of the 2020 census, Wyandotte had a population of 488. The town is the tribal headquarters of the Wyandotte Nation of Oklahoma, for which the town was named.
== History ==
The Wyandotte tribe was removed to this area in 1867. The Society of Friends (Quakers) established a mission here in 1869, and the Wyandotte Tribal Council donated land for the Quakers to establish a boarding school for Seneca, Shawnee and Wyandotte children. Construction of the school began in 1871 and classes began in 1872. Originally named Prairie City, the post office was renamed to the city's current name in 1894.
In the mid 1920s, Wyandotte was nationally known for having an all-female city government due to changes in the electorate of the town after the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment. The mayor of the town during this period, Mamie Foster, served for over five years as Oklahoma's first female mayor.
In the late 1930s, the Federal Government built Pensacola Dam, which created Grand Lake o' the Cherokees. Although the lake took away part of Wyandotte's land, it added business in the form of residential development and tourist industry. This caused a resumption of population growth.
In 1966, town officials discovered that Wyandotte had never filed incorporation papers. They petitioned the Ottawa County Board of Commissioners for an election, which was approved. A majority voted for incorporation, which became effective in April 1966.
== Geography ==
Wyandotte is located 12 miles (19 km) southeast of Miami.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 0.5 square miles (1.3 km2), all land.
== Demographics ==
Wyandotte is part of the Joplin, Missouri metropolitan area.
As of the census of 2000, there were 363 people, 128 households, and 93 families residing in the town. The population density was 739.6 inhabitants per square mile (285.6/km2). There were 148 housing units at an average density of 301.5 per square mile (116.4/km2). The racial makeup of the town was 63.36% White, 29.75% Native American, 0.28% Asian, 1.10% from other races, and 5.51% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.20% of the population.
There were 128 households, out of which 39.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 53.1% were married couples living together, 12.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 27.3% were non-families. 25.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 17.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.84 and the average family size was 3.39.
In the town, the population was spread out, with 35.5% under the age of 18, 5.2% from 18 to 24, 24.8% from 25 to 44, 20.7% from 45 to 64, and 13.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 32 years. For every 100 females, there were 90.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.2 males.
The median income for a household in the town was $23,281, and the median income for a family was $27,321. Males had a median income of $25,938 versus $15,625 for females. The per capita income for the town was $10,315. About 17.2% of families and 22.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 35.9% of those under age 18 and 8.2% of those age 65 or over.
== Education ==
Wyandotte Public Schools serves the town and surrounding areas with elementary, middle, and high school education.
All of the municipality is in that school district.
== Oklahoma D-Day ==
Every year in June, Wyandotte hosts one of the largest scenario paintball games in the world; up to 5,000 players attend annually. It is played at the D-Day Adventure Park, a privately owned 740 acres (3.0 km2) of thickly wooded terrain.
== Places of Interest ==
Grand Lake `O Cherokees is formed by Pensacola Dam between the towns of Langley and Disney Oklahoma from three rivers, the Neosho and Spring Rivers from the north, and the Elk River from the east. It covers 59,000 acres, and has 1,300 miles of shoreline. It is a popular spot for bass fishing, boating, and water sports.
Twin Bridges State Park sits west of Wyandotte at the junction of US-60/OK-137, and between the Neosho and Spring Rivers. The park offers boat access to Grand Lake, fishing, camping, and other immensities.
== Transportation ==
=== Highways ===
Wyandotte is served by US-60.
=== Railroads ===
The Burlington Northern & Santa Fe Railway (BNSF) Cherokee Subdivision runs through Wyandotte. The BNSF Cherokee Subdivision runs between Springfield Missouri to the east, and Tulsa Oklahoma to the west. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pop_Idol | Pop Idol | Pop Idol is a British music competition television series created by Simon Fuller which ran on ITV from 2001 to 2003. The aim of the show was to decide the best new young pop singer (or "pop idol") in the UK based on viewer voting and participation. Two series were broadcast, one in 2001–2002 and a second in 2003. An immense success when it launched in 2001, Maggie Brown in The Guardian wrote, "the show became a seminal reality/entertainment format once on air that autumn". Series judge Simon Cowell became a major public figure in entertainment, and the show produced instant No. 1 chart hits, including for the first series winner Will Young, whose single "Evergreen" was the fastest-selling debut in UK chart history and the best-selling song of 2002. Pop Idol was subsequently put on an indefinite hiatus after Simon Cowell announced the launch of The X Factor in the UK in April 2004.
The show has become an international TV franchise since, spawning multiple Idol series worldwide. In the meantime, a legal dispute arose with the makers of Popstars, which eventually led to the word "pop" being excluded from the titles of all the spin-offs, such as American Idol, Australian Idol, Arab Idol, Canadian Idol, Indonesian Idol, Indian Idol, New Zealand Idol, Latin American Idol, Maldivian Idol, Idol (Norway), Idol (Poland), Idol (Sweden), Singapore Idol, Idols (South Africa), Pakistan Idol, Bangladeshi Idol and Ídolos (same name for the Portuguese and Brazilian series).
The show's theme music was written by Gingell/Stone and Cathy Dennis.
== Format ==
One of the UK's top-earning TV format exports, Pop Idol made extensive use of premium-priced viewer interactivity, with viewers voting by telephone, mobile telephone texting (not used on series one), through the "red button" on digital television sets, or via the official website. The final of the first series of Pop Idol in February 2002 received the highest-ever one-night vote for a British TV show, making the show one of ITV's most profitable. The sister shows on ITV2, Pop Idol Extra, hosted by Kate Thornton also made extensive use of mobile phone text messages to raise additional revenue. The first Pop Idol received very high voting figures despite allowing only telephone and Internet voting and not making use of texting or the "red button". However, the 'voting' system was effectively meaningless, as any individual was permitted to make an unlimited number of votes, the winning contestant thus being merely the one with the most persistent supporters.
The Saturday night primetime show initially followed the audition process, as hopefuls sang before four judges (record producer and music executive Pete Waterman, music executive and music manager Simon Cowell, music promoter and music manager Nicki Chapman and Radio DJ and television personality Neil "Dr" Fox) at various locations around the UK. Besides the successful auditionees, the poorest "singers" were often aired due to their obvious lack of talent or presence. Poor singers often faced harsh criticisms from the judges, especially from Simon Cowell (whose controversial rantings also made him famous on American Idol). The judges' reactions to such performances often ranged from disgust to nearly open laughter; their style of judgement and attitude towards pop-star wannabes resulted in the controversial opinions of others about the show's setup, including that of Take That manager Nigel Martin Smith.
The viewing public quickly fell in love with the format though, as viewing figures indicated. The judges' policy of speaking candidly would have to be sanitised in series 2, however, as it received condemnation from MPs.
Once the first round of auditions was completed, the series moved to the Criterion Theatre, where further auditions saw the judges decide on a group of 50. Unusually, this was the final point at which the judges had direct control over the contestants' fates, as the remainder of the results would be driven solely by viewer voting.
Stage 3 of the series took place in a conventional TV studio. The 50 contestants were split into five groups of ten, each of whom sang one song for the judges, accompanied only by a piano. Each judge offered their opinion, and at the end of the pre-recorded show phone lines opened for votes. Later the same evening a live show followed in which the voting results were revealed, the top two earning a place in the final ten. In series 2, a wildcard round (an innovation that originated on American Idol) was added, in which the judges selected ten rejected contestants and gave them a second chance. In this special edition, one contestant, Susanne Manning, was selected by the viewer vote, and one, Sam Nixon, was chosen by the judges. This meant that the next stage began with twelve contestants, rather than the ten in series 1.
For the final stage, the show moved to a more lavish TV set, where all remaining contestants sang on live television, accompanied by either a backing track or live band. Most editions had a theme, with contestants singing songs from a particular genre or artist (no original songs were performed at any stage in the competition). Again, the judges offered comments, but the results were decided by viewer voting. Again, a live results show was broadcast later in the evening, but this time the singer with the fewest votes was eliminated, the rest continuing to the following week until only the winner remained.
Exceptions to the usual format were limited. In series 1, Darius Danesh was promoted to the live shows when Rik Waller dropped out. Danesh was third in the results for the group where Waller had won his place. Also, the first two live shows of series 2 saw two contestants leave, in order to rebalance the numbers after the addition of the two extra performers from the wildcard show.
== Results and legacy ==
The first series was won by Will Young, with Gareth Gates coming second. Michelle McManus won the second series. All of the top three contestants from series 1 had number-one singles in the UK. Young continues to be a recording artist. Gates initially had great success as a recording artist, releasing three studio albums and seven top 5 singles. He has since moved on to a successful career in musical theatre appearing as lead in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, as Marius in Les Misérables, on tour and in the West End and as Claude in Hair. In 2013, he became a member of the supergroup 5th Story. Darius Danesh had two hit albums and appeared in the West End musicals Chicago, playing the role of Billy Flynn, and Gone with the Wind, originating the role of Rhett Butler. He also appeared in the touring version of Guys and Dolls as Sky Masterson. Finalists Rosie Ribbons and Zoe Birkett have both scored chart hits, Birkett also moving on to a career in musical theatre whilst Jessica Garlick represented the UK in the Eurovision Song Contest 2002. Semi-finalist Sarah Whatmore had two chart hits, despite failing to be voted into the top 10. Series 2 contestants enjoyed significantly less chart success, which many believe damaged the credibility of the show and helped hasten its demise in its home country.
Immediately after the second series of Pop Idol, the same set was used to host World Idol, in which winners of various Idol series around the world, including original Pop Idol winner Will Young, American Idol winner Kelly Clarkson and Australian Idol winner Guy Sebastian, competed in a one-off competition, complete with a large judging panel featuring one judge from each country (Simon Cowell officially representing American Idol, with Pete Waterman the "official" UK judge). The surprise winner was Norway's Kurt Nilsen, who proceeded to minor UK chart success. Cowell was strongly critical of World Idol, and it is highly unlikely to be staged again.
After the second series of Pop Idol, ITV put the show on indefinite hiatus when in April 2004 judge and music executive Simon Cowell announced the launch of his own show, The X Factor, which he and his record label (Syco) held the rights to. In September 2004, Pop Idol creator Simon Fuller filed a lawsuit against The X Factor producers claiming that the format was copied from his own show. The case was eventually settled out of court in November 2005, and as part of the settlement, Simon Fuller was made a joint partner in The X Factor show, and Simon Cowell was obliged to stay on as a judge on American Idol for a further five years.
ITV's licence to produce Pop Idol has since expired, meaning that other channels could theoretically acquire the series. Despite rumours, no broadcaster has since acquired the rights to the format in the UK.
Despite running for only two series, Pop Idol's impact was immense and led 19 Entertainment and FremantleMedia to roll the format out globally; currently there are over 50 versions in 110 countries, including, notably, American Idol, on which Cowell was a judge until 2010, before launching The X Factor USA in 2011.
== Series 1 (2001–02) ==
Colour key
1 Had been eliminated in previous rounds, but reinstated following Rik Waller's exit.
== Series 2 (2003) ==
Following the completion of the series, the official Pop Idol companion book published percentages of votes for each contestant every week. In some circumstances, the book suggested that the bottom 2 or 3 contestants were not the same as announced by the show hosts. It is not known if the incorrect result was announced, or if the book merely made a typing error. However, the contestant deemed to have had the lowest percentage was always eliminated on that week, meaning the overall result of the show was not changed.
Colour key
In week 1 of the finals, Chris and Marc received the same vote percentage as did Roxanne and Brian. In week 4, Mark and Chris received the same vote percentage.
== Video games ==
Pop Idol was released as a video game developed by Codemasters for the PlayStation 2 and Game Boy Advance it was also released for the PC on 30 October 2003. The player creates his/her own singer, then they must sing their way through the auditions, theatre stages, heats, and then the finals. The game increases in difficulty as the player progresses through the competition. With each stage of the finals, one or two players with the least public vote tally are eliminated. The gameplay mainly consists of lining up a moving symbol with a fixed object in the centre of the screen and pressing the corresponding symbol on the game's controller. If the player presses it when the symbol is in the middle of the circle, their singer sings a good note. If he or she presses it when it is not in the circle, or mistimes their press, the singer sings a bad note.
== Related programmes ==
The Idol format has been launched in dozens of nations worldwide, and there have been many imitations of the programme.
A World Idol international television special was held in December 2003, featuring national first series Idol contest winners competing against each other; viewers worldwide voted Norwegian Idol's Kurt Nilsen "World Idol".
The similar Popstars format preceded Pop Idol, and was succeeded in Britain by one series of Popstars: The Rivals and fifteen series of The X Factor as of 2018. After Popstars producers threatened legal action, a deal was struck that, among other clauses, does not allow the use of the word "pop" in the title of Pop Idol editions outside of the UK. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_Nights_at_Freddy%27s | Five Nights at Freddy's | Five Nights at Freddy's (FNaF) is a video game series and media franchise created by Scott Cawthon that includes video games, novels, graphic novels, and films. The story arcs typically follow a night guard or other character trying to survive from midnight to 6 a.m. for five levels, called "nights", while fending off attacks from homicidal animatronic characters. Each game is set in a different location connected to a fictional pizza restaurant franchise called "Freddy Fazbear's Pizza". The core gameplay mechanics involve using tools effectively and managing limited resources to avoid being caught by the animatronics.
Cawthon conceived the idea for the first video game after his family-friendly resource management game, Chipper & Sons Lumber Co., was criticized for the resemblance of its characters to frightening animatronics. Responding to this feedback, he developed a game that focused on horror. Released in August 2014, the game's success prompted the development of its sequels. Cawthon created most of the games himself using game engine Clickteam Fusion, but partnered with Steel Wool Studios to create various entries in the series, including an open-world game and a virtual reality anthology. Several spin-offs were created in collaboration with groups such as Illumix and Mega Cat Studios.
The series has a mixed critical reception, with praise for its storytelling and atmosphere but criticism for its gameplay. It has achieved significant commercial success, with merchandise available internationally. The franchise has garnered a cult following that produces numerous forms of fan media.
== Origin and development ==
The concept for Five Nights at Freddy's stemmed from the negative reception of Scott Cawthon's earlier game, Chipper & Sons Lumber Co., where players said that the main character resembled a "scary animatronic animal." Initially discouraged by the criticism, Cawthon, who had predominantly created Christian-oriented games, leveraged this feedback to develop something intentionally frightening. Five Nights at Freddy's was released on August 8, 2014, via Desura, followed by a Steam release after gaining approval through the crowdsourcing platform Greenlight. The game rapidly gained popularity after being showcased by prominent YouTubers.
Following its success, the franchise expanded rapidly, earning a Guinness World Record for "most video game sequels in a single year" for the games released between August 2014 and June 2015. Cawthon used Clickteam Fusion 2.5 for game development and Autodesk 3ds Max for 3D graphics. Since Help Wanted in 2019, Cawthon has worked with game development company Steel Wool Studios. Ports for Five Nights at Freddy's, Five Nights at Freddy's 2, Five Nights at Freddy's 3, and Five Nights at Freddy's 4 on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch were released on November 29, 2019. In 2021, following backlash regarding donations to members of the Republican Party, Cawthon announced his retirement from the franchise, stating that someone of his choosing would be "running the show" from then on.
== Media ==
=== Main series ===
Five Nights at Freddy's was released for Microsoft Windows on August 8, 2014, followed by ports for Android and iOS on August 27 and September 11, respectively. The game follows the security guard Mike Schmidt, as he tries to survive his shift at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza that lasts from midnight to 6:00 a.m. without being killed by the homicidal animatronic characters that wander the pizzeria at night.
Five Nights at Freddy's 2 was teased shortly after the release of the first game. A trailer was released on October 21, 2014, and it was released for Microsoft Windows on November 11, 2014 through Steam, and for Android and iOS on November 13 and 20, 2014, respectively. The game, largely inspired by its predecessor, follows Jeremy Fitzgerald, the new player character, as he tries to survive his shift at the "new and improved" Freddy Fazbear's Pizza without being attacked by any of the ten animatronics that wander from room to room.
Five Nights at Freddy's 3 was teased on Cawthon's website in January 2015, and a trailer was released on January 26, 2015. The game launched on March 3, 2015, on Microsoft Windows, with Android and iOS ports following on March 6 and 12, respectively. It follows a night guard at a soon-to-open horror attraction based on Freddy Fazbear's Pizza called "Fazbear's Fright", who must survive the night against only one animatronic, called Springtrap.
Five Nights at Freddy's 4 was teased in April 2015 as "The Final Chapter", its release date set as that Halloween. A trailer was released in July, and its release date was advanced to August 8. However, Cawthon announced that he had finished it on July 23, on which date he released it on Steam. Android and iOS ports were released on July 25 and August 4, respectively. The game follows an unnamed child in his bedroom as "nightmare animatronics" attack the two doors on the left and right of the room, which the player must use to defend against them.
Five Nights at Freddy's: Sister Location was teased in April 2016 with the tagline "there was never just one", and a trailer was uploaded on May 21. It was released on Steam on October 7, 2016, with a patch released shortly after to alleviate night four's difficulty. Android and iOS ports were released on December 22, 2016, and January 3, 2017, respectively. Unlike previous entries where players are confined to a single room, players must move between rooms and complete tasks.
Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria Simulator followed an announcement by Cawthon in July 2017 that a sixth game was in development. He released Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria Simulator on December 4, 2017, as freeware on Steam after teasing it several days earlier as a spin-off despite being a mainline release. It is a simulation game in which the player manages a pizzeria during the day and fends off animatronics at night.
Ultimate Custom Night was released as freeware. The customizable night contains a total of fifty animatronics from previous games, which allows the player to determine how aggressive they are during the night. The player can select the office to play in, unlock cutscenes, and choose from 16 themed game modes available.
Five Nights at Freddy's: Help Wanted was announced during Sony Interactive Entertainment's State of Play livestream on March 25, 2019. It was released on May 28 for Oculus Rift and HTC Vive on Windows and PlayStation VR headsets on the PlayStation 4. It was developed in collaboration between Cawthon and Steel Wool Studios, with other studios giving further support. Cawthon initially proposed recreating the original Five Nights at Freddy's in VR, but the game turned into an anthology of minigames based on the first five games in the series.
Five Nights at Freddy's: Security Breach was announced with a teaser trailer on September 16, 2020, slated for initial release on PC, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5 in the year. However, it was delayed many times, until the release date of December 16, 2021 was set. It is the second collaboration between Steel Wool Studios and Cawthon. The game follows Gregory, a young boy trapped in a massive entertainment complex known as Freddy Fazbear's Mega Pizzaplex who must complete tasks while avoiding the free-roam animatronics that surveil the complex.
Free downloadable content for Security Breach, titled Ruin, was announced in May 2022. It was released on July 25, 2023 on PC, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5, with Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S versions released on April 23, 2024.
Five Nights at Freddy's: Help Wanted 2 is a direct sequel of Help Wanted. Announced on May 24, 2023, where it was scheduled for release in December 2023, the game was released on December 14 for the Oculus Quest and PlayStation VR 2. A non-VR port for PlayStation 5 was released on June 20, 2024. The game features minigames based on Sister Location and Security Breach, and was made by Steel Wool Studios.
Five Nights at Freddy's: Secret of the Mimic, the eleventh main installment, was announced on August 6, 2024, with a trailer shown on the State of Play livestream in February 2025. The game was developed by Steel Wool Studios. It was released on June 13, 2025 for PlayStation 5 and Windows.
=== Spin-off games ===
FNaF World was announced on September 15, 2015. Unlike the main series, the game is a role-playing video game using previous games' characters. Players must fight enemies and progress by unlocking perks and items. Originally planned for release on February 2, 2016, Cawthon rescheduled the release for January 22 and released it on January 21.
Five Nights at Freddy's AR: Special Delivery, an augmented reality game with location-based gameplay, was announced on September 13, 2019. Developed by Illumix, a video game startup company, the game was released for free in November 2019. Its servers were shut down on March 14, 2024.
Freddy in Space 2 is a side-scrolling platform shooter game and a sequel to a mini-game from FNaF World. It was released for free on December 3, 2019, on Game Jolt. The game was made to promote a charity livestream hosted by the Game Theorists YouTube channel.
Security Breach: Fury's Rage is a free side-scrolling beat 'em up game featuring the main cast of Security Breach, set in city streets. The game was made to compensate for the release of Security Breach being delayed for a second time and was released for free on Game Jolt on April 28, 2021.
Freddy in Space 3: Chica in Space is a side-scrolling platform shooter game and a sequel to Freddy in Space 2. It was released on October 18, 2023, under the title FNAF: The Movie: The Game, and developed by Cawthon, who claimed it a spoiler-heavy tie-in to the Five Nights at Freddy's film. It was released for free on Game Jolt.
Five Nights at Freddy's: Into the Pit, a role-playing adventure horror game developed by Mega Cat Studios, was released on PlayStation and Xbox ports on September 27, 2024. The Nintendo Switch port was released on October 31. It is based on the first story in the Fazbear Frights short story anthology.
Five Laps at Freddy's is a kart racing game based on characters from Five Nights at Freddy's. It was announced on June 19, 2024, to coincide with the series' 10th anniversary.
Five Nights at Freddy's: Survival Crew is an unreleased official Roblox adaptation of the series, accidentally released in an unfinished state by its developers, Metaverse Team Frights, on December 20, 2023. The game was immediately taken down after major backlash and Cawthon promised the game would be released in a functional state sometime in 2024. In the short time the game was released, players described the gameplay as similar to the cooperative horror game, Dead by Daylight.
==== Fazbear Fanverse ====
On August 21, 2020, Cawthon announced his plan to help fund and publish Five Nights at Freddy's games developed by fans, bundled with previous installments in their respective series. Games published under this initiative include the One Night at Flumpty's series, the Five Nights at Candy's series, the Popgoes series, and The Joy of Creation. Cawthon stated that these games will come to other platforms, such as mobile and consoles, and may have merchandise created for them. The first game to be released under this initiative was a port of One Night at Flumpty's for Android and iOS on October 31 and November 18, 2020, respectively, followed by two of its sequels in 2021 on the same platforms.
=== Other media ===
==== Novels ====
Starting in 2015, Five Nights at Freddy's has been the subject of three major novels published by Scholastic, the first of which being Five Nights at Freddy's: The Silver Eyes, which released on Amazon Kindle on December 17, 2015, and on paperback on September 27, 2016. Cawthon said that the novel "expands the mythos and reveals a human element never before seen in the games". Five Nights at Freddy's: The Twisted Ones and Five Nights at Freddy's: The Fourth Closet followed, released on June 27, 2017, and June 26, 2018, respectively. Additionally, many book series comprising short stories inspired by the games have been released, such as Fazbear Frights and Tales from the Pizzaplex.
==== Film adaptations ====
A film adaptation based on the game series was released for streaming on Peacock and theatrically in the United States on October 27, 2023, by Universal Pictures. Directed by Emma Tammi, who co-wrote the screenplay with Cawthon and Seth Cuddeback, the film stars Josh Hutcherson. Five Nights at Freddy's received generally negative reviews from critics, but was a commercial success, becoming Blumhouse Productions' highest-grossing film worldwide with nearly $300 million. A sequel, Five Nights at Freddy's 2, was released on December 5, 2025, with similar reception to the first film.
== Common elements ==
The games in the Five Nights at Freddy's series are survival horror. Players typically assume the role of a nighttime security guard at an establishment or other location connected to Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, a fictional pizzeria chain. The objective is to monitor and survive the movements of homicidal animatronic characters that roam these establishments after hours. Many of the animatronics are possessed by the souls of children murdered by William Afton, the restaurant's co-founder. Players must survive from midnight to 6 a.m. for five shifts—referred to as "nights"— while managing a limited-use resource that, if depleted, leaves them vulnerable. These resources vary by game: for example, limited power in Five Nights at Freddy's, failing systems that require rebooting in Five Nights at Freddy's 3, and control of a friendly animatronic called Glamrock Freddy—who requires hourly recharging—in Security Breach. As the nights progress, the animatronics become more aggressive. If the player is unable to defend themselves from the animatronics, they are jumpscared and receive a game over. If they successfully survive for five nights, they win the game.
In many entries in the series, players use security cameras to track the animatronics' movements throughout the building. Five Nights at Freddy's 2 introduces a music box mechanic, which must be kept wound via the camera feed to prevent the Puppet–an animatronic possessed by the other co-founder Henry Emily's daughter, who was Afton's first victim–from activating. In Five Nights at Freddy's 3, the cameras monitor a single animatronic containing an undead Afton, Springtrap, and include an audio system that can be used to lure him to different areas. Security Breach's camera system is accessed through Gregory's watch. Lights are another recurring mechanic, often used to ward off animatronics or alert players to their presence. Doors also appear frequently, allowing players to block away the animatronics in games such as Five Nights at Freddy's, Five Nights at Freddy's 4, and Help Wanted.
== Reception ==
=== Video game series ===
The Five Nights at Freddy's video game series has a mixed reception. The original game received "generally favorable" reviews, earning a score of 78 on the review aggregator website Metacritic. Omri Petitte of PC Gamer described it as a “less-is-more” experience, where fear stemmed more from anticipation than direct threats. However, Petitte said the gameplay became repetitive once its mechanics were mastered. GameRevolution's Ryan Bates commended the game's audio design and simple yet effective mechanics, calling it "horror done right," though he found the experience too short.
Subsequent entries saw divided responses. Five Nights at Freddy's 2 received a Metacritic score of 62, with reviewers from Destructoid and TouchArcade finding its introduction of new mechanics and animatronics creatively enriching, though Mitch Vogel of Nintendo Life found the difficulty punishing and the jumpscares excessive. Five Nights at Freddy's 3, which earned a Metacritic score of 68, maintained the franchise's core formula but updated its camera system; Petitte appreciated these improvements but felt the phantom animatronics fell short of their older counterparts. Nic Rowen of Destructoid found it mechanically solid yet lacking the charm of earlier entries. Five Nights at Freddy's 4, earned the series's lowest Metacritic score of 51 and divided reviewers further—The Escapist and Gamezebo highlighted its darker tone, emotional subtext, and scare factor, but others, like Rowen, called its gameplay confusing and encountered technical issues.
Reviews for Sister Location were again mixed, with Metacritic assigning a score of 62. Patricia Hernandez of Kotaku called it Scott Cawthon's "most ambitious game yet," praising its production value, while Rowen and William Hughes of The A.V. Club highlighted the improved mobility and task-based gameplay. Other critics, such as Angelo M. D'Argenio of GameCrate, argued the difficulty was unbalanced, likening each night to its own tutorial, while Rowen criticized night four as a frustrating obstacle. Additionally, outlets like Rock Paper Shotgun and GameCrate applauded Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria Simulator's blend of business simulation and survival horror, while PC Gamer described Ultimate Custom Night as an inventive twist on the franchise's standard gameplay loop.
Later titles continued to have mixed feedback. Help Wanted received praise for its use of virtual reality, with the PlayStation 4 version earning a Metacritic score of 80. Reviewers highlighted its atmosphere and blending of old and new content. However, non-VR ports were criticized—Nintendo Life rated the Switch version poorly, citing the loss of VR functionality as a major drawback. Security Breach, which was assigned a score of 64 by Metacritic, drew attention for its larger scope and visuals, but faced criticism for technical issues and a clunky save system by critics such as Ben Croshaw of The Escapist. Meanwhile, Into the Pit, based on the franchise's extended universe, was positively received for its innovation yet adherence to the tone of the original series. It received the series's highest Metacritic score of 87.
=== Film adaptations ===
The film adaptation of Five Nights at Freddy's received negative reviews from critics. Metacritic assigned the film a score of 33 out of 100, indicating "generally unfavorable" reviews. Murtada Elfadl of Variety criticized the film as not utilizing its setting, writing that the sets lacked color and missed the potential appeal of a haunted pizzeria. Benjamin Lee of The Guardian said that the premise called back to the horror films of the 1980s, but said that this effect was diminished by a boring protagonist. The reviewer found the setting interesting, but disliked the script and felt that the plot lacked tension. Simon Abrams of RogerEbert.com gave the film two stars out of four, saying that it was able to form an effective atmosphere, though it created an unenjoyable experience by not giving characters enough development. He cited the actors Josh Hutcherson and Matthew Lillard as demonstrating feelings that weren't adequately described through the script, finding the overall experience unmemorable.
Five Nights at Freddy's 2 received negative reviews like its predecessor. Metacritic assigned the film a score of 24 out of 100, indicating "generally unfavorable" reviews. James Mottram of NME said that the film was unable to expand the backstory of the animatronics from the preceding film and lacked effective jumpscares. Frank Scheck of The Hollywood Reporter found the plot to be too similar to that of the first film. The reviewer called the script dull, adding that it contained easter eggs that would only appeal to existing fans of the franchise. Jesse Hassenger of The Guardian criticized Cawthon's script and said that the director Emma Tammi was unable to create suspense, writing that the ending was poorly executed and that the film existed as part of a franchise instead of having an individual identity.
=== Legacy ===
Since the release of the first game, popular video creators such as PewDiePie, Markiplier, and Jacksepticeye have earned millions of views on their playthroughs of the series, which helped the games in receiving additional attention. In May 2015, YouTube reported that videos of the Five Nights at Freddy's series were the platform's eighth-most-watched playthroughs. The interpretive, non-linear, and cryptic narrative of Five Nights at Freddy's is a popular topic for fans to discuss and debate; this, along with YouTube channels such as The Game Theorists, who feature Five Nights at Freddy's-related videos with the goal of decoding the lore of the franchise, contribute to an immensely dedicated fandom. In 2023, the FNaF series on the Game Theorists had over 60 videos and 800 million views combined.
The game mechanics of Five Nights at Freddy's have inspired the creation of thousands of fan games. Their prevalence led Game Jolt to categorize FNaF-inspired projects as a separate genre to better organize its content. The franchise has also influenced music, with fan-made songs, such as those by The Living Tombstone, garnering hundreds of millions of views. Their first FNaF song was featured in the closing credits of the film adaptation. Additionally, a range of toys and collectibles has been released, with Funko and Todd McFarlane among the major producers. A themed attraction based on the film appeared at Universal Studios' Halloween Horror Nights on select nights between September and November 2025. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridgeton,_Glasgow | Bridgeton, Glasgow | Bridgeton (Scots: Brigtoun, Scottish Gaelic: Baile na Drochaid) is a district to the east of Glasgow city centre. Historically part of Lanarkshire, it is bounded by Glasgow Green to the west, Dalmarnock to the east and south, Calton to the north-west at Abercromby Street/London Road and Broad street to the north-east.
== History ==
It started as a small weaving village in 1705, when the third John Walkinshaw marked out a portion of his Goosefauld estate for rent. However, not much interest was shown until 1776 when Rutherglen Bridge was built over the River Clyde and the area became known as Bridge Town (or Brig Toun in Scots). The area was incorporated into the city of Glasgow officially in 1846. A major employer was carpet manufacturer James Templeton & Co. Bridgeton used to be bounded by a village named Mile-End to the north, however this district seems to have vanished over the years, resulting in Bridgeton's boundary moving north to Crownpoint Road.
== Bridgeton Cross ==
Bridgeton Cross, also known as 'The Toll' is a major junction, the meeting point of London Road (A74 towards Celtic Park), Dalmarnock Road (A749), Main Street, James Street (leading to Glasgow Green), Olympia Street and Orr Street.
The intersection is notable for the Bridgeton Umbrella, a Victorian (1875) cast iron bandstand covering the centre of the Cross. The Category A listed landmark structure and surrounds was renovated in the early 21st century, resulting in improved public realm areas and the complete refurbishment of the Umbrella.
Bridgeton Cross is the location for Bridgeton railway station (opened in 1895, closed in 1964, reopened in 1979) which is on the Argyle Line connecting the area to central Glasgow. The Category B listed building which previously housed Bridgeton Central railway station (1892-1979) is a short distance away. A number of local buses also pass along London Road and Dalmarnock Road.
The Cross is also the location for the Olympia Theatre (built 1911), which after lying abandoned for many years has undergone rebuilding and reopened in 2012 as a library and community facility for the people of Bridgeton. There are several public houses in the vicinity, with most themed around Rangers F.C.
In 1893 William Millard started Millers Linoleum Stores, renting sheds in Charles Street (now Olympia Street) from the North British Railway Company. On 26 June 1913 planning permission was granted to build a two-storey warehouse on this land, which had now been purchased by Millard. Under the directorship of William's great-grandson David Millard, the building was sympathetically renovated in 2013. Believed to be the only surviving family business from the 1800s in the area, Millers 1893 continues to operate.
== Points of interest ==
Bridgeton has one of Glasgow's original Carnegie libraries, designed by the Invernesian architect, James Robert Rhind. Since 2014, the library has been in use by the Glasgow Women's Library, holding a lending library, archive and museum collection, who have made significant renovations both inside and out.
After the 2014 Commonwealth Games was held in Glasgow, Bridgeton now has international-class sporting facilities within walking distance: the Commonwealth Arena and Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome are located in nearby Dalmarnock, with the Crownpoint Sports Complex, a modern outdoor athletics track, also located in the area adjacent to St Mungo's Academy.
Bridgeton has been the centre of the Orange Order in Scotland. Their marches are a fairly common sight in Glasgow during the summer months but reach a peak around the Twelfth of July when the parades commemorating the Battle of the Boyne are in full flow. In 2019, the Sunday Times reported that concerns over an incident during the 2018 Apprentice Boys of Derry (Bridgeton) march had led to suggestions that Glasgow council reroute the march to avoid passing near two Catholic churches.
The Glasgow Vintage Vehicle Trust, one of the largest voluntary commercial and passenger vehicle preservation groups in Scotland are based at Bridgeton Bus Garage which opened on 5 June 1965 on a site bordered by London Road to the south, Fordneuk Street to the West, Broad Street to the north and Rimsdale Street to the east. It replaced the former tram depot at Dalmarnock which had suffered fire damage. In 1870 a grocer name of John Wilson of 13 Main Street and a few friends from the local bowling club founded Bridgeton Burns Club, a charity which continues to this day, assisting local children.
Bridgeton's use as a Glasgow Bus Garage was brief, the tendency was to use a smaller fleet of larger buses and that led to the garage being closed in 1976, however it was then taken on by Strathclyde Regional Council for its Internal Transport fleet, servicing everything from light vans to Gritting Lorries. In this capacity it later passed to Glasgow City Council who when they ceased using it for that purpose were prevailed upon to rent it out for vehicle preservation.
== Football ==
For four decades in the mid-20th century, Bridgeton was represented in the Scottish Junior Football Association by Bridgeton Waverley F.C. Initially a local Juvenile team, upon joining the Junior setup they played at Shawfield Stadium (home of Clyde F.C.), then moved to Barrowfield Park which was bought and demolished by Glasgow Corporation for the construction of the housing scheme of the same name in the 1930s. Waverley then moved to New Barrowfield on the edge of the Parkhead district. After they folded in the 1960s, that site became the training ground of Celtic F.C.
Another Junior club which became defunct around the same time, Strathclyde F.C., was also based in the area. Strathclyde's predecessor senior league club Thistle F.C. had their roots in Bridgeton/Dalmarnock, as did the aforementioned Clyde and the 19th century side Eastern F.C. who both once played at another Barrowfield Park.
Although Celtic's stadium is nearby the district is now known for a large and passionate Rangers following.
== Notable people ==
Elky Clark, boxer
Jim Diamond, singer and musician
Lonnie Donegan, skiffle musician
Bobby Dougan, footballer
Don Greenlees, footballer
David Hayman, actor
Lorraine Kelly, TV presenter
Archie Kyle, footballer
Hugh MacDonald, journalist
Billy Mack, actor
Henry May, recipient of the Victoria Cross
Lorraine McIntosh, singer with Deacon Blue
Frankie Miller, rock musician
Willie Miller MBE, footballer
William Sheret, showjumper
Jim Watt, boxer
John Paul Young, singer
Rev William John Thomson (born 1852 in Ireland) Free Church minister of Bridgeton 1879 to 1882. The only known minister "loosed" (fired) for constant intoxication. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hannah_Einbinder | Hannah Einbinder | Hannah Einbinder (born May 21, 1995) is an American actress and stand-up comedian. She is best known for her starring role as struggling comedy writer Ava Daniels in the HBO Max dramedy series Hacks, for which she received a Primetime Emmy Award and a Critics' Choice Television Award, as well as four Golden Globe Award nominations.
== Early life and education ==
Einbinder is the daughter of original Saturday Night Live cast member Laraine Newman and writer/director Chad Einbinder. She grew up in Los Angeles in a Reform Jewish family.
As a teenager, Einbinder was a competitive cheerleader. She graduated from Beverly Hills High School and went on to study broadcast journalism at Chapman University before earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in television writing and production. At Chapman, Einbinder joined the school's improv team and had her first experience with stand-up comedy when she opened for Nicole Byer for a campus show.
== Career ==
In 2019, Einbinder appeared in the Just for Laughs festival's New Faces showcase and was named by National Public Radio as one of the 10 standout comedians to watch. She was also named one of Vulture's best new up-and-coming comedians to watch in 2019; she was recognized for "her refreshingly absurdist charm." The same year, she was among the "New Faces of Comedy" at Just For Laughs.
In March 2020, she made her national television debut on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and at the time was the youngest person to do a stand-up set on the show. It was the show's last on-stage stand-up performance for fifteen months, as the COVID-19 pandemic began soon after the episode aired.
Starting in 2021, she co-starred as Ava in Hacks on HBO Max, together with Jean Smart and Carl Clemons-Hopkins. The show received a total of 15 Emmy nominations, including acting nominations for Einbinder, Smart, and Clemons-Hopkins.
She was on Variety's List of "10 Comics to Watch for 2021". She continued to perform stand-up comedy and toured nationally during the summer of 2022. Max released her debut stand-up special in June 2024, Hannah Einbinder: Everything Must Go.
In May 2025, it was announced that she would star alongside Gillian Anderson in Jane Schoenbrun's upcoming slasher film, Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma. Einbinder is set to play a lead role in the Mubi and Plan B production.
In September 2025, she won her first Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for her role in Hacks Season 4.
== Influences ==
Einbinder has cited Dana Gould, Janeane Garofalo, Bo Burnham, Maria Bamford, Sklar Brothers, Marc Maron, and Steve Martin as being among her inspirations and influences.
== Personal life ==
Einbinder resides in Los Angeles, California. Einbinder is bisexual. She has ADHD.
She is a longtime supporter of the Philadelphia Eagles.
== Political views ==
In March 2025, Einbinder spoke about several issues while accepting the HRC Visibility Award. In her speech, she talked about climate change, condemning the "architects of humanity's slow extinction and the destruction of planet Earth." She also denounced the detention of Mahmoud Khalil, the Israeli government's actions in the Gaza war, and the United States government's support for Israel.
In May 2025, she signed a letter criticizing the film industry's "passivity" during the Gaza genocide. She also signed the Film Workers for Palestine pledge in September 2025, a campaign in which film professionals commit not to work with Israeli film institutions implicated in genocide and apartheid against Palestinians. Einbinder also signed a pledge to boycott The New York Times over its coverage of the Gaza war. She was interviewed for Zeteo by one of the subjects in Israelism, Simone Zimmerman, in October 2025.
At the 77th Primetime Emmy Awards, she won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series and concluded her speech with "Go Birds, fuck ICE, and free Palestine". The speech was criticized by some Pro-Israel figures, including Creative Community for Peace, actor Yuval David, and comedian Elon Gold. Other Jewish commentators have said the speech reflects an overall "decoupling from Israel" among young Jewish Americans. Afterwards Einbinder said she had made the speech because she felt she had an "obligation as a Jewish person to distinguish Jews from the State of Israel, because our religion and our culture is such an important and long-standing institution that is really separate to this sort of ethno-nationalist state".
In early January 2026 Einbinder posted an Instagram comment calling on artists and creatives to use their platforms to condemn ICE after the killing of Renée Good in Minneapolis. In the same post Einbender said "The imperial boomerang has come back home. What we FUND and allow to happen to Palestinians by the hands of the IDF who TRAIN ICE will happen to our people here in America".
== Filmography ==
=== Film ===
=== Television ===
=== Comedy specials ===
== Awards and nominations == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Haydon | Benjamin Haydon | |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raekwon | Raekwon | Corey Woods (born January 12, 1970), better known by his stage name Raekwon ( ray-KWON), is an American rapper. He rose to prominence as a founding member of the hip-hop group Wu-Tang Clan, which achieved mainstream success following the release of their debut album, Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), in 1993. Raekwon would subsequently pursue a solo career, releasing his first solo album, entitled Only Built 4 Cuban Linx..., in 1995. The album received critical acclaim, and is regarded by many critics as one of the greatest hip-hop albums of all time, as well as a staple of 1990s rap.
Whereas his next two albums, Immobilarity in 1999 and then The Lex Diamond Story in 2003, drew mixed reviews, his fourth album, long delayed, Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... Pt. II, released in September 2009, was likened to The Godfather 2. Recognized for his "street epics" that are "straightforward yet linguistically rich," Raekwon is ranked among leading rappers. Meanwhile, he founded the record label ICE H20 Records.
== Early life ==
Raekwon was born Corey Woods in Brownsville, Brooklyn, where he was raised by his mother during his early childhood. His father was an addict. Raekwon only met his father once when he was six years old. On that occasion, his father brought him to meet his paternal grandmother (also for the first time) and then snuck out of the apartment. Raekwon moved with his mother to Staten Island after his mother was robbed. They were living in Park Hill by the time Raekwon was adolescent.
Raekwon attributes the name Raekwon to the Five-Percent Nation, an offshoot of the Nation of Islam, when he was a "young kid." He converted to Islam in 2009.
Growing up, he witnessed his mother being hit and abused by different men, an experience which he said "affected [him] a lot." As a young man, his mother kicked him out of their Park Hill home when Raekwon got into an argument with her boyfriend and his mother sided with the boyfriend. During this time, he spiraled into a pattern of hopelessness and violent behavior. He became addicted to cocaine and crack cocaine until he became aware of how the crack epidemic was affecting those around him, at which point "it was an automatic stop."
Raekwon and rap partner Ghostface Killah attended junior high school together on Staten Island. Raekwon attended New Dorp High School, where he befriended rappers Remedy, Method Man and Inspectah Deck.
After being caught in a crossfire and accidentally shot four times, Raekwon began rapping in earnest. He later described being shot as an "important eye opener."
== Career ==
=== Wu-Tang Clan ===
Woods first rapped as Sha Raider. In 1992, he joined the Wu-Tang Clan, an originally nine-member rap group drawing mainly from the Staten Island but also from the Brooklyn boroughs of New York City. He rapped as Raekwon The Chef, and also used the aliases Lex Diamonds, Shallah Raekwon, and Louis Rich.
As recording artists, the Wu-Tang Clan debuted with the November 1993 album Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), which was later certified platinum. Its single "C.R.E.A.M." reached No. 8 on the Billboard rap chart. Wu-Tang Forever, a double album, followed in 1997, and was certified 4x multi-platinum. Amid other solo albums by its members, the group released The W in 2000, Iron Flag in 2001, and 8 Diagrams in 2007.
=== Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... ===
In 1994, Raekwon signed a solo deal with Loud Records and released his debut solo single "Heaven & Hell" for the soundtrack to the film Fresh. His first solo album, Only Built 4 Cuban Linx..., was released on August 1, 1995. Sales lagged his fellow Wu-Tang member Method Man's Tical. Raekwon's album drew rave reviews, however, and it was promptly recognized as a classic.
The album's narrative struggle is set to imagery of criminal activity, largely cocaine trafficking, and emergence from it into the good life. Wu-Tang member and house producer RZA, who produced the entire album, called it "like a crime mafia story." Wu-Tang member Ghostface Killah rapped in over half of the album's tracks, and the two wrote some lyrics in Barbados and Miami. It also follows a cinematic narrative, inspired by mob and kung-fu movies and a plethora of references and samples in which the main rapping lines with an on-going story of struggle and success.
Raekwon explained the lyrics' context as "trying to get out the hood. We wanted to buy the most expensive cars and jewelry and different things like that." The album, he perceived, "was only built for a certain lifestyle or people that understood that language. But eventually, it would break off to people looking at it as a movie and respecting it saying, 'Yo, wow! This is authentic. This is something that never been done before' " Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... debuted at No. 4 on the popular albums chart the Billboard 200, and at No. 2 on Billboard's Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. It shipped about 130,000 copies in its first week, and was certified gold, at least 500,000 copies shipped, two months later, October 1995. And finally Certified Platinum in 2020.
=== Immobilarity and The Lex Diamond Story ===
After Only Built 4 Cuban Linx..., Raekwon featured on R&B group Allure's debut or 1997 album. He also featured alongside rappers Nas, Jadakiss, and Big Pun in rapper Fat Joe's song "John Blaze." Raekwon's next album, Immobilarity, lacking RZA's record production and Ghostface Killah features, was issued in 1999 to mixed reviews. The Lex Diamond Story, released in 2003 under major label Universal Records, also drew mixed reviews, most critics unimpressed while user reviews widely varied. Raekwon cited a low promotional budget.
=== Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... Pt. II ===
Raekwon planned to release Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... Pt. II through record producer Dr. Dre's label Aftermath Entertainment in 2007. Raekwon credited the executive producer Busta Rhymes with restoring his "Cuban Linx mindset," while most tracks were produced by RZA, who likened collaboration with Dr. Dre to "yin and yang" styles.
Amid many delays, as for sample clearance, the Only Built For Cuban Linx... Pt. II track "Surgical Gloves" had been leaked already when the album was released by Raekwon's label, Ice H20, under major label EMI's distribution on September 8, 2009. The album features Wu-Tang members and affiliates as well as Slick Rick, Jadakiss, Busta Rhymes, Beanie Sigel, and others.
Also in September 2009, MTV ranked Raekwon tenth among "hottest" rappers. In December, HipHopDx's 2009 awards named Only Built For Cuban Linx... Pt. II album of the year, calling it "the Hip Hop equivalent to The Godfather 2, with Rae as revitalized as Marlon was". Raekwon won Emcee of the Year—the prior year, Nas won—while HipHopDX staff explained,Raekwon brought it back to lyrical, dope rap. He released an album that spoke to teens, twenty-somethings, thirty-somethings, and beyond. Without compromising, the Chef made an edgy Hip Hop record that refused to bastardize the catalog he laid down 15 years ago. On top of that, Rae (along with Ghostface) was a go-to for numerous rappers making albums, ranging from the Playaz Circle to Jadakiss to BK One. That's beyond real, as was a year filled with performing in arenas, clubs and even churches. When it came to mastering the ceremony, Rae had 'em all following the leader.
=== Shaolin vs. Wu-Tang ===
After the critical and relative commercial success of Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... Pt. II, Raekwon collaborated with Method Man and Ghostface Killah for Wu-Massacre, a short trio album designed to showcase unity within the group. Following this release, Raekwon resurrected talk of Shaolin vs. Wu-Tang, a project announced in 2007, originally planned as a Wu-Tang album, minus RZA, due to his response to the previous group album 8 Diagrams. Raekwon forwarded his projects continuously through his growing label Icewater. He both worked on his own project while signing other underground artists.
Although not a Wu-Tang Clan project, Shaolin vs. Wu-Tang was released in March 2011, serving as Raekwon's fifth solo LP. As originally planned, RZA did not participate on the project, however, several other Wu-Tang members made appearances, as well as Black Thought, Nas and Rick Ross, among others. Raekwon revealed that he intends on eventually releasing a third installment to the Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... albums.
=== Lost Jewlry, Fly International Luxurious Art, The Wild, and present ===
In 2012, Raekwon launched his own record label, Ice H20 Records. Raekwon announced on November 30, 2012, that he would soon release an EP entitled Lost Jewlry. On December 20, he released "Never Can Say Goodbye", which did not end up on the EP. Lost Jewlry was released on January 15, 2013. It featured guest appearances from Maino and Freddie Gibbs, as well as production from Scram Jones, among others.
On January 1, 2013, Raekwon announced that the title of his next album would be F.I.L.A., an acronym for Fly International Luxurious Art, and that it would be released during the second quarter of 2013. He would later specify a release month of September 2013. Following the release of the first single "All About You", Raekwon intimated that the album would be released in January 2014; it finally saw release on April 28, 2015. In November 2016, Raekwon announced that a new album was complete.
On March 24, 2017, Raekwon released a studio album, The Wild, his first not to feature collaborations with fellow members of the Wu-Tang Clan. Critical reception was positive, with Pitchfork saying the album was stronger than Fly, which it alleged had a "bloated roster". Consequence of Sound agreed, saying The Wild was largely understood as a return to form by Raekwon, with fewer guest appearances by other artists than usual and more focus on Raekwon's long-established style, albeit with the "maximalist modern production" he had employed on Fly.
Raekwon was featured as a guest on the intro to the WWCD compilation by Griselda. On August 1, 2020, Elliot Wilson, of Tidal and Rap Radar, announced Raekwon will be releasing Only Built 4 Cuban Linx 3 soon. Raekwon provided guest vocals alongside Ghostface Killah and Busta Rhymes on "Science Class", a song off Griselda leader Westside Gunn's 2022 mixtape 10.
Raekwon has most recently released an album titled "The Emperor's New Clothes", featuring artists such as Conway the Machine, Benny the Butcher and Westside Gunn, with other features coming mainly from other members of Wu-Tang Clan.
== Discography ==
Studio albums
Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... (1995)
Immobilarity (1999)
The Lex Diamond Story (2003)
Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... Pt. II (2009)
Shaolin vs. Wu-Tang (2011)
Fly International Luxurious Art (2015)
The Wild (2017)
The Emperor’s New Clothes (2025)
Collaboration albums
Wu-Massacre (with Method Man & Ghostface Killah) (2010) |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugo_Award_for_Best_Novel | Hugo Award for Best Novel | The Hugo Award for Best Novel is one of the Hugo Awards given each year by the World Science Fiction Society for science fiction or fantasy stories published in, or translated to, English during the previous calendar year. The novel award is available for works of fiction of 40,000 words or more; awards are also given out in the short story, novelette, and novella categories. The Hugo Awards have been described as "a fine showcase for speculative fiction", and "the best known literary award for science fiction writing".
The Hugo Award for Best Novel has been awarded annually by the World Science Fiction Society since 1953, except in 1954 and 1957. In addition, beginning in 1996, Retrospective Hugo Awards or "Retro-Hugos" have been available for works published 50, 75, or 100 years prior. Retro-Hugos may only be awarded for years after 1939 in which no awards were originally given. Retro-Hugo awards have been given for novels for 1939, 1941, 1943–1946, 1951, and 1954.
Hugo Award nominees and winners are chosen by supporting or attending members of the annual World Science Fiction Convention, or Worldcon, and the presentation evening constitutes its central event. The final selection process is defined in the World Science Fiction Society Constitution as instant-runoff voting with six finalists, except in the case of a tie. The novels on the ballot are the six most-nominated by members that year, with no limit on the number of stories that can be nominated. The 1953, 1955, and 1958 awards did not include a recognition of runner-up novels, but since 1959 all final candidates have been recorded. Initial nominations are made by members from January through March, while voting on the ballot of six finalists is performed roughly from April through July, subject to change depending on when that year's Worldcon is held. Prior to 2017, the final ballot was five works; it was changed that year to six, with each initial nominator limited to five nominations. Worldcons are generally held in August or early September, and are held in a different city around the world each year.
During the 79 nomination years, 180 authors have had works as finalists and 55 have won (including co-authors, ties, and Retro-Hugos). Two translators have been noted along with the author of a novel written in a language other than English: Ken Liu, in 2015 and 2017, for translations of two works from Chinese; and Rita Barisse, in 2019, who was retroactively noted as the translator of a 1963 French novel. Robert A. Heinlein has won the most Hugos for Best Novel, and also appeared on the most final ballots; he has six wins (four Hugos and two Retro-Hugos) out of twelve finalists. Lois McMaster Bujold has received four Hugos out of ten finalists. Five authors have won three times: Isaac Asimov and Fritz Leiber (with two Hugos and one Retro-Hugo each), N. K. Jemisin, Connie Willis, and Vernor Vinge. Ten other authors have won the award twice. The next-most finalists by a winning author are held by Robert J. Sawyer and Larry Niven, who have been finalists nine and eight times, respectively, and have each only won once. With nine finalist appearance, Robert Silverberg has the greatest number of finalists without winning any. Three authors have won the award in consecutive years: Orson Scott Card (1986 and 1987), Lois McMaster Bujold (1991 and 1992), and N. K. Jemisin (2016, 2017, and 2018).
== Winners and finalists ==
In the following table, the years correspond to the date of the ceremony, rather than when the novel was first published. Each year links to the corresponding "year in literature". Entries with a yellow background have won the award; those with a grey background are the finalists on the short-list.
* Winners and joint winners
=== Retro-Hugos ===
Beginning with the 1996 Worldcon, the World Science Fiction Society created the concept of "Retro-Hugos", in which the Hugo award could be retroactively awarded for 50, 75, or 100 years prior. Retro-Hugos may only be awarded for years after 1939 (the year of the first Worldcon) in which no Hugos were originally awarded. Retro-Hugos have been awarded eight times, for 1939, 1941, 1943–46, 1951, and 1954.
== Authors with multiple wins ==
== Authors with multiple nominations == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fritz_Koenig | Fritz Koenig | Fritz Koenig (German pronunciation: [ˈfʁɪts ˈkøːnɪç]; 20 June 1924 – 22 February 2017) was a German sculptor, considered one of the most important international German sculptors of the 20th century.
Koenig's main work and most famous work is The Sphere. The world's largest bronze sculpture of modern times once stood on the plaza beneath the two World Trade Center towers in Lower Manhattan until the terrorist attacks on 11 September 2001. The artifact, weighing more than 20 tons, was the only remaining work of art to be recovered largely intact from the ruins of the collapsed twin towers after the attacks. With its damage deliberately left unrepaired, the sculpture now stands in Manhattan's Liberty Park as a memorial to the victims of the September 11 attacks.
Koenig's oeuvre includes other works, including other memorials. Numerous works by Koenig and his renowned collections with artifacts from antiquity to the 20th century are located in the Koenigmuseum in Landshut, which he designed and established by the Fritz and Maria Koenig Foundation.
== Biography ==
Koenig was born in Würzburg on 20 June 1924. His family moved to Landshut in 1930, when he was six years old. He entered the Oberrealschule (today the Hans-Leinberger-Gymnasium) in 1942, and in the same year, he was drafted into the Wehrmacht and sent to the Eastern Front, where he was taken as a prisoner of war.
In the years after World War II, he studied art at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich starting in 1946 and graduating in 1952. In 1951 he studied in Paris on a scholarship. In 1957, Koenig was selected to receive a scholarship from the Villa Massimo in Rome. In 1958, Koenig presented at the XXIX. Biennale in Venice and designed the West German pavilion at the world exhibition Expo 58 in Brussels with his art. In 1959, Koenig was able to exhibit at the II. documenta in Kassel. In addition, the Günther Franke gallery in Munich presented Koenig's first solo exhibition. Also in the same year, 1959, Koenig married his wife Maria, who was born in Landshut (1921-2010). In 1960, Koenig and his wife bought an agricultural property in the Altdorf district of Ganslberg near Landshut. In 1961, a house, studio and stables were built according to his ideas. Rural life made it possible for the passionate rider and horse lover to set up his own thoroughbred Arabian breed, which achieved worldwide fame and was also of great importance for his artistic work.
Koenig achieved his final international breakthrough in 1961 with a solo exhibition at the Staempfli Gallery in New York. Exhibitions at documenta III and XXXII. Bienniale followed in 1964. In the same year he was appointed professor for sculptural design at the Technical University of Munich, where he participated in the training of architects until 1992. From 1967 to 1971, Koenig created his main work that led him to world fame: At the behest of the World Trade Center architect Minoru Yamasaki and on behalf of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, Koenig created a fountain system with the bronze sculpture Große Kugelkaryatide N.Y. (later known as The Sphere) for the World Trade Center in New York City, which was still under construction.
Over the decades, Fritz Koenig created a diverse work that he was able to keep in representative casts in his spacious country estate in Ganslberg. In addition, the sculptor owned many works of art from a wide variety of cultures and periods from antiquity to the 20th century, the quality and diversity of which testify to the lifelong passion for collecting. Koenig's collection focused on a world-renowned collection of African works of art.
Koenig was a board member of the (West) German Association of Artists from 1961 to 1972. Fritz Koenig was also the recipient of numerous awards, including the Bavarian Maximilian Order for Science and Art and the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany.
Koenig died on 22 February 2017, at the age of 92 on his country estate in Ganslberg.
== Work ==
In his work, Koenig was primarily concerned with the elementary "existence" of humans and animals in the area of tension between religiosity and mythology. The human being in the fragility of his existence, in the field of tension between love, death and impermanence, was another major leitmotif of Fritz Koenig's work. The combination of geometric forms like cuboids, spheres and bodies and limbs of cylinders to create new, organic-looking objects cast in metal made Koenig known in the early 1950s.
=== Major works ===
Koenig's major works include The Sphere, now displayed in Liberty Park in New York City, a memorial at Mauthausen concentration camp (1983) and a memorial to victims of the Munich massacre during the 1972 Summer Olympics. Many works are installed in public space, such as at the seat of the President of Germany, Schloss Bellevue, at German embassies in Washington, D.C., London, Madrid and Dakar, and the Würzburg Cathedral.
==== Works in public space ====
==== Works in KOENIGmuseum ====
Many works by Koenig are held by the KOENIGmuseum that the artist and his wife founded in Landshut in 1993.
== Reception ==
Koenig is regarded internationally as one of the most important German sculptors of the 20th century. Ludwig Spaenle, minister of culture of Bavaria, wrote that he was a truly great artist, who will be remembered by his works in the world, be it Berlin, Madrid or New York City. The Corriere della Sera compared Koenig to Michelangelo, and a reviewer from the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung saw a connection to Donatello.
== Documentary ==
Several documentaries coveres Koenig and his work, including:
Dagmar Damek: Fritz Koenig und seine Welt. BR, 1974
Percy Adlon: Fritz Koenig. BR, 1979–2002
Percy Adlon: Fritz Koenigs Kugel – Der deutsche Bildhauer Fritz Koenig im Trümmerfeld von Ground Zero. BR, 2002
Astrid Bscher: Koenigs New Yorker Kugel – Eine Skulptur wird zum Symbol. BR, 2021
== Exhibitions in 2024 ==
Several exhibitions have been held in 2024, the centenary of his birth:
Fritz Koenig – Lebensstationen, KOENIGmuseum, Landshut
Fritz Koenig in New York at the Goethe-Institut, New York
Fritz Koenig in Venedig – A Century in Motion by Art Biennale in Venice
Fritz Koenig und die Antike, Glyptothek, Munich |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oprah_Winfrey | Oprah Winfrey | Oprah Gail Winfrey (; born Orpah Gail Winfrey; January 29, 1954) is an American talk show host, television producer, actress, author, and media proprietor. She is best known for her talk show, The Oprah Winfrey Show, broadcast from Chicago, which ran in national syndication for 25 years, from 1986 to 2011. Globally, she is the richest Black woman and the wealthiest female celebrity. Dubbed the "Queen of All Media", she was the richest African-American of the 20th century and was once the world's only Black billionaire. By 2007, she was often ranked as the most influential woman in the world.
Winfrey was born into poverty in rural Mississippi to a single teenage mother and later raised in inner-city Milwaukee. Winfrey was then sent to live with the man she calls her father, Vernon Winfrey, a barber in Nashville, Tennessee, and landed a job in radio while still in high school. By 19, she was a co-anchor for the local evening news. Winfrey's often emotional, extemporaneous delivery eventually led to her transfer to the daytime talk show arena, and after boosting a third-rated local Chicago talk show to first place, she launched her own production company.
Credited with creating a more intimate, confessional form of media communication, Winfrey popularized and revolutionized the tabloid talk show genre pioneered by Phil Donahue. By the mid-1990s, Winfrey had reinvented her show with a focus on literature, self-improvement, mindfulness, and spirituality. She has been criticized for unleashing a confession culture, promoting controversial self-help ideas, and having an emotion-centered approach, and has also been praised for overcoming adversity to become a benefactor to others. Winfrey also emerged as a political force in the 2008 presidential race, with her endorsement of Barack Obama estimated to have been worth about one million votes during the 2008 Democratic primaries. In the same year, she formed her own network, the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN). In 2013, Winfrey was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama.
In 1994, Winfrey was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame. She has received honorary doctorate degrees from multiple universities. Winfrey has won many awards throughout her career, including 19 Daytime Emmy Awards (including the Lifetime Achievement Award and the Chairman's Award), 3 Primetime Emmy Awards (including the Bob Hope Humanitarian Award), a Tony Award, a Peabody Award, and the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award awarded by the Academy Awards, in addition to two competitive Academy Award nominations. Winfrey was elected as a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2021.
== Early life ==
Orpah Gail Winfrey was born on January 29, 1954; her first name was spelled Orpah on her birth certificate after the biblical figure in the Book of Ruth, but people mispronounced it regularly and "Oprah" stuck. She was born in Kosciusko, Mississippi, to a teenaged mother, Vernita Lee, and father Vernon Winfrey. Winfrey's parents never married. Vernita Lee (1935–2018) was a housemaid. Vernon Winfrey (1933–2022) was a coal miner turned barber turned city councilman who was in the Armed Forces when she was born. A genetic test in 2006 determined that her matrilineal line originated among the Kpelle ethnic group, from the area that became Liberia. Her genetic makeup was determined to be 89% Sub-Saharan African, 8% Native American, and 3% East Asian.
After Winfrey's birth, her mother traveled north, and Winfrey spent her first six years living in rural poverty with her maternal grandmother, Hattie Mae (Presley) Lee (April 15, 1900 – February 27, 1963). Her grandmother was so poor that Winfrey often wore dresses made of potato sacks, for which other children made fun of her. Her grandmother taught her to read before the age of three and took her to the local church, where she was nicknamed "The Preacher" for her ability to recite Bible verses. Her grandmother, a believer in the adage "spare the rod, spoil the child," beat her almost daily.
At age six, Winfrey moved to an inner-city neighborhood in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Her mother had little time for Oprah as a result of the long hours she worked as a maid. Around this time, Lee had given birth to another daughter, Winfrey's younger half-sister, Patricia, who died of causes related to cocaine addiction in February 2003 at age 43. By 1962, Lee was having difficulty raising both daughters, so Winfrey was temporarily sent to live with Vernon in Nashville, Tennessee. While Winfrey was in Nashville, Lee gave birth to a third daughter, who was put up for adoption in the hopes of easing the financial straits that had led to Lee's being on welfare, and was later also named Patricia. Winfrey did not know that she had a second half-sister until 2010. By the time Winfrey moved back with her mother, Lee had also given birth to Winfrey's half-brother Jeffrey, who died of AIDS-related causes in 1989. At the age of eight, she was baptized in a Baptist church.
Winfrey has stated she was molested by her cousin, uncle, and a family friend, starting when she was nine years old, something she first announced on a 1986 episode of her TV show regarding sexual abuse. A biographer alleged that when Winfrey discussed the alleged abuse with family members at age 24, they refused to believe her account. Winfrey once commented that she had chosen not to be a mother because she had not been mothered well. At 13, after suffering what she described as years of abuse, Winfrey ran away from home.
When she was 14, she became pregnant, but her son was born prematurely and died shortly after birth. Winfrey later stated she felt betrayed by the family member who had sold the story of her son to the National Enquirer in 1990.
Winfrey attended Lincoln Middle and High School in Milwaukee, but after early success in the Upward Bound program, was transferred to the affluent suburban Nicolet High School. Upon transferring, she said she was continually reminded of her poverty as she rode the bus to school with fellow African-Americans, some of whom were servants of her classmates' families. She began to rebel and steal money from her mother in an effort to keep up with her free-spending peers. As a result, her mother once again sent her to live with her father in Nashville, although this time, she did not take her daughter back. Vernon was strict but encouraging, and made her education a priority. Winfrey became an honors student, was voted Most Popular Girl, and joined her high school speech team at East Nashville High School, placing second in the nation in dramatic interpretation. In 1986, Winfrey said, "'When my father took me, it changed the course of my life. He saved me. He simply knew what he wanted and expected. He would take nothing less'".
Winfrey's first job as a teenager was working at a local grocery store. At the age of 17, Winfrey won the Miss Black Tennessee beauty pageant. She also attracted the attention of the local black radio station, WVOL, which hired her to do the news part-time. She worked there during her senior year of high school and in her first two years of college. Winfrey won an oratory contest, which secured her a full scholarship to Tennessee State University, a historically black institution, where she studied communication. However, she did not deliver her final paper until 1987, by which time she was a successful television personality. It was only then Winfrey earned her degree.
Winfrey's career in media would not have surprised her grandmother, who once said that ever since Winfrey could talk, she was on stage. As a child, she played games interviewing her corncob doll and the crows on the fence of her family's property. Winfrey later acknowledged her grandmother's influence, saying it was Hattie Mae who had encouraged her to speak in public and "gave me a positive sense of myself".
== Television ==
Working in local media, Winfrey was both the youngest news anchor and the first black female news anchor at Nashville's WLAC-TV (now WTVF-TV), where she often covered the same stories as John Tesh, who worked at a competing Nashville station. In 1976, she moved to Baltimore's WJZ-TV to co-anchor the six o'clock news. In 1977, she was removed as co-anchor and worked in lower profile positions at the station. She was then recruited to join Richard Sher as co-host of WJZ's local talk show People Are Talking, which premiered on August 14, 1978. She also hosted the local version of Dialing for Dollars.
In 1984, Winfrey relocated to Chicago to host WLS-TV's low-rated half-hour morning talk show, AM Chicago, after being hired by that station's general manager, Dennis Swanson. The first episode aired on January 2, 1984. Within months after Winfrey took over, the show went from last place in the ratings to overtaking Donahue as the highest-rated talk show in Chicago. The movie critic Roger Ebert persuaded her to sign a syndication deal with King World. Ebert predicted that she would generate 40 times as much revenue as his television show, At the Movies. It was then renamed The Oprah Winfrey Show and expanded to a full hour. The first episode was broadcast nationwide on September 8, 1986. Winfrey's syndicated show brought in double Donahue's national audience, displacing Donahue as the number-one daytime talk show in America. Their much-publicized contest was the subject of enormous scrutiny. According to Time magazine in August 1988:
Few people would have bet on Oprah Winfrey's swift rise to host of the most popular talk show on TV. In a field dominated by white males, she is a black female of ample bulk. As interviewers go, she is no match for, say, Phil Donahue ... What she lacks in journalistic toughness, she makes up for in plainspoken curiosity, robust humor and, above all empathy. Guests with sad stories to tell are apt to rouse a tear in Oprah's eye ... They, in turn, often find themselves revealing things they would not imagine telling anyone, much less a national TV audience. It is the talk show as a group therapy session.
TV columnist Howard Rosenberg said: "She's a roundhouse, a full course meal, big, brassy, loud, aggressive, hyper, laughable, lovable, soulful, tender, low-down, earthy, and hungry. And she may know the way to Phil Donahue's jugular." Newsday's Les Payne observed, "Oprah Winfrey is sharper than Donahue, wittier, more genuine, and far better attuned to her audience, if not the world" and Martha Bayles of The Wall Street Journal wrote, "It's a relief to see a gab-monger with a fond but realistic assessment of her own cultural and religious roots."
In the early years of The Oprah Winfrey Show, the program was classified as a tabloid talk show. In the mid-1990s, Winfrey began to host shows on broader topics such as heart disease, geopolitics, spirituality, and meditation. She interviewed celebrities on social issues they were directly involved with, such as cancer, charity work, or substance abuse, and hosted televised giveaways. The later years of the show faced accusations that Winfrey was promoting junk science. This has manifested as criticisms of Winfrey for promoting particular guests whose medical commentaries (both on her show and in the wider media) frequently lack supporting science. Common targets of this criticism include Jenny McCarthy's unfounded assertions about vaccines, and Suzanne Somers's promotion of bioidenticals.
In addition to her talk show, Winfrey moderated three ABC Afterschool Specials from 1992 to 1994 and also produced and co-starred in the drama miniseries The Women of Brewster Place (1989) and its short-lived spin-off, Brewster Place. As well as hosting and appearing on television shows, Winfrey co-founded the women's cable television network Oxygen, which was the initial network for her Oprah After the Show program from 2002 to 2006 before moving to Oprah.com when Winfrey sold her stake in the network. She is also the president of Harpo Productions (Oprah spelled backwards), a film and TV production company behind The Oprah Winfrey Show, Dr. Phil, Rachael Ray, The Dr. Oz Show and many others.
Dr. Phil has been criticized as being at best, simplistic and, at worst, ineffective or harmful. The National Alliance on Mental Illness has called Dr. Phil's conduct "unethical" and "incredibly irresponsible". Dr. Oz (Mehmet Oz) has been criticized by various medical publications and physicians for spreading pseudoscience Dr. Oz's promotion of various "miracle pills" (especially those aimed at weight loss), One website, Science-Based Medicine, said "No other show on television can top The Dr. Oz Show for the sheer magnitude of bad health advice it consistently offers, all while giving everything a veneer of credibility".
Multiple publications have called on Winfrey to denounce medical statements made by her former proteges long after her show ended. For example, there were calls for her to denounce Dr. Oz in 2020 reaction to his comments about coronavirus and his promotion of a poorly vetted drug as a cure.
On January 15, 2008, Winfrey and Discovery Communications announced plans to change Discovery Health Channel into a new channel called OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network. It was scheduled to launch in 2009 but was delayed, and actually launched on January 1, 2011.
The series finale of The Oprah Winfrey Show aired on May 25, 2011.
In January 2017, CBS announced that Winfrey would join 60 Minutes as a special contributor on the Sunday evening news magazine program starting in September 2017. The National Museum of African American History and Culture in 2018 opened a special exhibit on Winfrey's cultural influence through television. Winfrey left 60 Minutes by the end of 2018.
In June 2018, Apple announced a multi-year content partnership with Winfrey, in which it was agreed that Winfrey would create new original programs exclusively for Apple's streaming service, Apple TV+. The first show under the deal, Oprah's Book Club, premiered on November 1, 2019. Oprah's Book Club is based on the segment of the same name from The Oprah Winfrey Show. The second show under the deal, Oprah Talks COVID-19, debuted on March 21, 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic. A third show, The Oprah Conversation debuted on July 30, 2020, with Winfrey "[continuing] to explore impactful and relevant topics with fascinating thought leaders from all over the world".
=== Celebrity interviews ===
In 1993, Winfrey hosted a rare prime-time interview called, Michael Jackson Talks ... to Oprah with Michael Jackson, which became the fourth most-watched event in American television history as well as the most watched interview ever, with an audience of 36.5 million. On December 1, 2005, Winfrey appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman for the first time in 16 years, to promote the new Broadway musical, The Color Purple, which she produced. The episode was hailed by some as the "television event of the decade" and helped Letterman attract his largest audience in more than 11 years: 13.45 million viewers. Although a much-rumored feud was said to have been the cause of the rift, both Winfrey and Letterman balked at such talk. "I want you to know, it's really over, whatever you thought was happening," said Winfrey. On September 10, 2007, Letterman made his first appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show, as its season premiere was filmed in New York City.
In 2006, rappers Ludacris, 50 Cent, and Ice Cube criticized Winfrey for what they perceived as an anti-hip hop bias. In an interview with GQ magazine, Ludacris said that Winfrey gave him a "hard time" about his lyrics, and edited comments he made during an appearance on her show with the cast of the film Crash. He also said that he was not initially invited on the show with the rest of the cast. Winfrey responded by saying that she is opposed to rap lyrics that "marginalize women," but enjoys some artists, including Kanye West, who appeared on her show. She said she spoke with Ludacris backstage after his appearance to explain her position and said she understood that his music was for entertainment purposes, but that some of his listeners might take it literally. In September 2008, Winfrey received criticism after Matt Drudge of the Drudge Report reported that Winfrey refused to have Sarah Palin on her show, allegedly because of Winfrey's support for Barack Obama. Winfrey denied the report, maintaining that there never was a discussion regarding Palin's appearing on her show. She said that after she made public her support for Obama, she decided that she would not let her show be used as a platform for any of the candidates. Although Obama appeared twice on her show, those appearances were prior to his declaration as a presidential candidate. Winfrey added that Palin would make a fantastic guest and that she would love to have her on the show after the election, which she did on November 18, 2009.
In 2009, Winfrey was criticized for allowing actress Suzanne Somers to appear on her show to discuss hormone treatments that are not accepted by mainstream medicine. Critics have also suggested that Winfrey is not tough enough when questioning celebrity guests or politicians whom she appears to like. Lisa de Moraes, a media columnist for The Washington Post, stated: "Oprah doesn't do follow-up questions unless you're an author who's embarrassed her by fabricating portions of a supposed memoir she's plugged for her book club", referring to the controversy around James Frey's A Million Little Pieces.
In 2021, she conducted an interview with Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, and her husband Prince Harry, which was broadcast globally and received international media attention.
In 2024, ABC aired a new television special titled "AI and the Future of Us: An Oprah Winfrey Special". The one-hour show aimed to delve into the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on daily life. It featured interviews with prominent figures from the tech industry, including OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Bill Gates.
== Other media ==
=== Film ===
Winfrey co-starred in Steven Spielberg's The Color Purple (1985), as distraught housewife Sofia. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance. The Alice Walker novel later became a Broadway musical which opened in late 2005, with Winfrey credited as a producer. In October 1998, Winfrey produced and starred in the film Beloved, based on Toni Morrison's Pulitzer Prize–winning novel of the same name. To prepare for her role as Sethe, the protagonist and former slave, Winfrey experienced a 24-hour simulation of the experience of slavery, which included being tied up and blindfolded and left alone in the woods. Despite major advertising, including two episodes of her talk show dedicated solely to the film, and moderate to good critical reviews, Beloved opened to poor box-office results, losing approximately $30 million. While promoting the movie, co-star Thandiwe Newton described Winfrey as "a very strong technical actress and it's because she's so smart. She's acute. She's got a mind like a razor blade." Harpo Productions released a film adaptation of Zora Neale Hurston's 1937 novel Their Eyes Were Watching God in 2005. The made-for-television film was based upon a teleplay by Suzan-Lori Parks and starred Halle Berry in the lead female role.
In late 2008, Winfrey's company Harpo Films signed an exclusive output pact to develop and produce scripted series, documentaries, and movies exclusively for HBO.
In 2013, Winfrey starred in the film The Butler directed by Lee Daniels. Though her performance garnered significant Oscar buzz, she was not nominated for the award.
Oprah voiced Gussie the goose in Charlotte's Web (2006) and voiced Judge Bumbleton in Bee Movie (2007), co-starring the voices of Jerry Seinfeld and Renée Zellweger. In 2009, Winfrey provided the voice for the character of Eudora, the mother of Princess Tiana, in Disney's The Princess and the Frog and in 2010, narrated the US version of the BBC nature program Life for Discovery.
In 2018, Winfrey starred as Mrs. Which in the film adaptation of Madeleine L'Engle's novel A Wrinkle in Time. She also lent her voice to an animated virtual-reality short film written and directed by Eric Darnell, starring John Legend, titled Crow: The Legend, telling a Native American origin tale.
=== Publishing and writing ===
Winfrey has co-authored five books. At the announcement of a weight-loss book in 2005, co-authored with her personal trainer Bob Greene, it was said that her undisclosed advance fee had broken the record for the world's highest book advance fee, previously held by the autobiography of former U.S. President Bill Clinton.
In 2015, her memoir, The Life You Want, was announced following on her tour of the same name, and scheduled for publication in 2017, but was "indefinitely postponed" in 2016.
Winfrey publishes the magazine Oprah Daily and from 2004 to 2008 also published a magazine called O At Home. In 2002, Fortune called O, the Oprah Magazine the most successful start-up ever in the industry. Although its circulation had declined by more than 10 percent to 2.4 million from 2005 to 2008, the January 2009 issue was the best selling issue since 2006. The audience for her magazine is considerably more upscale than for her TV show; the average reader earns well above the median for U.S. women. In July 2020, it was announced that O Magazine would end its regular print publications after the December 2020 issue. In the December 2020 issue, Winfrey thanked readers and acknowledged it was the magazine's "final monthly print edition".
=== Online ===
Winfrey's company created the Oprah.com website to provide resources and interactive content related to her shows, magazines, book club, and public charity. Oprah.com averages more than 70 million page views and more than six million users per month, and receives approximately 20,000 e-mails each week. Winfrey initiated "Oprah's Child Predator Watch List", through her show and website, to help track down accused child molesters. Within the first 48 hours, two of the featured men were captured.
=== Radio ===
On February 9, 2006, it was announced that Winfrey had signed a three-year, $55-million contract with XM Satellite Radio to establish a new radio channel. The channel, Oprah Radio, features popular contributors to The Oprah Winfrey Show and O, The Oprah Magazine including Nate Berkus, Dr. Mehmet Oz, Bob Greene, Dr. Robin Smith, and Marianne Williamson. Oprah & Friends began broadcasting at 11:00 am ET, September 25, 2006, from a new studio at Winfrey's Chicago headquarters. The channel broadcasts 24 hours a day, seven days a week on XM Radio Channel 156. Winfrey's contract requires her to be on the air 30 minutes a week, 39 weeks a year.
== Personal life ==
=== Homes ===
Oprah's extensive and continuously evolving real-estate portfolio has garnered heightened attention throughout her life and career, with many prominent industry outlets branding her a "tycoon" regarding her investments which as of 2022, are estimated to total approximately $127 million.
As her talk show was beginning, Oprah first purchased a condominium in Chicago's Water Tower Place in 1985, before purchasing the condos adjoining and directly below it in 1992, 1993, and 1994, respectively. In 1988, she purchased an 164-acre property including main and guest residences, orchard, and stables in Rolling Prairie, Indiana as her weekend refuge. In 1992, she purchased an 80-acre compound in Telluride, Colorado, which she would go on to sell in approximately late 2000. In 1994, she also purchased an apartment at the Four Seasons Hotel Chicago. Between 1996 and 2000 she purchased a total of five condos in different development areas of Fisher Island, Florida. In 2000, through her Chicago-based LLC Overground Railroad, Oprah purchased her friend Gayle King an estate in Greenwich, Connecticut. In 2001, Oprah sold all five of her Fisher Island condos and purchased what would become her "main home base" she has also called "The Promised Land" (where she currently lives as of 2022), a (then) 42-acre (17 ha) estate with ocean and mountain views in Montecito, California.
Additionally that year, she also purchased homes in both Elmwood Park, Illinois and Merrillville, Indiana for other family members and friends. Similarly, in 2002, she purchased her father's home in Franklin, Tennessee and a lakefront condo in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In 2003 she listed her compound in Rolling Prairie, Indiana, and sold it in 2004. From 2003 to 2005, Oprah acquired several properties totaling 163 acres in Kula and Hana, Hawaii as well as a penthouse apartment in Atlanta, Georgia. In 2005, she purchased a home in Douglasville, Georgia which was gifted in 2011 to a family member.
In 2006, Oprah purchased a co-op apartment along Lake Shore Drive in downtown Chicago, reportedly with plans to permanently move there from her prior adjoined-condo unit in Water Tower Place for the duration of her show; for reasons unknown, the property sat entirely unused until she sold it in 2012. In 2008, she sold her penthouse apartment in Atlanta. That year, she also listed Gayle King's estate and purchased her (through her second LLC Sophie's Penthouse) a penthouse apartment in midtown Manhattan, New York City which would later be sold in 2012.
In early 2014, she listed her combined-unit Chicago duplex on the market. Later that year, Oprah came back to Telluride, Colorado to purchase a 60-acre lot with plans to build on the property. A lawsuit filed against her that year by a retired nuclear physicist living in the area regarding trail access rights was dismissed later that year with the judge citing little case law to support his case, among other issues. The extent of the agreement between all the parties and jurisdictions regarding her subsequent development on the property remains undisclosed.
In 2015, Oprah purchased another property in Telluride, and later that year, expanded her Montecito compound with another 23-acre estate and yet another 44-acre dedicated crop and equestrian preserve. That year she also sold both of her downtown Chicago homes.
In 2018, Oprah obtained two adjoining parcels of land totaling 23 acres including the Madroneagle compound on Orcas Island, Washington and sold her last home property in the Chicago area from Elmwood Park. In late 2019, Oprah yet again expanded her Montecito home-base compound, this time to 70 contiguous acres, with the purchase of a four-acre complex from actor Jeff Bridges. In 2021, she sold her Orcas Island compound as she said she was too busy to use it and purchased another compound in Montecito further away from her home-base compound, flipping the latter in 2022 with split properties, one of which was sold to her property manager and longtime personal trainer Bob Greene, and the other to actress Jennifer Aniston. In 2023, Winfrey also purchased 870 acres of land in Maui for $6.6 million.
=== Romantic history ===
Winfrey's high school sweetheart Anthony Otey recalled an innocent courtship that began in Winfrey's senior year of high school, from which he saved hundreds of love notes; Winfrey conducted herself with dignity and was a model student. The two spoke of getting married, but Otey claimed to have always secretly known that Winfrey was destined for a far greater life than he could ever provide. She broke up with him on Valentine's Day of her senior year.
In 1971, several months after breaking up with Otey, Winfrey met William "Bubba" Taylor at Tennessee State University. According to CBS journalist George Mair, Taylor was Winfrey's "first intense, to-die-for love affair". Winfrey helped get Taylor a job at WVOL, and according to Mair, "did everything to keep him, including literally begging him on her knees to stay with her". Taylor, however, was unwilling to leave Nashville with Winfrey when she moved to Baltimore to work at WJZ-TV in June 1976. "We really did care for each other," Winfrey would later recall. "We shared a deep love. A love I will never forget."
In the 1970s, Winfrey had a romantic relationship with John Tesh. Biographer Kitty Kelley claims that Tesh split with Winfrey over the pressures of an interracial relationship.
When WJZ-TV management criticized Winfrey for crying on air while reporting tragedies and were unhappy with her physical appearance (especially when her hair fell out as a result of a bad perm), Winfrey turned to reporter Lloyd Kramer for comfort. "Lloyd was just the best," Winfrey would later recall. "That man loved me even when I was bald! He was wonderful. He stuck with me through the whole demoralizing experience. That man was the most fun romance I ever had."
According to Mair, when Kramer moved to NBC in New York, Winfrey had a love affair with a married man who had no intention of leaving his wife. Winfrey would later recall: "I'd had a relationship with a man for four years. I wasn't living with him. I'd never lived with anyone—and I thought I was worthless without him. The more he rejected me, the more I wanted him. I felt depleted, powerless. At the end, I was down on the floor on my knees groveling and pleading with him". Winfrey became so depressed that on September 8, 1981, she wrote a suicide note to best friend Gayle King instructing King to water her plants. "That suicide note had been much overplayed" Winfrey told Ms. magazine. "I couldn't kill myself. I would be afraid the minute I did it, something really good would happen and I'd miss it."
According to Winfrey, her emotional turmoil gradually led to a weight problem: "The reason I gained so much weight in the first place and the reason I had such a sorry history of abusive relationships with men was I just needed approval so much. I needed everyone to like me, because I didn't like myself much. So I'd end up with these cruel self-absorbed guys who'd tell me how selfish I was, and I'd say 'Oh thank you, you're so right' and be grateful to them. Because I had no sense that I deserved anything else. Which is also why I gained so much weight later on. It was the perfect way of cushioning myself against the world's disapproval."
Winfrey later confessed to smoking crack cocaine with a man she was romantically involved with during the same era. She explained on her show: "I always felt that the drug itself is not the problem but that I was addicted to the man." She added: "I can't think of anything I wouldn't have done for that man."
Winfrey was allegedly involved in a second drug-related love affair. Self-proclaimed former boyfriend Randolph Cook said they lived together for several months in 1985 and did drugs. In 1997, Cook tried to sue Winfrey for $20 million for allegedly blocking a tell-all book about their alleged relationship.
In the mid-1980s, Winfrey briefly dated movie critic Roger Ebert, whom she credits with advising her to take her show into syndication.
In 1985, before Winfrey's Chicago talk show had gone national, Haitian filmmaker Reginald Chevalier claims he appeared as a guest on a look-alike segment and began a relationship with Winfrey involving romantic evenings at home, candlelit baths, and dinners with Michael Jordan and Danny Glover. Chevalier says Winfrey ended the relationship when she met Stedman Graham.
Winfrey and her partner Stedman Graham have been together since 1986. They were engaged to be married in November 1992, but the ceremony never took place.
=== Close friends ===
Winfrey's best friend since their early twenties is Gayle King. King was formerly the host of The Gayle King Show and is currently an editor of O, the Oprah Magazine. Since 1997, when Winfrey played the therapist on an episode of the sitcom Ellen in which Ellen DeGeneres came out of the closet, Winfrey and King have been the target of persistent rumors that they were gay. "I understand why people think we're gay," Winfrey says in the August 2006 issue of O magazine. "There isn't a definition in our culture for this kind of bond between women. So I get why people have to label it—how can you be this close without it being sexual?" "I've told nearly everything there is to tell. All my stuff is out there. People think I'd be so ashamed of being gay that I wouldn't admit it? Oh, please."
Winfrey has also had a long friendship with Maria Shriver, after they met in Baltimore. Winfrey considered Maya Angelou, author of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, her mentor and close friend; she called Angelou her "mother-sister-friend". Winfrey hosted a week-long Caribbean cruise for Angelou and 150 guests for Angelou's 70th birthday in 1998, and in 2008, threw her "an extravagant 80th birthday celebration" at Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida.
=== Personal wealth ===
Born in rural poverty, and raised by a mother dependent on government welfare payments in a poor urban neighborhood, Winfrey became a millionaire at the age of 32 when her talk show received national syndication. Winfrey negotiated ownership rights to the television program and started her own production company. At the age of 41, Winfrey had a net worth of $340 million and replaced Bill Cosby as the only African American on the Forbes 400. By 2000, with a net worth of $800 million, Winfrey is believed to have been the richest African American of the 20th century. There has been a course taught at the University of Illinois focusing on Winfrey's business acumen; namely, "History 298: Oprah Winfrey, the Tycoon". Winfrey was the highest-paid television entertainer in the United States in 2006, earning an estimated $260 million during the year, five times the sum earned by second-place music executive Simon Cowell. By 2008, her yearly income had increased to $275 million.
Forbes' list of The World's Billionaires has listed Winfrey as the world's only black billionaire from 2004 to 2006 and as the first black woman billionaire in the world that was achieved in 2003. One of the richest celebrities ever, as of 2014, Winfrey had a net worth in excess of 2.9 billion dollars and had overtaken former eBay CEO Meg Whitman as the richest self-made woman in America.
=== Religious views ===
Oprah was raised a Baptist. In her early life, she would speak at local, mostly African American congregations of the Southern Baptist Convention that were often deeply religious and familiar with such themes as evangelical Protestantism, the Black church, and being born-again.
She was quoted as saying: "I have church with myself: I have church walking down the street. I believe in the God force that lives inside all of us, and once you tap into that, you can do anything." She also stated, "Doubt means don't. When you don't know what to do, do nothing until you do know what to do. Because the doubt is your inner voice or the voice of God or whatever you choose to call it. It is your instinct trying to tell you something is off. That's how I have found myself to be led spiritually, because that's your spiritual voice saying to you, 'let's think about it.' So when you don't know what to do, do nothing."
Oprah has stated that she is a Christian and her favorite Bible verse is Acts 17:28.
Oprah attends The Potter's House, an Evangelical church in Dallas.
=== Other ===
In October 1994, she finished the Marine Corps Marathon in less than four and a half hours.
After the loss of her infant child at age 14, Winfrey did not want more children. In a 2017 interview with Vanity Fair, she explained "I didn't want babies. I wouldn't have been a good mom for babies. I don't have the patience. I have the patience for puppies but that's a quick stage!"
== Influence ==
=== Rankings ===
Winfrey was called "arguably the world's most powerful woman" by CNN and TIME, "arguably the most influential woman in the world" by The American Spectator, "one of the 100 people who most influenced the 20th Century" and "one of the most influential people" from 2004 to 2011 by TIME. Winfrey is the only person to have appeared in the latter list on ten occasions.
At the end of the 20th century, Life listed Winfrey as both the most influential woman and the most influential black person of her generation, and in a cover story profile the magazine called her "America's most powerful woman". In 2007, USA Today ranked Winfrey as the most influential woman and most influential black person of the previous quarter-century. Ladies' Home Journal also ranked Winfrey number one in their list of the most powerful women in America and then Senator Barack Obama in 2007 said she "may be the most influential woman in the country". In 1998, Winfrey became the first woman and first African American to top Entertainment Weekly's list of the 101 most powerful people in the entertainment industry. Forbes named her the world's most powerful celebrity in 2005, 2007, 2008, 2010, and 2013.
As chairman of Harpo Inc., she was named the most powerful woman in entertainment by The Hollywood Reporter in 2008. She has been listed as one of the world's 100 most powerful women by Forbes, ranking 14th in 2014 and 31st in 2023. In 2010, Life magazine named Winfrey one of the 100 people who changed the world, alongside Jesus Christ, Elvis Presley, and Lady Mary Wortley Montagu. Winfrey was the only living woman to make the list.
Columnist Maureen Dowd seems to agree with such assessments. Interviewed by The Guardian in 2006, Dowd said: "She is the top alpha female in this country. She has more credibility than the president. Other successful women, such as Hillary Clinton and Martha Stewart, had to be publicly slapped down before they could move forward. Even Condi has had to play the protégé with Bush. None of this happened to Oprah – she is a straight ahead success story." Vanity Fair wrote: "Oprah Winfrey arguably has more influence on the culture than any university president, politician, or religious leader, except perhaps the Pope. Bill O'Reilly said: "this is a woman that came from nothing to rise up to be the most powerful woman, I think, in the world. I think Oprah Winfrey is the most powerful woman in the world, not just in America. That's – anybody who goes on her program immediately benefits through the roof. I mean, she has a loyal following; she has credibility; she has talent; and she's done it on her own to become fabulously wealthy and fabulously powerful."
In 2005, Winfrey was named the greatest woman in American history as part of a public poll as part of The Greatest American. She was ranked No. 9 overall on the list of greatest Americans. However, polls estimating Winfrey's personal popularity have been inconsistent. A November 2003 Gallup poll estimated that 73% of American adults had a favorable view of Winfrey. Another Gallup poll in January 2007 estimated the figure at 74%, although it dropped to 66% when Gallup conducted the same poll in October 2007. A December 2007 Fox News poll put the figure at 55%. According to Gallup's annual most admired poll, Americans consistently rank Winfrey as one of the most admired women in the world. Her highest rating came in 2007 when she was statistically tied with Hillary Clinton for first place. In a list compiled by the British magazine New Statesman in September 2010, she was voted 38th in the list of "The World's 50 Most Influential Figures 2010".
In 1989, she was accepted into the NAACP Image Award Hall of Fame.
=== "Oprahfication" ===
The Wall Street Journal coined the term "Oprahfication", meaning public confession as a form of therapy. By confessing intimate details about her weight problems, tumultuous love life, and sexual abuse, and crying alongside her guests, Winfrey has been credited by Time magazine with creating a new form of media communication known as "rapport talk" as distinguished from the "report talk" of Phil Donahue: "Winfrey saw television's power to blend public and private; while it links strangers and conveys information over public airwaves, TV is most often viewed in the privacy of our homes. Like a family member, it sits down to meals with us and talks to us in the lonely afternoons. Grasping this paradox, ... She makes people care because she cares. That is Winfrey's genius, and will be her legacy, as the changes she has wrought in the talk show continue to permeate our culture and shape our lives."
Observers have also noted the "Oprahfication" of politics such as "Oprah-style debates" and Bill Clinton being described as "the man who brought Oprah-style psychobabble and misty confessions to politics". Newsweek stated: "Every time a politician lets his lip quiver or a cable anchor 'emotes' on TV, they nod to the cult of confession that Oprah helped create."
The November 1988 Ms. observed that "in a society where fat is taboo, she made it in a medium that worships thin and celebrates a bland, white-bread prettiness of body and personality [...] But Winfrey made fat sexy, elegant – damned near gorgeous – with her drop-dead wardrobe, easy body language, and cheerful sensuality."
==== Daytime talk show's impact on LGBT people ====
While Phil Donahue has been credited with pioneering the tabloid talk show genre, Winfrey's warmth, intimacy, and personal confession popularized and changed it. Her success at popularizing the tabloid talk show genre opened up a thriving industry that has included Ricki Lake, The Jenny Jones Show, and The Jerry Springer Show. In the book Freaks Talk Back, Yale sociology professor Joshua Gamson credits the tabloid talk show genre with providing much needed high-impact media visibility for gay, bisexual, transsexual, and transgender (LGBT) people and doing more to make them mainstream and socially acceptable than any other development of the 20th century. In the book's editorial review, Michael Bronski wrote, "In the recent past, lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgendered people had almost no presence on television. With the invention and propagation of tabloid talk shows such as Jerry Springer, Jenny Jones, Oprah, and Geraldo, people outside the sexual mainstream now appear in living rooms across America almost every day of the week." Gamson credits the tabloid talk show with making alternative sexual orientations and identities more acceptable in mainstream society. Examples include a Time magazine article on early 21st-century gays coming out of the closet at an increasingly younger age and on plummeting gay suicide rates. Gamson also believes that tabloid talk shows caused gays to be accepted on more traditional forms of media.
In April 1997, Winfrey played the therapist in "The Puppy Episode" on the sitcom Ellen to whom the character (and the real-life Ellen DeGeneres) came out as a lesbian.
=== "The Oprah Effect" ===
The power of Winfrey's opinions and endorsement to influence public opinion, especially consumer purchasing choices, has been dubbed "the Oprah Effect". The effect has been documented or alleged in domains as diverse as book sales, beef markets, and election voting. Late in 1996, Winfrey introduced the Oprah's Book Club segment to her television show. The segment focused on new books and classics and often brought obscure novels to popular attention. The book club became such a powerful force that whenever Winfrey introduced a new book as her book-club selection, it instantly became a best-seller; for example, when she selected the classic John Steinbeck novel East of Eden, it soared to the top of the book charts. Being recognized by Winfrey often means a million additional book sales for an author. In Reading with Oprah: The Book Club that Changed America (2005), Kathleen Rooney describes Winfrey as "a serious American intellectual who pioneered the use of electronic media, specifically television and the Internet, to take reading – a decidedly non-technological and highly individual act – and highlight its social elements and uses in such a way to motivate millions of erstwhile non-readers to pick up books."
When author Jonathan Franzen's book was selected for the Book Club, he reportedly "cringed" and said selected books tend to be "schmaltzy". After James Frey's A Million Little Pieces was found to contain fabrications in 2006, Winfrey confronted him on her show over the breach of trust. In 2009, Winfrey apologized to Frey for the public confrontation. During a show about mad cow disease with Howard Lyman (aired on April 16, 1996), Winfrey said she was stopped cold from eating another burger. Texas cattlemen sued her and Lyman in early 1998 for "false defamation of perishable food" and "business disparagement," claiming that Winfrey's remarks sent cattle prices tumbling, costing beef producers $11 million. Winfrey was represented by attorney Chip Babcock and, on February 26, after a two-month trial in an Amarillo, Texas, court, a jury found Winfrey and Lyman were not liable for damages. Winfrey's ability to launch other successful talk shows such as Dr. Phil, The Dr. Oz Show, and Rachael Ray has also been cited as examples of "The Oprah Effect".
=== Politics ===
Matthew Baum and Angela Jamison performed an experiment testing their hypothesis, "Politically unaware individuals who consume soft news will be more likely to vote consistently than their counterparts who do not consume soft news". In their studies, they found that low-awareness individuals who watch soft news shows, such as The Oprah Winfrey Show are 14% more likely to vote consistently than low-awareness individuals who only watch hard news.
Winfrey states she is a political independent who has "earned the right to think for myself and to vote for myself". She endorsed presidential candidate Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential election. On September 25, 2006, Winfrey made her first endorsement of Obama for president on Larry King Live, the first time she endorsed a political candidate running for office. Two economists estimate that Winfrey's endorsement was worth over a million votes in the Democratic primary race and that without it, Obama would have lost the nomination. Winfrey held a fundraiser for Obama on September 8, 2007, at her Santa Barbara estate. In December 2007, Winfrey joined Obama for a series of rallies in the early primary states of Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina. The Columbia, South Carolina, event on December 9, 2007, drew a crowd of nearly 30,000, the largest for any political event of 2007. An analysis by two economists at the University of Maryland, College Park estimated that Winfrey's endorsement was responsible for between 420,000 and 1,600,000 votes for Obama in the Democratic primary alone, based on a sample of states that did not include Texas, Michigan, North Dakota, Kansas, or Alaska. The results suggest that in the sampled states, Winfrey's endorsement was responsible for the difference in the popular vote between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. The governor of Illinois, Rod Blagojevich, reported being so impressed by Winfrey's endorsement that he considered offering Winfrey Obama's vacant senate seat, describing Winfrey as "the most instrumental person in electing Barack Obama president," with "a voice larger than all 100 senators combined". Winfrey responded by stating that although she was absolutely not interested, she did feel she could be a senator. The Topps trading card company memorialized Oprah's involvement in the campaign by featuring her on a card in a set commemorating Obama's road to the White House.
In April 2014, Winfrey spoke for more than 20 minutes at a fundraiser in Arlington, Virginia, for Lavern Chatman, a candidate in a primary to nominate a Democratic Party candidate for election to the U.S. House of Representatives. Winfrey participated in the event even after reports had revealed that Chatman had been found liable in 2001 for her role in a scheme to defraud hundreds of District of Columbia nursing-home employees of at least $1.4 million in owed wages.
Winfrey endorsed Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election, and referred to Republican candidate Donald Trump as a "demagogue". In 2018, Winfrey canvassed door-to-door for Georgia gubernatorial Democratic nominee Stacey Abrams and donated $500,000 to the March for Our Lives student demonstration in favor of gun control in the United States.
Winfrey has at times been the subject of media speculation that she may run for president herself, most notably in the lead-up to the 2020 election in which some reports claimed that she was actively considering launching a campaign for the Democratic nomination. Winfrey ultimately denied any plans to run for president, saying in 2018 that while it was "a humbling thing to have people think you can run the country", she "would not be able to do it. It's not a clean business. It would kill me." Winfrey suggested that she would publicly endorse a candidate in the 2020 Democratic primaries, however she ultimately did not do so. She later campaigned for Joe Biden during the general election.
In early 2018, Winfrey met with Mohammad bin Salman, the crown prince and de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, when he visited the United States.
In the 2022 Pennsylvania Senate election, Winfrey endorsed Democrat John Fetterman over Republican Mehmet Oz, whose show she promoted. In the 2022 Maryland gubernatorial election, she endorsed Baltimore author Wes Moore in the Democratic primary, co-hosting a virtual fundraiser for him in June. Winfrey later attended and spoke at Moore's gubernatorial inauguration on January 18, 2023.
In 2022, Winfrey set up OWN Your Vote, a nonpartisan group dedicated to voter registration and a get-out-the-vote campaign focused on providing Black women with tools and resources to vote in the November election. Their partners include Advancement Project, African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME), Color Of Change, Delta Sigma Theta sorority, The King Center, The Lawyers' Committee, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, National Action Network, National Bar Association, National Council of Negro Women, Sigma Gamma Rho, Southern Poverty Law Center, VoteRunLead, and Vote.org.
On August 21, 2024, Winfrey endorsed Kamala Harris in the 2024 United States presidential election at the 2024 Democratic National Convention.
=== Spiritual leadership ===
In 2000, she was awarded the Spingarn Medal from the NAACP. In 2002, Christianity Today published an article called "The Church of O" in which they concluded that Winfrey had emerged as an influential spiritual leader. "Since 1994, when she abandoned traditional talk-show fare for more edifying content, and 1998, when she began 'Change Your Life TV', Oprah's most significant role has become that of a spiritual leader. To her audience of more than 22 million mostly female viewers, she has become a postmodern priestess—an icon of church-free spirituality." The sentiment was echoed by Marcia Z. Nelson in her book The Gospel According to Oprah. Since the mid-1990s, Winfrey's show has emphasized uplifting and inspirational topics and themes and some viewers say the show has motivated them to perform acts of altruism such as helping Congolese women and building an orphanage. A scientific study by psychological scientists at the University of Cambridge, University of Plymouth, and University of California used an uplifting clip from The Oprah Winfrey Show in an experiment that discovered that watching the 'uplifting' clip caused subjects to become twice as helpful as subjects assigned to watch a British comedy or nature documentary.
In 1998, Winfrey began an ongoing conversation with Gary Zukav, an American spiritual teacher, who appeared on her television show 35 times. Winfrey has said she keeps a copy of Zukav's The Seat of the Soul at her bedside, a book that she says is one of her all-time favorites.
On the season premiere of Winfrey's 13th season, Roseanne Barr told Winfrey "you're the African Mother Goddess of us all" inspiring much enthusiasm from the studio audience. The animated series Futurama alluded to her spiritual influence by suggesting that "Oprahism" is a mainstream religion in 3000 AD. Twelve days after the September 11 attacks, New York mayor Rudy Giuliani asked Winfrey to serve as host of a Prayer for America service at New York City's Yankee Stadium, which was attended by former president Bill Clinton and New York senator Hillary Clinton. Leading up to the U.S.-led 2001 invasion of Afghanistan, less than a month after the September 11 attacks, Winfrey aired a controversial show called "Islam 101" in which she portrayed Islam as a religion of peace, calling it "the most misunderstood of the three major religions". In 2002, George W. Bush invited Winfrey to join a US delegation that included adviser Karen Hughes and Condoleezza Rice, planning to go to Afghanistan to celebrate the return of Afghan girls to school. The "Oprah strategy" was designed to portray the war on terror in a positive light; however, when Winfrey refused to participate, the trip was postponed.
Leading up to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, Winfrey's show received criticism for allegedly having an anti-war bias. Ben Shapiro of Townhall.com wrote: "Oprah Winfrey is the most powerful woman in America. She decides what makes The New York Times Best Seller lists. Her touchy-feely style sucks in audiences at the rate of 14 million viewers per day. But Oprah is far more than a cultural force, she's a dangerous political force as well, a woman with unpredictable and mercurial attitudes toward the major issues of the day." In 2006, Winfrey recalled such controversies: "I once did a show titled Is War the Only Answer? In the history of my career, I've never received more hate mail – like 'Go back to Africa' hate mail. I was accused of being un-American for even raising the question." Filmmaker Michael Moore came to Winfrey's defense, praising her for showing antiwar footage no other media would show and begging her to run for president.
A February 2003 series, in which Winfrey showed clips from people all over the world asking America not to go to war, was interrupted in several East Coast markets by network broadcasts of a press conference in which President George W. Bush and Colin Powell summarized the case for war.
In 2007, Winfrey began to endorse the self-help program The Secret. The Secret claims that people can change their lives through positive thoughts or 'vibrations', which will then cause them to attract more positive vibrations that result in good things happening to them. Peter Birkenhead of Salon magazine argued that this idea is pseudoscience and psychologically damaging, as it trivializes important decisions and promotes a quick-fix material culture, and suggests Winfrey's promotion of it is irresponsible given her influence. In 2007, skeptic and magician James Randi accused Winfrey of being deliberately deceptive and uncritical in how she handles paranormal claims on her show. In 2008, Winfrey endorsed author and spiritual teacher Eckhart Tolle and his book, A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose, which sold several million extra copies after being selected for her book club. During a Webinar class, in which she promoted the book, Winfrey stated "God is a feeling experience and not a believing experience. If your religion is a believing experience [...] then that's not truly God." Frank Pastore, a Christian radio talk show host on KKLA, was among the many Christian leaders who criticized Winfrey's views, saying "if she's a Christian, she's an ignorant one because Christianity is incompatible with New Age thought".
Winfrey was named as the 2008 Person of the Year by animal-rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) for using her fame and listening audience to help the less fortunate, including animals. PETA praised Winfrey for using her talk show to uncover horrific cases of cruelty to animals in puppy mills and on factory farms, and Winfrey even used the show to highlight the cruelty-free vegan diet that she tried.
In 2009, Winfrey filmed a series of interviews in Denmark highlighting its citizens as the happiest people in the world. In 2010, Bill O'Reilly of Fox News criticized these shows for promoting a left-wing society. Following the launch of the Super Soul Sunday and SuperSoul Sessions programs on Harpo Productions' SuperSoul TV, in 2016 Winfrey selected 100 people for the SuperSoul 100 list of "innovators and visionaries who are aligned on a mission to move humanity forward".
On using the N-word, Winfrey said, "You cannot be my friend and use that word around me. ... I always think of the...people who heard that as their last word as they were hanging from a tree."
=== Fan base ===
The viewership for The Oprah Winfrey Show was highest during the 1991–92 season, when about 13.1 million U.S. viewers were watching each day. By 2003, ratings declined to 7.4 million daily viewers. Ratings briefly rebounded to approximately 9 million in 2005 and then declined again to around 7.3 million viewers in 2008, though it remained the highest-rated talk show.
In 2008, Winfrey's show was airing in 140 countries internationally and seen by an estimated 46 million people in the US weekly. According to the Harris poll, Winfrey was America's favorite television personality in 1998, 2000, 2002–06, and 2009. Winfrey was especially popular among women, Democrats, political moderates, Baby Boomers, Generation X, Southern Americans, and East Coast Americans.
Outside the U.S., Winfrey has become increasingly popular in the Arab world. The Wall Street Journal reported in 2007 that MBC 4, an Arab satellite channel, centered its entire programming around reruns of her show because it was drawing record numbers of female viewers in Saudi Arabia. In 2008, The New York Times reported that The Oprah Winfrey Show, with Arabic subtitles, was broadcast twice each weekday on MBC 4. Winfrey's modest dress, combined with her attitude of triumph over adversity and abuse has caused some women in Saudi Arabia to idealize her.
=== Philanthropy ===
In 2004, Winfrey became the first Black person to rank among the 50 most generous Americans and she remained among the top 50 until 2010. By 2012, she had given away about $400 million to educational causes.
As of 2012, Winfrey had also given over 400 scholarships to Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia. Winfrey was the recipient of the first Bob Hope Humanitarian Award at the 2002 Emmy Awards for services to television and film. To celebrate two decades on national TV, and to thank her employees for their hard work, Winfrey took her staff and their families (1,065 people in total) on vacation to Hawaii in the summer of 2006.
In 2013, Winfrey donated $12 million to the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture. President Barack Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom later that same year.
Winfrey purchased 2,130 acres of land in Maui and set up a bed and breakfast for entertaining friends as well as a (unprofitable) organic farm; she is dedicated to keeping the area unoccupied and growing native species to aid in the restoration of damaged watersheds. She distributed pillows, diapers and other supplies to survivors of a devastating fire and, with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, set up the People’s Fund of Maui, personally donating $25 million of her own towards the cause.
==== Oprah's Angel Network ====
In 1998, Winfrey created Oprah's Angel Network, a charity that supported charitable projects and provided grants to nonprofit organizations around the world. Oprah's Angel Network raised more than $80 million ($1 million of which was donated by Jon Bon Jovi). Winfrey personally covered all administrative costs associated with the charity, so 100% of all funds raised went to charity programs. In May 2010, with Oprah's show ending, the charity stopped accepting donations and was shut down.
==== South Africa ====
In 2004, Winfrey and her team filmed an episode of her show, "Oprah's Christmas Kindness", in which Winfrey travelled to South Africa to bring attention to the plight of young children affected by poverty and AIDS. During the 21-day trip, Winfrey and her crew visited schools and orphanages in poverty-stricken areas, and distributed Christmas presents to 50,000 children, with dolls for the girls and soccer balls for the boys, and school supplies. Throughout the show, Winfrey appealed to viewers to donate money to Oprah's Angel Network for poor and AIDS-affected children in Africa. From that show alone, viewers around the world donated over $7 million. Winfrey invested $40 million and some of her time establishing the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in Henley on Klip south of Johannesburg, South Africa. The school, set over 22 acres, opened in January 2007 with an enrollment of 150 pupils (increasing to 450) and features state-of-the-art classrooms, computer and science laboratories, a library, a theatre, and a beauty salon. Nelson Mandela praised Winfrey for overcoming her own disadvantaged youth to become a benefactor for others. Critics considered the school elitist and unnecessarily luxurious. Winfrey rejected the claims, saying: "If you are surrounded by beautiful things and wonderful teachers who inspire you, that beauty brings out the beauty in you." Winfrey, who has no surviving biological children, described maternal feelings towards the girls at Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls. Winfrey teaches a class at the school via satellite.
== Filmography == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sammy_Shore | Sammy Shore | Sammy Shore (February 7, 1927 – May 18, 2019) was an American actor, stand-up comedian and co-founder of The Comedy Store.
== Early life ==
Sammy Shore was born in 1927 in New York City at the start of the Great Depression in the United States. He grew up in a traditional household to Jewish parents.
== Career ==
Shore began his career doing stand-up comedy with Shecky Greene in the Catskill Mountains. He was chosen, in 1969, to open for Elvis Presley’s comeback performance at the International Hotel, Las Vegas. He then opened for Elvis’ road shows until 1972. Shore continued to perform comedy, opening for Tony Orlando, Tony Bennett, Barbra Streisand, Sammy Davis Jr. and others. Shore served in the U.S. Navy during World War II.
On April 7, 1972, he founded the Comedy Store with his writing partner Rudy De Luca. In 1974, his ex-wife, Mitzi, became the owner of the club. The club launched the careers of many comedians including Rodney Dangerfield, David Letterman, Eddie Murphy, Robin Williams, Jim Carrey, and Joe Rogan, also including his own son, Pauly.
Shore appeared in many films including The Bellboy with Jerry Lewis and both Life Stinks and History of the World Part 1 from Mel Brooks. He appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show and was on Sanford and Son.
Shore was voted Best Comedy Act in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and the Los Angeles Board of Supervisors named a day after him on July 24, 1990. He appeared at Harrah's Casinos and hotels more than any other entertainer.
== Personal life ==
Shore was married to Mitzi for 24 years, and was the father of four, including actor and comedian Pauly Shore. Shore married Suzanne Dennie in 1990. She was Miss Alabama in 1970. They remained together until his death in Las Vegas, Nevada of natural causes at the age of 92. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friends | Friends | Friends is an American television sitcom created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994, to May 6, 2004, lasting ten seasons. With an ensemble cast starring Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry, and David Schwimmer, the show revolves around six friends in their 20s and early 30s who live in Manhattan, New York City. The original executive producers were Kevin S. Bright, Kauffman, and Crane.
Kauffman and Crane began developing Friends under the working title Insomnia Cafe between November and December 1993. They presented the idea to Bright, and together they pitched a seven-page treatment of the show to NBC. After several script rewrites and changes, including title changes to Six of One and Friends Like Us, the series was finally named Friends. Filming took place at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, California.
All ten seasons of Friends ranked within the top ten of the final television season ratings; ultimately reaching the number 1 spot in its eighth season. The series finale aired on May 6, 2004, and was watched by around 52.5 million American viewers, making it the fifth-most-watched series finale in television history and the most-watched television episode of the 2000s. Friends received acclaim throughout its run, becoming one of the most popular and highest-grossing television shows of all time. The show's success led to a spin-off series, Joey, and a reunion special, Friends: The Reunion.
== Cast and characters ==
Jennifer Aniston as Rachel Green: A fashion enthusiast and Monica Geller's best friend from childhood. Rachel first moves in with Monica in season one after nearly marrying Barry Farber. Rachel and Ross Geller are later involved in an on-again, off-again relationship throughout the series. Rachel dates other men during the series, such as Italian neighbor, Paolo, in season one; Joshua Bergin, a client from Bloomingdale's, in season four; Tag Jones, her assistant, in season seven; and Joey Tribbiani, one of her close friends, in season ten. Rachel's first job is as a waitress at the coffee house Central Perk, but she later becomes an assistant buyer at Bloomingdale's in season three, and a buyer at Ralph Lauren in season five. Rachel and Ross have a daughter named Emma Geller-Green in "The One Where Rachel Has a Baby, Part Two" at the end of season eight. In the final episode of the series, Ross and Rachel confess their love for each other, and Rachel gives up a dream fashion job at Louis Vuitton in Paris to be with him. Although never explicitly identified as such, the character has been described as embodying the stereotype of a "Jewish american princess."
Courteney Cox as Monica Geller: The "mother hen" of the group and a chef, known for her perfectionist, bossy, competitive, and obsessive-compulsive nature. Monica was overweight as a child. She had a bat mitzvah as a teenager. She works as a chef in various restaurants throughout the show. Monica's first serious relationship is with a long-time family friend Richard Burke, who is 21 years her senior. The two maintain a strong relationship for some time until Richard expresses that he does not want to have children. Monica and Chandler Bing, one of her best friends, later start a relationship after spending a night with each other in London in the season four finale, leading to their marriage in season seven and the adoption of twins Jack and Erica Bing at the end of the series. A running gag in the show is Chandler's easy-going and humorous nature conflicting with Monica's high-maintenance and compulsive behavior.
Lisa Kudrow as Phoebe Buffay: A masseuse, vegetarian and self-taught musician. As a child, Phoebe lived in upstate New York with her mother Lily Buffay, until her mother committed suicide and Phoebe took to the streets. She writes and sings her own strange songs, accompanying herself on the guitar. She has an identical twin named Ursula Buffay, who shares few of Phoebe's traits. Phoebe has three serious relationships over the show's run: David, a scientist, in season one, with whom she breaks up when he moves to Minsk on a research grant; Gary, a police officer whose badge she finds, in season five; and an on-and-off relationship with Mike Hannigan in seasons nine and ten. In season nine, Phoebe and Mike break up due to his desire not to marry. David returns from Minsk, leading to the two getting back together, but she eventually rejects him for Mike when both of them propose to her. Phoebe and Mike marry in season ten.
Matt LeBlanc as Joey Tribbiani: A struggling actor and food lover who becomes famous for his role on soap opera Days of Our Lives as Dr. Drake Ramoray. Joey has many short-term girlfriends. Despite his womanizing, Joey is innocent, caring, and well-intentioned. Joey often uses the catchphrase pick-up line "How you doin'?" in his attempts to win over most of the women he meets. Joey rooms with his best friend Chandler for years, and later with Rachel. He falls in love with Rachel in season eight, but Rachel politely tells Joey that she does not share his feelings. They eventually date briefly in season ten, but after realizing it will not work due to their friendship and Rachel's complicated relationship with Ross, they return to being friends. At the end of the series, he is the only remaining single member of the group, and becomes the main protagonist of the sequel series Joey.
Matthew Perry as Chandler Bing: An executive in statistical analysis and data reconfiguration for a large multinational corporation. Chandler hates this job, although it pays well. He attempts to quit during season one but is lured back with a new office and a pay raise. He eventually quits this job in season nine due to a transfer to Tulsa, Oklahoma. He becomes a junior copywriter at an advertising agency later that season. Chandler has a peculiar family history, being the son of an erotic novelist mother Nora Tyler Bing and a gay, cross-dressing Las Vegas star father Charles Bing. Chandler is known for his sarcastic sense of humor, bad luck in relationships, and tendency to be the butt of all jokes. Despite this, he is still kind and usually serves as the voice of reason in contrast to his more arrogant and selfish friends. Chandler marries Monica, one of his best friends, in season seven, and they adopt twins at the end of the series. Before his relationship with Monica, Chandler dated Janice Hosenstein in season one and subsequently broke up with her many times.
David Schwimmer as Ross Geller: Monica's "geeky" older brother, a PhD palaeontologist working at the American Museum of Natural History, and later a tenured professor of palaeontology at New York University. Ross is involved in an on-again, off-again relationship with Rachel throughout the series. He has three failed marriages during the series: Carol Willick, a lesbian who is also the mother of his son, Ben Geller, with whom he tries to share his Jewish heritage; Emily Waltham, who divorces him after he accidentally says Rachel's name instead of hers during their wedding vows; and Rachel, as the two drunkenly marry in Las Vegas. His divorces become a running joke within the series. Following a one-night stand, he and Rachel have a daughter, Emma, by the end of season eight. They finally confess that they are still in love with each other in the Season 10 series finale.
James Michael Tyler appears as Gunther, a barista at Central Perk, in every season of the show, but is only ever credited as a guest star. Gunther has a mostly secret profound love for Rachel throughout the entire series. At one point he becomes the manager of the coffee house. It is revealed that Gunther speaks Dutch in addition to English, as well as being a former soap opera actor.
In their original contracts for the first season, cast members were paid $22,500 per episode. The cast members received different salaries in the second season, beginning from the $20,000 range to $40,000 per episode. Before their salary negotiations for the third season, the cast decided to enter collective negotiations, despite Warner Bros.' preference for individual deals. The stars were each paid $75,000 per episode in season three, $85,000 in season four, $100,000 in season five, $125,000 in season six, $750,000 in seasons seven and eight, and $1 million in seasons nine and ten, making Aniston, Cox, and Kudrow the highest-paid TV actresses of all time. The cast also received syndication royalties beginning in 2000 after renegotiations. At the time, that financial benefit of a piece of the show's lucrative back-end profits had only been given out to stars who had ownership rights in a show, like Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Cosby.
Series creator David Crane wanted all six actors to be equally prominent, and the series was lauded as being "the first true 'ensemble' show." The cast members made efforts to keep the ensemble format and not allow one member to dominate; they entered themselves in the same acting categories for awards, opted for collective salary negotiations, and asked to appear together on magazine cover photos in the first season. The cast members also became best friends off-screen, so much so that recurring guest star Tom Selleck reported that he sometimes felt left out.
The cast remained good friends after the series run, most notably Cox and Aniston, with Aniston being godmother to Cox and David Arquette's daughter, Coco. In the official farewell commemorative book Friends 'Til the End, each separately acknowledged in interviews that the cast had become their family.
== Episodes ==
=== Season 1 ===
The first season introduces the six main characters who live in New York City: Rachel Green, a waitress; professional chef Monica Geller; her paleontologist brother, Ross Geller; free-spirited masseuse Phoebe Buffay; struggling actor Joey Tribbiani; and Ross's college friend, Chandler Bing, whose precise occupation at a corporation is unknown. Rachel arrives at Central Perk, wearing her wedding dress, after leaving her fiancé, Barry Farber (Mitchell Whitfield), an orthodontist, at the altar. She moves into her high school friend Monica's apartment, and gets a waitress job at Central Perk.
Ross, who has had a crush on Rachel since high school, often attempts to declare his feelings for her. However many obstacles stand in his way, including his insecurities, Rachel dating an Italian neighbor named Paolo, and the fact that he is expecting a baby with his lesbian ex-wife, Carol Willick (played first by Anita Barone and then Jane Sibbett), who gives birth to Ben Geller (Cole Sprouse) later in the season. Joey never has a steady girlfriend and constantly sleeps with a variety of women. Phoebe is rather odd and complex, mostly due to her mother Lily Buffay's suicide when she was a child and having lived on the streets for a time. However, the gang loves her regardless.
Chandler breaks up with his girlfriend, Janice Hosenstein (Maggie Wheeler), only to find himself reconnecting with her throughout the series. Near the end of the season, while Ross is at a paleontology dig in China, Chandler accidentally lets slip that Ross loves Rachel, who then realizes that she also cares for him. The season ends with Rachel waiting at the airport for Ross, who is returning from China.
=== Season 2 ===
Rachel greets Ross at the airport only to discover that he has returned with Julie (Lauren Tom), someone he knew from graduate school. Rachel's attempts to tell Ross that she loves him initially mirror his failed attempts in the first season. After he breaks up with Julie for Rachel, friction between them develops when Rachel discovers Ross's list of the cons of dating her. They eventually begin a relationship after Rachel sees an old home video from her and Monica's prom night and realizes Ross was going to stand in for her prom date Chip Matthews (Dan Gauthier) who nearly stood her up.
Monica is promoted to head chef at the Iridium restaurant, then gets fired for accepting gifts from a supplier, which is against company policy. Needing money, she is forced to take an embarrassing job as a waitress at a 1950s-style diner. She begins dating Richard Burke (Tom Selleck), a recently divorced family friend who is 21 years her senior. They eventually break up when Monica realizes that Richard, already a father, does not want more children. Joey is cast in a fictional version of the soap opera, Days of Our Lives as neurosurgeon Dr. Drake Ramoray. He moves out of his and Chandler's apartment, forcing Chandler to get a new roommate, Eddie Menuek (Adam Goldberg).
However, Eddie is annoying and somewhat deranged. When Joey claims in a soap opera magazine interview that he writes many of his own lines, offending the show's writer (James E. Reilly), his character is killed off. No longer able to afford his expensive new apartment, Joey moves back in with Chandler, kicking Eddie out in the process. In the season finale, Chandler talks to an anonymous woman in an online chat room. When they agree to meet in person, the woman turns out to be Janice.
=== Season 3 ===
Season 3 takes on a significantly more serialized format. Chandler and Janice date for several episodes until Joey catches Janice kissing her soon-to-be ex-husband Gary Litman (Mark Cohen). Not wanting to destroy her family, Chandler urges Janice to go back to Gary, then becomes depressed over the breakup for several episodes. Rachel quits her job at Central Perk and begins working at Bloomingdale's, an upscale department store chain. Ross soon becomes jealous of her colleague Mark Robinson (Steven Eckholdt) and frustrated by Rachel's long work hours. She is tired of his constant jealousy and insecurity, and decides they need a relationship break.
Ross, hurt and somewhat drunk, immediately sleeps with Chloe (Angela Featherstone), "the hot girl from the Xerox place," causing Rachel to break up with him completely. Although Phoebe initially believes she has no family except her twin sister Ursula Buffay (Lisa Kudrow), she learns she has a half-brother, Frank Buffay Jr. (Giovanni Ribisi) and discovers her birth mother, Phoebe Abbott (Teri Garr) over the course of the season. Joey falls in love with his acting partner Kate Miller (Dina Meyer), but is jealous of her dating Marshall Townend (Reg Rogers) the director of their play. They begin a brief relationship that ends when she takes an acting job in Los Angeles.
Monica dates millionaire Pete Becker (Jon Favreau), despite her initially not being attracted to him. However, she breaks up with Pete after he is seriously hurt trying to become the Ultimate Fighting Champion and refuses to quit. Phoebe sets Ross up on a date with her friend, Bonnie (Christine Taylor), inciting Rachel's jealousy. She tries sabotaging the relationship by coercing Bonnie to shave her head bald, and eventually admits to Ross that she still has feelings for him. The season closes with Ross having to choose between Rachel and Bonnie.
=== Season 4 ===
In the season 4 premiere, after Ross breaks up with Bonnie, he and Rachel briefly reconcile after Ross pretends to read a long letter that Rachel wrote for him. However, Ross continues to insist that the two were on a break when he slept with Chloe, so they break up again. Joey dates Kathy (Paget Brewster), a girl that Chandler has a crush on. Kathy and Chandler later kiss, which causes drama between Chandler and Joey. Joey only forgives Chandler and allows him to date Kathy after Chandler spends Thanksgiving in a box as punishment.
Chandler's relationship with Kathy ends after he discovers that she cheated on him due to an argument. Phoebe loses her job as a masseuse after making out with one of her clients Rick Sanoven (Jason Brooks) and she accompanies Monica, who has become a caterer for hire. They soon start a catering business together but Monica, after negatively reviewing a restaurant, Allesandro's, is offered the position of head chef. Despite initially being pressured by the wrath of her co-workers, Monica eventually asserts her dominance in the kitchen. Phoebe becomes a surrogate for her brother and his fiancée, Alice Knight (Debra Jo Rupp).
Monica and Rachel are forced to switch apartments with Joey and Chandler after losing a bet during a quiz game, but manage to switch back by bribing them with Knicks season tickets and a one-minute kiss (off-screen) between each other. After her boss Joanna (Alison La Placa) dies, Rachel is demoted to personal shopping and meets and later dates a customer named Joshua Burgin (Tate Donovan). Ross begins dating an English woman named Emily Waltham (Helen Baxendale), and they quickly get engaged. Rachel struggles to cope and hastily suggests to Joshua that they marry, after which he rejects her. In the season finale, the group, apart from Rachel and a heavily pregnant Phoebe, travel to Ross and Emily's wedding in London. Chandler and Monica sleep together, and Rachel, realizing that she is still in love with Ross, rushes to London to stop Ross and Emily's wedding, but changes her mind when she sees them happy together. While saying his vows, Ross accidentally says Rachel's name at the altar, shocking his bride Emily and the guests.
=== Season 5 ===
Ross and Emily marry, but an angry and humiliated Emily flees the reception. Rachel soon admits her love for Ross, but realizing how ridiculous this is, advises him to work on his marriage to Emily. She develops a crush on her neighbor Danny (George Newbern) and they date briefly, until she realizes that he is too close with his sister Krista (Julie Lauren). Monica and Chandler try to keep their new relationship a secret from their friends. Phoebe gives birth to triplets in the show's 100th episode. She gives birth to a boy, Frank Buffay Jr. Jr., and two girls, Leslie and Chandler Buffay, the latter of whom was supposed to be a boy, but was later revealed to be a girl.
After weeks of trying to contact her, Emily agrees to reconcile with Ross and move to New York if he breaks off all communication with Rachel. Ross agrees, but later attends a dinner with all his friends, Rachel included. Emily phones Ross, discovers Rachel is there, realizes she does not trust him and ends their marriage. Ross takes out his anger at work, resulting in him being indefinitely suspended from the museum, and he moves in with Chandler and Joey until eventually getting a new apartment across the street from them.
Rachel gets a new job at Ralph Lauren. Phoebe has a brief relationship with a police officer, Gary (Michael Rapaport), after finding his badge and using it as her own. Monica and Chandler go public with their relationship, to the surprise and delight of their friends. They decide to get married on a trip to Las Vegas, but change their plans after witnessing Ross and Rachel drunkenly stumbling out of the wedding chapel.
=== Season 6 ===
In the season 6 premiere, Ross and Rachel's marriage turns out to be a drunken mistake that neither remembers until the other friends mention it. Ross promises Rachel he will get them an annulment, then secretly does nothing because he cannot face having three failed marriages. By the time Rachel discovers they are still married, an annulment is impossible due to their history; they are forced to get a divorce. After ignoring the numerous signs that they should get married, Monica and Chandler decide to live together, forcing Rachel to move in with Phoebe. Joey gets a new roommate, Janine LaCroix (Elle Macpherson).
Joey and Janine develop feelings for each other and date briefly until Janine criticizes Monica and Chandler, ending the relationship. After Janine moves out, Joey struggles with paying his bills so he takes a job at Central Perk. He soon lands a role on a cable TV series called Mac and C.H.E.E.S.E., starring alongside a crime-fighting robot. Ross gets a teaching job at New York University. He dates Elizabeth Stevens (Alexandra Holden), a student, despite it being against university policy. Elizabeth's father, Paul Stevens (Bruce Willis), disapproves of Ross but falls for Rachel, and they start dating.
Both relationships soon end: Elizabeth is too immature for Ross, and previously reserved Paul opens up emotionally and is more than Rachel can handle. Phoebe and Rachel's apartment catches fire, and Rachel moves in with Joey, while Phoebe stays with Chandler and Monica, though they later switch. While at a museum that has a two-year wait for weddings, Monica puts her name on the reservation list as a joke. When Chandler intercepts the museum's phone call about a cancellation, he panics; however, Chandler has been planning to propose while pretending he may never want to marry.
While dining at a fancy restaurant, Chandler's planned proposal is subverted by Monica's ex-boyfriend Richard Burke, who unexpectedly shows up. Richard later tells Monica he wants to marry her and have children. Monica becomes upset at Chandler, believing his ruse about not wanting to marry. Chandler believes Monica has left him until he comes home to find their apartment decorated with candles and her waiting to propose to him. When she becomes too emotional to continue, Chandler proposes and she accepts.
=== Season 7 ===
The seventh season mainly follows Monica and Chandler as they plan their wedding amid various problems. Joey's television series, Mac and C.H.E.E.S.E is canceled, but he is offered his old role on Days of Our Lives; the show is retconned with the revelation that Dr. Drake Ramoray has been in a four-year coma and is revived with a brain transplant from Cecilia Monroe (Susan Sarandon)'s character Jessica Lockhart. Phoebe's repaired apartment now has one large bedroom instead of the original two, so Rachel permanently stays at Joey's. Rachel is promoted at Ralph Lauren and impulsively hires a young assistant, Tag Jones (Eddie Cahill), based on his looks, passing over a more qualified woman Hilda (Jean St. James). Tag discovers her feelings about him at Thanksgiving dinner, and they begin dating, hiding it from co-workers. However, on her 30th birthday, Rachel ends their relationship, realizing Tag is too young and immature, particularly if she intends to follow her marriage schedule.
Hours before Monica and Chandler's wedding ceremony, Chandler panics and goes into hiding just as Phoebe and Rachel find a positive pregnancy test in Monica and Chandler's bathroom. They assume Monica is pregnant. Ross and Phoebe find Chandler and convince him to return for the ceremony, though he briefly bolts again after overhearing Phoebe and Rachel discussing the pregnancy test. He quickly returns, embracing the idea of fatherhood. After the ceremony, Monica denies she is pregnant; unbeknown to everyone, the positive pregnancy test is Rachel's.
=== Season 8 ===
Season 8 begins at Monica and Chandler's wedding reception. Phoebe and Monica discover Rachel's pregnancy and persuade her to take another test to confirm it. Phoebe initially claims the test is negative, badly disappointing Rachel, then reveals it is positive, saying Rachel now knows how she really feels about having a baby. Ross is eventually revealed to be the father, and the season revolves around Rachel's pregnancy. Rachel and Ross agree to be co-parents without resuming their romantic relationship; Ross begins dating Mona (Bonnie Somerville), who is Monica's co-worker from Allesandro's.
Joey takes Rachel out to quell her fears about motherhood, and realizes he has romantic feelings for her. While suppressing his feelings, he encourages Rachel to stay at Ross's apartment so he can be involved in the pregnancy. The arrangement is too much for Mona, and she breaks up with Ross. Joey tells Ross about his feelings for Rachel. Ross initially is angry, then gives his blessing. Joey tells Rachel that he loves her, but she realizes she does not feel the same way, and they remain friends. When Rachel goes into labor, Ross's mother Judy Geller (Christina Pickles) gives him a family heirloom ring and encourages him to propose to Rachel. Ross hesitates, and puts the ring in his jacket, which he later leaves in Rachel's room.
After Monica jokes about having kids, she and Chandler decide to have a baby, starting while they are still at the hospital. After a prolonged labor, during which numerous other expectant mothers, including Janice, are taken to the delivery room, Rachel gives birth to baby Emma Geller-Green. She is left saddened and afraid after Janice later says that Ross may not always be there for her and the baby. When Joey comforts Rachel, the ring falls from Ross's jacket to the floor. Joey kneels to pick it up, and Rachel, believing he is proposing, impulsively says yes. Meanwhile, Ross intends to ask Rachel if she wants to resume their relationship.
=== Season 9 ===
Season nine begins with Ross and Rachel cohabitating with their daughter Emma, after Joey and Rachel clear up the proposal misunderstanding. Monica and Chandler run into obstacles as they try for a baby: Chandler unknowingly agrees to a work transfer to Tulsa just as Monica is offered a head chef job at a new restaurant, Javu, resulting in Chandler commuting back and forth. After being apart from Monica during Christmas, Chandler quits to pursue a new career in advertising, starting as an unpaid intern at an ad agency, and eventually being hired as a junior copywriter. Monica and Chandler discover they are physically incompatible to conceive and after considering multiple options, decide to adopt.
Phoebe begins dating Mike Hannigan (Paul Rudd) for most of the season until Mike says that he never wants to marry again. Phoebe dates her ex-boyfriend from season 1, David (Hank Azaria) who plans on proposing to her, but Mike proposes first. Phoebe rejects both proposals but gets back together with Mike, only needing the reassurance that they have a future together. Rachel, believing that her co-worker Gavin Mitchell (Dermot Mulroney) is trying to steal her job while she is on maternity leave, returns to Ralph Lauren early. She discovers at her birthday party that Gavin has feelings for her. They kiss but do not pursue a relationship due to her history with Ross.
Meanwhile, Ross, having seen the kiss, retaliates by dating other women. After realizing that her and Ross's living situation is too weird, Rachel and Emma move in with Joey. Rachel develops a crush on him, only to be disheartened when he starts dating Charlie Wheeler (Aisha Tyler), a new palaeontology professor to whom Ross is attracted. In the finale, the group travels to Barbados for Ross's keynote speech at a conference. Joey and Charlie break up upon realizing they have nothing in common. Joey then learns about Rachel's feelings for him, but says they cannot pursue this because of Ross. However, upon seeing Ross and Charlie kiss each other, he goes to Rachel's hotel room, and the finale ends with them kissing.
=== Season 10 ===
The tenth season brings several long-running story lines to a close. Joey and Rachel try to contend with Ross's feelings about their relationship, and after disastrous attempts to consummate, decide it is best they remain friends. Charlie breaks up with Ross to get back together with her ex-boyfriend Dr. Benjamin Hobart (Greg Kinnear). Mid-season, Joey officiates Phoebe and Mike's wedding outside the Central Perk coffee house after a snow storm paralyzes the city, preventing them and guests getting to the wedding venue. Monica and Chandler are chosen by a pregnant woman named Erica (Anna Faris) to adopt her baby.
Following this, Monica and Chandler prepare to move to a house in the suburbs to raise their family, saddening everyone, particularly Joey, who is coping with all the changes in his life. In the series finale, Erica gives birth to fraternal twins Jack and Erica Bing, much to Monica and Chandler's surprise. Rachel is fired from Ralph Lauren after her boss Mr. Zelner (Steve Ireland) overhears her interviewing for a job at Gucci. She encounters her former Bloomingdale co-worker Mark, who offers her a new job at Louis Vuitton in Paris. Ross, believing Rachel wants to stay, tries bribing Mr. Zelner to rehire her until he realizes Rachel wants to go to Paris. When Rachel says a tearful personal goodbye to everyone except Ross at her going away party, a hurt and angry Ross confronts Rachel, and they end up sleeping together.
Rachel leaves, and Ross – realizing how much he loves Rachel – chases her to the airport. When he reaches her, Rachel says she has to go to Paris. Before the plane takes off, Rachel calls Ross's home phone and leaves a voice mail, apologizing for the way it ended. While speaking, she realizes that she loves him too, and gets off the plane at the last minute. The series ends with all the friends, plus Monica and Chandler's new babies, leaving the empty apartment together for a final cup of coffee at Central Perk. The show ends first with a shot of everyone's keys to Monica and Chandler's apartment left on the counter top, and then pans to a shot of the apartment's purple door.
== Production ==
=== Conception ===
It's about sex, love, relationships, careers, a time in your life when everything's possible. And it's about friendship because when you're single and in the city, your friends are your family.
David Crane and Marta Kauffman began developing three new television pilots that would premiere in 1994 after their sitcom Family Album was cancelled by CBS in 1993. Kauffman and Crane decided to pitch the series about "six people in their 20s making their way in Manhattan" to NBC since they thought it would fit best there. (Film director and screenwriter Cameron Crowe has asserted that the concept originated with Warner Bros. Television wanting him to make his 1992 movie Singles into a television show. Crowe alleges that when he refused permission, the idea was then taken over by Crane and Kaufman, who changed some details from the premise of the movie while developing the show.)
Crane and Kauffman presented the idea to their production partner Kevin Bright, who had served as executive producer on their HBO series Dream On. The idea for the series was conceived when Crane and Kauffman began thinking about the time when they had finished college and started living by themselves in New York; Kauffman believed they were looking at a time when the future was "more of a question mark." They found the concept to be interesting, as they believed "everybody knows that feeling", and because it was also how they felt about their own lives at the time. The team titled the series Insomnia Cafe and pitched the idea as a seven-page treatment to NBC in December 1993.
At the same time, Warren Littlefield, the then-president of NBC Entertainment, was seeking a comedy involving young people living together and sharing expenses after he regretted passing on the Black sitcom Living Single. Littlefield wanted the group to share memorable periods of their lives with friends, who had become "new, surrogate family members." However, Littlefield found difficulty in bringing the concept to life and found the scripts developed by NBC to be terrible. When Kauffman, Crane and Bright pitched Insomnia Cafe, Littlefield was impressed that they knew who their characters were. NBC bought the idea as a put pilot, meaning they risked financial penalties if the pilot was not filmed.
Kauffman and Crane took three days to write the pilot script for a show they titled Friends Like Us. Littlefield wanted the series to "represent Generation X and explore a new kind of tribal bonding", but the rest disagreed. Crane argued that it was not a series for one generation, and wanted to produce a series that everyone would enjoy watching. NBC liked the script and ordered the series. They changed the title to Six of One, mainly because they felt Friends Like Us was too similar to the ABC sitcom These Friends of Mine.
=== Casting ===
Once it became apparent that the series was a favored project at NBC, Littlefield reported that he was getting calls from every agent in town, wanting their client to be a part of the series. Auditions for the lead roles took place in New York and Los Angeles. The casting director shortlisted 1,000 actors who had applied for each role down to 75. Those who received a callback read in front of Crane, Kauffman and Bright. At the end of March, the number of potential actors had been reduced to three or four for each part, and these actors were asked to read for Les Moonves, then president of Warner Bros. Television.
Having worked with David Schwimmer in the past, the series creators wrote the character of Ross Geller with him in mind, and he was the first actor cast. Courteney Cox wanted to play the role of Monica Geller because she liked the "strong" character, but the producers had her in mind to play Rachel Green because of her "cheery, upbeat energy", which was not how they envisioned Monica; after Cox's audition, though, Kauffman agreed with Cox, and she got the role. When Matt LeBlanc auditioned for Joey Tribbiani, he put a "different spin" on the character. He played Joey more simple-minded than intended and gave the character heart. Although Crane and Kauffman did not want LeBlanc for the role at the time, they were told by the network to cast him. Jennifer Aniston, Matthew Perry and Lisa Kudrow were cast as Rachel, Chandler Bing and Phoebe Buffay based on their auditions. Perry and Aniston, both still under contract to other shows that year, LAX 2194 and Muddling Through, were cast days before shooting of the pilot began.
More changes occurred to the series's storylines during the casting process. The writers found that they had to adjust the characters they had written to suit the actors, and the discovery process of the characters occurred throughout the first season. Kauffman acknowledged that Joey's character became "this whole new being", and that "it wasn't until we did the first Thanksgiving episode that we realized how much fun Monica's neuroses are."
=== Writing ===
In the weeks after NBC's pick up of Friends, Crane, Kauffman and Bright reviewed sent-in scripts that writers had originally prepared for other series, mainly unproduced Seinfeld episodes. Kauffman and Crane hired a team of seven young writers because "When you're 40, you can't do it anymore. The networks and studios are looking for young people coming in out of college." The creators felt that using six equal characters, rather than emphasizing one or two, would allow for "myriad storylines and give the show legs." The majority of the storyline ideas came from the writers, although the actors added ideas. Although the writers originally planned the big love story to be between Joey and Monica, the idea of a romantic interest between Ross and Rachel emerged during the period when Kauffman and Crane wrote the pilot script.
During the production of the pilot, NBC requested that the script be changed to feature one dominant storyline and several minor ones, but the writers refused, wanting to keep three storylines of equal weight. NBC also wanted the writers to include an older character to balance out the young ones. Crane and Kauffman were forced to comply and wrote a draft of an early episode that featured "Pat the Cop" who would be used to provide advice to the other characters. Crane found the storyline to be terrible, and Kauffman joked, "You know the kids [sic] book, Pat the Bunny? We had Pat the Cop." NBC eventually relented and dropped the idea.
Each summer, the producers would outline the storylines for the subsequent season. Before an episode went into production, Kauffman and Crane would revise the script written by another writer, mainly if something concerning either the series or a character felt foreign. The hardest episodes to write were always "the first one and the last one of each season." Unlike other storylines, the idea for a relationship between Joey and Rachel was decided on halfway through the eighth season. The creators did not want Ross and Rachel to get back together so soon, and while looking for a romantic impediment, a writer suggested Joey's romantic interest in Rachel.
The storyline was incorporated into the season; however, when the actors feared that the storyline would make their characters unlikable, the storyline was wrapped up, until it again resurfaced in the season's finale. For the ninth season, the writers were unsure about the amount of storyline to give to Rachel's baby Emma Geller-Green, as they wanted the show neither to revolve around a baby nor pretend there to be none. Crane said that it took them a while to accept the idea of a tenth season, which they decided to do because they had enough stories left to tell to justify the season. Kauffman and Crane would not have signed on for an eleventh season, even if all the cast members had wanted to continue.
The episode title format—"The One ..."—was created when the producers realized that the episode titles would not be featured in the opening credits, and therefore would be unknown to most of the audience. Episode titles officially begin with "The One ..." except the title of the pilot episode and the series finale "The Last One". The season 5 episode "The One Hundredth" has the alternative title of "The One with the Triplet".
While the creators of the show didn't consciously consider religion in their original character breakdowns, Crane said especially storylines connected to Ross originated from the fact that the creators and about half the writers were Jewish. He also stated that "in our minds I guess [Rachel Green] was Jewish. You can’t create a character with the name ‘Rachel Green’ and not from the get-go make some character choices."
=== Filming ===
The first season was shot on Stage 5 at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, California. NBC executives had worried that the coffee house setting was too hip and asked for the series to be set in a diner, but eventually consented to the coffee house concept. The opening title sequence was filmed in a fountain at the Warner Bros. Ranch at 4:00 am, while it was particularly cold for a Burbank morning. At the beginning of the second season, production moved to the larger Stage 24, which was renamed The Friends Stage after the series finale.
Filming for the series began during the summer of 1994 in front of a live audience, who were given a summary of the series to familiarize themselves with the six main characters. A hired comedian entertained the studio audience between takes. Each 22-minute episode took six hours to film—twice the length of most sitcom tapings—mainly due to the several retakes and rewrites of the script.
Although the producers always wanted to find the right stories to take advantage of being on location, Friends was never shot in New York. Bright felt that filming outside the studio made episodes less funny, even when shooting on the lot outside, and that the live audience was an integral part of the series. When the series was criticized for incorrectly depicting New York, with the financially struggling group of friends being able to afford huge apartments, Bright noted that the set had to be big enough for the cameras, lighting, and "for the audience to be able to see what's going on". The apartments also needed to provide a place for the actors to execute the actions in the scripts.
The fourth-season finale was shot on location in London because the producers were aware of the series' popularity in the UK. The scenes were shot in a studio with three audiences each made up of 500 people. These were the show's largest audiences throughout its run. The fifth-season finale, set in Las Vegas, was filmed at Warner Bros. Studios, although Bright met people who thought it was filmed on location.
== Series finale ==
The series's creators completed the first draft of the hour-long finale in January 2004, four months before its original airing. Crane, Kauffman and Bright watched the finales of other sitcoms to prepare the episode's outline, paying attention to what worked and what did not. They liked the ones that stayed true to the series, deeming "The Last Show", the finale of The Mary Tyler Moore Show to be the gold standard. Crane, Kauffman, and Bright had difficulty writing the finale. They did not want to do "something high concept, or take the show out of the show." The most critical parts of the finale were shot without an audience and with a minimum number of crew members. The main cast enjoyed the finale and were confident that the fans would react similarly:
It's exactly what I had hoped. We all end up with a sense of a new beginning and the audience has a sense that it's a new chapter in the lives of all these characters.
NBC heavily promoted the series finale, which was preceded by weeks of media hype. Local NBC affiliates organized viewing parties around the U.S., including an event at Universal CityWalk featuring a special broadcast of the finale on an outdoor Astrovision screen. The finale was the subject of two episodes of Dateline NBC, one of which ran for two hours. A one-hour retrospective of clips from previous episodes was shown before the airing of the episode. Following the finale, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno was filmed on the set of the Friends' Central Perk coffee house, which featured the cast as guests. The advertising rates for the finale averaged $2 million for 30 seconds of commercial time, breaking the record held by the Seinfeld finale at $1.7 million.
In the U.S., 52.5 million viewers watched the finale on May 6, 2004, making it the most-watched entertainment telecast since the Seinfeld finale in 1998. The finale was the fifth most-watched series finale in television history, only behind the finales of M*A*S*H ("Goodbye, Farewell and Amen"), Cheers ("One for the Road"), The Fugitive ("The Judgment"), and Seinfeld, which were respectively watched by 105, 80.4, 78.0 and 76.3 million viewers. The retrospective episode was watched by fewer than 36 million viewers, and the finale was the second most-watched television broadcast of the year in the United States, only behind the Super Bowl. Following the finales of Friends and Frasier, media critics speculated about the fate of the sitcom genre. Opinions varied between a signalling of the end of the sitcom genre, a small decline in the large history of the genre, and a general reduction of scripted television in favor of reality shows.
== Reunion special ==
On November 12, 2019, The Hollywood Reporter announced that Warner Bros TV was developing a Friends reunion for HBO Max that would feature the whole cast and creators returning. On February 21, 2020, HBO confirmed that the unscripted reunion special, tentatively named "The One Where They Got Back Together", was set to be released in May the same year, along with the 236 original episodes of the series. On March 18, 2020, it was announced that the special, which was set to film on the Friends Stage on March 23 and 24, had been postponed indefinitely, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In November 2020, Matthew Perry tweeted that the reunion is set to start filming in March 2021. On May 13, 2021, a teaser trailer was released officially announcing Friends: The Reunion also known as "The One Where They Get Back Together". The reunion special was released on HBO Max on May 27, 2021.
== Reception ==
=== Critical reception ===
Early reviews of the series were mixed; the first season holds a Metacritic score of 65 out of 100, based on 24 sampled reviews, indicating "generally favourable reviews". Tom Feran of The Plain Dealer wrote that the series traded "vaguely and less successfully on the hanging-out style of Seinfeld", while Ann Hodges of the Houston Chronicle called it "the new Seinfeld wannabe, but it will never be as funny as Seinfeld." In the Los Angeles Daily News, Ray Richmond named the series as "one of the brighter comedies of the new season", and the Los Angeles Times called it "flat-out the best comedy series of the new season."
The Chicago Sun-Times' Ginny Holbert found Joey and Rachel's characters to be underdeveloped, while Richmond commended the cast as a "likeable youth ensemble" with "good chemistry." Robert Bianco of USA Today was complimentary of Schwimmer, calling him "terrific." He also praised the female leads, but was concerned that Perry's role as Chandler was "undefined" and that LeBlanc was "relying too much on the same brain-dead stud routine that was already tired the last two times he tried it." The authors of Friends Like Us: The Unofficial Guide to Friends thought that the cast was "trying just a little too hard"; in particular, Perry and Schwimmer.
As the series progressed, reviews became more positive, and Friends became one of the most popular sitcoms of its time. It is now often ranked among the all-time best TV shows. Critics commended the series for having consistently sharp writing and for the chemistry between the main actors. Noel Holston of Newsday, who had dismissed the pilot as a "so-so Seinfeld wannabe" in 1994, repudiated his earlier review after re-watching the episode and felt like writing an apology to the writers. Heather Havrilesky of Salon.com thought that the series "hit its stride" in the second season. Havrilesky found the character-specific jokes and situations "could reliably make you laugh out loud a few times each episode", and the quality of writing allowed the stories to be "original and innovative."
Bill Carter of The New York Times called the eighth season a "truly stunning comeback." Carter found that by "generating new hot storylines and high-decibel laughs", the series made its way "back into the hearts of its fans." However, Liane Bonin of Entertainment Weekly felt that the direction of the ninth season was a "disappointing buzzkill", criticizing it for the non-stop celebrity guest spots and going into jump the shark territory. Although disappointed with the season, Bonin noted that "the writing [was] still sharp." Havrilesky thought that the tenth season was "alarmingly awful, far worse than you would ever imagine a show that was once so good could be." Friends was featured on Time's list of "The 100 Best TV Shows of All-Time", saying, "the well-hidden secret of this show was that it called itself Friends, and was really about family."
Reviews of the series finale were mostly positive. USA Today's Robert Bianco described the finale as entertaining and satisfying and praised it for deftly mixing emotion and humor while highlighting each of the stars. Sarah Rodman of the Boston Herald praised Aniston and Schwimmer for their acting, but felt that their characters' reunion was "a bit too neat, even if it was what most of the show's legions of fans wanted." Roger Catlin of the Hartford Courant felt that newcomers to the series would be "surprised at how laughless the affair could be, and how nearly every strained gag depends on the sheer stupidity of its characters." Ken Parish Perkins, writing for Fort Worth Star-Telegram, pointed out that the finale was "more touching than comical, more satisfying in terms of closure than knee-slappingly funny."
It may have been impossible for any one episode to live up to the hype and expectations built up around the Friends finale, but this hour probably came as close as fans could have reasonably hoped. Ultimately, the two-hour package did exactly what it was supposed to do. It wrapped up the story while reminding us why we liked the show and will miss it.
In a 2021 program on ITV, Mr. Bean writer Richard Curtis accused the Friends writers of stealing the joke which involved Joey getting a turkey stuck on his head in "The One with All the Thanksgivings" from the 1992 episode "Merry Christmas, Mr. Bean". In that episode, Mr. Bean (Rowan Atkinson) got a turkey stuck on his head after losing his watch while stuffing the turkey and put his head in to try to retrieve it. Rowan Atkinson, however, argued that jokes are meant to be stolen, or to inspire.
=== Awards ===
To maintain the series' ensemble format, the main cast members decided to enter themselves in the same acting categories for awards. Beginning with the eighth season, the actors decided to submit themselves in the lead actor balloting, rather than in the supporting actor fields. The series was nominated for 62 Primetime Emmy Awards, winning six.
Aniston and Kudrow are the only main cast members to win an Emmy, while Cox is the only actor not to be nominated. The series won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series at the 54th Primetime Emmy Awards in 2002, receiving nominations in 1995, 1996, 1999, 2000, and 2003. The series also won an American Comedy Award, one GLAAD Media Award, one Golden Globe Award, three Logie Awards, six People's Choice Awards, one Satellite Award, and one Screen Actors Guild Award.
=== Ratings ===
The table below shows the ratings of Friends in the United States, where it consistently ranked within the top ten of the final television season ratings. "Rank" refers to how well Friends rated compared to other television series that aired during primetime hours of the corresponding television season. It is shown in relation to the total number of series airing on the then-six major English-language networks in a given season. "Viewers" refers to the average number of viewers for all original episodes, broadcast during the television season in the series' regular timeslot. The "season premiere" is the date that the first episode of the season aired, and the "season finale" is the date that the final episode of the season aired. Following the September 11 attacks, ratings increased 17% over the previous season.
=== Syndication ===
Because of syndication revenue, Friends continued to generate approximately $1 billion each year for Warner Bros as of 2015. That translates into about $20 million in annual residuals each for Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry and David Schwimmer, who each get 2% of syndication income for Friends.
All episodes became available on Netflix on January 1, 2015, introducing a new generation to the show. UK Friends reruns' ratings in 2015 increased by more than 10% annually. The 2016 reruns' US weekly audience, not including streaming, of 16 million would make it a hit on network television were the show still being produced. In the US, the series has a syndication deal through multiple networks, including Nick at Nite, TBS, and Paramount Network. In July 2019, it was announced that from the beginning of 2020, Friends would not be available on Netflix in the US and instead would be shown on Warner Bros. Discovery's video-streaming service HBO Max, which launched in May 2020.
== Legacy and cultural impact ==
Although the producers thought of Friends as "only a TV show", psychologists investigated the cultural impact of Friends during the series' run. Aniston's hairstyle was nicknamed "The Rachel" and copied around the world. Joey's catchphrase, "How you doin'?", became a popular part of Western English slang, often used as a pick-up line or when greeting friends. The series also influenced the English language, according to a study by the University of Toronto that found that the characters used the emphasized word "so" to modify adjectives more often than any other intensifier. Although the preference had already made its way into the American vernacular, usage on the series may have accelerated the change. Chandler's habit of ending a sentence unfinished for sarcasm also influenced viewers' speech. The show's availability on streaming television—it accounted for 4% of all Netflix views in 2018—gave it a large new Gen Z audience. Kauffman reported that her high school daughter's friends thought that Friends was a new period piece about the 1990s. One young fan described the show as "aspirational ... [kids hope] that when they're that age ... they'll have those friends".
Friends has been credited in helping non-English speaking students to learn the language. A 2012 poll by Kaplan International English Colleges found that more than a quarter (26%) of its students cited the sitcom as the best show for helping them improve their English. Notable individuals who have also said that the sitcom helped them learn English include Liverpool Football Club manager Jürgen Klopp, South Korean band BTS member RM, and Belgian professional golfer Thomas Pieters.
Friends developed an alternative family lifestyle by representing young people who live unconventional domestic lives. It presented the idea that "all you need are good friends" and that you can construct families through choice. The audience was able to identify with the program through the troubles seen on weekly episodes. It portrayed a new way of living life and developing relationships which were not normally seen in conventional society. According to a pop-culture expert at the University at Buffalo, Friends is "one of those rare shows that marked a change in American culture." The images of youth and the roles they portray are better defined and represent a lifestyle that centers around creating and sustaining relationships between friends running their own lives and seeking help from each other.
Vox stated that Friends had an impact on the creation of other conflictless "hangout sitcoms", with groups of adult friends who are funny and have similar character traits. One example of this is How I Met Your Mother, which The Guardian's TV and radio blog noted also shares its setting (Manhattan) with Friends. Other examples include The Big Bang Theory, New Girl, and Happy Endings.
Readers of TV Guide voted the cast of Friends their Best Comedy cast of all time, ranking at 29% of the votes, beating Seinfeld, which registered 18%. A poll undertaken by 60 Minutes and Vanity Fair named Friends the third-greatest sitcom of all time. In 2014, the series was ranked by Mundo Estranho the Best TV Series of All Time. A 2015 survey by The Hollywood Reporter of 2,800 actors, producers, directors, and other industry people named Friends as their No. 1 favorite show.
The episode "The One with the Holiday Armadillo" has been cited as a notable representation of Hanukkah and Jewish interfaith celebration on television.
Friends was parodied in the twelfth season Murder, She Wrote episode "Murder Among Friends". In the episode, amateur sleuth Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury) investigates the murder of Ricki Vardian (Cindy Katz) a producer for Buds, a fictional television series about the daily lives of a group of city friends. The episode was devised after CBS moved Murder, She Wrote from its regular Sunday night timeslot to a Thursday night timeslot directly opposite Friends on NBC; Angela Lansbury was quoted by Bruce Lansbury, her brother, and Murder, She Wrote's supervising producer, as having "a bit of an attitude" about the move to Thursday, but he saw the plot as "a friendly setup, no mean-spiritedness." Jerry Ludwig, the writer of the episode, researched the "flavor" of Buds by watching episodes of Friends.
Producers of Married... with Children attempted to create a spinoff series called Enemies, which was intended to act as an antithesis to Friends the same way Married... with Children had been an antithesis to family sitcoms such as The Cosby Show. However, the Fox network declined to pick up the series.
=== Coffee house ===
The Central Perk coffee house, one of the principal settings of the series, is part of the Warner Bros. Studio Tour Hollywood. People sometimes propose marriage on the couch, and many tourists cry when they sit on it. The coffee house has inspired various imitations worldwide. In 2006, Iranian businessman Mojtaba Asadian started a Central Perk franchise, registering the name in 32 countries. The decor of the coffee houses is inspired by Friends, featuring replica couches, counters, neon signage and bricks. The coffee houses contain paintings of the various characters from the series, and televisions playing Friends episodes. James Michael Tyler, who played Gunther, the Central Perk manager in the series, attended the grand opening of the Dubai café, where he worked as a waiter.
Central Perk was rebuilt as part of a museum exhibit at Warner Bros. Studios and was shown on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in October 2008 when Jennifer Aniston visited the set for the first time since the series finale in 2004. From September 24 to October 7, 2009, a Central Perk replica was on Broadwick Street, Soho, London. The coffee house sold coffee to customers and featured a display of Friends memorabilia and props, such as the Geller Cup from the season three episode "The One with the Football". In Beijing, business owner Du Xin opened a coffee shop named Central Perk in March 2010.
In India, there are six Friends-themed cafes which feature many icons from the original TV series, including Chandler and Joey's ugly dog statue, the orange sofa, the purple door of Monica and Rachel's apartment, and Phoebe's pink bicycle. One named Central Perk is in Chandigarh, Kolkata; one named F.R.I.E.N.D.S. Cafe in West Bengal, and the others are in Delhi, Gurgaon; Bhubaneswar, Odisha; and Pune, Maharashtra.
In 2016, a Central Perk replica was opened in Outram, Singapore. It is the only Central Perk replica outside of the United States that has been given intellectual property rights by Warner Bros. The café includes feature walls, replicating the walls of the main characters' apartments and memorabilia and props used on the show.
In August 2019, Lego launched a Central Perk Lego set to mark the show's 25th anniversary. In September 2025, Central Perk Coffeehouse and Warner Bros. Discovery announced that a Central Perk coffee shop will be open in Time Square in late fall 2025, with the opening taking place on December 12th.
== Distribution ==
=== Broadcast ===
After the produced pilot lived up to NBC's hopes, the series premiered with the name Friends on September 22, 1994, in the coveted Thursday 8:30 p.m. time slot. The pilot aired between Mad About You and Seinfeld, and was watched by almost 22 million American viewers. The series was a huge success throughout its run and was a staple of NBC's Thursday night line-up, dubbed by the network as Must See TV.
Having already made huge success in the United States, Friends producers decided to air the show in Europe. It premiered in the United Kingdom on April 28, 1995. Season 1 was broadcast until September 1995 on Channel 4 at 9:30 pm on Friday nights, and immediately was a success. The popularity of the show led its theme song, "I'll Be There for You" by the Rembrandts, to hit number 3 on the UK Singles Charts in September 1995.
When Crane told reporters in 2001 that the ninth season was a possibility, critics believed that he was posturing and that at least two of the cast members would not sign on for another season. When it was confirmed that Friends would return for a ninth season, the news was mainly about the amount of money—$7 million per episode—that it took to bring the series back for another season. After year-long expectations that the ninth season would be the series' last, NBC signed a deal in late December 2002 to bring the series back for a final tenth season. The series' creative team did not want to extend negotiations into the next year and wanted to start writing the rest of the ninth-season episodes and a potential series finale. NBC agreed to pay $10 million to Warner Bros. for the production of each tenth-season episode, the highest price in television history for a 30-minute series. Although NBC was unable to bring in enough advertising revenue from commercials to cover the costs, the series was integral to the Thursday night schedule, which brought high ratings and profits to the other television series. The cast demanded that the tenth season be reduced from the usual 24 episodes to 18 episodes to allow them to work on outside projects.
In fall 2001, Warner Bros. Domestic Cable made a deal with sister network TBS (both were owned by Time Warner) to air the series in rerun syndication. Warner Bros. Domestic Cable announced that it had sold additional cable rights to Friends to Nick at Nite which began airing in the fall of 2011 (unlike the TBS and broadcast syndication airings, Nick at Nite broadcasts of the series, which began airing as part of a seven-night launch marathon on September 5, 2011, replace the end credit tag scenes with marginalized credits featuring promotions for the series and other Nick at Nite programs). Warner Bros. was expected to make $200 million in license fees and advertising from the deal. Nick at Nite paid $500,000 per episode to air the episodes after 6 pm. ET for six years through fall 2017. In syndication until 2005, Friends had earned $4 million per episode in cash license fees for a total of $944 million.
=== Remaster ===
Beginning in March 2012, high definition versions of all 236 Friends episodes were made available to local broadcast stations, starting with the pilot episode. For the remastered episodes, Warner Bros. restored previously cropped images on the left and right sides of the screen, using the original 35 mm film source, to use the entire 16:9 widescreen frame. Because the show was not originally filmed for widescreen, but rather filmed in 4-perf format and protected for 4:3, some cropping problems arise in some shots where information from the top and bottom of the frame is removed, and some expanded shots reveal unintentional artifacts, including set edges, boom mics and body doubles replacing some of the main cast.
In early versions of the HD remasters, there were also a few shots, including chroma effects shots, which were sourced from standard-definition videotape sources, as not all of the footage had been located in time for the remaster. The original film sources for these shots were later rescanned for later broadcast and release. These masters had been airing in New Zealand on TV2 since January 2011, and the earlier HD prints continue to air on Comedy Central in the United Kingdom as of 2020. Netflix added all ten seasons of Friends in high definition to its streaming service in the United States in January 2015 before the platform discontinued the series in late 2019.
=== Home media ===
All ten seasons have been released on DVD individually and as a box set. Each Region 1 season release contains special features and are presented in their aforementioned original international broadcast versions, although Region 2 releases are as originally aired domestically. For the first season, each episode is updated with color correction and sound enhancement. A wide range of Friends merchandise has been produced by various companies. In September 1995, WEA Records released the first album of music from Friends, the Friends Original TV Soundtrack, containing music featured in previous and future episodes. The soundtrack debuted on the Billboard 200 at number 46, and sold 500,000 copies in November 1995.
In 1999, a second soundtrack album entitled Friends Again was released. Other merchandise includes a Friends version of the DVD game Scene It?, and a quiz video game for PlayStation 2 and PC entitled Friends: The One with All the Trivia. On September 28, 2009, a box set was released in the UK celebrating the show's 15th anniversary. The box set contained extended episodes, an episode guide, and original special features.
Warner Home Video released a complete series collection on Blu-ray on November 13, 2012. In September 2024, the entire series was released on Ultra HD Blu-ray in celebration of the 30th anniversary of the show.
== Spin-off ==
After the series finale in 2004, LeBlanc signed on for the spin-off series, Joey, following Joey's move to Los Angeles to pursue his acting career. Kauffman and Crane were not interested in the spin-off, although Bright agreed to executive produce the series with Scott Silveri and Shana Goldberg-Meehan. NBC heavily promoted Joey and gave it Friends' Thursday 8:00 pm timeslot.
The pilot was watched by 18.6 million American viewers, but ratings continually decreased throughout the series's two seasons, averaging 10.2 million viewers in the first season and 7.1 million in the second. The final broadcast episode on March 7, 2006, was watched by 7.09 million viewers; NBC cancelled the series on May 15, 2006, after two seasons, leaving eight episodes unaired. Bright blamed the collaboration between NBC executives, the studio and other producers for quickly ruining the series:
On Friends, Joey was a womanizer, but we enjoyed his exploits. He was a solid friend, a guy you knew you could count on. Joey was deconstructed to be a guy who couldn't get a job, couldn't ask a girl out. He became a pathetic, mopey character. I felt he was moving in the wrong direction, but I was not heard. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_songs_recorded_by_Christina_Aguilera | List of songs recorded by Christina Aguilera | American singer Christina Aguilera's recording career began in 1994 at the age of thirteen, following the cancellation of The Mickey Mouse Club. Between 1994 and 1995, Aguilera recorded a series of songs, which were eventually released as a demo album under the name Just Be Free (2001). She also moved to Japan and recorded a duet with Japanese singer Keizo Nakanishi titled "All I Wanna Do". She returned to the United States and in 1998, she signed a contract with RCA Records and was chosen to perform the song "Reflection" for the soundtrack of the 1998 Disney animated feature Mulan. She followed this with albums Christina Aguilera (1999), Mi Reflejo (2000), My Kind of Christmas (2000), Stripped (2002), Back to Basics (2006), Bionic (2010), Lotus (2012), Liberation (2018) and Aguilera (2022).
She has recorded and released many songs throughout her career, topping the US Billboard Hot 100 various times with the songs "Genie in a Bottle", "What a Girl Wants", "Come on Over Baby (All I Want is You)", "Lady Marmalade" and "Moves Like Jagger". She has also had various songs reach the top ten on the same chart including "I Turn to You", "Beautiful", "Ain't No Other Man", "Keeps Gettin' Better", "Feel This Moment" and "Say Something". Her songs have been inspired by a wide variety of genres including pop, R&B, soul, hip hop, rock, Latin, jazz, electronic, dance-pop, amongst others. Her song themes have also been diverse and controversial with her song "Dirrty" facing controversy for its sexual nature. The song also reached number one in the United Kingdom. Other songs of Aguilera which have charted on the Hot 100 include, "The Christmas Song", "Fighter", "Can't Hold Us Down", "The Voice Within", "Car Wash", "Hurt", "Candyman", "Not Myself Tonight" and "Your Body".
== Released songs ==
== Unreleased songs == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_European_Parliament_election_in_Lombardy | 2019 European Parliament election in Lombardy | The 2019 European Parliament election took place in Italy on 26 May 2019.
In Lombardy Lega Nord came first with 43.4% of the vote (country-level result 34.3%) and more than 20pp than the Democratic Party, which came second with 23.1%. The Five Star Movement came third with 9.3%, ahead of Forza Italia (8.7%), Brothers of Italy (5.5%), More Europe (3.1%), Green Europe (2.5%) and The Left (1.3%).
== Results ==
Source: Ministry of the Interior |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Democratic_Party_of_Finland | Social Democratic Party of Finland | The Social Democratic Party of Finland (Finnish: Suomen sosialidemokraattinen puolue Finnish pronunciation: [ˈsuo̯men ˈsosiɑ(ː)liˌdemokrɑːtːinen ˈpuo̯lue], SDP, nicknamed: demarit in Finnish; Swedish: Finlands socialdemokratiska parti, SD) is a social democratic political party in Finland. It is the third-largest party in the Parliament of Finland with a total of 42 seats.
Founded in 1899 as the Workers' Party of Finland (Finnish: Suomen työväenpuolue; Swedish: Finlands arbetarparti), the SDP is Finland's oldest active political party and has a close relationship with the Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions. It is also a member of the Party of European Socialists, Progressive Alliance and Socialist International.
Following the resignation of Antti Rinne in December 2019, Sanna Marin became the country's 46th prime minister. The SDP formed a new coalition government on the basis of its predecessor, the Rinne Cabinet, in effect continuing its cooperation with the Centre Party, Green League, Left Alliance and Swedish People's Party. Of the nineteen ministerial spots that were decided upon in conjunction, seven of them were designated to the SDP in the Marin Cabinet. In September 2023, Antti Lindtman was elected as leader of the party following Marin's resignation after the 2023 Finnish parliamentary election.
== History ==
The party was founded as the Workers' Party of Finland in 1899, with its first meeting being held from 17–20 July in Turku. At the beginning of the 1900s the party presented demands as well as solutions to the tenant farmer question, the managing of employment, improvement of workers' rights, freedom of speech and an 8-hour work day.
In its 1903 second party conference in Forssa, the party's name was renamed to the present form: Social Democratic Party of Finland, but the Grand Duchy of Finland's then governor-general Nikolay Bobrikov had outlawed the SDP from using "social democratic" in their name before, but this ban was not followed on by the party members when the name was changed. At the same time, the at the time radical Forssa Programme was agreed upon, which served as the official party platform until 1952. The goals of the programme were as follows: an 8-hour workday, a minimum wage, universal compulsory education and prohibition.
The Forssa Programme is based on the Erfurt Programme approved by the Social Democratic Party of Germany in 1891 and the Social Democratic Party of Austria's programme, respectively. Its immediate demands have been fulfilled, but the most significant and currently unfulfilled requirement is the right to vote directly on laws (direct democracy, as opposed to representative democracy [except for two times, and then just on advisory referendums: once about prohibition in 1931 and another on the 1994 Finnish European Union membership referendum.]) The demands on total separation of church and state, abolition of religious education in all schools and the prohibition of alcohol have all since then been abandoned.
The SDP was closely associated with the Finnish Trade Union Federation (SAJ), established in 1907, with all of its members also being members of the party. The party remained a chiefly extra-parliamentary movement until universal suffrage was introduced in 1906, after which the SDP's share of the votes reached 47% in the 1916 Finnish parliamentary election, when the party secured a majority in the parliament, the only time in the history of Finland when one party has had such a majority. The party lost its majority in the 1917 Finnish parliamentary election after the Russian Provisional Government had rejected its Valtalaki 1917 proposal and disbanded the Finnish government, starting a rebellion with the broader Finnish labour movement that quickly escalated into the Finnish Civil War in 1918.
SDP members declared Finland a socialist republic, but they were defeated by the forces of the White Guard. The war resulted in most of the party leaders being killed, imprisoned or left to seek refuge in Soviet Russia. In addition, the process leading to the civil war and the war itself had stripped the party of its political legitimacy and respectability in the eyes of the right-wing majority. However, the political support for the party remained strong. In the 1919 Finnish parliamentary election, the party, reorganised by Väinö Tanner, received 80 of the 200 seats of the parliament. In 1918, former exiled SDP members founded the Communist Party of Finland (SKP) in Moscow. Although the SKP was banned in Finland until 1944, it was represented by front organisations, leading to the support of the Finnish working class being divided between the SDP and the SKP.
It became the life's work of Väinö Tanner to re-establish the SDP as a serious, governing party. The result was a much more patriotic SDP which leaned less to the left and was relatively isolated from its Nordic sister parties, namely the Danish Social Democrats, the Norwegian Labour Party and the Swedish Social Democratic Party. President Pehr Evind Svinhufvud's animosity kept the SDP out of government during his presidency from 1931 to 1937. With the exception of a brief period in 1926, when Tanner formed a minority government, the SDP was excluded from cabinet participation until Kyösti Kallio was elected president in 1937. During World War II, the party played a central role in a series of broad coalition cabinets, symbolising national unity forged in response to the threat of the Soviet Union in the Winter War of 1939–1940. The SDP was a member of the Labour and Socialist International from 1923 to 1940.
During the first few months of the Continuation War (1941–1944), the country, the parliament and the cabinet were divided on the question of whether Finland's army should stop at the old border and thereby demonstratively refrain from any attempt of conquests. However, the country's dangerous position called for national unity and the SDP's leadership chose to refrain from any visible protests. This decision is sometimes indicated as one of the main reasons behind the post-war division between the main left-wing parties (the SKP and the SDP) and the high percentage of SKP voters in the first elections after the Continuation War. After the war, the SKP was allowed to continue working and the main feature of Finnish political life during the 1944–1949 period was the competition between the SDP and the SKP, both for voters and for the control of the labour unions. During this time, the political field was divided roughly equally between the SDP, the SKP and the Agrarian League, each party commanding some 25% of the vote. In the post-war era, the SDP adopted a line of defending Finnish sovereignty and democracy in line with the Agrarian League and other bourgeois political parties, finally leading to the expulsion of the SKP from the cabinet in 1948. As a result, the Soviet Union remained more openly critical towards the SDP than the centre-right parties.
Because of the SDP's anti-communism, the United States Central Intelligence Agency supported the party by means of funds laundered through Nordic sister parties or through organisations that bought luxury goods such as coffee abroad, then imported and sold them for a high profit as post-war rationing served to inflate prices. In the 1956 Finnish presidential election, the SDP candidate Karl-August Fagerholm lost by only one electoral vote to Urho Kekkonen. Fagerholm would act as prime minister in the Fagerholm II Cabinet (1956–1957) and the Fagerholm III Cabinet (1958–1959). The latter cabinet was forced to resign due to Soviet pressure, leading to a series of cabinets led by the Agrarian League. In 1958, due to the election of Väinö Tanner as party chairman, a faction of the SDP resigned and formed the Social Democratic Union of Workers and Smallholders (TPSL) around the former SDP chairman Emil Skog. The dispute was over several issues, namely whether the party should function as an interest group and whether it should co-operate with the anti-communists and right-wingers or with president Kekkonen, the Agrarian League and the SKP. During the 1960s, the TPSL dwindled, its members returning one by one to the SDP or joining the SKP, with Skog himself returning to the SDP in 1965. In the 1970 Finnish parliamentary election, the TPSL failed to gain any seats in parliament. Only in 1966 was the SDP able to satisfy the Soviet Union about its friendly attitude towards it and could thus return to the cabinet. Since then, the SDP has been represented in most Finnish cabinets, often cooperating with the centrist-agrarian Centre Party (formerly the Agrarian League), but sometimes with the liberal-conservative National Coalition Party. The SDP was in opposition from 1991 to 1995, when the main parties in the cabinet were the Centre Party and the National Coalition Party (NCP).
The 1995 Finnish parliamentary election saw a landslide victory for the SDP, achieving their best results since World War II. The SDP rose to government from the opposition and leader Paavo Lipponen headed two consecutive cabinets from 1995 to 2003. During this time, the party adopted a pro-European stance and contributed actively to the Finnish membership in the European Union in 1995 in concert with the cabinet. In the 2003 Finnish parliamentary election, the SDP won 53 of the 200 seats, ending up a close second to the Centre Party. As a result, Lipponen became the Speaker of Parliament and the Centre Party leader Anneli Jäätteenmäki became the new Prime Minister, leading a coalition cabinet that included the SDP which got eight ministerial posts. After two months in office, Jäätteenmäki resigned due to a scandal relating to the Iraq leak and was replaced by Matti Vanhanen, another Centre Party representative, who commanded the Vanhanen I Cabinet.
In the 2007 Finnish parliamentary election, the SDP gained the third-most votes. The chairman of the then-largest Centre Party, Matti Vanhanen, became the Prime Minister and formed a coalition cabinet consisting of the Green League, the NCP and the Swedish People's Party of Finland (SPP), leaving the SDP to the opposition. SDP leader Eero Heinäluoma did not immediately resign as party chairman, but he did announce his withdrawal from running for party chairman in the following party conference. He was replaced by Jutta Urpilainen. The SDP suffered further losses in the 2008 Finnish municipal elections and the 2009 European Parliament election. In the 2011 Finnish parliamentary election, the SDP lost three more seats, ending up with 19.1 percent of the vote which corresponded to 42 seats, the party's worst-ever result. However, as the Centre Party lost even more voters, the SDP became the second-largest party in the country after the NCP, receiving only some 1,500 votes more than the Finns Party which came in third. After lengthy negotiations, a six-party coalition government, the Katainen Cabinet, was formed with the NCP and the SDP as the two main parties. SDP leader Jutta Urpilainen became the cabinet's Minister of Finance, with NCP chairman Jyrki Katainen serving as prime minister.
In the 2014 party conference, Urpilainen was narrowly defeated by her challenger Antti Rinne in a 257 to 243 vote. Urpilainen subsequently stepped down as the Minister of Finance, passing the seat on to Rinne. In the 2015 Finnish parliamentary election, the drop of support continued for the SDP. The party lost eight more seats compared to the 2011 parliamentary election, ending up with 34 seats and 16.5 percent of the vote. With the repeat of the worst-ever result, the SDP dropped to being the fourth largest political party in Finland, receiving 50,110 fewer votes than the NCP, yet 237,000 more votes than the Green League. The SDP was left in the opposition and provided extensive criticism on the actions of the Sipilä Cabinet on matters such as alcohol policy, cuts to education spending and the so-called active model. On 22 June 2016, Maria Tolppanen, a Finns Party representative, joined the SDP. This increased the SDP's parliamentary seat number to 35.
In the 2019 Finnish parliamentary election, the SDP gained 6 seats in comparison to the 2015 parliamentary election and became the largest party in the parliament. Based on the answers and initial talks with all parties, Rinne announced that he would negotiate forming a government with the Centre Party, the Green League, the Left Alliance and the Swedish People's Party. The negotiations were ultimately successful and the Rinne Cabinet was formally inaugurated on 6 June 2019. On 3 December 2019, Rinne resigned as Prime Minister after the Centre Party had expressed a lack of confidence in Rinne for his handling of the events surrounding a postal strike in Finland. He was followed in the position by Sanna Marin, who was appointed as prime minister on 10 December 2019.
== Ideology ==
The SDP is a centre-left social-democratic party.
In its 2020 declaration of principles the party's ideals and priorities are: sustainable development, all-encompassing equality, peace, solidarity, freedom, co-operation, a clean and pristine environment together with democratic socialism. The SDP also embraces humanism's values as well as the Nordic model's accomplishments.
In the 1900s, the party known as the Finnish Workers' Party was founded on the basis of social issues, class and socialism. SDP was the only political party in Finland for a long time. In 1907, the SDP was the strongest socialist party in Europe, as evidenced by the qualified majority in the Senate of Finland in 1917. At the beginning of the 20th century, the party received its main support from groups of the landless population and the rural population. In 1919, at the SDP's meeting, a split was made with the radical communists, as a result of which they broke away and founded the SSTP. As a result of the civil war and the October Revolution, the workers' movement became even more divided.
Up until the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the party opposed Finland joining NATO and instead preferred for it to remain in the Partnership for Peace.
The SDP is in favour of queer rights, the construction of nuclear power plants, the conservation of Swedish as one of Finland's two official languages, the separation of church and state, and to the increase of funding given by the state to public schools and universities. The party is advocating for Finland to become coal-free by 2030. The SDP had advocated for policies preventing foreigners from outside the EU from working in Finland, but has since then softened its positions on immigration and has come to support certain immigration reforms. In its 2023 parliamentary election programme its self-declared goal was the increase of work-based immigration coming to Finland as a way of responding to the country's labour shortage and low birth rate. In 2023, the SDP, along with the NCP, both criticised the Finns Party for their lack of willingness to the easing of work permit requirements for foreigners coming from outside the European Union.
The party opposed certain economic reforms both in the 2011 Finnish parliamentary election and in the subsequent negotiations about the government programme. The SDP maintains a close relationship with trade unions. The party has opposed social reforms that would reduce the role of earnings-related unemployment benefits. The government pays the benefits to recipients through financial middlemen that are almost exclusively trade unions.
== Controversies ==
Some of the SDP's politicians have received criticism about their defense of Russia for years by the media and academics, for example, SDP politicians Eero Heinäluoma, Paavo Lipponen, Erkki Tuomioja, Antton Rönnholm and Tarja Halonen have received critique on their positions towards Russia.
In 2005, according to Halonen, Russia's goals were: "...democracy, human rights and good governance." Nine years later, in 2014 after Russia annexed Crimea, Halonen thought that Russia should not have been punished by sanctions or isolation.
SDP's former party secretary Antton Rönnholm has also taken his part. Through his consulting firm's services offered to Gazprom, he was sent an invoice for almost 200,000 euros for assisting in the South Stream gas pipeline project. More than half of Gazprom is owned by the Russian state, and it is partly used as a geopolitical tool in Europe and the rest of the world.
In February 2022, politician Erkki Tuomioja published a work with the title "Finland and NATO – Why Finland should have the opportunity to apply for NATO membership and why that opportunity should not be used now". In his work Tuomioja estimated that Russia was viewed rather unanalytically.
Also in February 2022, when Russia had already been pressuring Ukraine for a long time, the social-democratic MEP Eero Heinäluoma and Mauri Pekkarinen from the Centre Party both said in a Finnish current affairs television programme that preparing for a Russian threat was part of the problem. According to Heinäluoma, placing defensive armaments in Russia's neighbouring countries was instead a threat to Russia.
Paavo Lipponen has lobbied for and been a consultant for Russia's Nord Stream project since 2008. In that year Russia went to war with Georgia. In a report published by the European Parliament's special committee in 2022, the Social Democratic Party prime minister Lipponen and Centre Party prime minister Esko Aho were stated to be among the European politicians that Russia and China had hijacked to promote their special interests. Some current SDP politicians have therefore appeased Russia in the past.
In September 2023, when Antti Lindtman got elected chair of the SDP a scandal broke out due to an old picture of him posing near four other naked young adults, nude, wearing a pointed hat in the style of a christmas elf, covered by a balaclava and with an airsoft gun in hand while in his adolescent years, while two others were doing a nazi salute in the same picture. Because of this, Lindtman was accused of being a Nazi. He responded by stating that the image had been taken during his time in a high school film group by the name of "Team Paha, English: Team Bad" in a Pikkujoulu party while they were messing around and posted online. Lindtman additionally firmly denied the allegation of being a national socialist.
The party secretary, Mikkel Näkkäläjärvi's, nomination and subsequent appointment to his role during the SDP's 2023 conference in Jyväskylä was criticised because of his criminal background. In 2011 he had driven a car while under the presence of alcohol, and was charged with a 30-day suspended sentence and an accompanying fine. Näkkäläjärvi had also broken into a retired old lady's summer cottage as a 15-year-old teenager with three others around the same age as him and participated in the killing and burning of a grown-up cat in a bonfire. Following this, he was charged with burglary, vandalism and animal cruelty as a young person. Näkkäläjärvi has apologised for all of his past misdeeds.
== Voter base ==
The average age of an SDP member is 61.5 years. Over one half of all SDP voters are active members of the workforce.
== Organization ==
=== Symbols, logos and posters ===
=== Party leaders ===
=== Prominent members ===
== Election results ==
=== Parliament of Finland ===
=== Municipal ===
=== County ===
=== European Parliament ===
=== Presidential elections ===
==== Indirect ====
==== Direct ==== |
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